two uptown hipster summer block parties down, one more to go.  bastille day @ barbette has gone from being a fun neighborhood novelty to full-on local tradition, marked by run-ins with those friends i never see for whatever reason ... weather was ideal after last year's wilting near-one-hundred degree heat - the mid-eighties were back with no rain - but the block really started rockin by the time i made it over to the bmx stage, where i ran into my pal darcy from work.   the two of us are always good for a furious volley of fun snark, which was intensified by the inclusion of a guy i've known from around uptown since my mailboxes etc. days - which brings us to the mid-nineties - but most recently from the gym.  he's a big, built, shaved-head dude whom i was already successfully chatting up (including the very forward - for me - question of whether he's done everything he wanted to do before his upcoming Big 4-0 ... vive la liberte!) when i finally connected with darce.  she + i had a hell of a blast tryin to figure him out for the rest of the night, with his gorgeously mannish tall galpal (one of maybe 3 african-americans at the event - ah, minneapolis ... how you frustrate me), through the rollergirl demonstration and the not-completely-repellant performance by mallman's new band ruby isle.  of course the bell's 2-hearteds were flowing all night, so by the time we were fixin to round up our other work comrade kimmer, who had finally made it back to the neighborhood after being kidnapped by kung for the previous 24 hours, i got good and bellige when some blond female stick figure - was she dressed all in brown lace?  that's how i remember it - swooped in and stole our manly project away from us with promises they'd come to darcy's later - after i'd invested an evening's worth of effort into him ... ! grrr.  of course poor darcy + kim had to bear the brunt of my angry-gay-man act, but thanks to their generous tolerance and indulgence that did not prevent us from enjoying a very testy, i mean tasty post-party meal of darcy's signature green bean pesto back at her place.  i of course had to be up at five the next morning for work so i left by eleven, thankfully out the door just in time to bid my goodnights to our bald test subject and his stick figure as they arrived: as i walked away she told me to 'make good choices...' what the hell kind of schtick is that???  go figure.

speaking of matters of liberty, resistance + revolution ... was encouraged by the times article about the new populism: it seems the democrats are finally coming together around what is beginning to form into a forceful message about social justice and economic equality here at home, addressing the growing sense of middle-class financial insecurity that i have been experiencing and observing for several years now.  was hanging out with a friend from work last night who described not being able to make ends meet despite working full-time.  (maybe it's because we go out too much?)  i have to admit that my own poverty is somewhat self-induced, choosing as i have not to commit to a full-time career; but, when i think about it my reasons for that choice are based on a sense of social alienation that i have felt in all of my previous attempts at grown-up employment, never feeling truly comfortable with my alternative identity in jobs dominated by even well-meaning mainstream hetero and/or team-sports, corporate-ladder-consumerist oriented co-workers.  too much dealing with unpleasant, unaccountable, and even inept management types has brought me to a point of organizational disillusionment that has left me too exhausted to even consider another foray into that world.  is this an issue to be taken up by congress?  or a good therapist?  at this point i'm hoping time will tell, but it doesn't help when the stories have been coming in about what would appear to be a campaign of harassment involving hundred-something dollar fines levied against peaceful, productive, middle-class citizens who dared to 1> walk their dog off-leash on a frozen lake (me); 2> ride their bike on nicollet mall (my friend boone - did you HEAR THAT??? not a warning but a FINE for NOT burning fossil fuels in rybak's minneapolis!); or 3> going fishing one time with her family, who had a fishing license, because she didn't have an individual license, on a lake where the family has kept a modest cabin for years. (previously mentioned full-time co-worker - again, not a warning, but an immediate fine) ... i tell ya.

it never fails - i splurge on the new york times one time and it changes my life ... also discovered slint and grizzly bear from their article about pitchfork.