I got a promotion of sorts at work. I'm now managing a women's clothing store instead of just working in one. I got a pay increase and since I switched locations I'm working just down the street from home and can easily ride my bike there. I'm no closer to figuring out what I want to do with my life, but at least while I'm deciding I'll be making more money.

A Place to Bury Strangers, originally uploaded by good_on_paper.

The May 2008 issue of SXSWorld is out and they published one of my photos.



Check out the online version here (page 36).

Good news for short people who love revolting footwear: Now you can be taller and unfashionable!



No no no no no.

The last three days have been almost unbearable. I'm pretty sure I got a bad case of food poisoning from Wednesday night's reheated leftovers.

I got home late from work on Thursday due to a last-minute shopper who, after saying, "I'm sorry about keeping ya'll here late," continued to take her time perusing the store and being indecisive, despite the fact that we closed over a half hour ago. I was starving by the time I got home, so D and I reheated our pasta from the night before and put on Season 6 of Curb Your Enthusiasm.

About twenty minutes after eating is when it all started. I was up all night vomiting. I got a couple hours sleep around 7 am, but woke again with stomach pains and diarrhea. I couldn't go to work on Friday. I was weak and my entire body ached. I spent nearly all day laying on the couch with a 100.3° fever, drifting in and out of sleep, getting up only to use the bathroom or refill my water glass.

D came home from work around 7 pm. He brought me Gatorade and Jell-O from the store and made me some soup, but I couldn't stomach more than a few spoonfuls. He ran me a cold bath to try and bring my fever down and I went to bed early afterwards.

I woke on Saturday intending to go to work, despite the constant gurgling throughout my stomach. I got there around noon to find that both our toilets were backed up and, consequently, out of order. Fantastic. I was scheduled to close, but ended up leaving early.

I managed to eat a little bit of food that night, though my stomach was still churning. Sometimes, it was so loud, D would exclaim, "What's wrong with you?! Why are you broken?"

Today is Sunday. I woke with a huge headache (probably from caffeine withdrawl over the last two days), but I'm almost back to normal. My stomach pains are mostly gone and I feel like eating again. I'm going to work in a few hours.

I'm still surprised I got so sick. Three other people ate, and re-ate, at the same time as I without any problems. Guess I was the lucky one, eh? I had food poisoning once before, but this was by far the worst. It's going to be awhile before I consume anything "reheated" and much, much longer before I can even smell pesto. (gag!)

I will say this, however: If you're face down in a toilet, inches away from the entire contents of your stomach, while someone waits right behind you with a damp cloth and a glass of water, you can be sure it's love.

MGMT, originally uploaded by good_on_paper.

These are so two weeks ago...

I had an amazing time volunteering as a photographer for SXSW. Having a camera with me revived my interest in shows and I can't wait to do it again next year.

The whole SXSW music set is up on Flickr here.

I have a love/hate relationship with Urban Outfitters. On one hand, I love thier beautiful dresses, but won't/can't bring myself to pay $149.99 for a dress that barely covers my lady bits. Ocassionally, I peruse their dot com sale rack, and when I exclaim, "Are you serious? Twenty-eight dollars for a tee shirt?!" I am safe from their employees' patronizing glare.

However, I did find my new favorite coat in their sale after Christmas last year, so I can't put them on my Naughty list just yet.

The last thing I bought from Urban was a yellow, ceramic owl bank on sale for $1.99. Not only did I walk away with an inexpensively awesome birthday gift, but also a free subscription to Nylon.

This month's issue has a short interview with Mila Kunis, most known for her role as Jackie on That 70's Show. After reading it, I am convinced that Mila and I should be friends, 'cause we've just go so much in common.

She says, "...I really do have the intersts of a 12-year-old boy. I have every game console--the Wii, Playstation, Xbox, even Sega. I play World of Warcraft... It's so much more fun than getting wasted at a bar."

Hey, Mila, call me, k? You and me and Macaulay, we'll hang out, I'll bring Guitar Hero.

Until she calls, I'll be on my sofa, exploring the Plane of Oblivion.

New Bike, originally uploaded by good_on_paper.

I bought this sweet bike for a hundred bucks from a clown on Craigslist. It's everything I was looking for: small, 3-speed, fenders, awesome cruiser frame, and check out the stripes on the seat! It's love, for sure.

I needed a few things from the grocery store, and it was a nice night, so I took it for it's second ride. Once at HEB, "a few things" turned into a few more, and I found myself hauling home more than I intended, however the frozen foods did feel nice and cool against my back.

Note to self: A jar of pickles is much, much heavier than it seems.

Alex, originally uploaded by good_on_paper.

For the last three years of SXSW, I've volunteered on the Press & Publicity crew. Though it required taking a week off of work and 40+ hours of the phrase, "May I see your badge? Oh, sorry, this room is for Press only," being rewarded with an almost-all-access pass to any music show we wanted was worth it. While volunteering last year, we oogled Paul Rudd, Joseph-Gordon Levitt, Chris Kattan, and Tom from MySpace (Yes, he is real).

I couldn't afford to take off so much work this year, so I chose to leave my friends in the P&P crew. However, Amiee alerted me to an opening in the volunteer Photography Crew and I was so there.

I borrowed my friend's digital camera and have been practicing shooting with flash in different lighting situations. Dustin's band had a show on Thursday, so I brought it with me for a trial run.

I won't have as much creative control with the pictures I take for SXSW, but I do like these images and I can't wait to get my band list (hopefully tonight!)

I've always had a fascination with abandoned buildings. There was a period of time, actually the beginning of my photography classes, where that's pretty much all I wanted to, and did, shoot.

I look back on these photos years later, and although I don't think the images themselves are that exceptional, I can remember the allure of being there while taking the images.

On Feb 5, 2004, I wrote:

I've become obsessed with this place, and what posssibly happened to it. A torn up house I can understand. Houses get old, people move out, and the building is left to the elements. But these houses are still filled with the remains of someone's life. Books, clothing, stuffed animals, posters, coffee mugs, business cards, mail, bicycles, bottles of cleaning supplies and shampoo; these things are all still inside. It's as if the people simply disappeared right in the middle of wallpapering the kitchen, or making coffee.

The pull for me was not the space itself, but the mystery of the person who used to be there. And that's something that I could never capture with a photograph.

Grey Gardens (which I watched for the first time tonight) has captured that mystery on film. Little Edie and her mother could be those "vanished" people.





These photos of Little Edie were taken inside their mansion in 1972. (More photos of Little Edie and her mother (Big Edie) can be found here.)

More interesting than their decaying home is their decaying mental state. Both women live in a fantasy world, bickering over events of the past, while their real world fills with garbage, raccoons, and fleas.

Here are my two favorite quotes:

Little Edie, very seriously: This is the best thing to wear for today, you understand. Because I don't like women in skirts and the best thing is to wear pantyhose or some pants under a short skirt, I think. Then you have the pants under the skirt and then you can pull the stockings up over the pants underneath the skirt. And you can always take off the skirt and use it as a cape. So I think this is the best costume for today.

Little Edie: If you can't get a man to propose to you, you might as well be dead.
Big Edie: Well, I don't think it's important.
Little Edie: I think it's disgusting... for women to be alone. What are they proving? They have to go around with dogs or other women or something...
Big Edie: Dogs are lovely. I'll take a dog any day.

Oh! One more Grey Gardens tidbit, and then I'll stop, promise. A snippet of Little Edie lamenting over a lost scarf is included in the song "The Woods" by awesome Canadian band Stars which can be downloaded here (via yousendit.com).

D's been gone almost 5 days. So far, I've

- reorganized our Netflix queue with my picks at the top (ANTM Cycle 1, Pumpkin, Shopgirl, and Grey Gardens
- cleaned the entire apartment, including all THREE bathrooms
- purchased a sweet bike from a clown on Craigslist
- hosted my first Naked Lady Party
- eaten a whole California Pizza Kitchen White Pizza in one sitting

With all this waking-time activity and my bedtime sprawling area now at its maximum, you'd think sleep would be more welcome. But, I haven't gotten more than 5 hours a night since D left. I need his skinny, little warmth beside me. He's my blankie. When I'm lying in bed, trying to mentally put together what I'm going to wear tomorrow, I can't shut off the Mom Part of my brain: Is he warm enough? Why didn't I make him bring gloves? Are cabbies being mean to him?

It's only now that I understand my parents' need to always know where I was going, who I was going with, and what time I would be back. Sorry about making you worry.