four days into our cross-country trip and there's already too much to write, and much fun to report on. this is absolutely the vacation i needed... a mental detour after a stressful but important month for me (and us).
spent monday evening with the yosts drinking wine on the porch. they were quite ecstatic to care for toonces for 2 weeks, and brought us to the albany airport at 4am tuesday morning for our 6am flight. after a layover in detroit, we arrived at las vegas airport at 10:30am pacific time. despite much experience with jet-lag, we took a few days to adjust to the 3-hour time change due to our unusually early flight. good thing we had a hotel to sleep in on our first night...
my parents are on vacation this week in vegas, and we got to crash on a cot in their hotel room at the circus circus. plus, they spoiled us by taking us out to a nice dinner and drive down the strip. mom has an infatuation with slot machines, and the two of us played the penny and nickel slots until she'd won about 30 bucks (on penny slots, no less). we were all zonked, especially my dad, as this was his first time out of the eastern time zone. we crashed by 10:30, and spent the next morning together at Red Rock Canyon, west of vegas. it was stunning, and so cool to see it with my parents who've never seen desert in their lives. we parted ways thereafter, them returning to their hotel and us on our way through the mojave desert to los angeles.
we've been in l.a. since wednesday night and it has been non-stop fun, with reunions with old friends every day. staying with our dear friends thad and jeff and on our first night we went to a buffy the vampire sing-a-long with my girl amy who has been in love with sarah michelle gellar for years. john and i were the only freaks in the audience who'd never seen an episode, but we had a fantastic time laughing and popping noisemakers along with everyone else. at the end, john and amy were star-struck when director/producer joss whedon made a surprise appearance, 5 feet from us (we were in the 2nd row).
yesterday we had a relaxing day at the getty center, one of the coolest most beautiful museums i've ever seen. the humble photography exhibit and impressionist room were both pretty cool, but the highlight by far was tim hutchinson's uberorgan, a giant construction made from wires and plastic that played a music and resonated throughout the building. stunning!
last night we reunited with more rit film kids... kurt and debbie, marcos and crystal, greg and kim, and kurt's brother mike. we had pizza and hung out at their apartment before going out to the red lion - a german pub that served my favorite authentic german lager, bitburger. it was so great seeing everyone and we all agreed we need to do so more often...
today begins late after sleeping in, but john and i are off to zooma zooma beach (the best, according to thad) to get some swim and sun. tonight we may have a party here at thad's to see everyone again one last time before we head north tomorrow. still have a few friends we haven't met up with... should be another fun day.
this will probably be my only post, as from tomorrow on we will be camping...
having a ball, and must say that l.a. has surpassed my expectations. i can see why so many people have come here. it's beautiful, and so much more laid back than nyc.
Friday, June 29, 2007
Friday, June 15, 2007
the awkward question
this past january i decided, after many years of considering it, to become a vegetarian.
it was an easy decision, surprisingly. i've never eaten much meat, in my entire life. as a child, my mother was always frustrated because she would labor over dinner and i usually would eat only the veggies and potatoes. sometimes i would skip dinner altogether and eat cereal.
but interestingly enough, the hardest part about becoming a vegetarian was something i never really expected: The Question.
it has come up many times now, and the first time it was asked i was quite stunned, without really any answer for it. "Why did you become a vegetarian?"
it really is a complicated answer, though it makes perfect sense in my mind. and until now, i hadn't been able to find a concise, clear, and perfect response.
i found this quote today, and i couldn't have said it any better:
"Do we, as humans, having an ability to reason and to communicate abstract ideas verbally and in writing, and to form ethical and moral judgments using the accumulated knowledge of the ages, have the right to take the lives of other sentient organisms, particularly when we are not forced to do so by hunger or dietary need, but rather do so for the somewhat frivolous reason that we like the taste of meat? In essence, should we know better?"
- Peter Cheeke, PHD (Contemporary Issues in Animal Agriculture, 1999)
it was an easy decision, surprisingly. i've never eaten much meat, in my entire life. as a child, my mother was always frustrated because she would labor over dinner and i usually would eat only the veggies and potatoes. sometimes i would skip dinner altogether and eat cereal.
but interestingly enough, the hardest part about becoming a vegetarian was something i never really expected: The Question.
it has come up many times now, and the first time it was asked i was quite stunned, without really any answer for it. "Why did you become a vegetarian?"
it really is a complicated answer, though it makes perfect sense in my mind. and until now, i hadn't been able to find a concise, clear, and perfect response.
i found this quote today, and i couldn't have said it any better:
"Do we, as humans, having an ability to reason and to communicate abstract ideas verbally and in writing, and to form ethical and moral judgments using the accumulated knowledge of the ages, have the right to take the lives of other sentient organisms, particularly when we are not forced to do so by hunger or dietary need, but rather do so for the somewhat frivolous reason that we like the taste of meat? In essence, should we know better?"
- Peter Cheeke, PHD (Contemporary Issues in Animal Agriculture, 1999)
Friday, June 8, 2007
obsessive, compulsive
I have always had OCD. It was, without any doubt, inherited from my father - whom, god love'm, would vaccuum religiously once a week, spending about an hour doing so in our tiny house, going over each square-inch of carpet at least four times to make sure every speck of dirt, lint, or dust was gone.
I never knew that I had OCD, and to this day, I have never actually visited a doctor for it. It was only brought to my attention by my husband, who was mystified by my inability to complete tasks out of order, and my odd habit of straightening items in front of me, or actually stopping to think about the arrangement of plates, cups, and dishes on the dinner table.
I am sure that my case is a mild one, as it is by no means debilitating. In fact, now that I've noticed my own "psychosis" (as we like to refer to it), I am understanding it, intrigued by it, and actually - quite grateful for it.
When I was home for Christmas last winter, one of my younger second-cousins was blatently affected, too, by this clearly-genetic sydrome. I was chatting with his mother, when we noticed he was re-organizing the plastic cutlery, carefully, quiety separating the spoons from the forks. He looked intense, almost bothered by the mess. His mother talked about him as if he weren't three feet from us - "I don't understand what his problem is." She hid her face with her hand and was visibly embarrassed by her son's quirk. Moments later, she ordered him to stop. I realized then, that what she saw as a abnormal - almost freakish - in her son, was actually a beautiful attention to detail that she should embrace, rather than be ashamed of.
Since then, and since paying attention to my often pointless obsession with organization, I've realized how deeply this compulsion takes its course in my life, and how much of who I am is affected by it. My job as a web designer makes more sense to me than ever - only someone plagued with OCD would stand the mind-numbing task of cleaning up code, carefully, neatly making certain that each line is in order, and is as efficient and lean as possible.
And design goes without saying, I'm realizing. Graphic design is like an addiction for someone who's mind feels a release - a calm - in the visual organization of objects. Whether it's my home space, my work space, or my computer screen - everything in it's place: neat, clean, organized just so. I don't quite understand when I have it - that is, when the pieces of the puzzle are in tact - but when I see it, I know it. And my compulsion is satisfied.
How beautiful it is to revel in our own oddities!
I never knew that I had OCD, and to this day, I have never actually visited a doctor for it. It was only brought to my attention by my husband, who was mystified by my inability to complete tasks out of order, and my odd habit of straightening items in front of me, or actually stopping to think about the arrangement of plates, cups, and dishes on the dinner table.
I am sure that my case is a mild one, as it is by no means debilitating. In fact, now that I've noticed my own "psychosis" (as we like to refer to it), I am understanding it, intrigued by it, and actually - quite grateful for it.
When I was home for Christmas last winter, one of my younger second-cousins was blatently affected, too, by this clearly-genetic sydrome. I was chatting with his mother, when we noticed he was re-organizing the plastic cutlery, carefully, quiety separating the spoons from the forks. He looked intense, almost bothered by the mess. His mother talked about him as if he weren't three feet from us - "I don't understand what his problem is." She hid her face with her hand and was visibly embarrassed by her son's quirk. Moments later, she ordered him to stop. I realized then, that what she saw as a abnormal - almost freakish - in her son, was actually a beautiful attention to detail that she should embrace, rather than be ashamed of.
Since then, and since paying attention to my often pointless obsession with organization, I've realized how deeply this compulsion takes its course in my life, and how much of who I am is affected by it. My job as a web designer makes more sense to me than ever - only someone plagued with OCD would stand the mind-numbing task of cleaning up code, carefully, neatly making certain that each line is in order, and is as efficient and lean as possible.
And design goes without saying, I'm realizing. Graphic design is like an addiction for someone who's mind feels a release - a calm - in the visual organization of objects. Whether it's my home space, my work space, or my computer screen - everything in it's place: neat, clean, organized just so. I don't quite understand when I have it - that is, when the pieces of the puzzle are in tact - but when I see it, I know it. And my compulsion is satisfied.
How beautiful it is to revel in our own oddities!
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