down by the riverside.

There was a free concert downtown last night that my friends and I decided to go to.

Who cares that none of us knew who the band was? Or that it was country ... and none of us liked country?

The word FREE just sort of overshadowed all those facts :)

walking one day.

I think yesterday was sort of inspired by one of my favorite songs, "Trolleywood" by Eisley. It's a beautiful, airy tune that I've been finding myself singing this past week.

The photos are snapshots of the wonderful day I had with my friends bowling, feeding geese, and returning to the palaces of our youth: playgrounds.

Out one day
Walking one day
Out one day
With you, hallelujah
We found a wood with trolleys on wheels
Rolling all around the hills
Hallelujah

And just as soon it had slipped into
The sleepy dusk and it's not very likely
That we'll see it a, we'll see it a-again

Out one day
Walking one day
Out one day
With you, hallelujah
We found a wood, we un-found a wood and then
And then we cried, "Oh No"
And, please tell me will we ever find it again?
In the depths of Trolley Wood
Do trolleys still drive?

Gone for the day to the Trolley Wood
I've gone for the day to the Trolley Wood
The Trolley Wood is taking me away

Out one day
Walking one day
Out one day
With you, hallelujah
We found a wood, we un-found a wood and then
And then we cried, "Oh No"
And, please tell me will we ever find it again?
In the depths of Trolley Wood
Do trolleys still drive?


Gone for the day to the Trolley Wood
I've gone for the day to the Trolley Wood
I've gone for the day to the Trolley Wood
The Trolley Wood is taking me away

Out one day
Walking one day
Out one day
With you, hallelujah

happy thoughts!

eura.

thursday.

I know I've said this before, but I'm going to say it again: Rochester is ass melting-ly boring. Not even exaggerating. There's nothing. However, on Thursdays during the summer, part of downtown gets blocked off for a sort of bazaar/marketplace where local businesses and restaurants basically just sell stuff on the street. It still doesn't make Rochester very exciting, but on a beautiful day like today was, one just had to take advantage of the situation.

tell them? or not?

There is a certain conflict that I've had within myself ever since I started this blog: should I tell my friends about it or not?

At the moment, nobody that I've met personally has ever read anything I've written on this site. A grand total of 3 people are aware that I have a blog, but have never seen it. I don't even let my family know. My dad was the one who encouraged me to start up one, but I still don't allow him to peruse through my posts.

I don't know why I'm like this. I guess I'm too embarrassed to let anyone I'm close to read what I've written. It's sort of like Speech team. I hate having to practice because it means I have to present in front of one of my coaches. But during the meets, when I get to speak in front of a judge I don't know, I'm perfectly fine and unconscious about my words, appearance, etc.

But I guess there are some plus' to giving my friends my url. Maybe they'll create their own blogs and I'll be able to see their daily thoughts. It could be a sounding board for our thoughts and various comments accumulated throughout the day. I would probably get more responses on my posts.

Overall though, I think it's nice that I have my own private sector of the Internet to myself. I try not to bash anyone I know online, but sometimes those feelings have to come out and I don't want to hurt someone because of my temper. And besides, with Facebook and Twitter, it seems like my friends read enough about me as it is. So there's the decision: I'll try my best to keep this blog separate from my own personal life. It'll just be for me.

And those other readers out there :)

Raw Fish

When you live in Rochester, MN, there aren't very many chances to have some real good, authentic sushi. In fact, whenever I'm with my friends and the urge to chow overcomes us we usually lean towards either a pizza or Taco Bell (89 cent burritos? Hell yeah!).

But when a new Japanese restaurant opened up recently, a group of us decided to go try it.

Taking the chance to dress up (we've been wearing sweatpants all break!), everyone headed over to the new place.

It was definitely a very pretty place to eat (this is not the best photo to prove that, so you'll have to take my word for it).

I ordered Tekka Maki (raw tuna roll) and Miso soup while my friends tried The Crazy Monkey Roll (avocado and shrimp tempura wrapped in banana topped with spicy mustard), the Hidden Dragon Roll (avocado and breaded shrimp wrapped in cream cheese and breaded deep-fried wit nishiki sauce) and the Yin & Yang Roll (cucumber, kaki-age, and cream cheese wrapped in bbq eel and yellowtail with unagi sauce).

Eating/drinking miso soup, the authentic way ya' know! (With lots of slurping!)

My tuna rolls, yum. And of course I stole everyone else's pickled ginger.

Crazy Monkey Rolls. Bananas, mustard, rice, and shrimp make a better combo than expected.

The Dragon Roll! (Note the juxtaposition of the Minnesotan thumbs up with the global/urban-ness of sushi).

The eel definitely looked pretty sketchy once it arrived at the table. However, once you got over the strange mushy texture of it in your mouth, it tasted delicious.

I ended up eating pretty much half of everyone's rolls (I guess it's very filling for some people... but it only makes me more hungry!)

Overall, the meal was very pleasant, and I think it was a good starter course in sushi for my friends who'd never had it before.

Of course, we stayed close to our hometown roots with desert at Coldstone (a Like it cheesecake+cake batter with Heath for me, please!)

I Make People Cry and Haiku #2

Here's the scoop: I've been having these super weird dreams lately and they all involve making my friends cry.

And I don't think that these dreams are happening to me because I'm mad at them, because I'm not. In fact, nothing has changed at all in my relationships with these people.

But all of my dreams basically consist of me yelling/shouting at a different friend every night (this has been going on for 3 nights in a row), subsequently causing them to break down into tears.

Am I really just a super mean person deep inside?

I don't have any rageful suppressed feelings that I know of.

Any ideas on what these dreams could mean?

Here's your daily dose of horrible poetry:

brown furry unreal
Sesame Street is cool
Snuffleupagus

Yoga Balls and Chilli

Anyone watch the debate?

I was planning on watching it with some friends on mine, but you know...

friends+junk food+yoga balls (does not) = political debate watching.

And that's the way the ball rolls, yo.

I would also like to share a poem that a friend of mine wrote while we were "watching" the debate.

The Chili Song.

Chili,chili,chili chili peanut

Chili,chili,chili chili corn peanut

Chili,chili,chili chili corn carrot

Chili,chili,chili chili corn carrot PEANUT!

Chili,chili,chili chili corn lemon peanut

Chili,chili,chili chili grape peanut

Chili grape tomato, carrot corn potato

Pulitzer Prize anyone?

Making the Most of the Summer