A Year In Pictures Following The Break-Up

Mom sent me a number of pictures in the mail. Allie at college. Ty in his Halloween turtle outfit. Dad and I in Chicago.

It's nice to get an envelope in the mail that you can tell by touch has pictures inside.

# posted by Arnie : 3:54 PM  0 comments

This picture makes me want to write something like, "It's easy to mistake boredom for sadness." But I haven't been particularly sad lately, and I'm too busy to be bored. Plus, that was a pretty tasty lunch.

It is true, though. It is easy to mistake boredom for sadness. And it's easy to mistake lunch for art.

# posted by Arnie : 4:55 PM  1 comments

Trupe: Nick borrowed 'Def Jam: Fight for New York'. He finished it already.
Sarah: He finished it already?
Trupe: Yep.
Sarah: Man, we are terrible at video games.
Trupe: Yes we are.

# posted by Arnie : 11:57 PM  0 comments

Blue face work again today, this time walking in the White Sox parade. Spent a lot of time dancing around to the constant loop of the Sox fight song and Journey's "Don't Stop Believing." The crowd seemed to enjoy that I would point at a streetlight and then at them during the "streetlights... people..." lyric.

Later, we handed out Sox towels. This was a little terrifying. The grasping hungry hands made me feel like I was in Night of the Living Dead.

# posted by Arnie : 4:54 PM  3 comments

The radiators have finally turned on. Or, rather, one of them has. The one in the bathroom.

Between the toasty heat and the new mats, our bathroom is really the place to be right now.

# posted by Arnie : 9:11 PM  0 comments

When my parents visited a few weeks back, Mom noted that we didn't have any mats in the bathroom. Instead we just used a ratty towel to step on.

A couple days ago a package came in the mail from my Mom. Bath mats.

"It's a very mom thing to send," Young said.

It's funny how the small things can subtly improve your quality of life.

Thanks Mom.

# posted by Arnie : 10:16 PM  2 comments

For those of you curious to see what a welt brought about by a direct close-range paintball hit looks like. Sadly, this picture doesn't really do justice to the nuanced interplay of purple and yellow.

At the same time, this is definitely the worst of my bruises and it doesn't really hurt (unless I poke it, which I occasionally do to see if it still hurts if I poke it... yep, still does). Most of the lingering pain is simply a result of me getting some actual exercise for once.

# posted by Arnie : 3:43 PM  1 comments

A picture of Ty from over the summer in my parents' backyard.

And here's an e-mail I got from Mom last night:

"hello arnie! julie & ty stopped over earlier. i was showing him this pumkin book and some of the kids had painted faces. i mentioned that i should show ty your blog where you have a blue face. he would get so excited everytime he saw you and when you weren't on the screen, he wanted to see arnie. he didn't recognize himself where you read him a lamb book the night before you left. hope you had a good weekend. take care."

This made me very happy. He remembers me.

# posted by Arnie : 12:00 PM  0 comments

Joe and Lauren after an intense day of paintball warfare. Improv team versus improv team. Otis versus Cougars.

My personal paintball bruise/welt tally:

Abdomen (1)
Left shoulder (1)
Right arm (1)
Right inner thigh (4)
Trigger finger (1)

# posted by Arnie : 10:19 PM  1 comments

More blue faced work today. It's a job.

# posted by Arnie : 5:19 PM  2 comments

It's getting cold outside. I love fall, but the winter-fear is starting to set in.

[Nick has pointed out that I'm obsessed with taking pictures of myself. He's probably right. To try to argue that I'm not self-involved on my daily blog about myself would be disingenuous.

But since we're already talking about me... I've noticed that I tend to have the same weird facial expression in most of the pictures I snap of myself. It looks like I'm either concentrating really hard on taking my own picture or pretending to be startled by having my picture taken... by myself.]

# posted by Arnie : 2:08 PM  1 comments

While going through some old stuff to throw away, I found this pamphlet for a massage "centre" in Arizona.

N held all of her tension in her shoulders. I would try to give her back rubs and shoulder massages to help, but ultimately I was no match for those knots of stress. On more than one occasion I caught her grinding her shoulder up against a door knob, hoping that would offer some relief.

For her last birthday (or maybe the one before that) I got her a gift card to Changes, good for several massages. The idea excited her, but she was always too busy to go. When she wasn't too busy, she was, "saving it for when I really need it."

I've been reading a little about MS on-line. Apparently massages can help with some of the symptoms. I hope she uses the gift card, instead of filing it away in a box with the other things that remind her of me.

# posted by Arnie : 3:35 PM  1 comments

Started doing some promotional event work downtown today, involving having my face painted blue and pretending to talk on a cell phone. (No, this has nothing to do with Blue Man Group, and no, you're not the first to ask) It's surprisingly exhausting to walk around and talk on the phone for six hours, but the pay is good.

My "character" was a business man, but (within reason) I could really talk about whatever I wanted on the phone. As the day wore on, I eventually just started blurting out brief non-sequitors as people passed.

Examples:

"Unicorns aren't real. He's lying to you."
"Jodie was hit by lightening. She'll be out of the office all week."
"He's allergic to satellite radio."
"Why doesn't Trevor know how to use the fax machine? He's been with us for four months."
"It's illegal to own a tiger. And it's not safe."

# posted by Arnie : 5:46 PM  7 comments

Again, there's an awful lot of improv in Chicago.

# posted by Arnie : 4:13 PM  1 comments

Had my first date in six years over the weekend. It went well. Some time during the last half decade I must have learned how to relax.

Dating is easy.

Cut to a month from now: Dating is hard.

# posted by Arnie : 2:53 PM  0 comments

Young: What did I do today? Let's see, I did laundry, watched some episodes of LOST on DVD, and, oh yeah... I became an ordained minister.

One of Young's friends is getting married, and wants Young to officiate over the ceremony. After some extensive on-line research (about ten minutes) he registered with the Universal Life Church, printed out his credentials and he's good to go.

(The process didn't need to take a full ten minutes, but the Universal Life Church website is full of amusing typos, like, due to a missing comma, explaining that you'll be able to perform, "wedding verses for the sick and dying.")

# posted by Arnie : 4:07 PM  3 comments

Another picture from Shane and Claire's wedding reception.

After a brief post-wedding break, Shane was back performing with Whirled News Tonight this weekend. Backstage, before the show, we usually do a quick made-up list warm-up. Someone might be asked to list three fake flavors of ice cream or three things that haven't happened since the White Sox were last in the World Series.

Shane was asked to list three things he's learned since getting married.

"1. Laundry doesn't do itself.
"2. These rings really don't come off.
"3. It's not just a cliche. Single people don't know what they're missing."

[Speaking of the wedding, my favorite moment happened during the reception. Shane's grandmother got up and gave a lovely speech hoping Shane and Claire have as many wonderful years together as she's had with Shane's grandfather. Next, Shane's grandfather stood up. "Shane and I had a falling out when he decided not to become a brain surgeon," he said, paused a second, and then sat back down. End of speech.]

# posted by Arnie : 11:56 PM  1 comments

Subway is under new management. Thus, balloons taped to every table.

# posted by Arnie : 6:31 PM  0 comments

Me, in my car, mentally pulling myself together for my Jellyvision job interview.

As I sat in the waiting room I could overhear people in the office having a pitch meeting with a man speaking via conference call through computer speakers. It almost sounded like they were talking to a Max Headroom-esque sentient wisecracking computer.

My interview went well, and I was immediately told I'd be moving on to the next step in the process (writing samples) even though I answered the describe-yourself-with-three-adjectives question with both "compassionate" and "passionate".

# posted by Arnie : 3:33 PM  0 comments

My friend, Jeanine, letting out an excited "yay" just before the Chicago debut of her band, the 1900s.

Jeanine on their sound: In our bio we've got the Zombies, Donovan, Fleetwood Mac, Belle & Sebastian. Recently a lot of references to Of Montreal and the Decemberists.

[Side note. Jeanine's observation on this photoblog is that she thinks it'll eventually get me laid.

Wishful thinking, I suppose, but I'm skeptical. In fact, I suspect most women would be hesitant to get involved with a guy once they find out about his "Picture Of A Person Who Have A Break-Up" website. I would be.

That said, I have a maybe-it's-a-date this weekend.]

It was a great show.

# posted by Arnie : 11:59 PM  3 comments

More Recent E-mails:

1. I wrote a short message to N, telling her that I'd heard that she has MS, and that whenever she's ready I'd like to talk to her about it. I also told her not to feel rushed. I suspect I won't hear from her for a while.

2. From Brett: "It is at times like this that I feel the true long-distance impotence of an atheist."

3. A friend forwarded me a message from his ex-girlfriend, who has MS. It included some helpful information and ended, "glad my incurable neurological brain disorder has finally come in handy for something!!!"

4. Another friend (whose sister has MS) wrote: "i meant to ask: does N smoke pot? apparently, it helps during relapses. my sis says, 'i'm up for it, but you gotta get it for me and i don't wanna know where it came from.'"

# posted by Arnie : 5:41 PM  0 comments

Speaking of Justin, I was over at his aparment this weekend, working on a project that I'm pretty excited about.

More on that later. (Hint: I have no musical ability what-so-ever)

# posted by Arnie : 7:42 PM  0 comments

More Tales of the Giant Bed.

The actual physical process of moving tended to bring out the worst in N and I. We would get into heated irrational fights that would immediately end when the move was done. My giant bed only added to this problem.

During one move (into, of course, a third floor apartment) I actually said to N, "Look, the two of us just have to get this bed to the top of the stairs. What happens to us after that, I don't care!"

During the recent move back from Arizona, the giant bed arrived first. Some friends (Justin and Sanchez) were nice enough to keep it in thier apartment for me. When I came to pick it up they noted that it was in good shape but a little scuffed up around the edges.

I had moved it up and down a lot of narrow winding staircases, and back and forth across the country. "Yeah," I said, "this bed has been through a lot."

Justin and Sanchez snickered and incorrectly nodded their heads knowingly.

# posted by Arnie : 11:51 PM  0 comments

Halloween is coming.

# posted by Arnie : 10:50 AM  1 comments

Recent E-mails:

1. I haven't mentioned it, but N did send me a brief e-mail two weeks ago. She didn't say much, just things like, "Things are a bit crazy for me right now--nothing to do w/ the break-up, just crazy--and so I need some more time w/o contact" and "There's almost too much to say, you know? I feel like for me to go into it, we'd have to have a phone conversation, and I know that's not a good idea for me yet."

I was actually okay with this. She's right. It is easier not to be in contact right now. I took a second to speculate whether the "too much to say" meant she was seeing someone, but mostly thought, 'I'll hear from her in a few months. She sounds busy. That's good. In the meantime, I've got a lot going on.'

2. Two days ago I got an e-mail from a friend in Arizona, saying, "I don't know if you've seen this (or if I should even be pointing it out)." After that was a link to a newspaper article about N.

She's been diagnosed with MS.

When did this happen? Did she know before I left?

"Things are a bit crazy for me right now...There's almost too much to say, you know?"

3. Later that day I got a junk e-mail from Travelocity. Subject Line: "A few reasons to book your trip to Arizona now."

Obviously N wouldn't want me to visit right now, but out of morbid curiosity I opened it up. It was a relief to see that the reasons listed were things like "authentic tamales" and "an arts community as vibrant as a desert sunset" and not "your ex-fiancee has been secretly diagnosed with multiple sclerosis."

# posted by Arnie : 10:27 AM  1 comments

Tom and I went out for drinks last night and took turns asking each other, "So, in what ways would you say I've changed since college?"

# posted by Arnie : 10:59 AM  0 comments

This morning I was thinking that today I'd write about my current thoughts on dating and how I'm interested in getting back out there.

But I'm not going to write about that today after all. In fact, I think I'm going to take the day off from this (this being, this blog).

We'll talk about it soon enough.

# posted by Arnie : 6:24 PM  0 comments

Trupe decided to take the day off work for his birthday. This snowballed into a number of us taking the day off, having brunch and then drinking all afternoon.

Our energy started to wane around dusk and we had a hard time deciding what to do next. We came up with this list of possible places to go.

Ultimately we gave up and called it an early night.

# posted by Arnie : 9:44 PM  1 comments

At the wedding yesterday, Steve showed up with what looked like a red bruise around his eye. I thought maybe he'd gotten in a fight.

What had really happened, though, was that he'd been in a late night sketch comedy show the night before that required him to pour fake blood (just red food coloring) all over himself. He hadn't washed it off properly so his face, hands and (he said) torso were covered in pink stains.

# posted by Arnie : 12:40 PM  0 comments

Had a great time at Shane and Claire's wedding.

At the reception, one of Claire's relatives came around with a videocamera, asking everyone how they know the bride and groom (I know Shane from Whirled News Tonight). She was a sweet lady but seemed to have trouble with the camera.

During the first half of my interview, the camera was pointed at my chest and not recording.

After she recorded Sarah and Trupe (pictured) and moved on to a different table, Trupe said, "That camera was too close."

# posted by Arnie : 11:39 PM  0 comments

Inevitably, Mom found this site.

A few weeks back I got a terse e-mail from her asking that I not mention her or put pictures of her up on my webpage anymore. I was sad that it upset her, but I understood, apologized, and complied.

My parents visited today. We went out to dinner and they watched an improv show I was in. At the end of the night I asked if it would be alright if I took their picture for my photoblog. "Seeing you guys is the most importatant part of my day today."

"Okay," Mom said, "but don't call me a busy-body."

It was a great visit.

Love,
Arnie

# posted by Arnie : 11:16 PM  0 comments