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Category Archives: Memory Lane

everybody has to be someplace

Monday, March 1, 2010

(9/365)

On an expedition through the old neighborhood after Mass with Mom and Dad, I tried to resist going into Unabridged Bookstore, thinking of the books on my shelves that have sat, neglected; but I failed, driven perhaps by nostalgia for days past in New York spent browsing the many miles of books at The Strand.

Inside, the simple cover of No One Belongs Here More Than You beckoned me closer, testified to by a staff member’s positive, handwritten review posted on the shelf. The title, too, held a promise all its own, hinting that within its pages might be found a resolution to, or at least some brief sanctuary from, my own unshakable feeling of I Belong Somewhere Else: when I lived in New York; I belonged in Chicago; in Pittsburgh, I belonged in New York; and now, in Wisconsin, I belong… anywhere else.

Six years is a long time to be someplace you don’t belong. But–and I’m reminded of a performance of one-acts I did in college–everybody has to be someplace.

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it wasn’t always love.

Thursday, January 28, 2010

[As I troll through my digital archives, piecing together memories of Scott for a brain that often fails to remember the more mundane details of life (it's those details that I think not only help provide context to what actually does matter, but also trigger memories that might be otherwise buried unreachable in my subconscious), I find things that I think are worth remembering. I hope no one minds me sharing them.]

If you asked me nowadays, I would tell you that, despite the tragedy of a certain day, I wouldn’t trade my college years in New York for anything. If nothing else, they clarified my love of the city (a term which, by the way, can only refer to one place) and left me with many fond memories–of people, places, and things, and a siren-like call to return.

(Continued)

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me and scotty mcgee, pt. 2.

Thursday, January 28, 2010

From a conversation Scott and I had slightly un-recently, speculating about how many people might come to a certain event.

[Scott] I expect it to be low, but I'm a pessimist
[me] Probably.
[me] But I'm a pessimist as well. ;)
[Scott] and this is but one reason why we are such good friends

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me and scotty mcgee, pt. 1.

Thursday, January 14, 2010

If memory serves, this is the first communication I ever sent Scott outside of the notesfiles.

Date: Mon, 20 Jul 1998 20:46:07 -0500 (CDT)
From: [ME]
X-Sender: [ME]
To: [SCOTT]
Subject: ISO advice/words of wisdom
Message-ID: <Pine.GSO.3.96.980720203638.8379F-100000@pepsi>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII
Status:  O

Hi, Scott. We've never personally met except on notesfiles, but I wanted
to ask you if you'd be willing to give me your impressions on living in
New York, seeing as how I'll be moving out there in a month. I gathered
from your ph that you live out in Queens; what's it like? I haven't
explored much of New York beyond Manhattan below 57th and The Bronx,
around Fordham. I'm thinking of getting an apartment after my freshman
year, and I'm wondering where's a good place to look--Manhattan is most
likely out of my price range, even with a roommate.

I'm just trying to get a feel for the place before The Big Move. Any
comments/advice/etc. would be helpful. Oh, and if you're wondering, I'll
be located on Third Ave. and 9th, in the Village.

Thanks.

-anthony

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netflix makes great money from me

Wednesday, September 9, 2009

So, slacker that I am (and in the end stage of studying for the MCAT, no less), I finally cleared out “Bender’s Game,” “Eureka” (season 1, disc 2), and “Prime Suspect 5” (part 2) from my to-watch list and shipped them back to Netflix. (I won’t admit how long I had one of those out for.)

Due up in my mailbox is a trip down memory lane: “Pi,” “Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai,” and “Sunrise.” “Pi” and “Ghost Dog” were some of the first movies I watched at the Angelika my freshman year of college, and “Sunrise” was one of the films we watched as part of the History of Cinema class I took my junior year. Collectively, they epitomize that phase of my life in which I aspired to be a pretentious snob^W^Wconnoisseur of the moving picture. (Which is not to say that I don’t anymore, only that it’s been tempered in recent years by…well, by no longer living in New York.) And there’s a keen sense of anticipation of rediscovering elements of some of the more visceral experiences that used to abound during my college years–not to mention the associated emotions that, to this day, color the reflection of my days as a New Yorker–but are now only faint memories to me.

All this will have to wait until after the MCAT. Less than three days to go.

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i suppose mark was pissed

Thursday, September 3, 2009

I don’t remember this at all.

From [MY SENIOR YEAR RC] Sat Nov 15 01:12:37 1997
Received: from [143.195.180.31] (1505rco-5579.rhrc.imsa.edu [143.195.180.31])
by postoffice.imsa.edu (8.8.7/8.8.5) with SMTP id BAA21746;
Sat, 15 Nov 1997 01:12:36 -0600 (CST)
X-Sender: [MY SENIOR YEAR RC]
Message-Id: <v01550100b092f56c3a77@[143.195.180.31]>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
Date: Sat, 15 Nov 1997 01:11:08 -0600
To: [MY SENIOR YEAR ROOMMATE], [ME]
From: [MY SENIOR YEAR RC]
Subject: Wing clean up
Content-Length: 2709
Status: RO
X-Status:
The two of you need to organize and execute a wing clean up.

By wing clean up, I do not mean everyone taking one job the housekeeping
people normally have.  No, I mean the whole wing should scrub the damned
common areas clean.  The wall by the trash can should have the food
splatters wiped off it.  The microwave should be spotless.  The floors
should be mopped.  The furniture moved and vacuumed under.  Rearrange
things if you want.  Clean the fridge.  Organize the cabinets.  Throw away
shit that we don't need.  Replace thumbtacks in posters that are missing
them.  Wiped down the tables.  Clean the windows.  Do a REALLY good job!

Then, have some people clean the laundry rooms like never before.  Clean
the dried soap off the machines.  Empty the lint hamper.  Clean clean
clean!

Anyone who you feel does not participate up to snuff should be given extra
cleaning assignments for the week, the month or the year.  I don't care.
From now on I want the two of you to make sure that housekeeping is done
every night, and done well.  When you leave for the weekend, you should
check with whomever is on housekeeping and make sure they have a
substitute.  You should also post a list of who has housekeeping when.  Put
it on the window, facing out, next to the name/room number list by the
door.

The reason I am so pissed is because it is now 1:07 a.m. and I am cleaning
the wing because Finegan and Gurga did not get replacements, and Knuffman
refuses to do it because he has done it for the last two nights.  Finegan,
Gurga, Schaefer and Knuffman are all getting an extra week, starting this
week.  They will not stop doing housekeeping until the do one week right.

In the future, I expect the two of you to take care of all housekeeping
problems.  Anyone who doesn't live up to their responsibilities will not
only cause problems for themselves, but for the two of you as well.

I expect you to run a meeting explaining the new policy, and organizing the
wing clean up.  From now on you should do more wing clean ups more often.

And I really, really, really want to see some action on an educational
meeting of some sort.  Otherwise I am going to have to start docking your
work service hours, which I don't want to do.

Any questions, feel free to come see me Sunday night from 8-1 in the RC office.

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childhood aspirations

Saturday, June 27, 2009

When I was a kid, the CTA buses had a button above the rear exit door to signal a stop (in addition to the pull cords). I really wanted to be tall enough to push the button.

Sadly, they don’t have those buttons anymore.

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