That's right, you know what town I'm talking about...
BERKELEY
My reunion was last month, and I was delighted to use the excuse to get back in touch with many amazing, warm and deeply good people. Last Sunday, a few of us went to see Yellow Jackets at the Berkeley Rep. The play got poor reviews, but since it was about our high school around the time we were there, it seemed worth the $40 (yikes!).
The play started a bit disjointedly. A series of disconnected scenes introduced us a series of characters who we didn't know the relationship among. They presented interesting stories themselves, but it hardly seemed like it would sustain an entire play. Then, right before the intermission, a story began to reveal itself. I was on the edge of my seat.
Everything about the play was so familiar: the tracking problem, the teachers and the administration and their dynamic, the buildings discussed, the pranks completed, even the slang I knew. I completely suspended disbelieve without being conscious of it. Art imitates life, and life imitates art; this art reminded me of things I don't mind remembering but that live in my memory beneath layers of things I'm dying to forget.
During the play, I was completely right there. This state continued even when the end went on too long. But now, thinking back, I loved that sound bite:
"...this ridiculous village of hypocrites..."
I paraphrase the response: This is where you are from, and this will always be where you are from. So, you might as well deal with it.
I loved grad school at Berkeley. It might be the best thing that ever happened to me, as well as the most challenging, but the town and its townies (with many exceptions) frighten me. I don't want to spend too much time there partly because I think I am allergic to the air quality and party because the politics and social dynamics make me feel like a pile of rotting fruit.
My friends from HS remain awesome tho. The play will give you a vivid picture of my experience coming of age.
Tuesday, September 30, 2008
Saturday, September 27, 2008
Bar Debate
I did something fun last night. I watched the presidential debate in a bar. I don't know why this had never occurred to me to do before. We had plans for happy hour that turned out to coincide both with the debate and with the bar having an event in its honor.
Two problems arose: 1) the bar became incredibly crowded. We had to stand the whole time. 2) we couldn't actually speak to each other because, well, the debate was on. In some cases, that would have been more interesting.
I read a review of the debate this morning because I need to be told what to think about politics. I learned that both candidates are boring (who hasn't been?) -- I was definitely bored, and that while McCain preformed better, the debate was a tie leaving Obama still in the lead.
I found this paragraph particularly interesting: "There was lots of great body language to read. Obama looks down when he's saying something unpleasant—like delivering an attack on his opponent. Obama looked at the audience more (as Kennedy did in 1960), McCain talked to the moderator (as Nixon had). When McCain was talking, Obama looked at him, like he was a listener. McCain stared straight ahead when Obama was speaking, which at times made it appear as if Obama was scolding him for denting the car." Slate
I'm also curious if anyone is going to talk about their tie choices: I like Obama's better. McCain's stripes gave me a headache.
I've got to run off to the gallery, but I wanted to post something not completely self-absorbed for a change. No, I am not freaking out about the state of the economy.
Two problems arose: 1) the bar became incredibly crowded. We had to stand the whole time. 2) we couldn't actually speak to each other because, well, the debate was on. In some cases, that would have been more interesting.
I read a review of the debate this morning because I need to be told what to think about politics. I learned that both candidates are boring (who hasn't been?) -- I was definitely bored, and that while McCain preformed better, the debate was a tie leaving Obama still in the lead.
I found this paragraph particularly interesting: "There was lots of great body language to read. Obama looks down when he's saying something unpleasant—like delivering an attack on his opponent. Obama looked at the audience more (as Kennedy did in 1960), McCain talked to the moderator (as Nixon had). When McCain was talking, Obama looked at him, like he was a listener. McCain stared straight ahead when Obama was speaking, which at times made it appear as if Obama was scolding him for denting the car." Slate
I'm also curious if anyone is going to talk about their tie choices: I like Obama's better. McCain's stripes gave me a headache.
I've got to run off to the gallery, but I wanted to post something not completely self-absorbed for a change. No, I am not freaking out about the state of the economy.
Wednesday, September 24, 2008
Monday, September 22, 2008
The World's Not Falling Apart
Dar Williams: The World's Not Falling Apart (song lyrics)
Welcome to the golden age of speed with grace
Waiting for the angry gods to smite our race
I logged on to Africa in just one day
I opened a door and that's OK
It's not an end it's just a start
Not an end it's just a start
The world's not falling apart
The world's not falling apart
Because of me
I have watched the kids who make their scenes
I have met the riot girls who print their zines
They write the word, they raise a thought
They say who they are, they try what they're not
Because life is such a changing art
Life is such a changing art
The world's not falling apart
The world's not falling apart
Because of me
The closest thing to God that i have heard
Is when i knew i did not have the final word
You say the world has lost it's love
I say embrace what it's made of
I'll snake a camera to your heart
Snake a camera to your heart
The world's not falling apart
The world's not falling apart
Because of me
I listen to Dar a lot especially when I am looking for answers. She seems to provide them. I went to yoga tonight at my gym. I heard people ask for various emphases: hamstrings, knee strengthening; but I didn't hear anyone ask for digestive assistance. She may have thought that one up on her own. During savasana, she talked about how letting go feels painful, but it opens us up to new things.
My team at work is great. The other teams can be more of a challenge for us. Today, I learned that two other teams made a series of decisions about my project without telling me (or presumably anyone on my team or they would have told me I hope). Planning is something you *have to do* between the conception of an idea and its construction. I think I managed to talk them into actually incorporating our collaboratively-determined plans into their manifestation.
My first thought when I learned of their initial decision without me was "can I break up with these people?" Because breaking up can get habit forming. After I broke up with Grayson, I felt inclined to fire my employees at the end of each day. They didn't think that joke was very funny. I don't know why. You probably know that I broke up with my boyfriend a couple months ago. (considering that I have exactly 6 readers -- I assume you all know me.) I don't usually break up with people because I can't stand hurting people's feelings, but sometimes a woman is pushed to her limit. So, I realized that my first temptation with these other teams was to dump them out of habit.
Of course, that isn't possible. And this is probably a really good life lesson. I tend to overexamine ideas until they are transparent like thin mountain air, and then I follow my gut. I've talked about that a lot -- I read a study that said that's the best way to make decisions. I also learned in Stumbling on Happiness (which I listened to on my iPod bc like everyone else I no longer read.
Actually, that merits a tangent. Did you read the article that claimed that we as a society no longer read, and it's Google's fault? I didn't. I listened to a podcast of people talking about it. Case in point. Sorry, I can't find the source -- maybe the Washington Post???)
...that we cannot predict our own happiness. The best gauge of what will make us happy is to examine where other people have found happiness. That's tricky because I don't know that many happy people who I admire enough to emulate. But I do think that staying in a relationship being miserable can't possibly be the right thing to do. When Jared broke up with me in 2006, I believed it was absolutely the wrong thing to do. My sister told me that if, after a while, we both came to the conclusion that we should be together, we would certainly find our way back together again. But, of course, instead we both got over it and moved on. I suspect me more than him since I cyberstalked him once since we split up, and my tracker suggests that he reads this blog with some regularity.
On the other hand (isn't there always another hand? How many hands do we really need?), I've heard couples say that they "just let it get away" which makes me wonder if love is really so unstable. Or, rather, why it is? My mother clipped an article for me from National Geographic that said that the average feeling of being "in love" lasts up to 4 years because that's how long it takes for a child to be conceived and grow to no longer be completely dependent on its parents. Interesting, this is consistent with Brian's theory about our modern lives breaking up naturally into 5-year cycles. I can see my life breaking up into segments, but they don't necessarily have to do with any particular relationship or standard time period.
I no longer believe in true love or destiny, but I do believe that if I listen to my gut, even if what it is telling me hurts, I will find my right path.
Welcome to the golden age of speed with grace
Waiting for the angry gods to smite our race
I logged on to Africa in just one day
I opened a door and that's OK
It's not an end it's just a start
Not an end it's just a start
The world's not falling apart
The world's not falling apart
Because of me
I have watched the kids who make their scenes
I have met the riot girls who print their zines
They write the word, they raise a thought
They say who they are, they try what they're not
Because life is such a changing art
Life is such a changing art
The world's not falling apart
The world's not falling apart
Because of me
The closest thing to God that i have heard
Is when i knew i did not have the final word
You say the world has lost it's love
I say embrace what it's made of
I'll snake a camera to your heart
Snake a camera to your heart
The world's not falling apart
The world's not falling apart
Because of me
I listen to Dar a lot especially when I am looking for answers. She seems to provide them. I went to yoga tonight at my gym. I heard people ask for various emphases: hamstrings, knee strengthening; but I didn't hear anyone ask for digestive assistance. She may have thought that one up on her own. During savasana, she talked about how letting go feels painful, but it opens us up to new things.
My team at work is great. The other teams can be more of a challenge for us. Today, I learned that two other teams made a series of decisions about my project without telling me (or presumably anyone on my team or they would have told me I hope). Planning is something you *have to do* between the conception of an idea and its construction. I think I managed to talk them into actually incorporating our collaboratively-determined plans into their manifestation.
My first thought when I learned of their initial decision without me was "can I break up with these people?" Because breaking up can get habit forming. After I broke up with Grayson, I felt inclined to fire my employees at the end of each day. They didn't think that joke was very funny. I don't know why. You probably know that I broke up with my boyfriend a couple months ago. (considering that I have exactly 6 readers -- I assume you all know me.) I don't usually break up with people because I can't stand hurting people's feelings, but sometimes a woman is pushed to her limit. So, I realized that my first temptation with these other teams was to dump them out of habit.
Of course, that isn't possible. And this is probably a really good life lesson. I tend to overexamine ideas until they are transparent like thin mountain air, and then I follow my gut. I've talked about that a lot -- I read a study that said that's the best way to make decisions. I also learned in Stumbling on Happiness (which I listened to on my iPod bc like everyone else I no longer read.
Actually, that merits a tangent. Did you read the article that claimed that we as a society no longer read, and it's Google's fault? I didn't. I listened to a podcast of people talking about it. Case in point. Sorry, I can't find the source -- maybe the Washington Post???)
...that we cannot predict our own happiness. The best gauge of what will make us happy is to examine where other people have found happiness. That's tricky because I don't know that many happy people who I admire enough to emulate. But I do think that staying in a relationship being miserable can't possibly be the right thing to do. When Jared broke up with me in 2006, I believed it was absolutely the wrong thing to do. My sister told me that if, after a while, we both came to the conclusion that we should be together, we would certainly find our way back together again. But, of course, instead we both got over it and moved on. I suspect me more than him since I cyberstalked him once since we split up, and my tracker suggests that he reads this blog with some regularity.
On the other hand (isn't there always another hand? How many hands do we really need?), I've heard couples say that they "just let it get away" which makes me wonder if love is really so unstable. Or, rather, why it is? My mother clipped an article for me from National Geographic that said that the average feeling of being "in love" lasts up to 4 years because that's how long it takes for a child to be conceived and grow to no longer be completely dependent on its parents. Interesting, this is consistent with Brian's theory about our modern lives breaking up naturally into 5-year cycles. I can see my life breaking up into segments, but they don't necessarily have to do with any particular relationship or standard time period.
I no longer believe in true love or destiny, but I do believe that if I listen to my gut, even if what it is telling me hurts, I will find my right path.
Sunday, September 21, 2008
Mido a Velib'
When I was 14, my family sent me to live with a French family in Paris who none of us had met. As it turned out, they didn't know I was coming and were expecting another little girl instead. So, both American little girls spent the summer with this French family. Today, the bonus child (me) visits them annually.
On my last day in Paris this year, we went to dinner near Nation. I had spent my day receiving a wonderful inside tour of the Vélib' program which included my very own Vélib' card even though I don't have the right kind of credit card to use the system (with that European chip). No one in my French family is enrolled in the Vélib' program. I used my complementary card to let my French mother, Mido, try out the bicycles. Look how stylish and perfectly Parisienne she is.
One of the reasons they don't use Vélib' is because they worry about riding on the streets with traffic. (We know that's just something you get used to.)
She loved it.
I think it was a little stressful for Mido's husband, adult daughter and son-in-law to watch her tootle around the wide Parisien streets.
On my last day in Paris this year, we went to dinner near Nation. I had spent my day receiving a wonderful inside tour of the Vélib' program which included my very own Vélib' card even though I don't have the right kind of credit card to use the system (with that European chip). No one in my French family is enrolled in the Vélib' program. I used my complementary card to let my French mother, Mido, try out the bicycles. Look how stylish and perfectly Parisienne she is.
One of the reasons they don't use Vélib' is because they worry about riding on the streets with traffic. (We know that's just something you get used to.)
She loved it.
I think it was a little stressful for Mido's husband, adult daughter and son-in-law to watch her tootle around the wide Parisien streets.
Saturday, September 20, 2008
Fairness
I was all dressed up to go out last night, and then I undressed and went to bed instead. It sounds like my friend survived, and I slept for 13 hours. Am I sick?
"A new study from researchers at UCLA shows that getting a fair offer, such as evenly splitting the dinner tab, sparks the same brain pathways that get fired up when you win money or eat chocolate. It's just another reason to always act equitably towards friends and strangers alike." I'm not sure about that last leap of narrative, but I definitely judge people and actions based on their relative fairness. I'm just not sure that what is fair is always objective. The decision is easy when, for example, my dish was $17 more than a companion's but he tells me I owe $32 more of the bill -- that wasn't fair. But what about the distribution of time or effort spent on a relationship? What about how couples decide about their future (whether its where to live, whether to get married or split up, or which friends they cultivate)?
On "How I met your mother" the Doogie Howser character, who is supposed to be a womanizer, explains to another character how he does it. He flirts with a girl and then subtly insults her. The woman then, I guess, feels she has something to prove to this suitor; so, she goes home with him to try to make him like her. I was out on a date the other day, and the gentleman tried that one on me. Of course, I wasn't going to take him home that night anyway, but I emailed him a few days later to let him off the hook for future dates. Around the same time, a guy was hitting on me at a bar and tried something similar. I walked away.
So, at this dinner the other night, I asked my gentleman friends about it. One said, "oh, yes. There is a book called 'The Game.'" ...I guess this one is a sort of "different strokes for different folks" observation. I've definitely been in relationships where my boyfriend let me know that I wasn't "all that", but, well, I'm not in any of those relationships anymore obviously. AND that happened long after the deal was sealed.
I wasn't sure if this post was going to make any sense, but suddenly it does. If you don't find me attractive, don't date me. If you don't want to pay your portion of the bill, don't eat at the restaurant (gosh, that works literally and figuratively). As JoAnne said ages ago: "if you're not ready to be rejected, you're not ready to date." But wait, there's more. I say: If you're not ready to treat others with kindness, fairness and compassion, you're not ready for social society.
...although, in reality, people will probably put up with you anyway. Those people might just not include me. And you might be fine with that.
"Manners are the way we show other people that they matter."
-Mr. Manners, QDNow
"A new study from researchers at UCLA shows that getting a fair offer, such as evenly splitting the dinner tab, sparks the same brain pathways that get fired up when you win money or eat chocolate. It's just another reason to always act equitably towards friends and strangers alike." I'm not sure about that last leap of narrative, but I definitely judge people and actions based on their relative fairness. I'm just not sure that what is fair is always objective. The decision is easy when, for example, my dish was $17 more than a companion's but he tells me I owe $32 more of the bill -- that wasn't fair. But what about the distribution of time or effort spent on a relationship? What about how couples decide about their future (whether its where to live, whether to get married or split up, or which friends they cultivate)?
On "How I met your mother" the Doogie Howser character, who is supposed to be a womanizer, explains to another character how he does it. He flirts with a girl and then subtly insults her. The woman then, I guess, feels she has something to prove to this suitor; so, she goes home with him to try to make him like her. I was out on a date the other day, and the gentleman tried that one on me. Of course, I wasn't going to take him home that night anyway, but I emailed him a few days later to let him off the hook for future dates. Around the same time, a guy was hitting on me at a bar and tried something similar. I walked away.
So, at this dinner the other night, I asked my gentleman friends about it. One said, "oh, yes. There is a book called 'The Game.'" ...I guess this one is a sort of "different strokes for different folks" observation. I've definitely been in relationships where my boyfriend let me know that I wasn't "all that", but, well, I'm not in any of those relationships anymore obviously. AND that happened long after the deal was sealed.
I wasn't sure if this post was going to make any sense, but suddenly it does. If you don't find me attractive, don't date me. If you don't want to pay your portion of the bill, don't eat at the restaurant (gosh, that works literally and figuratively). As JoAnne said ages ago: "if you're not ready to be rejected, you're not ready to date." But wait, there's more. I say: If you're not ready to treat others with kindness, fairness and compassion, you're not ready for social society.
...although, in reality, people will probably put up with you anyway. Those people might just not include me. And you might be fine with that.
"Manners are the way we show other people that they matter."
-Mr. Manners, QDNow
Friday, September 19, 2008
My angel
I went up to Union Square to get my boyfriend a birthday present. Unfortunately, I had to break up with him before I gave it to him, but, fortunately, I could return it.
I tend to keep my travels in the city limited. The Mission is easy and obvious. Upper Market, SoMa, Hayes Valley, the Panhandle, Castro, Duboce Triangle, and even Civic Center happen regularly. But I almost never trek those extra few blocks to our central shopping district. So, it felt like a big hassle, a big waste of time, to have to go their twice within a week.
This stylish lady turned out to be my angel in little tweed jacket, pink patterned helmet, cute flats and gloves, because even if I had to travel to a strange and distant district twice when I was already suffering, she looked good, and I snapped her photo. So, the errand was saved. Remember that next time you dress for your bicycle and give the broken-hearted a boost by looking extra nice.
I tend to keep my travels in the city limited. The Mission is easy and obvious. Upper Market, SoMa, Hayes Valley, the Panhandle, Castro, Duboce Triangle, and even Civic Center happen regularly. But I almost never trek those extra few blocks to our central shopping district. So, it felt like a big hassle, a big waste of time, to have to go their twice within a week.
This stylish lady turned out to be my angel in little tweed jacket, pink patterned helmet, cute flats and gloves, because even if I had to travel to a strange and distant district twice when I was already suffering, she looked good, and I snapped her photo. So, the errand was saved. Remember that next time you dress for your bicycle and give the broken-hearted a boost by looking extra nice.
Thursday, September 18, 2008
PARK(ing) Day TOMORROW
PARK(ing) Day is a one-day, global event centered in San Francisco where artists, activists, and citizens collaborate to temporarily transform metered parking spots into “PARK(ing)” spaces: temporary public parks.
Wednesday, September 17, 2008
Obama for President!
This is not a political blog, but we do want to make one thing perfectly clear:
Tuesday, September 16, 2008
The Duchess
I really try to do things that will make me happy. My coworker said yesterday: "Yeah, you don't really seem to commit to things." It bothered me. I'm trying to commit. Meanwhile, I went to the movies with Sultan tonight, a pre-release movie: The Duchess. Life is misery. Men suck. I went to the movies to get out there and increase my input, and now I just feel like drinking until I puke. I know, I'm too old for that. But the impulse remains.
I love my job and photo a day blog. That's more than a lot of people can say.
I love my job and photo a day blog. That's more than a lot of people can say.
Homemade Boots
People often ask why I am taking their pictures. Sometimes, they don't like it, but usually they're flattered while still wanting an explanation. I told this woman in explanation, "I love your boots."
She replied, "Oh, I made them."
Which got me to thinking... Wouldn't it be amazing if we could all make our own clothes? It was all I could do to keep from yelling "I love you" as she rode away.
I tried to learn to sew years ago. I've tried to learn to knit... and paint. I have no talent for manual dexterity, and I regret it. Worse than no talent, my fingers have a poison for details. But I can fix my own bike, edit my own photos and type up words that are sometimes even spelled correctly. Having this incredibly talented woman bike past me made me hope all over again for a new set of talents in my next lifetime.
Or whatever.
You know what I mean.
She replied, "Oh, I made them."
Which got me to thinking... Wouldn't it be amazing if we could all make our own clothes? It was all I could do to keep from yelling "I love you" as she rode away.
I tried to learn to sew years ago. I've tried to learn to knit... and paint. I have no talent for manual dexterity, and I regret it. Worse than no talent, my fingers have a poison for details. But I can fix my own bike, edit my own photos and type up words that are sometimes even spelled correctly. Having this incredibly talented woman bike past me made me hope all over again for a new set of talents in my next lifetime.
Or whatever.
You know what I mean.
Monday, September 15, 2008
Could she BE more San Francisco?
To be perfectly honest, I'm not quite sure what this young woman is wearing. (Can you help?)
I do know that it looks so perfect, so quintessentially San Francisco, with the short dress (is that a dress or a skirt?), t-shirt, leggings, fixie, brooks saddle, hair cut.... All I know is that she looked so good when she pulled up next to me at a Mission red light that I asked if I could record her look for posterity.
I do know that it looks so perfect, so quintessentially San Francisco, with the short dress (is that a dress or a skirt?), t-shirt, leggings, fixie, brooks saddle, hair cut.... All I know is that she looked so good when she pulled up next to me at a Mission red light that I asked if I could record her look for posterity.
Sunday, September 14, 2008
Love and other disasters
We can only stand so much wisdom. I have had the movie Love and Other Disasters in my instant view netflix queue for a while bc I like the name. Today, I went to Sunday Streets, where they blocked off a street along the eastern portion of the City for people to bike, skate and otherwise enjoy the street without dangerous cars from Chinatown to Bayview. I found Jason, Brian and friend-from-out-of-town Dara immediately upon arriving at the event by accident. We had a lovely time and of course saw everyone we know. I'll probably post some photos somewhere sometime.
Near the end of our time together (I had a massage appointment at 3), they shared with me that they'd recently watched Love and Other Disasters and learned about the farting stages of relationships:
Stage 1: denial -- you both pretend that you don't fart or produce any waste.
Stage 2: intimacy -- you find out that your partner farts, and you think it's adorable.
Stage 3: reality -- you either accept that your partner farts and produces waste or you find them disgusting bc of it.
My response: Oh, you mean you either like them or you don't like them enough to stay together. duh.
I have been miserable in a lot of relationships... ~8 (defined as serious, consistent and lasting more than 6 months). Sure, I've liked some of them more than others. I've stayed with them after I should have left. I've waited for them to come back after I should have moved on. But none of that is real measure of how much I liked them. My project over recent years is to try to pay attention to how much I like people rather than reacting to how much they like me. (I see my sister and other friends making this mistake over and over.) The exercise is extremely challenging.
Tonight, I streamed the movie. The farting thing was cute, but to me not really the point. More truth, I thought, was in the ending message: love is a choice. That is, you choose to love someone who:
1) you like. (not to be confused with who likes you.)
2) really wants to be in a relationship with you.
3) is available and an appropriate choice. (not with someone else, the ex of your best friend, unable to leave another country, and/or the wrong age, class, education level and/or with the wrong interests or belief system etc.)
Meeting someone with those characteristics can take time. But it doesn't take that much time.
I've been dating for 20 years, and I've had relationships with a few people who met those qualifications. I can tell you with absolute certainty, finding them may be the part that movies are about, the interesting part, but it isn't the hard part. The hard part is finding happiness with this person who you love and who loves you. The hard part is staying together.
True love used to be my goal. I lost that religion. From observing my own life and the lives of people around me, I know with absolute certainty that love is not enough. I don't know what my future will bring, but I care for that future self as if she were my child. The one thing I wish for her more than anything else is that she be happy.
Near the end of our time together (I had a massage appointment at 3), they shared with me that they'd recently watched Love and Other Disasters and learned about the farting stages of relationships:
Stage 1: denial -- you both pretend that you don't fart or produce any waste.
Stage 2: intimacy -- you find out that your partner farts, and you think it's adorable.
Stage 3: reality -- you either accept that your partner farts and produces waste or you find them disgusting bc of it.
My response: Oh, you mean you either like them or you don't like them enough to stay together. duh.
I have been miserable in a lot of relationships... ~8 (defined as serious, consistent and lasting more than 6 months). Sure, I've liked some of them more than others. I've stayed with them after I should have left. I've waited for them to come back after I should have moved on. But none of that is real measure of how much I liked them. My project over recent years is to try to pay attention to how much I like people rather than reacting to how much they like me. (I see my sister and other friends making this mistake over and over.) The exercise is extremely challenging.
Tonight, I streamed the movie. The farting thing was cute, but to me not really the point. More truth, I thought, was in the ending message: love is a choice. That is, you choose to love someone who:
1) you like. (not to be confused with who likes you.)
2) really wants to be in a relationship with you.
3) is available and an appropriate choice. (not with someone else, the ex of your best friend, unable to leave another country, and/or the wrong age, class, education level and/or with the wrong interests or belief system etc.)
Meeting someone with those characteristics can take time. But it doesn't take that much time.
I've been dating for 20 years, and I've had relationships with a few people who met those qualifications. I can tell you with absolute certainty, finding them may be the part that movies are about, the interesting part, but it isn't the hard part. The hard part is finding happiness with this person who you love and who loves you. The hard part is staying together.
True love used to be my goal. I lost that religion. From observing my own life and the lives of people around me, I know with absolute certainty that love is not enough. I don't know what my future will bring, but I care for that future self as if she were my child. The one thing I wish for her more than anything else is that she be happy.
Saturday, September 13, 2008
Staying together
I ran into this little family. She asked me: "Are you going to the Tour de Fat"?
"Why yes," I replied. "You must be too?"
"No," she said (earnestly). "We dress up like this every day."
It bears repeating:
Families that dress up in clown outfits and ride their bikes together, stay together.
How do I make sure I will be like you when I grow up?
Saturday, September 06, 2008
Some FAKE words from Governor Palin
Alas, these words are wrongly attributed.
From interviews with Governor Palin by the Anchorage Daily News in 2006 when she was running for Governor
On Creationism:
The simple yet elegantly awkward moose proves God's creation and not evolution is the source of all life. How could something as oddly shaped and silly looking as a moose evolve through so-called "natural selection?" Is evolution a committee? There is nothing natural about a dorky moose! Only God could have made a moose and given it huge antlers to fight off his predatory enemies. God has a well known sense of humor, I mean He made the platypus too.
On oil exploration and drilling in the ANWR:
God made dinosaurs 4,000 years ago as ultimately flawed creatures, lizards of Satan really, so when they died and became petroleum products we, made in his perfect image, could use them in our pickup trucks, snow machines and fishing boats.
Now, as to the ANWR, Todd and I often enjoying caribou hunting and one year we shot up a herd big time, I mean I personally slaughtered around 40 of them with my new, at the time, custom Austri an hunting rifle. And guess what? That caribou herd is still around and even bigger than ever. Caribou herds actually need culling, be it by rifles or wolves, or Exxon-Mobil oil rigs, they do just great!
On Alaskans serving overseas in Iraq:
Well, God bless them, and I mean God and Jesus because without Jesus we'd be Muslims too or Jewish, which would be a little better because of the superior Israeli Air Force.
From interviews with Governor Palin by the Anchorage Daily News in 2006 when she was running for Governor
On Creationism:
The simple yet elegantly awkward moose proves God's creation and not evolution is the source of all life. How could something as oddly shaped and silly looking as a moose evolve through so-called "natural selection?" Is evolution a committee? There is nothing natural about a dorky moose! Only God could have made a moose and given it huge antlers to fight off his predatory enemies. God has a well known sense of humor, I mean He made the platypus too.
On oil exploration and drilling in the ANWR:
God made dinosaurs 4,000 years ago as ultimately flawed creatures, lizards of Satan really, so when they died and became petroleum products we, made in his perfect image, could use them in our pickup trucks, snow machines and fishing boats.
Now, as to the ANWR, Todd and I often enjoying caribou hunting and one year we shot up a herd big time, I mean I personally slaughtered around 40 of them with my new, at the time, custom Austri an hunting rifle. And guess what? That caribou herd is still around and even bigger than ever. Caribou herds actually need culling, be it by rifles or wolves, or Exxon-Mobil oil rigs, they do just great!
On Alaskans serving overseas in Iraq:
Well, God bless them, and I mean God and Jesus because without Jesus we'd be Muslims too or Jewish, which would be a little better because of the superior Israeli Air Force.
Happy Trails to Sheila.
We went to a nearby wine bar after my gallery party last night. The gallery is celebrating its 10-year anniversary this month. The air was blazing hot -- funny I'm the only one who appears to be feeling it in the photo. Sheila's moving to Barcelona in a few days. We will miss her.
More from David Byrne
NYT: David Byrne, Cultural Omnivore, Raises Cycling Rack to an Art Form, By ARIEL KAMINER, August 8, 2008"David Byrne is an installation artist, author, blogger, recording executive, photographer, film director and PowerPoint enthusiast. He’s even been known to dabble in music. But in certain New York neighborhoods he may be most visible as a bicycle rider, a lanky figure pedaling around the Lower East Side, or from Bay Ridge out to Coney Island in Brooklyn or up to the Bronx Museum of the Arts.
..."
Wednesday, September 03, 2008
Back!
My flight landed 30 minutes early due to favorable winds last night. I slept from 10 pm until 2, 3, 4 and 6 am and ate a burrito for lunch. My apartment is blazing hot sorta like the air outside... a lot warmer than Paris right now. I've talked with friends, updated Netflix regarding the movies I watched on the plane (Made of Honor - 2 stars, 21 and What Happens in Vegas - 3 stars, Fools Gold - 4 stars for personal reasons), watered my tomatoes, picked up my contacts and more sunscreen, done laundry, and now I have about a thousand photos to sort through. Oh, yeah, and I'm back to work. Wish me luck.
train + vegetables
If this blog has a third subject after bikes and street fashion, it would be food. We talk a lot about groceries and local produce. I don't know what she's carrying--sporting a sparkly scarf, skirt and cute earrings, but it doesn't look like it came from a big box.
Monday, September 01, 2008
Congratulations Sultan and Julia
I wish this photo was better, but it documents their first kiss as Mr. and Mrs.
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