db's Blurty
 
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Below are the 20 most recent journal entries recorded in db's Blurty:

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    Tuesday, January 4th, 2005
    5:25 pm
    talk of the weather will do
    happy 2005! in different circles of my friends, this has so far been dubbed the year of the camera, year of the makeout and year of the quakers. put it all together and i guess it has something to do with making out w/ a quaker on film. excellent.

    will this be the year of figuring my shit out? doing spanish immersion? moving overseas? traveling more than last yr? mastering guitar and starting a girl rock band that goes on to become bigger than velocity girl? i'm excited about the new year, not because i really think things will drastically change or be new or i'll suddenly make and keep new yrs resolutions, but more because i was really ready for last year to end. i'm feeling pessimistically optimistic about 2005.
    Wednesday, December 8th, 2004
    11:54 am
    the life (non)aquatic
    life is weird. i'm reading a lot. mostly well-written essays that make me want to be smarter and long to return to my english-major roots. you know things must be strange when an english masters starts to look inviting. seeing magnetic fields and pixies has made for a musical week -- both were fantastic. the pixies really treated the audience well and played everything we wanted to hear. both bands had to overcome shortcomings with the venues, and both did this swimmingly.

    all i'm really looking forward to is korean food w/ my friend this weekend. also on the agenda is the loosen your morals party for alex's bday. as if i needed a reason. and then lots of karoake in my future, to make up for lost times in tokyo.

    i'm feeling unsatisfied and yet somewhat excited about possibilities.

    some pictures from my trip:

    thailand with a little uruguay thrown in for fun: http://www.snapfish.com/share/p=42061102374487795/l=38267318/otsc=SYE/otsi=SALB
    bangkok: http://www.snapfish.com/share/p=31661102374454201/l=38267312/otsc=SYE/otsi=SALB
    thailand days: http://www.snapfish.com/share/p=31261102374512592/l=38267319/otsc=SYE/otsi=SALB
    bangkok and tokyo madness: http://www.snapfish.com/share/p=36961102374469866/l=38267317/otsc=SYE/otsi=SALB

    Current Mood: hungry
    Current Music: all i listen to lately are the shins
    Saturday, November 27th, 2004
    9:40 pm
    addendum to a post, or if i lived here, i'd be home now
    There are a few moments and experiences from my last morning in Tokyo that I wanted to capture and share. I put the few hours I had before leaving to good use and checked out Shibuya, a large shopping area known for attracting hordes of young people on the weekends. Despite having three days to wander around the city, I can safely say that I had not experienced Tokyo with a capital "T" until seeing this. Weekends are really when Tokyo is in its finest form, where throngs of people descend upon the city streets en masse. It was exciting and energizing, and I feel I would have missed out if I hadnt experienced it. Its like how you think Tokyo will be. For lunch I found this place with only Japanese patrons, were you sit community style with people you dont know. A few days before the entire process would have seemed daunting, but it was great. I had a better idea of what to order and how to eat -- dining with Japanese colleagues earlier in the week really helped in this regard. I ordered soba noodles and tempura without problem and ate in the company of locals. Since I would have been too nervous to do this the first day, I feel I made some progress in my short time there.

    Other items of note -- I developed an obsession for the little toys in bubbles that are found in vending machines all over Tokyo. You know the kind, like the ones outside of Toys R Us or the grocery store. In some parts of the city there were rows and rows of them, and I could never pass them up without buying at least one. Now that I'm back I dont really know what to do with all of these little toys, so its probably a good thing I left when I did.

    One disturbing aspect of Tokyo is the subordinatio of women in the form of ubiquitous brothels, strip joints, gentlemens clubs, etc. Each neighborhood of Tokyo seems to have its very own red light district -- I managed to inadvertently wander into each one. It is interesting that these are prevalent in a society that is this repressed and male-dominated. Women are highly sexualized, but often in that creepy little girl way. I felt dirty just wandering through these parts of town, and you know that I'm no prude. there were just so many of them, everywhere.

    On the bus to the airport, the girl sitting next to me had to say a very long goodbye to her boyfriend who was staying behind. They did the thing where they waved and gestured until the bus moved, and then he followed the bus until he eventually was out of view. I made up a very romantic story about them in my head but found I could not keep that story from turning cynical and jaded. Nevertheless, I empathized with her and thought about all of the times I have had to go through that, saying goodbye to somebody that I loved, not knowing when I would see them again. Its a rough place to be.
    Friday, November 26th, 2004
    6:27 am
    tune in tokyo
    i've purposely avoided updating this because i wasnt sure how to write about tokyo without trivializing it. blah blah sensory overload blah blah crazy blah blah neon blah blah temples blah blah tempura. i'll try to do better than that.

    has anyone seen fog of war? there was a part in it that shows various japanese cities that we bombed in ww2, equating that to a relative u.s. city - for example, it would show nagoya, and then "same population as houston" would flash, to give perspective. it was really moving -- i for one have trouble conceptualizing numbers, and connecting it to places i can imagine really drove it home. anyway, i've been thinking a lot about that while i've been here. so much of tokyo was destroyed in ww2 that much of the city feels new and young, even though the culture has existed for so many centuries. there are a few areas that are typical of old tokyo, little streets and alleys that hide behind the skyscrapers and modern buildings. i would have loved to have explored other parts of japan, to really feel that history, but in the end i chose to see more of tokyo than take a whirlwind trip to kyoto. i'm very happy that i did this.

    some parts of tokyo are as you'd think -- bright lights, tons of neon, thick crowds of people, loud noises and music and arcades blaring. its just incredible. it was even more crazy today -- about six fire trucks raced down the main street to a building, where a large crowd quickly gathered (not too difficult in tokyo). there must have been a fire, although i didnt really see any smoke. but the vision of the fire trucks with flashing red lights, set against a street colored by neon, and the sirens mixing with the regular noise and bustle of the street, was a definite experience.

    the closest approximation to tokyo that i can think of is new york city -- overwhelming, too much to see and do, so many people that one blends in easily. the japanese are cordial but, like new yorkers, mostly uninterested in you unless you give them a reason not to be. not sure if this is true, but from what i've read, the % of foreigners in japan, even tokyo, is much less than in other asian cities. and, also unlike many of those cities, english is not widely spoken here.

    it struck me today that japan is the personification of the 'playing hard to get' phenomenon. the culture is so nuanced and private and parts of it will forever remain unknown to foreigners, even those who immerse themselves in the culture or even marry into it. (*as told to me by coworkers who know better than i do -- i am by no means a japan expert after one week!) for a long time, japan was isolated and closed off, and you can still feel that. likewise, we, as foreigners, are extremely intrigued and entranced. japanese culture will only let us in just a little bit, and the more it does, the more in love we fall. maybe asian fetishes have something to do with this. i suppose the same could be said for another traditionally closed asian society, china -- the idea of being attracted to that which has been forbidden and unknown.

    people-watching is really a sport here. unfortunately i am missing the goth girl gathering that happens every weekend in this one area of tokyo, it is said to be quite a sight. if you are wondering if things are as expensive in tokyo as you've heard -- its yes and no. the ATMs give out money in our equivalent of $100 bills, and real xmas trees cost around $250 (the japanese are crazy about xmas). eating out can cost a ton, taxis cost $6 before you even get in, and clothes and shoes can be quite pricey. at the same time, i managed to find places that were completely affordable, picked up some clothes in and generally didnt feel i was breaking the bank. i did get a little carried away in the 100yen (dollar) and sanrio stores.

    i'm flying back tomorrow, so this is the last of my on-the-road blurties for awhile. my next trip should be to dubai in march. i'll be in orlando next week for work, and then finally back in dc until the holidays. am looking forward to some qt with my friends, seeing the pixies and magnetic fields, and alex and pooja's 'come as your favorite moral value' party. i'll also be gaining a new (and permanent) roomate. and then its on to 2005.

    Current Mood: tired
    Current Music: the 2h hr mt. fuji channel -- its silent
    Tuesday, November 23rd, 2004
    4:26 am
    top 10 reasons why i could never be a travel writer
    there are many, many reasons why i couldnt fulfill my dream of being a travel writer. i was thinking about this today as i was exploring tokyo. i realized that, in my head when i was thinking of how to write about tokyo, it would be much like i write about every place i visit. which resulted in this list.

    i could not be a (good) travel writer because:

    1. i fall in love a little bit (and often a lot) with every place i visit. always. this significantly impedes my ability to be objective.

    2. i think every place is amazing and incredible and interesting. i can always find things i like about any place i am in. i could talk you into coming here, but since, as #1 states, i am not objective, i dont think you should trust me very much.

    3. i often can not think of a synonym for "interesting" so simply repeat it over and over again. this makes for poor, redundant writing.

    4. my exploring of a city is done by no rhyme, reason or map. i couldnt find the temple i stumbled upon after being "lost" for an hour today, much less direct someone else to it. it is as if it has already dissapeared. traveling to me is like falling in the rabbit hole. and i cant very well direct you to the rabbit hole, now can i?

    5. i probably cant tell you the things you would really need to know about how to get around in a new country. i seldom consult a book before traveling. i am not always up on things like "cultural traditions" or "historical facts." i can however tell you how there is a channel in my room that has shown nothing except for a volcano, live action, for the past three days, or how they play soothing japanese music in the streets here, or how japanese girls and boys really are as cute and fashionable as you'd think, and how pumpkin ice cream tastes surprisingly good.

    6. i am not adventurous when it comes to local cuisine. i take chances in other ways, but being vegetarian means often not sampling the local food. in tokyo today, it almost meant going hungry. i had a difficult time finding something vegetarian -- and my eventual hard-won meal of fried rice still came with bits of meat in it. i know i'm missing out on sashimi and tuna rolls and octopi and the rest.

    7. i lack institutional memory. three days ago i could have told you how to say 'thank you' in thai. now i cant remember it, though i can tell you how to say 'good afternoon' in japanese. my brain cells are efficient, replacing rather than adding new information.

    8. i have no loyalty. the minute i am in one place, i am instantly planning my next trip, or thinking of another place i want to visit. my travel obsessions are multiple and fleeting. i dont care to look into what that says about my psyche, thank you very much.

    9. i will always get frustrated that what i have written does not adequately capture what i have experienced. i'll never stop wishing i was a better writer and i'll never be satisfied with anything i have written. if i cant convey the intensity of the experience, what is the point?

    10. travel writers often use puns and cheesy, cheeky humor. i prefer humor that is more ironic, and stay away from puns as a general rule.
    Saturday, November 20th, 2004
    3:50 pm
    last night in bangkok
    this will be quick since they're trying to kick me out of the hotel room as we speak, something about a mixup with the reservation, so i dont have much time. my thailand time is coming to a close. i leave for tokyo at 7am tomorrow. am looking forward to seeing a new place, even though i could spend months in thailand and not have seen all i want to.

    if i had the time, i would describe bangkok's chinatown, which is vibrant and energizing and more than a little crazy. i'd discuss how i experienced a strange sense of pride in myself when i walked through the chinatown food market and did not become grossed out by the skinned chickens, pig's heads, smelly fish and other miscellaneous pungent items. how i like that in every asian country i've been in, as distinct and disparate many of the cultures are, there are common elements that i've become familiar with, and that makes me happy. i would talk about how i spent an inordinate amount of time in the stores with hello kitty and other japanese characters and how seriously i considered buying shit just because it was cute and asian. i would talk about seeing a real thai elvis perform, discovering a new favorite thai dish (lychee and fried rice), and gorging myself on watermelon juice. i would go in sharp detail about the floating market -- about riding through narrow canals on a speedboat, passing cobra farms, seeing a huge dead python floating in the river and not ten yards later seeing people swimming in the same river as the python. i would descibe how fun the floating market was, being rowed from boat to boat, buying fruit and sticky rice while trying to dodge the other boats. i'd talk at length about all of that, and much more, but for the moment time is not on my side.

    my second to last night in bangkok is about as close to the song as i have experienced here. we went to a club in a big, white pod-shaped building -- all white and very modern. dance danced, made fun of the girls obvious about trying to generate attention, tried to decipher if the thai woman dancing on the dj booth was really a woman. drank a terrible drink called a 'cuban skirt', which lead to all of us feeling like puking (and one of us actually puking). afterwards we taxied to a club we had heard about, but it was closing at 1 am -- for as wild as bangkok is rumored to be, clubs dont stay open incredibly late. so, we ended up at a random hotel party with american and canadian guys living in HK in town for a softball league game. drank, danced, partied til 5am, then woke up at 7 today for a tour. it was the type of evening that only happens when you're traveling.

    went to amazing temples and ruins today -- we went to the ancient former capital of thailand, ayutthaya, where there are so many temples and buddha statues. saw the largest sitting buddha in thailand, which was indeed very large. saw cambodian-style palace site ruins that is a smaller version of ankar wat. will try to elaborate later. next post will be from japan! i'll be there til friday or sat, then back in DC. but then i'm heading to orlando for work the following week, from monday-friday (back for the weekend). busy busy bee.
    Wednesday, November 17th, 2004
    10:35 am
    tuk tuks and piracy
    bangkok is the craziest city ever. at any point at night it seems, it is as busy and bustling as during the day. there are many night markets and food stalls everywhere, tons of neon and bright lights, insane traffic, cars dodging "tuk tuks", which are half enclosed three-wheel 'taxis' that dont uphold safety standards in any part of the world. i'm really exhausted, but here are a few passing thoughts and highlights:

    - riding in taxis here is a unique experience, and by 'unique', i really mean the adventure begins the moment you get in. regardless of if you have the address, cross streets, names of major landmarks, in either thai or english, none of this matters -- the taxi drivers will still have no idea where you are going and how to get there. nevermind that their one job is to know how to navigate the city. we've spent a lot of time driving around aimlessly, but on a positive note i've seen a lot more of bangkok than i would have.

    - tonight we spent 45 minutes in a taxi to go across town (due to really bad traffic and the taxi driver not knowing where to go). of course, this being thailand, that 45 min trip cost all of $3. but anyway, we went to what looks like a normal set of cement stalls. but we're with someone in the know. she tells one of the guys what we want, and he escorts us to a stall further down the hallway. he lifts the metal door enough to let us duck inside and shuts it again. inside this 14 x 14 enclosure, which has cement on all sides and wire covering the 'roof', are the best quality louis vutton, chanel and prada knockoffs you could ever find. ipr be damned! it was all very clandestine. i'm not really a fan of these designers, but my friends bought up a storm.

    - weird things witnessed here: a lot of old western men with young thai women, presumably prostitutes. there is so much of that here. often the men are really gross and huge and you just know that the beautiful 18 yr old on his arm isnt his wife. even if he's still wearing his wedding ring. i knew to expect this, but its really disturbing to see. it takes remarkable self restraint not to cuss out the men. also, there are tons and tons of transvestites here. male prostitution is prevalent and its quite common to see beautiful women that upon closer glance are really men. i havent figured out why this is so much more common here than in other asian countries -- i realize the sex trade has a lot to do with it but surely that cant explain the rash of thai men who want to be women?

    - tomorrow starts my weekend, since i've worked or flown for the past seven days straight. my training is over! and in dec, i'll be working more closely with jawara on training delivery and he'll be coaching me, which is good because i'm eager to improve. anyway so tomorrow i'll be exploring more of bangkok -- i'm going to hit chinatown and some other interesting areas. friday -- damneon saduak river market!! over the top excited about that. saturday is a day-long trip to the ancient city of ayutthaya, which used to be the capital way back when. then on sunday its off to tokyo, where i plan to eat the best indian food of my life.
    Tuesday, November 16th, 2004
    5:00 am
    i heart thailand
    there really never was any doubt that i'd love thailand, so its not at all shocking to admit that i do. i havent seen very much yet, comparatively, but what a place. bangkok is huge and somewhat unmanageable, very hard to get a handle on. i dont really mean unmanageable in a pejorative sense, but more that i feel i could spend a year here, then be wandering down a street and come across an entire part of the city i never knew existed. or lose a part of the city, like in the rabbit hole or dissapearing staircase. it feels like there are lots of surprises and hidden corners and discoveries not obvious at first glance. it isnt overwhelming really, unless you count the heat, which is incredibly oppressive and stifling. more like sensory overload.

    interestingly, because it is a bit unmanageable, i dont feel the pressure to try to see everything -- either in bangkok or other parts of the country -- because quite simply its impossible. (and because i've been working pretty much straight since i got here). i know i'll come back to spend time in the national parks and the beaches, and i'll visit the ancient city and live on a boat or in a hut and snorkel and hike. when my work ends this week, i will have a few days off that i'm still trying to plan. since anybody who knows me has probably heard of my obsession with thailand's floating river markets, you can bet your sweet ass i'll be doing that one day. i'm trying to figure out if i have enough time to go to a gulf beach, content with the knowledge that the really amazing beaches are too far away and besides, i'll get to them. just not this trip. there will be more.

    i ate a crazy fruit today that looks like a hairball that just woke up or a koosh ball. its called a ramallah i think. you dig your fingernails in, pull away the crazy part and inside is a fruit resembling a lychee or an unpeeled grape. it is the most fun fruit to eat ever. i also ate bright yellow watermelon, which tastes just like red watermelon. while i'm on the subject, i'll just say what you already suspected -- the food is incredible. i am eating like its going out of style. like i'm building up my winter layers, preparing for hibernation. i've had pad thai numerous times. unfortunately i've had trouble finding vegetarian varieties of some of my other favorite thai dishes, but i'm still looking (and eating, never fear).

    on sunday we went to the biggest market in all of southeast asia. i've never seen or smelled anything quite like it. just imagine miles and miles of labyrinthian alleys with stalls filled with food, plants, clothes, jewelery, handicrafts, tapestries and the way the air hung heavily, weighted down by the crashing of unpleasant and savory smells, practically pushing you through the market. after a few hours, we probably covered like 5% of this place. i've also spent a little bit of time in the backpackers haven, which is part daytona on spring break, part new orleans, part little five points -- all set against the backdrop of a thai neighborhood where you can buy pad thai from a cart before moving five feet to get dreads. i can see how my friends have gotten lost here and ended up staying longer than expected. i can feel the pull.

    i've spent the last two days basically shadowing the human rights training and participating in the planning sessions. i wont be expected to do the training until the next trip, which is to the united arab emirates (dubai) the first week of march (yay!). you already know i've had issues about wanting to work in a more meaningful area where i'm actually doing some good. so learning about and training others on human rights laws and how companies can better help communities and contribute to development is one step in that direction, and that makes me happy.

    i'm also happy because i am training with two really great people. one is jawara, who some of you have heard me talk about. i'm just so fortunate to know him. he's a consultant we work with, and someone i admire and respect on a personal and professional level. he's wise, zen-like and funny as hell, and we just get eachother. spending more time with him was one reason i wanted this gig so badly. the other girl, sarah, is someone i've just gotten to know, but who is one of the most awesome, interesting and fun people i've met in awhile. she works in our ohio office and we had never worked together. so, i'm learning a lot, meeting interesting people, and getting to see a fabulous place. if only life was always this good!

    well, i need to go prepare for my marketing training session tomorrow. and then i'm off to a restaurant called 'cabbages and condoms' with sarah. hope everyone is doing well. more later....
    Friday, November 12th, 2004
    7:11 pm
    bangkok calling
    hello. its 7am, but i've been up since 4am, after inadvertently falling asleep last night around 7. i'm not kidding. i came back here after exploring the city to shower -- its very, very, very hot here. as someone who spent many formulative childhood days at disney world in the florida summer, southeast asia gives that a run for its money. anyway, i fell asleep and woke up at 4.....nice. i'm usually better about jetlag. though i did spent 23 hrs on a plane to get here so its no wonder that my body is a little screwed up.

    i dont feel like i've gotten to see very much yet, bangkok is big and yesterday i only concentrated on a few historical/religious sites. i went to the grand palace, which is indeed grand, as well as wat arun (temple of dawn) and wat pho (translation unknown to me). at first i thought a wat meant temple, but it really means an entire complex with a buddhist monestary, temples and community learning centers. buildings in wats are breathtakingly ornate and detailed and are most often topped by spires. wat complexes often surround a chedi, which encaes a relic of the buddha. statues of buddha are abundant. at wat pho, i saw the largest reclining buddha in thailand. the measurements were given in meters, and as i've never learned to convert, i'm not sure how large in feet. lets just say it was really, really, really big and entirely covered in gold.

    bangkok is mostly built on one side of the chao phraya river, and the easiest way to visit many parts of the city is to take the sky tram to the central boat station, and ride the boat up the river. the view of the temples from the river is spectacular. there are many, many boats and the water is on the dirty side, unfortunately. so far every thai person i have met has been extraordinarily nice. any time i looked lost, which was probably often, somebody would come to my aid and direct me. bangkok is well-prepared for tourists, so that explains part of it, but mostly i think it is as i have heard before coming here -- thai is generally a welcoming, happy culture.

    well, i better go make the best of my day before i become tired again! i have to work for part of the day but hopefully will have more time to explore, and of course, EAT. i plan on having an authentic pad thai meal!
    Thursday, November 4th, 2004
    1:49 pm
    rants and ruminations
    stupid blurty. i posted all about the election and it crashed. oh well, i'm sure you already know what i said anyway, its what we have all been saying for the past two days. yesteday i was told "this is a sad day for our country" three times and i think i caught myself saying it as well. i received an email from naral yesterday asking me to sign an online petition (which i think are generally useless anyway) and all i could think of was "what the hell is the point"? more optimistic friends tell me that we need to keep fighting and mobilizing and participating now more than ever, but i'm just not there yet. i'm still in mourning, and i'm dissapointed in the country -- a country where i dont identify with 50% of the population. i need to be anesthesized for the time being, so i'm avoiding most media outlets, liberal or not. i dont want to hear that it wont be as bad as i think it will be. i want to wallow, at least for right now.

    and now the international community will really despise us since "we" knew what we were getting and "we" elected him (legitimately this time). international travel under the bush presidency has been annoying at best and downright uncomfortable at worst. with this vote, we've managed to further lose credibility in the eyes of many in the rest of the world. we've proven that we agree with the way he views the world and painted ourselves as arrogant, xenophobic ugly americans. we will be dealing with the ramifications of bush's foreign policies for many, many years to come.

    in better news, my globe-trotting friend j. is in the u.s. for a month and we're trying to coordinate his visit to dc. this makes me very happy. he's one of those people that makes me feel better about the rest of the population. i'm just so happy that people like him exist, and are friends with me.

    Current Music: spoon
    Tuesday, November 2nd, 2004
    1:41 pm
    Monday, October 25th, 2004
    5:08 pm
    dreaming and teaming
    i know c. told d. this, who told me, and then i in turn told a. and p. this, so really there is no reason to post this to all of you except for an insane amount of excitement. what else could i be talking about? "the life aquatic" - the new wes anderson/noah baumbach film, of course! YAY! this is a real dream team of cinema! i know that if i'm this excited about a film then i am setting myself up for dissapointment, but i really cant help it. dec 10! and according to imdb noah has another one on the way called "the squid and the whale" that he is writing and directing that stars laura linney, who i have loved since "you can count on me".

    to this day, i still find myself wondering where grover is now. this is what obsession looks like.

    a colleague who typically answers telephone questions about international trade and regulations got a call from a man asking if he had to pay any tariffs on importing his russian bride. ladies and gentleman, the human race. you can weep now.

    Current Mood: grumpy
    Current Music: new delgados
    Monday, October 18th, 2004
    9:39 pm
    an obsession begins
    dammit. i meant to watch one episode of curb your enthusiam with dinner. then i decided to watch just one more. and then another. now i'm almost done with an entire dvd. yep, its starting.
    4:29 pm
    for all you tampa kids
    its hard to believe the election is in two weeks from tomorrow...i almost prefer this uncertainty to the post-election uncertainty (who knows how long it will take for the votes to be counted) and the post-election certainty, because what if that certainty means four more yrs of bush and i have to move to a cave in the rockys?

    the tampa tribune, which always endorses republican candidates, has chosen to support neither candidate, with relatively strong words:

    The newspaper said its "deeply conflicted" editorial board could not back Bush "because of his mishandling of the war in Iraq, his record deficit spending, his assault on open government and his failed promise to be a 'uniter not a divider' within the United States and the world."

    But the paper said it could not endorse Kerry, "whose undistinguished Senate record stands at odds with our conservative principles and whose positions on the Iraq war -- the central issue in this campaign -- have been difficult to distinguish or differentiate."

    The Tribune is one of two newspapers in the Tampa-St. Petersburg area, one of the largest metro areas in one of the year's most hotly contested states. The St. Petersburg Times endorsed Kerry on Sunday, saying Bush's mistakes "have left this country less united and less secure." "John Kerry isn't a perfect candidate. No one is," the Times said. "But he is an intelligent, principled leader who has demonstrated his commitment to his country on the battlefield and in public service."

    in other news, dflo and her housemates threw a kickass party at her great new place this weekend. it involved djs, making out w/ djs, belly dancers, roofdeck fun and a strange after-party where i was a wanted (not wanton) woman. when is the next one?!
    Friday, October 15th, 2004
    4:59 pm
    pictures of you
    even more morocco (can there ever be enough)
    http://www.snapfish.com/share/p=242151097873889737/l=35090443/otsc=SYE/otsi=SALB

    these are from the fabulous wedding weekend extravaganza!
    http://www.snapfish.com/share/p=735151097873876021/l=35090442/otsc=SYE/otsi=SALB
    Tuesday, October 12th, 2004
    1:50 pm
    perfect from now on
    being back in south america reminded me of how much i want to live there and how much my spanish still sucks ass. buenos aires is still one of my favorite cities in the world. i love it. i also took a boat trip to a historic town called cologna in uruguay for a day. its a unesco-protected cultural site, but since i dont believe in tour books i still have no idea of its cultural or historic relevance. it was a slow-paced, quiet and pretty place, and everybody i met was really, really nice (sort of unlike in argentina, where they are snobbier). i know next to nothing about uruguay but now i have an incentive to learn. i met this hot artist named fabio and bought these mini-kites that he painted and was selling, basically because he was hot. now that i have it home, i have no idea what one does with a mini-kite. you cant fly it. i cant really give it as a gift, at least not to anyone who reads my blurty since you'll know i only bought it because the artist is good-looking. to view the gift you may or may not be getting from me, go here: www.arteuruguay.com.uy.

    i lost my wallet in buenos aires. luckily i was with friends who gave me enough money to get to the airport and out of the country. i cancelled all of my cards at their place, then later swung by the hotel to pick up my things. sometime during the day, my wallet had been found and everything was in it, except the money of course. but i had already cancelled my cards anyway, so i was still without cash until i went to the bank today. there's a lesson in here somewhere, though i'm not sure what it is. then my cell phone got lost in the taxi but i got it back. yumi danielle says that perhaps my chakra that deals with loss it out of wack, since there has been a lot of it lately. who knows. maybe i'm just losing my mind, slowly but definitely.

    i'm back in dc until yumi danielle's fairy wedding at the end of october in orlando and then thailand in mid-november -- i got the training position after all, so more travel is in my future. now that i'm back for a bit i'm hoping to go out and see some friends. feels like its been awhile. anyone seen i heart huckabees or motorcycle diaries? i'm excited about both of them.

    Current Mood: melancholy
    Current Music: the shins
    Tuesday, October 5th, 2004
    4:31 pm
    Tuesday, September 28th, 2004
    2:16 pm
    a roomate fell in my lap. actually, its the part time one who already lives there. he needs a place for a little bit, maybe just for a month or maybe long term, so he's taking beth's room. it means my little place will be crowded with 3 full timers including myself, but i'll also be saving money. my place feels a little like a boarding house but its just for two months.

    looks like both dflo and i will be living the grouphouse lifestyle for a bit!
    Monday, September 27th, 2004
    8:23 am
    excited yay yay yay
    we're starting to make plans for the big weekend and i couldnt be more excited. now that i'm back in town and talking with my friends i realize how amazingly good this is going to be for me to have all of my best friends here, and how important they are for me all the time, but especially right now. they'll be here from thursday to monday and we have lots of plans. i realize how fortunate i am to still have such a cohesive group of interesting, amazing friends who i have known for such a long time who are still some of my favorite people in the world. the wedding is going to be fantastic and this week really needs to hurry up and pass.

    i've been going through a purging phase lately. not binging and purging, just getting rid of a lot of things, especially items from certain times in my life. i like to think i'm developing my very own revisionist history. it feels good and i'm starting to feel creative in terms of decoration. i have all sorts of art projects that i want to work on and the ideas keep coming, i just hope i get around to implementing them.

    my bag got here at 11.30pm last night, just like a dream (it woke me up). i am now certain that my bag is cursed and perhaps needs to be exorcised. i wont be using it for my next trip.

    i know i'm coming at this one pretty late, but i finally got into iron and wine, and i'm really impressed. this has broken my 70s rock stretch, which is all i have been listening to for the past few weeks.

    good luck on day 1 of the job alex!

    Current Mood: creative
    Current Music: iron and wine
    Sunday, September 26th, 2004
    3:37 am
    lost again, and i'm not kidding
    the airline lost my suitcase on the way home. laws of karma usually ensure that this type of thing doesnt happen twice in the same trip. screw karma. i'm not sure that i'll be able to get it back this time, something about a missing claim ticket makes my chances slim. and if i do, superstition dictates that i'll never again use this new suitcase again on any trip. argh life sucks. buts its 3.30 in the morning, i'm wide awake due to jetlag, and am going to go watch reality bites so i guess it cant be all that bad.

    i hope everyone and their family are doing ok in hurricane #4. talk about life really sucking. i feel bad for everyone dealing with this the fourth time around.
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