pitter patter

swedish dance hipster party

2008-10-27T20:46:00.002-04:00

last week i went to see this lovely little swedish lady in concert. i also went to a bbq place where you order pulled pork by the pound and gallons of beer. suck on that west coasters!

summer redux

2008-09-03T21:09:00.006-04:00

ok so this summer seemed to come and go a little too fast for my liking. this means...PHOTO SUMMARY

went home for the 4th of july and my sister's baby shower. we rocked it cali style with some backyard badminton.

ani and i went to the siren festival to see islands and stephen malkmus (great great great). it was hot and our ice cream melted. there were a lot of people with untamed neck hair.

jason and i went to london to visit paul and deep. we went on a massive ferris wheel, ate some bangers and mash, and went to a botanical garden where jason got a little fresh with the fish.

on a related note, the fish and chips in england are damn tasty. we also drank our fair share of pimm's, which is the brit's version of sangria.

sarah had a solo art show! it was impressive.

deep, jason, anupama, and i went to the us open. so much tennis!

i guess this means helloooooo autumn. le sigh.

postscript

2008-05-17T21:05:00.001-04:00

the last month:

lost my job
cut my hair
stressed
had ice cream cake
went to berlin
got a new job that should theoretically rock
looking for new apartment

oh man oh man oh man

2008-04-01T19:46:00.002-04:00

tommy lee jones

2008-03-01T15:10:00.003-05:00

i have a new actor crush on tommy lee. even though he's been looking a little sad and paunchy lately, i think it is making him a better actor. last night i watched in the valley of elah with sarah (amidst some brownies and slightly feverish delirium), and was utterly impressed. in addition to it being the most impressive cinematographic movie i've seen all year, tommy's performance sure pulled at the ol' heartstrings. AND i think that no country for old men is definitely the best role he's ever had.

What do we circulate? Lookin' for a man who recently drunk milk?

haha if you haven't seen yet do it right now. seriously. best movie.

ok, time to take another cold-induced nap.

the aaawwww-factor

2008-02-16T23:49:00.004-05:00

i have discovered a new youtube obsession: the original work from the wonderful people that created wallace and gromit.

creature comforts!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QZ-sBf7laMM

latest news that i will get around to describing soon - visit to princeton to see my kenya TA and some undergrad friends, and a new foray into sports in the form of a hipster soccer league. first game's tomorrow. go team beard!

breakfast burritos and silly hats

2007-12-27T14:02:00.000-05:00

my abbreviated christmas break (is it weird that i still refer to it as a break?) has been an interesting one this year. upon arrival last week, i had my 5th high school reunion, which was a bizarre experience. and strangely, everyone looked relatively the same as they did five year ago, with a few exceptions. the highlights: my ex-boyfriend thinking i was now a lesbian, the one person who is now married has a husband who is a stripper/nude model, and wrangling drunk people.

at least i got to see people from long ago, like [ani and] wendy!

and of course, the night wouldn't be complete without late night breakfast burritos in the luck boy parking lot.

as for christmas festivities, things were a little more as usual. we wore funny hats (i was appropriately outfitted with reindeer antlers for the night), artfully avoided singing christmas carols, and watched my baby cousin play with his new toys.

everytime he breaks something, he now says "uh oh! bad news bears!" i love how impressionable little people are.

lastly, the sunshine state has had a small victory over the elachi household. last night we had a wind storm and now half of our roof has blown off and we have no hot water. touche.

in an attempt to one up paul

2007-11-07T21:41:00.000-05:00

so after reading paul's blog, i decided that i too should come in contact with an inanimate object with a high degree of hilarity.

unfortunately, all that resulted from this is getting hit by a car.

seriously.

on tuesday morning, i got up early and decided to get some hot cider (oh so tasty) from grey dog coffee on the way to work. $4 later, i was jauntily walking up the sidewalk in the rain to my building. now, in case you did not know, turning right on red lights is illegal in nyc. hence, i have gotten used to not checking that side before crossing streets. so when the little walking man lit up, i started crossing. and then i got hit by some dude in his damn car. after doing a nice roll onto the hood, covering myself in hot cider, and yelling "well fuck me!" really loudly, i found that the rather slow impact and my bag had softened the blow, and that i was quite fine. the man even bought me another cider. all i really have to show for it is the beginnings of a gnarly bruise on my left thigh/hip.

so yeah, i need to start looking both ways.

in other news: i don't have an ulcer! just inflamed stomach lining and perhaps an allergy to wheat and/or nuts.

i'm having a bad month.

finally feeling autumnal

2007-10-27T13:30:00.000-04:00

life has been busy lately, but things are starting to chill out more now that the weather is being more reasonable and acting like it should be. i've been attending lots of blippy concerts with my roommate out in brooklyn (i am now an official photographer for the College Music Journal magazine) and working too much overtime doing various photoshopping tasks for my firm. but, i finally made it down to new jersey last weekend for a much needed break from the city. i went to visit coleman and we rode bikes for hours (he actually lives in a state park), went to the shore, and ate apple pie with his grandparents. it was fantastic, and it's also rather refreshing to be in an actual house that is normal people sized with a family and a dog. i never thought i would say it, but new jersey is now in my top three states in the contiguous united states, after california (not too much to argue with here) and washington (it has fog!). i've also starting up yoga again, which is amusing since all the people in my class are awkwardly shaped and old.

oh! in other news, i have an ulcer!

gre-eeeeek!

2007-09-21T21:27:00.000-04:00

so tomorrow i take the gre - four hours filled with fun essays, middle school math, and large words. fun times ahead! especially after a week of almost 20 hours of overtime, beer runs for my office (twice!), and many many expense reports.

but, the good thing is is that all this studying has allowed me to discover my new favorite coffeeshop! errrr, teahouse! it is painted pink, has 150 kinds of tea, and is run by a lady named judy holiday. heaven.

musicals?!

2007-09-09T01:22:00.000-04:00

i went to see wicked with my parents tonight, and it was fantastic. nerd fact: i have read nearly all 30 of the wizard of oz books.

sleepytime!

literary and cinematic happenings

2007-09-02T18:29:00.000-04:00

the nice thing about work is that i now have time to read and watch movies that don't pertain to schoolwork. here is the past month and a half in my world, and stars mean highly recommended (obvi):

books i read-
cigarettes by harry matthews
sundays of a bourgeois and other stories by guy de maupassant
harry potter and the half-blood prince by j.k. rowling
haroun and the sea of stories by salman rushdie*
cannery row by john steinbeck
me talk pretty one day by david sedaris*

movies i saw-
2 days in paris
amelie (for the umpteenth time)*
my big fat greek wedding
benny and joon*
paris je t'aime

federererererer

2007-09-01T21:00:00.000-04:00

today i went to my first major sporting event in new york - the US Open. and it was fantastic, after i conquered the hour trip out to queens at 7 am. jaidip and his sister were nice enough to wait in line for me to get tickets, so i mostly just hung around with my king-sized box of kleenex for the first couple hours (i have a cold). anyhow, we got crepes/jaidip got a hamburger - at 10:30 am mind you - and hit the courts. the first match we saw was a rather easy win for davydenko against amalgro. during this i acquired a pretty sweet watch tan. then we saw an AWESOME match between haas (german, tall, handsome) and grosjean (french, stocky, name is rather fitting to his image). quite the spectacle. grosjean even hit a ball between his legs backwards, made it over the net, and kept playing. too bad he lost. during this match i acquired a not so sweet shorts and shirt tan. le sigh. anyway, we milled around a bunch and watched the federer match on a big screen, since the stadium was full. a very nice, breezy, and fun day in queens (who knew?).

photoz

2007-08-16T21:50:00.001-04:00

i finally emptied out my camera, resulting in a photo essay on my short short summer in nycizzle:

the view from my fire escape when i eat my dinner.

farmer's market, which i frequent every other day. notice the creepy tomato with the mouth in the bottom left hand corner. i eat these babies like apples.

competition between coleman and i as to who makes a better walrus. this was after a few gin and tonics.

my brother-in-law napping in my room after walking around in the intense heat and eating lots of pasta.

early birthday presents!!! i heart martha!

this is the meeting room at work. despite the bird stencils, it is called the fishbowl. we also have lots of orange chairs and doors.

new york sucks in the rain. this phenomenon occurs about three times a week. i also no longer own a functioning umbrella. lamesauce.

richie! i am recording an album with him.

eliminate heat induced fatigue!

2007-08-10T17:18:00.000-04:00

it's really hot in new york in the summer. like, hot enough to make me permenantly pissed off at everyone. in order to resolve this, i have been exploring new way of keeping cool. and then i stumbled across this. a helmet! That keeps your head cold! sure, the rest of your body is covered in sweat, but at least your head isn't. and the vizor is a definite perk (thought the helmet apparently is not included. which seems to defeat much of its practicality). perfect for race car drivers and people with robot fetishes (THEY EXIST AND I KNOW ONE).

maybe i'll sit in front of my a/c instead.

mr. van valkenburgh

2007-08-02T19:33:00.000-04:00

I'm getting my very own business cards! And I wore some sort of suit today. I feel incredibly professional. This is my boss (or MVV, as we refer to him). In the words of Sarah, "look at that silly little man, with his silly little hands!" Too bad he got rid of the stache this week.

view from my window vs. nick evans cato

2007-07-30T21:11:00.000-04:00

the picture:

the painting:

summer dayz

2007-07-22T16:57:00.000-04:00

new york has been treating me well. i like my work, complete with lots of orange trendy chairs and sweet dudes with thin wire frame glasses. mmmm architects. i also saw neko case in central park on friday night, which was absolutely amazing. she has one of the most seductively fantastic voices ever. especially when she sang in california, which has been on repeat in my room as of late. though, i do admit, it is occasionally interspersed with the sweet blink-182 i downloaded. THAT'S RIGHT I LISTEN TO BLINK WHAT OF IT.

also, best mug ever:

road trip - a summary

2007-06-28T13:26:00.000-04:00

start point: Walla Walla, WA

-Columbia River Gorge; many vista point/calisthenics stops
-Portland, OR; dinner at a pirate restaurant, Xiu Xiu concert
-Redwoods National Park; camping, whiskey, an incredibly uninsolated sleeping bag; drive-thru tree
-San Fransisco; late night Pizza Orgasmica, lots of hills, City Lights, Gay Pride parade, Berkeley, almost getting our car borken into
-Big Sur; windy roads, elephant seals!

end point: Los Angeles, CA

after a week of eating refried beans, coleman turned into a cactus.

gradumacated!

2007-06-13T12:25:00.001-04:00

the e.v.

2007-06-08T11:16:00.000-04:00

i have successfully now moved up four flights of stairs to my new apartment in the east village. my little fire escape has a nice view of the antenna on the top of the empire state building. i can't bring myself to go outside, because my widget says it will be hot and my air conditioner is humming so nicely in the corner of my room. but i have no furniture. i can't decide which should take precidence.

and she was

2007-05-03T10:42:00.000-04:00

Today is my last day of class at Princeton. Tomorrow I am hopefully turning in my thesis. I have to find an apartment and decide whether or not to accept this job offer. Way too many adult decisions...this is definitely not my style.

Off to my linguistics final!

basquiat a la warhol

2007-04-23T16:18:00.000-04:00

2007-03-02T12:13:00.000-05:00

2007-02-17T15:30:00.000-05:00

silent shout

2007-01-31T14:22:00.000-05:00

yesterday was a good day. i did some reading for the dreaded thesis, ate a delightful dinner courtesy of laurel, took some choice polaroids, and went to see children of men. today hasn't started off with the same gusto from yesterday, mostly because it seems as though i've lost a roommate for next year and i have to avoid some commitments rather tactfully. all in a days works.

a good fiy from coleman: bat bombs!

my new favorite phrase: i like the cut of your jib, richdale!

intersession

2007-01-30T13:39:00.000-05:00

a list of things accomplished this break:

movies-
harold and maude, zardoz, three amigos, romancing the stone, children of men
new york-
trip 1: job interview
trip 2: apple store, half-priced martinis, chinese food, improv comedy show
trip 3: cooper hewitt trienniale design show, 7 oz. turkey burger
other-
installed windows on my computer, two bottles of wine, fashioned a finger splint out of a plastic spoon, outline for my thesis, an adoration for the new hold steady album

and of course, couch dancing.

let them eat cake

2007-01-26T11:45:00.000-05:00

much to my shagrin, the marie antoinette soundtrack is actually pretty good. how they got gang of four and aphex twin to agree to put their muic on it, i'll never know, but it facilitates a 2 am dance party quite well. specifically if new order's "ceremony" is combined with sam adams cherry wheat ale and my pillow-ridden couch.

totoro

2007-01-22T18:09:00.000-05:00

i have my first job interview tomorrow and am totally freaked out. i also have to wake up at 6 to catch a train into new york. NO GOOD.

side note: cutest thing ever, no? the gerbil flies, too.

portfolio: eat your heart out

2007-01-19T01:18:00.000-05:00

maybe i will get a job

2007-01-12T08:36:00.000-05:00

so i put together a portfolio of all my photos and ceramic/installation work today and sent it off to various architecture companies. Strange, I know. I'm also giving a presentation on earth blocks and how they're going to revolutionize the face of Liberian architecture. AWEsome.

sigh

2007-01-10T13:21:00.000-05:00

american graffiti

2007-01-08T13:43:00.000-05:00

i'm back at school. it's raining.

alone in a quiet house

2007-01-04T15:10:00.000-05:00

3 major points

1. the relatives left today to fly back to the other side of the world, amidst much kissing and crying and arabic. very glad to have my house back to myself, even if it is just for the afternoon before i go back to princeton.

2. the huntington is awesome!

correction: the kid's playground at the huntington is awesome. they have fake clouds. i find that incredibly enjoyable. it also makes me wish i was four.

3. why is yogurt so complicated to open? this is going out to you, lucerne nonfat plain flavored yogurt. you are currently splattered all over my face and shirt and I do not appreciate it.

a very greek antiquity friday

2006-12-29T19:36:00.000-05:00

this morning sarah and i went to the getty villa down in malibu. the newness of the building was a little disconcerting, but the beautiful weather and gardens definitely made up for it. the afternoon consisted of jerry's deli, ice cream sandwiches, and two hours of freeway traffic overlaid by beirut. a typical day in a californian winter.

happy interim

2006-12-28T01:17:00.001-05:00

well, it's been quite the year. a third was spent in Africa, a third in a basement djing, and a third listening to german rap as i worked my ass off. i'd say, truly, good times all around.

merry late christmas and happy early new year.

pei

2006-10-23T16:42:00.000-04:00

not only is this man a genius, but look at his smile!

and those glasses! i thought no one could pull off john lennon glasses other than the man himself, but apparently i was mistaken.

in other news: i'm in the midst of midterms and am making a huge ceramic necklace for a tree.

older and jaded

2006-10-14T17:42:00.000-04:00

goats, the other cloven hooved animal.

medium format is a yes!

2006-10-04T11:41:00.000-04:00

so i have to figure out a project for my photo thesis. shit.

lawnparties v4.0

2006-09-18T11:17:00.000-04:00

perty

2006-09-02T17:24:00.000-04:00

i just got a pedicure.

the orange-red color of choice? don't socra-tease me!

oh dear.

no, no, and no. burn in death, priest lover!

2006-09-01T15:36:00.000-04:00

yesterday i ventured out to claremont to see maris in her natural habitat (i saw a bear on the way!). her house is very pretty with lots of trees and a small white dog named bailey. bailey is apparently depressed because maris' sister just went to collefe, so she gets really excited when a new face shows up.
anyhow, we met up with two of her friends (derek and john) for an adventure. said adventure involving climbing over a chainlink fence outfitted with barbed wire and walking for a mile to a small lake. i was impressed with my first time fence-hopping skills, though i did manage to cut my knee. all in a dress, mind you.
the lake was small but pretty, and we stole a boat (which oddly enough had two machetes in it) to do a little rowing. turned out me mostly just sat and played with the intriguing algae.

i also created a jon larking facebook tribute group: the poser wannabe motherfuckers.

museum of jurassic technology

2006-08-29T22:44:00.000-04:00

yesterday maris and i got a private tour of the Museum of Jurassic Technology, courtesy of one sam nicholson. it was nice seeing both fo them again, considering maris has been off drinking wine in vienna all summer and i haven't been around sam for a couple of years. the museum itself was really interesting, albeit a little creepy at times. mostly because of the minimal lighting and strange emaciated pet dog. i especially liked the room that explained old superstitions. apparently, if you are a small child with lung problems, you should be carried through a flock of sheep early in the morning as they are going out to pasture.

seven swans

2006-08-27T14:16:00.000-04:00

i am really enjoying If On a Winter's Night a Traveler. especially Calvino's description of the smell of frying onions. It's been a while since i've actually taken the time to lie down on the couch and read a good book. i know, it sounds weird, but i almost never read unless i'm in bed about to go to sleep. for some reason, it just feels so anti-productive. i'm getting over that. along with getting over not finishing books. D.H. Lawrence certainly cured me of that habit.

yesterday: malibu with gus and manolis, crepes/nutella with kirsten
tomorrow: museum of jurassic technology with maris and sam

archigram

2006-08-25T19:06:00.000-04:00

james corner

2006-08-24T23:16:00.000-04:00

sign me the fuck up.

cuppercakes

2006-08-23T22:24:00.000-04:00

HOLY CRAP HOLY CRAP. soooooo tasty. happy brithday me!
chocolate chocolate, red velvet, lemon coconut, vanilla choclate, pumpkin spice, chocolate vanilla.

a very brady wedding

2006-08-13T23:04:00.000-04:00

i'm watching vh1 and eating string cheese. man this sucks. in order to solve this, i google imaged all my best friends.

sarah:

reena:

jason:

maris:

katie:

ben:

jon:

ooooh, looks like the wedding's OFF!

stop breaking my heart

2006-08-12T20:19:00.000-04:00

last night sa, ann and i drove down to la to see a triangle forest/sonic death rabbit show. this somehow disintegrated into a hipster girl with no sense of rhythm on the drums and a chocolate milkshake. i think i can handle that. we also drove behind the midnight riders for awhile, specifically a bearded granola hipster.

i also read a lot about the humboldt squid, which has razors around its tentacles. tonight: eva hesse and rauschenburg at MOCA, and listening to Crayon by Caribou. sweeeeeet.

i'm turning into katie

2006-08-09T22:43:00.000-04:00

i've become strangely obsessed with cupcakes. not really baking them, or decorating them, just looking at them online. which makes it even creepier, if things involving cute little round confections can be creepy. man, i miss the bent spoon. i think i'l make some banana bread tomorrow.

and my gallbladder has become a hazard to my health. looks like the little bugger may have to be removed. hopefully they'll put it in a jar!

real estate novelist

2006-08-03T18:17:00.000-04:00

i'm currently lying on my excessively comfortable, large, swedish bed, listening to piano man on lp. ah the life. today has held a tasty salad with a best friend, and will hold chai with more best friends. lots of relaxation to be had before my sister's wedding this weekend.

i also got a manicure today. i felt like screaming the whole time. not a fan of people touching my fingernails.

also. side note. doesn't the ad for the descent (which looks TERRIFYING) strangely resemble this picture of dali?

buttercup festival

2006-07-31T00:30:00.000-04:00

osteria gelsi

2006-07-25T09:54:00.000-04:00

yesterday i had a wprb board meeting in manhattan. we all took the train in looking rather dapper in our sun dresses (or pinstripes in julio's case), wandered around st. mark's place and ate a cream puff before dinner. also purchased a shirt that features some sort of wrasse. dinner was somewhere in mid-town, and, three glasses of wine and a lemon liquer later, the tab ended up in the $900 range. good thing we didn't have to pay. ah trustees. i got to sit next to this crazy former classical dj with a long ponytail. when i got back, i watched entourage (!) and ate ben and jerry's (!) with jason, until i started mumbling some ambien induced nonsense.

oh i also went berry-picking in the rain with zach, burt, and mike over the weekend.

my thoughts exactly

2006-07-18T21:09:00.000-04:00

With the spreading violence in Lebanon and Gaza, the Israeli doctrine of absolute security and massive retaliation--the notion that any attack or threat of attack on Israel will be met with a disproportionate response--is again proving counterproductive to Israel's own security as well as to the larger stability of the region. It makes no sense for Israel to destroy the civil infrastructure of the Palestinians and of Lebanon in response to the kidnapping of its soldiers, or to further weaken the capacity of the governments of Lebanon and the Palestinian Authority while at the same trying to hold them accountable for the actions of groups and militias they cannot reasonably control. This collective punishment of the Palestinian and Lebanese people is not only inhumane and should be condemned but also leads to more radicalization and to more chaos.

-The Nation

not so ruby

2006-07-18T12:39:00.000-04:00

my tummy hurts today, so i took the day off work. now i'm just doing layout in jason's room while listening to stephen malkmus. cut off that indie mullet! don't think i don't recognize it for what it is, just because you are a sweet sweet man.

picnic

2006-07-16T17:52:00.000-04:00

Friday was dedicated to a girls-only picnic. Party members: me, Julia, Christine, Tesla, and Angelica. We ate cherries, chocolate, cheese, and ginger cookies. And then we naped.

mccarren pool

2006-07-10T11:03:00.000-04:00

i am finally at work after a couple hours of dozing on the f train and njtransit back to princeton. and listening to some tom waits so-called ballad. yesterday i went to park slope/williamsburg with sarah to see les savy fav and eat burgers on english muffins. both were, as they say, "god awesome". and we now have an established beer garden that is our own little place. fist pump for spyten dyvel.

arnold

2006-07-06T09:30:00.000-04:00

i need to see the Hockney exhibit when i get home.

independence

2006-07-05T15:41:00.002-04:00

The long four day weekend for me was mostly spent in southern jersey at Jason's house. It was nicely filled with assorted baked goods (notably a very tasty apple pie with cool whip - which is an incredibly odd substance) and a lot of watching tv in a chilly basement. On Sunday we drove out to the shore, and it was absolutely beautiful. The beach itself was windy and cool, and we built a small replica of stonehenge out of stone. Too cold to go into the water though, which was a same. There was also a pretty sad display of kite-flying going on behind us. One would think with excessive wind, anyone could at least get a kite made expressively for said conditions off the ground.

Afterwards we got gelati at a water ice stand. This concoction consisted of layers of water ice and custard (read: frozen lemonade and soft-serve ice cream). Magnificent. The day ended with Cat Power and driving through a thunderstorm. We also played some mini-golf and watched a bit of soft-core porn.

So now I'm back to working at WPRB putting together the program guide. The theme is "inner space and outer space".

I also helped paint a mural. I was in charge of the earth painting. It came out pretty geographically correct, if I do say so myself. Complete with Sri Lanka.

paw paw tree

2006-06-28T09:24:00.000-04:00

[in response to the question "How would you use music to take over the world?"]

Matt Friedberger: "Trombones. That’s what the Bible says. You know, you think of the trumpet in Jericho, but I think in the King James Bible it says a trombone is knocking down the wall. I could be wrong...What did they mean by trombone then, I don’t know. It didn’t have a valve, that’s for sure. So how would you do it? You would brainwash people? No, you’d do like Parliament, like funkadelic always did. People would be too hyped up from dancing all the time they would change their rhythms...their biorhythms."

the sundance kid is beautiful

2006-06-24T16:11:00.000-04:00

The weekend was spent partly in Brooklyn and partly passed out on a remarkably comfortable couch. Friday I went into Williamsburg to see the Dada exhibit at MoMa with Danny and Teel, and then to go to Sarah's gallery for a show opening. Impressive. Danny's new abode is the Mind and Spirits Psychic II, which has been hollowed out to make their apartment. We silkscreened, listened to Bob Wilson and then went to a bar with Sarah + coworkers. I really like bars. Especially ones with brick beer gardens. Saturday consisted of a great tea house in the morning, lots of torrential rainfall, and then an italian dinner party that turned into me and jason drinking much too much. I almost fell asleep in a shower stall. Today was recovery and mexican food day. All in all an eventful and wonderous weekend. I'm sad that this week has to start.

currrrrrrlz

2006-06-22T20:04:00.000-04:00

eggheads

2006-06-21T22:31:00.000-04:00

wait, so melba toast is just regular toast with no crust and cut in triangles? how unexciting.

mexicana

2006-06-21T02:06:00.000-04:00

This weekend was my sister's bachlorette party in Cabo (to which my boyfriend's mom said, "what's a bachlorette party?" awkward explanations ensued). The basic outline of the trip is this: pool by day, bar hop by night. I did manage to get a pretty decent tan, which will serve me well for about two weeks and then it will fade under the artificial lighting of the radio station. And I also felt like such a college kid, throwing back the tequila shots as everyone sipped margaritas. Though the tequila shots were always done with someone over the age of 40. No lime. I was quite the rockstar - a nice change for my low-tolerance self. And now I'm back at home, doing some shopping, hitting up the dentist and whatnot. My mission for tomorrow: haircut and a new watch. My band broke on the light blue bandaid one. Sigh.

we did a lot of this.

excuse me?

2006-06-20T00:53:00.000-04:00

google is DOWN. i didn't think that was possible.

cabo weekend update in the making.

china girl

2006-06-11T19:27:00.000-04:00

So many good free concerts in Brooklyn this summer! First priorities: Yo la Tengo and Broken Social Scene.

a whole new world

2006-06-09T13:47:00.000-04:00

So I have left the high road of vegetarianism and have gone back to the dark side. Not because of any sort of moral change of heart, but because I apparently have "relative iron deficiency anemia". Ah well. I've been craving some steak for awhile now, and at least now I don't have to feel bad about it. My first meal: chicken quesadilla. Granted it made me a little sick afterwards, but that's alright. And I got to drive a car - first time since January. Hoorah for being the designated driver.
I also lost my id card today. And had a very nice sunny lunch with Mike. Found out that baby carrots really aren't babies, but rather large carrots shaved down to "niblets", to quote USA Today. Time for a wawa milkshake.
And strangely, crew has been really interesting to me lately.

prime rib

2006-06-08T08:46:00.000-04:00

My summer schedule is now relatively set, and I've fallen back into a somewhat predictable routine. My job consists of working in the basement of Bloomberg at the radio station, creating the new fall program guide and trying to find a logical way to catalogue our thousands of records. At least I'm discovering tons of sweet sweet LPs. Most of my outside time has lately been spent under an umbrella with Graham or at a coffeeshop with Jason. And I just started House of Mirth. I'm strangely excited by my branching out into non-Modernist literature.

My radio show is 3-6 pm eastern standard. Listen either at 103.3 fm if you're in the area, or at wprb!

2006-06-07T10:05:00.000-04:00

orange

2006-06-02T11:25:00.000-04:00

Well, Princeton has decended into the depths of reunions, the biggest single purchase of alcohol in the world. That's right, we breed only the best here. The campus is basically awash in somewhat garrish orange and black jackets and tons of red plastic cups.

Last night Graham, Ben and I ventured down through the 5th reunion on our way to get milkshakes from the Wa. I've never seen so many drunk people in one place (except for maybe that one warehouse/bar/club in Lisbon). Estimates are that 30,000 people are going to be on campus for this shindig. Yowsa. For some reason I'm not as excited about it as I supposedly should be. First off, I'm shuttling down to Camden a bunch to see Jason's crew races, which are fascinating but also early early early. Second, I really liked having the campus all to myself, so to speak. Even if the heat is incredibly oppressive.

We had a huge thunderstorm last night. The power went off. I also saw An Inconvenient Truth. Interesting and incredibly self-indulgent for Mr. Gore.

can't get enough

2006-05-31T13:17:00.000-04:00

i watched the whole first season of arrested development in two days. i'm salivating at the thought of getting the second one.

whirlwind

2006-05-25T08:57:00.000-04:00

The last few days have been a flurry of parties since the ending of the semester. For the most part at least, I'm still in the midst of finishing up my junior paper. I was quite impressed with myself for getting up at 7 this morning, grabbing some tea and starting work. Of course it's only been a few hours and I'm starting to drift off. That's elephant population management for you.
But Saturday night was an unexpected trip with Aaron to Joe's last room party EVER, and then out to the rather unexciting street. As expected. Two nights ago was an impromptu wine and Chinese food dinner with Maris and Jon Larkin followed by an impromtu party in Zack's room with Geoff and Jon Ryan. So many Jon's with no h. And finally, last night with the WPRB party that got busted because we hung a pinata off the smoke detector and the alarm went off. A barbie pinata at that.

I have made new friends lately. Or better friends of old friends. This is very exciting to me. And it hasn't happened in a long while.

That's Evan. Others include Jon Ryan, Geoff, Alex, Josh, Jake, and Zack. Hurrah!

you say tomato

2006-05-12T09:06:00.000-04:00

According to the NYTimes this morning, companies like Kellogg's are creating new organic foods. Great! Actually, correction. WRONG. This new development is an outgrowth of Wal-Mart's recent announcement that they want to start selling organic foods. On the one hand, I suppose it will be made more available to the general public - though strangely enough, I've noticed that every single grocery store around here has a sizeable organic section that is usually packed. But seriously, Wal-Mart, stop be such asses. Having such a large demand will end up just decreasing the standards of organic foods and consequently not actually help the environment out at all. Just a ploy to make even more money, which they obviously don't need. Maybe they'll start paying their employees overtime now.

side note: the organic food industry has grown 15% a year for the last 10. Impressive.

I'm off to eat some veggie bologna.

heavyweight

2006-05-10T12:24:00.000-04:00

this may or may not be my boyfriend and his crew team in jean shorts.

roy walker

2006-05-08T20:23:00.000-04:00

this weekend was the princeton phenomena known as houseparties. and i had an absolutely wonderful time.

friday: went to cloister with jason and sat at a table with many jean-short clad men. it was a pretty spectacular sight. i was the only person drinking at the table, which led me to be pretty sober, though quite tired, by the end of the night. however...

saturday: completely different story. we went to terrace instead, and pregamed in maris' room. maybe going tequila shot for shot with jon ryan and ania wasn't the brightest idea in retrospect. but dinner was wonderful and i got to see so many people that i had missed dearly. plus there were a lot of little things on my table to play with, which was quite entertaining for my drunken mind. also managed to pass out relatively early.

sunday: lawnparties. one of my favorite princeton days. not only was the sun shining, but i was pleasantly champagne drunk and sitting on the roof of terrace by noon, listening to a reggae jam band. so nice. topped off the day with a little gunther and a milkshake.

lucky horse shoe

2006-05-06T11:14:00.000-04:00

i'm on my way to small world for some granola and yogurt, before developing some film on a gloriously sunny day, wearing my favorite jeans and a comfy shirt. Today is going to be a splendid one.

pyness

2006-05-05T09:12:00.000-04:00

After 30 hours, three planes, two lay-overs, and one space invader, I'm back in Princeton. It's so disorienting to be back, even though it doesn't seem like I've been gone for very long. It's as though I went on spring break, and everyone else went through a time warp and somehow experienced a semester while I was off in Africa. For my return dinner, I had a margherita pizza and blueberry/mango/lime/pineapple ice cream at the BENT SPOON with Jason. I've been dreaming about that place for months. And then a surprise party was thrown for both Kirsten and I! I've never had a surprise party before. It was wonderful. We even got a cake.

I also ventured into the city yesterday. It was incredibly overwhelming to be among so many people, all speaking english. I wonder what someone from Kenya would think of it. It's really much too decadent, but it gives me a completely selfish pleasure.

grand finale

2006-05-03T19:22:00.000-04:00

My last post from the African continent:

It is the beginning of the rainy season here on the Kenyan coast. The trend so far has been alternating days of unbearable humidity and torrential rainfall. But we still know how to party. Our group went snorkeling (again!) last weekend, in the pouring rain and wind, and I still enjoyed it. Maybe I wasn’t so wrong when I decided that I wanted to be a marine biologist when I was five. I even remembered the large majority of the fish names, common and latin, which surprised me. We saw three more lionfish, a stonefish, and a crapload of sea cucumbers. Paul somehow managed to get some white sticky stuff all over him from one of them.
After this, we went on a shopping extravaganza in a nearby disabled person’s village. I honestly think our group sustained the establishment for the next year. Bakari helped us all pick out various clothing choices, with a kikoy resulting for me. Of course, we had to go out on the town that night in our new getups. Thank god we chose a Lebanese sports bar. The food was amazing, and so were the cocktails (gin slings = my new favorite). AND the Liverpool football match was on.
I’ve somehow transformed into a huge British Premiere League fan in the last month or so. I’m still trying to decide whether my team will be Man. U. or Liverpool, though I am leaning towards Liverpool. And of course, I hate Chelsea, even though they won the league yesterday in a somewhat embarrassing win over Manchester. At least we got to watch it in this tiny restaurant filled with soccer fans chewing myraa and drinking Fanta. Nice guys.
Anyhow, we also ventured south to Diani over the weekend. Saw lots of monkeys. Bought more kikoys.

Story of my life. But we had a nice lunch on the beach, consisting of soda and a cheese sandwich (ie- my sustenance for the last three weeks, minus the daily half-jar intake of peanut butter. Seriously cannot wait to get back to somewhere with MEXICAN).
My project is coming alright. I basically count millipedes and fungi all day. Thankfully I’m into the writing stages now. The millipedes were getting really freaky. And when you pick them up too forcefully, they excrete this nasty smelling iodine liquid that completely stains your fingers. Kirsten’s hasn’t come of for a week now. Bakari claims that their trying to turn us African so we won’t leave on Tuesday. I think it’s much more vicious in intent.
Last night, we had a going away party thrown for us by the company. This, of course, means free drinks! I somehow managed to have a Tusker and two double vodka and Red Bulls. Which are much better than plain Red Bull. I was impressed. After eating my fill of Swahili food and some curry, the whole group headed out to the bars with Karim and Chris. First was Yama’s where I took a tequila shot at the bar with Jenn, Mark, and Kirsten, and then frolicked around on the beach a bit. That was my last drink of the night I think. Then we drove over to Noom’s, which is a Swahili dance club. Every now and then we’d get some sort of crap American song, but it mostly sounded like a salsa beat. And Kirsten is seriously a demon on the dance floor. But we had an awesome time. And stayed out until 4 am. Thank you to Katie for lending me linen pants. I’ve worn my TA’s pants! Though there was a bit of confusion, since apparently the Brits consider “pants” to mean underwear. There was an awkward silence.

In sadder news, I got three mosquito bites on my foot that are incredibly painful.

frangipani

2006-04-28T14:36:00.000-04:00

A collection of my rantings, constructed immediately after taking a long final on restoration ecology.

The Coots:
Kirsten, Paul and I have come up with a new phrase: “___ is the coots.” The highest of all compliments, unless you’re gay I suppose. But even still it’s not half bad. In case it is not completely clear, this refers to the cooter, the ogvag, the sublime blossom, what have you. Much much better than the scrote.

Spearing:
I have recently found out that I am quite good at spearing, which basically is hitting someone really hard in the sternum with your four fingers. I feel kind of like Uma Thurman when I do it. It even causes Paul pain, which is impressive. Kirsten still sucks as it. I’m definitely going to have a large bruise there by the end of this trip. Oh, and Paul gave me a trach spear today (ie – in the trachea). NOT OK.

Rhubarb:
I thought of this yesterday while listening to The Streets and studying for my final. It’s such a strange root, with it’s magenta pink color. And looks completely unappetizing when stewed. I had a huge aversion to it when I was little without even tasting it. Rhubarb even smells too peppery for my pansy little palette. But honestly, I’ve been craving a strawberry rhubarb pie lately, ever since we went to Kiyakonondo Sacred Forest where the air smelled of unbaked homemade pie crust (no joke!). I’ve also been craving meat in any form, but that’s a different story. The lyric that spurred this? My crew laughs at your rhubarb and custard verses.

Amarula:
It’s been mentioned before, but honestly, the best drink I’ve ever had is Amarula and milk. Second to gin slings. Seriously, I can down either of them like chocolate milk, which is saying a lot

Nature Valley Sweet & Salty Nut granola bars (peanut flavored):
Best granola bar I’ve ever had. It’s like combining the regular Nature Valley bars with a layer of peanut butter on the bottom. And they come in giant packs from Costco! I could live off these things, despite the fact that I am increasingly becoming burnt out of peanut butter as of late, considering it is the only food in our room other than raw eggs. A perfect combination of sweetness and salty, with the sweet lingering on the back of your tongue for a good couple minutes afterwards. Makes me shiver just thinking about it.

Coral:
Other than being an underwater creature, coral is such a wonderful color. It makes me happy just seeing it, though I don’t think I own anything that is coral. But I think I may totally support the destruction of a reef in the interest of making pretty necklaces. I’m such a horrid ecologist.
“The color of my Club Monaco shirt – that’s all coral means to me.” -Jenn

A Confederacy of Dunces:
So I’m about three-quarters of the way through this Pulitzer prize winner, but I’m still not the biggest of fans. Instead of, and I quote, being “nothing less than a grand comic fugue” (thank you New York Times Book Review), I find the main character to be incredibly annoying and ridiculous. Do people like this really exist? I should hope not, though I’m sure they do. Maybe I’m missing something. I think it’s just that I’ve fallen into the bottomless pit of romantic early 20th century romantic idealist novels. This cannot be good.

Though, it does have it’s moments.
“We need a three-party system in this country, and I think that day by day the fascists are growing in strength. This Divine Right party is the sort of fringe-group scheme that would siphon off a large part of fascist support.”

fantasmic

2006-04-27T15:26:00.000-04:00

Fanta is my newest obsession. Well, maybe it’s not that new, but it is certainly getting stronger. Around here, we have a pretty constant supply of three flavors: black currant (though I remain unconvinced that it isn’t grape), the standard orange, and citrus (definitely my favorite). Very refreshing, and not quite as carbonated as the coke around here. That stuff makes me burp like it’s my job. Or like there’s no tomorrow. Take your pick of strange idioms. Plus it’s better than the kind that we get in America, I think it tastes more like actual fruit than sweetener. Think Orangina. But minus the pulp, And in a reused bottle. All retailers require you to return glass bottles, or chug the damn thing on the spot since everyone turns in the bottles for a deposit. Since I gather this program has been around for a while, all the Fanta bottles are actually different from one another, since apparently the logo has changed over the years. Yesterday a whole chunk had been taken out of mine – I was surprised the thing actually held any liquid. On top of all that, with a marketing scheme as classy and clever as Lola, Kiki, and the rest of the very lovely fantanas, who could resist?

Is that Icelandic?

t-minus 6 days!

cosmopolitan

2006-04-26T14:28:00.000-04:00

did i mention that i almost got kicked by a camel? those things are nasty, and have the weirdest knees. and unfortunately, they frequent the beaches around here.

mo'basa

2006-04-18T14:37:00.000-04:00

I am currently in the city of Mombasa, on the coast of Kenya, near the border of Tanzania. Which is strangely pronounced tanZANia here. I think it’s the British influence. Anyhow, we’re finally out of tents and into a hotel, with a pool! Unfortunately, because of the large amount of sex tourism and prostitutes in the area, it is usually being treated. I’m really pretty happy about that. We’re also a couple blocks from the Indian Ocean, which is honestly as warm as a bathtub.
All of my research is going on in the rainforest across the street, where giant tortoises roam free. Of course, my project is on fungi and millipedes. Sadness. But I still get to pet the big turtles, considering they really don’t move. Though you have to watch your feet so they don’t set all 250 kgs of themselves on your toes. Oh, side note, I’ve started thinking in metric. I kind of enjoy it.
Over the weekend, a couple of us went down south to Shimba Hills, a nature reserve with a bunch of elephants and sable antelope, which honestly look as though they should be characters in Rocko’s Modern Life. Ah, youth. And we had this sweet hotel, which was built into the trees overlooking a waterhole. They even had a “jungle bar” connected to the main building by a rickety wooden bridge. It was a somewhat relaxing weekend, plus I got to room with my favorite Kirsten. Oh, and we got chocolate for Easter. And my mosquito net fell on my while I was asleep.
Yesterday was a national holiday because of bunny day, so we all went snorkeling in a marine park. We took a dhow (a traditional Kenyan sailboat) out for an hour to an island with sweet sweet coral. Paul and I sat out on the bow, and everytime we went over a big wave our feet would dip into the water. So wonderful. The fish were amazing. Hilights: 3 octopi, 3 blue spotted ribbontail sting rays, 1 Indian lionfish, 1 sea turtle. Of course, being the OCD dork I am I made a list of all the fish we saw in my notebook as soon as I got back on the boat.

And we have Nutella in the hotel room. SWEET LORD!

identities

2006-04-07T07:53:00.000-04:00

Ever since I was little, I've had a thing for wanting a nickname. Which usually isn't very condusive to actually getting one. Anyhow, over the years, I've accumulated a few. Here are my favorites:

bingo bango
pandapants/sassypants/lauriepants
eLAZAR
the ela-hi

and of course, laur.

zhotoveno

2006-04-06T08:28:00.000-04:00

Apparently Emil Artur Longen was quite the actor/writer back in his Czechoslovakian day, being in the 1910s. He also has the most amazing eyebrows when he reached his older years. Among his works are The Eleventh Commandent, The Heroic Captain Korkoran, and (the best in my opinion) Don't Make Grandpa Angry. Of course this is based only by name. I usually judge things that way. People named Olga need not apply. Back to the point. There is also, coincidentally, an artist with a rather similar name, Emil Arthur Pitterman-Longen. I'm actually a little confused as to if this is actually the same person. I did determine that he was Jewish.

All of this is to say: thanks for the postcard, sa.

back in da mudd

2006-04-05T09:54:00.000-04:00

The last few days have basically been an adventure into the world of brick-making, should that world even exist. And if it doesn't, it does now.

So these bricks are in an effort to improve construction costs and efficiency around our research center. We decided that using local materials (ie-dirt, straw, water, rusty-ass scrap metal) was obviously the way to go. And it's quite simple really. First you mix the dirt:

Straight forward enough. Then the going gets tricky. Brick-making takes a very delicate combination technique. Meaning mushing the dirt around with your hands, some straw, and a bunch of water. It's like being in the third grade all over again. It also results in some disgusting fingernail...lint?

Then you stick the mud in a mold, use Giant Hands McGee (aka Paul) to wield the cement block to compress the dirt, stick it in the sun for a couple days, and voila!

Earth blocks galore.

this smacks of the modern scientific era which has long passed

2006-04-03T07:22:00.000-04:00

I have a plan for the future. As of last summer, I determined that I really should have gone into architecture. I am now of the opinion that education is nothing! and even though I have no idea how to model, architecture is in the cards for me. Maybe not straight up architecture. But definitely a form of environmental planning or green buildings. In talking to my professor today, he thinks I'd be good at it. And since he is probably going to cure cancer, I trust his opinion.

In looking around, I came upon the work of one Massimiliano Fuksas. Awesome architect. Lithuanian/Italian. And amazing ideas. What I really like is that he concentrates on how each building works as a function of the environment and the social structure of the people using it. Totally an aspect of architecture that time and time again has been overlooked, resulting in a large population of useless gray blocks all over the place.

Musee des Graffiti:

I was at the seaside, a group of clouds were being blown quickly across the sky by a strong wind. As I looked at the clouds I remembered I dream I had had, which involved constructing a building that had no crystallized form at all.

mizungu! mizungu!

2006-04-02T09:18:00.000-04:00

up the hill

2006-04-01T07:44:00.000-05:00

This is the reason i had dredlocks for an afternoon.

So next year I have a wonderful room. Living in 1903 with the beautiful Maris Lane Jensen, my number one. Next door to Paul for year two, and Ben/Graham/Coleman down the hall. Perfect situation, in my opinion. I'm also in the middle of picking my courses for SENIOR year. Not ok. But anyhow, I'm going for Medical Anthro, Islamic Illuminated Manuscripts, Abnormal Psych, and either ceramics or photography. And maybe environmental architecture, but that will require some maneuvering that I am not internet equipped to do at the moment. One can only hope. And hope I will.

mullholland dr.

2006-03-30T06:21:00.000-05:00

Quite the movie. We all huddled in Paul's tent, with the subtitles on, for the two and a half hours that it took to watch this ingeniously done film. While we listened to elephants ripping down the trees in our camp. The fracturous nature is incredibly interesting, especially how Lynch cinematographically depicts the switches between the so-called dream sequence and reality. Very Freudian, which I usually despise, but the plot worked well with it here. And Justin Theroux is hot. As is Naomi Watts, but only when she's not crying. The movie made me a little homesick, especially for the night that Sa, Reena, Kates and I went to that diner down on Melrose and then drove over Mulholland, looking out over the shimmering lights of LA. I don't care what people say as far as the "Hollywood sucking poor innocent actors" portion of the movie goes, because I love where I live. And people should know full well what they're getting into when it comes to the media.

lekije

2006-03-28T09:53:00.000-05:00

manna from heaven

2006-03-22T14:25:00.000-05:00

today we had ice cream. granted it was somewhat liquified, but still. and now i'm watching star wars (a new hope). tonight has been a good night.

seriously hate those guys

2006-03-21T01:02:00.000-05:00

Dear all,

SO much to report! Amidst the faulty wireless and the gallavanting around the kenyan countryside in various crappy cars, the internet has been hard to grasp. Here we go my friends, update starting

NOW

So way back when, we decided to throw a party for the best TA any of us have ever had, the esteemed Nathan Gregory. Obviously, an impromptu toga party was the obvious way to go. So we all donned our bedsheets and headlamps and paraded down to the dinner tent. We then proceeded to drink all the Jagermeister, beer, and Amarula (kind of like Kahlua without the coffee = milk chocolately alcohol amazingness) that we had in camp. Greg even ate a live termite. Those things are big and seriously nasty looking. The night culminated in Nathan not wearing pants and chilling by the campfire.

A bit after that, it started to rain. Rain here is not like American rain. This stuff does not kid around. After causing the river to rise about 6 feet in two days, the road to our camp was flooded and we were forced to sleep at the research center. At least we got to watch half of Team America, though I have definitely decided that marionettes freak me out.

On a tangent, I've been having very weird dreams lately. They mostly involve people moving to Sweden without telling me or hiding kilos of cocaine in my backpack. NOT OK.

Alright, so then the Natural History of Mammals course started. Creative title, I know. We traveled to a new research center, about an hour away from where we are. I had my own room! With a lamp! And running hot water! It was insane. And the best part was the fact that the majority of our day was devoted to driving around in our trusty Land Rover and looking at mammals. Our theme: SUN'S OUT GUNS OUT. It's a good one. Kirsten and I discovered that Cape Buffalo basically stare at the car blankly for very long periods of time. We then had to give a presentation on that.

Another perk: apparently the gun-runner for the Iran-Contra business had a house next to our research center. It's now a hotel, with huge beds. And when I say huge, I mean they were manufactured in order to accomodate orgies, no joke. ANYway, there weren't any hotel guests, so we took over the pool. Mostly in underwear and sports bras. It was damn cold, but fun.

As far as wildlife goes, we basically saw everything.
Most notably lions, which seem like harmless oversized house cats (which brings to the movie Deep Blue. The premise: creating 45-foot super intelligent sharks that will somehow allow researchers to cure Alzheimer's. Things go awry as they always do. The shark tries to eat a helicopter. A cook with a parrot on his shoulder is involved.) We also went to meet Morani the Friendly Rhino. Sadly, he is friendly mostly because he was castrated in a fight. We got to pet him though, which was awesome. His horns felt so strange, like really dense hair woven together. We also got Fantas.

One bad thing about Kenya: they don't have chocolate anywhere. So not cool.

After staying in Nairobi for a night full of beer and Coyote Ugly, we traveled down south to Amboseli Park on the border of Tanzania. Unfortunately we had to trade in our badass Defender for a lame mini-van which looks like a yacht. The conditions there were the exact opposite: only cold showers, and sleeping on the ground. At least I got to share my tent with Kirsten, which was awesome. Wonderful WONDERFUL girl. And we had the best view from our porch of Mt. Kilimanjaro towering above the Tortelis acacia tree in our site, usually with Jenn and Mark perched in it. We sang a lot of South Park, for some reason. Mostly to remind us of Nathan. I also have determined that baboons look distinctly British, and most definitely like Henry Higgins of My Fair Lady.

So now I'm back at our research center, diving into our newest class, which is much more friendly than I would have imagined a 400-level MAE course to be. And I am now half done with my Kenyan stay. I think I'll be ready to go back to Princeton when the time comes.

I'm making a list of things to do upon returning. So far, I have a date with Paul and a wheel of brie, and Kirsten and some fried oreos. Anything else?

amoxicillin, the liquid kind

2006-03-03T02:27:00.000-05:00

So, so tired. I am ready to take a nap, which, as many of you know, ain't my thang so to speak, and it's only 10:30 am. Granted we wake up early here, but still. We've been working basically non-stop on our independent field projects for the last week or so. I think mine is really interesting, and we've gotten good results, but I still feel trapped at the research center since we never get to go anywhere in the car anymore. Strange that, similar to home, I get all my kicks in the car. Oh well, I guess Kenya and Los Angeles aren't that different afterall.

Kirsten had to go into town today because she has somehow managed to contract an ear infection. I really used to like getting them in a strangely masochistic way, just because Amoxicillin is SO GOOD. Or at least it used to be, until they switched over to those lame pills. Weak-sauce.

It's been raining every night, and the river next to our campsite has risen a good 4 ft in the last two days. The only downside is that all of our shower water is the color of dirt now. And I have to wash my underwear in the very near future in said water. But the rain is pretty amazing - when I close my eyes I feel like I'm in a tropical rainforest, with the humidity and all the birds chirping. It is incredibly soothing.

I miss ice cream.

Side note: does anyone know what a wonderwall actually is? I think I completely made up the definition I have in my mind.

ibi dreams of

2006-03-01T01:43:00.000-05:00

Let's get down to brass tacks.

So I'm in my second course now, creatively entitled The Natural History of Mammals. This entails lots of reading and doing a field experiment with Mark and Nick tracking Dik Dik territoriality in the area. Sounds complicated, but it really isn't. I have also found that I am relatively good at bongo drums and perversely enjoy Marmite.

Go go gadget pictures!

So, one day, Jenn decided to cut off all her hair. I mean all of it. So, we obviously had to do it Kenya style, meaning gathering around our sputtering campfire and humming slightly off tune. We tried to use a knife to saw it off, but that seemed inefficient and was abandoned. Here's the ceremony:

And the aftermath:

At least I have boobs:

We also had lunch at a treehouse restaurant last weekend. Speciality = trout. Of course I opted for the pizza and the banana crepes. oh, and some sake:

Ah, look at the young turks:

marinoaudio

2006-02-27T05:51:00.000-05:00

This album has been growing on me for the past three weeks while I've been in Kenya. The instrumentals seem to compliment any time of day here, during any weather pattern. The Barn: for somewhat humid, overcast days after lunch. Handelschnapp: brushing my teeth at 7 am on a sunny but cool morning. Medium Sized Working Dog: writing in my journal and feeling spazzy at 4 pm in my sweltering tent. Caribou is basically genius. I have as of late been drawn into music without vocals. I think that it is almost easier to communicate emotion without the bias of lyrics. It makes it more personal by being detached, oddly enough. Oh Dan Snaith.

obscura

2006-02-26T03:27:00.000-05:00

While listening to Bryter Lyter meld into the raindrops landing on my roof last night, I came to the realization that I can no longer remember my friends from home in motion (save for one). Everything is a still image. It is strange to think about how quickly I can forget the actions, but can very distinctly recall the sentiment. Disconcerting.

hardcore hardcore

2006-02-23T03:30:00.000-05:00

So I haven't really had time to write in the last couple of days, hence the massive amounts of entries on this sunny morning. Get ready for a recap.
Go!
So we've delved into the second half of our conservation and ecology of african landscapes course, with a teacher who doesn't know the meaning of powerpoint or brevity. But at least the topic is interesting, so it's not quite as bad as it sounds. On Sunday, we had the day off. I spent the morning working up a wicked sunburn, primarily behind my knees, and learning how to make hemp jewelery from Mark. We then went to a traditional Masai village across the river and over a few hills. I was quite impressed by the little car we were in: prime cattle dodging skills, most definitely. Once at the village, all the women gathered around and sang and danced for us. They were some of the most beautiful people I've seen, in a very pure and happy way.

The younger warriors also sang, and got some of the guys to dance with them. Then back to the women for more dancing. It was amusing watching all of us ungracefully bob around in the middle of a group of clapping women. I bought some of their traditional jewelery and some little figurines that make me incredibly happy. They look almost nothing like what they are intended to model (two rhinos and a "leopard"), but their expressions and simpleness is better than anything realistic I could have bought.

The week was uneventful, save one day of waking up at 5:30 am to help Nathan with some bird watching for his Ph D. I got to wear snake chaps = basically unpadded shin guards that supposedly will protect me from cobras and the like.
Yesterday, we took a road trip to the neighboring ranch, Ol Jogi, for some rhino chasing. And by rhino chasing I mean off roading in their sanctuary looking for animals but finding mostly acacia trees attached to the top of our car. But we still saw a ton of giraffe, cape buffalo, and a couple rhinos wandering lazily about. The ranch also had a "wildlife orphanage", which had a ton of animals that may or may not have actually been rescued. The owner is a billionaire and heir to the Puma fortune. Enough said. But we got to pet these amazingly cute Red Dykers who had huge puppy dog eyes, much better than anything I could remotely imitate. They had some cheetahs roaming around, elephants trained to play harmonica, leopards, and a lone grizzly bear. Quite the day full of ecology.

Happy Birthday Greg Schundler!

i roll with 12 gangs

2006-02-23T03:27:00.000-05:00

Don't Go Far Off

2006-02-23T03:17:00.000-05:00

Don't go far off, not even for a day, because-
because-I don't know how to say it: a day is long
and I will be waiting for you, as in an empty station
when the trains are parked off somewhere else, asleep.

Don't leave me, even for an hour, because
then the little drops of anguish will all run together,
the smoke that roams looking for a home will drift
into me, choking my lost heart.

Oh, may your silhouette never dissolve on the beach;
may your eyelids never flutter into the empty distance.
Don't leave me for a second, my dearest,

because in that moment you'll have gone so far
I'll wander mazily over all the earth, asking,
Will you come back? Will you leave me here, dying?

last night consisted of

2006-02-16T08:06:00.000-05:00

"Pale moons like that one"-Amory made a vague gesture-"make people mysterieuse. You look like a young witch with her cap off and her hair sorta mussed"-her hands clutched at her hair-"Oh, leave it, it looks good."