M. Willis Monroe

I bought a pickup for my banjo a while ago… which allows me to do all sorts of cool things, so today I decided to stop just fiddling around and actually put something coherent together. This video is the result. I also bought a banjo case which I’m really happy with you can see it in the background on my bed.

Last night Dan and I went to see The Best of Youth at the Cable Car. We saw the first half of the six hour film. It was really good. Hopefully we’ll see the next half sometime later this week.

That’s great, not only do I love the suffix “-ish” but adding on a “-ness” to it, wow. They’re all aproximating suffixes but the meaning is perfectly clear and expressed.

I just got back from visiting my grandparents down in Pennsylvania. We went in to Baltimore for a day to see the American Visionary arts museam and pick up my sister at the airport.

I’m leaving on the sixth and I’m excited.

Yesterday Nia and I hiked Mt. Monadnock. Starting at the bottom we worked our way to the top.

Last night Lanny, Dan, Jon, and I finished up season one of the O.C. and think there ends my love affair with the O.C. The first season ended on a somewhat happy moment, and I have no desire to continue on into more drama and heart-ache. I’m leaving for Pennsylvania today for a few days, down to see my grandparents and family etc…

Tonight my parents and I drove down to Galilee on the south coast of Rhode Island to have some seafood and walk along the beach. More and more I’ve begun to realize how much I enjoy being close to the shore; the sounds, the smells, everything about it just puts me at peace. I think it has something to do with the fact that I can look out and see a direction, one that’s endless and explorable.

Yesterday Mike, Lanny, Dan and I all went sailing. That was fun, I hadn’t been sailing in a good many years and missed it a good deal. Then we all went over to Lanny’s and had a big family party get together with Jon as well. Mike and Lanny’s mothers got sad that they were leaving for college.

Yesterday I got two Rilo Kiley cds in the mail a long with a computer game. One of the cds Liz had lent me, the other was their latest alblum. Whenever people lend me cds and I copy them on my computer I don’t feel like I own it till I get my own copy, (well which I guess is very true). I don’t like just having copied files form a cd, I really appreciate having the physical jewel case and disc itself. Anyway they’re both very good.

Yesterday I also bought a pair of low-top black converse for myself and a pair of high-top black converse for Chris, and I picked up a “Providence” shirt while I was at it. Then Lanny, Dan, Mike and I hung out for the afternoon/evening.

Today I walked to the Library and got out The Tipping Point, a book Lanny recomended. I have a lot of work to do today, cleaning, organizing etc…

I don’t know if I mentioned it, but Peter found us a house in London. It’s a really nice place ( I guess ), 61 Woodstock road, 4 double bedrooms, a nice kitchen with dish washer and clothes washer, a garden, two toilets ( one with a shower ). It’s right next to Finsbury Park, which is awesome, and it’s off a shopping street with cafes, a bakery and a nice art supply store.

Last night I finished a really good book about Dracula called The Historian and just now I finished the latest Harry Potter. The former was very good, the latter was pretty good.

Today I cooked myself some farfalle with mushroom/milk sauce.

I also locked myself out of my house. Here’s a photo set on Flickr of the ordeal.

Yesterday Roger, Roger’s friend Erin, Lanny, and I drove down to Newport to shoot the sequal to our Lord of the Rings spoof from a year and a half ago. This time Roger went crazy with costuming and scripts, so we actually had some legitemacy to our filming. So far all the shots look pretty good. Some local kids came by and were impressed with our swords and armour and cameras, so we let them join in as orcs for a few scenes. When their mom came buy to pick them up from the play ground she was humoured but very adiment that we not distribute this film on the internet. We still have some more stuff to shot on Monday.

Thursday I got back from New England Yearly Meeting. Yearly Meeting this year was interesting. This was my first year as a “Young Adult Friend”, and at first I felt sort of adrift. As time went on however I tried to get more involved and I ended up feeling very much part of the community. Two things I really enjoyed were carrying trays for older Friends during meals, and co-writing (with Laurel Swan) and presenting a minute regarding the YAF’s opinion of Friends United Meeting’s personal policy to the wider meeting.

Now I’m resting at home. We turned on our air conditioner for the first time in fourteen years yesterday. It’s attempting to cool the house from this oppressive heat, but it’s a tough job.

Tomorrow morning I’m getting my heart operated on. Catheter Ablation to treat Supraventricular Tachycardia.

EDIT: I’m home, the operation was a success. Recovery was annoying and extremely uncomfortable, but now I’m home and resting.

On Sunday I drove up to Friend’s Camp in Maine with Lucy. We stopped in Kennebunkport for dinner at the “Clam Shack”. Kennebunkport is pretty wierd, really small and touristy. I think it’s where the Bushes vacation.

It was really cool to see Friend’s Camp. I had heard so much about it from other friends and Quakers. I kinda wish I’d gone there as a kid, or worked there this summer. It made me realize how much you can appreciate being needed and engaged at a job. It was also great to see a lot of people I hadn’t seen in ages.

Some of the counselors had Monday off so we drove into Waterville and hung out for a bit, running errands and walking around.

We got huge sandwiches at this place called “Big G’s” and then went and sat by these traintracks and rusty pedestrian bridge for a while throwing stones.

Then Lucy, Nia, and I drove back to camp hung out for a bit. Then I got back in my car and drove home. Except I was worried I was going to fall asleep or get sleepy in the car, so I turned the air conditioning up all the way, and took off as much clothing as I could. The end result was that I was sooo cold I couldn’t sleep. I also played lots of Fountains of Wayne, which is great singing and driving music.