the (l.) emily

A bit of news

2010-01-15T16:31:00.001-05:00

Last week I got a new job, which I started Monday. I am an “office assistant” for a small downtown firm. After being technically unemployed for six months, it felt very good to secure employment for myself.

It’s been quite an adjustment. The work is quite manageable, easy even. My predecessor still works for the company, and is happy to help me with any questions I have. I’ve been taking the bus to work, which is fairly efficient. The job is really pretty good for me at this point in life.

It’s had some interesting effects. For example, lately I have felt indescribable joy at small, simple things: putting on a thick, soft pair of cotton socks; taking a steaming hot shower; lying down and reading or watching television.

Something that has also given me pleasure is riding the bus – what a relief from the hassle of driving and parking, and what a budget-friendly way to get around.

This may sound odd, but I find it weird, and kind of uncomfortable, that the stock market opens and closes in the course of one of my workdays – basically that I’m in the same place that whole time. A larger problem is that many businesses (like the photo lab down the street from my house) are only open Monday-Friday from 9 to 5, preventing me from ever visiting them. (I do get an hour for lunch every day, but since I don’t drive it would be difficult to get anywhere and back in that time. It probably could be done, though.)

Overall I feel tired, but very pleased to be supporting myself again. I never thought I was capable of working full-time. That probably sounds lazy, but it’s true. This job is sort of easing me into it.

Even better, I have had a week to learn how to do things with the CEO out of town. He is apparently a little high-maintenance (the outgoing receptionist told me he needs a fresh cup of coffee every hour), but I don’t think it’s going to be anything unmanageable. I did get a feel for his personality during our interview and I don’t foresee any big problems.

Anyway, I just wanted to give sort of a life update. I know I’ve been absent for quite a while, and I plan to get back to blogging at least a couple times a month from here on out.

I am really excited about the weekend. I’ll have time to do laundry, go shopping (I have been craving a trip to Target and I need groceries), and relax. TGIF!

health

2009-09-09T21:54:00.009-04:00

My Uncle Vern is one of the only democrats in the family he came from. I have a close relationship with him and his daughter, my cousin Cathy.

This week we spoke via email. This afternoon, I asked him what he thought of the proposed health care legislation. Here is what he wrote back a little while ago. Joanne, his wife, just had a knee replacement done and is currently in the hospital recuperating.

Emily,
I just watched Obama's speech and the last part of it was as good an inspiring oration as I have heard. I support reform, particularly any way to clamp on insurers. I hear Republicans rant about government interference and as a Medicare recipient, I think they do a lot better than insurance companies. The time Joanne can stay in hospital and her rehab options are not her doctors decision but the insurance companies. No such concerns were asked about my treatment of [kidney] stones under Medicare. The ongoing political story is still compelling. There is as much hatred of Obama on the right wing rant as there was of Clinton. It seems that a portion of our population is so sure of their convictions, however misgotten they might be, that we will be required to hear it ad infinitum. I strongly believe in a pendulum theory of human behavior so I hope that still in my lifetime we will see the swing back to civilized discourse, not the loony toons that seem to be unavoidable.
Vern

Reflections and Fantasies

2009-07-01T11:18:00.000-04:00

It’s been one year since I graduated, and I’ve been reflecting on the experience of college and thinking more and more about the future. (The recent loan-repayment development has me thinking about it as well.)

Something I can’t get out of my mind is the $40,000 I owe in student loans.

I thought that getting a degree would free me. It did, in a way; I feel I accomplished something important and I definitely learned a lot. But the problem is, I now feel I’ll be stuck working some job I hate for the next 10+ years just to get rid of this debt. It is a huge burden.*

I dream of moving to Europe. It’s just that, if I try to think realistically, it would be exponentially more difficult to find work there (particularly the countries I’m most interested in, which are Italy and France) than here in the States. It’s also generally more expensive to live in Europe. And there are many other factors that might make life difficult in, say, Italy (the language barrier, for one - which would take a lot of Italian lessons to surmount).

At this point, I have a journalism degree, little job experience, and no money. On paper, that’s it.

I can barely make payments on my loans right now (most are in deferment), in addition to barely paying my other living expenses. I owe my parents an absurd amount of money. And I let friends buy me meals a lot – admittedly without much guilt.

I’d like to think that if I didn’t have this debt, I could just get up and leave. Or, to put it in different terms: I could work for a while, save a little money, then get up and leave.

I could sell my furniture, pare down my wardrobe, and go.

I think up schemes sometimes in my daydreams. (Being jobless provides a lot of time for such things.) I could teach English. I could market my photography/prints via the internet. I could write freelance. I could finally do something with my massive collection of audio recordings.

Of course it would never be easy or remotely simple. I have family and friends here; roots. A cat. Normality.

* * * * * * * *

I guess I’ve always been a dreamer. Recently I finished Summer by Edith Wharton, and I identified with the protagonist more than I should probably admit. She, Charity Royall, was definitely a dreamer – one to head off into the fields and lay in the grass for hours, never mind her duties at work. Unfortunately, one to not really protest when the boy she loved ran off with a prettier, more attractive young woman.

Such is life in rural 18th-century New England.

*The new law means that I should be able to make smaller payments on my loans; also, if I still have student loan debt 25 years after I finished school (when I'm 50!) it will be forgiven. The latter feature is merely depressing; the former kind of nice.

Well

2009-06-30T22:26:00.007-04:00

Coming to national PBS this fall. The website isn't quite up yet.

I had a pretty busy spring. I worked as a communications/office assistant to an independent filmmaker, which was basically a job that paid part-time but demanded full-time attention. I learned a lot, and got to work for a really interesting woman, but it's a relief to be done with our work (her film is done and coming out this September on national PBS). Hard to believe that even June has slipped through my fingers like sand.

So I'm going to get back to blogging, but keep your eyes peeled for changes around these parts. I plan to move the blog to WordPress in the next couple of months and shift its focus somewhat - or just create an all-new blog there to complement this one.

foodie memoirs

2009-04-20T18:52:00.006-04:00

Hi people! Nice to see you again.

Just thought I'd post about a couple of great books I've read lately. The first one is Julia Child's fabulous memoir about her time in France, called My Life in France. It's a really feel-good book, and the best part is its conversational, easy-to-read tone. Also, it's got photos taken by her husband, Paul Child, an excellent photographer. I read the book last year and loved it, and have since loaned it out to two friends, both of whom have loved it.

Several weeks ago, I checked Judith Jones' The Tenth Muse out from the library. Judith Jones has worked for Knopf for decades, and was Julia Child's editor. A really interesting person and a passionate cook. For whatever reason, I didn't even look inside the thing until last week. Since then, I've been hooked! So I'd highly recommend either of these for anyone interested in food, particularly in the history of America's foodie scene.

admittance of a 'guilty pleasure'

2009-04-05T01:04:00.003-04:00

12:30 p.m. Friday. At the library, after my friend returned to work from our lunch out, I found the two Arthur DVDs on hold in my name and went to check them out. I made sure no one was looking as I cheerfully inspected their contents and prepared to use a computer terminal for the check-out, avoiding human contact. Alas, I couldn't find my library card! It had somehow disappeared from my wallet. Distressed, I finally sauntered to the help desk and explained that I lost my card. The young man who was there (slender, about 22, bookish) checked my ID and efficiently scanned in the DVDs. "Enjoy!" he trilled as he handed them over.

Brianage

2009-04-03T00:42:00.002-04:00

David Clugston

This month's issue of Wired magazine features an article about brain mapping. I have to confess I don't usually read Wired - despite having subscribed for a few years, I generally give the magazines to my brother each month unopened. But this time the cover story (on power grids) caught my eye and I ended up reading almost the entire issue. (There's a good story about a diamond heist too.)

Anyway I just wanted to share this lovely photo of a couple brain slices. Warning: there is more bloody content on the page of the article. It's a bit gruesome but a really fascinating topic.

I will blog more soon, I promise! The new job has me bushwhacked.

my quiet life

2009-02-19T14:40:00.002-05:00

There are certain things - many things really - that I've recently realized I take for granted about my life, specifically regarding the city/location I call home. Considering the prospect of living halfway around the world for a year has made me think about this stuff in a new way.

One example is my cat. He is so much a part of my life that I often don't think about him much. It's automatic for me to glance over at him, curled in a ball on the sofa, to wake up early in the morning when he meows in my ear to be let outside, to hold and cuddle him as soon as he comes in so he can get on with his day (he requires this cuddling, not me, but I usually don't mind it), to let him sit on my lap as I use the computer and pet his extremely soft bright-orange fur. I like having him around.*

Second is the incredible cheapness of Cincinnati as a place to live. I live less than two miles from the center of downtown, but pay only $300** a month to rent a 350-square-foot studio apartment. Sure, it's basically only one room; my kitchen's tiny but I have a decent bathroom with tub. The house is 119 years old (high ceilings and big windows, check, plus exposed brick!), and the door and windows let out a lot of heat so my gas & electric bill isn't cheap. Still, my rent and utilities rarely top $400 a month. They're usually about $350. As a bonus, I can park my car right out on my little tree-lined street, often within 50 yards of my door. This is a good value. I will probably never live in a cheaper home, anywhere.

A third thing is my parents. Right now I live less than ten miles from their house, and it's nice to be able to drop by - especially now that Andy, my younger brother, has moved out (they're still adjusting to being empty nesters).*** I have a thing about the phone. I really dislike it. I'm very much an email person, but with my closest friends and family, I largely prefer in-person contact.

I'm a very solitary individual. I lead a mostly solitary life. I live alone (with aforementioned cat). I shop alone. I even go to movies and restaurants alone. I have just a few good friends, and a few close family members. But having those people around is quite nice. I would really miss them.

*Needless to say, if I were to take a job teaching in Asia for a year, Zachary would have to live with a friend that whole time. And I would have to, before leaving, find a friend who could and would house and love him, which wouldn't be easy. He's kind of high-maintenance.

**About five years ago, I got a summer job as a leasing agent at a large apartment complex. I learned a lot about square footage and leases and market values. That summer was the summer I moved into my current place, and my negotiating skills were sharp. The asking rent had been $350. After my first year, I'd established a friendship with my landlord, and he hasn't raised my rent at all. I'm on month-to-month now, but I've told him I might well move out by summer. I have outgrown the place, much as I like it.

***Andy is currently living in New Orleans and working as an intern for a nonprofit - building houses and other things and doing a lot of other stuff too. He'll be there until the fall.

all is not lost

2009-02-16T22:11:00.004-05:00

So, the job interview did not go well.

I did many things wrong, including showing up 3 minutes late, and everything went downhill from there. The interviewer (it was a group interview with only one woman presiding) was completely humorless and did not smile once during the entire four-hour session. Japan is not the place for me. I've read a lot about the culture and I just don't think I could handle it.

To be honest, as much as I love Chicago, I was thrilled to leave on Saturday and I'm very happy to be back in Cincinnati.

Anyway, I have not abandoned the idea/desire to teach English abroad. I'm checking out China right now, specifically Hong Kong and Taiwan. We'll see what happens.

life

2009-01-31T23:54:00.001-05:00

A random picture of Zach, whom I will dearly miss if I go to Japan.

I've been working two jobs, though that's not really any excuse for not blogging lately. For the next week+ I'm doing a (very easy but nicely paid) data entry job in the evenings in addition to my regular gig.

Anyway, I've been doing a lot of thinking about the future. I have an interview in Chicago in about a week and a half for a job teaching English in Japan. I have to come up with a lesson plan and give a demonstration of it in a group interview. If that interview goes well then I'll have a personal interview the following day. I'm excited about going to Chicago because I haven't been there in about nine months, and I miss it. Also, I'll be staying with a dear friend of mine who is living there.

I think I shall shoot some color 35mm this time, like I did in New York. That was really fun, and I ended up with some very solid shots from that trip, if I may say so. (Apologies for the excessively alliterative quality of the last two sentences.)

More to come. Thanks for hanging around.

uncertain times

2009-01-10T20:15:00.001-05:00

I just heard a story on NPR's All Things Considered about high school seniors who are struggling over whether to go to their (expensive) dream colleges or (less expensive) state schools. Here's a link.

click the box above to visit NPR.org and listen

College determines so much of a person's life path, and as I listened to the seniors in the news story nervously describing their plans, I thought back to my own senior year of high school eight years ago. Throughout high school, from about 9th or 10th grade, I wanted to go to college in California. Berkeley was my dream school, but I would've settled for UCLA or USC or even UC Santa Barbara. I applied to those four. I was a good student in high school, taking several AP classes and doing extraordinarily well in English and language-related subjects (like French, Shakespeare, etc.), but I never excelled at math or science. I got a fairly high score on the SAT, and did even better on the ACT. (This is probably too much information, but for the sake of the story I'll reveal that I got a 29. Pretty good, but not really stellar.)

Anyway, to make a long story short, I was declined admission to all four universities and had no "safe choice" to fall back on. (The fact that I wasn't a resident of California may or may not have played a role in the decisions.) In the spring of my senior year, distraught, I managed to gain admission to San Francisco State University, but eventually decided that I didn't really want to go there. It certainly wasn't Berkeley. By that point I was completely discouraged. One of my desires was to get very far away from Ohio. But I also wanted to go to a good, highly-ranked university.

Finally, that summer, I settled on the University of Cincinnati, which was about 10 miles from my childhood stomping ground. UC is a good school, and I moved to an apartment near campus to avoid living with my parents or in a dorm my first year. (I live pretty close to that apartment now.) I got a fairly good education there. But the whole process of deciding where to go to college, and then applying, was so dreadful. Looking back, and listening to the voices of these kids - who are becoming adults in the midst of such a phenomenal economic crisis - I can definitely feel their pain.

The job market is so dismal right now, especially in creative fields like the media, it's easy to get kind of down. I graduated seven months ago and mostly gave up looking for work in my field after five. It's very discouraging, too, as I've mentioned previously, to read news like this article from the New York Times last month: Younger Job Seekers Have it Worse (Lead: "IN the first year of the recession, older Americans gained jobs at an impressive rate. But younger ones lost them. The recession provides a double whammy for the job prospects of those trying to establish themselves. There are fewer jobs to go around, and older Americans who can do so are either delaying retirement or seeking to return to the work force." Scary charts here.)

More on this topic is to come.

an end to the silence

2009-01-07T13:35:00.005-05:00

It snowed this morning. When I woke up around noon (I'm off work today) and looked outside, a smile involuntarily crossed my lips.

I've been pretty depressed. Sometimes it feels like I worked half a decade to get a degree that can't be used for anything... for about a month I stopped even looking for a real job. But I'm back on my feet now, after the holidays. I thought about a lot of possibilities, like grad school, which is something that interests me a lot. And I do think I'll go eventually, but I've come to the conclusion that it's best just to wait a year or two. Anyway, my time off afforded me some space to reflect on my situation. And I feel better about things now.

I've been applying for some media jobs that look cool, but honestly I don't think I have the slightest chance of getting any of them. (For reasons like these - I've got a lot of competition.) So today I applied for a different type of job: a job teaching English to school kids in Japan. I've been thinking about doing this for several months, and this particular company is going to be in Chicago the week after next to conduct interviews so I just filled out their application and hopefully they'll invite me to come speak to them.

I'm sure my parents won't like the idea*, but frankly I'm at a point in my life in which I need DRASTIC change to survive. I've been in the same situation, the same city, the same apartment for way too long. My life needs to move forward somehow, and the job market is so horrid right now that I don't want to rely on just getting any old job. That's where I'm at right now.

*ETA: They're actually quite fine with it, and excited about the opportunity!

introducing...

2008-12-13T13:36:00.005-05:00

Credit: South Florida Sun-Sentinel

I know both that I rarely talk about music and that it is currently the dead of winter, but I must declare I have fallen in love with a band from Miami. The Spam Allstars first entered my radar months ago when NPR featured a clip from a song on this album... lately I found myself updating my Amazon wish list and stumbled over them again. Thank goodness I had an iTunes gift card balance! Campanario 64, the first track, is my favorite right now. Very talented group.

New York photos

2008-11-29T17:43:00.000-05:00

The financial district as seen from the Brooklyn Bridge at dusk.

The Conservatory Garden in Central Park.

The Cathedral of St. John the Divine, in Morningside Heights.

Home Restaurant's front window seat.

Jackson Square Park, a tiny little triangle-shaped patch in the West Village, a neighborhood I fell in love with.

My favorite feature of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the European Sculpture Court.

fall is in the air.

2008-11-15T14:31:00.005-05:00

Washington Square Park, Nov. 6th.

Mmm. I am sipping some ridiculously rich hot cocoa right now, keeping warm in a thick bathrobe while rain patters away outside. I am planning to make a very awesome audio slide show describing/showing my travels in New York. Until then, here's a teaser, and there are several more photos up at Flickr. I hope that you are staying warm and cozy like me!

p.s.
It appears that Europe has officially entered a recession. We can't be far behind.
E.T.A.
Uh, yeah. It's been a year since it started.

a Big Apple

2008-11-12T20:17:00.004-05:00

Well hello!

I had a wonderful, restorative trip to a beautiful (if rainy) city last weekend. My love for New York has been confirmed, and yes, I seriously want to live there. The first day I was there was filled with rain and subway confusion, but after that I had a terrific weekend filled with excellent food, exciting museum visits, fun lunches with friends (some new, some not), and all-around good times. Heck, I liked it so much I almost missed my flight back.

Anyway, as with Charleston, I only shot film on this trip. That said, I shot more photos than I have in a very long time - four rolls of 36-exposure 35mm color film. If all goes as planned it should be back from the lab tomorrow so I can show you (and the Flickrverse) what a great time I had.

the "r" word

2008-11-04T21:33:00.008-05:00

I have an issue with the way the financial crisis is being labeled by the media and our government. We now know that this country's GDP dropped last quarter at a 0.3% annual rate. Thousands of jobs have been lost. Car sales have plummeted, as well as sales of other durable goods. Banks have folded; shops and restaurants have closed.

So why can't we call it what it is?

People should just start calling this "crisis" what it is: a recession. Yeah, I know, the GDP hasn't dropped over two quarters. But this still clearly deserves to be called a recession. In fact, some people are calling it something considerably worse: a depression. To quote Wikipedia:

A recession is a contraction phase of the business cycle, or "a period of reduced economic activity." The U.S. based National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) defines a recession more broadly as "a significant decline in economic activity spread across the economy, lasting more than a few months, normally visible in real GDP growth, real personal income, employment (non-farm payrolls), industrial production, and wholesale-retail sales." A sustained recession may become a depression. Some business & investment glossaries add to the general definition a rule of thumb that recessions are often indicated by two consecutive quarters of negative growth (or contraction) of gross domestic product (GDP). Newspapers often quote this rule of thumb, however the measure fails to register several official (NBER defined) U.S. recessions.

At any rate, I'm now going to go back to what I'm sure everyone else is doing right now: watching presidential election results roll in.

traveling

2008-10-28T22:42:00.000-04:00

I am getting really excited about a trip I'm taking to New York next week. So far, this year really hasn't been able to stack up to last year in terms of travel, so I can't wait for my little solo getaway. A friend of mine lives in Brooklyn and has graciously offered me the use of her couch. Also, I'm fortunate enough to have a couple of lunch dates with some people in the publishing industry (Fred is one), which will be really interesting. I'm even doing Sunday brunch at Mesa Grill, Bobby Flay's restaurant!

Another thing that really excites me is a ticket to see La Traviata at the Metropolitan Opera! I got one of the "partial view" balcony seats for less than $20. Even if I can't see the entire stage, that's a heck of a deal! I still have to figure out what to wear. It's undoubtedly going to be chilly in the city, and my goal is to not check any baggage - I've had too many bad experiences in New York with luggage getting lost. So I'm really going to have to get creative regarding wardrobe.

Anyway...I'm planning to shoot film, but I may also take my digital SLR. It's extremely heavy, though. I kind of like the old-school unpredictability of film - the not knowing how the photos will turn out until long after I take them - but on the other hand, film/processing is an additional expense. But I think it'll be worth it.

consumer unconfidence

2008-10-28T15:37:00.008-04:00

Does this scare anyone else?

Get Out the Vote

2008-10-27T15:31:00.002-04:00

I voted!

Actually, it's a little shocking how many people are voting early. I didn't expect to wait long, but ended up waiting in line about half an hour. Luckily the line moved really quickly, and I have to say, it feels so good to have it out of the way!

My cousin, who lives in Florida, first suggested it. She had to wait about 45 minutes to vote early, but she said she felt so much better to be done with it. The same is true for me.

2008-10-18T14:34:00.005-04:00

Marketplace, a National Public Radio program that airs on the weekend as Marketplace Money, did a very interesting show today called "Who Can You Trust?"

The whole show was really good but I thought the best segment was an interview with the author Margaret Atwood (left). Atwood, a Canadian born near the end of the Great Depression, is a poet and novelist. Along with many other books, she is the author of The Handmaid's Tale and The Blind Assassin. Recently she wrote Payback: Debt and the Shadow Side of Wealth. She was interviewed for Marketplace by Tess Vigeland.

Here is a link to the interview page. I recommend listening to the extended interview audio.

Image from stratfordimages.co.uk.

freedom

2008-10-10T19:52:00.008-04:00

Taking the bus to work (a little under two miles, from near my house to the corner downtown where the building where I work is located) is pretty unusual for me. In many ways, I like it. I don't worry about gas prices much - though they have gone down a bit lately, which is nice, though that hardly makes up for the state of the U.S. economy right now - and I don't pay to park. Instead I board a narrow bus, usually mostly full, and show an ID card.* Then I sit near the front and tune out for roughly 13 minutes, making an attempt to avoid getting too close to anyone else, when possible. I don't think about the day ahead of me. Usually I think about what I may have forgotten (usually nothing), what I read the previous night before going to sleep, what I dreamed about (when I can remember, which is somewhat rare), what I have to do that day after work, what tasks I may try to accomplish on my brief breaks throughout the workday.

I don't smile. I don't look out the windows much, at least not consciously - but on the way down Race Street I look at the trees that line the road. I glance at the buildings downtown and I think about who resides in their rooms, who parks in their lots. Sometimes I wish I was the person sitting at that cafe table over there, in front of that cafe, instead of a person on a bus heading to work behind a counter at a different cafe. Sometimes I see snippets of fellow riders' text messages and try to figure out who they are and where they're going. Try to figure out why someone in a cell phone contact list is called "Big Bra So-and-So." But usually I just tune out.

Basically my mind is free, but my body isn't, it's on a sort of box on wheels going down the street. I have to wait at a bus stop at a certain time in order to get to work every morning: if I miss a bus, I'm generally screwed.** Likewise, when I leave work and want to go home, I have to wait at another stop at a certain time, and usually for a certain length of time, for the bus to arrive and pick me up. I am passive, the bus with its driver is active. It goes around the city, and I tag along sometimes.

Driving a car is so different. I have to have fuel in the tank, I have to drive it downtown, I must find a place to park and then pay or figure out some arrangement for paying later, as I leave. When I drive through the streets, I think about other cars and other drivers because I have to. I think fleeting thoughts about the streets and I drive down them and think about where I want to go next. My body is free, but my mind is on the road. Mostly.

Being mobile is quite nice - it's something I've valued for a very long time and a desire for mobility is the thing that made me want to drive and want to save to buy my first car when I was sixteen, which I did. I like being able to get around this city, and the country - having the capability to go where I want to go when I want to. The freedom of driving around is incredible. I miss it.

*Since I started this job, despite having graduated from UC in June, I've been using my UC student ID card to ride the bus free. It's part of a UC program - the school/student government pay fares for students and faculty. Unfortunately for me, UC is clamping down on improper ID use in this way and starting the week after next, I'll no longer be able to ride free. I'll have to pay the fares, or walk. I could bike but I've decided against it for various reasons. (I can't believe you've read this far. Do you really care about my commute?) I need more exercise, so I've decided to try and walk about half the trips I take - for instance, I want to try to walk to work every day and then take the bus home.
**Today is the first day I missed the bus. I had to drive to work to avoid being late... which created kind of a messy, crappy day. Until work ended. Then I drove to the bookstore and purchased a notebook, which I needed, and drove around a bit more, which calmed me.

more tv addiction notes

2008-10-05T22:52:00.007-04:00

Alas, this week there is no new episode of House to catch on Tuesday. But tonight just saw a new episode of Mad Men, which I am about to download (shh!). Ha. Today I was sifting through some NPR archives and found that Matthew Weiner, Jon Hamm and John Slattery were on Fresh Air the day after its Emmy win for best drama series. I found it a bit presumptuous of NPR after learning they'd actually recorded the interview the previous Thursday, probably assuming the show would win. It did, but what if it hadn't? Oh well. Anyway, here's a link to the 30-minute interview with Terry Gross.

tv baby

2008-09-27T22:29:00.003-04:00

I never used to watch television. In fact, I sort of bragged about it - I refused to become a complete couch potato like so many Americans, drooling in front of the set for hours on end. This went on for years - I owned a TV, but it was only used for DVD viewing, period.

Then came the 2008 Beijing Olympics. One Sunday night in early August, I happened to be at my parents' house doing laundry. Their TV was tuned to the Olympics. I sat on their couch and watched Michael Phelps win his first 2008 gold and something happened. I got pulled in. The next day, I tuned my antenna-less TV to NBC and somehow, I had reception. That week, I watched every race Phelps swam. I also began watching other shows, starting with the Today show, which was broadcasting live from Beijing. Yeah, the commercials sucked, but I was really starting to like television.

The only two shows I'd ever gotten really into were, first and foremost, Sex and the City, and The Sopranos. I always thought Sopranos was really good but hated the violence. I simply adored SATC. I've never had cable, personally, so I watched these on DVD or downloaded them from the internet.

Anyway, the TV-watching thing didn't stop with the Olympics, it kept growing after the flame was extinguished. A few weeks ago, I housesat for a neighbor. Um, a neighbor with cable. The US Open was going on and I have a thing for Rafael Nadal. But when I tuned to USA (which was broadcasting most of the Open), I found a marathon of the medical drama House. I'd seen it before but hadn't realized how great it was! Over the course of the weekend, I watched several hours' worth of the show. Imagine my delight when I learned that the following week, the new season of House would begin! So I proceeded to download and watch the entire (excellent) fourth season. Because, you know, I just had to catch up. Now I've been obsessively watching the new episodes every week.

Which brings us to Mad Men. A month or so ago, I downloaded a DVD rip of the first season after hearing that it was worth checking out. God, what an understatement! It's fantastic, and completely deserved the Emmy for best drama series - I'm so glad it won. And tonight's a new episode! Gosh, is there any hope for me?

film is good

2008-09-15T13:41:00.003-04:00

Well, I've gotten most of my pictures back from the lab from our trip to Charleston. These were taken with Kodak Ultracolor 400 speed film, and they are of Charleston's French Quarter. Above is the lovely Waterfront Park.

I think I made kind of a crappy mistake in shooting these. I think I didn't shoot enough pictures because I knew I had a finite number of exposures to use up. It's so different from digital, when I normally can fit over 500 large jpgs onto one tiny SD card. But I love shooting film, and I think in the future I'll just try and make sure I have several rolls of film and then kind of let myself go with the shooting itself.

vaca Labor Day

2008-09-02T19:43:00.002-04:00

Notablephotos.com

My family and I went to Charleston, South Carolina this past weekend. It was the first time all of us have gone anywhere with my sister's husband, John (they were married 2+ years ago), and the first time in a handful of years that the five of us have gone on a trip together.

Anyway, Charleston was very cute. I can't show any pictures yet as I only shot film on this trip... I wanted to explore the use of color 35mm film so I experimented with a couple different types. As soon as I get it processed and scanned it will be on my Flickr and probably here. I'm hopeful that the results will be fabulous.

Positive things lately:

-I have found a for-sure buyer for my Honda (I've had it sitting around for months and just had it fixed early last week)

-I have started a new job, at a Starbucks location here in downtown Cincinnati. I like it.

coming to New York. leaving New York.

2008-08-27T21:03:00.006-04:00

Getty Images

You all know I'm considering moving to New York sometime next year. Well, today I was reading an article in New York magazine about the recent surge of New Yorkers leaving the city and heading to Buffalo. A quote:

Living in New York may be more expensive than ever, but let’s face it, it’s always been hard. That, oddly, is part of its appeal. You test yourself against the stresses of the city. If it’s not the expense, it’s the overcrowding. If not the overcrowding, then the crime. If not the crime, then the tension, or the roaches, or the smells, or the guy screaming obscenities at you for no reason on the stifling subway platform while you wait for a train that’s jam-packed and twenty minutes late.

This reminded me of something I read in what was once my favorite book, The Fuck-Up by Arthur Nersesian.

"...That's why you came here? For a more accelerated life?"
"Well, that and the culture."
"What do you mean, culture?"
"You know, the opera, dance, Broadway. This is the center of culture. Isn't that why everyone comes here?"
"I came to New York for the roaches, the filth, the sense of intimidation, the foul odors, the violence and... oh yeah, the sky-rocket rents and the overpopulation, not to forget the freezing winters or the insanely hot summers."
"If you don't like it, why don't you leave?"
"Don't like it!" I replied. "But where else can I find all this?"

Woody Allen Rocks

2008-08-25T16:08:00.005-04:00

This afternoon, by myself, I went to see a matinee of Vicky Cristina Barcelona. All I basically knew about it was that it was Woody Allen's new movie and had Penelope Cruz in it. I really like Scarlett Johanssen, as well. Anyway, I loved it - I've been a fan of his movies for a while, but actually haven't seen a ton of them. It was fantastic to see Javier Bardem in such a completely different role than he played in No Country For Old Men (which portrayed him as basically a monster - though I did love that movie). He was quite likable here. And very sexy.

After watching a New York Times Magazine video interview with Penelope Cruz, I had to see this flick. You should definitely check it out. I don't want to say too much more about it because I think the way I did it, going in with no expectations, was the best way to experience the movie.

2008-08-12T17:58:00.009-04:00

Michael Phelps' mom, Deborah, photographed by Ozier Muhammad/NYT.

Ok, all you couch potatoes, 'fess up:
Are you as obsessed with the Olympics as I am?

Well, maybe not obsessed... but I just can't get enough of men's swimming, and especially this year's all-star merman, Michael Phelps.

There was a really nice story in The New York Times last Friday about his childhood. Apparently he was diagnosed with ADHD as a kid and even put on Ritalin for a while. The article is the sort which is, um, almost-a-little-too-sweet and inspiring (just look at the last paragraph: "Too many adults looked at Ms. Phelps’s boy and saw what he couldn’t do. This week, the world will be tuned to the Beijing Olympics to see what he can do,") but to me it was overall just really interesting because I was curious about him as a person - out of the pool. Watching him swim is absolutely breathtaking.

an admission

2008-08-05T22:40:00.005-04:00

I must admit something: I have succumbed to some serious chick lit. As in, Alexander McCall Smith, he of The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency fame. I didn't go that far, though - not quite. No, there are these Isabel Dalhousie books - four so far, and I've just found out about another being released this year! (Eeee!! - um, slap me, somebody.)

It all started the other weekend. My parents and I took their van up to Indiana for my grandparents' 60th wedding anniversary. A feat, huh? Anyway, on the way home, during a major lull in the conversation, my mom popped in a CD from the audio version of the first book in this series. It was amazing. The CDs are narrated by one Davina Porter, a "British-born" actress who is probably the most divine reader I've ever heard. I became hooked from this little, brief encounter. So I went and got the entire series - on CD of course! - from the library, which is where my mom gets them. It only took me six days to get through the entire thing. Addictive!

Isabel is quite the likable character, at least for a female reader, if I can be called that. The setting for these books is Edinburgh, Scotland, which I must someday visit. Anyway, finishing the last book in the series today (shown above) was very sad. Quite sad.

2008-08-01T12:24:00.005-04:00

I've been posting some old photos to my Flickr stream. I scanned a bunch of slides (a TON, really) that my grandfather took in the late 1950s a couple of weekends ago. An uncle of mine - on the other side of the family - has a really nice film scanner, so I went up to Indiana and spent a weekend with them. Here are a couple of my favorites - both of these are from a trip to North Carolina, when they went to Cape Hatteras (below is a view from the lighthouse there). More are on Flickr.

happy bits

2008-07-24T18:30:00.006-04:00

I'm feeling better, and it's largely due to tiny things that add cheer to my life... such as FLOWERS.¹

Other bits:

-my iMac (I can't believe I used PCs for more than a decade!)
-milder weather (goodbye, 90+ degree days! ...at least for now)
-fresh sweet corn, hot and buttered²
-my own copy of Audition
-and a new freelance side job, which I will tell more about when the time is right... not much money, but it's in my field!

Things are looking up.
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1. I am not one to use all-caps much but in this case I think it's justified.
2. Ha.

2008-07-20T20:59:00.009-04:00

Well, the main news today is that I am utterly devastated: I have finished reading Barbara Walters' book, and I'm just not done with it.

Alas, the library needs it back tomorrow; many other patrons are waiting to read it themselves, which is only fair. I just wish I could reread the entire thing.

Barbara Walters' career, encapsulated in this wonderful book, is a masterpiece to behold. It is absolutely amazing what she has gone through to accomplish everything she did -- and with such grace, such remarkable poise. I'm afraid, in reading this book, that I've made a mistake I often make with books I like: I read too fast, not absorbing enough for it to really stick in my mind. So stupid. It was just so easy to read, so conversational. Every chapter slid so nicely into the next. After a while, I began to be less annoyed when she skipped around chronologically: I could see why. She had to tell each story on its own, whether it be about one of her marriages, her parents and/or sister, or the scintillating flow of her career.

Anyway, I highly recommend this work if you're at all interested in her, or more generally interested in the history of TV journalism as it has changed in the last 50 years, especially for women. I know there are new memoirs coming out all the time, but this one is worthy of your attention. Walters' life is now an open book.

2008-07-19T12:49:00.005-04:00

from LeslieBeck.com.

It's about 90 degrees, and Zachary has taken to chilling out in the bathtub when it's not in use.

This morning, with a friend, I walked to the market to get some produce. It's not too far from my house, but there's a hill involved... nonetheless it was fun to go. Usually, I drive, and feel guilty because it's really only about a mile from my house. But as we were walking back, I remembered the heat alert currently in effect and realized that I wouldn't have had to feel guilty today. Oh well, I undoubtedly needed the exercise. Anyway, I ended up with some little delicious-looking apples and sweet bing cherries - yum!

I am loving the new iMac. It is incredibly fast, and the screen is absolutely stunning. The speakers are pretty good, too! Overall, I'm a very happy convert and can see myself buying a Macbook someday.

I'm near completion on Barbara Walters' fascinating memoir. It's so, so interesting to hear about the long road she went down to become the extremely well-respected TV journalist she is. I wish, after finishing it, that I could read the whole thing over - and I think I would! - except it's due back at the library on Monday. Perhaps I'll just buy my own copy soon.

Sorry this post is so boring, just wanted to check in. The job stinks, but I'm looking for another one. I'm trying to just send resumes all over the place.

Damn, these cherries are good. :)

deconstruction: cover, august bon appétit

2008-07-06T11:26:00.009-04:00

I just had to show you this new Bon Appétit cover for August. Doesn't it make your mouth water, just looking at it? I am so glad I subscribed to this magazine, because ever since its redesign last year, it is one of the prettiest rags on the rack.

Of course, the subject matter is of interest to me too!

But perhaps the most interesting thing about this ice cream cone is how fake it is. Well, not the cone itself, but the drips. Look closer.

Not only was this big front drip - the shiny one - added in Photoshop (with corresponding shadow)...

I think this whole rear section on the right (from the nut all the way down to the tiny drip) was added too.

Now, the ice cream drips are a little more compicated. They certainly look real.

I imagine that a photo assistant or two, just off camera, teased these drips out right before the shot was taken. They could have been augmented, definitely, but if they were it was in a more realistic-looking way.

Ah, the things they do to get us to buy magazines.
Well, it works. :)

well hello!

2008-07-05T07:29:00.002-04:00

And for those of you in the U.S., happy Fourth of July. I had a really fun day yesterday. I went to Whole Foods for some treats to take to the party I was going to, and I stopped in the Gap to check out their sale items. I ended up leaving with a great black cardigan for $13! After tax! They were doing this extra 25% off sale items special, which was fantastic. Anyway the party was great. It was in Mariemont, an older part of town on the east side where my grandparents lived for decades. It was nice to be there, and I really liked the house where the party was held. (Makes sense, the host was an architect with good taste.) It's a neighborhood where lots of families live. Every year they have a fireworks show, and it was impressive for just a neighborhood show.

Anyway, a lot's happened, so I'll clue you in: I'm trying to get used to my new job. It's difficult work, but the money is going to be really helpful this summer. Using graduation gift money, I bought a new iMac that I love but still have to really transition into (my files aren't on it yet). And I guess that's about it. Zach is doing well.

See you again soon.

feeling a foot taller.

2008-06-16T21:14:00.005-04:00

So... I graduated.

AND got a new job. Not in my field, mind you, but a full-time gig (nearby!) for the summer with fair pay and a nice boss. If all goes as planned over the next few months, I'll be able to pay off some debts and figure out when I want to leave Cincinnati. Sometime in 2009 is my goal.

In general, I've had the best few days I've had in a long time. Graduation was very nice; the school put on a thoughtful reception after the ceremony under a big tent with tons of cookies and cheese and crackers and fruit and veggies and pretzels and drinks and even ICEEs! My mom was pretty excited about being able to get a slushie on a hot day.

I suppose this posting is probably overly exuberant (not irrationally so, I hope)... but it is a rather big occasion for me. It's been seven years since I began my undergraduate work and I'm thrilled (though also a little scared) to be done.

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ETA: Sorry about photo issues with this post - they should be resolved now.

domestic disturbances

2008-06-09T21:24:00.007-04:00

Judith Warner, the author of Perfect Madness: Motherhood in the Age of Anxiety and Hillary Clinton: The Inside Story, has a New York Times blog called Domestic Disturbances.* Since the end of February, Warner had been on book leave from the blog, but luckily, as of Friday, she's back! Domestic Disturbances only gets updated once a week, on Fridays, but it's really lovely and thought-provoking to read... especially for women; I imagine men wouldn't quite get it in the same way.

This past Friday her post was about Hillary Clinton's loss and Sex and the City. Before I quote her, let me make clear that I do really enjoy Sex and the City. I liked the movie a lot - for the clothes, largely, but also just to get a little further in the story. (I was pretty addicted to the show when it was on.) Anyway, though, here's a taste of what she says:

Is it a coincidence that the bubbling idiocy of “Sex and the City,” the movie, exploded upon the cultural scene at the exact same time that Hillary Clinton’s candidacy imploded?

Literally, of course, it is. Figuratively, I’m not so sure.

And before I set off an avalanche of e-mails explaining why Hillary deserved to lose, I want to make one point clear: I am talking here not about the outcome of her candidacy – mistakes were made, and she faced a formidable opponent in Barack Obama – but rather about the climate in which her campaign was conducted. The zeitgeist in which Hillary floundered and “Sex” is now flourishing.

Give it a look.

Anyway, I know there are a lot of people with a lot of theories as to why the Clinton campaign didn't work out. In truth, I always kind of knew it wouldn't, though I'm very proud to have seen Hillary get as far as she did (and I did vote for her in the Ohio primary). In a way, the Clinton-Obama race reminded me of the battle between Nicolas Sarkozy and Ségolène Royal for the French presidency last year: I really wanted her to win, but knew that in the end, he would.

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p.s. Check out Molly's delish-looking baked pasta.
*My favorite post of hers on this blog is called Memory Refill. It's a really amusing and warm exploration of Warner's relationship with coffee. And actually, her follow-up post the next week isn't bad either. It's kind of funny, because it describes her husband Max's fears, when she was writing it, that the coffee post "would read like the worst sort of foodie feature ('The smell. The drip. The sound of grinding beans');" luckily it doesn't read that way at all.

ahhh, white

2008-06-07T13:55:00.004-04:00

Every once in a while, Grace will post a sneak peek that I can absolutely see myself living in. They're almost always very white. (See my previous fave here.) This one showcases the work of interior designer Jessica Helgerson... isn't it gorgeous?

Check it out here for more photos.

shoe lust. a rather... schizophrenic post about shoes, Sex and the City, and a fashion-related person.

2008-05-29T20:55:00.026-04:00

JCrew.com

Shoes have been on my mind today. I read this post over at NZRN, a magnificent remembrance of the shoes Naz has worn and loved in his life, about which he's been having "shoe flashbacks." Also, the shoe thing is on the mind because of Sex and the City (which I'm planning to see Saturday morning, because of scheduling problems with my girlfriends Friday night and because it is cheap - $5! - to see it then). Speaking of which, there's a fantastic little interactive graphic on nytimes.com that is basically an audio slide show with a brief audio file of each actress (of the four SATC girls) talking about her character and the changes that took place between the series and the movie, featuring four stills of each actress from the movie.

digression:

This evening, I've been reading The New York Times Magazine's cover story for next week,¹ a profile of Tyra Banks by Lynn Hirschberg.² It is, of course, wonderful - all ten pages of it. Banks is incredibly candid in the article and the accompanying video. As someone who doesn't really watch television (only occasionally, at my parents' house), I've never seen either of her shows. I've heard some things about them, and I've known of her ever since she started modeling for Victoria's Secret, but that's it.

What I like most about this story is the slant toward the business end of things: her mother's excellent planning, the way she manages her finances, and her branding strategy in general. I love that she says openly, "I want power." And the way she admires Martha Stewart is indicative of her desires for her own future. "I look up to her so much," Banks asserts in the video. "I think she has such an attention to detail. When you hear the two words, 'Martha Stewart,' you understand what that brand is, all the way down to colors." So true.

I've gotten off topic, though. This post was supposed to be about shoes. And actually, the shoes above.³ These shoes were the object of my lust for about a year. I craved them, worshipped them, wanted them SO bad. They were Lucie High Heels, and they were champagne and stunning. Finally, they went on sale - they had been about $200. The sale price was $129.99. It got to a point where there were only a few sizes left. I found a coupon online for free shipping, and another for $20 off. And I freaking bought them - I put them on a credit card because I wanted them so bad. And I waited, and I waited. And then they arrived.

They were too small. But let me elaborate: they weren't actually too short. They were too narrow (I have wide feet - large, wide feet). I kind of guessed from the photo that they would be too narrow but I wanted them so bad I bought them anyway. In the end, I morosely sent them back, and have somehow managed to live without them.

But to back to the SATC thing: there's a hysterical post over at the New York Magazine fashion blog The Cut called "The Sad, Bizarre World of 'Sex and the City' Promotions" which you must check out if the subject interests you.

Also, today on Talk of the Nation some guys bitched about being forced to see SATC with their girlfriends and wives. John Kass, the featured guest, is a Chicago Tribune columnist who said his paper wanted to send him to opening night to interview men (on camera) who'd been forced to attend with their girlfriends/wives. He said no, he didn't want to embarrass them like that. Anyway, he handily created a "Get Out of 'Sex and the City'" card for men at home to fill in, print out and present to their significant others.

For the record, I would never force a man to see SATC if he didn't want to.

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1. Do I seem to be employed by The New York Times Company sometimes? Sorry.
2. Lynn Hirshberg's link goes to her "Times Topics" page, which lists her articles starting with the most recent. My last favorite article of hers is here, about the actor Max von Sydow, who played the father of Jean-Dominique Bauby in “The Diving Bell and the Butterfly.”
3. The thing with these shoes is basically that they reminded me of the shoes Julie Delpy wore in "Before Sunset." As soon as I watched that movie - back in 2004! - I had to have those shoes, but I could never find a pair like them that were available in my size in a color I wanted. The shoes in the movie were actually kitten heels, and I believe they were slightly different in style, but the similarity was close enough.

things I am most looking forward to about June, in this moment

2008-05-26T00:26:00.013-04:00

1. my diploma*
1b. being able to write "B.A." after my name, if I want to

2. mango sorbet from Graeter's

3. not having to wear a jacket

4. the prospect of a real job, perhaps**

5. seeing "Madame Butterfly" at the Cincinnati Opera
(haven't seen a show there before!)

and...

6. seeing Terry Gross!

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*Realistically, UC may not mail me my diploma in June; here I speak figuratively.
**By "real job," I suppose I mean, "job in my field."

the crunch

2008-05-22T19:46:00.003-04:00

So, last week and this week a large portion of my time has been spent searching media job listing sites (MediaBistro being the best of these) and applying for a bunch of entry-level jobs. Most of the ones I'm applying for are in New York, working for magazines or the websites of magazines. A couple of ones I've sent apps to already are Newsweek, Fastcompany.com, and NYMag.com (god, I love that site). But there have also been a few non-New York ones, like The National. No, I don't think it will happen - they probably won't trust me to survive in Abu Dhabi. I just read an article in the Times this April about the paper and I have to admit, when I saw the job listing explaining that they were hiring for multiple positions, I knew I had to email them!

I don't know, beyond that nothing remotely interesting is going on. Part of me wants to apply for a part-time job here just to make ends meet, but really, I feel like I shouldn't get a job here if it might only be for a month. Then again, it all depends on opportunities: I could be here much, much longer.

Just think: in less than a month, I will have the piece of paper I've been working seven years to obtain.
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frank

2008-05-22T19:30:00.006-04:00

I never thought I'd find myself willingly listening to Frank Zappa, but I am as a result of the NPR program Fresh Air. Yesterday they featured a snippet of a song that sounded like a song I knew but hadn't heard in ages* (and of course, didn't have any information on). Naturally, I was intrigued, but it took them until this afternoon to post information on the music interludes from that show! Finally, after they updated the site, I figured out which song it was (they typically use 5-6 songs during each show): Eat that Question, from Zappa's 1973 album The Grand Wazoo. You can click on the title of the song to listen - enjoy!
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*For some reason, when I heard it, I thought it was similar to the Doogie Howser, M.D. theme, but a quick Google search dispelled that notion.

white, white loft

2008-05-19T22:48:00.004-04:00

Photo: David Allee

One thing I left out of my last post was this beautiful loft in Hell's Kitchen (found via Grace). It's in last week's issue of New York Magazine, which I am growing more and more addicted to! The artist who lives here created the big oval-shaped ceiling out of drywall - incredible.
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recent design/art inspiration

2008-05-17T17:45:00.009-04:00

One: From the June 2008 issue of Dwell, photograph by Jesse Chehak. This is the Brooklyn apartment of a Goldman Sachs VP, an opera singer, and their daughter. I am posting this not only because it is gorgeous, but also because is the most creative use of Ikea cabinets I've ever seen. (Sorry about my crappy scan job.)

Two: The package design for some fancy soap by one of the finalists for the Design*Sponge Scholarship, Jamie Karoses. (Voting is going on now; visit designspongeonline.com to view finalists' work and enter a vote.)

Three: From Jane Cumberbatch's Pure Style Living (scored for under $2 used from Amazon!), photograph by Pia Tryde. I am creating a homasote board like this for a wall in my apartment that I never knew what to do with. It works perfect for the tall, narrow wall. Mav turned me on to this book; read her interview with Cumberbatch here.

Four: Some work by the photographer Melvin Grier, who spoke in a class of mine on Thursday. One of my favorites is here.

Hope your weekend is thoroughly enjoyable!
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a little link-heavy post

2008-05-14T19:02:00.008-04:00

Squared Circle and Flickr Collaborative Poster Project

You know, Flickr is such a small world. There's a guy on there, Ezra Caldwell, who goes by the screen name fast boy. I've been lurking his stream for over a year now. He is amazing with film, and obsessed with bikes, most recently with making them. Anyway, he's friends with the Chicago designer and cyclist Naz Hamid. Hamid is the incredibly gifted graphic & web designer who started the immensely popular The Items I Carry Flickr group (now called The Items We Carry).* His Flickr name is absenter.

Anyway, today I came across (via Olivia, one of my best Flickr buds) a little roundup that Smashing Magazine did on 50 Excellent Blog Designs. Even if you don't have a blog, this article will give you serious blog design envy. Anyway one of the blogs featured, and actually my favorite, belongs to Naz Hamid, and it appears to be fairly new. It's NZRN, and it is beautiful. Extremely simple. And therefore right up my alley, and perhaps yours too.

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*Yes, I drank the Kool-Aid and contributed to this madness: my addition is here.

2008-05-11T18:47:00.007-04:00

Rainy, chilly, all you want to do is curl up on the couch. It's that kind of day.

This weekend I went to a wedding in Indiana with my parents, sister, brother-in-law and brother. It was reasonably fun - kind of nice to get away. And it's always nice to watch weddings. The groom was the son of one of my mom's cousins (she comes from a really big family), and the bride was a really cute girl who seems sweet... they appear to be really good for each other.

Anyway, it's kind of yucky out. Finally I am feeling almost completely better, thanks to delightfully effective allergy medicines. Woohoo for those.

Today I've just been chilling out with the Times and having some coffee. I don't feel like leaving the couch anytime soon.

* * *

On Friday I went to this Women in Journalism conference at my school. Laurie Pike, the fashion editor for Los Angeles magazine, was one of the speakers. I found her really inspiring. She gave a talk about her career and answered lots of questions - most of which were from me! - on Thursday, and then on Friday she was part of a panel discussion. I recorded it and am planning to make it a podcast. (I'll break it into pieces, though, because it's almost two hours long.) I also got to have a brief one-one-one with her and ask some questions, and get some tips. I told her I wanted to branch out from photography into design - specifically, page design for a magazine. She was very candid with me, which I always appreciate. She just said, point blank, "If you want to design, you have to show that you can design. Build an amazing website." And I thought, Fuck, I don't have any idea how to do that. Which is kind of a problem.

So I think, this summer, I am going to make it my mission to learn CSS and learn as much as possible about InDesign. Wish me luck.
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improvement

2008-05-02T03:10:00.006-04:00

I thought I would let you guys know I am feeling better. Not perfect but better. I feel like a druggie - I'm on five medications plus my usual - and I'm still wheezing a bit (actually even right now), but I am worlds better than I was.

Sorry it took me a while to say that. I've been a little inundated with life. Finally today I ordered my graduation announcements. I found out they take two weeks (plus a week for shipping) to arrive! That'll only give a month's notice for my little party, which will be announced in little inserts in the cards when they're sent out. Oh well. I only got 25 announcements, so it'll really just be good friends & extended family at the party. But I am looking forward to it. I want cake, and feel that I deserve it.

My graduation is on June 14th. Very near. Eeeee.
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on asthma

2008-04-27T22:24:00.006-04:00

You know, I really love spring.

I love warmer weather. I love the long days, where it doesn't get dark until after 8 p.m. I love seeing people all around Findlay Market on Saturdays. The flowers everywhere are absolutely gorgeous. But every year, it affects me almost the same way: allergies.

I am convinced that this has only gotten worse with age. When I was a kid it didn't happen, and when I was in my teens it was more of an annoyance; as long as I had some Kleenex in my backpack, no big deal. But the real problems started about four years ago. I was living in a crappy little studio, and working for an apartment complex about a mile away. At the time I didn't have a car and walked to and from work every day. That spring, I got the worst hay fever I'd ever had. I didn't have health insurance, so it got worse and worse. After a while, the strangest thing started happening: I couldn't breathe.

Finally, I told my mom the details of the situation, and she agreed to finance a visit to the Urgent Care facility at the end of my street. The Urgent Care was two tenths of a mile from my house. Two tenths. And you know how many times I had to stop to rest on the way there, because I couldn't breathe? Twice. When I got there and they finally saw me, I was shocked to learn that I'd developed asthma. It was part of my allergic reaction to everything that was going on outside. The doctor gave me this amazing breathing treatment that finally released all the phlegm from my chest, and prescribed me with some steroids and an inhaler to use. That thing saved my life.

Anyway, that was four years ago, and since then I've had some bad allergies - tons of tissues filled every April - but never asthma. Until now. The funny thing is, I just went to the doctor on Thursday to get some Allegra (be glad you didn't see my eyes before that. My mom was pained just looking at them). And then the previous Thursday - that time was the strep throat. Last week I mentioned the asthma but since I wasn't wheezing then, they didn't do anything. Now I have to go back and illustrate for them.

Not being able to breathe is absolutely horrible. It's the most helpless feeling in the world. This morning around 5 I woke up suddenly, and every breath I was taking sounded like a whiny gasp for air. And there was nothing I could do - I'm not about to head to the ER. (I couldn't afford that, even with my student insurance paying 80%. Tuesday I'll go see my doctor, since I'm working all day tomorrow.) I know there's stuff in my lungs, but I can't cough it up, no matter how hard I try. So while I feel like all I've been doing is bitching for a few weeks 'round these parts, I'm sorry, but it's all I can do.
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2008-04-25T10:32:00.004-04:00

I'm not sure what to say.

This space has been languishing for a number of reasons: my sheer frustrated and miserable state (allergies now; yesterday I finally scored some Allegra and Flonase so I'm hopeful), a lot of school and work and my internship (which I love! it's going great), and just a sort of malaise that has a tendency to set in every April. Despite the happy little lizards and flowers.

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warning: whining ahead

2008-04-18T09:31:00.005-04:00

It doesn't seem fair.

Rarely do I get sick, really sick. Last December when I got that nasty sinus infection, I hadn't been really sick in years.

And now, I have strep throat for the first time in years. Getting my tonsils out when I was 18, seven years ago, was supposed to prevent me from getting it again. (Up to that point, I'd gotten strep throat at least once every winter.) But here I am. Clutching my Z-Pack, Mucinex and codeine. And drinking my cream soda.

Good night.

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2008-04-15T19:32:00.012-04:00

Parasailing, originally uploaded to Flickr by kparrish

I confided in my friend today something that's been really weighing on me. My June graduation, financial problems, life.... and a lot of things have me more than a little stressed, and afraid.

"I am on a precipice," I said.

"Yes," she agreed. "But next to you is a gigantic, colorful parasail.

"And all you have to do is pick it up."

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Alarm Clock Review: L.L. Bean Nightfinder II

2008-04-12T03:18:00.018-04:00

L.L. Bean Nightfinder II

I bought it back in December, and this alarm clock is both the most perfect alarm clock I've ever owned, and a very frustrating alarm clock. There are good reasons it won Real Simple's Feb. 2007 Travel Alarm Road Test. The large digital readout is great. I love the ruggedness. I love the colors (it's available in orange, ruby/pink, sapphire, smoke and violet in addition to green). But I hate the godforsaken beeping when I set the times.

Pros:

large digital readout (the main time readout is 1⅛"x2")
very bright backlight, easy to use: you just push back on the entire clock. Little stoppers inside the lid (which doubles as a stand) prevent the entire clock from moving backwards on your table as you press
unlike in the above photo, when the alarm is on, the area behind the right slider (under the "OFF") appears orangey yellow
like many travel alarm clocks, it always displays the room temperature, in either Celsius or Farenheit
like many travel alarm clocks, it always displays the time for which the alarm is set
easy to use snooze function: you just push back on the entire clock, same as turning the backlight on
durability. It's tough. You can just fold it closed and throw it in a bag of stuff and it will stay closed and survive a lot of heavy jostling, thanks to the "high-impact polycarbonate case"
up/down arrows for setting times. Say your alarm is set for 9:45 and you want to change it to 9:30. You move the slider on the left to "alarm set," and instead of only moving forward with a minute button (meaning you'd have to move through 45 minutes to get to what you want) you can quickly move either backward or forward, in this case, backward a little
the alarm itself is fairly loud and does wake me up (I'm a heavy sleeper)
as with any travel alarm clock, you don't have to plug it in, so it's not subject to power outages, and it's just extremely portable. It is very light (4 ounces), and thin. Overall size: 3¼"H x 4¼"W, about ½" thick at its thickest point

Cons:

cost: it's $19.95 plus shipping
It uses approximately two AAA batteries per month* (with my use), and rechargeables are not recommended. Therefore, it must be reset every month, and old batteries must be disposed of monthly - expensive and not ideal if you care about the environment (though the clock does come with two mercury-free "Greencell" batteries)
it does not display the day of the week or the date
when setting times, each time you press an up/down arrow, a loud beeping sound is emitted. So if you go one minute at a time, you hear a beep for each minute you adjust. If you hold it down for an extended period, you hear one beep, as soon as you press either arrow: annoying
the backlight turns on whenever you snooze, which I suspect uses a lot of battery power. I snooze a lot, and that may be why I go through batteries so fast
the up/down arrows, when held down, move too quickly through the minutes for my taste. Far faster, after a pause, than any other alarm clock I've used. Interestingly, it seems to move faster to multiples of five minutes than just odd minutes

Overall, great alarm clock. I love it.

___________________________________________________________________
*EDITED TO ADD: Ikea batteries have proven themselves to last 6-8 weeks in this clock, far longer than the first couple types of batteries I tried.

2008-04-10T22:19:00.002-04:00

Remember that Dream Kitchen thing I told you about? Around the world in five kitchens (see below)? It's up for a Webby Award! Vote!

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visit from Simone.

2008-04-05T23:01:00.007-04:00

So I have to say, as a gal involved in a (very) long-distance relationship, that when the man you love comes to visit, you sort of go into a dream state for a while. I was walking on clouds. Barely utilizing logic. In seventh heaven. And the best part was that he loved it here!

Scratch that. The best part was that he came, period. It meant so much to me. You have no idea how much pleasure I got just from waking up in the same bed as this person seven nights in a row! Words can't describe it. I had such a nice time. Such a lovely time.

I drove up to Chicago without stopping(!), and picked him up from the airport last Wednesday full of hope and excitement. I was not disappointed. We checked into our hotel, relaxed for a while, and then headed to one of my favorite restaurants: Angelina.

The next day, even though it was raining/snowing and windy and cold, we walked all around Chicago and took a bunch of pictures. We started out on the drive home that evening, and ended up getting caught in a nasty snowstorm in northern Indiana... eventually we made it to Indianapolis at midnight (having left Chicago at 5pm!) and spent the night there, driving the rest of the way home the next day.

Our time in Cincinnati was a flurry of social engagements punctuated by museum visits and quick downtown jaunts. We went to the top of Carew Tower (and later, the Sears Tower), saw Bodies: The Exhibition at Union Terminal, ate at my favorite bistro, and just had a wonderfully relaxing time.

We returned to Chicago on Wednesday to much nicer weather. I am sorry to say I got Simone completely addicted to Starbucks. (Did you know that Starbucks locations in Indianapolis and Chicago offer breakfast sandwiches?) Unfortunately the second time there we didn't have as much time to mess around, though we did get a chance to experience real Chicago style pizza and 103rd-floor views before he had to leave. It was incredibly difficult to say goodbye.

In all, I'm pleased to report that he had a really nice time in the U.S. He likes pie! And Starbucks! And Zachary!

And now that only thing that's wrong is that we are again separated by 5,000 miles. Sigh.

2008-04-02T15:09:00.002-04:00

Sorry for my absence, I've been hanging out with Simone, who is leaving town tomorrow.

Back at the end of the week - ciao!

ikea love

2008-03-25T22:00:00.004-04:00

I am a full-blown IKEA addict.

I love anything IKEA! But even I was blown away by this new animated feature on their website called Dream Kitchen. You seriously have to check it out! It takes you through this 3D animation, complete with music, of five different IKEA kitchens. My favorite is above (but this photo isn't as cool as the 3D version).

Speaking of IKEA, my brother and I just went to our new one - it's finally open here! - this weekend. It was great. It feels so weird to be going to IKEA in Cincinnati though, when for years I've had to travel to other cities to shop there!

filmage

2008-03-21T00:46:00.008-04:00

I got back some film today from Detroit (where I went back in August!), and more Europe photos. Really all I liked, from today, is a couple Detroit shots that are reminiscent of the work Jim does. This is a building there called the Lee Plaza.

Well, and this shot of Hotel Le Corbusier in Marseille, where I stayed for several days in September.

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

2008-03-17T22:47:00.004-04:00

Hi, loyal readers.

I don't know if you read nytimes.com as often as me, but I love it. They have great slide shows, and an expanding radio program called BackStory. My most recent addiction, though, is the Weekly News Quiz. It's part of the Week in Review section. Sometimes I get smug, and think I should do really well on the quiz. Sometimes I do! Today when I filled out the quiz on last week's material, I didn't do so hot - 6 out of 10, could've been better. But I had to laugh when I saw the results:

two time-wasting blogs, because you know you have time to waste

2008-03-15T15:49:00.004-04:00

So, Thursday night, just when I should've been working on my last paper, I discovered a couple of really hilarious blogs. (Don't worry, I got it done in time.)

#1. PassiveAggressiveNotes.com

People all over the world - but especially college dorms - send in photos of notes, some of which are not technically passive-aggressive, but all of which are hysterically funny.

#2. The "Blog" of "Unnecessary" Quotation Marks

This has been a pet peeve of mine for as long as I can remember. You wouldn't believe how many incredibly funny examples people have found from all over the world!

2008-03-13T00:30:00.003-04:00

Wow, I am just completely buried.

Over the weekend, I was buried in snow. My sister and brother and I decided to go see a movie Friday night (stupid, stupid, stupid.... the roads were terrible, and I only narrowly avoided a serious accident or three on the way there). I had chosen No Country For Old Men. My sister found it really disturbing, and wanted to see something happy. We went back to her house and watched Ferris Bueller's Day Off. Quite the departure.

Anyway, the snow just got worse and worse. She lives about 25 miles away from me, and my brother was spending the night, so I decided I'd better stay over as well. In the morning, the roads were EVEN WORSE. So I didn't make it home until Saturday night after the roads got plowed.

Anyway, now it's a different kind of burial: schoolwork. This is the last week of classes for the quarter, so it'll be over soon.

speaks for itself...

2008-03-09T00:42:00.003-05:00

little italy, big dinner.

2008-03-08T17:16:00.014-05:00

I stole this from brinker.com.

I know it's unlikely that anyone cares what I had for lunch, but... I just have to tell someone about this meal I had earlier in the week.

On Wednesday, a friend and I went to Maggiano's Little Italy. Now, I'm not really the kind of person who generally eats at places like Maggiano's. First of all, it's in a shopping mall. Second, it's extremely commercial/chain-y. But, my friend and I went to the mall to hit the Apple store, and well... we were hungry.

And we went to Maggiano's.

And it was really fucking good.

(And the service was really fucking good.)

But most significant was the result of this meal. It knocked me out. Now, I don't just mean your run-of-the-mill food coma, where you go home and sit on the couch and then go to bed and wake up in the morning and go back to life as usual. No. I was knocked out. I could barely move. My friend and I went to the bookstore afterwards and I could barely walk. I took him home, came home, went to bed, got up the next morning, and.... I was still full.

Needless to say I didn't eat breakfast. But it didn't end there.

Come lunchtime? I was still full.

Come dinnertime? Still full. I made myself eat my leftovers - three 3" square pieces of cheese ravioli, a mere fragment of the meal (which had included a piece of lobster ravioli, two pieces of the cheese ravioli, delicious grilled garlic bread, some of my friend's mashed potatoes, a bite of his veal, a beverage, and half a piece of cheesecake), and it made me feel as if I'd explode.*

So I went to bed.

Only midday the following day, Friday, did I start to feel normal again.

Moral of the story? Italian food is great. But...

"The trouble with eating Italian food is that 5 or 6 days later you're hungry again."
-George Miller

*I should mention that the meal did not cause any discomfort on my part. No GI distress occurred whatsoever. It just knocked me out.
p.s. Simone, I love you. And the food of your country.

Ciao, America!

2008-03-05T00:08:00.004-05:00

I'm taking a little time-out from Roberto Saviano's Gomorrah, and instead zipping through this little tale of Beppe Severgnini's year living in Washington, D.C. Severgnini is a journalist and the author of this book and La Bella Figura, a "field guide to the Italian mind." This one has some really funny parts in the beginning, when Severgnini has just moved to the States with his wife, and is trying to find an apartment. In this selection, he has just described a rental listing for the house they eventually choose, which included the words "grace" and "charm":

...As it turned out, the house actually did possess considerable grace and charm. The agent, Ms. Webb, had not lied. But even if she had, it would have been inadvisable to mention the fact because Petty Webb, a historian's wife, is slender, sprightly, and ever so sweetly autocratic. Her neatly trimmed gray hair and small face frame a pair of acutely observant eyes. She wears jeans. And she possesses the most stunningly effective bye-bye I have ever heard. After one of Patty Webb's bye-byes, there is simply nothing more to say.

I'm almost done with Ciao so I'm going to be going back to Gomorrah soon. It just gets a bit heavy at times. To be honest, right now I wish I could just fast-forward through to the end of the quarter. Next week is the last of classes, which means I have all manner of papers to write and assignments to complete. Then the following week I have a couple final drafts due, and that's it! I will have one remaining quarter left of my undergraduate career. C'est tout.

chicago

2008-02-28T22:56:00.007-05:00

So the fucking glass, enclosing the Sears Tower observation deck, was filthy.

This I should have known. See, the glass windows at the top of the Washington Monument were dirty too - so dirty I got no good pictures. (The Old Post Office was better for that sort of thing.) But this kind of pissed me off. I guess though, in general, I was less pissed than just disappointed with the experience of going to the top of the Sears Tower.

The Sears Tower is extremely tall - way taller than any other building in Chicago. It has, supposedly, the highest observation deck of any building in the world. Because it is so fucking tall, and all the other buildings in Chicago are dwarfed by it, all you can really do at the top of the Sears Tower is look down at them. You can't observe them very closely - unless, I suppose, you have a macro lens or want to pay to use some binoculars..... but really even then, you're looking down at them - way down.

My friend remarked that it was cool seeing the patterns of ice on the lake. My response to the ice on the lake was basically 'Whatever.' I wanted to look at buildings.

Maybe next time I'll go to the top of the John Hancock building.

weekend in Chicago

2008-02-25T20:42:00.003-05:00

Sorry I haven't been around!

I went to Chicago with my friend Jacob and my brother, Andy, and I'm still winding down from it. Unfortunately I can't really do that for long, because homework calls. Forgive me my absence.

gomorrah

2008-02-21T21:35:00.010-05:00

After reading a certain New York Times article about Italy back in December, I was curious about a couple of the books it mentioned. One of them is The Caste. It's about "the sins of Italy’s political class and how it became privileged and unaccountable." It is the book that put the annual cost of the Italian president's office at $328 million, four times as much as that of Buckingham Palace. Unfortunately, it has yet to be translated into English.

The other book is Gomorrah, by Roberto Saviano. It's about the Camorrah, which is a branch of the Mafia. According to the NYT, "politics, [the book] argues, allows the Camorra to flourish, keeping Italy’s lagging south poor, and organized crime, by a recent study, the economy’s largest sector." Pretty incredible stuff. Saviano actually got inside the world of the Camorra by working for them in his hometown of Naples. I finally picked up this book earlier in the week, and it's absolutely riveting - the extent of organized crime in Italy is almost unfathomable, but this book takes some of the mystery out of it. Unfortunately for him, Saviano now has to rely on 24-hour police protection.

Saviano's Wikipedia page
article in The Independent about Saviano

2008-02-18T00:19:00.004-05:00

I'm not going to steal their work to show here, but I would just like to direct you to a spankin'-new photography collaboration I'm digging: 44 times two. It's basically just like 3191, except with Alison Brookbanks (of six and a half stitches) on the left and my Flickr friend Charlotte Franklin (of the blog Anknel and Burblets) on the right, forming a daily diptych. The design of the page is perfect, too: spare and beautifully clean. Check it out!

maison et objet

2008-02-16T11:08:00.005-05:00

Valerio Mezzanotti/NYT

Just thought I'd share some beautiful neutral fabrics from this year's Maison et Objet home furnishings trade show in France (via the New York Times).

Also: I discovered a neat audio slide show about some of the Fall 2008 designers and collections from New York Fashion Week, done by Cathy Horyn, my favorite NYT fashion writer (who also happens to have a magnificently soothing voice).

Valerio Mezzanotti/NYT

ice, snow, reading

2008-02-12T20:11:00.000-05:00

Jared Leeds/NYT

Well, it seems I got my wish: we had a bit of a snow/ice storm overnight, and my class and meeting today were cancelled, so I didn't have to get out of bed until after noon. I've been cuddling up with My Life in France and I'm already halfway through it. Julia Child was such a character, and it's fascinating to read about her development as a chef and her travels around France with her husband, Paul Child. I love it that I got a hardback used on Amazon for $4, too.

new york fashion week: favorite looks

2008-02-10T21:35:00.001-05:00

Nicholas Roberts/Agence France Presse-Getty Images

Let's begin with a glimpse of a stunning bracelet from Vera Wang...

Diane Bondareff/Associated Press

then move on to more serious matters: Halston's image got a kick from its new designer, Marco Zanini (NYT story) - I love most of the fall 2008 collection, which these are part of.

Fernanda Calfat/Getty Images for IMG

These dresses from Marchesa are among my absolute favorites, especially the one on the right.

Left and center, Stephen Chernin/Associated Press; Lucas Jackson/Reuters

And these Donna Karan dresses take the cake!

Overall, I loved the smooth, sleek femininity of the looks I saw, and also the absolute simplicity that just really made things seem wearable to me. This is great work.

2008-02-08T22:40:00.001-05:00

This week has been pretty insane for me, but I really got my happy bit of the week at the end of it, this afternoon: I finally got to fill out an application to graduate in June (yippee!)... I had to write out my name exactly as I want it printed on my diploma, which made the whole thing seem very real. And very exciting. It's hard to grasp the idea of not going to school anymore after this year - I've been in college, on and off, for almost seven years... I took a break but really, when I think about it, I haven't NOT been in school at all since I was five years old, twenty years ago. What a scary (but altogether thrilling) concept!

year of the rat

2008-02-08T20:56:00.000-05:00

I guess mad is not the right word. I suppose I am disappointed that it has come to this for Italy. My acquaintance, Federica (who was born in Turin, and teaches Italian at my school), actually said that she wasn't sure she would go home to Italy to vote. She said that Italians, including young Italians, didn't really care about politics - weren't engaged with what was going on. And the thing she said that really struck me was that Berlusconi was "a product of Italy."

(Latest Reuters briefing, if anyone cares.)

2008-02-04T16:59:00.002-05:00

Very few things genuinely anger me.

But the fact is, I am fucking pissed off... about Italy.

Electoral reform, sot badly needed in Italy, isn't going to happen if Berlusconi returns to power. I don't want to reduce myself to a screaming head, across the Atlantic, saying, "Shit, people. Get your act together." I'd be speaking to no one, anyway. I just feel that the country could do a much better job of keeping itself together.

(eta
Reuters news brief, Feb. 5, 2008.
"Italy set for early election, Berlusconi ahead")

Reuters news brief, Feb. 4, 2008.
"Italy snap vote likely as interim government plan fails"

New York Times article, Feb. 2, 2008
"Berlusconi’s Long Shadow Casts a Chill Over Italian Politics"

winter light

2008-02-04T00:59:00.001-05:00

file photo

Mav claims it's pretty, that she likes the light. I wish I could like the light. The truth is it's ugly in Cincinnati right now and the only thing that would help is a fast-forward to spring, or snow. I vote snow. I wish to hell it would snow.

2008-02-02T01:47:00.001-05:00

I should confess that the reason I've been thinking of my last trip to Rome lately, aside from the obvious, is that I have to write an article about it. It's called a "personal narrative" piece, and it's for my Travel Writing class, which is a Journalism Seminar. The professor wants us each to literally try and get published. My piece is going to be a collection of images and words; luckily I get credit for both - she's working with me a lot since my main career goal is photography and not writing.

Which, that leads into another story. For the same professor, I'm taking an advanced class (can you tell this is the final stretch of my undergraduate career?) in magazine writing, and one piece I had planned was a photo essay on area churches. The focus would be on the churches as places, as buildings, with little to no emphasis on the religion aspect. Anyway tonight an event occurred which might really change my essay: one of the oldest churches in Cincinnati caught fire. Old St. George, just a mile or two from where I live, caught fire, and both steeples were destroyed. Nobody knows how it started yet. The church was built in 1873 in the German Romanesque style (a phase of Gothic revival) and is a very distinct part of Cincinnati's skyline. It's a devastating loss, but I suppose the upside is that the main section was not harmed.

2008-01-31T22:20:00.003-05:00

Click to enlarge.

This spread from the January 2008 issue of British Vogue is so inspiring. I love the color combination... the navy top, dark red flowers, and those deep orangey yellow shoes are to die for. I love that they tied it in with the oversized bracelet.

Ciao.

another list: the best movies of 2007

2008-01-31T01:45:00.003-05:00

underrated: The Lives of Others

The Diving Bell and the Butterfly

Ratatouille

The Lives of Others

Michael Clayton

4 Months, 3 Weeks, and 2 Days

Persepolis

Honorable Mention: Charlie Wilson's War, for Philip Seymour Hoffman's performance.

2008-01-30T00:48:00.002-05:00

I'm reminded of a moment soon after I got to Rome in December, like the first night I was there. I was sitting at a little round table in the lobby of my hotel, checking email on my laptop (I couldn't get a signal in my room), and the receptionist, a stout, dark man of perhaps 45, sighed to me, "Oh, Emilià, Emilià, Emilià," in his deep Italian voice. This frustrates me when anyone else does it - my name is Emily, I'm American - but somehow when he did it I didn't mind. He obviously sought a bit of a connection with me. The Omaha shopping mall shooting had just taken place, and he brought it up in a bit of small talk. "That man in Omaha," he said with fervor, "Bang! Bang! Bang!" while pretending to utilize a large machine gun. "Yeah," I said with a wry smile. I wasn't quite sure what else to say. That was the end of our conversation, and I didn't see him again for the rest of the week.

bloggies

2008-01-29T23:56:00.002-05:00

By the way, everyone should go vote on the Eighth Annual Weblog Awards (aka Bloggies). My recommendations are as follows:

Best European Weblog: Chocolate & Zucchini

Best Art or Craft Weblog: Apartment Therapy

Best Food Weblog: Orangette
(I have my issues with this blog, including the fact that very few of the recipes are original, but I think it's the best out of these five)

Best Fashion Weblog: The Sartorialist

Best Gossip Weblog: PerezHilton.com

Best Weblog about Politics: The Huffington Post

Best Topical Weblog: Treehugger

Most Humorous Weblog: Go Fug Yourself

Best Group Weblog: The Consumerist

Best-Designed Weblog: Design*Sponge

blah

2008-01-29T23:39:00.000-05:00

Sorry, I'm feeling a bit blah at the moment. A bit uninspired. A bit tired. But look what I found under the old couch (before I unrepentently threw it on the street, only for it to be claimed by no one and taken out with the garbage):

This my seem unremarkable, but in fact it's something I didn't remember having. It's an old envelope (I often scribble notes on old envelopes) with directions for making a "manly scarf" (my own design) on it*. I made the scarf for an ex years ago, when we were dating of course, and never took a picture or anything... I wish I had because I'm on Ravelry now and am trying, lazily at best, to document my knitting achievements. Anyway this is all relevant because my brother wants me to knit him a scarf, and I decided to make him one like this one, except I had no idea how I made it, and no picture for clues. Now I can recreate the scarf, this most manly and perfect of all masculine accessories, with no problem!

*Of course not the entire envelope is shown. That's because I wrote something on the other side that is fairly inappropriate to show here. Sorry.

the diving bell and the butterfly

2008-01-27T11:43:00.001-05:00

I had the good fortune to go see The Diving Bell and the Butterfly over the weekend, and I was extremely impressed. Julian Schnabel has shown himself to be an incredibly skillful director (as well as artist) with this film, which closely examines the fabric of the human mind. It's a very, very tender, moving film, and I truly hope it receives at least one of the four Oscars it's been nominated for.

2008-01-24T01:51:00.001-05:00

I put together the couch.

I'm not actually thrilled with it - the color is darker than I thought it would be, it's a little too firm, and the back isn't high enough. But I like it overall, and am really happy to have an actual couch. One problem I did not consider is Zachary's claws - he started scratching it almost immediately. I'm going to have to train him not to.

Well, the Dow's upward swing today is really strange - almost 300 points up. I don't think it will last. But the real question in the back of my mind when I think about all this economic stuff is, 'Will I get some money from this proposed stimulus package?'

news

2008-01-22T17:26:00.000-05:00

wow, lots of news today:

-the Fed dropped interest rates 0.75% after the global market crisis yesterday; the Dow has now hit a 15-month low

-Heath Ledger was found dead and naked (surrounded by pills) in Mary-Kate Olsen's SoHo apartment (??)

-Fred Thompson dropped out of the presidential race

-Oscar nominations were announced - list here. I'm sure the critics (i.e., A.O. Scott) are disappointed that Four Months, Three Weeks and Two Days isn't on it.

2008-01-20T20:16:00.000-05:00

The apartment is in shambles.

A friend and I finally put the old couch out on the curb this evening - I can't wait for someone to haul that thing away, it's so ugly. I'm making room for the new one now, I have to move my bed to the other side of the apartment to get a layout I like.

It's been a bit of a nutty weekend. Not much going on, though I went out dancing Thursday with Katie, which was fun but way too loud (I forgot my earplugs and could only stand the noise for about an hour). But I do think it was good for me to get out.

More later.

cars with brains

2008-01-16T22:17:00.000-05:00

A SmartCar (on the left) whizzes by Rome's Piazza Barbarini in December, 2007.

Wrote Bill Marsh in The New York Times last week (link):

This month, the Smart ForTwo, a cuddly Japanese cartoon character on wheels (except it's German), goes on sale in the United States. Ten years after its debut in Europe, about 800,000 of the tiny two-seaters zip through mostly urban areas there and in Mexico, Canada, the Middle East and elsewhere. Among urban drivers, Romans seem the most smitten with it.

I'm pretty happy about this development; I think if I had the money, I might buy one. They're cute! But beyond that, they use fewer resources and put out less pollutants than larger vehicles. The ForTwo is 8.8' long, about a yard shorter than the Mini Cooper, which is currently the shortest car sold in the United States. Lots of people say that SmartCars are terribly unsafe, but I think if you drive carefully, they couldn't be that different from other compact vehicles (like my Civic). Also, they've got a stainless steel roll cage and well-placed airbags. My guess is that Californians will be the most enthusiastic U.S. customers...

Click here to watch a video about the ForTwo.

more from the shoot

2008-01-14T21:42:00.000-05:00

2008-01-13T22:06:00.000-05:00

So the rain put a bit of a crimp in my photo plans today.. I'm not sure if my employer will like the effect or not, but I decided I had to just move forward with the shoot and try to make the best of it. I ended up getting about 35 decent closeups of the Tyler Davidson Fountain (plus some flower pictures I'm not going to subject you to). After a particularly helpful conversation Saturday with a pro friend of mine, I switched my camera to RAW mode... and I have to say, the results are pretty good.

2008-01-13T00:47:00.000-05:00

Today I went out on my first assignment. It's kind of exciting, and difficult at the same time: I have to take pictures of Cincinnati landmarks (bridges, fountain square, etc.) which will potentially be printed up large and used as the artwork in rooms of a hotel that is being remodeled. The company I work for does this kind of thing, and they're sort of trying me out, so I want to impress them. I'll show you some of my work later - I'm shooting RAW and haven't converted any images yet.

the anti-resolution

2008-01-11T00:33:00.000-05:00

Well, hello.

I hope you're joining me today from my actual site and not some feed-reader, because, as you can otherwise tell, I'm redecorating a little bit around these parts. The Verdana headers were getting to me, so I changed my template font, and I have also finally made use of Blogger's nifty image header option. Despite the unshakeable truth that it is January, I am in a decidedly spring-y mood, so that is reflected in my choice of image.

These changes are part of a larger initiative I am taking to clean up my act, in more ways than one. Several areas of my life are a bit messy - the files that are stored on my computer; the masses of books, magazines and other media that I own; and the general wad of shit I don't need that is clouding over my apartment. These things bother me. They really aren't adding to my happiness level. So I have decided to take steps to shave away a lot of unnecessary stuff... and, where possible, add fun stuff in its place.

confession:

2008-01-10T20:17:00.000-05:00

I bought a couch.*

*Ok, well, technically it's a loveseat. I could get into the reasons for this, like how I've had the same terrible couch for seven years and hate it, but let's just say instead that I'm excited. Goodbye, shitty sofa.

2008-01-10T13:41:00.000-05:00

I've been really slacking lately with the blogging, and I'm sorry. School is already kicking my ass - I made the (incredibly difficult) decision yesterday to drop a photo class I was going to take this quarter, because I simply could not do it and have any kind of life outside of school. Now I'm taking a class in Italian Culture, plus three Journalism classes I need to graduate. Now my earliest class begins at 11am Tuesdays and Thursdays, which is totally manageable (the photo class would have been at 8am Mondays and Wednesdays). I'm still going to be shooting a lot, probably mostly digital, and still making up some work I didn't complete last quarter in my 35mm class, but I just feel much better overall about the quarter now. The good news? I am almost definitely graduating in June.

in case you were wondering how to reduce your energy consumption...

2008-01-10T13:31:00.000-05:00

(Click to enlarge. photo: Tony Cenicola/New York Times)

I know a lot of people really hate, or think they hate, compact fluorescent light bulbs. But look how many other types of energy-saving bulbs there are to choose from! You know you want to try one.

a spring day in winter.

2008-01-07T12:50:00.000-05:00

Hello.

As of today, school is back in session after exactly one month off, and it's that wonderful time of the quarter when you feel great about everything: hopeful and positive and certain that you're going to learn a lot, and work hard, but have a great time and come out, if not smiling, then at least not crying either.

The greatest thing, though, about today is that, against all odds, the weather is absolutely fabulous. It literally feels like spring out. There's dampness in the ground, a slight breeze is blowing, the sun is shining and it feels pretty much like it's - hot damn, it is 67° outside. I'm going to enjoy this while it lasts.

Zachary is home!

2008-01-04T21:31:00.000-05:00

Luckily, this evening, after five nights of being gone, Zach came home. I'm so relieved. Thanks, everyone, for your thoughts during this difficult time. I'm gonna go cuddle him now!

cat concern

2008-01-03T19:40:00.000-05:00

Zach is lost - there is no other way to say it.
I let him outside around 4pm Sunday.
It is now 8pm Thursday.
I'm quite worried.
Tomorrow I'm going to call the SPCA to see if anyone turned him in.

the lives they lived

2007-12-29T16:21:00.000-05:00

I'm always intrigued by a feature called "The Lives They Lived" that the Times Magazine does at the end of every year, and this year's articles are just great. Here's a clip from a story about Liz Claiborne, who died this June at the age of 78:

A Belgian-born high-school dropout who spoke with a kind of accent Americans usually identify as “grand” — “turquoise” was ter-kwaz — Claiborne began her career as a sketcher and a dress model on Seventh Avenue and worked her way up to designer. Her parents were so opposed to her career choice that her father, a banker, dropped her off on a corner in New York City, handed her $50 and did not speak to her for 20 years. On an interview for a job, Claiborne met the fashion executive Art Ortenberg, and although they were both married to other people at the time, they ended up married to each other shortly thereafter, beginning a lifelong collaboration. Within seven months of starting (along with a handful of investors) Liz Claiborne Inc., they were in the black, an unheard-of feat on Seventh Avenue. The company went public in 1981. Five years later it made the Fortune 500, the first company founded by a woman to do so.

Read more here.

killer

2007-12-27T20:10:00.000-05:00

Hello.

I had a fabulous holiday - absolutely killer - and hope you did too.
Christmas is the joy of... receiving, right?
In that spirit, I'll share with you my bounty:

-Dyson Root 6 handheld vacuum cleaner (yessss!)
-The Omnivore's Dilemma by Michael Pollan
-On Being a Photographer by David Hurn and Bill Jay
-a European power adapter
-2 2-gig. SD cards for my camera
-cash, gotta love that
-IKEA gift card
-a nice flat-stack stapler

It was basically stuff I asked for, but the Dyson was a surprise. I've been wanting one since they came out! Anyway, starting today I'm housesitting for some friends for about a week, which is cool because they have a fridge full of great food, and just a really nice house in general. I hope you've all been having a good week.

p.s. I'm really sad that Benazir Bhutto was killed.

what a week

2007-12-23T00:19:00.000-05:00

Well, this week has been insane, but luckily it's over now. Let me just say that I'm really glad I have health insurance right now. Today saw the end of Christmas shopping for me (thank god! no more mall crowds...) and I have the next several days off work, which is of course fabulous. I have to wrap a bunch of presents, but that's really it.

Anyway... I got some film back from my trip, so here are a few favorite black and white shots (there are more on Flickr).

2007-12-18T15:48:00.001-05:00

I have never had a sinus infection before,
but I never want one again.
Hopefully these (supposedly strong) antibiotics will take hold soon.

Ciao for now.