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July 30, 2003
life has become
interesting. Leaning toward hell.
*whips out her fire extinguisher*
I wish I could say more, but well, I am mindful of the mistakes of others and need to be self-protective.
It just sucks--I thought that things were stable, but I should know better. Rarely is anything in life stable for very long.
Posted by crystallyn at 07:58 PM | Comments (4) | TrackBack
July 28, 2003
so i
joined the 100 Things webring because I fixed the Who Am I page...so now you know more about me than you probably even wanted to.
Posted by crystallyn at 06:31 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
July 26, 2003
crystallyn.com turns 8 years old
Yep, you read that right. Not as a blog, but as a website, I've had this little puppy for 8 years!!! Seems bizarre to me that it's been that long, but it's true. I bought the domain around the end of July 1995 for a lot of money (I can't remember how much it was at first but it was around $150+ a year or something crazy...the costs have really come down). It has changed a lot over the years, but most dramatically when some guy I knew (who has since stopped blogging), introduced me to the then fledgling Blogger. I finally graduated to MT earlier this year, but although as a blog it's only been around for a little over three years, crystallyn.com is about 56 years old in dog years.
It's amazing how self-publishing has changed the face of the Internet in that short time.
Posted by crystallyn at 04:40 PM | Comments (11) | TrackBack
July 25, 2003
it's officially
high summer--the cicadas are out.
I heard the first one this evening when we came home from Margarita's in Waltham (Paulette it was great!). I never heard them till I moved East--and now it's always such a wonderful marker of summer.
And fireflies--of which I have only seen two in my whole life. Sad, huh?
Posted by crystallyn at 08:31 PM | Comments (4) | TrackBack
i found an interesting quote
by one of our founding fathers, Thomas Jefferson:
Every constitution…, and every law, naturally expires at the end of 19 years [a generation]. If it be enforced longer, it is an act of force, and not of right.
Posted by crystallyn at 08:16 AM | Comments (4) | TrackBack
July 24, 2003
first book with moveable type
The Gutenburg Bible is finally online for everyone to peruse. It was printed in 1454 or 1455 and is very rare--there are only a handful left in the world.
It took a long time to make this book, but not nearly as long as if the monks had copied it all out. And even in today's modern age, putting it online was probably a massive effort. The book, which is probably very fragile, had to be scanned in, page by page.
I love technology. Now I can see works of art like this without having to travel, without a wall of glass separating me and the object. If I can't head to Austin to see it, I can still browse the pages from the comfort of my home in Boston.
Too bad I can't read Latin. :)
Posted by crystallyn at 06:45 AM | Comments (2) | TrackBack
July 20, 2003
zombies, zombies, zombies!
Joe has some odd addiction for zombies and zombie movies. Within a month of meeting, he made me watch the original Night of the Living Dead, because I had made it to 30 years old without seeing it. Now we have a little joke when we're in various places and see someone strange looking walking around. Joe will invariably point out that they must be a zombie.
We're waiting to go see 28 Days until after next Friday, because we read in the Boston Globe that they will be showing the alternative, darker ending after the credits in new showings. Apparently they had wanted to release two versions--each with a different ending, but it goes against motion picture bylaws to do so.
Well, now you too can take a class in zombie-ism! The catch is that you need to be a UCSC student...you'd never find that class over in Boston. We have too many cemeteries here (there are two within half mile of my house--one of them the famous Mt. Auburn Cemetery). If zombie-ism is real, we're toast!
On an unrelated note, I had been reading Kasey's (our zombie professor extraordinare) site for awhile and through him, discovered Well Nourished Moon. I'd been reading Stephanie's site for awhile when I received an email from her--turns out she had linked through to me from Kasey's site and realized we were alumni! A few weeks later, I receive another email, from another alumni, Heather, who found my site through Stephanie's site--and the irony there is that I had actually written about Heather only a few days prior. We haven't talked in ten years and yet, here I had just written about her, and her note that she had read my post shows up in my email box. Talk about amazement and shock!
Synchronicity is a strange and funny thing. And for as large as this world is, it's really not very big at all.
Posted by crystallyn at 09:50 AM | Comments (7) | TrackBack
July 19, 2003
several disturbing things
** Cheney Energy Task Force Documents Feature Map of Iraqui Oilfields, courtesy of SixDifferentWays
** Creationist (ignoramus) Science Fair, courtesy of Ancarett
** Joe making me listen to Slade's Cum on Feel the Noize.
** The fact that Slade is still around and touring...
** The fact that I actually remember and like the song Run Run Away (see chameleon lying there in the sun...)
** A man finding a mouse head in his Wendy's chili. Mmm yum. Courtesy of Exploding Cigar.
Posted by crystallyn at 09:39 AM | Comments (5) | TrackBack
i can be so
forgetful and last night proved it. Had Joanie and Mike and Sharyl and Jeff over for fried chicken, corn on the cob, potato salad and steamers. We had a great time and even though the weather wasn't the best, it was nice on the balcony. After Joe and I did dishes and I went to the bathroom to brush my teeth, I realized that I had forgotten to put the new bar of soap in the soap dish. Sigh. I knew I was forgetting something! So my guests had dirty hands--sorry guys!!!
But the night was a lot of fun and it was good to see them--I haven't seen Sharyl since Christmas!
Posted by crystallyn at 09:22 AM | Comments (2) | TrackBack
July 15, 2003
malkovich, malkovich, malkovich!
Sunday mornings are usually spent on the balcony, eating breakfast. Over coffee, Joe mentions that the Globe reported that John Malkovich was moving to Boston. I didn't think much of it until yesterday when Joe called and asked me to guess who he saw standing in front of the Crate & Barrel in Harvard Square. I didn't know.
"Someone famous," he said.
"Umm...Natalie," I replied, since Ms. Portman attends Harvard and we often see her around town. Besides, I have Star Wars on the brain these days.
"Nope."
"Ummm Seamus?" I was thinking of Mr. Heaney, who often is seen at Harvard as well.
I thought about mentioning Yo-Yo , who also lives in Cambridge, but I figured at this point I was on the wrong track.
"Malkovich. He was just standing there, waiting for someone."
"Did you talk to him?"
"Umm no. What do you say to him without coming across like an idiot?"
He's right. I tried to figure out what I would have said if I had seen him. Would I have walked up to him and said, "Oh my god, I loved you in Shadow of the Vampire (which I did)?" No. "Umm, excuse me, Mr. Malkovich, can you give me directions to Mass Ave?" Har! "So, John, what color towels would you really buy if you were to walk into that Crate & Barrel?" Or perhaps: "You are such a handsome, sexy devil..."
I realized that no, there is nothing witty or wise to be said, nothing that you could do but walk by and marvel that you just saw Mr. Malkovich, one of the finest actors (IMHO) of our time.
Posted by crystallyn at 06:20 AM | Comments (6) | TrackBack
July 14, 2003
jellyfish elvis and sunshine idiots
Saturday found Joe and I down on Pier 4 waiting for the Elvis Costello show. We went down about 3 hours early and parked across the street then meandered down to the Barking Crab for dinner. On the walk toward the Crab, we found a spot in the bay with hundreds of jellyfish. We stood and watched for a while, listening to Elvis warming up back at the Fleet Pavilion. The day was bright, the air was perfect, the jellyfish were wonderful and mysterious and other than the fact that I wore the wrong shoes, the entire world seemed to be in the right place.
Elvis was great, as to be expected. He didn't address the audience much--hardly at all, in fact--but he more than made up for it with the rousing show that he and the Imposters (2/3 of the original Attractions) put on. He played a lot of the more obscure songs, which Joe knew and I didn't, but he did play the most amazing lounge-like version of Watching the Detectives, which I felt was the best song of the night, and not just because I knew it so well. He only played a few popular tunes, (Watching the Detectives, Clubland, What's so Funny about Peace, Love & Understanding, Pump It Up, Every Day I Write the Book), which left me really wishing that he had played She, Alison, Accidents Will Happen and my personal favorite, Veronica. But as Joe pointed out, he's played all those songs so many damn times and he has SO MUCH music that it's perfectly understandable if he is playing his other tunes. I mean, we're talking about a man that will put 25-30 songs on a CD. I guess he's brought a song wheel to some of his past shows and spun the wheel to see what will come up--now that is pretty cool, I think. He does have a powerful voice. He never wavered, he was strong until the very end. Two thumbs up, Elvis!
Sunday we decided late in the day to head to Singing Beach to add to my splotchy tan (a result of uneven suntan lotion, sigh). On the way there, some idiot in a really nice Acura, came flying by us, weaving in and out of traffic and then riding quite literally on the bumper of anyone that was in front of him. We watched him do this in the fast lane and Joe was saying that he was, essentially, an accident waiting to happen.
And it did.
He must have tapped the minivan in front of him, because next thing we knew, there was smoke and screeching and cars swerving everywhere. We were far enough back to be able to slow down and react. Three cars pulled off to the side, and it looked like no one was hurt--the cars weren't even banged up, strangely enough. After we moved past this little fiasco, we quickly realized that the guy wouldn't have made it very far anyway. It was wall-to-wall traffic all the way up the North Shore.
But Singing Beach was beautiful and the water was slightly warmer than Crane's Beach on the Fourth. We ended up down in the gay section, I think...lots of fancy men in tight swimsuits oiling each other up and eyeing each other. I mean, don't get me wrong, some of my dearest and closest friends are gay, but watching gay men in prowling mode is not really my idea of communing with nature.
I think the worst was the old man in a flesh colored sagging speedo with big huge silver nipple rings wandering the beach. His appearance just seemed to scream child molester for some reason. And that makes me wonder about the parents who let their 4 year old girls run around topless at the beach. I realize it's all very innocent and when I was young I'm sure I did the same, but the world is very different now and letting your youngster run around naked in public basically opens them up to the view of some really sick-minded people.
Okay, /rant off, and back to getting stuff done, of which there is a lot...
Posted by crystallyn at 10:37 PM | Comments (6) | TrackBack
July 09, 2003
9 million people
out of work in the US for over a year now...
I hope to god they think twice when they vote next year.
Oh, and this site...absolutely says it all. Thanks James.
Posted by crystallyn at 06:34 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
easily amused
I love occasionally throwing my site into Rob's Amazing Poetry Generator...this is what it came up with today:
transferring in
a savoring that he takes over a
perfect day. the incoming dean Emily
McDermott, then left wanting more
books and/poetry WHO
AM transferring in another six months
with Sirius, to finish up.
have been a few hours
of the appeal for
get worked out in about PEOPLE who take
2 weeks and has no
stock on go figure. I need
to both of Fame earlier this
Very amazing
part. difficult it but I
will the schedule that gone to
UMass have discovered over for
at Crane Beach umbrellas, the review provides
further detail; see him punish the
beach umbrellas, the opening release, but
current students should have a
few years afterward.
My favorite bit is when "he' punished the beach umbrellas. :)
Posted by crystallyn at 05:21 PM | TrackBack
July 08, 2003
elvis is everywhere!
Joe called me at work this morning with a delightful surprise...we're going to see Elvis! The show is at the Fleet Boston Pavilion on the wharf, where I saw Duran Duran a few years back (yes yes, I was a Duranie...can't WAIT for their 25 anniversary reunion tour!).
Both of us are longtime Elvis fans, but especially Joe. Funny enough, for being the music lovers that we are, this is the first actual concert (i.e. not in a bar) that we've gone to together.
Elvis, was, rightfully so, inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame earlier this year. Oooo I can't wait to see him perform. I know he has a new album coming out in September, called North, so this tour must be in advance of that. Still, I'm really hoping to hear Everyday I Write the Book, Accidents Will Happen, Veronica, Watching the Detectives...he's got 100s of songs though...how difficult it must be to figure out what to perform.
As for other things...got my computer back and I'm sunburnt but had a fabulously lazy weekend...
Posted by crystallyn at 05:49 PM | Comments (4) | TrackBack
July 04, 2003
Happy Independence Day!
I am celebrating by turning personally patriotic...with a glorious shade of red across my back. Oh, and on my temples where I didn't put suntan lotion today when Paulette, Joe and I were at Crane Beach today. I even had SPF30 on, go figure. I kept reapplying all over everywhere else but I should have had Joe get my back one more time.
Crane Beach is gorgeous...two miles of pure, clean white sand. I love looking down the beach at all the colorful beach umbrellas, the heads bobbing in the water (which was pretty damn cold but felt great after a few hours of roasting in the 95 degree sunshine). We brought margaritas that Joe made (mmmm yummy) and cheese and crackers and Paulette brought fruit salad. Great picnic, great company and just a perfect day.
We're resting up (lying all day in the sun is draining!), cleaning up and then grabbing Paulette again, heading for drinks and then probably watching the fireworks out in Waltham or Newton...no need to brave the madhouse of the Esplanade and the million+ people that will be there. Just too damn hot and traffic gets nasty.
Tomorrow and Sunday we're heading up to my friend's cabin on the lake where we are going to lie around, drink sangria, swim, read books, play cards and be lazy.
FINALLY, summer is here.
Posted by crystallyn at 06:52 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
July 01, 2003
concrete jungle
They have discovered over 836 species of animals living in New York's Central Park. Including moss piglets...
Posted by crystallyn at 05:07 PM | TrackBack
thanks Mitt Romney and thanks Monkey Man
Today I got an email from the head of the Critical and Creative Thinking Program at UMass.
Dear CCT community:
As some of you might know, after the very positive 7-year AQUAD review the College of Ed. Dean, Jonathan Chu, and the Provost's office decided not to continue to fund Nina Greenwald's 50% position. The Graduate Dean, Emily McDermott, then imposed a moratorium on admissions to the CCT Program. (The Deans' responses to the AQUAD review provide further detail; see CCT website, http://www.cct.umb.edu) I regret to inform you that the Provost, Paul Fonteyn, has now endorsed the moratorium. If there is any reconsideration, we will let you know immediately. Courses will continue to be offered so that students already matriculated will be seen through to graduation, but current
students should read and respond to the email to follow.
There is some good news -- the incoming dean of the Graduate College of Education, Lester Goodchild, is interested in incorporating research on cognition and learning into the training of our teachers and educational administrators and wants to continue CCT under some intercollege arrangement. Details of this proposal and its implications will be posted as soon as they are known, probably not till the fall.
The letter continues, but that is the meat of it, except that we have to matriculate by the Spring '05. Cuts to UMass have forced the closure of some of the smaller programs, regardless of their success. And Nina...she is one of the most amazing people that I have had a chance to study with. It's not bad enough that the program was cut, but it's ten times worse that for the last four semesters that they won't even allow her to teach.
I'm fortunate only in that I managed to get into the program in time for me to finish up. Still, I worry...will the electives I had hoped for get cut? Will the core classes I need to take end up being at 4PM and throw a loop into the schedule that I'm bound to (understandably, my boss wigs out when I leave at 2:30PM to get to class on time)?
Funny how that both times my schooling became messed up have been when the Bushes were in office. Both times finding a job was near impossible has been when a Bush has been in office.
I'm not sure that Bulger should be head of UMass, but I think that Romney's personal vendetta against him shouldn't punish the students who are trying to move ahead to be better for the big business that Romney's such a proponent of...
Posted by crystallyn at 06:53 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack