January 31, 2007
Heretics
The new Andrew Bird track that's floating around - it's GOOD. Real good.
I am not going to upload it for you because everybody and her brother in blogland is upping it. But I will give you a link to an elbo.ws search that will get you started.
I Don't Know if This Exists, But
Hey, do any of you Smiths lovers have any particularly great covers of There is a Light That Never Goes Out? I heard a Braid cover on some music blog (I forgot which one, oops) this morning and it just didn't do it for me. Same with the Loquat cover, I mean, it's alright, but... eh.
MOKB posted a bunch of covers but that was in May 2006 in the glory days of Ezarchive so obvs that won't cut it.
Also, is it a sign of creeping age and hippiedom that more and more of your favorite musicians are people who go by their real first and last names rather than affixing "The" to random words?
Pamela Cortland, we need to do a mix exchange stat.
January 29, 2007
A Dry, Sunny Winter
Coachella
I have to decide by tomorrow afternoon if I want to go to Coachella.
?!?!?!?!?
Plans
I guess at some point I'm gonna have to give in and buy some climbing shoes.
Vox
So I got sick last week and stayed sick and lost my voice and have been a squeaky raspy hacking version of myself for a few days but today, the day I have to give a big 100-person presentation (at the Sizzler, no less, for the local Chamber, lolz), my voice comes back. It's gravelly, but it's there - just enough that I can't cancel the presentation.
But hey, gravelly voices are kind of hot, right? I hope they've got a microphone...
January 28, 2007
Down in the Easy Chair
You pretty much can't listen to anything better on a Sunday afternoon.
January 27, 2007
Swamp Folk
Why I love SotB (you've gotta click to see the picture that accompanies this caption):
Ladies, if you can't grow old, wear a funky crochet short-sleeved blouse, pick your nose and drink a beer in public, what's the point?
Also, she found this feature on Lucky Cole, who's kinda amazing.
Behind the barrier, a rusted metal sculpture of what can only be described as a medieval warrior guarded the entrance. A hangman's noose dangled in the wind behind it. The place looked as if it belonged on the set of The Hills Have Eyes, the Seventies horror flick about a lost family that becomes prey for psychotic killers. At the rear of the property, two trailers were connected to each other via a deck, a covered front porch, and a kitchen made from sturdy wood.A blue-eyed bear of a man wearing a floral print short-sleeve shirt, black Wrangler jeans, and black cowboy boots sat before two computers inside one of the mobile homes. When he stood to greet me, he looked larger than a Florida black bear romping through Big Cypress. He sported a salt-and-pepper mustache and beard, but had a youthful smile.
That is so the Everglades.
Funny Women
I found this Slate piece a few days ago. It's a big STFU to Hitchens' recent claim in Vanity Fair that women aren't funny (though after reading the piece I have zero desire to read the book it reviews. Hmm).
If there's humor to be milked from the (tragically, all too common) situation of loving someone who doesn't love you back, or from the variety of self-abnegating female behavior on display here, let's call it the humor of painful recognition. The comedy hinges on a willingness to recognize the element of truth in the parody. But the humor of painful recognition is also an inherently conservative social form, especially when it comes to conventional gender behaviors, because it just further hardens such behaviors into "the way things are." The laughter depends not only on our recognizing the world as it supposedly is, but on our leaving it that way; it questions nothing. Consider, by contrast, someone like Sarah Silverman, whose scabrous humor, delivered in that faux-naive girly voice, leaves exactly nothing the same. When Silverman takes on female abjection—most famously, "I was raped by a doctor. Which is so bittersweet for a Jewish girl"—the clichés are demolished, not upheld; the world as it was is turned on its ear. The laughter isn't from painful recognition, it's the shock and pleasure of smashing conventions instead of toadying to them.
January 25, 2007
Happenings in the South
Here's some Southern news for those who will appreciate it -
Ridin' Dirty in Alabama - Some of the cops in Mobile, AL have started using drug bust money to purchase drug dealers' pimped-out cars from impoundment lots. And then they ride 'em around town.
Officers then take the slab to the hood—scraping tail, flashing rims, thumping Mike Jones, or whatever—as if to say, “This is what happens when you cross the law, suckers!” Their current ride is a canary yellow 2006 Dodge Charger with a 5.7 liter 8-cylinder HEMI. The cops are known as the Ridin’ Dirty team... (via MoJo)
State of the South - The always-excellent Facing South has an overview of regional indicators for the South - economy, environment, education, etc. In general: things aren't so great, but there are a few bright points. It's worth a look. (via Facing South)
January 24, 2007
In Case You Were Wondering
Some highlights from life this past week:
- Snowshoeing with Marc and a herd of old people on Mt. Bachelor
- The warm comfortable feeling of a house full of friendly people
- The long drive to Bend being made much less long by having Megan for company
- Foosball, even if I lost both games
- Being blindsided by good fortune
- The laundry room
- Tennesseans (even those by way of Indiana)
- Impromptu jam sessions with a guitar and a mandolin and a tambourine and a whole bunch of bongos and noisemakers and singin and laughin and feeling SO DAMN GOOD with the music and the people and the bright fire and the cold keg and a couple of good pictures too.
- A good bottle of red Spanish wine
- Stir-fry in the wok
- The comfortable company of friends in my apartment
- Gossip, of a good sort
- A couple of long phone calls across a very long distance
- Plans to visit Eugene for a week in February and see and do so much!
January 23, 2007
Bonnaroo
Oh. Man.
Am I dreaming or is this really the lineup for Bonnaroo?
The Police (headline)
Bob Dylan (headline)
Pearl Jam (headline)
Tom Waits
Willie Nelson
Umphrey's McGee
Bela Fleck and the Flecktones
Modest Mouse
The Black Crowes
Ryan Adams
My Morning Jacket
Arcade Fire
Keller WilliamsBand
Hot Chip
America
TV on the Radio
Fountains of Wayne
Les Claypool
The Shins
Grace Potter and the Nocturnals
Toots and the Maytals
The Roots
The Decemberists
Of Montreal
Cat Power
Ozomatli
Perpetual Groove
Band of Horses
John Butler Trio
Nickel Creek
Medeski Martin and Wood
Lily Allen
Neko Case
Keiren Hedben (Four Tet) & Steve Reid
The Hold Steady
Earl Scuggs
Charlie Louvin
Man Man
Grizzly Bear
Konono #1
The Slip
Rodrigo y Gabriela
Uncle Earl
Annuals
Beirut
M. Ward
Cold War Kids
Girl Talk
(via IGIF)
January 22, 2007
Gin
Don't these sound enticing? Next time I visit a real city I'm going to pick one to buy. I love me some Hendrick's but I really really really want to try Bluecoat (from Philly, not on this list, really hard to find) and Aviation.
Aviation: Lavender notes come through strongly alongside juniper, cardamom and a faint hint of almond.Broker's: Traditional and no-nonsense, with up-front juniper, high complexity and intensely dry backbone.
Bulldog: Fresh lemon zest leads the way, and it's followed closely by ginger, but there's very little juniper here, and the spirit is rather soft for a London dry gin.
DH Krahn: Heavy coriander notes dominate this gin. They're balanced with a high-note of ginger and citrus.
Gin No. 209: Highly perfumed with juniper taking the lead and complex floral notes following closely behind.
G'Vine: Floral, grassy, spicy and smooth. There's an unusual sweet/dry earthy thing going on in this one.
Old Raj: Juniper takes the lead here, but it's swiftly followed by a distinct burst of saffron and a nutty, spicy backdrop.
Sarticious: A strange gin, indeed, though it's very well crafted. The herbaceous qualities in Sarticious are reminiscent of, wait for it, Tequila. Probably has something to do with the cilantro in the botanicals. This is a must-try-it-at-least-once gin.
Tanqueray Rangpur: Limes dominate in this bottling, and they play well off spicy ginger and a host of other, more subtle botanicals.
(From SFGate)
Warmin' Up
MoJo has a couple of good global warming news bits up today -
- Yes, it's gotten to the point where energy CEOs are scolding Bush.
- Estimating the costs of finally beginning to address global warming.
More later on this, 'cause Marc sent me an interesting article today that I want to think on too.
January 21, 2007
Ch-ch-ch-anges
So I think I'ma redesign the website this week. Coming soon to a browser near you: a new and improved (read: simpler, cleaner, less pink) Flying Machine.
You Know What?
I had an effing sweet weekend.
January 19, 2007
Morning LOLz: Old School
Opening sentence read on a message board this morning:
"I heard over on the Hanson forums..."
First response: LOL. Second response: WHOA. You mean they still exist? And have FORUMS? Google says it's true. Wow. I was never a Hanson fan but I do remember arguing heatedly with my brother over their ambiguous gender appearances the first time we saw the Mmmbop video on TV...
Speaking of old school, CHECK THIS OUT:
I have a Jordan 45 jersey. Also, I discovered last night that my one friend in this town, L., ALSO loves Reggie Miller. I mean, what are the odds? He and I are going to have some basketball nights for sure.
L. sent me this on email and it took me RIGHT BACK to age 12, 1995 NBA Playoffs, sitting in front of the TV and shouting maniacally like only a skinny, frizzy 12-year old with sky blue coke-bottle glasses and a size large basketball jersey on could do. Epic, y'all. Epic.
January 18, 2007
The Green Flash
- Somebody photographed THE GREEN FLASH! (it looks better in real life, though) [via edrants]
- Rivers Cuomo's musical favorites of 2006 (hilarious if you think about this for a second). [via morethan7]
14. The Fray—“Over My Head.” I finally realized why this song sounded so right to me the first time I heard it on the radio: My drummer reminded me that Weezer toured with The Fray in 2004 and I so must have heard this song every night through the walls of my dressing room.15. Tim McGraw—“Live Like You Were Dying” and “My Little Girl.” Country music sounds good to me now that I’m a family man.
- And, from this neck o' the woods, the Top 7 Reasons People Leave Their Christmas Lights Up (#5 makes this list worthwhile) [via Boise Weekly]:
1. To deter burglars. 2. To avoid the grueling, meticulous process of putting them up each year. 3. Some folks are just full of the Christmas spirit all year. 4. They're pretty. Plus, the house feels oh so beautiful with such lovely accoutrements. 5. They're frozen to the house. 6. Makes it easier to give directions to "the only house on the street decked out with lights." 7. They're lazy.
SRI
I think I'm more optimistic about the role that Socially Responsible Investing can play in activism and corporate reform, but this is an interesting piece at TNR by Dartmouth '03 Bradford Plumer.
Here's the typical take:
For most corporations, after all, there's no real penalty for being shunned by the socially responsible community. Virtually all SRI mutual funds--and most public pension funds--now screen out tobacco companies, but Philip Morris and RJR Nabisco have no trouble raising capital elsewhere. SRI may be increasingly popular, but the $2.29 trillion in assets screened by the community is just chump change in the $136 trillion global capital market--most of whose investors worry only about making a profit. For every health-conscious fund that wants to dump tobacco stock, there are dozens of investors willing to buy.
Right. But, much more interestingly:
The other problem, as Aaron Chatterji and Siona Listokin recently argued in an article for Democracy, is that codes of conduct and voluntary initiatives often amount to nibbling at the edges rather than significant reform. [...]In the end, government action is often the only thing that can dramatically alter corporate behavior. Concerned investors are less likely to stop Ameriquest from preying on low-income neighborhoods than well-designed legislation and tough law-enforcement. The Times chastised the Gates Foundation for investing in pharmaceutical companies that often price retroviral drugs too high for the AIDS patients the organization is trying to help. But persuading drug companies to be altruistic won't work as well as reforming an intellectual property regime--supported by Big Pharma--that makes it harder to sell cheap generic drugs in Africa. Of course, Bill Gates's company (itself no angel) relies on those very trade laws to maintain its monopoly in operating systems--yet another reminder that things are never so simple.
[...] Both SRI and shareholder activism can still do a world of good, by pushing for modest changes and raising awareness about corporate wrongdoing. But it has real limits. One final anecdote: Last week, Exxon announced that it would stop funding attacks on the science of climate change, but it seems to have done so not because of pressure from activists but rather out of fear that Democrats in Congress are going to shift the global warming debate--and the company doesn't want to be left behind. In all things, the messy business of politics still matters.
Well, yes.
$2.29 out of $136 trillion might be chump change, but one out of every 8 dollars in the US is SRI, and as SRI firms continue to grow, so will their influence.
(Read the whole piece here.
January 17, 2007
Vacuuming
Who in the world buys a $600 vacuum for their home?
One that looks like an extra from the Terminator set?
For real.
January 16, 2007
MLK Day
I didn't write anything here on Martin Luther King Day because I was not near a computer. I wish that I could say I was doing something for the common good, but I was not. I spent much of it in a funk, thinking a lot, disappointed in myself for not having taken the initiative to do something tangible with my day. I've been using my newness to this region (and Boise's not-so-political vibe) as an excuse for inaction, for passively reading and thinking and talking and never doing anything toward, well, much of anything.
So today I re-read some of Martin Luther King Jr.'s writings, including Letter from Birmingham Jail. It's one that everyone ought to read, and re-read. The case that he makes for direct action - for doing, for acting, not just talking - is wholly compelling.
You may well ask: "Why direct action? Why sit-ins, marches and so forth? Isn't negotiation a better path?" You are quite right in calling, for negotiation. Indeed, this is the very purpose of direct action. Nonviolent direct action seeks to create such a crisis and foster such a tension that a community which has constantly refused to negotiate is forced to confront the issue. It seeks so to dramatize the issue that it can no longer be ignored. My citing the creation of tension as part of the work of the nonviolent-resister may sound rather shocking. But I must confess that I am not afraid of the word "tension." I have earnestly opposed violent tension, but there is a type of constructive, nonviolent tension which is necessary for growth. Just as Socrates felt that it was necessary to create a tension in the mind so that individuals could rise from the bondage of myths and half-truths to the unfettered realm of creative analysis and objective appraisal, we must we see the need for nonviolent gadflies to create the kind of tension in society that will help men rise from the dark depths of prejudice and racism to the majestic heights of understanding and brotherhood.
(Read the entire letter here.)
Haterade
So I missed the initial blowup about this, but there's some drama drama happening over in Dartmouth-land and Seal's on the case. He's taking some major heat for it, but sticking to his guns. Bravo dude.
On a Long Weekend
As you might have guessed, I was in Boise this weekend.
Suffice it to say that the score is now something like P-A 10, Sarah 1. I'm workin' on it, OK? But while I'm down I might as well enjoy it:
Here is an illustrative example: if you give someone a song on a mix cd, a quite good song, do you find it charming or insufferable that the recipient's comment is that one of Jim James' guitar strings was terribly out of tune, rendering it nearly unlistenable? I mean, charming that they can tell, insufferable that something like would ruin a song.
Another: if you make a vegetable risotto with lots of basil and parmesan and black pepper for a dining companion who claims to appreciate subtler flavors and vigorously denies dependence on various hot sauces, how do you respond when said companion says, "Hey, this is really good - when I add some more pepper and hot sauce." I mean, you've got to just laugh, right?
Multiply that by about a hundred and you have my weekend.
On the bright side, I did get to go on a lovely snowshoe adventure in some incredible powder, almost got frostbite, went for a long solo walk in the woods and saw mergansers, geese, quail, a great blue heron, rabbits, AND two foxes, saw Babel (eh), finally ordered some boots and gaiters and a camera bag (thanks to those who offered input), found some nice Spanish white wine and a bottle of red that has yet to be opened, ate a very tasty donut, enjoyed a near-constantly lit-and-toasty woodstove, finished Cold Mountain (I know, I'm several years late on this one), and found myself more charmed than I expected to be by Jonathan Franzen's memoir. Now I'm just waiting for this one to arrive and the reading can continue (Thanks, Pam!).
Another good thing - a good two-thirds of my waking hours this weekend were accompanied by Steve Reich, and that was great. Driving through the snowy mountains outside of Boise, listening to William Carlos Williams' words as musically interpreted through Reich: awesome.
Do I Want to Go There?
So it turns out that The Shins are playing in Boise in February. At The Egyptian, which is this cool old theatre with, you guessed it, a rather baroque Egyptian decor.
I've been wanting to go for a while, and since I missed the Halloween Built to Spill show, I'm kinda thinking about forking over for The Shins. I've heard from several of you that they're not particularly exciting live, sounding pretty much like their albums, but at this point any excuse to go hear some live music sounds pretty good. Hm.
January 12, 2007
Evening LOLz: Revenge of Banjo
Seriously, just hit play.
(via Wichita!)
Small Dogs
When I was waiting for my car today I watched a girl feed her small dog a pencil to gnaw and eat while she sat and watched the daytime court TV shows. The dog's name was Jäger.
Car Trouble
Know what sucks?
Having your car's Check Engine light come on. On a gorgeous sunny Friday afternoon when the last place you want to be is at the Subaru dealership because you'd packed your car with hiking clothes and a camera and had planned to leave work early to go exploring. Bah.
(And, knowing how these things work, it's probably either nothing [meaning at least $50 to reset the sensor] or something gargantuanly expensive [to add to the fact that I have to have my windshield replaced soon]. And my credit card is maxed.)
Sorry for the lack of substantial/interesting posts lately. I should be back into it soon.
UPDATE: So the light came on due to a cracked fuel cap. However, they also discovered that my rear wheel bearings are shot, which means they have to be replaced. Before my car's rear wheels fall off. Right.
January 11, 2007
The Walker
I think that MoJo titled this one appropriately -
And the Kafka Nonfiction Award Goes to. . .
Kropiewnicki, 61, was "a wordless, sweet-tempered Polish man known locally as "the Walker." Every morning for seven years, he set out on foot looking for work as a day laborer. But not until last fall did anyone call an interpreter to the site to speak to him in Polish, said Courtney Denniston, 27, a case manager supervisor."The first words out of his mouth were: 'Home. I just want to go home,' " Denniston said. He had come to the U.S. illegally to work as an asbestos handler, but when he lost the job, he had no money to fly home. He had a wife and children in Warsaw.
States I've Visited
I am really lacking in the Upper Midwest, eh?
Iggy Pop
So Amanda at Pandagon's got a bit of a rant going about how Iggy Pop is too punk to be in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.
It’s worse for me when the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame admits someone I love than when they pass them over. The Insufferable Music Snob in me can’t take it. It’s like my beloved singer or band is going to catch lameness from the contact. It’s tarnishing. I means you were milquetoast enough to pass muster with the sniveling babies at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, that you are easy on the ears of people who probably wear their AA pins on their dinner jackets as conversation pieces.
Yeah, pretty much. The ol' R&RHoF gets a big yawn from me. Does anyone find it relevant? Does it matter? Why do we bother with various Halls of Fame? The Onion gets it right, as usual.
Mostly, though, it made me wonder: what does it say about Iggy Pop that I have one of his songs* as my cell ringtone?
* It's The Passenger. A very good ringtone. Thanks are due to R for getting me into it.
STP
One of the nice things about living out West is that your Sierra Trading Post orders come in way faster. Hot dog, a new down jacket! Because we all know I need more gear!
Minimum Wage on the Idaho Border
There's a great piece in today's Times about the minimum wage - anecdotal, of course, but an interesting case study about two towns on the ID - WA border. Idaho has the federal minimum wage, $5.15, and Washington has the highest in the country - just under $8.
Nearly a decade ago, when voters in Washington approved a measure that would give the state’s lowest-paid workers a raise nearly every year, many business leaders predicted that small towns on this side of the state line would suffer.But instead of shriveling up, small-business owners in Washington say they have prospered far beyond their expectations. In fact, as a significant increase in the national minimum wage heads toward law, businesses here at the dividing line between two economies — a real-life laboratory for the debate — have found that raising prices to compensate for higher wages does not necessarily lead to losses in jobs and profits.
Idaho teenagers cross the state line to work in fast-food restaurants in Washington, where the minimum wage is 54 percent higher. That has forced businesses in Idaho to raise their wages to compete.
(Read the whole thing!)
You see something similar here on the Oregon border, where the minimum wage is also higher than it is in Idaho.
January 9, 2007
The War on Passive Aggression
Today I did something that I have never done before.
I called a company to register a complaint about a product. As I listened to the pleasant please-hold music I thought of all the reasons that I should hang up. I would sound rude. I would sound ignorant. It was unnecessary. They might get mad at me. I could just return the pants and pay all that shipping and complain about the company to all my friends instead.
But I stayed on the line and I spoke to the nice woman on the line about why the pants I'd spent a gajillion dollars on were wholly unsatisfactory in quality and fit - even after having exchanged a small for a medium. The mediums sucked too, and that time around I noticed other problems too. I was very polite and she was very polite and in the end I got my shipping costs refunded for both pairs.
Surprise surprise, it was painless, if a little awkward at first.
Sarah 1, passive aggression 0.
This totally falls under New Year's Resolution #1. I was on the phone last night with Miss Helen and we were recounting numerous embarrassing incidents wherein we were called out for PA behavior and when I'd laid it out like that all in a line of words several minutes long, these stupid little incidents with people I care about that could have so easily been prevented, I kinda shook my head and resolved again to get better about it.
So I am.
Evening LOLz: Git Down
Here's your funny for the day. K-towners, this one's for you.
iPhone
OK. Finally it's official. Time to start savin' some cash NOW.*
* And by that I mean wait for my early adopter friends to spring for one, try theirs out, wait for prices to come down, wait for the next version to get even better, try it out again. I mean, would you want to be one of those people with one of those ancient first-gen iPods?
January 8, 2007
How I Know That I Am a Hippie
So I had iTunes on random and it was hidden from view so I could play the "what song is this?" game with my music. It's amazing how much of my own music I, uh, can't identify.
Example.
This kinda sweet chill guitar intro came on and I nodded my head along and thought, yeah, I like this! What is it?
It was Dispatch.
GATORRRRRRRS
Go Gators! Aww yeah. I may never have attended U of F, but I have enough friends and family who did to be all kinds of excited right now. Ohio State who?
And Boise State won last week! Double awesome!
Afternoon LOLz: Small Towns
Got two for you today:
1) So I was standing in the grocery store looking at the milk. I hear a noise that sounds remarkably like a cow's moo. There it is again - that is DEFINITELY a moo. They are running a tape of cow moos in the milk aisle.
2) Today I learned from Alvin that there is a town called George in the state of Washington, and that it used to have a motel called the Martha Inn. I also learned that Alvin is related to Aaron Burr.
January 7, 2007
The 2-3
So Liz posted this pic on her LJ and that reminded me that 1) I never posted it and 2) I never really talked about my birthday. So, because my fingers are hurtin on the mando and my bread's just gone into the oven, here we go:
I'm 23 now. I don't feel old yet. I'm actually kind of happy about 23, as it puts me more squarely into "20-something" as opposed to "college student." This may be partly due to the fact that I hang out with adults and young people all 2-10 years older than me these days.
When I go back to Arcadia, though, I'm always the oldest. My best friends at home are all a few months to a few years younger. I'm the old lady. So in true fogey style we hit it to Harpoon Harry's for some cocktails and fried things. It was a quiet night at the 'Poon, so they closed up at midnight and afterward we went to Liz's place and just sat around and talked and laughed for hours. I'd tell you some of the funniest bits but they aren't for gentle ears. (Hey Liz, what's that about hands and measuring? HA) It was a good night.
Also, Mom gave me a Pendleton blanket for my birthday! A very Oregon gift. I love it.
Mountaineer?
So Z thinks these are THE boots that I should own:
They are, according to La Sportiva, a light mountaineering/heavy backpacking boot. Now, I don't exactly do a lot of "light mountaineering" (see: sliding to near-death in the Winds this summer), but I do like the idea of a very sturdy boot that'll keep me warm in winter but still be ok for summer travel too.
And I've pretty much switched to my lowtop Montrails for dayhikes, rolling ankles haven't killed me yet, so these would be for backpacking and anything wintry. Also, the color is nice.
But I hate to spend $225 if it means I'm buying a burlier boot than I need (I mean, these puppies weigh almost 2 lbs each). Hmm. Thoughts, outdoorsy types? T and J, I'm lookin' at you.
(Info here)
Oh You're So Silent
Last night I dreamt that Jens Lekman and I were saved from certain death by a friendly thief and a bag of diamonds stored in a human stomach. The thief drove us to safety in a carriage across this huge span bridge on a smoggy day toward some sprawling industrial city on the skyline. Jens was a good hugger and I was glad for his company.
Now, dude hasn't put out any new music or toured the US recently, so I haven't really thought about him in a while and I don't know why in the world he popped up last night. But it was a pretty crazy dream.
It prompted me to check out Jens' website, in case there were any psychic messages hidden there or something. Not really. Just the usual melancholy smalltalk, a bit of info on an upcoming album (!), and an intriguing-sounding mix CD on which I recognized not one song.
That doesn't happen too often. If any of you out there actually have any of the songs on that mix, I'd like to hear them.
January 6, 2007
Short
I just got a new haircut the other day, a good one, long-but-layered, huge improvement, love it, need to take a picture, but I'm kind of thinking of going short next summer.
Mostly because I saw this picture on The Sartorialist.
Man that's a good look.
The Return
Highlight of 16 hours of traveling today: the full moon over Salt Lake City from 10,000 feet.
Honorable mentions from my window seat(s): moonshadows on the mountains in Utah and Idaho, Christmas lights on houses from way, way above, tiny outposts of light tucked into the mountains with darkness all around, the linearity of towns along highways in the Midwest, all strung together by pinpoints of light along tiny highways.
Also good: stopping by Z's place to get my car and visiting with housemate-M and Best Dog Ever Cali for a bit. Realizing that I missed Cali, missed Boise, missed the little house with orange walls and a woodstove and the boys who live in it. Looking forward to Z's return in a few days.
January 5, 2007
Overstuffed
Y'all have no idea how much of a production it is to get me packed up and on an airplane when I leave from home. I always always always always have more than I can fit in my suitcases - especially this time, since I came down with the mando and my backpacking gear. Oh. Lord.
BUT I think I've got it all. Tonight I'll be back in the snow and cold and maybe I'll have the time this weekend to write a few mega-updates on the past few weeks. There's so much to tell you and I just haven't made the time.
Resolving
I'm a few days late to hop on the resolution train, but really, tonight's as good a night as any - tomorrow I fly back out West and, as at the end of each calendar year, I'm drowning in waves of coulda-shoulda-woulda-why-the-hell-didn't-I-get-that-done-s. So let's look to the future instead, shall we?
I am only making two resolutions this year and they are going to be the same every year from now on because these are pretty much the two things that have always and will always be my Big Challenges. They're like asymptotes on a graph - always approaching but never quite reaching that beautiful round integer. Goals made for working toward, not for completing easily.
1. STEP UP.
2. STEP BACK.
(Were I using parallel structure I would pair up with down or forward with back but neither of those are as accurate as the [albeit literarily awkward] above pair.)
1. Step up. By nature I am risk averse. I am failure averse. I am prone to the creep of intertia as enabled by hesitancy and guilt. But once I take that first step toward something - anything - I'm pretty unstoppable. I need to take it more often. I need to lay myself on the line and put myself out there and give a big fat middle finger in the rearview to every lame inaction-excusing excuse I've ever made.
I've made a lot of great new friends this fall thanks to my job. But how many of them have I truly attempted to get to know? I've spent too much time at group gatherings observing people and wishing someone would start a conversation with me, occasionally jumping into the general group vibe before awkwardly backing out. You can get by with that but jeez it's cowardly. Jeez it's lazy. What the hell good does it do for anyone?
One of my friends sent out a quote from Maya Angelou via email earlier this fall, and it has really stuck with me.
People will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.
The responsibility is on me to step up and make those connections. Because I do care immensely about my friends, new and old. I just don't often enough express it and work to deepen my relationships. Things with Z are quite nice, but we'd both get so much more out of it if I took a little more initiative. And of course it cuts both ways, it's nice to be on the receiving end of social initiative, but I have got to stop counting on it and start creating it. You can't stop to think about your insecurities when you're really honestly openly engaging with another person. And that's the thing, in engaging with somebody, conversation isn't enough - you've got to be open, you've got to be sharing, too, not just firing questions and listening to replies. Why keep yourself bound up tight with fear and insecurity when you can open the doors and let a little light in?
I'm using social stuff as an example here, but this goes for pretty much everything in my life - work, friends, love, exercise, activism. I've been sliding by with a lot of Bs and B+s and what I want are As. No more of this bullshit wasting hours on the computer when I could be doing something. No more half-assing work stuff. No more pretending that walking up and down the stairs a few times counts as real exercise.
2. Step back. OK, so here's the flip side. I was watching a TV special with my dad the other night on Annie Liebovitz. I've always enjoyed her photography in Rolling Stone, and the program was a good one. The thing that's been running through my head for days, though, is this quote from one of her mentors, advice given at a time when she was manically snapping shots and exploding in every direction socially and professionally. Her mentor said, You've got to edit your work, Annie.
If there's a pie somewhere, anywhere, I want my finger in it. I've only got 10 of them and at Dartmouth there were many more than 10 pies and I just about exploded from the overwhelmingness of it, the desire to see it all and to capture a little piece of everything for myself. And there's nothing wrong with wanting to take it all in -
If you feel discouraged
That there's a lack of color here
Please don't worry lover
It's really bursting at the seems
Absorbing everything
The spectrum's A to Z
But at some point you have to have some boundaries and you have to winnow it all down. Quality always beats quantity. If I had my druthers I'd spend a little time every day on each of my favorite hobbies - reading, writing, cooking, music, drawing, painting, craftwork, sewing, conversation, etc - and time on progressive/activist projects and friends and family and everything else. This is, obviously, impossible. But I still feel guilty at the end of every day when I think about how little I accomplished and how much I want to do with my time.
So I'm going to try and work on that. I'm going to stop beating myself up for not Doing It All Every Single day and maybe in the process I will free up a little time for my passions when the mood (or the moral imperative) strikes.
--
I'm starting to fall asleep at my keyboard, so I think that's my signal to wrap this up. Love to all of you and a new year that's going to be the best one yet!
January 1, 2007
Golden
You know what's a really really great song? The Austin City Limits live acoustic version of My Morning Jacket's Golden. It's transcendent.
You know who I am dying to see live? My Morning Jacket.
They're playing Portland next week - but it's a 7-hour drive on a weeknight and would cost me $30 plus two tanks of gas and two work days. No go. Argh.