Come home soon

I got another awsomecam, because all the ones I had brought were all full. I wish I had thought of it sooner, I wouldn't have been so conservative with my picture taking.

I didn't actually have enough time to head in the opposite direction of the airport to do some last minute shopping. It reminds me of this one time that I missed a plane because I had been watching Soul Train, I know; who knew it was still on, actually it was finally taken off the air about a year ago, but again who knew it was still on.

I went to H&M in search of some euro-trash-fashion-at-a-discount to commemorate my trip to New York. I got some new underpants.

This is me walking quickly to the subway station.

It's actually pretty far from H&M.

These are just some cute girls I saw in the subway station. I thought that maybe I should delete this picture for fear of seeming creepy, but, hey whatever. If you know who they are maybe don't mention that I took a picture of them without asking.

I made it to the airport in just the nick of time. I got an ice cream sundae for dinner, since they wont give you an actual meal on a plane anymore.

On my flight to New York they had had satellite radio with many stations playing a variety of musics, so, I was pretty excited to listen to the radio. This plane was not so well equipped. Instead I was forced to watch American Gladiators (pictured above) and the reality show where Tommy Lee makes out with large breasted women.

Getting off the plane in Portland, I ran into one of the artists I work with at the art center in Roseburg. He said he was picking up a friend, and did not offer me a ride back.

I stayed on the couch at Mary's house. Said couch is a little too short. When I was laying down, I hit my head on it pretty hard an I actually did see stars briefly.

I'm not sure what this look is supposed to convey. I kind of like the picture though.

This was a delicious egg and cheese sandwich I got at a coffee place near Mary's (now old) apartment.

There was this article in the Oragonian about this cat that can predict if you will die. If the "Death Kitty" lies down with you you will die within the next four hours.

I found this Mao door mat at a gallery while I was waiting for my bus. It reminded me of this one time that I wanted to borrow $50,000 so that I could get this giant stuffed bear by Marcel Dzama. I thought it would be a great conversation piece, could ward of intruders, and would increase in value. Nobody seemed to agree and most people seemed to think that it would have ended up as a very expensive scratching post for the cats...maybe they were right.

I got a new battery for my watch. Before, I had tried to get the battery changed at WalMart, instead of changing the battery they lost a screw and told me to go to a jeweler.

The ride back to Roseburg on the Greyhound was considerably longer than the ride up.

I think my apartment still has fleas.

And then I did a horecrux

I took a bunch of pictures at various galleries in Chelsea. Somehow, most of them were erased.. Luckily most of those pictures were of the blue chip galleries, so, it's no big loss. I will note that Thordis Adalsteinsdottir had a pretty nice painting at the group show Bad Big Love at Stux.
This is a picture of a floating figure at a David LaChapele show. He also had a series of family photos involving booze and guns that were pretty hilarious. I just found that David LaChapele is on MySpace, hopefully he will accept my friend request.
This was a extensive group show. There was allot of work and not really any way to identify who did what. Two points for anonymity. It may have been at Derek Eller gallery, I at least know it was at one of the 27th street galleries.

I think I liked this drawing. I don't know who did it or where it was...
This was a group show about "laying bricks" at Wallspace. T
his is a scary bird attacking someone at Clementine.
Apparently, Alison Hawkins is showing at The Proposition.
So is Dane Patterson, however this is not one of his pictures.
Postmasters had a show titled something like "Not Your Parents MTV". There was one piece called Karaoke DeathMatch 100 in which two guys had a karaoke off, they competed in one hundred rounds of karaoke.

Maybe, there is something amusing about that bus, or maybe I wanted a picture of this guys ass.
The MTA has installed these informative signs in, some, subway stations. The only problem is that they don't tell you if these times are arrivals or departures or maybe something else entirely. Tax dollars well spent...

I met Stefan and Orion at the Delancey to see their friends band play. We made it in time for the last song of their set. I don't remember (if I ever knew) the name of the band, but that one song was pretty rockin'.

Since it was $8 beer night at the Delancy, we went to some bar that appeared to have been a 1950's themed restaurant at some point in time. It was a little creepy, so we left.
Orion's lady friend told us she knew of a bar with a secret room.
The bar with the secret room was a hipster-meat-market. There was some band playing in what, I guess, had once been the secret room. I also don't know the name of this band.
We left and went to The Library/Reading Room/something along those lines. Someone offered to sell me some "great blow". I declined.

On the subway home many passengers had copies of that book about that troll/wizard kid.

The cigarettes taste so good

I took the Greyhound from Roseburg to Portland. I already had a ticket, however, the woman working the counter felt it necessary to give me hard time about not being at the station an hour early.

I met Mary and her friend Kim for lunch in Portland. We went to a hippie burrito place. Mary didn't get anything.

I went to galleries in the Pearl District. As usual, I was a little put off by some galleries taking themselves way too seriously.

I went to some mall where a woman at a kiosk washed my hands and then seemed annoyed that I wouldn't buy a giant container of salt.

I was tired of wandering around so I headed to the airport. I bought a transfer from some kids for 50 cents.

My plane was delayed.

I went to the bookstore and got recommendations on some books. The guy who did the recommending was extremely appreciative that I had asked and taken his recommendations.

I ended up getting Battle Royale. It's kind of like Lord of the Flies, but much more violent, and not really that much like Lord of the Flies.

When I arrived in New York my phone battery was dead. I had to wander around JFK looking for an outlet.

I met Stefan at the Eye & Ear clinic. He Had been there since early in the morning.

I had an egg and cheese sandwich for breakfast at Mud Coffee. When I got out, Stefan was still waiting.

I went with Stefan, Ei and Gillian to the Stone. I wont go into my issues with the Stone, as I have mentioned them before. We saw Yasunao Tone (Laptop) with Carlos Giffoni (synthesizer) and Alan Licht (guitar). The performance had it's moments, I also wont go into my issues with laptop performance or Stefan's issues with analog synthesizers. Anyway, the performance was quite loud, and went for about an hour, there were points throughout the performance where one could have ended, one should have ended, and where performers and audience alike wanted it to end. After the performance, we were all promptly removed from the venue, in preparation for the next performance.

Ei left and we met up with Greg and went to that Thai restaurant in Williamsburg.

Gillian left and we went to Greenpoint and wandered around for a while trying to find some party. We found said party, however, it had mostly dispersed by the time we got there(it was around 11:30 on a Thursday). We stuck around too drink the beer we had brought. They were blasting N.W.A and Peaches in the backyard, and no one seemed to mind .

We went to Enids, where we met some very angry young ladies. They had been forcibly removed from some concert (maybe Torri Amos), and were now wandering the streets drinking from a large jug of red wine.

My Awesome Road Trip or The web of lies begins

Short version: Me, Laura and her cat went to several DMV's. The car IS registered. The car broke down in Clearfield, Pennsylvania (200 or so miles out of New York). The car would cost $1000 dollars to fix and wouldn't be done till Tuesday. I will be buying a used Buick Friday morning.

Long version: Yesterday morning, I picked up Laura in the Bronx, we headed to New Jersey to get a replacement temporary registration. Somehow, we ended up at the least helpful DMV in the universe. The woman working was so un-helpful and so un-friendly. We went back to New York, I tried to get a temporary registration but, in the end I got an actual registration. I had to give them my Brooklyn address, even though I no longer live in New York, or anywhere really, because one cannot register a car in New York unless one lives in New York. A woman, also in line at the NY DMV, said I could use her address.

Several hours later and $250 dollars lighter we started on our 15 hour drive toward Chicago. Driving through Pennsylvania, the "check oil" light went on, we took the next exit at the end of the off-ramp the car stopped and all of the emergency lights came on. Me and Laura sat there for a while with the idea that if we let the car "rest" then all would be ok. blah, blah, blah... Not much further in the future, a guy named Tony came by, it was suspected that our timing belt had broken. Tony had a chain in his truck and towed us over to the Snappy's parking lot. He had to go visit his mother in the hospital, he gave us the number for a mechanic and said he would stop by after his visit to the hospital. Tony kept remarking on how much the people in this town were jerks and how they won't help anyone. Tony said we could stay with him and his wife. The mechanic was closed. One of the women working at Snappy's, managed to get a hold of a mechanic named Sean. So, Sean from Shawns Auto Repair came with a tow truck that already had two recked cars on it and checked out the car. It was in fact the timing belt. While he talked to me he kept getting side tracked by other people passing through the parking lot. Sean made fun of the women working at Snappy's and the made fun of Laura, then he gave her a hug.

It was decided that we would call him in the morning.

Me and Laura walked to the four different hotels near by in search of the cheapest one. We made bet's as to the prices of the different hotels, I think I won once and Laura won twice. We ended up staying at the Super 8 Motel in Clearfield, PA, it was $52 for a double. We lied about not having any pets (Laura's cat is joining us on our trip).

I talked to my mom and said I was in Virginia or maybe Pennsylvania. We had dinner at the Taco Bell/Pizza Hut/KFC. I had KFC, Laura had some side orders and then some nachos.

This morning, we had some continental breakfast, I didn't notice a copy of USA Today, but, maybe I wasn't looking hard enough. After Sean came to get the info on the car, me, Laura and the cat walked up the hill to the truck-stop cafe. We had the all you can eat buffet. In the bathroom was this soap dispenser.
Awesome.

Sean came and towed the car to his garage. We re-checked into the Super 8. The same women from last night was working the counter, so Laura did not mention the cat.

We took naps. I woke up when Sean called. He told me that the broken timing belt was the least of my worries. Other parts had been put out of commission, either because of, or the result of the timing belt breaking. Long story short(er) it wouldn't be ready until Tuesday and it would cost $1000 (far exceeding my already dwindling emergency budget). The other option...he had a Buick for sale, the car belonged to an old women and only has 50,000 miles.

Me and Laura went through our options. I borrowed money from my parents. I wept a little. So, as of tomorrow, I will be the "proud" owner of a Buick (I don't know what year or model), I hope all of my stuff fits.

We had Burger King for dinner.