10 posts tagged “mobile post”
I've got a wicked eye twitch that can only be fixed by one thing:
More Sadie's salsa.
p.s. I love Lesley. Thx for bringing me this taste of home.
I got the worst sucker punch to my gut this morning.
Well, not physically.
But thanks to a work email, I got the wind knocked out of me and I started shaking with fear. The reason? In a funny, witty way I replied to a friend's email. Except the reply went to a large customer of mine (I work at an unnamed apparel company in Seattle). So all weekend the present of a reply sat in my inbox in wait, ready to pounce like a snake waiting for its prey.
What was the offending reply to a customer?
Gangsta Pranksta!
OMG I snorted.
Oy.
Chikanese soup is. Two dolla fry rice with spechal massage?
I am so busted! She even replied back to the message, stating "I'm glad I could make somebody's Friday." I'm just glad I didn't CC the other person from this company, David Wang.
I'm slowly sinking into the cracks of my chair. If I don't come back up for air soon, send a search party after me.
You may have already noticed that I am a compulsive list maker. More specifically, my weakness falls into numerical recaps and top 5 lists. I don't know where it comes from but I woke up with an urge to make one for my Vox.
Top 5 reasons why this weekend was AWESOME:
1. Playing at Target with costumes and wigs
2. Driving!
3. Halloween decorations adorning my apartment steps (I love love love Halloween)
4. Receiving a sweet package full of Japanese goodies from Nicole and Reed. Many, many awesome things were contained within, but this was my favorite:
5. Getting a used copy of Matthew Dear's Backstroke at Easy Street Records Queen Anne.
This week is Banned Book Week.
If there is one fundamental rule I hold for myself and for others, it's the idea that you should never be censored or censor yourself. Not only does it create an incredibly bland and boring community, but it limits the amount of knowledge out there to quench your intellectual thirst on.
But you, being a smart and with-it person, already feel this way. So if you are anything like me, you are determined to tear through the list of banned books. I want to read these books mostly because I want to see what is so inherently evil about these books. But appropriately enough, I've already started on this list of banned books, starting at the tender age of 6, when I received my copy of A Light in the Attic by Shel Silverstein (#51 on the list). I've italicized the other books I've read on this list.
1. Scary Stories (Series) by Alvin Schwartz
2. Daddy's Roommate by Michael Willhoite
3. I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou
4. The Chocolate War by Robert Cormier
5. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain
6. Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck
7. Harry Potter (Series) by J.K. Rowling
8. Forever by Judy Blume
9. Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Paterson
10. Alice (Series) by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor
11. Heather Has Two Mommies by Leslea Newman
12. My Brother Sam is Dead by James Lincoln Collier and Christopher Collier
13. The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger
14. The Giver by Lois Lowry
15. It's Perfectly Normal by Robie Harris
16. Goosebumps (Series) by R.L. Stine
17. A Day No Pigs Would Die by Robert Newton Peck
18. The Color Purple by Alice Walker
19. Sex by Madonna
20. Earth's Children (Series) by Jean M. Auel
21. The Great Gilly Hopkins by Katherine Paterson
22. A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle
23. Go Ask Alice by Anonymous
24. Fallen Angels by Walter Dean Myers
25. In the Night Kitchen by Maurice Sendak
26. The Stupids (Series) by Harry Allard
27. The Witches by Roald Dahl
28. The New Joy of Gay Sex by Charles Silverstein
29. Anastasia Krupnik (Series) by Lois Lowry
30. The Goats by Brock Cole
31. Kaffir Boy by Mark Mathabane
32. Blubber by Judy Blume
33. Killing Mr. Griffin by Lois Duncan
34. Halloween ABC by Eve Merriam
35. We All Fall Down by Robert Cormier
36. Final Exit by Derek Humphry
37. The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood
38. Julie of the Wolves by Jean Craighead George
39. The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison
40. What's Happening to my Body? Book for Girls: A Growing-Up Guide for Parents & Daughters by Lynda Madaras
41. To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
42. Beloved by Toni Morrison
43. The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton
44. The Pigman by Paul Zindel
45. Bumps in the Night by Harry Allard
46. Deenie by Judy Blume
47. Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes
48. Annie on my Mind by Nancy Garden
49. The Boy Who Lost His Face by Louis Sachar
50. Cross Your Fingers, Spit in Your Hat by Alvin Schwartz
51. A Light in the Attic by Shel Silverstein
52. Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
53. Sleeping Beauty Trilogy by A.N. Roquelaure (Anne Rice)
54. Asking About Sex and Growing Up by Joanna Cole
55. Cujo by Stephen King
56. James and the Giant Peach by Roald Dahl
57. The Anarchist Cookbook by William Powell
58. Boys and Sex by Wardell Pomeroy
59. Ordinary People by Judith Guest
60. American Psycho by Bret Easton Ellis
61. What's Happening to my Body? Book for Boys: A Growing-Up Guide for Parents & Sons by Lynda Madaras
62. Are You There, God? It's Me, Margaret by Judy Blume
63. Crazy Lady by Jane Conly
64. Athletic Shorts by Chris Crutcher
65. Fade by Robert Cormier
66. Guess What? by Mem Fox
67. The House of Spirits by Isabel Allende
68. The Face on the Milk Carton by Caroline Cooney
69. Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut
70. Lord of the Flies by William Golding
71. Native Son by Richard Wright
72. Women on Top: How Real Life Has Changed Women's Fantasies by Nancy Friday
73. Curses, Hexes and Spells by Daniel Cohen
74. Jack by A.M. Homes
75. Bless Me, Ultima by Rudolfo A. Anaya
76. Where Did I Come From? by Peter Mayle
77. Carrie by Stephen King
78. Tiger Eyes by Judy Blume
79. On My Honor by Marion Dane Bauer
80. Arizona Kid by Ron Koertge
81. Family Secrets by Norma Klein
82. Mommy Laid An Egg by Babette Cole
83. The Dead Zone by Stephen King
84. The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain
85. Song of Solomon by Toni Morrison
86. Always Running by Luis Rodriguez
87. Private Parts by Howard Stern
88. Where's Waldo? by Martin Hanford
89. Summer of My German Soldier by Bette Greene
90. Little Black Sambo by Helen Bannerman
91. Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett
92. Running Loose by Chris Crutcher
93. Sex Education by Jenny Davis
94. The Drowning of Stephen Jones by Bette Greene
95. Girls and Sex by Wardell Pomeroy
96. How to Eat Fried Worms by Thomas Rockwell
97. View from the Cherry Tree by Willo Davis Roberts
98. The Headless Cupid by Zilpha Keatley Snyder
99. The Terrorist by Caroline Cooney
100. Jump Ship to Freedom by James Lincoln Collier and Christopher Collier
I am personally appauled by the amount of Judy Blume on this list, as she was the one person I could turn to when I was 11 years old trying to figure out just what exactly I was, other than a freak of nature. It's a damn shame. It's also a shame that I haven't read more on this list.
Hi ho, hi ho, it's off to the library I go.
I can see the sleek silver contour, the feel of rigid plastic, the loud snap as everything locks into place. It was to be mine, but it slipped through my fingers.
What could be this glorious thing, this tool, that I should have had but it was not meant to me?
Meet Mr. Bento
I ordered it through Amazon (technically a reseller through Amazon). I paid my $45, the shipper paid for the shipping. Yesteday afternnon my anticipation grew into a feverish pitch, so I tracked my lovely through FedEx, who reported back it was sitting at my front door. I bounded up the steps of my apartment building to find ... nothing. No Mr. Bento. No note from FedEx. Nothing. Imagine a loud, dull wind blowing a tired tumbleweed through the hallway that contains my door to exaggerate the nothingness in front of my door. Because that is how it felt.
Call it American consumerism or Cancer sentimentality, but as I sat without my Mr. Bento, I sulked and stomped and almost cried (ask Valarie and Dylan). Today I matured past my tantrum to deal with FedEx and to email the seller. Several weeks of long beaurocratic process looms before me while I still sit empty-handed without my Mr. Bento.
In the mean time, I'll still frequent these sweet Bento sites to prepare in advance for the awesome lunches I will soon be bringing to work. If I ever get my Mr. Bento, that is.
I am so happy the weather has taken a turn for the "worst" in Seattle. I happily welcome back sweater weather with open arms.
Naysayer's say wait until you have lived here for a year. I may still have my newlywed love affair with Seattle, but I know this weather from growing up in the area until middle school and revisited it in my brief, but lovely, two years living in Portland. I am comfortable saying this weather suits me. Don't get me wrong - sunny days lounging in a park are wonderful. But I am happy wrapped up in a blanket reading all the same.
I do have this nagging suspicion though that this weather shift is to blame for making life hard today. Because, well, life is hard today. No need for public theatrics, but I think we all have those days. So when I get home I'll put on a big fluffy sweater, make some tea, play some Katamari, and let this day fade into oblivion.
In my defiance of posting a boring, tedious, wordy post about how lovely my labor day weekend holiday was with my fabulous friends from the Bay Area, I will only post a short synopsis of the shows I saw at Bumbershoot.
Saturday:
Chuck Palahniuk and Charles Burns: I was surprised to see the number of people that came out to see a cartoonist and a writer who has penned some of the most stomach churning novels of our lifetime. Nonetheless, Charles Burns' presentation was nice with slideshows of panels and a dry sense of humor. As predictable and low-key as it was, I found him to be an amusing man through things like his admittance of never maturing past adolecence. Chuck Palahniuk was a very confident speaker who understood his audience. He thew tiny bottles of booze into the audience, told a stomach wrenching tale called "Guts", and closed with tossing plastic limbs into the appreciative audience.
Of Montreal: Some people in the audience were noticably unimpressed with the band in drag being introduced as the "Black She-Males of Montreal." I was not of that faction. Of Montreal sounded totally different live, with a dance-pop feel that I enjoyed. While I can see why not everyone enjoyed the show, I had a blast watching them.
AFI: The funnest part of this show was protecting my shorty friends from the rabid, disenchanted crowd. For some reason every stoner in the audience wanted to light up near us and every sweaty frat boy at the show (solely to mosh) needed to wipe their sweaty arms all over me. And it was some of the purest fun I've had at a show in recent history. It was fun getting to push people away from my friends and watching 16 year old girls cry as they watched Davey sing. The music isn't really my bag, but it was a fun show to see.
Sunday:
Mates of State: This band has got to take honors for the cutest, most lovable band in the whole world. The husband and wife duo play affectionate, but interesting sounding songs. I was a bit started to see how many people were there and how different they sounded outside, but it was still a fun show to watch. I definitely prefer their sound indoors, but there seemed to be a more casual feel to their set and stage banter.
Zero 7: There was a whole mess of people on the stage, and as we were watching them set up all I could think is that they were either overcompensating for a bad live sound with volume of bodies or that they would be really boring because no one could move. Delightfully, my presumptions were wrong. They were lovely and talented and fun to watch. Sia, one of the vocalists, was charming and funny in her Australian ways. Not a single member of the band looked bored or like they weren't having fun, which influenced their presence.
Monday:
Nouvelle Vague: As a self-diagnosed Francophile, I expected that I would love this show. Their lounge-y covers of New Wave songs makes me do cute dances in our apartment, but seeing it live seemed flat in some way. The singers were cute and charming in the inexplicable French way, and I loved the pink haired accordion player, but there was no spark. It very well may have been my energy level too.
CocoRosie: I have really enjoyed the sisters' album and was pretty excited to see them. But not SUPER excited, if that makes sense. I wasn't even sure I would make it, as it coincided with Nouvelle Vague's set. But since I was fairly disappointed with their performance I was fine leaving early. Once I turned the corner to see the stage flanked by a romantic patio covered with outdoor lights and a green beer garden I knew that I made the right choice. Ambience aside, they sounded amazing. Supported by several musicians, including a rapper, added some dimension to their music that doesn't exist in album form. I was surprised to find myself disappointed that we had to leave early to catch the next show.
A Tribe Called Quest: Allow me to side-track for a moment. At the tender age of 14 I "discovered" the Beastie Boys. My favorite track is "Get it Together" off of Ill Communication, which features Q-Tip. Being the fan that I was I immediately ran out to get The Low End Theory and hated it. It was too much for my tender, immature ears. A couple years later in college I revisited A Tribe Called Quest to drastically different results. I love The Love Movement unlike most critics and was crushed when I learned that I missed their last show ever. In Chicago. Where I lived. So when I learned they decided to tour again, and were making a stop at Bumbershoot, I about lost it. So all these life moments built up to this show, where I became that starry eyed fourteen year old again as they came on stage. I made a decision that I wanted to watch the show from the floor, among all the sweaty, stinky, pot-smoking fans. And I am totally glad I did. The people I was down there with were as excited as I was. The music sounded was awesome and they didn't seem fatigued or out-of-synch, which almost made me forget the 8 year hiatus from being together or the fact that there was no new material outside of Q-Tip's solo hit "Vivrant Thing".
Someone please come over and pull the controller out of my hand (except you Dylan, cause I know you'd be stealing it to play yourself). I cannot stop playing Katamari Damacy. It's a bad, bad affliction. Dylan purchased it through Amazon, as our local game stores did not have any copies. Even though this game is years old, I can see why stores can't keep this game in stock. It's cute as hell, pretty difficult the further along you go, and aesthetically pleasing. Hell, I figure if it could force me to stop playing Kingdom Hearts (one hell of a feat), then praises be lauded.
I. CAN'T. STOP. PLAYING.
Because I am constantly daydreaming about places I want to travel, and today I'd rather be anywhere but here at work, I thought I'd limit my country list to 15 and share some interesting tidbits about places I want to go:
1. France: In France, the law guarantees everyone five weeks of vacation, and most full-time workers get two full months vacation.
2. Morocco: Rabat, the present capital of Morocco, was founded in the 12th century
3. Japan: The Japanese throne has been occupied by a member of the same family since the sixth century. The present emperor is the 125th in succession.
4. Portugal: A unusual museum named Museu da Imagem to be found at Campo das Hortas that contains 120.000 old glass photo negatives.
5. Cuba: When Ernest Hemingway met Fidel Castro in 1960, when Fidel awarded him several prizes for big game fishing.
6. India: India invented the Number System. Zero was invented by Aryabhatta.
7. Czech Republic: Every year on St. Václav Day weekend (weekend closest to 28 Sept), thousands of Czechs go to the forests in search of the special Václavky mushroom.
8. Germany: At the height of inflation in the early 1920's, one U.S. dollar was worth four quintillion German marks.
9. Scotland: Golf was invented in Scotland. It was entitled Gentlemen Only Ladies Forbidden and that put the word GOLF into the vocabulary?
10. Iceland: The people of Iceland read more books per capita than any other people in the world
11. Spain: Spain is the second most mountainous country in Europe after Switzerland.
12. Greece: The National Anthem of Greece has 158 verses.
13. Turkey: The only city in the world located on two continents is Istanbul.
14. New Zealand: No part of New Zealand is more than 128 km from the sea.
15. Belgium: Belgium is the only country that has never imposed censorship for adult films.
So there you have it - raw proof that everywhere else in the world is more interesting than where I am right now (in a cubicle trying to look like I am working while working my Google magic).
Perhaps it's just me, but I don't see the merit in sitting around at talking about Project Runway or Rockstar Supernova or whatever reality show is the object d'amor of the week. My co-workers bleed suburban: they all commute into Seattle and after work drive an hour to their safe enclaves of Renton or Burien or Kent. They love their Costco and their Target and their bland ethnic restaurant around the corner that they drive six blocks to pick up their take out dinners to their little boxes of a house that is sturdy and boring. I am not being elitist or even presumputious - these bits are all actually taken out of various conversations I've had with people here.
Maybe I'm jaded because I've lived that life. Or what felt like it anyway. Albuquerque, to me, feels like a sprawling suburb complete with strip malls and gas station convienence stores and bad restaurants with small pockets of interesting things to do and see. The suffocating feeling of being surrounded by bland, boring things made me move to Chicago right after high school, in a desperate move to infuse myself with some culture. Ends up, the college in Chicago was also in a suburb so I high-tailed it out of there too.
Suburban sprawl scares me. The movement of people out of the epicenter of a city to a smaller, less dense, less supported town seems disasterous to me. Thankfully, Seattle always has an influx of people moving from out-of-state to replace the Suburbanites and the city never feels incomplete. I understand the desire to raise your kids in a safe environment and wanting to stretch your dollar a bit more, but what about having your child go to a school with some ethnicity and character? How about NOT using your money to get a cookie-cutter house with a giant yard that will be covered with weeds and go unused, and instead buy-in to a historical building that has some flavor and interesing architecture?
