one of those days that takes years to live

the boys and the essay contest winner
Originally uploaded by faithful nomad.

today was a very full day.
and given my particular summer, that's saying something.

it began by waking up at the hotel at seven, getting to the somerville at eight. we started setting up everything for the autograph session: the merchandise booths, the Elias booth, the raffle prizes, line control, and the actual place for the boys to sign autographs at the stage. the line to get in for autographs was already running down the block before 8am.

brad was around and enthusiastically greeted my mom and sister; it was a calm spot in the middle of everyone being frantic. we opened the doors to autographs around 10am. i started by helping at the Elias Booth, the idea being that the kids could learn something while waiting in line. but the line was going too slowly, and i instead was recruited to take kids' pictures with the boys. around noon, all the kids in line had their chance and were shuffled up to the balcony for the raffle drawing. MY MOTHER won part of a mural, but she and anne had already left. i told shane to let someone else win, and now some poor kid has to cart home that huge piece of plywood. and probably loves it more than we ever will!

after the raffle, the noon show started and things wound down quickly. brad is playing a show in maine tonight, so some kids left for that. i went to find my family and get some lunch. after we ate, gary picked us up at the hyatt and took us to the airport, where we parted ways. gary and i were there to pick up a friend of his too, so we circled for what ended up being forty minutes looking for jeff!

jeff, gary and i went into the city to show jeff around. he's another good solid southern boy, so i immeidately liked him. we were too late in the day for church already, so we moseyed around boston commons, found some dinner. hamlet was playing, so we caught a little of that - VERY cool, modern play - and walked some more.

we ended up dancing at a reggae bar for a good part of the night after that. i kind of danced a bit with the lead singer :) after heading home, the three of us got some ice cream on the second floor. the rest of the house was empty. no one had called me, so i went to bed without knowing that my team was out at Chili's. they got home around 2:30am, i woke up to say goodbye to ryan and matt (who were leaving at 5 for the airport), and went back to bed.

the two halves of my day could have each been a day in themselves. i was exhausted, but every second was genuine and happy.

eric giving bryan some support

eric supporting bryan
Originally uploaded by faithful nomad.

we started off the morning with an assessment of thursday and friday. spirits are VERY high, especially with the drum circles starting to form around Somerville... people are walking around singing dispatch music, and the community is building. it's pretty sweet. the day is spent mostly working the shows. i grabbed a slice of pizza with some kids for dinner, there's a nice cheap place down the street, but dinner seemed to come really early. where did the day go?

brad showed up for a few of the showings, which is amazing for the fans coming to see it. kids swarm him everywhere, and it's no surprise to me! he's great at making people feel special, and he's good on his feet - which came in handy when at the same time all the theaters started having trouble with the sound and picture. turns out it was an electrical problem, but basically the film went down for a good twenty minutes, and so what does brad do? work the crowd. among his other talents, he's a fairly good beatboxer?! so he showed of those skills from what i heard. he and helmut schleppi (the director) also interviewed the crowd a bit while the technical problems were overcome.

after the 10pm show, our team met across the street and got some ice cream. we sat together outside and proceeded to have as close a thing as we could have to a closing meeting. thankfully it wasn't too tearjerking, but it couldn't be helped to have a little nostalgia as the summer was quickly drawing to a close.

afterwards, around 11, i hopped on the T red line and rode downtown so i could crash at my family's hotel room. this bed is AMAZING. far cry from the loveseat, obviously. mom and anne are so great to be here, they saved me some dinner and we watched saturday night live as they told me about the comedy club they went to. went to sleep feeling good to have them around and excited for sunday.

family and friends

pimp daddy glasses found in wimpy
Originally uploaded by faithful nomad.

today my mom and sister came to visit. came to see lil' old me in my crazy DISPATCH world and meet my crazy dispatch friends. i was in the bathroom when they arrived, so true to form they started introducing themselves to the people around the movie lobby. when i came up and found them, we headed off across the street to Davis Square and got to hang out a bit. owen came by and met them, and soon thereafter learned why i offered to map out my extended family :) catching up on the family gossip can be a strenuous affair. there are, after all, a kajillion of us running around at the same time and talking with our hands at once. it's the italian way. the highlight, though, was learning that my cousin lou proposed TODAY to his girlfriend, who we all love. erin's amazing, louie's amazing, and they will be amazing together. i love them both. i'm more than a little excited about this.

today was spent working at various movie showings, after owen met my family i took them to the 2pm Dispatch showing - which they loved! that felt good, that they enjoyed what i've been working for this whole time. afterwards they headed out back to downtown boston, and i worked passing out fliers, putting out fires, generally putting smiles on faces until i got home around 3am. owen put a smile on MY face by wearing these glasses all day.

it got worse before it got better

it got worse before it got better
Originally uploaded by faithful nomad.

matty keeps the camera rolling and eric offers consolation to a sad, sad Wimpy. the smoke went on for about five minutes, getting thicker until we had to get a hose and spray her down. then with about a gallon of antifreeze and water, wimpy chugged on like the little engine that could. and she did, she could, all the way to somerville. after that point... well, let's not get into that.

fruits of our labor

view from the balcony (didn't mean to leave the flash on, but oh well)
Originally uploaded by faithful nomad.

THE MOVIE HAS PREMIERED
AND IT WAS GREAT

the day started with wimpy spewing vaporous smoke from the dashboard which became a thick white cloud at the gas station. i'll post pictures soon. it was seriously... i've never seen a car do that. wimpy has a problem where she cannot keep her cool. the engine overheats if you drive around the block. and it's in this condition that we took her to somerville to cart the Dispatch Trio to their movie premiere. she did surprisingly all right on the highway, but we bought gallons of water and antifreeze once we got to Somerville.

this was my first time in Somerville, and it's interesting to think of the Dispatch history that i missed there. it was the first show they ever sold out... it's in the documentary quite a bit, so it's really cool to watch the movie in the room where the boys' last rehersal took place! we got a mini-tour and some lunch before having a meeting. this part makes me sick - wimpy's smoke was unexpected, and getting her some attention meant that we were late and missed a suprise lunch that shane had set up with the boys for us! so instead of chillin with Chad, Brad, and Pete, we wolfed down sandwiches at our meeting.

spent the day mostly stapling packets to hand out to kids in line - kind of a weekend events rundown - and walking around asking people what they need. helping out everyone who needed it... there was one minor fiasco when i opened my backpack to change into my nice shirt and it WASN'T THERE. i had to greet people for the first ten minutes in my ratty work shirt (a pink softball jersey i first aquired when i was twelve, it has my name on the back) but that was fixed when ashley brought it for me from the house. it had been hanging in the basement to dry, so i'd forgotten it.

we seated all these people that i recognized from the movie, and that was pretty neat, people like the bandmates' parents, some music industry people, and the director and his wife. then around eight the boys themselves came in with helmut schleppi (director) and we gave them a standing ovation. shane jumped on stage, introduced a few key people, and we started the show. IT WAS AMAZING. i'd only seen rough cuts, so to see the sound at 100% and the picture fantastically crisp was a new experience. afterwards, as the credits started to roll, there was another standing ovation and more acknowledgements from shane. she recognized the intern team as well, and that felt great. everything since this little blog began was, in the bigger picture, for tonight.

afterwards we schmoozed in the lobby, all the kids from the second floor were there (very cool) and there was an after party a few blocks away. the after party was kind of strange, all the people there had been in the movie and so they all knew each other, and i only knew the intern team and the band. so i didn't stay long, but i did manage to tell brad and chad they were amazing. brad, true to form, was wonderful and made me feel like he was thankful that i was there. chad was extremely gracious and knew exactly who i was, and proceeded to compliment my design talent. i managed to get my wits about me enough to reply "for us, this is a fun summer, for you this is ten years of work. we're only trying to reflect back on to you how much we appreciate who you are and what you do." which is true. it's not like i'm playing down what i've done - i've worked my ass off this summer and it was great - but there would be nothing if Dispatch wasn't everything it was and is.

so that was cool. to see and be seen by a favorite of mine. went back and worked the midnight show after the party, and then got home around 3am. sleep is wonderful.

little peace and quiet

marquis
Originally uploaded by faithful nomad.

tomorrow's the movie. THE MOVIE. we premiere it. we see how many kids are coming to see it. hopefully twenty thousand. that number has a two and four zeroes. four of them... 20,000 kids to see Dispatch.

i'm skipping my last chance at a state radio show tonight because i need to calm down. we're going to have a very intense next few days, and the last few have been seriously emotional. the end of the summer, things are coming out, things are being addressed. things like

(each question is a different person, mind you)
where is this relationship going?
why don't you like me any more?
did you really tape that?
why is everyone naked? (**taping unrelated to nudity...)
are you saying someone stole my wallet?
so are we doing one last group bonding thing or what?

so tonight it's me and a few boys at home, which is just fine by me. we're going to kinko's but first i'm doing laundry and laying out my clothes for the whole weekend. i need to get organized tonight, my last chance to do so before it's time to pack. but i STILL don't know when i'm going home, so how many tee shirts should i leave out?

my SISTER ANNE and my MOM are COMING on FRIDAY. i'm a little excited! i feel bad because i can't spend all my time with them in boston, but it will be cool that they can see the house, hang out downtown, and we're having breakfast with gary and owen on saturday. so all in all, i predict that things are going to end painfully abruptly... but i also think we'll all feel satisfied. but when do i go home? sometime before or on august 6th. this is like nicaragua, i can't think about the next step until it comes. things like job hunt, moving back downtown, getting back to church, design camp in october, visiting julie in san diego in november, how these relationships will continue, how i can nurture relationships that are barely there - that i want to grow when there won't be elements present that really help, like proximity or necessity. i like relationships that are like "let's get a cup of coffee," and it's so much harder to continue things that are based on a "once upon a time when we did that thing."

beginning of the end

a mess of my work
Originally uploaded by faithful nomad.

we're at the calm before the storm. projects are being sent to printers, mail is coming in, people are suddenly in town, all hell. is. breaking. loose. THURSDAY IS WHAT ALL SUMMER HAS LED TO.

projects done today include things like fliers, VIP passes, filing our 501 papers - AGAIN - but this time with our lawyer/saint Ms. Carlson; making sure we have enough sheets to pass out that outline the weekend activities, making sure our guest list for the premiere is up to date. designing and assembling our Elias Fund information booth. arguing with the city of Somerville to allow us to pretty much do whatever we want.

basically, loose ends everywhere that need to be remembered and then need to be tied. it's like one of those days where there are a thousand staccato things to do and every ten minutes you have to shift gears and solve a new set of problems. basically, the way i thrive. moderate to high stress, thinking on my feet, executing and moving on in rapid succession all day long. feeling very satisfied at the end.

ended the day with Owen, went to see The Island. pretty good movie.

two days in a row

for two consecutive days now i've been downtown, which is the depressing record that i hold for the summer. not having a car has been rough on my psyche to say the least. today i did all the things that i have loved best about being out here... took a walk, made some brunch - i eat two meals a day out here, 11am and about 8pm - put in a few hours of work, went to church with gary, met some homeless guys, encouraged them, went for a walk around boston commons, had dinner at Faneuil Hall, walked and talked some more, talked to another homeless guy gary and i met a few weeks ago, drove home, worked, wrote some poetry, went to bed.

it was a long, full day. one of the coolest things that i've seen growing in myself is this readiness to talk to strangers that's always been there but never really developed. every week when gary and i go to church, one or both of us sees a person and just feels a stirring to speak to them. it usually ends up in an hour or so of dialogue, and these people at least once shake their head and say "why am i telling you this? you don't need to hear it. why am i telling you these stories and secrets? don't tell anyone. i don't tell people, usually." i mean, i definitely try to talk to strangers - but it's usually in other countries, so the conversations are not what i would call deep. they are more what i would call needlessly complicated due to a lack of common language. but talking to strangers in english, in America... it's just not common practice.

we met four people this afternoon: cheryl, paul, jack, and patrick. cheryl and jack have been married for over twenty years. jack told us secrets that i won't ever share, but were close to his heart and were about his wife. special things he knows he needs to protect in her. cheryl was asleep in a wheelchair the whole time we talked with the men - she has pneumonia and won't go to a hospital because it means being separated from jack. jack said he loves her so much that he would jump off a building for a million dollars just so he could give it to her and make her go to the hospital. patrick had a brain aneurysm ten years ago, when he was 33. he looks like he's 25 years old. he has a maniacal laugh that has a tenderness to it, like you feel safe even though he sounds like he's about to scream. he refuses to use profanity, and gently teases everyone else. he has a degree in engineering, but the aneurysm took away his mathematical abilities. it would be like if i went blind. i don't know how to do anything other than work visually. the idea of losing that is enough to paralyze me with fear. paul has lost his legs, but gary convinced him to use the elevator and accompany us to church. paul is skinny but has extremely bright eyes and seriously excellent manners, lots of please and thank you and may i. they had wonderful sense of dignity while talking with us, and shared a sense of camaraderie among themselves.

i said to gary today that i think the Holy Spirit works in our presence as much as in our words. it works in showing that you want to be there, that you want to listen and that you're not judging or disgusted or only there to throw down a few bucks and move along. people, and i think this is inherent in all people, seem to me to largely know right from wrong, know what's good for them, and sometimes all people need to feel satisfied is to feel heard. the people gary and i meet don't need or want my help in solving their problems. but i sense that it feels mighty nice to just have someone listen with a clean heart. and that's something i've found to be true with homeless people, with campers when i'm a camp counselor, or with people living in this house with me that have things to deal with from back home. love can be so simple.

boston evenings

boston evening
Originally uploaded by faithful nomad.

this picture was taken earlier in the week, but i want to express how there's something about a city that makes me comfortable. i said earlier that i'm either a city or country girl. country comes with a solitude, a quiet that you expect and have freedom in. city is bustling, saturated, with little havens that you build for yourself. suburbs have HOUSES WHERE YOU SIT AND WAIT TO DO SOMETHING ELSE THAN SIT AND WAIT.

so today i was in that pacing-cat-mode again, i was literally jumping up and down through the first floor of the house, making noise for the sake of hearing something other than the opressive lawn mowers and car engines. i just about pounced on gary and begged to go somewhere, anywhere, get me out before i have to start jumping again. so we went on a hunt for mexican food.
got absolutely lost, but ended up somehow...

"is that fenway?"
"yeah, dude, how did we do that?"
"lisa, i just don't know."
"sweet. here we are."

we had dinner at a nice sports bar down the street from fenway park. got lost on the way back too, but got home in time to finally finish On The Waterfront before 2am. i'm so excited that someone else likes this movie as much as i do.

there's this scene in it, where this pastor is in the bowels of a ship being unloaded by the dock workers (on the waterfront, get it?) and he's goes into how Christ is wherever you are, meeting you where you are. he gets into the responsibility we have to other people because they're our brothers. it's seriously great. anyway, the night ended as it often does with some religious philosophy discussion before tottering off to my loveseat makeshift bed. i'm getting so sick of that thing.

anne, the most gorgeous creature in the world

anne, the most gorgeous creature in the world
Originally uploaded by faithful nomad.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ANNERS
have fun tonight at your big bash - sorry i couldn't be there...
love you sister

it was super bon bon

the full band
Originally uploaded by faithful nomad.

this is when i don't mind not sleeping last night... when i can get all up close and personal with mike doughty. before the song was over, i was at the edge of the stage, my eardrums about to burst from the speakers an arm's length away. it was fantastic. why can't every concert be free? and outdoors. and with nantucket nectars guys flirting with our booth and giving us free bottles of tea. there are definite perks to being a girl and batting eyelashes, that's all i'm saying.

(for those that don't know... super bon bon is a Soul Coughing ditty)

these are the moments

he likes our style
Originally uploaded by faithful nomad.

the copley concert was GREAT for several reasons: 1) MIKE DOUGHTY was playing, former lead singer of Soul Coughing, one of my all-time ever favorite bands ever. 2) with the help of a couple strings being pulled, we got a BOOTH at the free concert series, and seriously a few thousand people were there. and with Nantucket Nectars on one side and some new strawberry soda thing on the other, all the free samples helped our cause. come for the free drinks, stay for the chitchat with Lisa the Amazing Wonderwoman of Small Talk. somehow i make friends with everyone, even the creepy kids who wanted to talk about acid tripping. what was that all about, really? do i look like the type? seriously.

but the BIG one, #3: the guy in this picture is from Zimbabwe. Elias Fund is named after an actual man named Elias, and this guy walking down the boston street is from the SAME VILLAGE. can you imagine how encouraged he must have been? he talked to our people for half an hour about education and politics. it was so cool. i've met a lot of people in my life - the way of the nomad, after all - but the people i've met this summer blow my mind. shane's developing a theory that it's not six degrees any more, it's one or two degrees, and i'm starting to agree.

STILL GOING

boston public library atrium
Originally uploaded by faithful nomad.

this photo is from the atrium at the Boston Public Library... to me it's what i feel like waking up. today, i am that little branch stretching into the light unabashedly. i took a nap from 7 to 9am, still going stong. ain't nobody gonna break my stride. that song makes me thing of nothing but eighth grade dance socials. seriously, i barely remember how that song goes but i can recall with total clarity people i haven't thought about in years. i wonder what ever became of bobby skalla. i remember him being oddly nice to me. anyway. leaving very soon for copley square. free concert tonight!

the colors in my mind

amazing colors on the sandbars
Originally uploaded by faithful nomad.

it's currently 3:51am Boston time. i have no intention of going to bed. tonight there have been three press releases created. i'm going to do a fundraising letter next. i have this fantastic idea to do an 11"x17" poster that people will read on one side and hang the other side on their wall. shane wrote four pages of text. what else is there to do? i'm excited.

i've been gone for a few days because we've passed the two week marker and now there are... wait, let me check... wait for it... wait for it...
EIGHT DAYS AND TWENTY HOURS until we open our doors. people are wired, myself obviously included. everyone's not sure if they did enough, if they did things right, that kind of thing. i was accused the other day of being ineffective: "i don't know what you do all day. i think you watch TV." i nearly lost it myself, which is saying something. i've been told that people would pay good money to see me lose my temper - i'm glad to say i've never done so publicly. since it feels imminent, maybe i should charge admission. i mean, come on, usually i'm all smiles. usually i can out-grin most of the puppets on Seasame Street. i'm feeling good right now. i LOVE inDesign. i feel agressive, but in a good way. this work i'm churning out is pleasing me, and i'll be glad to place it oh-so-sweetly in the lap of my accuser. other designers will get what i'm saying: no one knows what we're up to, and it freaks them out.

i'm listening to Kings of Leon and just finished re-starting my manifesto that i was all geared up to write about six months ago. i let it go. i needed a change, and received several! so the writing slowed and pooled and stagnated. but suddenly the time seems ripe to get into it again. three people have told me recently that i should consider writing as more than a late night way to pass the time. the question remains, however: do i really have anything worthwhile to say?

only time will tell.
stay tuned.

i dig the headphones

i dig the headphones
Originally uploaded by faithful nomad.

so we all know that i really, really dislike pictures of myself and rarely blog them. however, today was SO FUN THAT I WILL DO IT.

last night gary asked me if i wanted to go with him tomorrow. "where?" i ask. well, it turns out one of the guys that gary trains (gary trains military recruits) is a pilot and has been one for thirteen years and invited gary and a guest for a jaunt in, you know, THE SKY. click on that picture of me to see more from the trip.

today we drove about 30 minutes to a tiny airport and got into a tiny plane (Cessna 172 SP) and saw nantucket, cape cod, and martha's vinyard before we landed. we stopped for a break on nantucket. no big thing. except that we HAD TO LAND THE PLANE FIRST. the ride was great. steve made us really comfortable, he explained everything as we did it, all the beeps and clicks of the machines and some of the code we listened to while eavsdropping on the air traffic control channel.

our ride went from about 11am to 4pm, then gary and i got some Subway on the way home. we're both pretty tired now, been napping / doing "homework" ever since. no plans for tonight besides us finishing watching On The Waterfront... what more do you need in a day than what i've got? today rocks.

Rick Tharp

i only heard about Rick Tharp's possible passing today.
it's an absolute loss.

suddenly i'm aware of how long it's been since i stepped into this bubble of a world. it's a pretty sweet bubble, filled with music and late nights and good ideas, but it's like when i lived on campus at college. we never knew world events, we barely knew campus events. i don't watch the news any more on principle because i feel it's totally sensationalist, and besides it's not like Mr. Tharp's situation would have made national news anyway. but i haven't read HOW Magazine or Speak Up in so long. what's going on in Design Land? what will i talk about when i have to interview for a job? maybe a few projects down the line i'll start researching a Designer's Guide to Designers Handbook. i feel so ignorant sometimes. the most attention i gave Rick Tharp was when something happened to him. that's kind of despicable. i hate when i discover someone that way.

i also hate being such a downer when i post things. this is a tragedy, but life sure is beautiful and i love it differently each time i remember that.

there was AN ESCAPE

copley square
Originally uploaded by faithful nomad.

i broke out of the house, and it was glorious. six of us went downtown and found a place to get lunch, then realized we were right next to the Berkley School of Music! the giveaway was the horde of kids with crazy hair and odd-sized bags... cello-sized one might say... :) i think we crashed a campus tour and some auditions. the kids were very interesting looking. it's amazing how blue hair just suits some people very well, and others not so much at all.

We took a long walking tour to Copley Square, then found Newberry Street, then found fun fun boutique stores, then found ice cream, then came back to Copley Square. Ari Hest was scheduled to play, but came to the stage almost two hours late due to an impromptu memorial service for the victims of the recent London bombing, held at the chapel in the background of that picture. unfortunately for Ari, by then we'd left. but the field was about half-full by the time of our departure, so there was some love for Mister Hest.

we were in pretty high spirits for the night, we went to TGIFriday's to watch the Red Sox / Yankees game - i have no alligance to either team, but you could sure cut that tension with a knife at the bar :) and then that AWFUL loss. it was tragic, really...

we got home around 11, and just had one of those nights were no one is tired and you dance around the living room with no music on but what you're singing. and it went on like that for several hours. such is the lovely impromptu life of the urban liberalist neo-hippies.

downstairs

downstairs
Originally uploaded by faithful nomad.

these are my ten square feet. thought i'd show you the inside of my cage. just kidding. i mean, this is where i work, sleep, and talk to people. i've only left in the past three days to hit the YMCA. thank the Lord for YMCA and treadmills and the fine people who make my Pumas.

let's see if i leave the house today

they travel in a herd
Originally uploaded by faithful nomad.

i've started being like a pent-up cat, i'll go into one room, look around, go into another room, look around, go outside, walk the driveway and back, come back in, look around...

i'm feeling extremely claustrophic today. i find myself living mostly within about ten square feet of space. not having a car is getting annoying. i'm learning something about myself: i am either a city girl or a country girl, but i will never be able to handle the suburbs. it's too quiet here.

i had a dream last night that instead of looking for a loft downtown (which has always been the dream), i bought a fixer-upper somewhere in eastern iowa and became an artist. like jackson pollock style. i dreamt i was a painter and a writer, and that i had massive parties in my barn of my art dealer and artist friends.

then i woke up on the couch that i've mentioned so many times. i leaned over, picked up my laptop from the floor, and started working. i've since then moved over to the dining room table. SAME TEN FEET.

back to it

enjoying my newly painted nails
Originally uploaded by faithful nomad.

oh, monday... how i love thee...
just kidding. i'm a waste of space today, exhausted from the weekend and waking up stiff for the first time since moving downstairs. i'm mildly concerned because apparently strep throat has moved into our house, but my throat was only sore last night. i think it's already come and gone.

owen and i are back in our fantastic routine of seeing movies after long monitor-filled days. we saw Fantastic Four, which i liked and he didn't. it was mindless and had really good explosions, which are things i go for in an action flick. plots = unnecessary.

today was slow but i wouldn't say today was relaxing. spent the day on a project that might get scrapped soon. someone tried to call me a procrastinator, was invited to sit next to me and watch me work, and once they saw how i make something out of nothing, they changed their tune. that was kind of the highlight of the day. today was, overall, hardworking and pretty good... fairly standard

random people i love

random people i love
Originally uploaded by faithful nomad.

today we received the most amazing hospitality. after getting our own rooms, our own beds, we woke up and were treated to an extravagant breakfast - all THIRY or so of us. the day started off nice and sweet, with breakfast, then we watched some of the video footage of last night's show; kyle (one of the New Jersey kids that planned this) played a few songs on his guitar on the front porch; there were some skateboarding lessons; hugs all around. no one wanted to mess with it, but just keep coasting on the good vibes. i'm madly in love with the Obangatek kids, with Brad Corrigan, and with everyone we met last weekend. everyone had their spirit in the right place, and it made for a wonderful time together.

we left around noon, it took seven hours to get home! Eric drove most of it. he's a trooper. i spent the last few hours of the day on the front porch chillin with gary, watching the sun set.

let me just say once more how very cool it is to travel. even short distances open you up like a flower to the sun. these kids that i met were like seventeen and i don't know how long it will be before they forget my name, or forget me altogether. but being exposed to the love we all shared was really really cool. reminds me that we all have that love available in ourselves, all the time, and i think that's what keeps me moving as the Nomad.

Spring Lake, New Jersey

gazebo at night
Originally uploaded by faithful nomad.

WHAT A COOL DAY.
so this kid Billy Egan in Spring Lake New Jersey decided to plan an Elias benefit concert, and hand it to Shane in this condition: all we had to do was show up. he found a generator, got the permits, called us, got me to do some posters, called his friends, found places for us to stay, and even booked an opening act that we knew and approved of. all by himself!

so we left around 6am this morning to get to NJ by about 1:30, we drove by the beach and through this beautiful town, and then found our boy Billy at the gazebo. we spent a few hours setting up with him and his friends, and then the people started coming...

i got to hang out with Brad Corrigan (musician, Christian, surfer), a man who has dramatically changed my life in the past year. shane offered me a job, etc, but brad first introduced me to her and brought me to nicaragua. being with him is always just an uplifting experience. every time we hang out, he says something or does something that makes me pause and i feel a little shift in my way of thinking. so we got to chill a bit, and it was great.

the concert was lovely. outisde in the twilight, some good music and great people. we raised $4000 in ONE NIGHT with only 250 people there, and all proceeds went to Obangatek (led by my other Nicaragua buddy Jonathan).

OH WAIT THERE'S MORE: after the concert we had a barbeque, hosted by a few parents. then we found out that we all were going to sleep in BEDS and not on the floor or in the van. for me, the experience of getting back into a bed for once was wonderful. great way to end the day.

Obangatek flier

Obangatek flier
Originally uploaded by faithful nomad.

this is the poster that is hanging around Spring Lake in preperation for our arrival :) we head to New Jersey tomorrow!

three cheers for MADHOUSE

BLANK 3
Originally uploaded by faithful nomad.

so because i am so lame, i had to overnight a project yesterday so that it could be passed along tomorrow. poor steve had to just hold his horses while i got my act together, but i get the impression that in the end he is just dandy with what he was waiting for. thankfully. thank. you. steve.

really, this is a cool project. it gave me a chance to do something different with my hands, and got a couple of housemates to get involved too... but check this out: i'm one of many putting some ideas down. check everyone out by clicking HERE

back to the push

house garden
Originally uploaded by faithful nomad.

we are 23 days and 14 hours away from the doors opening on this movie. we've had a weekend off, a glorious, sun filled, fireworked, relaxed, read-a-book weekend, and later this afternoon we're kicking it back into high speed. it's currently POURING RAIN, so no one minds being inside... no one's downstairs yet but me... hopefully the energy will be pretty high as we regroup and get ready for the final three weeks.

it's a really difficult thing to gauge how you're doing in a campaign like this. to be grassroots means not only spreading the word by word of mouth, but also actually avoiding mainstream methods. so things like online ticket sales are no indication of how many people are going to be coming to this event. it might end up like last summer, where suddenly the day of the party hundreds of thousands of crashers show up. we have a ton of events set up, a road trip scavenger hunt and a film festival for exapmle, but who knows where we stand right now.

on the other hand, i know for a fact that we have people roadtripping out here from AK, CO, WI, IL, CA, and FL. and yes, AK is ALASKA. those kids are getting huge hugs from all of us.

it's looking like we're moving base camp to chicago mid-august as opposed to the very beginning of august like we'd first planned. i'll be home just in time for papa's birthday and Feeling Better than Everfine!

my favorite spot

my favorite spot
Originally uploaded by faithful nomad.

did not leave the house today. yesterday's sunburn has set in. i am red in places like the back of my neck. somehow this will turn brown over the next few days, i'm sure of it :) but anyway, today was spent blissfully inside. i'm deliriously tired. it's been a long time since i literally spent a full day in the sun and i forgot that it can wear a person out! it was kind of amazing to notice the sun moving across the sky. it's one thing to spend the day outside, but that's amplified when you spend the whole day contained within ten square feet...

the whole house carried that vibe today. we watched movies and talked, people came and went, owen had both his guitars out and kept switching from the acoustic to the electric. have i mentioned how amazing his guitar skills are? i want to tape him plucking around and carry it with me, load it to my iPod and play it for my friends.

high on my comfort zone list are these rocking chairs pictured. we all end up out here on a cellphone at one point or another, or sometimes gary and i will be out here at night talking about random things. very simple pleasures kind of a day. speaking of that, i think our summer should be sponsored in part by Italian Ice and FreezePops. cause man, when there's no air conditioning, you gotta do what you gotta do. and that includes eating a lot of ice when you're covered in sunburns.

the 4th

fireworks1
Originally uploaded by faithful nomad.

today ashlee and i got to the harbor and staked our claim at nine this morning. THIRTEEN HOURS LATER, the sky erupted in color. it was estimated that there were 300,000 people along the Charles River and we were a mere twenty people in the throes of it. i haven't seen a crowd like that since carnival in salvador. except here there wasn't any nakedness or drugs. we DID manage to have a rocking dance party.

so the day was spent guarding our two sheets of space - the cops tore down unpopulated tents (like yanked stakes out of the ground and laughed like big jerks). so i had nail polish, a good book, and plenty of sunshine. i literally spent the day alternately reading, napping, and painting my toes pink. gary lent me his copy of "Jack," a biography of CS Lewis, so that passed the time nicely.

everyone else showed up around seven, so ashlee and i got a break and found a starbucks down beacon street (coincidence that our house is on a beacon street. not the same one).

the fireworks were good. there was a ton of live music and people were very into it. bryan and his brother started using those glow sticks to reinact a light saber fight to the soundtrack of one of the songs, and seriously the entire field was watching. they were hilarious, like grunting and parrying just like a couple of old-fashioned jedi boys.

after the festivities, we saw the pack of people at the train and decided to get a beer instead. but since matty was with us (um, i forget all the time that kid is only 17), we just walked through boston commons and caught the T at the next stop over. home around two. bed soon. i'm exhausted and happy.

aftermath of Live 8

catnap
Originally uploaded by faithful nomad.

everyone but owen and i went to Live 8 in philly this week. he and i have become total partners in crime, we both have umbilical cords to our computers and we both enjoy blanking out from that condition by watching movies. so he and i chilled out here. i got a monsterous amount of house-work done in the peace and quiet, things like cleaning the nasty sticky kitchen floor... fixing the shower so it doesn't leak water all over the bathroom... cooking a full meal for a change instead of my usual hobo meal of bagel / hummus / strawberries.

that was my friday and saturday, housework and design. which was done in an oddly methodological fashion... sometimes it's soothing to clean and do the dishes. working with your hands mindlessly instead of with a purpose... it was really relaxing. i feel SO much better after last week's mild but publicly-unacknowledged tension. plus i have some amazing girlfriends that make my life so much cooler. Mandy, Cassie, Betsy, Elizabeth, Julie, Libby... owen makes fun of me for having so many "close" or "best" friends, but what the heck. my friends shape my life and i love them for being in it.

so about this picture: that's Ryan, aka Colorado Sly. last night everyone got back from Live 8 around 2am, so today is the laziest day i've seen in years. i went to bed at three and got up at eight, watched a movie, took a nap, booked a flight for a friend, and here i am now, blogging. heading to barnes and noble for a bit to finish up the BLANK book. and we have tomorrow off, which could not sound more glorious right now :)

old problem, new music. balances out.

hmmmm. rebranding didn't go well. what a shocker.
still working on it though. we'll see what happens.
if anyone out there has a sudden epiphany, for the love of pete please tell me about it. i'm out of ideas for now on this one.

on a lighter note... band of the day is the Be Good Tanyas.
i saw "because of winn-dixie" on an airplane - Dave Matthews might have an acting career, he was just as good as i'd hoped he'd be - and the end credits have a great gospel track ("since i laid my burden down") and while looking for that song on amazon.com, i found these girls. and have been happy about the coincidence ever since. check 'em out.