i do not live in madison anymore. for now.

today i had this workshop all day and we went to el mercadito where i had a conversation with some dude from mexico. i have so much more respect for mexicans now. i mean, not that i didn't respect them before, but it was like i didn't really notice them before. i never stopped to think about what it would be like to leave your family behind, risk your life crossing the border, live in an apartment with a bunch of other dudes who all miss their families too, and work in a shitty restaraunt job or construction or at whatever job you can find, send basically all of your money back home, and then that would be your life. i mean, obviously not all experiences are that way, but a lot of them are.

i didn't have much of an opinion about the minutemen on the border before, but it makes me sad now.

then after that i came back here and watched tv for a while. then we went to town and got frostie freeze and we drove around and i showed rob all the places i used to go when i was growing up and the house we used to live in. it was nostalgic to the max. we picked up some take out from sal's. it was like high school flashback, except without heidi. fort atkinson is actually kind of nice now, there's a bike path through town where the old train tracks used to be and they fixed up the railroad bridge so that it isn't super dangerous anymore. although, all of the new development and stores and stuff are kind of disturbing, especially where they knocked down the old st joe's church to build a big brick walgreens right in the middle of town. that's pretty weak. goodbye tuttle drugs, family owned for the last 4 decades, welcome corporate hell hole!

my parents are up north for the weekend so the house is kind of weird-feeling. i don't really enjoy being here much when they aren't here, it isn't home anymore and i don't like hanging out alone in other people's houses. but i guess when they are here it is pretty annoying too. my mom and i haven't gotten into any fights yet, which is good. only 3 more weeks... well, 4 probably.

selling a house and getting a big ole check is pretty nice. it's still sitting on the kitchen counter and i've started talking to it. not having a house payment for a month is also pretty damn nice.