Random

So here are some random things I've been enjoying.

I came across this blog when looking for things about SYTYCD this summer, and it's quite enjoyable. The author, Joe, posted a link to a blog that I'd never seen before, and this was how I discovered the blog of Dave Holmes. You remember Dave Holmes, right? Remember years back when MTV held that new VJ contest, and the tall skinny guy with the crazy hair won, but the runner-up was really the best so he became a VJ, too? (I have memories of being, for some reason, very spellbound by all of the levels and rounds of this competition.)

Anyway, that's Dave Holmes. He always seemed like a likable and knowledgeable sort of person, but I lost track of him in the years since. Well, I am here to tell you that his blog is delightful and I've now gone through all of his archives and can report that he posts some of the best links I've ever seen and some witty-assed commentary and somehow this is just what I needed to find this week. He also just ran the NYC Marathon, which is also inspiring as I haul myself around on run after run and know there are many, many more runs ahead of me. Anyway ... there are too many excellent posts to highlight all of my favorites, but here are a few: this one (because it's nice) (and true), this one (with all due respect to my friend who grew up with him and with full disclosure that I think he's a good actor), this one (because it pointed me to a blog about things that are important), this one (because it made me cry), this one (because it made me laugh), this one (because loving "Hold On" is no joke, and I do!), this one (because that dog is very cute), and finally, this one (because it absolutely made my day, and I can't decide which is better -- the reactions of the people watching, or the boy's reaction when he realized people were watching. BEAUTIFUL.)

He has another blog wherein he's chronicling a year of reading books by other people about their years of doing something. Also delightful, natch.

I am not sure why this so totally hit the spot for me this week, but there you go.

Meanwhile, Melissa sent me the galley for Liar, and as she knew I would, I loved it. I could not put it down. Read this book. Avoid spoilers at all costs. It's really, really good. Meanwhile, I think that When You Reach Me did not live up to the hype for me. Mostly, it just made my head hurt. Explaining why would be a spoiler, so I won't explain. I recognize that it's a really good book, it just didn't end up moving me or blowing me away like I hoped it would. I read reviews like this and Melissa's review and think maybe I read it too fast and need to read it again. So I think I will.

And now if you will excuse me, I have to go put my feet up and prepare to blown away by Jacob and Russell and bored by all the rest!

10 things

(1) I went to a yoga class at the unholy time of 5:45 a.m. After several days in a row of running, biking, or swimming, I needed a change. We warmed up with some breathing and eye exercises ... like look to the right, look to the left, look to the right, etc., and I thought, "This class is gonna be a breeze!" Wrong. So wrong. The teacher is a good friend of mine, almost like a sister, and I marveled at both her excellent teaching skills and her poses, many of which I could not even begin to complete. It's been a long time since I did yoga, sure, but I don't know that the day will ever come when I can actually do the simple poses of plank (have trouble straightening my back) and cobra (way too much lower back crunching) and upward dog (ditto) properly, and bow pose? I am so sure. Also, I fell over repeatedly in warrior three. I find that I hate any stretch or pose that arches the lower back in a crunching manner rather than rounding it in a lovely standing forward bend or child's pose kind of way. It just does not seem good for a lower back to be crunched in that way. Maybe I am missing something, but it always hurts and is monstrously unpleasant. I think my favorite pose of the whole class was bending over in cow face pose because I am a huge fan of anything that (a) rounds the back and (b) stretches and opens up the old hips, which I find notoriously hard to stretch effectively. (Other favorite hip poses? The pigeon, a.k.a. heaven, and the ridiculously but aptly named happy baby pose.) I hope to spend more time doing deep stretching and yoga in the coming weeks and months ... once I wrap up the next (and final, for a while, anyway) triathlon. I think my body really needs it.

(2) I watched 8 episodes of True Blood in two days. After watching the first four season one episodes a while back and never being able to rent the next discs because they are always checked out, I finally scored the last few discs and marathoned them. This show -- this show. It is so totally gross and ridiculous but so entertaining. I have to look away and fast forward sometimes through some of the really graphic stuff because I am a squeamish delicate flower, but overall, I enjoyed it so much and deem it perfect summer fare.

(3) I've been reading Shelf Discovery every night before bed and simultaneously loving every word and feeling deeply jealous that I didn't think to, with a little help from my friends, write this book myself! But no matter. I'm just glad it got written because it's hilarious and ultimately moving to read someone else's childhood impressions of Meg and Calvin and Charles Wallace and Claudia and Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler and Vicky and Adam and Harriet and Sally J. Freedman and all of the others. It's just an awesome walk down memory lane. (Here's how you can buy it from your friendly neighborhood independent bookstore.)

(4) Speaking of independent bookstores, check out this great interview by my old friend Melissa. I am very inspired by seeing her so totally in her element and doing what she was obviously meant to do.

(5) And speaking of memory lane, I've been enjoying a few really nice John Hughes tributes, including one by Molly Ringwald in the NYT and a SUCH a lovely story by a woman who was pen pals with Hughes when she was young.

(6) Recently I bought two new prints for my walls. Where I will hang these I do not know, and they still sit in their mailing tubes. But I'm just glad they're in my house because I like them. I would sort of like to rebuild my living space from the ground up. What is stopping me? Nothing!

(7) I made this zucchini bread with a ton of zucchini from the farmers' market that I needed to use up, and it was delicious, even though I forgot to add the vanilla. (Found via Tastespotting, my very favorite place to hunt for recipes and look at beautiful food.)

(8) I am kind of still loving summer in general. Lunches and dinners with friends, getting up early to run with Zuko or exercise, the farmers' market, visits to the dog park (where someone pointed out of Daisy, "She's got issues," which I frankly found a bit snotty and rude), Sunday brunch and gelato in New Orleans, and a night of excellent community theater ("I knew every word of every song growing up," my mom said as we listened to the soundtrack to The King and I on the way home).

(9) This picture makes me really happy, as does the Chuck Comic-Con panel, which is definitely worth watching if you're a fan of the show and have 34 minutes to spare. They are 34 minutes of pure delight.

(10) And finally, I leave you with this. I never knew how much I missed Tim Canterbury until now. O Timmy! My Timmy!

Randomosity

(1) I now own my favorite comfy summer sandal in three colors (black, chocolate, and tan), which is possibly excessive. But wearing these sandals basically feels like not wearing shoes at all. I love them. (A note on sizing: I normally wear an 8.5, but the size 8 in these fits perfectly. I have a narrow foot, so your mileage may vary.) I am not the type of person who can wear sassy summer sandals every day of the week. My feet just cannot handle it. These sandles are awesomely comfortable, and I think everyone should buy a pair. So let it be written, so let it be done.

(2) I've never known much about the Buckleys; maybe I've been living under a rock, but they've never really been on my radar. I remember seeing Christopher Buckley last year on The Daily Show and thinking he was funny, and I remember the brouhaha surrounding his endorsement of Obama. But that's about it. The Buckleys might all be a bunch of a-holes for all I know. I read this story today by Christopher Buckley today. It's definitely tinged with a certain snootocity that might just come with being a Buckley, but I got the sense that a lot of love and care went into writing it. It moved me. Like, a LOT.

(3) Elissa, yes! It's okay. Not writing about it around here. But it's okay.

(4) Big fan of tonight's dinner!

That there is a whole wheat English muffin topped with (probably very unhealthy, but whatever) jarred pizza sauce along with broccoli, fresh rosemary, celery, onion, garlic, green bell pepper, yellow squash, chicken breast with lots of cayenne pepper, and a little grated mozzarella cheese. I sauteed all the toppings (except for the cheese, obviously) in a skillet in olive oil before baking the teeny pizzas because the last time I attempted to make pizza without cooking the veggies first they stayed rock hard. This way worked like a charm. Yum!

(5) Not that this is in any way original, but my Adam Lambert obsession began weeks ago and is still going strong. I decided from the first time I saw him on American Idol that he is made to star on Broadway as Judas in Jesus Christ Superstar. A little YouTube scouring, and voila! A preview of what is clearly his destiny. I also quite frankly enjoy Adam Lambert in a face full of make-up with a bare midriff. How did we live before YouTube? I'll never know. My sister is staunchly in the Kris camp, and he is definitely adorable and talented, but there is something about this seasoned, make-up wearing, boy kissing musical theater guy making it big on the national stage that really appeals to me.

(6) I am on the hunt for a healthy bread I can make sandwiches with pretty much every day of the week for lunch. I am willing to buy it at Whole Foods/Paycheck if necessary. I just do not know what to look for when it comes to sandwich bread. It all seems to have dozens of ingredients. Does anyone know of a healthy or semi-healthy loaf of bread I can buy?

Sunday

I love the Internet sometimes, I truly do.

Last week, I followed Matt Logelin's link to this video. The video itself is gorgeous -- amazing footage and photos of a father and daughter whose story I've been following for the past year or so -- and I fell in love with the song. I looked up the artist. I downloaded her album. I've been listening to it all week. She might be a new favorite. And I am so interested in ways that we discover music, and I like to remember how I discovered music I love. So, this is how I discovered Amy Seeley. Since then, the line "been realistic about love, been optimistic about the weather" has been floating through my mind pretty much 24 hours a day. Not sure why.

I followed a link at kottke.org to this site, which is clever, funny, and ultimately very moving. The numbered rules are in red, and the accompanying quotations and photographs and captions are delightful lagniappe. This site is full of basic life advice that we'd all be better off following. So many of the sports-related ones reminded me of my dad and brothers. I love this site; it just kills me.

My friend Grace wrote a really nice post recently about food. I have more to say about this, but it can wait.

This video caused me great amusement and delight, possibly because I also have a dog named Daisy. She does not jump like this often, but Zuko does, every day, while outside, on the sliding glass door, wanting to come inside. Weirdo.

And now, random rambling. This week has been a blur of I don't even know what. Sushi & beer at happy hour (fun). Stressing about school (not fun). Stressing about work (SO not fun). I am sad about the end of ER. Even though I missed many-an episode over the 15 year course of the show, I saw a whole lot of them, and it's certainly the longest running show I've followed in my lifetime. I chose Chicago Hope over ER in 1994 and stuck with it for a long time, but I always ended up back with ER, and it obviously long outlasted its initial competition. I have a real fondness for many of those County General characters; I think the softest spot will always be for Carter. I don't know why. I also have never forgotten that sweet and sad scene when Carol tells Luka goodbye and explains that she's been in love with Doug since she was 23 years old. It's weird to think that was in season 6, and here we are, at the end of season 15. I never cared for Sam or Gates despite really liking the actors who played them. I loved Neela. I was very taken by this new, foxy, tortured Dr. Brenner and I'm convinced he will be a big star. This show has been on forever. I don't know why it's affecting me, but it is. I loved how they used old school-style opening credits for the final episode. How could America not break out in simultaneous smiles and tears upon seeing Benton kneel down and do that familiar punching move.

And once again I killed my iPhone. It stopped syncing or charging after an unfortunate encounter with my ceramic tile. The genius bar girl regarded me knowingly after shining a light into the base of the phone and said, "It appears to be a hardware problem." I nodded guiltily in silent acknowledgment of its contact with the floor. She noted that my original warranty had expired. I sighed, "Yes." Then she kept typing and her eyes widened and she broke out into a giant grin. She was obviously delighted to discover that I had five days left on my replacement model's warranty. "I'm so happy for you!" she smiled. "I'm so happy for me, too!" I said. It was a smile fest. Thanks, Apple. Tip: She said that we should only plug our iPhones into the car charger in emergencies. She said it's a "trickle charge" that is not good for the phone and to use the wall charger whenever possible. I told her that I plug that thing into the car charger every time I get in the car. "Oh, that's NOT good," she said. So -- word to the wise, straight from the mouth of the genius bar girl. Chill with the car chargers.

Yesterday evening I did a 5K with some friends, and I have to say, it was a great time. A big street party before and after, basically. My friend and I might join the running club that put it on. It was inspiring to see all of the super-fit runners and also the not-so-fit ones who were there pounding the pavement. It was a beautiful night and the pink azaleas were blooming along the route and the sun was lowering in the sky and it was just swell. The live music, the amber beer, the visiting. Excellence all around.

This morning I went to visit with my parents for about an hour and a half while they prepared to depart on their trip to Sicily. It is funny to sit there as an observer as they pack last-minute things and call across the house about remembering this and that. They pack funny things. Zone bars and Triscuits and large styrofoam cups so my dad can have bigger cups of coffee than they serve in Italy. My dad was in full-on travel garb; it looks like his pants and shirt were designed by Rick Steves himself. We got into our cars at the same time and I happened to have Josh Groban singing "Mi Mancherai" from my dad's beloved Il Postino on the mix CD in my car, so I queued it up and played it loud in honor of their trip, and that beautiful violin played the opening bars of that beautiful music. (The ones starting at 0:26 of that clip.) They started slow dancing faux-dramatically in the driveway. I am excited for them. They love Italy so much.

Finally, I can scarcely recall being more excited for any concert event in recent memory than I am for Brandi Carlile. I was excited to see the Avett Brothers last April, sure, but my love for them was in its initial budding stages when I saw them onstage for the first time, so I had not built up that much pre-concert excitement. My Brandi love has only intensified since first discoving her, and I just know in my heart it's going to be one of those concerts where tears start leaking out of my eyes the moment the artist steps on stage and don't cease until possibly when I'm driving home or falling asleep that night. In between then and now, I'm seeing the Avetts again, and I just learned yesterday that the Indigo Girls are playing the night before Brandi, and I haven't seen them in concert in this state since the mid-90s, and I just feel like April and May are going to be two glorious months for live music in my life, and it feels like just what I need.

Motivation

I went to the gym today to go running. Lucky for me, I caught the last fifteen minutes or so of A Knight's Tale, which are a great fifteen minutes to keep your feet moving, even with no sound and with closed captioning. It occurred to me as I watched the end of this movie (SPOILER ALERT) that this is actually a really good movie. When the prince knights Heath Ledger's character, it's genuinely moving. And when Heath Ledger fights Rufus Sewell in the final duel (my sorrow at seeing Rufus Sewell play a villain is deep, true, and documented), it's genuinely thrilling. At least it was to me on the treadmill today. The thing I like about this movie is even though it's a silly Middle Ages romp with modern rock music (and even though Shannyn Sossamon can't really hold her own with the rest of the cast, her gorgeousness notwithstanding), the actors play it all completely straight. The reactions of the prince, the crowd, and especially his friends to William's ultimate knighting and victory are so heartfelt and loving and real (how awesome is Paul Bettany as Chaucer?), and Heath Ledger never lets on that this is really a silly movie. He acts like it really matters to his character that his dad heard him being addressed as "sir." It is easy, looking back, to see why this was the movie that made Heath Ledger a star. I really liked him, and he moved me in both silly and serious films, and I am very sad that he died.

And this is more than I ever thought I would say about A Knight's Tale, for pete's sake. But it, along with the Olympic footage of the U.S./China water polo match and the women cycling in the rain under the Great friggin' Wall of China, really motivated me today to run three miles instead of two, the longest I've gone since resuming exercising this summer. So that felt great. This evening I went to yoga with my dad and we did so much floor work that my forehead started becoming permanently attached to my mat and had pains shooting through it, so that was a less pleasant fitness experience, but what're you gonna do?

I guess all I can do is prepare to watch Mad Men and face the week ahead. And make these (I used chocolate chip cookie dough and alternated mini-Reese's cups, Rolos, and regular Hershey's Kisses, and they were easy and delicious and perfect). And try to watch as much Olympic gymnastic footage as humanly possible because it is awesome. My older brother texted us in excitement when Li Ning lit the Olympic cauldron because we were glued to the gymnastics coverage in 1984 along with the rest of the universe, for that was the year of Li Ning and Bart Connor and Mary Lou Retton and MITCH GAYLORD. Seeing Li Ning was like seeing an old friend. It was funny that my brother remembered that summer. That made me happy. And now, for nostaglia's sake ... remember, she needed a perfect 10 to get the gold medal:

Superhero

I've been reading Andrea's journal for a while now. I think I first discovered her site via link on Jessamyn's site. I don't know when I started reading, exactly, but her words and photographs have moved and inspired me from afar from a long time. Learning that she worked for Sark (with whom I was utterly obsessed in my late teens and early twenties, whose cards and books I bought and clung to like she was speaking to me) and is friends with the likes of the Weepies (whom I love so very much) just made me feel more awed by her.

I've also admired her necklaces for a long time, but I've never purchased one until recently. Though I love the look of the beaded necklaces on her models, I wasn't sure I had the style to pull one off.

When Andrea introduced the bullseye pendant recently, I knew I needed to have it. This was the necklace for me. So I ordered one.

My necklace arrived yesterday, and it's now hanging around my neck. And it felt so good to give myself this little gift, not only because it's a very cute and functional piece of jewelry that I can wear every day with basically any outfit, but because I feel like it has a special meaning. The word "superhero," engraved on the back of the necklace, thumps right along with my heartbeat, reminding me that I am strong and brave. It feels nice. Couldn't we all stand to feel a little more Super and a little more Heroic? I think so.

Misc.

Recently, B. and I were in my car, riding along behind a van with a bumper sticker on it that said, "I'd rather be in Puerto Vallarta." I said, "That guy'd rather be in Puerto Vallarta." B. said, "Where is Puerto Vallarta?" And said he thought it was near Baja or something.

I thought silently to myself, "They used to go to Puerto Vallarta on The Love Boat a lot." A beat later, B. said, "They used to go to Puerto Vallarta on The Love Boat a lot."

Battlestar Galactica: The Phenomenon is one of the more enjoyable things I've watched lately. I happened to flip to it and was so pleasantly surprised to see very random celebrities talking about their love of the show -- really their obsession with it. S. Epatha Merkerson? Check. Jesse L. Martin? Check. Brad Paisley? (??) Check. The guy from Anthrax? Check. Joss Whedon? Of course and check. And these aren't just casual fans -- these are people who truly know the show and love the show. And it was all edited together very brilliantly. FANTASTIC.

This guy takes beautiful photographs.

What else? Friday night: crawfish boil with B.'s school peeps. Last night: art show & ice cream. Today: a one-year-old's birthday party.

I'm thinking of taking a graphic novels course. It's a seven-week course, and in addition to other assignments like a paper and a presentation and an evaluation of a collection, it requires the reading of 10 books per week for a total of 70 books. Is this insane? 70 books in seven weeks? Can someone please tell me if this is even humanly possible? I checked out a few of the required books (the professor picks 10, we pick the other 60) yesterday -- the only ones the library had -- The Sandman: Preludes & Nocturnses by Neil Gaiman, The Originals by Dave Gibbons, Out from Boneville by Chris Ware, and Oh My Goddess (volume one) by Kosuke Fujishima. Where in this town are the students supposed to round up 70 graphic novels apiece? I'd like to think libraries but I don't really see that as feasible, and I don't really want to buy all those books. Still -- I see it as kind of a sick and sadistic challenge, and I'll probably try to do it.

Bloggin' for Barack

My dear friend has just started a blog about Barack Obama. He's inviting people to submit their own posts about all things Barack. If you'd like to submit something, please send it to this e-mail address: Bloggin4Barack [at] gmail [dot] com. I'll be the one fielding the e-mails, so you'll actually be sending them to me.

This friend of mine knows a lot about politics. He's not an experienced blogger, he's just someone whose soul is on fire this political season, just like a lot of people's, and he's really feeling the Obama hope in his heart. If you are feeling the Obama hope in your heart, too, and feel like you want to shout it from the rooftops or simply make your opinions known, please think about sharing your thoughts. Your post can be posted anonymously or with a pseudonym or with your real name; just specify your wishes in that respect in your e-mail. Your post can be long or short, light or heavy, whatever's on your mind. Or it can simply be a link directing readers to thoughts you've already posted elsewhere, like on your own blog. I think my friend's intention is simply to have a place where Obama lovers can gather and bond in this next intense and exciting week or so and get their thoughts down in a collective place for posterity.

You can read his thoughts on the matter in this post. I think his position is beautifully stated. I'm proud of him for creating this space, and I encourage you, if you feel so called, to take part.

Update

B. said that the bathtub is starting to resemble "Gollum's lair." True enough. It takes forever to drain so the dirt just settles instead of going down with the water. The plumber is coming Friday, thank God.

I just read The Year of Magical Thinking, and at first I thought it was brilliant and moving and then it kind of started to slog and then I decided it's overrated. Is that wrong? Maybe I hardened my heart because reading about death and grief is just a little too much to handle in that large a dose.

Yesterday I walked into a wall and now I have a large goose egg and scrape on my forehead. It's very becoming.

School remains sort of soul-crushing. I try really hard, but after a C on the midterm and two consecutive Bs on assignments, I am feeling a little discouraged. Perhaps I must surrender the fantasy of getting straight As. I did the last time around in grad school, so I guess I thought I'd do the same this time. But probably not. UGH. I am right on the A/B borderline in one class, and with the coming assignments, things are not looking good.

"Finally...I LOVE FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS! I'm not sure I can say it enough. And boy...Riggins. Riggins! The tortured soul! The bedroom eyes! Jesus! Let's end the strike for Riggins!" -- Jenna Fischer. I will miss my favorite shows if they all go black because of the strike (The Office, Ugly Betty, Brothers and Sisters, Pushing Daisies), but I will miss Friday Night Lights most of all. But still - how can I not support the strikers in my heart? If there's anything I've learned this semester in school, it's that intellectual property is no joke and you can't just use people's creations without giving them credit/compensation. Go read this editorial by one of the creators of Lost.

What else? So much for my healthy eating plan. This weekend I ate chicken pizza, shrimp pasta, chocolate chip and sugar cookies, and a giant roasted egg plant/roasted red pepper/goat cheese/walnut sandwich. Fantastic!

I would just like to say that any program that allows me to talk into my computer and hear my sister talking back from a coffee shop in Bolivia is a fine program by me. Thank you, Skype!

My mom and I had a nice afternoon on Saturday. We decided to escape from our chores and obligations and go to see Dan in Real Life. It was silly and cute and we ate popcorn and it was fun to hang out together. We listened to showtunes on the way there and she made the declaration that Rodgers and Hammerstein never wrote a bad showtune. Then I tried to sing along with "People Will Say We're in Love" and got the lyrics wrong and she corrected me. "It's 'here is the GIST, a practical list of 'don'ts' for you!" It was amusing. She reminded me that Oklahoma and The King and I were the only albums she had as a child. When we got home, I showed her clips of Hugh Jackman as Curly. (I think I might start watching this every single morning before facing the day.) Then of him hosting the Tony Awards. Then of him singing "Oh, What a Beautiful Morning" on Inside the Actors Studio. (Note: terrible video, good audio, which is all that counts here.) Now her life is richer because she has seen Hugh Jackman in his three shining moments of glory and in fact now knows who Hugh Jackman even is, which she did not before. (Note: I completely agree with everything Miss Alli said about Hugh Jackman. He was SO charming on the Tonys and Inside the Actors Studio, but none of his movies have aptly captured his awesomeness. This must change.)

A few links

A few links.

amuse buche ... a new blog I am enjoying, via Herpreet. Check it out.

Eyes of the Storm ... a look back at Katrina two years later by the photographers who were there. Powerful stuff.

Chiara's animal photos ... especially the sea turtles. They just make me happy.

Friday Night Lights receives some much-deserved recognition.

The best part of the Emmy Awards.

Emmy fashions at Go Fug Yourself.

Cute video for "Nobody Knows Me at All" by The Weepies and cute video for "The World Spins Madly On." And good Lord, here's a Harry/Hermione video set to "The World Spins Madly On."

I keep waiting to get sick of The Weepies. It hasn't happened yet. I love them so much, and I wish I could see them play live. Maybe someday. Here they are with "All that I Want." And here's "Painting by Chagall."

Trailer for Puccini for Beginners, which we watched this weekend. Not fantastic, not terrible. As B. said, it had enough charming moments to make it worth watching.

And finally ... Congratulations to Mo & Ian! My friend: beautiful bride.

Not Laboring on Labor Day

Right now I'm sitting at the coffee shop with Herpreet. She's working on her laptop, and I'm working on mine. I'm not sure what she's listening to. I'm listening to Grease 2. It's not a bad way to spend part of a Labor Day afternoon.

My boyfriend is a deep thinker and has been having especially deep thoughts lately in the wake of his plunge into academia. Last week, I was only sort of awake when he started to intelligently explain Barack Obama's appearance on The Daily Show, and I actually interrupted him to say, "Yeah, that's sort of like Danny Tidwell on So You Think You Can Dance." Showing how nice he is, he nodded as if that were a totally apt and legit comparison.

I've found myself more than once recently talking about Wil Wheaton. "Well, Wil Wheaton says..." and he finally asked me, "Who is Wil Wheaton?" And I walked into my bedroom and walked out with the framed showcard I bought off of eBay with a framed picture. It's a piece of one of those big cardboard displays in the movie theater, the image of John Cusack and Wil Wheaton sitting on a bed in one of the flashbacks in Stand By Me. I pointed to him, "That's Wil Wheaton. Now he has a blog." And I really do enjoy it. It's weird sometimes to realize that the little boy who played Gordie LaChance, one of the characters that pretty much consumed my entire psyche throughout the entirety of sixth grade and who grew up to be a writer, is now a grown man and a writer. But he's a good writer and seems like a genuinely nice person, and there's something that feels right to me, in a corny way, about that.

Speaking of blogs, there have been two blogs I've been keeping up with this year that have moved me down to the depths of my being. This one chronicles a family's battle with lymphoma. Even though I don't know these people at all, I followed it so closely, hoping and praying for a good outcome and healing beyond the heartbreak they suffered. To read about them coming back into the light has been nothing short of inspiring. The writing on this site is some of the best I've ever encountered on the web. This one also has incredibly beautiful writing and tells the story of the birth of two babies and the survival of only one. It is hard to know how to describe these blogs because they involve struggles and heartbreaks of a degree I've never experienced and can't even imagine and I don't want to come off like a dork talking about how beautiful they are and how much they've moved me. I just am grateful to have been able to read them, really, and to have witnessed from a million miles away the beauty and the strength they have been able to express. I don't even know.

I watched The Pianist recently for the first time. It certainly was harrowing. Worth watching for this scene alone. {Warning: Huge spoiler in that link.}

Meanwhile, I have finally started The Road. I haven't gotten far, but I know I want to keep going. I just finished Daniel Isn't Talking by Marti Leimbach, which I thought was pretty excellent.

This week I've been spending a lot of time with my sister, which has been great. She came to exercise class with me and marveled at my ability to roll around in other people's sweat. She was proud of me. "It's definitely good germophobic therapy," I said. Class continues to be hard but fun. Sometimes I'm so tired during the cooldown that I almost fall over during the stretches. The other night a panting man saw me about to keel over and then right myself and he nodded in agreement. "Talk about spent," he said. I nodded back. Spent indeed. My sister and I went to Piccadilly for lunch, site of many childhood family meals. I ordered a side of orange macaroni and cheese and a side of orange baby carrots for my lunch and decided to drink some orange Fanta with my meal. The three went well together. It is impossible to quantify how much Piccadilly macaroni and cheese we consumed as kids. Back when they had the really delicious red punch, not the Hi-C fruit punch. Good times.

We had a party with all of her lifelong friends the other night before sending her off to South America, and we ate jambalaya and shrimp and brownies and it felt good to be in my parents' house with all of those old friends and their babies. So many babies! Wow.

Yesterday my boyfriend and I went to New Orleans together for the first time since he's moved here. We ate at our favorite brunch place -- he got debris and poached eggs and I got a bacon, arugula, tomato, and egg sandwich on focaccia. Later, we stopped for gelato (strawberry and chocolate hazelnut). Because it's so long, we've been watching The Lives of Others in installments. I thought the first 15 minutes or so were sort of boring, but now I'm hooked.

What else? I'm liking my classes so far. The material is alternatingly mindnumblingly boring and very interesting. I guess all of grad school might like that, no matter what you're studying.

Jessamyn and Grace have been schooling me a little bit on the ways of the Canon Digital Rebel. I borrowed B.'s and tried to do a little shooting with it. My main goal was to be able to shoot at my sister's party indoors without using the pop-up flash that comes with the camera. It was not a completely successful mission, but I learned a bit about apertures, shutter speed, and ISO and just knowing a little tiny bit makes me want to know a lot more. Mostly I just want to be as good a photographer as those two ladies even though that will likely not happen in this lifetime. Here are a few shots that I like even though they're nothing sensationally arty.

Two Years

Katrina: Two Years Later.

Herpreet

My friend Herpreet and I probably met in the ninth grade, but we didn't become friends until the tenth grade. We had biology together, and we spent a lot of time writing notes and romance novels back and forth to each other and obsessing over boys. We were always friends after that. We always had a special friendship beyond the chaos of high school and college even though we hadn't grown up together and still had our old lifelong friends. We are still kindred spirits even though we haven't always been in close touch. She is one of those people with whom that feeling of closeness never fades; it always reappears the moment we reconnect over Thai food or coffee. Ten years ago, we froze all night on the sidewalk together with Shelley in line for Rent. Her wedding five years ago remains the best wedding I've ever been to. She has two dogs and a nice husband. We were taking a Shakespeare class together in college the semester they fell in love, and I remember actually witnessing the transformation of a person falling in love. It was a beautiful thing. She is, quite simply, one of my favorite people. She is also a writer, and now she is writing online. And the internet and the world are better for it. Her first entry is here, and her second entry is here. Feel free to go say hi. Herpreet is a good person to know.

A few links

I've now had 2 positive transactions with the folks at Irene's Tiles. They rushed something I needed rushed, and they included cute "lagniappe" greeting cards. They've got so many cute tiles, and I love that some of them can be personalized. Here's one of my favorites, which I'm sending out to my sister with love:

I could not be more in love with Alan Sepinwall's commentaries on each brilliant episode of Freaks and Geeks. It's great to read them and relive this wonderful series. "We're all unhappy. That's the thing about life." -- Lindsey Weir.

I guess that's all I've got for now. I'm very excited about what I'm doing tonight. More on that later.

A few links

I heard this song on the radio on the way home from work today. I liked it.

My new favorite celebrity website belongs to Ross Mathews. I don't stay up late enough to watch The Tonight Show, honestly, so I wasn't familiar with him. But now I love him and find him highly entertaining and delightful. And he was on The View today, so of course I was suckered into watching yet another Rosie-free episode. But it was worth it, because Ross is so enjoyable.

Julia Sweeney is updating again. Hallelujah!

Enjoying

This lovely entry by Chiara.

The return of Elizabeth of Abeyance.

Mark Erelli. Especially his cover of Shawn Colvin's "I Don't Know Why" (which made me cry the first time I heard it and which you can hear here) and Deb Talan's "Comfort."

Counting the days until the release of Waitress. Felicity Porter and Captain Tightpants sharing the screen? It's too good to be true. I must be very emotional these days, because this review made me cry, too.

This poem as posted by Grace.

The fact that Long May She Reign by Ellen Emerson White is now listed at Amazon. (Thanks to Tiffany for letting me know.)

That Toni's book is now out for all the world to enjoy. I can't wait to read it.

Edited to add: this wonderful clip, which goes out to my sister.

Pretties

And here are a couple of recommendations.

Pretty song

I had What About Brian on the other night as I lay on the couch working on the computer. My ears caught sound of a song that I knew immediately that I was about to be in love with.

I googled a few of the lyrics and found the song. It's new to me, but it's an old song. It's called "Tomorrow Is a Long Time" and in iTunes there are tons of versions by people like Bob Dylan and Elvis Presley and Joan Baez. The one I heard on the show was by Nickel Creek. You can listen to a little snippet of it here, and you can hear the whole song from this NPR page after listening to a short commentary about the band.

I don't even think that What About Brian is a good show, but the scene that had the song was one when a mom/wife watches the dad/husband out of the window while he plays with their three young daughers on a pier. The husband and wife are getting a divorce, and they are struggling with whether or not to let the youngest daughter have an operation to try to restore her hearing. The woman gets so moved watching her estranged husband with the daughter that the tears well up and fall while this song plays in the background. Then my tears welled up and fell. And they have every time that I've listened to this song since. And believe me. It's been a lot of times.

I think that you should download the song immediately, but if you want to watch it in the context of the scene, you can find the episode here. (If you skip to Section 3 and then scroll to about 15:20 of that section, you can find it without watching the whole show.) It will be annoying because you'll have to watch an ad at the beginning of the section, but it really is a lovely scene.

Pretty clothes

I like this stuff. I'm particularly fond of the toddler t-shirts. But I'd kind of like one of everything.

Enjoying

Things I've enjoyed lately:

• Various Office-related musical clips: Jim and Andy sing Lovefool, Andy sings to Pam, Andy and Jim sing Closer to Fine, Mana mana, and David Brent's dance.

• I followed a link from Dooce to find Oliver Daily. I loved scrolling through the photos and when I got to this one I almost cried at the beauty and joy. Other favorites include Oliver the explorer, another great Oliver has a stick shot, big dog/little dog, snow dancing, THREE leaping pups, oh my God just just kill me now, and just one of the many shots in which Oliver runs with his brother and their ears are awesome.

• Miss Alli's take on the surge strategy.

• The Spring Awakening soundtrack. (I am determined to get up to New York to see it. These kids' voices are tremendous, and there's a great energy to the album, and I don't even know what is going on yet, but I already love it.) (I KNEW I recognized castmember Lea Michele -- it's because she was Tateh's daughter in Ragtime and I've watched that Tony performance a million times and she really stands out for being one of the most expressive singers on stage [about 2 minutes into that video and then at 3:34 and 4:06] even as a young girl.) (I really need to see Spring Awakening. I must make it happen.) (See more about it here.)

Random

This is going to be a post of randomness.

Another thirtysomething episode has been added on YouTube, blessedly. It's "Second Look," otherwise known as one of the best and saddest episodes ever on television. So if you need a good honking cry, have at it. (An interesting old article about Nancy's cancer storyline can be found here.)

Here's a Sheriff Seth Bullock Alert: He's appearing in a movie called Catch and Release starring Jennifer Garner. I am a sucker for both Jennifer Garner and Sheriff Seth Bullock, so I'm sure I will end up seeing it even though once again I have to state my hatred of trailers that give away the entire movie.

This amused me deeply.

I've really been enjoying Cold Feet on DVD, and I'm all set to start season three, but I'm bummed to discover that seasons four and five aren't even available on DVD. So I'll have to stop mid-series. Which is frustrating. I could buy them used from the UK, but they wouldn't play in my DVD player. Piss.

Much suffering in human life results
from a fruitless attempt
to retain a note that has
already ceased to sound
or to anticipate a note
that has yet sounded.
I found this quote in a little plastic table card rack at lunch the other day, handwritten beneath a drawing on another card. I liked it, so I wrote it down on a takeout menu. Supposedly it's from a book called The Theory of Conscious Harmony by Robert Collin. The only place I can find it online is on a single MySpace page of an 18-year-old. So it might be made up or misquoted. I have no idea.

I like it.

I've been won over by The Office (U.S.), okay, it only took me a few years. I really like it, and I really like reading Jenna/Pam's blog. I've also decided that other than The Office, the best sitcom on television is How I Met Your Mother. I like it more every week, and last night's made me laugh out loud. Especially the way that Barney says, "Uh, dance?" And in case you missed it the first time, this remains one of the best talk show appearances ever by anyone.

I can't stop going to the memorial site set up for Helen Hill. I can't stop reading about her and her family and what a wonderful person she was and how many people's lives she touched. I did not know her, but the stories of her life and death are filling me with both inspiration and despair. My boyfriend told me this afternoon that there is much to be happy about and thankful for even in this messed up world, and I am trying hard to remember that.

(Photo by B.)

A few links

I have one of Kymm's scarves, and I love it. It's blue and soft and beautiful. You should buy one.

I am delighted that Grace is updating regularly at a redesigned Roman Lily. Her words and photographs move me on a very deep level. It's like an early Christmas present.

Finally, I can't imagine that this isn't being linked all over the place already, but I can't not link to it. It just makes me unspeakably happy. Partly because I've always loved Neil Patrick Harris and once saw him on the Nederlander sidewalk giving Christine Taylor a kiss on the lips, partly because that's one of my favorite showtunes, and partly because I cannot see Jason Segel bursting into song without thinking of the way Nick Andopolis sings "Lady L."

My Own Capacity

Pelicans
Originally uploaded by Elizalou.

Today I took the day off. I voted, returned library books, ran an errand for my dad, had lunch with Maryelizabeth, ran three miles, and embarked on an obsessive journey trying to take a decent picture of the white pelicans on the lakes. I didn't really succeed, but I enjoyed stalking them and being awed by their number and by their grace.

I saw Metamorphoses. Parts of it were very beautiful. I was not prepared for the naked shlong. But I loved the part with Apollo's son, the father/daughter section, and the part with the man who turned around and looked at his dead wife so she had to go back to the underworld. And I really, really loved the end.

Here's a Bill Moyers interview with Mary Zimmerman, who started the whole thing. Here's Ben Brantley's review, and here's a rather amazing teaching guide for the play.

Of course I remember how much Kymm and Lisa and Tamar and Melissa raved about this show, and Stacey assured me that I'd love it, and Shelley loved it as well.

I wish I'd seen it in New York in that time and in that place, but I'm glad I saw it here nonetheless. Melissa quoted this excerpt in her entry about it, and I'm quoting it again because it was my favorite moment of the play.

Let me die the moment my love dies.
They whisper:
Let me not outlive my own capacity to love.
They whisper:
Let me die still loving, and so, never die.

:::

About this time in ...

2005

11/9:

On Saturday, we headed to City Park to volunteer with the clean-up. Notwithstanding the fact that my hamstrings are still so aflame that I can hardly move my legs, it was a good way to spend part of the day.

2004

11/8:

However, Elizabeth is clearly deluded if she thinks that Gilbert Blythe in any way resembles Johnny Castle, and she will never convince me otherwise.

2003

11/10:

My sister and I sneered via finger spelling in our laps at the dreadful cantor. My sister stifled a giggle at my M-Y-E-A-R-S-A-R-E-B-L-E-E-D-I-N-G.

2002

11/8:

No, really, I swooned and almost passed out, knowing I should not have looked, but I felt I had to look to make sure she wasn't faking me out.

11/7:

Whatever possessed me to buy a home with white berber carpet I will never, ever understand.

Links and Tips

Here are some links:

Evany linked to Julia Sweeney's blog recently, and I have now read her archives in their entirety. She is a wonderful writer. I love what she has to say. Her writing is brilliant and funny and full of science and pop culture and ideas about the universe and being a performer and a mom. I can't wait to get her new CD, Letting Go of God. I am in love with her.

My other favorite new (to me) site is Andrea's, which absolutely gives me chills with its beauty and wisdom.

Tsotsi is a pretty good movie (it won the best foreign language film Oscar this year), but I've decided I can no longer watch Baby In Peril films. I become fixated on the baby and can't focus on the idea that the baby is not actually in peril because this is make believe and it's probably a doll or a computer-generated baby half the time anyway. I worry that the baby is hungry, dirty, missing his mom and dad, cold, hot, scared, or all of the above. It's too much to take. And I don't even have a baby. (I mainly wanted to see this movie because of the awesome speech given when it won the Oscar.)

And this made me teary.

I'm now going to post my tips for the running program I did. This started as an e-mail to a friend who's just starting out. I'm no expert on anything, but this is how I made it through the program.

SHOES: Buy some good shoes. Go to a running store. Like, that only specializes in running shoes and running gear. Tell them what you're doing, and tell them you need them to watch you walk (or even jog around the store, mortifying, I know) in different shoes and tell you what kind you should get. Like, they looked at the shoes I wore in the store and noted what part of the heel was more worn down, that kind of thing. Everyone's feet are different and the way everyone's feet hit the ground = DIFFERENT. This is crucial. I spent something crazy like $150 that day, but I think it was good, because I was like, "Shee-it. I can't quit after spending this kind of dough."

SOCKS: Buy some good socks. I have these in white low-cut. I LOVE THEM. I have sweaty feet normally unless I'm wearing sandal-y shoes, but my feet stay dry as a bone in these.

TIME VS. DISTANCE: I was confused at first, along with many on the Cool Running message boards, because it says "time" or "distance" but the consensus on the boards is that beginners should run for time, not distance, because doing it for distance is just too hard. (In other words, say you're in week 4. And it says to jog 5 minutues OR 1/2 mile. I jogged 5 minutes. Which is way, way less than 1/2 mile for me. Get it? This is a FINE way to do it.) Even though 30 minutes for me by Week 9 did NOT equal 3.1 miles (5K) (and still, in fact, does not, for that would be about a 10-minute mile, and hello, no), I had no trouble running that distance when the time of the race came. Word on the street is that you don't usually make it to the actual race distance in training and that you just count on adrenaline and excitement to carry you through to that distance on race day. I scoffed at this notion, but apparently it's the truth.

MUSIC: Here's what you need to do: Whether you're running outside or on a treadmill, you need to program songs on your iPod to match the time of the running segments. This is easy to do. When you're in iTunes, right click the song and select "Get Info." You can adjust the start / end time of the song this way. That way, if you need 90 seconds of a song, you can make your song last 90 seconds. THIS IS KEY. Watching your watch or the treadmill for the time segments is NO WAY TO DO THIS. Let your songs keep the time for you; when one ends, you know that the segment is up and it's time to go to the next segment. I picked upbeat tempo songs for jogging and more mellow ones (not, like, BALLADS) for walking. This is the best tip I got of any when I was doing the program. (If you have another kind of mp3 player, you can probably do something similar.) (Shawn sent me this link that gives you a way to make timed playlists, too.)

CHEAT SHEET: I also printed out the instructions for the week on a little index card cut into a tiny square that I could keep in my palm or pocket or on the treadmill to refer to -- I don't have a good memory for things like this. This really helped, especially in the beginning.

SPEED: For the love of all that is holy, go slowly. I still jog at barely above a walk. I'm not kidding. It's the only way if you're a beginner. THE ONLY WAY.

TREADMILL INCLINE: I was instructed to put the treadmill on an incline of 1.0 or so in order for it to simulate running outside. (Apparently the treadmill on zero incline is way too flat / down-sloped to be like the real world.) That way once you get outside you will not go crazy. I did this from the beginning and think it helped.

The key thing for me was taking it one running segment at a time. If I thought ahead to the next one, or to the next day, or to the next week, I wanted to keel over and die. I was like, okay, I can totally make it through 3 minutes. That's just one Kelly Clarkson song. Of course I can!

I'm now doing a one hour running program which will then segue into a half-marathon training program. The only reason I'm even attempting that training is that I hope to just take it one step at a time. I never thought I'd make it through the 5K program, but I did. I hope that this training will work the same way. My favorite song to run to lately is the theme to The Greatest American Hero. I highly recommend it.