Christmas Time is Here

I think this may have been the longest I've gone without posting since starting this blog one year ago today. I've had a lot I've wanted to say but just never got around to blogging. Well I am back in Utah for the moment--yay!--and spending Christmas Eve with my family. Well, except for right now while I'm typing away. And fall quarter is over, thank god! I'm still not sure how I feel about Seattle or if LIS is the right program for me, but I know that I hated 510, along with the rest of my cohort, and I will never take another class from that professor if I can help it. And that's all I will say on that except that I aced my final--booya! I thoroughly enjoyed my other class which was engaging, challenging, and good overall. I only took 10 credits this quarter and am signed up for 13 next quarter and looking for a part-time job. So we'll see how that goes. But for the rest of the break I'm not going to think about school except that I really need to go through my school email inbox which has been a disaster since late October.

There was a lot of bonding that went down at the end of the quarter so that's really good. First there was the Mad Men party hosted by Janelle and Althea, who live in a charming house in Ravenna with four other girls, and that was really fun. Here are some of my fellow library students. Since I didn't have a suit I took my inspiration from Miles Fisher in season three, which I haven't seen, but where I believe he plays a dope dealer. Miles Fisher, by the way, is the love child of Tom Cruise and Christian Bale. Anyway, my find that day was a knit tie at J.Crew for $10! Pretty much awesome. There were '50s and '60s records and dancing and lots of booze. There was a sherbet punch that had a good liter of gin or so and tasted like candy but aside from that I stuck to Jameson neat. They had gin but it was the cheap Monarch stuff that comes in giant plastic bottles and I just can't get down with that. When I went home I did make myself a proper Gimlet before retiring for the night.

I took my final for 510 on Sunday and my last paper for 520 was due on Friday, so on finals week I only had class for 520 since we didn't have an actual final. On Monday night, after class, we hit up the College Inn Pub for some beer and nachos, and then we stopped in at Big Time since I had a coupon for a free growler. If like me you didn't know what a growler is, it's a gallon sized bottle for holding beer--or other forms of alcohol--it looks like those moonshine bottles with all the Xs on it. However, they didn't fill my growler they just gave me the bottle, which was lame. But we had some more beer anyway, and then made our way to Flowers for more drinking and some grub. I ordered a Negroni off their menu listed as gin, Campari, and sweet vermouth, so I thought I was safe. If you know me, you know how much I adore Negronis but I have no idea what I was actually served--cheap gin with a splash of sweet vermouth. I couldn't even tasted the Campari which has a very strong flavor, and it was only the faintest of red while a true Negroni is a beautiful ruby color. Still, a pub crawl on a Monday night--how awesome are library students?

I also hung out with Maggie whom I had hardly seen since midterm. We grabbed some delicious pizza at the Wallingford Pizza House. And on another night we rented Julie & Julia and I opened a bottle of Cava I bought for the end of the quarter and we made Buddy the Elfs. Buddy the Elf is a drink my friends and I invented. My friend Dain is really into making liqueurs by macerating fruit in liquor. He's made some good limoncello as well as a strawberry liqueur, but his zenzerino is the best. Zenzerino, Italian for little ginger, is a liqueur with grated ginger peel, orange and lemon zest, and I believe a cinnamon stick or two and some cloves. Soak it in some vodka and Everclear for a bit, strain it, and add a bunch of sugar water. Awesome. Anyway, we took an ounce or two of zenzerino over ice, added some amaretto, and topped it off with ginger ale. It smells and tastes like Christmas. We originally called it spice cake before changing it to Buddy the Elf--what's your favorite beverage?--over my strong objections since I don't really like Elf, but the name has stuck. Anyway, if you are ever in possession of some zenzerino, you need to make this drink, especially around Christmas.

By the way Julie & Julia is really good and was one of my favorite movies of the summer. I love Julie Powell's memoir which is hilarious and profane, and if you like cooking, breakdowns, and butter, you should definitely read it as long as you don't mind a few F words. Okay, a lot of F words. However, in the film it's the Julia Child storyline that works the best based on her memoir My Life in France written with Alex Prud'homme. Meryl Streep earned herself two Golden Globe nominations--one for Julia and the other for It's Complicated which comes out tomorrow, I believe, and which I need to see. She was also in the nominated Fantastic Mr. Fox which I will not be seeing since it is stop animation. Speaking of the Golden Globes, there are nine more movies which I desperately need to see including Up in the Air which is getting all sorts of critical love, Nine, A Single Man, The Princess and the Frog, The Young Victoria, The Last Station, Invictus, Precious, and Avatar which I thought was the stupidest looking movie I had ever seen a trailer for, but which is not only nominated for Best Picture but is also getting excellent reviews. Fine, James Cameron, I will go see your movie.

So on Saturday I made my way all the way down to Sea-Tac which is $48 far away plus tip. And after a very short, 90 minute flight, I was home in Utah. On Saturday I got together with college friends for Apartment Christmas and fondue, presents, and old friends. Valerie gave me the seventh and final season of The West Wing to complete my collection which began at Christmas seven years ago. Slow but steady wins the race. Anyway, I'm already half-way through. It's not nearly as good as the first four seasons, but the seventh season is much better that seasons five and six. In addition to The West Wing, I've been catching up on Dollhouse which is insane! I can't even handle it. On Tuesday I saw Elise and Justin and we watched Meet Me In St. Louis which I had never seen before. We saw Judy Garland and her corsets, singing "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas," and learned about bloom. We also decided that between the three of us, we could handle twenty men.

Yesterday, I drove around Salt Lake shopping for my final Christmas presents which are for my parentals who are the hardest people to shop for which means they will have to settle for gift cards. By the way, I love driving in Salt Lake--compared to Seattle there's no traffic, free parking everywhere, and you actually know where you're going--most of the time anyway. However, I have to use my family's cars since mine is back in Seattle. Boo. Anyway, I got my mother a gift certificate for a Japanese restaurant, and I was going to get my dad movie tickets for his favorite cineplex--which is half an hour away--but they were sold out of gift cards. How do you sell out of gift cards?! Especially at Christmas?! So I ordered one online from a different cineplex, and he'll just have to wait for the mail to deliver it. He also wanted The Road by Cormac McCarthy which I own and have been reading, so maybe if I finish it today, I'll wrap that up for him. I bought The Road a couple of years ago but just recently decided to give it a go, since I'm not really into post-apocalyptic art. However, it's better than I expected, plus it's really easy/short. Well this brings us to Christmas, so there you go. Time for more parties and lots of movies. Hopefully there will be more posts soon. Merry Christmas Everyone!

Wisdom Journal

But where shall wisdom be found? and where is the place of understanding?
—Job 28:12

Harold Bloom uses these words for his book Where Shall Wisdom Be Found? which Slarue gave me for Christmas two years ago. I've been rereading sections of it lately, and today I decided to make a wisdom journal. (Finally, a use for my Moleskine notebook!) I thought about developing a theoretical definition and/or framework of wisdom, but after a quarter of discussing theoretical definitions of information, I decided I would freestyle it instead. (Also, how does one define "wisdom"?) I think it will be composed mostly of quotes, poems, passages from novels and plays, aphorisms, song lyrics, etc. Things that strike me as being wise—whatever that is. So far I have four entries.

The things that make us happy make us wise.
—John Crowley, Little, Big
I think I will generally stay away from quotes that directly invoke wisdom, but ever since reading this passage in Crowley's novel, it has haunted me.

There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio,
Than are dreamt of in your philosophy.
—Hamlet (Act I, scene v)
Every now and then it's a good reminder to quote this to myself and replace Horatio's name with my own.

From Blank to Blank—
A Threadless Way
I pushed Mechanic feet—
To stop—or perish—or advance—
Alike indifferent—

If end I gained
It ends beyond
Indefinite disclosed—
I shut my eyes—and groped as well
'Twas lighter—to be Blind—
—Emily Dickinson, Poem 671
I don't think anyone ever knows what Emily is saying, but I love this poem, and it strikes me as being very wise.

Failing to fetch me at first keep encouraged,
Missing me in one place search another,
I stop some where waiting for you.
—Walt Whitman, "Song of Myself" Leaves of Grass
These are the final three lines of "Song of Myself," and Whitman is an American prophet, so it must contain wisdom, right? I think I fell in love with these lines from the Angel of America's reprise: "You can't Outrun your Occupation, Jonah. / Hiding from Me in one place you will find me in another. / I I I I stop down the road, waiting for you." from Tony Kushner's play Angels in America.

The problem that arises without using a definition of wisdom, is that I'm not sure what to include. I don't want to be too generous or too stingy. I suppose I will learn as I go, and look for those things that haunt me. After all, Emerson said, "In every work of genius we recognize our own rejected thoughts; they come back to us with a certain alienated majesty." If you would like to nominate any entries for wisdom, I'd love to hear them.

I feel old, but not very wise.
—Jenny, An Education

Happy Holidays

Right now I am eating a delicious slice of the pumpkin cheesecake I made to celebrate my own Thanksgiving. One of my best Thanksgivings was spent in Cedar City, and I actually had to work. But almost no one called Convergys that day, and so we played games like I Have Never and threw bouncy balls around. And then I went back to my apartment and all my roommates were gone (except for Adrian), and I drank a bottle of Meier's sparkling grace juice and watched The Rules of Attraction. I was so energized afterward (sugar rush!) that I cruised Main Street listening to Christmas songs on the radio. All in all, it was a pretty good day. This Thanksgiving was not exactly like that. It was very low-key but more lonely. I missed all my friends and family.

I did make a whole feast for myself. Besides the pumpkin cheesecake, I also made homemade cranberry sauce which is my specialty--but it's also ridiculously easy. A monkey could make it. I also made a spinach pancetta strata (which is like Italian stuffing), spinach artichoke dip, and Brussels sprouts. The Brussels sprouts were actually not half-bad even though I burned my hand on the pan--an ibuprofen and a few glasses of wine helped ease the pain tremendously. I also bought a rotisserie chicken which I didn't even touch until yesterday. The wine, Brussels sprouts, dip, and cranberry sauce are gone. The cheesecake is disappearing at an alarming, yet delicious, rate. So all I have left is the strata and a couple of chicken legs.

I spent the day watching movies. Well, first I watched all ten Thanksgiving episodes from Friends on the WB's website. That was delightful. I also watched a couple of The West Wing's Thanksgiving episodes. Again, delightful. And then Netflix screwed up my movies, and instead of sending me Will & Grace and Were the World Mine, they sent me A Streetcar Named Desire and Dark City. I sort of stopped paying attention towards the end of Streetcar so I'm not entirely sure what happened. What I do know is that Marlon Brando exudes sexuality. So damn hot. Whew. Dark City is an interesting and bizarre, stylistic and dark science-fiction picture starring Rufus Sewell who's very pretty--especially ten years ago. It reminded me a lot of Sin City and now I very much want to see that movie again. On Friday afternoon, I made my way all the the way down to Capitol Hill to see An Education which was very good. It was very interesting and not at all what I had expected based on the trailer. So I had to adjust my expectations, but I think it was all for the better. The screenplay's by Nick Hornby based on a memoir by Lynn Barber, and it's set in England in the early '60s right before The Beatles took over and shook things up. It's a coming-of-age story of Jenny played perfectly by Carey Mulligan. I didn't make the connection myself, but she's being compared to Audrey Hepburn--the sunglasses help enormously--yet Carey Mulligan is effortless and graceful and glowing so the comparison is apt. Peter Sarsgaard who has always creeped me out, was only mildly creepy, but then his character is a charmer, so I guess it's very good acting. Here's a part of Roger Ebert's review and it doesn't contain any real spoilers:
"So young women, let this movie offer useful advice. When a man seems too good to be true, he probably isn't -- good, or true. We all make mistakes when we're growing up. Sometimes we learn from them. If we're lucky, we can even learn during them. And you must certainly see Paris. Do not count on meeting the aunt."
By the way, I also loved the last line of the movie. All in all, it was a good film and worth checking out.

There were also a couple of trailers for movies I want to see. I love the way that the way trailers present movies change through the years. A few years ago trailers seemed to give away the whole movie. Sometimes the two-and-a-half minute trailer is better than the movie itself. But I think we're moving away from that a little bit, based on these two trailers anyway. I have no idea what either of them is about, but I desperately want to see them. The first is the directorial debut of Tom Ford's film A Single Man and it's garnered a lot of critical buzz. The second is Nine and all I know is that it's a musical from the same director of Chicago. By the way, I finally bought Chicago on sale at the grocery store last week, and I also watched that on Thanksgiving. I love Chicago! Here are the trailers:



And today I started working on some lists. I finished my wish list on amazon and my holiday/winter playlist. Some of my favorites include Allison Crowe's cover of "River," The Killers' "A Great Big Sled," and Tori Amos' versions of "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas" and "Little Drummer Boy." I also love "How Long" by Martha Wainwright which screams Christmas to me with the "starlight gleaming" and the melancholy atmosphere; it would be the perfect song for a Christmas scene in Brokeback Mountain. (Is there a Christmas scene in that movie? It's been a while since I've seen it.) I also queued all my holiday movies on Netflix for this month. Based mostly on TBTL's recommendations from last year I will be watching The Shop Around the Corner, Die Hard, Love Actually (it's a tradition!), Fanny and Alexander, the original Miracle on 34th Street, Meet Me in St. Louis, the 1984 A Christmas Carol with George C. Scott, and The Dead which is based on a James Joyce story and is actually set during the Epiphany. It's not a very traditional list, but I'm kind of going for a more alternative Christmas this year, but if I happen to catch It's A Wonderful Life, A Charlie Brown Christmas, or The Muppet Christmas Carol on TV then so much the better. What are your favorite Christmas movies?

I can't wait to go home. I have three more weeks of classes and finals, but I'm not too stressed out. I only have three assignments and one final, and none of them should be too difficult. This break has also been nice and long. I only got one extra day off, but I can't believe it's only Saturday. I still have Sunday to relax and lounge around. Delightful! Well, the Christmas season has begun in earnest. I guess it's time to start my Christmas shopping. Peace on Earth, goodwill to men.

Music For Your Weekend

I'm awake in the wee hours of Friday morning, but it's the weekend nonetheless, especially for me since I don't have classes on Friday. However, I have a major group project that I will be working on tomorrow, actually later today, and the rest of the weekend. Boo. But forgetting about that for a moment, I am patently ripping off TBTL's segment "Music for Your Weekend" wherein they showcase new-ish songs every Friday for the listener's weekend listening pleasure. My selections aren't new songs per se except to me and perhaps you as well. Anyway, these are three songs that I've been listening to a lot this week, and if you happen to be bored with all the music currently on your iPod (or Zune, Dain), you might take a gander at one of these. Enjoy!

The Other Other Wainwright
My first song is by Martha Wainwright, daughter of Loudon and sister of Rufus, and the song is "Bloody Mother Fucking Asshole." As you can probably tell, the lyrics are explicit. In contrast to her brother's polished, seductive voice and lush arrangements, Martha strips down the music to some sparse guitar and her voice is raw in its crooning not entirely unlike Liz Phair. And the song reminds me a little bit, oddly, of Avril's "I'm With You" only better. The song can be found on the EP of the same title or Martha's eponymous album.


Hey Seattle
I heard about local Seattle band Hey Marseilles on TBTL and bought their album To Travels and Trunks on iTunes over the summer, but only lately have I gotten into the record. The band has seven members and even more instruments including a mandolin and accordion giving it a European flavor hence their name. A few of the tracks are purely instrumental, but the songs with lyrics are artfully crafted and sincere. Here is their most popular number "Rio" which has excellent lines like "There are always Brazilian boys to discover" and "Drink till the morning becomes yesterday." And who doesn't love a song with clapping?


Reading Camus
This is actually off of a recommendation by Regina Spektor from some radio show she was on. It's called "I Don't Want to Get Over You" by the Magnetic Fields from 69 Love Songs. (Dirty!) It's a short song that I just love; a self-aware number about the exquisite agony (and pleasure) that comes after love when you're not quite ready to let go. My favorite lines are "I could . . . smoke clove cigarettes and drink vermouth / Like I was 17 that would be a scream."


Speaking of Regina...
Here's a bonus song. Her latest album Far came out this summer, and as I've already mentioned it is my favorite yet, and I've been listening to it incessantly. Working with five different produces has the odd effect of making it her most cohesive album to date, and there's not a song on it I don't like. With so many excellent songs to choose from--and really you should check out the whole record--I've chosen the first track "The Calculation" which points out that one can't calculate life or love, which is fitting in regards to my last post.

Have a marvelous weekend!

21 Things I Want in a Lover

Every now and then one comes to a realization of one of life's great truths as if there were such things. Raised in a culture that celebrates romantic love and fed on literature that worships soul mates, we believe that our perfect match is out there, and it's just a matter of meeting that person. Perhaps, that is true, but I find it highly unlikely, and it is even more unlikely that one will ever meet that person if, in fact, he does exist. Still, it's a highly romantic notion, and so we indulge it--if we could just find him! then we will be complete. That is the premise of the beautiful song "Origin of Love," though I believe the primary human condition is aloneness (not to be confused with loneliness), but perhaps that's just the solipsist in me. I also like that we believe that true love triumphs over all even though love of all sorts--passionate, familial--is as often destructive as not. Is there any proof that love is inherently good? Harold Bloom happily reminds us that the Macbeths are the happiest married couple in all of Shakespeare. Speaking of marriage, I've always found it to be a business arrangement, first and foremost. It's the primary reason I think that gay marriage hasn't been widely granted. It's not because the general public can't stomach the thought of two men or two women together--though that may be part of the case--or even religious--whatever the rhetoric--but because marriage is a sign of power with its various rights and privileges (tax breaks, inheritance, visitation rights, etc.). It's the same reason that slaves couldn't get married either. A sort of Foucauldian power struggle if you will. On a side note, there's a scene in Eyes Wide Shut where a man is talking to Nicole Kidman and he tells her something to the effect that the only reason women got married back in the day was so that they could then sleep with whomever they wanted. I've always liked that notion that marriage is a business arrangement separate from love affairs. But I digress. In one of my favorite songs by Alanis Morissette, she lists the twenty-one things she wants in a lover--not necessarily needs but the qualities that she prefers. I've been thinking about my own list, and it starts with a variation of the desert island question. Dr. P once remarked that he married his wife in part because she loved the film Raising Arizona, and that if she hadn't the relationship would have ended. So I've started with the tastes I would want to share when it came to books, movies, music, etc. The rules are you only get to choose one item from each genre where compatibility is essential though it may differ from your personal favorite or desert island choice. Again, this perfect person probably doesn't exist, but isn't it pretty to think so?

NOVEL I've chosen novel over book because I like the idea of a work of fiction representing a facet of a person. My novel would be To the Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf. One of my favorite novels, this stream-of-consciousness work perfectly captures the minutiae of daily life making it one of the seminal modernist novels.

FILM I'm a film buff, and I think that the films one has in one's personal collection says a great deal about his character. The film I've chosen, naturally, is The Hours directed by Stephen Daldry. A drama centered on characters instead of plot, it has so many things that I love: Meryl Streep, Virginia Woolf, literature, life, loss, and the transcendental moments that change our lives.

PLAY | MUSICAL Ideally, this would be based on a live staged production, but we no longer live in an age of ideals, at least not the Wildean one. So this may be a musical or play in any format you like: live, the book, a film version, or the soundtrack. Mine would be the play Angels in America written by visionary Tony Kushner and the brilliant miniseries directed by Mike Nichols. In the best of all possible worlds, Angels would be required American reading because it has everything in it: sex, religion, politics, and America.

ALBUM I haven't entirely decided on the rules here. Should best of collections or soundtracks be allowed? Maybe but it should be a single disc. I would choose Little Earthquakes Extended by Tori Amos. Earthquakes is Tori's seminal album. It remains her most accessible and her best. The extended edition includes four B-sides: "Upside Down," "Flying Dutchman." "Take to the Sky," and "Sweet Dreams." In real-life we may make mixed CDs of our favorite songs and artists, but that's not part of this game. Anyway, Earthquakes was a transformative album for me, and there's nary a song on it that I don't like.

TELEVISION "TV knows everything." Also, it's our true national pastime. I love television, and I don't think I could be with a person who didn't. Here you have to choose an entire television series. I have at least five, but the one that matters the most is The West Wing even though I haven't yet seen the final season. Still, the first four seasons alone are some of the best TV ever seen on network television. Yes, it's political porn, but that's part of why it's so good. What I love the most about this series is the characters--what I've learned is that what matters most to me in any novel, film, series is the characters--especially the women: C.J. Cregg, Donna Moss, Abigail Bartlet, and Amy Gardner. The men are pretty great too. Furthermore, the writing is excellent, the drama is earnest, and it's hysterically funny--more so than many sitcoms. Any show that can make jokes out of syllogisms and dangling modifiers gets instant respect from me.

POETRY I just added this category, and I'm not sure what to do with it. I think we should allow selected and completed works as well as books published by the poet, but anthologies are too easy. I can't decided what mine would be. The Waste Land by T.S. Eliot would be my desert island choice, but I'm not sure if that's the criterion I want to select. Perhaps I would choose the extant handful of Emily Bronte's poems. Or the poems of Emily Dickinson, Christina Rossetti, or Octavio Paz. Obviously, I need to read more poetry, but for now I suppose I will settle for The Waste Land.

I can't think of any more categories of media for now, except perhaps visual art but that seems like an entirely too messy genre to contemplate right now. I couldn't even begin to choose a favorite painter, though I suspect Salvador Dali would be in the running. Perhaps video games too though I generally don't play them. Mine would be Zelda: Ocarina of Time. And there are, of course, many other important qualities such as personality, clothes, and whether or not he prefers gin to vodka. Anyway, prove me wrong, if you know a gay man with these exact same interests, I need to know. What would be your personal selections?

Fragment

I love to slip into the shadows
Into the void that can hold
The shape        that is not me.

ReSpekt

Yesterday, after two hours of discussing information behavior models which grow ever-more confusing, and doing some homework, I eventually made my way downtown to the Paramount Theatre to see Regina Spektor. Also, when you're riding the bus and it makes its way downtown, it goes into tunnels underneath the city and the bus stops feel like real train stations. O London Underground, how I miss thee! I got dropped right outside the Paramount's iconic neon sign, but since I arrived far too early, I made my way to the nearest Barnes & Noble--locating bookstores is a sixth sense of mine. I bought a copy of GQ because my magazines haven't caught up with my new address yet, and my mom probably threw away the November issue since January Jones's boobs are falling out on the cover. I also got How to Read and Why by Harold Bloom since that's a Bloom title I don't own, and Lillian mentioned that she loved it. I then flipped through Shelf Discovery which is about the teenage books that girls never stopped reading. I didn't buy it, but I did read an essay about Bridge to Terabithia--a dumb, little two-page essay--and it made me cry. Well, almost. So then I headed over to the children's section to buy my favorite children's/YA novel since I lost my other copy some time ago. And then I made my way back to the Paramount for Regina.

The Paramount Theatre is gorgeous. Anyway, once they opened the doors, we all settled in, and the opening band was Jupiter One. They're an indie rock band from New York, and they're all right. After another half hour of setting-up for Regina, she finally came on stage--so exciting! And if somehow you didn't know, Regina Spektor is an adorable porcelain doll. How is someone allowed to be that cute? Zooey Dechanel--indie goddess that she is--is the only girl who has her beat. Regina is out promoting her latest album Far which is hands down my favorite album so far, and she waited all the way until the encore to play "Samson" which is hands down my favorite song of hers.

I've heard so much made of Seattle music fans, but for my money the audience for Tori Amos in Salt Lake was so much more passionate. Of course Tori fans are crazy and obsessive, but even Tori said that she will always play Salt Lake because we're so passionate. And I believe that SLC audiences in general are always very excited. Anyway, there was a lot of Regina love last night, but the energy didn't even compare to the Tori concert. There was one guy who shouted "I want to have your babies, Regina!" And then a girl chimed in, "Me too!" Regina laughed, and said there's one in every city, and then thanks . . . I think. There was another obnoxious girl who shouted "Ghost of Corporate Future" after four different songs. It was like, honey, it's either on the setlist or it's not, and shouting it out isn't going to change that, you're only giving Seattle a bad rep. Speaking of the setlist, here it is:

The Calculation
Eet
Folding Chair
Ode to Divorce
Riot Gear
Machine
Laughing With
One More Time With Feeling
Two Birds
Blue Lips
On the Radio
Dance Anthem of the 80s
Silly Eye-Color Generalizations
Bobbin' for Apples
That Time
Apres Moi
Poor Little Rich Boy
Human of the Year
Man of a Thousand Faces

At this point she left, and after what I felt like was an unnecessarily long period of ovating, she returned for the encore:

Samson
Us
Fidelity
Hotel Song
Love, You're a Whore

Technically, this is the Portland setlist, but I'm pretty sure it's identical. On the first twelve songs she was accompanied by a violin, cello, and Matt Chamberlain on the drums, even though I thought he was still touring with Tori. Maybe he was just on the North American leg. On "Dance Anthem," she moved to the keyboard, she went a capella on "Eye-Color," played the guitar for "Apples" and "That Time." "That Time," by the way, was the first song I heard by Spektor that wasn't "Fidelity," and was introduced to me by Rae. It's still one of my favorites. She returned to the piano alone until the encore, banging a chair with a drum stick on "Poor Little Rich Boy." Awesome. "Samson" was also solo, the violin and cello were back for "Us" and Chamberlain was on the drums for the last two songs which she sang standing up. Versatile performer.

I think what's impressive about Regina live is that even when she's just on the piano by herself it still sounds as good as the album. She has a set of pipes and can scat or amp up a section if she wants to. The Russian bridge of "Apres Moi" was amazing, and I don't even like that song very much; in fact that whole song was so much better live. Also, you never realize just how funny some of her songs are until you're in a full theatre and she's singing and winking and the whole audience is tittering.

So then I took a bus back to campus, and which point I walked home, and thankfully didn't get mugged, the U District is all sorts of scary after dark, so that was good. It was in all, a lovely night, and if you can see her concert, it's definitely worth it. You missed out, Alex.

Catch-Up

I just mapped out my bus route to the Paramount Theatre for tomorrow because I am going to see Regina Spektor, so obviously everything is just dandy.

This was after doing all of my reading for tomorrow--a rarity--though it seems no matter how much you do, you're never entirely caught up. I still have two papers due this week, two group projects to work on, oh-so-much-more reading, and my inbox is overflowing with emails--of which most of the information will already be outdated by the time I get around to reading them. "Yesterday's news more remote than a cuneiform tablet smashed to bits." Also, information overload.

Today, I realized that I hate LIS 510--Information Behavior--and that I want to be more on the library side of LIS than the information science part. After most of the readings, and classes, I ask "So effing what?" The so what is a question that our professor told us is the staple of our program. That and "stuff." The Information Science field is still maturing and much about it is ill-defined. She also wants us to think critically about our readings. Thing is, it's backfired. I'm critical of the class and think "so bloody what?" about the readings, most of which are written by our professor. Also, the last three weeks of class will be devoted to group projects and no lecturing. Aside from my own group project, the workload will be rather light, but that's not what I'm really paying thousands of dollars in tuition for.

Oh, and this week I need to arrange and register for next quarter's classes. Add that to the "to do" list.

I'm not very fond of the term "guybrarian," but ever since beginning the LIS program, I have become ever so much more domestic. Okay, all I'm doing is cooking--my room, the living room, the bathroom--they've all been taken over by chaos--but the kitchen is loverly. I'm also spending way too much money on food--my grocery bill is at least twice what it used to be as an undergraduate in Cedar City--and it wasn't cheap then either. However, I am buying real food. In college, I didn't cook, I heated various frozen, canned, and boxed foodstuffs with the microwave, stove, or oven and called that good. It can't have been that healthy, but watch how the pounds melted off of me. Now eating supposedly healthy real food has the opposite effect. FML. Of course, all the beer could be affecting the results. Still, I'm eating well. I've made moussaka, potage parmentier, real macaroni and cheese, risotto, and the like. Delicious. And on Fridays when I don't have class, I sleep in and then watch the Food Network. I make a day out of it. Beautiful.

I miss being an English major, though of course I'm not so sure I want to pursue a post-graduate degree in the field, and though English professor was my ideal job for a while, I know I can't handle the competitive nature of the field. I'm not even so sure I'm going to get a job as a librarian at the end of this thing. Going into the program, I thought I will have my Master's before I turn twenty-five. Now I'm starting to think that the five+ years of work experience that my fellow students have on me might be to my disadvantage. Today I thought I would like to be a personal assistant/secretary. I know right away that I would make a terrible one--I'm not detail oriented. But I also thought--it's not my life, it's someone else's life. I would get to pay their bills with their money--that's a lot more fun than paying my own bills, an activity I tend to avoid for as long as possible. So I'm still deciding what I want to be when I grow up.

The lines are being drawn and the ranks are closing in. It looks likes I'm pretty much set up with my friends in the program, and while the lines will be redrawn based on the classes we take in the future and group projects, I'm not going to be making any new friends this quarter. And the people I am friends with are a lovely bunch, and I'm sure (well hopeful) that our friendships with flourish, but it's never quite what one expected. I believe, and have believed for some time, that my perfect best friends are out there, waiting. This brings me to three realizations: 1) I already met them are they are Elise, Dain, and Whitney; 2) I really just want to meet myself and apparently I am unique; and 3) I am never the best friend. So it's a sorta fairytale.

Thursday night's alright for drinking. On Thursday, after class, I met some members of my cohort at the College Inn Pub for happy hour. Our time there lasted a long, long time past happy hour and then some of us moved along to Brauers for more beer and more importantly delicious frites. On Friday night, I went to a game night in Greenwood with Maggie and met some gaming people--that was interesting. I came home to find Netflix sent me the first disc of The Forsyte Saga. I am not sure how I feel about this BBC miniseries. Sidecars are a delicious amusement when watching a confusing and semi-boring miniseries.

Saturday was Halloween, and I needed to buy a couple of things for my costume, such as black shoes since I foolishly left my one and only pair in Utah. So I went to the GAP and bought a lot of lovely clothing but nothing that helped me in my costuming endeavors. So then I drove to Northgate Mall and bought a bitchin' pair of black Robert Wayne dress shoes. They're a bit narrow but I chose them over the much more sensible and comfortable Steve Maddens which weren't nearly as cool. Once my Newsie outfit was complete (with newsprint on my face), I went to Jeannie's for our pre-party game plan, much wine, beer, and champagne was consumed. We then piled into a taxi and went to the Baltic Room in Capitol Hill--a very loud dance club. More beer. And we picked up Emily. Then we stuffed ourselves into another taxi and were headed to a so-called "rave" but decided that the cover charge was too much and ended up in Belltown instead. We went to the Buddha Bar, more beer, and there was a costume competition and a screening of Orange County. WTF? We then stumbled to Belltown Billiards where there was a $10 cover just for the guys, and we were a bit strapped for cash at that point. Have I mentioned that I don't like clubs? Bars are great, but I hate clubs. Emily and I were about ready to crash, so we finally left, got into another taxi and went back to Jeannie's and eventually I got myself back home. Home, sweet, home. Also, my feet really hurt.

And then yesterday I woke up at noon only to realize an hour later that I hadn't set my clock back, so it was noon again. Lovely. I ignored my homework, went grocery shopping, and decided to see Bright Star which is a film about John Keats and his love affair with Fanny Brawne. The performances are good and the cinematography is beautiful. Afterward, I stopped at Dick's Drive-In and got myself a deluxe and some fries. Dick's it's perfect fast food. SO effing good! And then it was Monday. Blerg.

Class today was an exercise in staying awake. All that's keeping me going is Regina tomorrow. And Guy Fawkes Day on Thursday.

Toriphilia

Yes, this is going to be one of those blogs where I discuss my deep and abiding love for Tori Amos. (You can stop reading now if you would like.) In particular this is where I list the top ten songs that I will always love by Tori. A few weeks ago, sitting in class, I decided to list my most favoritest songs, and then I spent some time talking to Kristen P to help me. Today, sitting in a meeting, I decided to revisit my list. To be clear these are the songs I personally love the most and expect to love the most forever. This is not the same list I would make of what I believe are her best songs, or the list I would make to introduce someone to Tori--though if you would like suggestions, I am happy to make them! Anyway, I decided ten was way too limiting, so I opted for twelve since that's the usual number of tracks on an album. So it's my top ten plus two (out of so, so many) alternates. Still, this list has been an epic struggle. However, without any further ado*, I present my list.

"Tear In Your Hand" Little Earthquakes
"Cooling (B-side Version)" A Piano: The Collection
"Bouncing Off Clouds" American Doll Posse
"Silent All These Years" Little Earthquakes
"Space Dog" Under the Pink
"Hey Jupiter (The Dakota Version)" A Piano: The Collection
"Precious Things (Alternate Mix)" A Piano: The Collection
"Spark" From the Choirgirl Hotel
"Bliss" To Venus and Back
"Winter" Little Earthquakes
"A Sorta Fairytale" Scarlet's Walk
"Sweet Dreams (B-side Version)" A Piano: The Collection

*Further ado: The listing here is largely in descending order starting with my most favorite and not (necessarily) in playlist form.
The first five were easy, not so easy after that. Notable mentions go to "Crucify," "Cloud On My Tongue," "Merman," "Playboy Mommy," and "Professional Widow," among so many others.
Many of the songs have multiple versions: single, album, alternate, remix, b-side, etc. So I am listing the specific song title--basically how it appears in iTunes. Most of the time it doesn't really matter, except for "Sweet Dreams" where the B-side version is vastly superior to the Tales version.

OMFGG!

So I just watched Misery.
*warning: spoiler alert*

Yeah, that happened.

So then I watched Monday's episodes of Gossip Girl for some Chuck Bass-on-guy action to relieve the tension.

Yeah, that was totally hot. Now he just needs to end up in the sack with the guy.

But it didn't really work, because when I close my eyes I don't see Ed Westwick locking lips with Neal Bledsoe. I see Kathy Bates holding a knife.
I am SO scared!

Welcome to Seattle!

So chilly, rainy, autumnal Seattle weather has begun in earnest now. and there was much rejoicing. yay.

Yesterday, I was really committed to doing my homework for . . . a little while, before blowing it off to do frankly more important things. Maggie and I were going to see Ballard Sunday morning, but I decided to sleep in instead. In the afternoon I met her and her friend Flannery, who is American but grew up in the Netherlands!, for tea. Flannery is an econ major who has seen the error of her ways and so is now taking English classes, because she missed writing essays--no, really!--and wants to get an MLIS once she graduates. During tea, we decided we wanted to see Inglourious Basterds because neither of them had seen it and I was totally up for seeing it again. So once we figured out which bus to take we made our way downtown.

Downtown! Sometimes when I walk across I-5 making my way to and from Wallingford and the U District, I see the Seattle skyline and it warms my heart, and I think, "Look at Seattle, isn't it so pretty?" Because living in the U District which is technically Seattle, doesn't feel like it at all. If you really want to feel like you're living in a major metropolitan city, you make your way downtown after dark and see all the crazy people and all the homeless people and think, yes, this is what a city is.

So after getting off our bus, it was like Hello Pike's Place, Goodbye Pike's Place, because Pike's Place is mostly closed on a Sunday evening and we were hungry. This was only the second time I had been downtown, the other time was on my first, full-day in Seattle when I foolishly decided to drive to Pike's Place by myself--this was on my aunt's advice--and so white-knuckled I drove right through the market but didn't get out because I wasn't going to pay $20 to freaking park, so instead I ended up in Shoreline. Anyway, sans car, downtown is a delightful place to walk around--so many buildings, so many stores, so much city! We grabbed some quick Mexican grill food and made our way to the Pacific Place mall which houses a movie theater. In Utah, when people complained about how expensive the movies were, I was like "You're crazy!" But now living in Seattle, I understand. The whole damn city is bloody expensive and they have a super high sales tax. This is an offset for having no state income tax, which must be nice if one had an income. As it is, it's all of the pain, and none of the fun. Still, Inglourious Basterds is even better the second time around. "Ooh, that's a bingo!" Classic. And downtown = awesomesauce. I can't wait to go back. And then it was Monday. Boo.

In other weekend adventures, on Friday night I attended a Scrabble tournament, and this is where I, the former English major and future librarian, admit that I hate Scrabble and am absolute trash at it. Still, I won a chair prize which ended up being a beer certificate. Go, Fight, Win! Afterward, Maggie came over and we watched The Devil Wears Prada because she had never seen it, a travesty we quickly remedied. And I finally dipped into my bar because I had finally bought ice--perhaps the most important ingredient of any cocktail. I also had somebody to drink with, but that's just so much less important. And I watched some more Mad Men via Netflix and the show, which I have never really gotten into but am watching nonetheless because it's cultural currency, is finally getting interesting--to me anyway.

And on Saturday, after sleeping through most of it, I went to the Seattle Book Arts Festival which was all right, and chatted with Lillian which is always a pleasure. And then I went to Alex's house in Fremont for a little party. I played "Wizard Slap" which is a lovely little game where one does a shot and then gets one's face slapped off before (or after) reciprocating the favor. Supposedly, the slap acts as a chaser while the shot numbs your face. And you get to slap someone, so really how can you lose? I also smoked my first hookah, and my wasn't that interesting, while watching really bizarre YouTube videos. The night ended with pizza and watching Harold & Kumar which I had never seen before, so it was a night of firsts.

Two Weeks

The largest difference I've noticed between being an undergraduate in Utah and a graduate student in Seattle is that the latter involves oh-so-much-more alcohol.

So I've just wrapped up my second week of classes here at the UW which also means that I've finished (mostly) one whole class. LIS 500 aka Life Cycles of Information which was basically iSchool boot camp. Last Friday and Saturday, I spent ten hours in class--which wasn't nearly as dreadful as it sounds because there were several different lecturers, group activities, and breaks--but it was still a lot. And then this week there were seven online lectures and/or readings with discussion forums. We were suppose to do them all and then comment on at least four boards at least twice. I have posted two times to the four lectures that I have completed. I will (should) do the rest . . . sometime. Thank goodness this is only a credit/no credit course. So 500 is over. mostly. Yay! I learned about such things as the Value-Added Model, Management, Systems of Knowledge, and FRBR--yeah, I don't really know what they are either. What I found out at orientation is that our program is largely theory-based which is not information I knew beforehand--I'm going to be a great iStudent!

So the week before last was a half-week of classes, and it was also the iWelcome Week. What this mostly meant is that I went to a Happy Hour on Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday and drank free beer! And at one of the workshops I also got a spreadsheet of the local bars and their happy hours. What a great week!

My first class was on Wednesday and it is Information Resources and the prereq for other reference classes which is great because I think I want to be a reference librarian at this stage. Anyway, our teacher is a lecturer who also works at the Seattle Public Library and he's fabulous. He is mellow (which is not always common at the iSchool), knows his stuff, and really wants to help us students. Wonderful, wonderful man. We've only had three classes, but I love it! Our last class we (finally) went around the room and spent (almost) the whole two hours introducing ourselves and recommending to everyone books, music, movies, bars, restaurants, recipes, etc. It was so much fun. There are also about ten recovering lawyers in the program, so Kristen and Amber, if five-ten years down the road you realize you don't want to be a lawyer, you can always be a librarian! Anyway, they all dress really well because they have (had) money.

My second class was on Thursday, and it's taught by Karen Fisher. What I can say for sure is that she's crazy, but she is from Canada (Newfoundland specifically), so we can't really hold that against her. On the first day of class she wore her academic robes and had this crazy, decorated tree stick that rattled (like a rainstick!) which is I don't even know what. The other times I've seen her she's been wearing short dresses. She's young and passionate and crazy. It's the largest class I've been in because it's for our entire cohort. One of our textbooks is by her as are many of the readings, and I think she looks on our class to further her own research. She also seems like the kind of professor who wants to hear her own ideas reflected by us, and I'm sure she'll be an arbitrary grader. At first I thought she was fabulous, but now I'm not so sure--an ambivalent feeling held by many at the iSchool. There's also a lot of group work for her class, and while I have nothing against the people in my group, I'm not the biggest fan of group projects. But there's a lot of collaborative effort in my professional field, so I better get used to it.

So Friday and Saturday I had 500, but now that that's over, and I don't have classes on Fridays! It's beautiful. Also, this quarter, my earliest class starts at 1:30 in the afternoon and my other class is at 3:30, so I sleep in a lot--like every day. So I don't get done till late in the afternoon, but since I'm not working, I don't really mind it at all. However, it does make me very lazy. And this week I didn't have class on Thursday because Karen gave us it off to work on our group projects. That's one nice thing is that she said she will always give us time for our group work. This week we're working on Information Grounds which are places you go for one thing but end up sharing information like a coffee shop--you go to get coffee but end up talking and sharing info.

Our group chose bar trivia nights--oh-so-much-more drinking. Some people from our group went on Thursday, but I went on a pub crawl in Capitol Hill with some friends to help celebrate Jeannie's birthday. It was fun, but we had a rather large group which doesn't always work so well at small, little bars. On Friday I went to the Monkey Pub which was a scary dive bar to find oneself all alone at seven o'clock. But by eight, Deb, from my group, had arrived as well as several other people for trivia night! Deb and I were the Fighting Librarians and for only two people, our group came in fourth (or fifth?) place! Anyway, all the other groups were much larger, and we each won a shot of Jager, so that was fun. And tonight our whole group is going out to the Dubliner in Freemont.

So that is a basic wrap-up of my first two weeks (week and a half) of classes. And yesterday, I took the bus to Northgate Mall which is freakin' far away and bought new shoes (finally!), which look almost exactly the same as my old shoes, and renewed my supply of Burberry London. OMG, it's like my favorite smell in the world. I came home to find my cousin Ernl had sent me two of her famous knitted pumpkins. Check out her work here. Fabulous! And then I made pumpkin chocolate chip cookies and watched 28 Days Later which wasn't really scary at all, but is rather a drama set within the sci-fi/horror genre. Cillian Murphy does find the perfect intersection between cute and creepy. So anyway, that's what I've been up to.

P.S. Happy National Coming Out Day! (I didn't even know that was a thing. I'm such a bad homosexual.)

OctoberFest

"Ooh. Gaslight!" --Lorelai Gilmore

The Scranton Witch Project



This has nothing to do with Oktoberfest which mostly takes place in September. Instead, it's all about my favorite month--October! Fall is my favorite season and while September brings intimations of Autumn, October is the real deal. The tomatoes and peaches may be gone by now, but now there's pumpkins and soup and pie. I also love seasonal "harvest" ales and beers--Redhook makes a great one. It's the perfect weather for sweaters and scarves. I love taking long walks on dark, brisk nights. And fall has two of my favorite holidays--Halloween and Thanksgiving. And who doesn't love Halloween?, but without Ellen and my other friends, I doubt this one will be as festive. Ellen and Melissa are the ones who decorate for the holidays--and I would expect nothing less of an elementary school teacher and a daycare worker--but I did not get the interior decorator gay gene. But hopefully I will have enough cool, fun friends by the 31st to have one amazing Halloween party.

So October is also the time for scary movies and books. I would recommend Edith Wharton's short ghost story "All Souls." Harold Bloom calls it the finest ghost story in the language, and it's quite good, though it's actually more about witches than ghosts. Some Hawthorne or Poe may also be called for (though please, "The Raven"?, nevermore). Other scary reads include Rosemary's Baby and The Stepford Wives both by Ira Levin and fairly short. I've decided to try to read Dracula again (I failed the first time, back in high school) this year. I finished the first chapter, but it's quite long and I have this little thing called grad school, so we'll see what happens.

Anyway, on to the movies. Now, I've only recently gotten into scary movies, and I avoid the term "horror" because I generally stay away from slashers and splatter films--also known as "torture porn." I prefer psychological thrillers and ghost movies. My favorite of them all has to be Stanley Kubrick's The Shining which is a classic--everything that can be said about this film has already been done so, but if you haven't seen it then you need to. The Orphanage (or El Orfanato) produced by Guillermo Del Toro (Pan's Labyrinth) is a superior ghost story and quite terrifying. The Others, in case you somehow still haven't seen it, is a chilling ghost story, but not really scary at all. On the same note, The Skeleton Key is suspenseful and dark but not too intense and actually rather interesting. Last year I finally saw Hitchcock's Psycho and that one is quite creepy. Now the ending is what did it for me rather than the infamous shower scene, which I didn't find particularly frightening. And my last favorite scary movie is Interview with the Vampire. This movie based on the Anne Rice novel also isn't terribly scary, though you may not want to drive in a convertible car after dark, but what I really love is Kirsten Dunst's uncanny portrayal of a grown woman trapped inside a child's body. If you're really into vampires, it's worth checking out. So these are the scary movies I love so far. I've added several films to my Netflix que-u-e for this month, and last night I watched The Innocents with Deborah Kerr adapted from the Henry James novella The Turn of the Screw by myself. This is another ghost story, and I was quite scared. The two children, the eponymous innocents, are anything but, and are possibly the creepiest children in film. It's quite old, 1961, but if you're looking for a good ghost movie, I would recommend it.

The other movies I have in my queue for this October include 28 Days Later which is a science-fiction horror film. I haven't seen any zombie movies, and while this may not technically count, I think it's close enough. And Cillian Murphy is creepy enough. Zombieland looks pretty good, but without the zombie genre context, I doubt if I'll really "get it." I also have Misery with Kathy Bates, and everyone I know who's seen this movie swears it's terrifying. And finally I have Les Diaboliques, a French film where a wife and mistress team up to kill their husband/lover only to have the corpse vanish. The Silence of the Lambs is also in my queue, but quite far down the list, and I refuse to watch this movie unless I'm with a bunch of other people and won't have to sleep alone. The Changeling and Alien are both in my in there as well, but it doesn't look like I'll get to them this year.

So, what are your favorite scary films that you like to watch around Halloween?

Roommate Redux

So, I survived my first day of classes--or class, since I only have one per day. And Fridays off! (Except for this weekend, when my Friday and Saturday will be spent completing a two credit class in two days--I'm so excited.) On the down side, my regular classes are two hours each--and I thought as an undergrad that some of those fifty minute classes couldn't go by fast enough.

So late on Sunday night my roommate officially moved in and spent his first night in the apartment. We see each other every day, though I've spent an awful amount of time on campus lately, and we seem to get along so far. Anyway, his full name is Andhika and he goes by Andhi. He is from Jakarta, and his family is Catholic, though Andhi says he's not very religious. He does not drink since (I think) he has a low alcohol tolerance, but we'll see if that changes when he turns 21. (I'm thinking of Justin who has managed overcome his low tolerance.) He's a junior now and transferred here (from a school in Indonesia?). Andhi also attended an International School (not sure where) which I believe is where he learned most of his Americanized English (he also speaks Indonesian). On Monday night we went and saw The Burning Plain with Charlize Theron (it was an interesting movie; not sure I would recommend it). He also likes musicals and his favorite movie is High School Musical. Yes, my roommate is gay. This will be interesting. He also has a cute friend (bf?) named Adyceum (Ady?), who despite his very interesting name that I have no idea how to pronounce, is thoroughly white and American. I think they met at the international school. So there's an update on that, and though I've learned a lot, there's still a lot I don't know.

Anyway, I have learned that lunch is important. Yesterday, we had a second orientation, an iSchool fair, and then a happy hour. Yay, beer! I didn't eat much breakfast and no lunch, but had tea, coffee, more tea, and then quite a lot of beer. My digestive system was not very happy with me. Today, there was a special collections tour (actually pretty boring, and now I know I don't want to be a archivist), another "workshop" and then my first class. And so even though I had less caffeine, no alcohol, and more water, I still didn't eat lunch and now it's time to make some pizza and get ready for Glee. TTFN!

The Curious Case of the Mysterious Roommate and Other Stories

*Sorry for the LONG blogs guys. I can write but I can't edit (or be succinct).*

So, I have a roommate. It was a bit touch-and-go there for a while though. His name is Andy, at least I think it is--I haven't been able to clear that up yet--and he, or at least his family, is from Indonesia (or by way of Indonesia). The children, at least Andy, speak regular, American English based on the two very brief conversations I've had with him, while also speaking fluent Indonesian(?) or one of the other 700+ languages of that country. The parents speak less fluent English and it's heavily accented.

On Thursday, I was sitting in my apartment, lounging in my pajamas at 1:30 in the afternoon, watching Battlestar Galactica. At this point I had given up on having a roommate, when the door opened up and in walked one of the community assistants and this entire Asian family. It was very awkward. After making some small talk, they got to work in his bedroom and I hid in mine. After a little while they left, and I immediately seized the bathroom to shower and get dressed. Then I frantically cleaned the kitchen and the rest of the apartment. But they didn't show up again that day or the next.

I wondered if my fifteen bottles of liquor and liqueurs prominently displayed had scared the family away. At least I had thrown away the empty wine bottle. So I knocked on his door late that night and when there was no answer I decided to open it, to see if his stuff was still there, or if he had truly fled. Or at least I tried to--the door was locked. Compounding my morbid nature with my tendency to assume the worst, I wondered if this nice kid had come to college to lock himself in a room and commit suicide.

On Friday I woke up relatively early--10 am--for I had orientation that day. After the five-hour meeting and a bowling social--more on this later--I came home to find the apartment just as dark as I had left it. Except someone had been there. For instance I had left the toilet seat down and the bathroom door open, but when I came home the door was closed and the seat up. There were also some new cleaners in the cupboard. But still no roommate. Unless he was dead in the adjacent room, but if that was the case, I was determined to let lying bodies lie.

On Saturday, I slept in again, and was enjoying tea and a novel around noon in my pajamas, when again his family came in--but there were more of them this time--I quite calmly finished my tea and then took a shower and got dressed. At this point I went to meet Maggie to explore some more of the city, and left my roommate and his family to continue setting up his room--I did notice that he has a television that supports satellite hooked up in his bedroom, lucky bastard. But when I came home later that evening, he was once again gone. The mystery continues. He has not yet appeared today, but if and when he comes, I will be fully dressed and groomed.

So I'm trying to remember what I've actually been up to this week. On Wednesday, Maggie and I went to the zoo, which I found slightly ironic since Maggie is a vegetarian--but she's not militant and I think her vegetarianism has less to do with animal rights than other issues, but I don't really know. Anyway, shes loves animals and the Woodland Park Zoo is a nice little zoo that was also a bit pricey (which is a theme in Seattle). The animals were nice and active which is always more fun than when they're sleeping. After the zoo, we went and explored some more of Wallingford. We got dinner at this Greek pizzeria which was interesting, but I probably won't be going back there. The atmosphere was . . . weird. We planned on going to see Bright Star but had missed the 7:00 showing, so we walked all the way to the U District where there was another movie theater, but they didn't have any showings for the next hour, so we took the bus back--after a forty-minute wait--and decided to skip the movie and get tea instead at Teahouse Kaun Yin where we talked some more about movies and poetry and Germany.

On Thursday, after my roommate left, I didn't do a whole lot. Though I did spend way too much money and ate way too much food at a local Mexican restaurant chain called Azteca--there's one right across the street from me. So that was fun.

On Friday, it was orientation. This was a five-hour session--with coffee, food, and a few breaks--to learn a lot of information about a lot of different things at the iSchool. I don't remember everything, so thank goodness I took some notes and got a folder with lots of handouts. I decided to go to library school on a whim and sort of stumbled on UW, so I hope this all works out in the end. We'll have to see how classes go. Though the good news is that if I really need a lit class or something, I can always take an undergraduate class (not for credit) just as long as I'm not too busy already. After orientation there was an ALISS social which is the student organization for the iSchool, and that was fun. They had rented out the bowling alley at the union building and there was wine and beer and pizza. Hooray for campuses that allow alcohol! I didn't bowl, but I did talk to a few different students which was good.

And yesterday, Maggie and I went to see the Seattle Asian Art Museum since it was free or something (I think SAM admission is always suggested rather than enforced which was confusing because we had this paper for free admission). Anyway, it was all right, there were some beautiful ceramics and wall paintings, but I have realized that I am thoroughly Western; however, it did make me want to take out my World Lit anthology and read Li Bai and some other Chinese poets. Also, I prefer paintings to sculptures and ceramics, which is one reason why the British Museum was such a let down after the National Gallery, the Musee d'Orsay, and the Louvre--also, I was really tired of museums by then.

The museum was in Volunteer Park where there's also this water tower where you can climb to the top. As we were climbing up the stairs, I had a distinct reminder of climbing to the top of St. Paul's Cathedral--so many steps! The water tower wasn't really that high, but it did offer fantastic views of the city especially since it was a clear and sunny day. (I'm wondering how long this fantastic weather can last in Seattle. *knock on wood*) Then we walked toward Broadway in Capitol Hill without knowing where or how exactly to get there. Anyway, Capitol Hill is the city's alternative neighborhood and the center of the gay population. Broadway was fun to walk down and we stopped to grab some dinner at a cafe. We also stopped at a giant record store where I got me some more Tori Amos. We then rode the bus back to campus and I walked home. It was a most excellent day.

Today I need to buy some more things before University Village closes. I also need to learn how to live on my own again. Living at home for the last two years, and only working part-time for the last year, has really been a very unstructured way of life. Buying weekly groceries and cooking for myself is something I haven't done for a long, long time. And while I've done my own laundry since moving to college the first time, I haven't had to use a complex's laundry facility since sophomore year. I miss free laundry--and doing it anytime in my own apartment/house. And I'm not so good with chores without my mom (or Melissa) to enforce them. (We also don't have a vacuum.) I'm staying up too late and sleeping in too long. At least classes should give me some structure, but I only have one class each day Monday through Thursday, and they're all in the afternoon. I should look for a part-time job, but what with the economy and my total lack of motivation to do so, we'll see how that goes. Well, I better stop writing and get to it. "Welcome to the real world. It sucks. You're gonna love it."

Seattle: Updated and Revised, or We're Not in Cedar City Anymore

"Oh, well I've been orientating myself for the last few days so I'm fine."
"Okay, but I don't think orientating is a word."

Things I Have Acquired:
1) Ethernet Cable! I bought this today at RadioShack and this is how I am able to communicate with you here by the magic of the Internet. I also realized that I have no idea what the Internet actually is and would be at a complete lost to explain it to someone who has been living in a cave for the last twenty years. (But now that I have the Internet again, I can look further into this.)
2) Bloodied Appendages. Years ago the people of Seattle decided to spend their money on building more freeways instead of a public transportation system. Where were all the hippies when you needed them? So everyone drives their car and that makes for traffic congestion like all the time. As a result, I have been walking about most of the time, and while individual neighborhoods may be great to walk around in, walking from neighborhood to neighborhood is less great. Also, the shoes I have been wearing were made by people who hate feet. So what were once feet have been turned into blistered stumps that would make a manicurist cry--or just me. So today I decided to pull out my very old Adidas/Goodyear shoes (that's right, Goodyear shoes) that are very comfortable and in which I walked all around and about London. Sweet Merciful Relief (though I still have blisters). I will be wearing these old shoes until I can find new, decent walking shoes (and gel insoles).
3) My Husky Card/UPass. Sadly this Photo ID features, hands-down, the absolute worst pic I have ever had on any Photo ID. The good news is that I can now ride the buses for free, and supposedly the bus system is actually pretty good. The (other) bad news is that I don't know how to ride buses.
3) A Bottle of Wine. It really helps with the feet thing. Also, hooray for grocery stores selling wine, and not just crappy boxed wine either. I think I'm going to like this place.
4) A Personal Shopping Center. Sandwiched between my apartment complex and campus is University Village which is a large and vibrant shopping center. With more stores than I can count, it includes Barnes & Noble, Gap, Banana Republic, Tiffany & Co., Crate and Barrel, Pottery Barn, two Starbucks, QFC, Apple Store, Radio Shack, Williams-Sonoma, H&M, J. Crew, Busterblockers (also known at Blockbuster), Safeway, and much, much more. I just hope I don't get into too much financial trouble with such temptation right down the street.
5) A friend! I met Maggie at my tech workshop and we grabbed lunch together, and then after our last workshop we walked around Wallingford and stopped in Teahouse Kuan Yin which was a fabulous relaxed tearoom for serious tea enthusiasts. We spent a couple hours there in delightful conversation. Tomorrow we have a date to explore the Woodland Park Zoo and then to maybe go see Bright Star. Rae was telling me that if my friends truly are one in a million then there have to be around 6,786 of each of them out there and some of those have to live in Seattle. Maggie reminds me a lot of Amanda U. Maybe it's their similar features, or that they're both from California, or into gaming, or studied history and lived in Germany. Anyway, hopefully I will meet more new and exciting people who are the Seattle counterparts of my own dear friends. I also met my aunt's friend Brigitt and she's fun and fabulous and took me to Target to get a bunch of housewares, and hopefully she will also give me some tours of the city.
6) A Shower-Curtain and 6b) Shower-Curtain Hooks. My first morning here, I showered with no shower-curtain and consequently my bathroom floor was turned into a small lake. So when I went to Target, I bought a shower-curtain and some fancy bronze, oblong hooks (because that's all they had). Unfortunately, my shower rod is thick and the rings were too small (that's what she said), so morning number two was an exercise in creative showering. Yesterday, I bought wonderful hooks from Crate and Barrel and they fit perfectly. I was thrilled, but that may have just been the wine.
7) Books. Today I went up The Ave, which is technically named University Way, and features all sorts of hole-in-the-wall cafes, bookstores, restaurants, and shops. I'm very excited to explore them, but maybe with a friend. Local, hole-in-the-wall places (especially bars) and not places I like to drop in by myself. Anyway, the flagship University Bookstore is on The Ave, and I spent $150 on my two required books which isn't too bad I guess.

Things I Have Not Acquired:
1) A Roommate. When I called Nordheim Court to see about a room, I got the last available two-bedroom apartment: 3001B. Our apartment's scheduled move-in date was last Thursday, but as of right now 3001A remains empty. It's been kind of nice since I'm still slowly moving/settling in, but it's also kinda lonely. So I think I'd rather have a roommate than not. But if I don't have one by the end of this week, I kind of doubt that I will have any sort of roommate this quarter.
2) HuskyTV. This is a satellite television service through UW Tech that is provided by my apartment building (for free, and it includes HBO!) but sadly I have not been able to hook my TV up to it. It's an analog TV and I don't have a converter box, so that may be the problem, but I connected my hella janky cable cord from the TV to the wall plate and no dice (except I am getting FOX). So another trip to RadioShack may be in store, but if any of my technologically savant friends have any suggestions, I'd love to hear them. In the meantime, I'll just keep watching HIMYM on DVD.
3) Ice Cub Trays. My movable bar is now much more permanent, but without ice, I cannot make cocktails. It's quite sad, so it looks like another trip to Crate and Barrel or Williams-Sonoma is in store, and maybe a trip to Safeway for vermouth and mixers. I really want those silicone ice trays that make perfect cubes.
4) My Bearings. Seattle is a very large city (150 sq. miles; 600,000+ pop.) and is laid out in a quadrant. Goodbye dear Salt Lake City and your wonderful if unimaginative grid system (and great parking). Theoretically, I understand this quadrant system and the NE, NW, SW, SE roads, but in actuality, I get totally turned around. This is when it's helpful to look around for the Space Needle, unquestionably our country's greatest needle, to orientate oneself. Over the course of the next two years, I hope to understand this crazy, crazy city.
5) A movie friend. Maggie is great--and likes movies--but she is not a cinema buff. I need to meet an amazing movie friend combining all the better film parts of Ellen and Slarue.
6) Many Other Things I'm Sure--but have forgotten. You see, I got out the wine again.

A Brief Play-By-Day
On Thursday we left Bountiful and on one tank of gas, my car made it all the way to Boise. My dad's 4Runner was not so fuel efficient. We ate in Boise and then drove all the way to La Grande, OR to sleep for the night. Almost all of the rooms were booked for the Pendleton Round-Up. The next day we crossed into Washington and drove all the way to Kent, a suburb outside Seattle, where my mom's cousin lives.

On Saturday, we drove into Seattle combating bad traffic which was especially bad since there was a big home game against USC. I live not far at all from the stadium. It was also grey and drizzly. Welcome to Seattle! The days since have actually been sunny and warmer than I expected. We found my complex and moved me in. Then we went to Safeway and my parents generously bought me a bunch of groceries, even though it still seems that my fridge and cupboards are bare. We met my aunt and her friend, Nick, for lunch--Dungeness crab mac and cheese (with Gruyere!)--yum. My family left, and I spent the night with the daunting task of unboxing everything and moving in. It's still a work in progress. I then explored campus by dark and luckily stumbled upon Mary Gates Hall which is where the iSchool is housed.

On Sunday, I drove downtown past Pike's Place and then north all the way to Shoreline, that was scary, and then back down to Green Lake. I found some street parking and walked around the lake trail for an hour--that was in the bad shoes--and got some Peet's Coffee which sadly was quite bad. Maybe it was the roast that day, or the fact that there was almost no room left for cream and that instead of half and half, there was only milk. Later that day, my aunt and Brigitt swung by and took me to Target (which is way outside the city) and then to dinner.

On Monday I woke up bright and early and walked to campus for my first two tech workshops. I managed to find Mary Gates Hall again--even campus is confusing--and met Maggie and spent a long, but fun, day walking around town--which my feet may never forgive me for. And that brings us to today. I went back to campus for my last workshop, bought my books and the Ethernet cable, stopped at a Starbucks (for as anti-corporate as Seattle is supposed to be, there are still a vast number of Starbucks--it is a local company after all--and they are all very, very busy), and am now sitting at home, enjoying the wine, and writing this blog. I hope you are all doing well. I think I am slowly but surely adjusting. Much love.

Seattle

In which I will write a new post about living in Seattle as soon as I can find either an Ethernet cable or WiFi router available for love or money.

Also, if anyone knows anything about televisions and cable, I will need your know-how.

Yes, I am techno-illiterate. Thank goodness the iSchool has seen fit to provide free technology workshops before the quarter commences.

Excited and Scared

I should be packing right now instead of writing this blog. But it has finally has started to feel like fall--the temperature's dropped a bit and the last couple of days have been a bit rainy. Which is all very nice as I love fall, but grad school is suddenly much, much closer and real.

Until yesterday, Seattle and UW were just a far-away dream, and I felt neither anticipation nor anxiety. Well, that's all changed now. I move Thursday--crazy--and I've been buying stuff I think I'll need, spending way too much money, and probably buying nothing that will actually be useful--yes, I suffer from buyer's remorse. Anyway, among other things, I purchased a city map of Seattle at my aunt's behest, and I also got one of those city guides by Frommer's. Looking through the guide has been rather exciting, but I have to realize that I am not going on a vacation, rather I am moving to live in Seattle for at least two years. And now I'm scared, well excited and scared, about the rain, about the notorious traffic and parking, about finding a job, about how damn expensive everything is--why am I not going to Syracuse? I ask myself. Oh right, financial aid. At least I won't have to deal with ice storms, I tell myself.

So I've packed all of my books (mostly), but it turns out that was the easy part. The nice thing about moving from home is that I don't have to move everything out and scour the apartment before leaving. But on the other hand, it's hard to decide what to leave and what to take. I'm trying to create a DI pile of clothes, but I've only managed to throw out two items. And I need to go through all my kitchen equipment and decide what will fit in my tiny Seattle apartment. Have I mentioned that I hate moving? I also need to do laundry, and it would probably be a good idea to get an oil change and make sure my car is running smoothly before going on a fifteen-hour drive. So much to do, so little time--guess I better stop writing and start packing. Blerg.