I made this card! With a big letterpress machine. I took a class (which was actually a terrible class) and I learned and I loved it! And now I wish that I had my very own letterpress. And a studio to put it in. And lots of letters in very nice fonts. For now, though, I have cards! Yay!
Category Archives: Up to Stuff
I took a letterpress class!
Filed under Up to Stuff
3 day weekend
How I have been fiending for this three day weekend. Last Monday, I woke up and even though I knew there was a full 5 days of soul-sucking crap in store for me, I was still full of the bluebird of happiness. And by Friday, I was jumping out of my skin.
Here it is! I’m in the midst of three day weekend!
We tried to go to a cherry festival yesterday, but it turns out that it was really just a band playing in the parking lot of a strip mall in Sunnyvale outside of a little produce market store. They were at least selling cherries, but for about $10 a pound. So we crossed the parking lot and went into Borders, bought some books and had lunch at Chipotle. Suh-weet.
I did my second Day 3 of Week 3 in the Couch to 5K “run” today. Actually, I did it twice. I think I was running pretty darned slowly, but whatevs. This week’s task was 90 seconds on, 90 seconds off, 3 minutes on, 3 minutes off, two times. So all told, I did 4 x 3 minutes of running and 5 x 90 seconds running.
And then, The David and I went to Redwood Regional Park to do a little exploring. I’d been saying for a while that I wanted to get to know our parks better, so we went out without quite knowingwhat we were doing, and ended up doing a 2 and 1/2 hour loop with a bitching amount of uphill huffing. It was really pretty and the birds were very chirpy and I think it was all very good. But man, it kicked my ass. God help me tomorrow when I try to get back on the treadmill for Day 1 of Week 4.
And oh yes, tomorrow. Sweet, sweet tomorrow. Another day without the horribleness. Another day of sleeping until I feel like waking up! Another day of so much time with my sweet boy. Another day of sunshiney goodness and infinite possibility.
Filed under these are the days of my lives, Up to Stuff
a less good day
It’s a bit of a less good day today. But I did take a photograph for the first time in a long time. Appropriately, I think this photograph feels like today should feel.
I pass this little Japanese maple on my street on the way to work every day. Lately, in the incessant rain, the tree has been dotted with a thousand little droplets of rain that catch the 7 am light in this gorgeous pearly way. I wanted to capture that – all the little drops together – but this is what came out instead.
I got another job rejection today. It wasn’t a big deal or anything I was especially invested in. But it seemed like a really good possibility. And I couldn’t help thinking that this could be the one. This could make it all better. I know I shouldn’t get my hopes up; it’s too hard to be crushed over and over. I just can’t help it. I want the bad part to be over so, so badly.
Suffice it to say, I didn’t really like getting that news. Especially since it came after I had only had the screening phone call with the HR lady that I thought had gone pretty well. A phone call that my friend Laura agreed with me was an easy experience was was only in place to confirm that “you have a pulse.”
So there’s that. And it’s Wednesday and it feels like there are still years to go before I don’t have to sit here and wait for someone who needs me to tell them that the thing they’re looking? That thing they can’t find any mention of on our website? Yeah. It’s not there cause we don’t do it. But let me know if I can answer any other questions at all. Happy to help. Byeeeee.
Filed under Photography, these are the days of my lives, Woe is me
If I just sit here long enough
I watched Julie & Julia today and it was just as endearing as everyone said it was. Meryl Streep was vibrant and she sure did do a good job of sounding like the stereotype of Julia Child. I loved the story of Julia Child’s success and her love of good cooking.
Amy Adams, as ever, was adorable. And the concept of what the character did was, admittedly, neat-o. I couldn’t help but identify with it. I like cooking! I write a blog! Look at me! I’m writing a blog entry right now! So I admired her and what she did, but man, was I jealous.
Just like that stupid girl in P.S. I Love You, I was jealous of Julie Powell, who found a way to turn something she loved into a hugely successful career. People were begging her to publish a book. And then she became A Writer. Or that she was A Writer all along.
I wish I were A Writer!
If it weren’t exceptional, they wouldn’t make a movie about it, I know. There’s not some pot of gold waiting to be discovered for everyone. But I feel so jealous I can literally taste bitterness at the back of my throat. Which makes about as much sense of being jealous of Julia Roberts in Pretty Woman. Except that the cooking blog turning into a book deal was a true story. And also that Vivienne was a prostitute before she was swept off her feet. But still. I know it’s a movie. And I have plenty to be happy about. Unlike Julie, I’m never alone in the kitchen with an imaginary friend. I have a gorgeous boyfriend who does all the cooking with me.
Filed under Big screen, little screen
Robert Bolaño’s 2666
893 pages are in this book. That’s probably the most important thing I have to say about it. 
2666 has 3 parts:
- The 4 international professors who focus their studies on one obscure, German author, Archimboldi. And then, a second rate Mexican professor who serves as their guide as they try to track down a rumor that Archimboldi had been in Santa Teresa, Mexico.
- A chronicle of the discovery of the many, many murdered bodies of women left in the desert, on the side of highways, and in the garbage dumps of slums in Santa Teresa. Most of the murders seem to be the work of a serial killer. A strange German man is arrested for the murders, but they crimes continue while he’s in jail.
- The story of Archimboldi from childhood, through his experience as a German soldier in WWII, and then into middle and old age as he writes a slew of novels.
- (Technically, there are 5 parts. The Mexican professor is really Part II and then there’s a whole long bit about a journalist who goes to Santa Teresa who gets into the murder story and that’s Part II.)
I did get interested in each of the bits of the story, but there was SO much extra detail about tangential characters that really brought nothing to the story. Or if it brought something, I’ve got no idea what it was. In the first part, for example, we get a huge spin-off of story about the Mexican professor’s wife, who had left him. We learn an insane amount about her and what she does after she leaves her husband. It could potentially have been interesting, but it ultimately is cut off before anything is resolved and then we’re on to the next random long, uber detailed drawn out story line.
More than anything, I almost feel mad at this book. It was very slow going and took me so long to read and bloody hell, I’m not even sure that I know what it was about. Bitter. And worst of all, it was highly reviewed by proper book critics. I’m not the most critical or insightful person when it comes to my reading, and mostly I just like a good yarn, but this makes me feel like whadda maroon.
In the last 20 pages – and I do not kid here… this book has 893 pages and it’s only in the very last 20 pages – the 3 stories start to come together. There’s no conclusion or resolution, mind you. But at least the connection among the 3 parts has been revealed.
And that’s it. I can’t muster up anything clever to say about this, so will just leave at this. Boo. Hiss.
Filed under Book crave
Retro Techno
I’ve become obsessed with photography. And like, all of my obsessions, I struggle with a paradoxically insanity of simultaneously believing in my own awesomeness and despairing that I won’t ever be good enough. The obvious question is “good enough for what?” To which, I would dance the dance of avoidance and skittering until I finally admit that I want IT. IT being fortune and glory, of course.
I obsess over Twitter, checking and rechecking to see if I’ve made it on to Favrd. My little heart weeps over and over that I can’t hang with the cool kids of Twitter fame. I wish to be a good writer. But wishing and composing 140 characters of quip is the extent of my willingness to be actually be a good writer.
I obsess over music, searching for one new unknown band after another. I chase down leads based on “If you like ____, then you may like ____,” wasting hours, one dollar at a time. And the next thing I know, my latest find is featured on Grey’s Anatomy and an Appple commercial.
Most recently, I have become crazed about photography, and this makes me cringe with sheepishness. If there’s one thing I’ve learned in the past 2 1/2 years, it’s that everyone thinks they’re a photographer. And oh god, now I think I’m one of them? So here’s the thing: I used to have a little Canon Elph, and then after I started to catch the bug, I bought a G9, which was a $500 camera that I replaced within 2 months with a EOS XS. Which is to say, that I just started throwing money at my obsession and then I just started getting more and more obsessed.
I check Flickr non-stop to check how many views I’ve had, if there are any comments, and the cherry at the bottom of my shirley temple, if any photos have been starred. I’ve started making contacts with strangers, and commenting on their photos, just because it gets them to comment back for me. Admitting this makes me feel like such a loser, although if I could get dozens of complimentary comments and hundreds of views in aday the way it seems like everyone else on Flickr can, then I would embrace my loser like a long lost loser.
Anyway.
This is all just to preface that I got myself a new toy, and I LURVE it. It’s a digital plastic camera called a Zumi, or technically, a Digital Harinezumi. It takes retro style pictures with 70’s color and saturation, like a Holga or lomo camera. And it is a tiny, wee little thing like a spy camera.
Meerkat using the Zumi!
I don’t have to develop the film, and can just load the pictures from the miniature little memory card. The pictures are definitely different, but cool. The Zumi isn’t going to help make me a super duper photog, but I sure am going to have fun playing with it. To hell with being awesome for a minute.
Filed under Photography
Vacation is now far, far behind me
On Monday, I will have been back from England for 2 whole weeks. Oh, how very long ago that seems. Today is my ninth day back at work and, well, sigh.
In any case, though, the trip was really lovely, but very fast. We spent 2 nights with David’s parents, 2 nights in London, 2 nights with David’s sister, and a last night with an aunt and uncle. Most days, then, we were busy with the coming and going.
Meeting the parents was fine. I don’t think we’ll be terribly close friends, but they did make an effort. In fact, David’s mom even made a kidney free version of steak and kidney pie for me. Which was mortifying, actually. When push comes to shove, I guess I will eat the kidneys rather than have a special dinner made just for me, the lame American. I’m still rather glad that I didn’t have to eat kidneys, though.
I was fascinated by the dinners I was served, specifically by the gravy that always came with dinner. Both David’s mom and his sister served dinner with these little crockery pitchers of gravy. Perfect Gravy. And this allowed them to also serve a medley of vegetables that had been steamed, and nothing else. Who cares how you prepped your veggies if you’re just gonna pour gravy all over them? It turns out that it’s not me who cares about such things.
David has told me, though, that the gravy comes from a tin of powder that you mix with water. They didn’t actually make gravy.
David got to meet his niece for the first time, and he loved her and just wanted to hold her always. It was very sweet. He already seems to get along pretty well with babies in general. In fact, when we were hanging out with Max, long after I had given up trying to soothe the inconsolable and just started taking pictures of the sad, sad pitiful teary faces, David was still trying to hug and rock and amuse that kid. But he says that definitely felt a special love for this baby. It makes me sorry that we are just so far away.
I had that feeling a lot, actually – the feeling of just how too bad it is that we or he can’t be around this more often. It was kind of a scary thought to have as I kept imagining “Could I live here?”
The pub culture was excellent. I could have happily just hung out in pubs all day long. I had a strong penchant for pubs with Something & Something names, like The Dog & Duck or The Coach & Horses. I didn’t see one with a Hedgehog in the title, but I think I really would have liked that. As I was ever on the lookout for an actual hedgehog. Alas, though, none quivered a nose at me the whole time.
Filed under Up to Stuff
Ben Folds @ The Fox Theater, May 17
The Fox Theater was the star of this evening.
It opened in February of this year and this was my first of, hopefully, many shows here. It is astonishingly beautiful. There are several tiers of floor and a seated balcony. The hardwood floors are fabulous, with little vents poofing cool air. It’s sort of art deco and kind of Middle Eastern. Opulent without being gaudy.
It gives me this feeling of hope for Oakland. Like maybe it won’t be so scuzzy some time soon and that nice places to eat and drink won’t be so surprisingly noteworthy. The charm of the Fox Theater is sure to improve the tenor of it’s surrounding neighborhood.
So… Ben Folds. He was cute and geek chic, yes. But mostly, I yearned for the shows of yore.
The last time I saw him was so great. He got the audience singing a harmonized round that was super fun. And he did an over the top cover of Aerosmith’s Dream On that left me a little obsessed with that song.
I loved Rockin’ the Suburbs and admittedly, his new album, Way to Normal, didn’t thrill me quite as much. So I knew that the show would have a lot of his new songs going in to it.
And maybe something totally great happened at the end of the show. I left at 10:30, because, you know. My bed time is at 10. And while the show was supposed to start at 8, nothing happened until almost 9:30. Happily, I was enjoying my exploration of the venue during the wait. To be fair, a group of semi-talented kids from Sacramento did an acapella cover of Annie Waits prior to Ben taking the stage. So if something really great happened once the actual show started, I missed it. But in the hour I saw there was a guy playing a fancy glow-in-the-dark tambourine, and Ben put some Altoid tins on the strings of his piano.
Filed under Concerts
margaret edith 