typing madly

A Few Things I've Learned This Summer

2009-08-26T18:01:00.001-07:00

There's nothing happier than a dog on a beach.

Fig newtons do figs absolutely no justice.

When chickens are hot, they breathe through their mouths. As Pearl and Maude demonstrate here, it makes them look like they're singing heavy metal ballads.

The key to making it rain for the first time in weeks is to leave your laundry on the line over night.

Even vintage appliances are put to work in dire circumstances.

Cat tails are edible. For reals!

It's pretty great being me. Thanks, summer.

Lane Community Project Review

2009-08-26T16:13:00.000-07:00

It's been a couple of weeks now since the term ended, but I wanted to do a quick post on my final review project. We're still working all by hand at this point, so I decided to try out an unfamiliar medium to get me out of my comfort zone a little. I went for water color pencils, which were a lot of fun, although the water left the velum (a kind of thick trace paper we were required to render on) a bit wrinkled. The final presentation was also much larger format for this project, and our time line was much shorter, so we got to bond as a class over some late night (all night?) "coloring" sessions.

In a nutshell, our challenge was to re-invent the entrance to Lane Community College (which is just outside Eugene in a wooded/agricultural setting) in a way that would emphasize the school's commitment to green technology, while also tying the site to the wetlands just across the street (the site itself used to be wetlands). Seeing as it currently consists of three sewage settling ponds, there was really no where to go but up. Here's what it looks like now:

And *here*, is the site plan for (dum da da DUM!) the Lane Community Sustainable Farm and Water Garden! (applause)

I decided to concentrate on sustainable agriculture as a viable "green" industry that's currently gaining a lot of momentum. (Also, I really like farms. So there.) As you can see in the diagram below, I designed in booths for a farmers market, and a building with pasture space for an ethical animal husbandry center. My esteemed cohort Ethan Rainwater suggested jokingly that it could use a petting zoo, so I threw in an area where people could check out some ambassador animals. That meant I got to draw a little sheep!

If you squint and look close, you can see I also thought up excuses to draw tiny cows, plus a duck and a fish, not to mention the little pin-headed people. (Moving on...) The Water Garden component of the plan includes an area of oak savannah (which is consistent with the native area, see below), that transitions into a pond with a wildlife island in the center. Water enters the pond from Russell Creek, and the new sewage treatment facility. Nature trails wind through the site and connect via bridge to the wetlands across 30th street, as well as to the center of campus. This is my first attempt at drawing oak trees. What do you think?:

My presentation also included some simple water flow, traffic, and partí diagrams, but they're less interesting to look at. I can bore you with them next time I see you. Here's a blurry shot of me doing my dog and pony show for one of my reviewers:

He had just finished giving a scathing review to one of my talented classmates, so I was a tad nervous. Thankfully, aside from telling me my bridge was "weak," he was largely complimentary. Take that, first term! I think it's safe to say that I didn't go down as the first grad student in the program to "no pass" their first term summer classes. Chest bumps all around, my friends.

The Take

2009-07-18T20:54:00.000-07:00

Check out my bountiful take from today's volunteer work at the urban farm!

I got onions, a big green zucchini (that is destined to be zucchini apple bread tonight), yellow zucchini squash, a pitty-pat squash, chard, two types of lettuce, cauliflower, and four types of long beans! Whew. Those are some eggs our ladies made back there, too. I used the butter lettuce to make a nice green salad to go with my egg scramble lunch.

Yum!

The Urban Farm

2009-07-15T19:51:00.000-07:00

I showed up to work at the urban farm on campus on Saturday, and no one was there. The light was nice and overcast, so I took the opportunity to take a few photos. Can you tell I love raspberries and I'm fascinated with bees?

The best part of working on the urban farm is getting to take home free produce afterward. And sampling the berries while you work.

My First Site Plan

2009-07-15T19:17:00.000-07:00

I'm a little too brain fried to compose a decent post about this right now, but here's a quick shot of my very first site plan! It's a conceptual re-design of a sadly neglected playground the university owns. I presented my plan twice, first to the head of the department, and second to a local practicing landscape architect. They both had some valuable criticism to give, and pointed out many details I wouldn't have even considered. I definitely have a lot to learn. They also had a bunch of nice things to say, so I think overall it went as well as could be expected for my first time out. Chest bumps all around!

Here are a couple of shots of earlier models that were part of the design process:

Tomorrow we're going on a field trip to Portland to check out innovative landscape sites (mostly parks) around the west side of town. I'm already familiar with most of them, so it'll be interesting to see what our professor has to say about them. More importantly, I'm going to stick around town for Friday, too, and try to wrangle myself into the schedules of at least a few of the people I miss. Watch out, Stumptown! I'm on the loose.

New Digs

2009-07-09T21:14:00.000-07:00

Ok, here it is, the Eugene house tour I promised. Here we are, entering through the front porch. Stalkers, take note of my house number. I'll leave it up to you to figure out the street name.

The entryway leads into the living room, with our newest thrift store steal, the little brown couch. Wilder was sadly couchless for the first week or so we were here. He's making up for lost couch time now.

Here's the rest of the living room, as seen from the hallway.

That blindingly bright corner in the photo is our breakfast nook, completed by our other fortunate thrift store find, the little round table. What with limited space issues, this is currently our only indoor eating space. The weather has been so nice, though, we've been eating a lot of dinners out in the back yard on the patio furniture. Summer is so great!

The hall leads to my room. (As well as the bathroom and the other bedroom.) Before we moved in, the landlord offered to paint it, so I picked out the same colors I had in my room in Portland. It's comforting when I'm feeling a little homesick. Aw.

Back through the living room, we head into the kitchen.

We're still working on this room. I think we're gonna get a table that fits over Wilder's crate so we can have more counter space.

And now for the best part... the back yard! The kitchen leads to a laundry room we share with the tenants who live in the two studio units back here. The little structure to the right is the coop for Renee's chickens. She brought "the ladies" down with her from Portland. We get fresh eggs pretty much daily, announced with some cute victory squawking.

Renee also brought this nice big pot of herbs that I use to cook with all the time. If you hadn't noticed, I seriously lucked out roommate-wise.

Our little house is on a double lot that stretches way back from the street. The foot path leads to raised beds and fruit trees, as well as the two studio units that share the lot. Another one of my favorite cohorts from our class is subletting the unit you can see through the trees until the end of the summer term.

Here are a couple of the aforementioned fruit trees. Wilder is modeling the pear tree, which probably won't be ready for harvest until August. The cherry tree, on the other hand, is just finishing its season.

Check out all the cherries! Renee and I climbed up yesterday and picked a big mixing bowl full. I ate some with yogurt, and Renee used to rest to make an amazing cherry-blueberry-strawberry pie.

It's going fast. I had pie for breakfast this morning. So good.

I'd also like to introduce you to Wilder's new guy pals, namely Renee's husband Jay and their retired greyhound Howard. Jay and Howard have made the Eugene transition much easier for Wilder, as they keep him company during the day while I'm at school. As you can see, he has already fallen for their charms.

I have lots to tell you about school, but that will have to wait for the next post. Now, it's bed time.

Eva Gets a Funny Hat

2009-06-17T16:47:00.000-07:00

I took a short but fun trip down to Santa Barbara to see Eva, the youngest of the Carroll siblings, graduate from UC Santa Barbara. She now has a Bachelors degree in Zoology. We are very proud. As you can see, I took the opportunity to share in a little of her glory by sneaking into dignified photos. It's hard being my little sister.

All of the immediate family managed to make it out for the celebration, as did my mom's sister Mary and my cousin Jonathan who is on summer break from Columbia University. He informed us that there are limited tickets to his graduation next year, so he can't guarantee us seats. He suggested looking for a scalper. I get the feeling he may be embarrassed of us, though I can't imagine why.

Damian's daughter Molly was skeptical when he explained that Eva would be celebrating her graduation by wearing a funny hat and a long black robe, and that we would throw tortillas like frisbees. (That last part happened at my UCSB graduation. Damian liked that part best, and was determined to relive the experience.) Seeing as Damian regularly makes silly things up, Molly had to see it to believe it. Here's Eva with the aforementioned tortillas (provided by Damian).

As it turned out, every one of Eva's classmates had a name, so it took a long time for all of them to be called. Always one to multitask, Molly decided to style my hair for me while we waited. One of the announcers called out the names like it was a game show. It made things more interesting. I think we should hire him for my graduation in 3 years and one summer.

Afterwards, we went out for a lunch at the Beach House Cafe and had fruity boozy drinks to toast the graduate.

Molly showed her enthusiasm by doing her famous walrus impression.

Convincing, isn't it? I mean, which one is her??

I flew home that night and shared a truck with Renee the next day to move the bulky stuff down to our new place in Eugene. I'm so excited about our house! I'll give you a photo tour soon. Now I'm just finishing up the week at work before school starts on Monday. Yikes. Wish me luck!

Portland Adventure Pants

2009-06-08T20:53:00.000-07:00

One of my oldest and dearest friends Cara came to visit this weekend. She's put up with me since junior high, so she's pretty much a saint. Isn't she adorable? Don't be fooled, folks, under that winning smile and those killer curls there lurks a brain like a steel trap. She's currently a U.S. women's history professor, and she's applying to PhD programs this year. What a smarty-pants! In any case, she wanted a whirlwind tour of Portland and I was happy to oblige.

It's funny how showing someone around your own town can make things seem new and interesting all over again. (Warning to local readers, this post is full of shameless tourism.) We hit up a wide variety of local tourist haunts, and none of them disappointed. First we took pictures of Klickitat Street, of Beverly Cleary fame. Here I am, pointing helpfully to the street sign.

Continuing along that theme, we went to Grant Park, which borders Beverly Cleary Elementary, to check out the bronze fountain featuring Ramona, Henry, and Ribsy the dog.

Wilder briefly suspected that it was a real dog, and investigated accordingly.

After that, we met up with Cara's long-time family friend Geoffrey and his wife Moonstar for sushi at Zilla on Alberta Street. We tried out the sparkling sake.

From there we followed the blinking neon lights to the Alibi to soak up some tiki-tastic ambiance.

The next day we braved the Rose Parade traffic to get a taste of the west side of the river. Cara bought a monster stack of books at Powells, and gave me some great title recommendations for brushing up on my women's history. Even with my impending move to Eugene looming, I couldn't resist the temptation to buy JUST three books. I blame Cara's infectious enthusiasm.

Cara had read about the bizarre doughnuts at VooDoo, so we walked over there next. Despite taboo options like raspberry-filled voodoo doll and cream-filled cocknballs, we opted for classic glazed. Cara got a good picture of the case of doughnut wonders, though... and the painting of zombie doughnuts being controlled by their voodoo master.

After a quick Stumptown Coffee fix for Cara at Backspace (Amanda makes a beautiful mocha), we took a scenic drive out to Multnomah Falls for lunch. Local wine and smoked salmon were had, along with tasty turkey cheddar burgers.

Oh, and the falls were pretty nice, too.

On the way back into town, we went on a mission to get some Twilight-themed photos requested by the angsty-vampire aficionado Nancy Van Martin. After some twists and turns, we found the Viewpoint Inn where the prom scene of the movie was filmed, I am told. There was a wedding in progress, so we had to do a drive-by photo shoot to get the close up.

We also stopped off to see the view from the Portland Women's Forum viewpoint. The Columbia River Gorge was breathtaking, as usual.

Cara wanted to get a taste of each of the five quadrants (quintrants?), so we drove around to see the fancy houses by Laurelhurst Park and explored Hawthorne a little bit to check South East off the list.

Finally, we stopped off for a quick photo shoot in the rose garden at Peninsula Park, back in my neighborhood. There's a reason we're called the city of roses!

We were pretty exhausted by the time we got back home, but Cara still managed to make an amazing arugula salad for dinner. You'll have to ask her for the recipe. It was to die for. We fell into bed happy and full.

Thanks to my neighbors' chickens, we had fresh scrambled eggs on toast for breakfast with fresh sage and rosemary from the herb garden. Topped with Tillamook sharp cheddar and a couple dashes of hot sauce, it's my new favorite breakfast invention. So good!

I was sad to have to take Cara back to the airport so soon. It was so fun having her as an excuse to put off packing and say a proper good-bye to Portland. I'm keeping my fingers crossed UO stays on her short list. She even got the cloudy weather she was hoping for!

Ok, back to packing. Sigh.

You've got some Xplaning to do...

2009-06-05T10:37:00.000-07:00

Yesterday marked two years since I was hired on at Xplane. The one and only Andrew James Crowley penned the above sketch in honor of the occasion. It was requested that I write a little bit about what working at the company has meant to me, but everything I tried to write seriously kept coming off as cheesy and sentimental (albeit true), so I opted for the cop-out "Ten things i never thought I would do that I did because of Xplane." I could add several "Work for client X" bullets to this list, but that would be kind of boring, and I think the Secretary of Education one sums up my mixed feelings and sense of irony about working for corporate and government clients pretty well. Anyway, here's my list:

I never thought I would…

1. have a corner office
2. become the resident Powerpoint expert (woooo… nothing can stop me now!)
3. design a presentation about how great No Child Left Behind was… for the US Secretary of Education
4. get labeled a "hipster" by a client when I was wearing my nice pants
5. achieve a level of Zen wherein I cease to notice when rubber bands and foam balls are ricocheting off my head
6. really like oil company guys
7. wish so much I could visit St Louis
8. feel sorry for myself because coming up with stick figure drawings can be so haaaaard sometimes
9. genuinely look forward to having lunch in the office with my coworkers
10. leave a job I truly loved where I had so much more to learn

Ok, so reading that again, some of it doesn't really make much sense out of context. So, for those of you who aren't familiar with the inner workings at Xplane, here are a few photos to give you some idea.

My "corner office" (actually just a corner of the one, big office everyone shares). The black drain pipe radiates cold in the winter and makes me have to pee every half hour when it's raining.

We take Halloween very seriously. That's Aric, our CEO, dressed as Maleficent from Sleeping Beauty, and our head of finance, Rich, channeled his teenage self and rocked a mohawk.

Is this diagram printed huge, or am I really small?? You'll never know! Unless you ask me. Then I'll tell you.

Marvin and I trying to prove we're serious sometimes.

The pictionary Dream Team. Our only failure was when the category was "Famous Landmark" and Matt drew Pee Wee Herman. I guessed Pee Wee's Playhouse instead of the Alamo. Total fail.

The talented, sardonic, and inhumanly flexible Dylan Meconis... she might be listening to This American Life, or she might just be ignoring you.

Mister Clean gets political.

Joe's Gerald Ford piece de resistance.

Joe has fun with photoshop.

Drew comes to stay with us for a month!

Man, I'm going to miss this place.

Radio Waves

2009-06-02T10:35:00.000-07:00

My good friend / talented illustrator / expert infographic designer (and fellow science nerd) Joe Shoulak clued me in last week to an interesting episode of Science Friday on NPR that discusses the advantages of landscaping with native plants. Just a couple of nights later, my soon-to-be housemate Renee (who has a fabulous blog on urban homesteading) gushed enthusiastically about the same broadcast. I couldn't wait to listen to it myself! You can hear it by clicking here, or you can go to the Science Friday website here. Click on the yellow caterpillar picture like the one above to see a series of impressive photos, captioned to explain the basic concepts.

Finding a discussion like this in the media is SO exciting to me. I feel like the stars are aligning in the U.S. (so to speak): economic, scientific and political variables catalyze the push for environmental solutions, and thus a healthy and heated dialogue is sparked about how to improve and implement land and natural resource management. What's even more exciting, is that people are getting motivated to rethink their landscapes on an individual level.

Like any complex issue (and what worthy issue isn't?), this one has a lot of angles to consider, and a lot of angle enthusiasts to argue their points. (How did you like that extended "angle" metaphor? Double double meaning!) I'm particularly interested in people's views about mixing permaculture practices with native plantings. How can we inform our landscape decisions to create low-energy, food-producing, water-managing, environment-supporting, and aesthetically beautiful landscapes? What about public landscapes? Is it possible to do all this in an urban space that fits the needs of the surrounding community?

I have so much to learn and so many questions. I can't wait to start school!

[Update: Dr. Doug Tallamy, who is featured in this broadcast, has a great website for his book, which includes a clickable map of the US where you can get suggestions for native plants in your area that you can plant in your yard.]

Dinosaur Day Afternoon

2009-05-30T17:00:00.000-07:00

It really feels like summer in Portland now. After a couple of solid weeks of 70s and up weather, I'm back in the habit of putting sunscreen on after I shower every morning, without even consulting weather channel dot com first. Today I slathered up and aired out the shimmering heat wave in my car to go teach an art lesson in deep southwest Portland. It was loads of fun. Check out this missing-tooth-gapped grin. How could you not love it?!

I donated two hours of my time to my friend Barrie's boys' school auction, and Barrie ended up convincing the highest bidder to share the "art party" with her and another family. There were five kids total (aged three to six) and lots of adults to help out, which always makes things so much easier. Using dinosaurs as a theme, we learned some basic art concepts like 2D vs 3D, using your eyes vs using your imagination, basic perspective (bigger is closer, smaller is farther, as well as overlapping to show relation), and paint color mixing. I'm always amazed and humbled with what kids come up with. Seriously inspiring.

I enjoyed putting my teaching pants back on, even if it was only for a couple of hours. Plus, the host mom inquired as to how much I would charge to come and do it again sometime! Maybe I should put out feelers in Eugene to see if parents would be willing to pay me to come over to their houses, make fun messes and then leave. Not a bad day's work, if you ask me.

What I did for my Memorial Day vacation...

2009-05-26T21:00:00.000-07:00

So, what with the finding out I didn't get into grad school and then with the finding out the next day that i *did* get into grad school, and with the classes starting in June and all the ridiculous piles of things I need to get done to successfully move to another town and start a college program that will, with luck, lead to a new career path, I decided what I really needed to do was overhaul my yard. Why, you may ask, was this my warped priority? Well, for three reasons:

One. I am leaving my beloved house in the hands of my trusty but busy friends/tenants, and I want to make the yard low-maintenance enough that it won't get out of hand. As it is, the neighbors are occasionally known to lean over the fence and wax wistfully on the horticultural virtues of the lady who previously owned my house. "My, she did wonderful things with the yard," they say... and after a pregnant pause, "she was a beautiful woman, too." Damn you, Kelly Hugget! I still get your mail after three years AND I have to hear about how effing great you were?

Two. I don't want to have to make disclaimer jokes about how "my yard will look much better *after* I get my degree, ha ha," any more.

Three. Any free time my brain has to wander will be spent cooking up reasons to be anxious about all of this transitional stuff, so I feel obligated to fill my empty head space with something mentally occupying and fill my free time with something physically exhausting.

To that end, I have fallen asleep to dreamy mental plans of fluffy mulch and sprouting ground cover for the last week and a half. The exhausting part took place over the three day weekend. Happily, it involved the fun noise and power-tool-machismo of my new best friend, the sod cutter. For those who don't know, a sod cutter is basically a heavy duty lawn mower that mows your lawn completely off, including the roots. You can set it to cut up to 3 inches deep (I did an inch and a quarter), and it cuts in neat strips that you can roll up like carpet.

A huge thanks to Raf and his truck for making my second attempt at sod cutter rental a success. (Note to potential sod cutter renters: do not show up to the Home Depot tool rental center with a Pontiac Vibe "sport" wagon expecting to fit a 350 pound piece of machinery in the back. The tool guys will laugh at you.) Many more thanks to my good-humored manual laborers, which included the most neighborly neighbor I've ever met, Owen, and the best housemates *anyone* has ever had, Ruth and John. John wins a million gold stars, as he stuck with the project for all three days, despite miserable allergies. I am going to write a letter to the pope requesting that he be sainted immediately.

In any case, here are the before and after shots of the side of the house with the raised beds and fruit trees.

All that in only two days! I'm going to build another raised bed this week to put in the empty space at the bottom. Still, we're going to have a good amount of dark, rich soil left over. Anyone who lives within wheel-barrowing distance should come take some home!

On Monday we mulched the other side of the house, and put down topsoil and turf seed in the back. I'm trying out some alternative turf from ProTime, a local Portland company. They worked with Portland State students to develop lawn alternatives that are more environmentally sound. I got the "ProTime 705 PDX Ecology Mix," which isn't as showy or interesting as their flowering or herbal mixes, but it was the one that required the least water and mowing. It's composed of a few varieties of clover (which self-fertilize) and yarrow and some short, hardy grasses. Supposedly, it should stay green through the summer without watering. I'm optimistically skeptical. The only annoying thing is, the ProTime store on Ankeny is only open from nine to four on weekdays, so I ended up ordering a bag of seed online and having it delivered instead of just biking by to pick it up. That sort of defeats the whole environmental angle a little bit, but oh well.

Now that the mountainous piles of soil and mulch that have been blocking half of the street (much to the chagrin of at least one nosy neighbor) have been largely conquered and the equally massive pile of yard debris has been hauled away, I've had a chance to take note of the beautiful little fruits the garden is producing like crazy. Here are a few photos, adorable enough for a baby album, of the grapes, strawberries, blueberries, pears, and single fig I plan to make the trip up from Eugene to sample this summer:

Next up: re-routing the down spouts and fixing the fence. Yay tools!

Travels

2009-05-26T10:08:00.000-07:00

Oh, ALSO, I went to some incredible places in the last couple of years. There are photos of my trip to visit Simon and go to Aileen's wedding in Brazil here and photos of my trip to visit Eva in South Africa here. I sure hope I get opportunities to travel for grad school, cause I've already got the itch for another overseas adventure.

Change

2009-05-26T09:25:00.000-07:00

Hello there. I find myself at a time of transition, and it makes me realize how many things have changed since I last posted anything on this here interbot blog. I'll do a long post tonight, but to start off, here's the short list of top things that have happened in the past 2 years that are highly significant to me, personally.

1) I got a job as a design lead at XPLANE wherein I got paid to draw stick figures in front of corporate big-wigs (and subsequently got too busy to blog at work).
2) Barack Obama replaced George Bush, and Michelle Obama became the best first lady *ever.* Next step: get the Obamas to adopt me as their third (but eldest) child.
3) I got seriously single.
4) I got into the Masters program for Landscape Architecture at University of Oregon! Wa hoo!

All major, exciting changes. I'm a little sad to be leaving my great job and talented coworkers behind, and I'm seriously bummed to be moving away from Portland and all of my fabulous friends for three years (I fear Eugene), but this grad program is going to be amazing. Things are falling into place one by one as if the Universe and I are in cahoots. More on all that later. Just wanted to say a quick hello. Hello! More soon...

I Still Exist

2007-04-28T19:55:00.000-07:00

ok, so it's been a teensy eensy while since the last time i posted. like, if my last post had inexplicably caused me to be pregnant, i would be in the 3rd trimester by now. past the morning sickness, well into the eating frenzy. like, i'd be on the couch, demanding that my post go to safeway and pick me up some chocolate peanut-butter soylicious, and i don't care what time it is, or if you're already in your post pajamas, i need chocolate-peanut-butter-goodness RIGHT NOW. if you didn't want to walk to safeway at ten-thirty pm, well, you should've thought about that 7 months ago, shouldn't you?

anyway, i guess a *few* things have happened since then, but part of the reason it's taken so long for me to write is because i get daunted at the idea of trying to catch up on that much time, so i'm going to keep this one simple.

basic premise for post: i went to thailand in february.
sub-premise: i put photos from said trip up on flickr.

if you would like to view said photos, feel free. maybe i'll write more about the trip later. NO PRESSURE, though. jesus. get off my back.

I Heart NY

2006-10-20T16:44:00.000-07:00

i had a handful of days i had to take off by october 1st, lest i lose them to the rolling cogs and cranks of the paid vacation machine. i could afford a couple of discount plane tickets, but not hotel accomadations, so... i went a-visiting. trips are always cheaper when you couch surf! i actually spent 4 days in san francisco first, but i don't have any pictures from that trip yet (eric promises they're in the mail), so new york gets to be immortalized in blog-form before the foggy city. unfortunately, i wasn't feeling very trigger-happy in the big apple, and the pictures i did take came out weird and blurry for the most part. (note to self: must re-aquaint self with camera. read self's camera manual.) anyway, i'll incude the ones i messed around in photoshop enough to satisfy my need to attempt to fix unfixable images.

by the time i got in, my jet-setting german friends bianca and gerrit had already been seeing the sights for a few days, so i didn't end up getting in much touristy-type action. we did walk through central park, however. we also partook in lots and lots of delicious junk food. here they are, sharing a yummy central park hot dog (with a dash of cliché). and here they are again, soaking in the ambiance at a divey cafe near the park in madison square (after we ate amazing burgers at the shake shack):

jen was nice enough to put me up in her tiny but welcoming studio. she's attending columbia medical, but still managed to find time to play soccer on a women's league (her team is associated with an irish pub. quite the bunch of heavily-accented characters), as well as other athletic-type activities. honestly, she puts me to shame. i got to accompany her to a game. i got tired just watching her run around.

i also managed to meet up with an old face from my year in bordeaux, jason chau. speaking of friends who put me to shame, this guy not only spent a few years in niger with the peace corps, but also went on to work in pakistan with amnesty international. he acted as an adviser to PRESIDENT MUSHARRAF. that's right, this guy. jason also, bizarrely, acted as ben kingsley's guide while he was in the area (doing research for a documentary... i think?). here's a surreal photo of jason with musharraf, kingsley, and some other various important people i don't recognize:

coincidentally, jen and i watched the good general's interview with jon stewart on the daily show website the night before i hung out with jason. it's pretty hilarious. in any case, it was great to see him again. he's done a lot of learning, etc, but he's still got the same sarcastic charm he always had. we went to see "The science of sleep," which i highly recommend. it left me in an otherworldly state of mind, which became all the more magnified as i watched the fraggle-like underground construction in the subway tunnels on the way back to jen's place. here's a couple more shots of jason and i hanging out in the subway. we are SO new york:

here's to the hope that my next visit will be longer. as it was, i had just enough time to really understand what the term "new york minute" means. alas.

Soapbox Antics

2006-10-17T17:28:00.000-07:00

i had the pleasure of witnessing the spectacle of the pdx soapbox derby this year. my coworker zach helps organize the event, and he was nice enough to hire me to do the above logo. i can steal design with the best of them!

and, speaking of the best of them, some of my portland nearest and dearest turned out for the fun as well. they were all wearing their most ecstatic facial expressions. can i hear a roll call??

ruth!

isaac!

demo!

brody!

etta!

lyndsay and brandon!

allen and girl i only met once!

david hasslehoff!

rude skater kids!

random goth punk guy!

and me!

yes. i am one of my own nearest and dearest. shut up.

ahem.

the excitement was palpable. who would win?? would it be...

satan claus?

the crazy engineer?

the mail order brides?

batman?

chariot guy?

or perhaps, my personal favorite... the cubicle workers?? (they had a functioning drinking fountain!!)

... or could it be one of the many soapbox teams we missed seeing because we slept in too late and showed up in the middle of the second round???!!

i actually have no idea. we left early. but not before we got to witness the gory after effects of the bath tub betties' full-speed crash:

ouch. not to worry. they were supplied with plenty of alcohol to disinfect their wounds (and numb the pain). good times. good times.

Serious Sex Stuff

2006-10-16T18:16:00.000-07:00

hello gentle reader. so, it's been a long time since the good head came back. i won't make excuses. i have a handful of posts i want to get to in the next few days, but to get the ball rolling, i'm going to copy and paste a response i wrote to a bulletin my sister posted on myspace. the article it refers to is pasted at the end of my response, so it might make more sense to read that first. i realize this is more serious than i usually get on here, but i thought a lot about what i wrote, and i figured i may as well record it for posterity. (and maybe start some sort of dialogue?) i promise to go back to being ridiculous in my next post. i realize some of my opinions are far from popular, and i welcome the input of anyone who cares to share how they feel about the subjects brought up. i may be more in the dark than i realize. anyway, here you go:

this is an interesting article, eva, with a lot of thought-provoking points, but i think (particularly in the particular case it is referring to), it is rather misguided. from what the media has told us (which, admittedly, is rarely enough to form an educated opinion) it would seem that the man who attacked the amish school was not so much suffering from issues of misogyny as issues of pedophilia. he made the adult female teachers leave the building (along with the male students), and kept only the female children hostage. he is said to have been wracked with guilt for his previous act of molesting young girls, among other traumatic issues. this case could be more accurately compared to the tragic and numerous cover-ups of child molestation in the catholic church than it could be to hate crimes towards (adult) women. just as a man molesting a young boy should not be compared to homosexuality (wherein both partners are consenting adults), a man molesting young girls should not be equated with issues dealing with heterosexual sexuality. pedophilia is it's own issue, and should be treated as such.

i believe that we, as a society, need to take a hard look at how we handle the issue of pedophilia. there are no childhood/adolescent programs to teach young people what to do if they are worried that they may be experiencing signs of this type of behavior. we have programs for anger management, we talk openly about the problems of violence, drugs, gangs, cigarettes, alcoholism, etc with our youth... and we have (albeit, substandard) sex education classes in public schools, but the only advice we ever give kids about pedophilia is "if a grown-up touches you, tell a teacher or your parents."

the sad truth is, pedophiles start out as kids themselves. they start having sexual urges towards younger children when they go through adolescence. by the time they are adults who have been fighting (or, even worse, giving in to) these urges for years and years, it is very likely too late for therapy to effectively change their behavior. sexual urges are among the strongest of human impulses, and become hardwired in the brain at an early age. from what we've been told, the man who committed the amish school slayings was wracked with guilt about what he had done years before, and he knew what he was going to do was also terrible thing, but he felt he was helpless to stop himself. maybe, if he had gotten therapy immediately after (or even better, before) the first time he acted on his urges (when he was 12 years old), his life and the lives of his victims could have been dramatically different. instead, pedophilia is so demonized that people who have these feelings have no where to go, and no one to tell. their lives would be instantly ruined if they confessed the mental issues they were struggling with. i'm certainly not saying that pedophiles should be treated lightly. as i said, i think it is very unlikely that a person who has had sexual urges towards children their whole life can be effectively "cured" of these issues and thus he/she poses a real threat to society. but i do believe that we are doing almost nothing to deal with the root of the problem.

as for lumping sexually suggestive commercials, hard-core porn, gangsa rap, video games, and fashion into the same the-world-against-women industry... well, i've got to take issue with that, too. i'm not saying that i haven't been offended by a small portion of each of these categories, but what is this article suggesting? that we should censor all of these things? there are other countries that do censor these things, and very strictly so. they don't show sexualized images of women on tv. they don't allow porn or lots of kinds of music. they ban sexually suggestive games and clothing. they also make women wear burkas and don't let them leave the house without a male family member as an escort. they kill women who are raped (and yes, they are still raped) because of the shame it brings on the family. women aren't allowed to be educated or independent or hold important jobs. i don't see how censorship is going to help the situation in the U.S.

i'd like to add (although many feminists would probably disagree with me) that i don't believe pornography and prostitution are inherently misogynistic. sexuality is a complex, crazy thing. some people (women too) like to fantasize about things they wouldn't want to experience in real life. i've talked to girls who have rape/bdsm fantasies that they are ashamed of, because they think that playing a submissive role in their sex lives is inherently antifeminist, when in fact lots of independent/strong people – men too – tend to like this kind of role reversal in bed. it's a role they don't play in their everyday lives, which can make it exciting and taboo to explore with a dominant partner. the fact is, there's all kinds of porn. there's porn for every sexual taste out there. now, i'm not saying that snuff films or porn in which people are actually being hurt against their will (or they are too young to legally consent) should be tolerated... but for the most part, it's fantasy. maybe some of the women who appear in porn would have chosen to do something else as a career if they had higher self esteems and better education, but i've read interviews with some porn stars (and escorts/strippers/other sex industry workers) who say they love their jobs. for some, it's the best means they have to support their families and have a flexible enough schedule to spend time with their kids. if we're really concerned with the welfare of women (and men) in the sex industry, then prostitution should be legalized and regulated. if we don't like "pimp culture," we should provide a safe and healthy environment for prostitution to occur, so that women wouldn't need to depend on men that may take advantage of them and treat them unfairly for protection... because just like abortion, it's not a choice as to whether prostitution exists or not. it is only a choice of how it exists.

i do, of course, agree that there is rampant sexism and misogyny in the u.s. media and in society as a whole, but i think the real answer is education. women need to be shown, from childhood, that they are worthy of respect and love from men and from each other, and men need to be taught that women are their social and sexual equals. people need to be taught that sexuality isn't something to be ashamed of, as long as it's between consenting adults. well educated people will recognize unfair and unhealthy images of women (and men) in the media, and they will reject them.

oh, and the "it's hard out here for a pimp" song is a personal favorite. in context of the film (hustle and flow), it works to emphasize the culture and experience of the character who writes it, and the film goes on to paint some of the most realistic, sympathetic and human portraits of female prostitute characters i have seen in modern film.

love. yer sis

* * * * *

Why Aren't We Shocked?
By BOB HERBERT
October 16th, 2006
NY Times Select

"Who needs a brain when you have these?"
--message on an Abercrombie & Fitch T-shirt for young women

In the recent shootings at an Amish schoolhouse in rural Pennsylvania and a large public high school in Colorado, the killers went out of their way to separate the girls from the boys, and then deliberately attacked only the girls.

Ten girls were shot and five killed at the Amish school. One girl was killed and a number of others were molested in the Colorado attack.

In the widespread coverage that followed these crimes, very little was made of the fact that only girls were targeted. Imagine if a gunman had gone into a school, separated the kids up on the basis of race or religion, and then shot only the black kids. Or only the white kids. Or only the Jews.

There would have been thunderous outrage. The country would have first recoiled in horror, and then mobilized in an effort to eradicate that kind of murderous bigotry. There would have been calls for action and reflection. And the attack would have been seen for what it really was: a hate crime.

None of that occurred because these were just girls, and we have become so accustomed to living in a society saturated with misogyny that violence against females is more or less to be expected. Stories about the rape, murder and mutilation of women and girls are staples of the news, as familiar to us as weather forecasts. The startling aspect of the Pennsylvania attack was that this terrible thing happened at a school in Amish country, not that it happened to girls.

The disrespectful, degrading, contemptuous treatment of women is so pervasive and so mainstream that it has just about lost its ability to shock. Guys at sporting events and other public venues have shown no qualms about raising an insistent chant to nearby women to show their breasts. An ad for a major long-distance telephone carrier shows three apparently naked women holding a billing statement from a competitor. The text asks, "When was the last time you got screwed?"

An ad for Clinique moisturizing lotion shows a woman's face with the lotion spattered across it to simulate the climactic shot of a porn video.

We have a problem. Staggering amounts of violence are unleashed on women every day, and there is no escaping the fact that in the most sensational stories, large segments of the population are titillated by that violence. We've been watching the sexualized image of the murdered 6-year-old JonBenet Ramsey for 10 years. JonBenet is dead. Her mother is dead. And we're still watching the video of this poor child prancing in lipstick and high heels.

What have we learned since then? That there's big money to be made from thongs, spandex tops and sexy makeovers for little girls. In a misogynistic culture, it's never too early to drill into the minds of girls that what really matters is their appearance and their ability to please men sexually.

A girl or woman is sexually assaulted every couple of minutes or so in the U.S. The number of seriously battered wives and girlfriends is far beyond the ability of any agency to count. We're all implicated in this carnage because the relentless violence against women and girls is linked at its core to the wider society's casual willingness to dehumanize women and girls, to see them first and foremost as sexual vessels - objects - and never, ever as the equals of men.

"Once you dehumanize somebody, everything is possible," said Taina Bien-Aimé, executive director of the women's advocacy group Equality Now.

That was never clearer than in some of the extreme forms of pornography that have spread like nuclear waste across mainstream America. Forget the embarrassed, inhibited raincoat crowd of the old days. Now Mr. Solid Citizen can come home, log on to this $7 billion mega-industry and get his kicks watching real women being beaten and sexually assaulted on Web sites with names like "Ravished Bride" and "Rough Sex: Where Whores Get Owned."

Then, of course, there's gangsta rap, and the video games where the players themselves get to maul and molest women, the rise of pimp culture (the Academy Award-winning song this year was "It's Hard Out Here for a Pimp"), and on and on.

You're deluded if you think this is all about fun and games. It's all part of a devastating continuum of misogyny that at its farthest extreme touches down in places like the one-room Amish schoolhouse in normally quiet Nickel Mines, Pa.

The Good Head is Back

2006-08-21T11:20:00.000-07:00

as evidenced by this lovely set of pictures, i am feeling better about the world and my place in it. (they were only 20 cents... and worth every penny.) brody and i made them with a machine at the nickel arcade sunday evening. we went out for some late-night (open until midnight!) video game action with mike shelley and luke (in town from san francisco for a conference – yay!). i blasted a whole lot of endangered sea creatures into oblivion, thus gaining piles of treasure, and then crashed some cars. it was very therapeutic. plus, brody and i combined our skee-ball and nickel-bowling ticket winnings and got a sweet keyboard-with-microphone-attached. i think we should start a band wherein i play/yell into that, and he plays his upright bass. it will be wicked awesome. we will be called "Stand Up and Shout," and Dio will sue us when we make wads of cash.

thanks, guys, for cheering me up. particularly my main squeeze, who is so nice that he only kind of pretends not to know me when it looks like i peed my pants:

Two-Headed Monster: The Bad Head

2006-08-18T14:19:00.000-07:00

ok, so i'm in a crummy mood. i've sort of been in a funk since tuesday and i thought it was because i had been drinking more caffeine than i should, but i cut that out, and i'm still in a funk. so this is going to be a grumpy, complainy post. so there.

here are the things my lame-o brain has decided i'm grumpy about:
• i didn't want to go to work today.
• when i got there, it turned out half of editorial was going to see snakes on a plane, and ezra was going with them, but i couldn't because my boss was coming in late and i could, thus, not ask her if it was cool if i bailed.
• then there was nothing to do all morning.
• we went to beulaland for lunch, and it turns out they are under the impression that bleu cheese dressing consists of nothing but mayonnaise with the occasional giant bleu cheese chunk. plus, they didn't have bbq sauce, which is a pub-food cardinal sin.
• ok, so mike shelley came over to watch some buffy with me wednesday night, and the musical episode was on (once more with feeling), and 3 of my housemates sat down to watch it with us, and then proceeded to comment very loudly about how much it sucked. now, i don't particularly care if people like the same shows/movies i like, but i certainly don't want to hear about it while they're watching them (uninvited) with me. especially since i've witnessed changes of heart in so many shit-talkers who now consider themselves fans. i told them to shut up for get out, of which they did neither. i should evict them on those grounds alone.
• fences cost too much.
• zach kind of hates me.
• a coworker is trying to low-ball me with a freelance job i'm doing for him... and he's trying to be sly about it. but i'm not dumb, and it annoys me more that he would assume i am than the whole money thing does.
• ezra and some guy talked about the softball team, and the guy kept talking about "having" to play girls on the field, and he's a sexist jerk.
• i hate being in a bad mood. it makes me feel ugly.

did you see that?? my brain thinks i'm in a bad mood because i hate being in a bad mood! that is illogical reasoning! i need to crawl into bed with a cup of cocoa and a copy of bust magazine.

Get a Room

2006-08-10T11:04:00.000-07:00

brody and i made out in the background at a photo shoot (at demo's request) for the cover of the mercury this week. i was under the impression that we were going for a seedy, passionate look, but it turned out pretty cutesy instead. it's supposed to be taking place at three in the morning, but was really taken at 5pm, when the sun was still in full effect. the photographer (Angela Cash) did a great job with the lighting, etc. now i'm just waiting for all the modeling agents to start calling. don't worry - i won't forget the little people when i'm a strung-out fashion icon.

Surrounded by Family

2006-08-01T13:55:00.000-07:00

as little jessiah here (one of 11 siblings, soon to be 12) knows all too well, it can be trying at times to be surrounded by one's relatives. unlike our friends and partners, we don't get to choose our family. they just are who they are... it's the luck of the draw. i am happy to say that i am luckier than most, and much much luckier than some. despite differences the size and depth of the grand canyon, the majority of my extended family manages to get along well enough to enjoy the time we share together. while it would be easy to take a joking jab or two at a cousin here or there, i decided instead to just say thanks. thanks for the foundation of tolerance and understanding the "grand" and "great-grand" generations built for us, and thanks for all the effort the subsequent generations have made to keep that spirit alive.

that's me, in the dumb hat. trust me, no one wants to see my hair after 3 days of camping:

and yes, people really do make those silly family reunion t-shirts.

ruthie and thya discover that sharing dirt-covered stuffed animals is, apparently, pretty fun:

babies, babies, babies. brody thinks they're contagious. if they are, we're in a big tub of trouble. meanwhile, molly learns to drive a car:

caden learns to drive a boat:

...and thya attempts to escape the paparazzi:

my cousin serapio has posted some images that captured the reunion spirit quite well, i think. here are a couple of my favorites:

the camp fire:

the sunset cruise:

and look! proof that brody kicked with the carrolls... and got terrifyingly close to a baby.

ok, i'm really ending this post now. really. for real.

Farkles Family Reunion

2006-07-25T17:57:00.000-07:00

tonight i pack for the family reunion. i'll be in tahoe enjoying the company of my dad's side of the family from wednesday night until sunday. they're quite the eclectic mix of religious/social/moral beliefs, so at the least it should be interesting to eaves drop on random conversations. brody has (bravely) agreed to come along. mike filtz and his family are, coincidentally, going to be there at the same time. if all goes well, hilarity will ensue.

I Smell a Rat

2006-07-19T16:51:00.000-07:00

it smells mildly of dead rat by my desk. my subsequent displeasure is compounded by the fact that most of my coworkers lack a quality sense of smell, and think i am making it up. thus, nothing is being done. i already tore apart my area looking for the moldering culprit (more likely a mouse, actually), but to no avail. so the odor remains. gross.

while we're on the subject of rats, i was surprised to see this on the cover of the *other* portland weekly paper, the willmette week:

apparently, the photographer (riding by on a boat, equipped with a telephoto lens) has declared my friends vanj (background), brian (left), and corey (center) to be the poster children of river rat-dom. now granted, to the untrained eye, one may think they fit the stereotype – but these are no gresham hillbillies out to drunkenly hit on teenage girls and idiotically jump off of bridges head-first into the shallow waters of the sandy river. if one only takes the time to look closely (much like one of those "what's different about this picture" comparisons in highlights magazine), it is easy to observe the subtle contradictions.

note:
1) they are drinking sparks (admittedly un-classy, but in a self-consciously hip way – unlike, say, smirnoff ice, or bartles and james).
2) brian is sticking out his belly to create the semblance of beer gut (being a bike-riding militant vegan who works on an organic farm, he is lacking in this department).
3) corey is trying not to laugh through his defiant facial expression. (although it would appear that he does, quite literally, possess a red neck.)
4) brian is wearing vanj's pink short-shorts under his pants (not exactly standard garb for a testosterone-drenched, redneck youth).
5) vanj is not a teenage girl... and doesn't drink, although i guess said photographer couldn't have known either of those things just by looking.
6) corey's board shorts are the epitome of chic, mature swim wear.

did you notice the ironic tone of that last one? that's what they're going for here. ironic tastelessness. and may i say, they wear it well. another thing of which the photographer failed to take note was that whole law about asking one's permission to print one's photo on the cover of a widely distributed newspaper. who's lacking in social graces now, big shot?? vanj has decided to sue immediately, seeking restitution in the form of 400 ham tubes and a lifetime supply of soynog. good luck finding soynog in the middle of summer, bucko!

Multiple Potentials

2006-07-18T12:40:00.000-07:00

recent developments have made me realize that the trip i hoped to take to recife, brazil (to visit my fabulous cousin caedmonstia) in february may not be able to happen. aside from the lingering fact that said cuz may not be able to hold onto her visa until then, there is now the problem of super high airfare prices (a ticket to recife currently goes for about $3000), caused by the projected leap in gas prices, in turn caused by the worsening turmoil in the middle east (namely israel bombing the hell out of lebanon). thus, i am saddened by these developments for many reasons.

but enough about being bummed. i am beginning to brainstorm some options for other, more plausible, epic journeys. i still plan to take about ten days off of work in february, and i want to make the most of my vacation, somehow, even if recife proves to be out of reach. it will be during the last stretch of a long, cold, dreary portland winter, so i want to go somewhere i can get a sunburn to flaunt in front of my pasty-faced friends when i get home. here are some ideas i've come up with, trying to keep in mind that gas prices could make driving hard on the budget as well:

• backpacking trip (maybe a train ride there?)
• epic (for me) biking journey (ditto on the train)
• camping (in mexico, maybe?)
• motorcycle trip (hey - this is brainstorming, anything goes)
• going to a tanning booth every day for ten days and coming home to crank up the heater to 85 degrees so i can don my bikini and sit in a wading pool in the living room and sip mai tais while watching the second season of "lost."
• buying a donkey and riding it around to visit everyone in california.

ok, i can probably rule that last one out. i hear even donkeys run on gas in california. but seriously, i wanted to ask if anyone has done any of these things, or has any advice about trying to do any of these things, or has any better ideas about what i should do on my vacation. i know it's not happening for a while, but if i do decide to do something that requires some major planning ahead (training on my bike, getting a motorcycle license, etc), i want to be prepared.

speaking of sunburns, it's supposed to be 105 degrees in portland this sunday. wtf?? didn't us fresnans move here to get away from that ridiculousness? so... who wants to go to the river? i've got floatation devices, if you wanna help pitch in for gas. (le sigh.)

Happy Stuff

2006-07-11T18:14:00.000-07:00

apparently no one liked my last post (i was told it was depressing old news), so here are some pictures that are happy old news instead. back to the subject of... ME. and MY BIRTHDAY. which happened THREE MONTHS AGO. so there.

this is johnny punchclock. they played songs in my dining room. they were fabulous. and they sang about happy things like alcoholism and heartbreak. also pictured is the back of vanj. she has a helluva back.

someone was so excited about the band that they etchaskethed their name. nice.

here are ruth and will at my birthday party. ruth and will are my housemates. i am happy they are my housemates. they are happy people. sometimes ruth tells you not to worry about trivial things, because in the end, you are going to die alone. she helps put things in perspective like that.

...and this is a puppy shopping for bones. it has nothing to do with my birthday, but it is happy. because, you know, puppies like shopping.

and they lived happily ever after.

Feeling Testy

2006-07-06T16:41:00.000-07:00

i don't get it.

how does *not* giving money to public education make public education better? wasn't the whole problem that public education wasn't getting enough money? aren't teachers terribly underpaid, and resources outdated? aren't schools crowded? that's how i remember it, and i went to a well-funded high school. it won all kinds of "best-test-takers-ever" awards, and we were still out hocking candy bars door to door to pay for field trips and band uniforms. maybe that's why i hear stories about members of the military being stranded in some highly volatile war zone without proper body armor. maybe, even though all these public funds are being diverted toward the war, and the prez keeps asking for a bigger budget, maybe they've been giving the army personnel standardized tests on scantron sheets, and their scores just aren't measuring up. maybe the federal government thinks that having to hold a few desert bake sales in order to buy those bullets they're running out of will teach them not to take their oval-coloring-inning duties so lightly. just like, maybe those inner-city teachers in LA should quit worrying so much about their students getting stabbed on the playground or being sent to school without the means to eat lunch. they should quit worrying about the lack of art and music programs, or any after school activities that might inspire kids to do great things with their lives, and maybe even get interested in their educations. they should concentrate, instead, on teaching their students the importance of using only a number 2 pencil. i know my standardized test-taking skills have served me well throughout the years. i use them every day. when my coworker asks me where we should go for lunch, and lists off several choices, i say "choice B"... and i am always right.

Food for Thought

2006-07-02T16:59:00.000-07:00

while making art in college, i harbored a strong affinity for the concept of sculpture. it is so open. so undefined. what i'm saying is, when someone tells you they're a painter or a photographer your brain immediately pictures what that means. you know what a painting looks like. no matter how big or small, sloppy or precise, all paintings fit into a basic general description. your brain has no trouble wrapping itself around the concept of a painting. same for a photograph. but a sculpture... sculpture could be *anything.* all that defines it is its three-dimentionality, and even that line can be blurred at times. any "thing" you decide should exist, you make it - and it is art. and it can really EXIST, too. it is not necessarily just a representation (although it can be, if you want). a urinal turned on its back? art. a dead shark in a tank of formaldehyde? art. a four story chia pet dog? little breathing machines under a blanket that look like cute things sleeping? a box of matches on which there are written instructions to use the matches it contains to burn all the art you can, and then use the last one to burn the matchbox itself? art! not that it is guaranteed to be good art, but it is art nonetheless. the sky is the limit, as they say. this was a very freeing idea for a 19-year-old who was already feeling stifled by the words "Cliche" and "Imitation" – two words frequently wielded (like cruel samurai swords of doom) by art class TAs. the breezy concept of sculpture made breaking out of the box much more intuitive.

why am i writing about this now, you ask? because i concluded today (while chowing down on vanj's mouth-watering french toast and slurping contentedly on a mix of orange juice and sparkling cider... at half past noon), that brunch is the equivalent of sculpture in the meal spectrum. now stay with me. the basic definition of brunch is "a meal which acts as both breakfast and lunch." but through my experience, even that line can be blurred. you can serve anything you want! everything you want, in fact. you want a burrito and a pancake and a peanut butter and banana sandwich and some chili fried with eggs and a yogurt parfait? brunch! you can drink anything you want, too. juice, coffee, soda, water, beer, mixed cocktails... brunch says go for it! and you can start eating at seven in the morning or three in the afternoon. i say, as long as it's the first official meal of the day, it fits in the definition. and that doesn't even have to be true for everyone at the table! brunch is an event. it is recognized by everyone as a reason to rejoice, if not - dare i say it - a raison d'etre. it is the meal outside of the box. it is the only good reason to get up on a sunday... but if you sleep in, don't worry! brunch is waiting!

brunch, i salute you.

Sweet Abandon

2006-06-30T16:40:00.000-07:00

these pictures are a tad old now, but i was looking at them in iphoto and thought the comparison was worth noting.

here is my fabulous housemate ruth, pictured with (and gesturing enthusiastically toward) the cake she made for my birthday. it is impeccably decorated. if you're having trouble reading the tastefully flowing lasso cursive, it reads "Have a Wonderful Birthday"... and then there's WONDER WOMAN on it. get it?! brilliant. she is a diamond in the rough that is our household.

well, brody's birthday came along not long after, and i told him i would bake him a cake, but i am a sad excuse for a girlfriend, as he ended up sort of baking his own cake... but it was at my house! AND i decorated it. ruth helped, as did baker man brody. here he is adding some sugary touches:

and here is the final product:

what, you may ask, happened to the quality control?? i mean, the concept (a frenzied shark, swimming amongst disembodied limbs, with blood spelling out "Brody Ahhh...") is, admittedly, genius. only wonder woman is a better idea. this cake speaks volumes about the finer points of brody's personality. but the execution is, well, let's be honest... drunken chimps could have drawn a better shark (i take full responsibility). i think i may need to practice my cake decorating skills. and to that end, i must demand that brody makes me several cakes a week until they are honed to my satisfaction.

that is all.

My Running Start

2006-06-29T15:08:00.000-07:00

ok, so i've had this here interbot journal (sort of) set up for over a year now. occasionally i've used it to post comments a-step-up-from-anonymously, but my intention has always been to start writing... eventually. so here i go. lots of exciting letters and spaces and punctuation, all following each other neatly in a row. so far so good. let's see if i can put up a picture:

i'm on a one-season hiatus from playing kickball, but i still show up occasionally to cheer and take action shots. this is etta catching the ball at third base. she has her game face on. her other face is more smiley.

here, the team (team name: kickball the team. i am not kidding.) is singing happy birthday to somone on the opposing team as their end-of-the-game cheer.

our illustrious captain instated a new team policy this season: hugs instead of high-fives in the "good game" line-up. the other team is bewildered, but not displeased.

that seemed to go ok. we'll see if i stay true to my intentions and start posting here regularly. i am aware it is a long shot. i may need to start leading a more interesting life, so as to kindle an uncontrollable desire to publish the lurid tales of my escapades for the benefit of the unwashed masses. in any case, i promise to try. (if you all promise to wash your masses.)