Val Bromann ::: Blog ::: July 2008

Posts from July, 2008

breakfast in bed

Posted by Val on July 31st, 2008 at 10:10 pm | Permalink | 1 Comment » |

1. I won two free breakfast sammiches from potbelly!

2. Sid’s Dream Bedroom:

toast mattress

egg pillow

Wake n’ Bacon Alarm clock

3. milkbones taste disgusting. Not that I put one in my mouth or anything…

4. i let a clerk at tjmax sucker me into donating a dollar. Part of me wants to believe that he really wants to help the children. A bigger part thinks there is probably a contest to see who can get the most donations.

5. I stole this pic from Julie. I just think it’s kind of awesome.

6. I am watching Deep Red right now but it’s annoying me. The movie is in Italian…most of it has been dubbed over but every few scenes it is in Italian with no dubbing and no subtitles.

7. Random im conversations:

me: so i heard from the grapevine that i am one of only five single girls invited to your wedding
Rob: pretty much
me: i don’t know if i should feel sad at that fate or happy that i will have my pick of men
Rob: you will have your pick of a number of nerds and geeks
me: so sad then

Mike: becareful of the gods wathching me
(next morning)
me: ummm…ok?
(that afternoon)
Mike: hmmm, i have no idea what that IM was about

Jeff:: you may be slpitting a bed with rob
me: i don’t care who i sleep with, i’m not picky
Jeff:: haha ok we will tell rob that except instead of picky, we will say easy
me: eh, that’s more appropriate of a description

I don’t know if he meant to say there that I am a slut, or really was looking out for me…

breakfast in bed | 1 Comment » |

the valerie history of concert going

Posted by Val on July 30th, 2008 at 11:46 pm | Permalink | 7 Comments » |

This is probably pretty much an exhaustive list minus local small shows and such. I’m not very versed in music. I love concerts but I never plan outings and no one ever invites me. So it’s pretty pathetic. But, with a while weekend of Lolla coming up, I was inspired to compile this…

Janet Jackson
July 13, 1994

My first concert. I liked Janet Jackson back then because we danced a lot to her in dance classes. I was supposed to go with a friend, but she had to cancel and not go because her parents said she was “too suggestive.”

Morrissey
September 26, 1997

I went with my sister because she needed someone to go with. We were right up against the stage at the Aragon. I had eye contact with the bass player or guitar player or something.

Whatever Q101 (I think)’s Music Thing was Called
Some time in high school

I just remember that I went to this but don’t remember who played or when. I remember getting food at some place and Sera squishing a pigs in a blanket on Jacqui’s car window.

Tori Amos
Some time in high school

I still remember the beginning to the song i composed while waiting for this to start. Oh Heindrick oh Heindrick can you spare a dime…Ask me to sing it for you.

REM
Some time in high school

It was Michael Stipes’ moms birthday, so he called her and had everyone sing happy birthday.

Teen Idols Tour with Peter Noone, Davy Jones, and Bobby Sherman
August 15, 1998

Mickey Dolenz is the cutest Monkee ever. But Davey Jones would have to do. I saw my first shooting star that night.

Lilith Fair
1999

What do I remember the most? The fact that they wouldn’t let the women use the mens bathrooms (even though it was 99% women at the fest…the other 1% did in fact include my boyfriend).

Bob Dylan
October 27, 1999

Went with Josh at Assembly Hall.

Eve 6
March 4, 2001

I want to say that for some reason I bought Hood’s ticket to this and he paid me back with cash wrapped in a piece of paper stapled together with a bazillion staples. That could have been for something else though. I may have still been slightly afraid of him at that point.

Blink 182
July 7, 2001

You know you’re too old for something when you’re surrounded by little girls with the band members names in facepaint.

Matchbox Twenty
August 3, 2001

Was this the concert where JoeJoe’s car broke down in the parking lot? And Joe either saw a naked man or two teddy bears in a car? And we went to Denny’s and Glen ordered two meals? It was either this one or the next one…

Barenaked Ladies
August 24, 2001

I didn’t even remember that I saw them, but apparently I did. This may have contained the incidents I described above.

Saraphine
2001

The one guy in the band was friends with my best friend’s sister. So we saw them a couple of times. Nad came down for one show at the Canopy Club. It was just before I started dating Hood and I had her check him out. Phil, the guy we knew, is now in Treaty of Paris.

They Might Be Giants
October 18, 2001

I saw They Might Be Giants Live?!?! That’s news to me.

Vans Warped Tour
July 27, 2002

My best friend got engaged here on stage with the Mighty Mighty Bosstones.

Indigo Girls
2002 or 2003

They played at Krannert Center so I scored free seats by ushering! We had a round table discussion with them beforehand and they kind of pissed me off…but that’s just because I am the anti-feminist/anti-protesting/anti-whatever type.

Barenaked Ladies and Alanis Morrisette
July 21, 2004

I remember seeing them this time. My new boss had a ticket she wasn’t using and gave it to me. Score.

Plain White T’s
July 26, 2007

We were going to see them at the county fair…but then their dumbass opening band broke everything and they were 2 hours late going on. We ditched out and went to see the premiere of the Simpsons movie instead.

Flogging Molly
February 16, 2008

Awesome concert, awesome friends. The opening band had a chick on a washboard.

the valerie history of concert going | 7 Comments » |

fast and freaky

Posted by Val on July 27th, 2008 at 11:43 pm | Permalink | No Comments » |

Friday

Friday I woke up sick. Actually, I woke up all night sick and needless to say that when my alarm clock went off at 6:45 I was feeling pretty damned crappy. It really felt like food poisoning. Not fun.

Unfortunately I knew I had a big email blast waiting to go at work and I didn’t want us to have to put it off until Monday, so I got myself up and went off to work. Sick + train ride = very very nauseous val :-(

I spent most of the morning with my head on my desk waiting for our design company to fix something before I could send out my email. Finally at around 12 I finished up and left. Sick + second train ride = very very very nauseous Val.

I literally slept the rest of the day away, woke up around 7 feeling better. Watched the first disk of 24 season 4 (Netflix is raping me because I’ve been averaging watching 1 disc per month the last few months). And then went back to sleep.

Saturday

Luckily Saturday I woke up feeling much much better. So, what do you do the day after you’ve been out with food poisoning? Why, go drink some beer and watch people eat sandwiches of course!

There was an MLE (Major League Eating) event at the Taste of Lincoln Avenue, so of course I was there! I mean, I’ve driven half way across the country and flown even further to see people eat large quantities of food, I’m not going to miss one that’s right in my back yard!

I managed to get Emily to say she’d go with me, so I called her up to see where and when she wanted to meet. Turns out the party she was at to watch the Cubs lose was about 3 feet from where the contest would be. So I met her and Julie and others there and grabbed some beer and chips. I actually was able to sucker a few of them into coming to the contest with me. If you’re keeping track this was the fifth major league eating event that I’ve been to in the past year. If you’re keeping track, that is.

I left a little earlier than everyone else to make sure I’d secure us some prime spots. Good thing, because by the time everyone else meandered out of the apartment, George Shea had already taken the stage and a pretty large crowd had formed.

Maybe it was the fact that everyone was already kind of tipsy, but we couldn’t stop laughing as the players were announced. I just thought it was awesome that I was able to get others to enjoy my particular kind of crazy as everyone seemed to be enjoying it (well, except maybe Julie, who still thought it was all pretty disguising).

All the competitors were announced. I think my friends particularly burst out laughing at the “four horseman of the esophagus” line. Three of my favorite eaters were eating: Pat “Deep Dish” Bertoletti, Tim “Gravy” Brown, and Pat “Does he have a nickname?” Vandam. Tim saw me from the stage and waved. :-) After the eaters took the stage the makers were announced and everyone took their positions. Unfortunately the makers were in the back, so you couldn’t actually see them make sandwiches.

This contest was a little different than most. It was the Jimmy John’s Freaky Fast Sandwich Making and Eating Contest. It pitted three sandwich makers against three MLE eaters. Could the eaters eat the sandwiches as fast as the makers could make them?

The countdown began and then the eaters were…well…forced to stand there and twiddle their thumbs while the sandwich makers got going. Finally a freshly wrapped sandwich was brought out and the Pats grabbed it and tore it in half. This event was different than most, it was all about teamwork. There were only two counters on stage: one for how many were made and one for how many were eaten. It would be a group total, so they were sharing sandwiches and helping each other out.

At first the eaters were doing pretty well and keeping a good pace, but slowly the sandwiches started piling up. I have to admit they looked pretty hard to eat. I mean, a hot dog is just a hot dog, these had thick bread and meat and probably vegetables and condiments. Pat Bertoletti said afterwards that he had one that was mostly sprouts and “how do you eat that?” Personally shredded lettuce makes me ill (seriously, I know it’s a weird thing but I just can’t eat it) so I wouldn’t be able to eat one of those things (I like their slims…meat, bread, a packet of mayo, it’s all you need in a sandwich), but add in all that lettuce and I’d have a reversal in a second.

Anyways, the sandwiches were coming out too fast. Tim threw one into the audience and my friends caught it and ate it. More came out, he threw a couple more but there was still a pile. Soon the clock wound down and their fate was sealed: the eaters lost. The Jimmy John’s sandwich makers made too many sandwiches too quickly for the three to eat.

After the contest I said hi to Tim and to Pat and my friends bombarded him with questions. We went back and hung out at Jason’s apartment, pondered temp tattoos at the fest (Em so needs to get either “Babe” or a Jesus Fish across her chest) and took pictures with Abe Lincoln.

as I was taking a picture:

Honest Abe: Is that a Canon?
Me: Yes.
Honest Abe: Please don’t point a cannon at me.

Later Julie and I headed to the lakefront for Venetian Night. Heather met up with us and we spent too short of a time watching decorated boats go by. Seriously, Venetian Night used to have way less of a crowd and way more boats. This time there was a huge crowd and hardly any boats.

My favorite was some yacht club boat that didn’t decorate at all. The guy kept blowing the boat horn on it and all the old ladies on it quivered and covered their ears. It was kind of funny.

We stayed for fireworks then I headed with Heather to check out her swanky new place.

I was going to go out afterwards but I was still feeling kind of sick, so after two failed cab rides (seriously can cabs get you anywhere correctly?) I decided it was time to call it a night.

Sunday

While watching the original Parent Trap with Julie and Em we noticed that in the scene where they all go camping they bring along a couple of donkeys to carry all their shit around. I immediately texted JoeJoe and told him that he has to bring donkeys along when we go camping in a month. He texted back that I’ll have to settle for ponies. There best be ponies.

That’s all I’ve got.

PHOTOS FROM THE EATING CONTEST HERE!!!

PHOTOS FROM VENETIAN NIGHT HERE!!!

fast and freaky | No Comments » |

on love and writing

Posted by Val on July 25th, 2008 at 9:42 am | Permalink | 7 Comments » |

ONE.

My “emo” post from the other day reminded me of the love poems I used to write in seventh grade. I had an unrequited and unadmitted crush on this guy (I would write his name here, but I’m afraid of him googling himself and seeing this) who lived around the block from me. I used to sit at my open window, which faced the backyard, the ally, and the street around the block in hopes of maybe seeing him walking the dog or heading to the library. Everyone knew that I had a crush on him but I still was always too shy and too embarrassed to admit that I had feelings for anyone.

These poems have been living on my website for years, but it’s been probably years since I have even looked at them. Embarrassingly enough my poetry prowess back then was mostly influenced by the first verse of Janet Jackson’s “That’s the Way Love Goes.” Reading them now though I’m shocked at how little I have changed since seventh grade. I could easily have written these today (an MA in writing and I’m positive my skill at poetry has not changed since grade school) about unrequited and unadmitted crushes, about being afraid, about hiding, about not admitting how I feel.

Hiding
Why do I hide?
Hide from my true feelings
Why do I say I don’t
when I really do
Love you that is.
Why do I gaze at you
then turn when you look back
Why do I cry when I’m alone
because I’m alone
Because I can’t face you
Why do I hide

Words
I can’t let you scream at me
for I don’t see your lips moving
the way you want me to move mine.
When you find the courage to do
what you want me to do
Then maybe I’ll listen.
Then I’ll let your words bore through my skull.
I’ll let you torment me for being a fool.
Which I know that I am anyway
but don’t forget that you’re one too.
Anyway, I know that I can’t speak.
I know that my lips will not move
for I am a fool.
Maybe I don’t want to be
Maybe I don’t even have to be
But I am, perhaps forever.
I’ve already lost so much, so many
for my lips will not move how you want them to.
So scream.
Scream as loud as you can.
I’ll try to listen if you do the same.
Maybe I can be convinced.
Maybe someday I”ll scream as well.

Untitled
my mind is filled with thoughts of you
each and every day
my soul and heart argue together
there is just no way
no way your heart will feel for me
no way my heart will win
no way you’ll ever love me true
my soul just will not sin
sin by letting our hearts go
free to intertwine
touch, feel, love, love
where they’d be just fine
fine and clean yet full of worry
they begin to wind
thoughts too heavy for me to handle
entering my mind

TWO

I keep forgetting that I want to be a writer. Lately my life is all about photography and web editing and I’ve forgotten about writing. Maybe it’s because I’ve been staring at this draft of a novel for years and have no idea where I want to take it. Do I want to write a novel or a memoir or a young adult book. Maybe I can’t write it because I am no longer obsessed with the topic. Maybe I’m just lazy.

All my life writing was something that I was told I was good at but something I always resisted. The first time I decided to be a writer was after my freshman year of college when I had a story to tell. I first wanted to write it for revenge. Then for empathy. Then for healing. My senior year of college I took a writing class and for a 15-page assignment I turned in a 72 page draft. The summer after I graduated I got it up to 120 pages. It’s sat ever since. Shortly after that something happened and I no longer needed to be obsessed and, therefore, could no longer write it. I’ve written other things since but always abandon them after the first draft. And now that I am no longer in classes I find it hard to actually sit and write anything.

I’ve forgotten that I wanted to be a writer. I’ve forgotten that the story I wanted to tell (whether it be in novel, young adult, or memoir form) is still a story I feel should be told and that even though I don’t need it anymore, maybe someone else does.

I need to figure it all out again. I want to finish it. I want to start it all over. I’m hoping that I can find the inspiration.

THREE

It’s been a long time since I’ve picked up a book and couldn’t put it down. Every once in a while I’ll start reading and not be able to stop until I’ve gotten to the end. The last one, I’d say, was Gone With the Wind, which I read over a year ago and that still took me over a month to read despite the fact that I was obsessed over it. I bring this up because I write better and more when I read something that I find to be amazing.

I had a glimmer of this yesterday when I read the first entry in The Best American Essays of 2007. Three words in and I had to put it down to jot in my notebook a few paragraphs of a short story. The essay, “Werner” by Jo Ann Beard, was so captivating and well-written that I completely forgot that it was a true story and not a work of fiction. Unfortunately I quickly lost that mojo three sentences into the second essay, which was more academic.

They always say to be a good writer you have to read, and it’s true. I definitely write my best and write more when I am reading something good. Unfortunately it seems that lately the closest I get to a book is “The Complete Guide to CSS” and the like.

If you’ve read this far (has anyone read this far?) please leave me a comment with a book recommendation. What’s your favorite book, or one that you think is well written or one that changed your life or one that you keep reading over and over. I need good book suggestions. Maybe something will inspire me. And maybe if your book suggestion is good I’ll thank you in the acknowledgments of my first novel.

on love and writing | 7 Comments » |

how do you like your jeans?

Posted by Val on July 24th, 2008 at 3:23 pm | Permalink | 3 Comments » |

So as a web editor (read: web geek) and e-marketer (read: email geek) it’s part of my job to get tons of emails from companies and actually look at them and read them and see what they are doing. Tough job, I know.

Today I got two emails: one from Abercrombie, one from Hollister. Abercrombie owns both brands and apparently they are so obsessive about being conformist that they can’t even make an effort from distinguishing the “California” lifestyle from “New York.”

how do you like your jeans? | 3 Comments » |