2003-06-09 - 1:28 a.m.

All you Bostonians can thank me for today�s nice weather. I know I took advantage of it.

On the heels of enjoying a really kickass concert for Hi-Fi at the Milky Way, the Roommate and I actually went there today.

Wait. I�m getting ahead of myself.

I wanna think about the hour or so I spent lounging around in my bed with the day ahead of me, not wasting time either �cause I got up early. Nothing�s better than not having to go to work for a whole day. It didn�t look like rain, either, and we got ready after awhile and left.

Enjoyed a half of a lemon donut and my first coffee of the day (I�m outta coffee!!!) and waited for the train.

It takes forever, but the E got us to the Somerville of the south, my birthplace, J.P.

Got some sweet leather coasters at Pluto (the J.P. Pluto is better than the Somerville one, by the way, but I must say that I feel less scorn in the Davis installment).

Another smoke, and then across the street to Hi-Fi.

I�m so sorry that this record store is closing. I mean, I almost never got down there, but that�s not the point. This city needs more places like Hi-Fi. It shoulda stayed open at least �till some other record store opened, and everyone accused it of being a Hi-Fi clone, and then everybody kinda got over it, and the record store kinda transcended the stigma, and then all of a sudden it was part of Boston history (or at least trivia).

Another record store opens up and tries to be as cool as Hi-Fi now, and everyone is just gonna be sad, like when Jon Lovitz replaced Phil Hartman on News Radio.

I got a Divinls pin, Half Japanese�s Charmed Life (out of print), a GBV boot from Boston in �96, and the Roommate got a Frank Black boot from Seattle in �93, which I�m really looking forward to. I also got (and I forget the word for it) a record-album-sized poster for the Flaming Lips� new album. I�m glad that I had a record album frame kickin� around for just such an occasion.

From there to an obligatory second trip to Dunkie�s and then the obligatory tour around the neighborhood I grew up in. I never get a chance to visit--and when I do, I�m glad when I can leave feeling like I didn�t complete the tour.

Took an odd approach to the Arboretum, so the Roommate could see it from a local�s perspective. We made it up the big hill, and smoked a butt each at the apex. I showed her how the Blue Hills were aptly named.

Oh, and the pride swelled, too. My J.P. I�m showing this woman.

But there�s parts of J.P. that are a mystery to me. Parts that are cool to walk around in now, but that still kinda freak me out. When I was a kid, I had it drilled into me don�t ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever go there. All the neighborhood kids had the same education.

Our parents were right. J.P. was different back then. This was before a ton of stuff happened that I don�t feel qualified to explain �cause it�s touchy. Ask me if you�re curious.

So I actually entered uncharted territory--stuff I craned my head to look at as my Ma, or my Aunt T. drove me past en route to anywhere else.

And I found it--the Forest Hills Cemetery. This was special for me--I really wanted to show the place to the Roommate, and also see it for the first time.

And I found it. I had made it a huge priority to not see any photos of it, but after much searching, I knew it when I saw it. I made the Roommate close her eyes, and I guided her to the Girl in the Glass.

I asked about it before--it was this guy who had told me about it. I feel like an idiot not knowing about something in my own backyard, but hey--my perception of that neighborhood was different back then--I wasn�t allowed there as a kid.

All I�ll say about the Girl in the Glass is that it�s worth seeing. If you do the Arboretum or the Franklin Park Zoo, give the Forest Hill Cemetery at least two hours--there�s sculpture there, and I don�t wanna spoil anything else. I don�t know why a bigger deal isn�t made of the place. Seriously.

I used my rudimentary map, the one I had inherited from grade school and high school Flingiedo, to find the cemetary. I mean, I have an excellent sense of direction, but I was pushing it there--I pre-planned nothing. Sorry--pride talking.

Anyway, I pushed my luck again--and I picked the correct street based on years of guessing at age old memory. Yes, Doyle�s is on Washington Street.

My dad used to sell food to Doyle�s--he just left that job of perhaps 20 years to work as a salesman for another foodservice company. I have free Doyle�s T-shirts dating back to 1995, yet I�ve been to the place maybe 10 times in my life and never as an adult.

And I found it. Yes, I�m admitting my ignorance, and I�m ashamed. But the first step towards irradiating ignorance is, after recognizing the ignorance, taking steps.

And the Roommate and I had taken several steps to get to Doyle�s. We had probably walked around seven or eight miles. And that�s when we had our first beers of the day--Miller High Lifes.

Ate a perfectly ordered and otherwise perfect bowl of chowda, and their pizza o� the day (onion, garlic, and bacon).

It was still daylight outside outside. This amazed me. I hope it still does next real Spring. I hope it amazes me tomorrow, when I�m at work. It�ll.

The Roomate and I enjoyed the Midway.

We took Washington up to Columbus, I showed her Eggleston Sq, I got as far as Dimock St., almost to Roxbury Crossing, and then I said where�s the bag?

And then we turned around.

Which was horrible. I wasn�t pissed at all, and I made that sentiment as plain as the twilight. Forgetting a bag is easy--it can happen any day, any time.

Orange from Jackson Square to Green St. Doyle�s was happy that we got our bag back. We got a beer at the bar and Rick Berlin gave us a flyer for Shelly�s next show, which is actually doable since Fridays are now Flingiedo doesn�t have to work �till 11 nights.

Walked from there to where Arborway Sight and Sound used to be. 39 to the Choppin� Block for a PBR, and then ran for the E back to Lechmere and then the 80 to almost home.

Wrote this entry, listened to my new Half Jap alb, and semi-cleaned the bathroom. A couple of cans of Bud were dranken in the process of writing this entry. And now I�m done. YAY!

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*Not edited at all.