One thing about Halloween in San Francisco. When you are riding public transportation, it's a bit hard to tell who is in costume and who isn't. Sometimes you just can't be sure.
I made sure it was clear to everyone how I was dressed.
October 2005 Archives
In July 1982, my family moved to Evergreen, Colorado. It was a big change from the coastal town in Connecticut where we had been living. We were only in Evergreen for 2.5 years, but they were a very important 2.5 years of my life.
That fall I started 3rd grade at Marshdale Elementary School. I met the best friend of my childhood in Mrs. Robinson's homeroom class, Jennifer Brown. Jennifer and I shared a love of horses and drawing. She taught me about music, and style, and boys. We had countless sleepovers and were always at one another's houses. Our imaginations ran wild - playing with model horses, My Little Pony's, and little stuffed animals we called Its who had names like Radar and Sparkplug. Jennifer was the instigator, the wild one. She was short and had red freckles. I was quiet and reserved, tall and awkward. But God we had fun.
In 1985 my family moved back to Connecticut. I looked forward to the move because my parents said I could get my hair feathered and my ears pierced, what I believed to be the keys to being popular. But moving meant leaving Jennifer. It was so hard - I missed her so much. Our parents were very supportive of us keeping our friendship. We called, wrote countless letters (which I still have), and even spent a number of summers together.
The last time I saw her was in August 1991. I went out to spend time with her. I learned a hard lesson about growing up that summer. Connecticut and Colorado were very different worlds to grow up in, and it was clear that Jen and I had grown apart, despite our efforts not to. We had a good time that summer, me getting drunk the first time, learning to drive a stick shift, and horseback riding at a ranch high in the mountains. But when I got back home, we didn't write or call like we used it. It wasn't long before we completely lost touch.
I tried to find her over the years. But there are so many Jennifer Browns in the world I could never be sure that I had found my Jennifer. Then one day this past January, I received an email simply titled "My little pony - Evergreen, Colorado." It was her. She had found me (how many Chiaras are out there, really?)
Since then we have been emailing back and forth. We've yet to talk on the phone, but I keep hoping for a project at work that will take me to Denver so I can see her. I can't explain how happy I am to have her back in my life. It's as if a little piece of myself that I thought I lost has been found. Every time I get an email from her I jump right into it, so excited to hear what she has to say.
It's so good to have you back, Jen. I love you.
I have at last found a benefit of living in a house overrun with arachnids: you are able to take photos like this.
My friend posted a few photos today of a box full of kittens.
Are they the cutest thing you have ever seen or what? I covet the orangish and black one in the middle so badly! I can just feel their little feet, and how soft their fur is, and they way they say "mew mew mew." And the smell *swoon* I love the way kittens smell. All warm and milky. *longing sigh*
Damn evolution and its cute gene. It gets me in trouble every time.
Well, it would seem that being on a plane 4 times in the last 3 weeks has caught up with me. I came home from Chicago with a cold.
I was a bit worried at first by the sore throat, since strep has been going around the office (and my mother is a strep carrier). But this morning I "luckily" woke up all congested, so it would seem I didn't catch strep but just a common cold.
So I'm stuck in that spot where you feel bad enough to be whiney and want to stay in bed all day, but well enough that you can still function and don't really have an excuse to stay home from work.
Why can't my colds be more perfectionist like me? If I'm going to be sick, give me a raging fever, chills, cough, the works. None of this middle-ground stuffiness and soreness haha on you, you still have to work pansy cold stuff. (And yes, maybe I'm not as well as I think I am if this all makes perfect sense to me.)
I'm at the Challenges in Information Architecture Retreat in New York this weekend.
See the wiki of our notes and discussions at: http://iaretreat05.jot.com.
This past Friday night E and I went to see Serenity in San Jose. I had been sick all day - sleeping and feeling very discombobulated, unsteady on my feet, and dizzy. I figured at worst case, I could sleep during the movie if I had to.
I ended up staying awake and watching the whole thing, and even enjoying it. It's a fun space/sci fi flick (E and I had a bit of a debate on if it was actually sci fi, since it didn't really deal with the science going on in the world, but, whatever). I didn't watch the series when it was on. I have at least seen the pilot (which is also good), and I'm pretty sure I've seen an episode here and there. E has the whole thing on DVD, so I'm sure I'll catch up sooner rather than later.
Anyway, I'm not sure if it was just that I wasn't feeling well or what, but I was really struck at the high geek factor at the movie. Granted, it was opening weekend. But there were folks there at the 9:35 show that had already seen it 4+ times. There were more than a few in costume. They had a trivia contest at the beginning and most people knew the answers.
And I was struck by the fact that this was so not my world. I do consider myself a geek (or is it that I'm more of a nerd?). But... I couldn't identify with the majority of the women at the show (or at least my projection of them, based upon how they looked and acted and talked with their friends).
Or rather, I felt caught between two worlds. While I certainly have geek tendencies, I'm not geeky enough to be a true girl geek. And I'm not cool enough to be a designer chick, even though I hang out more and more in designer circles. E said that it's because I'm a librarian chick, but I'm not sure. I don't hang out with librarians anymore. I certainly don't belong with the mommy crowd. I don't know. I can point to all these circles that I don't belong in, but there is no place that I feel that I do belong.
I have a toe and finger in a lot of different pots. I used to think that being a generalist was an advantage. And in certain ways it is, especially when it comes to skills at work. But I'm not so sure when it comes to social circles. I miss having a circle where I feel completely at home, completely accepted. I have individual friendships, certainly, where I feel that. But I don't have an overall "group" that I feel kinship with. I'm not sure I actually had that in college, but it was at least close. I miss that.
This weekend I dug out two old cassette tapes that were fundamental in the development of my musical tastes. One dates to 1984 and the other to 1990.
In the winter of 1984 I was in 5th grade. I was about to move from Colorado back to Connecticut. My best friend from childhood, JB, and I made this mix tape together, recording songs off the radio. The first song is warbled in places as we played around with settings on her (double tape deck!) stereo, unsure the effect it would have.
That tape includes: Relax, Flashdance, Wild Boys, Neutron Dance, Method of Modern Love, All Through the Night, Like a Virgin, Jungle Love, Loverboy, and Rhythm of the Night. We used to sneak out to the living room and watch Friday Night Videos, hoping to see the latest Wham or New Addition video.
You see, I grew up in a household listening exclusively to classical music, The Beatles, Peter Paul and Mary, Judy Collins, and Simon and Garfunkle. I completely missed all that was disco (I'm not saying that I regret that). JB was my link to the world of popular music. She introduced me to kuality bands that I had never heard of (like Culture Club and Chaka Khan), and never would have discovered on my own.
In high school I had the second major adjustment to my musical tastes. My friend YB, along with DM, introducted me to the world of "alternative" music. On my 16th birthday YB gave me a mix tape that contained the following songs: Boys Don't Cry, The Queen Is Dead, Birdhouse In Your Soul, In Your Eyes, Strange Kind of Love, Plainsong, Head On, Crash, and Magic Carpet Ride (okay, so Steppenwolf isn't alternative, it ain't folk either).
Thanks to her my teenage and early twenties were filled with the angsty lyrics of Morrissey, David Gahan, and Robert Smith. DM kept a constant stream of dubbed tapes heading my way. I wore out my copies Music For The Masses and Louder Than Bombs.
Listening to the first mix tape was a hoot. It was so funny to hear those songs again, especially in that order (what is it about the order of songs that gets engrained in our brains. It's something I miss with the shuffle setting of my iPod). But it was YB's tape that really rung true. Those bands are still the bands that I listen to over and over. Yes I've expanded my tastes and added more bands to my list of favorites. But those form the core that I always go back to.
Home --> Inboxer Rebellion --> Hoaxes --> Walken for President
Don't Fear the Reaper, Vote for Him
But damn, they put together a realistic website.
The Dangerous Lives of Alter Boys
Taxi Driver
Eat Drink Man Woman
Christoper Walken for president? You know, if you read his platform, it's not as crazy as it first seems.
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