Je vois la neige pour la premiere fois que j'ai quitte Maine...
La neige est tres belle, mais j'ai de l'anxiete de conduire dans elle...
Mais elle est tres belle... et le chiot l'aime aussi.
Il neige...
Good morning America, how are you?
I'm very well, thank you!
Had a fun day yesterday that consisted of me taking a pair of jeans that I loathe because they fit funny and turning it into a skirt that fits pretty darn well, thank you, hanging out with friends (thus beginning the 3 day birthday celebration of Crazy Mara - who has yet to have a superpower delegated), going out dancing, then for late night grilled cheesies. (I accident typed gilled cheesies, which seems very gross) I'm making a cake today after I finish my Afghanistan presentation. Then academic craziness sets in and I have very little fun.
The best laid plans...
So I went to the mall last night, didn't do my Russian homework til this morning, and started on my skirt around 1. I went to bed around midnight.
in funny news...
My proclivity for giving people nicknames or adjectives in front of their names led one James the Chick (aka Fred), who by the way is the only one to have a parenthetical note in HER nickname, asked me how all of my crazy superhero friends are doing...
So tell me Fredlet, what's YOUR superpower?
Update: I've just realized with all of my superfriends with their supernames and superpowers, I don't have one. I'm opening the floor to get one. It's less cool if you give yourself one.
Friday, where have you been?
It's going to be a long, day, but it's Friday! And Friday means going shopping with Pei Lo Mein, making a skirt out of a pair of jeans I never wear because they're funny looking, doing my Russian homework, and going to bed EARLY tonight. Last night was the earliest I'd gone to bed in about 4 weeks. It was 10:30.
I am trying so hard to mentally tune out the political commercials (particularly in the Salazar/Coors CO senate race) because I've voted, and the commercials instead of being merely annoying are utterly revolting.
I'm having a Caramel Macchiato today for the first time since... it's been a long time. I've become such an Americano girl that even with the extra espresso, it's sickeningly sweet. It's supposed to be a rain/snow mix on Sunday. It usually snows here on Halloween.
I'm having mixed reactions about Yasser Arafat's failing health. It's bizarre because he's the only Palestinian leader I remember... Remember when he won the Nobel Peace Prize? I'm frightened to realize that as terrible as the situation is in Palestine/Israel, it's a situation where the devil you know seems better than the devil you don't... But maybe we need 2 new devils before anything can get better.
Okay kids, get crazy with the Cheez Whiz, I gots to work.
Prolific, aren't I?
So why so many posts today? I have no idea.
Moving ahead.
It's baby seal stranding season in Maine right now. Poor Andre.
I voted on Monday after class. This is the very first time I voted for all one party (note: this is VERY different than voting along party lines which I think is foolish, but chances are we've likely had that discussion). And like a true registered Democrat, I voted "yes" on all of the tax increases. I think taxes are good things. I don't think they're penalties, and I don't mind paying them (it's different when your job messes up your withholdings and you have to pony up $800 in one lump sum which is just annoying, but that's not the US' fault). I think bigger government is a good thing. I think nationalized health care is a good thing. I think having firefighters, teachers, police, public transportation are good things. But, to get back to my point, Colorado has early voting. So I went to the Safeway, stood in line for about 2 minutes, went into my booth and voted.
You're going to vote too, aren't you?
Saw a baaaad ska show the other night.
Had a boring class last night, followed up by yummy chinese food.
more about music
I've been slowly getting back into the music groove... I went from playing the guitar for about 2-3 hours a day to maybe playing for 15 minutes a week. But as I'm starting to balance out work, school, and homework, I've had a little more time for guitar play. But I can't remember beyond about 5 songs what I know how to play. If I remember their names, it shouldn't be a problem to start playing them, but I can only think of the same 5 songs... Someone, please remind me what songs I know how to play... Here's the 5 I can remember:
It's Over - Lisa Loeb
The Sweetest Sound - Gina Forsyth
I Love, I Love - Dar Williams
The Blower's Daughter - Damian Rice (I raise my glass and sigh)
Perfect - Doria Roberts
(end of plea for help)
But I've also been going back and listening to music I haven't typically listened to in a while (I go through my experimental rock, then folk, then classical, then poppish phases sequentially, and forget that I can balance it out and not only listen to one genre at a time) but I've started pulling out my Clash (about 6 weeks ago I changed my ring tone from Alias {gasp!} to London Calling), Ramones, Mind Science..., Neutral Milk Hotel, Great Lakes, and some old songs I'd forgotten about by Bright Eyes and Danielle Howle... But I'm making a conscious effort to listen to a bunch of different genres at a time this time around...
It's high time I razed the wall...
I got home last night from class and checked my email. And I had an email from my friend from college, RockStar Matt "Smartin'" Martin. I haven't heard from Matty in about 2 years, and last I had heard he was living in Chicago being a rock star and taking a break from his band Amerigo. Matt's also a music therapist, but I don't know that he ever did his internship. Anyhow, is email said that he was living back in New Orleans, and playing guitar with a band named World Leader Pretend (it's high time I razed the wall... I raised the wall and I will be the one to knock it down). His band was just signed to Warner Bros. records, will be going on a small tour of the US for the end of the year, releasing a new album after the first of the year, and then going on a World Leader tour next year. So, go to www.wlplover.com sign up for the mailing list, buy their first album, buy their second album and go see them when they're on tour.
the autumn of my discontent
There's a short story by David Foster Wallace called "Here and There." There's a passage in it that says something to the effect of eventually every there you head for, filled with excitement though you may be to be heading to a place of new people, new adventures, new life, every There evenutally becomes a Here, with your eyes focused on an all new There. I am very happy Here. This Here is still very much a There.
But there's something nagging at me just below the surface. Something that makes me want to "buckle up my tough old heart and hit the road." Pull a Codi Noline (not to mix my fiction, but I've jumped over to Animal Dreams by Kingsolver) move ahead and experience my next place, get out of Grace, AZ and move on to Telluride. AD also has a passage where Codi hears that the Pueblos used to take a piece of their home with them when they moved on so that they would never be without the things they love and cherish. She says she'll probably take a piece of Grace (which is a metaphor I love...) when she leaves. But someone points out to her that there's a difference between taking a piece of home when you move on and always moving on looking for a home. About ground orientation: instead of circling above the ground looking for a great place to start life and live, and being down on the ground and living it.
That's the distinction I've never mastered. Denver fits my bill in a lot of ways: nice people, less expensive gas than in CA, a good school that is keeping me challenged, the right kind of seasons, and I've met some fantastic people. I don't want to leave here, at least right now. But when it gets to be too much, I want to find a geographic cure for a problem. Which is in a lot of ways like drinking chamomile tea to stop nuclear proliferation; two different categories.
It's just going to be a long 3 weeks before the quarter ends.
fell in love with a girl
I said "I must be fine because my heart's still beating
Come and kiss me by the riverside,"
"Bobby said it's fine, he don't consider it cheating."
good song.
Stuck in my head for about a week... it might be the next "Bad Moon Rising."
works for dogs too. (thanks fred)
cat hair removal guidelines
- hair from clothing
- de-fur the inside AND the outside of all cardigans
( to avoid embarrassment during warm business meetings ) - de-fur the backs, arms, and leg rests of all chairs twice weekly
- don't forget your car seats
- and yes, your chair at work too
- move neglected laundry pile from floor to inside of closet
- don't forget to close closet door
- just in case, lock it.
- vacuum three times a week minimum
( make sure your roommate does the same ) - groom the cat daily
( make sure your roommate does the same ) - consider grooming cats while naked, then shower immediately
( putting on clothes post-grooming would adhere fur to inside of clothes, see cardigan guideline ) - use groomed fur to knit warm fur sweater
- knit while naked, then shower immediately
- consider using sweater proceeds to hire maid to help with vacuuming
- shave cats.
mmmm.... coffee....
So there's a chance I'll be going to a ska show tonight... I haven't been to any sort of concert in ages, so I'm totally excited. However, Mindy Smith is playing in Boulder this week, and Christine Kane is playing in Denver next week... and I've been waiting for the Christine Kane show for almost 6 months though... argh! I think I'll do ska and CK. I have seen CK once, and it was in Clemson, SC at the Freedom Weekend Aloft, a hot air balloon festival that takes place every Memorial Day Weekend. My friend David took me, my roommate Mina, his girlfriend Karen and I to see Dar Williams, but it turned out to be CK... and she's one of my favorites EVER now. I just got her new album Right Outta Nowhere and it is SO good...
Get to go look at the museum of Nature and Science today to see our locale for out biiiiiiiig party I'm planning for work... Yay! Big party = big budget!
Q.E.D.
So, Saturday night, there was a GSIS (school) party that was highly unofficial. I believe it was entitled something along the lines of "Party Like an Undergrad" and there was a flyer and everything. But the funny part was it was distributed on the school Listserv. So, that was funny. And I went with it with a bunch of people, met some new people, had a beer, whatever. The host was there, and wearing a tie. It was a pretty quiet affair all in all, with a couple of intoxicated people, but all in all not rowdy (I had some issues with the music, too, but that's another post for another day).At one point, I was talking about how weird it was that the party was sent out on the listserv, and concluded Susan (the administrator of the listserv) will put ANYTHING on the listserv with very little bureaucracy, when my friend Pei pointed out that the host was sitting 2 feet from me, so I bit my tongue and he didn't really hear me. And later I heard that he had passed out in his room and was no longer partying like an undergrad (or perhaps, he WAS partying like an undergrad...). By and large I had a good ttime, followed by returning to Crazy Mara's house with some peoples and indulging in late night music and snacks (and a very unpleasant experience with slivovitz...sp?, which shall henceforth be known as Romanian Firewater... I had a little and that was all I could deal with. It was nasty) I had a good time, went home really late (well, it was 6 am...that's theoretically early, I suppose). Come today, I'm checking my school email, and lo! there is a letter on the listserv entitled "Party Aftermath"
There was an apology from said host for "being such a lame host", and I'm going to post a bit of the letter. (few people from GSIS likely read this, and I was WITH them, so it's not going to be a thing...I don't think):
"After two consecutive games of beer pong early in the night, my stomach had had enough. At one point the puke hit the back of my throat while I was in the basement. I ran up the stairs, bumped a really cute girl and made her spill her beer all over herself (sorry, whoever you are), committing my first major faux pa of the night, and hurled all over my tie in the back yard. "
So I believe it's safe to assume Susan WILL post ANYTHING on the listserv.
Crimes against technology
My friend Tim's laptop was stolen from the DU library yesterday. He stood up to print out his paper that was due in 10 minutes, walked 10 feet to the printer, went back to his computer, and it was GONE. Fortunate things: he had emailed his paper to his yahoo acct., he had already printed it... and that's about it. New computer, 1 payment in, and no insurance... Ew.
I don't leave my laptop unless someone is sitting right next to it and they'll just keep an eye out. But I REALLY don't want it stolen. But that is just unpleasant...
Okay it's time to reimmerse myself in Soviet-Afghan relations in the 80's.
There's a slim chance...
that I was at the library until 1 writing a paper (of the 14 other people in the class, I knew of at least 6 people who were nowhere near as far along as I was when I left last night), made it home around 1:30 ( I took a stupid route home that took me past some ladies of ill repute on Colfax and I didn't even get a big huge bottle of water like I was dying for and was the reason I took the stupid route home), fed the dog, let him run around and frolic for a little while, drank half of a lake's worth of water, went to bed around 2:15... 5:30 came mighty early...
Logophiles of the world...
Funny! This is the No. 1 Favorite Word
Are we so discombobulated by the plethora of daily kerfuffles that we're ready to defenestrate the whole mess? We must be. Why? When Merriam-Webster OnLine conducted a survey to find out the top 10 favorite words, No. 1 on the list was: "defenestration."
Derived from the Latin word "fenestra" (window), defenestration means: "a throwing of a person or thing out of a window."
"Projects like this remind us once again of the deep level of interest that people attach to the words in their language," said John M. Morse Merriam-Webster president and publisher. "Using language can be a little like serving up a meal, with words as the ingredients. I think people were sharing with us their favorite ingredients--the ingredients that add spice and flavor and a personal touch to their everyday use of language."
One thing the top 10 favorite words have in common is sound--a cadence and lilt that makes them fun to say and fun to hear.
The Top 10 Favorite Words
1. defenestration: a throwing of a person or thing out of a window
2. serendipity: the faculty or phenomenon of finding valuable or agreeable things not sought for
3. onomatopoeia: the use of words whose sound suggests the sense (Examples: buzz, crash, whirr, clang hiss, purr)
4. discombobulate: upset or confused
5. plethora: excess, superfluity, profusion, or abundance
6. callipygian: having shapely buttocks
7. juxtapose: to place side by side
8. persnickety: fussy about small details
9. kerfuffle: disturbance or fuss
10. flibbertigibbet: a silly, flighty person
Not otherwise occupied
Artist: Ani D.
Are you female or male: Pixie
Describe yourself: Joyful Girl
How do some people feel about you: Akimbo
How do you feel about yourself: I'm No Heroine
Describe your ex girlfriend/boyfriend: Sick of Me
Describe your current girlfriend/boyfriend: Out of Range
Describe where you want to be: Here for Now
Describe what you want to be: Superhero
Describe how you live: Up Up Up Up Up Up Up
Describe how you love: As Is
Share a few words of wisdom: Roll With It
see, I'm not a vegetarian
But I AM a big fan of cellophane, shrink wrapped meat that doesn't look like its origin.
This is why I don't grocery shop in Peru.
And a bit untimely, but stil fun: http://nottotallyinept.blogspot.com/2004/09/up-for-debate.html
Words of Wisdom
"Build a man a fire, and he'll be warm for a day. Set a man on fire, and he'll be warm for the rest of his life. "-- Terry Pratchett
Any questions...
...about the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, I'm your girl.
(This also includes the Brezhnev Doctrine, the People's Democratic Party of Afghanistan, the death of US Ambassador to Afghanistan Adolph Debs, and the Geneva Accords)
I also have a paper due Friday that I haven't really started yet because I'm stuck in Afghanistan between 1978 and 1989...
Why literal translations don't work
"You Are My Sunshine" translated into Portugese, and back into English:
You it is my light of the sun, mine only light of the sun.
You it makes me happy when the skies are cinereous.
You'll never knows expensive how much I love you.
Please taken of don't my light of the moved away sun.
I recommend highly trying this with your favorite song (but do it one verse at a time otherwise, it's tooooo long) to and from any language of your choice.
Я хороший русский студентка.
Здравствуйте!
я учу русский язык.
Меня зовут Хэзер.
у меня книга, газета, карандаш, и ручка.
babelfish, left.
Nothing too exciting... just feeling out the cyrillic keyboard... It's like learning a new language or something.
Update: I translated it with Babelfish, and I had forgotten how BADLY it translates... So it doesn't make sense. FYI in babelfishland, "knob" = "pen"
Time warp
Tears for Fears has a new cd out.
Hmmm... the song I'm hearing is very peppy and happy sounding. It's not bad. But strange to hear a new TFF song.
Brrrrrr...
It was so chilly last night! But it was nice, other than the noisy, moisture-evacuating forced air heat whose furnace is approximately 4 feet from my pillow thing. But I busted out my Irish Wool duster, dug up my favorite scarf (Mary I swear I shall complete yours one day), and watched the wind make tiny cyclones of fallen leaves in the street.
I love fall...
I often fall myself. But that doesn't usually relate to seasons.
I'm getting internet this week... woohoo! Comcast High-Speed internet, to be precise. So I'll be connected at home and not reliant upon work or school to get me there!
Don't forget to go see a good cat gone wrong. Maybe it's just a less-than-smart-cat merely existing. Take it up with James.
Busta
I've just gotten a flu shot, which is usually unfun, because of the soreness resulting in my arm later that day, but now I've been struck by waves of nausea and dizziness... Coincidence, or reaction? I've never been as certain as I am about this that it is NOT morning sickness, so don't ask, nosy peeps.
"All this aggravation ain't satisfactioning me..." I love songs that make up words... This is from the only Elvis song I ALWAYS dig ("Suspcious Minds" grows on me in the right mood).
I got my first graduate paper back, and I did better than I thought. Although upon reflection, it appears that me being really pessimistic and thinking I'll fail my papers seems to be part of my process... I need to work on one that's more affirming than that.
I was listening to "Scenario" by A Tribe Called Quest this morning, and I REALLY like Busta Rhyme's voice.
Ugh...
I posted a comment to semaphoria on the wrong posting (I must be delusional) so, in summary, apples are good for Bob. So Bob liking apples is a gooooood thing.
I bought and built a desk this weekend. I swore about 3 years ago that never again would I live in a place without a washer and dryer, or buy furniture that needed assembly. Famous last words, I suppose.
I'm putting off reading 6 chapters of a book for class that are on Federalism. I wonder why i'm putting it off.
There's a VERY slim chance I'll have the opportunity to do nuclear nonproliferation work in Russia for 14 months. Crazy.
Hi Bob!
I went out for beverages Wednesday night with Crazy Mara, Pei, Tim (whom I’d like to call Tim the Enchanter. I always want to call people named Tim that.), and Mara’s friend Lincoln. The beverages were of the adult variety because a particularly unpleasant 2 weeks at school ended Wednesday, and it was time to relax. We were out late (late for Heather who wakes up at 5 is 12:30, no one else thought it was late because they didn’t have to get up in the morning)
I give props to Tim and Lincoln who’ve never hung out with Crazy Mara and I before because we think we’re SO much fun and when having beverages, (I guess when we’re not, too) we laugh/giggle a LOT. See, Mara and I think we’re REALLY hilariously funny, and I could have shot her in the toe because she made me laugh out loud in class Wednesday night and it was seriously problematic to do that in class when talking about car bombings and decapitations. Anyhow… We were talking about Crazy Mara’s birthday Nov. 1, and each discussed our last birthdays. I happened to mention that I spent my birthday (May 27) with an 89 year old woman. To which Mara replied:
“Because it was Leap Year?”
Tim didn’t hear her because it was loud and his friends set off firecrackers next to his ears and he doesn’t hear well.
Pei didn’t hear because it was loud.
(Lincoln wasn’t there yet)
So they were looking at us like we were insane because all of a sudden she and I were laughing so hard we couldn’t breathe or speak, and crying was involved. It turns out Mara didn’t know why I was laughing, either, so I was trying to explain to the deaf ones what was funny, and to Mara why a Leap Year birthday in May doesn’t really affect with WHOM I spend pass the occasion. In fact a Leap Year birthday in ANY month doesn’t. I do suppose that it was you had to be there and be one of us to think it was funny, but there you go.
I wish I were a little juicy orange.
I'd really like a blood orange this morning...
I'm so excited about school and work (that is related to school...my job's grating on my last good nerve the past 2 weeks).
I love coffee.
I love learning Russian.
I love Bob. Who is Bob? I dunno, but if I had a friend with no arms or legs and threw him in the water that's what I'd call him.
I am so lonely....
without my frequent Freddie posts...
I'm glad you're getting your dreams in order and learning to fly, as defined by the big guy, but I do miss my daily dose of semaphoria...
But, Freddie DID give me the link to the debates that I missed because of school that can be downloaded into my nifty iPod!!!
Thanks friend.
I'm OVERWHELMED
Too much work, too much school, not enough time to get my work or my school done.
When an unstoppable force like that hits an immovable object like me...
New Words - thanks Lori!
Once again, The Washington Post published its yearly contest in which readers are asked to supply alternate meanings for variouswords. And the winners are...
1. Coffee (n.), a person who is coughed upon.
2. Flabbergasted (adj.), appalled over how much weight you have gained.
3. Abdicate (v.), to give up all hope of ever having a flat stomach.
4. Esplanade (v.), to attempt an explanation while drunk.
5. Willy-nilly (adj.), impotent.
6. Negligent (adj.), describes a condition in which you absent-mindedly answer the door in your nightgown.
7. Lymph (v.), to walk with a lisp.
8. Gargoyle (n.), an olive-flavored mouthwash.
9. Flatulence (n.) the emergency vehicle that picks you up after you are run over by a steamroller
10. Balderdash (n.), a rapidly receding hairline.
11. Testicle (n.), a humorous question on an exam.
12. Rectitude (n.), the formal, dignified demeanor assumed by a proctologist immediately before he examines you.
13. Oyster (n.), a person who sprinkles his conversation withYiddish expressions.
14. Pokemon (n), A Jamaican proctologist.
15. Frisbeetarianism (n.), The belief that, when you die your soul goes upon the roof and gets stuck there.
16. Circumvent (n.), the opening in the front of boxer shorts.
