I haven’t updated in a while, although I did just make the layout prettier. Been busy, been traveling, been having my apartment robbed, been moving/teaching/writing, and so on. I just fetched the pictures off of my camera for the first time in months, so here’s a recap of the last six months or so in pictures (mostly).
Six months ago I was about to move out of the guest house in Tucson I'd been renting for the summer, to write/do research/see people I don't get to see enough who live in Tucson. It was hot, of course, but being back in Arizona made me want to stay. I almost did, but in the end I didn't. Long story.
On the last day I was there, we went to see San Xavier del Bac, Liger and I. Yes, I named my car, and yes, I named it Liger. Also a long story.
Shortly after I returned to California, I flew to Spearfish, South Dakota, to attend a conference on Western literature, where I had a long-awaited opportunity to stay in a "Holidome," a rare artifact of Americana found primarily in cold-weather locales in the Plains states ...
... and at which I also read on a panel with my old friend Seth (pictured here with his signature drink, an Appletini) and a couple of new friends, Jeff (not pictured), and Lucrecia, who's in the background. Incidentally, this picture was taken in Deadwood, the rival city of my hometown. Deadwood is like Tombstone with casinos and snow.
Thereafter began a long string of weddings. The first was Pat and Kori's in Chicagoland, a lavish and exceptionally fun affair (with fireworks!). Somehow I only have two pictures from that weekend, neither of which include the bride or the groom, just a bunch of drunken assholes. Note to wedding photographers: bringing costumes is a masterstroke.
Between weddings, a trip down the coast to the Madonna Inn, which boasts the most photographed urinal in America.
... and guest rooms made of rocks mined from the hillside.
From there, traveled to nearby Avila Beach ...
... which apparently has a bit of a shark problem.
Then northward up the coast to Hearst Castle ...
... which has interesting architecture ...
... and glorious pools, one outside ...
... and inside, where the pool floor is inlaid with 24-carat gold.
Thanksgiving weekend, my brother from another mother, Marques, got hitched.
And then, in December, the last of five weddings I attended in 2009, when Stacy got married.
After which I spent the Holidays back East, passing through or spending time in Georgia, North Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, West Virginia, Pennsyltucky, and Pennsylvania. It was a travel nightmare but otherwise an enjoyable trip. Until I came home on New Year's Eve to find my apartment burgled and vandalized in laughably childish ways, including pouring a bottle of Nyquil on the couch ...
... and, perhaps most bizarrely, assaulting a potted orchid with a bottle of Newman's Own salad dressing from the fridge. The orchid died. I moved. And that was it for 2009.
Im pretty sure that the salad dressing in the orchid cancels out the whole travesty of getting robbed. Are you sure you did not rob yourself because that sounds like a St. move.
I was the only person at the time who thought the orchid was kind of funny. The cops were upset about the orchid — they kept asking if we had any enemies, and gave advice on how to try to save it.
I didn’t do it, but now if I rob your condo I know what to do. I’ll put ranch dressing on your toilet seat.
I agree. The orchid trumps the entire break-in. I just wonder what they were thinking. Were they like, “Oh no no wait, lets destroy this guy’s orchid. Quick pass me some salad dressing.No! Newman’s Own!!