My neighbor in Queen Village has quite the setup in front of his house. Daffodils (above), little bushes in pots, even a tree poking out from the sidewalk. Me? There’s a discarded pair of underwear near my steps that have been there for about a month, and some dead leaves. I decided it was time… time for a change.

I was pretty psyched about my recent purchase at Ikea. Two enormous Terra cotta pots, in which I could plant a number of things. Two small trees, maybe some assorted flowers, perhaps a shrubbery and… another shrubbery! Unfortunately, in my quest to purchase plants, the conversation was always the same.

Ikea Employee: Nope, no dirt here.
Me: But you sell plants… and the pots… and there’s trees over…
Ikea Employee: I said no dirt! Besides, it’s like, out of season.

Target Employee: Nope, dirt is out of season.
Me: Out… out of season?
Target Employee: Yup, you can’t get dirt nowheres these days.

Hipster Looking Whole Foods Employee: Can I help you?
Me: Yeah, don’t you guys carry topsoil for the plants you sell outside?
Hipster Looking Whole Foods Employee: Sure do, but it’s out of season.

Out of season? What the hell! If you hear about a guy getting arrested in Fairmount Park, digging up some topsoil… blame Ikea, Target, and Whole Foods.

Well, I’m back in Philadelphia, returning to a ton of work and projects.

I’ll be busy over the next two weeks working on three different papers for two of my classes (due next Tuesday), and two additional papers due for my independent study. I have to finish several more non-fiction short stories for my graduate project and fill out my application for graduation. Seriously Arcadia, why do I have to apply to graduate?

Photography wise, I’m heading back to New Jersey to work with recent Universal Records signees Cash Cash, doing new press snaps for Hello Jersey, and planning for a week stint on this year’s Van’s Warped Tour, a week that will be both exciting and miserable.

Geekadelphia will be hosting a party here in Philadelphia for Battlestar Galactica’s series finale. That’ll be all kinds of fun.

And as for vacation snaps, you can take a look at some Hawaii pictures here.

Back to work!

Dear Thief in Queen Village,

You stole the decoration off my front door. A bronze fleur de li costs like, $15 at Ikea and is probably worth less. Good luck hocking it on Craigslist. Idiot.

Sincerely,

Eric Smith

Sorry, it’s true.

Oh Walgreens on South St. Your coupons make me laugh.

So I guess I’m pretty spoiled. I’ve never been to a laundromat. Ever. When I was an undergrad, living on campus at Ramapo, I did all my laundry inside our lobby, where I’d often forget about it and come back DAYS later. Seriously. Days.

All the places I’ve lived in have all had a washer and dryer, but unfortunately, my house in Queen Village, lacks just that. So this weekend (during a delicious lunch with Lex), I went on a little adventure, once I realized I could no longer get away with Febreezing my t-shirts.

Strike one. I was deeply concerned with the lack of watter. Perhaps, this was not the laundromat for me…

Dammit! This is outrageous. I won’t clean my clothes here again, no sir. You mean to tell me I can’t use this washer as an amusement ride AND I can’t put my cat inside? Preposterous!

It amazes me that people really need this sort of warning. Is it seriously that tempting to go inside? *sigh* I suppose people still end up doing these things, which is why we need painfully obvious warning labels.

All in all, I’ll be back to the laundromat down the street from my house. The people there didn’t laugh at me when I asked how long I should put my clothes in the dryer for. I did hear several chuckles from patrons who watched my quarters spill all over the floor at the change machine, scattering across the floor. Those coins just fly out man.

Where’s the warning label on THAT?

I had a bit of a freak out last night. While doing homework, I let Mittens run around my room. If he isn’t let out for at least an hour a day, he starts to cry inside his cage (it sounds like a puppy), and will do so most of the night. So, with his door open, he scampered up my arm and jumped onto the floor, running about like crazy.

I typed away furiously on my Powerbook while Family Guy played in the background. I like to laugh while writing and studying, it keeps my spirits up. Suddenly, I realized that nearly two hours had gone by, due to the fact that disc one of the season I was watching was over. I started to look around my room. Where was Mittens?

I looked all around the house. Mittens had once before climbed the steps from my downstairs bedroom, and spent his playtime causing havoc in the living room / kitchen, but he was nowhere to be found.

Finally, I discovered him in my bathroom, sitting on top of the towel rack, fast asleep against the wall. How he got up there in the first place, I’m not quite sure. Maybe he climbed up the towels, or jumped off the toilet. Whatever the case was, he woke up when I walked in, climbed onto my shoulder, and went back to sleep inside his cage.

Silly Mittens. You are so adorables.

The guys in Return To Arms and I have been trying to work out a press shoot for a long time. I met a few of them while on the Farewell / Forever The Sickest Kids / Upper Class Trash tour when the tour hit Philadelphia, and at various other shows through out the past year. They’re an incredible talented group of guys and write some very catchy tunes.

In fact, you should check out their new demo over on their myspace, entitled “Retrospect”. Sounds fantastic.

My blog’s been quiet lately, I know, but I’ve been pretty busy settling into my new place. Queen Village is a fun neighborhood, and luckily for me, I’m friends with people who know the area (sup lex!).

These new press images were taken in the empty room of my house, which I’ve dubbed “the studio”. Those globes? Ikea lights.

Return To Arms
www.myspace.com/returntoarms

So I’m moving this weekend. Again.

It’s been interesting living in Philadelphia. I’ve had the rare opportunity to live in three separate neighborhoods in the span of 11 months. University City, Rittenhouse Square, and Chinatown / Center City. Unfortunately for me, I’ve had to move out of every apartment I’ve been in due to ridiculous circumstances beyond my control. We’ll see what this new place brings.

There are little things I loved about each neighborhood and each place. Let’s take a look.

My current place was amazing. I moved here at the end of April. I had two awesome roommates with two awesome kitties. While living here, I learned about the glorious Reading Terminal Market and Space 1026, both of which were practically across the street.

I’ll definitely miss the easy walk to work and the daily strolls through Reading Terminal in the morning and after 5PM. The smell of fresh bread and coffee in the morning always helped wake me up, and coming home, the delicious smells of all kinds of tasty looking dinners. I’ll miss my fun roomies and those crazy cats who constantly found their way into my bedroom in attempts to eat my chinchilla and/or bunny.

I’ll even miss the guy who always slept on the sidewalk steam vents outside, who I constantly mistook for a zombie.

From February til the end of April, I lived in Rittenhouse Square with a Temple student named Gary. Gary didn’t like me much. I made a lot of noise. I watch a lot of movies, play video games, and listen to music while doing homework. He liked to sleep. On his bare floor in the loft. No furniture.

The apartment was basically mine. My roommate kept to himself in the upstairs loft and I had the entire downstairs to do whatever I wanted with. I decorated the living room to the best of my Ikea ability, and frequently had large groups of friends over, as pictured. While living here, I learned a lot about Rittenhouse nightlife.

Most of my time was spent in Rittenhouse Square Park and at the Barnes & Noble up on 17th, and my dining / drinking establishments of choice were Fado, Rouge, Good Dog, Fox & Hound, and Rita’s Ice. The corner of 15th and Spruce was a happening place. I met a wealth of cool people, and discovered the joys of Trader Joes.

I don’t have a picture of my place in University City, but this about sums it up. Only my place was two stories.

My first experience living in Philadelphia was an attempt to get lunch with my best friend who had helped move me here. We walked to a nearby Chinese food take-out place, where the chef was surrounded by thick Plexiglas. While we waited for our food, a large intimidating man walked in, came up to me, and demanded a hug.

Me: Wait, what?
Man: A HUG, let me get a hug.
Me: Um… no dude…
Miguel: Maybe you should just do what he says.
Me: I’m not giving him a hug!
Man: You better let me get my hug, bitch!

I almost caved and gave the man a hug, until I noticed the large refrigerator in back of me, that was filled with sodas, Snapples, and… Huggs, those little quarter juice drinks in plastic bottles. Relieved, I smiled, stepped away, and tried to laugh with the guy, explaining that I thought he wanted me to give him an actual hug. After he threatened to punch me, he paid for his drink, and left.

I moved about three weeks later.

This Saturday, I’m off to Queen Village, right along Fabric Row. I’ll be living with a med student and a grad student who works for Comcast, both of whom I’ve done some partying with over the past two weeks. Here’s hoping I’ll be there longer then a few months.

Yes, bunnies can go to the veterinarian.

This past week, I took the bun to the Ryan Veterinary Hospital here in Philadelphia. It’s the only small animal hospital in the area, and let me tell you, there are some really wonderful people there. While sitting in the waiting room, a lot of curious pet owners asked me what kind of cat I had inside my animal bag. They commented on how large and fluffy it looked through the screen mesh window. When I laughed and revealed the bunny, about half a dozen elderly people came over to pet her and take photos. It was a nice moment.

The patient rooms really weren’t what I expected. I felt like I was in a patient room for a person, and not a small animal. The doctors there also treated the bunny like she was a person, keeping her in a blanket so she wouldn’t get cold, holding her after checking her ears, teeth, etc (buns don’t like that), etc.

She goes back tomorrow for an overnight stay. She’s getting spayed (ouch!) and having some blood work done, since she has some swollen glands on the side of her neck. The vets were impressed with how well behaved she was though, and they all can’t wait til I bring the chinchilla in for his first check up.

Vet visits are fun. It’s like, a trial run for when you have children. Except vet visits probably cost a little less, and old people won’t come over to pet your children. If they do, you need to find a new doctor. Seriously.

Whenever I’m in my room getting ready for the day or when I’m about to go to sleep, one of the last things I do is check up Prince Mittens, my chinchilla. In the morning he’s usually asleep in his hammock or house, and at nighttime, he’s generally running around, jumping here and there, and making whining noises because he wants to be let out for a while. Whenever I let him out, he runs straight to his dust bath, shakes around, and then leaps onto my bed, getting it all sandy. Thaaaanks.

However, one thing I’ve certainly noticed while checking out his habitat, is well, I’m pretty sure he has a WAY sweeter pad then I do. What’s with that? He’s a chinchilla! So I took the time to sit back and figure out, just who has the nicest place. The results were shocking.

Mittens sleeps in a sweet hammock.

This is my bed, a queen size Ikea Malm. I purchased the frame off Craigslist for a criminally low price, only to discover some of the bolts were missing, which caused my bed to randomly fall apart at nighttime. I finally got the missing pieces, but unfortunately, the bed-slats slip out every now and again, especially when you’re sleeping too far to one side of the bed.

When this happens, you fall over into a pit, since the mattress has nothing holding it up. Wonderful.

WINNER: MITTENS

Mittens’ living quarters is a little house on top of a two story platform, that he often sits on top of and hides within. He also enjoys chewing on it. I got it from Petsmart. It took about 5 minutes to put together and it only cost me $8.

My living room is decked out pretty nicely by my hip and stylish roommates. I can’t chew on any of the furniture, but that’s okay.

WINNER: ME

Mittens has a really sweet marble slab that he enjoys resting on, because its nice and cool through out the day. There is also a large wooden toy for him to play with directly next to it, which he often hides under and climbs on top of.

The marble slab in my kitchen almost always has a cat on it.

WINNER: MITTENS

You win this one Mittens. Just wait til I get a human sized hamster ball to roll around inside. THEN we’ll be tied.