John Thomas

[the following is an actually email i just sent to brant hewelt, my friend and ex-roommate in chicago. i felt it was indicative of my current status. side note: priscilliano is our ex-landlord.]

subject line: "yo!"

body: "what up, homie?! hope work stuff is going well. i'd call today, but you're in work, and i'm going to work this afternoon till night, probably getting off pretty late as for chicago time. i'm listening to david bazan, he just recorded a new live thing at electrical audio in chicago. pretty standard (obviously), but it's still nice to hear. glad i downloaded it for free. also, big thing, kinda, i just got turned on to this band called 'memory tapes', they fucking rock! dance new wave indie shit. i'll send you a cd if you've never heard it. if you haven't, don't look for it, i'll just send it to you. which reminds me: you have mail at the handlebar. seems kinda goofy, but i guess it's because sylvia found it on the ground outside the mailbox at 2600 potomac (obviously), and didn't know how to contact you, and left it at handlebar because you've been known to visit there on the regular. so yeah. she also found a notice from debt collectors addressed to me because we didn't pay our final comcast bill (which we DID), and it was for the early cancellation fee for our cable. however, i called them and told them i had a comcast account in seattle (which i DO) under the same name, and they said "oh, ok, we'll link the accounts and you don't have to pay for that", so i surprisingly (but justly) got out of that one. crazy.

also, funny enough, i asked sylvia, "so, are there any people living in our old place, loud crazy kids or something?" to which she replied, "no, priscilliano is actually living there, he and his wife are having troubles i guess..." which i thought was pretty funny, considering the temperament of priscilliano and how he'd handle something like that. he's probably just complaining about the heat, or cold, or something.

anyways, yeah. i'm just working at the pie place still (did i tell you that?), i make and deliver local pies to coffee shops around town. company called 'high five pies'. super fun! and cool for now. i had an interview for clinician/case worker at a housing program for 'sound mental health', a place that houses mentally ill people who are trying to live on their own. sounds pretty awesome! the interview went really well, too. i'm optimistic. it's full time. i'll let you know how it goes. all your bitching about being a case manager actually helped my interview, too. i think it gave me a more realistic base of expectations from which to discuss social work from. so thanks! again, hope you're doing well. i'm still sincerely hoping to go to chicago for pitchfork, though i want to get established a bit more here, into a new place and occupation, before making any plane-ticket decisions. started growing the beard again, though, which is a good sign. missing chicago, too. the people there make more sense to me, now that i've gotten used to it in the last few years. i'm very much enjoying being with janine and the city at large, but am kinda annoyed by the demeanor of the seattle folk. i'm sure it's just transition, though. in total, chicago folk really are funnier, more adept at their nihilism in conjunction with personality and lust for life. xoxoxo,

matt"