4.26.2002
i want to thank
some people who have been really kind to help me out. At the top of this page is a link to information about the Cystic Fibrosis Great Strides walk coming up next month, on my Mom's birthday, May 19. I'm walking 6.2 miles on behalf of my friend's daughter, Jenny, who died this last February. It's the first walk I've ever really done--much less on my own. Most of the walkers are in teams but I'll be walking by myself. I've been trying to gather donations for the walk and the following people have been so generous:
My dear friends Rainy and Bill.
My Icelandic friend Sigurdur, "Flumph"
My Uncle Alan
Shanna
Laura S.
Sean
Bob (who has a gorgeous site btw...makes me homesick for real mountains)
I'm realizing as I post all that, that, with the exception of my Uncle, all of those people are virtual friends. There is something to be said about the kindness of strangers...
If you would like to help support my walk, please visit the information page. I'm trying to raise at least $500 before then and I'm a long way off still, I'm afraid. Any help you could give me would be very much appreciated. Your support will help find a cure for a devastating disease that afflicts thousands of children.
9:31 AM | link | up| archives |
4.25.2002
so i picked up
the latest Peter Murphy CD, Dust, which was released yesterday. It's moody (but if you listen to the lyrics, rarely depressing--usually full of promise and love and hope), as always, but he's gone a different route with his music this time, collaborating with a guy from Turkey. It has a huge Middle Eastern slant to it which I am trying to get used to. And like he has on the last several albums, he has rehashed two of his previous songs. It's so bizarre that he always does that, creating reprises of work that he's already done. The last album he released, Just Alive for Love, was essentially remakes of most of his old work with one or two added new songs. Wild Birds, released in '00 is a greatest hits album remakes, and the EP Roll Call, released in 98, hardly counts since it contains a remake, two new songs and a reprise of one of the new songs. The last time he released a body of new work all at once was Cascade back in 95. So tell me, after nearly seven years of not really producing original songs, why on earth would he release an album with 9 tracks but only 7 of them essentially new? I guess a new song a year is the way he works. Hehe.
Still, I really have to say that I love his music and Deep remains one of my most favorite albums ever. As I mentioned before, his music is moody but it's not depressing. Everyone throws him into the "gothic" category but lyrically he doesn't fit very well. He's poetic, sensual, uplifting and vibrant. I've seen him three times in concert and to watch him perform is just downright riveting. I discovered that he'll be in Boston on June 12 at Axis...hint hint...in case anyone wants to be kind to me as a late birthday present (I age a year on the 5th of June).
And I'm sad that I'm already 300 pages into the 600 page book I bought yesterday. I hate that I read so fast sometimes. It means the story ends too soon. :(
9:47 AM | link | up| archives |
4.23.2002
4.20.2002
aaron asked, i answer
yep, it's Blogger Insider time again and this time I was paired up with the very verbose Aaron from the Den of Ubiquity. He wondered the following things about me and so I divulged...
1.What do you like best about being outside? I've always been a bit of a nature freak. I feel best outdoors in the woods and hiking is one of my very favorite things. I love to go camping. It's hard to say what I like best, but it would probably be how I feel when I am at one with nature. I love the smells--the fresh air, the pine needles, the ocean, the blossoming trees. The sounds--the wind, the insects, the birds, the waves on the beach, squirrels darting through the trees. And I love to explore and experience the views, the beautiful birds, strange new bugs, brightly colored mushrooms and flowers. I feel so alive, so at peace when I'm out in the woods or on the beach. I love how inspired I feel.
2. What kinds of things do you like to shop for, if any? Books. Books. Books. They're like candy for me. I'm not a window shopper--if I don't have money I'm not going to go looking. I do like to buy new clothes, CDs, and I'm also a compulsive magazine reader. Poor Joe...all the magazines lying around the house.
3. If you could enroll in any kind of class you wanted to right now, for free, and without having to worry about fitting it into your schedule, what would it be? Probably a painting class. I took one a couple years ago and I loved the meditative feel that I had when I was painting. It is one of the few activities besides reading where I was so absorbed that I lose track of everything else around me. But on the other hand, I'm dying to get back into a good poetry workshop, something small and intimate with some serious kickass poets that can challenge and inspire me.
Oh and yoga. I would love to be able to afford yoga classes right now, but alas.
4. What is your opinion on free vs. rhyming verse? I have great respect for rhyming verse when done well. It's always a big challenge to me to write rhyming verse because I'm so critical of my work when writing with form. So many very BAD poets in contemporary times use rhyme (check out poetry.com's poetry slams to see what I mean) and so I think it's soured my taste a bit. I tend to use slant and interior rhymes in a lot of my poetry, and a lot of alliteration because while I like the sound, but for the most part, I find rhyming verse more restricting to write. There is a lot of food for thought out there about the merits of both. I think in general, that it's more difficult to write a great rhyming poem than it is to write a great free verse poem. That's just my opinion though.
5. Is there any kind of food you hated as a child but love now(or vice versa)? I hated broccoli, fish, asparagus (actually didn't like many veggies as a kid--mostly just peas and carrots and now I like most veggies) and seafood.
Still hate tomatoes. I was a very very picky child growing up so there are a LOT of foods that I wouldn't eat then but eat now. When the three of us kids were young, my father was working on the Grand Coulee dam during the week (was in charge of roofing the 3rd power plant) and would only be home on weekends. My mom had three wild kids on her hands and macaroni and cheese was much easier to fix than a lot of other things. Our palate became pretty limited. Each of us kids are more picky than the next...my brother wouldn't even eat turkey at Thanksgiving until a year or so ago. I'm quirky now but not picky, I don't think. I try things now that I never would have.
6. Is it always better to read a book than watch a TV show? No matter what the TV show and book in question might be? Overall, yes, I think books are more stimulating and give back more to the reader than a TV show would do for the watcher. I watch very little TV...mostly Sci Fi channel (gah just realized that I'm missing yet a THIRD week in a row of Farscape...sigh now I'm upset!), Sex and the City, Simpsons, and once in awhile Will and Grace. TV is a different kind of escape for me than books. It's something fairly mindless and entertaining for me, whereas a book engages me, energizes me and gets me thinking about the characters, the plot...gives me ideas for my own writing.
7. Do you like Terry Goodkind or Robert Jordan's fantasy series better? I think that Robert Jordan's books have really gone downhill a lot. I read them pretty much only when they come out on paperback and mostly just because I've read all the others. His books are so complex with TOO many characters and unless you are a hardcore junky it's too easy to be confused by all the things going on. I like Goodkind's simplicity much more. You can continue your affinity with the characters throughout the books...you can go a year between reading them and not forget who is who, etc. There are a myriad of better authors out there though. I really love Tanith Lee, Michael Moorcock and Stephen R. Donaldson...but fantasy fiction (I like a good sci-fi too though) is also like candy...I eat them up.
8. Have you ever been on stage? It's been years since I have acted on stage...I was the tin man once in grade school in the Wizard of Oz. Oh and in junior high I wrote and directed a version of Phantom Tollbooth. :) But since then, no. I would be 100% comfortable on stage though and I think it would be something I would enjoy a great deal. My stage experience has tended to be on the rock band side of things...when I was doing radio and when I was working at Virgin Records...introducing bands at concerts that I was producing or promoting. I'm very comfortable in front of an audience.
9. If you were to learn another language, what would it be? I minored in French and would love to actually really learn it and USE it for once. Right now my knowledge pretty much serves me mostly as a reader...when coming across French phrases I can usually figure it out. I think that I would love to learn Italian though. My boyfriend's mother speaks it and her family is from Italy and so I've been fairly interested. There is such a rich history and culture there that I would love to learn more about.
10. Who is your favourite band/musician, and who was your favourite as a teenager? GAH! This is too hard. Now? I can't just name one. I love Peter Murphy, TMBG, Dead Can Dance, Yo Yo Ma, Chet Baker, and I could ramble here. Joe has got me into the Get Up Kids too. But as a teen--undoubtedly it was Duran Duran. I was a Duranie to the core and I loved John Taylor! I FINALLY got to see them two years ago at Boston's Harbor Lights. No John Taylor but they were great. I had the best time.
11. Is there a common misusage in English that just drives you up the wall? I hate when people say warsh instead of wash (but haven't heard that much since I moved East). Drownded is annoying. There are actually a lot of tiny things that are more specifically misusages but they are all escaping me at the moment. Living in Boston I get nutso about the accent a lot and about the strange names that they call things (it's not a shopping cart it's a carriage, they aren't sprinkles on your ice cream--they are jimmies, it's not pop--it's soda or tonic, etc).
Sooo there you go.
9:58 AM | link | up| archives |
4.19.2002
gotta love
the Friday Five:
What's your favorite TV show and why? Probably Farscape, but I've MISSED the last two episodes and I'm going to miss tonight too. Sigh. Why don't I have Tivo? I like Futurama, the Simpsons and Sex in the City as well. Oh and Buffy and Xena.
2. Who is your favorite television star? Hmm. That's hard to say. I like Sarah Michelle Gellar a lot, truthfully. And Lucy Lawless. Hehe I like strong women who can kick ass.
3. What was your favorite TV show as a child? Captain Kangaroo. I thought Mr. Green Jeans was SO cool.
4. What show do you think should have been cancelled by now? COPS. I'd say Ally McBeal but well, it is being cancelled.
5. What new show do you hope escapes the axe this season? Not sure...not many new ones that I've been watching. There are others that I wish never got axed...like Xena. I'm sad XFiles is ending but it was due time for it...was getting stale and Mulder gave it a lot of oomph.
11:23 AM | link | up| archives |
4.18.2002
i thought the world was ending
last night at 2:58 AM. I don't think I have ever heard a louder thunder clap in my entire life. My dreams had been fitful anyway and then, I am sitting straight up in bed, my heart pounding so hard. I'm not kidding...took me a few moments to orient myself. I saw the flashes of lightning and first I thought it was fire. I really, honestly thought that a plane had crashed, a bomb had dropped or something. My poor cat was scared too. Had to find him and cuddle him before he went and hid under the couch.
Timecube seems to have dropped a huge bomb on my site though...damn, 458 uniques yesterday and I normally average about 100. The funny thing is, one message board talking about my critique of the January lecture, seems to think that I'm a guy. Not quite sure how they figure that (doesn't my site look sort of girly?)...and they didn't check out the pictures. They also think I'm an MIT student but that is the farthest thing from the truth. I realized today that I graduated from college nine years ago. Ack!
4:12 PM | link | up| archives |
4.17.2002
it's blister
season. Yes, yes, you gals out there know what I'm talking about. New sandals, last year's shoes...all ready to tear up those tender tootsies so you can sport the latest summer fashions. Sigh. Bought my first box of bandaids of the year today. We'll see how long they last!
But more remarkable is that it's mid-April and it's 92 degrees out (and STILL 65 days till summer!!!!). I'm pretty sure that's a record temperature. Makes you wonder what the summer has in store for us. I just hope to god it's dry--I have such a hard time with the humidity. I could never live in Florida or down in Alabama where my friend Michele is at. Give me heat but make sure it's dry! I loved the hot days growing up in Spokane or in Boise. I remember several 110 degree days but without the humidity they are fairly bearable.
The Farmer's Almanac had this to say about the summer: April and May will be pleasant, with above-normal temperatures and below-normal precipitation. Expect seasonable weather in early and late May.
The summer will be cooler and wetter than normal in the north but hot and abnormally dry in the south, threatening a severe drought. Expect occasional heavy rain in the north in June and July. The hottest spells in the south will occur in mid- and late June, and mid- and late July. August will have little rain and no excessive heat.
September and October will be warmer than normal. The south will continue to be dry until heavy rains come in early October.
I'm not sure what to think considering that it also mentioned we would have more snow than normal this last winter when in fact we had an extraordinarily mild winter.
I just know that being indoors on a day like this just plain sucks.
3:32 PM | link | up| archives |
4.14.2002
wooohoo!
first sunburn of the year! *grin* Walked from my house to the Mass Ave bridge and back...a big loop on both sides of the Charles for about 4.5 miles. My neck and shoulders got a bit toasted. I'm averaging an 18 min mile but need to get that down to about 16 or so...and get some more endurance. My legs were like water at the end of that. I have a month though so I'm confident I can get up to 6 miles for my walk. With the weather being so crappy the last few weeks I haven't walked as much as I would have liked.
It's great to see spring here finally. The trees are in full gorgeous bloom (so are my allergies unfortunately), the boats have their plastic covers off, everyone on the Esplanade was wearing shorts and sunbathing. Just a beautiful day. Joe played a pre-season baseball game today and although they lost, he came home elated about the season. They've got two pitchers who can throw 80+ mph and the team seems really with it. It's great to see him so pumped up. They'll be playing closer to home this year so I'll be able to go to more games.
Got some weightlifting in yesterday with Joe's nephew. He's about 30 lbs and wanted to be lifted up and down off of a chest high pedestal next to the stairs leading into his house. I must have lifted him up and down a good 20-30 times. I can really feel it today. Nothing like having a child around to give you an excuse to get your body moving. Joe's brother's birthday was yesterday and we went out there to celebrate. Joe's parents were there and I always love seeing them. His mom is so sweet and wonderful. I feel really blessed to be so accepted by their family. My ex-husband's family hated hated hated me and this is like night and day from that situation. Had a great day all around. Heading out now...to the Summer Shack. :)
4:46 PM | link | up| archives |
4.10.2002
so many potatoes
couch potatoes that is. According to a recent Associated Press article, "seven in 10 adults don't regularly exercise and nearly four in 10 aren't physically active at all. And despite repeated warnings about the link between a sedentary lifestyle and heart disease and diabetes, the figures haven't budged from 1997 to 2001."
But what I find particularly interesting are the following statistics: "adults who make four times the poverty level are twice as likely to exercise than poor adults. The poverty level for single adults is just under $9,000.
Adults with better educations also tend to exercise more.
Married people, both men and women, were more likely than singles to be active. Single adults are more likely to prefer body-strengthening activities, like lifting weights or calisthenics. About two-thirds of whites exercise at least some of the time, compared with only half of black and Hispanic adults, the report found.
The South trailed other regions in physical activity. The West led the nation with about two-thirds of adults getting some exercise, compared with just over half of Southerners."
So basically being poor and stupid apparently hinders your will to exercise. Actually, I think it goes beyond that. Oftentimes lower incomes and being less educated can lead to wide variety of other influences, ranging from higher instances of depression, domestic violence, family problems, emotional issues, etc. Combine that with television is one of the cheapest forms of entertainment you can get and that eating healthy is actually MORE expensive than eating junk food and of course we have statistics like that.
I don't fall into any of the categories--I'm white, educated and while I'm poor and on my temp salary aren't making four times the poverty level (if I had a real job that wouldn't be the case at al) I am trying to get a lot of exercise in--I want to be healthier during the last 2/3 of my life than I was during my first 1/3. Walking as often as possible (weather permitting) and getting some yoga, pilates and strength training in each week. But it is hard. The television is often more inviting (but really, how many times do I NEED to watch the 30th episode of Star Trek?) but I know that my body is going to feel better if I can muster up the motivation to exercise it. And it does feel better. I know that my doctor would tell me that my cholesterol is down, my body is changing a great deal (yoga and pilates are awesome for losing inches!) and I know that I am only going to feel and look better as I stick with it. I'm eating really healthy--cut out all processed foods and upped my veggie and fruit intake and am keen about portion sizes. That's all there is to it. Sounds simple, but our society doesn't make it so simple.
I think that a lot of people don't really THINK about the foods they put into their body. A bulletin board I frequent recently had a group of women wanting to send letters to Frito Lay because they heard that the WOW chips were going to be taken off the market (unfortunately only a rumor). I was shocked--here are women who are trying to eat better and become healthy and yet they are shoving a product into their body that warns of ANAL LEAKAGE. My god! And yet they still eat it. One woman said she goes through 6 bags a week!!! And while those people might not have the side effects that the package warns of (diarrhea, cramping, anal leakage, bloody stools, dehydration, etc), why on EARTH aren't they wondering about why a product has to have a warning on it and why olestra is the additive on the market with the most complaints? It amazes me that these people are so blind to the fact that what they aren't eating isn't REAL and it sure as hell will catch up with them over time.
Problem is, products like this allow people to continue eating junk food, all the while thinking it must be better for them because there is no fat in it, and prevents them from making actual, healthy choices about their bodies. We are a nation that has no clue how to eat in moderation. Our plate sizes are bigger, our eating utensils are bigger, our portion sizes in restaraunts dwarf the sizes you would find in any other country, and junk food is marketed to us in large bags, supersizes, twice the volume for the same price, etc. etc. etc. We watch television while we eat--which means we aren't thinking about our food and how our bodies feel, resulting in overeating. We consume fried foods and sweets in volumes that boggles most foreigners, and would have shocked our ancestors.
The surgeon general estimates that 60% of our nation is overweight or obese and he is advocating community responsiblity to try and teach children how to be and eat healthy. Children should get at least 60 minutes of moderate activity on most days of the week and adults should get at least 30.
It's ironic though, how the media is pushing us to be thin and beautiful--giving us such a warped sense of what is acceptable in our society and all the while, Americans just get fatter and fatter.
9:40 AM | link | up| archives |
4.9.2002
believe it or not
except this is really true. I like the impending whoopin' part best. Amazing.
Sometimes I don't understand Japanese animation. Hi-Ho!
12:07 PM | link | up| archives |
4.5.2002
oh and
this might make me actually want to visit Springfield, MA finally. And for your Friday Fun pleasure, head here...
9:38 AM | link | up| archives |
jumping on the bandwagon finally
with the Friday Five. Mostly because my brain is a pile of slush this morning.
1.What are the first things that you do in the morning to start your day? I hit the alarm a couple of times, groan as the cat decides to climb on top of me, then finally roll out of bed. After the morning bathroom duties--shower, hair, makeup, contacts, etc--I usually come back and climb in bed with Joe for ten more minutes (no it doesn't mess me up...I'm a minimalist when it comes to the hair and makeup anyway) and scratch his back and cuddle for a bit. He lies there half asleep and eats it up. Spoiled boyfriend.
2. What are the last things that you do at night before going to bed? We have a whole nighttime ritual...turn down the heat (if it's on), turn on the alarm, Joe gets some milk before he sleeps, turn on the air purifier (white noise...Joe is a light sleeper), shut the curtains, bathroom and brush teeth, take out contacts and then 20 minutes of cuddling and talking before sleep. It's a pretty much set in stone ritual...sort of funny in a way. The last 20 minutes of my day and the waking up part are literally my favorite parts of every day.
3.What daily routine have you recently added to your day? Oatmeal at work in the mornings. Trying to start eating breakfast.
4. What routine do you wish you get rid of? I wish I didn't have to deal with the contacts morning and night, especially in the morning when I'm sooo tired. I wish I just had great vision. I don't--because I was a punk rocker in the 80s and had my bangs over my left eye for three years. Completely messed up my vision because my left eye became weak and my right eye tried to compensate. Sigh.
5. What's the one thing that makes you feel like something is missing if you don't do it some point within your day? I would be lost if I didn't have any time with Joe, but we always make that time so I can't really say that I ever feel lost as a result. Otherwise, I'm not sure. I'm pretty flexible. I don't HAVE to have coffee in the morning, for example. I feel lost if I forget my watch, but that's not an action. Probably something stupid like check my email.
9:19 AM | link | up| archives |
4.2.2002
timecube
has definitely created a bit of traffic to my site since I attended the lecture back in January. Rhett Creighton, the host of the Timecube debate (and an interesting guy to boot--I mean how many people do you know that have crawled ten miles?) at MIT has the video online finally. I know many people have requested this information from me (did you take pictures, video, etc.) and I'm glad to finally be able to point people in the right direction.
After wading through Gene Ray's site again, it appears the latest thing is that he hasn't been able to get media companies to let him purchase ad space. Wonder where he is trying to put those ads? Wonder what those ads say? I'm sure if he was targeting the right places and with the right type of ad (something non-inflammatory), someone would gladly take his money (hell, I'd do it!). But many places won't compromise the integrity of their publications if the ad will be offensive to any of their readers--again, Gene Ray needs to come up with a better tactic to get his ideas across. When you go to his site, you get a completely different impression of the kind of person he is (after reading his site, I honestly expected him to be near violent and full of curse words when I went to the lecture...boy was I shocked). The videos will be very enlightening to anyone that is interested in trying to comprehend his theories.
Please tell me if you manage to. I wasn't able to figure it all out.
3:28 PM | link | up| archives |
bout time for a neighbor
update. We can't figure it all out. For info on what's happened in the past with our freaky neighbor, check here and here. Latest developments:
~We met him actually, and met his mom. He doesn't look 27. He wears a big thick gold cross around his neck, dresses like a pseudo white rapper--baseball hat, baggy pants, the gold chain. Has terrible South Boston accent. He says that the girl that is there is his sister. They did put a name on the mailbox finally.
~Mom is just looney I think. She's got the trashy bottle blonde look, talks a mile a minute (VERY LOUDLY) and is ALWAYS over there these days. Visits at least once a day. Rings the doorbell incessantly if she thinks he's home and won't answer.
~ New heart shaped dried flower arrangements have appeared in both front windows. ????
~ Plants everywhere...in the windows, on the back fire escape.
~ Clean freaks--vacuum once a day, yesterday the pine sol was stinking up the hallway.
~ When mom isn't around, they still spray air freshener in the halls (I think to cover up smoke?). WTF is up with that?
~ This weekend he had several visitors...they came up the stairs to the little landing outside the apartment. I only saw two of them, one was a young black woman and the other that I saw was a middle-aged black couple. They were filling out some sort of "application" on the landing...he wasn't letting them into the apartment, but he did bring them up three flights of stairs to get whatever application they were filling out. The young black woman was being all flirty (when people are in the hallway you can hear everything) and friendly. In each case, the guy up there told them that he has to have the application back from them, and would say stuff like, "Yes, I know but I still need you to fill out the application." The couple began talking in another language when they were going down the stairs. Several other people came to the apartment to fill out applications but I didn't see what they looked like. Then shortly after a rental company came to deliver something that came in a ton of pieces...I think it was a table. What on EARTH would people be coming to their apartment to fill out an application for??
~They had Easter dinner in the apartment. Grandma came. She was so heavy she could barely get out of the car. Took them a LONG time to get her up three flights of stairs. I think that's why they rented the table--for dinner. Now, it's a little bizarre that they had Easter dinner there...the apartment is essentially a studio and has got to be about the size of a friggin matchbox.
~Still don't understand the brand spanking new green mercedes they drive. Pretty nice car for someone living in a place like that.
~They NEVER stop moving in that apartment!!! There is always someone walking around, moving things...they never just SIT and watch TV or anything. The place is so tiny...how many times can they move furniture around in there?
~I can't figure out when or if they sleep. Got up at 3AM to go to the bathroom and they were up banging around, walking around the apartment. Took me 45 minutes to get back to sleep, sigh.
~About two weeks ago, Joe had to go knock on their door at 11:30PM when their stereo was so loud that we wouldn't be able to get to sleep. They turned the stereo down but never answered the door.
~Lots of cigarette butts on the porch now. Frenchies downstairs smoke and they never do that. Sorry...pet peeve of mine...how smokers think it's their god given right to litter.
Okay /rant off.
10:05 AM | link | up| archives |
