The Art of Being Lost

For most of my life I haven't spent a lot of time being lost. I lived in the city where I was born until after college, and I always knew where I was. It wasn't until I moved to Madison that I discovered the art of being lost.

I spent a lot of time being lost in Madison. I'm not particularly good with spatial relations and directional things, so quite often I went off track. It was in Madison that I realized that being lost is by no means a bad thing. I found some very cool things while I was lost, and in Wisconsin you know there's always a good chance you might find a Culver's. Often, I would stop for a butterburger and regroup before continuing. Navigating one's way out of being lost also instills great confidence in one's abilities. You shouldn't be afraid to keep driving until you see something you think you recognize. (Note: it doesn't have to be something that you actually do recognize. You just have to go with your gut and rely on hunches.)

Given the amount of time that I spent being lost in Madison, you would think that I would have spent a fair amount of time being lost in Minneapolis. True, the first time I drove here from Madison I frantically called Pete from the road and told him that I didn't know where I'd gone wrong, but I was somehow right by the capitol. However, after that I have always had Pete to rely on for directions. I know my basic roads, and I pretty much stick to them.

This afternoon I was somewhat delighted to find myself lost in South Minneapolis. I was trying an experimental route, and it went awry. I saw some gorgeous houses, some businesses I never knew where there, and I got to remember why I kind of liked getting lost in the first place.

The Highlight of My Weekend and 3 Movies

My weekend was good :)

Friday night Pete and I grilled out for the first time this year. I stopped at Fresh & Natural foods on my way home to pick up the goods. We had organic chicken and apple brats on organic whole wheat buns with organic ketchup. That makes it healthy, right? Healthy or not it was very tasty and it made me excited for all the grilling that we have in store this summer.

Saturday I went to a Tasteful Treasures party at Mike & Aimee's. It's like a tupperware party, but for unmentionables :) It was fun and there was a lot of good food.

That evening Pete was planning to head to the ArtCrank show downtown with some friends. I went last year, and I loved looking at the posters but hated the crowdedness. One thing that being from Montana does not prepare you for is crowds. I've gotten better, but ArtCrank = hot squishy mess with bike people (on opening night, that is. After that I'm sure it's fine). (Also, I think they have a larger venue plan for next year.) So I was planning NOT to go, but then Aimee came over and I decided to give it a go. So Peter, Mike, Aimee, and Kris and I headed off downtown.

As feared, ArtCrank was uber-peopley. The posters were good, though. Pete and I will be going back this week to support our local bike artists (the line was too long to consider making any purchases on Sat.).

After that we hit Pizza Luce, and that was the Highlight (with a capital H) of my weekend. When it came time to place my drink order, I was feeling uninspired. I couldn't remember what was on tap, and I was hungry and unfocused and didn't think I could listen to the waiter telling me the list. The one beer I did remember? PBR. So in a shout-out to Sconnie, that's what I ordered. Then the waiter asked, "Tap or can?" I have to admit to being a bit of a beer snob. In general I drink microbrews out of a bottle or a glass. I do, however, have a weakness for an occasional beer out of a can. Usually this only happens with Grain Belt at hunting time. So there I was at Pizza Luce, drinking PBR out of a can...get this...with a straw! It was so zen-like! The company was great, the food was good, and the PBR was awesome. Just when I thought it couldn't get any better...out comes my second PBR, with TWO straws! One stuck into the other one so it was a super tall straw! Best ever!

So I had rented movies to watch Saturday night while Pete ArtCranked it up. Since I went with, I watched them today instead. So here's my two cents:

Death at a Funeral: I liked it and I laughed quite a bit. I am rather partial to British comedy, though, and I have a pretty dry sense of humor.

Atonement: This movie depressed the hell out of me. Yes, I know that war does terrible things to people's lives, but nobody laughed at all during this movie, and that's not realistic either. Not impressed.

Becoming Jane: I expected more from this movie. It was just kind of blah.

Looooooong post!