The magnetic poetry on our closet door reads: "We test sleeping in doubt. The room is made of chill."
There are two celebrities that I dislike above all others: Pete Wentz and Hayden Panettiere. I originally went into more detail on this, but nehhh. Oh lord, somehow that reminds me that I had the most frightening dream last night, involving, like, an unruly unicorn, and this guy I used to know. WTF, man? That doesn't have anything to do with Titanic, or Pommes Frittes and lemonade. Or deep-fried peanut butter & jelly at the automat.
What does one write in a blag, anyway? I feel like I'm starting to sound like Creed Bratton.
The word of the week is ridiculous. And by that I mean, ridiculous is the word, and not that the word has the quality of being ridiculous. I'm saying some ridiculous things, I think. I act ridiculously sometimes, also. Don't we all? Ridiculous people are SO off my buddy list. Stuff is tuff, let's all drink vitamin water and draw pretty pictures of butterflies. I was not meant to sound like an idiot right there either. Oh well!
September 15, 2007
August 12, 2007
Confessions of a Receptionist
Finally, finally done with temp work for the summer. It wasn't half bad, honestly, and now I have a printer and a MacBook Pro to show for it, plus a little stash of money to hide away to fund trips to Omaha or Portland or Sao Paulo --- if nothing else, it's a few dollars towards my dream house on the corner of 16th and Riggs.
And I'm actually a great receptionist, it turns out. Towards the last few weeks, I really started to enjoy being the girl that made the announcements, that made interviewees comfortable in their chairs and that kept the candy jar filled. It was fun giving the lobby a little bit of an edge, too --- playing Nine Inch Nails and Radiohead every once in a while, instead of the light ambient music that the office was used to hearing.
Washington is a nice city to feel competent in, to wake up too early and stride around in high heels before settling in your seat outside at Au Bon Pain and enjoying a last gasp of sunlight before settling in at the reception desk. I could never keep up with the Hill staffers, I'm sure, but sitting and watching those out-of-town interns race around with their watches perfectly set and attache cases firmly in hand, I wasn't jealous, either. Strange summer contentment is easy enough to find when you've got the nicest sunglasses five dollars could buy and the Decemberists singing you through the early Thursday humidity. Pretending to be a low-rent Sophia Loren of the people. It's a fantasy that soon falls to pieces when your days are spent responding like Pavlov's dogs to a phone that doesn't ring but rather wails impatiently with calls from Mozambique (did you they speak Portuguese there? Bom dia, senhor! Como vai a senhora? I'm learning so much this summer!) and demands from ill-tempered patrons of the arts.
But, like dear Pam Beesley on The Office, I had friendly faces to look forward to, and the satisfaction of watching people enjoy whatever confection I kept in the candy jar (chocolate only when morale was really low, gum drops when people were generally unpleasant). And, as always, I had the Metro for comfort. That's the one thing I'm not looking forward to about going back to New York in a few weeks: the shrieking trains that are never local when you want them to be, never express when you need them to be. I'm a Red Line girl through and through, it seems, though I'll always have a soft spot for the pilgrimage from Union Square through Brooklyn to Coney Island one makes on the Q. You'll have to make the trip with me sometime!
And I'm actually a great receptionist, it turns out. Towards the last few weeks, I really started to enjoy being the girl that made the announcements, that made interviewees comfortable in their chairs and that kept the candy jar filled. It was fun giving the lobby a little bit of an edge, too --- playing Nine Inch Nails and Radiohead every once in a while, instead of the light ambient music that the office was used to hearing.
Washington is a nice city to feel competent in, to wake up too early and stride around in high heels before settling in your seat outside at Au Bon Pain and enjoying a last gasp of sunlight before settling in at the reception desk. I could never keep up with the Hill staffers, I'm sure, but sitting and watching those out-of-town interns race around with their watches perfectly set and attache cases firmly in hand, I wasn't jealous, either. Strange summer contentment is easy enough to find when you've got the nicest sunglasses five dollars could buy and the Decemberists singing you through the early Thursday humidity. Pretending to be a low-rent Sophia Loren of the people. It's a fantasy that soon falls to pieces when your days are spent responding like Pavlov's dogs to a phone that doesn't ring but rather wails impatiently with calls from Mozambique (did you they speak Portuguese there? Bom dia, senhor! Como vai a senhora? I'm learning so much this summer!) and demands from ill-tempered patrons of the arts.
But, like dear Pam Beesley on The Office, I had friendly faces to look forward to, and the satisfaction of watching people enjoy whatever confection I kept in the candy jar (chocolate only when morale was really low, gum drops when people were generally unpleasant). And, as always, I had the Metro for comfort. That's the one thing I'm not looking forward to about going back to New York in a few weeks: the shrieking trains that are never local when you want them to be, never express when you need them to be. I'm a Red Line girl through and through, it seems, though I'll always have a soft spot for the pilgrimage from Union Square through Brooklyn to Coney Island one makes on the Q. You'll have to make the trip with me sometime!
August 1, 2007
July 8, 2007
Having reached the halfway point of the summer (O No!), I've also come to appreciate the subtle ways in which my life in Washington and my life in New York are very different.
Take, for instance, the grafitti. It's ubiquitous in New York, scribbled everywhere --- the majority of it examples of tagging, one name or alter-ego sprayed over another. On my way to work each morning in Washington, however, I'm treated to the spray-painted demands "BRING THE TROOPS HOME" and "NO BLOOD FOR OIL" and "DIE CAPITALISM," while the huge magenta "GO HILLARY GO" still remains my favorite. Less politically inclined, but just as striking was the assertion that "COWBOIES <3 BELLYACHING" that I saw in Starbucks two weeks ago.
It's also nice to be able to get dressed in my room and look out at the woods and chipmunks behind the house, rather than at half-naked painters making rude gestures in the apartment complex across the street.
Above all, summer back home reminds me that there is indeed a massive difference between diet Pepsi and diet Coke, and one is an essential summer-thirst-quencher. That would be diet Coke.
But the humidity here makes it impossible to complain or be that nit-picky. At some point in coming back here, I relinquished my straightener and embraced the fact that my hair would be tangled, would be curly of its own accord, would be a disaster --- but that's just a consequence of being here. The other receptionist at work, however, disagreed. She went to CVS on her lunch break yesterday to pick up some serum for relaxing her hair.
"Can I get you somethin'?"
"I'm just fine, but thanks anyway. I brought lunch."
"No, sweetie...can I get you something for your weave?"
My what???
She seemed amused to realize that I didn't use anything to keep my hair from curling in the summer.
"Nothing to straighten that shit out?" Nope!
Otherwise, everything's fine. Unremarkable, but really fine. It's beyond hot, and all you really need to survive here are a hammock (check!), a glass of lemonade (cooling in the fridge), and an iPod filled with amazing music (any recommendations?). Soon I'll post my July playlist. It won't wipe the sweat off your forehead, friend, but it'll come pretty close.
Much love!
Take, for instance, the grafitti. It's ubiquitous in New York, scribbled everywhere --- the majority of it examples of tagging, one name or alter-ego sprayed over another. On my way to work each morning in Washington, however, I'm treated to the spray-painted demands "BRING THE TROOPS HOME" and "NO BLOOD FOR OIL" and "DIE CAPITALISM," while the huge magenta "GO HILLARY GO" still remains my favorite. Less politically inclined, but just as striking was the assertion that "COWBOIES <3 BELLYACHING" that I saw in Starbucks two weeks ago.
It's also nice to be able to get dressed in my room and look out at the woods and chipmunks behind the house, rather than at half-naked painters making rude gestures in the apartment complex across the street.
Above all, summer back home reminds me that there is indeed a massive difference between diet Pepsi and diet Coke, and one is an essential summer-thirst-quencher. That would be diet Coke.
But the humidity here makes it impossible to complain or be that nit-picky. At some point in coming back here, I relinquished my straightener and embraced the fact that my hair would be tangled, would be curly of its own accord, would be a disaster --- but that's just a consequence of being here. The other receptionist at work, however, disagreed. She went to CVS on her lunch break yesterday to pick up some serum for relaxing her hair.
"Can I get you somethin'?"
"I'm just fine, but thanks anyway. I brought lunch."
"No, sweetie...can I get you something for your weave?"
My what???
She seemed amused to realize that I didn't use anything to keep my hair from curling in the summer.
"Nothing to straighten that shit out?" Nope!
Otherwise, everything's fine. Unremarkable, but really fine. It's beyond hot, and all you really need to survive here are a hammock (check!), a glass of lemonade (cooling in the fridge), and an iPod filled with amazing music (any recommendations?). Soon I'll post my July playlist. It won't wipe the sweat off your forehead, friend, but it'll come pretty close.
Much love!
June 30, 2007
Valentimes is serious times.
You know that clip where Spanky is trying to kill flies and babbling to Petey? The really painfully awesome one? Well, I haven't been able to stop watching it. It cheers me up like you would not believe. It doesn't even make sense, really. I mean, other than the lady at the end with wonderful dictation, this is the only dialogue that I can vaguely understand:
But anyway, so I can't stop watching this video, and I thought, what am I going to do if this one disappears like all the Little Rascals clips on YouTube did? OH THE HORROR! So I did a little bit of haxxorzing (actually, it was just a single Google search, I'm not that badass), and downloaded it to my computer. And not only that, but I happen to have this nifty little device called a video iPod. And if it can play videos, I thought, why not? So now, if ever I am traveling, or in class, or in bed, and I get a little sad, it's okay, because I have a portable Spanky and Petey for some instant cheer. And I don't even think it's sad that I'm watching this clip several times a day, because things this adorable don't really get old, and this is just how I am dealing with a painfully long disappointment of a summer. Okay, I don't actually spend all my time watching Little Rascals. I start a new job on Tuesday (working at the family business - oh lohdy!) and have been working on a few projects at a time, besides cold turkey/hot pastrami. Most notably, I've been doing lots of musicky things, like writing out piano arrangements to songs I can't find sheet music for, which is very gratifying, and it's pretty much convinced me that I need to bring my keyboard to school next year - if our closet is big enough, we can set up a little music station next to wherever we sit and talk on the phone, it'll be adorable, and I'm all about adorable things.
For real, I am looking forward to go back to school. I've decided it will be awesome, so I am excited. Maybe I'm excited a year too late, but hey, better late than never, I think. But anyway, I will deal with summer too, because all I need is my music, and my ducks, and a trip to visit Monica, because her phone call was wonderful, and my Little Rascals. Because Spanky and Petey are the only boys I need. Psh.
- "Petey, I will shoot that fly!"
- "I know baa-baa-black-sheep!"
- "HAH-HAAAAH!"
- "Oh look at the big bug!"
But anyway, so I can't stop watching this video, and I thought, what am I going to do if this one disappears like all the Little Rascals clips on YouTube did? OH THE HORROR! So I did a little bit of haxxorzing (actually, it was just a single Google search, I'm not that badass), and downloaded it to my computer. And not only that, but I happen to have this nifty little device called a video iPod. And if it can play videos, I thought, why not? So now, if ever I am traveling, or in class, or in bed, and I get a little sad, it's okay, because I have a portable Spanky and Petey for some instant cheer. And I don't even think it's sad that I'm watching this clip several times a day, because things this adorable don't really get old, and this is just how I am dealing with a painfully long disappointment of a summer. Okay, I don't actually spend all my time watching Little Rascals. I start a new job on Tuesday (working at the family business - oh lohdy!) and have been working on a few projects at a time, besides cold turkey/hot pastrami. Most notably, I've been doing lots of musicky things, like writing out piano arrangements to songs I can't find sheet music for, which is very gratifying, and it's pretty much convinced me that I need to bring my keyboard to school next year - if our closet is big enough, we can set up a little music station next to wherever we sit and talk on the phone, it'll be adorable, and I'm all about adorable things.
For real, I am looking forward to go back to school. I've decided it will be awesome, so I am excited. Maybe I'm excited a year too late, but hey, better late than never, I think. But anyway, I will deal with summer too, because all I need is my music, and my ducks, and a trip to visit Monica, because her phone call was wonderful, and my Little Rascals. Because Spanky and Petey are the only boys I need. Psh.
June 13, 2007
I'll baptize that piece of calamari!
www.youtube.com/watch?v=mPHdBuXrNFI
Watch this right before you have dinner with your family, then try to explain why you have orange juice coming out your nose. Todd Packer can do anything.
Watch this right before you have dinner with your family, then try to explain why you have orange juice coming out your nose. Todd Packer can do anything.
June 12, 2007
Where's the rent go?
There's a good chance I'm way behind on this, but I just discovered it, and it's probably my new favorite video ever. Unless I like this one better. I can't decide.
Well, I don't have any good stories about raccoons, or any animals for that matter, really. My ducks are gettin' big already. And two of them got eated by some douchebag animal. Unless it just, you know, thought they were so cute that it had to kidnap them and is raising them as baby foxes or hawks or whatever. But seriously, nothing makes me happy quite like baby ducks do. I've been sitting outside to keep an eye out for other hungry douchebag animals, and sometimes I bring out duck food, and all the ducks, including mommy and daddy, will come up and eat out of my hands and peck at my feet and step all over each other trying to get their share, going "cheepcheepcheep", which is duck speak for "ZOMGFOOD". And they're just these precious little fuzzballs climbing into my hand and letting me pick them up and tilting their heads to look up at me with their little duckbilled smiley faces and it's just like, Holy jebus, you guys rock.
So, let's see, what have I been doing. I'm still jobless and I think I might take an art class or something so that I don't feel so bad for doing nothing with my life this summer. 'Cause, you know, I kinda like drawing. I have also been reading and kicking ass in Final Fantasy III. Socially, it's been a combination of having nice hangout time with nice friends, trying to talk sense into silly friends, and being boisterous at the beach with crazy friends. Which is good fun, believe me. (You know you loved my phone call.) And I love summery weather. So, it's a good summer for the most part. Maybe not like, ideally ideal - y'know, bickering family members, frustrating people, confusing situations...but other than that, thumbs up. Like, last week I snuck out at 11:00 to go to the diner with a few pals (as for the sneaking out, it was more like...not waking up my parents to tell them I was leaving). And I got the most amazing chocolate milkshake I ever had, but that's not the point of the story. I could not explain to the pals why I was cracking up over the following: Basically, two pals were arguing over how much salt should be put on fries. Pal 1 gets his fries and puts a little salt on them. Pal 2 says: "Haha. Salt 'em more." And that's...all I'm going to say about that.
And now I will leave you with a very thought-provoking fortune cookie I got last week: ":) A nice cake is waiting for you. :)"
Well, I don't have any good stories about raccoons, or any animals for that matter, really. My ducks are gettin' big already. And two of them got eated by some douchebag animal. Unless it just, you know, thought they were so cute that it had to kidnap them and is raising them as baby foxes or hawks or whatever. But seriously, nothing makes me happy quite like baby ducks do. I've been sitting outside to keep an eye out for other hungry douchebag animals, and sometimes I bring out duck food, and all the ducks, including mommy and daddy, will come up and eat out of my hands and peck at my feet and step all over each other trying to get their share, going "cheepcheepcheep", which is duck speak for "ZOMGFOOD". And they're just these precious little fuzzballs climbing into my hand and letting me pick them up and tilting their heads to look up at me with their little duckbilled smiley faces and it's just like, Holy jebus, you guys rock.
So, let's see, what have I been doing. I'm still jobless and I think I might take an art class or something so that I don't feel so bad for doing nothing with my life this summer. 'Cause, you know, I kinda like drawing. I have also been reading and kicking ass in Final Fantasy III. Socially, it's been a combination of having nice hangout time with nice friends, trying to talk sense into silly friends, and being boisterous at the beach with crazy friends. Which is good fun, believe me. (You know you loved my phone call.) And I love summery weather. So, it's a good summer for the most part. Maybe not like, ideally ideal - y'know, bickering family members, frustrating people, confusing situations...but other than that, thumbs up. Like, last week I snuck out at 11:00 to go to the diner with a few pals (as for the sneaking out, it was more like...not waking up my parents to tell them I was leaving). And I got the most amazing chocolate milkshake I ever had, but that's not the point of the story. I could not explain to the pals why I was cracking up over the following: Basically, two pals were arguing over how much salt should be put on fries. Pal 1 gets his fries and puts a little salt on them. Pal 2 says: "Haha. Salt 'em more." And that's...all I'm going to say about that.
And now I will leave you with a very thought-provoking fortune cookie I got last week: ":) A nice cake is waiting for you. :)"
May 31, 2007
once in a blue moon
Let me set the scene:
11:10 on a snuggly-hot Thursday night. Everything smells like honeysuckle and new dirt. My parents are in bed, I'm downstairs, grateful for air conditioning, and my brother's celebrating the beginning of summer. It's not quite dullsville. It's comfy and home. It's amazing to realize I've been home four weeks today, and tomorrow we'll wake up into June. Where did May go?
Yet! We realize it's a blue moon tonight --- oh, don't be naive and be fooled like I was. It's actually golden-yellow. A blue moon apparently doesn't have to be blue, it just has to be the second full moon within a calendar month. Who knew? We sure didn't. A la The Notebook (oh man, talk about Weepytown Central, Population: whatever dummy decides to watch that movie), my broseph and I decide to lie in the middle of the street to wait for the blue to show up. Hey, we're patient!
Then WHAM! Out of the darkness! Scampers this little fellow! I know I ought to be thankful that it wasn't a car that interrupted our pre-witching hour reverie, but still --- imagine having that guy run right by your face while you're prone, helpless, and incapacitated by humidity and the potential to see the moon turn blue! It was more than a little startling.
And clearly, this could never have happened in New York City. Yes, I'm home in Silver Spring, and more in love with the D.C. area than I think I ever have been. Summer's been lovely to me so far, though I haven't had the pleasure of seeing ducklings every morning or making charmingly awkward phonecalls from the beach.
But attending three concerts in four weeks certainly is nothing to frown at --- especially when they were as massively varied as they were. A brilliant songwriter, an unstoppable herd of edgy electronic dance-rockers, and a glamorous (hah!) popstar --- each entertaining and excellent in their own ways. More to come on that.
For now, I'm well, and thinking of you all --- happy June eve, everyone! Watch out for those raccoons.
May 24, 2007
Whot? I can't hear you...
Summer so far? Among a few other things not really worth mentioning, our duck just hatched eleven little baby ducks.
All together now: one, two, three - AAAWWWWWWW!
May 6, 2007
Movin' out...call the UHAULL TRUCK! (Get it?!)
Oh, boy! An empty room! Boxes of stuff! It must be August 27th and I'm moving in! I can't wait to put up all my Dali posters- oh wait, I just took those down, and anyway it's not August, it's May. Could've fooled me!
No, but really, I'm sitting here anxiously waiting for my parents to call me and tell me they're almost here to pick me up. My laptop is the only thing left in my room because they might not be here for another hour, and get this: my keyboard is echoing. It's making me super uncomfortable. I didn't go to bed until maybe 3:30 because I was thinking of how on earth I was going to pack everything up (of course, some Insomnia Cookies helped ease my mind - sooo good!) and I've been Up And Atom since 8:00 this morning. Highly unnecessary? You bet.
I spent the rest of my Declining Dollars, but I still have 24 cents left, and I'm thinking there has to be something I can get with that. Maybe a gummy bear...maybe even two gummy bears?
I found some pretty silly things cleaning up. So much change I didn't even bother counting it, batteries, Lite Brite pegs all over the place (after a certain point I just started sweeping them up with the dust bunnies and throwing them out), and a ketchup packet under Monica's bed. Didn't you have a story about a ketchup packet? Was it a special ketchup packet or something? If it was, I'm sorry, I threw it out. Or, wait, am I just thinking of an episode of Doug, because didn't he save the ketchup packet he got from Patty Mayonnaise and kept it in a treasure box and took it out every now and then to admire it? Am I totally making all this up?
Oh, another thing: We used to have this little dry erase board that I got at the craft store for a buck a few days before I left. For the first few weeks we drew Kermits and Teen Girl Squad and a few other little things on it but after that it didn't get much use. Where on earth did it go? I seem to remember it on top of the dressers, and I'm wondering if it didn't fall down behind them and get stuck. I would love to see some of the things that end up back there. I can just imagine some housing employee finding our dry erase board and wondering, "Two stick-figure girls appearing to be in love with a man with a funny haircut holding a...stapler in jello? Who the hell lived here, anyway?"
Last but not least, they totally put up padding on the elevator walls. Scary.
No, but really, I'm sitting here anxiously waiting for my parents to call me and tell me they're almost here to pick me up. My laptop is the only thing left in my room because they might not be here for another hour, and get this: my keyboard is echoing. It's making me super uncomfortable. I didn't go to bed until maybe 3:30 because I was thinking of how on earth I was going to pack everything up (of course, some Insomnia Cookies helped ease my mind - sooo good!) and I've been Up And Atom since 8:00 this morning. Highly unnecessary? You bet.
I spent the rest of my Declining Dollars, but I still have 24 cents left, and I'm thinking there has to be something I can get with that. Maybe a gummy bear...maybe even two gummy bears?
I found some pretty silly things cleaning up. So much change I didn't even bother counting it, batteries, Lite Brite pegs all over the place (after a certain point I just started sweeping them up with the dust bunnies and throwing them out), and a ketchup packet under Monica's bed. Didn't you have a story about a ketchup packet? Was it a special ketchup packet or something? If it was, I'm sorry, I threw it out. Or, wait, am I just thinking of an episode of Doug, because didn't he save the ketchup packet he got from Patty Mayonnaise and kept it in a treasure box and took it out every now and then to admire it? Am I totally making all this up?
Oh, another thing: We used to have this little dry erase board that I got at the craft store for a buck a few days before I left. For the first few weeks we drew Kermits and Teen Girl Squad and a few other little things on it but after that it didn't get much use. Where on earth did it go? I seem to remember it on top of the dressers, and I'm wondering if it didn't fall down behind them and get stuck. I would love to see some of the things that end up back there. I can just imagine some housing employee finding our dry erase board and wondering, "Two stick-figure girls appearing to be in love with a man with a funny haircut holding a...stapler in jello? Who the hell lived here, anyway?"
Last but not least, they totally put up padding on the elevator walls. Scary.
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