tetris apartments

no, really. not a euphanism. Ljubljana, Slovenia.

I've never thought much of traveling to Slovenia, but this gives me some sort of inkling that I could get along there.

Yes, Please, to public housing like this. I'd get in line for one.

[more here]

Antarctica

I totally just kicked the ASSES of everyone in Jeopardy(!), notably all three contestants.

YESSSSS!!!!

alex: "the name of this place is taken from the greek due to its proximity to 'the great bear constellation', in this case its lack of proximity."

we're all just creatures

...learning to get along for the first time here.

remember to take care of and be nice to each other.

...and we're back up and running!!!

I'm at home, blogging in my pajamas. It's glorious.

I now have very speedy internet courtesy of a generous next door neighbor (thanks, eric) who offered to share his network with me if we split the cost of a router. So Zooey will travel less zipping up and down the hill to Ladro and across the city to various coffeeshops all over town, but will nonetheless get more exercise from right here.

I took the newspaper to Ladro this evening, however; I will not be jeopardizing my Regular status. I was asked where my computer was today immediately, ha. I'll now have the freedom to spend my time there in various ways now.

I'm also simultaneously getting a fix on my couch of my current The National addiction. I made it a few hours since I left work, went out for drinks and had a swim, but realized I needed a hit before bed.

want to hurry home to you, put on a slow dumb show for you and crack you up

Great review on Pitchfork (link).

Damnit, I just got hit by flying cat claws trying to use my thigh for leverage to chase the other set of cat claws. So damn wild, these beasts. I think they have species dysphoria; they act more like dogs sometimes. It rarely causes any actual damage, but I guess today I'm an exception.

I'm out; I've gotta go disinfect two sets of three conspicuously-triangulated puncture wounds.

turn the light out say goodnight
no thinking for a little while
let's not try to figure out everything it wants
it’s hard to keep track of you falling through the sky
we’re half-awake in a fake empire

cheezbird

I hope you enjoy today's cheezburger as I do.

craigslist missed connections

recent funny ones.

You served me pizza at the Tukwila Costco
two different girls walking around green lake -bet they both feel special.
re: Lotion This lotion I used (still do whenever I know I'll see him) in the summer has the scent of babies!!
Reading Is Sexy Girl
Sorry for grabbing... My Bad
Country Doctor Community Clinic - Strep Test and Amoxicillin

fighting an urge

an observation

Lately I have this urge to create inappropriate displays of exuberance. I've been thinking about how funny it would be, say, if when the bus came in sight at a crowded stop, to exclaim yesss! and start doing some vigorous arm-pumping. Or yesterday I was on the stairmaster at the athletic club, watching Jeopardy(!) on the monitor I was plugged into, and I got the final question right, and I was quite proud of myself, and I was amused at the thought of me yelling HA! and throwing my arms in the air in victory. But I didn't. Bet it would have amused the few people on other machines in the room, though.

I keep thinking of humorous settings in which I could apply this: selecting produce, inspecting lunch takeout sandwiches, finance updates in weekly staff meetings... the amusement could be endless.

If not done correctly, it could cause others to question my sanity. Oh well, wouldn't likely be the first time, right?

sorry I missed you

... I had a secret meeting in the basement of my brain.

favorite music of the moment is The National. Brooklyners. Warm and melodic, with intimate lyrics to complete the feel.

Quite, quite into it. That voice of his, I just want to take it home with me. Yum.

I wanna hurry home to you
put on a slow, dumb show for you
and crack you up
so you can put a blue ribbon on my brain
god I’m very, very frightening
I’ll overdo it

You know I dreamed about you
for twenty-nine years before I saw you
You know I dreamed about you
I missed you for
for twenty-nine years

stay inside til somebody finds us
do whatever the TV tells us
stay inside our rosy-minded fuzz

so worry not
all things are well
we’ll be alright
we have our looks and perfume on


You’re pink you’re young you’re middle-class
they say it doesn’t matter
fifteen blue shirts and womanly hands
you’re shooting up the ladder

Your mind is racing like a pro, now
oh my god it doesn’t mean a lot to you
one time you were a glowing young ruffian
oh my god it was a million years ago

you're dumbstruck, baby

I think this place is full of spies
I think I'm ruined
Didn't anybody, didn't anybody tell you
Didn't anybody tell you, this river's full of lost sharks
I know you put in the hours to keep me in sunglasses, I know

And so and now I'm sorry I missed you
I had a secret meeting in the basement of my brain
It went the dull and wicked ordinary way

Jennifer, Tiffany, Stephanie

an observation

I have an irk. Maybe not an irk, per se, I'm not sure what to call it. Maybe it's just some snobbery. I can, unfortunately, be prone to that. But one of my pet peeves is dated, faddish names.

These names are destined to potentially make individuals sound bland and vapid to their peers for the rest of their lives; they are so common and singular to a decade that they can only be associated with the cocktail servers and student athletes/ ASB representatives in highschool whose names were repeated often enough to leave a generic impression of overuse on my brain. I may overprioritize uniqueness by others' standards (after all I am a designer), but I don't understand why a parent would want to brand their infant child with an identity that is bound to be unoriginal and stereotyped with time. Is your family that lame? It's not a good omen.

They are the Jennifers, the Tiffanys, the Stephanies, maybe even the Katies of my generation. They are the Judys of my mother's generation, and the Bettys of my grandmother's. I am bound to offend someone, here (my grandmother's name is, after all, Betty, and one of my closest friends a Jennifer, but I give her the benefit of the doubt because her parents are Chinese and there is oftentimes a funny cultural thing that happens when Asians take Anglo names. Plus I don't think she knows I have a blog. ;) )

Historically, male names have been a little less prone to these fads. It seems as though there has always been a smaller pool of names that have been drawn from. Also, possibly the mindset of naming girls is different from naming boys. Socio-cultural gender norms probably also play a role- the idea the men should grow up to be solid providers may lead to boys being more often given classic, traditional names. The feminine identity that families envision their little girls to grow up to have might be more prone to vary with cultural norms of the time and consequently become more influenced by trends. It's a theory. Maybe female self-criticism and general bitchiness just causes me to perceive this more in women's names.

However, the past ten years seem to find both girls' and boys' names victim to trends: as a daycamp instructor, I heard quite a few names of either gender frequently that all seemed to reflect British estate names or surnames of powerful east coast families: Madison, Clayton, Holden, Preston, Parker, Brittany, Jaden....

Okay, that's my rant. I feel better. But please don't name your kids Tiffany, Stephanie, or Madison. It just conjures up images of flighty cocktail waitresses who got my drink wrong, or smelly kids who constantly wanted band-aids or ice packs.

Adams photos

Can be found at these links-

Nanako's shots
additional link to mine