June 6th

Oh what a day today was! Chalk-full of fun and stressful scenarios. I should never give my credit card # away on the phone... I won't talk about that whole issue though, today was a day with a bit more insightful situations. First I went into Shadyside for the Crepe Place interview. The balding man David, who interviewed me, was nice and told me that I could work Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. I think that means I got it!

Then I drove into Oakland where I had plans to give away some old black and white darkroom prints. My friend Dan said he'd be 20 minutes, so I intended on running to Kiva Han for a quick fix of coffee. While balancing my camera, purse and box of photos, I haphazardly hit the lock button and closed the door. Then panicked as I ruffled through my purse. Running to the other side and peering in, I saw my keys still propped in the ignition. Argh!

So I called Triple A and crouched in the sliver of shade cast by my car. All the while I reminisced on the days of delivering pizza. I locked my keys in the car twice on duty and broke in myself with the help of strangers. Back then I was driving a super shitty car though, so there wasn't a lot of hesitation. I wouldn't do that to my pretty little Bebe (named Bebe because I saw a baby deer and a mini tire on the day I purchased my Mazda).

This is Jean my rescuer. I said "hi! how are you?" And he responded with "horrible, just horrible."

I think I raised my eyebrows and asked, "why is that?"

He shrugged in response and muttered, "it just is."

As he was inflating a balloonish contraption in my door, he told me that he was from Florida. Then retracted that statement and said that he lived there for eight years. I snapped tons of pictures of him, and I think it made him feel important in some way.

Then I decided to lay in the Church of the Ascension's lawn until Dan called.

Here is the product of my chillaxing session:


Then Dan called saying he was at the apartment. I slowly got up and was walking towards Melwood when - lo and behold - I see Seany from church! He had just done a bag piping gig at CMU and was stopping by Ascension before heading home. He recently made a 9 minute short with "romance and humor and strong conceptual base."





After this brief encounter I continued to hoof my way to the Lily pad where my friend's live. By the time I arrived I felt like a puddle of sweat.

I enjoyed talking with Dan, Rob, and Chris. Rob and I went to church together back in high school and Chris is going to be a pilot. I let Dan leaf through my hefty box of photos. They've been forgotten this past year, and I felt odd looking at them again. Photographing with a 35mm all four years of high school was the best thing that could have happened to me. Getting into photo probably saved me from at least a couple bad experiences... I had some shitty, drugged-up friends in high school. It was almost relieving to see images from the Erie zoo, urban landscapes in Pittsburgh and New York, and tons of old friends from the Guild, Governor's School, Filmmakers, and elsewhere.

With my phone dying quickly, I rang Lily, whom I had dinner plans with, and we made plans to eat at Ali Baba's at 7:20. With excellent timing, I saw Lily and her boyfriend from Clark, Will sauntering down Craig Street holding hands merrily right as I was about to walk into the restaurant.

From that point, we ordered humus to share and talked about various subjects including, but not limited to vegetarian philosophy, the definition of a "townie" (it's a New England thing) and Lily's disapproval/ borderline loathing of fat people. The tabooli was very good, and by the end of the meal I was feeling refreshed and ready to go home. What can I say, they're mutual happiness rubbed off on me.