11 to 4, but late

a few days ago i got a pipe i had ordered. it’s a savinelli “dry system” rustic, i think a 3/4 bent (perhaps a full bent, although it’s not really fully bent). i generally prefer 1/2 bents and smooth bowls, so i intentionally tried to push myself out of my comfort zone a bit. i haven’t started breaking the pipe in yet. it’s just sitting there. here’s a pic:

while i was taking pictures, i also went ahead and took some pics of the black and chrome vertigo pipeline lighter i got:

to use it, you flip the chrome bar piece up (as pictured in the second frame), then push your thumb along the rolling striker piece and chrome roller. the flame comes out at a 45 degree angle (as pictured in the third frame). the “pipeline” bit actually holds the flint and keeps it pushed against the striker. the images aren’t very high quality, but the iphone 3g isn’t that good of a camera at close range (and i didn’t feel like getting out my real camera). i also didn’t spend any time with lighting or reflections or such. deal.
a while back i posted i went by taurian on westheimer and the place was empty. well, after some sleuthing online i was able to determine they’d moved. (i think they were out of commission for a few months while they moved.) they’re now on nance in north downtown (near the last concert cafe) and sharing space with epoch tattoos. i was supposed to stretch my ears up to 4 gauge in june, but i put it off because i thought there might be reason for me not to need to do it. but that was of course wishful thinking, and i should have just gone ahead and done it anyway. so i went by the new location friday evening and talked with byriah and placed an order. he had told me before putting on 4 gauge captive hoops is a pain, but i don’t like the double ball barbells look — so i went with a hoop that has one screw-on ball on one side and nothing on the other, but the single ball almost closes the loop by itself. they’re making them for me, should be a couple of weeks.
i recently broke down and installed a bit torrent client. i chose transmission. i then proceeded to gum up my internet connection. i don’t think my modem/router handles torrent traffic very well. but it worked…just slowly.
i didn’t hear anything from the mechanic about my belair this week.
i recently read neil gaiman’s the graveyard book. it was a fairly fast, simple read — but a good story.
“[he] stared at [her] as she walked away, hoping that she would turn and look back, that she would smile or just look at him without fear in her eyes. but [she] did not turn. she simply walked away.” –from the graveyard book by neil gaiman