here's the garden as of the last week in june. one tomato is turning a faint shade of orange.
the beets are starting to appear through the dirt.
the royal "burgandy" beans are ready to pick.
since i untangled all the cucumber vines, they plants have tripled in size.
ian's watered the tomatoes diligently since there's no damn rain!!!
soon, we'll have more vegetables than we can eat.
a few months ago i agreed to pick up tuesday nights as a permanent shift since noone else would commit. what in christ's name was i thinking? oh right, i wasn't. it's structured to be a "showcase" night for up & coming bands in the area, but there seems to be a reoccuring pattern of south jersey or northeast philly bands playing. it usually consists of anywhere from 3 to 5 bands & the styles can range from "grindcore metal" to "bluegrass". the interesting thing is the genre diversity creates a strange dynamic behind the bar. these past two tuesdays were no exception. needless to say, my tuesday ranges anywhere from fratboy club to suburban "evanessence" crap bands & their families. all i need to hear is, "oh, so isn't my son's band awesome?".
the line up of bands are most likely the local bar favorites at any new jersey college bar. they cater to the "under 30 - coors lite" crowd. you know the type of guy that digs this crap...abercrombie & fitch t-shirts, backwards NY yankee caps, cargo shorts, & teva sandals. the girls usually rock highlighted hair up in a banana clip, frosted lip gloss, too much lycra, & proudly carry her monogram "coach" purse. this past week one of the bands was kicked out when they tried sneaking in their underage friends for the 2nd time through the load-in entrance. nice going, idiots!
i have an interesting role in the room. since it's a music venue, i don't have regulars planted at the bar. the patrons are there to see the musicians on stage & that is just fine with me. i am invisible until someone needs a drink. the downside of this is the numerous nights of crap music, crap rockstars, and their crap fans. i don't know how many times i hear, "oh i need 7 bottles of water. they're for the band, so they're free, right?". it's usually some girl that wants to meet one of the band members & they're in such a rush that they pushed their way through all the other customers to get that FREE WATER. i love the look on their face when i tell them if they went through the case of water in their dressing room & they order it through me....someone has to PAY FOR THE WATER. the onslaught of excuses that follow are too numerous to recall right now. oh silly me, i should be kissing their asses since they're in a band right? i don't think so. the interesting thing is most of the really talented, successful bands understand my role & are very polite & humble. it's these "new" bands that act completely rude & self-entitled.
yuk! go back to runnamede, nj or pay for the poland springs!
"That library, to my way of thinking, was an abortion the day it was dedicated," Fulton County Commissioner Tom Lowe said. "I am a lover of art. I can even stand abstract art. But God darn, who in the world would build something like that? There ain't no damn artistic value to that library." 
here is a map of the remaining lawn surface area in a northeast portion of the US. what have we done??? even with all of the technological advancements, i'm not so sure our quality of living has advanced after seeing evidence of such disrespect for our natural resources. this of course is just my opinion. you can go to the link above to read more about how we've affected our carbon & water cycles, so i won't go into it. nasa does it better.
we can build prosthetic fingers to simulate human mobility for amputees which is remarkable, but basic interpersonal communication has become more automated, impersonal, & gadget driven. i don't know if i consider this advancement. maybe it's just me, but i almost miss the time when someone had to leave a message on a cassette taped machine if i wasn't home. now, that's privacy.
on a recent trip to boston i was reunited with federal & victorian architecture. what a treat! as much as i dislike how homogeneous boston is culturally, the architecture made up for it's lack of soul. this is exactly what i feel is missing or hammered out of a lot of contemporary innovations.
speaking of innovations, i should get back to the terrible town center project i'm working on for a project in beijing. imagine a man-made tuscan themed community built for retail and residential packed neatly into a 500+ acre plot of land that used to be chinese farmland. how sad....
getting in the habit of writing something is fine, but writing something that someone else might be interested in is the daunting task. i guess i just shouldn't care & write. i am so "green" when it comes to reading, subscribing, & writing blogs. i still enjoy the act of writing on paper with a 0.5mm mechanical pencil. if i'm lucky, the graphite doesn't smudge. i know this isn't terribly exciting to people in an age of technological advancement & racing to design the next coolest gadget. i'd much rather sit under the glow of my yellowed incandescent lamp in a room that may not have perfect 90degree angles or furniture found in the latest 'design within reach'.
so, i came across this car today while doing a search for step lights for a landscape lighting project. the new honda step bus concept car. i'm not sure how to feel about this thing. as with so many other trends, this is no different. a lot of design travels down a path that i would rather not follow. i am sure a number of aesthetic theorists could explain the theory behind my gut feeling, but for lack of a better way to explain it - it lacks soul. what would clement greenberg say?
on a more productive note, it has been 11 1/2 days since my last cigarette. ride on....
it was around 5pm last sunday when i finished my last cigarette, father's day. maybe it was the guilt of not going to see my dad that was the catalyst for quitting on that specific day. i'd like to think it was just my little present to him. it's been 8 days since i've had a smoke & i almost forget how they taste. all i remember is that i was terribly addicted.
about 6 years ago my dad admitted himself into the ER for a 180 heart rate that left him in the hospital for about a month. i guess i didn't really think about how how his fate could someday be my own. i am not sure if it was the alcohol or the cigarettes that put him under the knife or maybe it was a combination of the two. either way, i wanted to get rid of the damaging habit i adopted as my own that could land me in the same place.
i wish i could say i'm in the clear from the urge to light up, but that would be lying. for now, i will rely on my stubborn will & a little friend called, "chantix". it's helped me to get through the 1st few week, so i shouldn't completely write off the possiblity pharmaceuticals offers.
i know reading the newest release by a. gawande has nothing to do with why i quit smoking, but it sure has an appropriate cover & title for the path i decided to take a week ago.
