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Below are the 20 most recent journal entries recorded in
Jonathan Wenger's LiveJournal:
| Thursday, February 21st, 2002 | |
| 5:28 pm | we are siamese if you please I've been spending this week house/catsitting for one of my dad's friends. She has a very nice one story house in a nice neighborhood, and a very siamese 16-year-old cat named Jasper. After nearly 5 days of doing his best to avoid me, Jasper got somewhat friendly today. He rubbed against my legs and followed me around and made "a murring sound that sounds like he's complaining, but he's not," as my catsitting instructions described it. By the way, the reason I'm catsitting is that this woman and her boyfriend are on a cruise (to the South Carribean, I think). I don't understand the appeal of cruises. When I travel, I like to experience new places, see new sights, take lots of pictures, try to see what life is like in a different location and culture... I like to get out and do stuff. A cruise seems (I've never actually been on one) like the opposite of that experience. You spend most of your time relaxing and lounging around a luxurious ship. If it's a really swank cruise, there are saunas and tennis courts and health clubs. Waiters pamper you and bring you free booze. I can play tennis and lounge around and drink without paying a bunch of money or even taking a trip! I gather that these cruises are pretty damn expensive. For the same price as a cruise, I could probably spend several weeks bumming around Europe, or take a week-long rafting trip through the Grand Canyon, or go to Taiwan, or Australia, or... do any number of other things which are much more appealing to me. I suspect that this is just a matter of preference, and cruises simply aren't my thing. Or can someone explain the appeal to me? Am I missing something? Hmm, this somehow turned into a rant on cruises. Jonathan |
| Saturday, February 16th, 2002 | |
| 2:16 am | Holy shit. I'm posting. Why does the 20 pound bag of rice say "convenient size" on it? Is a 20 pound bag of anything ever convenient? Tonight I tutored a girl in precalculus. Luckily, the section was all about counting problems (permutations and combinations), so I actually remembered it all. It was a lot of fun! I find myself thinking more and more about teaching as a career... Also, it was nice to get a little money. Danny is having an insanely huge (and obnoxious) party. I'm surprised nobody has called the cops already, given that they're being really fucking loud and this is yuppie Roswell. I just got to go tell a bunch of (underage) drunk kids to keep the noise down so they don't get the cops called on them. They were all apologetic and nice. They're not trying to be assholes, they're just idiots :) I got a bunch of beer on me from drunk people shaking my hand. Twenty minutes later, it's not sounding any quieter. Oh, I posted some pics of my cats here, in case you care and you don't read kittypix. Jonathan |
| Sunday, January 13th, 2002 | |
| 6:31 pm | |
| Sunday, December 16th, 2001 | |
| 9:48 am | celebrity obsession *drool* *salivate* *pant* NPR's Weekend Edition just had an interview segment with Hilary Hahn. I discovered that, in addition to being mind-blowingly gorgeous and an amazing violinist (which I already knew), she's also quite articulate. So now I'm reading through her online journal and I see that she writes well, enjoys photography, and likes to go hiking. I seem to have this thing for girls who are talented musicians... Oedipal? (My mom is a professional classical pianist) What a pathetic post this was. I will try to post something later today that consists of more than a starry-eyed description of a juvenile crush on a celebrity. I'll get over it. Did I mention that she's 22 and beautiful and a brilliant violinist? :) Jonathan |
| Tuesday, December 11th, 2001 | |
| 7:22 pm | This is my first non-private post in several days. For a while, I was beginning to think I should just use vim or notepad instead of lj... I just got back from a very nice walk. It was brisk (it's about 40 degrees out there), refreshing, and just damn enjoyable. HA! Okay, I have to share this. I was sitting here typing, when there was a loud noise, and something smashed into my arm (and the keyboard), hard. This was followed by a crinkly-thuddy noise which spread from one room of the apartment to another. Then, a plastic bag containing one very distraught Schroedinger the cat flew into my room, smashed into me, smashed into the bed, smashed into the chair, then finally went under the bed. Poor kitty, he managed to get the plastic bag over his head, and he freaked out! After much thrashing around, he was able to free himself. Then he hopped into my lap, breathing heavily and still very distraught. I feel sorry for him, but that's what he gets for going on the kitchen counter (where I'd left the empty grocery bags) when he knows he's not supposed to! The whole thing was very funny. It took me several seconds to figure out what the hell was going on. I figured it would be okay to leave the empty bags on the counter for 5 minutes before I put them in the recycling bin... Anyway, back to my walk. I was surprised to find that the Queen Anne post office is open until 6:30, so I decided to walk up there to mail something. After I got there, I realized I was right across the street from a QFC. I was planning on driving to Safeway, but there were only a few things I needed, so I walked over to the QFC. I bought a can of cream of mushroom soup, a large can of crushed tomatoes (the fresh tomatoes didn't look so good), a tub of plain yogurt, unsalted butter, a piece of fresh king salmon fillet (on sale for $4.99/lb!), a head of garlic, 4 bananas, 2 lemons, a head of romaine lettuce, and a bag of dried garbanzos. Total price: $14.46. Why am I telling you what I bought at the grocery store? There is something I find very satisfying about walking to buy groceries, then walking back home with them. For one thing, it's just nice to get outside and walk around. It's very simple and low-tech. I'm not dependent on a car. If I want to buy food, any time of day or night, I can walk to QFC and buy it. Also, knowing I have to carry back whatever I buy makes me less tempted to buy extraneous shit I don't need. The checkout girl at QFC was a total goofball. I mean that in the most positive way - she was great. Very spacey... She said stuff like, "it's okay, man, somebody else is already experiencing that whole... break scene, so... it's just not working out for me right now. Besides, I can't leave you guys [me and the guy behind me in line] alone. You can't be trusted." She was explaining to the guy behind me that it was okay for him to get in her line - she wasn't going on break yet. I felt like I was in a scene from The Big Lebowski. Jonathan Current Mood:  refreshedCurrent Music: Beth Orton - Trailer Park |
| Saturday, December 1st, 2001 | |
| 12:40 am | dylan's response This was posted in  bobdylan, but I'm posting it in my journal as well. Dylan is so articulate and poetic...Jonathan This is Dylan's statement about George Harrison, as it appears on the AP wire: "George was a giant, a great, great soul, with all of the humanity, all of the wit and humor, all the wisdom, the spirituality, the common sense of a man and compassion for people. He inspired love and had the strength of a hundred men. He was like the sun, the flowers and the moon and we will miss him enormously. The world is a profoundly emptier place without him." -- Musician Bob Dylan |
| Friday, November 30th, 2001 | |
| 12:20 pm | people with one name While I was in Atlanta, KUOW got a new traffic reporter. Her name is Bailey. Just Bailey, like Cher, or Madonna, or Twiggy. All the other on-air personalities on that station (which is an NPR news and information station) use their full name when they identify themselves. Are radio traffic reporters allowed to do that? When she says, "I'm Bailey for KUOW," it sounds ridiculous to me. Jonathan |
| 12:13 pm | george So, George Harrison is dead. And, while I'm not one to cry or get visibly upset about the death of a celebrity that I have never met, I am saddened. I didn't plan on posting about his death, but I'm sitting here listening to an excellent 2 hour special on the radio (hooray for KUOW), and I feel compelled to write something. Compared to Lennon/McCartney, George Harrison didn't write very many Beatles songs, but the few that he did write are among my favorites. If I Needed Someone, Taxman, Within You Without You, While My Guitar Gently Weeps, Here Comes The Sun, Something... And his songs always seemed far more profound than the songs of Lennon/McCartney. On Revolver, Harrison wrote "Taxman" and "Within You Without You", while John and Paul wrote "Good Day Sunshine." He was talking about politics and pondering spirituality at a time when most Beatles songs were about things like holding hands and various platitudes. He introduced Indian music to suburban white kids. He seemed quieter, more thoughtful, more dignified, and less obnoxious than the other Beatles. This tribute program on the radio is excellent. I think it was produced at the U. of New Mexico station (KUNM?) I am completely ignorant about Harrison's solo work, but after hearing some of it on this program, I am going to learn more about it. A lot of it sounds really good. Does anyone have recommendations on where to start? Jonathan Current Mood:  thoughtfulCurrent Music: George Harrison tribute on the radio |
| Thursday, November 29th, 2001 | |
| 8:54 pm | Rosebud.... YES, Rosebud Frozen Peas. Full of country goodness and green peaness. Wait, that's terrible. I quit! Maybe three people who read this will get the reference. I cooked two cups of peas tonight. I ate them ALL. Four servings, my ass. I got back to Seattle last night at 5:30 pm. The piece of luggage that I checked got to Seattle last night at 10:00 pm. My 3:40 connecting flight in Dallas was cancelled. I managed to get a standby seat on the 2:20 flight out of Dallas. Unfortunately, my luggage did not, so it was put on the 5:30 flight. Chris landed around the same time I did, so I shared a cab home from the airport with him. I went back to the airport at 9:30 to get my suitcase. It came crashing onto the baggage carousel, a bit scratched up, half unzipped, and with the lock missing. I guess the security guys were alarmed when I wound up on a different flight than my luggage. Nothing seems to be missing from inside the suitcase, and the lock was cheap and crappy, so I don't mind. This is an incredibly mundane post, given all the things that have been happening in my life lately. Eventually I will post more substantive entries (I keep saying that)... Jonathan Current Mood:  tiredCurrent Music: Joni Mitchell - Blue |
| Monday, November 19th, 2001 | |
| 12:04 pm | The Dharma Bums I've been doing a great deal of thinking lately, and I should post some of my thoughts. I wrote two insanely long entries a couple days ago, but I made them private. I will probably post something more substantial soon. For now, here are some sentences I underlined while reading The Dharma Bums. Then suddenly everything was just like jazz. Poor Princess, she meant every word she said. ...in the nowhere industrial formations of an America that is still magic America. ...maybe I could have told her something, made her feel different. Maybe I'd just make love to her and say nothing. She was an expert on making food out of nothing. In all this welter of women, I still hadn't got one for myself, not that I was trying too hard, but sometimes I felt lonely to see everybody paired off and having a good time and all I did was curl up in my sleeping bag in the rosebushes and sigh and say bah. Oh my God, sociability is just a big smile and a big smile is nothing but teeth, I wish I could just stay up here and rest and be kind. I suddenly had the most tremendous feeling of the pitifulness of human beings... Everybody wanted to have a good time and tried real hard but we all woke up the next day feeling sorta sad and separate. I felt deliberate and glad and solitary. ...let the mind beware, that though the flesh be bugged, the circumstances of existence are pretty glorious. |
| Friday, November 16th, 2001 | |
| 1:25 am | well, we didn't crash Wow, a cable modem seems fast when you're used to 56K dialup. I made it. My plane touched down in Atlanta around 19:30 EST. The trip from Hartsfield to the Chamblee MARTA station made me wish that Seattle had good public transportation to/from the airport. Not that MARTA's fantastic, but it's better than shitty buses. I'd also forgotten how much warmer Fall days in Atlanta are. It was almost 70 degrees here when we landed, and it wasn't raining. (Not that I mind the rain. I forgot to mention that I took a nice little ~3 mile walk in the Seattle rain yesterday so I could return my TMBG tickets at the Paramount box office.) I read 150 pages of The Dharma Bums on the plane. So far I'm enjoying it very much. I love Kerouac's writing style. I met Bernie and Zooey (I typed "Franny" and had to backspace). They're both nice cats, but Bernie is a bit shy. They're also both a little chubby! I think my mom is overfeeding them. I got an email from Enda, which was cool because I'd been meaning to email him and tell him I was going to be in Atlanta. I also talked to my dad on the phone tonight. I got about an hour of sleep, so I should be in bed now. Instead, I'm playing around with this old acoustic guitar. I should have taken it with me when I moved to Seattle... I wonder if there's a cheap way to get it up there now? I don't have a hard case. Jonathan |
| Thursday, November 15th, 2001 | |
| 12:36 am | I found this amusing. I found our friend George W. Bush's executive order quite disturbing, but reading this made me feel a bit better. Hooray for the ACLU! I still haven't started packing. I suck. However, my apartment is almost completely clean. I went to Barnes and Noble tonight and bought even more reading material. I should have saved my money and just gone to the library in Atlanta, but I'm a sucker for buying books. In keeping with my recent disenchantment with materialism and the resultant spiritual (can I use that word as an atheist?) flailing about, I bought The Dharma Bums and Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance. I was surprised to find Zen... in the Buddhism section. I thought it was fiction. So, my reading material consists of: The latest issue of The New Yorker, Dharma Bums, Zen..., One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, and the biography of Woody Allen that I'm in the middle of. I debated bringing Gravity's Rainbow, but decided against it. Speaking of Pynchon, I saw Mason and Dixon at the book store tonight, and it's scarily huge! I heard on NPR tonight that Bush said to Putin, "You're the kind of guy I'd like to have in a foxhole with me." I won't even begin to comment on that :) I haven't even told my dad I'm coming home. Eesh. Bad communication on my part... I also need to email a few people that I haven't seen in a while and would like to get in touch with while I'm in town. This trip kind of snuck up on me... I have to be up at 5:30 in the morning to catch my American Airlines flight (creepy), so I should start packing and try to get a little sleep. I figure I'll sleep on the plane flights. I will probably post a lot while I'm home, since I suspect I will be bored at times. Still, it will be good to visit Atlanta! Jonathan |
| Wednesday, November 14th, 2001 | |
| 3:37 am | "If you do not speak English or you do not understand this letter, please take it with you to your local post office for assistance." That was at the bottom of a letter I got from the USPS, confirming my change-of-address order. It reminds me of a sketch I saw a few years on Conan O'Brien's show. Conan is doing a mock tv commercial for a group which fights illiteracy. It ends with him saying something to the effect of, "If you're illiterate and want to seek help, call the number at the bottom of your screen... [pause] ...Well?! Why aren't you calling?! What the hell is wrong with you? Don't you want help?!" My flight to Atlanta leaves in 30 hours, and not only have I not started packing, I haven't even finished unpacking from my mini-move to this apartment. I did make a lot of progress tonight, though. I also found the TMBG tickets that I need to return tomorrow, since it doesn't look like they'll be rescheduling the concert. Oh well, at this point I could use the 45 dollars. Nina is sitting on my lap and purring. She keeps trying to sit on my hands while I type. I'm off to bed. Jonathan |
| Monday, November 12th, 2001 | |
| 1:20 am | Okay, I'm going to stop promising to post regularly, because I always seem to slack off horribly. Here is a recap of what's happened since I last posted. Of course, all of this would have been more detailed and/or entertaining if I'd posted it when it was fresh in my memory. I took that drive on the North Cascades Highway a couple weeks ago. They weather was cold and rainy, but I still saw some jaw-droppingly pretty scenery. I turned around well before I reached the summit of the pass because I didn't feel like driving through snow. I took a few pictures, but not too many because of all the rain. I'll have to go back next year after the snow melts and do some hiking. After changing my mind a few times, I decided to go home (to Atlanta) for Thanksgiving. Why does finding a cheap airline ticket have to be such a game? After a bunch of online searching, I booked a flight on American. It wasn't the cheapest ticket I found, but they had so many insane frequent flyer mileage deals (double miles, bonus miles for booking online) that I'll end up with another free ticket after this trip. I'll be in Atlanta for a fairly long time -- November 15-28. Hopefully I'll get to see some of you! I let Chris borrow my vacuum cleaner so he could vacuum his old apartment (he recently moved into the condo he bought). While taking the elevator up 9 floors to my apartment to return the vacuum, Chris accidentally left the cord hanging outside the elevator doors on the 4th floor. This resulted in the vacuum being violently tossed about the elevator for a few seconds before the cord was ripped off and fell down the elevator shaft. All in all, a very amusing way to destroy a vacuum cleaner! I got it repaired (it just needed a new cord) and Chris paid for it. I moved into my new (and cheaper!) apartment last Wednesday. Shad helped me, and it only took us about 6 hours to move everything. Moving sure is easier when you're just moving 11 floors down in the same building. The new place is nice. It's about the same size as the old place, but with much less closet space, and no water view. But, as I've said before, fuck views. My cats were initially a bit freaked out by the new place, which was weird, because they didn't seem to care at all when they were moved from Shad's apartment building to mine. I suspect that the guy who lived here before me had pets of some sort... I saw "Waking Life" twice. What a great movie! It's really interesting from a visual perspective alone. I want to read more about the process they used to make it. I also enjoyed the content of the film, which consisted mainly of rambling philosophical dialog. The stuff about "lucid dreaming" reminded me of things phatjoe used to mention.I've left out plenty of stuff, but that's all I feel like writing for now. My computer is set up on the floor of my bedroom, and it's hideously uncomfortable to type in this position. I will try to be less of a slack fuck about posting. Jonathan |
| Monday, November 5th, 2001 | |
| 4:23 pm | spy kitty I've been a horrible slacker about updating my journal. Maybe I will remedy that tonight. For now, here is an amusing news item: acoustic kitty Jonathan |
| Tuesday, October 30th, 2001 | |
| 6:31 am | scenic drive What the hell... As long as I'm up at this ungodly hour, I may as well do something interesting. I'm packing my cameras, film, and a small lunch, and I'm going to attempt to drive the North Cascades Highway (SR 20). It's supposed to be one of the most beautiful roads in the country. I'm hoping it's not too snowy... I had a little trouble finding information about weather conditions that wasn't at least a week old. But if I run into truly nasty weather, I'll turn back. Hopefully I'll see some pretty scenery! Jonathan |
| 12:48 am | "It's free!" [ obscure Fear of Pop referemce in the subject ] Did I mention that my sleep schedule is completely and totally fucked? Do I even need to mention that anymore? I just slept from 2 pm to midnight. Ugh. I checked a few of the online travel search places, and I found several Continental flights from SEA to ATL for $192. Insanely cheap! I nearly bought a ticket, but then I decided to check my frequent flyer mile status with American (the airline I used for most of my business travel with shitty GX). I have about 8000 miles with American, which isn't enough for any rewards. But American recently bought TWA, so all my TWA miles (I had about 8000 there too) become American miles. So, combining the two, I have 16,000 miles, which normally isn't enough for a free ticket. But American is having a deal through Nov 15 where you can get a free domestic ticket for only 15,000 miles. So I'm flying home for free! Wow, two positive (albeit small) things have happened to me in the last couple days. Now if I could find a goddamn job, maybe I'd stop moping around :) Jonathan Current Mood:  awakeCurrent Music: NPR |
| Monday, October 29th, 2001 | |
| 1:50 pm | meet the new landlord, same as the old landlord I talked with Emily and the property manager this morning, and we came to an arrangement. I'm transferring to an apartment on the 2nd floor of the building (I'm currently on floor 13). It's about the same size as my current apartment, but it doesn't have a pretty water view, so it's $340 less. Also, I don't have to pay any lease-breaking fee. They're even waiving the transfer fee, so the only penalty I pay is a cleaning fee for the new place. The best part is that if I can move all my stuff on November 5 (the day the guy in 202 vacates), I can pay the cheaper rent starting with the month of November. Pretty amazing, considering it's nearly November already. I don't think I'll have any trouble moving my things down 11 floors, considering all I have to do is drag them to and from the elevator. Emily was very helpful, the property manager was understanding, and a couple of the maintenance guys that I talked to were very nice. All of them told me that lots and lots of residents here are transferring to cheaper units, many of them as a result of being laid off. I filled out my USPS change of address form and dropped it in the mailbox. The postal service claims you need to submit the form at least 30 days before moving. I'm giving them 6 days. We'll see if my mail gets forwarded properly. As I was dropping the form in the mail, one of the maintenance guys said "hey, do you want some packing boxes?" He showed me where there were a bunch of good boxes I could have for free. The people who work here are incredibly nice. I can't say the same for the residents I've met. Hopefully my new neighbors on the second floor will be less bitchy than my current ones... Jonathan |
| Sunday, October 28th, 2001 | |
| 11:28 pm | Praise Causey!! I just checked the list of upcoming Causey Way concerts. The Causey Way will be playing at The Crocodile on Oct. 30! With Man or Astro Man!! This rocks. I've never seen Man or Astro Man, but from what I've heard I think I'll enjoy them. I didn't think Causey toured outside the Southeast. Tuesday should be a fun evening! Update: Nevermind. Holy shit, the Causey Way web site is out of date. Citysearch and The Crocodile's web pages both listed other bands for this Tuesday. I searched the Crocodile's calendar and determined that this show occured on October 30, 1999. Damn. Jonathan Current Mood: excited |
| 11:13 pm | hiatus It has been a long time since I've written anything in this journal, and I'm not sure why that is. Since I last posted... I've changed my mind and decided to fly home for Thanksgiving. The air fares from Seattle to Atlanta are dirt cheap, and it will be fun to visit Atlanta. Plus, I may as well enjoy my free time while I'm jobless. That UW asshole never contacted me about the job (which is why I now call him an asshole). I'm interpreting that as a tacit "no, you don't have the job." Hazel Judelman told me the biomedical research firm where she works might have some computer-oriented job openings, either temp or permanent. She gave me the address of the HR person, so I will send them a resume tomorrow. It feels weird to print out a resume on paper and physically mail it. Shad and I obsessively tracked down and watched every Twin Peaks episode. I think I watched all 29 episodes (plus the pilot) in about 5 sittings. The dvd which comes out in December looks interesting. It only has the 7 episodes from the first season, but it's a four-disc set, so there must be a ton of extra stuff. I cleaned my apartment, including the kitchen and bathroom! Shitty Harbor Properties changed their policies. Residents are now unable to break leases. So that means I'm stuck here, paying exhorbitant Belltown rent, until my lease runs out at the end of May. I'm talking with Emily about transferring to a cheaper apartment in this building, and she's being very helpful. Schroedinger the rambunctious kitten somehow got shaving cream on him. I have no idea how, since the cap was on the shaving cream. So, he got a bath, which did not make him happy. This Joni Mitchell album has that too-lush, over-produced, 70's sound, but I still like it. I was cleaning old junk from my hard drive, and I found some images I'd scanned from a fake pamphlet I picked up at a Causey Way show. This one is particularly timely as I bid farewell to the fallacy of yuppie materialism.  Jonathan Current Mood: groggyCurrent Music: Joni Mitchell - Court and Spark |
