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July 3rd, 2008
05:05 pm - Whoa!
Blue Ocean Fishphone
By Cindy
This is the coolest thing since Google Text.
If you're out to dinner and want to order seafood, but can't remember which fish is environmentally sustainable, just text 30644 with the message FISH and the name of the fish. The Blue Ocean Institute will text you back with the answer.
Check it out: Blue Ocean Fishphone
Thanks to JW for this tip!
Visit www.consciousconsuming.org for more info.
http://consciousconsuming.blogspot.com/2008/07/blue-ocean-fishphone.html
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05:04 pm - My kind of world
My friend Lucy, who owns Mind's Eye Yarns over in Porter Square, has a lovely ain't-community-grand story on her blog: http://fullserviceyarnshop.blogspot.com/2008/07/community.html
I, for one, have some experience chasing down farmer's unsold veggies after a fierce wind.
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July 2nd, 2008
03:54 pm - The 40 Year Break and other thoughts
I've been joking, to everyone who inquires about David's and my upcoming move to a 2 person apartment/household, that I'm taking a 40 year break from living with/managing roommates. 40 years from now, however, I'd be 70. Who knows if I'll make it to 70? I'm pleasantly impressed by 30. It's been a very good 30.
Sometimes I wonder how other people perceive their mortality. I know I think about it almost every day. I'm always aware, at some level, of my tenuous hold on this planet and everyone/everything I enjoy, don't enjoy, and just live with. One of my favorite quotes from a de-cluttering book is "you never own one thing forever." So true -and how helpful when you're trying to decide whether to keep something or give it away! Even when I was a child, I felt wildly aware of this and it affected my material purchases. Can you imagine a kid of 13 wondering if she should buy a trinket because, well, where's it going to go when she's dead? Yes, well, that was me.
I suppose many people find subjects such as their own death, too morbid to think of. But I'm always wondering. I'm so curious. I don't mind thinking about beginnings and ends, not even my own.
And, as we're on that topic, here's a link to some interesting pre-death letters (from WW2, I believe) I found on Lois Lowry's blog: http://loislowry.typepad.com/lowry_updates/2008/07/number-the-stars.html
Very human and very beautiful -and absolutely nothing to do with roommates!
Current Mood: ![[mood icon]](http://p-stat.livejournal.com/img/mood/neko/kaokitty/thoughtful.gif) thoughtful
Current Music: Love & Some Verses by Iron & Wine
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June 27th, 2008
04:53 pm - Three more apartments...
under our belt. The pre-printed checklist that I created is useful, but needs some modifications, I think. However, I might be too lazy to modify it.
Here's to more apartment views over the weekend.
Current Mood: ![[mood icon]](http://p-stat.livejournal.com/img/mood/neko/kaokitty/busy.gif) busy
Current Music: This Year's Love // White Ladder by David Gray
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June 26th, 2008
12:44 pm
Day two of eating the cherries off the tree out back. So decadent.
Current Mood: ![[mood icon]](http://p-stat.livejournal.com/img/mood/neko/kaokitty/happy.gif) happy
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June 25th, 2008
04:55 pm - Ramdom thoughts for the day
Who knew there were so many different types of rechargeable battery? Nickel-cadmium, nickel-metal hydrate, etc. And you can't mix them. Go figure. Accidentally, I have some of each, but only one type that will charge in a charger and -all together- I don't have enough to power my camera. Duh.
Kumbucha has really caught on in the public imagination. Already I've heard a song about it ("Kumbucha Monster" by the Illuminati Orchestra) and seen it mentioned in an indie film ("Medicine for Melancholy)
Building a website isn't what I thought it'd turn out to be. Oddly, I seem drawn to a content management system called "Ruby on Rails." Unfortunately, I think this may be because I think the name is cute, not because I'll discover some amazing hidden talent for using it.
Weirdly, I have a barometric (eh?) weather pressure headache on what appears to be a gorgeous not-too-hot, not-too-chilly day. What the heck? Might also be a reaction to those yummy cherries I ate off our sour cherry tree out back behind the center. If I'm dead in a hour, I leave you all one rechargable battery each.
Apparently, there's nothing unusual about young children singing songs from the rockopera Rent: http://school.banneker.org/~blog/streaming/07-08/k2/k2.mp3
Wow. That's something.
Current Music: And It's Supposed to Be Love // Songs of the Siren - Irresistible Voices by Ayo
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June 23rd, 2008
01:06 pm - Pho the voyuer
On my way to update my librarytour blog, I constantly get sidetracked by wordpress. I need some blinders. Ran into this blog today: http://blackcelebkids.com/ Although I usually refrain from celeb-obessiveness, I have a hard time resisting photos of people's babies, I really do. It's not that I love babies (they're alright ;^) so much as I love to see how people resemble one another. I am fascinated by family units. I can (and have) spent many spare moments at my volunteer gig at MOS watching families walk by and noting their similarities and differences.
Current Music: Poem For Carlita // Appalachian Journey by Yo-Yo Ma, Mark O'Connor & Edgar Meyer
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12:34 pm
I love summer showers.
Current Music: Hard Times Come Again No More // Appalachian Journey by Yo-Yo Ma, Mark O'Connor & Edgar Meyer
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11:43 am - Dream of the week
Down the end of Sacramento St. is a newish bike delivery service called the "New Amsterdamn Project." Most days, when I look at the shiny delivery bikes in the window, with their big bins, I think about how much I'd love to be a delivery girl. Unfortunately, my only free hours are nights and weekends, and my nights and weekends are pretty damned packed (not so free). Sometimes, though, I think about contacting them, just to see...
http://newamsterdamproject.com/
Current Music: When You Come Back Down // Nickel Creek by Nickel Creek
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June 20th, 2008
04:04 pm - Five on a Friday: Listening to Ira Glass edition
1.) Major upset at work. ABC decided to lay off a member of our corestaff (6 ppl) because they could no longer afford to pay her. Unfortunately/fortunately that person wasn't me. Good/drat. My boss is all out of sorts about it. The exec. dir. seems pretty much okay. I think it might have been a good thing, seeing how that employee was feeling the need-to-leave bug anyhows, and just hadn't been able to make the break.
2.) I have a BIG project for summer. Find a new host for our website, find a cheap (yeah, right) designer for our new website, have our new site go live by September. Hmm.
3.) Lots o plans for the weekend. Tonight, it's Amanda Palmer with the Pops (yes, the Pops, orchestra, all that), tomorrow ![[info]](http://p-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) kurimsky and I will visit natd11 and her new babe, Sunday I will either view an apartment (lets hope so) or enjoy some public art at an event in Watertown or hang with my mum who, with her sister, is escorting my cousin Jaleesa up to summerschool at Brown.
4.) Starting reading my WIP and pulled info from my files about a publisher and an agent I'm thinking about sending book #1 to. This morning, on the T, I saw a girl who I thought resembled the character Gideon from my WIP, and sketched her face in the margin to remember it. It's hard to stare at someone for 20 minutes and pretend you're not staring.
5.) D and I have looked at 3 apartments so far. One in Allston, and two in Somerville. One of the Somerville places was attractive, but didn't feel quite right. Of course, now that we've passed it up, I wonder if we made an error. I've spent a decent amount of thinking working to convince myself that D and I weren't being stupid with that decision. Searching for an apartment is turning out to be a lot like choosing a roommate -with all the heart-wrenching, thought-wrangling, anticipations and hopes for the PERFECT imperfect find.
Current Music: China // WERS Presents Music for the Independent Mind, Vol. 1 by The Commons
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June 18th, 2008
04:13 pm - Unusual names among the Baldwin 8th grade graduates
My favorite was Freeland Eillis - a girl. Her brothers sat behind me and were an awesome cheering squad.
Otis Booz - a very popular kid, the TNTs were often talking about him. When I finally saw him, I understood why. A LOT of personality pouring out of an open, handsome, naughty face.
Gage Neirinckx -great spelling of that last name.
Priyanka Sen -fun to say. A good writer, that kid. I read one of articles that was sent around on the school's email list.
Current Music: Skeleton Song // Made of Bricks (Bonus Track Version) by Kate Nash
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June 17th, 2008
05:45 pm - WIP = done
Now that I've made my goal, and posted it, I can go back to reading fiction of my choice. Yea!
Next step in writing-progress, print the whole darn thing out , read it, make notes, and put it away for a month or two. Anyone have any ideas about how I can print out the entire 128 page mess in a way that allows me to read see chapter (usually 4 - 6 pages long, single spaced) by itself so I can switch/swap them around? Perviously, I printed each chapter in 10 pt font (most chapters fitting length-wise on a tabloid sized sheet), and I cut each using the paper cutter.
59808 / 50000 words. 120% done!
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04:47 pm - Confession Tuesday: Sweet nostolgia edition
I confess:
-Today I attended the 8th grade graduation at Baldwin School. 6 of the graduates (Jamila, Rayana, Yousseff, Adem, Naomi, Darren, Shirley) worked for me as office help, and one dropped by twice to volunteer with her friend. A couple of the other kids I knew by name as my kids often talked about them, and one I knew because she worked as a CIT in our summer program. My star TNT (with the very involved mother), gave the student speech. They've all grown so tall! It was truly amazing to see all those once little ones in their near-adult bodies with their near-adult smiles. And to think I tied their aprons and taught them how to enter data into spreadsheet and make crisp folds. They've gone and grown up with nary a thought of their old Miss Phoebe (their invented name, not mine) over at 20 Sacramento. Sniff!
-The graduating class sung "Seasons of Love" from Rent as their departing song. Very sweet -and what an inappropriate show for an audience of little brothers and sisters (though the song is certainly innocuous)! I'm sure a teacher chose it. I think I shed half a tear looking at all their beautiful faces.
-The raindrops falling outside my window are huge. Also, I forgot to bring an umbrella. It's going to be hard to dodge raindrops of that advanced size.
-I've spent a decent amount of time ruminating on my poor behavior this past weekend, but I haven't yet come up with a solution to avoid or prevent it. Sigh.
-This weekend, I enjoyed my 6th (or something) Pride parade. However, this wasn't NEARLY as satisfying as learning that my roommate Kate, who attended the parade and then went on to go to the after parties, had an absolute BLAST! Yesterday, she was still wearing her "under-21" bracelet left over from one of the parties.
-FINALLY did my word count for my WIP, I also reviewed subjects to write about in my librarytour blog, and took out the notebook containing my thought about soon to be new work-in-progress.
-The strange cat art is still in my possession. Perhaps I'll do as January suggested and try to sell it on eBay. But how would I advertise it? Strange original art? Original underpants art?
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10:07 am - Old goldfish
On the way to update my blog, librarytour.wordpress.com, I came across a humor blog discussing goldfish. I didn't read the full blog post, but I did scroll down to the comments and found this:
"I had a goldfish ~ Pedro ~ he lived for forty-two years. He was like a brother to me. We put his bowl on the dinner table for meals, and when he died… couldn’t flush him after that. He’s buried in the backyard with my 16 dogs and 21 cats."
42 years?
http://animalreview.wordpress.com/2008/06/16/goldfish/
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June 13th, 2008
10:31 am - Crafty NYC
NYC friends, just a word of warning, Renegade Craft Fair is this weekend! If you've ever been to the Bizarre Bazaar in Boston, you know the flavor of an event like this: http://www.renegadecraft.com/brooklyn/index.html.
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June 11th, 2008
09:32 am - Loving Vs. Virginia
Tomorrow is LovingDay! Hip hip!
http://www.lovingday.org/holiday.htm
D and I should do something. I don't know what. Maybe sit at cafe and watch all the Loving couples and family pass by.
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June 10th, 2008
06:25 pm - Confession Tuesday: Where'd the time go edition
I confess:
-Finished the terrible first draft of my WIP two or three weeks ago, but haven't had time to update my word count on lj. I can't decide whether that's pathetic, or not.
-My palm pilot is still on the fritz. I tried to fix it last week, to no avail. Unhappy about this. At least my backup version on my desktop still seems normal.
-The weeks fly by so quickly that I keep getting surprised when it's pay week. Has this ever happened before in my life? I don't think so.
-I'm happy that I finally took out my newly repaired sewing machine last week. Dreaming of finally finishing that quilt I did for a class at my local knit shop.
-When I move, I'm going to miss that local knit shop. At least it's highly T accessible.
-Bread in my fridge is quickly fermenting. I should probably use it in the next few days. Whoever heard of sourdough honey wheat?
Current Music: hyper-Ballad // Post by Björk
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06:20 pm - Following Barry's path
2 positive things today:
-Discovered a new yummy microwave meal by Amy's vegetarian, and ate it again today
-Lots of sun out there...
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June 6th, 2008
04:31 pm - Four on a Friday: Simple pleasures edition
1.) Last night, I had the best domestic evening ever. It all started with too many cups of green tea at my boss's house in Cambridge. I then went home with many ideas of what I wanted to do in the evening bouncing around in my head. I accomplished:
-Dropped our down comforter off at the dry cleaners, using a $5 off cupon
-Washed our duvet to store for the winter
-Took out the recycling
-Rinsed the recycling bins
-Baked a loaf of 5-minute-artisan bread
-Swept and washed kitchen floor
-Swept and washed foyer floor
-Swept steps and sneezed up a storm, actually started to cough, cat fur/dust was that bad
-Got out my newly repaired sewing machine and darned my long-in-the-repair-pile black pants, after I discovered a hole in the crotch of said pants, sewed up hole (wearing pants today!)
-Emptied dishwasher
-Did a load of laundry
-Started compiling all the many files (52 chapters) of my recently completed work-in-progress into two Word files
-Mopped up some cat puke residue
-Still had time to eat dinner D cooked and swap crazy co-worker/boss stories
2.) D and I are headed to DC this weekend for a friend's 30th birthday party. Let the 30th parties begin...!
3.) Excited to do a liitle traveling. I obeyed my newish rule, and packed my bag on Wednesday.
4.) I don't think I'm going to make it to 5, as it's 4:30 PM already and I need to straighten up before leaving for volunteer stint at MOS.
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