A Swell Time Was Had By All

Well, I can't vouch for that exactly, but I did have a great weekend that combined two of my favorite passtimes.... drinking and viewing art. First stop was the MIA's Drawing and Print Fair where a bunch of gallery retailers from across the country were selling really great drawings and prints, but I could hardly call it fair. One exceptional print of a Martin Lewis piece was going for *GULP* $840,000.... YIKES!!! I might have missread the thing. Perhaps the original was 840 grrr but that's what was listed inside the matting. Strange thing was, it was in a pile with a bunch of other prints that were all less than a grand. Whatever, I went mainly to look since about 99.99% of the stuff there was way out of my price range. Later that day I went to the St. Paul Art Crawl which was way better since 1) I could actually afford some of the stuff 2) it was all by local artists who were on hand for a chat, and 3) FREE BOOZE!!!

Granted most people were offering only wine (which keeps things classy, of course) but after about a dozen 3 oz. glassfulls everyone there is your best friend. KAS and I came close to spending the rest of the night in one of the loft flats at the Rossmor but at the last second made a well-timed getaway if only to avoid waking up in the ditch somewhere. I must also mention that since this was the first time I've been in downtown St. Paul (as far as I can recall) I can now compare it with Minneapolis. The first thing I noticed was that SP was more laid back. True, one could point out that it's not so much laid back as well.... deserted. I commented on this to one artist who in return said that in general, St. Paul was a bit more easy going than its sister city. He scathingly added, "A lot of people in Minneapolis act like they're in New York." Buddy, I can't say that I don't empathize. Say whatever you want about Minnesota nice, but I come across more pretentiousness living in Whittier than is reasonably expected in an urban environment. Mostly this comes from the affected artist types, who, if you ask me, all tend to look alike in their "non-conformist" attire and bodily mutilation. Not that their is anything wrong with tats and piercings per se, I just don't think that metal and ink makes one an inherently better or more savvy human being, but I could be wrong (doubtful). Strange thing is that I am oddly compelled to study the ironies of the hipster as a social phenomenon. Then again, maybe I'm just dating myself by thinking that thrift store clothing and retro fashion faded out by the late nineties. Apparently I'm not only uncool, but I'm also old. For a eerily ironic footnote to this subject, read what I wrote here.
But I digress. SP actually looked much cleaner and newer as well. Again, perhaps it was just the area I was in but it had a very nice feel to it. Plus, Hulles lives there. Not that these two things are necessarily related. In any event, the art crawl was so awesome I returned on Sunday and bought something... plus I needed a little hair of the dog.

Back in the Saddle... Sort of

Not that there is anyone still reading my blog at this point but I can always post for posterity. Come to think of it, that's a halfway decent slogan. "Post for Posterity!" "Postmodernists for Postings!" "Posthumous Posters of Potsdam Postulate Postage!" Stick that in your metaphor mixers, bitches! But I digress, I have been a bit busy lately. You see, since I am still unemployed (and possibly unemployable?) and only know about three people in this city I have had to take some community ed. classes to have something to do in the evening. I'm taking a drawing course, Russian language course, and intermediate French. They are all pretty decent classes, especially when one considers the total cost was just a brown curly over 100 bones. The drawing course is pretty much for fun, but it also gets me drawing regularly which I haven't done for years. So far I've only had one French class and it was a bit disorganized so I really didn't learn anything new, but tonight should be a different story. Russian by far is probably the biggest challenge since I am still getting accustomned to the alphabet. Still, all of them are great and as I said it gets me out of the house and interacting with other people for a change. I think that my eyes were beginning to cloud over from lack of sunlight and my sking has become almost translucent. I guess that last bit is not too bad if you want to do an anatomy lesson on the circulatory system without having to actually make any incisions.
In other news, KAS and I have been going for more frequent walks now that the weather is nicer. There are some pretty good parks very close to us which means I need to invest in a frisbee. I'm also going to hit the rock climbing gym as soon as I have a free Saturday afternoon to devote to retaking the safety skills course. Oh yeah, and I have been actually looking for a job as well. I'm not sure how many resumes I've sent out via email, but it has been enough to make my rheumy eyes glaze over every time I sit down at my computer to crank out more cover letters.

Perhaps another post forthcoming should my plans for Kendo lessons fall through.

More of the Same

Intrepid Jocka,

I hope you have been well these long months, you must forgive me for remaining incommunicado, but... to use the common parlance of our time, I've been busier than a one-legged man in an ass kicking contest. Still you have never been far from my thoughts, dear Jocka and your steadfast conviviality has meant more to me than the wealth of Midas. Only recently, does it seem that my fortune was on the mend when, lo, but fate's dreaded grasp enmired me once again amid the woes of inauspicuity. My artistic career has taken all too long to prove financially viable. I fear that, should things not improve soon, I will be forced to seek my duckets in realm of usury, or other such tasteless vocation. My flagging fortitude aside, I wish you the best until we meet again.

In Vino Veritas,
JC