Friday, July 31, 2009

Aches of lower limbs

It happens after an evening on one's feet. Anyways, changing the topic, gardens are places of the deepest creativity and plants can talk to those who listen. Although feelings are more significant than words, trying to utilize words to express them can be interesting. Also, there are places in this world where great creative processes have taken place and no one even knows about it. Why so much emphasis only on the end product? One creative process might produce work of art, and one might be a friendship. The latter, which is bigger, may not be celebrated, and the former, which is smaller, might be lauded. How much we miss!!! This is ponderous. Chips. Nuts. Nuts. Thanksgiving.

Thursday, July 30, 2009

Photographs

I always knew it was going to be weird when I got older and a lot of "old" photographs would still be in color, as opposed to black and white. Yet, I feel like if you put any group of people in the woods, and then take their picture, you can imagine that the picture was only taken yesterday, even if it was over 100 years ago. (This after accidentally viewing Hunters Garden--never been there, have no idea what it is--after searching for "hunter gatherer," after eating a small cup of beans and rice, and thinking about ways of eating.) I think the illusion is also a bit more believable if none of the persons in the photograph are wearing corsets or hoopskirts.

Tuesday, July 28, 2009

Really really really really really

woods woods woods woods woods woods woods

Wish I was better at it myself

The absence of negativity: in my experience, a person who can continuously exist in that mind-state is quite a rare find.

Saturday, July 25, 2009

Click and drag

Sea Hag Virtual Tour. Scan the cross-beamed ceiling with its eyelight(s). Find the cat! I did that while listening to more of this talk.

What do you think about these?

Sea Hag Soaps.
Elizabeth Gilbert on Ruth Stone's Genius.
~~~~~~~~
Now I'm going to maybe watch--or, since it is getting later, plan to watch: Dr. Horrible.

Thursday, July 23, 2009

A thought

Once upon a time, a lot more weird stuff was going on. And a lot of people had more money, too. Now is the lull. Blessed lull. It's a bit of alright.

Tuesday, July 21, 2009

End of night

Wouldn't you know, I found another photo album to dissect.
After listening to that destressing music, I found myself looking at other things this evening. Like a channel of a young filmmaker.
But then I returned to the song by Robbie Robertson.

Task almost completed!

The Heartbeat Drum song accompanies the task. The last photos of the album are about to be put in a box. Proof that apparently I was two years old once. Today it was difficult to finish this task for some reason. Ow. You'd think I'd had to run ten miles or something.

Bullion?

I thought it was a soup starter.
But the internet is here to teach me things.

Monday, July 20, 2009

Perhaps sometimes this is what is true

The only way to be truly happy is to let the ego die, die, die.
When I went to the park the other day, two monks with shaved heads in orange robes were taking pictures of all the plants. Then they got into the backseat of the car of their hosts or relatives in regular clothing.

Saturday, July 18, 2009

Old photographs from May '97

Two slender, smiling human rights workers, a man and a woman, in an office in Lima. (Not pictured: downstairs, in the lobby, we saw some of the parents of the teenagers who were responsible for, and died during the Japanese hostage crisis. I did not know that until after we left. One of our group was Japanese. She had a friend in Peru. At the end of our trip, she went off and had lunch with her friend and ended up meeting with some of the president's family. We also did not know this would happen until after it had occurred. "Very nice people," she said.)
In Cusco: A girl in a pink dress, flanked by white flowers and holding a baton with a globe on top, is also wearing a white sash and a sparkling white pointed crown. She is nearly swallowed up by the dark cave of the caterpillar bulldozer shovel in which she sits. That must've been in a parade. And a blurry shot of two tiny girls in native costume, posing in front of a vehicle with the words "Policia Nacional," imprinted on it, surrounded by alternately smiling or intense policia. And the balconies above them, looking centuries old and Spanish.
(Little sidenote--ha ha. Reading the back of a photo. Various names of girls and professors. Noted that a girl who left because of an attack of endometriosis was not shown and then scribbled "also rotten girl named Em who left b/c she hated Peru." That girl was a disappointment. She dressed cute and carried around a little journal, but she liked to talk badly about others, and about her modeling, and was severely traumatized by poverty and the smell of urine. She wanted to know why a girl in the street couldn't clean her dog and put perfume on it. She thought Peru should be like a resort in Santa Fe. Her parents flew her home so she could go to the beach with her mom.)
Oh my gosh. That's enough. Enough memory lane for today. Off I go.

Friday, July 17, 2009

"Whoa Yeah"

I watched a song done in the manner of a certain type of music. Think of kids skipping school and amusing themselves in various ways, hitch hiking around, getting rides from some older hippies. You're only young once! In this body, anyway. I had a teacher in Jr. High who hated a certain deceased musician because she'd known--and taught--his girlfriend. "Her Daddy was my principal." Also whoever played him in the movie wasn't nearly as good-looking as he was, and that he looked like a god, and she used to see him wait for her afterschool. Anyway, the song is Craigslist.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Got a bit fascinated by Mr. Deleted, Ex-Amish guy.
I found what I was looking for: Devil's Playground documentary.

Recents--music and fiction

Last video link I sent to anyone was Sister Twisted.
Last work of fiction I read was on a website.
The Low End of the High Life by Tina Castle.
As I give away (or perhaps sell) many, I have to return to other books. Soon. Pronto.

Thursday, July 16, 2009

Change is good, again.

My luxury today is a temporary rental car with XM radio.
Also I am getting much better at becoming the queen of consolidation.
Adios to many books, clothes, and knickknacks. And some photos.
Some very beautiful Peru pictures are going into a box.
A younger, more flaca self. Very pretty country.
En las casas en la selva, muchos mosquiteros!
Rows of girls in shiny white dresses. Or in school uniforms.
Vespas, hammocks, palm trees, chickens...
An old newspaper photo spread. My younger self has pictures of herself on a blind date with a kid in my math class, in Seattle. I didn't know it was him. My Salvadorian friend said "You're so lucky!" He was half Peruvian, half Chinese American. We had the same birthday. He was Mr. Student Government. We talked about Peru and how he did an internship in DC. That was fun.

Wednesday, July 15, 2009

"Boy" things on the internet

Besides good ol' The Boy's Guide to Becoming A Man, there's also Mac and Cheese (I'd like to see a video for that) and Coin Operated Boy.

Onward...

Releasing old things might not be a painless process. Specially when you get to some kind of midway point and then just get stuck. Unlike the ignition. Which got unstuck. And then the key slid out while the car was still running. That means some kind of action needs to be taken. And suppose those strange past-something related dreams come back. Some of which are having to do with illness or living conditions. WHAT is the reason, why, which, and wherefore? Sometimes you don't know. Thinking about it is not getting anywhere, so perhaps a shift in focus is in order.
Videos most recently sent to me: Brrrlak. Whoever You Are.
And I just looked at a watermelon radish here.

Tuesday, July 14, 2009

Something about those books...

These are five just off the top of my head at this moment:
Novels: Heaven Lake and Captives of Time (young adult book).
Memoirs: The memoir of the female chef from India (okay I'll find her name), Meatless Days (the only one I own), The Wishing Year.
I have a sudden craving for chicken in wine.

Monday, July 13, 2009

Books

I love them, but at this point in my life I'm not the kind of person who should own a lot of them. If I get more settled later, I might cultivate a large collection. In the meantime, LET THE WEEDING BEGIN.
(Hooray! cries one part of me. *Gulp* says another.)
Maybe this is why cats are good to have in used bookstores.
Meanwhile, I finished PrairyErth. Next up: Caramba!
Sorry, upside-down exclamation point.

Sunday, July 12, 2009

Those conversational topics

Phone Call A) To move oneself or to stay put?
Phone Call B) Catching up on life. Mission Trip to Haiti. Mental illness. Suicides. Rehab. Abrupt ending; need to shop before 9.
Phone Call C) What it feels like to be the last person sitting in the row of cubicles, and then finding out that the company declared bankruptcy. The hail storm hit one part of the state and knocked out the electricity, while in another part, the caller ate Tom Yum cashews (too much cheap, bland food lately) while leaning up against the car and admiring the amazing sky. Mmmm, flavor. You want to just jump into it, 5,000 times more bewitching than a Bob Ross painting.
Phone Call D) 30-Something Girl Z hears about how one girl peddles after another girl around a lake. 30-Something Girl X (shouting): I talked to a hairy guy from Argentina on the internet. He has the biggest dick I've ever seen. Have you ever seen an *uncircumscribed* penis? 30-Something Girl Y (peddling faster, thinking): I'm not going to shout about my sexual life while we're riding our bikes in a park!
100% off-peak minutes.
Let's listen to this again. I'm addicted!

Saturday, July 11, 2009

I've started watching this in painful slo-mo

Because maybe it doesn't get along with my Mac?
The Boys Guide to Becoming a Man.
I got it from a link at awfullibrarybooks.wordpress.com.
Also, thanks to a link to that site: Twisted Sister's book for Teens.
It's great. :-)
I had to rewatch We're Not Gonna Take It for the first time in decades.

Friday, July 10, 2009

I have a reaction of approval

to the way the humans are acting in this Limoncello video.
I wonder if they are in the mountains. I was quite excited when my sister told me she found an ancestor who lived in a more mountainous part of Italy (Saluzzo?) in the 1200s. Her name was Alisona!

Good time of night

Driving home from work, barely any traffic, looking at night sky and tree branches. Autrefois. Thinking of...stars! Thinking of...Tibet! Listening to a trumpet and remembering the TV in my blond, blue eyed friend's house, and an actor playing that instrument in Mo Better Blues...U Plavu Zoru.

Sea salt brings out sweetness

I have discovered that recently. And here is a quote:
"...his comrades were not particularly drawn to the poets who dwelled on life's suffering. Au contraire! They were drawn to the bon vivants, to the ones who expressed their joie de vivre..." pg 211. The Wishing Year.

Yesterday

I thought that those most likely to be affected by new fees and reduced hours would be people like a guy and his kid who I saw yesterday at the counter, i.e. those who use the library so much and do not have a good command of English. It caught my eye that I turned in books that had yet to be checked in according to the computer. It's a hard day when you have cynical thoughts about the library. And instead of "the good people of the world are washing their cars on their lunch breaks" (lyrics from a song) I thought "the good people of the world are at the bus stop scrounging their pockets for a dollar on the way to their part time jobs with no benefits." Hooooooooo. Breath out.

Thursday, July 09, 2009

Danke! Bitte! Schmeckt gut!

Really happy to note that a book like this exists:
Ani's Raw Food Desserts.
I was so off on my German spelling.
Here is a German food quiz. (I scored 5 out of 10 on it.)

Wednesday, July 08, 2009

I found it.

Finally found the title of the book I'd been wondering about for many years! Captives of Time. I was sad to read the review by a parent who wouldn't let his daughter read it. Maybe she read it anyway, in secret. Now I want to reread it, and look for others by the author, Malcolm Bosse.
I found another article about him here.

Sunday, July 05, 2009

Aw, old TV

I did enjoy the show "Blossom." I was practically that girl's age. Even though it was another show that made me despair of ever being thin enough! Oh well. I just watched "Blossom Blossoms." Cute. That's just the first portion but I watched the whole thing. Before that I watched an old Pepsi commercial. One of my friends introduced me to the literal video of Total Eclipse of the Heart. Once again, I have stayed up way too late watching this sort of thing. I wonder how I would've gotten any papers graded in grad school if youtube had existed. (I'm noticing my word choice there. "Papers" and "graded" as opposed to "research" and "researched.")

Tunes of tonight

R. Carlos Nakai...I Will Fight No More
Joan Henry...Utah Round Dance
Marina Rouge(? can't read my own handwriting)...Vision Quest
Lisa Gerrard...Swans
Autumn's Child...Spheres
Stephen Standing Owl...Reflection
Chris Mitchell...Night Chant

Thursday, July 02, 2009

To do

Sift select filter...listen!
I'm still finding myself listening to "Ever since you've been leaving me..." and "Sitting on a pebble..." almost every night. What else is that like? Being in a small child's body on a sunny day at the PX? Crossing a long parking lot. Looking at a grocery cart. The first grocery store I remember going to regularly as a kid had a violent image: a picture of a coin with a woman's head on it and an ax going through it. Price-Chopper! And, the day after tomorrow there will be firecrackers. I no longer get stomachaches at the sound of them. I no longer envision giant flaming square Saltine crackers rolling down hills when I hear that word.

Wednesday, July 01, 2009

A bright spot

I just found out that the President came to my neighborhood (Annandale, Virginia) today to give a town hall on healthcare! Awesome! I'm sure he is very interested in making this a better system not only for today but for people who are his daughters' age, and possible future grandchildren. Too bad I was working on the wrong campus and missed it! My roommate, who has worked for years in medical offices and is currently looking for a job, watched it on television. What timing, it's been on my mind because of some family members and also I just had a doctor (well, actually nurse practitioner) appointment yesterday. That's very cool.