Back in da 'Nati

Allright, so its late, and I just moved back into Cincinnati yesterday. On the upside I got to see Sarah (my girlfriend) before she left for the camp she works in all summer. On the downside, it was only for a short time, and most of that time I was moving my stuff in and she was finishing a paper before she left. But better than nothing I suppose, and I will be seeing her in a little over a week, and hopefully we will both be seeing La Boheme (as it is playing at the Cincinnati opera, and we have already seen Rent together this year...as she is a large rent fan, and Rent is based greatly on La Boheme).

So yeah, I'm here in Cincinnati, but its hot as....well I can't think of any interesting or original phrases about hot things, but it is really hot outside. One loses sight of how hot it really is when you live in an area of Western New York that has a freak foot snowfall at the end of April. Thankfully Kyle and the members of Casa del Awesome (my current residence) have gotten the air conditioning working. I really meant to unpack today, but in a suprise turn of events, I actually found stuff to do today. I dropped off said paper my girlfriend was writing on campus for her, and then stopped by the art college to see the end of the year show...some really amazing stuff from some of the architects and interior design kids....and the power tools from my fellow Id Sophomores turned out really quite well...perhaps even better than some of the Samsung projects of the Pre-Juniors. Once again Derek Rund has put everyone to shame with his ridiculous work. At least he doesnt have to worry about not getting a job like about 5 out of 20 people in the other sophomore co-op section who didnt get placed this summer...oops.

Senior Industrial Design projects were amazing as usual...really there was some very professional and mind blowing stuff for the work of singular students. I can only hope my stuff is that impressive coming out of senior year...I'm so thankful for our program, because having alternating work and school quarter really helps to show you why you are in school, and gives a concrete example of real world application of skills. I think it really produces some consistenly strong results, and you really can't go wrong with the money vs. more expensive schools (getting paid to work in sweet design jobs isnt so bad either).

So after my visit to DAAP ( college of Design, Art, Architecture, and Planning)....where I will be spending the rest of my summer when school starts....I came back to casa, played a little NES (mostly metroid...these guys at my house have at least 40 original nintendo games...all the classics...punchout, all the marios, rampage, McKids...RBI baseball is the house favorite right now) and was thinking about running, when Ben (another housemate) told me he was going climbing after going to a cookout...so I attended the school library workers only party and felt akward as I took there food and left, and I climbed with Ben and his brother...first time climbing with my own belay gear, and my first real time belaying a whole lot, even though I learned a while ago. So my fingers are raw and my forearms are almost non functional, but it was definitely good...I'm looking to do more of that this summer...as well as going out to Eden Park and climbing/bouldering on their ridiculous old masonry retaining wall, as it is free and there are some decent climbing spots on it. Its good to have a climbing partner. Ben informed me on the way there that there was going to be a Herbie Hancock/John Mayer tour coming to Cincinnati (quite an odd combination, but I am generally a fan of both, and thought it was pretty awesome...Ben however is not so much a Mayer fan, which I can definitely respect) but I looked it up tonight, and it turned out that it was earlier tonight in a neighboring town. boo.

So I am hoping this summer to get some intersting cultural enlightenment in Cincinnati. There are a few art museum things I want to do (there is some sort of Impressonist show at the Taft that I want to see..which is cool, because usually there isnt a lot I want to see after already having seen the Taft) and a new show is starting I believe at the Cincinnati Art Museum maybe...tomorrow...that I could possibly attend a members only opening event for (my astute girlfriend got us both memberships to CAM) and I recently purchased a Cincinnati Enjoy the Arts membership which gets me all sorts of free tickets and discounts...which means fun Cultural events! I missed out on a lot in Buffalo, because we neither visited Toronto, nor went to any of the cool things in Buffalo, because none of the guys I was at Fisher-Price with were really into seeing anything that had to do with art (somewhat odd for design students, but I guess we certainly aren't fine arts, so that is to be expected...perhaps they are too manly for such pursuits...I dont know). But there is a decent gallery in Buffalo, and they had some cool event where there isnt an entrance fee on Fridays, they had a free wine tasting, and they had live music...how can you go wrong with that? I mean, I guess it seems a little hoity toity, but really, some culture and some booze cant hurt, right? Some art isn't even cultured....art can be fun... Also, there is a wealth of Architecture in Buffalo and a lot of interesting parks and things I didnt see (sadly one of the biggest things to happen to Buffalo was their Pan Am exposition around 1900...of which there is a park and 1 or 2 buildings left...I believe on is the building McKinley was assinated in...but they are supposed to be amazing neoclassical buildings, and a nice park, with a zoo and everything...but no such luck in seeing that). There also supposed to be a few Frank Lloyd Wright houses...and Buffalo has a lot of theater stuff that I didn't see due to the same lack of interest...although some interest was expressed in the theater briefly because "there might be chicks there".

But I did get to experience some Buffalo favorites....Wings and Beef on Weck (really just Roast beef on a salty bun). I wish we would have gone to Canada more, or at least our last weekend, but the guys were insistent on Edward 40 hands...which actually turned out to be a really fun night (I was not a participant in the 40 hands...but did have my own OE40) where we just hung out. Perhaps I might have a car in the Fall and not be so reliant on others for rides and start doing things I want to do...probably not though. Right now, a car is just quite a large hassle that really isnt necessary except a few convenient times (like moving). I hate being just another addition to the whole waste that is our tranportation system, but thats usually what ends up happening anyways. Man I want my bike here, in Cincinnati...if only the roads were safe.
But anyhows...here in Cincinnati, at least one of my room mates seems receptive to some more cultural things. Eveyone in this house is a quite an audiophile...mostly with taste in older rock and folk and stuff, but theres some interest in Jazz, and I have been wanting to go the Blue Wisp club downtown, so this might be a good opportunity. also the Fringe Fest is happening now (I guess its this once a year kind of off the wall art show type deal with music and art...could be cool) and Ben expressed interest in going, so hopefully we might be able to tomorrow.

Otherwise, I really need to unpack my stuff tomorrow...thankfully I already have all my furniture and stuff thanks to my girlfriend who essentially left me with all her stuff while she is at camp. This worked out really well for both of us, as I helped move her out with her parents on memorial day to my place (which I am renting for all of June anyways, which means she did not have to pay for an extra month at her place). So she stayed with some remnants of her stuff and all her furniture to finish school for the first week and a half of June before I came back with my stuff from Buffalo, causing the earlier scene of her typing and me moving boxes. But yeah, so now I have all her furniture, and thus a place to sleep, but my clothes, and tpe on my computer. Then at the end of August, I will help her move all the stuff into her new apartment which she already has lined up for fall, and I will return with my things to my prefurnished housing in Buffalo ( I have already arranged to work in Buffalo again next Fall).

I need to also pack some stuff up soon, as I am going to California for a few days....my bro is graduating Stanford, so I am there to see that, then help him move out of the dorms and into his new housing in San Francisco, and we will probably go out on the town a few times while I am there, which should be fun (my brother has a job all lined up there for after summer....what he does until then, I dont really know, but I guess he already has a place, which he may be subletting, but we will stay in it probably while I am there) So it will be good to see my brother and parents, and my grandma...not sure how thats going to go, but she certainly makes things interesting. A few days of freedom before school starts...California and a nice weekend with the girlfriend while she is back from camp...can't ask for a whole lot better than that.