danajohnhill.org | Hard Times Come Again No More

When I graduated high school in 1995, the best hope I had for keeping in touch with my friends was to know their phone numbers and mailing addresses.  Nobody I knew had email.  In fact, I only knew a few people who had ever been online.  So, I had many notes in my senior yearbook from friends and classmates that included a telephone number, and for a while I did stay in touch.  Indeed, I used to get actual letters from my friends off at college.  Life being what it is, however, I had, by 2000, lost track of many of those who had once been close to me.

Social networking websites have wrought much evil, but they have reintroduced me to several friends who had, for all intents and purposes, dropped off the face of the Earth.  Facebook has done more to counter the diasporic effects of time than anything else, and on Monday I experienced a rich reward: I had dinner with Erin Alvarez.

It had been almost ten years since I had seen her last, and until we found one another on Facebook, I couldn’t have guessed she lived here in Gainesville.  But she does, and she has a nice boyfriend, and we had a great time at Big Lou’s, and I am looking forward to spending lots more time catching up and hanging out.

Now if I can just persuade my friends Dan and Burt to move to Gainesville I’ll be set.

Filed under: Friends, Nostalgia, Technology on May 12th, 2009 | 1 Comment »

I didn’t get a single haircut in 1994.  By the end of the following year I looked like a beardless hippie.  When the urge struck to shed my locks, I didn’t want to go to just anyone.  Sitting on a chair in Linda Fessenden’s bathroom, I watched my long hair fall on the floor.  From then on, if I needed a haircut, I’d go to a friend or do it myself.  The upside to this was that I saved a lot of money; the downside was that I often had bad hair.

When I first began seeing Miriam, I asked if she’d be willing to cut my hair.  I think she did once, but haircuts, in her opinion, are best left to professionals.  So, beginning in 2001 or so, she and I started seeing Amy at The Tease, which used to be in an upstairs suite on SE 1st Street.  Amy was nice, and did a good job, but The Tease was very expensive, and, if I recall correctly, Amy only got a fraction of what we paid.  Eventually she left The Tease and Miriam and I sought a new hairdresser.

I don’t remember how, but we found a girl named Danielle with her own salon called Hair Supply in an old house right behind Wise’s Drugstore.  Danielle is really talented–so much so that Miriam feels free to say, “give me whatever”–and she’s a mom who’s running her own business, so we feel good about going to her.  Plus, she’s not that expensive, and, best of all, she is glad to take a before and after picture each time I go.  Since 2005 or so, Danielle has been the only one to cut my hair.

Last month I had an appointment that I simply forgot about.  I had written it down, but by April 16 I was so busy with papers and tests that I simply spaced out.  So, today was my makeup haircut.  Miriam told me the other day she liked my hair when it was a bit longer, so I only got a little taken off the back.  And, while I didn’t get a shampoo–my favorite part of the haircut procedure–it didn’t cost me anything.

Danielle doesn’t do any advertising I know of, and her name isn’t even written on the outside of her building, but it seems like half the people I know go to her.  While I was there, I ran into one of Miriam’s roller derby teammates.

I doubt I will ever grow long hair again.

Filed under: Friends, General, Musings on May 7th, 2009 | No Comments »

I recognize that 2008 was, for many, a bad year.  The worst economy in generations, rising unemployment, and record prices for almost everthing stemming from gasoline that topped $4.00 a gallon made life difficult for a lot of people.  In spite of all this, 2008 was good to me.  Some highlights:

• I began classes at the University of Florida.  This is remarkable, because had I waited any longer the window would have closed on me, probably forever.  The University announced this year that they were changing their admissions policy for transfer students.  Unlike other universities in Florida, UF doesn’t have to admit students with transfer degrees from community colleges.  They can pick and choose.  And when the average GPA for entering freshmen at UF is over 4.0, there is little incentive for them to take people like me.  I got in just under the wire.  School is challenging, but rewarding.  I feel very grateful to be where I am.
• This year I became active in a roller debry league.  I am not a skater, of course, but I spent a lot of time with the girls who are skaters, and contributed to the league in my own small way.
• I did lots of traveling in 2008.  In January I spent a weekend in Daytona Beach at the wedding of my closest friends; in June I spent almost a week in Chicago, which is surely one of the world’s great cities; in early August I spent several days in Hilton Head, South Carolina, which I didn’t care much for as a place, but can now say I’ve seen; went to Savannah twice; had a great weekend in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, which is a delightful little town; had an incredibly memorable week in Washington, DC, where I saw a million amazing things.
• I made lots of new friends, and reconnected with many old friends on Facebook.  I saw Burt twice.
• I got myself an amazing Fender Telecaster, which is ideal in nearly every way.
• I continued my incredible no-vomiting streak.
• I paid off all of my credit card debt.
• I watched lots of Olympics on TV.
• I became the last person I know to buy a laptop computer, and it’s changed my life.
• I discovered Samuel Johnson, which also changed my life.
• I had several photographs published in books, magazines, and even the website of the Wall Street Journal.
• I ate an astonishing amount of Hungry Howie’s pizza.
• I perfected the grilled cheese sandwich (the secret ingredient is salt).
• I read: Emma; Persuasion; Oroonoko; Wuthering Heights; Lady Audley’s Secret; Evelina; Robinson Crusoe; Roxana; Oliver Twist; The Monk; Clarissa; Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, and tons of poetry.
• I saw Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band in concert; they played “Jungleland”.

So long, 2008.  You were good to me.  As I do every year, I close with the Stephen Foster sentiment that has become my credo: Hard Times Come Again No More.

Filed under: Cost of Living, Dana Heritage Project, Food, Friends, General, Literature and Books, Photography, Popular Music, School, Sports, Technology, Television, Travel on January 1st, 2009 | 1 Comment »

I can empathize with my friend Sandi.  She’s in love with this horrible beverage called “bubble tea”.  But the bubble tea she liked best was only sold at a shop in Gainesville, and that shop no longer exists.  While it was still open she wanted to know who manufactured the bubble tea mix she so loved.

The best milkshakes I’ve ever had are at Wise’s Drug Store on University Avenue downtown.  I’ve watched the girls behind the counter make them, and it’s remarkably simple: ice cream, milk, vanilla syrup.  I used to be able to find Hershey’s vanilla syrup in Publix, but no more.

So, this afternoon I decided to request that my local Publix (called “Ghetto Publix” by someone I know who works there) get me some vanilla syrup.  It took forever for the grocery manager to come out and see me, but he brought with him some pages with descriptions of various vanilla syrup products from different manufacturers.  So, some day soon I may be enjoying delicious homemade milkshakes.

Filed under: Food, Friends on November 29th, 2008 | No Comments »

Friday was a holiday in Gainesville.  Most of the city gets Homecoming off, even elementary school children.  The Gainesville Roller Rebels were participating in this year’s parade, so I got up early and drove in the rain to the severely parking-restricted University of Florida campus.  There is apparently a rule about parade participants arriving by 8:30AM.  Since the parade doesn’t begin until noon, that’s a pretty long time to be standing around…in the rain!  We realized that one of us could have shown up at 8:30 to check in, and the rest of us could have slept until ten o’clock.  I think that’ll be the plan next year.  But the GRR girls are great, and the Wendy’s at the Reitz Union was (surprisingly) open, so I had a Frosty and chatted it up with the team.

It was neat to see the way the Homecoming parade is put together, having only seen it from the sidewalk in years past.  All the floats and marchers line up in the O’Connell Center parking lot, or on North-South Drive in front of the stadium, and then, one by one, each contingent makes their way out onto University Avenue and walks east down to Main Street, turns south, and heads back down SW 2nd Avenue. The whole route (on skates for the girls, on foot for me) took less than a half hour.  In spite of the rain, there were still thousands of people sitting on the curb of either side of the street, on lawnchairs on the sidewalk, on the low brick wall in front of campus, at tables in front of restaurants, and even from windows of the Seagle Building.  It was delightful.

The sad part about marching in a parade is that you don’t really see the parade.  I was sad to miss the Pride of the Sunshine.  But a couple positions behind us was an old Studebaker truck, on the back of which was a brass contraption which proclaimed it to be the “world’s largest calliope”.  I cannot verify that claim, but it certainly made a glorious noise!

When we got downtown we ate together at Big Lou’s, then Karla and Ryan drove us back to our cars.  This was my first parade, and it was a delight.  And it was fun to see Patsy Clothesline and Ms. Rebel in their costumes.

Filed under: Friends, Gainesville, Sports on October 25th, 2008 | No Comments »