My Quiet Life

I’ve talked about panhandling a bit recently over at metblogs, and the topic has come up again here, where the sum of the reaction in the comments amounts to “geez, just ignore them, like we do in NYC, aren’t we cool and hip because we ignore people.”. Anyways, I posted my thoughts there, but it did remind me of a funny story I meant to blog earlier.

Ignoring someone you think is a panhandler or making assumptions about what they want can be dangerous. I once saw a woman walking down 2nd ave. drop a dayplanner or something. This guy behind her, looking pretty rough — probably homeless, but who knows — picked it up and called after her, “hey lady –” and without turning around she just called back “I don’t have anything for you, sorry”. His face wrenched up in a scowl as he muttered “I wasn’t askin for nothin” to himself and tossed her planner in the trash.

So, be careful what you assume. You can be a cool, hip, cynical city-dweller and internalize a crippling fear of the people all around you, or you can, you know, be a human being. It might work out to your benefit, too.

Just a quick headsup for those of you going to Austin City Limits this year.. My friend Cary is playing this year, which is pretty awesome. She’s playing on Saturday at 2:40..

If you want a sneak preview, she’ll also be here in town at the Basement on August 3rd.

I didn’t think much of Buck Dozier in the debate, as I mentioned, but one thing I neglected to give him credit for was his firm, forceful and eloquently stated opposition to the “english first” bill.

Quick opinion poll:

What’s the more expensive photography strategy? Strobism or available-light? I.e. is it cheaper to make light or just make the hole bigger?

A lot of bands emerged a couple of years ago that I pretty much summarily dismissed. Shrouded in a foggy haze of low-riding girl jeans and PBR, these bands emerged all around the same time as far as I can remember, and I never really got it straight who was who. The Strokes. The White Stripes. The Hives. The Shins.

I’m learning now. The Strokes I’ve learned to like a bit, actually, though I was initially offput by the constant reliance on the stupid vocal fuzz effect. The White Stripes I can take or leave, but I like Jack White’s work with Loretta Lynn (though, really, how do you make a bad album working with Loretta Lynn?). The Hives, as far as I can tell, are still in the “suck” category, but I haven’t invested much effort in finding out for sure.

The Shins, though — I recently got ahold of “Wincing the Night Away”, and it’s great.. Well, half of it is great. I’ve never heard an album open so wonderfully and taper off so quickly. The first 4 tracks are great, and then it’s like “enh”.

We’re not from here.

I just got back from the mayoral debate. I posted my thoughts over at Metblogs.

Short version for you lazyasses: David Briley owned it.

Pictures are here

One of my favorite exchanges from this weekend:

Paul: (looking around my apartment for the first time) … dude, how do you expect to get laid in this place?
Me: Well … I guess I don’t, really..
Paul: … … that was a rhetorical question.

One of the first things I did after The Breakup was to reclaim the apartment as my own by at least re-arranging and purging it of various things (it was that or move, and moving is the devil). One thing that became abundantly clear this weekend is that I desperately need to reconfigure it as more of a bachelor pad. Well, more generally, just as a place at which I can actually entertain. Turns out tapwater and beefjerky are not the most alluring refreshments to offer guests at your apartment. Who knew?

So, my high school reunion was this weekend. I had a blast. If you’re reading this and I went to high school with you, hi!

I took a ton of pictures but I will be sensible and not splatter them all over the Internet. If you want to see them, e-mail me at cwage@quietlife.net for the URLs to see them!