  amber flickr photos 345 wall, the bitchinville broochtastic noise comissioner coat furnace, the inbetween intermeddler matters of little... melancolin... oh, bitter dicta raefried beans red elephant sherrying worldwide starlets...  07/01/2003 - 07/31/2003 08/01/2003 - 08/31/2003 09/01/2003 - 09/30/2003 10/01/2003 - 10/31/2003 11/01/2003 - 11/30/2003 12/01/2003 - 12/31/2003 01/01/2004 - 01/31/2004 02/01/2004 - 02/29/2004 03/01/2004 - 03/31/2004 04/01/2004 - 04/30/2004 05/01/2004 - 05/31/2004 06/01/2004 - 06/30/2004 07/01/2004 - 07/31/2004 08/01/2004 - 08/31/2004 09/01/2004 - 09/30/2004 10/01/2004 - 10/31/2004 11/01/2004 - 11/30/2004 12/01/2004 - 12/31/2004 01/01/2005 - 01/31/2005 02/01/2005 - 02/28/2005 03/01/2005 - 03/31/2005 04/01/2005 - 04/30/2005 05/01/2005 - 05/31/2005 06/01/2005 - 06/30/2005 07/01/2005 - 07/31/2005 08/01/2005 - 08/31/2005 09/01/2005 - 09/30/2005 10/01/2005 - 10/31/2005 11/01/2005 - 11/30/2005 12/01/2005 - 12/31/2005 01/01/2006 - 01/31/2006 02/01/2006 - 02/28/2006 03/01/2006 - 03/31/2006 04/01/2006 - 04/30/2006 05/01/2006 - 05/31/2006 06/01/2006 - 06/30/2006 07/01/2006 - 07/31/2006 08/01/2006 - 08/31/2006 09/01/2006 - 09/30/2006 |
Monday, January 31, 2005 duets with gnomes There are 2 types of people: those who like (or can tolerate) The Laughing Gnome by David Bowie, and those who are like "what the fuck" every time. It's that silly song with the sped up little chipmunk voice singing along with him. "ha ha ha, hee hee hee, I'm a laughing gnome and you can't catch me". I actually, and unfortunately, have the song on vinyl and on mp3. Bowie's done some weird things in his time, not all of them good weird, but I suppose things like this are acceptable when you're so fabulously enigmatic. Vas ees this... blog? subhead: content about content A place to write the thoughts that are publically personal but not personally personal, I suppose. And occasionally personal personal when written by the exhibitionist or one without proper social filters. A way for people to keep track of some of what's going on without having to iterate to each. A virtual stomping ground. The press that the blogosphere has been receiving of late (I find that term so silly and lofty and unnecessary) seems to make out like all the noteworthy blogs are of a political or societal (media) nature. Really, I find that most of those are the boring ones. I say: Aren't there enough editorial writers sans bloggers? And aren't we presented with enough tainted and subjective information through other channels that we don't need to seek out blogs that present us with even more of such crap (and on an amateur level, to boot!)? I appreciate the increased accessability of means and circulation of expression that blogs have provided to the average person, but on a theoretical level only. What is done with such power is more influential than the power itself. We are most qualified to talk about our own experience and what is in our immediate surroundings. That's what I try to do, I suppose. I've been in a not-very-social rut for quite awhile now, and need to force myself out of it. I'm not really depressed. More uninspired, I think. And not ever feeling like using the phone. Ever. The party Saturday night was great fun. Unfortunately my camera battery died halfway through the evening.  In addition to Barre Libre and Bad Teenage Moustache, whom we already knew would kick out good performances, my new favorite band/act is The Handsome Public. I will totally see their next show. I knew Andy was cool even before his performance when we collectively spilled his OJ and vodka on/near my records and he helped clean it up despite being due to get on stage. And talk about rocking an iPod... Friday, January 28, 2005 different I'm not sure I love this drawing I did in class the other night which is perhaps why I am posting it.  I'm putting off doing things that I should do but aren't fun in the least. Thursday, January 27, 2005 Thursday shout outs The rare post which is highly reflective of my personal life. Enjoy or bare with: To Matthew: good luck on your move; I know you know you rock. To Sherry: good luck in the fight for one person's principles vs. another; compromise is okay for issues, but not for self. To Colin: all the best with all of it; but think of everyone. To Amanda: imbibe all you want... just make sure to return to law school in the fall; your sidekick is the best. To Jonica: enjoy Anguilla; but really, therapy is nothing more than a self-propagating cult for most; you can figure it all out on your own. To everyone else: finally, I have my phone back. Same Bat number. Same Bat station. My voicemail box was full and I had several text messages. All is clear now. Wednesday, January 26, 2005 small protein sources Last week Sherry mentioned that people accidentally and unknowingly swallow many spiders over the course of their lifetimes. I said that I thought it was insects in general, but she said spiders specifically. And then Amanda called us sick for talking about such a thing. This week Rob Brezsny mentions this phenomenon in his horoscope for the Libras: "Science writer David Bodanis says there are always so many fragments of spider legs floating in the air that you are constantly inhaling them wherever you go..."So, apparently it is true, and it is specifically spider legs(?)(!) I guess they do have a lot of legs and all... Inhaling/swallowing. Same thing. Confirmed. I'm sure we swallow other insects too. Like gnats. Where are you, Sherry Wong? Monday, January 24, 2005 Joh-nny Car-son, juvenile insomnia, and democracy I have a soft spot in my heart for the late Johnny Carson, as I spent many nights of my young life, unable to sleep, watching his show. He was one of the more comforting television personalities on past midnight, circa 1983. And the Beach Boys have that cute song about him, an apropos audio tribute. "Democracy is buying a big house you can't afford with money you don't have to impress people you wish were dead. And, unlike communism, democracy does not mean having just one ineffective political party; it means having two ineffective political parties. ... Democracy is welcoming people from other lands, and giving them something to hold onto -- usually a mop or a leaf blower. It means that with proper timing and scrupulous bookkeeping, anyone can die owing the government a huge amount of money. ... Democracy means free television, not good television, but free. ... And finally, democracy is the eagle on the back of a dollar bill, with 13 arrows in one claw, 13 leaves on a branch, 13 tail feathers, and 13 stars over its head -- this signifies that when the white man came to this country, it was bad luck for the Indians, bad luck for the trees, bad luck for the wildlife, and lights out for the American eagle. I thank you." Rest well, Johnny. Sunday, January 23, 2005 adult There have been too many pictures of babies in this blog lately. Barra Libre si; pero no barra libre  The band, Barra Libre, will be performing (and they're super awesome) but, contrary to their name, the bar will not be an open one. $3 vodka punch and $2 beers ain't bad, though. And records will be spun by me and the Craque-'ore and, of course, Bad Teenage Moustache will once again sodomize political correctness with a smashing performance. Y'all should come. Good times. And in honor of the 37 feet of snow on the ground outside (and because it's not a photo of a friggin' baby), I am posting everyone's favorite photo of me which was taken in the snow last winter.  Saturday, January 22, 2005 don't cross the streams: online communities, photo documentation, and the end of baby fever I finally started a flickr photostream, as I wanted to. I hadn't realized that it's not just an interface for photos, but a community sort of thing. Now I'm connected to Sherry and Bean and already a stranger sent me email and made comments on some of my photos within the first 12 hours of having them up. Back in the day when we were all joining friendster for the first time, it seemed like a novel way to collect my friends like trading cards, keep tabs on them, look at their cute pictures, and read the clever things they wrote. But then it got a little out of hand with the false alliances and false profiles (a baseless virtual popularity contest) which I tried to stay away from, only friendsterizing or allowing myself to be friendstered by actual friends (or people I was acquainted with on a level where we could easily become friends). Then came myspace and tribe and whatever else, in which I had little interest (wasn't friendster enough?), but received enough invitations to make me feel guilty for not joining and so I finally did, with little effort and even less enthusiasm. That's when emails from random men (and bands and lesbians) began to appear. Especially on myspace. It's as though every guy (or band, or lesbian) on there has started an online harem of cute girls (occasionally they aim for a dialogue, but it's mostly the harem mentality). And of course I never reply because what could I say but "dear stranger, I'm glad that you think I look hot in that photo. I'm so thrilled at your desire to add me to your collection of cute girls you don't actually know"? The most pervasive role of online community anythings are as flirtation tools/meat markets/faux popularity boosters. I'll bet there's even some action going on on the senior citizen's hernia support group bulletin board. It's not ALL like this in my experience, though. Just mostly. I bet a lot of y'alls know what I mean. Shouldn't one looking to meet people approach the personals, where people want to be met? This Flickr thing seems pretty cool, though, because it's so intensely visual (and preferably creative) and it seems like there could be a rare level of selectivity and integrity happenin ova thar. The photos a person posts are telling. And if that fails, I'm never disappointed at a well delivered compliment. This week in babies... Elijah Theodore Horland is born to Soojin and Jeremy Horland (1/11)  and Gabriela Baptista Silva is born to Manuela Baptista and Vanderlei Silva (1/18)  It's a relief to not know any more pregnant people. Tuesday, January 18, 2005 fascism 101 Tonight I started my precalculus class but the first night is review of everything that comes before and the prof repeatedly used the phrase "isolate the radical" to which I could only think "that's what the fascists would have done" but I don't know anyone in my class, so this bit of humor remained in my head. Then I called the precinct for the 4th time to get my report # for my lost cell phone so I can make the insurance company replace it but they can't find it in the system and told me to come in and file another report. Now that's efficiency! Go NYPD! Monday, January 17, 2005 too lazy for title   A police report number is required to get the insurance company to replace my phone. Yesterday was so so cold, and a very long walk to the local precinct which is far far away from here and is also the Abner Louima precinct. The officer was quite nice and we shared good banter and then he got funny when I asked to use the restroom, saying that of course I didn't want to piss there. A woman escorted me to an upstairs ladies room but on the way out, cop-man told me I should have used the infamous one so I could say that I had. Funny stuff. It's like all a joke now. Sunday, January 16, 2005 we asurion that you will be peeved In the hubbub and hooplah of last night, my phone got lost and it's really pissing me off. I confirmed I had it walking on DeKalb with Sherry around 1:30 and then we went one block to a bar and afterwards got a car right outside. The bar dude doesn't have it. The car service are a bunch of stupid fucks and tell me to call back tonight but really I know they're worthless. Asurion is the company that I have my phone insured with. Friday, January 14, 2005 Prince Harry in an oven? Okay, so the title is in bad taste. But it's totally amusing to me that after donning that controversial costume, Prince Harry is considering visiting Auschwitz. We've all done and worn some stupid things before, but not such that it incurred a visit to a death camp. Jeez. Lighten up, people! What Harry really needs is some PR lessons because, as a public figure, he should totally know not to wear such a thing. Then again, Holly says she heard that the party Harry wore the costume to was a "bad taste party" which neither of us can back up at this point, but it doesn't sound far fetched. Then she said that someone should have gone to that party as Princess Di after the car crash, because she's my sister and her humor is in as poor taste as my own. Thursday, January 13, 2005 procrastination It's beautiful outside and that's where I should be. 60 degrees in January. But also I should be here working. It's awesome that no animal corpses were found post-tsunami. Obviously they are much smarter than the humans and knew to get the heck out. I also appreciate how animals don't let things fester and follow their impulses in any given moment. Now that's living! I don't want Amanda to relocate. Everyone she loves is here. Also, I want a new computer and to have more of whatever it takes to keep in touch with more of the great people. A phone/plan that doesn't inspire hatred may be a good start. The new Murakami book comes out in just a few days. I recently finished 'Hard Boiled Wonderland...' which was the best of all. I'm glad the new one is 448 pages and not one of his shorter works. Should keep me busy for 24-48 hours. The Magnetic Fields are like Ween to me in that both of them have some amazing songs, but the rest of their songs are so bad or annoying that I can't bring myself to listen. Tuesday, January 11, 2005 buy you a Chevrolet Since my mom wouldn't let me hold onto her copy which was being preserved on the floor of the basement, I finally bought a copy of Donovan's 'Fairy Tales'. It's a great album and holds some significance, both intellectually and viscerally, as apparently my mom and I used to listen to it all the time when I was a baby. Perhaps the inspiration is Caleb. I don't know. I've always liked Donovan a lot, but for the past several months I've wanted to listen to him a whole lot. I also got a copy of 'Hey Gyp'. Everyone should have an external hard drive. Mine is 160GB and was only around $150. A must have. Get on it. Back up your stuff. Recourse. Monday, January 10, 2005 stuff to look at Documentation of the wild karaoke and me passing out last night (it was 4am), as per the Sherry blog. And other captured karaoke moments.    Happy Birthday Holly.    Some cool pics Rah took:   And a pretty salad I made for myself the other day, as seen through the lens of my preoccupation with all things plant and photographing produce. Sharing the insanity. But it was a damn good salad.  Saturday, January 08, 2005 eureka! Tesseract. That's the word I was looking for. It suddenly came to me while resting. Ah. what's the answer What is the name of that theoretically possible geometric shape which breaks dimensional barriers? The word for it is on the tip of my tongue and it's driving me crazy to not be able to think of it. Last night I had so much fun. I was reminded how cool the collective dynamic is. It seems we all used to converge more. Perhaps I've been anti-social, as I've been accused. Or are we victims of circumstance, separated more by geography and careers and relationships and personal and interpersonal conflicts than before? Or do we just get together easier when the weather is better? Happy Birthday to Matt and Tony again tonight. Hurrah. Thursday, January 06, 2005 thoughts du jour perfume scents are better off not smelling sweet. More plant-ey is best. Eau de arugula. Rosemary parfum. time is the most important and valuable commodity because it enables most everything else that can be. This occurred to me in a new way while traveling a convoluted route on the subway this morning. I regret ever underestimating the power of girly pleasures like spending a bunch of money on some really cute underwear. All the other times I've spent a lot of money on such things was more out of necessity. Today I finally went to the lingerie store that I've been admiring in Grand Central every time I work at Marquis but in the morning I don't have time and in the in the evening I just want to get out of there. But all the time this particular store has at least one thing in the window that catches my fancy. This morning I was crossing 45th street and a man came running up behind me and knocked me over. My left palm and knee took the impact and I showed up to work with a scraped palm and a bloody knee. At least my pants were okay. And the day was just sorta sucky in general. So, I figured I deserved something nice. Materialism and tactility have their places more than some give credit. Wednesday, January 05, 2005 spice enough about the stereo and stuff...    grocery notes All the eggs at the supermarket except for the organic ones come in styrofoam cartons, as though if you're not organically health-conscious then surely you wont be environmentally conscious either. And polly-o string cheese is no longer called polly-o string cheese. Now they're called string-ums instead which is a silly name. And, you can only buy regular, mozarella-only ones in the large size. The rest are lowfat and/or part cheddar. Yick. ... Late last night I was playing with my new best friend, the stereo, and I noticed that the turntable mixer was plugged into the cassette inputs (rather than the phono RCA inputs) so I changed them around which caused one of the speakers to overload and really bummed me out. Apparently I knew what I was doing when I set it up in the first place and shouldn't have second guessed my work, as everything was just dandy until I decided to fuck with it. 2 phono preamps = combustion. Bah. Then I got out the spool of speaker cable and went to work putting a new speaker in place of the blown one. After I was done Elliott Smith was on and Rahmin came home and began making the loud accusation that Elliott Smith is hippie music and hippies and hipsters are essentially the same thing and have the same name and I disagreed with him but ultimately didn't much feel like arguing. Then one of the favorite drinking glasses was knocked over and I brought him shoes but he got glass in his foot anyway. I cleaned up the glass and then we had a conversation about how music can be the same thing as religion or g(G)od or whatever that collective sort of energy that people misinterpret and misassign all the time, and went to bed. Today is dark and mellow. Tomorrow is work. Tuesday, January 04, 2005 addition a forgotten one for the list (I posted awhile back) of ridiculously awesome song lyrics: "if fashion is your trade then when you're naked I guess you must be unemployed" quadrophonic spree Thanks to my own handiwork (I wont break my arm patting myself on the back; don't worry), I am in love with the stereo more than ever before. Now all of the components are in one place, hooked into one receiver (iPod, 2 turntables & mixer, CD burner/player, tape deck and mp3 discman), with the choice of outputting the sound to the livingroom or office speakers, all of which are very well-placed now. I mounted the livingroom ones high on the wall and the sound quality is so good! Since the receiver alone wont allow it, Dad's going to help me with the switch and soldering to add the option of outputting everywhere at once. And I finally fixed my rolltop desk so it's in the livingroom now while the stereo has moved into the office which means that the only electronic static psychic vibes experienced directly in the livingroom is from the TV/VCR/DVD. No computers or stereo thingies. And the only electronics in the bedroom are clock radios. And the new record shelf makes it ALL that much better. Awesome. Monday, January 03, 2005 Happy New Year. new record shelves rock. new stereo configuration is being constructed by my lonesome, today. t'will be awesome. Pics?     
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