that's us, before we got there

From time to time, nothing makes me feel more out of touch with people than the Interweb: Photos of weddings (wait. you were engaged? two years ago? wow. huh!) and photos of babes (everyone's birthing new humans at the moment, and I suspect this'll continue forever); distant strains of virtual conversation; conversational snippets; 140-character memoirs about meals and cats. I know some of this out-of-touch vibe is inevitable: We grow older and naturally roam within narrower, but perhaps more purposefully defined, circles; I know part of this is that I've been a real crappy penpal/long-distance pal the past couple years, and I feel guilty about letting certain correspondences fall by the wayside, even though this is a semi-typical (albeit semi-lame) course to follow in this, our 21st century; and lastly, yeah: THE 21st CENTURY. Seems like a little of this guilt is a very contemporary predicament and, from time to time, unavoidable, since we now “know” A TON about each other (friend, family member, long-ago classmate, friend of family member)—or well, a virtual ton. In conclusion: I'm sure the pioneers didn't attempt to keep in touch with everyone they met on the wide frontier. Except for people they met who had like, a surplus of medical supplies or knew a surprising amount about animal husbandry or had a really amazing recipe for corn pudding. Also in conclusion: Nothing puts me back in time like Autumn and, in many ways, back in touch. I have some letters to write.

Other recent wtgs:

+ Interview with Bruce Willen and Nolen Strals of Post Typography (Proximity)

+ Review of Bright-Sided, by Barbara Ehrenreich (Time Out Chicago)

+ Feature on Joan of Arc's Flowers (Ghettoblaster)



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A Backward Glance O'er Travel'd Roads AKA Photos It Took Me a Long Time to Upload



Matt & Heidi got married in the Michigan woods.



It rained...



...then it didn't!





Everything was illuminated.





Beauty.





There were horses and a pony on the property.





Amanda made sure they rec'd tons of attention.





As did John.





Celebrated my 28th birthday w/ the fam at Chuck E. Cheese.



It was Kale's 3rd BD also, and believe it or not, Chuck E's was his idea.




FYI: 9 million tickets still only get you a tiny pack of Pop Rocks and an eraser.





Pretty sure Brooke took this one.



The rest of birthday week incl. such excitement as karaoke, dinner at avec, mini-pumpkins, and a marathon, the latter of which was (not surprisingly) ridiculously long but (surprisingly) survivable. I forgot to run with any food, kind of assuming they’d have plenty of it along the course, but no. :( Around mile 14, I thought I was gonna pass out from insane hunger. But I made it to the Power Gel station at mile 18 and fortunately got a second wind. I’m not sure what wind I was on when I finished, but I was extremely stoked to finish, nonetheless.



Scare-a-thon. (Photo by someone professional.)