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Adventure!
Rik and I went on an adventure today. The ostensible purpose for this adventure was to visit Smithville, IN, a town of maybe a thousand people around ten miles south of where I live in Bloomington. Why, you might ask, would I want to go to Smithville? Well, my favorite song by For Squirrels, one of my favorite bands, is called "Under Smithville" (link to song on YouTube with album cover as "video"), and I have no idea which Smithville it's about. [0] Since I started seeing signs for Smithville around where I lived I've been like "Oh my god I need to go under Smithville" but had never gotten around to it. Thus: To Smithville!
I looked it up online, and it's part of the Clear Creek Township, which has an amazing old but not old enough that it doesn't use javascript website with details about a commune in the township, the train that used to run there, and so on. I looked up a route to get to Smithville in general, confirmed there was a picture I could take a sign with, and then Rik and I purposefully got in the car without any directions and decided to see what we found. We first managed to get totally lost and find the end of a road to nowhere, and that was pretty fun, and then aftr some meandering through Bloomington's outskirts we made our way to Smithville and found a couple of churches labelled "Smithville" but no sign. We wandered around some more, and found the Baker's Junction Railroad Museum, [1] which seemed to be closed.
Then we found a school on the outskirts of Smithville, or possibly in it --- although the sign claimed it was Bloomington even though it was south of (thus, under) Smithville. It had a playground. So I laid down under it. (This is a reference to the lyrics from the song in question.) It turned out the playground also had a nature trail attached to it --- it was something like a mile or a mile and a half? Lots of really pretty vistas, butterflies that fluttered into the air with every step we took, fresh dew still on the grass... It was really nice, and not so long that the plant phobia really kicked in. Hooray! We also found the Smithville sign, and got pictures in front of it while people drove by and were like "Who in the hell does that?" Well, Rik and I do that, because we're awesome. Also I was staring into the sun so all of the pictures are terrible, but what can you do. [2]
Then we declared victory and went to the Owlery, a vegetarian restaurant in Bloomington, and had their coconut macadamia tofu, which is divine and nightshade free. There aren't a lot of things I can eat there, but the things I can eat are very tasty, and they're friendly and a reasonable price and almost everything on the menu is vegan or can be made vegan. Yaaaay!
In conclusion: An awesome adventure. And proof that I do actually do fun things sometimes!
[0] The band was from Florida, but most Google hits for "Smithville, FL" are either about some other state or examples that pick "Smithville, FL" as a fictional place. I'd like to imagine the latter is what they were thinking about in the song, but I really have no idea.
[1] Warning: Makes sounds if you don't disable JavaScript, and is incredibly baffling in a vaguely timecubey kind of way. I am simultaneously glad and sad that we did not get to see the museum; on the one hand oh my god this dude talks about shooting Communists and on the other hand he has bits of his website in favor of gender equity and marijuana legalization. All I can really tell is that he is intense and all of his opinions are turned up to 11. Or maybe 12.
[2] Also, this outfit is![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
bossgoji 's fault. I am still figuring out if I like it or not! It's pretty awesome, but I can't decide if I'm comfortable looking quite this... feminine. Is that crazy?
I looked it up online, and it's part of the Clear Creek Township, which has an amazing old but not old enough that it doesn't use javascript website with details about a commune in the township, the train that used to run there, and so on. I looked up a route to get to Smithville in general, confirmed there was a picture I could take a sign with, and then Rik and I purposefully got in the car without any directions and decided to see what we found. We first managed to get totally lost and find the end of a road to nowhere, and that was pretty fun, and then aftr some meandering through Bloomington's outskirts we made our way to Smithville and found a couple of churches labelled "Smithville" but no sign. We wandered around some more, and found the Baker's Junction Railroad Museum, [1] which seemed to be closed.
Then we found a school on the outskirts of Smithville, or possibly in it --- although the sign claimed it was Bloomington even though it was south of (thus, under) Smithville. It had a playground. So I laid down under it. (This is a reference to the lyrics from the song in question.) It turned out the playground also had a nature trail attached to it --- it was something like a mile or a mile and a half? Lots of really pretty vistas, butterflies that fluttered into the air with every step we took, fresh dew still on the grass... It was really nice, and not so long that the plant phobia really kicked in. Hooray! We also found the Smithville sign, and got pictures in front of it while people drove by and were like "Who in the hell does that?" Well, Rik and I do that, because we're awesome. Also I was staring into the sun so all of the pictures are terrible, but what can you do. [2]
Then we declared victory and went to the Owlery, a vegetarian restaurant in Bloomington, and had their coconut macadamia tofu, which is divine and nightshade free. There aren't a lot of things I can eat there, but the things I can eat are very tasty, and they're friendly and a reasonable price and almost everything on the menu is vegan or can be made vegan. Yaaaay!
In conclusion: An awesome adventure. And proof that I do actually do fun things sometimes!
[0] The band was from Florida, but most Google hits for "Smithville, FL" are either about some other state or examples that pick "Smithville, FL" as a fictional place. I'd like to imagine the latter is what they were thinking about in the song, but I really have no idea.
[1] Warning: Makes sounds if you don't disable JavaScript, and is incredibly baffling in a vaguely timecubey kind of way. I am simultaneously glad and sad that we did not get to see the museum; on the one hand oh my god this dude talks about shooting Communists and on the other hand he has bits of his website in favor of gender equity and marijuana legalization. All I can really tell is that he is intense and all of his opinions are turned up to 11. Or maybe 12.
[2] Also, this outfit is
bossgoji 's fault. I am still figuring out if I like it or not! It's pretty awesome, but I can't decide if I'm comfortable looking quite this... feminine. Is that crazy?
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Comfort in femininity.
I still have all these worries. A lot. But, you know, as I push myself away from androgyny and let myself experiment with the more femmy stuff, I chip away at those worries bit by bit. And I feel empowered to wear whatever the hell I want. So, you know... rock that blouse. *grin*
Re: Comfort in femininity.
Ugh. That didn't make me feel any better. But I'm glad you think I can rock the blouse. :)
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You look like yourself in it to me, if that helps.
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(2) saw the pics, was like "huh that's a strangely femme outfit for rachel to be wearing," then saw the footnote. so, shrug.
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Whether I was in the mood for it yesterday after around 3 PM, I'm still not sure. :)
Edit: Weirdly, it's almost always a pink wifebeater. I have no idea what to make of that from a gender identity perspective. I think it might be "color scheme trumps gender?"
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What's the vegan equivalent of a leather biker jacket?
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yesyesyes
as do glitter and rainbows and shiny things (imho)
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And I am glad that your van is in the picture of the Smithville sign. It is good to have a picture of you with your van.
<3
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I forwarded you all the pictures, in case you like different ones than I do.
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I guess you'll be in Arizona by the time I get back! I'm sorry we never got to meet, since you seem like an interesting person. But it also seems like you travel incessantly, so maybe we'll cross paths.
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And I work with Cathleen at Mira; she's always done very well for me.
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I liked that you found a sekrit nature trail by following the song; it seems like it would be fun to deliberately plant clues to things like that in your band's songs and hope your fans uncover them all. Maybe they did it on purpose, maybe not, but I shall choose to believe the former because it amuses me! PS: plant phobia: Yours or Rik's? If the former then it's a fact I did not previously know about you (Internet acquaintances, how do they work). Is it rude to ask more about that?
Also, the outfit looks fine on you. DISCLAIMER: my fashion sense extends to "what clothes are on the top of the pile this morning" so get your salt shaker out and all, but I wouldn't give odd stares if I saw you walking down the street at any rate. Well, apart from the "she looks just like rax" kind maybe, but I'm sure you get that a lot. The resemblance is uncanny, actually.
(got some amusingly odd spell-checker suggestions for "Carrauntoohil": Currently, Grandiosely, Groundhog, Grantley, Grandly, Grendel. Excuse me whut r u doin spell-checker.)
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