Sir Grump Munch

September 26, 2005

roommate found, scooter painted, moustache grown and shaved.

It's been a busy last few weeks. Vanessa and I went two weekends ago to pick up my Ramblin' Man custom Stella from Will Christman at the Sign Shop of Racine. I went to MCAD with Will and in the time since we graduated he's been incredibly prolific and successful with his own custom airbrush painting and sign shop. We'd talked about him possibly painting a scooter, and since I wanted something a bit more custom than a stock Stella, Will was the perfect guy to turn my ideas into reality with some sweet paint work. I can't show photos of the bike just yet, I want to get it assembled first, but it will be worth the wait when you finally see it, it's definitely one of a kind and suits my personality and palette beautifully. I'll be putting it back together over the next few months and probably won't be riding it much until next Spring, it's too damn nice for an everyday rider in the city. I'm building up the engine to have an upgear kit, a Pinasco 177 top end, still deciding on the exhaust and carburetor...I want it to go fast and reliably but don't want it to be a gas hog, so I may be conservative with those. The kit and upgear should allow me to cruise at 60-65 with no problems and depending on the pipe/carb it'll probably have a top speed over 70.

After picking up the painted scooter parts we spent most of a day in the Wisconsin Dells and then went to Madison to spend the evening and Sunday with Jean, my French buddy and former roommate from PETA. We had some good times with him, watched a few movies (Snatch and American Psycho) and went to Lake Mills east of Madison for an end-of-summer picnic and swim. Great times.

For the last 3 weeks or so I was growing a moustache in order to participate in the Moustache Challenge issued by a co-worker, Jason Dummeldinger (of Red-Eyed Legends and Wesley Willis song fame). Not a contest really, just a sporting and friendly game of "grow the moustache until you can grow it no more." He's won the match with his fine blonde stache, but I gave it a good go over 3 creepy and embarrassing weeks. Vanessa says I look 10 years younger without it, I thought I looked shockingly different when I shaved it. I made a diagram showing moustache photos from the various stages. At the very end I decided to make it a Mr. Majestyk-era Charles Bronson,, sort of parted in the middle, long and horizontal. But all great and glorious things must come to and end...

I ended up shaving the Majestyk moustache off just before meeting with the girl that will be my next roommate, because it looked pretty creepy and I didn't want to scare her off. The new roommate is named Karen, she's a Michigander and a vegan, she likes Raising Arizona and The Office and seems like "good people." Luckily she liked the place and will be moving in the first week of October. We welcome her to Village-in-the-City Temple and to the City of Big Shoulders.

In other news, we've rediscovered my collection of Bill Bartolone tapes and have been watching them religiously. I saw Brad Berling briefly for lunch and had Andy Maniotes stay with us overnight for some good visiting, catching up and shopping. Have been watching quite a few Japanese films on DVD thanks to Yofattim, saw Dolls, Hana and Alice and Youth of the Beast most recently. Went to the renegade craft fair today and picked up two beautiful screenprinted posters by local printer/artist/designer Mat Daly of thebirdmachine.com. Great stuff, I love it.