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

hostelling in barranco, lima.

Strange things going from Cusco to Lima this evening. We came from the Southern Comfort Hostel in Cusco — where everyone was up and about all the time, all evening — to this hostel in Barranco, Lima. It’s a SOMEWHAT happening part of town, I believe, but practically everyone went to bed before it was even midnight. Da feck? It’s the Bohemian District, but we have to leave at 11:30am-ish tomorrow, so hopefully we’ll have some time to actually explore the godamn place.

For the two and a half weeks we were in Trujillo, spending money was lax and it seemed plentiful. As soon as we got over to fucking Lima and Cusco, though, money just went away like a MOTHERFUCKER. This trip is turning out to be much more expensive than anticipated.

In other news, Mihae left her camera in a taxi tonight. ~__~ Hopefully it gets found ASAP. Fingers crossed.

Tomorrow we head out from Peru to Mexico City for an evening, then back to the States. Is it over already? The first few days went by so slow, but now things are going by so fast… time… it’s many a trippieth thing.

Massive journal entries to come. I’ve basically been writing them down in notebooks here, there, and everywhere (actually, that’s a lie, because it’s all in the same notebook), waiting for the proper time to type them up properly. (I’ve decided I really like when Brits say “proper”, and that I’m going to work “proper” into my daily or somewhat daily quotes.)

fun with taxi drivers & animals in lima!

On the plane right now, flying to Cuzco. The first place in Peru (other than @ the SKIP house, obviously) where I’ve heard other English speakers. Kinda strange-like. Nearly everyone on this flight is a foreigner; it seems uber English-speaking staff are on hand. I’m sincerely hoping we’ll fly over the Nazca lines.

BTW, Lan Peru is the best airline ever. Just saying. I think so many non-Peruvians have quite the perception that Peru (or all of South America, for that matter) is sooooo backwards but fuck, I don’t really think it’s all that bad. Granted, there are some really SUPER poor areas of unimagineable squalor and loads of bad infrastructure, but I think it’s quite obvious things’re changing for the better here. You can see construction everywhere, as well as loads of available jobs.

I sent my parents photos of Peru last week. My dad, for starters, didn’t even comment on my photos or my sending of them. He only said, “Don’t make phone calls; it costs $1.99 a minute,” because I’d mentioned that in Trujillo, my phone didn’t say that I was roaming and didn’t give me any extra messages about costs. It seemed to work like a regular local phone there, which was a bizarre thing. My mom, in the meantime, said, “Thanks for sending me photos; I would never go there.” Although gracious, the sentiment is ignorant as fuck. I think life in Peru, especially in places like Cajamarca, is VERY VERY very much like life in Asia — or at least in my parent’s home country of Taiwan — outside of the very central metropolitan area.

Anyway, I’ve ingested some altitude adjustment medicine I’d purchased from the farmacia (which is pronounced farm-AH!-cee-ah, not farm-uh-cee-uh), and although I’d looked at the box it was in, it was quite uber uninformative. No ingredient lists. Strangely, though, taking it on the plane made me pass out INSTANTLY. Which is super bizarre.

On the way to the airport, a taxi driver from Cuzco picked us up. He lives in Lima now because he has a family and a daughter. It’s exciting, though, to find my Spanish comprehension skills so drastically improved that now I can actually hold a conversation on every taxi trip. Super exciting. It was quiet initially, but then I asked him about Lima traffic, and then we talked a lot about how Cuzco is beautiful but expensive, and where we’d been in Peru. Good times.

Before that, we went to the Parque de Las Leyendas (Park of the Legends) in Lima. That alone made Lima somewhat interesting, because what we’d seen of Lima up til then was whatevers. It was basically a zoo / garden, and it had set up the zoo animals so that there was a Selva (Jungle) zone (ever reminiscent of Ever), a Costa (Coastal) zone (really weak), a Sierra (Mountain) zone, and an International zone. Pretty much dope sauces. Saw sloths, lots of cool monkeys, some other random shit… it’s pretty much the nicest fucking zoo I’ve ever been to, though. The attention to detail was extraordinary. Every fucking wall available was muralized gorgeously. It was ridiculous. The city of Lima / government of Peru must pay a fuckload of money to maintain that place, because everything, and I mean EVERYTHING — from the animal cages down to the plants planted — were fucking perfect. There was also this creepy ass taxidermy museum which would be cool had I not had been looking at LIVING animals for the past hour prior to visiting the taxidermy museum. That being the case, it just felt so WRONG. Especially where there was a whole jaguar skin. Like, WTF!! SO WRONG. (There were some cool leaf-bugs, though.)

The taxi ride there was also really fun, and the taxi driver played some awesome old funk music (in a CD mix, basically), and gave us his business card afterwards so that we could call him (although I don’t think that’ll be happening). And prior to that, we ate breakfast (kinda) at this super fucking expensive touristy restaurant in Miraflores (in Lima). And prior to that, the guy who drove us from the bus station to Miraflores was confused. See previous post.

sitting at an expensive restaurant in miraflores, stealing internet from mcdonald’s.

Oh yes.

The most expensive restaurant we’ve been to yet, charging practically United States prices for crap! Boo urns! Sometimes even more, actually.

I just bought a juice of melon (which I had hoped would be honeydew juice, but it was in fact cantaloupe juice) and now we’re stealing internet off of McDonald’s next door because McDonald’s has free Wi-Fi. Hail fooking yeah!!!

We left Trujillo last night in what was a tearful goodbye. Not really, but it was sad to leave the cute kids and the newly made friends. At least there were some good memories and now I know someone living in Paris, Madrid, and Santiago… amongst others. And also another nearby human who lives in Portland who hopefully I will be able to see upon return!

The bus ride was better than usual, as we were sitting in the first two rows of the bus, on the bus’ second floor. AKA lots of window and lots of good views! It took me forever to fall asleep, though, but when I finally fell asleep for like three or something hours, I must say I was thoroughly amazed to wake up to sunlight in Lima. They also played “Bruce Almighty” on the bus, which was dope. It was awesome to begin with, in English, but in Spanish it was pretty much just as amazing, if not moreso in some parts. What a fantastic fucking movie. And I don’t even like comedies like ever.

Anyway. So now we’re stealing internet off of McDonald’s, somewhat killing time, and waiting to go to the zoo, which opens at 9:00am.

We got a taxi from the bus station, and while we were on our way to Miraflores — the tourist hub of Lima, really — I asked him, “Sabe un buen lugar para desayunando?” (“Do you know a good place for breakfasting?”)

Soon, we found ourselves at the door of a hostel, and we were like, “WTF?”

And the hostel guy, who spoke some English, explained to the taxi driver that we were looking for a breakfast place, not a “descansar” — aka “resting” — place.

And then the taxi guy goes off about how I said descansar, not desayunar, and I’m like, no, I know for sure I said desayunar, but it’s not something I’m about to argue with the taxi driver about

Then as we were leaving, the hostel guy was like, “Estan confundidas, las chicas,” meaning, “They’re confused, the girls,” and I’m like, “No, no confundidas.”

ASS.

Anyway. Zoo coming up, and then Cusco in t-minus… 5 hours or something.

pc room at the cruz del sur bus terminal in lima.

Just writing a quick note while I’m sitting at the bus terminal of Cruz Del Sur. We are catching a flight to Trujillo this evening from Lima. Leaving at 10:30pm and arriving at 6:00am the next day. The bus is semi-cama, meaning semi-bed, meaning it reclines but doesn’t fold down all the way. One way bus ride is about $20 USD.

The PC room I’m at right now is literally a really tiny room, with eight other computers and people typing away on the computers. We will be leaving in half an hour. The cost of the PC room is $2.50 Peruvian soles for a half hour, which can be divided by 3 to achieve the dollar amount for.

Today was a pretty amazing day. People in Lima drive like SHIT and the congestion is horrible. Super interesting, though.

I left my camera on the window sill of our newfound friend (a friend of Mihae’s roommate), Diego, and Diego won’t be at his house the evening. Oh, AND the window is OPEN!!!!! LA VENTANA ESTA ABIERTA!!! Hopefully my camera doesn’t blow away or get stolen, but that still means I will be completely without it in the two weeks that I am in Trujillo, leaving me only with my giant dSLR Nikon D40, leaving me with inconvenient photographic experiences and not any immediate gratification photos that require little to no work. FUCK.

This is written in a matter-of-fact way because I am in a matter-of-fact mood! SUCKA!

lima, peru, day one.

Day two of our Latin America trip set us down in Lima, Peru, after an eight?? hour flight from Mexico City. There was a time change, too, although I can’t tell you what it was exactly. We got in ass early at the Lima airport at like 6:00am, where I soon found out the REDEFINE website had exploded and therefore stayed at Starbucks for quite a while hoping to fix it. I should also mention the Starbucks worker greeted me with the split-finger-Star-Trek-peace-greeting-thing, for some reason.

Anyway. Took us FOREVER to decide on what kind of transportation we wanted to take to get downtown… there was much harassment from a taxi driver who we kept rejecting because we said we’d take the shuttle. He told us the shuttle was expensive, but we didn’t REALLY believe him, so we went to check for ourselves, discovered it was true (despite what our LonelyPlanet guide book said), and then took his taxi. To our surprise, he was not only the salesman for the taxi company, but the taxi driver HIMSELF. He was also really fucking badass, and started off our trip to Lima with a fucking bang, driving like a maniac — in a fun way — and dancing to kumbia music which was his music of choice via the radio. Peruvian radio announcers are also super excited, and one quote from the radio that was later repeated a lot by us was, “MUH-MUH-MUH-MEGAAA!!!!” The taxi driver totally took us on a scenic route that was a bit longer but went by the beach, or so we think, and off-roaded for a little bit, on the beach, when the traffic got bad. It was AWESOME. I mean, it was slightly scary, but not REALLY, because we were going so slow that nothing could have really happened anyway. So mostly, the taxi driver’s driving like a maniac in Peruvian traffic was REALLLLLY fucking fun and started off the day, bright and early, at 9:00am or so, with a fucking amazing bang.

Anyway, he drives us to Kennedy Park in the Miraflores district, where we’d decided to meet Diego at around 9:00am. Very lucky for us, right as we were abouuuut to leave the airport (and the Starbucks internet), we saw that he had emailed and told us to meet him (and also gave us his phone number so we could call him). We called him at 9:00am, and he told us to meet him at this Andean marketplace thing at 10:00am.,.. we said okay but then we got hungry and then ate first and he met us at the restaurant. I got an egg sandwich and a jugo de platano (banana juice!!!!!)!!!!

Then Diego took us around. First, we went to his apartment to drop off our giant packs which are like, the size of us. Then we took a combi bus thing to the downtown area. It was fun, and cost each of us only 1.20 soles, as opposed to 5 soles if we had taken a taxi.

We went downtown and then basically just hung out in the main Plaza De Armas.

There was some kind of changing of the guard taking place but it wasn’t all that super entertaining.

We went around to a lot of churches and it was okay. There were a couple of different things than what I’m used to as far as church-hopping goes…

For starters, we went into a crypt… or catacombs. They totally planted the skulls and stuff — not to say that there weren’t some at some point, but there weren’t STACKS like there are now. LIARS!

In one cathedral, there were ladies putting gold leaf on these poles. We asked if we could take photos, and we started to, and I started to take a video, but one of them got mad and would just sit there and not work haha.

Inside one of the cathedrals. Lots of saints in these churches… many of which Diego didn’t actually know because there are soooo many.

This one’s a black saint!

There were a lot of these shrines dedicated to different saints. This one is my favorite. It’s so beautiful with its scalloped edges!!

Some of the saints are these ladies wearing these triangular dresses, and we happened to see one of the ladies in triangular dresses being changed. It was really interesting and we watched it forever, and saw that her little crown was screwed into her head. Interesting. I woulda kept watching, but Diego got scared of watching after a while.

Then we went to go eat at this restaurant that was kinda more expensive. It’s probably the most expensive meal I ate in Peru, at United States-type prices.

Cusquena with chicha morada, which I had had in Portland with Micah, but it was a million times better in Peru, non-surprisingly. Chicha morada is made out of purple maize.

Chicken and rice with huacaina sauce. I wasn’t feeling this one so much.

Arroz con mariscos… seafood fried rice.

Some weird thing with egg, tomato, avocado. It was okay.

Chocolate and lucuma dessert. Lucuma definitely became my favorite freaking Peruvian fruit, although I hadn’t actually tried the lucuma in FRUIT form…

Apple and caramel thing. Gross.

Then we went to the catacombs in this church, cause there’s nothing like going to see dead people after eating!

Then we went back to Diego’s place, picked up our stuff, and then walked around this Indian market briefly. When I was told it was an Indian market, I thought it was an ASIAN Indian market, but it was a Peruvian Indian market. Boy was I in for a surprise.

Afterwards, we just sat down at this restaurant because they had hookah. Ate a little bit of kinda peculiar-tasting hummus. Also met some interesting people.

One table was this guy with two girls. This other was this Israeli guy who spoke okay English. At one point, the guy with the two girls came over to our table to talk to us, because the two girls were fighting. He was traveling by himself, some kinda doctor, and totally a know-it-all, kinda cocky type. I thought he seemed nice enough, although he did have a bit of sleaze factor. The two girls were fighting, though, and eventually one wanted to leave and left the other one there. Kinda bizarre. Not sure what they were fighting about.

The girl who was left ended up talking up the Israeli guy even though she spoke zero English and he spoke not that much Spanish. It was a weird interaction and she was totally getting him to buy her drinks and stuff. We concluded that perhaps he would be making a mistake that evening trying to get some easy poontang, even though the chick was straight crazy. At one point he turned to me and was like, “This is getting a little awkward.”

Mihae and I asked him to take a photo of us, and she was like making faces while he was doing it. And I asked her if she was angry that he was talking to us, and she said no, and then became super adamant about taking a photo for us, too. Which was ridiculous and unnecessary, but we let her. Freak!!!

As we were leaving the hookah place, I was freaking out cause I thought I left my camera on Diego’s windowsill. We were off to Trujillo that night via Cruz Del Sur overnight bus, so I called him, but he didn’t have it.