Happy new year!

2008 ten.

Ten things I learned this year, in no particular order except the last, most important one:

• Kids grow up really fast. Especially when you're not around them constantly.
• Beets turn your pee pink.
  
• Movers are GODS.
  
• Portland and its geographic extremities are wonderful places.
• Given the right employees, I can be a very good manager.
• My country IS a better country than that.
• Owning a house is not for me right now.
• I should live in Alaska, I am green (generally speaking), my pirate name is Mad Jenny Bonney, I am I am I am Superman and I can do anything, and I am a colon (: not the organ thankfully).
• Unemployment is probably only fun when it's voluntary. But man, is voluntary unemployment fun.
  
• It is totally possible to pick up and move (solo) to a new town where you know one person (barely), get a job in an unfamiliar industry (during a recession), and live to tell the tale (for the most part).

I don't normally do this, but...

... ahnnn indeed.

What's the Czech for "brilliant"?

Year of the Dog: Not something I would normally go for, but I loved Chuck & Buck and The Good Girl (by the same producer), and John C. Reilly and Laura Dern have never steered me wrong. (If nothing else I figured Peter Sarsgaard would be his usual creepy self. I was right.) I was surprisingly impressed with Molly Shannon's performance but I didn't get the point of the movie until I watched the "making of" bonus material. And then I got it, and then I really liked it.

Once: A lovely musical drama. Must buy soundtrack immediately.

OK, back to House House House House House House House House House House...

Thumbs up squared.

I was already bored by 8:30am this morning so I got online to book tickets to two other movies I wanted to see. I used the last of my pumpkin carving prize plus a couple extra bucks, and I almost didn't see the first one because I almost didn't find the super secret holiday mall entrance. As I was composing an angry "Fandango why did you lie to me all these $%^&# doors are bolted shut there is no way this theater is open today" email in my head, I found the magic door. Merry Christmas indeed!

Both movies were amazing in their own special way and I am ending this crazy slightly lonely Christmas day in a much better mood because of them both.

Slumdog Millionaire: It's ultimately a love story. (Yes, I am recommending yet another love story. I think I'm going soft in my old age.) But it's also a story about survival and family and the "ties that bond," so to speak. The kids who played younger and youngest Salim and Jamal were four of the most amazing child actors I have ever, ever seen. My heart hurt for them - the actors, not the characters - because many of their scenes were so very intense. The older Salim and Jamal were fantastic too, and the total high at the end (when the credits start rolling) was perfect. I need to queue some Bollywood immediately. Any recommendations?

Frost/Nixon: Absolutely stellar performances by everyone. And I mean everyone. It could not have been any more perfectly cast. And also? I did not expect this movie to be funny. I expected to walk out of it hating the former Prez even more than I already do. Like with W., that was not the case. Damn you, Hollywood. Damn you! If I turn into a Republican, I am totally blaming you.

A pretty good Charlie Brown Christmas.

The extent of my decorating this year, put up sometime Tuesday:

Yeah, that tree is about 18" tall. And fiber optic, only I don't have enough outlets in my ancient apartment to actually plug it in and enjoy the lights. So this is what we got. The true miracle of Christmas is that it's still erect and decorated after 48 hours. Good kitty!

My family actually succumbed to my gift certificates and/or "give to your favorite charity" wish. Which meant no {insert local sports team whose sport I do not watch} clothing... for the first time in about 5 years. Hooray! I got some surprises too, so thanks for those, YKWYA.

Her Maj got some decent loot:

I had some stellar sushi for lunch. I saw two fantastic (almost entirely free) movies.

I missed the fam and friends more than I thought I would, but I was sooooo happy not to have to travel in SNOWPALOOZA 2008 that it really almost didn't matter.

All in all... see subject of post. Happy etc. etc. to you and yours!

Still wondering why this is an issue. Still.

I took advantage of the snow day and the mandatory fun movie gift certificate prize to catch a Milk matinee. (Sadly, I forgot the cookies. Ba-dum-bum.)

Dear readers. Run, do not walk. From what I've seen Van Sant can either be dead on or way off - usually there's no in-between. Milk was dead on. The audience was riveted. There weren't that many people in the theater, but it occurred to me afterward that no one left to use the bathroom during the whole 128 minutes. And everyone - everyone, young and old, male and female, presumably gay and straight - was sniffling at the end.

Going into it, I knew that Harvey Milk was the first openly gay public official and that he was killed by someone who claimed the laughable "Twinkie defense." Having seen it, and knowing that it took the opinions and perspectives of many of his friends into account, I am so sad that I could not know him and be a part of what he created. What an amazing loss to the world... I wonder where the gay rights movement would be if he were still alive.

James Franco needs an award of some sort. (Has he always been so fantastic? I've only seen him in the Spidermans and In the Valley of Elah. And Freaks & Geeks eons ago but that's now queued for reviewing for other reasons... Must queue everything else immediately. Er, everything except Tristan & Isolde that is.) Josh Brolin's drunken blathering in that one scene deserves a super special award. And hello - Tom Ammiano's cameo? I wondered if he would make an appearance, and boy, did he.

Speaking of awards, pretty soon the annual Oscar Poll will be sent out. Mark my words - Sean Penn's statue goes without saying. I will eat a cookie if I'm wrong.

Early Wednesday three.

Three PSAs, in no particular order:

• If you cannot drive in the snow, DO NOT DRIVE IN THE SNOW.
• If you cannot drive at all ever, DO NOT EVEN THINK ABOUT THINKING ABOUT DRIVING IN THE SNOW.
• If you hit me with your shopping cart one more effing time I swear to God, Allah and everybody that I will punch you square in the face.
  

I'm pretty sure that PDX insanity about Arctic Storm 2008^TM has progressed to PDX stupidity-bordering-on-utter-Darwin-rudeness. Tonight exiting the grocery store I actually saw someone point to someone who slipped on the ice and say "Oh my God that guy just fell" and keep walking to their car. (I, of course, walked over and asked him if he was OK.)

Otherwise how fun has this storm been! Fingers crossed for a frozen turkey - that would be three snow days in a row.

Last CCL post.

I felt bad about posting that scandalous photo yesterday so on my way home from checking out the latest snow-related insanity, I stopped at the pet store and bought Her Majesty a Christmas catnip candy cane. I left it in my backpack because Christmas isn't until Thursday, but pretty soon she almost knocked the coat rack over trying to get at it so I let her have it early. Here is the extent of her interest in the candy cane:

On the other hand, she will sit on top of a magazine on my coffee table and do this for very long stretches of time:

I would really love to know why this is fun to her.

Anyway, the catnip candy cane action really wore her out, so then we took a nap.

________________
OK, really, I'm done with the crazy cat lady posts for a little while. It's a slow day here in Portland. And also, I wanted to try out the blogger video option for future reference. The next video I post will be AMAZING. Promise.

Oh, and also for the record...

4Q08 goals are hereby suspended until further notice. Granted I got a bit of a late start anyway, but a week of sick + probably more sick to come from PDX SNOWMAGEDDON 2008 + actual PDX SNOWMAGEDDON 2008 means I am not running 10 miles, or getting to the Rhodie Garden, anytime in the next two weeks.

Temporary new deadline = my birthday. Three weeks late ain't so bad. I may substitute other goals by 12/31. Playing it by ear. Thinking outside the box. Blamestorming. Mouse potatoing. Couch potatoing. CLMing. We'll see what happens.

That is all.

CCL update.

In case you're interested in ginormous vet bill news, last Monday after the ultrasound they determined that Her Majesty did not have cancer. So we've got that going for us. It's more likely pancreatitis or my favorite, IBD. That's inflammatory and disease, not irritable and disorder. For the record.

The pancreatitis test was initiated on 12/12 and can take 10 business days so I should hopefully know this week. If it comes back negative, it means IBD treatment starts and Her Maj gets a fucking job already. If it comes back positive it means I get another ginormous vet bill and she REALLY gets a fucking job already. Either way it's a lose-lose for her.

Fortunately, both are reasonably treatable, although there is apparently a shorter life expectancy with pancreatitis (3 years - which, for a 10 yr old cat, is pretty good actually).

She's been eating and drinking regularly and other than being freezing, as everyone in Portland has been this past week, she's acting totally normal. I haven't washed a puke-covered blanket for over a week. I think she's gained the lost weight back. We have spent much quality time on the couch with the down comforter plowing through the Netflix queue these past few days. This is all good news.

Whatever the case I am now 100% certain that she is going to milk this for all it's worth. Because I got a photo of her hideous shaved belly today. And now I'm posting it for the world to see.

Street cam update.

You may recall that last Sunday it snowed all day, but the streets only had a dusting of snow. Yesterday it snowed all day with a slightly more respectable outcome:

But still, really? ALL DAY and this is all we get? In Maryland ALL DAY snow means at least three feet.

The kids were having a blast at Laurelhurst Park:

I almost wished I had a plastic toboggan... until one of them ran into a tree.

Now, there's a Google weather image I haven't seen before...

Snow day = mass movie consumption.

Thumbs go down for The Invisible. I get what they were trying to do, but the last 10 minutes were (a) completely unrealistic - whereas the other 80 minutes where he walks around as a ghost were, of course, completely feasible - and (b) completely cliche. Your time would be better spent watching Donnie Darko for the nineteenth time.

Thumbs go up for Neverwas. If you enjoyed Finding Neverland and/or you enjoy the brilliance that is Ian McKellan, you will probably like this movie. Aaron Eckhart, Jessica Lange, Alan Cumming, William Hurt were all great. Even Nick Nolte was fantastic - and when do I ever say that?

And then there was American Gansgter, featuring my old friend Stringer Bell. I can't remember if that's the only reason I wanted to see it, or if it was because it was a true story. He was killed off about 10 minutes into it, so I turned it off last night in disgust. This morning I watched the rest... Eh. Overly ambitious, too long, I couldn't follow who was who in the Italian mafia... And again with the police corruption.

I think I'm going to move Everest: Beyond the Limit up in the queue. Maybe watching will remind me that I could be colder...

"The past is a foreign country: they do things differently there."

Living Life task #2: contact old friends. For this one, I was to think about three friends I haven't contacted for over a year, and pick one to reach out to. It's all about time getting away from us and actively trying to not let that happen - a great reminder that we could all use every so often.

Of the three people I thought of, I didn't have a phone number or email for one, I didn't actually want to talk to the second, and I was afraid of what I would get back from the third. But I had the third's contact info handy so I shot her an email.

Sure enough, her life has been a tumultuous mess since we last spoke a few years ago. She unloaded on me over the course of a few emails, I said I was sorry to hear about all that, and that was it.

It's strange to think that this is a person I spent a good chunk of my spare time with between ages 11-17. Our lives are exactly opposite - she stayed put, not I; she got married (twice), not I; she's gone uber-conservative, obviously not I. The other people I spent a good chunk of time with during those ages also stayed put and got married, but I keep in touch with them and they voted my way this last election.

Maybe not strange. I met her in church. I met the other people in places other than church. I wonder if there's a connection...

Task #3 is to push myself with exercise. I think the 6-mile run that nearly killed me the other day counts. Excellent - next!

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Re: subject - L. P. Hartley said that.

Belated Friday five.

Five ways to procrastinate writing ANOTHER last minute grad school recommendation, in no particular order:

• Look through middle school and high school photos for more embarrassing photos of others to post on Facebook.
• Lament the huge chunk of savings it's going to take to pay this month's credit card bill. Damn cat.
  
• Watch it snow (well, "snow"... pansy-ass Portland snow) and try to decide if I should brave the streets for wine to go with spicy eggplant pasta tonight.
  
• Put on layer after layer after layer after layer because the heat hasn't come on all morning.
• Blog.
  

Welcome to winter in Portland.

Lovely.

I love this.

Back into my hopeless romantic closet now. {SLAM!}

2008 soundtrack.

Songs that held some significance for me this year.*

• Sons and Daughters - The Decemberists: They played this at the '06 Warfield show. They played this at the PDX Obama rally. They played this at their November '08 show. "Hear all the bombs, they fade away." Chokes me up whenever I hear it, and I've heard it A LOT. And I heard A LOT of people singing it at their most recent show. Change is coming, yes we did, etc., etc. is it 2009 yet?!
  
• The Luckiest - Ben Folds: I only got into this guy this year. WTH is wrong with me? He's amazing. Oh, and my future husband better future love this song because it's the only one I will future dance to at our future wedding.
  
• Wish - Nine Inch Nails: got me through many, many boring runs and many more to come, I'm sure. (And some work stuff too.)
  
• Roam - B52s: still a fantastic song after all these years. Follows the CA->OR migration theme.
  
• Good Riddance (Time of Your Life) - Green Day: this came on when I started the car on the way home from my last CHM BBQ as an Oaktown resident... I know it's intended to be a break-up song but {sniff} I love you guys! Still think of that moment when I hear the chords.
  
• Chinese Translation - M. Ward: Hands down my favorite song by this guy. I listen to it whenever I need to make a decision, and somehow I seem to make the right one.
  
• Kiss Off - Violent Femmes: can't go a month (er... week?) without listening to this song. See them next time they're in your town. Yes, they're eight million years old. Just SEE THEM.
  
• Van Helsing Boombox - Man Man: this is a fairly tame song but these guys are insane. I love them.
  
• Rakim - Dead Can Dance: rediscovered these guys after a many-year hiatus. Hauntingly wonderful.
  
• I'm Not Wearing Underwear Today - Brian from Avenue Q: "Not that you probably care much about my underwear, still, nonetheless I gotta say, that I'm not wearing underwear today!" I sing this at work a lot (while wearing underwear and all other usual clothing).
  

I totally stole this idea. Except I was too lazy for YouTube... You can find all this on last.fm, or email me and I'll hook you up. With bonus material. :) Thanks Squeaks!

OK, your turn? Yes, you.

---
*Not necessarily released in 2008.

Reader poll.

So, I donated some handmade holiday cards to the company's holiday silent auction for charity. They raised $8 for the Oregon Food Bank.

(It probably cost me $20 to make the cards, not counting the cost of my precious time on this planet. The 40 assorted blank holiday cards I also donated raised $12.50. But whatEVS. Some people in need got some much needed mac & cheese and soup so it's all good in the end.)

Reader poll: does this count as "selling handmade cards for real, actual money," also known as #14 on my List?

I'm thinking not... but I could use a second opinion.

You call this a winter storm?

This morning I woke up early as usual, and got online as usual, and did some stuff. Then I went to my iGoogle page and checked the weather, which indicated snow. So I glanced outside for the first time, and holy cow - there was a light blanket of SNOW! They say the city shuts down in snow because it happens so rarely so I was curious to see how the day would unfold.

When it got a little lighter I headed outside for a walk.

It snowed all day. And when I say "all day," I mean ALL DAY. Yet this is the exact same street, eight hours later:

And still, many businesses I walked past on my way to and from volunteering were closed, or were closing early. I even got sent home two hours early from my volunteer gig.

(Really? Pansies!)

It finally stopped flurrying, but it's supposed to be in the 20s for the next few days so the ice in the morning is going to be ridiculous.

My office has shut down due to inclement weather before. I feel like I'm back in 3rd grade - the prospect of a snow day has me all jittery... Boy, it's hard to type with fingers crossed.

Belated Friday five.

Five things I do and do not recommend, in no particular order:

• Thumbs mostly up for Franz Ferdinand at the Crystal Ballroom last Monday. If you like their music, I recommend seeing them once but maybe only once. I hesitated buying a ticket for this show because I saw them on Austin City Limits a few years ago and wasn't impressed... but that's not really their type of venue. Bouncy floors at the Crystal is totally their type of venue. They still seemed uncomfortable with the whole rock star stage presence but they did all my favorite songs and I'm intrigued by the new stuff.
• Thumbs also mostly up for Charlie Wilson's War. Tom and Julia were tolerable, Philip was amazing as usual (and an inspiration during the "eff uuuuuu boss" scenes early on!). It was a good history lesson with a point that could've been more relevant to today's debacle... But I won't hold that against them. I think you should watch it.
  
• Thumbs down for The Hunting Party - got through about 15 minutes, decided it wasn't my thing. But can I just say, damn, is Richard Gere still hot after all these years. And Terrence Howard is also fine.
  
• Thumbs hovering on this one - The Air I Breathe. Generally speaking, I enjoy anything that Kevin Bacon, Forest Whitaker or Sarah Michelle Gellar (Prinze) has a hand in. I generally even enjoy Brendan Fraser. So I had high expectations of this film. I liked what they tried to do, but I don't feel that they were successful. Which is not to say I feel like I wasted my hour and a half... OK, you be the judge on this one.
  
• Thumbs down for Down By Law. I just hope to one day make it through a Jim Jarmusch film without falling asleep... let alone understand it.
  

"Real is usually horrible."

For a long time I gave up - I don't care who attends his shows (if it's not me - um, hellooooo, Portland is close to like, LA and Canada, eh?), I don't want to see shirtless men and teens wearing his t-shirts.

But I'm now happy to say that I'm back in the Cute with Chris cult.

Belated Wednesday three.

Three things I'm pretty sure Her Majesty did not ask Santa for this year, in order of how absolutely terrible they sound:

• pancreatitis
• lymphosarcoma
• inflammatory bowel disease

(I guess technically, cancer is worse than IBD but IBD sounds a lot worse than cancer to me.)

The vet thinks it is one, two or all three of those things as they tend to be interrelated. So that's pretty awesome. We will know more next week after the ultrasound...

Tonight when I got home I informed Her Majesty that I would not be treating her any differently just because she probably has a horrible terminal illness. Then I completely broke that rule and let her sit in my lap at the computer:


Tomorrow she will probably guilt me into giving her ahi tuna and a kitty massage. And knowing her, she will drag this thing out for YEARS and bleed me dry with medical bills.

Damn cat.

Belated Friday five.

Five things I recommend, in no particular order:

• Away from Her. Heartbreaking but realistic, which made it all the more amazing. I don't know why Gordon Pinsent wasn't nominated for more awards. He made me cry time and time again; she did not - but I admired her character's bravado and I imagine my mom would be the same way in that situation. And I can only hope I would.
  
• Blitzen Trapper. Especially Furr. If you like that, I have more for you.
  
• Prop 8 - The Musical. Surely you've been viral-marketed about this by now. Watch it again (and again and again) and ponder why Sarah Chalke gets less screen time than Darryl from The Office, and why Maya Rudolph is funny even though she's so not funny, and WHY THIS IS EVEN AN ISSUE GODDAMMIT. And while you're at it, make my clothes and fix my hair.
  
• The Mountain Goats Radio on Last.fm. It's been spinning for about 5 hours now and I've only had to "ban" two songs. That's pretty amazing considering how "ban" happy I get with this application.
• Staying put for the holidays. There's not really a link for that (other than this, which I will be watching on Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, New Year's Eve and New Year's Day, you betcha) but I can't tell you how happy I am to not deal with packing stress, catsitter stress, airline germs, crabby people, family stress... I will definitely miss seeing the folks, family and friends (especially my long losts whom I've gotten reacquainted with through the magic of the interweb). I will not miss having to mail stuff, that's going to be a royal pain this year. But I'm excited to see what Portland has to offer over the next month. I don't think I'll be disappointed... Okay, really, I'm mostly excited to not have the flu over New Year's like every year for the last six years. Not that I plan to do anything. It will just be nice to just be.
  

Do it again, Daddy.

I was closing the blinds this afternoon when I noticed a little bit of pink in the sky. I missed the sunrise photo op this morning due to lack of knowledge about a good sunrise photo op spot so I immediately grabbed the camera and keys, left the candle burning and last.fm playing, and bolted for the 21st Street overpass.

I can only hope the car people appreciated this.

Hard to believe, but it got even better.

And then just like that, it was done.


It's snowing in Maryland right now. What a crazy world.

Wow.

"Everyday, we meet with organizations that present ideas for the Transition and the incoming Obama-Biden Administration. In past transitions, meetings like this have been held behind closed doors.

Not anymore. Today, every Obama-Biden Transition staff member received a memo outlining the "Seat at the Table" Transparency Policy. I've included a copy of it below.

The policy is pretty simple: the people and groups we're meeting with, the subjects of the meetings, and any documents shared in the meetings will now be made available on Change.gov. Most importantly, the American public can weigh in with comments or their own materials."

Despite the incorrect use of "everyday" in the first sentence, I have a pretty good feeling about our new President.

That's infotainment.

Three things about three things:

1. Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist today. One, well of course I need the soundtrack immediately. Two, my high school days were more along the lines of Mallrats - do kids these days really have such adventures? I'm jealous. And three, if I were a 14 year old girl you'd better believe that Michael Cera's Tiger Beat photos would soooo be plastered all over my walls. In fact, I'm a 33 year old girl and I'm considering it.

2. The Decemberists at the Crystal Ballroom last night. One, OH. Two, MY. Three, GOD. The best of the four? five? shows I've seen since 2004. And how fun to see them in their natural habitat. They played many favorites including The Island, which I've never heard live (for the record, best song to play on repeat when you're waiting for the bus on a rainy, cold day). They made us re-celebrate the election results, which made me re-regret not getting up at the crack of dawn to stand in line for eighteen hours to see them perform at the Obama rally in June. They encouraged singing along as always, and boy oh boy did we all. My throat hurt this morning. La de da de da de diddy diddy da. And they ensured that my next sick day will revolve around watching YouTube clips of their performances and videos.

[Digression: In the lead-up to the main show I was composing a mental rant about the emo couple behind me who kept bitching and moaning because "unh PEOPLE are cutting in FRONT of me AND my IRONIC T-SHIRT in this GENERAL ADMISSION venue and unh I can't SEE and I've been here since NINE THIRTY this MORNING and I'm TOO COOL to clap for the opening band who is sorta AWESOME but if I clap my bf/gf will think I'm LAME for liking someone that EVERYONE likes and unh do I have the SAME haircut as Colin Meloy does that make ME lame omg WHY am I even here anyway SIGH where's my HOODIE unh I need a clove cigarette..." But then I got over it because the show was just awesome and I forgot about everything except the songs and the band and the fact that I was seeing The Decemberists in Portland. I live here! End of digression.]

3. Blade Runner yesterday morning. One, it took me several attempts over the past week to get through it - kept falling asleep. (Same was true for Hedwig, which just means I am lame, it's no reflection on the movie.) Two, the narration bugged the crap out of me - to the point where I started to wonder if Harrison Ford was actually a good actor. (Results came out in his favor, but it was touch and go for a few minutes in my thought process.) Three, I fear I've seen variations of this story so many times since 1982 that I missed the awe-inspiring groundbreaking conceptualization of the frailty of life that the film was recognized for almost 30 years ago. Or maybe I'm just old enough now to realize that I didn't need a movie to tell me how frail life is. You be the judge.

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Bonus infotainment review: best LOL I've seen in a while.

Bonus bonus infotainment review: I finally found Sifl and Olly clips on YouTube. If you don't recall, this was a short-lived very-late-night MTV sock puppet show from the late 90's. Yes, I said sock puppet show. It was probably geared toward stoners coming home from the bar... being lame, I taped it while I slept sober-but-just-tired and watched it the next day. I like to think that its short life paved the way for shows like South Park (now in it's eight thousandth season) and Flight of the Conchords (which we must get more of). All that really matters is that it's absurd and it makes me laugh. Here's a clip that will appeal to you mateys out there. Seek out the rest as time permits. Arrrr.

Add to the "thankful" list.

In a complicated turn of events, later this week I'm baking something wheat-free, egg-free and involving chocolate for two people at work. I know several current or former celiac folks but I've never really delved into their world, opting to make the easier vegetable side dishes over more challenging dishes that normally contain gluten and/or wheat...

And holy crap, now I see why. Not only are the ingredients insane (arrowhead? what the hell is that? amaranth? I don't even know how to say that! vanilla has gluten in it? can someone tell me why?), the recipes themselves look absolutely TERRIBLE. Witness:

• Carob devil's food cake
• Fudgy no-bake chocolate oatmeal cookies
• Victoria Sponge Recipe ("This recipe is dairy free, gluten free, wheat free, corn free, egg free and yeast free." And taste free and eater free, I am guessing.)

Anyone have a tried and true wheat-free chocolate dessert recipe? I can use fake eggs. So there's that... A good chocolate torte perhaps? Brownies w/gluten-free flour? Chocolate chip cookies? The kicker is I'll probably have to make it after a show Thursday night, so quick and easy is preferable, though I could make cookies ahead of time.

And all you celiacs out there - I AM SO SORRY.

UPDATE: I would definitely eat these, and these. Oooooh, and these. Definitely those. OK, I think I'm set on the recipe.

In even more not-yet-December-dang-it holiday news...

I sent an email a few weeks ago to my family and old friends back east, the gist of which was, "I don't need or want anything in particular and I'd be 100% happy if you donated whatever money you planned to spend on me to the charity of your choice instead but I've tried this before and it's never worked, so if you must get me something, gift cards to the usual haunts are appreciated (and easily mailed!). Her Majesty, on the other hand, wants an easy bake oven and a Snoopy snow cone machine."

If only I'd glanced through a copy of Martha Stewart Living before I sent that email.

I'm trying to cut out extraneous magazine delivery for environmental reasons (goodbye, Entertainment Weekly, I'll miss you during my 6-mile elliptical romps) but I can't let go of the paper version of Sunset just yet (killer pear tart recipe a few months ago!)... Last weekend I leafed through the December issue of MSL and got SO MANY EXCELLENT IDEAS! Like this! And this! And this!

And doilies! Who doesn't love doilies! (OK, this is perhaps the only reason I can bring myself to hate Martha. Doilies?!?!)

The fact that she finds ways to reuse just about everything lessens the guilt I feel for wanting a paper magazine subscription to MSL. The fact that I got so inspired from one silly magazine is... well, inspiring. I know I can get almost all the information online but there's something so satisfying about poring over a glossy spread of crafty ideas or tasty treats.

Hmm. I think I know what I'm getting myself for my birthday. In addition to that charitable donation, of course!

Delayed reflection.

I was going to make Christmas cards today. I know, I know, I just ranted about it not even being December yesterday. But making cards is an endeavor of time and trial/error, so it's best that I start early.

However. Every year I buy holiday cards after the new year because they're up to 75% off and I always manage to find funny or charming ones among the crappy leftover selection. Recently I've done this as backup in case I was too busy for, or lost interest in, the handmade card concept. Of course, by the time I pull them out the following holiday season I don't like the cards anymore. (So if you don't get a handmade card this year, I'm sorry about the card you do get.)

Last Thursday morning I dove into the closet I haven't really looked in since May (when I shoved everything I didn't know what to do with, into that closet) and found a bunch of Christmas stuff including... six half-empty boxes of holiday cards. SIGH.

Being the frugal, environmentally-conscious person that I am, I have to use these cards up before I let myself kill more trees in honor of the holiday season. (Well, technically, the trees are already dead and I have the cardstock in my possession. But I digress.)

There is a point to this story.

I started writing out cards. I'm sure it will shock and awe that I'm the type who can't just sign my name - there must be some sort of personal note in each card, which basically means this task is a royal pain in the ass (and wrist!) every year. As I was writing I was amazed to recall all the losses from this year. Good friends and extended family had a rough 2008. Crafting personal notes for certain cards was incredibly challenging - how does one wish someone a happy holiday season when they've just lost their wife of 45 years, or both grandpas, or a life too young to lose?

And then I started thinking how lucky I am that my immediate family is relatively healthy and happy. I didn't get that dreaded call this year. I didn't have to fly home and accept condolences and eat too much casserole and drink too much scotch. One year the call will come, and I'll deal with it. And then it shall pass and others will wonder what to write in my holiday card.

For now I went with something like "this season may you find peace in memories of holidays past... thinking of you." I guess that will suffice.

Call your loved ones. As a friend's FB status said, "Thanksgiving, after all, is a word of action."

Holiday lament.

Oh, Christmas tree lots, oh Christmas tree lots
It's not even December
Oh, Christmas tree lots, oh Christmas tree lots
Days of yore I remember
We put the tree up CHRISTMAS EVE
Trees out at Halloween are my NEW PET PEEVE
Oh, Christmas tree lots, oh Christmas tree lots
What a sad waste of timber

Thank you! I'm here all week. Try the veal.

Now on to NeMoCaUp.*

I finished The Fountainhead. Two days early, still a dollar short. Go figure.

I liked it a lot. I still don't think I fully grasped its significance, but I now understand that my AP English teacher would've assigned us an essay entitled "Power And Why It's Bad" instead of something just about capitalism.

Dominique and Howard were infuriating throughout the second half of the book - SERIOUSLY? YOU LOVE HIM/HER? AND YOU'RE GOING TO LIVE IN SOLITUDE/WITH SOMEONE ELSE? Jesus H. Christ, life is too short already.

If I never have to read another word the fictional Ellsworth Tooley speaks, it will be my lucky day. I loved how he went from respected and revered at the beginning of the novel, to whiny and subserviant at the end.

I'm not sure what to make of Howard Roark. He loved what he did, to a fault more often than not. He didn't care what anyone else thought. But there was something incredibly primitive about his lack of social skills, one-track mind and egotism. It was almost as though he was an animal trying to survive in a human's world.

And those are the deepest thoughts I have on the book at this time. Some interesting excerpts...

"... the person who loves everybody and feels at home everywhere is the true hater of mankind. He expects nothing of men, so no form of depravity can outrage him."
- Gail Wynand to Dominique Francon

"Three quarters of them don't know what it's all about, but they've heard the other one-quarter fighting over your name and so now they feel they must pronounce it with respect. Of the fighting quarter, four-tenths are those who hate you, three-tenths are those who feel they must express an opinion in any controversy, two-tenths are those who play safe and herald any 'discovery,' and one-tenth are those who understand."
- Steve Mallory, describing the art community's reaction to a controversial construction project, to Howard Roark

{I liked this quote because it seems to be a timeless description of any group's reaction to any type of controversy. One tenth of one quarter of the population actually gets it... seems about right.

Oh, and unrelated but also? The cliche about the man ditching the perfect woman out of his own stupidity, then ten years later apologizing and expecting to be friends? Yeah, that happened 65 years ago too. I suspect it's happened since the birth of mankind. Stupid men.}

"[The kitten] was clean - clean in the absolute sense, because it had no capacity to conceive of the world's ugliness. I can't tell you what relief there was in trying to imagine the state of consciousness inside that little brain, trying to share it, a living consciousness, but clean and free. I would lie down on the floor and put my face on that cat's belly, and hear the beast purring. And then I would feel better..."
- Gail Wynand, on... well, surviving

"Howard, everything you've done in your life is wrong according to the stated ideals of mankind. And here you are. And somehow it seems a huge joke on the whole world."
- Gail Wynand to Howard Roark

"Look at the moral atmosphere of today. Everything enjoyable, from cigarettes to sex to ambition to the profit motive, is considered depraved or sinful. Just prove that a thing makes men happy - and you've damned it. That's how far we've come. We've tied happiness to guilt."
- Ellsworth Toohey to Peter Keating

And so, I cross one thing off the list (and coincidentally, the 4Q goals as well). Now to map out a training plan for 10 miles by 30 days from today and a garden visit for the first sunny weekend day I come across.

Considering that I haven't run more than 3 miles at a time in over a month, and that it's winter in Portland, December is going to be an interesting month.

________________
* Netflix Movie Catch Up. Blade Runner has been sitting on top of my TV, along with Away From Her and The Hunting Party, for over a week and a half. Looking forward to all of them. (Yes, I've never seen Blade Runner. I meant to last year when it was re-released, but I didn't. OK?!)

Thankful five.

Five lighthearted things I am thankful for today, in no particular order:

• the Pipeline porter and cranberry stuffing in my refrigerator
• I have no plans with anyone's crazy family (including my own)
  
• the House marathon on TNT
• I am finished with Christmas shopping
  
• I don't have to go to work (!!!)
  

Five not-so-lighthearted things I am thankful for today, in no particular order:

• I have a refrigerator full of food and a roof over my head
  
• I am physically able to take a nice long walk later this afternoon
  
• I can fill up a couple bags for Salvation Army this morning to help those in need
• I have a job
• My friends and their crazy families (and my own) are, generally speaking, healthy and happy

Happy Thanksgiving!

It's one thing...

... to "see" people you haven't seen or thought about in years with their families and their houses and their happy statuses.

It's quite another to "see" a dear old friend you somehow, accidentally, lost touch with a few years ago because of longer distance and changing interests and what have you, suddenly married with a beautiful daughter. (Well, it wasn't "suddenly" for him - it was a three-year process.) I actually got teary with happiness.

Behold the power of Facebook.

"I won the what?"

I didn't get I'm Not There. I wanted to get it. I wanted to love it. Alas. I also didn't think Cate Blanchett deserved to win the Central Ohio Film Critics Association's award for Best Supporting Actress. (Seriously. This is a real association. I can just see her face.) Or that she deserved an Oscar nomination either - why, because she played a man? Whatever.

In other movie news, I don't normally go for movies about family kidnappings that include torture and murder, but Funny Games had Tim Roth and it's hard for me to turn down a Tim Roth movie. Overall it was your typical family kidnapping that included torture and murder, but it didn't have the typical gratuitous violence. Each scene in the film was meticulous, methodical and deliberate. (Those Europeans sure do make fine films.) Most interestingly, there are a few scenes where they break the fourth wall by talking to the audience. I don't think I've seen that in a film since Ferris Bueller, and I've definitely never seen it done in a serious film. The first time Michael Pitt turned to the camera and asked a question I actually felt like he had caught me being a voyeur in his heinous game. He can be creepy as it is,* but this creeped me the hell out, and that's what made me love this film.

________________
* Seriously, Hollywood! Can this boy please have more roles where he isn't a complete freak? He has so much potential, as evidenced in Hedwig and Dawson's Creek (yeah, I went there, and yeah, I actually mean that). I'm going to write his agent.

NaNoReMo update.

"He liked this book. It had made the routine of his Sunday morning breakfast a profound spiritual experience; he was certain that it was profound, because he didn't understand it."

I'm on page 443 of 753 of The Fountainhead (59% complete - but only a week to go! gaaaa). That's a good quote to describe my feelings about it. I haven't read any of the summaries or analyses yet - I wanted to see if I could figure out, on my own, what my high school English teacher would've chosen as the essay topic. The problem is that I read it in bits and pieces, 15 minutes on the bus, 20 minutes at lunch, so it's hard for me to pinpoint the underlying themes. (Other than, capitalism BAD.) I need to just sit down and plow through the rest of it and I'm sure everything will become evident.

Otherwise, I no longer think Howard Roarke is an ass. In fact, I admire him quite a bit. But Dominique is still pathetic and a bit too drama-queeny for my taste, especially after this move she just pulled. Peter Keating is still an arrogant fool. And all the old codgers can call it a life as far as I'm concerned.

Interesting quotes:

"We'd all be a heap sight better off if we'd forget the highfalutin notions of our fancy civilization and mind more what the savages knew long before us: to honor our mother."
- excerpt from Alvah Scarret's newspaper column

"The shortest distance between two points is not a straight line - it's a middleman. And the more middlemen, the shorter. Such is the psychology of a pretzel."
- Kent Lansing to Howard Roarke when discussing who would pitch Roarke as the architect for the Aquitania

"'If you make people perform a noble duty, it bores them,' said Wynand. 'If you make them indulge themselves, it shames them. But combine the two - and you've got them.'"
- Gail Wynand justifying the contents of his newspaper

Onward and upward...

Belated Friday five. Er... Wednesday three.

Five reasons I opted for the Willie Nelson tribute show instead of the coworkers' middle school party, in no particular order:

• The people throwing the party were too young to know who Debbie Gibson was.
• I'm reliving middle school through Facebook almost every day. That's plenty, thank you very much.
  
• Um, hello, Willie Nelson tribute show? How could I not go! (It was awesome.)
• ...
  

OK, I only needed three reasons for this.

Actually, I only needed one reason: I just did not want to go. The show was a convenient rationale.

"I put on some make-up, turn up the eight track..."

I finally watched Hedwig and the Angry Inch last night. I expected a funny musical about an angry German transvestite. It was that, which would've been enough, but it was also so much more than that. It was a commentary on equality, it was a pop culture satire, and it was - GASP! - a love story.

Yes, I am actually recommending a love story. Pick your jaw up off the floor.

Seriously, I must insist that you rent this immediately. Very well done, very moving, very catchy and very fantastic wigs.

In unrelated-but-not-really news, Monday night's Larry King Live featured the pregnant man and his wife, who've recently written a book about their experience. The couple were lovely, despite King's repeated insistence that they weren't right, they weren't natural, they weren't "normal." He asked the wife if she regretted not finding her prince. The husband replied, "She did." King asked how they had sex. (HE ASKED HOW THEY HAD SEX. Jesus H. Christ.) They both replied, "The normal way." King asked why they didn't just adopt. The wife replied, "Would you ask that of a heterosexual couple? Why are you asking us that?"

Then came the callers. Oh dear god, the callers.

I can only imagine that this entire show was intended to enrage the lefties. I know I was yelling at the TV at the gym Monday night.

Dear Larry King, just retire already. Please? Thanks. Signed, Sick of Your Inane and Insulting Interview Tactics in Portland, OR

Oddly, there were no sweaters.

Last night I had a dream that I was helping a bunch of people organize and clean out a huge warehouse, which turned out to be Bill Cosby's warehouse. He was there too, getting things in order while he was still alive instead of leaving it to others after he was gone. Quite considerate of him. But man, did he have a lot of crap. Most of it was pretty old but none of it was dirty or dusty. I remember distinctly noticing that.

I have no idea what this could possibly mean.

In other news, I liked this. A lot.

"You just gotta keep livin' man, L-I-V-I-N."

Before I moved, a friend gave me the Living Life Game - 30 life adventures to add a little excitement to the everyday. I love a good adventure, and I am definitely the type who needs to check things off a list, so I was very excited to play this game. Best played alone - even better!

After the move I got distracted with... well, life... so I put off playing the game. When I finally did pull the game out to start, it turned out that the first adventure was to watch the sun rise. I love sunrises and sunsets, and getting up early wasn't going to be a problem. However, my timing has always been impeccable, and the day I pulled the first card it was overcast early in the morning. After that, the sunrise always occurred around the time I was in the shower, so I put the game aside temporarily.

This morning I woke at 6am, fed Her Majesty and started about my day. One of the first tasks was to take out the trash and on the way back into the building, what to my wondering eyes should appear:

According to the card I was supposed to view the sunrise from a place that is quiet and open, so that I could reflect upon its significance and beauty.

The path back to my apartment may not be "open," but at 6:20am Sunday morning it's pretty darned quiet. After I went back in to grab the camera, I stood and just watched the sky change for about 10 minutes.

I was also supposed to see if I felt more productive on this day. Well... I've been up for 14 1/2 hours and it's only 8:30pm. Of course I was productive. (Kidding, sort of. I did get a lot of holiday and birthday shopping done, and I made the cranberry stuffing for mandatory fun day on Tuesday, and... well, no one cares what I had for lunch but I got a lot done today.)

And now I'm totally wiped out. I was hoping the Pipeline Porter I had with dinner would wake me up a bit so that I could watch Hedwig, but alas...

________________
Tony is Mark! Did you know this? If so, why didn't you tell me? I love him. I just read his memoir, and while I plowed through it in literally a day, and bawled my eyes out through the entire chapter where he describes the first performance after Jonathan Larson's death, I can't recommend it to anyone other than his biggest fan (which is me, so never mind).

And wow - his brother directed Winter Passing. And Tony Mark was in that too, and I didn't notice that either.

Bad biggest fan! BAD!

File under: not worth the time. Well, not worth my time, anyway.

Things We Lost in the Fire: apparently, we lost any sense of what a good story might be, followed closely by Berry's and Del Toro's careers (Duchovny's is already done, I'm guessing), AND almost two hours of my life. So thanks for that, Susanne Bier.

A Lawyer Walks Into a Bar...: the tale of several folks and their quest to pass the bar exam. A very strange documentary that pitted stereotypical lawyer jokes (compliments of Eddie Griffin and actual really bad 3am crack lawyer infomercials) against ambitious youngish people, none of whom I related to, who seemed to be genuinely committed to passing the bar exam for various reasons, many of which had to do with making lots of money for doing as little as possible. The only student I cared about was the woman who killed herself working herself up from the dregs only to be told she didn't have enough credits to qualify to take the bar exam at that time.

(Seriously, how did this get into my Netflix queue? I think there is a bug in the software.)

Next up: Before the Devil Knows You're Dead. I suspect it's going to royally suck, Seymour Hoffman aside. But I will watch it. And then I will write a scathing review. Because that's how I roll.

I'm Not There is coming soon, and a coworker lent me Hedwig and the Angry Inch, and I have some sort of scrapped-together BSG Season 4 which I can only watch on my computer monitor while sitting in my uncomfortable desk chair (which might just force me to buy a comfy desk chair, which I've been procrastinating since May)... and I suspect I will enjoy those immensely. So there's that.

Belated Friday five.

Five Facebook stati I would've posted today, except that I've already posted two, and no one cares that much what I think, and also one is kinda rude, in no particular order:

• ... spent all afternoon in various levels of strip mall hell looking for a store that seems to only exist in a parallel universe, and also on the interweb, but I guess that's redundant.
• ... is starting to understand the yoga high.
• ... is ignoring the "duck duck goose," "basketball fan," and all other stupid Facebook app invitations from "friends."
• ... wants to live in Effington. (It could be a wonderful effingplace.)
• ... can't believe Her Majesty hasn't thrown up in over a week. Laundry day tomorrow, if it happens it will happen as soon as laundry is done. Or maybe this, or this, or this will happen instead.

I can't guarantee that the Effington status won't appear at some point. Loving that song, loving Ben Folds right about now.

NaNoReMo update: Howard Roark is an ass.

And Dominique is kinda pathetic. At the moment, anyway, these two things are true. Book II has taken a sudden downturn, and these two have ended up in a rather twisted something-or-other.

That said, it's good page-turning drama, so I plod on... But not today. There's a mass of incandescent gas, a gigantic nuclear furnace, in the sky right now and I am going to go enjoy that.

Should've just read the short story.

I had high hopes for Wristcutters: A Love Story. Tom Waits, Will Arnett, that kid from Almost Famous, a take on suicide that we haven't seen before...

Alas. The in-between was interesting enough, but the cliche ending ruined the whole thing. Apparently, Desiree's character wasn't in the original short story so I'm curious how that turned out...

Not curious enough to spend any more time on this, though. I've got NaNoReMo to get through! And The Fountainhead is turning out to be a great read. Unlike other acclaimed novels, there aren't an exacerbating number of characters I can't keep up with. Howard Roark continues to grow on me, and this Dominique gal is a pistol too.

Interesting excerpts:

"Do you ever look at the people on the street? Aren't you afraid of them? I am. They move past you and they wear hats and they carry bundles. But that's not the substance of them. The substance of them is hatred for any man who loves his work. That's the only kind they fear. I don't know why." - Henry Cameron to Howard Roark

"... he's always told me marriage is old-fashioned, an economic device to perpetuate the institution of private property, or something like that..." - Catherine Halsey on her uncle's thoughts on marriage, to Peter Keating

Interesting in light of recent CA events... Can't say I disagree.

Not in Kansas anymore.

Spent last weekend in Oaktown catching up with friends and wandering around my old neighborhood. Palm trees and sun and blue sky, oh my. A far cry from fall leaves and rain and cloudy sky, for sure.

I stayed in my old apartment building (at my out-of-town friends' place, not squatting in the hallway as some suspected). It was a bit disorienting for most of the weekend... especially when I wandered into the antique store on a nearby street and saw a Washington Redskins "collectible" plastic hat - I really had to stop for a moment to figure out where I was.

It was great to visit, but coming back to Portland definitely felt like I was coming home.

That made me happy.

Other things for the "things that made me happy" file:

• my last-minute flaky catsitter came through while I was gone
• applying for a job - any job - with the Obama-Biden administration
• plotting a Costa Rica getaway with my travel buddy (can March come any faster?!)
• my first yoga class last night (I know, I know...)
• the calm that started last Tuesday night hasn't worn off yet

Boss is back from vacation today. I'm fully expecting a 180 degree mood shift in about an hour. :)

Editorial. And other news.

For the record, I was pretty happy* when I wrote that last post. I had just heard a concession speech from the person I did not want to win, I had just heard an acceptance speech from the person I did want to win...

I don't regret posting it. I do wish I had been more respectful, like this was. I am glad that so many people voted, regardless of who they voted for. I do think we need to buckle down as a country and figure out where to go, regardless of who won the Presidency. I do hope the next leader of the free world takes a fine-toothed comb to the budget to see which programs are working and which are not, and figures out an exit plan for Iraq and Afghanistan, and...

Most importantly, I do hope he does something about those obnoxious Brooke Shields VW commercials.

In other news!

I am packing for my Oaktown trip, which has suddenly evolved to include former-coworker coffee dates and a facial at my former favorite old spa, in addition to all the previously planned visiting...

And because it will be sunny in Oaktown, I get to see if my solar powered iPod charger actually works...

And I have decided upon The Fountainhead for NaNoReMo. I'm already behind, and it's a long story, so we'll see how this goes. So far I know that Peter Keating is an arrogant fool and Howard Roark is a maverick. (A real maverick, not the kind we've been hearing about for months.) I think I'm gonna like him.

And...

________________
* By "happy" I mean that I had just had a lot of wine out of nervous anticipation. But you already knew that.

For the last time, I mean it.

I have many good friends that are Republicans. My own brother is a staunch Republican (as are most of my extended family on Mom's side). I admit that despite numerous conversations with all of them about this, I will never understand or accept it. Same with them and my liberal ways. We solve the problem by not discussing politics, ever, except on our Facebook statuses (stati?)... which I blatantly ignore around election time, and they surely do the same (as they surely ignore my "schmolitics" rants here).

People. All of you. Reds and whites, donkeys and elephants, lefties and righties, innies and outies.

Take a moment.

Look around.

The economy has collapsed, our freedoms and personal civil liberties have been at risk for years, almost everyone outside the US hates us, we can't take care of our own citizens, unemployment has reached record heights this year... And if that wasn't enough, the person who has ruled our country for 8 years can't speak basic English.

But.

More people than ever came out to vote this year. More people than ever want SOMETHING to change, for red or for blue. More people than ever were part of history in the making over the past few weeks. That says something.

To the fearful, to the depressedly hungover on Wednesday, I say... No one is going to take away your right to bear arms. No one is going to take away your right to choose, either. Your tiny bit of extra taxes will actually help to bring our economy back around and make the dollar worth a damn when you go overseas on vacation, instead of toward the war we were blatantly lied into initiating. Socialism is not a four-letter word. (Uh... OK, I need to work on that last one a bit.)

This is directed at no one in particular, and at the same time, to everyone I know in general. It's the last I will speak of politics with friends whose politics I don't agree with, because to do otherwise will just make me sad and frustrated with people I otherwise hold with utmost respect.

Something's gotta give. Give the next four years a chance. They might surprise you. And they are likely to disappoint me. It's gonna take a lot more than four years to see any real change, after all...

And on a related note, if any of you CA people voted Yes on Prop 8, I don't want to know. LALALALALALA FINGERS IN MY EARS I CAN'T HEAR YOU. I don't care how you voted otherwise, but if you voted Yes on Prop 8, I'm pretty sure I could never speak to you again. And I think I really mean that.

Holy. Fucking. Shit.

Other than to say, Cindy McCain better get busy...

I'm speechless. Completely speechless.

Butterflies in the stomach...

"I want it to be next Wednesday. I want Obama to win, and I want to start getting fretful about something else. Imagine what mischief George Bush is going to attempt between now and Jan. 20. He's gonna pre-pardon everybody for everything. He's going to kill endangered species with his bare hands. He's going to deforest entire states. Now, that's gonna be terrible, but there will be a date certain, as they say, when he has to go back to Texas and do - well, pretty much nothing, is my guess. Jimmy Carter he ain't."

More here.

Definitely in my top ten right now.

Say it with me... This is my dance space. This is your dance space. I don't go into yours, you don't go into mine.

I reaaaaaaaaaaaally need to stop calling it "mandatory fun."

I do. But look, it's not just me:

We're going to have fun, dammit, even if it makes you mad!

Office Mandatory Fun - Its should be fun naturally.

Social Obligations in Law Offices: All Frosting, No Cake.

And the one to rule them all.

Happy apple-bobbing, pumpkin carving and costume contesting at the office tomorrow!

It's definitely not a tumor.

But it's quite probably an ulcer. Yay!

This means that for at least a week I get...

• no full-fat anything
• no raw vegetables
• no spicy food
  
• no caffeine
• no alcohol

Since I'm pretty sure it's self-induced*, I'm okay with all of this except the last one. No alcohol? On November 4? Come ON! How the hell do I make it through that without a bottle of whiskey?

I'm also going to Oakland for 4 minutes next Thursday-Sunday and most of those 4 minutes involve alcohol and/or coffee and/or good food so that's unfortunate. But if I am careful (and don't down a bottle of something other than Tums on Tuesday night) I should be okay for moderation next weekend. Fingers crossed.

In the meantime, hooray for bland food! ... Meh.

________________
* I was trying on winter clothes a few weeks ago and realized that because I had lost about 10 pounds since May, nothing fit. So this winter I could either a) wear huge clothes and look like a bag lady, b) buy new clothes that actually fit, or c) gain 10 pounds fast to make the winter clothes sort of fit through the winter.

I figured a) would just depress me and c) is more cost effective than b) especially since I've already spent money on new summer clothes to accommodate the loss... Plus, c) would be more fun! Wine and cheese and pizza and ice cream and no gym and couch and TV for a few weeks! So that's what I went with.

Mission accomplished. The temporary depression from the past few weeks was an added bonus as it enabled me to eat more (and more crap) than usual... On the down side, one should probably not gain so much weight in a short period of time as it stresses out your GI system, and the depression probably contributed to stress which is not a cause of ulcers but it is a contributing factor.

Yeah, I did a lot of ulcer research between crappy daytime TV shows today.

So I'm not sure the cost of what this did to my tummy was worth the money I saved, all said and done. Let this be a lesson to you: buy timeless fashion and keep all your various sizes of clothes forever. And ever and ever amen.

Wednesday three.

________________
Laurelhurst Park, 10/26/08

"How's that working out for you?"

"What?"

"Being clever."

"... Great."

"Keep it up then."

(Please keep it up! I need more.)

There is fall outside my apartment.

I know it’s hard to conceive.

But there’s fall outside my apartment.

And I'm only gonna see it if I leave.

Get it? Leave? Leaf? Get it?

Never mind.

Week 1.

These are from an actual nursery, rather than a drugstore or Home Depot. So far, so good. Look how green! I'll keep you posted.

And here I thought BNL stood for Barenaked Ladies.

Wall-E: I loved the bit with the spork. I loved the bit with the laser pointer (aha, so it's not just my cat that goes for that trick!). Of course I loved the environmental spin. And I know it's irrational to love a cartoon robot, but I fell in love with Wall-E. (Sorry, R2D2.) OK... I loved all the details in this flick, which just means that Pixar keeps raising the bar, movie after movie, which is a great thing for us but probably not really for their already hard-working employees. Be warned, it has a happy ending. I guess you would expect nothing less of a Pixar film though.

In other movie news...

Across the Universe: Hair will always be my favorite anti-war movie/musical, but other than the (again!) happy ending, I thought this was an interesting take on the '60s by way of Beatles songs... and the actors did a really good job. Fans of the Cirque Beatles show might appreciate this one.

Death at a Funeral: An amusing 90 minutes of familial mayhem at a funeral featuring Wash from Firefly (fully disrobed for most of his scenes, no less) and Finbar from the Station Agent (fully clothed throughout the movie). Good times, if you like those guys and have 90 minutes to spare. Otherwise, skip it.

Beowulf: yeah... not sure how this got into my queue, but I'm pretty sure I read this book in high school, and I ate at the Bay Wolf in Oakland a few times, so I think I'm okay with sending it back unwatched.

Name that bridge.

This evening walking home, I realized that I need to quit my job to make up for all the lost black&white photo ops I have missed since owning this camera. (Or, go back three years in time. But quitting my job sounds like more fun right now.)

It has black&white VIDEO too... There goes the weekend.

Nostalgia.

I randomly tuned in to stream KFOG this morning. After hearing a strange comment by one of the DJs, I poked around the site and discovered that Dave Morey is leaving the station. (Of-his-own-accord-to-live-in-a-house-on-a-lake-in-the-midwest, they were quick to clarify in the audio and him in his own blog. Like anyone would ever fire him.)

I briefly wrote about my introduction to Morey a few years ago. He's pretty much a Bay Area staple. Fog, the Castro, year-round farmers markets, the Fillmore, City Lights Bookstore, the Parkway, weekends on Telegraph Avenue in Berzerkeley, Dave Morey. Those are the things I think of when I get nostalgic for my old town.

OK, Bay Area folks. What says "Bay Area" to you?

Serendipity.

Yesterday I learned that one of the guys I respect the most at work is from my exact same hometown. I knew he was from my home state, but he spent most of his time in another city and he hadn't mentioned our hometown before.

It was pretty interesting that it would be that guy compared to anyone else.

That's all.

Wednesday three.

Three things I covet today, in no particular order:

• Skull & Crossbones Tap and Faucet
• The Wire: The Complete Series
• Crazy Robots tote bag
  

OK, the last one I can certainly afford and implement into my daily life. The other two, not so much. Unless I buy a house or quit my job.

On the other end of the spectrum, two things I no longer covet...

One is a solar-powered iPod charger. I inquired around quite a bit, and ended up going with ThinkGeek's product since they have never steered me wrong before. It's supposed to arrive next Tuesday, right around the time the sun is scheduled to go away for nine months... Excellent! My 19 year old iPod doesn't last more than an hour when charged overnight with real kW, so I'm curious to see if this thing will give me a song or two with its charging power. Look for experimental results in the near future.

And... may I have a drumroll please. For the last three years I could not believe that my fancy digital camera did not have black&white ability. It was my only regret about purchasing this camera - I've been utterly thrilled with it otherwise. Just now, I was searching for an example of a digital camera with black&white ability that I could covet... And ran across instructions on how to access my own camera's black&white ability, which is SOOOOOOOOO not in the manual - anywhere, believe me I have looked - and lo and behold, it works:


This officially takes fall photography to a hnl... (And makes me happier than you can possibly imagine.)

On misunderestimation.

I saw W. today.

I wasn't going to see this, ever. Because I haven't appreciated an Oliver Stone movie since JFK, because I especially didn't want to see a movie about W. no matter how good all the impersonations allegedly were, because Burn After Reading sounded more interesting... the "because"s go on and on.

But my in-town-friends left a little earlier than expected, and a matinee sounded nice but the timing of Burn After Reading would not have allowed a much needed after-in-town-friend's-visit gym session, and it turns out someone I went to high school with was in the movie.

So I saw W. today.

At some point during the movie, I actually felt bad for the man I have actively hated for the past eight years. And that made me mad, which was good gym fodder.

Everything else* aside, I'm pretty sure the paragraph above means that the combination of Stone and Brolin was pure genius.

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*Stellar performances by everyone. And I mean everyone, like I couldn't figure out who Cheney was for an embarrassing number of minutes. And there were eventual pointed Stone-like critiques at Bush's administration and gritty war Stone-like truthiness that left quite a few of us in the theater teary (if post-scene sniffles count as evidence).

But, man. I closed my eyes during one of the speeches and I would not have known that was Josh Brolin.

Fall progress, act I.

I'm trying to remember to take my camera with me every day so that I can photojournal the fall season. It's not quite here - but it's teetering on the edge. I have a suspicion that one day soon I will wake up and the leaves will be brilliant shades of crayola (act II)... and the next day I will wake up and they will be littered all over the streets and the rain will start (act III).

But first a little context. I work near the South Park Blocks where they hold the farmer's market spring-fall. There are benches and statues and maybe even a fountain somewhere. Anyway, it's been a stunning strip of green for the past five months:


And the leaves are just starting to turn:


I'm excited to see how the strip changes colors over the next few weeks.

I noticed more significant signs of fall in the Whole Foods parking lot in the NE last night (which I was excited to discover, since it's more convenient than the one closer to my apartment):

But I'm most excited to take a sick day for Act II, head up to Hood River and wear my camera out... My, um, "scratchy throat" is poised and ready.