Let's just make it to 25..: 100 days

100 days

Showing posts with label 100 days. Show all posts

And here I am at 25. One day past.

I must reassess my bucket list. Make a new bucket list for 25-30. So far the word is 30 is gonna be GREAT. we shall see.....

stuffs stuffs stuffs....

new bucket list. can i put things on from old bucket list? because clearly some of the stuff didn't exactly pan out so those things are still out there to be done/learned and....

knife throwing? not so much. i still would like to learn it but with two little animals running around outside when i'm out there i hardly think it would be safe to throw around sharp objects at the risk of impaling a loved one... :/

blehhhhhh blehhhhhh and i thought ten measly things on a bucket list would be easy over 3 years...

Could we start again please...... JCSS anyone?

Am I even capable of doing something for one full year? Other than my job, I find that it's hard to find something I've done almost every single day for a full year... at any point in my life.

I'm not sure if this is a good thing or a bad thing the for some reason this realization saddens me. Perhaps for someone who is very ritualistic doing something for a full year is normalcy and nothing to think twice about. For myself.... I think every one of my plans to "do (_____) every day for (___) days" falls into obscurity within two weeks.. maybe three. I juiced for two and a half months actually every morning at 5! Commendable I'd say! Incredible! Magnificent! But two and a half months is no full year.

What to do what to do...

What can I challenge myself with to do for one full year?

Something that doesn't require getting changed. Something that doesn't require external equipment- or at least BIG equipment... Something that I can do on the spot where ever I am at the drop of a hat... It can't require that I do it at the same time every day. Preferably it's something that will make me skinnier. but that last one's a "preferably" hehehehe...

OOOOOOOHHHHHHHHH!

you know what I do everyday? I check my (lack of) money everyday! Can that be a thing? No, that's definitely not a thing....

Maybe I'll start drinking water. That's something I've tried to do again and again...

I'll start drinking x amount of water every day. AND ideally that'll make me SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO skinny! hehehehehe!

Plan! :)

Can i do it every day? we shall see.

Photo Credit: Stock.Xchng (brokenarts)

Actually this post isn't as depressing as I realize the title makes it seem. I inherited someone else's "problem" that is actually going to be my main source of sustenance come next year!

Back story:
A friend of mine who is a sweetheart of the utmost sweetheart kind... recently went through a break up. She was horrible, he was naive. She was demanding, he stopped yielding. He bought her a house, she....

He bought her a house. a beat up little house. on a GORGEOUS property...

How adorable is this idea:

"Hey darling- you're my forever. So i'm gonna buy us a house where you can raise your horses and i'll take care of the yard and you can garden and we'll fix up the house and...."

This is absolutely DARLING. I dream of this kind of thing. (When did i become such a homemaker?! i wish i knew!)

But here's how that ended:

(horrible response):
"You want me to take care of the garden? That is so sexist! I can drive a tractor too! I can ride the mower just like you. Don't worry I'll do everything for my horses on my own- I'm not some stupid girl. I'm independent and I can do everything myself. And how come your friends are always around? This is our house not theirs. I don't feel like cleaning and I'm not the only one making the mess anyway. No, I'll cook when I want to because I shouldn't have to make you food."

And then she left. After two years together and only 4 months living in this new our house of theirs. Mind you...
he cooked for her all the time.
And cleaned all the time.
And yes, he opened up the extra rooms in exterior buildings to his friends who need a bit of help to get financially stable so they were always around... the property
And paid all of the bills himself.
And put of the fence for her horses which she vehemently argued that she could- and WILL GODDAMMIT- herself.
And..
and...

He drank a lot. She demanded he stop and he decided no. because it's not like yielding to everything she demanded made her any happier.

How any of this matters:
A few months later.........

I go over to this gorgeous property. It's being invaded by weeds as tall as yours truly.

"Friend. I LOVE this property- and you said you bought this for HER? and she LEFT?! she's an idiot. I'm sorry... that was mean. She's an idiot. I'm sorry."

"No it's ok. I'm starting to get over it... I've defended her long enough and while I get where she's coming from with a lot of things, I'm having a harder time seeing only the good things like before."

"Good!! because she's an idiot. Because that GARDEN!! holy shit that garden is AMAZEBALLS! did you guys build it?!"

"Well... the previous owners had it and she was supposed to take care of it......"

"ah... so that's why it looks like shit. it looks like shit. no seriously. it's horrible. (point at weed that is a foot taller than I am) that's not a vegetable..... like.. that's not a 'flourishing' edible. btws."

"yeah........ i didn't know that. I don't know what any of this is... except!! I have blackberries! i know that! and grapes!!!! look at these grapes!! well let me find.. some........ ok well there are SUPPOSED to be grapes. i think."

"YOU HAVE GRAPES!! these vines are GLORIOUS!! and thornless blackberries?!!?! STFU!! and ooooooooooooooooo these were strawberries!! and .... woah. what... in god's name happened to your rhubarb...?"

"I thought those were weeds.... so i cut them up..."

So i've ~~confiscated~~ politely offered to take over his garden. He said I could have it and the plans are WHIRLING because now, suddenly, I've got a HUGE beautifully mulched, super sunny chunk of land to grow everything I've ever wanted!! And the water pressure. ooo baby the water pressure. it's a grand old thing to live in the country on TONS of property.... truly it is.

All of those plans that I had for my garden last year and the year before will come into fruition next spring. Because I am weeding the garden right now with every bit of energy that i have.... and beer.

Lots of beer.

because.... gardening. duh?

Remember that time when there was an abundance of poop?
no?

that's because it's ALWAYS and it is NOW.

never quite in the past tense while this guy's around

Well whatever. My vermicompost bin has been set up for a couple of days now and the poop-that-is-worm-food has been added as well as a cushy home for the new tenants.

I've never BEEN more excited about poop and worms. it's a little bit disturbing but bear with me here.

The bin is all set.

the home is prepared.

when will my super hard workers be coming?

according to USPS:

MONDAY!

that's right people~ my worms are going to be here on monday! a POUND of worms. a pound of RED worms. a pound of red WIGGLER worms! I'm beside myself. BESIDE myself.

if this all goes according to plan then for $40 I will be recycling a never ENDING supply of dog poop and reusing the worm poop that is worth more than gold (to gardeners of course). And the worms will just keep breeding. and breeding. and laying little cocoons!

The way I figure once I get some cocoons, I'll just toss them into my garden compost bin and let magic happen. Please let some magic happen!!

Because my veggie compost bin REEKS!

seriously.

reeks.

"how can you say that about kitchen scraps when you're so excited about poop. surely poop smells worse!" you're thinking....

shut up. you don't know what you're saying!

I actually prefer to open up my box of poop to opening up my bucket of food and hay. It will get better- it will. but i'm hoping to baby jesus that a handful of red wigglers and maybe some cocoons tossed in the garbage bin will help the process go by faster.

>>>UPDATE (aug 19, 2013): i just checked my bin yesterday and after aerating and twirling all the nasty rotty stuff around I am happy to report.... IT'S HEALTHY!! AND HAPPY!! AND OH GOODNESS THE REEK IS GONE THE REEK IS GONE! I'll still be throwing in some red wiggler cocoons when they arrive. hollaaaaaa~

Another bit of news... I'm happy to report my new cat that I finally got (knowing full well of their evilocity of course) is getting along famously with Mori..... ish. there is still a little bit of cat/dog sentiments that come out once in a while but that has more to do with the fact that as a tiny little critter the cat gets under the super energetic and strong massive paws of the dog and then there's cat's panic of life almost having ended and dog's thoughts of "is this going to be a chase game!? yaaaayyyy!!"

I do catch them snuggling and snuffling and playing with the same toys and whatnot but it will probably still be some time before the cat will want to sit on Mori's head like i want him to. and then it will be a skip and hop away from.....

THE CIRCUS!!!!

BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHA!!

Did i mention the cat's name? I gave my brother the honor of naming the kitteh and the decision landed on Memento. So now we have a Memento and a Mori roaming around the house but more intimately they are known as Memmie and Mo.

Memmie loves to watch movies with me and sleep like a nerd.

sleep ovah heeeere

sleep ovah theeeeere

watch a little teeeeveeeeeee

ALSO new- my wine making endeavors. Trial 1 = blueberry wine wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee~~

So far so good. Four days into the yeasting process it smells decidedly boozey. and soon when it's ready i'll drink and be a shameless floozey. cuz i'm not choozey. when it comes to wine- that's a dooooooozey.

see what i did there?
did you?

you did?
yeah you did.

seriously. it's happening.

What else is going on...... {tap chin} hmmmmmmmmm...

I tink i tink dat's all folks! Now i just wait for my worms to get here, then i'm also going to make some Mead and then i'm also planning a little welcome home party for my faaaavorite mom :P

If you know me in real life, you've probably heard me talk about poop. I talk about poop regularly. Probably because it is a mystery to me as I don't do it.... {crickets chirping} Now is the time to stop reading this post if solid waste is a sensitive subject for you.

You've been warned.

Last time i was jazzed about kombucha i made a big batch that turned out pretty decent and saved my alien SCOBY from my efforts. recently i was cleaning out my fridge and threw my baby away. why? because i just didn't feel like it was still very healthy and happy. so back to the drawing board.

New SCOBYs are on their way as i test between a tea mixture of both black and green tea as well as a straight black tea; home brewed kombucha from a farmer's market and a store bought bottle. in a week's time they should be half formed.

or maybe only one will be.

maybe neither will survive....

who knows?

it's exciting either way because i'm soon going to be on my way for some home brewed Sooch Booch :)

see with i did there?

huh??
huuh?

:P

So.................

cats.

Cats are.. evil.

like this ugly turd eater.

that is beyond a doubt. Cats are the Cain to dogs' Abel. And as the bible story goes cats will always be the one to commit the murder and dogs will always be the ones to go. why? because dogs are loyal and sweet and stupid to a loving fault. and God loves dogs more. WHAT!? it says so! God totally loved Abel more. check it. take your wares and sacrifices elsewhere Cain. Cat.

don't get me wrong, cats can look sweet and loving too. I guess..

just look at that sweetness and lovingness all squeezed into a sink... WTF?

but don't be fooled. because you'd be an idiot to think those shining eyeballs are radiating love.

at you.

they're definitely radiating love.

but it's more like the

hunger

kind of love.

for your face.

oh how quickly these guys change:

from a little guy like "oooo pet me, love me i'm sooooper soffff"

pet pet pet pet wheeeeeeee!! so cute!

To:

BRING ME YOUR FACE!

OOOHHH MOTHER FUCKERSSSSSS

and if you only check headlines of articles and only skim through the rest of it - as i do - and believe everything posted online as being truth- as you should - then you'll know that cats only refrain from killing us because something about opposable thumbs.

That is all.

I think i'll bring one home.

and he will look like so.

somebody else hates cats too~ teehehe

as payback to all of the other cats out there.

~ love, Jangles

My mom left me forever.

FOREVER!

I'm on a high right now... i know- different end of the spectrum from my last post but this should not surprise anyone. The latest and greatest and not-all-that-new-but-still-kinda-new thing in my life is gardening!!

Remember last year when it was gonna be AMAZEBALLS??

So many plans, so many seeds, so much watering!! gaaahhhhh!!

and then.

remember last year when it was a total fail?

THIS year i'm workin it (yeah yeah it's a little late in the year), makin it, doin it (the gardening you creep heh heh), and it's makin me harder, better, fa- wait wait i'm getting this wrong.

TAKE 2:

THIS year i'm workin it harder ripping up that NASTY grass!

makin it soooo much better!

and better...

K, i dunno about doin it faster though... there's only so much my back and shoulders can handle.
But for sure it's making me stronger :)

I have a different focus this year. Instead of creating new life, I'm working on cultivating the lives I've already got. Like the tree pictured above. last year it was just an awkward looking treeling with two skinny long arms. this year, after an entire spring of branching and filling out and getting dressed, a whole galaxy of aphids came and stunted so much of the new growth. I didn't know what was ailing it and at that particular time i didn't really care to notice due to my whole not caring to notice much of anything. The other thing killing this tree was complete dehydration- not because i was withholding water mind you! but the tree was planted on a complete slope and none of the water would stay anywhere near the tree... hence: STONE WALL! hour after hour i kept stacking the damn rocks trying to make them stay... and then finally i've got a teeny little dam to keep my tree drunk with water to grow and be merry. the flowers underneath are gardners' strategy that i'm slowly picking up on to attract predators of the aphids that will mosey on over to the foliage and then stumble on a feast of the little aphid bastards to eat away at! HA!

what else this year? a little ways away from my tree i ripped up even MORE grass and built what will be my herb garden next year. I'll be finishing my patio table today- i'll be posting about that soon. I want to build some kind of shade pergola over the patio but that's something i still have to work out...planning on cutting down the plum tree this fall so the nectarine tree can flourish- they're starting to choke each other out now {sad}. I'll have to fix my raised beds once the season ends because we've already got tomatoes, zucchini, and cucumbers growing in them now. and lastly- maybe most ambitiously- i want to build my green closet. somewhere to grow plumeria and a lemon tree...this project is particularly tricky because adequate lighting is essential and location may be a difficult thing in my yard... no matter. I will make it work. Did i say i've started composting? I've started composting. and learning about feeding my plants. i'm going to have amazing compost in about 3-4 weeks, i'm also going to make some Worm Cafe's for them to come compost around the yard for me, and COFFEE!! who knew coffee could be so amazing for the yard? i've been asprinklin' and asprinklin' some more. everywhere. because my office produces CRAZY amounts of coffee grounds and that means i have an unending supply of food for my garden. stay tuned.....

It was a little over two years ago when I was going through my very very bad time with the thinking and the depression and the unexplained anger and the disappointment with the universe around me. I would be on stumbleupon for hours at a time. I literally watched three to four movies a night. No classes. no nothing. lived off of a soup and a roll. maybe bathed once every other day. But I can't verify any of that because those days, weeks, month, MONTHS all blur together into a flurry of WSJ, stumbleupon, movies, sleep, pinterest, NYtimes, emails, food, facebook, stumbleupon, movies, sleep, stumbleupon, movies, and then some.

That was very much so a downward spiral if I have ever been in one. I think I smelled. is that the right verbiage? i was smelly. yeah...........

For about a week near the tail end of that miserable time, I had the mindset of "you silly bitch it's time to get out of this smelly rotting hole of nothingness" but not the energy or the imagination to think of how to do it. When i am fully with myself there is not a situation i can't think of a way to make better, but when i'm struggling you've never seen a more defeatist attitude than mine. It's childish I know... and i work on it every time i come out of a phase of struggle so that next time it takes less and less life out of me to get over myself. What finally got me out of that particular instance was a picture i "stumbled upon" hehe :)

It said: "wake up every morning with the thought that something awesome is about to happen."

I know. I scoff at those ridiculous "inspiration" quote pictures too. Suddenly every beautiful landscape photo needs to be plastered with some pithy saying or heart melting observation in obscure fontage. But I gotta say... if for every million of those that are passed over just one of them affects someone else as much as that single image did me two years ago... maybe those instagramming/quote hording/reposting whores are doing it right!

In all seriousness though, one day I stumbled on that picture at 5 in the morning after a night of watching a series of animated films and thought to myself "I could do that. I could wake up and believe that something awesome will happen that day." So I did. Right after I slept the rest of that particular day away. The next morning, I woke up, dressed up, and showed up to life and found myself searching every street corner, every stranger's face, every building entrance for a sign of this potential "awesome" that would be showing up that day. And I did that for weeks. And it worked.

At least for a while. In the two years i've had several more ups and downs. My most recent one still in the process of fading its fat ass out of my life. This time around I was very affected by two quotes:

"Don't save things for a special occasion. Today is special enough."
"No matter how you feel, get up, dress up, and show up."

They go hand in hand in the context of how they affect me at this moment in time which is one of indifference to my physical appearance owing to my prolonged phase of indifference to life. I have all these clothes that I keep stored away and never wear because i'm not physically where i want to be to wear them. Then i've got all this jewelry that i don't put on because they're too flashy for everyday wear. Then i've got all these heels i never wear because they're too whatever. and these bags i don't use because.. etc. etc. etc. and then there go my twenties. And in my thirties all of these things will be too "young" for me or too "cheap" for me or blahty blah blah blah. You know where I'm going with this. On top of all of that settling for mediocrity despite the very available "something specials" i've got all over my room, i also have been slacking on life as i've stated numerous times this post. So. Combine the two quotes and these next few however-long-i-can-keep-it-going weeks or months will see me dressing in all of the things i want to wear. and most importantly, showing up to life. And it'll be great. I know it will because right now the soundtrack to SooJangles' life is:

Dan Mangan's "Robots"

And because robots need love too.

I guess my post on Ireland was very.... um completely useless.

I love Oscar Wilde. The way he writes, the way he thinks, pretty much the way he is transmitted through the words he put down on paper and is perceived by my mind. I love.

During my trip to Ireland, what did I discover but that Wilde is an IRISH man and not the great Great Britain that for some reason seems to be a common idea in many peoples' minds.

I finished his one and only published novel "The Picture of Dorian Gray" and boy did that become a kind of horror story really fast! Knock another one off the Ultimate Reading List finally!

The first time I even had notion of Dorian Gray as a story/book/literary work was in 2003 when the name of Sean Connery drew me to the movie "The League of Extraordinary Gentleman." Remember that one?

The first time I realized it's "extra-ordinary" which actually completely makes sense. *facepalm*

And watch this film I did- twice. Cuz there's always something about superhero movies that draws you back despite it being extracheezy or extraunbelievable or extracampy or extraridiculous... i guess that "extra" rule doesn't quite work in all situations eh?

BUT LOOK AT THIS FACE!!
"hummuna hummuna hummuna guffaw guffaw guffaw"

Oh and... wait, what was I saying? Right, so you'll see that Dorian Gray is one of the League though he is not actually part of the original extraplain group. Observe:

see? nowhere to be found. like the invisible man... har har

The remake saw fit to add new characters and make the league a SUPER league!! Because..... well.... Amerka!!!!!~~

Though captions are not my own, I felt them highly relevant.
Dorian Gray would be second from the left.

close up! see how handsome he is?? and will be.. FOREVER.......

Anyway sometime during the movie the quirk of Wilde's novel is discussed as Gray very obviously travels where he goes with constant concern over the safety of his portrait. This was completely new to my 14 year old mind and I was fascinated with the idea that Gray's youth and energy comes from the safe keeping of his picture and that wound to the picture is wound to his body... is that not an AMAZING thought!? Ok, if I'm being honest it still dazzles my mind.

Of course being the spritely eager youngster (that I am sadly no longer) I googled the shit out of this man called Dorian Gray after watching the movie. Maybe during the movie, I don't remember. I needed to know: Who thought of this idea? Which comic mogul featured him: DC? Marvel? fuck, I dunno- Nickelodeon?? What does the cartoon version of him look like? How old is this story that I've heard of Jekyll and Hyde but not Dorian Gray? The physical embodiment of Beauty as Dorian Gray was new to me in every sense of the meaning.

But to those less ignorant than I am, the name of another beautiful and immortal man would come to mind immediately at the mention of Dorian Gray... and that is of course the name of Oscar Wilde. I fell in love with him for his name, fell out of love with him for his not very manly looks (i was much more shallow ~~a year ago~~ back then), and then back in love with him through the college study of "The Importance of Being Earnest." Now, I'm a little bit frightened and ever more in awe of him after my reading of Dorian Gray.

On a literary forum that I was perusing, I saw a thread started by the question "Oscar Wilde: overrated?" and immediately I thought to myself and very pointedly at the post- I HATE YOU, YOU'RE AN IDIOT FOR ASKING SOMETHING LIKE THAT!! and then obviously I clicked on the link to see what everyone from the cyberweb had replied. Fortunately, there was only one idiot (OP) and all of the responses were the same as my initial reaction in varying degrees of politeness and filtering. Having been justified by complete agreement from the rest of the literate universe, I saved the severe tongue-lashing I had loaded in my fingers and let OP live another day.

Wilde stopped writing far too soon and selfishly deprived the world of some serious thoughts on aesthetics and human nature. If anything he is completely UNDERrated and it is the loss of thinking minds that he is so.

During one of my five million connecting flights on the way to Ireland, I had cause (aka shoddy ass access to international wifi after being cut off from the world) to download a collection of Wilde's children's stories called "The Happy Prince." I started crying on the plane and sniffling quietly like I was watching a sequel of The Notebook. I grew up around peers who seemed to have none of the moral values or conscientiousness that were forced on me by immigrant parents who had lived most of life in a much more disciplined country than America. So imagine my surprise when the same kind of cynical eye-rolling thoughts I have had on numerous occasions throughout my short-lived life were subtly and craftily expressed in these seemingly innocuous stories. It's clear what Wilde thought of his generation and how that would affect the one coming right behind. For his judgment and his attempt to address the issue while the buds are only yet forming, I respect Wilde in a way I find it difficult to do for those who just sit and write "letters to the editor" expecting things to be fixed and all better now that they've said their piece.

But of course those people are not Oscar Wilde. In any age it is difficult to find a mind that is able to think such pure thoughts and still account for all of the sinning that revolve ever around them.

"A dreamer is one who can only find his way by moonlight,

and his punishment is that he sees the dawn

before the rest of the world."

- Oscar Wilde

WHAT IS THIS!?

it's a beverage. actually spelled Kombucha.

I shun this drink because this pretty little bottle full of VILE tasting fermentation is $4 a pop!! ARRGGHSHSH!!??!?!

This I told my long friend Crooz as she was describing how her babies were molding. (wtf??!?)

That's right. I thought, (WTF?!?!? BABIES?!? MOLD!?) but articulated aloud, "Ugh I tried komucha when I lived in New York and I think it's a silly fad that is completely overpriced for it's pretty little jar."

http://msnbcmedia1.msn.com/j/MSNBC/Components/Photo/_new/g-hlth-100415-rombucha-2p.grid-6x2.jpg

yeah, this crap.

DAMMIT ME!! another case of super quick judgment call. this time- i was wrong. From my one HORRIFYING experience with store bought kombucha, I had condemned all the wonderful bacteria that had never even met my belly or done me wrong!

I am shamed. and I know better now.

Kombucha is a kind of sweet tea that has been fermented. It has been around forever even before the pretty labels. I was referring to it is the name of the company that rapes peoples' wallets for vinegar tasting fluid (see above). But the reality is that Kombucha can taste wonderful and be ridiculously good for your daily probiotic/bacteria intake and it'll make your tummy smile!!

So, guess what?

My friend, as your friendly neighbor DIYer, I'm gonna make myself a nasty looking little Scoby at home to start my own batch of kombucha!! And it will be delectable!! and it will make my tummy giggle!! Wheeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!!

I have since apologized and explained to Crooz my idiocy and ignorance. We are planning to make babies together of the scoby kind! we're very proud.

I am very far from avant garde when it comes to music preferences. I don't go seeking for the latest anyone and I still listen to my favorite tracks from the 90's on my current playlist. Unless I hear it perchance and fall in LOVE with it I don't really go looking for it. Don't get me wrong- there are new songs that come into my life on the daily but they've usually been known and loved and used up and tossed like a condom by other music enthusiasts by the time I get around to hearing it for the first time.

It's not that I don't care for music. I absolutely need to have music in my life. Constantly. I just don't need constant musical revelations in my life. I never really felt like my music library was lacking some one ridiculous band that is a must have on any and every playlist. Again, don't get me wrong- my library is extremely limited. I have friends who have several separate hardrives full of just music and I can barely fill up my 8 gig ipod. I've just never felt that musical drive to collect more, have more, experience more.

Until now.

Chris Owyoung is amazing. Amazing. He's not even a musician. He's a photographer. And he makes me want to know more about every band and musician he has ever done a portrait of.

His photos are amazing. I can't think of another word right now that's all I've got.

Just go look.

Be sure to look at the galleries page too. Maybe you're thinking yeah well lots of photographers take great portrait shots in studios with ridiculous equipment. But check out his concert photos.

photo by Chris Owyoung

I swear if i couldn't see the screaming fans I'd have thought those were done in studio too. They are SO sharp!! Holy crap. Seriously If I could practice and practice and somehow eventually, maybe, by some stroke of fortune, with a minor revelation of hidden talent, take photos like any one of his. That's just where my sentence ends.

photo by Chris Owyoung

He is definitely my newest inspiration. Now if you will excuse me. I will be poring over everything and anything his name is attached to so I can maybe absorb some of his skill through my eyeholes.

With only four days of fall in between Summer and Winter. My fingers are freezing off at a speed of really really fast. :/ My NaNoWriMo assignment is... failing to say the least though i DID start. i did i did. But why? Because my mommy bought me a christmas present early and tis is... tis is.... YES!! IT'S A CAMERA!! remember?

And my god I can say that though i've always said it i've proven myself right in that when I know myself, sheesh I know myself. Despite completely forgetting about my "Camera Wish List" post, I ended up getting pretty much exactly what I wanted. Seriously-

Introducing: My first DSLR

Like my car it is dependable, beat up, used, completely endearing, stock, and RIDICULOUSLY functional. Exactly like I wished for. Only difference is I didn't get the Canon T3, I got a Nikon D70s. Uh-mazing.

For $250 I got this lovely used camera body with the kit 18-70mm lens just like everybody else. Though because I bought it from a very good friend of mine, Kellen, I got a great deal to include a few CF cards, an extra battery, the pretty little manual, and just the happy feeling of not having to worry if i'm being ripped off with a shit product.

that's meeeeee! taken at Frenchman Coulee where i climb the day I got my D70s.
photo by Kellen Harrel

Then, as a treat to me-self, I got a Nikkor 50mm f/1.8G prime to go with my pretty little camera!! Though not the Canon EF 50mm f1.4 USM (for obvious reasons) I will say that I pretty much got everything I said I'd get. And for a grand total of $410.

Learning so much already- I'll post a photo of my little dear as well as a photo of my OTHER little dear (Mori) so you can see how much he's GROWWWWN!! wheeeeeeeeeeeeeee!

One thing I regret is that I did not have this camera sooner so that I could have taken some very pretty pictures of Bungae for us to remember him. As it is, there are no frameable photos of Bungae to hang in our house in his memory :'(

So I finally finished reading Trainspotting (Irvine Welsh) that I'd been reading for an inordinate amount of time and then.... well basically I was in shock for a while. Yes. The book was horrifying in the most ordinary way and so i followed it up by watching the film. While the film was jarring and visually assaults the audience attempting to do justice to the novel, the monstrous images that grow in your mind from the words you are forced to read cannot be visually portrayed because everyone knows somebody like what is described, or has heard of someone like whose story you're witnessing, in real life. But everyone knows Begbie to look differently. Everyone has heard of a Mark but he doesn't necessarily look like Ewan McGregor....

Next adventure: The Maltese Falcon. The path I took to discover this mystery novel was a little odd and took many months to get there though i didn't know i was going there at the time. I re-purposed my super movie watching mission and added several more films to the list- one of which was the movie Brick (2005). I loved the style of the film so much that i went to the director's site to learn more about his inspiration and reason for stylizing it the way he chose. Then through a forum, I was led to more reviews and more discussions of this film. Which led me to the vocabulary words "film noir," "hammett," "chandler," and a few others that I have chosen to study a bit of. Researching "hammett" in conjunction with "film noir" led me to "Sam Spade" which led me to "The Maltese Falcon" which happens to be on my Ultimate Reading List as WELL as one of the additional lists of films to be watched and categorized. Bam and bam, wheeeee!!

As you can imagine, i've been knocking several things off of many lists and that makes me abundantly happy (see "wheeeee" above).

What does not make me happy is that The Maltese Falcon story was very much less exciting than I had hoped it would be based on my exciting and fruitful journey that led me to that end. Perhaps it is that being written in 1930, and I being of very late 1980's, I just expect a different kind of mystery novel. However I will say this I have never read a mystery novel that has so much mystery and such precise development and plot revelation as this novel. There were so many details that just never led anywhere and i guess having details like "i'll ring the bell four times long short long short" and then not ever having it occur or come to light is what confuses me. I've read most of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes mysteries and I've been spoiled by the champ at tying up every loose end and seemingly detached detail. This novel seemed a little loosely created and very quickly twisted to come to a clean ending where Sam Spade is bad ass private detective of the century.

And boy is he!

When I finished reading The Maltese Falcon the next logical step was obviously to track down the original film rendition of the novel and hellooooooooooooooo Humphrey Bogart :)

Well. The film was no different. Which speaks volume of the film for being so true to novel without making a mockery of film or novel. But the sense of unfinishedness and "wtf" was also still there from the novel. And Humphrey Bogart was very bad ass as Sam Spade although.... kind of short? Strange. Either way watching this film some deem the first of the film noir era and watching the novel come to life in a time that I have never seen for myself was definitely something for a Sunday afternoon.

Only $6 and a 40 minute drive :P

During my busy yet incredibly lazy weekend I had the pleasure of watching a really fantastic movie featured by the Ellensburg Film Festival. While it was a little bit of a drive to get to the show it was definitely worth it.

The film that I chose to see was "Starbuck" (2011) directed by Ken Scott starring Patrick Huard. I walked in about 2 minutes late (see drive time above) and let me tell you. I had a flash of "oh shit is this the wrong movie??" because I had no idea it was all going to be in French!! Good thing I'm learning French so I was able to understand.... NONE of it. But it makes sense. This movie had to be in French. Because it's from Quebec. And the French was 20% of why it was so good- not because French is awesome, but because this movie would not have had the same rhythm and vibe if it were in another language. Before I went to the festival, I read a super short description of a man who donates a ton of sperm and now his kids want to know who he is. I can honestly say I had no idea what it was that made me decide I want to go see this but I liked the name and I thought it'd be cute. Obviously my movie choosing method is really in depth and thorough...

look at this face. look at that name. how could you not?

You can read all about the details on the Wikipedia page (click on the link above) but whatever you read, this movie has very little to do with a man who has fathered 533 children as a sperm donor and more to do with a very human way of dealing with things that seemed like a good idea at the time... or maybe not even a "good" idea, just- an idea.

"Starbuck" gives the viewers a glimpse of what it means to be connected in the most random ways and what it makes a family. Sounds corny, huh. But how many movies have you seen where "family" refers to 533 people who were created by a man who wanked himself into a cup? And even better, 142 of those people find each other and form a family bonded by one question- who is our father; who is Starbuck? David thoughtlessly says to one of his foundling sons "I have a real family you know" and the son's curt retort is "and what are we then?" This man who doesn't have the maturity to keep his own life in order is also the father that 142 people seek to meet and understand. He has been part of their family the whole lives of the children as the person who gave them life but none of these offspring were anything to David beyond the $35 dollars received and spent. Does that make them less than family? How does that work? With the one connecting factor as Starbuck, 142 people who were strangers living completely separate lives and all of those intimately involved in David's "real" life come together and form a ginormous family. It was beautiful. It made me think "how far really, is the degree of separation between us all as strangers and loved ones?" One random common factor can take anybody in the world from being an unknown existence in our lives to someone we someday cherish closest to our hearts. And as weighty as that sounds, this movie was hilarious. For these two reasons "Starbuck" gets a 10.

Plus, the cast was brilliant. And real. Maybe I'm just not used to Canadian cinema but I was surprised at how well the wit was integrated into the plot. None of those random one-liners that make you think "wow the writer must have heard this somewhere and was dying to make this work somewhere in the script." Patrick Huard was great. I wish he spoke English so my love for him could have even one less degree of separation (but no worries there Huard, I am learning the French!!) Antoine Bertrand does the token best friend beautifully with a purpose in the film as something other than "lead's best friend with quirky pips."

I cannot imagine this film in any other language or setting. I stress this again because I've just read now that this film will be done in a Bollywood version as well as a Dreamworks version starring Vince Vaughn. Why? Can't this movie be left as it is and appreciated as it was made? Any american version of this movie will remove all quaintness from the storyline and what will remain is another giant penis joke as America is good for. Why go there? That's like trying to remake Amélie. Why. Go. There? I leave you with the trailer below and the hope that you'll watch the film. Then tell me if this movie can be done any better.

I've been staring at .... WATCHING.... a plethora of wood lately. Big ones.

No you creep!

Like these guys:

The Old Photo Guy: Historical Logging Logging tools to fell a Giant Redwood tree Humboldt County

photo props: http://oldphotoguy.com/p333085964/h3A8CA1BC#h2a557460

Oh hey I'm just.... Chillin. In a TREE... NBD.

Not hugging. Though there is nothing wrong with that and it does look pretty cozy....

^ this guy.... ^

No. I said "watching."

LIKE THIS!!! RAWWWRRR!
also.. apparently eating?

Ok, I lie. There is no such tree in my life, let alone enough to quantify "plethora" but if there was, I would watch it. Watch it like a hawk to tell me what time of the day it is.

But alas, no dazzling luck of the timbering kind.

Instead, I will buy little scraplets of beautiful wood that has been repurposed and revived into a glorious little......

wait for it.....

wait.....

GODDAMMIT WAIT!!

TIME-SHIFTER!!!

wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!

i'm gonna use it to move about in time and ....

Ah.. but don't you wish? Well, only slightly less spectacular but still pretty freaking awesome are these watches by WeWood... they can't teleport you; they only tell you what time it is.

WeWood offers several designs that are unisex, like the one above, and different colors based on the kind of wood that was used.

Here is the description of the gorgeous watch above from their website:

"Red Wing Celtis (BROWN)

This tree is often used for flooring and WeWood uses the remnant pieces that would otherwise be destroyed.

*Due to the season and age of the wood chosen for your unique WeWood Timepiece, colors may be darker or lighter (within reason and hue) than the photo."

On top of all this awesomeness you can feel even better about your purchase because WeWood is partnered with American Forest's Global ReLeaf on a mission to "restore Mother Nature- one watch at a time." For every WeWood that is bought, a tree is planted somewhere in the world to help clean air and water and generally bring natural goodness to our lives. Now that's what I'm talking about!! Of course I could never just settle for any old watch like some Rolex or something......

But seriously- how can you say no? At only about $120 per watch (which comes with a TREE included!!) that's a steal and you don't even need to dig the hole!

Seriously though.. Outfitted in your favorite Toms, grab your Jatalo bag full of your specific type of seed bombage, have your Falling Whistle ready at your lips, (don't forget your Charity: water Kor delta bottle of water), and now with your choice of WeWood, you're more than ready (and guaranteed to be super punctual as well) to save the planet Earth- Captain Planet style... remember that show?.

total babe.

Pictures of my WeWood will be posted soon :)

Is that too much to ask for? I want to read about food, look at food, definitely make the food, then eat the food, then talk about food, and take pictures of food, and write about food! I want to do all of these things! WHY? WHY WHY?! It's just... that I don't have to time to devote to being a total food junkie.
I don't even have time to be an anything junkie. I just... can't be a junkie of any kind. I consider this a huge failure and a gaping hole in my life. sad.

I have to rein in my life and get a handle on my shit for the next couple of months. Like my garden, my life is out of control right now. I've got too many things going on and a ridiculous number of ideas and wants and craziness just stockpiling in the back of my over cluttered, already exploding, little brain.

Let's just make it to 25..

ZOMG. it's over!!

The question is this: water.

Inheriting Problems

Some things and some other things

Shit. I think I have worms

Sexy like Brew-lesque

oh, hello kittehhh!

So.................

Rone-ree...

On the Grounds of Coffee

Special Occasions and Robots

Irish Seafood Chowder

You and your Wilde words...

Come Boot Cha!!

My newest inspiration

Winter is here!

The Maltese Falcon

Who is Starbuck?

wood watching...

I just wanna be a foodie~

Decisions and more decisions

So..

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