Hi nerds, well, I'm still hanging out in St. Louis, working at a grocery store. Management promoted me a few days ago and now I'm head of the liquor department. It's not what I envisioned straight out of college but it's a step up in my silly little world. Also picked up a job teaching tennis to maniacal children at the local park. That's been a blast so far, although once Fall gets here all the kids go back to school and outdoor tennis lessons cease.
I came oh so close to going to Utah with that wierdo Lindsay Armstrong--ok, she's actually pretty cool and not that wierd. RedCliffs asked me to come out, but in the end I decided logistics (aka driving 1300 miles, renting an apt, and working 8 days on/ 6 off, were not stacked in my favor.) It probably would have been fun, I almost succombed to that flighty temptress adventure, and I regret not going in a lot of ways, but eh, I decided to read Desert Solitaire instead. Read it and you'll understand why. The Alaska fishing boat thing didn't work out. I was told that I was top 10 out of 60+ applicants, but still it's disappointing. Still waiting on a few journalism spots. It's so hard to get a damn interview. I sent applications to the Montana Conservation Corps today and plan on zipping another one off in the morning for a Fisheries Tech job in Everett Washington with the WCC. These are the first Americorps applications I've got around to filling out. Oh laziness how I loathe thee.
Mmm, O'Fallon's Peach Wheat Beer is tasty! I tried it last night, finished a 6-pack, and ventured out to get another one. I like most things peach I've decided. I've been reading lots--man I love reading. Finished Harry Potter & the Half-Blood Prince, The Unbearable Lightness of Being, Desert Solitaire, and Cosmos most recently. I've gone camping and floating several times too; this last weekend with my dad and some of my second-cousins. I slept outside one of the nights and got attacked by an armadillo. We sat around the fire, cooked Pineapple Upside-Down Cake, played washers, Thirteen, fished some, it was great.
Some new neighbors cut down eight trees a few days ago--as it were, all the trees in their yard. Monstrous ecologically valuable trees. It must have cost them a fortune, and I'm sure their air conditioning bill is going to skyrocket. It's been sort of a fiasco--the whole neighborhood's sad about it, mostly cuz three of the trees were planted on Arbor Day by the previous owner's children to honor their father. I worked for the man, Mr. Bass, a little old German immigrant, when I was growing up. He was one of the kindest, gentlest souls to grace my life, the kind of man who would come over and help other people in their yards into his late 90's. He built that house and several others on the block and died recently at the ripe age of 99, still raking leaves, gardening, and taking care of his yard til his dying day. These fucks just moved right in and turned the place into urban blight. It makes me heartsick. His kids drive by the house all the time, and they are going to be ill.
Despite what you might think, I'm not a "tree-hugger." I just think people should think about the effects of their actions. Hacking down eight freaking trees in Kirkwood, the Greentree City, is ridiculous. The idiot just didn't want to pick up gumballs. That's his damn excuse. People have a right to do what they want to their property, and certainly things change, but for those of us who knew Mr. Bass, there's a sense of sadness. The whole thing has turned my mom into a community tree activist, which is funny.
I wish somebody was here to teach me the guitar. I can't very well be a rockstar until I learn the guitar. Screw this teaching myself crap.
Later.