IKEA Bus 8 is ON.

Is anyone still out there? I know this blog is less Broke207 and more just broken down right now, but I lost my mind for a minute and scheduled another IKEA bus. If you want to come, tickets go on sale at noon today.

There are no early birds this year because Eventbrite changed their payment structure and I’m only allowed one ticket type unless I pay them more money. Sorry I’m cheap!

I know that this year’s image is a little creepy, but there are just so few movie franchises with 8 installments.

Anyway… Hit me up with questions if you got ’em, and I hope to see you on the bus!

Live Free or IKEA Hard (and some other boring shit about my life).

Wow, it’s super sad that the last time I updated this blog was a year ago when the last IKEA bus was ready to fly… I was writing for mainetoday.com for a while, and then my life just kind of rolled out of my hands like a rogue ball of yarn and I spent the last year doing “other things.” I painted a house, I wrote some short plays, I painted some terrible self portraits, and I made a lot of pies. Oh, and I watched every single episode of House M.D. Two times. In my bed.  It was a weird year.

And, here I am. I want to start writing again. But, I also want to start jogging again, and obviously that’s gone really well [so fat].

I made a new blog header, and found some less lousy social media icons… I don’t know if I like them, but whatever. Point being, I’m considering a comeback. If one can consider going from single digit to double digit page views a comeback. Or if anyone even notices when a marginally successful blogger rises from the grave…

But, enough of my ellipses and the narcissistic pontifications.

What can I do for you?

I may not have been writing, or doing other blog stuff, but I am still rockin’ the IKEA Bus if you’re interested. Shit is going down on May 31st, and you can buy tickets right here. You can even get out of town delivery if you’re so inclined (and are willing to pay a small fee). You should come. There will be snacks.

Also, if you don’t need any particle board furniture, maybe you want new summer clothes? SwapMaine is up to its old tricks again with our spring swap coming right at your face on May 17th. Come fill up yo sack with all the skinny pants that I have to discard because they’re making me feel bad.

 

 

IKEA busted.

well, IKEA bus (the squeakquel) has come and gone, and i’m finally recovered enough to write about it (a mere 18 days later) (i know) (i’m sorry).

well, recovered enough to half ass my way through a recap where i’ll omit a lot of details and probably not tell you what you want to know.  i’ll pretend that it’s because i want to preserve the mystique for future riders. yeah. that.

but be kind, i’m lazy because i’m exhausted.

there were actually a number of passengers who asked me how often i  run the IKEA bus, and recommended that i do it more often. which is totally a nice compliment, if woefully uninformed.

IKEA bus is actually a lot of work. not that i’m complaining (i’m totally complaining), but the snack research, and the phone calls, and the paperwork, and deposits, and movie selections, and ticket hawking/guilt trips… twice a year (or monthly, as recommended) would probably kill me a little.

but enough of my whining. for all the work, of course it was AMAZING. some highlights:

IKEAbus coma.

today, i took the day off.

i phoned in lazy to easter, and spent the day on the couch cuddling my dog, watching lousy horror movies on netflix, eating stale tony’s donuts, and lapsing in and out of consciousness.

as a person who normally shuns sleep, and tends to work until she passes out on the couch on a nightly basis… i don’t give myself a lot of lazy do-nothing days. actually, i don’t give myself any.

i have to say that the IKEAbus could definitely be classified as a success. nobody yelled at me, or asked for their money back, no fist fights broke out, and nothing burst into flames or turned into radioactive ooze. 

i am not a monster!!!

when i first conceived the IKEAbus many moons ago, everyone seemed really excited about it.  it was positive vibes all around, and it propelled me forward to the point where i actually put my tax return money down on a bus, in hopes that i could actually  fill it up with swedish furniture loving folks with $30 to spare. (ta da!)

a few weeks in and a few tickets (very few at that point) sold, i posted an article on the wsch around town blog about it, thinking that might be a good place to drum up some local enthusiasm. instead, i got this:

Hey WCSH why don’t you take more time talking about the great family run furniture stores that still exist here in Maine, as opposed to encouraging folks to take their business out of state, In a time when Maine is so desperate for every penny in business it can get, I find this irresponsible!

i didn’t know what to say. so stupidly, i said nothing (i really aught to rectify that).

well, i’ve spent the last few weeks ruminating about it, and here is what i have decided: