what is going on?!

so there i was, hiding behind part of a building. i had just walked past my former highschool crush and ducked behind part of the building to watch him walk away, but instead caught him monologuing his hidden love to me out loud under a bright blue full moon. he went on and on about how someday he will have me back in his life when something spooked both of us. yep, it was steve guttenberg (yes, from police academy fame) and his wife. it must have been halloween because they were dressed as the dorkiest couple alive. matching running shorts and matching cd players swinging from their hips. their two kids were close at hand. we exchanged quick hellos (as you do when steve gettenberg pops out of nowhere) and they talked a bit about their running regime. then steve said i had to hear what he was listening to. he put his headphones on my ears and i heard one of the great songs from the katamari damacy game. i started to hum along when it skipped back to the beginning and started to replay, and then did it again about every 30 seconds. i tried to let steve know that there was something wrong with his disc or his player,

me: it’s only playing the first thirty seconds of the song.

steve: yeah, that’s the way i have it.

me: you know the rest of the song is pretty great, in fact the whole album is fantastic.

steve: oh yeah.

me: i can get it for you, i have it.

steve: no thanks, this is how i like it. (big grin, nodding head)

my brain: are you insane? think of the children!

me: it’s simple. let me show you.

then i pulled out my laptop which was somehow conveniently on me, and played some of the songs and giggled over the lyrics. it was a losing a battle. how could he be content to only listen to the first thirty seconds of a song, over and over?!

WHAT WAS REALLY GOING ON. . . .

my phone alarm was trying to alert me to wake up. we’re staying in a hotel and have a very early flight to tampa to visit my aunt for the holiday. the first of my two phone alarms plays the first 30 seconds of one of the wonderful katamari damacy songs. i, apparently, was ignoring it, in a fashion.

happy holidays everyone. safe travels and all that!

an evening in ottawa

so mom called me from work, claiming that we NEEDED to go out tonight, but where? how about ottawa. sure, i like ottawa. it’s pretty, there are things to do. . .etc. she actually found a little place that did a dinner murder mystery theatre. she invited sarah, a friend of the family, and we headed out after work.

keep in mind, my dad has gone downstate to visit family for the week. he took the honda. my car is buried in snow, and won’t be leaving its spot till the snow melts away- or till i have it towed. mom has her car at work, and that left me the whole week with the truck, which i can’t drive since it’s standard. basically, i lived the entire week as a shut in. the cats loved it. someone always around to dote on them. but now i’m headed out for public interaction, and in canada, and at a dinner murder mystery theatre. . . . what could possibly happen?

i was actually looking forward to it when i first read the program. the company themed the evening after the holidays. the place of ‘business’ we were benefitting with our presence was a small ballet school that had fallen on hard times, each of the characters had a nutcracker based name and such. but i was excited because i thought ballet dancers were going to be murdered! that is definitely something to look forward to. i started to get giddy with the anticipation of audience participation. . . . could I be responsible for a bun-head murder?! . . . . . . please?! well. . . we never got to the actual ballet part. . . all the action took place before the school could put on a show. damn.

so there were a couple of sleazy characters. i took a liking to ‘harry sugarplum.’ he had a bad. . . bad hair piece. and even better, it was a mullet! excellent. harry was the second person to be ‘killed.’ the detective got up to ask the audience for clues and ideas. harry was caught in a fire. his hairpiece was missing when he came out to die on stage. i made some loud comment about suffering from ‘mullet separation.’ the detective caught it and riffed on how we would all miss that amazing hairdo.

later in the evening, we were given ballots in which we were to fill in who we thought was guilty and why. - i want to clarify that i really thought that the ballots wouldn’t be read. . or maybe they would be read after the show, and perhaps my ballot would give someone a chuckle later that evening. it read something close to this,

“i believe harry’s mullet committed the murders. you see harry (we’ll just call him ‘sugar’ from now on) has kept his mullet on undesired life support since it clinically died back in the 80’s. the mullet has always desired to be left in peace, so it did sugar’s bidding for years, hoping that someday sugar would retire him. so the first murder was committed by the mullet at sugar’s demand. however, over the course of the evening, the mullet realized that sugar would never let him go. the mullet used its extensive amount of hair product as an accelerant and started the fire that killed sugar, also killing itself. . . finally, the mullet is at peace.”

before the cast announced the winner of the prize for the person who correctly submitted a ballot, they read a select few that they thought were interesting. . . . but very wrong. there were two others, and then i saw the diatribe of my ballot on the bottom. he (the guy who played harry) read the whole thing. it was a big hit.

see what happens as a shut in? i become all abstract and shit. . . but funny. . . :)

123456

123456, originally uploaded by ekissam.

i drove to boston to pick up my brother for thanksgiving with our family downstate in ny. it ended up being this larger trip over all for me- colton to boston to holmes to colton to boston to baltimore to boston and back to colton. . . pretty fun. . . and i passed this while driving.

landmark homer

landmark homer, originally uploaded by ekissam.

i don't know how or why this existed, but it turned out to be a great landmark as i wandered around allston and boston. i knew i was really close to my brother's when i saw this. sadly when i left boston, it looked like they had taken it down.

suspicious

suspicious, originally uploaded by ekissam.

dan and i found this is a nearby mall. just a little sketchy looking. here, swipe your card here and get your balance while we take your identity!

34th.1

34th.1, originally uploaded by ekissam.

a view from travis' porch of the 'miracle on 34th street' in baltimore.

34th.2

34th.2, originally uploaded by ekissam.

travis on his porch while people pour by.

34th.3

34th.3, originally uploaded by ekissam.

this is no small thing for some of these people. some offer open houses with warm cider.

34th.4

34th.4, originally uploaded by ekissam.

travis' place, with the large christmas tree, complete with musically timed lighting. of course!

late night cupcakes

late night cupcakes, originally uploaded by ekissam.

hanging out with travis one night. at a friend's house, the group of us go through the cupboards to decide what ingredients to include in a late night cupcake snack. travis, sara, dale, and chris ponder, and the conclusion was a delicious chocolate and mint cake and chocolate and mint frosting.

kitty mound

kitty mound, originally uploaded by ekissam.

while staying with lesley i remade my bed and noticed and unusal form under the covers.

kitty revealed

kitty revealed, originally uploaded by ekissam.

oh, it's just a sleepy ramona (lesley's kitty) under the covers.

b'more aquarium.1

b'more aquarium.1, originally uploaded by ekissam.

cool looking bubble tubes at the baltimore aquarium.

b'more aquarium.2

b'more aquarium.2, originally uploaded by ekissam.

the dolphin show at the aquarium.

b'more aquarium.3

b'more aquarium.3, originally uploaded by ekissam.

flipping flipper!

b'more aquarium.6

b'more aquarium.6, originally uploaded by ekissam.

no doubting this thing is ugly. i kept thinking how it would look better cut up and dripping in sauce on my sushi plate.

b'more aquarium.7

b'more aquarium.7, originally uploaded by ekissam.

kinda looks like a dr. suess book.

b'more aquarium.8

b'more aquarium.8, originally uploaded by ekissam.

this fish. . . didn't make me so hungry for sushi.

b'more aquarium.11

b'more aquarium.11, originally uploaded by ekissam.

yep, just me, at the baltimore aquarium.

mapparium

mapparium, originally uploaded by ekissam.

outside the mapparium in boston, in the hall of ideas (i think it was called that) anyway, the date on this thing is wrong. pretty, but wrong. and no photos inside the mapparium. . . too bad.

mos.2

mos.2, originally uploaded by ekissam.

got a decent shot of the tesla coil, harder to get the indoor lighting.

museum of science in boston, during the electricity show.