wetforrest

wetforrest
Originally uploaded by ekissam.

forrest got pretty soaked. we ganged up on him, and so did this six yeear old who was playing with us.

wetgroup

wetgroup
Originally uploaded by ekissam.

me, forrest, sarah, and chris after our time in the bumper boats.

rebuttal

sadly, this link is totally not working, or rather, the webpage isn't working. . . i'm working on it though. . . .i'll let you know!

a real time waster

so, i still am not yet ready to tackle the whole summer and what i've been up to and what i'm doing or what is in the works. but, since i don't have the ability to waster your time as you read about my life i have another way to waste your time.

for several years now i've wanted to make a time lapse movie of our focuses here at the Santa Fe Opera. well, this year's crew inspired me to go a bit further. i rented a mini DV cam and started shooting, then started editing, then added music, created a DVD and i even figured out how to upload it, in a very small version, to my mac website.

in total the thing is about a half hour. the first half almost anyone would enjoy, especially any theatre oriented people. the second half is a little sweet, fun, sentimental, and a bit like a yearbook. . . . so, watch at your own leisure if you wish. overall it was totally fun to make, kind of cheesy at times, possibly even propaganda-ish at times, but i like it.

enjoy.


IN THE ROOF

long timey, no writey

wow. . . i'm not even sure where to start. so many people i should've called by now. . . so many emails i should've written. but i didn't. now, it's august, i know that only because my roommate reminded me to pay my rent. that, and i got a call from budget that i need to renew my rental contract, perhaps for another month.

yes, i still have the rental car from the sears fiasco back in late may. something about corporate headquarters of sears is still trying to figure out the whole insurance thing with the other car that was hit. WHO KNOWS. i've called and left messages, but nothing in return. for the time being, i'm not worried. i guess if i need to worry later, i'll do that then.

i've read nearly all the 'hellblazer' comics that are available. at least, all the ones that are in paperback. i was also recommended 'the red tent' by one of the apprentices. . . . GREAT book. read it in a couple of days, which feels so good when you've been slowly working through several books for a few months. then i put away, 'the alchemist', nice, sweet, short. i then decided to pick up 'alice in wonderland'. this will be more slowly going i think. still in the middle of 'a short history of nearly everything', and 'grimms fairy tales'. but i also finished listening to lewis black's 'nothing sacred.'

haven't been to see too much other than 'charlie and the chocolate factory.' but i think i wanna get out to see 'wedding crashers.' perhaps today! this is my third day off in a row! i've been living it up, in my apartment. almost never getting out of my pj's. the first night off i cooked a plethora of food and invited a bunch of people over after the show. we all played 'apples to apples' and ate, and well, it was nice and chill. i also completed my extended taxes. . . . whooo hooooooo. one big thing down. now i gotta really start thinking about these upcoming weddings :)

i had another day off after a long stretch of hard work and openings just after my parents were here. i decided to spend it at a spa, for a change of pace. i went up to the 'ten thousand waves' here in santa fe. quite nice. so peaceful and quiet, tranquil. i had one treatment that involved warm oozing peppermint oil all over my head, followed by a neck, shoulder, and scalp massage. it was very nice, and a good warm up for the hot stone massage to follow. the hot stone, i highly recommend. it's in a private room with the door to the exterior view of the mountains left open. constant fresh air and natural noises. a combination of warm and cool stones are used to massage all over, both relaxing and invigorating. the people are really nice. the area is beautiful. hot tubs, cool soaks, saunas, a really cute shop. not a bad way to spend a day.

there was a decent party last night out at a coworker's house last night, so i was there till 5am. when you get out of work between 12 and 2 am, hanging out for a few hours means something completely different then getting out at 5 pm. so, i should've slept more, but i was up around 11 am, and i'm not sure what i'm up to today, but i'm trying to get the blogging done with.

i also rented a video camera, we're gonna try to make a rip on a cheesy 'yearbook video' thingy. i was shooting the kids working and focusing, it's quite a lot of fun. the best bit was when the kids started to do 'confessionals' in between focus calls. it's gonna be a yearbook/ realworld/ this is what we really do type video. as long as i figure out how to edit it all. i've also put all the footage on a public computer too, and a couple of kids will edit it as they please. hehehehehe. should be fun.

mmm. think that's all for right now. i wanna eat, and i should edit some more, or read, or, i don't know. . . shower?

sandia1

sandia1
Originally uploaded by ekissam.

the sandia air tram is the longest air tram in the world. it's a 15 minutes ride, and it's totally gorgeous.

sandia3

sandia3
Originally uploaded by ekissam.

so, mom and dad came up for a quick visit. i got them into Ainadamar, and Peter Grimes, and they took me on all the touristy things that i hadn't done yet. this is from the sandia peak, we also did the santa fe trolley tour. now i almost know as much about santa fe as my mom does.

sorry. . . been soooooo long

ok. . . i've been crazy busy. and i'm not going to have a chance to really catch you up here. . . sorry.

but i just remembered that i have a .mac account, thanks to my cousin who just posted a bunch of pictures. . . and i decided to do the same. . .

so, try this out. . .

incommunicado!

it's like a short story, in pictures.

how to get a free oil change from sears

as a preface, let me tell you that if you wish to pursue this process of getting a free oil change, please make sure to request that the 'new guy' do all the work. because it is him that was blamed for the whole following bit.

last saturday i got my oil changed. i figured i'd been doing really well by my car. got the 80,000 miles tune up (replaced two drive belts and got a small crack sealed), got the oil change, and in a month, i'll probably get some new tires. nice to get it all out of the way before the summer becomes really insane.

this week, while leaving the opera for a lunch meeting, there was an usual sound from under my car. sounded like a rock had bounced up and hit it from underneath. one of the passengers in my car, who does a lot of her own car mechanics quickly figured out that the silver cylindrical thing we saw rolling behind me was my oil filter. i left a wonderful trail of oil as i turned around to park.

i made a call to sears. i reminded them that i had just gotten my oil changed on saturday, and that my oil filter had popped off in the parking lot. they asked me how i knew it was my oil filter.

'well, it's silver, cylindrical, and it has oil filter written on the side.'

i had to have the car towed to them, which they would pay for only if they were found to be negligent. i called them as the tow truck pulled away. i let them know that the driver had the key, and the filter was in a plastic bag sitting on the front seat. they let me know that they would call me shortly to tell me how everything went.

i got a call back, a bit later than i expected. it was from someone that wasn't even in the auto center. he didn't know too much, but he regretted to inform me that while being looked after, my car had been in an accident at sears. supposedly, while parking my car, some mechanic had swiped into another customer's vehicle. there would be an accident report and i talked to the police officer as well. still unclear about what the damage was, or who would be held responsible.

oh, and the 'new guy' had put on the wrong oil filter, which is why is popped off, and i got an oil change and new filter at no cost.

so i called my progressive insurance, to cover my own ass. within minutes a claims agent called me back to discuss everything. . . it took much longer to hear back from sears. towards the end of my work day, one of my coworkers drove me out to sears where we met up with the progressive guy, picked up the accident report, and took a quick look at my car. the damage didn't seem to be too much. mostly on the driver's side covering the area of the headlight. but it crunched part of the fender, part of the hood, and maybe a bit of the interior that holds the radiator. . . possibly a $3000 fix. . . but sorta drivable, as long as i don't have to drive at night.

i really had loss any ability to articulate, and to simply ask. . . 'who pays?'. the progressive guy totally had my back. we all walked into the auto center and when i explained that i was the owner of the car involved in the accident, i was offered my key. WHAT? no explanation? no immediate call to a supervisor? no, just a mundane conversation pitted with the bits of food flying out of this dude's mouth. . . really classy. only after my progressive guy outright asked who would be liable for the damage did the auto center guy say, 'oh, we'll cover, but you should talk to the store manager. would you like to?'

ummm. . . let me think about this for a bit. . . YES-YOU-MORON! finally, we get a store manager, who also is a little vague, but finally says that i need to get an estimate and they will cover it as well as a rental for myself.

the next morning went MUCH smoother. got the car to a shop, and a rental within the early morning, though i have no idea about the estimate, and with the long weekend, i'll probably be in a rental for a while. there seemed to be very little resistance in getting what i needed. all in all, not too bad. the progressive guy completely rocked. i only wish that sears had seemed to be a little more on top of their game. and the rental i have it all new and fancy. i'm not at all used to automatic locking/ unlocking doors, windows, seat placement, and side mirror control. plus, it's got a couple more cylinders, which is really nice on some of the hills out here.

barelyowlettes

barelyowlettes
Originally uploaded by ekissam.

it's been about two weeks since my last owlette update. they've gotten a lot of color and their horns are starting to appear. they are very aware of us now. they shift away when you approach them and make a clacking noise with their mouths as i got too close for their comfort to take this shot. luckily, mama wasn't around. . . .

pretable1

pretable1
Originally uploaded by ekissam.

one of my early projects this summer was to make a new table for the electrics shop. it should have lots of storage space, and well. . . it is in the electric shop, so it should look cool. and since i'm a bit better with metal then wood. . . . why not make the frame out of metal. . . yeah, yeah, and then grind the frame to give it a brushed metal look, yeah, yeah, i like that!

pretable2

pretable2
Originally uploaded by ekissam.

doesn't look much different does it?. . . but OH is it! i added casters. . . why? cause this mother is HEAVY! now it can roll anywhere. . . i then made the first set of drawers. then we got two apprentices in, and well, the process sped up a WHOLE lot. we put together the final set of drawers and did some painting before the next shot.

table1

table1
Originally uploaded by ekissam.

the old shop table. . . how bland!

table3

table3
Originally uploaded by ekissam.

a modification from the original idea. . . but a good one, lets add tongues that can slip out and add for a little extra space. . . and these bits will need some support. . . how about a little uhmw.

table2

table2
Originally uploaded by ekissam.

the table moves out of the scene shop and into the electric shop. sans table top. . . . now we need to fill it.

table4

table4
Originally uploaded by ekissam.

but how shall we ever know what is in each drawer without looking? well, add some labels, but not any old tape or labels. . . . let make 'em outta plexi and make the whole thing a complete day job. . . . but, ok, it does look pretty cool.

table5

table5
Originally uploaded by ekissam.

ahhh, the nearly completed table in use. in other words, already messy. there are still other bits to finish, such as the electrification of the whole thing, so it will always have power. . . . and i'm sure several modifications to be made in the future. but for the time being. . . here 'tis.

kachunk

kachunk
Originally uploaded by ekissam.

during a trip to the black hole, dave chose a very special switch box for the lights in the shop. there's still complete individual control, like what we used to have, but he put this in line above all others. the idea behind the whole thing was to have a very dramatic, and loud- hence, 'kachunk'- way of turning the shop lights on and off.

mini coop

did i mention that earlier, while shopping in albuquerque, i saw a cutie mini cooper with the license plate that said. . .. SUVBAIT.

oh, woe is me; my plate runneth over, and over, and over

so, if you are wondering what i'm up to or how i'm spending my time. . . here's the rundown:

to clarify. . . . contractually, i am officially an electrician. however, the scene shop won't be getting a new shopper for a couple of weeks, so i'm stuck in between right now.

- the refrigerator in the production break room broke down. 2 weeks ago i called in an repairman. he let us know that we needed a new compressor. he put the part on order and said he'd be back the next wednesday to install the new part. last wednesday i called when i didn't hear anything from the repair service. turns out, they were still waiting for the part to arrive, it would be another week. so, this wednesday i received a call from the repairman, he went to pick the part up from the warehouse, but the wrong part was ordered. granted, they probably order things by part number, but instead of ordering a compressor, a replacement door was ordered. a fucking DOOR! seems like . . . . perhaps. . . the mere size of the box would seem out of place. . . . anyway, supposedly the real compressor will be in tomorrow, and we'll get it installed monday.

- i have to complete a new work table for electrics. the new table that i'm building will have drawers for storage, in order to clean up some of the clutter on the counter tops. i finished the structure, and the first 8 of 24 drawers earlier today.

- there is the daily paperwork, bills and such, that i need to stay on top of. . . for both the scene shop and the electrics shop, and sometimes the paint shop.

- there always something to be bought in town. . . . if it's large i need to wait till the afternoon in order to use the truck (which is occupied by the maintenance staff in the morning). i'll shop for the electrics, scene, and paint department normally. . . but if anyone else needs anything from town, i usually will pick it up. at times it becomes a scavenger hunt, which i plan to blog about more in depth at a later time.

- i'm supposed to clean the electrics shop. it is in pretty bad disarray. . . but cleaning it by oneself is totally lame. . . and i really need that table made first as part of a way to clean up. so i haven't been concentrating on the shop, just yet.

- there's a concert this saturday, which i will be part of the set up for, though no one really knows what it will entail. but there is a full orchestra involved.

- i need to work on a list of things to teach the new shopper. there's the computer budget program to teach, how to sift through all the paperwork, from whom and how to order and keep up on stock, and probably a decent tour through the vendors in town- since the new shopper is from out of town.

- we just got some rental equipment back and i need to put it all away and make sure it's all in decent shape.

- there are a handful of practicals for some of the shows that we need to do prep work on. we don't know which types of lamps and batteries we'll need to use just yet. there are the head pikes that need to glow from the inside in turandot, as well as the beehive looking plastic lanterns (also in turandot), the executioner's blocks that are supposed to glow from the inside (again, turandot) . . . oh, well that list could go on, and on, and on. . . .

- there's the running blacks, the clothes that the crew wears backstage. the scene shop shopper usually orders them in late may, and i've been compiling all the sizes for all the crew since the new shopper. . . again, won't start for a couple more weeks and we need to keep track of everything so the clothes can be ordered soon.

- now that summer people are arriving, more of my friends are here, and my social life is blooming. . . .tonight is the first night i'm home after hanging out with chris, charlie, and dave's dog, reilly for the past few evenings.

- i also have to keep in mind my taxes, which i extended. . . so i'll get to deal with that sometime this summer. . . sounds fun.

- and on the way back burner is the thought of the fall weddings that i need to prepare for.

- oh, and there's mom's day. . . .

the short story. . . . i'm overwhelmed. my boss gets in tomorrow, and hopefully that will make some of the shop clean up go easier, but we will have a LOT to do before we get our first apprentices on MONDAY!

so. . . . what are you up to?

owlettes2

owlettes2
Originally uploaded by ekissam.

LOOK, they're starting to actually look like owls! they've gotten pretty big. they are both still huddled together, and i don't think i've ever seen the other's face. . . but aren't they sweet?

sleepingdog

sleepingdog
Originally uploaded by ekissam.

had a little time on my hands. . . but not enough to write anything profound. . . .

fox

fox
Originally uploaded by ekissam.

can you see it?

owlettes1

owlettes1
Originally uploaded by ekissam.

in a spot where the insulation has been pushed back, way back in the 10th cove of the santa fe opera, our mascot owl couple have made a little 'nest.' here are two baby owls huddled together, and an egg that we don't think will hatch. . . aren't they sweet? ps. . . always best to visit when mama owl isn't around. :)

sprint complaint

a number of you have heard my complaints with sprint. i sent them several emails to let them know of my displeasure. i haven't heard back. . . so, i have tried again. here are the complaints i sent.

part 1. i have attempted to email this complaint three times already and haven't heard back, which leads me to believe that there is a problem with the site. which is complaint #1. i haven't been able to trust the amount on my invoice as it is listed online. when i made a payment last month it didn't show, and as aforementioned, my prior attempts at emails haven't seemed to work. complaint #2 your payment options need to be revisited, i feel. i don't like punching in my credit card information through the phone system, because shortly after doing that once, my credit card numbers were stolen. it has made me leary of using that system. in an attempt to do an over the phone check with one of your representatives, my wonderful sprint service within my own apartment cut out and the transaction was not completed, however, trying to do another one was futile since one cannot attempt to pay by check more than once in a two week period. i cannot use my ATM card to pay over the phone since i use a PO Box address-which is problematic to your system, even though it is the exact same address used by both Sprint as well as my banking institution.

(this had to be split into separate parts because the little 'contact us' area doesn't allow lengthy entries.)

part 2- compaint #3 when i attempted to make a payment last month i was told that i was 'significatly under my spending limit.' which i thought to be true according to my balance. i noted to your representative that my phone service had been turned off before while still under this limit, and she assured me that my service wouldn't be turned off. i planned to pay the balance off at a radio shack later that weekend. -my service was shut off on sunday, and i spent hours waiting for it to be returned after conceeding to use my ATM card through the automatic bill pay. complaint #4 the apologies DO NOT HELP. the phone representatives are not personally at fault. i feel in my conversations with them, i have been firm but polite, even though i get aggrivated explaining how something won't work because i seem to know more than they do about it. instead of, 'sorry about the inconvenience,' i'd like to hear, 'wow, i see how this has inconvenienced you, ma'am. for your troubles with our service we will take a percentage off of your next bill.' that would be of ACTUAL help.

(if i don't hear back again, i may have to resort to actual letter writing and stamps. expect more to come on this wonderful subject. anyone else got anything of similarity to bitch about, perhaps i will include it in the upcoming rant)

cat cup 1

cat cup 1
Originally uploaded by ekissam.

i received a random and cute gift package from my parents which included this mug. (the cheshire cat thing started in 6th grade when i played the infamous cat in a class musical. . . and then it turned out to be a fitting handle for my email address. . . i've been told on many occasions that i have a 'grin like the cat that swallowed the canary'. . . which also reminds me of the wonderful bugger.)

cat cup 2

cat cup 2
Originally uploaded by ekissam.

and here is cheshire disappearing after hot water is added. . . . all except the mischievous grin!

since i was sick

have i told you about my 'c' diet? since i was knocked down with the flu my taste buds and my appetite have suffered. . a bit. for some reason, though it has let up a little in recent days, i've only been really hungry for foods beginning with the letter 'c'. and even more peculiar, foods beginning with 'ch' and 'cr'. this has included cream cheese ( i like to mix it with soy sauce, it makes a great dip for veggies and crackers), crackers, chocolate (mostly in ice cream and brownie form), chicken (especially when stuffed inside a sopaipilla and covered with sloppy green chile), carrots, celery, green chile stew (ok, a bit of a stretch there), cheese, and chili.

bizarre, eh?

irksome commercials

ok. . . i complain about commercials a lot. . . like that tooth brush, or toothpaste commercial in the airport, where the girl sneaks away to brush up in an attempt to catch the eye of some hottie. in the middle of brushing her teeth it appears that there is a shower across her face. this is not how i brush my teeth, in fact, i'm usually trying to contain all cleaning within my mouth. instead of spraying water all over my face, i simply slurp some water up from my hand and swish it around, then spit it out. or that new 'quiet car' commercial, with the car under the waterfall. the woman inside cannot hear the water. . the car is just that silent! but then, we have her appearing in a shower, mimicking the car. . .i guess? ok. . . we get it, girls in showers sells, but at least be trying to push soap, or shampoo!

oh, but onto the actual commercials the freak me out. what's with the talking baby commercials. the annoying CGI mouthed kid with the sandwiches and the 52 year old scotch and cigarettes voice. lame. call me crazy, but i'm not enticed for any one of their sandwiches. then there's the talking sonogram. i think, perhaps, this was found unpopular overall, because i haven't seen it in normal circulation. i don't remember for sure which fast food company this disturbing display of advertising is working for, but a verbalizing fetus doesn't make me hungry. as he complains about the spicy food and tugs on the umbilical cord, i twinge and think, 'pile on the peppers mama!'

note to advertisers, steer clear of the talking babies, especially when dealing with food.

oh joyous morning

the musical buffy is on right now. . . . how excellent! . . . "it's getting eerie, what's this cheery singing all about?"

from maid of honor to best man

earlier this week i got some terrific news. dan (closest friend from highschool) is getting married. since he mentioned the possibility of him and mike getting married about a year ago i have had fantasies of being his best man. something about it seems so fun to me. granted, they have very little planned, and i asked whether or not he had a best man. he said no, so i jumped up and yelled (on the phone) 'ooh, ooh, can i be your best man?!' he seemed fine with it, and he even said the thought had crossed his mind, but he wasn't sure if i'd be able to make it out for the ceremony. . .. you bet i am now! do you think it would be too weird for me to get one of those cheesy 'best man' t-shirts to wear around? on top of it all, he became an uncle for the second time.

it seems, so far, like both these weddings are going to be not quite traditional. . . i think there will be a dress in the future. definitely for the maid of honor one, and i'm not sure about the best man one. . . . to be totally honest, it could all go in any direction, but i thought i might try a dress. . . eh. . . we'll see.

anyway, another good thing i just found out about saturdays. . . gilmore girls saturday. back to tv.

adding salt, iodine, lemon juice, and maybe even some tabasco to a wound

i got my phone service back at 4:22pm. the movie i wanted to see started at 4:30. there was no time to get ready, leave, and call everyone to get there in time. DAMN THEM! DAMN THEM! DAMN THEM! DAMN THEM! so now, i make plans for 7:30 movie. . .which will run later than i like. . . . i still have th cooking and laundry to do in the evening, my bedtime will be later, but i did sleep in today. . . . perhaps it will balance.

however, there will need to be a significant shift in my current mood to balance out this frustration. maybe seeing a ton of terrible violence this evening will be just what the doctor ordered. i can sit there and imagine everyone in pain with a small Sprint logo on the chest of the shirt. there better be a LOT of blood. i have little doubt that my expectations will not be met. muhahahahahaha!

something different

i went out for drinks with my friends/ coworker katy on friday. by the end of the evening i had accepted a new position in my life. . . that as maid of honor for her wedding. it should be an interesting new endeavor for me. i'm already imagining me trying to plan a bridal shower during our busy season. . . .mmmmm. i figure something will work out. and she's looking to have a really fun and simple kind of occasion. honestly, probably the hardest thing for me will be finding and wearing a dress that i actually like. . .

oh, she is also rather unknowing about all the silly goings on of weddings, and it's been a while since i've been a part of a traditional wedding, so if anyone has pointers, i'm willing to listen. jen's wedding last summer was the closest i have since childhood. .. . so i was reminded of silly table games, oh, and lame dj's. . . . but what about all those funky traditions? not that i think katy will do too many of them, but it's good to have a list to pick and choose from i suppose.

other than that, mmm.. . .. i had a headache so bad last night that my head today actually feels bruised and tender to the touch. . .. yippee. i honestly don't even know if it had anything to do with all this sinus/ allergy crap. which, i am TOTALLY sick of. perhaps someone should look into creating hepa filters for our nostrils. . . .

oh, and a whole new frustration with sprint this morning. . . mmmmm, spring and sprint are only one letter off? what DOES that mean? yep, they shut off my service again, and i am now waiting for it to be turned back on. i was told two days ago that it wouldn't be turned off because i was significantly, yes, she said SIGNIFICANTLY under my spending limit. turns out both she and another operator were wrong, so my service is off right now, just as i'm wanting to make my sundays family calls, and calls to people about seeing sin city in under an HOUR! GODDAMMIT! so i've spent a decent amount of time talking to sprint servive people, about how i don't like to punch my atm numbers into my phone, because shortly after doing that last time, the numbers were stolen. . . . . i can't make the same payment with a service representative, because their system won't recognize PO Box addresses. . . . and when i went to do the payment by check, my WONDERFUL service faded. . . so i went to do the check again over the phone, but you can not attempt a phone check payment more that once every 2 weeks. . . . so i said, 'hey, i can go to a radio shack to do this right?' so, that was on my list for things to do this afternoon. . . .HA! too late erika, what WAS i thinking? so i made the payment exactly how i was trying to avoid doing it, so now you can all wish me luck and hope that some hacker out there wasn't paying attention. . . .

hey look. . . i'm bitching. my cramps were REALLY bad this morning too. . . . but they've subsided. . . . my hair is still pretty cute, and boy would i love to call some friends to have them meet me for a movie. . . . . but NO!

i did get out and saw the aspen santa fe ballet yesterday. we were given a chance to collect some comp tickets on it, but i didn't know anyone else who would want to go. low and behold, as i walked in, there were three other opera employees. . . the show was decent. . . there was one FANTASTIC piece choreographed by the choreographer from MOMIX (a really great modern dance group). the whole piece was two people, in complete silver body suits, on skis. the skis were weighted so they could lean all crazy like and not fall over. they undulated all over and the music was wonderfully suited. . . . real techno-y. the way they moved it looked some some form of extreme stretching and bending, i thought that as a dancer the piece probably felt great on the body, all expect for that pressure put on their lower legs to keep them from falling out of the ski shoes. . . ahhh. . . i loves the gimmicky dance stuff!

ok . . . now i must find ways of distracting myself while i wait for restored phone service. hope y'all have a nice day. maybe, just maybe, i'll get a chance to call you soon.

nostalgic bitching

well, there was some small frustrations at work yesterday, and i had the urge to totally bitch about it. . . but then i realized that even in comparison to the rest of my life. .. . it wasn't worth bitching about. ahh, the days of hanging out with my friends after work and bitching for a couple of hours in order to purge it all from my system, they don't quite exist as they used to. the summer will bring a few more things to really bitch about, but until then, i still have this need to gripe for a bit. . . perhaps it's my menstrual cycle. . . so, to make myself feel better, i've decided to bitch about something that deserves it. . . from my days at grad school.

it was my last year at grad school. i was asked to hold a seminar on soldering. . . yeah, i'm pretty good at it, not all the detailed electronic type soldering but just simple electrical type soldering. like i didn't have enough to do in that last semester. . . finish my thesis, teach two classes, take four classes, design most of a dance concert and watch over two other designers for the same concert, watch over the lights for a second dance concert. . .and well, i'm sure there was a lot more going on.

so it was later in the semester, and i decided to really put this thing together. i had to make sure on a place and time to hold it and make sure we wouldn't be in the way. in the middle of this process, my advisor (you know, the person i should be looking up to for an example of how to be in the professional world) came to yell at me about if i was going to include her in this whole process. (she liked to yell, A LOT. . . perhaps i'll spend some more time explaining all that when i feel the need) so i explained that i wanted to secure a handful of times and places to choose from before i solidified it, and that way i would have choices for the students in order to get the largest turn out. after going to my class and figuring out when the kids who were interested could show up, i let my advisor know. she then complained that that time was no good for her students. . . so i gave her a choice of the other times i could hold a special seminar for her students. i then had two seminars planned.

my students came over a weekend. we spent the afternoon soldering different wires together, and making complete circuits and testing them. it was great, the kids had a lot of fun. so, i then had my second seminar for my advisor's students. now. . . . guess how many of them showed up, after having to set it up for a completely different day that fit her students' schedules. . . ONE, that's right, ONE! this particular kid already had dabbled in soldering, and all he needed was an idea of different techniques to use to perfect what he was doing. his hands shook quite a bit, and i taught him a few ways to hold everything steady. . . it was productive, but i had this one fabulous moment within the whole thing. . .

i'm not so sure this is really bitching. . . well, i guess you can judge for yourself.

our school's technical director walked through with another student. (the technical director liked to give me a hard time, and not in the fun, playful way. you see, when my advisor is having problems with a student, the technical director and several other staff and professors liked to follow) so, the student that was with him had wanted to be in the seminar. he walked by several times with a pouty look on his face. i apologized that he couldn't work with us and tried to jokingly rib with the technical director about letting him out of his work to let him learn soldering. the tech director then came over and said, 'well, i don't know if would feel comfortable teaching soldering if i were you. are you teaching them about sublimation?'

to which i replied, with a half cocked head, 'you mean the process by which some materials when heated go directly from solid to gaseous state?' (thank god i was paying attention during some of my science classes in highschool!)

he says, 'no, sub-lim-ation.'

and the kid who was soldering with me, a rather smart one, says. . . 'yeah, that actually means when a material goes from solid to gas bypassing the liquid state, like dry ice.'

the tech director stood there and stared at me for a bit, 'well, you know like when things suck up the solder as they are heated.'

me: 'well, i wasn't using scientific terms for it. . . . but if i had to, i guess i would describe it as capillary action. . . kind of.' and we went back to our lesson. god. . . what a dick.

mmm. . . maybe i should write a grad day memoirs. . . i should've written it while it was happening, as my mom always said. . . alas, i guess only the most prominent moments will stick out when i get a chance. later for that. . . .

spikey buggers

so, i made two trips into albuquerque this week for work. . . and the weather was slightly stormy. . . little bits of rain, little bits of snow, but a lot of wind. while tootling along and listening to America, the Audiobook! . . . i hit something like twelve or fifteen of them. spiney, scurrying little critters. damn tumbleweeds! they were everywhere, some of them really small, and some of them rather large and flush with whatever sort of dry branch material that makes them up. they were fun to watch exploding into splinters under the wheels of cars in front of me. . . but i also hit a good number of them myself.

make way for cute hair!

so, i had been spending a lot of time thinking about dreading my hair. i thought i wanted longer hair, but i was really getting sick of how it looked. so heavy and not much interesting about it. . . dreaded hair would have a texture and a certain amount of fullness, not matter what i did in the morning.

then andria visited, and i found myself kind of jealous of her well done do. it dried all nice and curly. . . .

so, i thought i little more to myself. if i'm willing to spend the cash for the product i liked to dread it. . . . why not spend the cash on a last try hair cut? plus. . . . dreading takes a long time to do, and then even longer to take care of it. . . months of primping. . . . not exactly my cup of tea.

so, i took my mom's advice and found myself at the aveda salon in town. i do like their product, if i must use product. . . . at the very least i must TAME THE FRIZZ! so, miss charlotte at the salon suggested an 'a line bob'? if that's what i remember it being called. i figured the length would have to go, but i voiced concern of being able to pull it back, and wanting it to be easy to manage. . . all that good stuff.

she did fill it with more product then i care for, as most salons do. . . .but i've walked it around town, and relaxed a bit. . . brushed it out. . . . i only need to try it after a shower on my own. . .. but i think i really like it . . . hehe. . . .

side

side
Originally uploaded by ekissam.

i believe in the world of the well coiffed, this is called an A cut bob. . . or something like that. it's REALLY short in the back, and totally curly. i was a little worried at first, but i think i'm totally loving it now. . . which is what spawned this small fashion photo shoot. . . at my diningroom window, with the refrigerator in the back. . . .enjoy!

superiority

superiority
Originally uploaded by ekissam.

give me unflappable superiority. . . you don't care about the camera. . . . you don't care! right. . .. work it!

inquisitive

inquisitive
Originally uploaded by ekissam.

show me inquisitive! what's that over your shoulder? is that something crawling on the wall? what's going on over there? now. . . hold it . . .hold it. . . .

shy

shy
Originally uploaded by ekissam.

i want to see shy!. . . shy like a little school girl.. . . SHY!

coy

coy
Originally uploaded by ekissam.

alright. . . now, give me coy. . . well done!

andria's visit

well. . . luckily i had gotten over the flu just in time for andria to make her stop by on her way back home to dallas from utah. i was a little nervous to test my stomach's capabilities of digesting food .. . but after several days of only water, tea, and orange juice. . . it was starving. . . and particularly craving good new mexican food. it was a little out of the way, but i drove her up to espanola for jo-ann's diner food. it's a totally cute and inexpensive meal. . . but oh so good! and my usual place to take new people, the oasis, was oddly closed for several days. . . . she'll have to wait till next time to experience the womb room.

she was a little surprised by the amount of snow that we had. she had passed through only a week earlier, when it was all beautiful and spring-like. then we got walloped by a snow storm. . .and there was plenty left to slosh through, which we did as we walked through the sculpture garden at shidoni. we didn't get to see them actually pour bronze, but the garden and funky furniture display was still quite fun. and why go through tesuque without a stop at the market for some of the best desserts around. and this time they actually had the good desserts made .. . . unlike the disappointing visit with trevor. i got my flan!. . . .though with my stomach, it took me three days to slowly eat and digest it. mmmmmm. . . flan.. . . . . and she left with some green chile cheese bread to take back with her.

we also stayed a bit at the awakening museum, she accompanied me to my acupuncture appointment, and we even took in a show- sam shepard's fool for love. . . the whole day we chatted and caught up on what each of us knew about the goings on of our barter friends. we even tried to call miss rachel, but i think it was a little late back on east coast time.

i'll make a quick segue here to my next post. i was rather jealous of her well done do. . . and how wonderfully it dried, all curls and little frizz. . . . you'll have to check out the next post to see where that led. . . . hehe

anyway. . . it was a great time, and i hope we get the chance to make it happen a little more often. i'll have to try and share this all with the barter crew. . see, it's nice to stay in touch. check out the pics below. . . . .

andria2

andria2
Originally uploaded by ekissam.

far be it for me to venture out to a new place or museum. . . besides, the Awakening Museum is so cool. how often do you get a chance to be COMPLETELY enveloped by color. andria really enjoyed it as well.

andria1

andria1
Originally uploaded by ekissam.

in left over snow from earilier in the week we checked out Shidoni. . . the bronze foundry. just a week earlier she had stopped by on her way to utah, and the weather had been beautiful and spring-like. then we got blasted with snow. as we did again this weekend.

andria3

andria3
Originally uploaded by ekissam.

andria was up for a visit last week. . . luckily i was just over the flu. . . and enough to enjoy some decent new mexican food with her!

a honking couple of days

first off, this past weekend was a blast. quite a schooling for myself, and i was totally whooped by the end. i already see that if i were to continue to do some of the hiring conferences, i need to either shorten my talk, or the interviewer's talk. . . each interview was supposed to last 20 minutes, but i tended to run over an average of 5 to 7 minutes. by the last 4 interviews, i was running a complete hour behind! but people still waited. . . .

i met a couple of really great kids, i'm totally psyched to work with them this summer, and well, there was a good share of complete duds. oh well.

there was a decent number of kent kids there that i was able to catch up with. pictures to come really soon.

well, coming back to santa fe, i was really tired, but i had a full week ahead of me. while my repetitive nose honking heralds in the start of allergy season, i've found myself couch ridden, drinking lots of hot tea, and this weird onion ginger honey concoction which is supposed to make me sweat. i was freezing earlier. not so much anymore.

i've been in constant contact with my bosses, working on which kids we want to hire, emailing, reference calling, a couple extra phone interviews. . . . all with a drippy nose and totally congested head . . . whoo hoo. . .

then there was wednesday and thursday, or was it tuesday and wednesday. . . i honestly don't remember for sure. . . the first night andria smith- (ahh barter days)- showed up later in the evening. she was on her way from dallas to utah for some production meetings. she makes the trek each summer but usually doesn't have time to stop by. this time though she crashed over for the night and we stayed up WAY past my bedtime talking and catching up. i was kind of sleepy the next morning, but it was totally worth it. she's planning on stopping by for a little longer on the way back to dallas. hmm. . . perhaps a touristy trek to come. . . .

so, the next morning, i was to head off to the airport to pick up a college friend who was coming to the opera for an interview. on my way to pick up amy mark, andria and i had a little breakfast. . .. what else? a breakfast burrito from santa fe baking company. i ended up being a little late to the airport, but amy seemed fine with it. we played, 'where's so and so and what are they up to' the entire day. .. or at least while she wasn't interviewing. she seems to be doing really well, and i hadn't realized how much i missed a bunch of these people. . . and hearing about how people were. a complete whirlwind for me, and people from two different eras of my life, not to mention the catch up played with the kent kids. . . . so THREE! three different times of my life. i was amazed at my ability to keep it all straight, and i was pulled names out of no where. . . . maybe this congestion thing is good for something, works as a sort of gelatinous goo that help move my synapses. . . . or not.

mmmm. . . NUMB3RS is on. . . . gotta go.

gisbe arrival

gisbe arrival
Originally uploaded by ekissam.

i got my gisbe (great international secret blog exchange) package just monday. though i think it probably arrived while i was away at the SETC convention, it made for a wonderful welcome surprise for me!

thank you lise! a cutie kangaroo plushie, glow stars-excellent, fun and different tasty treats, and someone did their homework and got me an aquarius month to month book. i LOVE it. . . THANKYOU!

a grin-ectomy may be necessary

i am less than 12 hours away from getting on a plane and flying to north carolina for the SETC conference. i'm totally psyched, so much so that i'm worried about it being a let down- must balance out a bit. besides, i've had all the anxiety nightmares i think i can take. but other than that, there have been some interesting bits that i've forgotten to mention. .


----i got an anniversary card back in january, marking my first complete year of being a full time employee here at the opera. you know, i am impressed by the details that i see here that i've never seen anywhere else. . .

----i got a birthday card from the opera, yes, kinda of generic, but again, a detail that i've not seen elsewhere.

----on a more inane note, i got a letter and a check from the bank that i mentioned a few entries back. the bank that i closed the account with. after i transferred most of the account, there was a 5 dollar balance left over that the bank was reluctant to give up, 'can i ask, ma'am? why would you want to close this account? is there any way i can persuade you to stay with us?' this is probably the 12th time i heard this bit, and the 20th time i explained the whole, 'how could you send my new debit card to the wrong address and make me wait a month and a half for one to come to the correct address, no, it is unacceptable' almost as if this old bank wanted to take one more chance to prove their irresponsibility, i get the envelope and turn it to open the flap to find that the flap hasn't been sealed. . .. at all. my five dollar check could have skipped town on that envelope, but someone, it made it to me. unbelievable. . .

----a day ago i was walking around and ran into another department head who had what looked like my mail in his hand. i was caught off guard, i thought it was an alumni magazine. there was a costume sketch from a show i worked on directly on the cover. he asked me, 'erika, isn't this you?' there, in print was my name. yes, but why did he have this magazine? why? because it's a trade journal linked to USITT.. . this 'brotherhood or club of technicians' to which i have never belonged. but one of my teachers wrote up a large article about a couple of shows of which i was the lighting designer, so there are a couple of pictures and my name, TWICE as the designer. (and of course there is part of me that is wondering how painful it was to HAVE to include my name hehe, 'damn, she did do all that work, guess we have to give her credit.' muhahahahahahahahaha)

(oh, and all morning, after the magazine circulated- though i still haven't read it- i was teasingly called, 'famous erika')

now, i still have some work to do, and some genius level tetris to perform in my suitcase. . . so, other than the fact that i get to go through all this with my period--- will i ever get to fly without it? arg! ---- i need to get going. later.

trevor visiting

well, the biggest news from this week was trevor's visit. he was traveling cross country from vermont on his way to a new job in las vegas, nevada. he pulled in around 8pm wednesday evening. i called in a personal day so we could hang out all thursday before he took off again.

it's only when people come up for a visit that it becomes painfully clear to me just how little i get out. i know of many places to get a great meal in this town, but as for a little tourism type thing, i only have a few tricks in my bag. other than that, it's basic stuff that can be done in any town. . . .

on a side note -after this week, jared and i have decided that we need to do a breakfast burrito test try. this is THE town of the breakfast burrito, there are just so many choices and slight differentiations that can become significant to your morning meal.

anyway, we started off with breakfast at the Santa Fe Baking Co. it's a great standard. then off to the old city and a tour of the pretty churches downtown. the Loretto with the mystical staircase. . . (as seen below) and the St. Francis as well as a little stroll through the plaza.

a quick drive through old canyon road and the art galaries, then, on the way to the opera, a pit stop at Shidoni, the bronze foundry. we walked through the art garden and the artistic furniture boutique. we did a good tour through the opera then went for dessert at Tesuque Village Market - which i usually tout to be the most heavenly maker of desserts around. though sadly, there was no cheesecake or flan ARG! am i even in the right place? what has this world come to. . . . the strawberry shortcake was disappointing- very unusual for TVM. . . but the chocolate mousse cake made up for it, i hope.

made a small stop at a pet store to search out a proper scratch post for hedwig, who had taken a liking to scratching at the couch arm, also seen below. a viewing of constantine- which turned out to be much better than first anticipated, and a late dinner in the womb room of the Oasis. . .

not too bad. and trevor made it into his new apartment AOK the next day.

within the next two weeks there will be two more visits, so i'm hoping to find a few more ideas before then. . . . or perhaps not. . . busy week ahead :)

trevor at fridgehenge

trevor at fridgehenge
Originally uploaded by ekissam.

can you really pass up visiting this sort of thing?

comfy hedwig

comfy hedwig
Originally uploaded by ekissam.

and jared and i worried that our deflating couch pillows were becoming uncomfortable. HA!

trevor at the magic staircase

trevor at the magic staircase
Originally uploaded by ekissam.

things i've done today

so, i am feeling a little guilty that i didn't plan some exciting long weekend, maybe a trip to denver to visit some friends, or hell, even a trip to a local museum. . . and i've had 4 days off- this being the last. well, yesterday i did a thorough cleaning of the apartment. both jared and i are expecting visitors over the next few weeks, and my thought was that if i did a really good cleaning now, we will only need to maintain it. i didn't clean my bedroom yet though, i was planning on doing it today. . . well, we'll see how that goes.

so i woke up around 9 this morning thinking, i'll start by finishing the lasagna i made the sauce and meatballs for last night, then i'll go out, get some more quarters for laundry, hit the gym, do some cleaning, shower up, watch a movie maybe, then settle in for the evening. but this is how it actually went.
got up around 9,
made the lasagna,
did some dishes,
realized that i actually had enough quarters to do my laundry already,
contemplated going out to see 'constantine'
contemplated going to the gym
watched 'return to oz' because i can't get that scissor sister song out of my head (and though i expected it to be really be lame and cheesy -since it is an 80's disney movie, it actually wasn't too bad, but it wasn't as good -ie, dark, twisted and creepy as the song is to me)
then i did two loads of laundry
ate some lasagna
another load of dishes
put away the laundry
(and yes, i'm now listing these in order to make it seem like i've accomplished many important things)
read some blogs,
checked email
wrote some blogs
oh, and somewhere in all that i had a large rum and coke. which may be factoring into my decision making process as well as my writing skills. . . isn't it amazing how once you factor in the non-necessity of laundry quarters, then the need for leaving the apartment decreases exponentially, let alone the need for showering-that's right. . . i'm all greasy haired today! now, i'm on the third load of dishes, and i'm sitting down to watch zatoichi. right, and a second rum and coke because i rarely drink, and i did buy a whole six pack of cokes on friday, and there was one left as of 5 minutes ago, and who really wants that lying around over the week, so. . . bottoms up!

whoo hoo for presidents day. . . .

i also think that the trailers for the fantastic movie, Hero, are terrible. there was one right before this movie started. it does nothing for the actual complexity of the story-line. what were they thinking? or were they being REALLY smart in attempting to hide the actual plot so as not to give the intricacies of it away?

anyway, gotta run, my rum and coke is flattening.

lasagna

day off. . . mmmm. . . i made lasagna. . . . .

reading. . .

so, a friend of mine that reads my blog regularly noted it as intelligent. . . and while i think i tend to ramble and circle around in my conversation i decided that i will attempt to sound intelligent, and talk about the books i'm reading. or rather list them.

on another blog that i read occasionally, a guy made a challenge to have people he knows read 50 books this year. i read quite a lot last year, but i doubt it was more than 25 books. . . so 50 sounds a little daunting. and i'm not doing well at the present rate this year. . . but here's where i stand.

over the holidays i finished off mirror, mirror by gregory maguire. he also wrote wicked, which was great, and i've read all of his others. i love that twist of the fairy tale. i think wicked rates at the top, with mirror mirror close behind. . . lost, which isn't a twisted fairy tale was also good, and the ugly stepsister book took a really long time to get into. . .. so, eh on that one.

now for books i'm currently reading. i don't normally read several at the same time, but i seem to be giving it a try. i'm wondering if it's working out well because a number of them consist of short stories. . .

get fuzzy (groovitude) by darby conley. . . sunday type comic make for real hard reading huh? actually i just finished it. . . . but it makes the list look a little longer. . . . -i never said anything about quality versus quantity did i?. . . so back off!

little birds by anais nin. . . . some clean erotica :)

in the devil's garden by stewart lee allen. . . . it contains short stories about forbidden foods throughout human history. . . i love NPR's recommendations. it also has some interesting recipes. . .

smoke and mirrors by neil gaiman. the wonderful writer of the sandman comics. it amazes me how he can take stories that i wouldn't ever be interested in, and the wonderful nature of his story telling makes me devour them. i only have one story left, but there are a few that i will need to revisit.

the gnostic gospels by elaine pagels. i had sort of hoped that they would actually be the gospels, but it's more of a study of them, rather dry. so, it's sitting around, don't know if i'll pick it up again, unless i get myself in some largely didactic mood.

cryptonomicon by neal stephenson. . . also on the back burner. i really liked snow crash, but this one, maybe it's too over my head, but i'm swimming between all the characters. perhaps i need a slightly easier stephenson to get me back in the right mind set or something.

america the book (a citizen's guide to democracy inaction) from the daily show with jon stewart. although it is incredibly funny, it still reads a little like a text book. . . so it's slow going for me.

art and physics (parallel visions in space, time and light) by leonard shlain. . . i only got about 17 pages in, and had to set it aside. i think it will take all of my brain power to digest this one, so i want to finish up a couple of these other ones first. i'm totally excited about the subject matter. . . . i think there are direct parallels between the scientific and artistic worlds. . . so i'm hoping this will have some really wonderful examples to help me flush out these ideas i have.

and then, for a little light bedtime reading, the complete fairy tales of the brothers grimm. . . why you may ask? i'm not entirely sure. i found the exact volume that i once had as a kid at the store (it has since been lost in a house fire) it was green leather bound with gilt edges. i didn't end up getting the exact one because there was a new version out with another 29 stories. i remember this one creepy tale about a maiden with no hands. i haven't gotten that far in the new book, but i'm looking forward to it. somewhere along the way i will have a huge deep subconscious psychological epiphany. . . . i'll keep you posted (don't hold your breath)


and since i want to make this list look longer still. . . . here are a few from last year, though i'm sure there are some i have forgotten. . . there was

death comes for the archibishop- willa cather
the story of b- daniel quinn
portrait of a killer (jack the ripper case closed)- patricia cornwell
asleep- banana yoshimoto
the hitchhiker's guide to the galaxy- douglas adams
fast food nation- eric schlosser
hey nostradamus!- douglas coupland
the davinci code- dan brown
snow crash- neal stephenson
the sandman (endless nights)- neil gaiman
books of magic- neil gaiman
oh, and all the harry potter books so far published- jk rowling

so. . . what are YOU reading?

too good to not share, thanks jen!

Oh, me my valentine
By Brian McGrory, Globe Columnist  |  February 11, 2005
There's a woman out there -- and she knows who she is -- who once tossed the better part of a McDonald's strawberry shake in my lap on a long-ago Valentine's Day because I gave her a dozen roses.

That's right: I gave her roses -- soft, supple, unbelievably expensive roses, roses that I had waited 45 minutes in line to buy that would have sold for maybe a third of the price the next day. It was Valentine's Day, and that's what you do, right? You give roses.

Apparently not to this woman, who seethed: "You're more creative than this." By the time I mopped the pink foam from my pants and tried to explain that I really wasn't, she was long gone, which is just as well.

But now I'm starting to think she might have been right. I am more creative. I am more creative because of the idea I'm about to unfurl right now, an idea that will undoubtedly take Boston, then Massachusetts, and ultimately the nation by an incredible storm.

Cancel Valentine's Day, which has rapidly become the most overpriced, over-hyped event of the year. Then replace it with a holiday dedicated to the person you truly love the most in life, the one extraordinarily deserving human being who loyally accompanies you every step of the way along this sometimes difficult journey called life.

Yourself.

That's right, delighted readers. We're going to designate Feb. 14 as Self-Appreciation Day, in what is destined to be the most anticipated celebration of the year. Mothers and fathers have always had their own day, as have Pilgrims, secretaries, veterans, Christopher Columbus, dead people, workers, and groundhogs. Why not you? Why not now?

I know, I know, the traditionalists out there are aghast.

How, they're asking, can you not revel in this holiest of Hallmark Holidays highlighting mutual love and all things coupled?

What they're really asking is how can you not spend stupid amounts of money on flowers that have the ability to draw blood.

Why, they're wondering, would you not want to pay jacked-up prices for specially designated Valentine's Day menus at packed restaurants where couples are trying to act like they're much more enamored of each other than they actually are.

The important thing to notice is that the people asking these questions are all women. You see, somewhere along the line, Valentine's Day ceased to be about the couple. Equality in a relationship ended at the stroke of midnight on Feb. 13 and resumed sometime in the morning of the 15th.

Put another way, have you ever met a woman who fretted over what to get her mate for Valentine's Day? If you have, marry her, but I suspect she doesn't exist. She's too busy worrying that the flower deliveryman carrying the vase through her office is walking toward somebody else.

Which won't be an issue on Self-Appreciation Day. When you buy a card that says "World's Greatest Lover," for the first time in your life, you'll actually mean it.

On Self-Appreciation Day, Lovers' Lane leads right in front of your television, preferably to "CSI: Miami," a fresh bag of Doritos, and a cold Sam Adams in hand. Every single bit of guesswork is taken out of purchasing just the right present. In fact, the wager here is that Self-Appreciation Day will prove to be a bigger boon to the economy than Christmas and Valentine's Day combined, with nary a single return.

A new plasma? Hey, I'm worth it. Chocolates? To hell with the fancy stuff over at L. A. Burdick that run about three bucks a bite. Get an oversized Hershey's Krackel and thank your lucky stars for the wonderful giver of such a thoughtful gift.

If you feel compelled to take yourself for a night on the town, picture the quiet calm of a restaurant where every table is set for one -- and when you order dessert, every joyous bite is finally yours.

Self-Appreciation Day: The one day of the year when love is truly in the air.

Brian McGrory is a Globe columnist. He can be reached at mcgrory@globe.com.  

check check 1. . . 2

just trying a new program that may help me organize my blogging. no promises. . . need to see how certain things work. so i apologize in advance if the blog becomes a royal mess.

oooh. . . i think i can easily insert a link. . . .

simply google

ooooh. . . . like that. . . .

now. . . . is there a way it understands the music i'm listening to and will post that?


Artificial Joy Club - Spaceman

neato!

how about pictures?

mmm. . . not as easy to find. . . . . working. . . . . . wonder what happens if i just drag one into the window. . .



ok. . .. now to see how it uploads. . . .

the happy ending to my CRAP day. . .

my crap day started about a half hour before my bedtime last night, when i was told that my phone had been temporarily disconnected. WHAT? i just paid it off in full on sunday. i was just talking to someone yesterday, what the hell? so i checked it. indeed, it had been turned off. the info online of my invoice was confusing, one page said i paid the other said i didn't. so i made the phone call to pay over the phone. the operator told me that my check had been turned away by the bank, but couldn't see why. i couldn't see why either, but i wasn't going to ask them, not after this past week.

how about a little exposition? early in january i discovered that someone had made use of my debit card numbers to make a purchase. i remained calm and made a call to the bank. i had a very helpful operator who walked me through the whole thing and had me trash my current debit card for a new one, that would arrive in 7 to 10 business days. this was tough for me. i DESPISE writing checks. however, it's early february and i don't have a new debit card. i made a call on sunday that was mirrored on monday, to the correct department. my card was sent to my secondary address. . . which is not recognized by the USPS. the USPS address that was correct on every other piece of mail i get from the bank was not used, and no one could tell me why my primary address was bypassed. and more to the point, no one was willing to apologize for it. so, i was told a new card would be sent to the correct address and i would recieve it in another '7 to 10' days. . . there were long pauses in the conversation. as if she was waiting for me to say, 'oh, ok, that sounds great.' i had been totally understanding and rational till this point, where i began to lose my patience. i asked if it was possible to expedite the shipping, since i had been inconvienenced. this was not possible since they couldn't quick ship it to a PO address. . . . 'oh, well my secondary address is a fed ex/ ups address, you can next day it there.' again, . . no, they couldn't. long pause. 'well then, i guess we're done here.' 'is there anything else i can do for you ma'am.' 'no, you just proved that you can't, we are done.' click

at this point i've decided to change banks, this is too much hassle, the bank is too far away to deal with this type of issue. so, i can only expect that something within all this has made my phone bill go haywire, and i can't stand to deal with them anymore.

i hd to make another trip to the bank, late at night to make this whole phone bill thing work. i really expected to get mugged, only because it would so perfectly add one more problem on top of everything. thankfully, it didn't happen. though, with my rage, i could've used a mugger as a punching bag and let off a little steam.

this morning, i was able to see a way through the whole thing, and within a week, i think it will be completely cleared up, bankwise.

moving on to later in the day. after a trip to albuquerque and back. . .

i walked into the office to see the box my brother sent me. (sorry, here comes another long story)

2 weeks ago i'm on the phone with my brother. he tells me he has a box for me. it's my christmas presents. i get excited and tell him to ship it to me, i want the presents! he tells me that there is a 'theme' to the box that i will understand when i see it. jokingly i ask if the theme is 'christmas'. . . no, i will see when i get it.

i don't get it that week, and last weekend, i notified dan that he needed to send the box out because i had had a nightmare about it. in the nightmare i get the box and open it in front of my co-workers. on top is a decent long sleeve black shirt with some clever technician logo on it, then begins the horror. several brightly colored disney themed zipped up hoodies. i pick up each one and am pushed further into wondering how my brother traverse the disney store thinking that, 'this would be perfect for erika.' they had bows, ruffles, and sheep patterned fluff. i remember there being lots of pooh, eeyore, and the bright pink of that ballerina hippo from fantasia. i'm disturbed but dig for the possible redeaming gift of the family guy episodes that i mentioned. i come across a set of books. there were three, but i can only remember the subject matter of two of them. the first, 'how to tell if you are gay' by the fraggles. the second, 'how to masterbate' by the muppets. i think i'm blessed that i can't remember the third. i can only imagine they kept going down hill. (did i mention that my dreams can be REALLY unusual and vivid in detail?) there were other bits of colorful disney cheerfulness inside that i have also forgotten, but i think you get the idea.

so, sometimes my dreams are so vivid that i have a little trouble distinguishing them from reality at first. so i deterred from calling my brother to tell him the dream in case he had actually gotten it for me (and i hadn't just dreamed it), worried that i might hurt his feelings. but later in the day, my jugement was better and i told him the whole dream and we laughed over it.

so, i got the real package today. opened it. and this is what greeted my eyes.




brightly colored, pink even, cheerful, disney character. before showing this and telling the story, i called my brother. 'are you fucking with me?' -no, this was really the present he got for me. the theme was cheshire cat. me and the cheshire go WAY back, to when i played it in a 6th grade play, my email is derived from it. . . . but this was messed up. i was totally jolted the whole day. i shared the story with nearly everyone in the production department. the list of books got the best laughs. - i do admit that if those books existed i would TOTALLY own them. . . who in their right and properly twisted mind wouldn't?!

the next good part of the day was in the form of an email.

my friend swon, who i haven't heard from in about a year, finally emailed me. i was so happy i nearly started crying. i'd emailed her so many times, sent her care packages, letters, i even tried to call her, but getting through to korea that particular night proved impossible. . . damn calling cards.

anyway- along with my talent for bizarre dreams, i have an active imagination. . . . she could've been terminally ill or hurt. . . perhaps her parents no longer wanted a nasty american to influence her life and had some how cut off all communication between us. . . she had been kidnapped and was kept in a dark dank basement, with no internet connection allowed. i know. lame and unbelievable. . . but i missed my friend. anyway, it turned out that she was just incredibly busy. and it sounds like she's doing really well, and i can't wait to get a longer and more informed correspondence from her (hint hint, if you are there swon! ^_^)

i had so much energy all day. i went to the gym tonight, which is usually really rough after a 10 hour day. and instead of having one of those draining workouts that make you feel all run down. i had a great workout. i walked away feeling like i had just played one of my better softball or soccer games in highschool. the music, though i have listened to it thousands of times, was fresh and high energy. i moved easily, i streched really well. there's that moment, that perfect moment when a softball hits the fattest part of the bat. when it hits right, you feel the hit, and hear that crack. you know in that instant how good the hit is. for a split second everything was tense in you, then it breaks and releases in that hit. i felt like i had hit a number of those. electricity was surging through me. i walked out to my car wanting to kick ass. if ONLY i had been born a demon hunting vampire slayer. i would've totally rocked tonight!

anyway. onto the rest of my relaxful evening. i was so pumped about today, i almost sent this entire thing out as an email rather than a blog. . . but i've calmed down a little since then. have a great one!

this is my cyborg acronym name for my nickname, toto. i think it's fabulous, and oh so appropriate!

want your own?

your cyborg name

missing pictures. . .



so, summer of 2003. the opera put me up in this really fabulous looking house. i had great roommates. and i had the better of the rooms, since i had my own bathroom with it. when it came time for me to move from this house and into an apartment in town, well, it was a quick move. i was cleaning like a mad woman, and stuffing things into my car to make multiple trips to the apartment. the housing director for the opera had asked personally for a couple extra days for me, so she stopped by to make sure that i had really cleaned it up. i had one small load left and a few things from my closets, of which i had two.- such a great room.

anyway, i had these small file folder looking picture holders. you know, the file folder holders that have a handle and a buckle int he front? well, these were just a smaller version, for pictures. i had them on a the top right corner of the shelf of the closet closest to my windows. i kept telling myself, 'don't forget the pictures, don't forget the pictures.' and i took out a few more trips then i left with promises to the housing director to bring the trash out to the corner the next morning.

i honestly have no memory of what happened to the pictures. i've searched all my things since then, and even been back in the house to do a quick sweep of the place- my roommate from last summer had my room this summer. before that i had called the woman who was in charge of watching over the house for the owner- who never lives there. i asked about the pictures, even since it have been about 8 months. but she never got back to me. and in my search i didn't find anything.

now, in my everyday life, it doesn't matter that much. but there are times when i wish i could go back and revisit the moments in the shots. by the way, this was a BDC. . . before digital camera.

i'm pretty sure that it all chonicles my time at grad school. granted, there is a good portion of that part of my life that i wouldn't mind losing, but it wouldn't include most of what i had taken pictures of.

what i remember. . .

matt and matt:

i had only been at kent for maybe a month or so. it was our my first show there. i'm sure it was during technical rehearsals or dress rehearsals. these two guys, matt gorris-a scenic grad student, and matt filmeck- a lighting undergrad student were sitting across from each other at a side table discussing something or other. i grabbed my camera, which i'm sure i had there to take shots of my design, and turned to the two and of them and told them to smile.

what i remember about them most, other than i think the shirt filmeck was wearing made his eyes absolutely gleam blue, was that i barely knew them at the time. i felt sort of shy about taking their picture since i didn't really know them. sort of like i had the need to take pictures of people around me in order to show my parents that i was doing fine and had friends in kent. now, they are both really good friends of mine. i last saw filmeck, who now lives and works in vegas, while i was at a lighting convention in vegas. we hung out together for an evening with another friend of mine. gorris, i called him on my day off to see how his teaching job was going in virginia. i had just sent out an 'i'm bored' email, that had a bunch of fun links attached to it. gorris picked up his phone, and before i had a chance to say hi, he got out, 'what is it erika? have a day off and bored so you're calling around?' yep. . . that's exactly how it was. we chatted about the possibility of me going to a summer job conference that he'd be at too.

what is wonderful about the picture is how i know these two people now, and how i barely knew them in that one moment. and seeing them again, for an instant, from that point of view again, is just wonderful.

swon, soo-chong, and me:

the picture was taken a rockney's- an after school deflation food and drink type place. i had just gotten over being sick but my voice was hoarse for about 2 weeks afterward. swon, my good friend and a group of us were going out to rockneys for dinner, and her sister, soo-chong, was visiting from seattle. many people had commented about how cute my voice was in it's current state. we all tried to to let soo-chong know that i had a normal voice, and that i had just been sick. but she joked that she thought we were all lying because my hoarseness was so consistent. that this was, in fact, my real and only voice. somewhere around then someone else snapped off a shot of the three of us with out arms around each other's shoulders.

what makes the story better, and the memory of the picture better is that several months later swon became my roommate. soo-chong called to check up on her sister. and as coincidence would have it, i had just gotten over another cold that had left me hoarse again! so i answered the phone, and swon had told her that she was living with me. after i said hi, soo chong broke into laughter and joked that she had known it all along! that WAS my real voice and that the being sick story was all a lie! so, maybe the picture isn't where it's all at, but it helped remind me of that moment.

next is my friend's vegas chapel wedding:

my second chance to go to the lighting conference (LDI) was in vegas a couple of years ago. (the conference switches between orlando and vegas) the year before i went to orlando and got to run into a handful of friends that i hadn't seen since undergrad. it was like the world was reopening for me after being hidden away in virginia. so when i contacted a couple of my friends to let them know i'd be in vegas and couldn't wait to see them again, my one friend was ecstatic, since that meant i could attend her wedding. -i had met her boyfriend the year before in orlando. i was totally psyched. we ran into a handful of people from school and all were invited. it was a small ceremony, his parents, a couple of their co-workers, and a handful of emersonians. we weren't allowed to take pictures of our own in the chapel, since that is how the chapel makes most of it's money, by employing their own photographer.

their two co-workers held up cell phones, one with her grandmother and mother online, and the other with her younger brother online. his parents took us all out for dinner afterward and we all hung out at the freemont street experience afterward. she and i had been in the same class and had been through a lot together, but she had a way of keeping most people at a distance. i felt we were good friends, but not really tight, but i think i underestimated it. she thanked me quietly apart from everyone for being there. our other school friends were a couple of years older, and she felt i was one of the closest people to her, so she was glad to have had me there for the ceremony. although i have no idea how true it is, i feel that maybe i was as close as a person could get to her, and maybe that's what really mattered.

anyway, we weren't supposed to take pictures on or around the premises. . . but do you really think that kept us from doing it? hell no. while the chapel was busy with the next few weddings, we took some nice and some joke shots outside of the chapel, including one of my friend brian running away from the chapel with a look of terror on his face as he read the sign. then, there was mercedes and gordon. mer in a light pink mandarin collar embroidered dress with her glowing orange hair, and gordon, all in black with a styling buckle that mer had just bought for him.

i guess i could go into the night of the bachelor/bachelorette party at a strip club, but i'll save that for another time :)

the iron chef surprise birthday party:

my second year at grad school. a group of my friends had conspiried to find out my birthdate. i don't normally give it out. (we had actually done it for a friend recently. the 'conspiring' consisted of me rummaging through his school bag while he was in a rehearsal, then finding his wallet and checking his liscense.) so, one of my friends had done about the same thing when i had gotten my new ohio liscense, several months earlier.

i had been really into iron chef for some time and had pushed it onto my friends, as i do with anything i like a lot :) muhahahah . . . anyway, i was in tech for my thesis show. they went all out trying to figure out if i would be able to come home or if i would be busy with cuing notes. lots of scheduling and planning. it was supposed to be a surprise. however, another friend, scared that i was missing my own surprise birthday party blurted it out to me one night while we were hanging out at his place. on another occasion, closer to the actual event, i was searching for them at one point to discuss the prospects of lunch or dinner, and found them all up in the costume shop. it just turned out that i walked in as my roommate was explaining to the group how i was completely oblivious.

-normally, i would agree, i have a tendancy to be oblivious, however, i have a great knack of uncanny timing. i guess it balances out. it was no longer a surprise birthday party, but i had no idea the extent of it.

so, on my birthday, i was in the theatre doing cuing notes. i recognized that one of the girls was set up as a look out in the computer lab. however, when i was ready to go home, i didn't see her, so i thought she had left already. and i went home, sort of prepared.

i walked into my house through a door that i don't normally use, it leads into the livingroom. my friends had transformed the livingroom into a version of kitchen stadium. i walked in to the theme music for iron chef. one of my friends threw a chef's hat on my head and an apron with my nickname on it around me. when i was asked to answer questions a sharp harsh light was thrown on my face to imitate the show. then another friend, dressed as chairman kaga recited a bit of my childhood and announced me as the challenger, my battle was against swon, my friend, who was the iron chef. the layout was made so that we would be making sushi. swon taught me how to along the way, and we were able to eat all our creations. part of my gift was also some sushi making and serving utensils, plates, soy sauce dipping thingies, and such.

however, half way through the opening ceremony i realized that someone was missing. the look out. my friend sarah. sarah, i'm sorry if you're reading this now and finding out the truth for the first time. i hope you actually see how much we care for you through our actions. we realized that sarah was missing and quickly threw together a plan. i drove away and someone made a call to sarah on her phone to let her know that i had called home to see if my roommate needed anything from the store since i would stop by on my way home. in the meantime, i drove to the local grocery parking lot, and sat there for about fifteen minutes. when i was pretty sure that sarah had arrived, i drove back home and we replayed the whole thing. i tried my best to act as surprised as the first time, as did everyone. the theme music played, a couple of my friends acted as the commentary guy that does a lot of the talking, chairman kaga read my short history again, and swon came in as the iron chef.

using all the ingredients we made and ate a lot of sushi. i have to say, even though i'm not the biggest on celebrating my birthday, the whole set up, all the time they put into it, and how much fun we had the entire night. . . it was one of the most amazing things anyone or a group of people have done for me. i remember i'm red faced in most of the pictures, and the smiles were all open mouthed and excited.

so yeah. most of the time i don't need these pictures around. but i wonder, if each of these held this many memories, imagine all the ones i have forgotten about? not the memories exactly, but what did i take pictures of? what memories would they jog? i plan to call the woman who looks after the house again, on the off chance that somehow these weren't thrown away, that maybe they were just locked up in some lesser used closet- there is a closet or a room that was always locked in that place, maybe they are still there, almost two years later?

keep your fingers crossed for me :)