My internet connection was down last night and most of today, so I was sadly unable to blog when I got home from my ride. Gasp! But I”m back online, and I’ve just got to type a few words about what I saw riding my bike around yesterday. After a leisurely ride home from work and a day taking care of all the daily stuff I’m always putting off in favor of bike rides, I hopped on the Surly to catch a fundraiser for The Social Project at Le Chat Noir featuring Jessica Halem. Jessica is hilarious. I know, I know, stand up comedy is mostly awkward and hardly ever funny, and just because the comic is your friend, doesn’t mean she’s funny. But seriously, Jessica is hilarious. It’s about the timing. Because like a lot of comics, she’s not telling jokes exactly; she’s kind of just telling us what she heard or what she saw or what she overheard. But the thing that makes it comedy is that she’s mad perceptive and she works really, really hard to shape and mold and make that teensy tiny perception into a funny little gift that she tosses out and lets roll. It looks effortless, but she works. I’m so glad she’s out there, looking carefully and crafting the sort of bits that make me cry they are so flipping funny. I had a fantastic time. And we raised some cash for The Social Project, a great group you should check out. By the time I was riding home the rain had already wet the streets and I was aiming my perception very carefully on the ground, trying–successfully, I might add–to avoid sliding over streetcar tracks. Sometimes what we’re paying attention to is just staying up on our wheels.