Thursday, May 20, 2004
Girl with a Curl
I have a terrible temper. You would never know it by looking at me. You would never even know it being a friend. But once we get real close -- look out!
I've identified myself with this nursery rhyme:
The once was was a girl who had a curl,
right in the middle of her forehead,
when she was good, she was very very good,
but when she was bad, she was horrid
Unfortunately, boyfriends get the brunt of this. And so, I'm very sorry honey that I kicked the trash can across the room. You're right, we do need to clean more often. Its just that it is very hard when two messy people live together, especially when one of them doesn't think he is messy.
I've identified myself with this nursery rhyme:
The once was was a girl who had a curl,
right in the middle of her forehead,
when she was good, she was very very good,
but when she was bad, she was horrid
Unfortunately, boyfriends get the brunt of this. And so, I'm very sorry honey that I kicked the trash can across the room. You're right, we do need to clean more often. Its just that it is very hard when two messy people live together, especially when one of them doesn't think he is messy.
Tuesday, May 18, 2004
Giant Rats do Good Deeds
There is a great story inThe New York Times this morning about rats being trained as mine detectors. I love rats and I don't think that they have gotten their rightful respect from humans. They are so intelligent and hardworking. if you are doubting me, you must not have seen The Secret of NIMH
Muscling It
This last week was really something. I feel like I moved a mountain.
It gets me thinking about how my life has become much more physical in the last few years. Most of my life, I have lived in the cerebral/emotional realm. As a child, my preferred activity was sitting reading a book. The most exercise I got came from wandering around the neighborhood, searching for animals -- a squirrel to watch, a cat to pet, sometimes a hurt bird to bring home. Then there were all the years of school, studying, writing, sitting at a desk. For a while, I was even an intellectual -- reading Pynchon and watching Lynch films. Now I ride my bike every day and spend my nights and weekends ripping up floorboards and shucking concrete. It is satisfying in its own right, but also kind of sad that my brawn has suffocated my brain. My intellectual days are over. I hope not for good.
It gets me thinking about how my life has become much more physical in the last few years. Most of my life, I have lived in the cerebral/emotional realm. As a child, my preferred activity was sitting reading a book. The most exercise I got came from wandering around the neighborhood, searching for animals -- a squirrel to watch, a cat to pet, sometimes a hurt bird to bring home. Then there were all the years of school, studying, writing, sitting at a desk. For a while, I was even an intellectual -- reading Pynchon and watching Lynch films. Now I ride my bike every day and spend my nights and weekends ripping up floorboards and shucking concrete. It is satisfying in its own right, but also kind of sad that my brawn has suffocated my brain. My intellectual days are over. I hope not for good.
Thursday, May 06, 2004
Nature
Just a little something for Photo Friday.
A roommate of mine had a collection of wonderful natural items: skulls, taxidermied animals, bird feet and wings, dried oranges and pomegranates. One day I just pulled them out on the floor and photographed them. Above are some dried poppies.
Tuesday, May 04, 2004
War is Hell. Remember?
The photographs of an American soldier torturing Iraqi prisoners has upset so many people. There outrage is ridiculous, but it seems as though no one thought this would happen. How could everyone be so blind or in such denial that they realize the atrocities of a war. Everyone wake up! Visit The Memory Hole.
How many people marched against this war? Millions around the world. All of us that realized what it meant. I remember talking to a friend, desperate, "what are we going to do? how can we stop this?" and him saying in return, "It's much better if you don't think about these things."
I may not take action as much as I should, but I can't help but think about it.
How many people marched against this war? Millions around the world. All of us that realized what it meant. I remember talking to a friend, desperate, "what are we going to do? how can we stop this?" and him saying in return, "It's much better if you don't think about these things."
I may not take action as much as I should, but I can't help but think about it.
Monday, May 03, 2004
A Well-Manicured Yard
What an exhausting weekend. My backyard is under an extensive renovation and as D. says, we only have 1 1/2 manpower. He thinks he does the work of 1 1/4 men and I do the work of another 1/4. This is probably accurate, especially when it comes to digging. i am very bad at digging with our big old heavy metal shovel.
This is the yard in its current state. (Notice the backdoor with sample paint colors for our house. These colors have all been scrapped and we still havn't found any we can both agree on.) We are now building a brick stoop to our tenant's apartment with room underneath to keep my bike. We are pretty sick of stashing it in any free place in our living room/dining room/ kitchen. It is going to be a tight squeeze under there; I hope we did our calculations right. The engineering of this whole thing is making us pull our hair out. Steps! We had to figure out how to make steps out of bricks and concrete blocks. Stay tuned to see how they turn out.
This is the yard in its current state. (Notice the backdoor with sample paint colors for our house. These colors have all been scrapped and we still havn't found any we can both agree on.) We are now building a brick stoop to our tenant's apartment with room underneath to keep my bike. We are pretty sick of stashing it in any free place in our living room/dining room/ kitchen. It is going to be a tight squeeze under there; I hope we did our calculations right. The engineering of this whole thing is making us pull our hair out. Steps! We had to figure out how to make steps out of bricks and concrete blocks. Stay tuned to see how they turn out.
