explore the city wherein I live

last thursday @ holy frijoles, on the avenue in hampden
so last thursday we went with corey to happy hour at holy frijoles where i got drunk off of pomegranate margaritas and mexican beer, couldn’t find the bathroom, then found the bathroom but couldn’t find the light so stood in there in the dark for about 23 seconds before returning to the bar where I promptly called anyone who lived the ‘hood to pick us up so we could pee. Thankfully, Chippie obliged as he and the ladyfriend were about to go out for Korean food anyway. the food was pretty good there, not so good as leftovers and i liked the vibe, but the bathroom thing made me think I am never going back there again. Death by embarrassment.

the depot 80s dance party in station north
again, with corey, he drags me to 80s dance night at the depot several weeks ago now (right after MJ died) and there’s no cover which is great, but as we go upstairs into the bar, the overwhelming stench of dirty, indoor public pool hits us. We ALL noticed it. There’s also no one dancing. And also they’re not playing good 80s music whatsoever-sounded like the Wedding Singer soundtrack-YAWN. I requested anything by Altered Images which got a high-five from the cute butchy DJ but they didn’t have any to play? So I asked for The Waitresses OTHER THAN I Know What Boys Like. What did they play? Yeah. I’ve always stood outside Club Chuck smoking and made fun of people standing outside the Depot and now we know why for realz… superlamerz.

more to come if I can remember any of them…

@ maryland film festival
05.08.09 10:15ish p.m.

joe swanberg and one of his producers to the right of h while we casually ate crepes before the showing of alexander the last. I totally got caught taking clandestine photos and he was a little creeped out by us. good thing we were way in the back of the theater during q & a.

his film was incredible. it was my first time attending the actual festival; in years past i’ve merely gotten drunk at the bars across the street

he said he’s thinking of filming something baltimore-based

I went to a juice party in the Woodberry section of town. It was a cool little area. I need to explore it further. The only notion I previously had of the area was the Light Rail stop and Woodberry Kitchen, to which everyone who’s ever eaten there gives rave reviews (I have yet to venture…I have restaurant shyness troubles). But, cool!

Friday!

With Hubby, David and H, went to the Hamilton Gallery for a coworker of Hubby’s art opening. The stuff was wicked good and he has a show in June at El Rancho Grande I would like to attend. Good shit. Have to check that little art collective out more often now.

Then, we hit up dinner at Golden West in Hampden, which I haven’t been to in a long, long time. ‘Twas fun!

Then home to bed, as was exhausted from NYC and crazy-craze day at work.

Today: work until 5, then who knows? Going to see what shows are playing where, if any. Perhaps not spend money and just drink in a simple game of scrabble or something. Sunday, planning on bagels and CLEANING THE APARTMENT. Eee-gad, it’s messy.

(because they messed up our order) but i read some of my book and h read some of hers and all the cute girls and hot boys were working today.

the first bookstore was awesome because h got a magazine she’s been looking for and a jane austen book.

the second bookstore didn’t have anything for which we were looking.

the third bookstore was fucking asl;dmszwet90wer90dskdyqh incredible. it also had a decent looking record selection, but i didn’t take the time to browse. however, i browsed quickly, as h was fading, and got a first edition orwell, first edition donleavy and a paperback donleavy i already have, but will make a good gift at some point. so t and i are going to go again thursday and check it out more in-depth.

oh, and sadly they won’t order me anything, but he asked for my card so he could let me know if any come in.

then home to find the ravens winning the football match. how thrilling! so far…

overall, a good day as of yet! i am totally excited about the book and record store.

Post-bagel, I will be venturing to the book store a few blocks away to see if they can get me my 3 remaining Donleavy novels. Then… then we move onto Donleavy’s plays and nonfiction. What an exciting time to be alive in Baltimore! New things! New places! New, independent shops!

reminded me that I have neglected this goal. Well,the weather is getting worse, I have little time to roam the city, and I concentrated mostly on autumn.

dogwood restaurant in hampden
the daily grind coffee house in canton
ummmm….? (I need to get out more)

is random people screaming at random strangers. i suppose it happens everywhere, but baltimore might be extremely screamy.

this all occurred within a space of 2 or so hours, within the same neighborhood:
1) white truck for a rental company of some sort stops in the street in front of jhu, blocking a lane of traffic. dude in the altima behind him would have none of that, jumps out of his car and starts screaming at some official looking guy with a clipboard who seemed to be directing the driver of the truck where to go on campus. i thought someone was about to get shot. he finally gets back in his car after the truck starts to move, screaming the entire way. kind of cool.

2) h and i were walking home from the hopkins library, when we notice some chubby white guy standing next to a van, screaming. as we get closer we can make out that he is YELLING the lyrics to the beatles’ song “I Saw Her Standing There” which becomes very directly pointed at us as we walk by. It is… creepy.

3) a squirlley lady in safeway keeps a steady stream of talk up all through the produce section. we meet her while trying to select good strawberries as she squawks about frostbite or something.

Too much exploring the last 2 days.

Day before yesterday was a lovely stormy sun and clouds day, and I had forgotten my camera. Argh.

I had to accompany a client to her ex-flat to get some stuff, and just as we stood in front of the door I say “btw, we gotta go back, coz I forgot to bring the keys”.

Which I had, so we did.

Stupid stupid me. Most of the journey was bus, but some walking, too.

Now yesterday—weather not nice, photos not nice, but a lot of exploring:

First to a prison, to pick up a young woman, with her to my workplace (tube, one click walk).

Then to that ex-flat again coz we couldn’t bring all yesterday (bus, walk).

Then shopping with the woman out of prison, coz the poor lass had nothing but the clothes on her back (two click walk, there and back again).

Then doontoon (one click walk, tube), buying towels for prison-lass;
then walk to station, to pick up another woman,
only, she missed her train, so I had to wait 2 hours, walked around, trying to do some shopping at least, found no shop with the kind of food I want, till they rang me from work (bless my new mobile!) and said, forgettit, get home.

Back to workplace (tube, one click walk), deliver towels, getting my stuff, getting home (one click walk, tube, lill walk, shop, home.)

Between leaving that morning and returning home: 10 straight hours of sitting in buses and trams and tubes and a lot of running around.

Today is a holiday, heh, big deal, it’s my off day anyway… and you bet I am GLAD!

Ah, while exploring I finally read the slogan on a certain (outdated) election poster for the first time. Oh wow.

Lend a face to your protest