January 2009
40 posts
1 tag
Goodbye 2008
The passing from one year to another is always so anti-climactic. Unless of course, something brilliant happens at the strike of midnight (i.e. you lose a glass slipper, your stagecoach changes back into a pumpkin, the footmen become mice, etc. etc.), which normally does not happen, because usually I am worn out, tired of apple cider, and confused as to what I am cheering for.
1 tag
Pre-New Years Resolution:
Have New Years Resolutions.
1 tag
The Numbers
I’ve realized that seeing a hoard of ants irks me immensely, to much a higher degree than say, seeing a fat juicy spider. I believe it is the sheer number… the frenzied, constant movement that terrifies me. For one spider I can narrow in on like a hawk - but a trail of ants: all I see is scattering and swirling and my mind is sprawling from its attempt to track each and every ant. Ants...
December 2008
51 posts
Did you know
when I came back to California I was scared to drive. So I didn’t drive for several days. Instead mooched off the vehicular skills of others. Now I’ve been driving a bit. But I like public transportation so much better!
Roasted Chestnuts
are definitely one of my favorite parts of the holiday season. I wish there were more street vendors who would sell them (and not rip me off with their completely ridiculous prices). The only part that sucks about roasted chestnuts is when you can’t peel the entire shell off, and the nutmeat is stuck to those flaky brown pieces of shell. And it’s really not as satisfying having to eat...
Curious
I don’t know exactly what it is I like about Henry James. His plots seem simplistic; his characters, though interesting and generally likeable, hardly possess the depth and dimensions that I normally appreciate. Maybe it is his way with words - his rambling descriptions that don’t necessarily go anywhere… they just allow you to dwell in the aggregate of meanings for a moment...
Sweet Words
“It had that typical vagueness which is not vacuity, that blankness which is not simplicity, that look of being committed to nothing in particular, of standing in an attitude of general hospitality to the chances of life, of being very much at one’s own disposal, so characteristic of many American faces.”
Henry James has the best descriptions. Indulging in his words is almost...
A Rather Idle Saturday Night
When not loafing around:
-Soaking my feet in very hot water
-Putting up the Christmas tree
-Reading Henry James’ The American
1 tag
Dream A Little Dream
Had a dream that I was bouncing between two shows: A Wilco show and a The Hold Steady show. Which is really random, because I don’t even like The Hold Steady - the last time i listened to them was back on in my early high school years. I was squished next to a fat man; the theatre was half amphitheatre half indoor theatre; the ticket-checkers were really nice, and a very kind truck driver...
Blood Tests
The worst is when the person who is drawing your blood is obviously maladroit at his/her job. This happened to me yesterday, when I got 6 tubes of blood drawn, and this short tiny Indian woman could not find my vein with her fingers and was trying to do so with a needle. Not fun. She stuck the needle into my arm and proceeded to dig around with it, like an earthworm burrowing through the earth...
!!!!!
CURRENT TEMP IN CAMBRIDGE, MASSACHUSETTS (@ 6:50 PM): 59 DEGREES (a tropical paradise)
CURRENT TEMP IN SARATOGA, CALIFORNIA (@ 3:50 PM): 49 DEGREES
IT IS THE END OF THE WORLD AS WE KNOW IT!
1 tag
1 tag
1 tag
I HAVE THE MOST AMAZING ROOMMATE EVER
She can sing Ode to Joy in German on the spot. “Freude schoener…”
Initiated
Just got initiated into the radio station… was locked in a sweaty dark room, kissed a larger-than-life poster of Miles Davis (on the ceiling of the jazz room), sang Ode to Joy in German, yelled out the words to some random punk song, paraded through the streets wiht a lifesize penguin mascot singing jingle bells… and more… I did not stay for the debauchery. Left with my hair...
Speaking of libraries
I hate working in libraries. Because the silence creeps me out. I am always petrified of making the smallest little noise: letting my pencil drop onto the table (sounds like a volcano exploding), rustling my jacket (sounds like the howling arctic wind), or God forbid - sneezing (sounds like Godzilla). Therefore, I resort to busier places like coffeeshops or my own suite, where the background noise...
1 tag
Ice-Skating
I woke up this morning, went outside, and discovered that all the puddles of water on the ground had frozen and were now little patches of ice - mini frozen ponds scattered everywhere. I wanted to play a Joni Mitchell song and ice skate across all of them. I purposely skimmed my foot across each one to simulate the glide you get on an ice rink. I’ve never skated on a pond. I would like to do...
Things I Love Doing But Hate The Consequences:
(1) Procrastinating
(2) Going into record stores
(3) Overindulging in sweets
(4) Staying up late
Less and Less
The updating of this tumblr is decreasing because I seem to be shifting all the time I used to spend on the computer to reading and playing music. Productive things.
1 tag
“Go to any Western college campus and you’ll find that Asian students have...”
– Malcolm Gladwell, Outliers: The Story of Success (I guess in this particular categorization of Asians, I am an outlier since I have been to the library a grand spanking total of one time since the school year has started).
63 degrees today
IT IS SO WARM OUTSIDE!
Livin' in the World of Photoshop
Thanksgiving pictures: it sounds so silly to say, “I’m colorbalancing a turkey!”
1 tag
Success Largely Depends On Passion
but I wish it were more an aggregate of things. Take for example how we might determine who the most successful Costco shopper is: one who maximizes his food sampling experience (trying all the tasty little things in each aisle) or buying a single, mammoth package of popsicles because he really loves popsicles. The former, of course. The momentary expansive delight is unbeatable. I only suggest...
Mitigation
I just came back from hearing Malcolm Gladwell speak about his newest book Outliers: The Story of Success, and he made this one point about the concept of mitigation which really interested me. Mitigation is this verbal/social phenomenon where we “mitigate” our statements, or make them less harsh, in order to avoid being offensive; this, of course, often hampers effective...
Frigid
Today was one of those horribly cold days: the wind so icy and the air so blustery that all you really want to do is scurry inside as fast as you can and stay there. Then you think to yourself how much worse is this gonna get because this is already bad enough. You try not to think about it.
Delay
Is it wise to carry an umbrella when it snows? If you think about it, snow really just has the delayed effect of rain. Sure, when it falls on you, its nice and fluffy and white, but moments later, you begin to feel a little damp and moist. Snow has the same wet tendencies as rain, but the condensation is a bit deceiving. I imagine it looks a bit silly to carry an umbrella in the snow, but if there...
1 tag
Petty Things
Grabbed three cupcakes from the dining hall and stuffed them into my hat (a very adequate container). Brought them back for my roommate Sojo. Sometimes petty theft produces moments of major delight, which outweighs any inconvenience or guilt.
Pretty Epic! Props for pulling that off... →
1 tag
1 tag
Lost: Scarf
Today I lost my favorite scarf - an orange patterned scarf - at Harkness Commons, which is at the Law School, which is a foreign and alien place to me. When I went back to look for it, it had vanished into obscurity. If you are walking around and see a girl (or a fashion-lovin’ man) with an orange patterned scarf, feel free to approach them and say “Hey you, give me that scarf!”
1 tag
How To Pass Time Semi-Productively
Organize your iTunes library: make sure all albums have pictures, release years, track listings, etc. Move to trash all songs that suck (you ask yourself the question: When was my taste ever that bad?)
1 tag
The View From Saturday
I’ve always wanted to hide out in a museum for a night. What kind of museum? Definitely not an art museum - unless there were cool installations to hang around. Probably a natural history museum. Or an anthropology museum. Or an archaeology museum. Or one of those museums that have all the beds and clothes of English royalty.
Anthony Braxton
Ok I don’t really know how I feel about this guy. Could I listen to a whole album? Potentially in small doses. In one sitting? If I was on something. In an everyday state of mind? No. But live? Yes I would kill to see Anthony Braxton live. It would be epic! And my mind would be flipping out doing somersaults, and it would be crazy and delightful. Especially if he brought out that...
1 tag
1 tag
1 tag
Sometimes It's Sunny in Cambridge
Like right now. Yes!
Orange Marmalade & Pancakes
Yesterday at breakfast (Country Inn with friends), I saw an old man with a blue cardigan spreading orange marmalade onto his pancakes. You do not understand how much delight this sight gave me! Reason? I EAT MY PANCAKES WITH ORANGE MARMALADE TOO! And I have never seen anyone else do the same. People usually think it’s weird, or at least unusual that I do not eat my pancakes with syrup, like...
Styrofoam No Mo'
I used to stack my laptop on two styrofoam blocks - a cumulative height of maybe one foot - so that I wouldn’t have to bend over to look at my computer screen. Whenever people came into our suite, they would always look over at my desk and either chuckle or inquire about or even poke fun at my makeshift pedestal, which was pretty out of place, cluttered up my desk, and was just all in all...