Birthday wishes, screaming cats, and foreign dreams.

3/13/13 is sort of fun to write. Or, at least I had fun writing it all day long on forms and things. Another reason it's fun is because it's one of my good friends' birthday today: Happy Birthday to Megan! Many happy returns!

I'm still trying to settle into daylight savings time. It has not gone as easily as I had hoped. Struggle, struggle, struggle. An added problem has been that since Sunday night, there has been a really loud cat who has come to visit Bea each night from about 3-5:30 or so in the morning. I've decided it's her boyfriend. He's really really loud. Crazy loud. This morning around 5, after dealing with his crying for hours, I got up to see if I could scare him off. It sounded like he had gotten into the apartment somehow...like he was sitting in the living room, wailing at the top of his lungs. He did eventually go away, but not until he had seen me and cried and did that paw scratching thing on the patio door to ask to be let inside. Bea just hung back looking at him like he is some sort of crazy fool that can't take a hint and she has to get her mom out of bed to send him away. She was excited to have a friend the first night, I think she's kind of lonely being by herself a lot. She's a very social cat. Maybe she's learning 'be careful what you wish for' because by night three, she seemed to be getting kind of tired of it all. Still, it kind of breaks my heart, his meowing. He's so desperate. He seems to walk up and down this railroad tie fence, just wailing and wailing. Poor thing. I wish his owner would take better care of him, if he has an owner. He's such a recent arrival, I figure he's either gotten lost, or his owner has started letting him out at night. He's aware of the idea of being an 'inside' cat. I can't have another cat. This apartment isn't big enough, and Bea is quite enough to handle on her own most times. Maybe somebody who doesn't already have a pet will want one and can take this one in. I hope this not only for the cat's sake, but also for mine. I'd like a full night's sleep again. I don't relish the thought of tonight being the fourth installment of Beatrix's boyfriend wailing on the patio.

I can feel myself wanting an adventure again. Travel again. I always want to travel, but I can feel myself getting so restless that the need to travel is driving me crazy. Mostly because I don't have the money to travel far right now. But, even if I had the money, I don't know what I want to do yet or where I'd like to visit. I only have vague ideas of places I'd like to see... Paris? Ireland? Back to Peru? Maybe just a beach...anywhere. Florida? Pacific Northwest? South Carolina? California? Somewhere in Central America? A cruise? Hmm. Where to go? So many places to see.

Book talk! (It's been a while since I read anything super awesome):
I'm reading a really fantastic book right now that is in no way helping me to stomp down this travel bug. It's about Peru and a guy who was an adventure travel editor for years, but who never actually did any adventuring. He spent years tied to a desk while he assigned reporters to adventures all over the world and then he edited their stores and published them. How torturous, I think. It was high time he had an adventure of his own. He decided he wanted to follow the trail that Hiram Bingham III used to "discover" Machu Picchu. I find that I love reading travelogue books anyway (the movies that come from those travelogues are not always that good, which constantly surprises me...but I digress), but this is a travelogue of an adventure that I so recently took part in myself that it makes it even more fun. It's interesting to read because I struggle very much with trying to describe the experience I had in Peru last year. It's nice to have someone else write it and know exactly what scenery they are describing or how the Quechua people sound, or the ways the llamas and alpacas are taken care of, or just the way that the terraces look on the Andes. He also includes a lot of the history of Peru, the Incas, and Hiram Bingham in it, but told in a really interesting and often humorous way. I've laughed out loud a bunch, mostly with how truely I can relate to the total sense of 'lost' that an American can get in that place. I don't necessarily mean geographically lost (but that's easy, too), but out of your comfort zone. I mean 'lost' in the way that you lose yourself...lose your bearings...are so much in a world that has been based on things that are so foreign that you just have to give in to it and let yourself be taken by it. I think that's the sort of lost that can be good sometimes. It was great. I soaked up so much in Peru that I think it's impossible for me to explain what I saw and how I felt, but this book, "Turn Right at Machu Picchu" is helping me to get a better handle on it all. And making me want to go back again. As if I ever really wanted to leave in the first place?

What to do with it.

I made this recipe yesterday to take to a giant trivia night last night and it was a big hit! I still have a whole glass bowl left of it, so if it's still around by Monday, I might take it in to work...  It's super sweet...almost too much. But it's hard to stop eating it, too:  http://www.sixsistersstuff.com/2012/02/chex-funfetti-cake-batter-buddies.html It's basically puppy chow, but instead of peanut butter and chocolate, you use funfetti cake mix and almond bark. I really like the standard puppy chow, but there were people on the team who don't like peanut butter (perish the thought!).

Trivia was massive. I've never been to a trivia night so jam-packed with people. It was fun, but good lord, it was crowded. I don't know where in the running my team ended up. Somewhere in the middle. We were surrounded by winners though. The first and third place teams were each one table away, separated by the tables who won the heads/tails competition and the winners of this game where your table had to come up with a bunch of stuff from your bags/purses/wallets. Nobody at my table won anything except, we did get a balloon for a perfect round! It was the Science Fiction round and we thought that was special because it was one of the rounds that had 20 points instead of the ordinary 10. I was not much help in that round, but I've found that I have oodles of friends who seem to know oodles about Sci Fi. My specialty is the music round, but I was unimpressed by the music selection by the trivia guru they had. Or the movies, either, actually. He would show clips of the movies and I can't think of a single clip he showed that wasn't violent or just totally gross in some way. And they were all pretty long. I thought that was sort of lame, actually. BUT, the trivia was for Second Chance and they raised tons of money, of course! And they had puppies and dogs there and I wanted to adopt them all. There was a black cocker spaniel who was pulling at the heart strings!  His name is Rooster. I hope he gets adopted.

[My family had a cocker spaniel when I was little. His name was Oliver.]

It's supposed to be in the 60s today and I'm trying to make the decision of what to do with myself. It's kind of rainy, so it would be a good day to stay in, except that it will be pretty warm, so I kind of want to go out without my heavy jacket. I've been wanting to buy a dress lately. Something that's sort of Spring-y. I have several dresses that I've had for years and I can accessorize and stuff to make them different, but nothing with a nice print on it. They're all either striped or one color. Makes it nice for accessorizing, but kind of boring on their own. I want a dress that can stand on its own, I think... I might go for a looksie today. We lose an hour this weekend with 'Springing Forward' on the clocks. I didn't let myself sleep in too much today, in the hopes that I will go to bed early tonight and then not be too off come Monday when I need to be rested and work-ready. I also, though, have the entire series of "Lark Rise to Candleford" to watch. I swear, I think I'm more hooked on this show than Downton Abbey. Maybe it's due to the fact that I can watch the entire thing at once and not wait a year between story lines. But, the stories are really good and I like the characters, etc. I've noted recently that Brendan Coyle, who plays Mr. Bates in DA, is in everything and the characters he plays are always sort of lower/middle class characters who have a lot of pride (sometimes too much for their own good).

Ragtag opened the movie "Quartet" this weekend. I'm debating about going to see that sometime this weekend. It might be a lot like "Best Exotic Marigold Hotel", but I really liked that. And with Maggie Smith in it, it'll be good no matter what. I'm glad the weekend has finally arrived and my biggest decision is what to do with it. Sweet.

Pulp-o-mizer!

Pulp-o-mizer fun! I was introduced to this super awesome pulp fiction cover generator today. I've made three now. One for work, and these two for my own entertainment. It's pretty amusing if you have a few minutes to kill and want to be creative on the web. I've had a blast (and a few chuckles, too) making them:

Filmy photogs.

True/False is over for 2013. I did go to my first True/False film this weekend: I saw "No" and it was really good. I learned a ton about the Pinochet ad campaigns, but during the Q&A session with the producer after the film, I learned a lot about present-day Chile. For instance, the students have been on strike for over two years. They quit high school and college two years ago and many haven't gone back. They're striking for reasonably-priced public education. They pay over 40k for an education (beginning in high school). It's one of the highest costs of education in the world. I've been reading a lot about it since I saw the film, which, admittedly was not about this at all... http://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2012/07/free-tuition-and-free-speech-a-guide-to-chiles-student-protest-movement/259326/

The movie was about the downfall of Pinochet and the tv advertising campaign for the "NO" vote on whether to keep Pinochet or not. It was a really interesting movie and it was shot with the same 1988 camera that the actual tv spots were shot with. This was interesting because you really feel like you're in 1988. It's different than watching a movie that has a little of the original footage mixed with the HD camera work of the 21st century. It's very interesting that they filmed it this way, I thought. Seamless. Good choice! Plus, they were able to have a lot of the people who actually worked on the "NO" campaign in 1988 to play parts in the movie (not themselves, obviously, since they are decades older, but still. Very cool, too.

All the film stuff made me start to work with a different photo technique in honor of T/F. I took some older photos and edited them to look something akin to a documentary-style. It's called a 'cinemascope' technique and I think it turned out kind of cool! Sort of like you can turn the pictures of your life into your own little biographical documentary... Might be neat to sometime do a photo shoot in this style and then turn it into a slideshow video of some sort. Maybe?

Still got it.

This morning the shuttle bus to work was so full, I had to stand. I pretended I was in a big city. It was exciting! I tried to hide my big smile at my excitement at standing on a moving bus, but I think I ended up sort of looking creepy to my fellow riders as I did let out a random giggle at one point when the driver took a quick turn at one point. I'm happy to say that, although I haven't spent much time standing around on public transportation in many years now, my balance is still superb! Much better than the guy in front of me, who I was more afraid was going to flop back onto me a couple of times. Guys have higher centers of gravity and I think it's a little tougher for them (or, this one in particular?) to stay fully upright on a shuttle bus while going uphill and making quick turns. But, it was really pretty fun and I find myself sort of hoping for a repeat tomorrow morning...minus the fear of being squashed by a fellow bus-rider.

Also, at work we're pairing up with the Textile and Apparel Mgmt department for an exhibit on Nell Donnelly Reed, a fashion designer from KC. (http://shs.umsystem.edu/historicmissourians/name/r/reed/index.html). She was the designer/creator of Nelly Don fashion line. She's seems to have had a fantastic fashion sense and was incredibly successful. To the point that she was kidnapped and held for ransom. Interesting life, really. Her husband seems to have not been able to do much to help find her when she was kidnapped. Another man got the police together with a  KC crime boss and found Nell and got her released without paying the ransom. Within a year, Nell had divorced her husband and married the man who worked so hard to find her. There's a whole movie about Nell Reed called "A Stitch in Time". She lived to be 102....interesting stuff. Some of the dresses for the exhibit showed up today for installation and I went and peeked in toward the end of the day and my eyes are probably still green with envy after seeing them. They are so awesome.

I really feel like if someone took the patterns like hers and made lines of dresses in the classic styles and made them cheap enough for regular people to buy, the style sense of the United States would suddenly rise to new heights. I think women would love to wear those dresses again. At least, judging by just the poll of women in my workplace, we all want dresses like those in the exhibit. I know there are a few online stores that sell modern vintage dresses, but I personally feel that Modcloth, Ruche, and the like are grossly overpriced. I love their clothing, but if you want a vintagey-looking dress you have to practically sell your soul to get one. Ridiculous.



Some music to end this Thursday with (I can't stop listening to this song):

Saint Fred the Redeemer.

Today is my third snow day in a week. We've suddenly had winter come upon us all at once. It's given me a nice break from work! Plus, I don't mind snow. I do mind driving in wintery weather, but after making it safely (although, completely shaken) home last Thursday during the first snow storm of this week, I've stayed  away from driving as much as possible. But, in all, I think snow is really pretty and I love it. Always have. I think we've got something like over a foot of snow on the ground right now. Still, back to work tomorrow.

I've gotten lots of movie-watching, music-listening, and book-reading done over this week. I've been watching "Lark Rise to Candleford":

Holding a resentment is like drinking poison and waiting for the other person to die.

I'm currently reading "The Secret Scripture" by Sebastian Barry, which was my choice for the task of reading an award-winning novel. It won the 2009 prize of best Irish Literature. I'm sort of, 'eh' about it. I haven't read a lot of Irish lit, but between this one and Angela's Ashes, I'd swear that Ireland is the most miserable place on Earth. Not a single good thing has happened in the over 250 pages I've read so far. Everything is misery, heartache, and sadness. It's really a downer and I am never that fond of picking up the story again because it's always sad. Still, I'm going to finish it. It's not a poorly written book. It's well written and I sort of understand why it won the award, but I hope that it wasn't, like, the saddest of all the books written that year or something? I did find one passage that I enjoy:

Fred Astaire. Not a handsome man. He said himself he couldn't sing. He was balding his whole life. He danced like a cheetah runs, with the grace of the first creation. I mean, that first week. On one of those days God created Fred Astaire. Saturday, maybe, since that was the day for pictures. When you saw Fred you felt better about everything. He was a cure. He was bottled in the films and all around the earth, from Castlebar to Cairo, he healed the halt and the blind. That's the gospel truth. St Fred. Fred the Redeemer.

I agree with that. Everything about it. Growing up, I had a framed 8x10 picture of Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers dancing. I found it at some old antique store when I was little and decided I needed to have it. And that I needed to have it in my room. I don't know which movie it was from. It sat on my dresser in a fancy black and silver frame. This isn't the picture that I had, but it's close enough. They were so graceful and lovely when they danced. But, like the passage from the book above, when not dancing, Fred Astaire was sort of awkward and goofy-looking. And he always played sort of a know-it-all kind of character who tended toward lecturing his fellow characters. But then he danced, and you don't even care anymore about anything because he's so beautiful and makes everything look effortless. And life is good:

Sigh. I loved their style. I still do, really. Did you see the Oscars? It was painful to watch at times, but my favorite part was the very early stages when Channing Tatum and Charlize Theron came out and ballroom danced a bit. They were great and lovely. More of that, I say. Very pretty.

I didn't really think Seth MacFarlane was a terrible host; he was what he was. If they wanted somebody with a more sophisticated sense of humor, they should have picked somebody with a more sophisticated sense of humor, you know? When you know the dude who writes for "Family Guy" is hosting and you choose to watch anyway, you have absolutely waived your right to get upset when he sings a song about boobs. Come on, America.

The True/False Film Festival is set to take off this weekend here in Columbia. I was going to volunteer for it. Well, I did volunteer, actually, but I've withdrawn my volunteering skillz. For a bunch of reasons, but now I'm debating whether to actually go see a film or not? I've never gone to the film festival. This is the 10th year. I looked at the program and there is one documentary I'd love to see. It is about a British farmer and his small herd of cows. It's called "The Moo Man". I know it doesn't sound like gripping stuff, but it sounds really adorable. There are some others that sound good, too including "No", which was nominated for an Oscar this year. It's about Pinochet's demise in Chile and stars Gael Garcia Bernal. I wonder whether or not Gael Garcia Bernal will be in attendance this year? He's the star of two movies being featured at the fest. He could come, if the snow allows. I think it would sort of make sense, yes? James Franco came last year, unexpectedly. Usually the directors come to the film fest and, I guess, more and more of the actors themselves are making the trek to the midwest for this film festival. At any rate, I'll probably see "No" at some point. It looks interesting. I like South American plots...especially when they shoot on-location. The scenery is always really really beautiful. I look forward to going back to S. America someday. I liked Bernal in "Y Tu Mama Tambien" and "The Motorcycle Diaries". Travel is sort of messed up this week, so maybe nobody will make it in from far away if they were planning to fly, anyway. More seats for me at movies?!

Stay safe in the snow! Have fun in it, too!

Get carried away.

Today I learned, circa 1972, becoming an archivist was considered an 'exotic occupation' by some. Or, by two folks in particular: Dora R. and Nelson Feingold, the authors of "Your Future in Exotic Occupations". I shared this tidbit with a couple of my co-workers and photocopied the page that has a picture of an archivist sitting all by herself with rows of shelving around her. I taped it to my desk. Just livin' the dream over here.

Speaking of livin' the dream, I finally bought the newest album from Blink-182, "Dogs Eating Dogs". I love that band so much. And what I think I love most is that when they broke up (sniffle) and then came back together (yay!), they didn't try to re-capture the old sound. They grew up, musically, which was great. And they're still doing it and, it seems like to me, I like their new stuff just as much as I liked their older stuff when I was younger. I've seen comments on youtube videos about people lamenting the fact that punk rock bands "changed", but how can they stay the same decade after decade? That's womgush. For me, I feel like it's kind of a nice parallel....I feel sort of like I've grown up actually alongside the band and I've never felt out of touch with their music. It's pretty nice and I, although I love other musicians too, I haven't really stuck with any band or felt as "stuck" to a band as this one. I think I'll always love them.

I'm knee-deep in paper in my apartment. I've worked myself into a crafting frenzy. I didn't really think that the fact that Joann's Fabrics was moving farther south in town would affect me much. I like Joann's and find a lot to inspire me, but I didn't really think it would be that much of a temptation. How wrong I was. The grand opening weekend was this past weekend and the new store is just moments from my apartment. I was there a couple of times buying things to decorate the apartment. I decided my walls needed help. It began with the need to fill space over my television. And the idea to just use paper because it's cheap, lightweight, and I could probably figure out something to do with it. Did I ever... It turned into not just one little crafting thing, but my entire apartment's new decorating scheme. I like it. But sometimes I exasperate myself with how crazy I can get into one craft. I just go full steam ahead and can't seem to stop myself and then, after a couple of weeks, or maybe a month, I get burned out and stop. Last year was origami cranes that literally spilled into my workplace with me bringing a bunch to work and giving them to people to decorate their areas with, along with me decorating the entire room that I worked in. Those cranes are still there, although all but 1 of us who worked in that room have moved to different areas. I began with the apartment decoration for just one area and it's grown to include much more. Still, I kind of like it. It adds character to an otherwise dreary sort of atmosphere. So far, the apartment is a mix of a lot of different song lyrics (misheard, included) puns, and elephants. I like all three things. And, I plan to add more because I've decided that my perfect sort of home would be one where I'm surrounded by elephants and song lyrics...and clever people who use puns. So? This apartment is going to reflect that and be as close to my ideal place to live as possible. No worries about what visitors may think of it. In fact, I'm mulling over putting John Mayer's lyric: "Worry get outta here" on the walls at some point.

At any rate, here's a bit of the current decor (some of the files might be gigantic, even though I re-sized them...just fyi):

My homage to elephants...and the catchiest song in a Kevin Bacon movie, ever. I happen to have the soundtrack (of course), and sang and danced around for a while before deciding that it needed to be in the apartment, somehow.

This is in the kitchen, near the stove. I always find I cook better (not well, mind you, but better) if I have music. Sooo...clever, amiright?

Probably my favorite so far is this mis-heard lyric of Elton John's "Tiny Dancer" that I've placed over my record playing area. Incidentally, the day after I made this, I was eating lunch and there was karaoke at the place and they sang "Tiny Dancer" and I laughed a lot.

Behind the television, this was what started the whole thing... Since I really like Christmas music, it doesn't bother me to have a lyric from "Silent Night" year-round. The rest of the living room walls are mostly covered in travel photographs from trips, so I thought this was a really nice sentiment in a 'global' sort of decor. Plus, I just like peace and happiness.

Not only do I like Bruce Springsteen, but I cracked myself up by putting it on a running appliance. For a brief moment, I thought about splitting the lyric and putting half on the fridge and half on the dishwasher, the only two running appliances I have in the kitchen, as a sort of conversation between the two. But...then I thought maybe I was taking this a bit too far. Plus, I like that this lyric goes well with my travel magnets.
Still...I might someday put a companion sort of lyric on the dishwasher next to the fridge.

Now I'm seeing inspiration for these little lyrical garlands everywhere. Tonight I'm watching "Doctor Doolittle" (the good one with Rex Harrison) and they had a great song in it earlier in the first half and I heard a lyric and thought it would be great to put up someplace. I've stopped writing lyrics down though because, just in the 4 or 5 days since I started this, I've heard so much and written so many down that I was overwhelming myself. I'm no longer writing them down, just thinking about them and listening very closely to songs... There truly is inspiration everywhere.

Isn't she aware...

I made red velvet crinkle cookies yesterday and took them to work today. I still have a bunch left. They are pretty good, but we had bunches and bunches of food. One co-worker brought enchiladas and baked them at work and it was really really good. Everything was good today. For me, tonight is one of those evenings when you've eaten almost non-stop all day long, and rather than feel full and tired of eating, you bask in the glory of the awesomeness of your all-day grazing. Mmmm.

I did some readin' tonight. Readin' of a different sort than I'm used to. I read poetry. I'm taking part in a reading challenge, whereby I've been given the task of reading certain genres of books. These genres haven't really been my normal go-to book for my everyday (and night) reading. I've read science fiction, a mystery, and now poetry. I've liked nearly everything I've read. Tonight was E. E. Cummings, who I already knew that I liked. I've made artwork out of his poetry, for heaven's sake. But, I really only knew a couple of his poems. To be honest, some of his stuff I don't understand. At all. I can't make any sense out of some of his gobbledygook, but some of it is really good. And some of it strikes a chord. Like tonight:

"isn't she a
ware that life (who
never grows old)
is always beau

tiful and
that nobod
y beauti

ful ev
er hur

ries."

That poem shows up about halfway through the book I got from the library and until that point, nothing had really struck me as truly insightful. I knew my 'I carry your heart' poem would be showing up toward the end, so I continued on, and glad I did, or else I might have given up completely and missed that new-to-me and very-true poem. It reminds me of Italy, actually. I think that's probably the true reason I like it. Anything that reminds me of Italy is probably something I'm going to really like.