Today I walked to the gym, a half-hour trek that usually takes me through Horner Park. The day was in the 80s (still is as I write this), sunny and gorgeous, with a perfect light breeze. At the north end of the park is a modest hill, the epitomization of grassy knoll (sans assassins). This being Chicago, it is certainly unnatural, and looking at the wide even banks of the Chicago River which abuts the park on the east, my guess is it was created as a byproduct of dredging and reshaping that stretch of waterway.
Renderings - Apartment Redecoration
This is a simple redecoration of my apartment's great room. Most of the real-world changes are to be done only with paint, and I am using IKEA furniture with some custom trim to make it look built-in.
I used the Coolors website to help me create a color scheme, built a 3D model using Sketchup, and rendered the model using Indigo. Images of photos, books and art I actually own have been used as much as possible to make the renovation look personal.
The Voices
He lay in bed restlessly, listening to the winds that had been birthed in the Pacific, and travelled across the San Francisco hills just to rattle the cheap metal window frames of his apartment. He thought about about getting up to find a washcloth to stuff in the gap between the sashes, but he was too cozy inside his comforter. The crappy heating system had no thermostat, so without constant manual adjustment, it was forever too warm during the sunny California days, and too cold at night when the ocean sent it’s foggy arms out to massage his bones with icy fingers.
Her Name Was Lola. She Was a Good Girl.
Part 5 In his quiet, contemplative, post-apocalyptic novel, Earth Abides, George R. Stewart's lonely protagonist navigates a desolate America in search of other survivors of an aggressive virus. Against his better judgement, the first friend he makes is a dog, eventually named Princess, who refuses to allow him to marinate in despair. Surrounded by death, he can't imagine why he should open himself up to the possibility of more suffering; but in the way that dogs always do, she gains his affections, and draws a smile out of him in the face of unspeakable tragedy.
Her Name Was Lola. She Was a Good Girl.
Part 4 For at least the first few months we had Lola, we did nothing to train her. She was well-behaved already - she didn't chew anything up (well, a few teeth marks on the furniture legs), and she was completely housebroken - and we were wary of even raising our voices to her, lest she lose the precarious confidence that we were trying to encourage. Eventually, it became clear that she wanted nothing more than to please us, as she demonstrated on one of the last days I was working from home.
Headbangers Ball Gown
Prior to high school, I had not formed a particularly strong set of interests outside the ones my parents had or were willing to let their kids experience. My life was still dominated by PG movies, soccer, sitcoms, and 70s soft rock (with some Motown thrown in). Dating Shannon my senior year opened up a much larger, less safe, world of entertainment. We watched The Exorcist, listened to Zeppelin and the wailing of Sinéad O'Connor, and painted my fingernails black. I began to consume more art that wasn't just trying to make you feel good. Much of it was actively trying to make you feel bad - and amazingly, that felt even better.
Metro Coat Rack
Her Name Was Lola. She Was a Good Girl.
Part 3 I'm not sure when I started referring to pets as an extra heartbeat in the house, and I’m not sure where the thought came from, but it just seemed right. They are not people, for sure. I don’t harbor any such delusions, yet they are most certainly family. The heartbeat sounds out the presence of another life for which I am responsible. It is another source of warmth, a soothing rhythm, a bundle of energy, another creature with some level of thoughts and feelings who irrevocably changes the dynamic of the household.
Her Name Was Lola. She Was a Good Girl.
Part 2 The adoption went smoothly, and Tim and I drove down from Maryland the following Saturday to pick Lola up. Erin met us outside her apartment building and walked the dog around the neighborhood one last time. In familiar territory, Lola was more confident and at ease. Around the back of the building was a large patch of English ivy that was apparently her favorite place. She bounded into it and rustled around playfully.
