swampy

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Summer Narcissism

I'm spending a month in DC currently.  It is hot but the breeze I get on my $35 cruiser bike helps.  The jerky brakes also keep me alert.

Today after convincing myself that I didn't actually feel as bad as I had imagined I would (repercussions from a friend's birthday celebration last night) I had a great telephone pow-wow with C.  She inspired me to drag the jerky $35 bike downstairs and ride ride ride to the Bloomingdale farmer's market where I have acquired a taste for the baguettes a local bakery sells.  The salesman is a sweet man and he always greets me with "Bonjour!" and "Merci Madame."  I get to pretend I'm in a sunny Paris for those few moments and for the remainder of my adventures with my baguette sticking out of my bag (half the fun of buying a baguette).

I helped a new friend with his vermicompost.  Undertaking an urban garden is somewhat of a depressing thing but if one has enough energy it can be rewarding.  I watched him dig up some pretty bad looking soil only to find that bricks had been laid about three inches below the dirt.  Now the bricks line the garden so no one will step on the plants.  Getting the worms out of the compost is kind of difficult.  I ended up just trying to pick out the "dirt" and putting the worms back.  I'm really thrilled about this compost because it means I can save my own food scraps for the worms.  I haven't gotten to do that in too long.  I need to start my own compost.

I returned home, ate a mango (great mango deal on Saturday) and went back out to meet a friend at the National Gallery to see the special exhibition of Allen Ginsberg's photographs. (the National Gallery's site is down?!  That link actually is important, maybe more than the nga.gov site)  Most of the photos were portraits and so interesting.  He provided commentary on each one at some point- it was very intimate.  I find it amazing that artists of that caliber all would know each other and be pals- though it isn't surprising.  You know, just hanging out with Jack Kerouac, Bob Dylan, other homies.  Stopping in the National Gallery also reminded me how awesome the Smithsonian system is.  You can walk in off the street, turn a few corners and walk right up to this, or this.  Thanks America!

We left the museum and were instantly entertained by a drag show going on in front of the National Gallery as part of the Gay Pride celebrations going on this week.  The city breathes!

Santa, get behind me!

tonight I got my craft on and it was so therapeutic. Making lino prints is soothing and not complicated. I need to be doing that way more often. It's such a beautiful process to think up an image and draw it and carve it and eventually paint it and print it and see if the print is what your image was in your head. My artistic endeavors very rarely turn out like they are in my head except with lino prints. I want to create an entire collection of prints and make stationary and sell it. If I'm going to be starving all the time I may as well be an artist too.

I was vegan all day today. Yesterday was foiled by honey. I think I'm going to be somewhat of a lazy vegan- if I can try to hold up through most of Christmas it will be awesome. I am definitely going to eat the candy in my stocking and whatever non-meaty food my mom cooks...

Tomorrow I am going to run a new loop at lunch. I'm really excited about it. I want to sign up for a 10K that is at the end of January but I'm not sure if I can do very well in it since it's so close. Thus far I've just been running for mental health reasons but I need something else to motivate me. I really would like to run a 10K- I know I can do it but I want to do it and be proud of it.

My room has become a case of complete squalor. My level of organization almost always reflects my mental state. I am happy to report that I am moving at the end of the month to a house a couple blocks from where I currently live... so if all else fails I will have to clean up to pack.

visitors, thanksgiving, ringtones

I've finally really started to calm down after the move, the new job, etc. I know this because I've started making themed playlists again. In college I made playlists of songs about mountains, songs with clapping in them, stuff like that. Now I'm working on a playlist related to public transportation (or travel in general) and a playlist with songs that include something about Washington in them. When they fill themselves out I'll be sure to report my findings.

So since my last post I've had several visitors. I hope that my life in Washington always has this many visitors, every weekend someone new comes up for one reason or another! RW came up a while ago for a little and we combed Georgetown for things that were remotely affordable (ha!)

My boyfriend was up to visit for the past week- I had to work for a lot of it though which was disappointing and also disturbing. I've never had to ditch someone for entire days like that. I've always been able to move my schedule around. It was nice anyway, we ate lots of good food and explored some great stuff. Unbeknownst to us, there was a Georgia O'Keeffe and Ansel Adams exhibit at the Smithsonian American Art Museum that we happened to stumble upon. That worked out really nicely since my boyfriend is a big fan of Ansel Adams (consequently I am becoming more appreciative, too). There is also a nice folk art section in the American Art Museum, I'm just waiting for the day when our beloved South Carolina Chicken Man (Ernest Lee) gets some of his chickens in there. When I bought a couple chickens from him in October he (Ernest) talked to me for a long time about when he lived in DC and how bad the crime is. Apparently he used to work not far from my apartment!

I was introduced to Tryst (near Dupont Circle/Adams Morgan) by some college friends and I am a fan. Although the place was PACKED when we went, once you do find a seat you understand why no one wants to leave. It's a coffee shop / bar that is super mellow with cozy couches and free internet.

I also decided that I officially have a new favorite food. Panang Curry. You can get it in most Thai restaurants. It is AWESOME if you like the sweet/hot combination, kind of nutty, creamy, mmm so good.

So I flew home for Thanksgiving and I've been hanging out with my mom. It's nice spending time with her. Sometimes when I come home though, I get really really stressed out about nothing at all. Stress just pulses through me and I don't want to hang out with anyone and I don't want to listen to my mom talk and I am mean. It feels like I just need to get out or I want to get out of Columbia, even though I don't because I just got here. I have problems. A lot of my Thanksgiving felt like that. Some breaks aren't like that at all.

So I've been busy making my own ringtones- I usually just sample songs (usually the beginning of songs) on Wavepad and then transfer them to the phone. so far the best songs for ringtones are:

Crayons - Caribou (this has been G's ringtone for a long time, it is seriously the best)
Cemetery - Architecture in Helsinki
Spring 2008 - Architecture in Helsinki
Ready to Die - Andrew WK (only the very beginning of this one)

If you have any ideas for a good ringtone please comment!!!!!