she is sorry and resigned

This blog would be really dumb and boring if I just wrote about what I did on the weekends...Oh...Wait. Shoot.

Kate and I went to Omaha so she could meet the other American on her Mozamique team. It was really interesting. It made me really excited to meet the other American on my team. Although Jennifer (kate's roommate) had met Amanda (mine) at orientation in New York over a year ago and all she had to say was how "sweet" and "nice" she is. I don't think anyone ever describes me as either of those things. It scares me a lot, I usually hate people who are described as sweet. I mean even if I like them as people, I hate that they're "sweet." It just seems so ingenuine and that's something I'm just not okay with. I'm sure it'll be fine, I can get along with people fairly well, right? I mean honestly look at my friends. jkjk. Really my greatest fear about this whole deal is that I'll be spending tons of time with Christians and I'll just acclimate and start using the word "bless" way too often. "Christianity" is so frustrating. I'm not going to start saying "Christ-follower" don't worry.

Talking about TIMO a lot did motivate me to get back to work in preparation stuff. I'm meeting Amanda and some friends of my leaders on August 13 and I hope I'll get pictures to use in a presentation to start raising support. It still seems so far away but it's just not. Pretty soon you'll all have a magnet with my face on it so watch out.

This week is the first one in a while that I'm spending more than a week in Iowa, that's dumb (come visit me). Ok it's time to go to sleep. Last night I kept waking up really angry that I was wearing socks but my feet were cold so I kept them on. Why am I such a fidgety sleeper? Someone look up why it takes me so long to get comfortable and fall asleep and get back to me.

okpeaceout

oh wait, mixtapes to make:

1. songs I <3 by artists I hate

2. covers

3. songs with rain noise in the background (so far i have 'cry me a river' and 'was it you' by spoon)

4. songs with my friend's names ('kate' - ben folds, 'eli the barrow-boy' - decemberists, etc)

5. songs that make me want to move away


i'll keep you posted - let me know what you have to contribute

hotter than africa

so lollapalooza was amazing. definitely one of the top 5 best weekends ever. Here's how we rolled (this post is probably not interesting or comprehensible):

Friday -

12am - Tim proposes taking his couch and stuff to Waterloo while Yudai has the van from work. I go along for the ride and very much enjoy laying on the couch in the back. We grab Perkins and get back around 6am.

11am - Wake up, run errands, Alex and I take beers to Tim & Yudai's then help move Yudai's stuff over to my place.

6pm - Bryan gets in, Tim leaves, Yudai finishes moving stuff.

9pm - Dinner at Mickey's

10:30pm - Dustin joins us for some suds

11:00pm - Alex & I head back to the apt.

Saturday

1:30am - The boys get back, Yudai cooks, we watch Lost In Translation (which Yudai translated...it ruled)

8:30am - Bryan & leave for Chi-town

9am - Bryan's first stop at Iowa 80

12pm - Pick up Jess & Marissa and head downtown

1pm - LOLLAPALOOZA

Trail of Dead was good, I got to hear one of their songs that I really like. They were very "rock and roll," they smashed guitars and yelled at us. They switched instruments (the mark of true musicianship) and there were 2 drum parts for one of the songs which was really nice.

Kaiser Chiefs were good - they let some random people sing a song which could have been dumb but the guy got really into it and you could tell that it was his dream come true. Honestly, how often do you get to see someone's dream come true? It was worth it.

Jess and I sang along to Dashboard Confessional (ain't no shame in it) which embarassed Marissa but it was good for her to see catharsis first hand.

Cake was awesome. We ran into Willis! Ha! They played too much new stuff but I'll forgive them. They're getting kind of old and sometimes I think John McCrea looks like my dad.

It rained a little during Blonde Redhead which was nice because that was about the time I thought I was going to die of thirst.

The Black Keys were nice but we left early to get good spots for =w= which we did.

We got to watch the Pixies set from afar which was quite nice. Then Weezer was good, they also played too much new stuff but our spots were good and even Marissa could see. She got filmed holding up my lighter which was also awesome. There weren't enough people who really cared to be there but oh well.

I couldn't comprehend the number of beer cups and water bottles littering the park after the show but it was all clean the next morning. I said "thank you" to one of the guys cleaning up and he gave me a look that transfered the guilt of anyone who has ever littered anything (alex) onto my conscience. We drove Ellen and Claire to Lincoln Park where they slept at some girl's apartment and got to show Bryan some more of Chicago at night (ie: stuck in traffic trying to get onto 90/94)

We got back and woke up Eli to welcome him back from Bosnia, slept, ate breakfast (Bryan got the 3rd degree from Jess's parents...then so did I "so angie, who is this guy...just friends?") then got back in time for the last couple songs from the Ponys. It was so hot we almost died. I didn't pee for like 24 hours, it was all sweat.

We took a break after Kasabian and walked to Subway for lunch (and air conditioning) and then walked to Millenium Park to cool off in the fountain and use toilets that flush. We tried to get rained on at Buckingham Fountain but it didn't really work. We got a great spot for Arcade Fire (Musicianship: 10, Stage Presence: 10, Number in Band: 9). They were so good! They definitely confirmed that real muscians wear vests/suits.

We also saw Spoon, The Killers and Derrick Carter. Death Cab for Cutie played Styrofoam Plates which was amazing. It was really good to see them but they really weren't the greatest live band. Oh well, it was sunset and beautiful and familiar.

Back to Jess's for the best shower ever, Fight Club and some thunder to sleep to. We woke up, played Dr. Mario, had lunch and caught Charlie and the Chocolate Factory before we drove back. It was very colorful and ridiculous but pretty great.

Eli hitched a ride back to IC during which the boys talked about music I'm not cool enough to know about, then Bryan just put up with Eli and I talking about people he doesn't know. Poor Bryan, we've really only hung out like 4 times and it's always been with people I'm really close to so he probably feels so uncomfortable all the time. I'm such a jerk, I suck at social interaction. So now it's over and I feel like summer is almost over. If this trend of annual summer concerts goes on, I'm totally okay with it.

whew.

arcade fire rocking out. notice the freedom horn. 

arcade fire. how can you not love the accordian? 

the prettiest dress at lollapalooza. i loved it so i took a picture. 

jess re-doing her hair. can you guess who took this picture? 

the stunning views of lollapalooza 

they go on forever 

Jess & I at Derrick Carter 

derrick carter (sorry no pictures of the great dancers in the crowd) 

eli, ellen, jess, the stage and the sears tower. such a great time. claire was over there <----- and bryan was right there -----> 

death cab for cutie 

death cab lights 

it was just so pretty! 

oh and jess accidentally kicked over this tree 

and now some real pictures

here are some pictures from the lollapalooza crew that I really liked

weezer rockin out (we're in this picture) 

crowd during cake (i had no idea there were this many people there) 

skyline during weezer 

the skyline during set up 

pretty cool 

the crowd migrating between shows 

explosions in the sky

just a couple pictures from the trip to Carol Stream to see the fireworks that Jess promised would change my life. They pretty much did. The finale was almost painfully beautiful. My eyes (nor my camera) could handle it. I love fireworks so much.

Other activities: Alex's first stop at Iowa 80 (I don't think she was very impressed), creepy guys car-stalking us between construction zones on 88, a BBQ at Dan's (complete with a visit from a kid I took to a house party when he was 14), swimming and margaritas with Jess's parents, and musical soundtracks on the way home.

Happy Summer.

the fireworks really were amazing 

this is the awesome sequin-clad singer for the awesome band at carol stream's summerfest 

romantic comedies = porn

i don't know how boys get away with having any excuse for messing up romance.

step one: be colin firth

step two: watch all hugh grant movies

commence

movin on up

i have a place to live

4316 Daniel Pl SE

Vicki called about work stuff then up and offered to have me move in. It might be weird living with my boss but she's so great and so is her family. And they have a dog and a garden and only drink organic milk. Oh man I can't wait. Liz and I have always joked about camp Vicki - I get it for half a year. I'm so excited.

I still don't know when I'm moving in but that's ok. Hooray!

Post Secret

I thought this was of interest. Check it out.

190 more days

I just realized that I never posted these pictures. John and Barbara (my team leaders) sent us some pictures of Sheffield a while ago. Here they are.

This is where I'm going to live! 

This might be my street 

It's very Privet Drive, don't you think? 

the view from the top of the hill