what i did at work today part deux

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F-Kl2T3bQm4

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qqjSJS8pTDs

http://www.scifi.com/scifiwire/index.php?category=0&id=62652

special thank yous to kayleen, kim and amanda.

estudio

in august i was juried* into a new artists' community called the workhouse arts center in lorton, virginia. my cellmates and i are having a reception on december 13 from 7 - 9pm. please come.^ it is free. and i would like to see you.*** and so would my art.

in the meantime, here's a preview:

you can also check out my website: http://www.anniegedicks.com/.****

and a smidge of what it's about:

my working metaphor is inspired by descriptions of the richter scale, which measures the intensity of earthquakes. the tremors just under the earth's crust are like emotional tremors within our internal worlds. they range from micro quakes that happen daily - not felt, but not unrecorded - to major quakes that are less frequent, but can cause significant damage in populated areas. i wonder, are we really that different from nature? our personal disasters are as sudden and forceful, as devastating and destructive, as insignificant. they are terrible. they are beautiful.




*for you non-arty-farties out there, this means that i had to apply, submit samples of my art in both digital form and actual work ready-to-hang (on the wall), wait anxiously for acceptance, rearrange my life and sign a 3-year lease. this is not a job. i pay rent. but in the art world, being accepted to something like this is a very good thing.**

**yes. i'm kind of a big deal. (gag)


***don't make me beg. that's just sad. you don't want to see that.

^my handy dandy link to googlemaps wouldn't work so here's the address: 9601 Ox Rd, Lorton, VA 22079

****bonus points for anyone that can tell me the differences since i last posted it (besides the introduction of real words on the homepage)

i have nothing to say for myself...

don't get me wrong, i LOVE to travel. i just seem to have trouble with TIME. the last several times i've ventured out of the greater dc area, i've almost missed my transportation back. it started when i went to buffalo for christmas to visit my sister and her hubs and 2 kiddos. i got there just fine, but for my return flight, the self-check at the airport wouldn't recognize my reservation. after a few puzzling swipes of all my credit cards yielded the same results, the attendant took my name and informed me that i was at the wrong airport and that, no, she was not joking. she kindly booked me on the last seat of the flight leaving from rochester (where i'd made my poor relatives drive for an hour, instead of buffalo, which was about 10 minutes away) and didn't even charge me.

the next day i adventurously took the chinatown bus to philly for the new year. after a low key new year's eve and a day of showing me around, chris and i were rather hungry. we wandered around chinatown looking for the "good noodle" place that chris vaguely remembered, finally settling instead for a touristy, but decent alternative. it was fast, but not quite fast enough. he only just managed to get me to the last chinatown bus back to dc. but i was on the bus; no damage done.

over the fourth of july, i dawdled at my sister's hotel room before catching a cab to meet my friend mary on the train to jersey. my cabbie was less than pleased with the 20 minutes i gave him to get me across town and dropped me at the wrong station. upon discovering his mistake (an innocent one, though i've made it sound malicious), i booked it the few blocks to penn station and made the train with literally seconds to spare. (i then had to dodge the conductor while i looked for mary, who'd called when i had 11, 7, and 3 minutes to departure but was still en route, and offered to buy my ticket. bless her.)

in october, after a relaxing lunch and stroll around times square with my sister, i put her in a cab and told her i'd wait till she was off to make sure there weren't any problems. i then checked my watch and gave her a quick hug before sprinting several new york blocks with my luggage in tow to catch my bus. in addition to being sweaty, out of breath, and a bit frantic, i was berated by a bossy ticket-taker for being late.

this all in the last year.

so, to make sure i didn't screw up my thanksgiving flight (BOTH of my sisters would be in buffalo, woo hoo!), i left work at 1:30pm for my 4:30pm flight. i arrived at the airport at 2 and realized that i had no idea which airline i was flying. i went to two separate airlines' check-in kiosks and had to call 3 people to hack* into my gmail to find my receipt, only to realize that i was FOUR HOURS EARLY for my flight. that's right. somewhere in the 6 weeks between booking my flight and leaving myself a digital reminder, "leave for flight at 4:30," my brain had changed the note to "leave for 4:30 flight." oy. i guess it's good that i was so early because i was at the wrong end of the airport for my airline. after checking in (at the correct kiosk), i managed to circle around BACK to the other side of the airport, wondering why one must check in at one end, and then hike back to the other for the gate, which was right across from a separate airline (one to which i'd previously attempted to check-in). i chewed on this while i chewed leisurely on my lunch. about an hour later, as i got to the front of the security line, i finally realized that i was supposed to be at gate 4, not 40 and that the northwest check-in was in fact very near the northwest gates. the tsa guard confirmed my idiocy. so AGAIN i trekked around to the other side of the airport, whizzed through security in about 10 minutes (after knocking someone's blackberry to the floor - oops, my bad!) and still had over an hour to spare.

it was totally worth it though. pictures coming soon...



*hack being used very loosely, considering that i gave them my login and password.

i am not ashamed

i'm going to the midnight showing of twilight tonight. and i'm excited. i apparently have the mentality of a 14-year-old girl. so what?

and now my question is...

are you an edward or a jacob?

this is important, people. i mean, our friendship survived the election, but this...this is CRUCIAL.

choose wisely.

oh crap

so i discovered that the mint tea i've been drinking every morning and all day every day is actually black tea with mint leaves, not herbal tea. no wonder i didn't have dc withdrawls. now i am, though. and chocolate withdrawls, too.

what i did at work today

this.

don't worry. i typealyzed all of your blogs, too.

oh and some of this, too

are you dying of cuteness? i am. and i want a puppy, too.

shoot

abby's birthday post is here. i didn't know it would post on the day i started it rather than the day i finished.

i've got chiiiiiiiiills

they're multiplyinnn. and i'm looooooooooosin contro-ol. cause the pow-werrrrrr you're supplyinnn. it's electrifyin!

i did. i got chills when they announced it. and i just watched obama's acceptance speech and teared up right here at my desk. (what? there was something in my eye...) i am thrilled to have an intelligent, eloquent, inspiring president again. i know he won't be able to keep all of his promises; that's just politics (and life), but today i'm optimistic about my country's future and my president-elect's ability to affect change. for the first time in 8 years, i'm pleased as punch, tickled pink (well, blue) and downright proud to be an american. (hopefully my roommates will still speak to me...maybe over bbq.)

god bless america.



see mccain's concession speech here. i hope that i would be as gracious if my candidate had lost.

VOTE

i've never been one for politics or political discussions. i have my opinions, usually based on something i've read or heard, but more often a gut feeling, which is kind of hard to defend in a political discussion, particularly if you can't remember the sources of what you've read and heard. anyway, i've enjoyed following the various discussions amongst our families' blogs and thank you all for sharing your opinions, enlarging my scope of understanding and educating me on both sides of the issues. you rock.

until recently, i was one of a handful of moderate liberals living in a blood-red-if-you-even-think-about-democrats-you're-probably-going-to-hell state. a state in which, casting a vote for a blue candidate did as much good as writing in jack bauer. (i still think he'd make a good president.) BUT. now i live near the d of c, in a battleground state, no less. i couldn't help but get swept up in the passion of our nation's capitol. and i'm excited, nay, thrilled to the core to cast my vote and have it actually mean something. (please, spare me the old you have to make your voice heard, your vote always counts, blah blah blah.) i'm even excited to stand in the rain for 3 hours to partake in said civic right. i have read, watched, listened, researched and discussed. i know the candidates. i know who i will vote for. i feel good about it. and now, in less than 5 hours, i will whip it. whip it good.

i heart abs

one of my favorite memories of home is of us girls sitting around the sunlit kitchen table, each with a 32 oz of that sweet sweet nectar of the gods from our most recent maverick run and a book of sudoku puzzles, just jawin and jokin away.  abby's like that. she's at ease with and can talk to anyone and make them feel comfortable, too. she has a fantastic sense of humor, SO much personality and a witty way with words. and she can rock a russian accent. she's a natural leader. and she has a depth and spirituality that never cease to amaze me. (sometimes i think i cut in front of her in the sister line. i'm pushy like that. i woulda done it. but this is about abba...)

so, in honor of her birthday, nearly a week ago, here are some bits of randomness that i love about her (though definitely not even close to all or nearly enough bits)...

she so pretty

she's got style she's got grace. something something something something, she's a la-dy

she likes things that are red:

like t-shirts and lobster and tops of spice bottles and checkered tablecloths...

...and elmo

she eats (and still looks like a rock star). and lets me take silly pictures. and post them on my blog. and she doesn't get mad (right, ab?)

she prob'ly has the cutest kids in the universe.

and she's a kind, patient, loving mother to them.

so, rock hard abs,

i hope you had a happy halloween 

and an even better birthday.

love,

your sister

(annie)

the best holiday (pageant) ever

the fourth of july is my favorite holiday. in case you were wondering. and what better way to spend it than hangin in our nation's capitol? it started with a huge pancake breakfast at a friend's house, complete with fun run and patriotic costume contest. bonus points for wearing costume the whole 6 blocks.

quinn and adri

of course, no holiday would be complete without a trip to the container store where melanie, melinda and i found some fabulous luggage tags. my personal favorite: "i'm pretty sure this isn't your bag." and then i took a nap. but not at the container store. i went home.

now. how to watch fireworks in our nation's capitol? becuase you must watch fireworks on the fourth. it's the law. i decided. well, you could leave at 2pm and fight for a spot on the mall OR you could make a split second decision in june to go on a cruise and watch them from the potomac with the washington and lincoln memorials as a backdrop. you can also pretend like you're jack and rose on the titanic while your friends play art director and other friends and random people you don't know take pictures. yes. this is a good idea.

joe, if we're ever stranded

in the middle of a frigid ocean

(or the potomac)

i'll share my door with you.

of course, there's always an after party, where many people pile onto a couch and watch a random movie and eat ice cream. i think we watched maverick because it's clearly patriotic. i'm not sure, though. i had to go to bed because the fine holiday fun continued on the fifth, too! i know, right? it's totally blowing your mind.

from the left: sam, kim, annie, cool girl, jim, kyle, chareese, tim

so. i'm a pretty lucky girl. or as manda used to say, i'm a yucky girl. speaking of manda, i had to catch my bus early early in the morning to meet said sister and friends in nyc. this was a delightful extension of her and her friend abby's trip to see me in dc. first stop was mcdonalds. i needed some o' that sweet sweet nectar of the gods, which is really the only acceptable reason to go to micky-d's. that and to use the restroom. diet coke in hand and properly relieved, we went to see grease. one of manda's friend's sisters played cha-cha (the best dancer at st. bernadette...with the worst reputation) so that made the production even more enjoyable. i parted with manda and co for a few short hours to meet up with my friend mary, who'd come up from dc the night before with her mom, niece and cousin. we went to a touristy pizza place just off times square and my lovely roommate from undergrad met us there. i hadn't seen jessamine in FIVE YEARS. that's a lot.

while in new york, one must visit the hard rock cafe. i think it might be a law. actually, the law is to go to serendipity, but i'd already missed that momentous event, so manda, et. al., jess and i rocked hard and annoyed the waitress. actually she annoyed us. she wasn't very good and messed up everyone's orders. and she was slow. but we gave her a good tip anyway.

from the left: jess, lauren, hannah, tatem, abby, amanda, annie

jess' ride back to brooklyn overlapped with ours back to the girls' hotel, so we got to hang out a little longer. i chilled with the girls for a few minutes and then manda hailed me a cab to penn station. my cabbie wasn't too pleased to find that he only had 20 minutes to get me across town and that i still had to buy a ticket. mary called wanting to know if i was going to make it. i had about 7 minutes. the cabbie's update: we're about 2 minutes out. mary offered to buy my ticket and hold it for me on the train so i'd just have to find her. unfortunately, the cabbie dropped me at the WRONG STATION. officially late and certain the train had already left, i sprinted the couple of blocks to penn station anyway. i jumped onto the train, praying it was the right one, just as the doors shut behind me and it started chugging away from the platform. but i couldn't find mary. she wasn't in the car i'd jumped on. but the conductor was. and he was punching tickets. crap. while he was on the upper floor, i walked through the lower floor, hoping to spot mary. my cell didn't get service. curse T-mobile! so i waited in the hallway, hands shaking and heart fluttering, hoping the conductor wouldn't a) throw me off the train, b) give me a citation for not having a ticket or c) all of the above. i didn't have to wait long; the next stop was only a few minutes away. and i had service! (oh blessed bars!) i called mary and we both ran out on the platform. she was in the next car over. i sat down, exhausted and shaking with adrenaline. we stayed that night at a friend's house in jersey and drove home to dc the next morning. i was supposed to prep my sunday school lesson in the car...but i slept instead.

the end.

ps. why the fourth of july post in the middle of october? it came from this list and was renamed by sherry carpet. now vote!

suckfest 2008

this post is dedicated to sherry carpet, who is the only one who's voted as of 10:48 pm est.

ok. i'm not sure who the andersons are, or why they suck, but apparently they do. another friend of mine joined the revolution; apparently it's cool. and since i rock, here are 20 reasons why i suck. keep in mind, this is not an attempt to get you to tell me how wonderful i am (i already know that i rock - try to listen), just an attempt at being real.

1 - i really dislike judgemental people. sometimes i really don't like people at all. especially when said people are a large mob of lds singles. they give me anxiety.
2 - i am very judgemental, particularly of judgemental people.
3 - i pretty much always think i'm right.
4 - i'm very selfish. i talk a lot about myself, but don't always bother to ask the other person about him/herself. i suck at turning off lights, doing my dishes, not leaving my stuff lying around, locking the top bolt on the door, taking out the trash, cleaning in general...i have become THAT roommate (my excuse...see #12).
5 - i don't sleep enough, and then complain that i'm tired all the time.
6 - i am over indulgent and/or have no self control. i can't go a day without chocolate and diet coke.* in fact, i think my diet consists of 2 parts diet coke, 1 part sugar, 1 part whatever i can scrounge out of the fridge/cupboard, with a healthy dose of tv. not that i have time to watch tv.
7 - i have major pack-rat tendancies. i don't clean up after myself and thus can't find anything...the stamp i KNOW i've seen in the recent past, the black tablecloth i want to use in my studio, my keys, my phone...yesterday i left them in the studio bathroom and a fellow artist returned them to me. she washed her hands first.
8 - i procrastinate everything. even things that will make me happy, like scheduling a massage. "i'll do it tomorrow..."
9 - i'm very easily distracted.
10 -
11 - i rarely finish projects that i start. i like to plan them, but not finish them. it takes too long. (see #9)
12 - i always think i can do more in a day than is humanly possible, even for superwoman. thus, the boring parts of my extensive don't get completed. as a result, i have not been grocery shopping in a month nor done laundry, but know who won project runway (see #6), went dancing, caught up with a friend, and applied for a job.
13 - i play devil's advocate even if i disagree what i'm advocating, particularly if i think the person is misinformed, or i think they're giving a knee-jerk response or if i just don't like their tone.
14 - as my childhood friend laura used to tell me, i think i'm funny when i'm not. but even when i'm not, i still think i am. and sometimes i think being mean is funny.
15 - i'm over-sensitive and pick apart every insult, slight and backhanded comment, but don't necessarily think twice about the ones i've handed out over the years.
16 - i speak in absolutes even though it annoys me when other people (like newscasters) do it.
17 - i correct people's grammar. and grammar/spelling errors in ads. i mean, seriously, people...if you're going to publish something to millions of people, do you really want to look like an idiot?
18 - i eat baby animals. and i don't really feel bad. maybe a little bit. but really, is it any worse to eat a baby than it is to eat its mother? i submit to you that it is not. also, i saw a t-shirt once that said, "meat is murder...tasty tasty murder" and i thought it was funny.
19 - i stress out about driving anywhere/anyplace i'm unfamiliar. my least favorite thing to do is drive around in an unfamiliar area, in an unfamiliar car (like a rental) looking for someplace i'm not sure exits, particularly using googlemaps. once i took a classmate's head off when i was driving for a school trip. not literally.
20 - i suck at moderation. yesterday i ate a half bag of dove dark chocolates before noon. today i ate the rest. before 10am. i cannot limit my intake of anything. as soon as i tell myself i'm setting a limit, i immediately want more. so when i tell myself, only 20 oz of dc today, i, of course drink 60, even though the past few days i've only had as much as 24 oz.

so that's it for now. there are more. probably some you're thinking of right now...i just won't admit to them. :P

*I have given up diet coke and all other forms of caffeine (except maybe excedrin) see counter below...**


**update: i couldn't find a counter that starts at a particular date and counts up the number of days/hours/seconds i've been without caffeine. so. i will just tell you. i have been caffeine free as of sunday october 19 at approximately 11am. we're excluding chocolate from this particular endeavor.

indecision 2008

ok this has nothing to do with politics. sorry.*

i have done so much recently (seriously, i'm so blessed), and am so far behind on blogging i don't know where to start. so pick a post below and i'll start there.

memorial day duck
my heart will go on (the best holiday ever)
i'm an artist. no, really.
suckfest 2008
bleeding love. keep keep bleeding love.
run. drive. sleep? repeat.
dc spy hunt
dutch bike dutch
early birds in NYC
don't stop believing

ok readyyyyyyyyy....GO!


*but really i'm not

i rock

mary and i went country dancing last week. i spent a long time talking to a construction worker* covered in tattoos, who was married, with 5 kids and proclaimed himself incapable of love because the girlfriend he had at 14 was brutally stabbed with a pair of scissors 37 times with "I heart ?" carved on her chest. he told mary that he was incredulous that i don't have a boyfriend and that if he weren't married, he'd snatch me up in an instant. ignoring the fact that i would probably not actually date him for a myriad of reasons, i really needed that.

i will tell you, though, why i don't have a boyfriend. it's because i'm awesome. i grew up an awesome fish in a pretty decent sized pond. and then went to college as an awesome fish in a decent-sized lake. and in grad school, i was one of the few awesome lds girls. yes. i rock. but, so do the other zillion women in the dc metropolitan area. and with a male-to-female ratio of 1:2.3 (the actual statistic from ward conference last year), being just another awesome fish in the sea is equivalent to being just another fish in the sea. not so advantageous. so, men - single men of the mormon persuasion - you should move out here. there are plenty of big fish for you to catch. whether you prefer to cast a fly, bait a hook or set your net, i promise, you'll catch something awesome.


*despite what the rest of the sentence may lead you to believe, he was a great conversationalist and was very interesting to talk to.

happy anniversary!

to me. i started working at sidley exactly one year ago. ahhh...those were the innocent days of 35-hour workweeks with leisurely lunches and actually asking partners for work to do. funny how much a year can change your perspective.

can i quit now?

please?

a blog for alex

because he needs a happy booty to ya too.

i remember hating my brother sometimes. even wishing he was dead once or twice. but the thought of life without alex always brought me to tears. still does. i've never known life without him. even now, he's still a larger-than-life influence.

and now some meandering:

she hated the forgetting

wisps of memory sliding through her fingers

scattering, dissipating, flying

she watched them

sad

mute, dumb, paralyzed

powerless

if she asked,

would he (could he) bring them back to her?

maybe next thursday

she'll find a jar

lid shut tight

not like the fireflies they caught 

last september

his birthday

and let escape by morning

she wouldn't let go

if he left her a jar

maybe next thursday

and a few happy thoughts:

alex could build the best block towers. and he'd let you help knock them down after mom took pictures.

he taught me to drive a stick. he was even patient about it...mostly.

he let me tag along after him. sometimes, in high school, he even let me hang out with him and his friends. (don't know if i've ever known greater guys...)

he loved star wars.

he was SUCH a geek. but i always thought he was the ultimate cool. he liked ultimate, too.

he had quite the imagination. we tried to create our own secret language once (his idea). i think it lasted about a week.

once, he built a casino in our basement.

he could build forts out of anything...blankets in the living room, scrap wood in a tree, snow caves in the driveway...and he'd let you hang out there, too.

he was smart and witty and could always make me laugh (when he wasn't torturing me...or when i wasn't being dramatic)

i always knew he was a good guy, even when he was holding me down and trying to spit in my face (ok he only did that once). i knew he was someone who loved the lord and loved his family. even his awkward little sister.

love you, al. happy belated booty to ya, too.

check it out

www.anniegedicks.com

not all of the kinks are worked out yet, particularly on internet explorer, but i would LOVE to get some feedback from you all.

was without internet all weekend...thus the owlex birthday post is coming tonight...keeping in the gedicks family tradition of belated birthday shout-outs. :)

my lists will defend me

i really love to make lists. really a lot. i write one on my wrist almost every day. this is the list of stuff that must be completed before day's end. sometimes it actually happens.  one of my favorite authors, terry tempest williams, writes: 

I love to make lists. Maybe it's my background in beehives and breadmaking, the whole business of being industrious and frugal (of which I am neither) that a list promotes. Or maybe it's the power that comes when you can cross something off a list. Done. Finished. Move on to the next chore. I can see in a very tangible form what I have accomplished in a day. Or perhaps it's the democratic nature of lists that I find so attractive.  Each task is of equal importance on paper. so "pick up fresh flowers" carries the same weight as "do the laundry." It's the line slashed through the words that counts. Never mind that the pleasurable items are crossed off by noon and the difficult ones, meant for procrastination anyway, get moved to the next day's agenda. The point is that my intentions are honorable. My lists will defend me.*

my thoughts exactly, terry. my thoughts exactly.  now here's some art about that. 

*Williams, Terry Tempest. Refuge: An Unnatural History of Family and Place. New York: Vintage Books 1991, p. 87.

changed my life...

i've had a major breakthrough. the yellow ones DO stop. i'd been going to the wrong bus stop. manda and her friend abby were witnesses to the life-changing event. they were going to work with my roommate, nikki, who was taking them on a tour of the capitol and we were all walking out to meet the bus together. i started to turn left to head for my loathsome bus and nikki said, i go this way. so we went with her and lo and behold straight down the sidewalk and across the street from my lousy stop, but sneakily hidden* by some trees was a stop that served two, that's right, two buses - an express and a local - that run every 5-10 minutes and get to the metro in 10-15 minutes. and right down the street from that is another local bus. so now there are three ways for me to be lazy. i still like to walk now and then, but it's so nice not to show up to work a sweaty mess; and i think my coworkers appreciate it, too. thank you, nikki, for changing my life.

*i know some of you who live around here will be tempted to scoff and say, how could you NOT know about this stop? how could you even think it's hidden? but, to you i say, can it. and then i say, go down the stairs in the archway and glance to the right. can you see the bus stop? well, i couldn't. now look left. see? see? and if you're reading this in the winter, when there are no leaves on the trees, you're cheating.

yesterday...

i bought more running clothes.

remnants of a label

best if used by (second generation), 2007

drypoint on wood on handmade kozo paper and found objects cast in resin

pint size

a few years ago, two of my artist friends and i discovered that we all use jars in our work and that our work harmonized together quite well.  we put together an exhibit titled, remnants of a label.  i couldn't figure out what to make for this exhibit. i did use jars, but none of my current artwork really applied to this concept. through experimentation and desperation, best if used by was born.  here's an excerpt from my thesis that explains the work: 

In the remnants of a label series, I floated small prints inside of resin cast in mason jars and then broke the jar away. The jars are important in referencing the feminine tradition of preserving. I used to help my mother preserve the apples that we picked from the trees in our back yard. I also remember the many jars of different foods lining the shelves in my grandmother's pantry, needing some dusting before being opened for consumption. My jars are an unpolished amber color, as if they'd been sitting on a shelf for a long time, perhaps past the expiration date. Have these traditional roles expired? The prints inside the jars relate to self. Do these jars preserve or trap me within the traditional role? What would happen if I break from that role? I also think of how my heritage has shaped, molded and marked me, as the glass jar has the resin.

my must-haves

i started to write a comment on miss kitti's post, but it outgrew the comment section, so i decided to make it my own. imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, right?  so here are my weaknesses. i will also steal everyone else's comments, especially the electrolysis. never shave again? sign me up.  i also wish i didn't have to sleep or eat. except i really like food (lately in strange combinations) so that one would never work. 

but really, aside from diet coke (totally a headache cure, kitti, i'm with you all the way) i have a major weakness for sports equipment and art supplies.  i love love love buying running clothes and shoes, backpacking and camping gear, swimming stuff...you name it. it's an investment, no? (so i tell myself when the credit card bill comes. and then i comfort myself with thoughts of the frequent flier miles i earned with each "investment.") i most recently indulged in climbing shoes and a harness. boxing gloves are probably next; i already have the wraps. but i need a place to box. (details, details) i entertained the idea of buying a punching bag, but i have no place to hang it. i most desperately want a bicycle. a hybrid. yes, yes, i already own a serviceable bike...from 1993. and i'm not exaggerating. i bought it with the money i saved from my paper route. so i deserve a new one. especially since i've worked so much overtime lately...

it is literally impossible for me to go into an art store and come out empty-handed. (i think i've done it once, but i was with a friend. and she bought some items that i'd helped her pick out, so it doesn't count. i will always find some paint, pens, squeegee, paper, paint, chalk pastels, pencils, sketchbooks, book cloth, paint, wood, stretchers, paint, canvas, fabric, paint or some kind of goo that makes something else do something cool. i would love a printing press. this one. i did recently acquire a studio. that deserves a post all its very own. oh, did i mention paint? 

also, i wish i could sing. like really belt it like aretha or a fine frenzy. ok she doesn't really belt it cause it's not her style. but she could if she wanted.

adventures in winking

a couple of girlfriends and i meet periodically to check out the dc art scene and eat delicious food. we talk about all kinds of things, catch up on each others’ lives, laugh, joke, tell stories, vent. we make up rules: it’s girls only; its refreshing to be around such vibrant, intelligent, happy women. you have to hold a fork to talk. recently, we came up with the winking challenge. we have to wink at random strangers we find attractive. or maybe not strangers. it’s an exercise in flirtation. back in the day, i was such a good flirt that i earned the official “best flirt*” title in my byu** ward. i’m not sure what’s happened since then, but we can delve into my dating neuroses another day, another post. don’t hold your breath.


anyway...

melanie and i went to the nats game last night after i victoriously replied to her email first and won her extra ticket (but not her heart; this isn't that kind of story). we were slightly disappointed that we were sitting between two old men on my left and a senior partner in her firm and his wife, on melanie's right. it meant that our flirtatious plan of asking whatever cute boys were around us how to scorekeep wasn't going to work. so instead, i attempted to remember my little league scorekeeping skills from days of yore (and failed pretty miserably) until the gentleman to my left loaned me his scorecard so i could catch up (we'd missed the top of the first). he struck up a conversation and offered me a beer. later, after melanie and i returned from a 3-inning winking-slash-food run with dogs, diet coke and gelato, but no successful winks (seriously, doesn't ANYone make eye contact anymore???), my new friend struck up more conversation. he asked for my business card and gave me his phone number, inviting melanie and i to the carlisle for dinner sometime in the future. i'm supposed to call him and leave a message if he's not there. he made sure to tell me it was ok to call. about three times. keep in mind this guy could be my grandfather. maybe he forgot he'd already told me. he was also worried that i'd lose the score card that he'd written his number on. as soon as our new boyfriends left after the 7th inning stretch, melanie proceeded to tell the partner and his wife about our exploits. i'm not sure if they thought it was humorous, strange or disgusting, but after rumors on the appalachain trail that my dad and i were dating when we hiked together, i guess nothing really surprises me. again i digress. when melanie and i left, her co-worker's wife made sure to tell us to have fun on our geriatric date. now that was nice. but – ew. and that's not the end. melanie and i metro'd home because i don't have a car, she hadn't driven to her firm that day and we'd gone straight to the game from work. i'm pretty sure the boys checking us out on the metro didn't have cars either, cause i'm pretty sure they weren't old enough to drive. i mean, i guess appealing to all ages has its advantages, but um, seriously. i mean really. seriously.

*not biggest flirt, best flirt. note the distinction.
**to clarify: i did not attend byu. ok i did, as a visiting student and then as a non-degree student when i lived in utah for the two years between undergrad and grad school. and i also attended a byu ward while i was there.

okay okay oKAY!

i knew i wasn't going to be good at this...

so, after a loooooong hiatus, here are some of the best lines from Sacrament meeting yesterday. to be followed (fingers crossed) by more interesting things.

1. "I don't know half of you half as well as I should like, and I like less than half of you half as well as you deserve." (this was the opening line in her talk.)

2. "We're Mormons; back in the 1800s we INVENTED moving!" (his response to a friend's plea for help moving.)

and then i ate enchiladas made by my lovely friends miluska and kevin and watched the olympics. sadly, i missed the men's 4x100 free relay. thank heaven for the internet. however did we get along without it?

a little list

1. i made another batch of brownies last night. less than 12 hours later, they're gone.

2. i think i've exceeded my mother in my blog-stalking. i'm starting to get impatient when anyone's blog reaches 24 hours without being updated. sick.

3. i still can't figure out jamie's or brian's word games on the brilliant cousin's blog.

4. i really like not working.

5. i'm hungry.

6. i'm really really very tired of not having a car. it makes self-sufficience difficult and planning difficulter.

7. is sufficience a word? the blog editor doesn't think so.

my kryptonite

my eye is twitching

i just spent the last hour trying to customize my blog. and i'm very frustrated with the lack of options.  just when i get the colors to harmonize, i decide i need a new template. then i have to redo the colors. and then the fonts aren't quite right. or the page elements aren't balanced properly. or this link stands out too much. or i can't see the blog titles. or something's too bright and it just throws the whole thing off. and my title is still in the wrong place and it makes me shudder when i look at it.  and also, i need a coke.  meh*

*my texas roommates and i used to use this when there were just no words left to describe our stress or desperation. the diaz trio seems to have a similar fake word.  theirs is pretty good, too.

in case you were wondering...

about my blog title "kite strings."  in grad school i wrote some vignettes and made some prints* about alex, which came to be known as "the kite stories."  here they are:

Me and Alex and Dad flew a kite at the part across the street. I wanted to hold the kite all by myself. Alex got to. Dad finally let me. He said don't let go! But the wind made the kite heavy and pulled it out of my hands. It flew into the lake. It was a red kite.

I went to play in the woods with Alex but I saw two eyes watching me from the bushes. I ran all the way back home and told Mom. She said I shouldn't let a 'possum scare me. But now I feel those eyes on me all the time.

Grandma told me her tummy is big like that cause she swallowed a watermelon. I bet that hurt.

Mrs. Vincent gets mad when we turn around and talk in line. She said if we do, she'll take our mouths and sew them to the backs of our heads. She said it happened to a boy once. But that wouldn't help. Then we could talk without turning around.

Me and Alex won some goldfish at the fair. We brought them home in baggies. Mom put them in Mason jars so they could swim around. And we fed them every day. But they still died. Mom gave us spoons to bury them in the garden. Just like we buried Alex in the mountain.

Mrs. Vincent told us our pictures were boring. She took my paintbrush and made a dippy sky. So I made a red sun. The other kids saw it and told Mrs. Vincent. She wanted to know why I didn't make it yellow. I don't paint red suns anymore.

It takes a long time to walk around the block to Emily's house. So sometimes I walk the back fence instead. I have to be careful. I don't want to fall.

Graham Glauser was riding his bike in the street. I saw the car knock him over. It bent his bike and he cried. There was blood in his hair.

Erin and Angie's swing set fell over. Me and Alex wanted to go see. Dad said no. We sat on top of the fence and watched. Then Alex jumped into the yard. But he stayed by the fence. Then he went to see the swing set. So I followed him. We were right by our yard, but we still got in trouble.

Mom and Dad wanted us to go with them to the funeral home to see Alex. Abby sat on a chair outside and cried. Amanda and I sat on the couch across the room and watched. That's not Alex. He's too stiff. It isn't him.

They shut the coffin and now I'll never see Alex again. Mom stroked his hair and straightened his tie. She kissed his face. She told us to say goodbye too. I wanted to touch him, but that isn't my brother. My brother is in the mountains.

We followed the coffin outside. His friends loaded it into the hearse. It was sunny and very cold.

*i'll post some of these eventually.

filling in the holes - the indy 387

i just discovered that people have left me comments. it was very exciting.  as a thank you, i will now proceed to fill in some of the black holes from the past few months...in the order that they come into my head, which has nothing to do with chronology.

"the indy 387"

i mentioned in "the yellow ones don't stop" that my suitcase had arrived from indianapolis. i was there from april 28 - may 22 working on a trial. it was not fun.  i did get to stay in a pretty sweet hotel. unfortunately, i totaled 387 hours that month and averaged 3.5 hours of sleep per night so i didn't really get to enjoy the massive, intensely comfortable king bed. i'll tell ya, though, those 3.5 hours i DID get to sleep in the bed...heaven.  i watched zero tv.  ok i lied. the day i left i watched about 20 minutes of oprah.  i also watched part of the indianapolis mini-marathon and the kentucky derby. but i have no idea what is happening with jim and pam or who won american idol.  here are some enjoyables from the trip, utilizing the bullet list that is so trendy amongst our family blogosphere right now: 

• running with katie (a senior partner) and meghan (a junior associate). i only ran with them a few times in the entire month, but they were lovely runs.
  
• meeting obama. yes. i shook his hand and he chatted with our group for about 10 minutes around 11pm after a gruelling campaign schedule. he has my vote.
• seeing ironman with frank (a senior partner), who reminds me a lot of dad.
• eating dinners with the trial team, at the best restaurants in indy, for free
• going to church with dean (in-house counsel for the client), who is also lds
• learning how the law REALLY works. it isn't just about who's right and who's wrong. there are so many rulings that happen before a case even goes to trial. there was a lot of evidence that we weren't allowed to present and terms we weren't allowed to use. it was interesting to see how the attorneys restructured their arguments (sometimes on the fly) because of a ruling that came down years ago, months ago, last night or immediately from the bench.
• flying to utah for a short (36 hour) visit on the client's dime (don't worry, it was on the up and up) and going shopping with abby, max, amanda and mom. damage was definitely done.
• winning the case. the client was so happy he promised to fly us anywhere in the continental US for a celebratory dinner in a few months. he also flew everyone else home on a private jet the next morning. i could've gone with them, but wanted to get home to go to the beach.

so that's all for now. stay tuned for more in the series "filling in the holes." right now i'm going to go jump on my sleeping roommate and make her run with me.

the yellow ones don't stop

i moved. so now i have to take the bus to the metro.  the first day i waited 30 minutes for a bus, which took me in the wrong direction and extended my commute by about 20 minutes, making me late for work.

in order to catch the correct bus home, i looked on the metro site, which directed me to the 10A bus from the pentagon city metro stop. Thirty minutes later, an inquiry at pentagon city revealed that i was actually supposed to get off at the pentagon stop. by that time, the 10A had quit running and i was stuck lugging my 50lb suitcase (which had just arrived at my office from indianapolis) the 1 mile home.

so the next day i printed the schedules and poured over them studiously. i still missed the first bus by about 30 seconds. i wasn't worried, though. i'd come out early, just in case such a situation should arise. i also knew that 2 other buses should be by in the next 10 minutes. so i took out my book and made myself comfortable on the bench. as the next bus approached, i stood up and, to my surprise, it didn't even slow down. i stared after it, bewildered, then sat down on the bench and pulled out my trusty schedules, thinking i'd probably misread them. but NO! it WAS supposed to stop, as was the next bus, which also blew by me, causing my skirt to swirl dangerously.  i, once again, waited a total of 30 minutes for the bus and was late for work. 

on the way home, i got off the metro at the pentagon stop, but in trying to find the correct bus, once again missed the 10A. the other buses that run by my new place were on the other end of the depot. rather than risk missing all of them and then missing the next 10A, i waited 15 minutes. i got on the 10A, missed my stop and got home 30 minutes late.

now i walk to and from the metro. it takes me 30 minutes.

the black hole blogger

so i'm still getting used to this blogging thing. i honestly can't say how good i'll be at this. ok i KNOW how good i'll be at it...and the answer is not good at all. there will probably be large black holes in my blog, at least until my job stops taking over my life. but before the job, it was grad school (oh i miss you, art! sigh). i don't think life ever slows down. i did finally discover how to add elements. surprisingly easy. i even managed it before june. my goal is to take pictures so this hole isn't so black and boring. 

colbert's word of the day

kinda funny. especially considering my last post. click here to see what i mean...

"interesting" article...

my roommate jamila found this article on the colonial listserve and was reading it when i got home from work. so of course i had to read it and put my two cents in.  in the author's opinion, single middle-aged women are not married because he wasn't tall enough or didn't love dogs or something silly like that. i mean, seriously, give us a little credit, lady! i personally, would rather be single and happy than in a miserable marriage.  i'm also unclear about what she actually thinks "settling" is. i'd love to hear what you married people think...