Girl at Mirror

Norman Rockwell

Soft, sweet

GRAZER: Chanda Hagen coaxes Matilda, a Babydoll miniature sheep, to feast on weeds in Clos Pepe’s Pinot Noir vineyard. (Stephen Osman / LAT)

From The Blood of Others, by Simone de Beauvoir

"You'll regret it," said Blumenfeld. "So you think that Hitler will stop at Austria? You'll see. France's turn will come."

Gauthier looked coldly at Blumenfeld. "Is it possible to stop a country from committing suicide? Everything that you've told us amounts to a suicide story."

He was so sure of his pacifism, so sure of himself. "I am a pacifist." He had given a definition of himself once and for all, he had only to act in accordance with his own idea of himself, neither looking to left or right, as if the road had been already marked out, as if the future had not, at every instant, been that gaping void.

It's fall

It doesn't rain so much these days. I can't believe the pope said that. Even if he was quoting.

I am planning to work this Sunday. Maybe I can trade it for a day off next week! And Neil and I will go rollerskating.

My contact lenses have been threatening me for about an hour. But first there were so many things that I had to do. Switching to glasses takes 1.5 minutes and, worse, requires a shift in thinking.

That's weird: If you're at the computer you can do different things, like read the news and alternately peruse jcrew.com, but on the other hand you're still at the computer. Like, if there was an fMRI of the brain during computer use, and you were reading a science article about water, would there be a greater alteration in brain patterns/areas if you A. got up to get a drink of water or B. created a new tab and checked out jcrew.com?

Speaking of Mrs. Hoff, am in complete support of these findings.

Monday.

I loathe about.com.

I wish I'd majored in classics.

I wish I'd majored in English and paid more attention.

"Some" is a really weird word.

I am meeting Anne at Yoga Hour for $4.

It will be an adventure because I don't know if Yoga Oasis takes debit.

Also, I don't have a mat.

Today's News

So would the prospective benefits of mandatory voting be worth the insult to our God-given freedoms to burn ballots and shirk the polls for Beavis and Butthead reruns? Further, I can't wait to reach into my plastic baggie next time I want to buy a soda or put on lipstick. Kate Spade should seize the market. Off to swallow group. Abracadabra, homes.

A Not Unattractive Site

Positive and enlightening inspiration for aspiring would-be writers everywhere:

Detective Bart Lasiter was in his office studying the light from his one small window falling on his super burrito when the door swung open to reveal a woman whose body said you've had your last burrito for a while, whose face said angels did exist, and whose eyes said she could make you dig your own grave and lick the shovel clean.

-Jim Guigli Carmichael, CA

For more rich and pithy selections, please click here.

Sunshine sleep

I am fixin' to take a blanket and book and water cup to the glider and read. A glider is like a swing, but it glides. I haven't read on the glider yet. Last week I tested its suitability by sitting on it a spell. I think the reading venture will be successful, so long as I don't get heat stroke. Whole nother pot o' worms.

Neil and I both got new contacts recently. Yesterday Neil moved a plant from the back room to the front room. It has leaves that resemble elephant ears. The veins are yellow and on some leaf parts they are red. I'm not sure it the red means that they are happy or unhappy. Neil said the plant clearly is dying and needs more light. I hope the new positioning is good for the plant. Today, Day 1, it looks sort of wilty on the ends and perky in the middle.

Soon we'll put the wedding pics online in a better format. Perhaps flickr. Recently I read The Accidental Tourist. Good book and it probably would be a useful read for anyone in grief. Also I read Bergdorf Blondes. Fair, and it probably would be a useful read for anyone who mistakenly has personal criteria for when it is and isn't OK to take a PJ. PJs are always OK.

I am thinking about making basmati and lentils tonight. My friend Anne said she just had that in L.A. and it was really good. Maybe I could add onions and cumin ... and potatoes? Are potatoes good in a crock pot-type rice cooker? Bye.

I just watched the last 20 min. of Oprah

D, Your Dosha is Vata

Creative and restless, you take in all of life's pleasures (maybe a little too much!). You're quick witted and very talkative, but you also tend to have a spotty memory. You tend to get very into ideas, people, and lifestyles... but only for a short time. It's difficult to hold your attention, and you sometimes feel (missing mystery word) with what life has to offer. With friends: You are very uncomfortable in new situations or with new people In love: You fall in and out of love very easily To achieve more balance: Live in a warm climate and spend some quiet time in nature

What's Your Dosha?

N, Your Dosha is Pitta

You have a quick mind, a gift for persuasion, and a sharp sense of humor. You have both the drive and people skills to be a very successful leader. Argumentative and a bit stubborn, you have been known to be a little too set in your ways. But while you may be biased toward your own point of view, you are always honest, fair, and ethical. With friends: You are outgoing and open to anyone who might want to talk to you In love: You are picky but passionate To achieve more balance: Be less judgmental of those around you, and take cool walks in the moonlight.

What's Your Dosha?

our camera takes blurry pics or, saturday night at sauce and(/or) n+d have a new car (thanks craig fam!)

some photos flickr didn't want

hi

A man wrote on my head in red crayon this morning: Death by 23 small x's. I am a zombie! It is sooooooo much easier to TCB when you have a weekday off, let me tell you, zombie or not. As of today: A. Neil is insured on our car. B. Our car is registered for another year, so the next time we get pulled over for having a 3/06 sticker, we can shout, "The new sticker is in the mail, suckaaaaa!" C. I will not be fired for the fact that my state licensure is up 6/30 and I have not yet sent in the renewal form, since Mary from ADHS said processing time is fast and they'll fax an advance copy of the new license. D. No fewer than 76 cards are waiting blankly to be transformed into thank-you notes. E. The post office has confirmed that it's not holding onto copies of Neil's "The Economist," which apparently didn't come during our two weeks away.

And as of yesterday, we found a house to rent! It is really cool. The walls are different colors, including blue, green and light yellow, I think. The colors are classy -- not too primary or too light. Kind of Ralph Lauren Santa Fe. And there's a yard! And many windows, including in the bathroom. And wood floors. And it is situated just NE of Grant and Campbell, which is farther from our jobs but in a lovely neighborhood that is jogging-friendly and walking distance from Bookman's, Yoga Oasis, sushi, Indian, Vietnamese, coffee, etc. Right now I am completing my CEUs (continuing education units) online and learning about the demonstrated efficacy of lingual strengthening exercises on the swallowing efficiency of people with ALS, Parkinson's, ataxic dysarthria, spastic cerebral palsy and closed head injuries. Please don't hesitate to submit any questions.

Queen's Birthday

We are married! The front quarters of the apartment smell like Raid. Neil arrived from work early in the afternoon and found the kitchen teeming with ants. At work, probably around the same time, Diana suddenly pictured "ANTS!" as a good name for a horror flick. This demonstrates ESP. Or the ability to remember the names of films made barely 8 years ago.

Marriage is nice, so far. My mind is a delicious soup, secondary to fatigue. Thank you, friends, family and the weather, for a lovely wedding. We are happy.

I just read James M. Cain's Mildred Pierce and found it highly enjoyable. You should read it too.

We got free beer.

I wish it would rain.

I like walking.

I like flowers.

I like the sun.

I saw a ferret in a tree.

how bout a little community service?

is it just me or are these sentences ridiculously excessive?

cinco de freakin' mayo

... on which I am doing absosmurfly nothing. Oh wait, I just got up to turn off the hallway light. Electricity takes oil. Also I am listening to a playlist. I might make a cd. I might make it tonight. I also might take a bath, but I probably won't because it's too ... complicated. Same for playing the guitar.

Neil came home between news shows. I like him. I wonder what the inside story is on Porter Goss's resignation. I wonder who will replace him. I wonder why Ambien causes people to "sleepdrive." I read today that the lead singer of Joy Division, Ian Curtis, had epilepsy. He had tonic-clonic (grand mal) and also absence (petit mal) seizures, and sometimes would experience them onstage. FYI, the melody line for Jason Collett's "I'll Bring the Sun" sounds exactly like that of New Order's "Age of Consent," which is why I will put them next to each other on my special, special cd.

Also tonight I learned that more than 300,000 have been killed in the Darfur conflict. What is our presence there? Let me find out.

NYT: KHARTOUM, Sudan, May 5 — After a frenetic all-night negotiating session, the Sudanese government and the largest of the Darfur rebel groups signed a hard-fought peace agreement on Friday intended to end three years of misery and bloodshed in Dafur. But two much smaller rebel groups angrily demurred, leaving open the possibility that they would threaten the accord.

...

Robert B. Zoellick, the American deputy secretary of state who helped drive the parties to this partial victory, cautiously applauded the agreement, but also acknowledged that the failure to win unified support "is a reality and poses dangers."

I don't know what our presence is. Maybe mostly charity organizations.

Today I was thinking about doing one of those 6-week "boot camps," where you go to the gym some 5 days a week and run and lift and work out to the point of almost throwing up. It would be fun to build muscle because I don't have much. It also would be fun to make quilts or paint. I would like to take a class. I would like to sing in a chorus. I would like ... to do something besides go to work and come home and sometimes run errands. I like to be outside. The sunshine makes me so happy. All day long I was happy. Hey, I just noticed a typo in the New York Times! D'oh!

friend

Paul Myers

thank you for smoking

yesterday the ned faction (neil, eliza, diana) kicked off the new year by seeing its first film of 2006. the eliza constituent may already have seen an '06 movie, but she is free to submit a correction. oh yeah, and neil already saw 'v for vendetta.' anyway, neil thought 'thank you for smoking' was cute for an amateur director. eliza thought the satirical factor should have been amped a bit. her expectations were raised in the nicotine-patch scene, then flattened by the non-farcical events that followed. diana thought the film was good at staying within its scope of illustrating a microcosm of the theory and application of capitalism, without being grandiose. and ned as a whole thought aaron eckhart was a babe.

my bones are half-asleep

what a cool weekend! ryan and jessica wed as one and it was a privilege to witness. last night I dreamed I had befriended a man who was a sociopath. I was nearly sure of it. his game was to act as the "intermediary" between suave men and women who may conceivably find them attractive. He would tell a woman that a certain man had been thinking about her and wanted to meet her, despite the fact that he never gave her two glances, as far as she could tell. THEN, when the woman bit, he would set the two up, and the attractive man would probably eat the woman or something; I hadn't actually figured it all out yet. I protested any meeting with any man, on the grounds that A. I didn't care and B. I was engaged, but I found myself in a car with the sociopath and he wasn't about to let me out. Luckily he hadn't discovered the "child lock" button so I unlocked the passenger side and jumped out, running, and the alarm went off shortly thereafter. anyway, the sky is gray and the day seems half-asleep, too. mind: off. shower: late. swallow group: beckoning.

the question of innate aggressiveness, per EB

But we were born of risen apes, not fallen angels, and the apes were armed killers besides. And so what shall we wonder at? Our murders and massacres and missiles, and our irreconcilable regiments? Or our treaties whatever they may be worth; our symphonies however seldom they may be played; our peaceful acres, however frequently they may be converted into battlefields; our dreams however rarely they may be accomplished. The miracle of man is not how far he has sunk but how magnificently he has risen. We are known among the stars by our poems, not our corpses.

Robert Ardrey, African Genesis, 1961

good morning