There really hasn't been much to see on this Vox of mine for many years. I wish I could keep it up, because it's pretty, but because Vox lacks some basic functionality I seem to need a lot (better connection with other services, a proper posting interface, ability to cross-post, ability to dig into its innards better), I never really stick around for very long. I do pop in here once in a while, especially when someone I know is actively here. But then I change my mind.
So in the interest of not leading you astray, I say don't leave a message here. Find me elsewhere (this is a good starting spot). I leave you with my last proper post here, for my own personal reference if nothing else.
I've started up a little Google Maps project, putting together a map of the places I need to go at least once, sometime. If you're the curious sort, you can see the actual map complete with points and some nascent notes here.
One of my new year goals is to update more often. I haven't actually been successful with that anywhere, yet. No, wait. I did update my Livejournal with my Flickr retrospective. And I've uploaded pictures to Flickr in 2009. I guess I'm getting there.
It seems like vox.com may have done some upgrades since I was around last, so I should probably check that out. And see if anyone is active that I know. And all that other stuf. Maybe after lunch.
I don't run in the online circles (YouTube, MySpace) that would have brought this particular person to my attention, and even if I'd seen the source material, I feel certain I wouldn't have gotten much out of it. But this article is a beautiful example of how a journalistic lens can provide the context that twists your heart:
I've been away. I'm not caught up on reading my neighbourhood. I apologise. It's been busy and hectic and a little bit stressful, though I'm hoping that I'm more or less coming out on the other end of that now.
I spent last weekend at a local convention, meeting up with friends I basically hadn't seen since last year (and a few I hadn't seen since the year before that). The picture on the right is a little bit of dressup I did while I was there. I look sort of cranky in the picture, but it's just because the sun is in my eyes.
It's funny, because I bought all of the pieces separately, but they ended up matching each other. Coincidence. But a good coincidence. I really love those wings. Also, I bought the corset that weekend. My sister has a few corsets but I'd never gotten one myself. You can't really eat much in them, but they hold your posture up perfectly! And they're not as uncomfortable as one might think. I wish I'd thought to get pictures of the ensemble from the back. Maybe next time.
I had been taking more photos (you can see some at my Flickr page) but I started to slack off in March. I need to get back in the habit of taking more. And uploading them. This weather isn't helping. It's like the weather system can't decide if it's spring or maybe still winter. One day it's beautifully warm and the next day it's practically freezing. I don't like to wander about taking pictures if it's too cold.
These guys on the left were at the convention last weekend. One of them actually was out on the dance floor one night. I think the costumes are made of fleece, so they must be really hot.
For those of you who are perhaps unfamiliar, they are alien characters from the children's show Sesame Street. In the show, they had a small segment where they went around saying "yipyipyipyipyip.... uh-huh...uh-huh..." As a child, they freaked me out. These ones were taller than me! Still, the costumes were cool and I liked that they did it as a group. My sister got some video of the dancing one.
Sorry for the disorganised ramble. I'm pretty tired and a bit out of sorts. Hopefully more posting here, more often, soon.
Show us your eyeball.
I didn't really know what I wanted to do with it, so I just been letting it grow out over the last few months. Within the last week or so, it started to get annoying. It was taking too long (in my opinion) to dry. Sometimes, it wouldn't pin up the way I wanted it to. I was getting irritated. It should be noted that this is the longest my hair has been in years - since high school, I think. I'm used to shorter hair now!
I went to the mall on Monday night. The mall has three salons, one of which is my regular salon. Alas, I could not get a walk-in appointment scheduled at any of them. They were all booked for the night. I was able to get an appointment the next day, but not until 6pm. I left, disappointed. (I'm an impatient girl. I don't like to wait!)
The timing the next day was odd. I ended up wanting to try to move my appointment back an hour because I wanted to eat beforehand. (I'd left werk a little bit late.) I called the salon, but again, they were booked for the rest of the night. I skipped dinner and went in. It was at this point that I realised everyone was busy due to Valentine's Day. Oops. Next time, I should probably think these things through.
Sadly, I don't really have any decent pictures of my hair cut afterward. I took Thursday and Friday off from werk, in honour of my birthday. (Since we get Monday off for President's Day, that means a five-day weekend for me!) I decided to get the oil changed on my car on Thursday. It was slightly overdue. What better time to get an oil change than during the day when everyone else is at werk! Less wait time. I hate going and having to wait in a line of people. It can take forever, and again, patience is really not one of my virtues. (I know I need to werk on it.)
I drove to the place I normally get my oil changed and they only had one other person in their garage, so I was able to get in right away. This is me, waiting for them to finish up with my car. It didn't actually take them too long, which was nice. (I'd brought a book, just in case.) You can (sort of) see my hair is about 3.5 inches shorter now.
Afterward, I went out to my beach to have a little thinking time and take some Pinky:st pictures before I had to meet everyone for dinner. I managed to get some pretty good shots, some of which I haven't quite gotten online yet. Despite the fact that it was pretty overcast and quite windy, it wasn't actually very cold. I was wearing a skirt and a jacket, but didn't need gloves.
All in all, a good time. My family bought me a new camera (the Canon a640, which was the one I'd been looking at) for my birthday. I'll have to break it in soon. (My sister, who spoils me, also got me a little Louis Vuitton case that fits my camera or that I can use as a wristlet. It's so cute! Pictures to come.)
I lived in Texas for twenty years — less than three of them voluntarily, but that still counts for more than half my life. I visited in December and it was a lot like visiting someone in a prison I'd escaped a long time ago. I came back to Seattle and have given thanks almost daily for everything from landscape to politics.
There were only two Texan public figures I ever admired, and now they're both dead. Smart, sassy, not afraid to say it like it really is, a voice of sanity in the middle of the muck.
Jan. 16, 2003:
"I assume we can defeat Hussein without great cost to our side (God forgive me if that is hubris). The problem is what happens after we win. The country is 20 percent Kurd, 20 percent Sunni and 60 percent Shiite. Can you say, 'Horrible three-way civil war?'"
September 13, 2005:
"Some of you may have heard me observe a time or two — going back to when George W. was still governor of Texas — that the trouble with the guy is that while he is good at politics, he stinks at governance. It bores him, he's not interested, he thinks government is bad to begin with and everything would be done better if it were contracted out to corporations.
"We can now safely assert that W. has stacked much of the federal government with people like himself. And what you get when you put people in charge of government who don't believe in government and who are not interested in running it well is... what happened after Hurricane Katrina.
"Many a time in the past six years I have bit my tongue so I wouldn't annoy people with the always obnoxious observation, 'I told you so.' But, dammit it all to hell, I did tell you, and I've been telling you since 1994, and I am so sick of this man and everything he represents -- all the sleazy, smug, self-righteous graft and corruption and 'Christian' moralizing and cynicism and tax cuts for all his smug, rich buddies.
"Next time I tell you someone from Texas should not be president of the United States, please pay attention."
Sadly, we'll have to figure it out for ourselves. We'll miss you, Molly. I'll raise a little hell in your honor.
I heard yesterday on NPR that wolves are likely to come off the Endangered Species list and felt a surge of panic. Here's why:
"Idaho's governor has
publicly announced he wants to kill more than 80 percent of the state's
wolves and the state has already begun planning large scale wolf
eradication efforts through hunting and aerial gunning."
http://www.defenders.org/releases/pr2007/pr012907.html
This country has committed so many sins against wolves we'll probably never make up for it, but the last decade or two of conservation and reintroduction was a good start. Don't throw it all away now, you fools.
