micah takes photographs

today, was saturday. it’s 10:43, as i’m writing, and i am le tired. i woke up this morning, maybe 10:30, to watch the yard sale as my dad went out for a haircut. pretty uneventful, really. it wasn’t advertised, because at this point it’s pretty much leftovers that no one bought. i made $2.

i went and got the bike out of the barn, and the tires were low, so we busted out the air compressor, which is a little busted itself. the belt keeps falling off. my dad sent me out to get a new one, so i ran around town for half an hour or so, but had no luck. eh. it worked in the end, we just had to tinker with it.

i took out the bike, because my old friend (old, old friend, from… 1st grade? kindergarten?), bryan, was coming by. he drove up and parked. we burned each other CDs. i run into his mother occasionally, and him even more rarely. i don’t think we’ve really hung out, with the exception of watching each other’s music shows, since middle school. possibly 5th grade. but it was no big deal, which i’m quite satisfied with. we got on our bikes, and i warned him about how out of shape i am, and we pedaled off. stopped at his friends house, a kid i haven’t seen since i was a junior in high school, and said hi as they were building a motorcycle. we pedaled on. we chatted a little bit as we rode. he rode ahead sometimes, sometimes we rode together. it was a really gorgeous day. i got tired quickly, but kept going, because that’s what happens when you exercise, but at a certain point, when we stopped for a breather on someone’s lawn, we decided to turn around, so that i’d make it home alive. on the way back we chatted about living off the grid, farming, building houses, and self-sufficiency. he bikes a lot; told me he biked 40 miles recently, from camillus to beaver lake and back. i googled it, it’s 40 miles. i also googled where we went today, it was 8. which is pretty darn good for me, i think.

when we got back, we sat on the back patio, drinking water, admiring the backyard and the woods, and talking mostly about being comfortable and uncomfortable, confident and unconfident, and the kind of people we are. it was a really open conversation, and it’s funny how after all this time, we’re still so similar. for someone i haven’t spent time with in 10 years, it was an amazing fit.

we came inside, i gave him some very random mixes, and the topic of good restaurants and coffee shops came up. there’s a place called strong hearts that he was saying is a fantastic vegan lunch place, and he asked if i’d eaten today. i realized i hadn’t, so we went. i’m enjoying being spontaneous lately. oh, it was such delicious food. it wasn’t overly expensive, but i spent a lot of money, in order to try a few things. we talked about health insurance and movies and i forget what else.

it was really great. i think we’ll probably get to be good friends again.

and tonight, i wanted to see nichole, so i went with her and her posse to go minigolfing. her posse being mostly people she works with – amanda, who’s nice, but no longer… appeals to me; her boyfriend, who is cool but unfortunately out of place, being from a few hours away & not knowing anyone really well; sean, who’s very friendly and funny, though… kind of nervous; and a new kid i met tonight, ben, whom i didn’t spend enough time with to really get an impression. so we went minigolfing, at the same place everyone’s been going to since they were 4 feet tall. we all know the tricks, the course hasn’t changed. it’s always kind of rushed, because it’s so easy that the people behind you are always right on your tail. and i laughed a good amount in the beginning, enjoying my recent outgoing nature, but it’s a strange group of kids. none of them were especially comfortable, i think. i’m glad i went, it was nice, but when it came time to either part ways or go out for drinks afterwords, i opted to come on home. and i’m glad that i enjoyed myself, in spite, especially, of the weirdness with amanda & nichole, and i’m glad i called it a night before i had a chance to think about it too much.

paul called me, pretty much the minute i got home, and i very smoothly rainchecked, for monday evening, so that i could sit down and relax. oh, and one of my old teachers called me today. i promised to call him back tomorrow. i’m probably gonna call martin tomorrow, to go to the $16 film festival finale that he wanted to see, if he still wants to go. and i want to call al, because she and i never got a chance to catch up when i came home last time. she’s a nice girl.

one last thing. i got my tax refund from massachusetts. yano, the one that should have been $3000, but was only $600 because my dad falsely claimed me a dependent. well. that’s $600 i forgot about, and that’s almost enough for the new camera… i want it, but it doesn’t seem like a wise purchase. but i want it. we’ll see, i’ll probably cave.