lots of thinking, conversations, and love this weekend. and im now content with whatever happens with school/work. but the one thing that made me that way was my dear friends casados last night at the cowboy monkey(yey they have shows again!!) nick and heather rolled into champaign about the time noah and ade harris moved to chicago. filling that cute married-couple-band void.and dear god are they wonderfull. every time i see them they get better. and last night they played a song about leaving the midwest. and it was one of thoes close my eyes and smile moments. i only seem to have them in champaign. and for that i am gratefull. check out their song "unraveling"

this is a bunch of emailz from friends yesterday with advice for me. im gonna come home for like a 2 days this weekend to get my head together. this school thing is a hard decision. but some homer love, family and friends, as long as i do right by them. and am still happy everything will be cool. right?


"sorry to hear the bad news, bro. what were u studying?

anywho, i say follow your gut. take it from someone who did hehe...

im sure anything you choose will be the way to go.

take care man!"

"I vote don't bother. Dropping out of school was one of the best decisions I ever made. "

"COME BACK TO CHAMPAIGN!!!"

"Hrrrmm...

Education is important. How close are you to being done? You might be in the situation I'm in, where I'm close to being miserable but I'm so close to being done, it would be stupid to quit. Five years down the drain. You, at least, have marketable skills without a degree.

Just some things to think about... Keep me posted. Miss you."

"tots know what you're going through. as a writer, i never thought school would teach me much or that a degree would amount to much. what do people with writing degrees do? work in the f&b industry. why would i spend $ to do that? now as an old lady i think differently. a degree is an insurance policy for the hirer. it's a free pass through much bureaucratic tape. school is insurance for the hiree. an chance to be the best at whatever one desires. and the best place to network and build a career. people(artists especially, which in my book refers to both chefs and writers) tend to view college ideally rather than realistically. it's not a place to go to embrace your life's passion. it's an investment. both financially and physically.
financially, in short, to earn higher wages. physically, in the sense, the more you put into it the more you get out of it. from my own personal experience, as 28 year old college sophomore, i finally decided to get an education after falling in love with hunter s thompson, and realizing a degree in journalism would be a writing degree i could get a job with. now i would much rather study poetry, but poets rarely have health insurance. but with journalism i could both be content with my job and my wallet. ya dig? like i said schools an investment, so you gotta weigh your output costs against your incoming benefits."

"school is for f@$z

real life experience is what "heroes" are made of"


god sigur ros is perfect for this day.

is it hot in here or is that just your barista?

the sign i drew up for the cafe this morning. happy first day of spring chicago...

over

im so almost done withe the quarter!!!!! i have a easy final in about 40 min. then a day of cleaning the kitchen we spent the last 10 weeks in. and im done for two weaks. what will i do? 

think, read, listen to music, work, stay up past 9 on a weeknight. sounds good. 

lats night thinking about my life and the wierd flow it has had. and im happy that iv made the mistakes i have. because they brought me to such good places and people. champaign, cooking, chicago. even how i got to the neighborhood i live in(and will not leave for some years). i started thinking about this because my bud cameron posted a new song on his myspace. and its beautiful. im proud of my mistakes because they brought me to people who erased them. and when i am able, i cant wait to repay them.

caio,

oooooooouch!!!!!!!!!!

so saturday i went in to have my buddy justin do some more work on my square tattoo. he went back over the original tat, and took them up my whole arm to my shoulder. i decided against some of the ideas i had for this tattoo, and just kept them all squares. the inner arm and armpit area hurts but i love it. here are some pics from my phone, the first is during, and the rest i just took at the lounge.






mom, dad, i know..i know..its fresh.

parents beware.

i need photoshop. so i can do a "is your child a line cook?" poster

"out of total shame, your child will not tell you they are a line cook. but with some simple observations you can find out for yourself. here are some tells of a line cook."

-backpack full of knives and dirty towls. 

-hands smell like garlic and chicken, all the time.

-porno under bed replaced by Anthony Bourdain's "Kitchen Confidential".

-starts using spanish profanity, but dosent speak a lick of actual spanish.*

-gets upset if you say anything positive about rachel ray.

-sleeps past noon and smells like whiskey.*

-tips 50-75% no matter what*

-cant explain the multiple grease burns on arms.

*will apply to all service industry workers, baristas, bartenders, waiters, ect...

im proud of the company i keep.