amelia's goggles

she's still here

2006-08-17T16:41:00.000-07:00

Amelia hasn't disappeared. She's just playing at Vox for a little while. Come visit.

happy birthday

2006-07-21T21:31:00.000-07:00

Happy birthday to Clark Kent, one of my oldest and dearest friends.

CK and I have been pals since our illicit two-week affair in 7th grade. He's smart, and sweet, and one hell of a writer.

CK, thanks for letting me stick around for the past 18 years. (Wow, 18 years . . .) You are a rock star, and I have nothing but love for you, baby.

labels

2006-07-21T21:22:00.000-07:00

I have a (relatively speaking) new friend in my life.

He's funny, smart, and charming. I truly enjoy his company, and look forward to spending time with him. Lately people have been asking if we're dating. (A close friend of mine is dealing with the same issue.)

I'm a little lost as to why people continually jump to the conclusion that any relationship, especially a budding friendship, between a single man and a single woman automatically has romantic undertones.

Can't a man and a woman just be friends?

Personally, I'll take all the friends I can get.

at the tone

2006-07-20T20:56:00.000-07:00

. . . the current time and temperature is

I'm clearly overdue for some tropical sun.

when I have enough money

2006-07-18T18:59:00.000-07:00

I will go to heaven on earth, otherwise known as virgin gorda, the british virgin islands.

Ah, the unspoiled beauty!

the p tube

2006-07-17T17:47:00.000-07:00

In my dream house, there would be a pneumatic tube system, whereby I would put the canister in one end, and out of the other end would come cash and a lollipop.

I'm not sure at what age I finally understood what a bank did, but for a long time, I was content with the idea that you gave them a slip of paper, and in return, you got money and a treat.

Glad to see that someone else shares my love for the pneumatic tube.

kicking it willie nelson style

2006-07-15T19:57:00.000-07:00

And I don't mean "herbally refreshed," either. I mean on the road again!

Spent most of the day in the car: a 5.5 hour trip to Va Beach (usually a 3.5h drive), 1.5 hours back to Richmond, and another 1.5 hours home. That said, it was truly blissful. Whit finished her MBA program at GW, so it was time to celebrate at her mom's beach condo. Most of my friends were there, and we had a silly, relatively sober time pinching each other with our monkey toes and stuffing our faces with barbecue and cake. From there, I had dinner in RIC with my awesome cook of a brother, his wife, and my niece, who gets blonder and more chatty each time I see her.

Being in the car was also nice in that I had dedicated time to think about some current life situations that are raising more questions than answers. I *think* I have more of a path forward on two of them.

(I also discovered that I really love Journey's "Faithfully," against my better judgement. I'm sure Steve Perry would break another hip if he heard me sing along. )

Speaking of being on the road, check out this fantastic travelogue from my friends Tom and Tiff. They are the cutest geek couple ever.

scythian

2006-07-13T21:21:00.000-07:00

Scythian rocks my sweet little world, with their gypsy-irish-ukranian-funky blend of goodness. They are also absolutely adorable lads. If you live in the DC area, go go go to Fado and dance your heart out.

Thanks to Lisa and Erin for a rockin' evening!

thomas dolby carries the wallet

2006-07-13T06:24:00.000-07:00

Check out the Wikipedia article on Thomas Dolby.

Excerpt:

In 1993, Dolby established himself as a successful business entrepreneur after founding Beatnik Inc. (formerly Headspace), a technology company specializing in mobile phone audio file formats, such as polyphonic ring tones for mobile phones. [1]

While still remaining on the company board, Dolby stepped down from his position as CEO of Beatnik to pursue other technologically innovative interests, such as founding Retro Ringtones LLC in 2002, which produces the RetroFolio™ ring tone asset management software suite for companies involved in the mobile phone ring tone business. At the second annual Mobile Music Awards, Miami, Florida in 2004 RetroFolio won "Best of Show" and "Best New Technology" awards.

Dolby's musical talents have also been put to use recently creating hundreds of digital polyphonic ring tones now found on mobile phones everywhere (including the polyphonic version of the infamous Nokia signature theme). He is often a major speaker at technology conferences such as Comdex, Websphere and Nokia.

In July 1998, Thomas received a Lifetime Achievement in Internet Music award from Yahoo! Internet Life.

Go on, Thomas! A former colleague used to work at Beatnik, and said that TD was crazy-brilliant.

When you click through to the article, be sure to read the portion where Thomas Dobly smacks K-Fed for pulling a Vanilla Ice.

SCIENCE!

2006-07-13T06:09:00.000-07:00

My badass homie DJ Lil'e is putting together a mashup party at the Black Cat on Friday, July 28. Come one, come all to shake your booty to some cool music.

One of the mashups she's working on is Thomas Dolby's "She Blinded Me with Science" and Oingo Boingo's "Weird Science."

"She Blinded Me with Science" is one of my favorite songs from the 80s. I have always found it, and the video, oddly empowering: sexy brainy lady drives Thomas Dolby into a frenzy.

This morning, I've been walking around shouting "good heavens Miss Sakamoto, you're beautiful!"

SCIENCE!

precursor to the knitting circle

2006-07-12T13:18:00.000-07:00

Dinner with friends is my new thrill. Take the two things I love: talking with people I care about and eating, mush them together, and you have one happy, happy Stephanie.

family wisdom

2006-07-12T13:10:00.000-07:00

We have a saying in our family: don't buy it if you can't drive it.

I repeated this to myself again this morning, watching another SUV do a 19-point turn to get into a parking spot that could hold a Winnebago.

I have nothing against SUVs. I have a lot against people that operate their vehicles in ways that endanger or dramatically inconvenience others. I also have a big problem with people that operate their vehicles in ways that endanger themselves.

My sister-in-law is an EMT and my brother-in-law is a cop. If you want to risk the consequences of hurling a 3-ton piece of steel down the road at 90 mph, in theory, it's your perogative. But remember, someone has to clean up your selfish, dangerous mess when you can't handle it.

today's fantasy

2006-07-11T19:43:00.000-07:00

A tall, dark-eyed man feeding me chocolate-raspberry ice cream

(I miss carbs. I miss sugar. Ricotta with vanilla extract is a poor substitute. It really pisses me off that I feel much better without being all junked out. My lack of headache today is a fair tradeoff for the insane sugar craving, though.)

i was in the right place, but it must have been the wrong time

2006-07-11T19:21:00.000-07:00

Pure poetry from Dr. John:

I was in the right place, but it must have been the wrong time
I was sayin' the right things, but I must have used the wrong line
I was on the right trip, but I must have used the wrong car
Head is in a bad place and I wonder what it's good for
I was in the right place, but it must have been the wrong time
My head is in a bad place, but I'm havin' such a good time

Dr. Bob and I had a good talk tonight about relationships. Lately, I've been mentally rolling some things around, reexamining what has worked for me in the past, what hasn't, and trying to frame it in terms of the present. I've always chalked up the fizzled out ones to a lacking: his part, my part, or in the case of the most recent, our part.

I never seem to consider timing.

I recently met someone awesome. We hung out, we laughed, we smooched, things were going well. However, the timing wasn't right for him. (In many respects, I question whether the time is indeed right for me, but that's another post.) This doesn't make him a jerk, or reflect a bad choice on my part, just that our track positions are different today.

Timing is the unfortunate X factor, which is what makes it such a heartbreaker. It's not something you can change. It's not something that you can anticipate. It simply is.

But how do you ask someone "hey, where are you in life right now" without seeming like that clingy girl? I know men that have split off relationships based on that very question.

My hunch is that you make an educated guess, based on how well and what you know about a person. The rest is pure faith.

In the meantime, I'm taking a hiatus from the dating world. I'm concentrating on friends silver and gold, family, horses, and work. Perhaps by the time I'm ready to start thinking about a new lover, I'll stop playing Dr. John in my head.

the drug years

2006-07-05T17:14:00.000-07:00

VH1's The Drug Years is the most compelling piece of television I've seen in a long time.

the price is right

2006-07-05T17:02:00.000-07:00

I love how consistent the outside world feels right now.

Example:

I've had the past few days off of work to catch up on life. The Price is Right followed me everwhere I went: the nail salon, the mechanic, at home. I absolutely love how it has not changed. One. Single. Bit.

People still wear their Bob Barker-ass kissing wear, the spokesmodels still sport big hair and bad fashion, and the Showcase Showdown still offers a banjo, a lay-z-boy, and a NEW CAR!!!!

It was garishly sweet and pure. God bless it.

shady's back

2006-07-05T16:58:00.000-07:00

To the two people who I know read this: sorry for the delay. It's been a whirlwind of a past few weeks: the birthday, travels off the path on horseback, shotgun romance, coffee and cigarettes, broken toes, and kissing bandits.

Welcome me to the next decade!

120 days

2006-06-19T19:58:00.000-07:00

Four months. Approximately 120 days, one business quarter.

Is it too soon to feel good?

I thought for a while that yes, it was too soon: too soon to want, too soon to care, too soon to be interested, too soon to listen to myself and know what is right. Too soon to trust that I know myself enough to know what is good. Too soon to be happy again.

I've been proven wrong once again.

Life is so very, very sweet.

No weak heart shall prosper. J'ai une coeur robuste, a heart of oak.

the DC library

2006-06-15T13:59:00.000-07:00

Mies van der Rohe was a fantastic architect: the grandaddy of 'less is more,' his glassy, steel structures are truly elegant.

Except the DC public library.

I disagree with the writer of today's commentary in the Post. It's a hulking building that does little for the area. I'm certainly not arguing cookie-culture architecture here, but it's dark, shadowy, and always seemed to me out of context for a library.

Mies was a master, don't get me wrong. But even the great ones misstep.

thoughts to live by

2006-06-14T11:02:00.000-07:00

From today's chat with Hax

Washington, D.C.: Should I keep searching for the special one in my life or settle for someone at the moment who will never be able to give me what I want in a relationship?

Carolyn Hax: Read your own question and then ask again if you still want an answer.

Seattle, Wash.: Re: Keep searching or stay with what you have.

I'm in the same situation. After three years together, I know we're not sharing the same values or same expectation as well as how our life would turn out to be, but he seems to be a perfect man to me : professional, very well educated, cute, sweet, honest (well not always but..) and I do love him.

I guess I'm scared of loosing me and the fact that I might not be able to find the same one again. Am I being selfish or stupid?

Carolyn Hax: 1. You're selling yourself short. Trust yourself to handle the unknown and end it.

2. "professional, very well educated, cute" = perfect? I'm going to ralph. If these are the criteria you're using to select your companions, then the only way you're going to find someone who shares your values is by dumb luck. Choose people for traits that matter. Self-reliance, maturity, common interests, emotional compatibility, honesty (as close to "always" as humanly possible).

3. FWIW, you are also being selfish, since this guy deserves to be with someone who appreciates him.

Never, never, never give up. Never settle.

If you know what you want, go get it.

If you don't know what you want, take the time to figure it out.

on a loop in my head

2006-06-13T19:18:00.000-07:00

Hey man I'm making moves
and I am so much stronger than you.
I am so much stronger,
I am so much stronger than you.
Everybody thinks the way that we thought,
we thought ahead and look what we got.
I did not invent this world,
Call my words a string of pearls.
But you will find the sheen
loses all its luster.

("string of pearls," r.e.m.)

good muscle control?

2006-06-13T19:00:00.000-07:00

Lisa and I went to a networking event and then to dinner. Mmmm, peruvian chicken.

Anyway, we were discussing our crushes on old, dead movie stars: Cary Grant and Gregory Peck for me, Errol Flynn for her. The Hollywood lore about Flynn is that he was quite the ladies' man, and very well-endowed to boot. Marilyn Monroe recounted how he once entertained party guests by playing "You Are My Sunshine" on the piano with his penis.

That's right, with his penis.

Lisa also told me about a documentary that she saw about Flynn in which his most-frequent co-star, Olivia De Havilland, appeared to still be very much in love with Flynn, nearly forty years after his death.

Not that surprising, the gleam still in her eyes. The man could play the piano with his penis, for christsake.

congratulations tiff and tom!

2006-06-12T18:15:00.000-07:00

Tiffany and Tom were married yesterday in a beautiful, musical, romantic ceremony.

You give me hope, and I'm glad that you're in my life.

All the best, you two.

the right equipment makes all the difference

2006-06-12T18:09:00.000-07:00

Sweet Emiline was right. The shoes make a world of difference: I went farther and more consistently than I thought possible at this point.

the two most influential items of the 80s (for Gen X/Y)

2006-06-10T08:16:00.000-07:00

1. The Trapper Keeper. Can't live without your Palm/Franklin Covey/Backpack? That was ingrained in us as children.

2. Choose Your Own Adventure books: a series of linear if/then exercises raised a generation of programmers.

we need a hug

2006-06-10T07:49:00.000-07:00

Sweet D is so very ill. It started earlier this week, and has progressed from bad to really, really bad. The proverbial straw was the small pools of blood that I found on the floor this morning.

At the risk of sounding cheesy, I love animals. It hurts me when they hurt, especially my 7 pound fighter.

Bless the people at South Paws for seeing us at 8 AM on a Saturday morning.

the new wright house

2006-06-10T07:45:00.000-07:00

Heinz's new Wright house is amazing.

I wish they had a better virtual tour of the inside - i'd love to see if he resolved some of Wright's interior problems.

yeahbutnobutyeahbutno

2006-06-07T18:44:00.000-07:00

I'm watching season two of Little Britain. It's fucking bril. The brits know sketch comedy.

smelly cat, smelly cat

2006-06-07T17:54:00.000-07:00

If you ever want to know just how tough you are, give a cat a bath.

When I came home this evening, I opened the door to the stink of cat shit. Not good. After a check of D, and some cleaning up of an accident, I decided that it was time for a proper bath.

Now, D is an old lady. As she was a pound kitty, I have no real way of determining her age, but she's been in our family for over a decade, and the vet estimates that she's around 13. (He once joked that we can't really cut her open and count the rings.) As an old lady, she's not great at cleaning herself, and can get a bit stinky.

Stephanie's tips on how to give a cat a bath:

1. Don't do it in the kitchen sink. It will be much more manageable in the bathtub.

2. Change into a long-sleeved shirt that you don't mind getting wet.

3. Fill the tub with about an inch or two of lukewarm water. Test it by sticking your elbow in it -- it should not be hot. Cats have more sensitive skin than humans.

4. Get a cup, and some very, very mild soap or shampoo. Remember that cats clean themselves with their tongue, so if any residue gets in their system, the mider of soap, the better.

5. Lay a towel on the bathroom floor, near the tub.

6. Get the cat. Give her some pets, and some soothing sounds. Take her into the bathroom and SHUT THE DOOR.

7. Put the cat in the tub, and wash and rinse as quickly as possible. Remembering that cats have sensitive skin, don't wash any areas that you don't need to. (And be careful around the ears.)

8. See the towel that you spread on the floor? Wrap the kitty like a burrito. Hold her close, and gently pat to blot as much water as possible. Stay away from hair dryers -- they're too hot, and the noise is scary.

9. Release and offer treats.

wsc and gtown yoga

2006-06-07T17:45:00.000-07:00

I just partcipated in a phone survey about Washington Sports Clubs. I've been an off-and-on member for years, and can't say enough good things about them. If you're a bit of a gymphobe, the xpress line is entirely idiot proof.

The survey did point out to me that I need to start hitting the gym more consistently these days. I was on a big kick a few months back and felt really damn good.

Yoga, on the other hand, is continuing to work out well. If you're looking for a school in the DC area, check out Georgetown Yoga. Margaret and her staff are friendly and make the classes accessible for all fitness levels.

greatest mash-up EVER

2006-06-06T18:44:00.000-07:00

My Other Car is a Beatle

L'Trimm, Gary Neuman, and The Beatles. Who knew?!

love letters (6/30)

2006-06-06T18:31:00.000-07:00

6. I still write love letters. And I'm not talking love e-mails, either, I'm talking real honest-to-god love letters. I buy special paper, and write in my beautiful script. I believe in love letters. I believe in the trappings of romance. I believe love should come with souveniers. Plus, who doesn't like getting mail?

job love and a grande plie (4/30 and 5/30)

2006-06-05T17:57:00.000-07:00

4. I love my job. Truly, madly, deeply. I get to talk to people about technology, and not have to sit behind a computer to do it. I also get to give people some hope that there are better things out there for them. In the most ideal situation, I get to match people with a small part of their passion. That's rad. The funny thing is that it was something that I wasn't sure that i was going to be good at. It's easy to get locked into the mentality that just because you do X,Y, and Z for a living, that that's all you can do, ever. There is great beauty in taking a chance, trying something new.

5. I'm more athletic than I think I am. I was a diver, went to state championships twice for springboard. I have also been dancing for most of my life: elementary school through college and beyond. At the peak of it, I was in rehearsal five days a week. That said, I'm not a great dancer, but I love it. I also swim and do yoga.

priorities

2006-06-05T17:24:00.000-07:00

We're embroiled in a two-front war.

It's been 25+ years since the beginning of the AIDS epidemic.

We can't take care of our own veterans, who sacrificed so much for us.

Kids and teens go to school in fortresses (those that are lucky, I suppose) to come out not being able to read or do math at an adequate level.

And we're debating gay marriage?

This country has a wacky sense of what's truly important. What a damn waste of time and effort that could be better spent. Congress knows this won't pass.

And seriously, what's the big deal if Adam and Ted want to get married? I fail to see how it impacts hetero little me in any way.

Bastardizing marriage? I'll tell you what bastardizes marriage: that it's more complicated and more time-consuming for two people to open a joint checking account. That Britney Spears can go to a drive-through wedding chapel in Vegas on a whim, and undo it 48h later, realizing that one should really be sober when making a lifetime commitment. That society tells us that if we're over 30, than we're bachelor/ettes for life, that there is something wrong with us if we're not married by a completely arbitrary date. That people go into massive debt for a ceremony that used to be as simple as a Sunday church service and punch-and-cookies in the basement.

That we no longer see it as a lifetime commitment.

That love only matters if everyone else understands it.

the breakover

2006-06-04T19:45:00.000-07:00

Get dumped, get hot.

This sounds familiar:"When women are in relationships, there's a tendency to look more natural, subdued, less 'done up.' When the relationship ends, they go for it - blond, and a kind of messy, bedhead look."

Courtesy of the lovely Tiff.

not ready for prime time

2006-06-04T19:32:00.000-07:00

This weekend reminded me that I'm not ready to be in the dating world.

My heart is still in a cast, reset and strong, but not healed enough to survive unprotected. Only time will change that.

short fiction

2006-06-04T09:24:00.000-07:00

If nobody had ever learned to undress, very few people would be in love. -- DP

I'm rereading Penguin's Dorothy Parker collection. She is so good, it's crazy.

I love short fiction. I'm a good poet, but I can't write short fiction. I force all of my character development onto one page, and the result is not pretty.

Good short fiction is rare. Most popular fiction writers want to be best-selling novelists and sell their trite screenplays for cash. Cynical, yes. But it does explain the tomes of crap on Amazon. Short fiction takes a delicacy and patience that few writers have. Flannery O'Connor is a great example, as is Michael Chabon. The power of their stories never fails to amaze me. Read O'Connor's "The Lame Shall Enter First" and tell me if your jaw doesn't drop.

wow, did I really write that?

2006-06-04T07:14:00.000-07:00

File that last post under "B.U.I.," blogging while under the influence of too much rose champagne . . .

liquid courage

2006-06-03T23:16:00.000-07:00

I asked him to kiss me, and he said no.

I guess I shouldn't worry about it. He's not really the one I want anyway.

The one I want is unobtainable.

a postcard from the past

2006-06-03T09:57:00.000-07:00

I was looking for a book this morning and found a postcard from my past. Specifically, from beautiful Graham.

Graham isn't an ex per se, more like a never-was. I loved him fully, and completely, without question and with my heart fully on my sleeve. He didn't love me back. (In retrospect, it is for the best. While he's amazing, we're just too different in the wrong ways, and too similar in the right ones.)

What I've been thinking about this morning is that he's so much of the person that I am today. He was the first person that I loved. More importantly, although he knew how I felt about him and it was unrequited, he accepted it with grace, and treated me with kindness and friendship. He never laughed at my love, made me feel bad about loving him, or deemed it a weakness on my part. He let it, and let me, just BE.

Moving on from my most recent heartbreak has been difficult, one of the toughest things that I've had to face in an already challenging life. But the Graham era gave something that I can draw on -- love freely, without rules, or conditions. The right person will not only be gracious and cautious with my heart, but will also love these things about me in return.

stephanie jo (3/30)

2006-06-02T18:22:00.001-07:00

3. I have an inner redneck. I like to call her Stephanie Jo. Stephanie Jo is a proud southern woman. As the song goes, she keeps her Christmas lights on her front porch all year long. She likes to go to K-Mart, and can appreciate a good NASCAR race. Stephanie Jo likes cheap strawberry shampoo, cheesburgers, and can sing along to Alabama's Greatest Hits. She's loud, proud, fearless, sweet, honest, and she is strong as hell.

friday nights

2006-06-02T18:15:00.000-07:00

Call me a loser, call me what you will. I love Friday nights alone.

Monday through Thursday, my life is haywire. It's an occupational hazard, in part. My job requires networking events, client obligations outside of working hours, for me to be "on" for others. But rarely am I needed on a Friday night. So Friday is my night to fire up the Pink Lady (see below, you pervert), make a good dinner, put on my cozies, relax, and not have to be social. As an added bonus, my pool is now open until 10 on Fridays. I'm a firm believer that there are few problems that I can't work out under water.

Tonight, I'm lounging on the porch, lit by twinkle lights, and enjoying the breeze with my trusty iBook and a cold, cold Corona.

Life is good. TGIF.

i hope they got it on sale

2006-06-02T18:13:00.000-07:00

sign in my building

NO SMOKING BY ORDER OF FIRE MARSHALL

the 80 poems exercise, revisited

2006-06-01T18:16:00.000-07:00

I took one hell of a creative writing workshop in college called 80/80. It was an exercise in creativity in which we composed 80 pieces in 80 days. The expectation was not that these would be quality, finished works, but that we would have a foundation on which to build ideas, something to revisit when the blocks became too hard to bear.

I have 30 days until my thirtieth (well, actually 29 days, but grant me the liberty for the purpose of round numbers).

What I'd like to do is blast out the things that I know about myself over the next 30 days, as a foundation for the newest decade in my life. Some will likely be silly and random. Some will delve a little deeper.

So, I begin today, with two.

1. I have an AMAZING family. They are so wonderful, flawed, loud, giving, and stubborn. There are few things that we haven't been through together, and you know what? It gets better and better with time. The relationships get deeper. And I'm now at an age where I really like my family members as people. I'm so lucky to be a part of it.

2. I love most movies made before 1965. People had such style! And sex was the beautiful mystery that it should be.

i'll love you forever if you just buy me some bling, baby

2006-06-01T17:50:00.000-07:00

Mervis Diamonds irritates me in a big way.

They have these great commercials, full of mystery and spectacle, about how the family goes to Africa and mines the diamonds themselves, to bring you the best rocks for the best deal.

OK, with you so far.

Then they talk about how they give personal attention, and how low pressure the experience will be.

OK, I'm still with you,

Then they ask you to call for an appointment: 1-800-HER-LOVE.

What the fuck!?!

That just seriously chafes me every single time I hear it. I wish love could be bought like a rock.

why I love kelly clarkson

2006-06-01T17:41:00.000-07:00

Yep, i will freely admit it. I love Kelly Clarkson.

Want to know why? Because Kelly is a slightly pudgy, dyed blonde from the South. (You know she's had a fried pickle.) Because she can actually sing. Because she's probably reasonably nice and down to earth in person.

But the main reason is this: while I know her songs are written by 50ish male "hit makers" who know that X beats per minute (Y repeats of the chorus x Z melody refrains) = hit record, I actually BELIEVE her when she sings about getting dumped, having her heart squashed, and going on with life.

Yes, this makes me a sucker. I don't care.

undoing 'we'

2006-05-31T18:43:00.000-07:00

Bob and I had a good talk last night about changing the we back to I.

That is one tangible example of the way that a long-term relationship will change you. You slowly begin to use we in place of I, sometimes wondering if it's really the right thing to do. Eventually, the novelty of it wears off, and becomes more of a praticality: "we got you this gift," "we're coming for thanksgiving," "we're sorry that we can't make it."

So, now I'm back to I.

And I am happy that I am back to I, I just feels a little unfamiliar, still. It's a little like speaking French: I know all of the right vocabulary words, and I can make my mouth make the sounds, but it takes some practice to be fluent.

calvin trillin

2006-05-31T18:28:00.000-07:00

Kojo Nnamdi is interviewing Calvin Trillin on WAMU. It's fascinating.

For those of you not familiar with the name, Calvin Trillin is the "deadline" poet-in-resident for the Nation magazine, as well as a great essayist and short story writer. His wife, Alice, figured prominently in his works, one of the most recent being an essay in the New Yorker (Alice, off the page) about her life and death that had me laughing, crying, and yearning for more out of my own love relationships.

Check him out.

i'm in LOVE

2006-05-30T10:05:00.000-07:00

Yes, yes. I know what you're thinking. It's too soon! You need time to figure yourself out!

But I really can't help it. I've spotted the man of my dreams:

It's Jamie from MythBusters.

Jamie is mulitlingual, wears Chucks, has a great mustache, and most importantly, is extremely handy.

Ladies like the handy man. Seriously. Now, I can change my own oil, redrywall a ceiling, and can build furniture. But there is just something very, very sexy about a man that can do all those things and more. It's the appeal of MacGuyver. I want to know that no matter what hijinks we're up to, my fella can craft something spectacular to help get us out of the jam.

Jamie, you're my man.

pho cures cancer

2006-05-30T09:49:00.000-07:00

I am so very sick: green phleghm, sore throat, the aches, and just for some added fun, cramps.

Needless to say, I'm writing this from bed, between sleeping sessions.

This started with a cough on Saturday night, which I had chalked up to too many ciggys, or that the pollen count was seventy million billion. Sunday was bad, and yesterday was worse. I tried to sweat it out over the weekend, but no luck. Today is the worst of the three. At least I'm hoping this is the worst of it.

At the advice of Lisa, I took myself out for pho, the world's perfect food. If I was able to have only one food for the rest of my life, it would be Vietnam's answer to Campbell's Chicken Noodle. Think about it! Protein, simple starches, vitamins, all in one yummy broth. Mmm mmmm good, indeed.

And while I don't believe that it has cured me, I do feel somewhat less congested and achey.

apples =/ apples

2006-05-28T12:55:00.000-07:00

I'm tired of the media commenting on how more people vote for American Idol than in the presidential election.

There are major differences (minus the whole phone/text voting aspect):

1. Anyone can vote - no age limit
2. People can vote multiple times
3. People can vote for multiple candidates

If Fox would like to disclose the metric of unique, single vote visitors 18 and older, that would be a much more accurate figure. Of course, they have no realistic way of measuring that data, so I'll never know for certain.

Yep, I'm a data junkie.

speaking of bob dylan

2006-05-28T08:28:00.000-07:00

"Like a Rolling Stone" is the greatest fuck-you song of all time.

How does it feel?

the pink lady

2006-05-28T08:17:00.000-07:00

My closest friend for the past 17 years, sweet Emiline, used to have this great record player when we were growing up. Called "the pink lady" for it's plastic pinky-peach casing, Ems and I used to get our groove on to Wham!, the Violent Femmes, and the Grease soundtrack.

The pink lady started a lifetime love affair with vinyl for Ems, who now has a metric ton of LPs.

A few years ago, she bought a fancy-schmancy player, and gave me the pink lady. After a few months of neglecting the lady, she now sits proudly on my bedroom desk, reminding me that friendship, and music, and life itself, does goes on.

Bob Dylan is singing.

Times they are a-changing, indeed.

art school confidential

2006-05-28T07:50:00.000-07:00

Spent a lovely evening with Tiff and Tom yesterday. Mexican on the patio at Guapos, spiced with good conversation about the state of the world.

(P.S. You all are wonderfully thought-provoking people, and I'm happy that you're in my life.)

From there, off to see Art School Confidential at the best-kept-secret theater.

ASC was great - it doesn't resolve anything for the viewer, and the plot holes could comfortably seat six. However, it reminded me of what it was like to be young, naive, and talented in a creative environment. Does art need to root in misery? Is art about the product or the creator?

the twenty new things to do

2006-05-26T19:02:00.000-07:00

I had a nice dinner with Lisa last night. We talked about how to move on with life after a breakup. While I'm feeling much better about life, and can see that it was ultimately the best thing for both of us, it still leaves me at a bit of a loss when it comes to my own sense of self.

Relationships change you. Long term relationships, where you live together, and you plan a future together REALLY change you. What I'm at a loss for is determining exactly what those changes mean.

Lisa tasked me with an interesting exercise to learn about those changes: make a list of twenty new things to do and try. Pick five, and do them. This will teach you more about yourself.

Here's my short list:

1. Run a race
2. Learn to really play my damn guitar
3. Take a sewing class
4. Do a big volunteer project (a la habitat)
5. Relearn French
6. Try kung fu
7. Throw more dinner parties
8. Participate in a poetry reading

I'm looking for suggestions . . .

happily single (from a guy)

2006-05-25T16:56:00.000-07:00

All these articles tend to be from a woman's perspective. Nice to see the dude's side for once.

cats and dogs, geese and gander

2006-05-25T16:46:00.000-07:00

Tiffany and I had lunch today with a friend/employee, the lovely Erica. We talked about the differences of communication styles between men and women, something that we had noticed in job interviews and other professional situations. We ultimately agreed that women need to be more assertive in thier conversation and interviewing styles -- that often times we rad girl geeks are afraid to boast of our accomplishments, for fear of seeming overly confident, even cocky.

This is something that we had discussed earlier in the day at the office. One major difference that I see between male and female job hunters is that men will look at a job description, see the things they can't do, and say, 'well, i can figure that out.' Women often approached the same situation by saying 'well, i can't do that, so i'm not going to bother.' Granted, there are execptions to this, but it's something that I see often enough to make the generalization.

Erica shared with us the one question that she got from a male interviewer, that she couldn't ever see getting from a female interviewer: "how smart do you think you are?"

Seriously, I can't ever see getting that question from a woman.

What does that say to me about our different communication styles as women and men? I often think that men speak more directly, discussing fact, not leaving much room for interpretation. Women speak more to situation, exception, and relating skills than to baseline. There seems to be more grey area in our communcation.

amateur hour

2006-05-25T16:43:00.000-07:00

I am not a blogger. I have friends that are true bloggers, know couples that get into arguments about what happens in the blogosphere. But I am not one of those people.

That said, I am a good writer, and need an outlet for right now, simply to straighten out the tangles in my mind.

Wish me luck.