how did writing get to be such an onerous task for me? somehow i am able to craft clever and witty correspondence and dialogue, but i’m unable to focus as i once did on creating coherent arguments and tying my thoughts together for more than a paragraph or two.

i’m trying to draft up an article (or perhaps two) about community for cranked magazine and though my brain contains a dozen or more ideas and stubs thereof somehow my fingers only keep typing out insipid crap.

lame.

this is made worse by the fact that community and cycling are two topics that i am passionate about, and on which i think i have a good amount to contribute. in fact, i delivered a ten minute spiel to leah at lunch the other day. unfortunately, sitting down in front of the computer it comes out drier than week old dumpster bread.

i’m not the sort of person who has really consciously thought about the things they’d like to get better at, i’ve simply learned by doing. my cycling has improved because i’ve been cycling constantly. same for my computing skills. in school my writing improved because i was writing regularly. now that i’m not being forced to practice regularly, these writing muscles have weakened.

once upon a time i fancied that i could become a writer of sorts. i could follow in the footsteps of those writers i admired. it’s not looking too likely these days. i can scarcely put a sentence together adequately, much less reach into my bag of ideas and pull out the right words to express what i’m really thinking.

hopefully writing here has flexed at least a few of the relevant mental muscles, because i’d really like to get this stuff out of my head and onto the computer.

huh. not quite sure how that one slipped out.

not a bad weekend, overall.

after being hungover, migrained, house-constructioned, and sofa-moved on friday i slept tons and woke up early saturday. i took advantage of the quiet morning to catch up on the last few episodes of the office (us) and truly it was at once hilarious and so awkward that i was biting my knuckles and had to look away from the screen.

then, fearing rain, i mounted the fendered police bike and hauled myself up to capitol hill to help out with seattle works day. our project was working at the wintonia, a long-term low-income housing complex run by the archdiocesan housing authority. the turnout from the bethany crew was pretty meagre, so we were paired up with a team from st. joseph’s. our mission: clean the communal bathrooms, shower/tub rooms, kitchens, and laundry rooms on all six floors. we split up into teams and had a pretty good time getting it really detailed clean, stuff that the normal janitorial staff just didn’t handle. afterwards we went down to the afterparty at the armory on lake union. by this time any chance of rain had disappeared and it was beautiful and sunny, so i enjoyed my ride down there.

i enjoyed it more when i found out that the afterparty had free beer. that’s also when i realized that the entire event was targeted at folks in their 20’s and early 30’s. plus free beer. plus twister? hmm. the catholic girls from st. joe’s were nice, but 8 minute speed dating? clubbing in pioneer square? not so interested in that kind of ecumenism. we’ll see about the pub crawl though i suppose.

after getting my money’s worth in free beer, i headed down to elliot bay bicycles where i once again failed to get my saddle exchanged. hopefully someone will be able to rma it for me, it’s going to be a long tough road to getting it broken in again. regardless, i headed back home to swap bikes and head up to the ruby for sarah f.’s birthday party. en route i dechained and took a nice tumble, which is a reminder of other bike things i need to work on.

sarah’s party was quite nice, good to see the ruby ladies and chat with that crew. we discussed the logistics of buying out the blakeley, but ultimately i’m still about half a million dollars short. from the ruby i rode down the hill to meet up with miss c. and head up to catch vodka lemon at the central cinema. the verdict? the central needs more waitstaff and the film needs a bit more… something. it was beautiful and had some very touching moments but the pacing was a bit off. still, not bad for dinner and a movie. plus they had a wonderful pair of short films as appetizers, destination earth and an educational reel about the threat of global communism that had the audience laughing.

after the movie we met up with denny and cracked a couple of brews chillin’ on the greenlake steps. at least until the sprinklers turned on and gave us and our bikes a solid soaking. apparently they do water the sand there. who knew?

lazy sunday morning came around and i bounced up to the broadway bar & grill for some late breakfast with the rulezero kids featuring keller in town from corvallis! my greek scramble was the saltiest breakfast ever, but it was still very tasty. from there it was down to the street fair, lots to see and an enormous crowd filling the whole ave. the elephant ears were tasty enough that i took one with me to church to share.

after church, i grilled up and the balls came over for wedding wine tasting adventure round two. this week? white and rose. we handled the four bottles expertly and hopefully came to some sort of a conclusion, aside from the fact that janie is out of control on booze mathematics. 70 people = 30 bottles of wine? plus beer? hmm, sounds like a pretty good party. not so much an afternoon wedding.