Friday musing

I guess I woke up in a reflective, philosophical mood today....


mistakes I've made:

-thinking that wealth is richness
-thinking that external perfection is beauty
-focusing on the goal rather than enjoying the process
-driving too fast for weather conditions and totaling my car
-driving too fast for gravel and crunching my quarter panel
-driving too fast for traffic and crunching my hood and radiator
-driving too fast in winter with a bad tire and going onto a ditch


hmmmm...... I wonder if there is a lesson for me in all of these......


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splish splash splash-stopped to wash (*scrub*) my hands on my way into the building
maybe it's not a great idea to try out perfumes at Sephora when running an errand for my boss


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hahahahahahahahahahaha!!!!!

link: you don't get to choose your street name...


and now I will tell you about some cute things:

-chipmunks
-my baby brother calling the computer the "mc-puter"
-my dad calling George Bush "President Dummy"


awwwwwwww!


byez, suckerz
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"and as you know, these are open forums, you're able to
come and listen to what I have to say.......Chuck!" - G W B


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I am pleased to report that my yarn shopping was a success

in only two trips, I found yarn to match my new coat!!! I bought a coat on sale at the end of the season earlier this year, and I love it, but it's a funny sort of burgandy color and has no hood. I thought it might be hard to find a hat, scarf & gloves to match or complement it, so I found gloves to complement and then... headed to the yarn stores hoping I'd find something to suit.

well, I got a Lion Brand yarn called rose garden - a swirly mix of burgandy, rose, light blue, yellow ... sounds appalling, but it's actually very soothing. it's 50% wool, 50% acrylic, and pretty thick. I'd hope to make something rather fine, but I guess I should be realistic and go chunky, so that I finish it before next spring (or summer). also I've only knitted one simple project ever and that was 14 years ago.... wish me luck! I'll post a photo when I've finished it......


technorati tag: yarn

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Happy Feast of Saint Wenceslas (check out the link, this is quite a story)
as I am proudly 1/8 Bohemian, I will be sure to celebrate this feast tonight!


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SWAG!

my administrative assistant job, while I search for a teaching post, is not the most rewarding, but....

dang the perks have been good lately!

I've been getting swag all week from an annual luncheon we throw, and today I got the gift bag! full of fun stuff... and then I got Tigers tix again for tomorrow (*yes!*)

nice start to the weekend!

(and I'm also going yarn shopping tomorrow!!!!!- erm.)


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woohoo! byez to all ma homies


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ma gizoogle pozzle!!!

click here to read my gizoogle post, mutha f***as!

hahahhahahahahahahahahahha!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
that was worth every pi-zenny!

n peace out to you, Kenny Sian, cuz ah tried to Benglify the pozzle n ah couldn't!

(but peace out for real, cuz y'all malaysian bli-zzoggers iz ma homies!!!!!)


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(WTF did I just say?)


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cookies, cookies, cookies!

no, not THAT kind of cookie.

last night, I feeled like cee-rap, so I stopped at the store, bought a couple of groceries and went home, changed straight into pjs and got on the couch, under the blanket and ate cookies and hot milk and watched the Simpsons.

then I forget why I went to the basement, but I passed my downstairs neighbors' open door (at the back of the house is the kitchen) and the Poppa Neighbor had an apron on and I said, "cooking?" and he said, "I am making cookies. would you like some - what do you like in your cookies?"

so polite!!! I like this kind of neighbor. ask me what I like in my cookie. so I told him straight away what I prefer.

so he made me fresh cookies, so I ate cookies again with tea this time and read a story to the Littlest Neighbor.

then the Older Little Neighbor kindly offered to lend me his Shrek 2 dvd, so I went back up under the blanket and watched and ate a ......

......



........


.......


peach! fooled you! of course, I am so healthy with the yoga and whatnot, I must eat healthy at every meal-har. and I LMAO at the movie.


then I feeled better! take that, PMS!!!!!!!!!!



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why did I eat cookies on ice cream cone day?
what a freak!


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moral dilemma

okay, so I caught a cricket yesterday.

it was huge and cool looking and right in front of my desk. is it wrong to make a beautiful, homey, nice terrarium with lots of posh features so's I can watch it do the little cricket things? if I set it free, won't it just get eaten by a bird tomorrow? so I named it Mickey.

well, I just looked up crickets on wikipedia and learned that I do have a cricket, not a grasshopper, and the reason it hasn't been chirping is it's a girl. I also learned that it's nocturnal and that may be why it seemed to have disappeared this morning (I thought it was hibernating under the dirt cause I didn't give it the right food or accomodations - no cable, don't you know?).

anyway, I figured I would keep the cricket (now named Adrian) around for three days, enjoying it, which won't hurt it, while I wait for you kind folks to weigh in and I could decide whether to keep it or not.

so I was looking for more information on what to feed it, when I came across this website. AND I QUOTE:

"Crickets will eat anything, anything at all: cloth, silk, cotton, wallpaper, wood, anything they can get their mandibles around.

Once a female cricket makes it into your home, it's possible for her to lay hundreds of eggs. Since it takes almost a year for cricket eggs to hatch, an early detection is almost impossible. "

maybe it's time for little Adrian to go bye-bye.


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Happy Board Game Day!
now go play some board games. go!


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Arrrrr!

Wow! This weekend, I.....


....bought a filing cabinet and ..... um....


..... put it together. erm.

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HAPPY TALK LIKE A PIRATE DAY TO YE, MATIES!!!!!
ARRRRR!!!!



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my birthday is Jan 16 - hint, hint

1. AV / other nerd stuff:

I definitely love this! but even more practical would be a used G3 iPod. they are supposedly going for $30, and this will let me know how to frankenstein-ify it, so it'll hold 20Gs and do everything a new, expensive one can....

DVDs
l'homme du train
blues brothers DVD!

CDs
cesaria evora double album
life aquatic soundtrack
jarhead soundtrack

2. girl stuff

SPA!



3. or, just send me

here

grand-filial duty

hmmmm.....I'm planning my fall schedule and I'm very aware that I haven't visited my grandparents since last Thanksgiving. on that trip, my mom and little brothers and I all went together and it was a very cozy weekend. even though we're a few states apart, I was getting out to see my grandparents 2-3 times a year the last few years. I really wanted to do my grand-filial duty and show them how much I appreciate their support and encouragement.

"we won't be around forever, you know," as they like to put it....

and yet this year... I've been "busy." to be fair, I actually have been busy: I was in grad school before and had lots of breaks whereas now I have a new job with no vacation accrued yet (5 days after 1 YEAR!!!! what? sux~grumble).

but I also suppose I burnt myself out a bit, as every time I think about planning the next trip, I think 'scrabble? again?' (okay, it's really that my grandma kicks my a-double-ss in scrabble.)

then I read entwined 's post about her grandmother ("Days Gone By") , and it really hit home. my pop-pop was quite the tyrant in his day, too, and now he's feeble and distracted, too. it is hard to see him change from the person I once knew, even though I wasn't always thrilled by who he was. and it's hard not being able to communicate as readily with him. it reminded me what we all do mean to each other, in spite of the rough patches.

sigh. it's hard to visit, sometimes.

waah! now I depressed. just in time for the weekend.




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ladies, let's hear it for the USA



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"A broad smile, however nice it may be, is ... unacceptable." the German Interior Ministry

apparently, Tuesday was "Junk Drawer Day" (I didn't hear anything in the news). I really am going to celebrate this holiday - I remember on my last move, it took about a year and a half for my junk drawer to really get established. when I looked in it one day and saw all the little not-so-important items nestled in there together, I knew I had finally set down roots... Mom, you should be proud!


tonight, I'm going out to eat again with Marie in fashionable Royal Oak. we are going to bring our crocheting and knitting books and look at some projects (*fake sneeze: dorks*). in honor of the holiday, I'll be sure to bring something from the junk drawer in my purse. hmmm..... maybe the box of bendy straws....... my, I just keep growing cooler.

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I had no idea the Germans were so cheerful


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the ides of blog - Sept: art blogs

happy ides of september! I'm inaugurating a new monthly feature today:

The Ides of Blog!


This month, the focus is art blogs.....

Seonna Hong (via BoingBoing)
Curieux jardin great photos-see previous months
Eric Claridge I don't know what's up with the baby elephants, but it's ...somehow...compelling. am I weird?
Senor Duck check out his flickr set
The Adventures of Art Lad cute little kid artist!

enjoyz


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"when I paint, the sea roars. the others splash about in the bath."
Salvador Dali


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nola and "the second tsunami"

click on the title above for a link to a great article by Naomi Klein. (via Boing Boing)


if, after all the outpouring of love and support by the common people, these disasters are just used by the wealthy and powerful to strengthen their own interests..... it is many times more than doubly horrible. the natural disasters will have not only destroyed something already there, it will have created an opportunity for the (already) wealthy to scam these people out of the little they had... rabid and voracious, anyone?

can't we make People Power add up to more than Special Interest Power?
(oh well, spoken like a true kid of the 60's: born in a commune and raised around "activists." only problem: now I am mortally allergic to politics.)

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let me know what you think.....

on a lighter note: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/4241958.stm

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tigers game two!

I went to the Tigers game again yesterday and saw them slam the Royals. It is so relaxing to sit there and watch the play - and it flies by! who knew? I took my two little brothers and we had lots of fun together. we enjoyed the 'VIP" treatment: the tickets I won are so good, we did get all kinds of perks, and little Leo (my youngest brother) especially loves the good life.

Only downside, my fav player Ivan Rodriguez didn't play - but he did come out onto the field for a few moments to warm up a pitcher!

best moment: 7th inning-3 of 6 7th inning runs were off an in-the-park HR!

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happy video games day!


status: sunburnt again. will I never learn to wear sunblock?
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sushi nite

I met my new e-pal, Marie, at Tokyo Sushi in Royal Oak last night. it is really good. I had an udon sobe with shrimp tempura in it that was super. Marie is a very interesting gal, she is here from France doing a graduate degree in business. she's lived all over and it turns out we share a lot of interests, including... crocheting and knitting! quel surprise. so we plan to have girls' get-togethers to work on our projects. we both share the modern crafter's ambivalent love/ embarrassment over our chosen 'grandma crafts'. anyway, I'm really looking forward to our knit-nights.

I updated her on my roommate search, as she was helping me to post over the last few weeks. my best prospect seems to be an adorable (and tall!) young gay guy who seems like lots of laughs. he's finished his undergrad and is mulling over his prospects, including grad school. I hope it'll work out between us; I think we'd get along. the unknown factor is he's kind of undirected at present, just started a new job, nothing to really tie him down or make him responsible at this point..... as with any roommie, I guess you pays your nickel and you takes your chances. I've been lucky much more than ever unlucky. remind me to post about ex-roommie sometime. sigh.... she has spoiled me for all others........

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happy hot dog day!
(yet another great day to celebrate - they're coming fast & furious)


status: psyched! I won more tickets to see the Tigers on Sunday!!!!!
I really have to get my photos up. I already got my flickr account set up, but I have no connection at home yet.......
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sad, sad world

this nola story just keeps getting sadder and sadder. unfortunately, I think as days go by, we're going to learn more disturbing facts, instead of seeing the beginnings of a resolution to the story. to me, this is all about :

1) the lack of social capital in our society. we see it every day in the statistics on mental illness, crime rates, etc. and now we see it in a time of crisis, too. since so many poor people were in the line of this crisis, it's that much more obvious how little we're prepared to join together.

2) race/classism. honestly, of course help was not sent soon enough. of course, there were not sufficient plans in place. duh. the government (at every level) seems to be saying "why rush to help those who can't scratch our backs?" way to lead.



meanwhile, my Best Friend Ever will probably be deployed there in another day or two in her capacity with the Public Health Service. this will be her first deployment; I don't know what she'll do when she gets there, but I know she'll help people out with great caring. she will leave her two kiddies in daddy's capable hands, and go take care of some business.

as I've read in others' posts, I can't think what I can do besides send what money I can spare. it's frustrating.....

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erm... happy back hair appreciation day?


status: wishing I could do more
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Happy teachersday!

(in Singapore)

I wish a very happy teachers day to all the teachers in Singapore and around the globe (especially you, dad!)


technorati tag: teachersday



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roommate?
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