Don't think that just because I haven't written much about it lately, it doesn't mean that my impending nups aren't taking up a good chunk of time/thoughts/energy. Quite the opposite: It's all we talk about lately. Which is fine. I mean, it's sort of a big deal.
Right now we're super close and have a lot of stuff done, but there's still a ton to do. We need to go buy our suits. We need to finish the decorations (we have amassed all of the materials, thankfully). We need to finish the wedding web site so that we can send the Invitations. We need to go scope hotels for our friends and family in the area to stay. We need to get Julie's backyard landscaped for the big day. We need to order tables and chairs and linens.
Biggest of all? We need to decide on structure.
Here's how the big day is planned thus far:
4pm to 5pm: People arrive and have some food and booze and hang out.
5pm to 6pm: ?????????
6pm to 7pm: Food, drinks, CAKE, and toasting.
7pm to Whenever: Dancing and getting hammered with friends and family.
Yeah, so, we don't know what we're going to do for a ceremony. The hard part about all of this is that there are very limited resources out there re: gay weddings, and those that exist really suck ass. If the suggestions and content aren't big and homo and flashy, they're absurdly trite or vice versa. Josh and I had a super-serio shower talk about it, and we came to the conclusion that we need to do what's best for us and what our ideal situation is.
The problem with that? My ideal scenario is just he and I, out in nature somewhere, totally alone, proclaiming our love to each other as the sun sets or rises or does whatever it wants to do. Then we make love and call it a day and we're married and everyone else can shut up.
His ideal scenario is a bit more . . . Grandiose. There are hundreds of people and cater waiters and hella stuff and a DJ and a dance floor.
Since we can't afford his ideal wedding scenario and mine seems like a scene from JD Salinger, we decided to try and find a happy medium. Which meant backyard wedding, less than 100 people, very simple food and drink, and very simple everything. But there's still the matter of ceremonial structure. Do we do the officiant/lines of people/super-duper structured vows thing? Or do we just go up there, say something quick and heartfelt with no one being "master of ceremonies" and then call it a night? Or do we opt out of it completely?
I don't know yet. I like the wedding in the film "Rachel Getting Married." The couple had an audience, but the audience stood in a circle around them. They had an officiant, but that person was their mutual friend. They had lines, but there were like 4 guys and 4 girls and all of them were only sort of wearing matching things. The ceremony was brief, and so were the vows, and at the end everyone cheered and threw glitter and confetti into the air. I love that scene.
What are your thoughts, gentle readers?
"Come on, let's talk about our feelings!
I don't care if what you say is needless."
Showing posts with label friends. Show all posts
Showing posts with label friends. Show all posts
Tuesday, March 22, 2011
Saturday, February 26, 2011
Quitting Time
Oh, Ke-Dollar Sign-Ha; of COURSE unicorns bleed rainbows! Why wouldn't they?
But on to the more important stuff--I turned in my letter of resignation to work last week. I know it's utterly absurd and perhaps not the most intelligent thing to do considering half of this blog is me whining about not being able to have a career in writing, but I have felt like I needed to do this for months. I'm tired of being chained ot the job; I haven't had a day off in 3 weeks. Sure the money is decent, but I end up pissing most of it away in cell phone calls from work and gas to drive there (seriously--according to my bank account's stats I spend over $200/month in gas to go to work, and when your checks average $800 that's quite a bit less all of the other bills that I've got). Essentially, this job has made me its bitch, and I'm not going to take it like a a whore anymore. I refuse to be anyone's catch-all/work horse any longer. After a year there I still don't have health insurance, or sick pay, or vacation time, or a damned raise. And for how much time I spend there I find it unacceptable.
I know that there are those out there who would just love to have income--They don't care about the benefits or the respect. But I'm the kind of person who will go work at Dick's Drive-In right now if it means that I can actually enjoy what I'm doing. The unique and perhaps freeing thing about being 24 years old with a one-year old undergraduate degree is that I don't have that dream career yet, so everything else is just filler. And if that's the case, I may as well find a job that doesn't make me want to vomit.
/rant
So, masses of the unemployed, I join you starting March 14. I've got copies of my resume' printed on fancy paper, a slew of acceptable interview attire, and 30 or so applications/resume' s submitted already via online resources like craigslist and WA State work source. Now it's just time to hit the pavement.
Side-Bar: Speaking of hitting the pavement, a very Happy 26 Birthday to my friend Ellen today! I'm sorry I can't be there with you, ninja-girl, but said mentally abusive job keeps me from doing so (another side-effect of working 6 to 7 days a week at 10 hours a day on a very regular basis).
Last night we stayed in and got some food from Thai of Wedgwood, which despite having been literally 2 blocks walking distance from our place all this time we've never actually eaten at. While I'm not a big fan of spicy, my garlic chicken was delicious and all I can say is that that was the best damned peanut sauce I've ever had, bar-none. We only spent about 30 bucks and got two main dishes, some satay, brown rice sides, and extra peanut sauce. Great value! I have like an entire freaking tub of brown rice and an entire jug of the sauce in our fridge at the moment and so now we're trying to decide how we want to combine these two delicious leftovers for a meal this evening. Suggestions, people of the Internet?
"Wiped out--
They could see me;
That's what I want.
A casualty, but, I am upfront,
And I know what it's about."
But on to the more important stuff--I turned in my letter of resignation to work last week. I know it's utterly absurd and perhaps not the most intelligent thing to do considering half of this blog is me whining about not being able to have a career in writing, but I have felt like I needed to do this for months. I'm tired of being chained ot the job; I haven't had a day off in 3 weeks. Sure the money is decent, but I end up pissing most of it away in cell phone calls from work and gas to drive there (seriously--according to my bank account's stats I spend over $200/month in gas to go to work, and when your checks average $800 that's quite a bit less all of the other bills that I've got). Essentially, this job has made me its bitch, and I'm not going to take it like a a whore anymore. I refuse to be anyone's catch-all/work horse any longer. After a year there I still don't have health insurance, or sick pay, or vacation time, or a damned raise. And for how much time I spend there I find it unacceptable.
I know that there are those out there who would just love to have income--They don't care about the benefits or the respect. But I'm the kind of person who will go work at Dick's Drive-In right now if it means that I can actually enjoy what I'm doing. The unique and perhaps freeing thing about being 24 years old with a one-year old undergraduate degree is that I don't have that dream career yet, so everything else is just filler. And if that's the case, I may as well find a job that doesn't make me want to vomit.
/rant
So, masses of the unemployed, I join you starting March 14. I've got copies of my resume' printed on fancy paper, a slew of acceptable interview attire, and 30 or so applications/resume' s submitted already via online resources like craigslist and WA State work source. Now it's just time to hit the pavement.
Side-Bar: Speaking of hitting the pavement, a very Happy 26 Birthday to my friend Ellen today! I'm sorry I can't be there with you, ninja-girl, but said mentally abusive job keeps me from doing so (another side-effect of working 6 to 7 days a week at 10 hours a day on a very regular basis).
Last night we stayed in and got some food from Thai of Wedgwood, which despite having been literally 2 blocks walking distance from our place all this time we've never actually eaten at. While I'm not a big fan of spicy, my garlic chicken was delicious and all I can say is that that was the best damned peanut sauce I've ever had, bar-none. We only spent about 30 bucks and got two main dishes, some satay, brown rice sides, and extra peanut sauce. Great value! I have like an entire freaking tub of brown rice and an entire jug of the sauce in our fridge at the moment and so now we're trying to decide how we want to combine these two delicious leftovers for a meal this evening. Suggestions, people of the Internet?
"Wiped out--
They could see me;
That's what I want.
A casualty, but, I am upfront,
And I know what it's about."
Friday, January 21, 2011
Music I've Listened To: "From Light to Dark," by Oriya
One of the funniest/awesomest things about googling a band you know is seeing their Internet personas when you do a Google search and getting to know that said personas are about 60% true. Yes, my buddy Ryan is a great drummer whose musical sensitivities and talent are, in a word, epic--But then there's the fact that this is a guy who I get sloshed with on a regular basis, so it's hard to take the super-cool-rockstar-guy Google Image Search Results of he and the other guys in Oriya seriously. When we've fallen down in front of each other and he's seen me puke out of a cab on 6th, it's hard for either of us to still be the super-cool-rockstar-guy in the room without giggling like little girls.
Before we begin, I want to put out there that I'm going to be as objective as possible given that I know this band and have been drunk/stoned/hanging out and being all domestic with them in the past. And given that the lead singer's girlfriend might be making one of my wedding cakes.
I know the dangerous place that objectivity can go to when you review something a friend creates, be it music or writing or art or whatever. So I do ask, gentle and mostly anonymous readers, that if it feels as though my objectivity has strayed form the path and is somewhere over in Narnia with Mint Berry Crunch where it's being silly and nonexistently fictional, that you leave me a comment and let me know that I'm totally full of shit.
Now, on to the music at hand.
With roots firmly planted in mid-to-late nineties prog. rock, Oriya's first full-length release feels a bit like the soundtrack to an indie action flick from said era. There are intense highs, mellow lows, and a steady pulsing theme of struggle beneath every song. Maena's voice is strained on some tracks, and not because he's vocally at a loss, but because the mood is one of fighting to be heard. The ominous bass, slowly building drums, and melodic synth effects add to this sense of faith through hopelessness. Think of some of the Smahsing Pumpkin's earlier, more intense tracks like "Rhino" and you'll find an apt comparison.
Musically it's nothing that we haven't heard before, but it doesn't feel tired or played out in the slightest. Even though these are emotions that have been discussed musically and lyrically before, it's the pairing of matching vocals and instrumentals creating that moody effect that give you the sense that the band is one hundred percent sincere in their efforts. Tracks begin slowly with tortured sounding vocals and build and build until a tremendous crescendo where the drum lines sort of take over and smash everything to bits. In this way it's reminiscent of some of the bro rock that we were all subjected to in the early 2000s, where usually stoic and serious guys just wanted to be mad about stuff and sometimes scream their feelings. This, however, is much more enjoyable to listen to for the simple fact that the tracks have actually been composed musically first, lyrically second. There's a real caring touch to each verse in each song; you can tell that nothing has been thrown together for the sake of filling the record.
Standout tracks on the album are most definitely "Never" and "For a Day," which is interesting as they represent two opposing sides of the same idea. "Never" is an anger-laden, volatile, throw-yourself-against-the-guy-standing-next-to-you track that showcases some impressive guitar skills on Aris and Maena's part as well as the length and breadth of the band's vocals. That sense of struggle is no more so evident than on this track. There's a sense of giving in; or perhaps wanting to give in and let your troubles turn you into that emotional wreck if only so that you can have that sense of release.
"For a Day" is the polar opposite. It's the optimistic version of this idea; the whole "it's always darkest before dawn" thing. The drums are muted, the melody is softer, and the sense of anguish is replaced by a sense of peace. "I still believe we've been through it all/but it hurts to breathe/it never seems so small," is the repetitive, stand-out line in the chorus. That sense of struggle ever present in all of the band's lyrics is still there, but this track is the pick-yourself-up moment on the album. It fades out beautifully, releasing the listener with some truly harmonious string plucking and synth.
What Oriya has done with their full-length shows remarkable skill and promise. Some of the content feels old-hat, but the way the album in its entirety has been put together shows a band really trying to give its all and show that while some of the music might seem moshy, it's moshy with a conscience, damn it! Either way, it's a refreshing take on a genre filled with a lot of repeats and do-overs.
Go Download: "Intruder," "Never," "For a Day"
3.5/5 starxx
Before we begin, I want to put out there that I'm going to be as objective as possible given that I know this band and have been drunk/stoned/hanging out and being all domestic with them in the past. And given that the lead singer's girlfriend might be making one of my wedding cakes.
I know the dangerous place that objectivity can go to when you review something a friend creates, be it music or writing or art or whatever. So I do ask, gentle and mostly anonymous readers, that if it feels as though my objectivity has strayed form the path and is somewhere over in Narnia with Mint Berry Crunch where it's being silly and nonexistently fictional, that you leave me a comment and let me know that I'm totally full of shit.
Now, on to the music at hand.
With roots firmly planted in mid-to-late nineties prog. rock, Oriya's first full-length release feels a bit like the soundtrack to an indie action flick from said era. There are intense highs, mellow lows, and a steady pulsing theme of struggle beneath every song. Maena's voice is strained on some tracks, and not because he's vocally at a loss, but because the mood is one of fighting to be heard. The ominous bass, slowly building drums, and melodic synth effects add to this sense of faith through hopelessness. Think of some of the Smahsing Pumpkin's earlier, more intense tracks like "Rhino" and you'll find an apt comparison.
Musically it's nothing that we haven't heard before, but it doesn't feel tired or played out in the slightest. Even though these are emotions that have been discussed musically and lyrically before, it's the pairing of matching vocals and instrumentals creating that moody effect that give you the sense that the band is one hundred percent sincere in their efforts. Tracks begin slowly with tortured sounding vocals and build and build until a tremendous crescendo where the drum lines sort of take over and smash everything to bits. In this way it's reminiscent of some of the bro rock that we were all subjected to in the early 2000s, where usually stoic and serious guys just wanted to be mad about stuff and sometimes scream their feelings. This, however, is much more enjoyable to listen to for the simple fact that the tracks have actually been composed musically first, lyrically second. There's a real caring touch to each verse in each song; you can tell that nothing has been thrown together for the sake of filling the record.
Standout tracks on the album are most definitely "Never" and "For a Day," which is interesting as they represent two opposing sides of the same idea. "Never" is an anger-laden, volatile, throw-yourself-against-the-guy-standing-next-to-you track that showcases some impressive guitar skills on Aris and Maena's part as well as the length and breadth of the band's vocals. That sense of struggle is no more so evident than on this track. There's a sense of giving in; or perhaps wanting to give in and let your troubles turn you into that emotional wreck if only so that you can have that sense of release.
"For a Day" is the polar opposite. It's the optimistic version of this idea; the whole "it's always darkest before dawn" thing. The drums are muted, the melody is softer, and the sense of anguish is replaced by a sense of peace. "I still believe we've been through it all/but it hurts to breathe/it never seems so small," is the repetitive, stand-out line in the chorus. That sense of struggle ever present in all of the band's lyrics is still there, but this track is the pick-yourself-up moment on the album. It fades out beautifully, releasing the listener with some truly harmonious string plucking and synth.
What Oriya has done with their full-length shows remarkable skill and promise. Some of the content feels old-hat, but the way the album in its entirety has been put together shows a band really trying to give its all and show that while some of the music might seem moshy, it's moshy with a conscience, damn it! Either way, it's a refreshing take on a genre filled with a lot of repeats and do-overs.
Go Download: "Intruder," "Never," "For a Day"
3.5/5 starxx
Sunday, December 26, 2010
Unwrapped.
I don't think a lot of people (by which I mean the handful of critical reviews I read by Googling it and reading the first 3 pages of user reviews on Netflix after I had watched the film) "got" that it was poking fun at and questioning the way one person could take someone else's art--Especially someone else's art which was already using someone else's art--And make it their own (or try to). Street artist/counter-culture tee profiteer Banksy put it best: "He (the artist known as Mr. Brain Wash) took Warhol's concept of making images in pop culture useless through reproduction and then he made them even more useless."
Essentially the film is about this fellow who sees something counter-cultural and says "Hey, I can mass-produce that and sell it!" much in the way we see Che Guevara or Audrey Hepburn on tee shirts that can be seen everywhere from Value Village to Wal-Mart. He is definitely an artist, but the film begs us to ask ourselves if he's made art for the right reasons (and if there are reasons); at what point is it not "using your own lens to make commentary using someone else's work" and instead complete and utter bullshit? I really feel like that is what the film is about.
Best moment: When L.A. proves itself to be as vapid, lame, and completely head-up-the-ass as everyone thinks that it is right there on film. I miss my home town :)
Anywho, Christmas was pretty great.
Spent a day that was 80% neat, 20% awkward with Josh's extended family. It was nice to be around people with his last name that don't think our love is one-way ticket to hell (or at least aren't so obvious about it). I could go on and on about the people there, the stuff we ate (Jello with 3 distinct layers and an "ancient family secret ingredient" being the third layer), and my thoughts on how the whole family dynamic of his clan and their feelings about us is totally fucked up, but I will respect his wishes and keep my mouth shut and my fingers in my pockets instead of typing about it here. I've probably already said too much.
I got some very cool items, including this interesting piece of art by James Jean entitled "Rift" which you can get an idea of here or by watching this video . . .
As you can see, it's pretty fucking sweet.
We also got a Nintendo Wii! I could gush, but you'd get bored, so all that I'll say is that it's candy apple red and celebrates the birth of our Mushroom Kingdom's Lord and Saviour, Mario. Like my relatives in Rhode Island would say, it's gaaaaaaaaaawjus!
I don't have any regrets about this Christmas, other than that as always I wish I could've gotten more for more people. The thing is, I feel pretty damn good about what I was able to get and that everyone I value in my life received some form of my appreciation for their kindness and friendship. Whether it was in presents or drinking my booze, I'm truly one of those rich men with the friends and not so much the moneys that we're supposed to emulate because of that parable; which is nice.
Speaking of James Jean, I finished the fourteenth TPB of Fables entitled 'Witches' the other night. Overall I enjoyed it (I think Mr. Willingham is at his best when setting up arcs and laying the ground structure or when writing shorter, prose-y tales and charming vignettes), even if I didn't care for the baseball two-parter at the end. I've so many questions because of my trade-waiting! Will Rose Red ever get out of bed? Will the Blue Fairy kick some ass? Whom will stand up to Mr. Dark? Will Ozma and Stinky the Badger face off for control of Nu-Fabletown?! If you've never read the series, I'm sure I sound balls-out crazy. But then that's your loss, I suppose.
Some other things of note: DADT has been repealed which is awesome. Men and women with much more intelligent and much more eloquent thoughts on the matter have already said much, so I'll simply say "thank you" to those whom helped rid our country of this backwards-thinking law and given us one more step towards true equality.
And my friend Ally's mother passed away last week just before the holidays. She's in a much better place, and I'm glad that Alli O and I got to see her before all of this happened, but there are some definite, ah, issues that I've been dealing with ever since all of this began. I know it's not my place to speak about what her death means to me right now, so I'll wait to post my feelings and thoughts about the whole thing for another day.
Right now, I have my cat and I have my coffee with Bailey's. And the world feels sort of peaceful.
"What could I do? What could I do?
I got all choked up and I threw down my gun
And I called him my pa, and he called me his son,
And I came away with a different point of view."
I got all choked up and I threw down my gun
And I called him my pa, and he called me his son,
And I came away with a different point of view."
Tuesday, July 6, 2010
Crawling out from under the rock...
...The rock, in this case, being work and everyting work-related.
My job became pretty hyper-stressful these past two months for several reasons: The first being when I found out that my wages had been lowered without my knowledge. I never thought I needed to check my rate of pay on my pay stubs, but one random glance one random day led me to discover that for 2 months my wages had been slashed. Which is illegal if no one tells you.
A long, arduous, 2-month battle with the hotel building owner later, and now I'm back to making what I rightfully should've been making in the first place (with a raise[!]). No wonder I was barely making ends meet for a while there, huh?
The next reason is because of our awkward transitionary phase. We're picking up in business, but we only opened 5 months ago, so we still have shit for employees. There aren't enough of us, so when something breaks down or someone gets sick everyone is royally screwed. We've only just recently hired a few extra housekeepers and an extra front desk person (thank God--I can actually have office hours in my shared office space!), yet there's still not enough equipment or funding to go around. It's absolutely insane and not in any way under my control, which is eternally frustrating.
The final reason is because I've been having some intense dreams recently. I haven't even told Josh about this because I don't want to freak him out. The reoccuring dream happens every few nights, and certain details are always a little different, yet the over-arching "story" of the dream stays the same:
In my dream, I have children. They keep telling me that they're hungry, so I keep making them food. Yet there's no food left in the house. I run frantically through the house opening doors and drawers and closets and cabinets but we have no food. So I go to check my bank balance online and I have negative however-many-thousands of dollars.
Sometimes, also, our cat talks to me and repremands me for doing a poor job of parenting.
Is my fear of growing older and feeling directionless when I'm 30 manifesting itelf in the form of these odd dreams where I'm broke and have no way of taking care of those whom depend on me? Probably. I hate feeling helpless, and stupid, and embarassed, so it only makes sense that I'd hate being broke with kids. Plus it doesn't help that in the dream my cat is a total bitch.
Anyway, it hasn't done wonders for my sleep cycle.
My battle with soda has continued. I've fallen victim to temptation at a friend's house a few times and had a can of regular Cherry Pepsi here and there, but other than that it's Diet soda all the way! Blerg.
Josh and I are doing well. We hit a bit of a bump recently but I feel like things are smoothed over. He's the one constant in my life, and I'm glad that I've got him. Few other things make me feel good after a long, shitty day at work than just being around him.
Thanks to my mom we now have nearly $500 worth of brand new living room furniture :) I'm really pleased with how it looks. I feel like we need to push the "modern, industrial forest" aesthetic a little further with some larger prints or some really gaudy pieces, but I dig everything about it thus far. I'll post pictures when I take some.
Now for lists.
Three Bands I'm Currently Over-Listening To:
1) Discovery
2) Sleigh Bells
3) Best Coast
Three Foods I'm Currently Overeating:
1) Bananas
2) Various Lean Pockets
3) Tortilla Chips
Three Things I Hope Happen:
1) Josh has a good birthday.
2) I get a bite on something--anything--that I've submitted to various editorial people.
3) I get tickets to the Capitol Hill Block Party (DEADWEATHER! BEST COAST!).
Three Things I Will Make Happen:
1) Call my mom back after a week's worth of phone tag.
2) Buy a wedding present for Josh's brother.
3) Write more, more, and more again.
Three People I Need to Call:
1) My mom (cheating on this one)
2) Alli
3) Julie
Three People I Need to Write:
1) Aunt Charlotte
2) Lindsay
3) Matt
I'll be posting wedding stuff soon, so get stoked for that :)
"Life has a funny way,
of sneaking up on you
when you think everything is okay;
then everything blows up in your face."
My job became pretty hyper-stressful these past two months for several reasons: The first being when I found out that my wages had been lowered without my knowledge. I never thought I needed to check my rate of pay on my pay stubs, but one random glance one random day led me to discover that for 2 months my wages had been slashed. Which is illegal if no one tells you.
A long, arduous, 2-month battle with the hotel building owner later, and now I'm back to making what I rightfully should've been making in the first place (with a raise[!]). No wonder I was barely making ends meet for a while there, huh?
The next reason is because of our awkward transitionary phase. We're picking up in business, but we only opened 5 months ago, so we still have shit for employees. There aren't enough of us, so when something breaks down or someone gets sick everyone is royally screwed. We've only just recently hired a few extra housekeepers and an extra front desk person (thank God--I can actually have office hours in my shared office space!), yet there's still not enough equipment or funding to go around. It's absolutely insane and not in any way under my control, which is eternally frustrating.
The final reason is because I've been having some intense dreams recently. I haven't even told Josh about this because I don't want to freak him out. The reoccuring dream happens every few nights, and certain details are always a little different, yet the over-arching "story" of the dream stays the same:
In my dream, I have children. They keep telling me that they're hungry, so I keep making them food. Yet there's no food left in the house. I run frantically through the house opening doors and drawers and closets and cabinets but we have no food. So I go to check my bank balance online and I have negative however-many-thousands of dollars.
Sometimes, also, our cat talks to me and repremands me for doing a poor job of parenting.
Is my fear of growing older and feeling directionless when I'm 30 manifesting itelf in the form of these odd dreams where I'm broke and have no way of taking care of those whom depend on me? Probably. I hate feeling helpless, and stupid, and embarassed, so it only makes sense that I'd hate being broke with kids. Plus it doesn't help that in the dream my cat is a total bitch.
Anyway, it hasn't done wonders for my sleep cycle.
My battle with soda has continued. I've fallen victim to temptation at a friend's house a few times and had a can of regular Cherry Pepsi here and there, but other than that it's Diet soda all the way! Blerg.
Josh and I are doing well. We hit a bit of a bump recently but I feel like things are smoothed over. He's the one constant in my life, and I'm glad that I've got him. Few other things make me feel good after a long, shitty day at work than just being around him.
Thanks to my mom we now have nearly $500 worth of brand new living room furniture :) I'm really pleased with how it looks. I feel like we need to push the "modern, industrial forest" aesthetic a little further with some larger prints or some really gaudy pieces, but I dig everything about it thus far. I'll post pictures when I take some.
Now for lists.
Three Bands I'm Currently Over-Listening To:
1) Discovery
2) Sleigh Bells
3) Best Coast
Three Foods I'm Currently Overeating:
1) Bananas
2) Various Lean Pockets
3) Tortilla Chips
Three Things I Hope Happen:
1) Josh has a good birthday.
2) I get a bite on something--anything--that I've submitted to various editorial people.
3) I get tickets to the Capitol Hill Block Party (DEADWEATHER! BEST COAST!).
Three Things I Will Make Happen:
1) Call my mom back after a week's worth of phone tag.
2) Buy a wedding present for Josh's brother.
3) Write more, more, and more again.
Three People I Need to Call:
1) My mom (cheating on this one)
2) Alli
3) Julie
Three People I Need to Write:
1) Aunt Charlotte
2) Lindsay
3) Matt
I'll be posting wedding stuff soon, so get stoked for that :)
"Life has a funny way,
of sneaking up on you
when you think everything is okay;
then everything blows up in your face."
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."
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."
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."
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."
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."
Thursday, November 12, 2009
The Life Elusive
Gah! Nearly a whole month without blogging? Shame on me. Not that this is inconsistent behavior for me, mind you, but still...
...Actually it sort of fits a behavioral pattern of mine. I always say "I'm going to go do this" and then about two days later I reflect "man, I should've gone and done this." I can blame finances for this current pattern of forgetful missteps--After all, it's hard to be gun-ho about errands and appointments when you're rationing out your bank account daily (if I put ten bucks in my tank, then I have 5 bucks to buy some groceries the day after that, which leaves me 7 bucks to use on a haircut).
However lately the issue with my lack of sterling savings has become more of a crutch (read: excuse) for anything that doesn't seem to go my way. "Well I'm poor, which is why I couldn't afford to drive out to the so-and-so writer's exhibit to network with other writers." It's a lame excuse, really albeit completely understandable. It's one thing I need to change about my life right now.
Another change is that in the past 2 months I've done less exploring of this city I call home. We've lived here for almost 6 months (I know right?) and yet things have sort of fallen flat in terms of checking things out and experiencing new things. Of course finances, once again, can be blamed for this (for consistency reasons). Thus I've decided that every time we get paid, Josh and I are going to have a "date night" somewhere in the city. We'll either shake the ol' Urban Spoon application or hit "random" on 'The Stranger Online' restaurant search engine, set a limit of 2 $$ signs out of 4 $$$$ signs, and then hit the town. The catch is that we'll never go to the same place twice.
Is there a nice sense of comfort in a new place that comes with going to the same places? Sure thing. But even the delicious nom-noms of Jet City Pizza, The Wedgewood Broiler, and I HEART Bento get repetitive after several visits.
Halloween was an absolute, balls-out blast. The Friday beforehand was spent working (of course) during the day and then partying by night. Together with our friend Julie and her boyfriend (also named Ryan, because in my circle of friends there are two of every animal), we went to this surreal warehouse party sponsored by Jones Soda and RIDE Snowboards. I use the word "surreal" because it felt like we were in an episode of 'The Real World' or 'Gossip Girl' or some such glitz-o-rama, fantastical alternate universe. Not only was it in a warehouse in Fremont, but there was no cover charge, free beer(! And it was Pyramid Ale!), free music, free stuff (I won a belt and Josh won a tee shirt), and some guy walking around taking pictures of neat costumes. For our part, we were dressed up as "horror dandies." Meaning gruesome costumes and makeup with fancy attire. I was a skeleton, Josh was a werewolf, Julie was a traditional, Dia De Las Muertas inspired zombie, and otherRyan was a hanged man. The aforementioned fellow taking pictures stopped us and said something like "nice theme!" and proceeded to take several photos for some unknown web site. We're still not sure who he was with or where those photos are posted, actually...
I spent Halloween itself working late into the night and then house partying. Nothing to write home about other than it's nice to be welcomed by other pseudo-adults into a house party where there are both fancy, vegan appetizers and beer pong in the same room. It was a real testament to the stage of life we're all in at the moment: Somewhere between stuff-shirt cocktail parties and spewing in the street after too much binge drinking.
Josh and I went over to West Seattle a few days ago to pick up his art that was showing in the art walk during September/October. No buyers, but a lot of "interest" in his pieces, and exposure is absolutely necessary even if monetary rewards don't emerge as an outcome. We stopped in a record store on California Ave. while we were down there. I don't remember the name of it, but there were also sandwiches and coffee at a cafe inside of it. This bears further investigating.
I think I'm going to make a mix for my friend Alli and try to send it across the Pacific to her in Korea. It's times like these that messenger pigeons would be really cool. Or if I could somehow be assured that if I put it in a bottle and threw it in the sea, it would was ashore just seconds from her apartment building, then I would totally message-in-a-bottle her. I think I;d have to put the mix on a flash drive and put it in the bottle, though. I don't think a CD would fit in there.
"You want me?
Fucking well come and find me.
I'll be waiting
With a gun and a pack of sandwiches.
And nothing."
...Actually it sort of fits a behavioral pattern of mine. I always say "I'm going to go do this" and then about two days later I reflect "man, I should've gone and done this." I can blame finances for this current pattern of forgetful missteps--After all, it's hard to be gun-ho about errands and appointments when you're rationing out your bank account daily (if I put ten bucks in my tank, then I have 5 bucks to buy some groceries the day after that, which leaves me 7 bucks to use on a haircut).
However lately the issue with my lack of sterling savings has become more of a crutch (read: excuse) for anything that doesn't seem to go my way. "Well I'm poor, which is why I couldn't afford to drive out to the so-and-so writer's exhibit to network with other writers." It's a lame excuse, really albeit completely understandable. It's one thing I need to change about my life right now.
Another change is that in the past 2 months I've done less exploring of this city I call home. We've lived here for almost 6 months (I know right?) and yet things have sort of fallen flat in terms of checking things out and experiencing new things. Of course finances, once again, can be blamed for this (for consistency reasons). Thus I've decided that every time we get paid, Josh and I are going to have a "date night" somewhere in the city. We'll either shake the ol' Urban Spoon application or hit "random" on 'The Stranger Online' restaurant search engine, set a limit of 2 $$ signs out of 4 $$$$ signs, and then hit the town. The catch is that we'll never go to the same place twice.
Is there a nice sense of comfort in a new place that comes with going to the same places? Sure thing. But even the delicious nom-noms of Jet City Pizza, The Wedgewood Broiler, and I HEART Bento get repetitive after several visits.
Halloween was an absolute, balls-out blast. The Friday beforehand was spent working (of course) during the day and then partying by night. Together with our friend Julie and her boyfriend (also named Ryan, because in my circle of friends there are two of every animal), we went to this surreal warehouse party sponsored by Jones Soda and RIDE Snowboards. I use the word "surreal" because it felt like we were in an episode of 'The Real World' or 'Gossip Girl' or some such glitz-o-rama, fantastical alternate universe. Not only was it in a warehouse in Fremont, but there was no cover charge, free beer(! And it was Pyramid Ale!), free music, free stuff (I won a belt and Josh won a tee shirt), and some guy walking around taking pictures of neat costumes. For our part, we were dressed up as "horror dandies." Meaning gruesome costumes and makeup with fancy attire. I was a skeleton, Josh was a werewolf, Julie was a traditional, Dia De Las Muertas inspired zombie, and otherRyan was a hanged man. The aforementioned fellow taking pictures stopped us and said something like "nice theme!" and proceeded to take several photos for some unknown web site. We're still not sure who he was with or where those photos are posted, actually...
I spent Halloween itself working late into the night and then house partying. Nothing to write home about other than it's nice to be welcomed by other pseudo-adults into a house party where there are both fancy, vegan appetizers and beer pong in the same room. It was a real testament to the stage of life we're all in at the moment: Somewhere between stuff-shirt cocktail parties and spewing in the street after too much binge drinking.
Josh and I went over to West Seattle a few days ago to pick up his art that was showing in the art walk during September/October. No buyers, but a lot of "interest" in his pieces, and exposure is absolutely necessary even if monetary rewards don't emerge as an outcome. We stopped in a record store on California Ave. while we were down there. I don't remember the name of it, but there were also sandwiches and coffee at a cafe inside of it. This bears further investigating.
I think I'm going to make a mix for my friend Alli and try to send it across the Pacific to her in Korea. It's times like these that messenger pigeons would be really cool. Or if I could somehow be assured that if I put it in a bottle and threw it in the sea, it would was ashore just seconds from her apartment building, then I would totally message-in-a-bottle her. I think I;d have to put the mix on a flash drive and put it in the bottle, though. I don't think a CD would fit in there.
"You want me?
Fucking well come and find me.
I'll be waiting
With a gun and a pack of sandwiches.
And nothing."
Friday, May 8, 2009
Apparently nothing of importance happened in April?
Well, that title isn't actually true. A lot of important stuff happened in April.
I got the job transfer, for one. Yay me! I'm not supposed to talk about which store it is or what I'll be doing, but apparently the pay is substantial, which I'm thoroughly stoked for. Hooray for the monies!
What else? Well, Kim moved in with us up here in Moscow and it's been fun and absurd. I like having her around more seeing as she's become one of my closest friends through the years, and it's nice having some time to adjust to each other's habits before living together for realsies in a place we both pay rent on. Of course there aren't that many things to get used to--It's just like when she'd crash here for the weekend if there was partying to be had, except for now her stuff is here. Kim's a very good roommate thus far and really it's not like we all just jumped head first in on this idea. Would I room with someone who wasn't awesome? I think not!
Hmm, let's see . . . Ally came up to visit us for a weekend and that was amazingly fun, even though we didn't do much. It was like having her back in Moscow again on any other weekend, which is fine by me! She's off to Virginia in a while to be with her-Josh (attaching those little is how we distinguish the men we're with, btw) for 6 weeks and then off to Florida so that they can work on the next stage of their lives together, whatever that ends up being. It was good to see her and talk to her and to see that I'm not the only one who has no idea what the hell they're doing now that undergrad time is over. "Whatever happens next is up to us, and I don't feel rushed for the first time in my life," she said to me over bagels. We had a great hug and goodbye when she left, and the feeling of "this is just temporary because I'll see you soon" was totally there in a way that was said and unsaid at the same time.
Although my friends are all scattered to the four winds now, why do I feel like we'll all see each other again soon? I guess because we're all very co-dependent on each other. Like, we can do stuff separately, but we'd rather all not. Part of me selfishly wants to horde my friends over to Seattle some day when they're all settled and ready to settle down.
I turned 23 the other day, and it was weird. It feels a lot like 22, actually. So far so good. It's only been a few days, so maybe some profound change will happen. Or maybe not. Josh and I went out to dinner and then saw the new Wolverine movie with Kim and our pal Clare. Hugh Jackman-ass is the best kind of man-ass that there is, and I'll stand by that assertion for years! I liked it overall, and there were only a few things that made me laugh because of how lame they were, but it was overall a fun popcorn movie. Not exactly "Sophie's Choice" or anything, but c'mon . . . It's comics.
So in less than 20 days I'll be in a new city with a new start. Wish me luck, and if I don't post for another month . . . It's because I'm somewhere else being awesome!
"I build myself up,
and fly around in circles.
Wait then--As my heart drops,
and my back begins to tingle,
finally could this be it?"
I got the job transfer, for one. Yay me! I'm not supposed to talk about which store it is or what I'll be doing, but apparently the pay is substantial, which I'm thoroughly stoked for. Hooray for the monies!
What else? Well, Kim moved in with us up here in Moscow and it's been fun and absurd. I like having her around more seeing as she's become one of my closest friends through the years, and it's nice having some time to adjust to each other's habits before living together for realsies in a place we both pay rent on. Of course there aren't that many things to get used to--It's just like when she'd crash here for the weekend if there was partying to be had, except for now her stuff is here. Kim's a very good roommate thus far and really it's not like we all just jumped head first in on this idea. Would I room with someone who wasn't awesome? I think not!
Hmm, let's see . . . Ally came up to visit us for a weekend and that was amazingly fun, even though we didn't do much. It was like having her back in Moscow again on any other weekend, which is fine by me! She's off to Virginia in a while to be with her-Josh (attaching those little is how we distinguish the men we're with, btw) for 6 weeks and then off to Florida so that they can work on the next stage of their lives together, whatever that ends up being. It was good to see her and talk to her and to see that I'm not the only one who has no idea what the hell they're doing now that undergrad time is over. "Whatever happens next is up to us, and I don't feel rushed for the first time in my life," she said to me over bagels. We had a great hug and goodbye when she left, and the feeling of "this is just temporary because I'll see you soon" was totally there in a way that was said and unsaid at the same time.
Although my friends are all scattered to the four winds now, why do I feel like we'll all see each other again soon? I guess because we're all very co-dependent on each other. Like, we can do stuff separately, but we'd rather all not. Part of me selfishly wants to horde my friends over to Seattle some day when they're all settled and ready to settle down.
I turned 23 the other day, and it was weird. It feels a lot like 22, actually. So far so good. It's only been a few days, so maybe some profound change will happen. Or maybe not. Josh and I went out to dinner and then saw the new Wolverine movie with Kim and our pal Clare. Hugh Jackman-ass is the best kind of man-ass that there is, and I'll stand by that assertion for years! I liked it overall, and there were only a few things that made me laugh because of how lame they were, but it was overall a fun popcorn movie. Not exactly "Sophie's Choice" or anything, but c'mon . . . It's comics.
So in less than 20 days I'll be in a new city with a new start. Wish me luck, and if I don't post for another month . . . It's because I'm somewhere else being awesome!
"I build myself up,
and fly around in circles.
Wait then--As my heart drops,
and my back begins to tingle,
finally could this be it?"
Monday, February 23, 2009
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.
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.
Transition to Seattle Trip #1
Before I get into this past weekend and going to Seattle . . . Can we take a moment and talk about the 2009 Academy Awards, please? Wow. What an elegant, classy, and amazing event it was. Not boring at all--No, seriously!
I could probably gush for pages about Hugh Jackman being the host and dancing and singing and being drop-dead-gorgeous and the perfect human . . . But I won't. Instead I want to take a moment and acknowledge the five (FIVE!) moments in the Oscars this year that made me tear up and cry a little. They were, in order:
1) Penelope Cruz's acceptance speech--Minority empowerment go on with your bad self!
2) Dustin Lance Black (the adorkable kid who wrote the screenplay for "Milk")'s acceptance speech--WOW!
3)Heath Ledger's family does his acceptance speech--Those damned Aussies made me get all choked up!
4)The "death montage" of people in the industry that passed away--I miss you, Sydney Pollack and Paul Newman!
5)Sean Penn's acceptance speech--HELL YEAH!
So there they were; the moments that made me weep like a nine-year-old girl. Of course there were a ton of awesome moments, too. Most of them involved Hugh Jackman being fantastic and doing songs, including a song that was a tribute to musicals(!) with Beyonce. Also declaring his awesome by shouting "I AM WOLVERINE!" at the end of his opening number. I mean wow. Then there was the way that the Big 4 actors/actresses categories were done: Five previous winners from each category, all amazing men and women, complimenting every single one of the individuals nominated in speeches that they wrote themselves, and then the announcement of the winner. Said winner then got to go on stage and be embraced by their colleagues and by this tribunal, really, of amazing talent.
It was rad.
On Friday we left at about noon to head out to Seattle and stay with our friend Amy in Bothell. We made great time thanks to the fantastic weather (it was great all weekend, actually) and to my new car's awesome gas mileage in general. Got into Seattle/Bothell at about 6pm and had dinner at this fun little diner-type restaurant and we walked around the Alderwood Mall, then headed home and crashed.
The next day we woke up, got ready, embraced a breakfast of Starbucks and headed out to start apartment hunting! Our list started out with 7 locations that we narrowed down to 3 and 1/2 (we actually couldn't find the one in Fremont but we LOVED the neighborhood, so we gave Kim the mission of trying to find it next time/looking at other places in the area), and they were all great little apartments that were totally in our price range and in clean, good neighborhoods only like 20 minutes out of the city.
The big one that all of us are hoping for is the Wedgwood Estates. I'm not going to post a link because I want to keep it on the DL lest lurkers try to steal the opportunity to rent from them, but to sum it up it's an amazing series of cottage-style apartments in a residential neighborhood that's just above Fremont/Wallingford and about 15 mins. from the Woodland Park Zoo (I know right?) and another 10 minutes from the UW campus in case any or all of us decide to go back to school to get our graduate degrees or a second undergrad. They allow pets, have off-street parking, and they're just freaking adorable little red brick houses in general. Fingers crossed that this all works out!
We're heading back to the area in 2 weeks to conduct the second search. In the mean time we'll be looking for more properties and selling some furniture online to make this all happen. If anyone knows of 2 bedroom places for under $1,000 in the Seattle area (we're not picky about the town or neighborhood, honestly, we just don't want ot live in south Seattle if possible) PLEASE comment or drop me a line! I'd really appreciate it.
"Lipstick on my brain,
Thunder in the sky,
The shades are drawn
But don't ask me why.
And with the ghost riders on the go, I think you know . . .
. . . It goes something like this:"
I could probably gush for pages about Hugh Jackman being the host and dancing and singing and being drop-dead-gorgeous and the perfect human . . . But I won't. Instead I want to take a moment and acknowledge the five (FIVE!) moments in the Oscars this year that made me tear up and cry a little. They were, in order:
1) Penelope Cruz's acceptance speech--Minority empowerment go on with your bad self!
2) Dustin Lance Black (the adorkable kid who wrote the screenplay for "Milk")'s acceptance speech--WOW!
3)Heath Ledger's family does his acceptance speech--Those damned Aussies made me get all choked up!
4)The "death montage" of people in the industry that passed away--I miss you, Sydney Pollack and Paul Newman!
5)Sean Penn's acceptance speech--HELL YEAH!
So there they were; the moments that made me weep like a nine-year-old girl. Of course there were a ton of awesome moments, too. Most of them involved Hugh Jackman being fantastic and doing songs, including a song that was a tribute to musicals(!) with Beyonce. Also declaring his awesome by shouting "I AM WOLVERINE!" at the end of his opening number. I mean wow. Then there was the way that the Big 4 actors/actresses categories were done: Five previous winners from each category, all amazing men and women, complimenting every single one of the individuals nominated in speeches that they wrote themselves, and then the announcement of the winner. Said winner then got to go on stage and be embraced by their colleagues and by this tribunal, really, of amazing talent.
It was rad.
On Friday we left at about noon to head out to Seattle and stay with our friend Amy in Bothell. We made great time thanks to the fantastic weather (it was great all weekend, actually) and to my new car's awesome gas mileage in general. Got into Seattle/Bothell at about 6pm and had dinner at this fun little diner-type restaurant and we walked around the Alderwood Mall, then headed home and crashed.
The next day we woke up, got ready, embraced a breakfast of Starbucks and headed out to start apartment hunting! Our list started out with 7 locations that we narrowed down to 3 and 1/2 (we actually couldn't find the one in Fremont but we LOVED the neighborhood, so we gave Kim the mission of trying to find it next time/looking at other places in the area), and they were all great little apartments that were totally in our price range and in clean, good neighborhoods only like 20 minutes out of the city.
The big one that all of us are hoping for is the Wedgwood Estates. I'm not going to post a link because I want to keep it on the DL lest lurkers try to steal the opportunity to rent from them, but to sum it up it's an amazing series of cottage-style apartments in a residential neighborhood that's just above Fremont/Wallingford and about 15 mins. from the Woodland Park Zoo (I know right?) and another 10 minutes from the UW campus in case any or all of us decide to go back to school to get our graduate degrees or a second undergrad. They allow pets, have off-street parking, and they're just freaking adorable little red brick houses in general. Fingers crossed that this all works out!
We're heading back to the area in 2 weeks to conduct the second search. In the mean time we'll be looking for more properties and selling some furniture online to make this all happen. If anyone knows of 2 bedroom places for under $1,000 in the Seattle area (we're not picky about the town or neighborhood, honestly, we just don't want ot live in south Seattle if possible) PLEASE comment or drop me a line! I'd really appreciate it.
"Lipstick on my brain,
Thunder in the sky,
The shades are drawn
But don't ask me why.
And with the ghost riders on the go, I think you know . . .
. . . It goes something like this:"
Thursday, February 12, 2009
My Life Right Now: A Series of Sticky Notes
Another week of working makes me think that I really, really miss school.
A few days ago I was sitting in the apartment cleaning house, as it were, when suddenly I realized that a lot of my days off have been reduced to a To-Do list written on sticky notes. Then, suddenly, I just got this feeling all over that I really do miss school. It was instant and sudden and I knew what it was right away. There was no ambivalence to the feeling--It just was what it was. I think that I might be a traitor to underage kids everywhere, as well as college students, but damn it I miss school. I guess that I miss having something to do every day, really. A set of tasks and to-do's that aren't generated by me so much as generated by an overarching purpose.
And I know that right now I have an overarching purpose: To save money and move to Seattle so that I can begin my career. But who knew 3 months would go by so slowly? Who knew I'd actually miss school not for what it brought to me (knowledge, education and the like) but because it was just something to do other than work? I don't know, man.
Alli's been teaching classes in Korea and recently realized that Koreans regard she and our friend Ellen as mythological creatures because of how they appear physically. Dragons, unicorns, and Eastern WA girls . . . The trifecta of mythology, really. You can of course read about her travels in her Blogabond account, which can be found on the left hand side of this page over in the "Blogs That I Read" section.
Tomorrow night we're going to go see our friend Kim's newest venture in acting, a romantic comedy called "Having a Great Time, Wish You Were Her." Kim's extremely generous parents bought our tickets and dinner, and I'm so stoked to see it! It's got a great cast made up of people that I know and apparently there's lots of awkward over-the-bra touching moments. And you know how I love me some second base.
Albums that I need to buy at the moment (which will be a running list until I buy them all):
-Lily Allen "It's Not Me, It's You"
-The Black Ghosts "[self-titled]"
-Andrew Bird "[self-titled]"
Have a great weekend, universe.
"Forget about guns, and forget ammunition,
I'm killing 'em all on my own little mission.
Now I'm not a saint, and I'm not a sinner
But everything's cool as long as I'm getting thinner."
Saturday, February 7, 2009
Ups, Downs, and Setbacks.
So hey, I got published in Diversity!
Crazy, huh? Who knew? Not me. And why? Because they didn't ever write me an e-mail (despite my having sent two) to say whether or not they were going to publish the article. Odd, really, but then again it feels as though they're just starting up (or starting anew) with their publishing schedule. This issue of the newsletter did seem more put together and professional looking, though. A lot cleaner in the design though the fact that it still uses fonts from two different families is killing me (if you've never seen the film Helvetica then go see it right now and you'll never look at fonts the same way again, ever).
So that was definitely the highlight of my week thus far. The other was seeing two good friends taking part in The Vagina Monologues last night. I've never been to a real showing; only a documentary about the monologues themselves that really doesn't capture the energy, the humor, and the intensity of the monologues. Props to my friends for having the courage to get up there and do short pieces about a)a woman having her first real orgasm in the middle of her life and b)being a lesbian dominatrix. Good on you, girls!
A minor setback in the moving movement came today when I had to put $100 unexpectedly on a credit card, meaning that $2,000 I had saved for moving goes back down a bit. Boo. Those finance charges are a real killer, I'll tell ya something . . .
. . . Tomorrow night we're hosting a Grammy Awards party at our apartment! Bring the booze and the chips, we'll bring the giant television and some of Josh's award-winning bean dip (not actually award-winning, but it should be and it would be if we'd ever heard of a bean dip contest in our region). I'm rooting for Death Cab for Cutie, Adelle, and M.I.A. to all get their dues this year (especially everyone's favorite Sri Lankan hip hop artist--she's too great for words). You can see the full list of 2009 Grammy Award noms here.
This week I'll be working on the second article for Diversity (since apparently they'll just publish me no questions asked--and they're awesome for that!) and working on a Valentine's Day gift. And for those who've been to my Myspace page this week, no I'm not clinically depressed and no things aren't going bad for me, I just feel a little gray lately. But thank you all for being so caring and kind.
"It's 4 by 3, 3 by 3,
Buy-one-song-get-one-free.
Maybe me:
A bootleg CD
Or color TV
Or DVD."
Saturday, January 31, 2009
Miss You.
My friend Alli, whom I've spent the past 5 years of college cavorting and embarking on ridiculous and fantastic adventures with, has just boarded a plane for South Korea. She's going there to teach English-as-a-second-language to high school students for the next six months. We only got to talk for 5 minutes, but in a way I'm glad because any longer and I would've started bawling like a child.
I'll miss you and think of you every day, kid. Remember as our good friend Ralph Waldo said, "All life is an experiment. The more experiments you make the better."
"We're probably the coolest people that a lot of other people know. Probably."
--Alli
"Come writers and critics Who prophesize with your pen And keep your eyes wide; The chance won't come again. And don't speak too soon, For the wheel's still in spin And there's no tellin' Who that it's namin'."
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