8.27.2004

just a few days left here. . . i've started getting those, 'too much to do and not enough time to do it in' headaches. but since i don't have to pack and leave, i'll take that as a plus. . . yes, it seems that i'll be here for another year. . . . or a partial year? damn, i hate it when i don't know for sure, makes planning things more difficult. but i'll take what i can get. . . as always.

the shows seem to be wrapping up nicely. and we're spending time thinking of how to improve the shop, and looking at upcoming challenges in next year's shows. meanwhile, i'm ripping all my discs onto my computer. . . i'm up to almost 6 days of music. . . . whoop-dee-do!

so, yeah. . . . after all the shows come down, there's a week where the moscow ballet is visiting and performing, then after that we'll be doing a series of concerts. . . lyle lovett, david byrne, and margret cho. . . . then, i think i'm gonna try to take some time off. . . . idealy, i'd like to take two weeks, visit ny, and get my stuff out of storage. . . . but, as always, i don't hold my breath. you never know what may come up.

i'd like to think that i have more to discuss or talk about. . . but nothing comes to mind just yet.

i hope all is well with everyone. . . .

8.12.2004

20 Ways To Maintain A Healthy Level of Insanity


1. At Lunch Time, Sit In Your Parked Car With Sunglasses on and point a Hair Dryer At Passing Cars. See If They Slow Down.


2. Page Yourself Over The Intercom. Don't Disguise Your Voice.


3. Every Time Someone Asks You To Do Something, Ask "You Want Fries with that?"


4. Put Your Garbage Can On Your Desk And Label It "In."


5 . Put Decaf In The Coffee Maker For 3 Weeks. Once Everyone Has Gotten Over Their Caffeine Addictions, Switch To Espresso.


6. In The Memo Field Of All Your Checks, Write "For Sexual Favors"


7. Finish All Your sentences with "In Accordance With The Prophecy."


8. Don't use any punctuation


9. As Often As Possible, Skip Rather Than Walk.


10. Ask People What Sex They Are. Laugh Hysterically After They Answer.


11. Specify That Your Drive-through Order Is "To Go."


12. Sing Along At The Opera.


13. Go To A Poetry Recital And Ask Why The Poems Don't Rhyme.


14. Put Mosquito Netting Around Your Work Area And Play Tropical Sounds All Day.


15. Five Days In Advance, Tell Your Friends You Can't Attend Their Party Because You're Not In The Mood.


16. Have Your Co-workers Address You By Your Wrestling Name, Rock Hard.



17. When The Money Comes Out The ATM, Scream "I Won!, I Won!"


18. When Leaving The Zoo, Start Running Towards The Parking Lot, Yelling "Run For Your Lives, They're Loose!!"


19. Tell Your Children Over Dinner. "Due To The Economy, We Are Going To Have To Let One Of You Go."


And The Final Way To Keep A Healthy Level Of Insanity.......


20. Copy and send this to someone to make them smile.. Its CalledTherapy...
A study at the University of Missouri shows that
the type of facial features that a woman finds attractive can differ
depending upon where she is at in her menstrual cycle.

For example: If a woman is ovulating, she is attracted to men with
rugged and masculine features. If she is menstruating or menopausal,
she is more prone to be attracted to a man with scissors jammed in his
temple and a bat shoved up his ass while he is on fire.

8.11.2004

my long trip home. . .

it all started with a drive from boston to the providence airport. neill and i had plenty of time. . . . gobs of time. . . until there was an accident. . . not me, but a large one about 5 miles or so ahead of us. all traffic stopped for close to 3 hours. so i missed the first flight. neill and i finally made it into providence and i switched my flight to the absolute next one, at 6:20am the next morning. so i decided to stay in town till the next morning so there would be no chance of me getting stuck in traffic.

next morning, i showed up about 45 minutes before the flight, which was apparently not early enough. the woman behind the counter said that if i wanted to make the flight i shouldn't check any luggage. so i dragged my bag and carry-on toward security, where i knew there would be trouble when my gerber multi-tool showed up on their x-ray machines. all the signs along the way said to put 'all electronic devices in you carry-on bag.' so i did. . . even though everywhere else i've seen people take their lap-tops out.

so i make it to the x-ray machine. my carry-on gets pulled, and i get told that i should've taken my lap-top out, and that i'd be ushered to security school part 2. . . . but then they found the gerber. my bag was taken apart. . . everything was inspected. . . . the look on their faces when they found my green tea in a baggie was pretty precious. meanwhile, time is ticking away. so after a tedious inspection and a difficult repacking. . . . we move to security school part 2.

there are cloths that are wiped across everything i own and placed in a device that reads them for any sort of explosive material. (keep in mind, most of my bags hae MANY pockets. . . and all of these have to be emptied and wiped) somewhere along the way, one of the cloths set off an alarm. it's 6:17, flight leaves at 6:20. . . i give up, and sit down. an expert is brought over to inspect my bag more throroughly. i'm asked my exact address and my phone number. several minutes later, i'm allowed to pass through. . . . except for the gerber that is confiscated. (thankfully i was able to keep my wonderful and rather pricey surefire flashlight)

i walk down to the gate, and wait for someone to show up, since everyone has left along with the plane. finally someone shows, i explain the situation, and get moved to the 9:30 flight.

i missed TWO FLIGHTS! and now i'm gerberless. . . . sure, it could be worse. . . .but all in all, it's pretty lame. me, the poster child for terrorism. . . what they didn't realize is that i was sick. . . .and it wasn't a bomb that i was carrying that would hurt passengers, but a nasty headcold. i was a bioterrorist. . . . and i'm sure i coughed enough germs into the air to at least make a few people uncomfortable for a few days. . . .muhahahahahaha. . .

anyway, there's my lame story. . . .

8.09.2004

so you may wonder. . how is it, when erika should be in flight, she is blogging. . .. WHA! how can this be?

well, neill (who was driving me to the providence airport) and i got stuck behind a really big accident. we were there for three hours and i missed my flight. . . .dammit. . .

so i got my flight moved to the very next time it could possibly be. . . tomorrow morning at 6:20am. . . not exactly ideal, but not as bad as it could be. so, here i am, in a comfort inn with a wireless connection. . . . yipee!

wireless connection, cable, and some bertucci pizza. . . what more could i ask for. though i would've really liked some sushi-since i ran around so much and didn't get a chance to get some in boston. . . but no one delevered here in providence. . . no sushi for me!

but i did get to 7 kitchens (or the chinatown eatery, if you wanna be technical) my first night in boston- GREAT pad thai. . . mmmmm. . . pad thai. . . and an avacado milkshake. . .. yummmm. . . . ok

i should get some sleep. . . so, g'night all.
although i was very tempted to sit around and waitch digital cable for the rest of my stay in boston. . . i didn't get to. . . instead i got in touch with a couple of friends and we made our way to the museum of science. . . . yes, one of my favorite haunts. . . and checked out the, behind the scenes 'lord of the ring' exhibit. the exhibit was really fun, lots of costumes, drawing, props, and explanations. . . and of course, 'the ring'. . which was encased in this super solution of sorts. it was a simple gold ring, all the fiery writing was done digitally. . .. but we had fun provoking stupid people by saying, 'ooh, oooh, i see it, you have to get the light just right, ooh, there it is again'. . . then walking away and listening to people trying to see it, and sometimes convincing themselves it was there. . . . . HA, . . . fools.

i wasn't willing to take the chance of having my camera, or camera phone confiscated, so, no pictures. . . . except. . . there was this fun set up where we could shoot ourselves with some of the effects used by the movie, in order to appear like hobbits and wizards. . . not that i need to look any shorter . . . but. . . .


the rest of the day, we shuffled around some exhibits while talking and such. . . . yep, me, neill (my friend from emerson), dan (my brother), sara (his girlfriend), dan (my highschool friend) and his boyfriend- mike, kelli (my friend from kent) and her boyfriend- dave. not a bad crowd.

one of the better exhibits was about risktakers. . . this is a group of us making the 'skyscraper' walk. . . and this is a little blurry, but it's kelli and dave making the same walk. . . if you're wondering, while walking over the fake i-beam, this is what it looked like below your feet. . . .

there was another place that challenged us to place as many balancing nails as we could, on one nail head. . . . alone we were able to do 6. . . but as a group we got 11!


we finished the evening with a great dinner at the cheesecake factory. . . not a bad way to spend a day!
JEN'S BIG DAY

so i flew out to boston, or boston by way of providence, for jen't wedding. the wedding was saturday. . . and i missed the opening night of the final santa fe show. . . . but i have to say, i'm really glad to have come out this way. . . and i'm sure opening went lovely.

so. . . i stayed with my brother the first night, and met up with neill, one of my friends from emerson (an my former san francisco roommate) so we could travel together to the wedding. -----ooooh. . . sorry, iron chef is on. . . . i'm stuck in a hotel room, which i will explain later.

ok, wedding. . . neill and i got there a little early, and well, i hadn't seen her in a couple of years, so we were looking to see her before the ceremony. we, accidentally, ran into the groom- whom neither of us had met, so weintroduced ourselves and found out where jen and her posse were set up. we were allowed in, and jen was there, in a beautiful dress, with her three bridesmaids, also in great dresses, in this picturesque room within this estate house.



here is neill and jen. . . she was so excited, but didn't seem nervous or neurotic. . . . just really happy.

this is the setting in the back yard for the ceremony. . .


the wedding was presided over by a justice of the peace, they both added some personal words to their vows. . . jen's sounded broken up by tears, but i had a little trouble hearing her. . . . and scott whipped out a newspaper for a prop, on which he wrote his vows (they are both newspaper journalists) his speech was exceedingly touching, sweet, and funny. . . lucky girl!



the tented dinner set up was also part of the estate. . . the colors and place setting were really well chosen. . . . very classy. there was a coctail break before the dinner while pictures of the wedding party were going on. there was a small room off the bar where there was a scrap book of the 'story of jen and scott', pictures from the bridal shower, and a picture frame to sign by all the guests.

neill and i were seated at the 'emerson table'. . . there were plenty of people that i recognized, but wasn't exactly close with, except my other roommate, who i haven't heard from since we left emerson. MOE! she looked great, she did a reading during the wedding, and we were able to catch up a bit while seated during the dinner.here's a shnot of the wedding party table. . .

during the normal dinner bit, both jen and scott slipped by our table to surprise one of her emerson friends with a birthday cake. . . since it was all the same day. . .

there was no chicken dance, macarena, or electric slide. . . but there was the hokey pokey. . . and dancing in general. all in all. . . a really great wedding and party, and it was so nice to be there for her and to see her so completely happy. . .

i'll finish up with a shot of the roommates. . . 6 years after emerson! can you believe it? 6 YEARS!

moe, jen, and me. . .

8.06.2004

so last sunday. . . . one of the few designated days off all summer, by chance. . . me not being broke or busy or too far away. . . ani difranco played right here in santa fe, and i got to go. . . .

reminder, this is the FIRST ani show i have EVER been to. . . . most people, who know me, and know ani. . . don't understand how i've missed out. . . but finally, i made it. it was a really great venue. . .not too big or too small. . . a gorgeous night out (we were out under the stars and all). . . and ani was. . . well. . . she lived up to all the great stories i had ever heard about her concerts. it was just her and a string bass player (except for a couple of songs where she invited the opening act- also a great performance- to play along with her on the viola)---did you catch that mom? a pop indie viola player! yeah, his name was andy (?) bird. . . hold on, i need to do some quick research. . . . yep. . . got it, andrew bird. his first piece didn't catch me right. . . but the rest were really entrancing. . . he does this thing where he records himself live and then plays it back while playing over it live. . . and he'll continue to do this till he has a melody, harmony, percussion. . . then he can sing and whistle or whatever on top of it all. . . really kinda cool.

ok, but back to ani. . . she played so many numbers from the 'little plastic castles' album (one of my favorites) then of course a bunch of new stuff. . . .and some older ones. . . . but i was really surprised to hear so many from that one album. . . mostly for sentimental reasons, that album is really solid in my heart, so it was so warming to hear it.

and she never plays it the way it is on the cd. . . she always makes it something new for a live audience, . . . different instrumentation, different rhythm, different phrasing. . . it's really wonderful. i usually don't like 'live' recordings- with all the audience noise and such- but i could really gain an appreciation for it from this type of performance.

i know i've heard stories about her yelling at audience members for singing along too loudly. . . but she was in a really fantastic mood. . . . she only gave a snide 'hey' to a group of people that finished a phrase she had intended on changing. . . . (of course it was the 'fuck you' from untouchable face that was yelled out. . . . )

it was so wonderful, bizzarre, and heart renching in a way. . . to finally see someone who has become such an icon in my mind and life. . . . i was surprised that there were no surprises . . . . but not disappointed. . . just somehow intensely comforted.

yeah. . . something like that. . . .

i was worried about trying to get a camera in, but i guess they were totally allowed, but since i didn't know before hand, i went out and bought a cheap disposable. . . . on which the flash never shut off! how annoying. . .. (this is partially the reason i was thinking of getting a camera/phone. . . since i can always have my phone on me, in places where i sometimes don't want to carry a camera) so i ended up not taking many pictures because i find the flash completely abhorrent. . . . so we'll see if anything comes of that one shot i took at the top of the concert.

that's not the ending i really wanted for this post. . . . i'd like to have an ani guitar riff fading out in the background now. . . but this will have to do.

so tomorrow morning, bright and early. . . i'll be flying towards boston for my college roommate's wedding. sadly, the gift certificate i ordered for her, didn't make it to me in time, so my appearance alone will have to grace her enough till i get back and send her the gift certificate. . . . bummer, but at least i'll be there. it's totally gonna be a short time, but i'm hoping to hang out with a group of people, eat some coastal sushi. . get the 7 kitchens in chinatown, maybe see a movie, and hit the museum of science for their behind the scenes 'lord of the rings' exhibit. . . oh yeah, and attend a wedding. sounds like fun huh?

i know i'm not looking forward to the heat/ humidity. . . .but i got a tube of my favorite hair curling stuff from aveda. . . . see, in the desert i can have straight hair because there's no humidity to make it all frizz up. . . but i don't think i can count on having straight hair on the east coast. oh well. . . .

other than that i would LOVE to stop by some places in emerson, but most of it will be shut down, since it's summer and a weekend and all. . . . and i'd also love to stop byt the plaza, where i used to work my summers away. . . . but the best time to catch anyone there would be directly during the wedding festivities, so i don't think that will be happening. . . gee. . . guess i'll just have to settle with a group of friends and a wedding. . . . . :)

all and all. . i'm totally looking forward to a little time away from work- something i rarely say. . . . but this will be a nice break, and i can't wait to see jen, the blushing bride. . . i have this vision that she will be the epitome of all things bridal that i have ever imagined. . . . can't wait to post some pictures!

8.03.2004

ok. . . so i have a little extra money. if i had a lot, there would be no discussion of my purchases. . . i would get it all. . . but since i don't want to feel completely wasteful. . . i want input.

it seems i base most of my purchases off my friend/boss's purchases. . . everything he gets is just so cool. . . . and yeah. . . i wanna emulate that. .. . but i can't do it all at once. . . so here are the options. . .

his bluetooth phone. . . . (i now have a 12" powerbook with bluetooth which can make this really sweet) he syncs his phone and his powerbook. . . when he gets a call, his itunes pauses. . . problem. . . i usually use my phone to pick up email when i can't get online with my computer. . . and the bluetooth thing is metered since people use it to link their computers to the wireless internet. . and let's face it if you don't have to thumb it all in, then you'll spend more time on. . .

so, bluetooth possibly out. . . and maybe a picture phone in? something that i almost always have on me. . . and when i wanna snap off a shot, and don't wanna carry the digital. . then later post on my blog for instance. . i'm not talking about high quailty needed. . . simple fun shots. . .

or do i wanna look at a smaller digital camera. . . mine is nice, i love it. . . but the one from pentax that fits in the altoid can is so cool. . . again, yes dave has it. . .. the one main thing, other than size that is has over my current camera. . is sound along with the video function. i could have so much fun with sound!

then there's the mp3 player. . . . being that i'm now back in the mac world, one would think it would be an easy choice. . . ipod. . . . and eventually, i want one. . . . . but i'm thinking of when i finally get back to the gym, having a really small mp3 player would be ideal. . . one that isn't as expensive as an ipod. . . . but it doesn't seem like many are compatable with the aac format that my itunes keeps everything in. . . . i'd have to switch everything to mp3, and that's kinda lame. . . . if anyone knows otherwise. . . i wanna hear. . . .

ok, it's been completely free form. . . and hopefully if you were bored, you left a long time ago. . . but if you wanna input into my quandry. . . please do!

8.02.2004

i'm posting these pictures purely so i can link to them and use them as avatars for a forum i'm on. . . . and i know no other way to do this. . . so enjoy my Lain avatars.




8.01.2004