June: Pretty Good so Far

For some reason, finding something to write about has proven difficult for me lately. I realize, however, that it's not a "block" per se but that a lot of what I want to write about just doesn't feel appropriate. Appropriate for a blog, anyway. I know that may frighten and confuse you, but fear not! It has also occurred to me that things have been happening, and I have been doing stuff, so why not make an html bookmark? Exactly. Here now, in roughly backwards, chronological order, the first half of June: - This evening I entered a realm of feminine hygiene where no woman should journey alone. There is a reason people get paid to do that. (Say no to self-waxing, ladies!! See; I warned you some of this could be inappropriate. Just kidding; that's it, I promise. Unless you hate balloons.) - I went running after work and I had the most incredible domestic moment: I almost didn't hear her, but my pal Fania yelled over to me from across the street. She was running in the opposite direction; we exchanged waves and smiles. I really love that feeling of connection. I can't quite put my finger on it, but something about our exchange also made me feel like a middle-aged soccer mom. I think the only way I could've felt more domestic was if I had been jogging with a dog or with a toddler in one of those hoss sport strollers. - This afternoon I looked on sadly (at the WWDC Keynote updates), as the new Finder app for Leopard was unveiled as very obviously going into the crap-hole. Yeah, I'm talking to you, Steve Jobs. iTunes is nice and all, but that does not justify going and making Finder look like it. The current album art feature is laggy and hardly every accurate. Why would you want to emulte the same kind of inaccuracy in the core place that does need to work properly?? I guess I'll just have to wait and see. - This past weekend I remembered I like making things. I was inspired when I stumbled upon Etsy.com, a sort of eBay for the crafty. I've started an account, and I am thinking I may actually try it on for size. That is, start making more stuff that I won't be embarrassed to sell. For starters, I made these (clicking each image will take you to it's home on my Flickr page): I'm particularly proud of the dangly earrings and magnets. The jewelry is made of paper cut-outs pressed into clay, baked and finished. The magnet backgrounds are all images from a pilfered Southwest Airlines' SkyMall (<-- the most ridiculous shopping magazine ever). I knew that would come in handy one day! (Apparently you're allowed to keep the SkyMalls, but it is much more exciting to imagine I stole it.) - This weekend I also received an email from Graham Hawthorne, concert drummer for David Byrne, not to mention a slew of other musicians. (Graham's got another project, Mbalafunk at MbalaFunk.com) He stumbled upon my post for Here Lies Love, the song-cycle I had the pleasure of seeing back in January while in NYC. That post also includes links to 3 video files I made of the performance. I am rather embarrassed as the files were recorded with my digital camera (note the lack of "video" in that phrase) so the image is very shaky and constantly going in and out of focus, the sound is nowhere near as good as it sounded live and I think my laughter is audible in there somewhere. And yet Mr. Hawthorne still wanted to get his paws on those files. In fact, he said:

let me know if you're willing to let me get my hands on those files. promise I won't pass them along to anyone else without your consent. I know that DB would love to have copies - he may even put them on his website, like the ones I shot from behind the drums with my camera! . . . I forwarded the link to ganda (the singer who plays estrella) and she said she's too worried that she'll be hyper-critical of herself to watch. I told her that was nonsense - she sounds great!

Ganda sounded *amazing*. Whew. I mean, everybody knocked me out. As I mentioned back in January, I would still love to see a studio recording come out of all of that, or even just a great live recording available to the masses. In my star-struck state, I revisited David Byrne.com and discovered an incredibly detailed account of his December '05 trip to the Philippinnes, directly correlating to the realization of Here Lies Love. I'm not even finished parsing through it, but please see for yourself. There's more info about the production here. - Saturday I re-watched Team America: World Police. And yes, I think it's worth mentioning. (Man, it's so funny [NSFW: violence and language]). - Friday Greg and I got caught in a thunderstorm at Mas, held out just long enough, then decided to play in the rain when it started clearing up. That was really really fun. - I started mentoring. I met my mentee on Thursday. I think she thinks I'm a total dweeb, but she doesn't seem to mind. (How have I lived in C'ville so long and only just now heard about Computers 4 Kids?!) - My landlord had me sign the renewal lease mid-week. No more apartment hunting. Awesomesauce. - On Monday, I got a birthday cake from Louise. No new pictures, but it was this one. I invited 7 people over to help me eat it, but there was still half a cake left when everyone went home. I have no qualms telling you that I had a piece for breakfast every day for the rest of the week. : d - Even over a week later, I still have fun reminders of my birthday. - On my actual birthday, Greg sent me on a scavenger hunt though the Alderman stacks. One book having a clue leading to another book until the last clue led me to Google for a clue leading to him. He was waiting with the cute balloons. I kind of love that they are from the hospital gift shop (I mean, all I'm saying is they have some sweet balloons. I now know where to go for all my party needs.) - I also had the day off on my birthday. I spent it as a "student" attending several lectures in the seminar series going on at UVa in honor of Reunions Weekend. Of the three I went to, the last lecture, "Planet Hunting beyond the Solar System: The Search", was the most fun and engaging. Professor Skrutskie was incredibly enthusiastic and knowledgeable. Despite the lighthearted and fluffy nature of some of the subject matter -- that is, all the nerdy sci-fi stuff most people think of when they hear the phrases "space", "planet", "universe" and "light-year" -- there is actually some pretty cutting-edge astronomy going on. In fact, the 1st was when Skrutskie learned that he had won a million dollar grant from the National Science Foundation. He is developing a contraption that, when used with the Large Binocular Telescope, should give humans our first glimpse at planets outside of our solar system (to date we have only inferred and extrapolated their existence; we haven't actually laid eyes on one, as nearby stars are just too bright). What can I say, I get really jazzed about this kind of thing. Fingers-crossed. - Sometime in all that I started a del.icio.us account. I really like it. Browsing has given me a new way to "surf" which, based on tags and whatever peaks my interest, seems reminiscent of the Music Genome Project and derivations like Pandora -- tailored information instead of just random feeds. I'm not sure if that is an overall good or bad thing (when it comes to news and info-gathering proper), but I find it interesting. - Aww, tomorrow is Baney's birthday. : ) A'hem; I mean Heather. She and Parker celebrated mine with me and I had a lot of fun. I am so glad they were able to take a tiny break from their crazy rotation schedules to hang out. Shoot, Parker had a birthday, too. Like 20 people I know are all born around this time. Weird. Well, I guess that's it. June is coming along and I'm looking out for the summer.