Mystery Solved

... rather anticlimatically, as it turns out. I walked into Katherine's pumpkin carving party on Monday and there was Kirby, carving the same face into a much larger pumpkin. But there's still the strange corn incident.



All true. I did make JWoolard drop her cigarette and I have started playing Oberin, a MMORPG (I just learned what that stood for). To make it even geekier, it is a game for Mac users only. So far the only things I'm good at in the game are eating, getting presents from my fellow players and leading monsters to the same unsuspecting fellow players while I'm trying to run away. Honestly, it's a pretty poor replacement for Woolard, who I am going to miss to pieces.

There was something else ...

Oh yes, my tentative top ten for 2008:
Cut Copy - In Ghost Colors
Why? - Alopecia
The Most Serene Republic - Population
Foals - Antidotes
The Notwist - The Devil, You + Me
Ladytron - Velocifero

And I can't remember the rest right now.

Update:
I remembered a few more ...
Crystal Castles - s/t
Goldfrapp - Seventh Tree

Sorry, Allan, I haven't listened to the new Girl Talk, but I've still got two months to go.

Happy and ?

First off, who the fuck keeps leaving produce on my porch? First the corn. Then on Friday I came home from work to find a fully carved pumpkin on my deck. No note or anything.



Today is the first day in a long, long time that I have actually been happy. It feels amazing! I had a plan for last night and accomplished everything I set out to do at JWoolard, Will and Marianne's going away party:
-cry (Well, I teared up when Woolard said she'd miss me. Close enough.)
-got in the photobooth with Woolard
-made out with someone
-had fun, made it home safely and went to bed alone

I had a nice walk to Star's this afternoon to get my bike. The weather is perfect today. Sigh.

Nerdstar Spectacula

Sorry, about the lack of posts everyone (by everyone I mean Paul and JWoolard). I don't have an excuse, so I'm not gonna pretend.
I actually have thought of a couple posts, but mostly I have been so fabulously crabby that I thought whatever I wrote would be too mean.

Does anyone else have balsamic vinegar spots all over their keyboard?

10 for 20

-The Most Serene Republic "Sherry and her Butterfly Net"
-my surrogate dad who just tipped me a twenty (don't worry he's gay)
- toothbrush + Simple Green = immaculate bike chain
-my sexy new helmet
-Natalie the Librarian bringing me delicious soup
-Owen "Poor Souls"
-being told "Don't worry honey, he'll propose." Hilarious, since I am painfully single (and intend to remain so)
-As the World Burns: 50 Simple Things You Can Do To Stay In Denial by Derrick Jensen and Stephanie McMillan. Read it and learn how 'the Man' made the Green Revolution.
-Pony, who is a reflection of my inner mental state. Four flats in a week and a half? Time to do some self-work.
-Being able to tell it's fall because Lyra has started sleeping on me again. Nothing like a twenty pound cat to keep you warm.

Why I Love Megan O.

I called Megan to tell her about my first rejection letter for my novel and the first thing she says when she picks up is, "I feel crazy, do you feel crazy too?" I said yes and we talked for a minute. I told her about the rejection letter and I mentioned that I went to therapy AND yoga today "and I feel kind of ... leaky, I guess. Emotionally leaky. Does that make sense?"
And she said, "Oh, I know EXACTLY what you mean."

Milkyboots Contest!

That's right, I'm holding a contest! My friend Megan O's wedding is next Sunday and one lucky MB fan* gets to be my date. I'm ripping off Mark (he had a contest for who would be his #8 on his myspace top 8), but I don't think he'll mind. So, if you want to enter, write a short essay about why I should take you to the wedding and send it to my email (vlpaine at yahoo dot com). I'll pick whoever I think did best by Friday.

From an actual conversation a couple hours ago:




*If such a person actually exists.

Ha (?)

That's right, I actually went to the Pink Door last night. I may have even 'busted a move', but you'll have to ask Pam and Kirby for verification.

I read in the Times today that Oregon (or maybe just Portland) passed some big bill that sucked but tucked way in the back of it was a tax credit for bike commuters. Yay! Bike commuters get $20 a month for maintenance and repairs from their employers now.

Critical Mass Memorial Ride

Jen Futrell was hit by a car while riding southbound on Bardstown Road on Tuesday, Sept. 30. She received life-threatening injuries and was taken off life support a few days later. She died on Saturday, Oct. 4.

Come to Critical Mass on Friday, Oct. 10 (5-6pm) to remember Jen and raise awareness of these issues:

-- Helmet safety - at her family's request, PLEASE show up wearing protective gear
-- Increased protection for cyclists, including increased funding for cyclist awareness campaigns for drivers and more bike lanes
-- Changing the culture of Louisville from car-centric to one that defers to alternative modes of transportation like cycling

We are meeting in the parking lot of Bardstown Road Presbyterian (they are not affiliated with this), biking down to the intersection of Baxter/Bardstown Road, then returning to the parking lot. We will pass the ghost bike, placed where Jen was hit. Her family has been made aware of this action and believes Jen would have supported it. ALL are invited, not just those who knew Jen.

I can't make it, but y'all should go.

In other news, I finally figured out why every day a little piece of my soul dies. It's because every day, I'm responsible for the emotions of many, many other people in addition to my own. It's called the service industry. My jobs aren't even that high stress. I would probably implode after about three hours of waitressing.

I will do my best to make my next post more normal milkyboots stuff ...

A Bad Year for Dreamers.

Jen's visitation will be from 4-9 pm Monday at Crescent Hill Presbyterian Church. Services will be held in the same church at 1:30 on Tuesday.

The way I met Jen was emblematic of how she did things. About two and a half years ago, she walked up to Andrew and I in the Broadway Goodwill and said "I thought I knew all the bike punks in Louisville."
I didn't like her at first. There's even an entry in my diary in which I fantasize about challenging her to a fist fight. But something changed. I don't remember what it was. We started to get along.

At some point I told her I'd written a novel. A fantasy novel for kids, about a girl who unwittingly becomes the carrier of something with the power to save the world. It's called "The Courier." I let Jen read it, and because she was Jen, she loved it. She wrote commentary and notes of encouragement or suggestion throughout the manuscript. Honestly, I didn't use most of her suggestions; her writing style is a little more baroque than mine. On the last page she wrote "Will this flower be an important talisman someday? Way far in the future? Can a bicycle courier name her bike after Estni's horse?"

So how could I not write a sequel after that? I based the main character on the three biking-est women I know; Liv, Jen and myself. She had Liv's height and freckles, Jen's haircut, tough warrior spirit and slightly prickly personality, and my reticence and bicycle. (Side note: Liv was hit on her bike last year, sideswiped in the rain while riding to her job in Bloomington. She was all right, but her bike was totalled.)

And at the end of the story, the main character doesn't die. She has too much love for her country and her people, so she tranforms herself, at great cost, into a protective, nurturing spirit who watches over all the land.

Jen never got to read the sequel, but I think she would've approved.

I can't really make much sense of Jen's death right now. I hadn't realized that in writing the character's transformation, I'd written what Jen in there as well. She was a protective, nurturing spirit, who loved this city and her friends. There was magic in everything she did.

Love Bombs Always.

Jen was taken off life support tonight. She was never an easy friend, but she was always a good friend; honest to a fault, dependable, beautiful ... a big personality. I love her, and always will.

Everything happens at once.

I will forever remember 2008 as the year the world decided t....

anyway, this year has sucked for me and almost everyone I know.

My friend Jen Futrell was in a bike accident yesterday. Last I heard (last night) she is on a ventilator and they are letting non-family members see her. This is better than what I heard yesterday afternoon, but still not really good news.

All my love and prayers to you, Jen.