nils
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At Nils’ Wedding
You are viewing stuff tagged with nils.
Took a long weekend, my first time away from Ess and Mykala for any real length of time, and went to Chicago with Nils and company for his bachelor party. We had a great time! This was taken at the Pitchfork Music Festival.
My dad always talked about how fun it was to travel, but that he missed being able to share what he was seeing with his family. On this trip, I found out exactly what he meant. Walking downtown Chicago during the gorgeous summer weather, seeing the lake up close, eating at Longman & Eagle, playing foosball at a 1980s style arcade, seeing just how big a city can be from the window of its transit. Makes you want to share it.
Today, I was sitting in the corner of our kitchen on top of the countertops, nestled into the area where the toaster oven is, while Mykala made apple-and-cheese sandwiches at the stove. I looked at the results of painting and decorating this home over the past six months, the way the early fall light warmed the walls, and the breeze of a perfectly clear 61° day cooled off the space. Esmé slept peacefully in her carrier, tired after a three mile walk with her mom and dad. There were no television or radio noises, just the gentle rush of breezes through screens and the staccato sounds of kids playing down the street. It was a perfect moment, the closeness of family, the esthetics of the surroundings, and the peace of a respite from the exigencies of daily, young-professional, indebted life.
Ok, have a seat. This is going to take a little longer than my heavily-edited moderately-stilted prose attempts at wit, wisdom, and condensed life experience. That stuff falls flat more often than not, anyway.
Some things have happened over the past few days that knit themselves into a little ball that I feel the need to tug the strings of. You know that part in a TV show where you know it’s the season finale because you can just feel the writers pulling hard at these strings they’ve strung between characters? I always imagine a sweater, and you have a hold of a few of the pieces and you keep pulling and the fabric is bunching and warping in places. You really see how it is all connected. Ok, this is possibly not edited enough. Starting again…
“So what exactly hurts?” Mykala asked, trying to get at the root of my non-specific complaints.
“Well, the joints in my hands and feet feel really sore… like from a virus.”
I took 400mg ibuprofen, which got me through yesterday evening’s delicious and exciting visits to Marvel and Masu — then, around 8:30pm, I called Nils to confirm our Big Bike Ride™ to Stillwater tomorrow. After that, bad things began to happen.
My favorite posts to read a few years down the road are the “things that are happening” posts. I find them much more interesting than whatever article was holding my interest at the time. Incidentally, I’m most motivated to post the “holding my interest” stuff over the life-happenings stuff. Paradoxical, no?
Just returned from a wonderful night out (aka bachelor party) with my great friends Matt, Steve, John, Nils, Dan, Ryan, and Chris! We went to a great place in Maple Grove called Dave & Buster’s — featuring food, bar, and full gaming area. I came home with the prizes from the night — Gophers fan hand, Dave & Buster’s novelty soccer ball, and poker chips + cards + box! Awesome! So, it was exactly the kind of night I had in mind — nobody puked, nobody was naked, and everybody will be able to get into work tomorrow! I need to get out with these guys more often.
I’d like to address a few things, re: Nils, myself, and movies. He and I have disagreed before about Roger Ebert. Nils has said Ebert is too easy on movies, I love Ebert because he reviews the way I would: he first tries to understand the vision and intent of the film, and then analyzes whether the execution works. This is why I believe his reviews tend toward the positive… he’s focusing on the positive because that is his style. Regardless, I think Nils and I can agree with Ebert’s take on The Dark Knight:
Nils wrote this comment in January of this year. Given our recent discussion about life choices and comics, I think it’s appropriate to bring out his well-articulated viewpoint:
I think that we have to learn to deal with uncertainty for the time being. We’re 21 for christ’s sake, the possibilities and choices that lay ahead of us are virtually endless. The problem is that high school and college have not primed us to deal with the unknown. There has always been a set track that we have been required to follow and that track pretty much ends with college, I think. We should all be prepared for unforeseen conflicts and always have back up plans because you never know how things will turn out. I’ve been thinking a lot about post graduation lately and I have thrown together a few scenarios for myself: stay with TV and pursue jobs in TV market, move to LA and attempt the film industry, join the peace corp, or move to Norway and do something (read: I have no clue). I think can live with those options.
On Facebook, I saw Nils added “The Cinematics” to his list of favorite artists. I’ve heard two songs off of their album “A Strange Education,” and I really like what I’ve heard so far. I’ll have to give the rest of it a listen soon.
It’s from this loneliness and the fear it brings That new doors can open up and be a savior to me So I’ll open my mind Open my heart It’s the only way to breathe
It’s just a trick of the lights she said So don’t panic, now don’t panic
I went home for fall break a couple of weekends ago, and while I was studying for my cell biology at my old desk, I opened up the file drawer on it. In it, I have a hanging folder folder marked “sentimental” in which I have an entire scrapbook worth of old scraps of paper I saved from high school and junior high. I’ve got band concert programs, my valedictorian speech, the brochure I received at the Sears Tower during my junior high trip to Chicago, and so much more. It’s grounding to occasionally return to these scraps. I know times were “tough” in their own way during the years I gathered these scraps, but the human power of retaining the good and forgetting the bad charges this eclectic stash with sentimental value.
Cleaning out the email.
Alex,
I was dead but then I got better. Dying kind of sucked. It hurt a little and then it was just dark. You would think dark would be cool, but this dark just stayed and stayed and didn’t go away. I am really glad I got better, because being dead was really lame. I will be alive and in Amsterdam from tomorrow until mid-next week. When I get back, I will pack up and move back to Madison, so we NEED TO HANG OUT VERY VERY VERY VERY SOON, or else it won’t happen. I was hanging out with Yalda yesterday, and she mentioned that there was planning for a sort of end-of-the-summer type thing. She said I would need to come back on a weekend for this before classes start. Plan away, if you indeed are planning at all, and keep me informed. Talk to you later, have a good one.
Nils “Alive and Well” Espe
——- Original Message ——-
From: “Micek, Alexander J.” <*******@stthomas.edu>
Date: Wednesday, August 10, 2005 4:49 pm
Subject: RE: HEYYYYYNILS HAVE YOU DIED PLEASE WRITE BACK IF DEATH HAS NOT VISITED YOU.
SINCERELY,
CONCERNED IN WOODBURY——-Original Message——-
From: NILS ESPE [mailto:******@wisc.edu]
Sent: Sun 8/7/2005 8:35 PM
To: Micek, Alexander J.
Subject: HEYYYYY