yo everybody. christina and I are now living in Galesburg after spending a week driving out of the accursed ugitude of Pullman, WA. We are now fervently planning our show for May 19th at the Big Gay Gala, but it was nice taking a week off of music. We drove to Yellowstone and saw tons of bison, elk, prairie dogs, etc. and Old Faithful which was somewhat lame because you couldn't see the spouts of water since they were hidden behind big puffs of smoke (it was about 35 or 40 degrees outside). We also went down to Colorado Springs to see a certain curly headed psychology freak who is manipulating the minds of the religious right. We ambled in the Garden of the Gods with him and chatted and it was quite nice, although the gods apparently love to surround their beautiful gardens with miles of strip malls and suburban sprawl. But at least the Garden is nice... Then we drove across Nebraska and iowa as fast as we could. so now we're here and I'm helping Fletch build a deck at Robin Reagan and Tony Prado's house, and it is quite fun actually. I've been sweating my balls off for once, instead of sitting around making permanent ass marks in the chairs in my music room in Pullman. Rachel, it's funny that i read your post just now because I just got done soliciting random bands and venues in Iowa city to try to book some shows. Actually, do you have any good places to suggest in Iowa where we could possibly land a gig? Anywho, I hope all's well with everybody else. Drew, I'll be in the Kankakee area sometime in June, so I'll probably see you around. Maybe I can break the law and you can defend me and you can hone some slimeball lawyer tactics to get me off the hook. :) Sleepytime....

Hey hey. Emily just wanted me to tell you all that that link down there was supposed to go to a long and beautifully-written blog entry for us to read, but it doesn't work because Blogger deleted the entry because it hates her. That's all i have to say about that.

As for my life, i am the proud lessee of a brand new (1917) apartment in Galesburg Illinois on Prairie Street a couple of blocks north of Main. I will soon be working in a crappy, windowless office out in the "suburbs" of Galesburg on a plan to revitalize Main Street (a touch of irony there, eh?). I am almost almost almost done with the damn semester. Just a couple more days.

Today I signed the paper to make it official--I'm taking a leave of absence next year. Still not sure how to feel about it. I sorely need the break, though! My MA will be official soon, and then we'll see what happens ... might move abroad, might stay here and try to dance, might try to become a community organizer/activist, ... so many options. I'll keep you all posted. I'm pretty sad about not being a part of the grad student community next year, though.

Adam, I'm totally excited about the Hoot Hoots album! There's a distinct possibility that I'll make it to the midwest this summer, in which case I'll get to see you and make off with some merch. :) I'm really hoping that I can somehow see some of you guys this summer.