JOSHUAJENKINSis unremarkable

Bloc Party's latest, Intimacy, is available on their website.

It's ridiculously good.

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I managed to spend a few hours in Chicago over the weekend and had a pretty awesome time. It's the first time I've got to really spend any amount of time in Chicago (aside from earlier this year where I got sick half way through my trip and had to head home). Lollapalooza was going on while I was there and I had no idea. I walked along Grant Park between museums and managed to catch almost the entire MGMT set which was audible from pretty much everywhere near the water. Good times.

I did the whole Magnificent Mile thing, and also the Museum stroll though I only actually got in to one because they close early on the weekend (boo). Saturday night I hung out in Wicker Park and had a blast. Such a cool neighborhood and really sweet bars. I hope I come back soon.

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For reasons still unclear to me I was given a db clay wallet by Lisa Bettany. Thanks go out to both of them.

I'm ridiculously picky when it comes to wallets. I think I've had about five in my entire life and I wear them to shreds. I've never really had one that I've liked for an extended period of time, but I see that changing with this beast.

As a proud new owner of the db clay Orange Hallways Version 3.1 (gotta love an accessory that has a longer name than it's owner) I can seriously recommend these bad boys. The actual wallet style is simple, it's a single fold with plenty of room for bills and four standard slots of cards and your typical somewhat-hidden-underneath-the-normal-slots-slots. I don't carry cash so I have a couple extra cards shoved in the bill area.

There are a couple of things that make the wallet cooler than it's utilitarian purposes. First is the material, something db clay calls Tope, which is apparently eco-friendly and super strong. The material feels awesome to the hand, has a nice texture and feels solid and I can see it lasting. The other cool thing is, obviously, the print. I dig the idea of a picture for a print. The picture is accredited to simply Graeme in the card that accompanied the wallet, but props to this mystery-person and whoever decided to slap the image on a wallet.

Also happy to support a company (in the future I may actually purchase one of these wallets) based right here in sunny NE Portland. I'm not sure where exactly they're located but it can't be too terribly far from my house, which I find pretty cool for no other reason than cred-by-association.

This is probably the longest post I've written, and it's about a wallet. Go figure. Thanks Lisa, and thanks db clay.

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I'm a stubborn person. I can deal with change when I set it in motion, but when I'm forced to change I have a hard time coping.

Without getting in to any level of detail I find myself in a situation I didn't intend to be in at this stage in my life. I've had plans for myself, who I would be and how I would get there. These plans weren't particularly grandiose, they were logical progressions and they were comfortable. Unfortunately over the course of a half-hour conversation I am now frantically adjusting—recreating—these plans.

I'm having a hard time removing myself from the situation and gaining perspective. I know I can handle this and that the feelings I have towards the situation, and life in general, will pass. However the nasty period between "I can't imagine things being different" and "I'm alright" is an ugly place and I'm ready to be through it.

I feel like I'm a kid learning his first lesson about how life isn't fair. I still hold this romantic notion that good things will come to those who do good things. But that's not the case. The world is political, good things come to those who are lucky and those who know people.

This website is as close as I keep to a journal, so you'll have to forgive the sad view into my head. I hope to look back on this in a few months and feel stupid for letting myself feel this down. I'm not giving up, I'm just one bruise closer to a pessimist.

Update: I'm over it.

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