So far this year has been full of "firsts" … at least 7 come immediately to mind. (The title of this post is comprised of cryptic references to each of those "firsts". You can try to decipher them. But you won't. Actually... go ahead and try, this might be fun!) Some might impress you, some might make you laugh because maybe you've done them a million times… but they've all meant something significant to me. I'm pretty interested in seeing what the second half of the year holds.
This is all so uplifty!
Wednesday, May 28, 2008
Tuesday, May 6, 2008
When ya gotta go, you gotta go...
I attended a National show this past weekend. I was all set to write a nice blog about it, but then I lost... well, let's just say I lost steam. So here are a few of the highlights. or at least I think they were. I only wish they'd done Geese of Beverly Road, or perhaps Lucky You, but that's okay... they played almost all my favorites otherwise. The videos aren't the best, but they ain't bad either!
They opened with Start a War
Apartment Story
Squalor Victoria, which I never really liked until I heard it live.
And they ended their second set with About Today... the perfect ending...
Friday, April 11, 2008
I'm in Like Flynn! (or something!)
Dear Emmy,
Thank you for applying to the 5th Annual Art Star Craft Bazaar. We are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted to participate!
[...blah blah blah...]
In case you didn't pick up on it, I've been accepted to participate in my very first juried arts/crafts fair! (Okay! My first arts/crafts fair, period!) I'm so excited! Yay!
Thank you for applying to the 5th Annual Art Star Craft Bazaar. We are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted to participate!
[...blah blah blah...]
In case you didn't pick up on it, I've been accepted to participate in my very first juried arts/crafts fair! (Okay! My first arts/crafts fair, period!) I'm so excited! Yay!
So if you were wondering what I was going to be doing May 31st and June 1st (and I know you were!) that's where I'll be! So stop by! and I demand you spend money! not necessarily on me, but at least on someone's stuff... And there will be bands there, too... like this one.
Today was just good in general... from the amazing weather (spring is finally here, thank heavens!)... to the nice thing my very first customer of the day said to me (I felt all warm and fuzzy)... to the amazing photos I printed this afternoon of someone's trip to India... It was just good all around.
Happy sigh... and junk.
Today was just good in general... from the amazing weather (spring is finally here, thank heavens!)... to the nice thing my very first customer of the day said to me (I felt all warm and fuzzy)... to the amazing photos I printed this afternoon of someone's trip to India... It was just good all around.
Happy sigh... and junk.
Monday, March 24, 2008
Monday, March 17, 2008
Why did the chicken and the satan worshiper cross the corn field?
I have a slightly over-active imagination. It has its positives (I'm very rarely bored) and negatives (quite a few sleepless nights and the occasional mild case of hypochondria). Regardless, it makes life interesting.
Let me take you back to one sleepless night that occurred during the summer of 1999...
Two important things to know: That summer, rather than 100 huge and characterless houses, there still was a cornfield behind my parent's house. And the neighbors still had chickens living in their coop. It certainly was far from living in the country, but it was still pretty rural. Most of my friends would get freaked out driving down my road at night. I didn't have any serious issues most of the time, but late at night in bed my over-active imagination would always conjure up men with knives coming to butcher me in my sleep. (Of course they also would conveniently be carrying ladders so they could reach my window. But nonetheless! They were after me!)
So anyway, back to the aforementioned pleasant summer evening of 1999... around 3 AM I was woken by the sudden sound of the neighbors' chickens (for lack of a better term) freaking out. The chickens were being attacked! What could it be? As it continued for several more minutes, my mind began to put the pieces together.
It was so obvious. CLEARLY a group a satanists were preparing for the upcoming new millennium. (Yeh, yeh, I knew technically the millennium didn't change until 2001, but those silly satanists didn't.) So there they were, stealing my neighbors' chickens in order to sacrifice them in the cornfield during one of their wacky satanic rituals honoring the new millennium. It was terrifying! So I turned on my light to help calm my nerves.
Oh God! Bad move! What the hell was I thinking! Now the satanists knew I was awake and was on to their game! So now I couldn't turn out my light because that's when they'd come and get me... so they could sacrifice ME instead of the chickens! Satan and the millennium gods would be so excited about the upgrade from poultry to human flesh!
However, eventually the chickens did quiet down, and I fell asleep.
The next morning when I woke up (still alive and unsacrificed) I went out to explore the corn field to find evidence of the horrible ceremony.
Man, let me tell you, those satanists are really good at covering their trail....
Let me take you back to one sleepless night that occurred during the summer of 1999...
Two important things to know: That summer, rather than 100 huge and characterless houses, there still was a cornfield behind my parent's house. And the neighbors still had chickens living in their coop. It certainly was far from living in the country, but it was still pretty rural. Most of my friends would get freaked out driving down my road at night. I didn't have any serious issues most of the time, but late at night in bed my over-active imagination would always conjure up men with knives coming to butcher me in my sleep. (Of course they also would conveniently be carrying ladders so they could reach my window. But nonetheless! They were after me!)
So anyway, back to the aforementioned pleasant summer evening of 1999... around 3 AM I was woken by the sudden sound of the neighbors' chickens (for lack of a better term) freaking out. The chickens were being attacked! What could it be? As it continued for several more minutes, my mind began to put the pieces together.
It was so obvious. CLEARLY a group a satanists were preparing for the upcoming new millennium. (Yeh, yeh, I knew technically the millennium didn't change until 2001, but those silly satanists didn't.) So there they were, stealing my neighbors' chickens in order to sacrifice them in the cornfield during one of their wacky satanic rituals honoring the new millennium. It was terrifying! So I turned on my light to help calm my nerves.
However, eventually the chickens did quiet down, and I fell asleep.
The next morning when I woke up (still alive and unsacrificed) I went out to explore the corn field to find evidence of the horrible ceremony.
Man, let me tell you, those satanists are really good at covering their trail....
Wednesday, March 12, 2008
Things that make me happy: son of part 2: random stuff
I have a part 5 that should have been next, but I'm not feeling it right now. So more random stuff it is!
Being outside at night --
I love being outside at night, especially in the late spring and summer. There is this certain time shortly after sunset... when it's just starting to get completely dark. I get this feeling, I can't really explain it. Kind of relaxed, like I should be sitting outside with no artificial lighting, and some sort of beverage. I always thought if I were to get married, I'd want to do it at that time of night (except I haven't been able to really pinpoint it which would make it difficult when writing the invitations). Part of me thinks it's also the crickets and other nighttime critters (though I do love hearing them while going to sleep at night), but when I lived in a town (yeh, it was pretty small, but there was constantly traffic and fire whistles and whatnot) I felt the same way at night, or when I had to wake up for work hours before the sun was up. I'm not a fan of the beach, but in my opinion, the best time to go is when everyone else is asleep. I also recently discovered I love driving long distances at night, too, except for all the lovely truckers... and, ahem, it's harder to see the cops.
Thrift Stores --
How can you not love thrift stores? My favorite local store is run by Mennonites... it's clean, well organized, and always has a plethora of phenomenal stuff. AND every week certain colored price tags are 50% off. Awesome. You can't beat one of last year's best selling novels for 75¢. I've picked up so many vintage/antique pieces for next to nothing.. like my antique silverware collection (give me a break, I'm a dork) and that old silver box. And of course a couple of just completely weird things... like that wood & glass thing I'm still not sure the purpose of.
Breakfast --
Breakfast is the most important meal of the day. And also the best. I already went over how I feel about cinnamon buns. But the truth is, I love all breakfast foods. My dad makes killer omelets. I will never be able to make one that compares. Even the crappy weekend breakfast food at college made my mouth water. Ask me out for breakfast and we're friends for life.
Witnessing other people accomplish great things --
I'm such a sap about this. I will get choked up over the littlest things. I was just watching and episode of Scrubs where a patient (Pvt. Dancer) was finally able to write his name again and it's all chicken scratch, but he's so proud of himself... I teared up. Of course I was on the treadmill at the time, and I seem to get more emotional over stuff when I'm running... but I digress. It's anything really... stuff on broadway, stuff off broadway, art, movies, writing, doing good deeds (uh.. charity stuff and whatnot), just someone doing something well, ANYTHING. I remember one time I was watching some random human interest story about a local glass manufacturer who was hired to make the windows to some massive and important building. I must have been a little hormonal at the time, 'cause even that was a little too much for me to handle. I just get so proud of people. I just read A Widow for One Year by John Irving, and there was one passage that made me think of this: "And there was a meaner, more selfish reason for Ruth's tears. It was that reading Yeats had discouraged her from even trying to be a poet; hers were the tears a writer cried when ever a writer heard something better than anything he or she could have written." So maybe it's a little jealousy rather than amazement that makes me this way. But even in that jealousy, I'm definitely amazed.
Bear --
Meet Bear, my childhood friend. You may have seen him make a cameo in an earlier post. We were tight. I took him for show-and-tell every single day in nursery school, and I think even in Kindergarten. I was one of those saps who couldn't be without him. I'd carry him around by the ears. The poor little dude has had 3 pairs. One was very short lived because while my mom was nice enough to replace the previous ones, I thought they were hideous. (They were chocolate brown, and clearly Bear is NOT chocolate brown. Even as a babe I had standards!) so I snipped the thread and told her they fell off. The thing is, this guy still makes me happy. He's the comfort blankie that was never taken away. I did give up sucking my thumb, so give me a little credit! And anyway, this quote always makes me feel less like a loser about the whole thing: "Dolls have a great patience. Dolls know how to wait, and how to keep love. A world-hardened weary man in his middle years might one day come across a stuffed bear he loved as a child and be surprised, and his hardness broken for a minute as he feels a tug in his breast as if a line immeasurably long and thin were still attached between his heart and this scuffed and forgotten friend. But the bear never doubted."
Being barefoot --
Ya know those people who constantly wear shoes in their own homes? What is wrong with those people?! (No offense if you are one of them, but... what the hell is wrong with you people?!) I really dislike confining my feet to shoes. Even socks, sometimes. I prefer to drive barefoot, I enjoy grass, and anything warmed by the sun. I even take my shoes off at work most of the time, although it looks "less professional." I wish it was acceptable to walk around as God intended... uh... barefoot. I can't wait until spring! (I think we got enough of my feet last time, so sorry, no picture.)
Being outside at night --
I love being outside at night, especially in the late spring and summer. There is this certain time shortly after sunset... when it's just starting to get completely dark. I get this feeling, I can't really explain it. Kind of relaxed, like I should be sitting outside with no artificial lighting, and some sort of beverage. I always thought if I were to get married, I'd want to do it at that time of night (except I haven't been able to really pinpoint it which would make it difficult when writing the invitations). Part of me thinks it's also the crickets and other nighttime critters (though I do love hearing them while going to sleep at night), but when I lived in a town (yeh, it was pretty small, but there was constantly traffic and fire whistles and whatnot) I felt the same way at night, or when I had to wake up for work hours before the sun was up. I'm not a fan of the beach, but in my opinion, the best time to go is when everyone else is asleep. I also recently discovered I love driving long distances at night, too, except for all the lovely truckers... and, ahem, it's harder to see the cops.
Thrift Stores -- How can you not love thrift stores? My favorite local store is run by Mennonites... it's clean, well organized, and always has a plethora of phenomenal stuff. AND every week certain colored price tags are 50% off. Awesome. You can't beat one of last year's best selling novels for 75¢. I've picked up so many vintage/antique pieces for next to nothing.. like my antique silverware collection (give me a break, I'm a dork) and that old silver box. And of course a couple of just completely weird things... like that wood & glass thing I'm still not sure the purpose of.
Breakfast --
Breakfast is the most important meal of the day. And also the best. I already went over how I feel about cinnamon buns. But the truth is, I love all breakfast foods. My dad makes killer omelets. I will never be able to make one that compares. Even the crappy weekend breakfast food at college made my mouth water. Ask me out for breakfast and we're friends for life.
Witnessing other people accomplish great things --
I'm such a sap about this. I will get choked up over the littlest things. I was just watching and episode of Scrubs where a patient (Pvt. Dancer) was finally able to write his name again and it's all chicken scratch, but he's so proud of himself... I teared up. Of course I was on the treadmill at the time, and I seem to get more emotional over stuff when I'm running... but I digress. It's anything really... stuff on broadway, stuff off broadway, art, movies, writing, doing good deeds (uh.. charity stuff and whatnot), just someone doing something well, ANYTHING. I remember one time I was watching some random human interest story about a local glass manufacturer who was hired to make the windows to some massive and important building. I must have been a little hormonal at the time, 'cause even that was a little too much for me to handle. I just get so proud of people. I just read A Widow for One Year by John Irving, and there was one passage that made me think of this: "And there was a meaner, more selfish reason for Ruth's tears. It was that reading Yeats had discouraged her from even trying to be a poet; hers were the tears a writer cried when ever a writer heard something better than anything he or she could have written." So maybe it's a little jealousy rather than amazement that makes me this way. But even in that jealousy, I'm definitely amazed.
Bear --
Meet Bear, my childhood friend. You may have seen him make a cameo in an earlier post. We were tight. I took him for show-and-tell every single day in nursery school, and I think even in Kindergarten. I was one of those saps who couldn't be without him. I'd carry him around by the ears. The poor little dude has had 3 pairs. One was very short lived because while my mom was nice enough to replace the previous ones, I thought they were hideous. (They were chocolate brown, and clearly Bear is NOT chocolate brown. Even as a babe I had standards!) so I snipped the thread and told her they fell off. The thing is, this guy still makes me happy. He's the comfort blankie that was never taken away. I did give up sucking my thumb, so give me a little credit! And anyway, this quote always makes me feel less like a loser about the whole thing: "Dolls have a great patience. Dolls know how to wait, and how to keep love. A world-hardened weary man in his middle years might one day come across a stuffed bear he loved as a child and be surprised, and his hardness broken for a minute as he feels a tug in his breast as if a line immeasurably long and thin were still attached between his heart and this scuffed and forgotten friend. But the bear never doubted."
Wednesday, March 5, 2008
Things that make me happy: part 4: Music
I think almost everyone will tell you how they love music and it's such a huge part of their lives. It's just how we work, I guess. Something we can all relate to in one way or another, be it the words, the melodies, or even the mathematical part of it (yes, someone tried to discuss this with me at length one time, and even though I could appreciate what he was saying I can't say I completely "got" it, I'm more the words/melody side). Did you know there's a branch of psychology dedicated to music and how if affects our behaviors, experiences, interaction... and junk? I guess it makes sense that there should be. But I never figured there was an entire branch dedicated to it.
Without going into boring details, my history with music is pretty sordid. There were some periods I'm still ashamed of. I'm easily influenced by people around me, which may account for it. After several years of drifting, I think I've found my niche. I credit my discovery of the Beatles at the age of 15 for helping me along the way. Of course I always knew who they were. My mom would always play "Birthday" for.. uh.. for our birthdays (that, and the Winnie the Pooh "Birthday Birthday" song) on our little Fisher Price record player. I don't even know what really prompted me to start listening to them later on, but I know around that time the Anthologies, Free as a Bird and Real Love were released. But I must have been into them before, because the first anthology was released on my 16th birthday, and I was incredibly excited about the coincidence. What I do remember is listening to the so called "white album" for what I thought was the first time, and realizing that I already knew the words. I don't know where I heard it, but someone once said the Beatles have become part of our DNA. And I think they're right. I also think they stole this idea from me because I've been saying it for ages. (I LOVE this video! I can't catch them anymore because my Beatles knowledge is slipping, but there are TONS of subtle references to songs and whatnot.)
So let's see, where to go from here? I have some perennial favorites, and some I'll forget about in a few months. I guess this is a bit of a hodgepodge of the two. And this is really only skimming the surface.
On the playlist: Some of these will be mentioned below, but for the one that is not ...
The Engine Driver by the Decemberists -- Completely obsessed with this right now. It's almost as bad as when I was obsessed with Rufus Wainwright's version of "Hallelujah". (interesting bit of trivia, Rufus's version was on the earlier versions of the Shrek soundtrack, but now it's the John Cale version, which I believe is also the one heard in the film. I don't know why it was changed. Rufus' version is better.) (On another side note, the Shrek movies also make me happy. They're awfully cute. And all message-y. And funny. Well, the first 2. The third is kinda lame.)
El Sorcho will always be my favorite Weezer song. We have a bit of a history dating back to when I still taped songs off the radio, and then rediscovering it a few years later. I like Weezer. They make me happy. How can I not sing along... in my car... alone? And I can't think of Weezer without thinking of the 2001 Y100 FEZtival where I saw them. And we learned the Weezer, uh, gang sign.
I have a bit of a girl crush on Regina Spektor. She's a weird one. Maybe a little too weird. So I guess my girl crush is mainly on her music. I just recently bought her Soviet Kitsch CD. Naturally I don't like it as much as Begin to Hope. At least not yet. but isn't that how it works a lot of the time? I've got one of her songs on the playlist there... while I'm not the biggest fan of it, I do LOVE how she sings "...when I would only smoke Marlboro's". When I listen to it in the car I repeat that part over and over. It gives me chills. Anyway, I am loving this song right now:
Guster will always been one of my favorites... even though their newer stuff isn't really doing much for me. They're quirky. I like quirky. My favorite songs change from time to time... right now it's Parachute (on the playlist), but Demons is always a good one. I particularly love the addition of the banjo in this version.
I first heard "Top shelf" by Man Man on YRock on XPN (mentioned previously)... (YRock is the "alternative music" portion of XPN.) Not really my style, but it seemed "right" at the time. And still does. Sometimes you just need something, uh, drastically different, right? They’re from Philly, so how can I not support them? And I hear their live shows totally "shred". They "jam" for a while, then go into Top Shelf. If you can hang in there that long.
Somehow this feels unfinished... but I don't know what else to say.
Without going into boring details, my history with music is pretty sordid. There were some periods I'm still ashamed of. I'm easily influenced by people around me, which may account for it. After several years of drifting, I think I've found my niche. I credit my discovery of the Beatles at the age of 15 for helping me along the way. Of course I always knew who they were. My mom would always play "Birthday" for.. uh.. for our birthdays (that, and the Winnie the Pooh "Birthday Birthday" song) on our little Fisher Price record player. I don't even know what really prompted me to start listening to them later on, but I know around that time the Anthologies, Free as a Bird and Real Love were released. But I must have been into them before, because the first anthology was released on my 16th birthday, and I was incredibly excited about the coincidence. What I do remember is listening to the so called "white album" for what I thought was the first time, and realizing that I already knew the words. I don't know where I heard it, but someone once said the Beatles have become part of our DNA. And I think they're right. I also think they stole this idea from me because I've been saying it for ages. (I LOVE this video! I can't catch them anymore because my Beatles knowledge is slipping, but there are TONS of subtle references to songs and whatnot.)
So let's see, where to go from here? I have some perennial favorites, and some I'll forget about in a few months. I guess this is a bit of a hodgepodge of the two. And this is really only skimming the surface.
On the playlist: Some of these will be mentioned below, but for the one that is not ...
The Engine Driver by the Decemberists -- Completely obsessed with this right now. It's almost as bad as when I was obsessed with Rufus Wainwright's version of "Hallelujah". (interesting bit of trivia, Rufus's version was on the earlier versions of the Shrek soundtrack, but now it's the John Cale version, which I believe is also the one heard in the film. I don't know why it was changed. Rufus' version is better.) (On another side note, the Shrek movies also make me happy. They're awfully cute. And all message-y. And funny. Well, the first 2. The third is kinda lame.)
El Sorcho will always be my favorite Weezer song. We have a bit of a history dating back to when I still taped songs off the radio, and then rediscovering it a few years later. I like Weezer. They make me happy. How can I not sing along... in my car... alone? And I can't think of Weezer without thinking of the 2001 Y100 FEZtival where I saw them. And we learned the Weezer, uh, gang sign.
I have a bit of a girl crush on Regina Spektor. She's a weird one. Maybe a little too weird. So I guess my girl crush is mainly on her music. I just recently bought her Soviet Kitsch CD. Naturally I don't like it as much as Begin to Hope. At least not yet. but isn't that how it works a lot of the time? I've got one of her songs on the playlist there... while I'm not the biggest fan of it, I do LOVE how she sings "...when I would only smoke Marlboro's". When I listen to it in the car I repeat that part over and over. It gives me chills. Anyway, I am loving this song right now:
Guster will always been one of my favorites... even though their newer stuff isn't really doing much for me. They're quirky. I like quirky. My favorite songs change from time to time... right now it's Parachute (on the playlist), but Demons is always a good one. I particularly love the addition of the banjo in this version.
I first heard "Top shelf" by Man Man on YRock on XPN (mentioned previously)... (YRock is the "alternative music" portion of XPN.) Not really my style, but it seemed "right" at the time. And still does. Sometimes you just need something, uh, drastically different, right? They’re from Philly, so how can I not support them? And I hear their live shows totally "shred". They "jam" for a while, then go into Top Shelf. If you can hang in there that long.
Somehow this feels unfinished... but I don't know what else to say.
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