| the manhattan project |
[Nov. 24th, 2009|09:53 pm] |
| [ | Current Location |
| | home | ] |
| [ | Current Mood |
| |  distressed | ] |
| [ | Current Music |
| | Braille --Audrye Sessions | ] |
observation of the day:
a lot of hot arty guys post their pictures on the manhattan housing wanted page on craigslist. and on the first page i found one ad where a girl that looks like a stripper wants to live "in your cool apartment and introduce you to the opportunities you are missing in NYC."
mmm, ok back to the hot arty guys.
is my life going to be like "felicity"? |
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| tako |
[Aug. 20th, 2009|01:10 pm] |
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| |  blah | ] |
| [ | Current Music |
| | Waltz #1 --Dustin O'Halloran | ] |
He continues: 'What I want to say is probably something like this: any single human being, no matter what kind of person he or she may be, is all caught up in the tentacles of this animal like a giant octopus, and is getting sucked into the darkness. You can put any kind of spin on it you like, but you end up with the same unbearable spectacle.' -After Dark, by Haruki Murakami |
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| take your time |
[Aug. 18th, 2009|11:17 am] |
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| |  aggravated | ] |
| [ | Current Music |
| | office chatter | ] |
i think this was the look i was looking for:
Your Mobile Expectations: Bmw H2r Project
*note to self to buy sometime* |
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| the lone protein model |
[Jul. 1st, 2009|01:12 pm] |
| [ | Current Location |
| | lunch/work | ] |
| [ | Current Mood |
| |  busy | ] |
| [ | Current Music |
| | Protest Song -Aloha | ] |
the protein model in this book will now be the only one that's not a "ball-and-stick" model (of matter)?
so flipping through the book isn't "off-putting"?! YIKES.
what happened to kids wanting to staple themselves if they saw a picture of a stapler? that was much funnier material.
and oh, the perils of copyediting huge concept maps that don't fit on the screen, in a very limited amount of time...
last night i was looking at a calendar talking to my cousin, and i called the 4th of july, thanksgiving. i think my head is already somewhere in november. |
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| love over scotland |
[Apr. 21st, 2009|02:28 pm] |
| [ | Tags | | | books | ] |
| [ | Current Location |
| | break from work | ] |
| [ | Current Mood |
| |  hopeful | ] |
| [ | Current Music |
| | We Call Upon The Author --Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds | ] |
Although they are useful sources
Of information we cannot do without,
Regular maps have few surprises: their contour lines
Reveal where the Andes are, and are reasonably clear
On the location of Australia, and the Outer Hebrides;
Such maps abound; more precious, though,
Are the unpublished maps we make ourselves,
Of our city, our place, our daily world, our life;
Those maps of our private world
We use every day; here I was happy, in that place
I left my coat behind after a party,
That is where I met my love; I cried there once,
I was heartsore; but felt better round the corner
Once I saw the hills of FIfe across the Forth,
Things of that sort, our personal memories,
That make the private tapestry of our lives.
Old maps had personified winds,
Gusty figures from whose bulging cheeks
Trade winds would blow; now we know
That wind is simply a matter of isobars;
Science has made such things mundane,
But love--that, at least, remains a mystery,
Why it is, and how it comes about
That love's transforming breath, that gentle wind,
Should blow its healing way across our lives.
--Alexander McCall Smith, "Love Over Scotland" |
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| a book is a device to ignite the imagination |
[Apr. 12th, 2009|11:23 am] |
| [ | Tags | | | books | ] |
| [ | Current Mood |
| |  lazy | ] |
| [ | Current Music |
| | What's a Girl to Do --Bat for Lashes | ] |
"It was with some relief that she got back into the coach and reached behind the cushion for her book. It was not there. Steadfastly waving as they rumbled along she surreptitiously felt behind the other cushions.
'You're not sitting on it?'
'Sitting on what?'
'My book.'
'No, I am not. Some British Legion people here, and wheelchairs. Wave, got God's sake.'
When they arrived at the palace she had a word with Grant, the young footman in charge, who said it was security and that while ma'am had been in the Lords the sniffer dogs had been round and security had confiscated the book. He thought it had probably been exploded.
'Exploded?' said the Queen. 'But it was Anita Brookner.'
The young man, who seemed remarkably undeferential, said security may have thought it was a device.
The Queen said: 'Yes. That is exactly what it is. A book is a device to ignite the imagination.' "
...
" 'I don't see' said the Queen, 'why there is any need for a press release at all. Why should the public care what I am reading? The Queen reads. That is all they need to know. So what, I imagine the general response.'
'To read is to withdraw. To make oneself unavailable. One would feel easier about it,' said Sir Kevin, 'if the pursuit itself were less . . . selfish.'
'Selfish?'
'Perhaps I should say solipsistic.'
'Perhaps you should.'
'Sir Kevin plunged on. 'Were we able to harness your reading to some larger purpose--the literacy of the nation as a whole, for instance, the improvement of reading standards among the young . . .'
'One reads for pleasure,' said the Queen. 'It is not a public duty.'
'Perhaps,' said Sir Kevin, 'it should be.' "
...
"With no Norman to talk to, the Queen now found she was conducting lengthier discussions with herself and putting more and more of her thoughts on paper, so that her notebooks multiplied and widened in scope. 'One recipe for happiness is to have no sense of entitlement.' To this she added a star and noted at the bottom of the page: This is not a lesson I have ever been in a position to learn. " |
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| nothing really to report because things are swell! |
[Mar. 31st, 2009|10:30 am] |
| [ | Current Location |
| | work | ] |
| [ | Current Mood |
| |  cheerful | ] |
| [ | Current Music |
| | No Duermas Mas --Alla | ] |
i'm listening to this really awesome mix right now. and my boss is at home, so here i am, with a set of light proofs and feeling like i'm in daydream land a little bit. maybe i should have something to eat...
someone i know waited around for 5 hours to meet me at the airport on sunday. i feel sort of loved, yeah? |
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| the happi i has |
[Mar. 13th, 2009|11:16 am] |
| [ | Current Mood |
| |  good | ] |
| [ | Current Music |
| | One Crowded Hour --Augie March | ] |
whee! so if i can't feel better about myself on my own, then, i can feel better if other people feel good about me. that's a start, right? christina says it's not ideal. but yeah, meditating didn't work for me--and it just made megan go off diet coke!
in other news, cut copy was pretty epic, and i took some epic pictures to commemorate. and some video which is mostly just thumping because there was so much bass. i'm gonna have to ask josh where he got his spiffy special earplugs from because i think i may need some. it's possible i'm going deaf in my old age. then again maybe i'm just not hearing things i dont want to hear...
marta's having a limoncello and risotto party tonight and it's looking to be small and intimate. i like that. i dont really feel like dealing with a bunch of people this weekend, so i'll probably pass on the clubbing for ada's birthday, and writers with drinks.
i have to manage somehow to get my homework done before the limoncello, though. this is gonna be a tough one.
and the whole "will i be happier in NYC" thing is sort of... i don't know. chasing the ideal. the dream i've had since i was 16. since i first started watching felicity. since i noticed that all the publishing in the world, the really big publishing, comes out of NYC. what if what if. SF and NYC are definitely very different. maybe if i move into the city and hate it, that'll be my answer. the only other thing would be the rent factor. although if my parents buy a house in berkeley...?!?!
i feel like i'm going in about 5 different directions at once. it's complicated. simple, too. but complicated! and i sort of feel like i'm about to get sick, but i can't because i'll be flying to vegas for the long weekend and... yeah. trying to keep the sickness at bay. i wish people would wash their hands more often and stay home from work when they're dying (ahem AL!)...
oh. and i <3 royskopp. |
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| love like fire |
[Feb. 12th, 2009|12:03 pm] |
| [ | Current Location |
| | work | ] |
| [ | Current Mood |
| | bitchy | ] |
| [ | Current Music |
| | To Lose My LIfe --White Lies | ] |
going to popscene tonight to rub up against 18 year olds with megan tonight... i haven't been to popscene since i *was* 18. we'll see how it goes. it gets scary when you're surrounded by people who are that young. it makes me feel old.
busy day today. 9am meeting, fueled by brownies (vegan brownies!) in celebration of darwin's birthday, and now it's lunchtime. and i have a dentist appointment (think they'll know about the brownies and the lack of flossing...?) and THEN an acupuncture appointment, and maybe buying colin a drink for his bday, and then getting to SF. i sort of want to highlight my hair. maybe i'll have time to do that before popscene. we'll see.
i love how the university still, after 2 years, doesn't think i'm an employee. it's getting really old and frustrating in more ways than one. i can't get bart tickets online because i've been locked out of my commuter benefits website because THE UC HATES ME. sometimes the feeling is mutual!! let's hope the bus situation gets straightened out, too. apparently, the 8:10 shuttle BROKE DOWN ON THE HILL right above our stop on the way to the math building. you know that someday it's possible the bus will ROLL BACKWARDS DOWN THE HILL and kill us all. seriously. not good. just GETTING to work is a dangerous, perilous epic journey and it shouldn't be like this.
in other news, two of my photographs are going to debut (and will be for SALE!) at a valentine's day art show in the city. woo hoo. if that's not a successful feb 14, i don't know what is. beats being alone at home. i get to impersonate an artist and talk to people like i know what i'm doing! sweetness.
i want another brownie.
and here's an article about the new pennies. like we need new pennies being made in this economy? who gives a damn about PENNIES. abe lincoln's really cool sure, but dontcha think that money could be better spent getting the 8% of people who are unemployed work that doesn't include printing new coins for rich people to not spend?
http://news.yahoo.com/nphotos/New-pennies-chronicle-Lincoln-life/ss/events/us/021209lincolnpenny#photoViewer=/090212/480/ce6d44f8c9b046a2bfe129fd376c7618 |
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| projected on a screen at the top of the hill: CHANGE!!! |
[Jan. 20th, 2009|11:30 am] |
| [ | Current Location |
| | work | ] |
| [ | Current Mood |
| |  bouncy | ] |
| [ | Current Music |
| | What Else Is There? -Royskopp | ] |
change has come. i liked the announcement about the whitehouse.gov page changing over at exactly 9:05am pacific time this morning. i had to fight through a MASSVIVE FUCKING CROWD overflowing sproul plaza on my way to work this morning. i was not going to miss that bus. all i saw was a glimpse of michelle obama in a gold dress on a screen, and then the 50 people i pushed aside to get through that friggin crowd. people need to MOVE. good lord. anyway i made it, and there was cake celebrating change, and black coffee and masala chai, and little flag toothpicks. fun stuff. i'll post pictures later.
in other news, the question that's often on my mind has definitively been answered now:
http://www.ed2010.com/advice/asked/2007/02/should-i-go-grad-school
and that's that.
last night's free movies at the independent were really fun. and it's nice getting to know andrea. meeting her was a good reason to go to ty's party on friday. fun night, playing card games, etc. the other guys we met up with were a bit odd. one's a guitar teacher, though, so maybe i can work that connection. and they shared their beer, so it wasn't all bad. i'm into free movies. too bad see's candy was closed--alex was going to share his chocolate with me.
i have to get a tetanus shot next week :/ |
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| from the same book... |
[Jan. 16th, 2009|06:57 pm] |
| [ | Tags | | | quotes | ] |
| [ | Current Mood |
| |  complacent | ] |
| [ | Current Music |
| | Track 8 -MGMT | ] |
"For all of us, adults as well as children, life is always a dance of closeness and distance, of approach and withdrawal, of engagement and detachment, of connection and individuation, of dependence and independence."
Indeed. |
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| from a book i'm reading |
[Jan. 16th, 2009|06:23 pm] |
| [ | Tags | | | books | ] |
| [ | Current Location |
| | home | ] |
| [ | Current Mood |
| |  cynical | ] |
| [ | Current Music |
| | Iceland --GusGus | ] |
"National Assessment of Adult Literacy findings are disturbing. The test, conducted by the National Center for Education Statistics, is designed as a comprehensive look at English literacy. The 2003 assessment of nineteen thousand adults (results reported in 2006) demonstrated declines in literacy especially among those Americans with the most education. The test defines literacy as "using printed and written information to function in society, to achieve one's goals, and to develop one's knowledge and potential." Specifically, the test measures prose literacy, the ability to comprehend continuous texts, like newspaper articles and the brochure that comes with a new microwave; document literacy, the ability to understand and use documents to perform tasks, like reading a map or prescription labels; and quantitative literacy, the skills needed to do things like balancing a checkbook or calculating the interest on a loan from an advertisement.
Less than one-third of college graduates--down from 40% a decade ago--were deemed proficient in the ability to read and understand ordinary text passages."
hmm. scary.
i attribute this decline entirely to the president we had leading this country (as a puppet or no) for the last 8 years. we is not learning. but now the people have spoken. good riddance, W.
the good news is, then this makes what i do important. we're trying to get them when they're young, with the science/literacy. wooo!
also, i met a coworker's fellow teacher ex-colleague at a party yesterday. funny how these things happen... |
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| today is a day like any other day... |
[Jan. 1st, 2009|06:21 pm] |
| [ | Current Location |
| | PTO | ] |
| [ | Current Mood |
| | chipper | ] |
| [ | Current Music |
| | Trouble -Cat Stevens | ] |
only, it's a new year! a new start, another 365 days to play with my friends, go to shows, take photographs, and meet my dream man!! at least the first few things, i guess. or whatever. something? throw me a bone, universe??
i found some pants i could wear to work. they were abandoned in a box on the street. i also found an american apparel shirt that said "tartuffle" and that was just silly, so i kept it. i really like berkeley because the streets also feed me free copies of the new yorker, lamps, cards... it's like finding buried treasure, only, not buried. just lying there, waiting for me. i'm saving all this stuff from the dumpster--i'm recycling! it makes me happy. and i found some mix cds on the street, too. megan found some uggs (NO JOKE!!). the cds have about 150 songs each, including cat power covers. most of it is eh, but there are some tracks i would listen to. nice. (how did they get 150 tracks on one cd?! i'm baffled.)
i'm vowing to do some more composting this year. so far so good. i'm realizing just how much those food scraps and orange peels add up to waste in a landfill... :/ i'm trying to do what i can. makes it easy with the green compost bins, so it's the least i can do. doesn't really change too much, i just have to remember to throw out less stuff. gotta remember, save the earth: it's the only planet with chocolate.
i'm also still reading 'a wrinkle in time.' good stuff man, good stuff.
more cleaning, trying to allow the living room to recover from the christmas bomb that exploded when i was wrapping and throwing stuff everywhere... |
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| the year in LJ review |
[Dec. 29th, 2008|12:59 pm] |
| [ | Tags | | | year in review | ] |
| [ | Current Location |
| | work | ] |
| [ | Current Mood |
| | amused | ] |
| [ | Current Music |
| | KEXP live, songs by Fujiya and Miyagi | ] |
2008 in my journal
Jan: it's nice to know that what i'm doing makes a difference. we've gotten back mostly good feedback from 16 teachers across the U.S. on this last second/third grade science unit.
Feb: this is my life rated: B.
Mar: this week: positive energy! YEAH!
no april/fell of LJ face of the earth
may: it's really fucking hot right now. ew.
at least when it's cold, there's hot chocolate and snuggly blankets. right now i just feel sticky and GROSS.
and i might have had a strep throat relapse.
july: i saw this movie tonight. pretty much the whole time, i was scared. not like horror-movie scared, but just... appalled by what i was seeing unfold in front of me. it was quite violent, quite graphic, but not like Letters From Iwa Jima graphic....
aug: jewish american film festival going on now, and i saw an incredible movie tonight. it was called "facing windows" and the premise sounds pretty creepy...
sep: i'm awake right now in part because i stopped being able to feel my feet sometime on saturday....
oct: this is what happens when you don't go looking for things like trouble...they come find you. i had a really awesome weekend in santa cruz.
nov: OBAMAAAAAAAAAAAAA! victory is ours!! today i have renewed faith in this country, in being an american. i don't have to flee in shame now.
dec: meme. 1. If someone says, "Is this okay?" you say...We Don't Think, We Know -Maritime
In sum, i saw a lot of movies, did a lot of dancing, stopped doing LJ when i got really bummed out about life, and the first black president was elected president. and i filled out a few memes. |
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| i am really happy that... |
[Dec. 29th, 2008|01:17 am] |
| [ | Current Mood |
| |  artistic | ] |
| [ | Current Music |
| | How To Survive In -Woods | ] |
my friend didn't get her license revoked as the cop started giving us beef about her pulling over to drop me in front of BART tonight. to avoid being pulled over, she ended up driving me all the day to berkeley thinking as long as she was driving, he wouldn't pull her over. and he didn't. and hey, i got a ride home with my friends whom i love (who i would drive around if i had a car and a license?).
work tomorrow. going in to work on InDesign stuff and drop off the proofs i've read through already. also, free movie tickets! always good. i'd go up the hill from downtown for work if it means i get free movie tickets out of it. it's really EXPENSIVE to see stuff these days. megan and i saw 'milk' and even with a student discount, it's $7.50. i remember when it was $3.75 for a matinee! and the $2 theater! those days are over. maybe i need to spend more time at the speakeasy during 2-for-1 nights...
today was another day of art and inspiration for me. it wasn't enough to be 2 hours in the darkroom yesterday. today i was posting postits for a blogspot art project, meeting random strangers, taking nate to the MOMA, talking spiritual stuff and tantra, being fed at his hostel, and developing a tiny crush on this guy i just met. he's an artist moving out here from martha's vinyard, mass. interesting guy. you dont meet a lot of people like him. he talked to me the entire day and i listened. and he posed for a lot of funny photos and candids and stuff in the museum. i had a good time. maybe one of the best times with someone who was a stranger yesterday.
in other news, there was an actual person in the darkroom! and another who walked in today to develop film as i was cutting my negatives! i'll try to get back to the lab tomorrow to develop the roll from the MOMA today and maybe print some stuff. i'm loving this sudden burst of creativity. i need to make something good enough to show and possibly SELL at the UC alumni show... |
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| i'm so stressed out right now! |
[Dec. 27th, 2008|03:23 am] |
| [ | Current Location |
| | home, insomnia | ] |
| [ | Current Mood |
| |  gloomy | ] |
| [ | Current Music |
| | Home -Great Northern | ] |
i can't even sleep. this is ridiculous. i've just in bed worrying about stuff.
when i got home tonight, i got the note my landlord left about rent going up again this year. i can't afford for my rent to go up every year. seriously. haven't i been a good tenant for 3 years? this is bullshit. do i look like i'm made of money, that in this economy, without a union contract, with everything... that this is fair?!?!
***
i wonder about the world. the world where drinking from a plastic bottle means certain death and power continues to corrupt on wall street and in government...
i should have gone to law school :( |
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| ah, to be young and in love. |
[Dec. 22nd, 2008|10:53 pm] |
| [ | Current Location |
| | home | ] |
| [ | Current Mood |
| | ABLE TO SEE! | ] |
| [ | Current Music |
| | Two Gallants | ] |
i'm watching bad tv right now.
yes, watching! i can seeeeeee! it's still very strange. and very eye drop-erific, many many times a day. but so far, so good. like, 20/15 vision. so i'd say that's good! seeing things differently, though. the lights at night are sparkly, and there are halos around things. headlights are really, really bright. i'm not sure how i feel about this nighttime seeing, but definitely not worrying about glasses in the rain is nice. |
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