Is a kid on a leash still funny if no one can hear you laugh?

So I'm hear in Milwaukee (Mi-wuakee as pronounced in the local dialect), just in time for the flooding. I spent Sunday night knee deep in mud (no lie) bailing water out of basement window casings and constructing dams out of unsaturated organic matter while lightening lit up the sky. But that is just a glaring blemish on an otherwise beautiful peach. The morning before the storm was spent at the gym doing my first ever adult life gym class and this woman was fierce. After watching my 60 year old aunt and her friends school my ass on the one hundred sit up/push up combo, we went for a bike ride. This is where I caught my first glimpse of Lake Michigan and road through my second ever Olmsted park (counting Central Park and discounting Bryn Mawr which was designed by Olmsted and Sons). After a 6 mile ride or so we ended up at Beans and Barley where my cousin met us for tofu scrambler and fresh orange juice. I went off on my own to the Urban Ecology center, biked back into town and went to the Riverwest (I think) library with some post cards for Kyla and Nadia. I started reading White Teeth, got distracted and left my post cards in the library which is embarrassing because they were filled out already and now some stranger knows all the juicy and scandalous information I had written all over them. When we got home it was chaos because the sump pump didn't turn on and the basement was flooding. This wasn't just an ordinary freak out either because my aunt and uncle are trying to sell their house so, the environment was what I would call "severe" and I think Rog had a Vietnam flashback because he sure made me feel like I was in the shit. The next morning I caught up on GIS work (though one can never truly catch up so it seems) and went to the Locust St festival only to find that I missed the annual Beer Run. Next year, Kyla Quillin, you and I will run that 5k even if I throw up foam the whole way. I saw some great bands (check out .357 String Band) and my uncle was serving beer so I was hooked up. While at the festival, I kept seeing things that made me think of people I know. I didn't get lonely but I began to feel like a crazy person chuckling to myself about inside jokes with people who weren't with me. There was this band (fat bottom something or other) with a lead singer who was Marciniak's doppleganger (sp?), voice, performance, body...EVERYTHING. So of course I thought of Anna and Alix. And then I saw a kid on a leash that looked like a monkey with one long arm (the leash not the kid) which anyone could have appreciated. There was a tiny dog dressed in a hot dog suit (Emma), a girl with a crocheted hat and dirty clothes (JP)...I can't really think of anything else but the festival was more fun than I ever thought I could have while alone. I regret to say that woman danced without any reservations in front of a huge seated crowd watching the marciniak doppelganger and looked awesome. I wished Kyla was with me because I know she wouldn't have thought twice about jumping in and I could just go off her energy but I stood in the back challenging myself to go in front of all those people and just own the dance but...I'm a coward. Next time. The whole vibe was that of Burlington and it was nice to be totally relaxed around dirty college students.

Other than the flooding I find this place to be totally beautiful and full of potential. Though many places are segregated by race here I have never seen places so well integrated and so many people aware or working towards multiculturalism. It is beautiful both environmentally and socially and I'm thus far happy with my decision. Obviously I work here too and my next post will indulge that. I just wanted to get this off the ground with something comical rather than heavy and inspiring.

As for keeping up with old friends: I am visiting Sarah McHugh in August. Amanda W is visiting in July. Biking with Ky in August. And Siri hinted to Summerfest.