25 Random Things About Me

In the spirit of keeping current:

1) I actually didn't know that this list was a "Facebook phenomenon" or an "internet phenomenon" and mistook it for spam when it first showed up in my Myspace account.

2) I don't have a Facebook, which I'm sure frustrates people.

3) I get very irritated when people over-use the word "seriously" (example: 5 times in one sentence) and am angry at "Grey's Anatomy" for making it a colloquialism.

4) I wish that Hillary Clinton had been Obama's VP, but have settled for Secretary of State begrudgingly.

5) I went on a date with a homeless guy once. I was 18. He was that "college hippie" sort of guy who was honestly well groomed and cute and didn't appear homeless--but he didn't have a job, or a home, and he had dropped out of all of his classes--I found this out towards the end of the date. I still question how he was able to pay for the movie we saw (hint: I bet it's drug-related), and I did make out with him in a park. It was actually a good make out sesh. Trev, if you're out there, I hope you found a home and I would've called you back but you didn't have a cell phone so that sort of made calling you impossible.

6) I was drinking PBR before it was hipster-y to do so. Yes that sounds pretentious, but it's true. When I was a freshman in college it was all I or anyone else could afford because we didn't want to drink Keystone or Natural Light. So PBR became the drink of choice. And it still is.

7) I like house parties, but I feel really really really freaking old at them these days because I can buy beer legally. Moscow might not be the best place for that sort of thing.

8) I don't eat red meat at all if I can help it. Excluding pepperoni on pizzas, I try to stick to chicken and turkey.

9) I love coloring and coloring books.

10) I'm very body-conscious, especially when it's weight-related, and I was secretly stoked as all hell that I went from almost 180lbs. to 156 in a year without even realizing it (a pick-me-up at the doctor's office is not what you generally expect to happen, right?).

11) I miss Alli Ockinga very much.

12) I am afraid of wolves.

13) I'm addicted to caffeine, and that's probably a literal fact.

14) I sometimes wish my life was more like a comic book.

15) I have had many an inappropriate crush on my straight male friends. You know who you are. You know I was looking. You probably were stoked. But thanks for not kicking my ass when you caught me checking you out! ;)

16) I love weddings because there's booze and cake and people being awkward.

17) I have never actually seen all of "Schindler's List" because I was like 10 when I watched it with my folks and covered my eyes half the time.

18) I sprained my tail bone when I was little and had to sit on a pillow all the time for like 2 weeks. My cousins made fun of me and told me that I "broke my ass" which wasn't true; I sprained it.

19) I can be a little selfish when it comes to doing something that I want to do, but I compromise most of the time. Mostly.

20) The amount of Sega Genesis I played as a child is staggering.

21) I always say that I'm going to read more, and then I never do because I think that books are disgustingly over-priced when they first hit the shelves.

22) I love to vacuum.

23) I wear hats all the time because I hate my hair.

24) I wish I lived closer to all of my friends, and I really don't think that have many in Moscow at this present time other than Kim and Kendall and Brian and Gabby and my crew from work (whom I only see at work). I have a ton of acquaintances, sure, but no one in the friend zone very much.

25) I want to go to Australia but I'm worried that I'd never leave.

Filling the gap.

Been a few weeks since I've posted, so rightly I've got to fill the gap with what's been happening in my post-grad existence so far. I know you all want to know, right? Good.

I submitted my article to Diversity News on the 15th along with an e-mail, but so far I haven't heard anything back yet, nor have i heard anything from Kathy regarding what she thought of the article. In all honesty I'm taking the fear-based way out by avoiding Kathy and the crew on Inland Oasis altogether on the off-chance that my article wasn't what they were expecting. This seems to happen a lot to me; people want something but they don't understand that I don't write press releases (unless you ask me to), I write news pieces and those two things are not the same. We'll see if I get published, and I'll keep you up-to-speed if I do. In the mean time I'm going to refrain from posting the piece I wrote just in case.

Work continues to be the main source of sanity, along with Josh and the few friends still living in the area. I'm up to 25 hours a week on average (give or take an hour) with weekends off, which has been nice because I've got to spend more time with Josh but odd because I find myself wasting away hoping the weather clears up. I'd love to take up snowboarding again some day. Maybe after we move? Right now it doesn't make much sense to buy all the equipment, buy a pass, and hope for snowfall in the mountains (when it's the valleys that are presently getting hammered). I should get a gym membership.

Anyone hear about this new President guy? I hear he's a Democrat . . .

. . . WIN!

I've been thinking about getting a Twitter account, but since I can't blog in a mobile way (as I don't have a phone that connects to the internet) I am failing to see the point . . . I just like the way that Twitter looks visually is what it comes down to. And that's not reason enough to spend more time online.

Things are stabilizing financially. I still haven't been able to put more than 2 grand away for the big move but I expect to be able to soon. $50 from every paycheck should get me to about $2,500 by the time we leave in May, plus whatever is sitting in the regular bank account by then. Not too shabby for a moving buffer.

How you know you're getting old #2: You see something on QVC that you might actually like to purchase. 

Today I saw a recipe album with 30 free insert cards, a glass cutting board (with 3 designs to choose from, 'natch) and a cheese knife for a little less than $30. And I thought to myself, "a place for recipes would be good since all we have now are cookbooks with pieces of printer paper and magazine clippings stuffed in them." Then the lady on QVC said the same damn thing, and I nearly fell out of my seat. It's like they know you have only the slightest need for things so they get good at selling them! I didn't buy it. I'm not 50 quite yet.

This blog is a new guilty pleasure for me. It's a little NSFW, so click responsibly.

This week I'll be working, living, and maybe drinking a little. You'll be updated more often, little blog. I promise to update you, and feed and water you every day, and to clean up after you.

"I'll miss the playgrounds and the animals and digging up worms.
I'll miss the comfort of my mother and the weight of the world.
I'll miss my sister, miss my father, miss my dog and my home.
Yeah I'll miss the boredom and the freedom and the time spent alone."

Flooding

I'm leaving in just a few to go to a brief, mostly informal interview with Kathy Sprague, a local business owner, entrepreneur, and equal rights activist who is also a board member of the aforementioned Inland Oasis group. We're going to discuss the idea of me writing a regular column for the regional newsletter Diversity. Fingers crossed that I can get some work! 

Earlier today I updated my portfolio (sparse as it is) to include physical samples as well as photocopies of the stuff from the UI Blot Magazine, and an open letter to the President-Elect Barack Obama's Transition Team; the first in a series that they've been asking for on http://change.gov since early November. You can read the letter I sent in its original, unpolished form on my Myspace blog over here or if that link isn't working for you, with enough requests I might just post it on this blog as a separate entry.

I made a mix for a co-worker at her request, but I'm all out of blank CDs. It's on the list of things to get while I run errands to Safeway and Office Depot. Here's the (tentative) track listing:

Mix for Ava

"Dancing With Myself [cover]" - Nouvelle Vague

"Nature of the Experiment" - Tokyo Police Club

"Pants" - Lemuria

"Why Do You Let Me Stay Here?" - She & Him

"See and Be Scene" - The Hard Lessons

"Ready, Steady, Go" - The Meices

"Plea from a House Cat Named Virtue" - The Weakerthans

"Breaking Down Walls" - The Black Fortys

"The First Single" - The Format

"Smoke Detector" - Rilo Kiley

"You're Supposed to Be My Friend" - 1990s

"I Fought The Law [cover]" - The Dead Kennedys

"Zombie Party" - Be Your Own Pet

"The Gap (between the rich and the poor)" - You Say Party! We Say Die!

"Lions and Lambs" - The Get Up Kids

"Knights" - Minus the Bear

"Body" - The Servant

"Wolf Like Me" - TV on the Radio

"Time to Pretend" - MGMT

"Well Thought Out Twinkles" - Silversun Pickups

"Jane Says [live/steel drums version]" - Jane's Addiction

I highly encourage all of you out there to legally download these songs and give them a listen to. I tried to have something for everyone on here. The version of "Jane Says" is a personal favorite because of the addition of the steel drum and I mean, come on, when has Perry ever sounded so good on a live recording? This is from way back when around the time of the first years of Lollapalooza so the poor guy doesn't sound so strained when he's belting the chorus. You also get a good idea of the size of the venue thanks to the natural sound, the echo of his voice, and the crowd's noises.

The news says that up where my folks live is going to be experiencing some flooding today and tomorrow. I need to call my mom to see if they're all doing okay. Today wouldn't be a terrible time for them to come down here seeing as I have today and tomorrow off and, you know, there are no floods. House guests a-go-go!

"Charge me your day rate,

and I'll turn you out in kind.

When the moon is round and full,

gonna teach you tricks that'll blow your mongrel mind."