Some gems from March that got me through the month! Namely the highlights of: St/ Patty's Day at Cha Cha, drunk boyfriends at house parties where 24 is an old age, romantic walks around Pike Market, drinks and apps with friends in the middle of the day, public transit woes, yearning for Summer, and new jobs!
"He Gets Me High" - Dum Dum Girls
"Cut Me Out" - MNDR
"Still Sound" - Toro y Moi
"Roni" - Chikita Violenta
"Merry-Make It With Me" - The Republic Tigers
"Small Black" - Despicable Dogs
"Celestica" - Crystal Castles
"Sunshine" - Rye Rye w/ M.I.A.
"Caffeinated Consciousness" - TV on the Radio
"DNA" - The Kills
"Darling Buds of May" - Brother
Go download 'em!
Showing posts with label list. Show all posts
Showing posts with label list. Show all posts
Wednesday, March 30, 2011
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."
Saturday, March 13, 2010
That playlist I promised, and a few other things of note.
This is a "blog housekeeping" post, meaning it feels a little arbitrary but comes from a place of sincerity.
Ryan Goes to Work:
"Everybody Say" by Takka Takka
"Nick and Norah's Theme" composed by Mark Mothersbaugh
"In a Cave" by Tokyo Police Club
"Hard to Live in the City" by Albert Hammond Jr.
"Lights Out" by Santigold
"Ticking Clock" by Sisero
"Again and Again" by The Bird and The Bee
"Catch my Disease" by Ben Lee
"Every Time" by Lincoln Hawk (not a real band)
"Some are Lakes" by Land of Talk
"What I Am [cover]" by Emma Bunton
"Talk Show Host" by Radiohead
"Piazza, New York Catcher" by Belle and Sebastian
"When I Come Around" by Green Day
"Needle in the Camel's Eye" by The Wolfmen
"Plea from a house cat named Virtue" by The Weakerthans
"Racing Lights" by Stars of Track and Field
"Happiness" by Goldfrapp
"Acid Tongue" by Jenny Lewis
- Also, I have friends visiting from out-of-town this weekend and I couldn't be more stoked if I were at Disneyland chowing down on chicken tacos and a chocolate/vanilla swirl ice cream cone. Although that would be pretty damn awesome.
- Also, I finished that Chuck Klosterman book and thought it was only okay. Not as fresh feeling as Sex, Drugs and Cocoa Puffs or as snarky in a fun way as IV, but somewhere in-between. At the end I was left wanting a bit more, and wondering if I'd really learned anything about anything other than just how the author feels about love, death, and Radiohead (I mean, the bits about Radiohead really are brilliant and insightful, but a tangent is a tangent is a tangent). I also have come to despise his critics--Not those who blast him, but those who praise him. His writing is great, but god damn it all he's not the next Hunter S. Thompson. He's a smart guy, but this narrative is not the front-runner of a new wave one might callously refer to as "modern gonzo journalism." Just because you don't get it doesn't mean it's Fear and Loathing. Stop pretending like you've read anything by Thompson, and stop pretending you care that Salinger is dead. FUCK.
- Okay, on a lighter note, it's Easter candy season, which means my love has returned to store shelves:
- So some of you out there might have cats. Answer me this, readers--Does your cat sometimes sit in the middle of the room in the sunlight and just meow and meow and meow for an unknown reason? I mean my god, I'm right here in plain view and there's food in the bowl and water in the bowl and what could she possibly need? Is she just validating her existence by proclaiming "I am here!" the only way she knows how or is there a more desperate and sad meaning to these cries? I need a book on cat dementia.
"Bitter heart, bitter heart tries to keep it all inside.
Bitter heart, bitter heart--The shadows will help you try and hide.
Bitter heart, bitter heart is getting just a little fragile.
Bitter heart, this bitter heart o' mine."
Monday, February 8, 2010
Three
Lots of things come in threes, or so they say (who "they" are is subject to much speculation and, sometimes, suspicion). Deaths, births, good things, bad things, numbers, signals, signs, yaddas . . . Everything comes in a set. One, two, three.
Here are some threes for me.
Three Things Non-Football Related I learned From The Super Bowl:
1. Dan Marino needs to lay off the spray tan.
3. Betty White makes everything funnier by sheer presence alone.
Three Movies I watched Recently:
1. Julie and Julia
2. Smokin' Aces
3. Summer of Sam
Three Words to Describe Those Movies Listed Above (in order):
1. Sweet
2. Rushed
3. Cocaine
Three Things I'm Currently Obsessed With (or still obsessed with):
1. The idea of a cultural snapshot of America: New York City in 1977.
2. Brecken Meyer's adorable everything.
3. Boddington's in a glass.
Three Things I Bought At The Grocery Store Today:
1. Bananas
2. Ramen (chicken flavored)
3. Nonfat milk
Three Reasons Why I'm in Love:
1. Wrestling matches that turn into tickle fights that turn into sex that turn into tickle fights.
2. Morning coffee and The Daily Show reruns on hulu.
3. The ability to casually make fun of others without having to exchange words or gestures, only glances (see also: "relationship telepathy").
Three Songs I Keep Listening to Again and Again:
1. "What I Am [cover]" - Emma Bunton
2. "Machine Gun" - Portishead
3. "Hard to Live in The City" - Albert Hammond Jr.
Three New Facts About Me:
1. I quit my retail job last week.
2. I have to dress up for work now!
3. I paid a traffic ticket I never should've gotten in the first place.
Three Old Facts About Me That Loosely Relate to the Three New Facts About Me:
1. I'm in love with learning about, reading about, hearing about, talking about, and experiencing new music.
2. I really hate to iron.
3. I'm so broke it hurts.
Three Things That Happened at The Gay Bar on Saturday:
1. Some guy asked me if he could cut my hair.
2. I ran into someone whose name I remembered, but that was all. This person then proceeded to recite my life story, vital stats, and employment history like a damned personal Wikipedia. It made me feel terrible.
3. People fell down.
Three Short-Term Goals:
1. Get back to every-other-day blogging.
2. Complete a regular push-up regiment.
3. Get my oil changed.
See? Like I and also "they" said: Lots of things come in threes. Would this have been more insightful if I'd done lists that totaled in a number evenly divisible by three? Or is it more insightful that I thought of this after the fact? I'll have to mull that one around for a bit.
"Well I went to bed in Memphis,
And I woke up in Hollywood.
I got a quarter
in my pocket
And I'd call you if I could ."
And I woke up in Hollywood.
I got a quarter
in my pocket
And I'd call you if I could ."
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."
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."
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."
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.
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