Saturday, January 23, 2010

More of being inspired...







Here are some more inspirational images that will (hopefully) lend to the re-design of my corner of the internets. My very talented boyfriend is hard at work trying to form a cohesive design based on my tastes, the images I've collected, and the fact that I have ideas but do not know how to express them in a designer's verbiage.

Lately I'm pathetically obsessed with pop-culture from the years 1968-1980. Is it a phase all twentysomethings must go through? Are our interests and likes a product of our own cultural zeitgeist? But then again I've always loved Warhol (had a print of his when I was 12) and the first pin I ever purchased for my backpack way back in high school (I had a Dickies brand messenger back in 10th grade that ended up covered in pins and patches--so rebellious and outspoken was I at the age of 15!) was the image of Debbie Harry seen above. I wonder wonder wonder why the past appeals ot me so much when I'm trying to cement myself in the future?



"Bat your eyes girls,
be otherworldly,
count your blessings,
seduce a stranger."

Friday, January 22, 2010

Rainy

Winter in Seattle has been pretty strange for me. For one thing, there's been absolutely no snow. Initially I had anticipated this, but then everyone around here kept saying things like "Oh, last Winter was the WORST ONE EVAH" and that I should be prepared for a terrible, apocalyptic season to rival the first Ice Age. But nary a snowflake happened, and the whitest that my neighborhood got was to have a thin layer of frost on the grass and on our windshields that had dissolved by around 11 in the morning.

I never thought I'd miss the snow. My hatred for Winter is legendary amongst my friends, and my extreme (psychotic?) preparedness is both maligned and summarily praised by my boyfriend. Somehow I found myself just wishing for a bit of it this year, even if it was a one-day blizzard, just for a kick; to break up the monotony of the gray and dreary Seattle Winter/Spring season (Springter? Winting?).

Ah, but then again I really do like this weather. I like that I don't need to scrape off my car every day. I like that the rain makes my courtyard smell wonderful as it hits the pavement and the plants. I like that I don't need a parka and gloves every day just to go out and run errands. I like that I actually have use for an umbrella, too!

Plus, making a rainy day playlist has never been so much awesome. Here's my current one:

"Talk Show Host" - Radiohead
"Coffee and TV" - Blur
"Lights" - Santigold
"The Past and Pending" - The Shins
"Graveyard Girl" - M83
"Gimme Sympathy" - Metric
"Checkered Floor" - Silversun Pickups
"I Miss You [Double Rub Part One-Sunshine Remix]" - Bjork
"Go On, Say It" - Blind Pilot
"Heartbroke" The Good Life
"Nine Million Bicycles" - Katie Melua
"Again and Again" - The Bird and The Bee
"Beautiful Girls [cover]" - Adam Tcholke
"Chasing Pavements" - Adele
"Hard Rain" - The Shout Out Louds
"Don't Cry" - The Black Ghosts
"What I Am [cover]" - Emma Bunton
"Joe Metro" - Blue Scholars

. . . And the list will keep growing, I'm sure.

Speaking of music, New York-based band The Vivian Girls will be playing at The High Dive on Feb. 13 with their pals Best Coast (who describe their music as "easy breezy") and I'm really excited. I got into them right when we moved over here, seeking a summery-sounding band that I could add to my seasonal playlist repertoire. I very much enjoy their blend of surf-rock and punk--but I just hope someone else can go with me!

Our friends' band Oriya is playing a show that same night, and while I adore the guys in the band (the drummer Other Ryan is, to recap, our good friend Julie's boyfriend; the lead singer Maeyna is a really cool guy and has [along with his girlfriend Pearl] fast become a friend recently) it's not every day that a band from my more obscure catalogue of shit I'm into comes over this way to play a show so close to me.

Moral dilemma: Do I see my friend's band play and be supportive, or do I go see the other band I've been pining after since I discovered their music this past summer? Perhaps my readers can provide an insight?



"All my little life I've wanted to roam,
Even if it was just inside my own home.
Then one little day I chanced to look back
Saw you sittin' there, being a sad culprit."

Monday, January 11, 2010

Inspired

I'm thinking of re-designing this blog. It needs some overhaul. And I have friends who do this shit for a living. Why not give them dollars to make it look pretty in here? Or at least, more like me.

Here are the photo refs I'm working with (MORE to come):







Your thoughts?


"I think I'll go home and mull this over
Before I cram it down my throat."

Thursday, January 7, 2010

Oh, baby.

So my friend Lindsay found out yesterday that she'll be having a baby boy. Congrats, hon. We've come so far together from this:



Baby Lindsay, Baby Ryan, and other Moscow pals drinking illegally in 2006!!!!


To where we are now, having kids and growing up. When I think of the ridiculous times that we shared together and all the tough stuff we went together as well, it really makes me appreciate how far we've all come as people. Hopefully even after you're a mom there can still be time for giant jugs of Carlo, curly fries, and driving around shouting "penis" to random pedestrians.

I can't wait to be an uncle!

Mash-Ups are something I'm musically interested in at the moment. Well, that and 70s-era punk rock and glam rock, but that's a whole other Patty Hearst lovin' blog, isn't it? In terms of the best mash-ups of 1009 I'm going to recommend my favorite 2: "Party and Bullshit in the USA (Biggie Smalls/Miley Cyrus)" by Hathbanger and "Call Me Uprising (Blondie/MUSE)" by CjR Mix. Seriously, if you like good music, you'll go download those songs right the hell now.

Anywho, the search for meaning continues as I get shot down by yet another job that I've applied for. This communications position with a counseling center as the fastest turn-around of rejection, and I'm not sure that's such a good thing. At least I didn't have to play the waiting game this time, right? However my 30-40 hour a week retail job that barely gets me by has finally stabilized. The holidays are over, things have settled down, and now our inventory looms at the end of this month. I feel way more confident right now in this position, and I think I'll be seeing my probationary period through with minimal scarring (physical and emotional).

Current plans include a wedding expo in 2 weeks (I know, I know--but coupons! and absurd straight girls going bat-shit-nutty over obscenely priced dresses! and cake samples!), getting my brakes finally fixed, and making plans for February to travel. Don't know where yet. I'll keep the internets updated.


"Don't want to leave you,
Don't want to stay here,
Don't want to spend another day here.
Oh, oh, oh, I wanna sit now;
I just can't quit now."

Sunday, January 3, 2010

New

Happy 2010, internets!

Yup, that happened. I'm still in that weird sort of funk where it doesn't feel like anything has changed and maybe it should really just be December 34th instead of January 3rd? It's funny that we all get so worked up over the new year and then January sort of happens and it's more of just this shift back to the day-to-day normalcy that we had as Americans before Halloween time and the perpetual merry-go-round of holidays and special occasions that follow. The only difference is that now we have to break up the monotony somehow lest we lose that glow we got from the holidays we're so desperately clinging to. And how do we do this? Why, resolutions of course.

Here are mine, for what it's worth:

1) write once a day, be it in my journal or this blog or even on a sticky note

2) apply for at least one career-based job a week until I manifest one

3) maintain the weight that the BMI indicates as healthy for a guy my age and height (between 130 and 140 lbs.)

4) pay down my credit card to half its limit

5) save $50 a month towards a honeymoon

Those are the realistic ones. My non-realistic resolutions (what I like to call EXTREME resolutions) are these:

1) learn how to practice telekinesis

2) save $150 a month towards a honeymoon

3) sleep with this--


4) figure out a way to drive my car without using gas

New Years Eve itself was actually pretty great this year. Our friend Julie had a party at her place, and a ton of people showed and dressed fancy and got sloppy (fancy attire and sloppy/hot mess drinking is my favorite combination when it comes to partying, incidentally). We drank too much champagne and took a ton of inscrutable photos and watched the ball drop. I was reminded the next morning as I awoke with a bad case of dry mouth and headache that I gave a speech to the party about "friends and permanency" that I don't remember giving--it's sadly not on film, otherwise I'd post it here. I can only imagine what the contents of said speech were, but I'm guessing that it was probably, mostly, nonsensical.

Like this blog, no?

So bring it on, 2010. The first full year out of college for me, and the first year that I've got as an "adult" to figure things out. With a fresh set of eyes and the tiniest bit of that glow left stashed in my other pants, I'm ready for newness.


"Your name on my cast and my notes on your stay
Offer me little but doting on a crime.
We've turned every stone and for all our inventions
In matters of love loss, we've no recourse at all."