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Here's how I decorate my home office:

-I've collected quite the family of unicorns over the years. I found the tall one in the family basement. I assume she belonged to my sister. The goatee dude and the three kids were given to me in the box on the very right with the National Geographic clippings piled on top. Cronos, a cat, broke the middle one.
-My high school class ring is in there. It's an awesome piece of jewelry.
-The shot glass full of buttons is a gift from Germany. The buttons were found or purchased by me and are mostly made by friends.
-Behind that is an art deco lighter I got from goodwill.
-The lovecat was a present. It holds quarters.
-It bothers me that the top of the Post-Dispatch says the word 'website' before 'newspaper.' I read stltoday.com daily and pay too much for a crossword puzzle a couple times a week.

The aforementioned clippings fulfilling their purpose.


Rte. 3, headed south somewhere between Alton and Granite City. It's a barbecue pit of some kind, and the greatest spoiler ever.

On a more serious note, The drive up Route 3 to Alton and back is fantastic. There's the biggest goddamned factories across from farms, a geodesic dome, some kind of Lewis and Clark tower that you can go up and see the rivers meeting...In the early mornings you can see strange lights from the river beyond the tree line. Looking forward to seeing it in the snow.

dogs, dudes, and 'ludes

I celebrated 9/11 with my roommate Kenny by roadtripping it to Chicago for a tramadol-, pot-, hamburger-, and nature metal-fueled weekend of stony bliss. We got on the road about 5:00 pm Friday and arrived at our host Joseph's apartment in Lincoln Park around 9:30. The trip up was uneventful. I drove to test out my new car, and it proved to be a comfortable, economical, and convenient road trip solution. We stopped at a Burger King in Springfield.

Joseph, Kenny's brother, lives above Trinity, an Irish pub near W Diversey and Halstead, and there were a bunch of skinny college dudes around all weekend. The place had been completely renovated inside sometime in the 90s, so there was a dated vibe the place. I forgot to take a lot of pictures.

Here I am in the living room with Walter Sobchak.


All night we were worried about the parking situation, as there was no free parking available on the street. Luckily I was able to secure a spot in the Home Depot garage a half-block away with the help of Kenny and Joe's mom. Thanks again, Cindy. We had a 4:00am breakfast at Golden Nugget, a Denny's-type place.

Saturday, after a late $3.00 burger-and-fries lunch at Trinity, we took the train to Reggie's to see Agalloch. Everyone on the train, it seemed, was headed to a show. Aside from us, the crowd was an even split of people going to see either U2 or Omarion.

At Reggie's, we hunkered down in some comfy chairs front and center on the balcony and had the best seats in the house. Our friend Marissa came up and we were able to take smoke breaks in shifts and not lose our seats. Local openers Velnias and Indian stole the show almost, with Indian having the best mix of the night. It was punishing, and matched the level of intensity they had been at a few years ago when I first saw them. Velnias are just awesome, like a funeral doom version of Agalloch.

Another band played too, but I forget anything about them.

Agalloch had a terrible mix. the guitars were too quiet and the bass too loud. Otherwise they performed flawlessly and the clean vocals were actually good, despite my fears.

Back in Lincoln Park after the show, Kenny and I tried and failed to get food at two separate late-nite Mexican joints. We left pissed and hungry before ordering due to douchebags before winding up at the Golden Nugget again. The food's not that great.

Sunday, We met up with Marissa again before heading home and enjoyed a burger at Kuma's Corner. My friend Heather, whom I have not seen in too many months, got us a table relatively quickly and the bornerfication of the weekend was complete. I got the High On Fire, which is a burger with prisciutto, grilled pineapple, roasted red pepper, sweet chili, and siracha. With waffle fries and honey mustard for dipping on the side. This meal, combined with Heather's graceful and prompt service, was the highlight of the weekend and the perfect coda to a wonderful adventure.

On the way home we stopped in a cornfield in Elkhart, IL. Kenny took a shit while I photographed the sunset.

He's in the lower right somewhere fertilizing a future box of crackerjacks.

We got back to St. Louis around 9:30. I won my dollar back on a scratch-off ticket, did some laundry, ended things with the woman I was dating, and returned to work Monday morning a tired, yet renewed man.