Detroit Shooting

From the Detroit Free Press

On Wednesday, Steve and I decided to battle the traffic and crowds and head to downtown Detroit for the best fireworks show around. We made arrangements to meet up with Jeff, Donna, and a few other friends - it was gonna be great!

We navigated the maze of closed roads and gridlocked traffic and even found FREE parking only a few blocks away from the riverfront!

Jeff was parked far from us and, given how late we all arrived there, he didn't have a great place to view the show from. He decided to try and see what they could come up with, while Steve and I wandered downtown to try our own luck at securing a spot amongst the crowds. Whoever came up with a good location would call the other party and we would meet up there.

Eventually, Jeff found an open parking structure with a nice view; however, Steve and I weren't sure if we could walk to their vantage point in time, so we just decided to join the crowds near Hart Plaza, at the intersection of Jefferson and Woodward. I was in a bad mood, and the fact that we weren't going to get to meet up with our friends didn't help. What fun is it to stand around, crammed together like anchovies, the only view is that of a balding head or baseball cap in front of you?? In years past, we did in fact put out a blanket and listen to music in Hart Plaza, but you must get there very early. My idea of fun at fireworks is a blanket, a frisbee or football, and lots of friends to laugh with. We had none of that. Grrrrr, said the Lisa. I don't wanna be here.

My bad mood proved to be the best thing to happen that night. Thank goodness I can be a bitch. ;)

I didn't like where we were, so we moved from the street to Hart Plaza. However, I was still unsatisfied and, much to Steve's annoyance, I made him move back to the road.

The fireworks started and I was still grumpy, but our spot had a better view than I thought and we could clearly see all three sets of exploding beauty above Hart Plaza. A few minutes into it and suddenly we saw a rush of people coming towards us; holding hands, running or walking quickly, some with fear and panic on their faces and others looked emotionless.  I was curious at first, but the look on their faces clearly showed that something bad happened. I looked at the cops near us; they didn't seem to know what was going on either. Steve and I worried a riot would break out and it would get dangerous. I've always wondered how a mass of people could just freak out and turn into chaos, but just seeing those people running away envoked a bit of panic in myself - unless you can control that fear, I saw first-hand how easy it would be for people to get caught up in their emotions. Scary. Fortunately, there was no real "riot"; people were fairly calm as they hurried away.

Then I hear somebody say that a man was shot. Not that there was "shooting" in a plural sense; just that a man was shot.

The spot that we had left a little bit earlier was right where the shooting took place.

At that point, the cops tried their hardest to get the ambulence, motorcycles, and officers to the victim. They pushed us away from the area but Steve and I still stayed nearby.

I know in the news reports they say the cops had a hard time getting through the crowd - which they did - but they really did have pretty quick response time, given the fact that there were a million people at the fireworks. I wanted to watch the show but between the crowd shifting, emergency vehicles, and a fear of what else could happen kept my attention on the ground, not the sky.

Steve saw a victim go by in an ambulence. A slew of other random, non-police cars - but driven by officers, with people in back - also went by. That calmed down after a little bit, but the show was ruined for many and people were leaving.

It did settle down enough for me to watch the last 5-10 minutes of the show, with one of the best grand finales I remember.

Only after we got home did we realize that it wasn't just one person injured; some man was randomly shooting into the crowd and injured 9 people. We couldn't even hear the gun fire over the echo of the booming fireworks. It was a sobering thought that, had we stayed there, we could have possibly been victims also. When we realized this, Steve and I could only look at eachother and merely say "...whoa...".

But fortunately, there were no fatalities and the bad guy was caught last night.

Thank you Donna for being concerned about us! Poor girl heard the news and thought "Umm... shooting in Hart Plaza? Where are Lisa and Steve? ...Hart Plaza?!" Means a lot to us! ;)

Brynn and Casey's Wedding

The newlyweds! My friend Steve Cotterill took that picture, and has many more to view. I don't have my own pics (I was using Casey's camera) so I'll just have to swipe everybody else's; thanks Steve! It was such a beautiful wedding, at Pioneer Park in Muskegon. The wedding itself was held on the porch of a rustic-looking lodge, adorned with flowers and citronella tiki torches (darn mosquitos!), while the intimate ceremony was short-but-incredibly-sweet. Brynn wore a medieval dress and Casey donned some Indian (as in Nepal, not native american) ceremonial robes. After Brynn's brother sang a song and the couple lit their symbolic candle together, we went inside the lodge for the best feast I've had. I was astonished that I, picky eater that I am, loved every dish - and then I realized it was because everything was vegetarian! Inside the lodge, there was a large stone fireplace and a Celtic band for our enjoyment. Kirk and Supriya both gave hilarious toasts to recap the drama and heartbreak that paved the way through their relationship. Afterwards, we frolicked on the beach, then went back and made s'mores over the fire. What a great wedding! ;)

Then we all went back to our hotel and we crammed at least 16 people into our room. Jager bombs were generously distributed and we had a loud, fun time with those little party poppers - confetti everywhere! And we didn't even get in to (much) trouble! Brynn and Casey left for their mini-honeymoon at a B&B. Hope I'll see them again this summer!!

The next day, Steve, Heather and I went to the beach and went for a COLD yet refreshing swim in Lake Michigan. It felt so great to be in Michigan for the summer - last year I was in CO so I didn't get to do all the things I love, like swimming and playing on the beach.

Congratulations, Casey and Brynn!

 

Bitter and jaded... yet so alluring!

The most unbelieveable thing happened to Heather and me tonite! Sometimes being a sarcastic bitch pays off in unexpected ways...!!

So goes the story:

I went out to Ann Arbor to hang out with Heather. We tried walking around town, but it was raining and we wound up all wet and sexy with nowhere to go. First stop, Goodnight Gracies. The music was loud and prevented conversation; instead, we went to Conor O'Neils.

We plopped our wet asses down in a corner of the pub, ordered a few drinks, wrung the water out of our shirts, and alternated between listening to the blues/country band and yapping to eachother - you know, about the typical things: pirates, hot guys, cowboy hats, and dirty men. All the while, we people-watched and knew we were in for trouble by the looks of a few prowling men.

Sleazy guy #1 sits down at a table next to us. Heather and I roll our eyes but can tell he's too much of a weenie to be much of an issue and he never approaches. We look like man-eaters! Grrr! I notice a frizzy, curly-haired blond older man hanging around the bar like a shark, staring at us and pacing around. We avoided eye contact and absorbed ourselves in conversation. Something about him seemed odd, though...

Halfway through my first Oberon, I notice another blonde, buzz-cut, 40-something yr old man strut our way. I crossed my fingers and hoped he was just passing by.

Suddenly, I had a stranger sitting next to me, beer in hand, greeting Heather and I with a cheerful British accent and an undeniable quirkiness that made us both pause and think. Do we send him away and dismiss him as another bar fly? Us ladies exchanged concerned glances, but our curiousity had the upper hand. Let's see what this man has to say!

Blondie exclaims that he is writing a novel on the differences between Brits and Americans, two countries with the same language but different customs. Being the skeptics we are, Heather and I drilled him with every question under the sun regarding this "book" and spared no sympathy. We sparred back and forth in a shower of sarcasm and irony, which only seemed to interest this stranger more. In fact, he exlaimed how much he liked talking to us because we were the only people that understood his sense of humor! Him and that British accent!

Needless to say, we didn't believe him but had fun giving him a hell of a time. He inched closer and closer to me, but Heather and I cautiously let him continue. I have never met such a dynamic and exciting stranger! He pointed out strangers in the crowd and asked "What's his story? What does he do? What do you think about him?"and also offered to hook Heather up with the lead singer of the blues band. Us girls were just on FIRE and no matter what we or he dished out, there was always some smart-ass reply that was quickly volleyed back (in good humor, of course).

He got up to talk to his friends (including the guy with long curly hair) and gave Heather and I a chance to contimplate the situation. The guy was certainly hilarious, quirky, and fascinating, despite his outlandish lies about this book and his recruitment of friends to help his failed lie. But we didn't send him away. I don't think we could have if we tried. ;) Which is not to say we trusted him, but we were having a great time being goofy at the bar and he was quite a character!

After a friend of his came over and botched up their "book writing" cover, we insisted they tell us straight up what they do.

"Would you believe I'm a drummer in a band?" asks blondie to us.

Yeah right, we both thought.

He claimed that he was in a band that played next door at the Ark, and that the jig was up - he wasn't a writer but he was actually a musician! "Do you know the band Squeeze?"

Yeah, I love Squeeze!

"Well that guy over there is Glenn Tilbrook, the lead singer, and I'm the drummer."

Heather and I let out a haughty, defiant laugh. Yeah right!

"Wait, so we can be your groupies?! HAHAHAHA!" In retrospect, we were a little harsh. ;)

I told him how much I love Squeeze and he was surprised because it was "before my time", and I admitted I even had a CD in my car right at that very moment. They were happily surprised; I couldn't tell if it was because he really was in Squeeze, or because I just so happen to listen to this band he was trying to pretend to be in. But apparently they think using the line "I'm the drummer for the band" is too "normal" so they instead tried to pretend they were writing a book. Blondie also pointed out that this clever book-story did keep him at the table with us instead of scaring us away, so there must be something redeeming about it!! Their next stop is in Iowa, and he named a few other cities they have been to. Heather and I made a mental note of EVERYTHING so we could confirm or deny it later via Google.

There was so much sass and attitude coming from Heather and I, but the more sarcastic and raw we got, the more he seemed to enjoy our company. He was smooth and charasmatic! We couldn't send him away! So we spent a couple hours with this stranger draped across my back, telling ridiculous lies and outrageous claims back and forth. He was so fun!

Somehow our skeptical sarcasm led way to him inviting some buddies over. It was an eclectic group - the long curly haired man, another man with brown curly hair, another 2 or 3 guys and 2 ladies; some with Brit accents, some without. The other people, to whom had not been part of our conversation previously, were definitely talking about travel, booking, and music stuff. Was it true?! Or are we just being gullible?! Our conspiracy theory was being whittled away; there's no way they could ALL get these "I'm in an old 80s band" facts and questions straight between half a dozen people!

After this silly flirting, we shut the bar down but were still laughing and having a great time. "Simon" was his name, and he wanted to know if we wanted to hit another bar, go back to the hotel and party, or something else. I still wasn't comfortable - if they were lying, then that's sketchy... but if they were telling the truth, then they'd probably be expected to hook up with them. Simon seemed to really like me but a creepy guy was trying for Heather, poor girl!

Taking the wiser, yet more boring, route, I "cut us off" and made the executive decision to leave. Blonde guy was sad to see us go and as I left, he took my hand and kissed it. We swore we would Google him to see if they were being honest.

I think the most impressive part is that, despite our skeptical and harshly rejecting comments, Simon maintained his good humor and ironic hilarity and our attitudes seemed to attract him even more!!

We left the party van behind and hopped in my car. "Let's just go out back and see if this RV that they claim they are driving is really there."

Driving... don't see an RV in the parking lot.... driving....  Wait, there it is!!

RV set up on the street, decked out and in good condition. Wait, did we really... hang out with SQUEEZE?!?!

Simon tried so hard to keep the party going; despite his charsima we held strong and left. But then of course I drove in circles trying to decide with Heather whether or not to go back to the bar and tell him we believe him or how to handl it. We were so excited!! "Let's go around the block again and see where they are at!!" We weren't positive but their story of being a "band" was seeming to check out... But if we went back, what would we do?? We decided it was still too sketchy.

We didn't get out and talk to him again, or wait for him at the RV. We went back and googled him.

His name is Simon Hanson. He is a drummer for the former band Squeeze (aka Glenn Tilbrook and the Fluffers - click on photos and see the one of the drummer - that's him!!). He has played with many others (Iggy Pop, Ozzy). It was true. It was all $#^%$# TRUE!! They were promoting their brand new album!!

HEATHER AND I HUNG OUT WITH SQUEEZE! SQUEEZE WANTED TO TAKE US HOME! I made fun of his shirt!

As soon as we saw their pictures we knew it was true and felt horrified but slightly proud of our aloofness and attitude we threw at them. I don't know how often they get young women making fun of them, since they ARE famous... but I don't think it would have been nearly as cool if we were just swooning over him. We don't swoon; we scowl!

Realizing it was really them, I decided to drive around with Heather and randomly scream in happy excitement! WE HUNG OUT WITH SQUEEZE!!!!!

We blew it and ruined our chance to hang out with them some more, but it was too sketchy to do much else. Oh well. But it was one helluva time!

The guy in the middle back is Simon and the guitar/singer is Glenn!

Here's Simon again

 (photo from www.babylonandon.com)

Ranger 146

To show that I am not the only seasonal biologist out there going through this, here is one of the classic websites that I'm sure is in every bio tech's Favorites menu. I like his photo: No cellular coverage!

Ranger 146: My Life as a Seasonal Wildlife Biologist
(Also many excellent job links!)

Photo by Ranger 146

In other news... I had a bad day. I had the bad interview, I was yelled at by the bad woman-hater, my achilles aches badly.... And I finally heard from Colorado State. Bad?

DENIED!

Frankly, I was shocked. Don't wanna toot my own horn, but my grades were excellent, Dean's List and graduated with honors, excellent references and work experience... It's not even that I wanted to go anymore - I pretty much decided I wouldn't enroll this fall. But the fact that I didn't get in!! Then I look at the reason: They ran out of open spots. Doh! It doesn't help that I had thought my application was finished in October when, in fact, I was missing one letter of recommendation and turned it in very late (May!). So I salvaged some of my pride knowing that they didn't have many open spots in the first place, and I still kick ass. They don't know what they are missing.

get with the times!

Lots to write about but I've been very busy - Casey and Brynn's wedding, getting things ready for Tara's shower, the new job, interviews, yaddayadda... But I'm annoyed and thought I would rant a little bit.

By the way, I do realize that the content of my journal isn't very exciting to people who don't know me, and probably not exciting even if you do. The original intent of the journal was to keep family and friends updated, and also provide a place for me to babble. I do hope to write more fun stuff in the future but that time is not now! Oh, I am also writing a novel so my creative juices are flowing elsewhere. ;)

I visited my city boys today and, as always, a certain jackass greeted me with "Geez, haven't you found a job yet?" and his typical barrage of "you're lazy and stupid and worthless" comments. Methinks he hates women and has bitterness towards his mother or some other female figure in his life, because he hated me the moment we met a few years ago. I don't take his psychotic rambling personally. He's just an ass.

I have a job now, albeit part-time, so I thought maybe, just MAYBE, he would lay off.

Apparently I forgot who I was talking to.

"Oh yeah part-time, that's really "working"?! Get a real job! Even McDonalds is more of a career than what you do! If I were your parents, I would have kicked you out by now to teach you a lesson!"

He sounds like an old man. "Back in the day, we'd have none of this freeloading!" He's only 34.

Fortunately, I have a sharp tongue and quick wits and volleyed right back.

I started telling my other friend what I do as a "stewardship intern" - the township's parks are mostly non-developed and they place a lot of emphasis on preservation, education, and passive uses, and I am helping develop the program. They don't have althetic fields and haven't razed the land the way Novi does.

This sparks off another old fart - "What a waste of land. They need to tear it down and put in a mall or something to create more jobs."

Argh! There is no use to talking to people like that. Thank goodness he is too apathetic to vote.

The most frustrating part is that they think they are right, and that's how things are or should be. But really, times DO change.

I live at home. But so do nearly all of my friends. I recently read in the paper that 2 out of 3 college grads my age live at home. If you go to college, you can't move out at 18 like many of my blue-collared 30-something year old friends did. They started working at 18 and got married, end of story. Now they just bitch about it. For college, you are PAYING for four years, and right now even a degree from a great school with great grades such as I have doesn't mean you can find a full-time job. And it seems like a waste for me to work any old job that I will HATE when I don't have to. I do have the luxury of choice right now.

That's just the way things work where I live. Most of our high school class went to college, and now most of us live at home. I moved out for a while but I ended up back at home. Most people I know won't take a crappy job out of their field just to "work" unless they really need the money.

It's even harder to make them understand what I'm doing because they don't understand that the natural resources field works a bit differently than, say, engineering. There isn't a lot of money in what I want to do, so there aren't paid interviews (my engineering friend frequently had paid travel to their interviews - hotel, air, and food!). You need a degree, but you must learn most of it on the job and usually get paid very poorly, if at all. In the more "traditional" fields, you get trained at an entry-level career job; I have to mainly rely on seasonal jobs, as career-entry level enviro field jobs are hard to find.

I'm not complaning; I love what I do/what I am aspiring to do. I was paid to hike through a park and identify birds yesterday. It's just frustrating when people try to tell me how "things are supposed to be" when they don't know how it really is. It's hard to swim upstream when people like that get in your way, but at least I'm in the water. Figuratively and literally sometimes - worked in the rain every day last week! ;)

**This is Amicalola Falls in Georgia. I took it in March 2003. Tallest waterfall in the eastern US at around 723 ft or something like that.