ZippyLand

Merry Merry Christmas

I'm a thousand miles away from where I've been spending Christmas my whole life, and I certainly feel the distance...at least I can say that it is much warmer outside than I'm used to. It's still been a good Christmas and I watched Holiday Inn last night to enjoy the mood. Merry Christmas to all my family & my peeps - I'm signing off for a couple weeks until our return from paradise, i mean, ahem, a lovely casa in Taxco and the Guanacaste region of Costa Rica. So exciting!!

I haven't completely finalized the list (I have 5 hours to decide), but books in the runing to take with me are:

2 newest copies of ReadyMade & Budget Living (mags)
Exploring Costa Rica - Fodor's 2001
Costa Rica - Fodor's 2004
The Best American Travel Writing 2003
the elements of sufism - shaykh fadhlalla haeri
The Master Butcher's Singing Club - Louise Erdrich
The Best American Mystery Stories 2003
The Disappearance of the Outside - Andre Codrescu

Also, books that are hardcover or too heavy to really take but still in the running:

The Golden Bough - Sir James George Frazer (thanks, Tom & Julie & fam!!)
A Short History of Nearly Everything - Bill Bryson
Orientalism - Edward Said
Michael Connelly - Chasing the Dime

And of course, the blank journal. Bye!

Going through old emails...

And I found this forward. It made me laugh. And this way I don't have to annoy anyone by sending it to them.

When I was a kid adults used to bore me to tears with their tedious lectures about how hard things were when they were growing up; what with walking twenty-five miles to school every morning uphill both ways through year 'round blizzards carrying their younger sibling on their backs to their one-room schoolhouse where they maintained a straight-A average despite their full-time after-school job at the local textile mill where they worked for 35 cents an hour just to help keep their family from starving to death!

And I remember promising myself that when I grew up there was no way in hell I was going to lay a bunch of crap like that on kids about how hard I had it and how easy they've got it! But....Now that I've reached the ripe old age of twenty-nine, I can't help but look around and notice the youth of today. You've got it so f$ckin' easy!

I mean, compared to my childhood, you live in a goddamned Utopia! And I hate to say it but you kids today you don't know how good you've got it! I mean, when I was a kid we didn't have The Internet--we wanted to know something, we had to go to the goddamned library and look it up ourselves! And there was no email! We had to actually write somebody a letter--with a pen!--and then you had to walk all the way across the street and put it in the f$ckin' mailbox and it would take like a week to get there!

And there were no MP3s or Napsters! You wanted to steal music, you had to go to the goddamned record store and shoplift it yourself! Or we had to wait around all day to tape it off the radio and the DJ'd usually talk over the begining and f$ck it all up!

You want to hear about hardship? You couldn't just download porn! You had to bribe some homeless dude to buy you a copy of "Hustler" at the 7-11! It was either that or jackoff to the lingere section of the JC Penney catalog! Those were your options!

We didn't have fancy sh$t like Call Waiting! If you were on the phone and somebody else called they got a busy signal! And we didn't have fancy Caller ID Boxes either! When the the phone rang, you had no idea who it was it could be your boss, your mom, a collections agent, your drug dealer, you didn't know!!! You just had to pick it up and take your chances, mister!

And we didn't have any fancy Sony Playstation videogames with high-resolution 3-D graphics! We had the Atari 2600! With games like "Space Invaders" and "Asteroids" and the graphics sucked a$s! Your guy was a little square! You had to use your imagination! And there were no multiple levels or screens, it was just one screen forever! And you could never win, the game just kept getting harder and faster until you died!

Just like LIFE! When you went to the movie theater there no such thing as stadium seating! All the seats were the same height! A tall guy sat in front of you, you were screwed! And sure, we had cable television, but back then that was only like 20 channels and there was no onscreen menu! You had to use a little book called a TV Guide to find out what was on! And there was no Cartoon Network! You could only get cartoons on Saturday morning... ...D'ya hear what the f$ck I'm saying!?! We had to wait ALL WEEK, you spoiled little bastards!

That's exactly what I'm talking about! You kids today have got it too easy! You're spoiled, I swear to God! You guys wouldn't last five minutes back in 1984!

Heehee.

R.I.T.M.

What a crazy-ass show that was last night! We got on the lucky train and won ourselves free tickets to Buzz off of a college radio station that our friend Alex ('LXG') was spinning at. Rabbit in the Moon did a crazy hour-long show that was entertaining for both the groove factor and the eye candy -

Confucius set the hard, bumping mood of the night, and Bunny worked the crowd by throwing out Bunny Money & blue & red glow-wands and changing costumes multiple times. Videos played between costume changes; once, he lumbered out in an Oscar-the-Grouch-meets-an-ape suit; then he came to life in a body suit of white Christmas lights (above) that could fade in and out or blink. The striped octupus outfit was my favorite, as you couldn't tell which arms were really his - and to top it off, he came out with an iron mask that he welded while wearing to spray an impressive amount of sparks off the stage, then pulled out a girl in the front row to brave it herself, and as the finale, entraced the room playing a didgeridoo with a mic at the end of it, surrounding the crowd with its haunting, primitive noise.

It's unusual to have any theatrics in the DJ scene we inhabit - the last time I remember a crowd that excited was at a party w/ Q-bert where a camera marked his every finger flip and scratch. Amazing.

Great show - good to see you all, Squirrels ( ;

p.s. David, you should have been there! You would have loved it! (You've probably seen them before).

Hrumph

So I'm a big whiny baby today, for a myriad of reasons and not all can be expressed in words...one of the main reasons I'm feeling crazy, though, is because I had another moment of being a 'Venus' (as in, Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus). I have some sort of huge mental block against this that personally comes from growing up a tomboy.

Now, when I write this, I know I am going to sound ridiculous, because that's what dumb fights always sound like to the outside world. But that is OK. The last Lord of the Rings movie comes out today, and in my mind, seeing it was going to follow the tradition of the past two LOTR movies - opening night (or close to it); seeing it for the first time, together; romantic night out, etc. etc. Well, that was my Venus moment. This tradition was casually swept away and was not recognized as a two-year tradition by anyone but me.

Which brings me to another rumination in this holiday season...the ancient history of traditions. Why do traditions have such a hold on people, to the point that straying from them feels blasphemous? In my mind swirl all the yearly rights-of-passage into the new year happening in my family's home - the frayed but beautiful Advent calendar w/ accompanying story that glows if you put it up to the light, the Christmas stocking knitted for me by my aunt when I was little, the holiday records from the '50s or '60s with the funny version of 'Rudolph', etc. etc. Like family movies, these traditions are special only to those involved but somehow tap into Jung's ancient collective unconscious, or, on a more personal level, keep firm the ties that bind me to my far-away family.

In the absence of being close to those who understand the subtleties of these unique silent nods of appreciation to each other, I have tried to form my own new traditions to those I feel and am physically close to now. I have tried to recreate some of the old ones in my current home. And sometimes, the things I think are traditions are just silly little things that aren't really worthy of the importance I give them. Is that the Venus in me, or more than that? Is it in my family blood? Now that I think about it, and imagine everyone clustered in my grandparent's warm kitchen, playing Farkle, I'm not quite sure. It seems that the farther away I am, the more I feel the tight hugs of tradition squeezing my arms, guiding my words and mind.

Winter's a-comin'

Although our weather is way too gross for fall...but anyway, in order to focus on the cheeriness of the season, you can visit Make a Snowflake*. We had an intense storm last night as I trudged to the car in the late night hour post-parties, but of course this morning it had turned to rain. Which somehow has still prompted area schools to close school tommorow. I don't understand.

I have an extreme desire to ramble now...guess I'll hold off. And allow my brain the sleep it so desires.

*Link generously provided by a squirrel friend who I can't identify due to a brain freeze. Thanks ( :

Nightlight

I was just coming in from the 30º, clear night sky and looked up
to see a swath of light surrounding the moon, almost as if a forceful sneeze had
shot a hazy white ring around it.

I drove on the back streets (all stop signs except 1 stoplight) and
fell in love with all the old houses again...there's just something
about beautiful old houses and the nighttime, and imagining everything
to be peaceful and at rest except for you, the night owl, taking it
all in.

And then shutting off my headlights to see the frozen water in the
marsh, and the mysterious moon...just a little peace.

2004!

Go Dean! My buddy David has good commentary on this new election twist.

And Al is looking stiffer than ever...

Blog Bum

Hrm, what's happenin'?

Doing a lot better than normal for this time of year (i.e., almost the shortest day of the year). Although consciously too much sunlight makes me grouchy, subconciously the Vitamin D is working its magic, along w/ all the potlucks. I have made a realization about cooking - that (for me) the key is the timing, and preparation makes a true difference. I have also realized that if you poach a couple of eggs in one of those microwave egg poachers, and leave it in a plastic bag that you've brought home from work, your cats will remove it from the bag and then go crazy for however long you leave it there trying to pry it open. Hahahahahaha! Who wishes they had opposable thumbs now?

What else? Went w/ Mandy, Ernie (see links), Meg & newly-met Vedant to the Phillips Collection on Saturday afternoon which was warm & cozy and featuring the Surrealism and Modernism exhibition. Some very striking pieces in the collection; I gravitated to Max Ernst's Europe After the Rain. He pressed pieces of glass to the oil to create the hollowed-out, dilapidated rock towers & formations on the canvas - over a period of two years. How does anyone have so much passion and patience at the same time?

Sunday was full of attention towards the house, rounding out the weekend with en ever-popular drinking game and of course, the très busy Monday.

What's not happening?

GRRRRR!!!!

I really, really truly can NOT think of anything else that could so easily raise my blood pressure of annoyance up as quickly as this game; except on those days when I am stuck in an episode of 'moron traffic day' in the DC area. So, not counting when I am in the car...

Maybe you're one of those lucky ones w/ some insane coordination skills. To you, I say blehhhhhhh and stick out my tongue. Hmph!

Case of the Mondays

Having just been absent from work for 5 days, I have the same feeling that pervades school when you return from winter vacation, and everyone is somehow insanely tired and perhaps ready to take a vacation from the vacation. My liver is certainly going to be taking some time off - many many thanks to Sprecher Brewery. We sampled some very tasty beer in generous quantities for a whopping $3, with commentary from the good ole' boy next to us who didn't understand the appeal of the 'motor oil' we were drinking and believed a REAL party only involved Michelob, Coors & Bud. His daughter seemed to have no problem w/ the offerings, though.

Other fun highlights...getting stopped on the quiet street by the state park by a 93 year-old woman who wanted us to help her stop her smoke alarm from beeping (needed a new battery)...the lovely, loud, racousness of a 30-person Thanksgiving at my Aunt & Uncle's house...the blowing snow that didn't accumulate (first of the season)...seeing my Grandparents...

Then I came home and went to bed and slept and slept and managed to be social on Sat. night, and then slept some more.

Only 24 days 'til the BIG vacation starts! Woo-hoo!