if this isn't nice, what is?

Librarian Days

2012-02-01T14:50:00.005-05:00

Meeting new people is hard, or at least I think it is. That could be partially because I am reluctant to ever leave my home, but that's neither here nor there. My cousin was in town over the weekend, and with her I was able to meet a couple new people. The realization that came along with that whole experience is how much I love having a one-word job title. Let me illustrate.

In 2009 when I met a new person, this happened:

stranger: So what do you do?
me: Well, I'm a proposal manager.
stranger: Like wedding proposals? Har har.
FRIENDSHIP OVER.

In 2011 when I met a new person, this happened:

stranger: So what do you do?
me: I work in a library.
stranger: You're a librarian?
me: Well no not technically since I don't have my Master's yet, but mumble mumble.
STRANGER ASLEEP.

In 2012 when I meet a new person, this happens:

stranger: So what do you do?
me: I'm a librarian.
stranger: Oh cool.
ZING.

P.S. This is just a long-winded way of telling my blog that I've finished my Master's. BOOM SHAKALAKA.

Christmas Time

2011-12-11T21:00:00.004-05:00

I am really in the Christmas spirit this year! I've gotten most of my Christmas presents! I bought myself a real tree! I made some garland! So pumped for Christmas! I'm also trying to keep my living room clean (at least) just in case anyone wants to come sit in the presence of my decorations (because that is pretty much all I want to do).

Happy birthday, Kaydee!

2011-11-09T11:43:00.007-05:00

Kaydee and I went to school together beginning in kindergarten but it wasn't until fifth grade that we became real friends. The following summer we tearfully expressed our mutual love for one another and became official best friends. We passed notebooks back and forth in school to write notes to each other, we created a secret handshake, and we made up nicknames for other people and actions so we could talk about them freely while they were around. We went to the creek near her house and treated it like a huge adventure. We spent days at the pool, and evenings at Chili Peppers for the monthly ska night. She cried at the meanish sarcastic way my family communicates and I grew uncomfortable with the emotional nature of her family's interactions. We became unofficial members of each other's families.

I have always been pretty nerdy and bookish. By the time I was 7 or so, I was shockingly shy and reserved. Kaydee was the opposite. She loved it when people called her "weird" (but not "strange"!), and she was very theatrical and outspoken. Through our odd-couple type friendship, she really encouraged me to come out of my shell and to make my nerdiness something fun about myself rather than something to separate me from other people. Kaydee is and has always been intensely creative, which was something else she encouraged me to be also. She would force me (often against my will) to participate in art projects with her, to act in plays we created, to join an art and acting organizations at school, and to look at every day activities with a whimsical, imaginative eye.

We spent nearly every day together for four or five years, and I honestly feel that I would be an entirely different person if Kaydee and I had never been friends. We don't see each other often or keep up as well anymore, which I regret, but we're such old friends now that we can go months without talking and still be able to pick up right where we left off. Kaydee is unlike anyone else I have known. She and I are so different, but our lives have been woven together for over fifteen years now.

With all that said, HAPPY BIRTHDAY, KAYDEE.

These are the only pictures of her that I can get to at work, but I think they're pretty representative.

Dad

2011-11-09T10:05:00.008-05:00

I created my LiveJournal on January 24, 2001, which I realize is now over 10 years ago. WEIRD. Anyhow, I was an avid user during my high school years but have wisely since gone through and made private the 1000+ angsty entries I posted there. BUT in 2006, I wrote a post including a great series of photos of my dad. Because these photos are so great, I have decided to repost them here for mostly a whole new audience. (Sorry for the repeat, G!)

So this is a series I like to call, "MY DAD IS AWESOME BECAUSE..."

... he once was a baby who couldn't walk.... he has been an avid bike rider for over 50 years.... he wore this funny Gunsmoke tshirt.... he appears to have had at least one broken arm for most of his childhood.
... he could carry ten times his own weight.... he was friends apparently with "The Outsiders." (He's front/right, the small one).... he has this jawline that I have never seen.... he sported the comb-over for his senior picture.
... he is a smart ass.... he wore hats and drove this car (which later caught on fire).
... he thinks weddings (and that ruffle shirt) are HILARIOUS.... he loves my mom.... he had these bowling friends in the '70s and still has them now.... HE'S MY DAD!
(We also apparently only take pictures together around Christmas time.)

New Orleans

2011-07-08T12:36:00.003-04:00

I went to New Orleans recently for a conference, and IT WAS FANTASTIC. I love it there! I also love every place I go, but New Orleans is special. I think maybe it's the perfect blend of slow southerness and urban walkability. The people are nice, the city is colorful, the food is delicious, and the sun was always close by. There's also a great balcony culture that I'm really into. In summary, I loved it and I want to go back. I could even see myself living there!

All the pictures I posted are here, but here are some highlights:

French Quarter

Garden District

People

The Last Couple Months (in Photos)

2011-06-02T21:41:00.002-04:00

In April, I went to Massachusetts for Tim and Kate's wedding.

And spring happened.

And I went to Roanoke.

And Laura, Gabrielle, and I went to some wineries.

More about Places and Things

2011-04-15T10:28:00.003-04:00

Jonah Lehrer has a new article about the effects of architecture and interior design on how our brain works: The Psychology of Architecture.

Places and Things

2011-04-11T18:54:00.003-04:00

I think I had forgotten this blog in the whirlwind of plane flights and group papers of the last month, but this morning I stumbled upon this in my Google Reader. It reminded me that maybe writing in here sometimes helps me organize my thoughts and feel more cohesive as a person than I do when I ignore this space for too long. Sometimes I think of this blog as a way to waste time, not as something that's actually helpful in my life. But thank you, Becoming Minimalist, for reminding me that there are more benefits to writing about my life than just procrastination.

So anyway.

Yesterday I got back from a weekend in Massachusetts. The wedding was in Sturbridge and it was beautiful. My friend Tim, who went to school with me from sixth grade through college, is now married to a wonderful woman named Kate, whom he met on vacation in Maine in 2002 and whom I mistakenly thought was fake until at least 2005.

Then, since we were in the area, Maggie and I spent all day yesterday in Boston, which was a new city for me. I'm sure the beautiful weather helped shape my opinion, but I really loved it there. I love their open spaces and weird-looking/confusing T stations and the mixture of old and new buildings. I felt like Boston would feel very homey if I lived there. But I thought the same thing about Austin and Seattle and Philadelphia and Antigua, Guatemala.

At our last woman club meeting, we read Great House by Nicole Krauss. The story is very centered on furniture, houses, and locations. I think part of the reason I responded to the book as much as I did is because I in some ways feel like the places where I am and the items that are around me do shape my life and my experience. I invest a lot of meaning in the ugly end tables my mother pawned off on me so she could get new ones or in the house on Cary Street (even when the doorknob fell off or the sideyard was full of uncooked meat and cornhole or the chestnut pods were stabbing my feet through my shoes). These things and these places have in some way impacted my life and made it different than it would have been otherwise. I put feelings and memories into furniture and into trees in my parents' yard. I think this process of growing into and around my belongings and my space is part of why I always love anywhere I live and then feel nostalgic about it after I've gone. It becomes a part of me, a part of my growth and development.

When I visit new places, I always picture how I would situate a life there, how me and my furniture and my habits would fit in when I first moved and how they (we) would all change the longer I lived there. Sometimes I think I could live almost anywhere and dig out a small niche of comfort and home and be satisfied. I'm lucky I ended up in DC because I feel like it's made me create a more ambitious life than I would have some other places. If I'd moved back to Roanoke, I wouldn't have felt as motivated to go to grad school, for example. If I'd moved somewhere else, maybe I wouldn't have tried online dating for that short time. I probably wouldn't have started hosting trivia somewhere else either. Or have joined a woman club(!). In so much of what I do, I see the cause being where I am and what and who are around me.

I had a grand idea of where this was going when I started, but I'm obviously out of practice at organizing my thoughts for internet publication. Mostly I am happy to have spent time in some new cities in the last year because it's been fun to (1) see how friends are living there but also (2) imagine what I would be like under the influence of that place. Everywhere is just so quirky and exciting!

I'll probably be posting some pictures from my recent travels pretty soon. You know I got some good pictures of the Boston Public Library.

2011-02-26T19:12:00.004-05:00

How do people successfully have two blogs? I accidentally posted one of my snooze-worthy "article reviews" for school here earlier. I since deleted it, but it still showed up in my RSS. SORRY, GUYS.

Unrelated:

I really love when people holler at you on the street and you instinctively respond with something that ends up being nonsensical. Yesterday, when I got off the bus, a guy said, "Cold enough for you?" and I responded, "NEVER. NEVER cold enough." That doesn't make any sense and does not accurately reflect my feelings, but it just flowed out of my mouth without my brain processing it first. How silly.

People are funny.

Some Dates

2011-02-21T21:25:00.004-05:00

Maybe it was the nice weather, but I got hit with a case of the wanderlust in the last week. To remind myself that I have wandering (and other things) ahead, here are some plans/dates for the next few months:

February 28th: Woman Club

March 7th to the 13th: Spring Break

March 16th to the 20th: Austin

April 9th to the 10th: Massachusetts

April 27th: Last day of class for the semester

June 6th to the 10th & 13th to the 17th: Modern Archives Institute at National Archives

June 10th to the 11th: Eastern Shore

June 23rdish to the 28thish: New Orleans

Sometime in July or August: Grandma's at the beach

Three plane tickets, three new states!

Frame Monster

2011-02-16T15:01:00.005-05:00

I took the DCist photo of the day for today! Thanks, new camera!

Yo La Tengo

2011-02-07T19:00:00.005-05:00

I am currently listening to Yo La Tengo act out the "Chinese Restaurant" episode of Seinfeld. This seems like the perfect time for me to remind my blog that I love Yo La Tengo. It's been over two years since I last wrote on this subject, and my feelings haven't changed. The last.fm doesn't lie. I love tracks like "The Crying of Lot G" or "Last Days of Disco" when it feels like Ira's sharing a very personal story with you, and I love Georgia's low smoky(?) whispery voice always. I love the more upbeat numbers from other albums, and I love And Then Nothing... in its peaceful entirety.

I recently got to see them at 9:30 Club (with most of the people who read this blog, incidentally), and I think my favorite part was seeing them interact with each other. They've been a band longer than I've been a person, and you can feel that they know and like each other and that they really enjoy playing around together. In addition to all of the positive unsubstantiated characteristics that my brain has attributed to them over the years, I feel confident in saying that they're funny and they're talented and they're getting to do the types of silly things that come along with having been respectable and consistent and GOOD for so many years.

I also just looked at the Wikipedia page for the band and then at Georgia's page, and I really like this description of how Georgia and Ira met:

She is married to the group's other founding member, Ira Kaplan. They would often see each other in record shops and at the same shows. Finding a common ground in music, and a love of New York Mets baseball, they began hanging out and jamming together.

Also James is wearing a pro-choice shirt on his Wikipedia page:

These guys are the best.

These Days

2011-01-31T20:59:00.006-05:00

I'm back into reading about my personality type which is something I periodically become curious about even if I don't put much stock in it. For all of high school and college, I tested as an INTJ, which I thought was appropriate, yet in these last couple years I've somehow transitioned from thinking to feeling and I am now consistently an INFJ. As much as I don't like to accept arbitrary questionnaires as accurately capturing my personality, I do believe that I have noticed this as a real change in myself.

I got a Canon Rebel T2I camera last week because I wanted it and I decided I would have it. As I continue to learn how to use it properly, I'll maybe get more mileage out of my Flickr account. Most recently, I posted pictures from bopping around the Mall and Botanic Gardens with one of my peeps as well as some Peeps of a different variety. I think these are some of my favorites:

I also recently rediscovered an old sketchbook from college in which I had some pretty unintentionally cartoonish drawings from an art class and beyond as well as some amazing poetry. Oh it's so good. I may revisit some of the contents if I determine enough time has passed to not feel embarrassed by my past self. Until then, one of the high points: Snail Ghost.

And this guy who is obviously Snail Ghost's friend and confidante.

2011-01-28T23:39:00.005-05:00

Oh my god, y'all, check me out. I'm famous. Libraries and/or Geoffrey Chaucer don't know what hit 'em.

Unrelated: Apparently between last Saturday and tonight a moving truck ran into my car. There is a hole the size of a fist in the driver-side front door, which as a result will not open. Oops.

Information Overload

2011-01-25T17:47:00.003-05:00

Weirdly I had never really experienced information overload until about two weeks ago. I think maybe it had been creeping up on me since joining twitter, but somehow it's exploded in my face recently. Now I'm trying to thin out who I follow and the blogs I subscribe to, but it's a really painful process in which I thoroughly contemplate all the information I'll never see. It's making me anxious.

In other news, I had to make a blog for school to respond to boring readings about libraries. I've decided I like the name, though, so I'm going to share it here: stacks (not piles). I spent (literally) hours coming up with that. HOURS.

Perfect Teeth

2011-01-20T15:18:00.004-05:00

I have to make a blog for class, and I can't think of a name that's related to libraries. Instead I keep thinking about how I would want to name a blog Perfect Teeth, which in turn makes me think of "Perfect Sound Always." So now I am listening to Girlsareshort and wondering why I ever liked this but also simultaneously wondering why there is no YouTube video for this song.

CLEAR EYES FULL HEARTS CAN'T LOSE

2011-01-10T22:21:00.004-05:00

I feel compelled to mention that I started Friday Night Lights on Sunday, January 2nd. I am now two episodes into season three. Aside from this being potentially problematic, it is also awesome.

2010-12-28T17:29:00.004-05:00

There's something poetic about people drawing together for a funeral. Something about how family and friends converge on a location and how everyone joins together to support each other through sorrow and grief. I feel like it goes against my nature not to see a similar but opposite/positive image in weddings, in the collective celebration, but I don't. Maybe because you don't need support to be joyful. At a funeral, you mourn and remember together. Maybe I just keep picturing the end of Big Fish where all the characters from the stories show up, and together they seem to create a picture of a life, a life that is now complete. It's beautiful but it's also awful because it serves as a reminder of how wonderful the life was, how many other lives it touched, and how much of a void its absence will leave behind.

We spent New Years Eve converging on Winston-Salem, NC, for my uncle's funeral. He was 55 years old and died after a two-year fight with cancer of the lung and brain that eventually spread to his pancreas. His funeral was standing-room only. He was a good man.

A Missive from Father

2010-12-13T21:47:00.009-05:00

Background information: two years ago, I put Christmas lights on an ugly fake plant/tree in my dad's company apartment. He has never removed these lights.

Tonight I received this email:

Jessica,
Hope you are staying warm.

Wanted you to know that I turned on my Christmas lights tonight. The room is just aglow with Christmas spirit now. :)

Dad

UPDATE:

For reference, this is what the modest decorations looked like two years ago, and probably what they look like right now.

2010-12-12T21:34:00.002-05:00

Last night, Gabrielle and I went to a "Welcome Back to the United States" party for someone we only kind of know. I was singing an Andrew Bird song the whole walk over. When we arrived, the song I had been singing was playing at the event.

I just remembered that happened. It made me feel good.

Gabrielle and I also intended to just drop by this party and then do other things. But once we got there, we got caught up in hours of Catchphrase and competitive finger gestures and nerdy conversations. It was a fun night in a room full of strangers.

A Thanksgiving for One

2010-11-26T11:55:00.005-05:00

I didn't go home for Thanksgiving this year and I instead celebrated the day alone.

Leading up to the holiday, I explained this plan to many people as road trips and train rides home came up in conversation. Most responses fit into one of the following two categories: (1) an invitation to spend Thanksgiving with that person and his/her family or (2) a declaration that Thanksgiving alone is sad (this was often accompanied with a sad face).

While the second response seemed like a distinct possibility, I knew being with someone else's family would only make me feel that I should have made more of an effort to be with my own family. So eventually I decided that spending Thanksgiving alone and cooking my own version of Thanksgiving just for myself would be liberating in some way, and I actually got excited about it. I went to the grocery store Wednesday night to gather supplies, and I spent more money on groceries than I ever have before (though this was at least partially due to splurges like flowers and Jack Daniels).

Wednesday night I also cleaned my apartment and made a Thanksgiving playlist which I then edited in the light of day Thursday morning while I ate my cereal and drank my coffee.

I also made three pomanders. They smell really nice.

I called home to talk to Mom and Dad before the real cooking got underway there, and I will say that this is the only part of the day during which I felt lonely. I chatted with Mom for a while in the same way that I would have done at home except that I wasn't at home. We weren't sharing coffee in pajamas in the forgiving morning light of the living room. Lately talks with my mom have often turned to the loss of loved ones as some of her friends have recently lost their husbands and as her brother's health is deteriorating. We talked about how hard the holidays are the first year after you lose someone close to you and that was when I thought I should be home, spending every holiday I could with my family. But then, in keeping with our usual ways, we talked about how special it was that Matthew and Sarah were spending their first Thanksgiving together as a married couple and about all the people who were spending their first Thanksgivings with a new baby. I felt really thankful for my mom just then, more so even than usual. I really wished I could have been home to hug her at that moment and nestle my feet under her butt on the couch for warmth. She also reminded me that it was a holiday, so I should use as much butter as I wanted when cooking. Solid advice, Mom.

After we said our goodbyes and wished each other a happy Thanksgiving, I showered myself and made some muffins. Had I been home, Mom would have slapped my hand when I went to grab one as a treat right out of the oven, but I was alone so I could enjoy a warm muffin without reproof. I spent the next hour or so singing and dancing around the kitchen while cooking the essential parts of Thanksgiving: green beans, mashed potatoes, squash/zucchini, and cornbread pudding. These are all easy things to make, but I'm not very talented or confident in the kitchen so, when they all turned out successfully, I was really pleased. I set my table. I put the food in serving dishes. I poured myself a glass of home-brewed peach iced tea. This was a legit Thanksgiving, the only difference was that I was the only one at the table. Bob Dylan and Cat Stevens and Yo La Tengo sang to me while I had a helping of everything as well as a second helping of cornbread pudding.

I watched Clash of the Titans after dinner but before I did the dishes. Laura joined me later for some hot toddies and muffins. I closed out the night with Freedom and went to sleep before midnight, like the old woman I am.

I don't think I'll ever skip a family Thanksgiving again if I can help it, but I am glad to have had this experience this year. I often worry I am not self-sufficient enough or not content enough with myself, but days like yesterday in some ways affirm that I'm doing okay. I made a beautiful day in my own house, and I made it special just for me. There's something very satisfying about that.

I also had a lot of time yesterday to reflect on how thankful I am for all my family and friends. I know so many wonderful, beautiful, talented, warm, caring people. It really amazes me when I think about it. I am a very lucky person.

2010-11-11T21:50:00.002-05:00

on my way home from class, i composed in my brain a blog post about how today was the simplest easiest greatest day. i was going to enumerate every tiny detail of my activities and expand upon the significance of each. now that i am home, i don't feel like writing all that down. i just want to finish this beautiful day by reading woman club book and falling asleep.

but on a side note, i was so happy and adventurous this afternoon that i bought medium salsa instead of mild.

2010-11-09T09:25:00.002-05:00

from here.

no one's home and the weather's fine

2010-11-08T17:39:00.004-05:00

how many times can you listen to built to spill's "the weather" in one day? the answer is an infinite number of times.

inspired by sarah, i just tried to find old livejournal entries with subject lines stolen from this song. here is one from october 2nd, 2001:

and the stars gravitate toward you

school starts much too early.
my hair is wet.
my feet are cold.
and i don't feel good.

Current mood:	sick
Current music:	built to spill // the weather

my writing style hasn't really changed, but i think my attitude has.

2010-11-04T10:16:00.003-04:00

forget what i said yesterday. that's all garbage. the world is beautiful, and i'm lucky all the time.

life is good today.

2010-11-03T17:28:00.002-04:00

i have had a nearly constant flow of complaints running through my head today, beginning with the election but then straying off into how other people don't understand my urgency when i'm working on something or how the string/paper part of my tea bag fell into the cup when i was pouring the water in or how my neighbor is smoking and it's making my apartment stink or how i have a lot of school work to do in the next several weeks and i do not actually have any time in which to do it.

BUT HEY IT'S OKAY.

my birthday inches closer.

an update

2010-11-01T17:25:00.004-04:00

i twitter now.

2010-10-22T14:10:00.004-04:00

i feel weird today.

matthew and i have decided that if one of us starts twittering we both will. i also told him to move to dc, and he said we should just both move to toronto or montreal.

i've started adding photos to my flickrs. i am working my way up to the present day and i'm geotagging. the geotagging makes me think i should travel more, but other things in my life also make me feel that way. 2011 will see me in texas and louisiana at least. those are both exciting new locations!

has anyone seen my ipod? (i don't know why you would have.) he probably looks like your ipod's grandfather. in fact, he looks like this except he doesn't own any red hot chili peppers. i would like him to return.

the library of congress also posted the footage of author talks from the national book festival. here's norton juster and jules feiffer (the author and illustrator of the phantom tollbooth). i really loved seeing them speak, but i think jules made some beautiful points about the optimism of children's literature, and i like that norton didn't underestimate what kids can understand and appreciate. this video doesn't include the whole time they were speaking, but you definitely get an idea of how funny these two old men are.

i've been listening to a lot of the one kiss can lead to another: girl group sounds lost and found compilation. it's really good.

home

2010-10-11T18:27:00.005-04:00

2010-09-20T20:28:00.004-04:00

i was eating dinner in union station just now and a small child walked up to me, said "hi" several times, and hugged me.

her guardian then began pulling her away and apologizing.

2010-09-16T09:17:00.004-04:00

returning to nine-hour cube days after working seven-hour days for six weeks is proving harder than anticipated. i don't think i'm getting my necessary vitamin d. the google image search for seasonal affective disorder is suitably depressing. BUT i really love the feeling i get walking outside my house in the morning.

so brisk.

this might be normal for other people

2010-09-14T09:20:00.002-04:00

but it's too much for me.

in other news, in the last week i've seen big boi, surfer blood, and janelle monae / of montreal. we also had our first meeting of woman club which made for a beautiful afternoon.

there are many other things, too, but i ought to be working, i guess.

2010-08-27T11:38:00.003-04:00

i have a lot more alone time now and a whole apartment to cover and fill with things that i like and that make me feel good, so i spend a lot of time thinking about what i want to look at and what i want to listen to and how i want to feel when i'm by myself in a world that's all my own. weirdly this has made me think that i am a less cohesive person than i previously thought. i get anxious when i can't make a decision about what i want or what i like as though this reflects poorly on my wholeness. in the past few days, though, i've made some concrete decisions: i hung items up on my wall and i purchased a table and chairs. so maybe it's all coming together / maybe i'm all coming together. is it weird to feel like spaces and places are extensions or reflections of yourself? this is why i'm a hoarder.

anyhow, i've been feeling inspired and creative lately but in a directionless way, so i think i'm going to start watercolor painting this weekend. we'll see how that goes.

i've been listening to sufjan stevens's new all delighted people ep a lot, too, and i think i like it. i've also been revisiting the robot ate me and it feels like an old friend.

&amp;amp;lt;a href="http://music.rylandbouchard.com/track/a-harp-and-how-you-cut-my-strings"&amp;amp;gt;A Harp (...And How You Cut My Strings) by Ryland Bouchard&amp;amp;lt;/a&amp;amp;gt;

&amp;amp;lt;a href="http://music.rylandbouchard.com/track/apricot-tea"&amp;amp;gt;Apricot Tea by Ryland Bouchard&amp;amp;lt;/a&amp;amp;gt;

2010-08-23T10:43:00.001-04:00

from here.

tenderfoot

2010-08-18T17:07:00.003-04:00

you never realize how varied the textures of dc sidewalks are until you travel them barefoot during your commute.

happy

2010-08-12T10:05:00.001-04:00

things i walk past on my way to work

2010-07-28T11:37:00.004-04:00

2010-07-24T01:09:00.003-04:00

sometimes you can't help it when you plan your move but then that day happens to be the hottest day of summer. it just happens.

everything (for the most part) is in boxes. i am a hoarder and, at times like these, it is very inconvenient.

2010-07-15T20:37:00.001-04:00

what i'm working with sometimes:

seattle public library

2010-07-12T12:22:00.006-04:00

nerd time: the library gets its own post.

seattle

2010-07-12T12:10:00.005-04:00

aaaand this is family:

2010-07-09T12:01:00.003-04:00

in the last few months i have:

finished my first year of grad school
started my new job
seen my brother get married
visited seattle
found a new place to live, which i'm moving into in a couple weeks

i've done other things, too, but covers most of the big ones (i think).

i've read five or six books by w. somerset maugham this year, and right now i'm finishing up the painted veil. i didn't think i would care too much for it (compared with some of the others), but i'm surprised by how good it is. it's so sad, but there's something unforgivingly realistic in maugham's portrayal of his characters and their situations. i'm interested to see how it ends.

i'll post pictures of seattle soon hopefully and then of my new home when i'm all moved in.

2010-04-29T15:13:00.002-04:00

i'm not working this week, and it's been just want i wanted. i feel so happy and full of life! the timing is perfect. the flowers are blooming, the sun is out, the windows are down. i am brimming with satisfaction and delight. this is the perfect week for reflecting on all the joyful things in my life!

and to listen to this song:

every time, everyone, everything's full of liiiiiiiiiiife!
everyday, everywhere, people are so aliiiiiiiiive!

tomorrow is my day with the otters, and i can't wait.

2010-03-30T11:10:00.003-04:00

long time, no blog.

hello, babies played last night, and it was really great!

and the peeps are out! spring has arrived!

2010-01-31T21:37:00.004-05:00

this is where i will be found every thursday evening from now until whenever i decide to stop volunteering. if you're looking, i'll be shelving and/or planning events for the young adults.

2010-01-15T08:58:00.002-05:00

i meant to share this a few weeks ago when i first heard it, but better late than never. it's the last part of the "shifting ground" series that aired on npr.

this story is about an 80-year-old woman in metamora, michigan, who's trying to come up with a way to preserve her farm from development and to be buried below her trees. i think burials and graveyards are strange traditions, but i love this woman's idea. she wants her body to one day be hugged by the roots of a tree on her farm, which is the most beautiful thing i can imagine. here are two great quotes from her:

"they have deep tap roots. well, wouldn't it be nice if that oak tree would ever reach my remains, and the tree would take nourishment from that. and it's kind of like, well, i never died, really. i just morphed into a tree or something."

"i wouldn't mind if other people joined me up there, as long as they're willing to be a flower or a tree."

2010-01-07T15:51:00.001-05:00

2010: a forecast

2010-01-05T11:32:00.003-05:00

2009-12-23T17:05:00.003-05:00

THIS JUST IN:

i would also love an exotic shorthair!.

that's what linus is!

2009-12-23T16:50:00.005-05:00

when watching cats 101 on animal planet, i realized that i want scottish fold cat.

not only are they cute as kittens:

but they are also still cute as adults!:

awww!

2009-12-08T10:00:00.003-05:00

hi hi hi hi hi. i didn't get the job i interviewed for a couple weeks ago. BUT! at least they chose someone who was more qualified instead of choosing someone with my same qualifications who interviewed better or something like that. i'll just keep applying to more new jobs! one day i'll find something! positivity!

in other news, thanks, friends, for being great friends.

and also, i have entered adulthood officially by owning an adult television that's mine. next: computer.

christmas approaches. i am unprepared.

small bits

2009-12-02T11:21:00.003-05:00

thanksgiving was relaxing and full of sitting. i loved it.
andy and i saw gil mantera's party dream on monday night, and it was awesome.
i had my last ever tuesday class for this semester yesterday, which was nice but also a little sad because i think i made friends in there AND IT WILL NEVER BE THE SAME AGAIN.
i am feeling good today in my lace.
i discovered listography.com this morning. once you make an account, it provides you with a platform for making your own lists of whatever you want. i made an account and realized i don't really have anything to list right now. but i'm ready!
i also reorganized my google reader subscriptions, and i feel it was a positive change.

i've made a huge mistake

2009-11-24T09:00:00.008-05:00

yesterday i realized that library school was potentially the wrong choice. while driving to class, i was listening to terry gross and wes anderson discuss his new movie fantastic mr. fox, loosely based on roald dahl's tiny little book of the same name. i generally object to terry gross as an interviewer, but i was interested in the movie and anderson and anything related to roald dahl so i stuck it out. anyhow, during this time, i realized i have potentially missed my true calling: working on stopmotion animation films like fantastic mr. fox.

terry gross asked wes anderson to describe the process of creating these films, and he went on to explain the intricate detail required to frame each shot and, even more interestingly, the strange mix of materials used to create the hand-made sets: saran wrap for the water, cotton balls for the smoke, orange gel-like soap for fire, towels for the grass, etc. with each new frame, the animator has to just slightly reposition the arms or the fingers or the facial expression or just a slight movement of the eyes of the puppet while also manipulating pieces of saran wrap to make it look like water flowing in the background. it's such a time-consuming process but also the animators have complete control over every single aspect of each frame. wes anderson talks about how, after visiting dahl's home in england during the autumn, they decided the film would have almost no blues or greens in it. he says that in movies like this, when you make that decision, it is entirely possible to completely exclude those colors because you have complete control over the creation of each piece of the set and each puppet.

anyway, i think this is an amazing process. the crafting that goes into putting together each tiny aspect of the movie is so awesome. i think being the person who gets a drawing of what the scene looks like and has to figure out how to make that scene, how to use things like cottonballs and bath towels to look so rich on camera, would be the greatest experience. i am very detail-oriented and i already consider myself experienced in the medium of construction paper. when putting together constructino paper projects, particularly in high school, i would stay awake for hours, surrounded by rubber cement and sharpie fumes, just to ensure that each little detail was just right. it would make me crazy to have even the smallest thing out of place. this job involves crafting, details, and creative problem solving. as of yesterday, i have decided that i was born to be a stopmotion animator.

this isn't like that time i thought i could be a cake decorator on ace of cakes. that was clearly a pipe dream and not really possible. and not to say that i am currently fully qualified, BUT i do feel like, if i had the opportunity to be someone's apprentice / padawan learner / dare i say protege, i could be truly happy and fulfilled all the time while i was working. right? RIGHT?! i suppose this isn't a huge market as i can't remember the last movie before fantastic mr. fox which would have needed someone with my imagined abilities. but maybe there will be a resurgence? maaaaaaybeeeeee?

i will settle for library school for now, but when i am old and have lots of free time, i think i will make stopmotion animation films as a hobby (instead of building ships in bottles and things). look at how fun and detailed these look!!!:

(look at the detail inside that roast beast on the table! and how tiny the furnishings are!)

related only to roald dahl, i've been thinking a lot about tatoos for the last month or two. i used to think i would never get one because i was too fickle and would never like any one thing long enough to want to have it on my body forever. that is until i thought of a matilda tatoo! she and i have been together since i was in third grade. she was the main character in my entrance essay for undergrad and made a cameo in my personal statement for grad school. anyway, so if i ever do get a tatoo, i think it would be of matilda atop her pile of books looking happy and/or thoughtful.

also, it's gross out today and happy early thanksgiving!

2009-11-04T10:47:00.002-05:00

i know this commercial has been on for a while, but it makes me happy every time i see it.

2009-11-04T09:14:00.002-05:00

my high school friend patrick, who now attends st. john's in annapolis, visited me on sunday. he said i look/act grown-up in my present life, and i took that as a positive comment. we don't see each other very often and we rarely talk outside of our meetings, but it's like nothing has changed every time even though we've both changed so much in the past nine years. also nine years? scary! i'm old.

speaking of that, my birthday is just over a week away!

i was an owl for halloween. the costume was loosely based on a martha stewart design meant for an infant. it was a fun night! friends everywhere!

exciting news: i have a job interview in two weeks. my original intention was not to tell very many people about it. that way, if i don't get the job, i wouldn't have to relive the disappointment every time someone asks me about it. but i'm just so excited! i can't stop talking about it! it's for an assistant librarian position with some friars up near catholic. eek! i'm both excited about the job and terrified about the interview! i'm sure i'll work myself into all kinds of tizzies in the next two weeks.

oh and did i mention my birthday is approaching?

friday afternoon

2009-10-16T15:52:00.000-04:00

2009-10-16T09:24:00.004-04:00

um it's rainy and gross outside. everyone's wearing sweaters and glasses today. there are umbrellas drying by the door. i chose hot chocolate over coffee this morning. that last one may have been a poor decision?

school keeps going, and i'm feeling less overwhelmed but still pretty much completely overwhelmed by all the things in life vying for my time. school, friends, boyfriend, trivia, work, fun things, commute, sleep, my need to be alone a significant amount of time (never happens), etc. i think i may give myself a four-day weekend soon, so i can have some time to myself and have some time to take care of all the little things i've been putting off for the past couple months. i guess we'll see. sounds nice, though!

umm in other news, big weekend of events, none of which really exciting to me. i'd rather spend every night this weekend sitting in my house by myself eating soup and watching say yes to the dress on tlc. oh well. i know i'll have fun, but i also know my shoes will be soaked through and my umbrella will be getting everything inside my purse wet and i'll spend most of the time thinking about how i'd rather be warm in my own bed than standing around in someone else's house or at someone else's party. i'm a big old boring lump when it's raining, reluctant to leave or smile. i think my mood and motivation rely heavily on if the sun is out or not. it's not seasonally that my feelings change because i can be happy and moving when it's cold as long as it's sunny. i think i'm solar-powered.

also, i like when comics tell the story of my life.

oh and i made myself grown-up dinner on monday, grilled lemon basil chicken, and realized that i never cook real meat because it grosses me out. that chicken breast looked like the inside of an animal, which is unappealing. i like my chicken to look as little like chicken as possible. in fact, i like it to look like dinosaurs.

oh, and here are some pictures of animals in costumes of other animals:

just quick things

2009-10-06T14:54:00.003-04:00

i am in graduate school, and i will be doing a presentation in class tonight which features, among other things, an antelope head made of construction paper.

npd

2009-09-24T09:54:00.002-04:00

thanks to devan for reminding me.
IT'S NATIONAL PUNCTUATION DAY!

2009-09-16T14:23:00.003-04:00

a kid in metro center last night approached me to ask, "has anyone ever told you you look like chloe sevigny in that skateboarding movie?"

why no, kid, no one ever has. but thanks? i guess?

baby's first day of graduate school

2009-09-02T09:45:00.004-04:00

i've had both of my classes now, and i'm still excited!

it's weird being on a campus and not knowing anyone i walk by. i guess this is the plight of a part-time graduate student. i am not that far removed from my undergraduate career, but i just feel so OLD.

i managed to meet some nice new people in my program without too much awkwardness (!!!!). i felt oddly social and forward in my interactions. i guess that's how you make friends: forcing yourself upon them until then accept you out of resignation. it's going well so far, i think!

2009-08-25T10:31:00.002-04:00

some things that range from not very important to pretty important in my life right now:

i signed up for this website yesterday called mint. it tracks purchases made with your bank account or credit cards, categorizes them, and allows you to track your spending. you can see pie charts of where your money goes and you can set budgets so that, as you approach your budgeted amount for groceries (for example), you get an e-mail alert. it's pretty neat and hopefully it will help me to save money. awesome!
i have orientation this friday and saturday for school and classes start monday. i'll be in class monday and tuesday nights. more on this when it actually starts happening.
between last sunday night and friday morning i watched the first two seasons of mad men, so now i'm all caught up to be watching the new episodes. the show is really interesting because (a) it's so slick and sexy and cool and (b) it's chock full of commentary on gender. there was a gynological exam in the first episode!
i was a +1 for shauna to the girls rock! dc showcase a week or so ago. it was the most awesome thing i can imagine. the amount of girl empowerment was immeasurable. shauna took pictures, and i (unexpectedly!) got to interview the bands after they were done performing. shauna took some of my notes and some of my words to put with her own in this byt post. my most rewarding saturday morning in a long time.
we've officially lived in our house for a year (as of august 15th/16th). dc year two is promising to be just as good if not better than dc year one!

lots of things kicking around. life is good. summer is winding down (sort of?). i'm looking forward to scarf and sweater weather but not necessarily to the shorter days or the closing of the pool. first full summer as an adult. an adjustment.

the noisettes!

2009-08-13T08:59:00.007-04:00

i saw the noisettes at the rock and roll hotel last night, and they are so great and put on such a fun show!

just listen to this song: wild young hearts. youtube won't let me embed it here, but i would really suggest the journey to youtube to watch/listen. handclaps! handclaps! fun!

the front woman was dancing all around the stage, arms flailing, being awesome. she sang atticus while standing/sitting/laying on the bar. the whole thing was such a booty-shaking good time! ahh! i loved it!

i also really love this song:

2009-08-05T12:04:00.003-04:00

sometimes things are so cute to me that i find it difficult to express how cute they are. this leads to my feeling additionally overwhelmed at being left speechless by cuteness. sometimes when i am really really happy and excited i have the same experience. i usually just do this as the closest approximation of my feelings: !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

anyway, this website is overwhelmingly cute.
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

2009-07-23T18:30:00.002-04:00

on my way home, an older woman grabbed my arm as i was trying to fight my way off the train at metro center and she said, "don't read ethan frome."

2009-07-23T09:16:00.005-04:00

i've been taking 15th st. (instead of 14th) to get to the metro in the mornings for the last week or so. i did it one day just for a change, and i've kept going that way because there is an old woman who sits on her porch with her cup of coffee every morning. her crazy white hair sticks up in every direction as we say, "good morning," to each other. sometimes, i wish we could switch places. but then i'd have to be old, and as much as i think i would be an awesome old woman, i also think i have a lot of life to live until then.

i feel like everything is moving very quickly, and the days are passing without my even noticing. granted, things feel like they're going by so quickly because, when not at work, i'm usually out doing something i want to be doing, something fun with wonderful people. i think this happened last summer, too, where the weeks seemed to be over as soon as they started. it's the end of july already! hard to believe.

oh also, i know this is from a few days ago, but did you see how awesome jimmy carter is being?

2009-07-14T16:38:00.002-04:00

the hardest parts of my workday:

waiting for my eyes to adjust to being back inside after lunch outside.
3:00 - 5:00.

lots going on. will try to blog more. wish i had spent the last several hours at the pool.

what's up, guatemala? what's up?

2009-06-16T15:59:00.003-04:00

guatemala pictures.

it was a great trip! so many things to tell! if you want more pictures/stories, let me know and i'll spew forth photos and words upon you like you can not believe.

here are some things:

2009-06-02T21:27:00.003-04:00

i got into grad school and registered for classes today! (like just now!) (see #13)
i'm leaving for guatemala this weekend, so i just started packing. but stopped to register for classes and write this blog post.
artomatic opened last weekend! i went friday and it was awesome! (see #9)
i've read some books!
friends are moving to dc! i'm overwhelmingly excited! their house is great/beautiful/exciting! (see #14)
this is what guatemala looked like in 2006.
we had a house trip to subway the other night and it was delicious and heartwarming!
hey it's summer!
alec is playing at artomatic tomorrow! (8:00! everyone should go!)
i went to the pool on sunday!
i had dinner with my dad tonight.
in addition to brushing kids' teeth, i was put in charge of keeping the journal for the guatemala trip and being sure everyone writes in it. i think i'll be good at this.
i'll be taking "libraries and information in society" and "information sources and services" in the fall! (see #1)
i am happy and summer is here and life is beautiful and new friends are arriving and everything is brimming with possibility! (see all previous #s)

2009-05-14T16:35:00.001-04:00

science.

2009-05-13T10:55:00.002-04:00

we went to sticky rice for karaoke last night, but we are old and tired and left because they hadn't started setting it up and it was already late. i wore my hood just in case i needed to dramatically pull it up during a performance. unfortunately, that move was only executed in the privacy of my own room. it was dramatic regardless.

i had a beautiful sunday of brunching and sunshining which followed my beautiful saturday of old people, semaphore, and broken shoes. i received some kissing by the sun, and the weather has been so lovely these last few days. the bethesda farmers market reopened for the season yesterday. i bought some sunflower flax bread and it's delicious.

my mother has thrice referenced how happy she was to spend mother's day with all her children. unfortunately, i wasn't home for mother's day. i think mom has replaced me with sarah, and i'm slightly offended.

i moved some furniture in my room again. i'm sleeping on the other side of my bed now, which i have never done before. it's weird. the blankets move the wrong way, the clock features are switched, i don't know which direction to lay, and i have to use a different hand to silence WTOP's bomb-dropping intro. to traffic and weather (together! on the 8s!). it's like learning to write with my left hand. i can do it, but it's awkward and takes longer and isn't very successful. i'm assuming it will stop feeling backwards at some point. i am also finally unpacking more of my stuff and putting things on the walls of my room. the rose bushes both bloomed even though we took such poor care of them. they, of course, cannot compare to the garden of eden next door in rudolpho's yard. but how are we expected to keep up that level of vegetation. especially without an exotic bird as an accessory.

2009-05-11T16:54:00.003-04:00

look at what these kids are doing with in the aeroplane over the sea.

it's like the ballet for milk man that time.

i love it.

something terrible has happened

2009-04-30T10:20:00.002-04:00

apostle of hustle is going to be in dc on june 12th, but that's when i'll be in guatemala. whyyyyyy?!

this has white whine written all over it, which is preventing me from continuing to complain.

long time no blog

2009-04-30T08:30:00.002-04:00

my grad school application is still awaiting a final letter of recommendation from a professor. once that's in (supposedly soon?), they'll start evaluating me. eep!

work has become a strange place. everyone is dissatisfied and jokingly talks about quitting while seriously looking for other jobs. it's not a very productive environment, but it does allow for a lot of this song and this commercial. it's funny how widespread discontent has made many of us much better friends than we might have been otherwise.

i was going to get coffee this morning and two men, potentially homeless, asked me for change. i told them i didn't have any and then they asked if i would buy them coffee, so i did. as i walked away, i wondered if i had just been duped. i was hoping one of them would say, "i just want my kids back" or something. neither did. regardless, they got large delicious coffees this morning, and one of them told me i was "rockin my way to heaven." so i feel pretty good about the whole thing.

i saw a play last weekend and picnicked for beth's birthday and saw alec play with a synth in front of some great artwork and planted flowers in the front yard and moved some of my furniture and made a new friend and got sick before it was cool/terrifying. i'm trying to convince my brother to move to dc, but it's not going well even though dc is awesome. college friends are graduating soon and some of them are moving here, which will be amazing. we haven't won trivia in a while, but we've had a respectable showing and had a feast last week. devan, gabrielle, and i also all feasted on monday at sticky rice which was delicious and wonderful.

i'm leaving for guatemala five weeks from tomorrow. i need to get my affairs in order.

pictures

2009-04-04T14:26:00.004-04:00

the library of congress:

springtime:

cherry blossom festival:

inspirational sculpture in corporate building complex:

legit

2009-03-25T16:38:00.003-04:00

we will not go quietly into the night

2009-03-25T10:04:00.003-04:00

i got oddly worked up watching the west wing last night. it was that episode where they are all frustrated and feel mired down, but at the end they all get pumped and leo tells them to run into walls, etc. for some reason, this was all very inspirational to me and i went to bed invigorated. unfortunately, i woke up the same way i always do, mostly sleepy.

so i guess they love me here at work, for better or worse. they asked me yesterday what my plans were, was i going to be sticking around for a while, if i liked it here. i didn't really know how to answer. when they tell me i do a good job and that i'm a quick learner and that clients like me, i don't want to leave but that's just because i want to keep basking in the glow of compliments. then i have to go back to my cluttered desk and remember that this work is mind-numbing. no thanks!

i'm going to the dmv later to get my dc license. i hope there isn't some kind of technicality that prevents me from getting it today. this license/registration stuff is not very fun. hopefully it'll all be over soon and i'll be an official dc resident! farewell, va license of jessica age 15.

i had a great weekend! meghan visited, kristen celebrated her fulbright, we walked around eastern market and the library of congress, brunches. all wonderful things. it was so nice out on sunday! it's been cold this week, but at least it's been sunny! i hear it's supposed to rain most of this coming weekend, but i also hear that we need rain. i think this might be a classic instance of not always getting what we want but finding that we get what we need.

i cooked a delicious yellow dinner last night. tonight is trivia!

i love dc

2009-03-18T13:37:00.005-04:00

i drove to work today because i had a meeting in reston at 11:00. i also had to get to the office early because there was a lot to do before my meeting. i stayed up too late last night in the company of gabrielle, the west wing, and wine. i was drinking my third cup of coffee in the car on the way to the office around 6:30ish this morning. i was jittery and stressed. i got on the gw parkway and saw the memorial bridge, the kennedy center, and the potomac all hazy in the fog and the morning half-light. it was beautiful.

it looked sort of like this, only it was foggy, not as light out yet, and from the south of the bridge. so not a whole lot like this, but a little:
then i almost drove off the road.

gravy

2009-02-26T16:11:00.004-05:00

gabrielle reminded me about our beautiful sunday! we went to brunch in alexandria at a place called fireflies. they have live bluegrass during brunch on the weekends, so i got to enjoy some delicious biscuits and gravy to the sounds of the south. it was lovely. this is the band (seriously):

i generally speak disparagingly about northern virginia, BUT bluegrass brunch is totally worth the trip.

aaaaaaaaaaand bunny:

working hard for the money.

time time time time time

2009-02-26T09:16:00.004-05:00

hello, blog.

i think one of the perks of not liking your job is that you really get to bond with other people you work with who also don't like their jobs. laura started her new job already, leaving a void in our ragtag team at work. fewer people to get coffee with downstairs. fewer people to get treats with in the afternoon. fewer people to talk to candis with. basically, fewer people to waste time with. it's weird. i walk by her office door and make goofy faces, but the intern is at her desk now and i think she thinks i'm crazy a little. i still do the same number of high-fives on my way out in the evening. high-five justin. high-five brady. say, "buhbyyyyyyeeee, caaaaaandis." but then i walk to the metro and ride by myself. no yelling or calling each other disgusting. i am reading more, though! i'm just readjusting.

banana phone was a resounding success, i think. my phone doesn't actually fit in it, but who needs that. it was taped to the phone receiver in my office for a while, but now i'm just carrying it around in my purse in case i'm ever in need of a banana phone (always). "hello. banana phone." it hasn't stopped being funny to me yet.

i paid all our bills this morning. i went to the doctor yesterday and i'm all bandaged. dana got back from atlanta last night. she and i went to the swedish embassy and to hello cupcake on saturday. we walked around a lot. at the house of sweden, the security guard mistook us for some old swedish women and he escorted us to the roof deck that overlooks the water. it was beautiful and sunny.

gabrielle, dana, devan, and i are going to see jesus christ superstar at the warner theatre in a few weeks. i feel like it's such a grown up thing for us to do. going to the theatre. buying play tickets. etc. i'm really excited. g, dana, and i watched the movie over the weekend. the same man is still playing jesus. sweet dreams of rock operas.

i just tried to explain what panda bear sounds like to my office mate. he responded with, "we are so different."

i'm still working on my personal statement which is a big pain. i went to an information session for the library science program at catholic on saturday morning. it was great and everyone who was there from the program was so nice, helpful, and nerdy. i hope i get into this program. i hope i finish my application soon also. i toyed with the idea of applying to start this summer because applications aren't due until april 1st. i'm going to guatemala in june, though, so that would mess with classes and stuff. i'm just in such a hurry to move on to something else, i think. but yet time is flying by so quickly. did you know it's nearly the end of february 2009? how did that happen? HOW DID THAT HAPPEN? weeks seems to be running past me, and i don't know where they go. i'm busy and i'm doing things that i think are exciting and worthwhile, but i feel like there isn't enough time in a day and things move so quickly, but i'm also still wanting to rush into grad school and other future things. it's a weird balance between present and future, and they're both happening so much together and all the time. i feel like i am more acutely aware of the passing of time now than i was in school. with school, everything was on a set time frame. i knew when the year would end, i knew when breaks were, i knew when i would graduate, etc. now i have an ocean of time ahead of me and no real way to organize it or break it up. going back to school would help with that. at what point do i start revelling in this massive amount of future before me? do i grow out of feeling overwhelmed by it? when i get to a place where i am as happy in my work as i am in my free time, will i rejoice to have such an indeterminate amount of time to be happy in? is it when i'm in the middle of it, not at the beginning, that it seems manageable? or then do i feel overwhelmed by how much time is behind me?

my hair is getting long. another measure of time. i'm growing it at least until guatemala. i use conditioner and a hair dryer in the mornings now. i resent that it takes me an addition 5-7 minutes to get ready because of this hair. i have also gotten dressed from clothes selected off of my floor every day this week. i'm disgusting. when will i clean my room? will i ever clean my room? i want to move my furniture, but is it worth it in a house that we're renting? how long will we live here? life is uncertain, but that's beautiful, right? i can do anything!

it's supposed to be warm(ish) today and tomorrow. i love it. maybe laura and i can throw a softball again. my mom just sent me a sweet e-mail. she's wonderful and excited that i'm seeing jesus christ superstar. i will ask her for some folksy wisdom later because i love that.

if i was going to waste time writing personally at work, i should probably have been working on my personal statement. oh well. nice seeing you, blog. take care.

one long paragraph

2009-02-10T14:12:00.008-05:00

as usual, life is full.

i cooked dinner for my dad last night. we ate and talked about grad school and about mom and about matthew and sarah and about virginia tech sports and about the library of congress. which, by the way, is filled with old people, eccentric people, and mostly eccentric old people. i love it! i took the GRE on sunday and did well enough to not have to take it again. i've contacted everyone who is going to write me a recommendation. i need to write a personal statement. but what is a personal statement anyway? i bet those notes alec sent would let me know. dana helped me study for the GRE by quizzing me with flashcards while we walked between six and seven miles around dc on sunday. we sat in meridian hill park and were immortalized on a blog. this was after coffee but before the zoo. it was beautiful out. we saw steve on the street, and we all hung out for a while. a strange man fell asleep on me on the 92 bus. david and luke and his friend leland and devan and justin and his friend and laura and gabrielle and i all went dancing saturday night. it was good to loosen up the night before the test. i got to wear my new dress and my yellow tights. laura has a new job. andy was here the weekend before and david for a little bit. he and devan and david and gabrielle and i went to dance and we made friends and that group minus david but plus alec saw a movie about infinity and black holes. i bought a kite. devan flew it successfully on the mall. it's a panda kite. it's this panda kite:
sometimes during the week, work gets stressful or time seems too short or both, and i end up feeling like i'm in a slump. but then i have great times with great people and i feel all better again. or the weather gets pretty and i feel great again. i think the cold kept me too much inside. my room is a disaster. i haven't done laundry in five to six weeks. we have our own washer and dryer. gabrielle made me a delicious meal before my GRE. the man who checked me in at the test site at howard university told me to "kick butt." i drove to work twice last week. i drove in the far left lane of the beltway. a client yelled at me. i messed something up, and i feel bad because i like her. it's all fixed now, but i still feel really badly. i think that means this job isn't for me. they say no proposal you send out is ever as good as you want it. i don't think i can deal with that. grad school grad school grad school. i might actually be going to guatemala again in june. i made a scarf recently. trivia was crowded last week. we've gotten third two weeks in a row. maybe we'll do better this week. i think there's a russian literature category. we have monday off work. i hope the weather is nice, but i'm not sure it will be. i'm still reading the rainbow. there was a really sexual scene, but it was really just two people carrying wheat. today i bought a banana phone. why? i don't know. in general, things are good. especially as long as the weather is this beautiful. what if i have seasonal affective disorder.
i'm pretty sure i don't. i'm pretty sure i'm just tired right now. actually, the more i think about it, the more i remember how great things are! i wore my glasses today. someone told me i looked like a librarian. i start volunteering at the library of congress on saturday. i think i'm going to do laundry tonight. maybe i'll craft. i just looked up "bunny crafts" in google image search and found this:too cute!

13-minute pump up

2009-01-30T09:57:00.004-05:00

i hate calling people, particularly clients. i have to pump myself up to do it. which is why i have put together the 13-minute pump up which consists of the following:
1. phil collins - easy lover
2. rod stewart - young turks
3. bruce springsteen - dancing in the dark

as soon as bruce says, "HEEEY BABY" and pulls courtney up on stage, i throw off my headphones, call my client, and let the pump up play out. i bet i sound really confident and awesome on the phone after the pump up.

also, "dancing in the dark" is the most ridiculous song because no one believes that bruce springsteen is sitting around writing a book in those tight jeans.

new favorite thing: ACE OF CAKES.dana has been talking about ace of cakes forever, and i finally saw an episode last night. it's my new favorite show. this show is so drama-free. it's just straight up cake-making by seemingly awesome people. it's like you're hanging out with these people while they make some wacky cakes and everything is just really laid-back. i love it!

gabrielle was on their website last night, and i was saddened to know they are not hiring, not even accepting volunteers. a commute to baltimore would be totally worth it if i could work there, right? duff seems like a regular stephen tyler of wllmsbrg grphcs but without all the negatives! i would be so awesome at making cakes without any training in cake-making or art. i would work from the heart. the results would be spectacular and detail-oriented.

i went to guatemala in 2006. i want to go back.

fibers are fused to the head!

2009-01-27T08:29:00.006-05:00

it's snowing outside and it's beautiful.

i assumed i wouldn't have to come to work today because it's snowing, so i called a boss this morning. she said i should go in because everyone else drives and is working from home, so someone needed to be here. this is ridiculous. when i called her once i got to work, i told her i slipped on the sidewalk and almost broke my laptop so that she'd know i shouldn't have had to come in. i apparently need to be here to sign for packages. that's some harry wormwood shit, and i don't appreciate it.

i just found this whole movie on youtube. i guess i know what i'm doing at work today.

2009-01-22T09:32:00.002-05:00

i have been trying to give away my spare time to some sort of volunteer opportunity for several months, but no one would get back to me. until today! i'm going to be volunteering at the library of congress one saturday a month! i get trained february 3rd! this is awesome for several reasons:

i want to be a librarian!
i want to work at the library of congress (or a similar institution)!
i will get to meet other library people!
i will get to hang out at the library of congress!
this potentially leaves me open to volunteer somewhere else at other times!
library school will love this!
i will love this! hopefully!
this is so legit!

anyway, i'm excited!

2009-01-21T13:01:00.003-05:00

i rescheduled when i'm taking the GRE. i was supposed to take it this coming saturday, but it became abundantly clear this past weekend that i have squandered away these last few months and have done nothing to prepare myself. SO i'm taking it february 8th instead. hopefully i won't also waste this time. i'm really disappointed in myself that i let the time slip away like i did. but it's okay! i'm going to do better! i bought index cards today.

unrelated to the above: if you or someone you know has a cat or a baby in need of some hang out time, let me know. i have really wanted to play with a small creature lately. not being allowed to have a cat in our house and actively trying not to have a baby of my own is really getting in the way of achieving this goal. but look how cute cats and babies are:

also, don't know if ya heard, but we have a new president! and dc didn't collapse during inauguration! everything is just fine!

whyyyyy?

2009-01-16T09:02:00.001-05:00

familyyyyy

2009-01-14T09:42:00.004-05:00

yesterday, my brother asked his girlfriend of four years to marry him. !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

i haven't gotten all the details, but i was asked for advice during the planning phase. if it went according to plan, as the text message i received said, then i can only guess that it was a great/awkward proposal. i wonder if he chose to have "in too deep" queued up?

sisters-in-law!

thank goodness mom let her in the family calendar this year!

2009-01-08T16:31:00.003-05:00

i ordered new glasses last week. i'm getting them tomorrow. one of my clients heard from our receptionist how i had lost them, so she is now e-mailing me pretty much everyday about it. today's e-mail:

J-
You will look beautiful in your new glasses!

Best,
Elizabeth

AWESOME

this building

2009-01-05T16:41:00.003-05:00

they are renovating the bathroom on our floor at work. i've been going to the fourth floor for a couple weeks now, and i walk past the office of the world future society. today i finally looked them up, and i now want to become a member. the woman at the front desk looks eccentric and awesome.

world future society, home of the futurist

this weekend, i...

2009-01-05T14:38:00.003-05:00

1. played rock band
2. danced so hard
3. slept
4. went to the national arboretum
5. studied
6. lent devan my muscles
7. etc.

the beginning is the end is the beginning

2009-01-02T10:08:00.002-05:00

recapping is hard, so i won't say much about the time that's lapsed since i wrote in here last. the lead up to christmas was a little stressful and hurried, but christmas and being home was really great. i love my family more and more every time i go home. it's relaxing to be around them and to be in my parents' house and to sleep in the same twin bed i've had since i was little. i can't imagine christmas not at home with my parents and matthew and now sarah. all in pajamas. all laughing.

since then, i've been really busy at work most of the time. i actually have a lot of work to do today, but i'm feeling lazy, so i haven't really done any of it yet. this morning, i've caught up on my bills and my e-mail. i think after i'm done writing this, i'll clean my desk.

some important events of the last week:
1. lil wayne: on tuesday, laura, gabrielle, dana, and i saw lil wayne at the verizon center. firstly, i had not been to a concert that large ever. secondly, there were seven acts spanning four and a half hours. lil wayne was on for an hour and a half or so. it was ridiculous but really great. the stage set-ups were all awesome. lil wayne changed clothes several times. changed shirts only to take them off on stage, which would make the 14 year-olds cheer. there were pyrotechnics and t-pain on a segway. everything great and good!
2. new glasses?: on wednesday, i was tired from having been kept up late by lil wayne. i wore my glasses to work. it was really windy. when i went out to get my morning coffee, the wind blew my glasses off my face. they blew in the road and the wind carried them down the street. i chased them, but (because my glasses were gone) i couldn't actually see them. they were lost in the street. laura came down to help me find them, but by then they had been destroyed. laura found one piece remaining in the road. i will save it as a memento. they sent me home from work then because i couldn't see. they sent laura home with me so i didn't get hit by a car.
3. new years: devan, suzanne, david, brandon, and matt came up to visit me and gabrielle for new years. alec graciously allowed all of us to attend his new years party, which was great! i'm glad i got to ring in the new year surrounded by so many people i love! there were so many group hugs and they were all just what i wanted.

happy 2009! it's gonna be a good year!

christmas

2008-12-26T13:43:00.004-05:00

i love christmas. this christmas has been great. a couple more days of relaxing and family time at home then back to the real world where i have to cook my own meals. my mom cried when i came home. i, in turn, cried too.

i love christmas! i love everyone!

one too many mornings

2008-12-09T15:20:00.002-05:00

applying for things is hard, no matter how small.

also, this is great:

reading for fun

2008-12-08T09:04:00.002-05:00

i re-read a chapter of a book because i could.

turtles!

2008-12-03T11:45:00.004-05:00

i've been in a bad mood this week so far. but i just decided that it's stupid to be in a bad mood, so i'm not going to be in one anymore.

i'm going to see lil wayne at the end of the month. the more i think about it, the more i wonder why i'm going. but then i look at this picture and remember.

i guess i've been a little homesick

2008-12-02T14:05:00.002-05:00

i'm really glad i got to go home for thanksgiving. even though having the whole family around for four days is a little too overwhelming to me, it's always nice to slip into that comfortable rhythm of playing spades and ignoring football talk and filling in everyone on what my life is like. it was a great, warm time.

a new complication i haven't really thought about before: i don't know what to call "home." technically my house in dc is my home. i'm paying to live here, this is where i spend my time, everything i own is here, but it's hard to stop referring to my parents' house as home. i asked matthew what he calls our home-home, and apparently he calls it "mom's house," but that feels too weird. i kept getting confused/confusing other people by referring to both places as home in the same sentence and things like that. when i was away at school, i knew housing was temporary and i'd be spending significant time at home on breaks, but it's not like that now. i'll never be at roanoke-home for more than a few days. i told my neighbor i was going home for thanksgiving, and he pointed at his house and said he was, too. when will i get to the point where this is "home" and the other is either "hometown" or "parents' house"?

also, when i'm in dc, i can't imagine living anywhere else. i love it here. i love our house, i love our neighborhood, i love this city. i'm getting used to everything and learning where everything is and feeling like quite a resident. but anytime i go home, i sort of just want to stay there. roanoke is pretty small, but it just feels simple there and it's always beautiful. i'm more comfortable there than i will ever really be anywhere else, i think. there's nothing easier than waking up at my parents' house and having coffee with mom in our pajamas and chatting about things while dad reads the paper and eats his lucky charms. will anything ever feel as homey as that? i realize i'm too old and independent to ever actually be happy living with my parents again, but sometimes i wish i could see them more often. i also think i'm a little jealous of how much time matthew gets to spend with them, especially mom. i'm not sure if that's ridiculous or not, but i think it's true.

things just feel so different in roanoke. everything is slower: people walk slower, talk slower, drive slower, etc. there's something appealing about laidback mountain life. i think i'm fundamentally split between wanting this simple, remote life and wanting to be in the hub-bub of city life (though dc is probably the biggest city i could deal with). i can see myself wanting to move somewhere quieter and slower when i'm older.

on this visit home, i think i really appreciated the accent for the first time. i realize people here and at school think i have an accent, but when i go home, i realize just how southern i could sound. i've never really liked that accent before, but for some reason, just listening to people talk in the mall made me miss living there. there's something about that accent that just sounds like mashed potatoes and mountains and simple common sense. it makes me wish i didn't try so hard sometimes to cut down on how noticeable my accent is (though i'm sure i'm not doing a very good job of that anyway). nothing can convey a warm, homey, kind, considerate feeling as well as an accent that sounds like my mom's, i guess. if i live away from home long enough, i wonder if my accent will dissipate? on the one hand, i know people automatically associate the southern accent with stupidity, but i think it'll be a shame if i ever lose it. i probably wouldn't be able to, anyway.

so i guess this thanksgiving in roanoke was just a time to mythologize my hometown and to feel like the whole roanoke valley was just hugging me.

i'm back in dc now, and of course i feel like this is where i belong again. i'm really excited for christmas and for decorating our house here and for everything that december brings. i hope it snows this winter.

also, it's december already?!

happy thanksgiving!

2008-11-27T14:08:00.000-05:00

google reader

2008-11-24T14:16:00.003-05:00

thank you, meghan, for so enthusiastically endorsing google reader this past summer. i now live on google reader in the best way possible. when i first set it up, i pretty much just had my friends' blogs on there, but over the past few months i have truly explanded my subscriptions. i am now a subscriber of 53 fairly active blogs/websites/etc.

i mostly use google reader as a collection of dc-oriented information. i like to keep up-to-date about the dc doings with websites like dcist, brightest young things, why i hate dc, and greater greater washington. i also subscribe to a number of neighborhood-specific blogs, for instance, 14th & you, new columbia heights, and frozen tropics. weirdly enough, these have helped with moving to a new place. i hear about events and crime and metro delays and restaurant openings and on and on. all in one easy, google-looking location! it's great! i plan my free time based on information my google reader collects for me. if i read about an event i want to attend, i just put it on my google calendar and i'm done! or if i see something about a band i want to download when i get home, i put it in my google doc that's i use for that purpose. it's so organized and centralized! google helps me in everything i need to do!

i would never be able to keep up with all these blogs if i didn't have google reader. there are just too many. 29 dc blogs alone!

in conclusion:
use google reader!
thanks, google!
thanks, meghan!

something i think i've thought for a long time

2008-11-20T14:51:00.002-05:00

i bought yo la tengo's and then nothing turned itself inside out in 2001 and have been having a low-key love affair with it ever since. i never tire of this album.

yesterday i left work at 5:20 and it was already really dark out and really really cold. bethesda has started putting up christmas lights already. it felt like winter. i was listening to and then nothing turned itself inside out while i was walking to the metro and realized that it was perfect for that moment. then i remembered that it's actually perfect for every season. during the summer at night, during the fall and winter any time, during the spring in the sun.

anyway, this is probably one of my favorite albums of all time and has been for years, and i didn't even realize it until yesterday.

also, a man driving a trash truck told me this morning that i looked nice. then one of the men working with him confirmed it with a guttural "uh huh." i'm feeling like hot shit right now.

grandpa don

2008-11-18T21:54:00.002-05:00

it was flurrying in dc today when i got this e-mail from my grandpa who lives in phoenix:

Jessica
Sunny -- Blue Skies
High -- 85
Low -- 57
No heating or AC required

With Love
Grandpa