delusions.

“vivimos en los cielos, en las fantasías, donde nada puede tocarnos.”

lo creí. con todo mi corazón. la verdad es que nadie puede tocarnos… solamente tú… y éste fue el problema, y donde el engaño esta viviendo.

___

i am bouncing back and forth between absolute clarity — in the form of forgiveness and understanding — and loathing — targeted outwardly and inwardly. it is unbearable. it is on like, a three-hour cycle. i hardly feel like a human being, and far, far, far away from myself. the things i need to do are piling up, and i know not how to find the heart to actually do most of them.

how the fuck does this happen.
how how how how how how how how how how how how how fucking how.
we know absolutely nothing. we are nothing. ————————– nothing.
and they claim to see
and feel empathy
but they feeling nothing.
selfish delights only.
we think of ourselves, only.

i am a trifecta of sick, stressed, and sad, and there is nothing i can do about it that will stick for more than a few hours.

TRIFECTA OF DOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM.

GOD, WE ARE SO FULL OF SHIT.
YOU ME WE.

The Enemy

My youth was a dark storm,
Crossed here and there by brilliant suns;
Thunder and rain have caused such quick ravage
That there remain in my garden very few red fruits.

Now I have touched the autumn of my mind,
And I must use the spade and rakes
To assemble again the drenched lands,
Where the water digs holes as large as graves.

And who knows whether the new flowers I dream of
Will find in this soil washed like a shore
The mystic food which would create their strength?

—O grief! O grief! Time eats away life,
And the dark Enemy who gnaws the heart
Grows and thrives on the blood we lose.

_____________________________________________

Ma jeunesse ne fut qu’un ténébreux orage,
Traversé çà et là par de brillants soleils;
Le tonnerre et la pluie ont fair un tel ravage,
Qu’il reste en mon jardin bien peu de fruits vermeils.

Voilà que j’ai touché l’automne des idées,
Et qu’il faut employer la plle et les râteux
Pour rassembler à neuf les terres inondées,
Où l’eau creuse des trous grands comme des tombeaux.

Et qui sait si les fleurs nouvelles que je rêve
Trouveront dans ce sol lavé comme une grève
Le mystique aliment qui ferait leur vigueur?

—O douleur! ô douleur! Le Temps mange la vie,
Et l’obscur ennemi qui nous ronge le coeur
Du sang que nous perdons croît et se fortifie!

— Charles Baudelaire, from Les Fleurs du Mal (Flowers of Evil)

summaries.

i’m listening to… colin stetson’s New History Warfare Vol. 2: Judges — it’s crazy fucking saxophone music. pretty cool but this particular song is making me kind of crazy (one can only handle so much crazy ass saxophone music at once).

quick summary of the past couple days:

- robby just gave me a tape of denton bands that he made me for my birthday! i only write this first because it’s sitting right next to me.

- got a sxsw venue, it looks like, to throw a show for the first time ever. more details forthcoming, but if all things go as planned, it’s going to be pretty sick.

- got a couple new writers for redefine. heck yes.

- protested at an anti-abortion parade (puny, at 60 people), where people made signs and danced to a boom box (including ace of base). funny things related to that:
a) i went into planned parenthood to ask for a marker because i didn’t necessarily like what my sign said. i asked, “do you guys have a marker?” and the lady at the reception said no. then i asked, “can i borrow a pen, then?” and she’s like, “what are you doing, exactly?” and i told her we were there to support planned parenthood, and she’s like, “OH, OF COURSE I HAVE A MARKER!” and threw a sharpie at me. i lost the sharpie five minutes after going outside. i still don’t understand where the fuck it went… unreal…
b) there was a lady with a sign that said something like, “planned parenthood hurts blacks,” and i was like, “what the fuck? i need to know what this is about.” so i asked her, and she told me that three times more black babies are aborted than white babies… which, even if true, is hardly… proof… anyway, she said that planned parenthood hates blacks and that its founder (margaret sanger) hated black people and was racist and was trying to kill them all through abortion. she gave me a huge newspaper thing. you can search for stuff regarding it, but the websites are rather flawed and use hilarious logic, like, “Blacks make up 12% of the population, but 35% of the abortions in America. Are we being targeted? Isn’t that genocide?” hilarity.
c) i went to a party at dan [s]‘s that night, and randomly started talking to this guy named nathan. nathan and i just started talking immediately about, “what did you do today?” even though i’d never met him before, and he told me about his day, and i told him about mine and said that i went to a pro-life rally to protest, and told him that the signs we made said, “honk if you’re pro-choice,” but i guess he had already assumed that i was pro-life or something, and was just like, “i don’t… really… agree with that politically.” and i was just thinking, “what? is he pro-life?” while at the same time he was like, “she’s pro-life?!! whattttt?!?!!” haha. really funny miscommunication…

- continuing on with the dance party, had a really good plan, and loosely made pals with rose’s best friend, and we are supposedly going to go to the salton sea when i go down to los angeles in july for wedding action. i hope it happens. I WANNA GO TO THE SALTON SEA, DAMMIT.

- after sxsw, i have a flight booked to fly back from albuquerque on march 31st. i will be leaving austin on march 21st, which gives 10 days. during these ten days, IF my prison penpal says that i’d be able to visit him on the 22nd, i will take a greyhound from austin to lawton, oklahoma, and visit him. this is the pricey route, but if he happens to be able to take visitors that day, i kind of have to… if he CAN’T take visitors that day, i’m probably going to ride with the brainstorm dudes to marfa, texas, and then they’re heading to los angeles, and i’ll probably stop off at las cruces and take a greyhound from las cruces to albuquerque cause that’d be wayyyyy more affordable.

- watched a pedro almodovar movie, “talk to her”. it was pretty excellent, and i found my spanish aural comprehension skills were pretty alright.

- just went to eat dinner with christian at the santeria, and we embarrassingly practiced speaking in spanish for almost all of the conversation, and i discovered that my spanish is really godamn bad, and that the santeria IS SO FUCKING GOOOOOOOOOOOOD.

- went to the beach for a day with jay and james. they’re taking off to go back to north carolina soon… the beginning of february, to be exact. they went to the party last night but i didn’t have too much of a chance to talk with them. mer… but yeah, the beach. we went to cannon beach, which was only 15 miles from where aaron and them are renting out a cabin in manzanita to record their next album, but unfortunately, since i wasn’t driving, i couldn’t get out there. which is kind of a bummer

- i am going to the forest tomorrow with rose and troy. yess! forest! and i’m going to make twice-baked potato with onion and cabbage, since i have a buncha leftover onions and potatoes… weird stuff.

- this morning i tried to make this weird ass dish for research club, but i’ve never worked with cottage cheese before. twas a little weird. i threw in a buncha oranges into cottage cheese and then put cucumber, and the cucumber totally ruined it. then i took the cucumber out and added a buncha chocolate to try and fix it, and it was not really fixed. though i just came back and tried it and it tastes WAY better now, so maybe it just had to sit for a bit!

- i was invited by tori to participate in an art show she is throwing at the end of the month. here is my description write-up to her (christian is going to help me do a sound clip):

Earlier this month, I did a day of blindness… it was remarkable in some ways, though I think a day is too long. But I think it’s something most everyone should experience. I have this crazy blindfold thing that blocks out light COMPLETELY. I want to give five-minute blindness “tours”, in which, in an ideal world, I will:

{1} Make up a t-shirt that says, “Follow me for a blindness tour.” to try and bring mall-goers to the gallery (ideally);

{2} Offer four separate tours… SCENT / SOUND / TASTE / TOUCH… I’ll bring all necessary sound samples and maybe try and attain permission from Body Shop to bring people in there if people choose SCENT;

{3} Collect money for donation to Guide Dogs For The Blind or Oregon Council Of The Blind or something else similar (need to do more research in the possibilities);

{4} Bring in a blind or sighted individuals from one of those organizations to talk to people and answer questions about blindness.

- fun conversation with shawn:

Me: “I have more leftovers than Jesus.”
Shawn: “Jesus is leftovers.”
Me: “That doesn’t even make sense.”
Shawn: “Yes, it does.”
Me: (thinking about it) “I guess you’re right.”
Shawn: “Jesus is bread.”
Me: “And Jesus came back from the dead!”

edit @ 3:47am:
after getting enraptured by music and going to bed with music blasting, i woke up a little bit ago. am talking to lenny right now and thought i would add an addendum that describes just what happened to me when i walked home today: i was walking home and i saw this guy turning the corner and i felt like there was something off but wasn’t sure what, and i walked closer and he was like jacking off with his penis through the hole, and i was just like, “what are you doing!” and he was just looking at me. and he was like same-aged (which is perhaps the most disturbing part). this is the second time i’ve been walking home from downtown and avoided any problems downtown but ran into problems in the “safer neighborhoods”. last time, some car was yelling at me from across the street, at a stop sign, and then i waved cause i’m a weirdo, and they pulled up next to me, and i was like, “what the fuck? no.” and kept walking and the guy in the passenger’s seat was just a dude that was texting, and they stopped for a sec, and drove off again. weird.

teeny tiny.

hoy, voy a dormir antes de 5:00 en la manana. realmente. voy a dormir antes de 3:00. es posible? no se. pero casi es posible. que?

pero primero… los sitios de web que me gusta hoy!! woo! hoy y ayer no hago nada mas que internet y pr por “el gran evento”… demasiado tiempo sobre el computadora.

_____________________ oculart < 미치서
born magazine
_____________________ the quiet us

d o r m i r dormir d o r m i r dormir d o r m i r dormir
2:27am

edit: i failed.
3:27am

edit:
i saw this guy’s stuff on vimeo today and i am really, really impressed. cheggit… simple, well-executed ideas… they’re the best!

3:51am.

going to bed after this vimeo thing updates……………………………… / uploads… gotta 10:30am meeting with gina and rachel. arrrggggggghhle!

hahaah i was so sleemy i feel asleep while waiting for that thing. i think my computer may have fallen off my bed as a result. oOoOoOoOops. coma sleep!
9:57am.

OK INTERNET. uncle.

oh fine.

i never ever surf the internet because i kind of hate it even though i rely on it for my near entire existence.

basically, though, tonight i came across a bunch of really undeniably awesome internet stuff… and granted i didn’t look at them nearly as in-depth as i would like to (maybe on some evening when i haven’t literally been on the computer for like 12 hours almost straight doing promo and have cross-eyed-eyes…) … uh, where was i? kind of started typing with my eyes closed and lost myself.

oh right. here’s some of the awesome sites i found tonight. CHEGGIT. and it’s 4:00am, so it’s time for some delirious css manipulation. oh yes. oh yeah i also wrote a buncha people press releases in spanish ahhahaha and thought it was hilarious because it was so bad. i’m an idiot. i think i am the most productive / make the best art / do the best stuff in the hours of 2:00am and 5:00am…

we-make-money-not-art
_____________________generator.x

well shit actually, it’s too late. it’s nearing my bedtime of 5:00am. i’ll get the other links up tomorrow. that’s just how you know that these two are the best of the best…

in other news.

my event.

geh.

estoy muy confundido. es que…………… que estoy haciendo? hoy fue una fiesta en nuestra casa, fue un potluck y un noche de películas. miramos la película de jean-luc godard — “weekend”. no lo entiendo completamente pero… fue muy divertido y cómico y muchos amigos que no he visto en mucho tiempo vinieron. weeeeeee. tengo dolor de cabeza. ahora, hace… un mes o más, puedo tomar cervezas sin problemas. los me gustan un poquito (si son stouts o newcastles), y es un pequeño interesante a estar borracha porque no me gusta mucho a estar borracha en mucho tiempo (desde los días de la universidad). tengo los habilidades de español como un nivel de una idiota. wooooo.

después del potluck, shawn… hooked up… la computadora al emulator y yo jugué “ninja gaiden” — si, el original. aaah! me gusta mucho!!!!!!!! lo falté mucho!!!!!!!! pero es “self-flagellation” porque es imposible y….. es tan imposible. yo grité mucho mucho mucho porque tengo frustración — GALOREEEEE!

cuando soy borracha, quiero escribir en español. es una cosa. una cosa nueva? si? no sé. vamos a ver.

fue un buen noche.

recap central: turkey, day one: istanbul.

friday, april 23rd, 2010.
We stayed overnight at the Dedeman Hotel in Istanbul and eat a buffet breakfast in the morning. Then we head to the Spice Market.

A pillar of Turkish Delights.

The shop owners there are very funny and friendly, and sure, it’s their “job,” but I definitely got the vibe right away that Turkish people are extremely kind. Glad that after the vacation, this still held to be true. But more on that later. Some lines they gave Sherry and I:

Dude: “You dropped something. My heart.” (He recycled this joke again later on when we passed by. FAIL!)
Another guy who speaks Japanese makes some really funny jokes, to my mom, and she doesn’t understand them at all, or doesn’t think they’re funny (she says later she understood but didn’t find it funny), but doesn’t even pretend to be amused at all, and just looks pissed. Meanwhile, he’s making funny “Ummm? Does she understand?” faces at me in the background, and it’s quite hilarious.

Another guy says we need to watch out for Sherry or he’ll kidnap her.

I keep asking for them to give me free stuff – including like, a sixty pound block of cheese, and the shop owners’ answers are always, “Sure! Take it!”

A sign at a place that has Spanish-speaking owners: “Te de manzana y limon y te de puta madre.”
In the spice market, we try a zillion thousand samples of things – mostly Turkish Delights. Get Turkish Delighted-out quite fast. It’s funny, though, for the rest of the trip we didn’t really get fed samples of Turkish Delights whatsoever…

One of the earliest stalls we went to was stall 14, and one of the guys there was very friendly and nice and told us to make sure to buy apple tea in the bins instead of the packages because it was fresher. Hopefully that’s true. He made a positive impact on me, and gave us the number of his stall (#14) before we left, and I decided to go back and buy some apple tea from him. He said, “How long has it been since you’ve been gone? Three hours? I’ve been waiting for you! Where were you?” He was quite insistent on asking me why I went with my parents, and that I should go back by myself when we come back to Istanbul later on in the tour and we would go clubbing. He suggested shisha, and I said yeah, and he said, “Promise?” I said, “I can’t promise, but that sounds good.” His co-worker told me, “He likes you!” I replied, “Excellent,” with a thumbs up, and peaced outta thurr. To be honest, if my parents weren’t around, I probably would HAVE taken him up on his offer. Cause why not?

Outside of the Spice Market.

Anyway. We go on an ambiguous walk afterwards and see some funny things:

Some board game thing that we saw in another store later on as well, even though they look printed on someone’s home printer or something. Ghetto!

Scary baby doll birth celebration things. SCARY.

I had fun editing. Obviously.

Tulips originated in Turkey; who woulda thought? The ones in Holland were originally imported from Turkey!

Turkish flags galore.

Ferry ride afterwards. It’s like an hour and a half long, which is way too fucking long because honestly, I don’t see what the big deal is. I always hate ferry / boat rides on rivers in countries. Boring as fuck. Only Venice was entertaining, but that was because the buildings are so close and you can actually see them in detail. Everything else just dries out your eyeballs and sucks big time.

Some of the younger girls wearing pashminas wear some really silky, expensive-looking ones…

Uncle Stewart squatting so Sherry can take a photo of him in the rearview boat mirror thing.

These are all drive-by boat shots…

Some Turkish dude sitting next to me on the ferry strikes up some conversation and he’s quite friendly. He’s not really Turkish, but was born there and lives in London now. I guess he was in the wool-exporting business, with wool mostly going to Eastern Europe (Russia, mostly), but he said because of the bad economy, that industry was suffering. His brother owned a family fruit orchard in the eastern part of Turkey or something. He was nice for the most part, and bought me this snack (below) which was like, an ice cream cone wafer with vanilla sandwiched in the middle of it. It was a little strange, but yeah!

The only bad thing he said was, when I said that Turkish people were really nice, he said to watch out for the Kurds – the “dark ones” – because they were bad and mean and caused crime. Later on, we would realize that our bus drivers were Kurdish, and they were quite nice! But maybe there is some truth to what the guy was saying; it’s hard to tell, not knowing any Turkish people and all.

Anyway, we walk around for a bit afterwards and check out these fishermen that are hanging out on a bridge. Turkish flags are flying EVERYWHERE. My dad and Sherry’s dad buy cowboy hats. LOL.

Gotta show in a junky shot I like

We decide to go to lunch, and it was supposed to be Sherry and I’s day, so we decide to go to this one grungier looking bar underneath the fishing bridge because there are a shit ton of Turkish people there. Sherry’s parents are okay with it, but mine vehemently oppose it, saying there’s no one there. We come up the bridge and my dad just arbitrarily picks a restaurant. There’s NOTHING for me to eat there, so I end up eating a grilled cheese. It’s lame, and he pisses us all off because he just makes the decisions by himself with no regard to anyone else – without even asking anyone else, really. Luckily, the pomegranate juice (granata) I had was really quite delicious. But Sherry and I are peeved, man.

Later on, we walk by the area underneath the bridge where our lunch plans were denied, and it is hugely populated with people. Swarms of people, honestly. It was hard to even get to the restaurants. And we say, “SEE?????” It was just early when we attempted to go to eat lunch. Bunk…

Underground walkway, heading between the Spice Market and the waterfront.

Turkish graffiti! This guy’s stuff is everywhere in Istanbul.

Afterwards, we go up this stupid tower thing, the Galata Tower, which is a huge tourist trap; it has a restaurant inside it offering a “360 Panoramic View” and dervish dances – only the thing is so fucking crowded that even if you’re in the restaurant, you wouldn’t be able to see outside, because the view is completely obstructed by other tourists. Like, in the part of the tower where you walk around, it’s like a single file line amount of space, and you were constantly waiting for other people to finish taking photos of themselves. One group of girls were taking photos of themselves at literally every 30 degrees of the tower or something. It was ridiculous!!!!!!!!!! Took forever. And it was boring as fuck. Views are boring. Ferry rides are boring. Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.

We walked around back near the spice market again after the lame ass tower and found a dessert place; Auntie Ruby had a list of desserts she wanted to try, and we got them there. Little did we know we’d be eating a shit ton of them later on, but it was good to know the names of the places… Kazandibi (below) rules the school, man. It’s like a rice pudding gelatiny thing or something with a caramelized top.

Pretty straight-forward rice pudding hea.

Anyway. The workers there were very, very nice, and when Sherry went to the bathroom, I taught one of them Sherry’s Chinese name – just once – and Sherry came down after a long time, and the dude was even making drinks and serving people in the interim… but he still remembered her name! I was pretty impressed. Said waiter also asked for his name to be written in Chinese. I wrote it in Korean; Uncle Stewart wrote it in Chinese – kinda – but it didn’t really translate. Crap, I forgot his name. Bummer. It was a nice name, though. They had a Spanish Lonely Planet book some other tourists had left behind in the café and I tried to scour it, looking for a carpet bazaar place we wanted to go to, but no dice – no mention of it – and the employees of the café had no idea about it either. I was pleasantly surprised I remembered the word for carpets, though – alfombras – cause wtf, that’s a weird word to remember.

Anyway. We return afterwards to the hotel and just take a quick nap. There’s a briefing for the tour in one of the main rooms of the hotel, but I’m tired as hell and almost fall asleep. Dinner at Kebabi, which is just like a block away from our hotel. Get appetizers because there’s no veggie-friendly entrees, and get this amazzzzzzzzing spicy parsley salad with an eggplant thing. Lots of Europeans call eggplant aubergine; I assume that’s a French word… not really sure. It’s weird, though, because I subconsciously remembered the word, but not solidly.

Sherry and I take a late night excursion around the neighborhood and find this gas station which doubles as a pretty big local market. Buy a bunch of snacks! Go home! Eat! Work! Go to bed! Here are some of the snacks we bought, because that’s how Sherry and I roll on vacation!

We just liked the packaging.

Yogurt-flavored doritos. They really didn’t taste like much.

Banana cream cake (delicious omgggggg too bad I didn’t try it til after I was on the plane heading back to the States, or I woulda bought it again!) and chocolate cookies (only 0.90 lira each… like fifty cents!).

Caramel chocolate, chewy fruit candy, and not-very-good chocolate pistachio candy (the chocolate was poor).

a year in facebook status updates – 2009.

January

does believe people should go to the new and improved http://www.redefinemag.com

done did got her laptop infected by a virus. ~__~ BSOD FTL.

February

got a web facelift: http://www.redefinemag.com — and a new arts blog: http://www.redefinemag.com/arts/

is going to be in Los Angeles tomorrow, until the 17th! Holla!

is wondering if anyone would like to go to Peru with her in late March / early April for a couple weeks?

March

is wondering if anyone knows anyone trustworthy who needs a room to stay in for SxSW?

is going to Peru, April 1st through April 23rd. Confirmed, son.

is wondering if anyone else noticed Facebook looks different! Rounded profile pictures, omg!! Bigger fonts!!!!

thinks the Indian holiday, Holi, is AWESOME. ^__^

is pretty sure SxSW is the best shit ever.

cannot WAITTTTT to get back to Seattle where allergies are more or less tolerable and not complete complete death action.

… did I say I couldn’t wait to get back to Seattle? Well, I don’t want to be in Austin, but I don’t want to be here, either. RESPONSIBILITIES. BLACHHH.

It’s funny when you have a sudden epitome on a way to fix something that is obviously wrong, with so obvious an answer it’s ridiculous. Naw mean?

Today I hung out with a 23 year old Australian dude I met at SxSW and an 18 year old super mature and smart (and classically very good looking) British lad. I rarely ever meet and get to know English-speaking foreigners while living in the States. It’s in…

Feeleth so dehydrated…

is headed to Seattle’s Green Festival… for anyone who wants to go tomorrow, if you go to PCC and buy some shit, you get a free ticket ($15 value).

Sometimes you just need a giant 16 ounce cup of cappuccino / hot cocoa mix from — no, not the coffee shop down the street — 7/11. Hail. Yeah. Son. Sure, you’ll regret it later as you are shaking with its sugary nastiness, but the first half hour or so o…

is headed to Mexico City / Peru in one day and seven hours. Here’s to not pulling a “Tony Cordova”. Not pulling a “Tony Cordova” can be defined as, but are not limited to: 1) not breaking arms while arm wrestling, 2) not getting rings stuck on fingers til…

April

was told that her brother’s house has Oreos for consumption, but the Oreos cannot be seen!!!!

is in the Lima airport, at a Starbucks. Ohhh nooeettthh! They’re seriously everywhere. X:

is in Lima, waiting to go to Trujillo, Peru. Lima is just a city, like every other city, but man, is Peruvian cuisine colorful and exciting. But people here drive like maniacs. It’s super fun to be in a taxi, wondering if you’ll get in a crash, but even i…

is going to Huacas Del Sol Y De La Luna today… and then off to the desert. – http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Huacas_del_Sol_y_de_l a_Luna

is wondering about how strange it is that I’ve been here for like… three days… and it feels like an ETERNITY somehow. It’s fucking bizarre.

is thinking about how a girl on my flight from Seattle to SF five days ago finished off our 2 hour conversation with one another by telling me that I have “really nice hands” and that she has an “obsession with hands and necks.”

has photos online at http://picasaweb.google.com/veez0ri

helped another teacher teach some 2nd graders English today. We did one class in Spanish and one class in English, teaching kids things like, “What’s your name?” and “What’s her name?” and the class taught exclusively in English did MUCH better than the c…

$569 roundtrip to Iceland from Seattle this summer. Who wants to go

es muy confundido.

is PUT ME OUT OF MY MISERY. K thx. Off to the mountains of Peru this evening for Semana Santa!!! Holy Week!

is just a girl.

has new photos from an awesome weekend in Cajamarca, Peru: http://picasaweb.google.com/veez0ri/042009Cajamarc aPeru#

has just been reminded that holy shit… art is better than pretty much everything. – http://www.redefinemag.com/arts/ – http://1988watcher.blogspot.com/

is wondering who wants to go to Burning Man this year… like, for real. This time.

& Mihae received many a love letter this evening from Peruvian men. Here is a note a hot 17 year old Peruvian waiter wrote us before we left: “Cuando vas muy lejos adonde yo no te puedo ver se que vata (?) o extranarte mucho Vivian te extrano mucho quisie…

is forever in love with “Gorecki” by Lamb. One of the most awesome songs ever.

feels like she just smoked at least five cigarettes due to the plethora of secondhand smoke this evening ~__~

doesn’t like secondhand smoke but residual smoke-in-hair is SO GOOD. So good.

is sad to be leaving Trujillo cause the kids are SO cute. ~__~ Want to come back for longer. How to do so logistically…

is Lima-bound tonight. Hello overnight bus.

says: If you’re riding a bus in Peru, reserve the freaking 1st row of seats on the 2nd floor of the bus. AMAZING view (And “Bruce Almighty” in Spanish is amazing, too.)

is in Cusco, and NOT altitude sick! Yay. Mihae is yet to be determined, however.

Cusco / Cuzco is uncharming, expensive, drab, unexciting, and completely un-Peru-like. Machu Picchu may be great, but this tourist trap mecca definitely is not. Just saying.

is tired after a day of hiking up a 3,500 meter (11,500 feet) above sea level mountain because two Peruvian waiters (we sure like making friends with waiters) told us to. Tiring and hard, with some parts of the “trail” actually being giant ladders we had…

is thinking, WTF, BBQ, LIFE, and using the internet while sitting on the floor of our hostel in Cuzco.

actually heard a stranger fart last night in an alleyway and then SMELLED it. That’s SO wrong.

got a tarot card reading today from a Peruvian jungle man nicknamed Captain Jack, while sitting on a giant rock and stuff.

is in the Lima airport… again. Living in Trujillo was SO cheap, but coming to Cusco and Lima is SO expensive!! BAHH! Sapping money like a motherfucker!!

is leaving Peru tomorrow. Already? Is it over already?! :[

is back in the States after a night of 0 sleep and techno music in Mexico City. Thanks, Franco.

is dying of stomach ache! WTF!

is feeling better. Yay for no Mexican flu

is wondering why people would install shit on my computer. Kinda annoying.

wants it all -- brand new socks and drawls -- and I'm ballin every time I stop and talk to y'all. I want it all, all, all, all.

lied a little. Stomach still hurts. :X And it is not reassuring that one of the people I was hanging out with in Mexico City also has had a stomach ache!!! (But I don't have any other flu symptoms, so I'm not going to die, right?!! RIGHT?!!)

can once again think of a zillion reasons to never live at home.

is wondering if anyone wants to pick her up from the airport at 11:00pm on Tuesday. No? OK.

is going to interview Crystal Antlers tonight at the Crepe Place in Santa Cruz. Bands? At a Crepe Place? We'll see how this goes.

is wondering WHYYYYYY WHYYYY STOMACHE WHYYYYY!

is pretty convinced what burned my stomach was drinking a glass of absinthe (when I never drink) on an empty stomach. Finally took medicine, and now it's all peachy.

is thinking four days or so is about the maximum amount of time to visit the parentals in California without going batshit crazy.

is wondering if anyone is going to Sasquatch, cause I'd actually maybe like to go for once, perhaps.

May

is thinking that looking at high school people's Facebook profiles is some Twilight Zone shit.

wants Red Lobster Cheddar Biscuits. SRSLY.

is having her patience tested, z0mg.

reckons there's always a lesson to be learned in experiences that test you, but man, it's hard to glean something super positive from someone's annoying the shit out of you.

is gonna see some dags. Do you like dags?

revolutionized nail-cutting this afternoon. Cut your nails outside; never worry about mess again!!!!!!!!! ZOMG!!!!

gives in to Conor Oberst. I had always written off Bright Eyes as mediocre, but dammit, it's kind of good.

is wondering if anyone wants to go with her to either The Kills / The Horrors' show or The Curious Mystery / Ole Time Relijun's show. Both on Friday and free. Hollar.

is going country line dancing or something tonight. They call it 2-steppin? What? We'll see.

is HOLY FUCK, round-trip tickets from Seattle to NYC for $219 and from Los Angeles to Australia for $646. HOLY FUCK ASS!!!!!

just fell in the mud with my Nikon d40 D-SLR. But dude, smoothing concrete is fun (and the camera is okay).

is now officially only one degree of separation removed from Mike Patton (of Faith No More / Mr. Bungle fame). Wee!

is going to Hammingbell, aka Bellingham, for the day...!

recommends that you go watch The Kills and The Horrors, on tour now. They killed it this evening.

needs to need to not want to need.

loves the VH1 show "Daisy of Love." I'm just a lameass.

sometimes wishes she liked alcohol even a little bit. But alas, no.

is an idiot around boys I have even remote interest in, and I will run away prematurely. But hey, if I don't like you, I will talk to you for fucking hours.

... sometimes you think you know, but then find out what you know ain't shit. But it's nice when that can be said in a positive manner. SON!

spent the night at a bar with a fucking banana in my purse. SON!

eats a little too much hummuses!!!

necesita aprender mas espanol :0

was late for the bus but forgot bus money, had to run back home to grab the bus money, grabbed the bus money, kept it in her hands while running down the hill, lost a quarter of the fare in someone's unkempt lawn (where it was never to be seen again), and...

was called by her mother today, and her mother said to her in Chinese: "Your house is actually pretty clean now! But you live with boys, so make sure you wrap up your pads well when you throw them out while you're on your period." To which I replied (verb...

thinks the problem of being a sucker for pretty writing and pretty words is that, more often than not, that's all it is... pretty words... not pretty actions.

thinks may all die a nuclear death... in 2012.

just interviewed Mike Weiss of mewithoutYou. They have a new disc out: http://www.myspace.com/mewithoutyou

has been trying to install a Ruby on Rails environment on the computer all day. ALL DAY. Lord.

is being FUCKED OVER by Google. Motherfuckers. The Redefine website is inaccessible via Firefox without a warning of "vulnerability", and I fixed the errors, but they're still not removing this warning. PISSED!!

June

is up late, being emo. ~o~

: incentive for waking up earlier... $290 round-trip tickets from Seattle to Madrid, including taxes. *WTF*. Too bad I slept in and it got sold out. :L

is going camping in the Olympic Peninsula until Tuesday. Suckaz!!!

... just saw *the* most amazing dance-off ever at Trinity, by a pair of strangers, to dub-step. INSANE. They were *literally* climbing on the wall, crawling on the floor, and doing the fucking splits. In fact, the chick did the fucking splits on the wall,...

had an awesome weekend playing Rock Band, white trash golf? (testicle toss?), eating yummy catered food, and seeing ScM friends from looong ago. Congrats Pwny & Renae, and thanks! Even the sanest of girls is crazy.

is going to Ashland, Oregon for July 4th to watch Macbeth at the world's most awesomest Shakespeare Festival. Hail yessssss, dawwwwwgggg.

totally kind of believes in astrology crap. Do you?

July

was volunteering at Real Change today and Rosette made a joke about my going to bed at 4AM last night because I was watching Michael Jackson videos. That was untrue. Today, however, I am actually staying up til 4AM watching Michael Jackson videos. ~__~ Li...

thinks it's hilarious that *NOW* the FDA says Tylenol (and Percoset and Vicodin) is bad. - http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/31671172#3 1671172

inhaled too much nail polish, omg... headache galore.

still can't get over the fact that my parents have Facebook. Can they read this?!!! I have no idea!!!

just had a car trunk closed on her head and it hurt like a motherb!tch. If a giant bruise emerges on my face, I'm going to have to pin domestic violence on some lucky person!!!!

battled four nosebleeds today and won. Then again, if they keep coming back, does that still count as victories? Are they all the same nosebleed coming back to life again or are they four separate nosebleeds?!! HMMM?!!!!!?!!!! And if they're separate nose...

+ sports bra = boy... pretty much.

wonders if you would ever read a magazine in downloadable PDF form???? Check yes or no.

is disturbed by how different raisins in the same pack taste from one another Some are so nasty and mushy I have to spit them out!!

hates going through all the CDs we get for Redefine and really realizing how many bands we simply don't have the resources to give the time of day to. :{

spent the last four hours sorting through CDs. Got a couple discs in the mail that seem fairly exciting for me personally: Volcano Choir (JagJaguwar), OKie Dokie (Aagoo), Forks And Knives (Self-Released) and INF (Beats Broke)... WOOHOO!!!!!

is putzing around Portland for the day... what to do, what to do, other than talking to random crazy awesome strangers...

pretty much loves Portland. Seattle's still more beautiful, though. But Portland's more fun.

told Kyle that my house is really super empty because Chris moved out all his furniture. Kyle told me to try doing cartwheels now that I have space. I've been trying to do them... and I'm not going to give up til I actually do a legit one... but what's pa...

It's a bitch convincing people to like you/ If I stop now call me a quitter/ If lies were cats you'd be a litter/ Pleasing everyone isn't like you/ Dancing jigs until I'm crippled/ Slug ten drinks I won't get pickled!.../ Oh I could throw you in the lake/

fucking loves cherries! WHY OH WHY MUST I BE ALLERGIC! WHY!!!

is going to sleep at 4:30am and waking up at 9:00am. WOOOOO!

thinks is unfair that Block Party is this weekend in Seattle (still haven't been!) for a zillion dollars and PDX Pop Now is a free event this weekend. Pish, posh, poosh.

thinks it's kinda sorta fun to live without: a microwave, a television, a bed frame... a clue. Just me, music, hardwood floors, dreams, and a zillion dust bunnies are ADEQUATE!

had a freaking amazing day doing the "Talk To Us" thing in downtown Seattle (imagine Christian women's conference meets Narcotics Anonymous crowd meets Torchlight Parade participants), choosing from 60 FREE CAKES in Seattle Center, high-fiving marathon ru...

... when all the furniture goes away, all the spiders come out to play :/ including the hobos the size of your palm. WOO! This is when sleeping on the floor not so good.

... [stolen from someone else cause social experiments rule.] This is a Facebook Experiment. If you are reading this, even if we don’t speak often, post a comment with a memory of you and I. When you’ve finished, post this paragraph into your own status u…

HOW IS IT 105 DEGREES IN SEATTLE? THIS IS NOT RIGHT.

… damn you, bleeding from the nether regions! I wanted to go swimming!!!!!!!!!!!!!

wonders if anyone knows of good electro/disco-type bands in the Portland and Seattle area??

August

had a memorable dream for the first time in a long time… kid ghosts, kid ghosts, kid ghosts… so plentiful in number they were flying and practically overlapping with each other in my vision. plus feelings of being insane.

enjoys the sleeping positions of the two cats I’m cat/house-sitting… teehehehe! Their names are George and Bert (because of resemblance to a Muppet)… but strangely, they’re both female. (Crazy cat lady in the making?!!…)

is going to hit up the $7-haircut-run-out-of-a-house place I’ve been wanting to try for almost a year now! Wish me lux.

“Your skin is something that I stir into my tea/ And I am watching you/ And you are starry, starry, starry…”

… me: going to tillamook today, never been / rachel: huh / me: what could possibly be confusing about that statement lol! / rachel: cheese / me: yes / rachel: holy shit, didnt know that was possible

is loving the new Portugal. The Man disc, The Satanic Satanist. More falsetto + blues/funk? Sweeeet. – Free MP3 here (not the best song on the disc, though, but whatever): http://freedownloads.last.fm/download/278763095/Pe ople%2BSay.mp3

… “Lovers loving love just like these lovers are loving in love.” – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pv3z8m1qbOQ

had a fantastical evening with Miss XL consisting of (but not limited to): getting lost in a maze of freeways, taking the LONGEST freeway detour EVER, being hit on by a guy using the classic, “Are you hot wearing that jacket? I mean, you’re HOT, but are you hot?” line, and laughing our asses off when a whole crowd of ridiculous clubbers got, “Low low low low,” in unison because “Apple Bottom Jeans” told them to.

is so very jaded by traditional Christian weddings… receptions rule, though. Fo’ realz.

is officially REALLY bad at frisbee golf. Really good at living off of snack foods, though.

… “A horse is a horse, of course, of course, and no one can talk to a horse, of course, that is, of course, unless the horse is the famous Mister Ed.”

should give lessons on being a nomad. August / September / first half of October = PDX -> SEA -> PDX -> SEA -> LA -> NEVADA -> SO-CAL -> PDX -> SEA -> SF -> ????. All rent free. Jea.

… new nomad schedule for Aug-Oct 2009: Portland > Seattle > Los Angeles > Black Rock City, Nevada > Long Beach > Austin > Orlando > Seattle > Portland (MusicFestNW) > Chicago (La Dispute!!) > Detroit (:D) > Chicago > New Orleans (:D) > Pittsburgh > Seattle > San Francisco (Fever Ray/Castro St. Parade!) > New York > New Jersey > New York > Montreal > New York > Seattle…! (Settling down in Nov? Mayhaps. TIPS??)

… despite making films that would lead one to believe the contrary, David Lynch IS in fact Captain Obvious. Gems include, “And I thought to myself that in California, people wear sweaters! So it must sometimes be cool at night or something, because it was kind of a night-time thing, I imagined. And I thought, ‘What a great climate, that it’s warm in the day, and cool in the night — cool enough to wear a sweater!”

… 1) does anyone know if you need to take a GRE to get a Master’s in Social Work?… 2) does anyone know why I keep freaking getting Charlie Horses in my sleep? CHARLIE HORSES *SUCK*!!!

… emo emo emo mo mom oomaoo.

is gonna interview Theo Ellsworth in a hot sec. Awesome. – http://theoellsworth.blogspot.com

presents… a cross-section of Dutch words cuz Dutch is awesome/impossible … afschuwelijk = horrible, beschonken = drunk, droogtrommel = tumble drier, eigenaardig = peculiar, hulpvaardig = helpful, loopjongen = errand boy, natuurwetenschappelijk = natural phenomenon, ooghaar = eyelash, prijzenswaardig = commendable, raaskallen = talk nonsense, schurkenstreek = roguery, verachtelijk = despicable, zaniken = bother

… all of this past month’s Redefine updates in one handy ol’ August 2009 newsletter: http://www.redefinemag.com/newsletters/2009-08-new s.html (you can sign up for future similar updates in the right-hand column of http://www.redefinemag.com)!… … duude. Redefine life is doing good. It is, it is. A horse is a horse, of course, of course.

is pretty godamn satisfied. Bitches. And you need to listen to Leftover Cuties. – http://www.myspace.com/leftovercuties

… I know I just had a conversation recently about how band/musician names really shouldn’t play a role in determining how good he/she/they are, but man, Mac McAnally’s name is pretty funny.

is wondering if anyone in the Seattle / Portland / Los Angeles areas have crazy, super HOT desert weather clothes that they don’t need anymore that they want to give me to wear / demolish / never return (?)

wonders how many of the neighbors can hear me singing my ass off through the open windows. Hahahahahahahahaa.

wonders where I should go from Austin… Boston, Raleigh, Charlotte, Portland (Maine), Fort Lauderdale, Orlando…?? Decisions, decisions. VOTES?

is wondering if anyone in LA has a shitty bike he/she wants to sell/lend me? EH?????

has too much to do and therefore wants to do *nothing*…

… dude, coffee-drinking today has been CRAZY and has kind of sent me into this world where if I sit still for a hot sec I’m reeling into the unknown folds of the universe. Seriously.

is friggin pissed. Got a virus trying to download Simon & Garfunkel’s Greatest Hits. Virus rendered Internet unusable. Now, while trying to clear space on my hard drive to back up data, guess what I find? Simon & Garfunkel’s Greatest Hits. Godammit.

is watching a documentary on noise music called “People Who Make Noise”, and the cats are definitely freaking out in parts.

hates iTunes. I formatted my iPod Touch when my iTunes was set on shuffle and now my songs will only play on shuffle. Anyone know how to fix short of reformatting again?

September

is back in the real world (as real as Los Angeles is, anyway). Hello dry skin and straw hair.

is Austin and San Antonio-bound tomorrow, September 10th, through Monday, September 14th. Holla, Texans! And recommendations, por favor!!!!!

… funny press release of the day: “Name Your Tune is an exciting new children’s music compilation that is made-to-order and personalized for each child. Children will hear their name more than 80 times throughout 14 much-loved songs, such as If You’re Happy And You Know It (becomes If You’re Paul And You Know It) and Old MacDonald Had A Farm (becomes Little Ringo Had A Farm.)”

… guy’s name at the Long Beach Airport (the weirdest airport I’ve ever been to, BTW): Rohan McGee. AWESOME!!!

… one of my new favorite names for a city: Gay Hill, Texas!

equals not impressed by TexMex. TexMex is kinda sick. I’ll take Mex over TexMex every day of the week.

… dude, there’s a PLEASANTON in Texas!!!!!!!!!!!! 30 miles or so from San Antonio!!!!

passed a 5-mile stretch of highway in Houston today in which like, every American chain store had a branch. It was both amazing and disgusting! I’d begun to think that for sure every chain store had already shown up, but new ones kept popping up! Bed Bath And Beyond was like, “Don’t forget about me!”, Kohl’s was like, “I wanna play, too!”, and Panda Express was like, “Eat me!”

… three-hour-long+ adventure on Los Angeles Metro, here I come!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

… actual synopsis for the film “Hood Of Horror”: “The Ghetto can be a scary place. And thanks to Snoop Dogg, it’s about to get even scarier. Snoop brings us three tales of terror from the hood featuring Billy Dee Williams, Method Man, and Jason Alexander. They’ll scare the shizzle out of you.”

loooooves eavesdropping on non-English-speaking humans (that I can understand, obviously)… cause sometimes you get real gems cause people think no one around can understand them!

… funny press release of the day: “Megan Fox is hot. She’s everywhere. And those short shorts and tank top and the black leather motorcycle costume she wore in Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen are available for all to buy.”

… awesome press quote I just saw on some taxi in Chicago about some theatre show: “Like Cirque du Soleil, but with horses.” — WTF!

… two assholes, at two shows, two days in a row. One racist in Detroit who said the Asian Yale girl who got murdered and stuffed in the wall begged her murderer, “Please no keel me; I sucky sucky for free,” (seriously??) and another dumbass who told Micachu And The Shapes that their music wasn’t music and that he “didn’t pay to have my ears pissed in.” Why so angry, Chicagoans and Detroiters?!!

self-loathes with a vengeance this evening, and to top it off, my electronics keep committing suicide, too. UGH.

… yet another low: MySpace Music is now brought to you by McDonald’s. WTF?

was thinking it was too early to sleep because my computer clock says 11:45pm, Pacific Time. Realization: I’m on the east coast. Dammit.

… MOTHAFUCKIN THESE ARMS ARE SNAKES IN DC, BEEYOTCH!

is so frustrated with myself!!! The airport security workers were totally being a dick to this Spanish-speaking lady and I wanted to stand in and translate, but I kept asking the security worker what she needed to do and he kept ignoring me, so I just stood down. It was so sad! They just wheeled her off in her little wheelchair and she was like, “No comprendo!” and had no idea what was going on :{

October

… Sondre Lerche twittering about Redefine? Awesome!

thinks it’s funny when people (*ahem, Sherry*) get all worked up over sports on TV.

… TONIGHT: Fever Ray in SF!!!! YAYYYYYY!!!

… who wants to make me a cupcake costume for Halloweenie!?

… anyone have experience with podcasting and can chat with me about it?

… funny press release of the day: “Dell [has] partnered with Major League Baseball to offer fans across the nation opportunities to bring their team spirit to their PC. Dell Design Studio offers designs for all 30 MLB teams in three customized levels – Fan, Classic and Die-Hard.”

is gonna be in New York City until the 13th, Montreal until the 17th or 18th, New Jersey until the 24th. Let’s meet up!?

is pissed! Of all the freaking delicious places to eat in NY I somehow settled on a place with THE WORST godamn eggplant parmesan sandwiches ever!! How could an eggplant parmesan sandwich possibly be this disgusting? AND it’s expensive. I’m craving one from Romio’s now. Ugh.

wishes bugs didn’t like biting me so much!! AAHHHHHHH. Three bug bites on the face… mostly no big deal, except for the one around my eye that makes me look like I got punched in the face

wants to eat something warm and hot, but I don’t have any Canadian money left except for $1.11, and I’m leaving tomorrow! I can’t even buy something from McDonald’s here with that! Much less the poutine next door.

being in the Northeast during the fall might be one of the best things ever… so beautiful, aaaah.

… my 16-year-old cousin doesn’t have ANY idea what Schindler’s List is. That’s almost as scary as Lingo’s nephew {?} not knowing who Michael Jordan is. AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!

Social networking does a REDEFINE body good.

… explaining non-meat-eating to 85-year-old Chinese grandpa = impossible. Meat sickness impending. Not to mention they were pork buns, which I hated even when I did eat meat regularly!! ~__x

… wowowow Spaceland venue in Los Angeles!!! Taking word-for-word my article on Nurses for use in their promotional mailer: “By blending everything together in a way that turns layers of instrumentation, samples, and loops into structured tracks, Nurses create underlying backgrounds which teem with life and create a visual musical experience.” FUCKFACES. Where’s the credit!?

is geeking out on music so hard. Amusing finds for the evening: Terrible Records – Ghosts (http://terriblerecordsus.com/blog/wp-content/uplo ads/2009/10/ghosts.mp3), Yura Yura Teikoku – Dekinai (http://girlieaction.com/yurayura/sounds/Dekinai.mp3), Pylon – Beep (http://www.yousendit.com/transfer.php?action=down load&ufid=C646D21D51E64387), and finally… this really rad Nesey Gallons album, Eyes & Eyes & Eyes Ago! Yay!

is thinking, in this day and age where music videos are better than ever, why don’t VH1/MTV actually show music videos???????? Certainly they would hold someone’s attention…

just turned in my absentee ballot today, and I actually looked up all the candidates, but I feel like they’re all just about the goshdarn same. They all care about the environment and safety… blahblahblah. So I just went with whatever person seemed like he/she liked public transportation and homeless people the most. Ha!

November

… The Norwegian word “Røyksopp” means puffball fungus (lit. “(a) smoke mushroom”)… now you know!!!!!!!

… ever get those moments where you’re so insanely idiotic that you can scarcely believe yourself? They’re kind of special.

… funny press release of the day: “The Beatles cover [of] “I’m Only Sleeping” was recorded the day “The Beatles: Rock Band” game was released in protest of the idea of great musicians wasting time playing games about making music instead of actually making music.” – AEONs

… “I did not stir, and presently I began to breathe with the dispassionate rhythm of sleep. He listened, that was certain. I listened to his listening. He listened to my listening to his listening. Something snapped. I noticed that I was not thinking at all of what I thought I was thinking; attempted to catch my consciousness tripping, but got mazed myself. ” – Vladimir Nabokov, Despair. <3 <3 <3

… s o m e t i m e s l i f e i s r e a l l y r e a l l y a w e s o m e a n d i t f e e l s a m a z i n g . i feel like i'm onto something.

… loudly listening to music on Mihae Jung's $700 speakers = kinda better than going outside.

… so glad I don't work for a corporation… some corporate politics are truly ridiculous.

… "And we were laughing at the stars while our feet clung tight to the ground. So pleased with ourselves for using so many verbs and nouns. But we were all still just dumb, dumb, dumber than the dirt, dirt, dirt on the ground."

… "My grandfather used to say: 'Life is astonishingly short. When I look back now it is all so condensed in my memory that I can hardly understand, for example, how a young man can decide to ride over to the next village, without his being afraid — quite apart from unfortunate accidents — that the whole span of a normal happy life is far from being adequate for such a ride.'" – Franz Kafka (The Next Village)

… three hours in Korea, and already I've been kidnapped and forced to drink beer and chat in broken Korean with two older Korean men (with the pimply-faced one stroking my back / laughing creepily and the other one — although hilarious and drunk as hell — calling me his wife and saying that Xinlei and I would be his friends forever); thank JEEBUS for being rescued by Xtra Large. <3 <3 <3

… mmmm, dreams about Joseph Gordon-Levitt…!!

… day two in Korea consistethed of going to seven different convenience stores to acquire seven types of banana milk and then taste-testing them one after the other. You'd be surprised at the array of flavors. The one with Bart Simpson sucking on a banana and having crazy eyes that looked like spirals was the winner.

… Portland's YACHT (http://www.myspace.com/yacht) and White Rainbow (http://www.myspace.com/whiterainbowwhiterainbow) are in Korea = free comped tickets for Friday night's show ($30 each!). Dunno if I actually like them, but it's not just a concert; it's a concert plus a DJ set by YACHT which goes until 5:00am. UMMMMMMMMMMM, AMAZING? 350 people confirmed on Facebook so far. S T O K E D!

… YACHT = awesome live show.

… I think I've done it. I think I've made myself sick of banana milk. THIS CAN'T BE!!!!!!???

… 2012 = worst movie ever……………… two hours of sheer and utter pain.

got rescued by the cops today. They pushed my car to the Honda dealership. Two of them plus one civilian. Hell yeah.

December

… cars are a pain in the snarse.

… breakfast! It’s what’s for dinner!

… the problem with always making faces or doing weird shit while taking photos is that when you actually need a professional-ish photo for business purposes, there are zero. Zilch. None. Nada. The closest to a passable photo might even be one you took with a Macaw bird on your shoulder. BLARGH!

= dry cereal addict. NOM NOM NOM. (so much better than wet cereal.)

… what’s an awesome name you think needs to be used more often? My vote: WYATT.

… Iceland/Europe in spring, anyone? Round-trip airfare from Seattle for $474…………. including taxes…….?

can’t sleep worth shiet.

is doing a post on Album Covers Of The Year!! Have any favorites from this year?? Anything blow you away?? Share

gets to eat lunch at Google today, heck yeah!!!!!!!! Free fooood come to meeeeeee!

… dude, remember Tomodachis?? And Furbys? Scary the random things you remember…….!

… REGIFTING RULE #1: Remove that sweetly-worded card that’s addressed to you. (Saving mother from embarrassment since 1983.)

… dude, did all of my tape singles get thrown out?!!!!! THERE WERE LIKE A HUNDRED OF THEM!!! Goodbye, childhood memories! You left without saying goodbye!

… 46 rad album covers from 2009! This is the most fun I’ve had writing an article in a while. Enjoy! (PS, Duran Duran is awesommmmmme.) – http://www.redefinemag.com/music/reviews_cover_2.php?artist=46-Fantastic-Album-Covers-From-2009,-Part-One&id=1379

frustrating frustrations.

I’m so frustrated with myself!!! The airport security workers at Washington-Dulles were totally being a dick to this Spanish-speaking lady and I wanted to stand in and translate, but I kept asking the security worker what she needed to do and he kept ignoring me, so I just went through security while feeling bad the whole time. I heard him say she needed to go back and had her baggage in his hands, so I really shoulda just told her, “El dice que necesita usted a regresar,” and then forced them to tell me more things I could tell her, but I didn’t, and now I’m REALLY probably overly unreasonable with myself for not being assertive enough.

But it was so sad! It was like this grandma, who was just like, “No comprendo!” all cute and sad-like, and they just wheeled her off in her wheelchair :/ I’ve been to countries where I felt completely out of place at the airport — Denmark, mainly — and it is just a weird feeling, and to not even be able to communicate… it must feel so foreign and so sad. I feel so bad. :{

escribo español como un idiota.

Estoy pagando para una media hora de internet. Cuesta 1.50 soles aka 50 cents USD. Estamos en Aguas Calientes ahora. Es un pueblo muy pequeño cerca de Machu Picchu. Porque esto es, es muy, muy, MUY caro aquí y precios son como precios en los Estados Unidos… en partes, son mas caros del mismos cosas en los Estados Unidos! Es increíble! Es muy difícil a utilizar esto keyboard porque tiene muchas caracters y no se como debo usarlos. Pero, puedo usar esto… ñ… y estos… áóíú… y estos son bastante buenos.

Mi español es muy, muy teríble, pero me gusta lo usando aqui. Estoy aprendiendo — o recuerdiendo — mas rapido, pero uso muchas palabras que no son palabras… este noche usé la palabra ¨comfortable¨, que no existe en español. La palabra es ¨cómodo¨. Oops.

Anoche solamente dormí una hora porque muchas personas del hostal en Cusco fuimos a la discoteca. Discotecas en Cusco son muy, muy, muy, MUY horibles, y la música es de los ´90s y ´80s. Es teríble. Fue un poquito divertido ayer porque es solamente un noche, pero para personas que le gustan musica, es una broma. Una broma grande. No hay musica reál en Cusco… o no hay muchas… solamente hay musicas para turístos (y todos personas saben que turístos no saben nada… pienso que esto me incluye tambien).

Mañana voy a escribir más, sobre mi computadora, si tengo internet. Pero estoy usando mi cuaderno y escribiendo todos de mis recuerdos. Luego voy a… type them.

Tengo fótos pero no tengo una cord para la computadora!!

No puedo hacer SMILEY FACES con esto keyboard. AAAH!!

los angeles, day four — hollywood, rain, and mexicans!

This day, I went with Jeanette to her office and then worked out of Coffee Bean coffee shop for a while…! Then I headed over to Hollywood to meet with Jeremy for lunch. Well, actually, I went to Hollywood then walked south a while to meet Jeremy at Mario’s Peruvian Restaurant. A strange name for a Peruvian restaurant, yes.

But before I got there… the Hollywood subway station is silly.

Along the way, I passed this silly ol’ car.

I got to the restaurant before Jeremy got there, and waited in the very long line. Finally, we got a table right when he got there. We had a very long meal and conversation and it wast goot. It’s been a long time but chatting is all pretty much the same. The food was also suppppppper good although really salty. But so good.

Afterwards, Jeremy dropped me off in Hollywood, where I was going to take the typical Hollywood walk around. It was a good thing he dropped me off, because it started POURING, and I started walking around Hollywood, but it was pouring too hard, so I got back on the subway. Since I’d gotten an all day subway pass, I decided to head over to Universal City, where Universal Studios was. I really wanted to go to Universal Studios, btw, but it was way too fucking expensive. And yeah, I got there, but there wasn’t much to look at, and what there was to look at Jeanette said I probably wouldn’t like.

READ TALE OF AN EXPERIENCE WITH A HOMELESS MAN HERE.

Another subway thing.

So since it had stopped pouring by the time I got to Universal City, I took the subway back to McArthur Park, because I lubs teh Mexicans districts. I decided to walk north a ways and then head over east. As I was doing so, some older Mexican dude, probably about 40s, stopped me, and I took off my headphones to listen to what he had to say:

Him: “ID?”
Me: “What?”
Him: “ID?”
Me: “What?”
Him: “ID?”
Me: “I’m twenty-five!”
Him: “Forty dollars!”
Me: “I’m twenty-five!”
Him: “Forty!”
Me: “No necesito!” (I don’t need it!)
Him: “Oh, no necesitas!” (Oh, you don’t need it!)
Me: “Porque tengo veinte y cinco anos!” (Because I’m 25 years old!)
Him: “Oh! Man!” *Slaps me on the back*

Hahahaha. Hilarioso.

Right after speaking with him, I passed the not so grande grande mall. Hahas.

One of the reasons I love all the Mexican Districts in Los Angeles (frankly, the best part about L.A. is the international areas) is because they have such colorful, beautiful storefronts for the simplest of things.

More things I’ve passed.

Lovely, holed-out Ambulance sign.

As I was walking back, I had to duck into a construction site to take on a phone interview with some Americorps dude. Luckily, that construction site’s fencing didn’t smell like piss.

Kept walking back la la la, taking pictures along the way.

Pretty dilapidation. Although… I wish the left side wasn’t as off-centered. :/

Neat-looking parking lot.

Passing over the freeway, on the way back to Jeanette’s office.

Nope, I didn’t put the leaves in it. But I like this!

Before stopping by Jeanette’s office, I happened upon this lovely, lovely bookstore that was so so so cuuuuuuuuute. I HAD to go in, and they specialized in old things. So, I ended up buying this set of pretty small, index-card sized books… there were 10 booklets, and each of them featured “Four Minute Essays” by this one dude, and they were essays about all sorts of things. I didn’t finish a complete one, but one of them was like, talking about how people in America didn’t like Socialism because it was European, when in fact, Democracy in its ideal form IS Socialism. Now, not all the essays are about politics, but yeah, that’s the only one I remember at the moment. But such cute cute books. Set of ten, for $50.00! Eeps! I don’t know why I did it, but I did haha.

Nice picture of Jeanette in her office building.

That night, Matt Buchholtz (Stretch) hooked Jeanette and I up for tickets at the Improv theatre, Groundlings. Groundlings is a famous improv theatre where people like, Will Farrell, for example, studied at and worked at. Pretty fucking hilarious. They did sketch comedies, not improv the night we were there. But… it was AWESOME. Really small crowd, but highly enjoyable. It also featured the girl from the Progressive Insurance commercials. Ha. One of them was about a couple that was super awkward on their first date, another was about a buncha Old Navy runway models who kept posing over and over again when they couldn’t get off stage because there was a door leading to backstage that kept getting stuck, and my absolute favorite was one where this couple went over to the girl’s gay uncles place, and every little thing they told the uncle made him freak the fuck out and move something from the table to the floor or from the counter to the table all while moaning and groaning. Hard to describe, but man was it funny. I was laughing so hard haha.

After that, Jeanette drove me through a bunch of Los Angeles to give me a “car tour.” Yay!

Oh snaps. This WOULD be here!

That’s about all we saw. Then sleep.