Dept of Transport has decided: I am decidedly NOT doomed to the life of the office administrator...



I am however doomed to worry about rotten teeth and expensive health insurance.

Was it possible to repair the machine in New Orleans? Probably so. However, it might have to be sent to some place like Milwaukee or Chicago or some other city whose name Ignatius associated with efficient repair shops and permanently smoking factories. Ignatius hoped that the baseball game was being carefully handled in shipment, that none of its little players were being chipped or maimed by brutal railroad employees determined to ruin the railroad forever with damage claims from shippers, railroad employees who would subsequently go on strike and destroy the Illinois Central.

confederacy of dunces, read upon the request of my father

I'm teaching this class with Justin. Which is slightly outrageous because neither of us has ever worked as a mechanics...we are just bike nerds. If you want to spend time fiddling around with your bike at westtown with me, write an email. The class is filling up. The bike in the flier was patented in 1890.

Some might think it is stupid to spend my weekdays and weekends on bikes...but if someone wants to teach me I can't say no. I imagine taking what I know and moving to Virginia Beach or China and leading a quiet life as a mechanic.

stress bleeder

I've been so stressed lately my nose has started bleeding.
It just runs blood on its own, which is embarrassing because
people must think I'm doing coke...too bad I'm naturally
twitchy, over anxious, paranoid, and plagued by a feeling
of euphoria that drops to a deep depression every 20 min.

In a fit of irony the tension of work, art performance and an
illicit crush: while making my nose bleed have made my period
stop...this is worrisome because the only non-pregers women
I know who don't get their periods are bulimic/fucked up.

In good news, my condition is something that attracts
employers like a pheromone. I've gotten 2 awesome job
offers in the past week. In bad news, my condition is something
that scares the shit out of every hipster boy I approach with
any mild pass at romance.

You Should Come

voting

Tuesday last week should have been a big day, a killer for people who work in city government. Election day. Oddly Mayor Daley's Bicycling Ambassadors did not bat an eye. Mayor Daley was elected again. This is his 16th year as mayor of Chicago.

I went to work early so I could leave early to vote. No one told me that according to the law employers must give you 2 paid hours off to vote. Well actually they told me at lunch, thanks a lot diligent protectors of the democratic american way.

My polling place was deserted, only one other person was voting while I was there, everything was very informal, I connected lines between arrows, privacy was given by metal briefcases opened up with cardboard blinders on the side.

Maybe because I grew up in a DC beltway neighborhood this election seemed strange. I did not even know who was running against Daley until 2 days before the election?! What kind of a campaign is this? I voted for Dorthy because I heard she is 'progressive' from a friend. If I watched TV would I be more informed? Doubtful.

The free weekly paper that I read as my main new source wrote a big piece on Daley saying all the reasons Daley sucks (public housing, recycling, cta, etc being in horrible condition). They argued that Daley rules because Chicagoans are afraid of change...comparing us to women who stay with an abusive boyfriend.

Fuck that. I just saw a documentary on city planning in Copenhagen. The man in charge of making the streets safe for bicyclists and pedestrians says he wakes up every morning and knows that the city he lives in is a little better than it was the day before. He has had that feeling every morning for 22 years.

In Chicago we wake up and hope things aren't a little worse than they were yesterday (the trains breaking down, new condos displace families, grocery stores close, another Alderman caught in a corruption scandal).

Should I move to Europe? Moving is a privilege. When I registered to vote here in Chicago I was told by the woman working behind the dest at city hall that voting was a privilege.