05 August 2004 - 4:37 p.m.

fairfield train station

my upstairs neighbor, kat, thinks the dog at the fairfield train station (see above) is creepy. i think it's neat. in her defense, though, she says its eyes light up at night and turn red. yeah, i could see how that would be kinda spooky. it has speakers in its ears, from which - apparently - come train timetable information. i wonder who made it and where the idea came from.

i've been spending the last hour or so working on photos for 3RRR. i took similar photos of the same people this time last year, and it was one of the big experiences that pushed me toward getting a digital camera. for a cash-strapped organization in need of only a few pictures, film and processing just don't make sense and are a hassle for both parties. i think today's photos turned out ok - i hope they like them.

i've been asked to write an essay for the very cool fresno famous on what it would take for me to move back to fresno. i've always thought about it in the back of my mind but never seriously. there's the obvious, like the lack of public transport, a vegetarian restaurant and an independent/arthouse cinema, but the other stuff is a bit harder to define. how strange to think fresno, which i'd always considered to stay exactly as is, could potentially change and that downtown is slowly being fixed up and populated.

for all the former fresnans reading this, what would it take to get you to move back (and parental illness or lack of money do not count - it has to be something fresno can change about itself)? and for all the current fresnans, please tell me why you *choose* to live there (family doesn't count). maybe i'll get some more ideas.

sherry's birthday present is almost finished, thank goodness. too bad her birthday was in july. i am so horrible, and i have no idea if she'll even like it. too late because my fingers went numb last night from working on it, and i'm not undoing it now!

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polyester just sent me a list of their top 50 albums of the past five years (how random, especially in august, no?). in case you're wondering where polyester and i agree, wonder no more:
4. Cat Power - You Are Free
10. Machine Translations - Happy
14. The Magnetic Fields - 69 Love Songs
16. The Flaming Lips - Soft Bulletin
19. Architecture In Helsinki - Fingers Crossed
21. Art Of Fighting - Wires
24. The Flaming Lips - Yoshimi Battles The Pink Robots
27. The Avalanches - Since I Left You
29. Grandaddy - Sophtware Slump
37. The Strokes - Is This It
42. Grand Salvo - (1642 - 1727)