Hey, let’s move on to the happy happy! And kick that off with some top-notch geekery.
Ah. It feels good to get back to my regularly scheduled nerdy-grrrl programming.
Well. That’s that. Sort of. J is all moved into his new apartment and getting settled. My house, strangely enough, doesn’t look so very different. Where I am a packrat he is more of a minimalist…so he didn’t have that much stuff to move. But it’s going to be an interesting transition for the three of us. Not necessarily bad, mind you. J will have more peace and quiet without us. And he’ll be able to breathe more easily, without cat dander to aggravate his asthma.
Speaking of the cat…I brought her back from the vet Friday night. I allowed her to curl up in one of her usual spots, in the back of my closet, without considering the consequences. I checked on her the next morning. And discovered that she’d been so lethargic she hadn’t bothered to get up in the night. Instead she’d urinated where she was. In a rubbermaid bin. Filled with clothes. Specifically, my entire wardrobe of higher-end maternity clothes. If that’s not a sign from the powers that be - that I shouldn’t attempt to bear any more children - I don’t know what is. Also, I think this is the end of the road for poor Selina.
In happier news, the little man went to his first sleepover at a friend’s last night and had a wonderful time. And I went to a sold out show at the Turf Club. Each band was equally amazing. Thankfully someone else snapped off a shot of one of my favorite moments of the evening. The exploding rabbit makes me smile.
Bonus: How cute are these?
Plus: I’d really like to see Children of Men. J and I attempted to last night, but the theater seemed to be having technical difficulties and the lobby was in complete disarray.
And: I want an Army of Toast (via Fabulist). But I still haven’t amassed my flotilla of squid.
Saturday, January 6, 2007
One year ago today I was admitted to the hospital. Felix was already gone.
Thursday, January 4, 2007
Poor Selina is still at the kitty hospital. I’ll bring her home tomorrow afternoon, after a quick tutorial. The vet will show me how to feed her via syringe. If it’s Fatty Liver Disease this regular forcefeeding could just do the trick. If it’s not…well, I don’t want to consider the alternative right now.
Bonus: Meet the Real Sacha Baron Cohen - an interview by Terry Gross on Fresh Air.
Plus: Preshunk posts Pwn’d, one of the best Batman t-shirts I’ve ever seen. In other superhero news, Sketching a Toy Model using Spider-Man. Neat.
And: Eating In, interesting short fiction from a strange kind of madness (one of my fine flickr contacts is behind it).
Wednesday, January 3, 2007
Maybe my life isn’t like one train wreck after another. More like it’s filled with frequent fender benders. Each little crash, in and of itself, isn’t devastating. Just stressful. Each causes a spike of adrenaline and a temporary loss of forward momentum. It’s all fits and starts. Sadly 2007 is starting off no differently. When my eyes popped open this morning my stress dial instantly cranked itself to 11. But maybe I can pretend my new year starts next week.
For now, 5 Good Things:
- The little man, and his imagination. Every day his creativity amazes.
- Over the weekend I re-read The Time Traveler’s Wife. I love that book. So much.
- This American Life. Last night I listened to the “Seemed Like a Good Idea at the Time” episode, while playing Scrabble with myself, and I felt a little better.
- Giant steampunk robots! (via Drawn, another good thing)
- FlickrCentral’s Best of 2006. Some amazing shots to be seen.
Now it’s time to take poor Selina back to the vet. Again.
Bonus: Red Bamboo in Brooklyn. The menu makes me drool. In a good way.
Plus: This post’s title was lifted from Mr. Barrett Chase. Thanks for the inspiration.
And: Umm. That’s all folks.
Enough with the pity party already. Time for a fresh start. Maybe I’m feeling a bit more optimistic because I finally got out of my pajamas for the first time in days and took a shower. Go me.
Speaking of a fresh start…at long last I decided it was time. Time to retire my relic of a cell phone. It’s over five years old. But there aren’t any enticing upgrades available through my service provider. Instead I opted to buy an unlocked phone off ebay, and used Flickr’s camera finder to help me choose the best candidate. The Sony Ericsson K800i was tempting, what with its 3.2MP CyberShot camera, but still too expensive. Instead I went with the Sony Ericsson W800i (even though it was released at the end of 2005, it seems like a solid phone and the photo quality is decent).
Also looking ahead…there may be a trip in my future, some time in April. Now I have to figure out if it’s going to be Disneyland or Euro Disney. Well, not exactly. Let me explain. The little man’s paternal grandparents plan to take him to Disneyland. While he’s with them I could go elsewhere. For instance I could try to pull off a European vacation on the cheap. Or I could tag along with them for part of their trip, then rent a car for some solo adventures in L.A. I wouldn’t mind making a pilgrimage to the Giant Robot Empire. And to Amoeba Records. And Real Food Daily and Erewhon, and who knows where else. And there are a few folks I’d love to meet up with - people I’ve known IRL (Michelle, when was the last time I saw you?) and a few flickr friends. So we’ll see what happens. Nice to have something to look forward to though.
In movie news, I’d like to see Pan’s Labyrinth. And I am oh-so-excited about the release of Neil Gaiman’s Stardust. And what the hell…I’ll be seeing the upcoming Transformers movie. Mock me or join me.
Bonus: We Are Milk. Not entirely sure what that means, but I love it. The creativity. Simply gorgeous. I hope they post more videos.
Plus: My good pal will be home visiting in a few weeks. I can’t wait for Christmas in January! Hopefully I won’t misplace her presents before then.
And: Now it’s time for my first lunch of the year. No, I’m not trying to compete for the most boring blog title, I promise. Just excited to have an appetite again. Oh, and I did not hurl on New Year’s Eve after all. Take that! Umm, someone. Or something.
Sunday, December 31, 2006
How happy am I that this miserable excuse of a year is nearly over? Sure, it can be argued that moving from one calendar year to another is arbitrary, that it’s just a date. But somehow it feels significant.
2006 Highlights:
- The little man was issued his first library card, and his first passport. J and I took him to Iceland (using the latter, I don’t think the former would have worked).
- The kraken! This tattoo makes me smile.
- A few of my favorite photos were shown in an art exhibit in Minneapolis.
- After languishing on the To Do list for years I finally joined the YWCA and have been going regularly. Especially pleased about setting the little man up with one-on-one swimming lessons.
- This year I’ve made it out to more live music shows than I did in the last several years combined.
- I upgraded to a shiny new camera and now have my own car (function over form, I swear).
- The living room is now a gorgeous shade of green. And I painted it all by myself.
- I met some lovely people this year, including other local photo nerds via the Twin Cities flickr photo group. I especially enjoyed our photo walks and look forward to many more of those next year.
2006 Lowlights:
- The baby died.
- My cat who had been with me for 14 years became seriously ill and had to be put to sleep.
- The little man’s diagnosis was changed from PDD-NOS to PDD, which, on the autism spectrum, is more severe. And he had to undergo an MRI.
- My marriage imploded. It was inevitable.
- J is moving out in a week (on the anniversary of the baby’s death no less). It’ll be good in the long run, but very sad, just the same.
- With just my income, the little man and I won’t be able to move to Minneapolis any time soon. So our future will be filled with even more commutes, shuttling back and forth from St. Paul.
- I’ve felt even less focused and more pessimistic than usual. I’m disappointed in myself, and really don’t want to disappoint others.
No idea what 2007 holds in store for us, but it has got to be an improvement over this one. And hopefully I’ll finally get over this lingering cold. Grrrr.
Saturday, December 30, 2006
I hadn’t been inside the Uptown Bar in years, but last night I stopped by to see STNNNG. They played last. The first band was one of Arzu’s projects, Spider Fighter. Not familiar with the other bands, and that’s all right. During their sets I spent some time chatting with folks. And that was good. I needed to be out. With people.
Tonight I may finally experience the spectacle that is Total Fucking Blood. I feel like I need to get it all in now. Not because it’s the end of the year, but because it’s the end of an era. J moves out next weekend. The house is a complete mess and I don’t know if it’s being made worse because he’s started packing…or if packing is more difficult for him because the house is in such a state to begin with (or both). Either way I haven’t had the motivation to do much about it. I’m not one for New Year’s resolutions - they are all doomed to fail - but I am making a note to self: next year, get house sorted. Also: get self sorted.
Bonus: Innovative filmmakers who will blow your toddler’s mind (or pre-schooler’s, or grade schooler’s, or grown up friends’ minds).
Plus: The little man has lost yet another tooth. At least this has improved the symmetry in his mouth, but it may make chewing more difficult for a time.
And: One of the headlights went out in my new(to me) car. With a little assistance I was able to replace it, and now feel confident that I could do it on my own next time.
Wednesday, December 27, 2006
Joe tagged me over a week ago, but compiling my list has been slow-going. Mostly because I’ve been so prolific with the blogging, I don’t want to tell yawl something you already know.
- I abhor the sound of people eating. The worst? Slurping. Followed by cutlery clanking against teeth. Oh, and the pouring of liquid. Hate hate hate those sounds.
- Any hardcover books that enter our home are immediately stripped of their dust jackets. I’m not entirely sure why.
- In school I had detention just once. In sixth grade. I was busted for forging my mother’s name on a permission slip for a field trip. Which she would have signed herself, if I’d only remembered to give it to her.
- When I was visiting a friend in Morocco I had my hands decorated with henna, then utterly failed to photograph them…even though the designs were intact for weeks. Still kicking myself about it.
- Between June of 1973 and June of 1991 I lived in the same house (and it was the house my Dad grew up in as well). Between June of 1991 and June of 1999 I lived in nine different houses/apartments. Since July of 1999 I’ve lived in just one. And while I do love this house I wish I could pick it up and move it to Minneapolis.
Not super duper exciting, but there you go. In turn I’m tagging Craig, Geek Darling, Irish Girl, Matt and Waitress Dreams.
Bonus: Tomorrow my favorite movie theater, the Riverview, is screening the LoTR trilogy. The extended versions. Starting at 11am and ending some time after 10pm. That might just be too much of a good thing.
Plus: iTWYF (I Touch With Your Fingers). Unfortunately they’re only available in leather.
And: Something I experience daily…the caffeine curve.
Tuesday, December 26, 2006
The long slog (a.k.a. holiday hell) is nearly over. But being up with people for so long has taken its toll, with my cold taking a turn for the worse. Naturally I don’t want this thing to kick my ass. But I have a time honored tradition to uphold, of hurling on New Year’s Eve/New Year’s Day. And this without any alcohol. It’s been food poisoning or stomach flu that gets me. So maybe this cold will soon morph into something even more special.
I have been able to keep my mind off feeling like crap, for short periods of time at least. Today a friend and I went to the dollar theater to see Marie Anoinette, which we both enjoyed. Such ridiculous decadence…but just the sort of eye candy I was in the mood for. Other delightful distractions are in the queue. Yesterday I received My Secret: A PostSecret book, the second such from the good people at the PostSecret blog (where “shared confessions are an art form”). Another friend gave me the Total Fucking Blood disc, plus two volumes of the Astonishing X-Men (Gifted and Dangerous) penned by my man Joss Whedon. Squeee!
But right now I feel the need…the need for sleep.
