i've worked my ass off over the last two days. i haven't done so in a really long time. all of my muscles are sore from head to toe. i rented a uhaul on saturday morning and packed up all my shit and moved from my super dooper nice apartment in DC to a rundown suburban punk rock flophouse in maryland. it was quite a lonely liberating and tiresome experience.
i had to get the uhaul at noon on saturday. small uhauls are $20 for 24 hours + 69c per mile. they scared me into buying insurance also, but it still only turned out to be like $50. i woulda used my van but it doesn't have insurance and it's all fucked up. anyway, i moved into the punk house.
ironically, most everyone who lived here moved out the same weekend. they're still around, but they aren't paying rent any more. i have yet to talk to the landlord. this house should not exist the way it does. it really doesn't make much sense. it's a total piece of shit, but that's what's awesome about it. it's month to month with no lease. each person pays $300 regardless of how many people are living here (which really doesn't make much sense at all). right now there are only two people paying rent. we're worried about that. this other guy may move in next week though, and i'm really really really hoping that colin will move up at the end of the month. the house has 5 bedrooms, a large living room, dining room, and kitchen, a huge basement big enough for setting up shows (there's a 4 band show this friday), a humungous backyard, a laundry room suitable for a darkroom, a computer/studio space, a 2 car driveway, and enough parking space for a couple of cars. behind the house is a bike trail that goes all over maryland, three baseball fields, a public pool, a soccer field, basketball and tennis courts, a cricket field??, and the university (which i'll hopefully have an internet radio show at in the fall). down the block the other way is a 24 hour grocery, a dunkin donuts, and a bunch of strip mall crap. it's kinda like the houses were on vacarro in that you can do whatever you want in it, but it also has the possiblity of being a palace. it's weird too cos it's also kinda like living in metairie. ha ha ha.
so i've spent the last 24 hours attempting to clear out some of the crap and clean it up at least to a somewhat livable state. i won't be here in two weeks, but i wouldn't want to leave angele living in filth, so i figured i'd clean as much of it as i can. plus, it's not like anyone else is going to do it. so in the last 24 hours i've cleaned and set up the computer room, cleaned the whole basement and built a bar (which is fucking awesome), gone out in search of more darkroom supplies to no avail, cleaned the nastiest kitchen in the world, and moved into the basement. it's come a long way, and i'm in pain.
next steps are to make the basement and bar into a funhouse, rig up stereo surround and mp3 jukeboxes, set up a webcam, possibly a small movie theater, and maybe eventually buy either a trampoline or even better turn the backyard into a miniature golf course.
i also ordered every free catalog i could possibly think of to this address. everything from the 1300 page office depot catalog to a victoria's secret catalog to be sent to benjamin peepers.
come visit me in september and stay for a month... or indefinitely for that matter.
NeptuneFix [ url ] said at 6:53 AM 06-04-2001: I noticed now you can dress emu/punk and be fashionable in the eyes of vogue and seventeen. don't forget that you can't be a true punk unless you own a pair of Converse chucks. Just don't get the hemp kind, you fucking hippies.
Brad said at 1:31 AM 06-05-2001: I didn't even know you could buy hemp Chucks. I'm also clueless about the "emu" scene. Does that involve lots of feathers in your clothing?
AnsiTron said at 2:54 AM 06-05-2001: I was wondering when you geniuses would catch that. Yes, it's a good alternative to cocks. It also involves a typo and a N64 game for the PC.
evan said at 7:31 PM 06-05-2001: peep this dog, you can still get them bitches via converse.com... for one, they never made converse in the us to begin with, and that's why these bitches all be fallin apart on me after 5 months of use. some nigga needs to teach them damn kids in korea how to fucking glue some shoes together a little better, and if them ho's dont be showing no improvement, then they don't be getting their daily nickle. either way, i can continue to get my pimp ass monochrome black chucks that i've been styling for years and now all these bitch as punks be fronting on, although it will cost about $15 more per pair... maybe i'll switch to keds... bling bling
dave said at 6:26 PM 06-06-2001: last time you posted about getting your shite together for a comicCon it seemed like you were stuggling... do you go to many comicCons? that must be taxing on your kinko's finger. btw, i have hookups @ kinko's in LA area if you need...
Bendependent said at 7:56 PM 06-06-2001: cool. yeah. usually i don't bother getting my shit together for comicon until the last minute. that's why it's usually a struggle, and also why i haven't gotten too far with my comics. i have gotten somewhere recently as an illustrator, which i'm quite proud of. another weird thing, is that comic conventions always seem to happen right when i go completely broke, so it becomes a big money making scheme to eat and get around... what really sucks is that for the last 6 months i've been working 5 feet from a xerox machine that i can abuse, but I haven't. mainly because i've had enough money...
For me, I think good work has to come from a struggle. The LA hookup may come in handy...
Sarah said at 1:30 PM 06-06-2001: Hey Ben are you in Baltimore? Let me know when you'll be here in San Diego? By the way the weather is perfecto here year round. te he!
Bendependent said at 7:57 PM 06-06-2001: I'm still in DC/Maryland. It's all the same. Me and Brad are making plans for ComicCon soon. I'm flying to Berkeley next Thursday...