My vacation would
be less fun if an earthquake
squished my apartment.
Friday, December 22, 2006
Goooooo, squid!
A team of Japanese researchers just released the first-ever video of a live giant squid. I am stupidly excited about this. The truth is, I love the giant squid--I mean, it's a giant squid. It's an actual sea monster, with tentacles and everything! Sixty feet long! They're not just making it up!
And anyway, how is it that something that huge lives in our oceans and we don't know about it, or even where to find it? The researchers say that there may be far more giant squid in the oceans than they previously thought, and I just hope that's true. I hope the ocean is crawling with giant squid and they're just smart enough or light-sensitive enough or just lucky enough to have eluded us this long. And even though I'm geeking out about this one, I kind of hope they're able to keep it up.
In other news: Mid-post earthquake! Not a small one, either.
ETA: It was a 3.7, the second in three days. Hmmmm.
And anyway, how is it that something that huge lives in our oceans and we don't know about it, or even where to find it? The researchers say that there may be far more giant squid in the oceans than they previously thought, and I just hope that's true. I hope the ocean is crawling with giant squid and they're just smart enough or light-sensitive enough or just lucky enough to have eluded us this long. And even though I'm geeking out about this one, I kind of hope they're able to keep it up.
In other news: Mid-post earthquake! Not a small one, either.
ETA: It was a 3.7, the second in three days. Hmmmm.
Hallows = a clearing in the forest where they hang people?
So, the title of the final Harry Potter book has been released.
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.
Except that "hallows" is not a noun (I checked), and "deathly" is not the same as "deadly."
Hmmmm. WHAT DOES IT ALL MEAN?
I see a proper noun in our midst.
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.
Except that "hallows" is not a noun (I checked), and "deathly" is not the same as "deadly."
Hmmmm. WHAT DOES IT ALL MEAN?
I see a proper noun in our midst.
Wednesday, December 13, 2006
EEEEEEEEEEE!
I didn't know until recently that the twelve days of Christmas were supposed to take place after Christmas (we Baptists aren't really into Epiphany, so it never registered). If they were before Christmas, today would be the first day, partridge-in-a-pear-tree day.
I pretend to be surprised that it's almost halfway through December, but it's not really true. I was dying for December this year. I bought Christmas cards the day after Thanksgiving--no mean feat, as I am absurdly picky about my Christmas cards--and I've been plugging away at a list of Christmas movies for Cinema Hype. I don't decorate much for Christmas and I just can't be bothered with a tree, but I'm definitely working on the mindset.
My brother likes to proclaim Christmas by listening to Amy Grant's Christmas album over breakfast (don't mock; it's a family favorite, and it rules). I always start with this record my parents have from 1966, "The Great Songs of Christmas," Vol 6. We listened to it every year until the record player stopped working, and now Ben and I are trying to re-create it on iTunes. My incomplete digital version starts with Andy Williams's rendition of "Do You Hear What I Hear?" and it's such a satisfying way to kick off the season--his voice is deep and smooth, and the song just gets better and better as it goes on ("SAID THE KING TO THE PEOPLE EVERYWHERE..."). I love it. The rest of the album varies between the fairly normal (Nat King Cole, Barbra Streisand) and some stuff that I guarantee iTunes will never have as long as they claim to be cool (The New Christie Minstrels, Jan Peerce [ChristthenewbornkingNoEL!]). I like a lot of different kinds of Christmas music, but there's a right way for me to begin the season, and Andy Williams is it.
Once the music's playing, The Sound comes out. If you've ever spent any time with my family at all during December, you know where I'm going with this. I believe the whole thing started with Ramona Quimby, actually; in Ramona and her Father, Ramona makes up a "joyful noise" to express her excitement about Christmas. As a kid, I thought this was a pretty good idea, because I was pretty excited about Christmas, myself. Thus: EEEEEEE! It's loud, it's high-pitched, and I'm sure it's obnoxious, but it's what we do, and we do it more and more as Christmas approaches. It's our joyful noise.
Oh, Christmas. Welcome.
I pretend to be surprised that it's almost halfway through December, but it's not really true. I was dying for December this year. I bought Christmas cards the day after Thanksgiving--no mean feat, as I am absurdly picky about my Christmas cards--and I've been plugging away at a list of Christmas movies for Cinema Hype. I don't decorate much for Christmas and I just can't be bothered with a tree, but I'm definitely working on the mindset.
My brother likes to proclaim Christmas by listening to Amy Grant's Christmas album over breakfast (don't mock; it's a family favorite, and it rules). I always start with this record my parents have from 1966, "The Great Songs of Christmas," Vol 6. We listened to it every year until the record player stopped working, and now Ben and I are trying to re-create it on iTunes. My incomplete digital version starts with Andy Williams's rendition of "Do You Hear What I Hear?" and it's such a satisfying way to kick off the season--his voice is deep and smooth, and the song just gets better and better as it goes on ("SAID THE KING TO THE PEOPLE EVERYWHERE..."). I love it. The rest of the album varies between the fairly normal (Nat King Cole, Barbra Streisand) and some stuff that I guarantee iTunes will never have as long as they claim to be cool (The New Christie Minstrels, Jan Peerce [ChristthenewbornkingNoEL!]). I like a lot of different kinds of Christmas music, but there's a right way for me to begin the season, and Andy Williams is it.
Once the music's playing, The Sound comes out. If you've ever spent any time with my family at all during December, you know where I'm going with this. I believe the whole thing started with Ramona Quimby, actually; in Ramona and her Father, Ramona makes up a "joyful noise" to express her excitement about Christmas. As a kid, I thought this was a pretty good idea, because I was pretty excited about Christmas, myself. Thus: EEEEEEE! It's loud, it's high-pitched, and I'm sure it's obnoxious, but it's what we do, and we do it more and more as Christmas approaches. It's our joyful noise.
Oh, Christmas. Welcome.
Tuesday, December 12, 2006
12 of 12: December
Happy 12 of 12 to all, and to all a good night (seriously, it's barely the 12th by now)! For the uninitiated, 12 of 12 is an internet project started by TV writer (formerly of Alias fame; he's now on Crossing Jordan, I believe) Chad Darnell. On the twelfth of every month, people around the world take twelve pictures of their days and post them online. You can see my October entry here.
Getting on with it:
A rainy morning in Oakland.
The mural in progress at Lakeview Elementary School. Oakland is mural heaven--if there's a concrete surface, somebody's going to paint it. Most are representations of Lake Merritt (or Lake Merritt as New York, or Lake Merritt as Italy, or whatever), but there are others, too. I used to live right next to the overpass with giraffes on the columns.
Sticking a Netflix disc in the mail (if you must know, The West Wing Season Four, Disc Four, in which CJ's dad has Alzheimer's, President Bartlet invades Africa, Toby and Charlie get into a bar fight, and Josh tells Donna how amazing she looks).
My favorite Key mug, the People's Princess mug. I know I'm not alone when I say that I tend to hoard it.
Yoga! Those are my feet propped up against the wall. At the end of class, we lie on our backs with our feet on the walls, and it feels great.
Lunch: organic Indian food from the freezer. Peas, chickpeas, tomatoes, cheese, and rice. It looks less depressing if you put it on a plate. Really.
The Daily Show and knitting. I had essentially this same picture in October--same show, same pose, different scarf--but 20 minutes of fake-news love is what I do when I get home.
Hanging out in the magazine aisle at Safeway after going to the ATM.
Dinner at Koryo on Telegraph to celebrate my friend Luke's birthday. Korean food is the original small-plate cuisine combined with the genius of letting people pay to cook their own food. Tasty, though.
The birthday boy and me.
Caroline dealing with the meat while Steve "helps." At least he's enthusiastic.
Some quality time with Cinema Hype before bed.
Off to bed before I miss the West Coast deadline.
Getting on with it:
A rainy morning in Oakland.
The mural in progress at Lakeview Elementary School. Oakland is mural heaven--if there's a concrete surface, somebody's going to paint it. Most are representations of Lake Merritt (or Lake Merritt as New York, or Lake Merritt as Italy, or whatever), but there are others, too. I used to live right next to the overpass with giraffes on the columns.
Sticking a Netflix disc in the mail (if you must know, The West Wing Season Four, Disc Four, in which CJ's dad has Alzheimer's, President Bartlet invades Africa, Toby and Charlie get into a bar fight, and Josh tells Donna how amazing she looks).
My favorite Key mug, the People's Princess mug. I know I'm not alone when I say that I tend to hoard it.
Yoga! Those are my feet propped up against the wall. At the end of class, we lie on our backs with our feet on the walls, and it feels great.
Lunch: organic Indian food from the freezer. Peas, chickpeas, tomatoes, cheese, and rice. It looks less depressing if you put it on a plate. Really.
The Daily Show and knitting. I had essentially this same picture in October--same show, same pose, different scarf--but 20 minutes of fake-news love is what I do when I get home.
Hanging out in the magazine aisle at Safeway after going to the ATM.
Dinner at Koryo on Telegraph to celebrate my friend Luke's birthday. Korean food is the original small-plate cuisine combined with the genius of letting people pay to cook their own food. Tasty, though.
The birthday boy and me.
Caroline dealing with the meat while Steve "helps." At least he's enthusiastic.
Some quality time with Cinema Hype before bed.
Off to bed before I miss the West Coast deadline.
Friday, December 08, 2006
Tuesday, December 05, 2006
"At least I took the smug, blonde pretzel chick down with me."
I took my first yoga class today. There's a studio across the street from my office, and my company set up a schedule of Key-only classes during lunch and after work, just to see how it goes. Now, I consider myself a strong girl: I row three days a week for an hour and a half each, plus Dennis's crazy weight-lifting circuits before practice. I can do twenty (girl) push-ups without stopping. I'm proud of the little columns of muscle on either side of my spine. I can tell I'm going to be sore tomorrow, though. Yoga is such a different kind of exercise and such a different kind of atmosphere--crew is certainly meditative in its own way, but it's all about force and speed and grace and the wind on the back of your neck, whereas yoga is slow and still and awkward for me. It was hard. My arms and back are tired. I had fun, though, and I feel pleasantly quiet and relaxed this afternoon.
So: Yoga. Yay.
So: Yoga. Yay.
Friday, December 01, 2006
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