today i played music with someone who is really excellent to play music with, jonathan. he does some crazy shit with the bass clarinet. many pedals. i was def nervous. i always get nervous when playing music with someone for the first time. its the best kind of nervous because i get to cut completely loose on the drums to break through it. playing music with jonathan made me really really happy . rally rally rally happy. I'm going to make sure I play music more and more this Spring and Summer.
afterwards i went to ikea with georgia. i was telling jonathan earlier that i had dreamt of ikea way before i had ever stepped foot in my first ikea upon moving to portland in september 2007. in this dream all the escalators and elevators were filled and covered with blood. and everyone kept on shop shop shopping. On this evening's excursion i bought a smallish cabinet of drawers that will perfectly hold and organize all of my papers and art that are smaller than 8.5 by 11. I managed to strap this, and two picture frames, onto Motobeccy's rack. The MAX was pretty empty so everything went smoothly until i had to get off at the Rose Quarter to transfer. Walked the wrong way down the aisle, and my cabinet didnt fit through the aisle, making my bike fall down. I steadied my bike, the doors opened, and a crowd of overexcited Blazers fans nearly ran me and Motobeccy totally the fuck down on the floor. I sorta waved my one free arm to get them to let me and my IKea loot free. So at this point the streets are covered in Blazers-wearing screaming people, something about a playoff or something, and really, i havent cared about a sports team since the 1986 Mets, so I'm feeling very much fascinated, slightly irritated, and definitely creeped the fuck out by this strange mob mentality all at the same time. Where did my Virgoan ass really want to be? Sorting my art and zines into drawers. i was more than slightly irritated once i realized that me, motobeccy and cabby are no way fitting on the Max. Or the next Max. Or the next. So i wander over to the #4 bus stop, take Cabby off the rack, and hang with Motobeccy. The two dudes waiting nearby me take turns spitting a big spit on the ground about every ten seconds, and this brings back to my memory Constance [the dog] drooling on me and Sarah on the way back from the park this morning combined with how I felt after I had gefilte fish for lunch today. So, basically we have lots of spit, no bus in sight, and slight nausea. I began to admit to myself that even though i cant stand when people spit right near me at a bus stop, I spit all the time off my bike when motorists piss me off, and sometimes pedestrians are nearby, and perhaps i should be more considerate and kick that habit. Perhaps carry a bag of stones to chuck at those douchebags who nearly run me over instead of spitting at the floor in disgust.
But yes today was overall a very excellent day, and I also found out about exciting things that I cant tell you. Ha!
27.11.08
blood, bleach, yams, brussel sprouts, good times
I wore white jeans yesterday even though I'm on the rag, and did fine until I got home, spaced out on the laptop too long, then changed into my pjs and hit the sack. It wasnt till this morning, right when I was about to go to the store to buy yams to make my spectacular yam fries for Thanksgiving dinner, that I noticed a 3 inch by 1 inch stain of blood on the but crack of my white jeans that definitely happened while I was on my laptop last night. I scrubbed and scrubbed and it mostly came out, but being that they are white jeans, I decided I should invest in a stain stick and bleach for this and future incidents. I headed to the grocery store on my bike in the rain, and bought 3 yams [i had 2 already at home], 2 bulbs of garlic, peppercorns, paprika, a stain stick, and a container of non-chlorine bleach. I biked home excited to cook, and upon opening my bag found that the bleach had leaked all over everything. After huffing and puffing to myself for a few minutes and checking in with Heather to let her know i wouldnt be able to cook the yams, I rode back to the grocery store. I first approached the cashier, and in a sad tone of voice, told him what happened. He unsympathetically told me to go to guest services. At guest services, I decided to be cheery, and told her what happened - that my yams were bleached, and i no longer had enough time to cook yams, so i would like to exchange all the food [it was all bleached] for a bottle of wine. She was super nice. I went and picked out the wine - my favorite, from Trinacria, a Sicilian wine, Nera D'avolo, and brought it to her. She told me I could go to the deli section and get some prepared food on the house. I said no thank you, but then realized I should totally get something, even though I felt super silly about the idea of bringing something from a deli to the dinner. I considered getting vegan meatloaf, and for a minute almost picked chicken salad, but ultimately chose brussel sprouts that were in a salad with walnuts and onions and things. I thanked her and left to get my bike outside. I called Heather and told her I'd got a bottle of wine, and about the free brussel sprouts. She starts screaming "WHAAA!!! BRUSSEEL SPPRRROOUUTTSSS!! HOLY SHIT DRUMMER!!!" and then i hear her mother also squealing in the background. Her mom gets on the phone, and turns out she'd been talking to Heather non-stop about how she really wanted brussel sprouts for two days now. About how Thanksgiving just wasnt Thanksgiving without brussel sprouts. To say she was pleased would be putting it lightly. I returned home, poured the brussel sprouts into a non-labeled container, secured it with a rubber band, changed my clothes and got on my bike to the dinner a few blocks away. The dinner and company was perfect, although I was definitely sad about not being at the dinner with my sister and mom and dad and our cousins in NYC, and also about the fact that my tantas Ann and Millie were alone in their respective apartments in BKLYN on Thanksgiving. But Heather's cuz Jamen's husband Ryan put on Alice's Restaurant, and I felt somewhat closer to home.
14.10.08
4.10.08
this is happening
i'm getting on an amtrak in the morning to oly. almost as excited about being on a train as visiting oly. i love the feeling of the train. i was riding my bike to my accupuncture appointment today and had to stop at the tracks for an amtrak to go by, and i was filled with warm gushy feelings and wanted to be on that train. accupuncture was totally rad as usual. when i left i had a sharp pain in my foot and thought perhaps theyd left a needle in but i checked later on and it was some strange phatom pain of a needle that had been there. today was a good day of getting things done. dropped the final fixed up pages of my drum book in the mail slot at buyolympia. sent off this kickball package i have been meaning to send off for a long while, about a strange possibility having to do with the future. ate quality sushi with miso. finished the petition for Hylaeus assimulans and photoshopped the fuck out of some maps of the collection localities for this species on molokai, oahu, lanai, maui and kahoolawe. i then sent off the petition to the fabulous karl magnacca, the researcher who did most of the recent surveys of all Hylaeus species in Hawaii. before him, nobody had looked at these things for about 100 years while they quietly dissapeared. The fellow who studied Hylaeus before Magnacca was named R.C.L. Perkins, and he did biological collections on the Hawaiian Islands, barefoot, between 1892 and 1906. He made major contributions to the publication Fauna Hawaiiensis. the Hylaeus are the only bees native to Hawaii, and a bunch of them are so rare they are almost extinct. some Hylaeus have already gone to heaven, or wherever it is these things go, with the dodo. The Hylaeus have this really intimate relationship with native Hawaiian plants, and will only visit native Hawaiian plants for pollen. bummer for Hylaeus that native Hawaiian plants are so few and far between. These Hawaiian species evolved in such isolation that theyre pretty wimpy and get eaten, trampled, pushed out, or otherwise fucked over by pretty much any non-native from the mainlands. The plants and the native Hylaeus have to deal with ants [none of which are native to Hawaii], honey bees [which might compete for pollen with Hylaeus], feral ungulates that destroy the native plants [aka wild hoofed animals like pigs, deer, mufflon sheep, and goats that were all introduced to Hawaii], and fire, which used to occur rarely in Hawaii but now happens all the time because the invasive plants that were helped along by the feral ungulates burn more easily than the Hawaiian natives. WHOA ! TANGENT !. So, yeah, today, i finished writing that petition, and next week I will move onto other Hawaiian Hylaeus species. this evening i cruised around to art openings at grass hut, emily baker's store, and work/sound with heaths and clauds. when i got home, our living room had been completely transformed into the most cozy thing ever, with a library nook, new stuff on the walls, and just fantastic new arrangements in general. I am usually really apprehensive about not partaking in redecorating of my home, but i was STOKED on this new arrangement. i get almost as excited about rearranging furniture as i do about taking the train. we finished off the night at dekum manor a litte bit of magic johnson and a little bit of reporter.
21.9.08
19.9.08
stoked/bummed/stoked/bummed
ok so my horoscope today said that there would be some fantastic culmination and climax and wonderful grandiose finale of some thing i have been working on, but it turned out to be quite a normal day and nothing out of the ordinary happened. i did, however, think a lot about what i'm stoked about and what i want to change. here's the start of the list.
the stoked about list
1. sleep and how i have been getting more of it
2. explode into colors
3. playing double drums with danny yesterday
4. stoner jams with todd today
5. drawing fliers
6. teaching drums
7. five weeks left at the desk at work, (200 hours)
8. getting my book made into a book finally
9. freestyle entomology after the job is done
10. coffee tomorrow at the pot with lids and clayas.
11. jenny jenkins is moving to town.
the bummed about list
1. five weeks left at the desk at work, (200 hoursssss)
2. bike making funny noises
3. probably have to move but i love my house
4. no productive crushes
5. hardly ever get to the woods.
.....
oh, thats cool as fuck, my stoked about list is much longer than the bummed about list.
10.9.08
yesterday and today
were not nearly as interesting as last week, which was highlighted by the tag team! show at holocene, our mfnw show, and my birthday celebration all weekend long. Yesterday i took the day off work, which is one of my favorite things to do in the world. i got started on changing things up for the better. sat at the fresh pot for hours and hours writing a resume to give to trade-up, where supposedly theres a good chance i can get a job. brought my ravishing new feather earrings, one of which had lost its feather, back to Blue, and theyre going to get it fixed. ate an ok 7-dollar burrito at laughing planet, and reminded myself not to go there again. biked to tradeup in SE and met one of the managers, gave them my resume and cover letter, and realized i'd somehow forgot to mention on my resume that i have taught at rock and roll camp for girls. speaking of which, yesterday i found out i'll be teaching there in the fall, and you could say that i am completely fucking jazzed about that development. it is in line with this whole transformation of my life that i've started. basically, the plan is to engage myself in the creative and engaging activities that make me happy, and not to do insect work unless it fits in with that somehow. everyone at work found out i'm leaving, and theyre all apologizing about it, in a solemn way, and i'm just like 'hey, i'm excited to have time to work on other things. i've got a plan.' My list of other things has been waiting for a long time. OH back to my yesterday and my today....after dropping my res at tradeup, i met up with clea, we updated each other on our lives, and we biked downtown. She to happy hour, me to the lucky jeans store for my irresponsible birthday present to myself of a pair of jeans. i managed to rip the crotch out of every pair of my favorite jeans by the beginning of summer, and was more than content wearing cutoffs the last few months, but its getting chilly again, and i have always wanted a pair of luckys. After that i biked home, and taught jolene a drum lesson. Jolene is one of my favorite students. And this time she brought me a cream cheese brownie for my bday. After the lesson i made an eggplant and potato invention for me and lydia and hit the pillow. This morning i woke up from dreams of bomber planes flying over staten island dropping bombs on the city, my parents holding a historical tour of the house i grew up in that they still live in, and some bullet piercing my neck and having not much of an effect on me at all. I took a few minutes to stretch, planning to make sure my day went differently than my dreams. Lids and i had our bagel fix at the Pot, i biked to work. I spent 30 minutes at my desk then decided i would work at the albina press until i got hungry enough for my eggplant and potato lunch. This lasted a few hours. A few hours of the aforementioned "cut and paste and italicize and bullshit on myspace....etc". Returned to the office in time to down my lunch and meet with some of my bosses to hand off two projects i'd been the main person on. One was a series of workshops on pollinators we held on farms for farmers and ag professionals from various govt agencies...the other was an identification guide to the native bees of the united states that i was the primary writer for. Its been through the hands of many editors, and i am hoping the final product still resembles my work and my name is all big on it and shit, because i spent months and months on that thing, and learned a lot from it. After this meeting i was having trouble keeping my eyes open so i returned to the Press for a coffee - one of only two caffeinated coffee drinks i've had in the last week and a half or so. It did the trick and i didnt get a panic attack. I copy and pasted and copy and pasted some paragraphs on some flies and water insects that are nearly extinct, and didnt increase their chances of survival by one bit in the process. Cest la vie. Biked home and taught another one of my students, who is a 10 year old boy. He asks funny things like "did i learn all the beats there are on the drums?" and "can you please show me a beat I haven't done before?" and "who invented the first drums?" and he makes me think of fun new ways of teaching rhythms so i end of saying things like "boom-cha-ca-boom-cha-ca" and "one - and - two - and - ready - and crash!" and "bass-and-snare-and-bass-bass-snare-and." I also taught him me and treadway's celebratory 'high sticks' that we give each other at practice when we figure out our new beats. Lids and i shared some delish thai, a friend sent me a digitized make-out chart for olympia that looks like a fucked up spider web, and i have since been sitting on a nice wooden chair at the dining room table writing this blog. and....i think i will post on my myspace that i made this blog...so tell me what you think about what i think. please.
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