weapons of massdistraction

It was a strangely uneven day. I felt well enough to go back to the office but still sickly-ish. The sun came out after several days in hiding. A photogenic friend asked to barter goods for my services (of a photographic nature). Hotlanta called to chat - and made me rather jealous, that he is seeing A Place to Bury Strangers tonight at the Drunken Unicorn - and another dear friend called later on, telling me I’m like a big sister to him. Aww. But I was floored by an unpleasant surprise…at the post office, of all places. Thankfully that was tempered by some most excellent news. I’ll be helping a friend drive back to LA next month, then flying home to the Twin Cities. This is just the thing. I’ve been in need of a change of scenery and some good girl talk. Bring on the Grand Canyon and various roadside attractions! We haven’t plotted our route just yet but I wouldn’t mind dropping by Denver’s Watercourse. Feel free to suggest other stopovers - particularly of the quirky must-see type or the to-die-for vegan-friendly variety.

Five more good things:

• Enjoying Exploding Head, the new release from the aforementioned A Place to Bury Strangers. But I’ve also been listening to Rush. Voluntarily. I blame Judd Apatow, Jason Segel, Ari Gold and others of their ilk.
• An interview with illustrator Myke Amend. And illustrator/artist Isabel Samaras participated in the Hell’s Belles Pinewood Derby, held at an art gallery where she spotted some amazing octopus art by Kevin E Taylor. A little searching turned up more of his artwork, including another incredible octopus.
• I love Clockwork’s office space in the old Rayvic Building, really, I do. But check out this little office in the woods, just outside of Madrid. Amazing!
• I’ve been known to purchase a thing or two from etsy (but have been too lazybones to set up my own etsy shop) and giggled madly when I saw Regretsy today: “Handmade? It looks like you made it with your feet!” Ha!
• European Farmers’ Anger Spills Into the Streets of Brussels. That photo makes me gag. I’ve been vegan so long that I really am squeamish about animal secretions. Still, Europeans sure know how to protest.

I’ve got enough on my plate for this weekend but was just reminded that the St. Paul Art Crawl is also happening. And it is so very close to home. But I don’t want to run myself ragged trying to cram too much onto my dance card. Things are going to be GO GO GO starting Friday and continuing for the next several weeks. There goes my downtime. Oops.