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November 2002 ArchiveTuesday, November 26, 2002It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like ChristmasThere's been flurries all morning. When I woke up, I turned my head towards the window. Squinting and sans eyeglasses, I could tell it was snowing and moving horizontally. Later there were big, fat floaty snowflakes lulling about. A bit later it was tiny flakes that made outside opaque. One of the perks of the 12th floor and big windows. The
snow totally put me in the Christmas mood, so I dusted off the
superfantastic Christmas Mix I made last year: Gotta
Blog! This
last weekend, I built and painted three windowseats/shelving units
to go allow my north wall. Each are built of 3/4" plywood 37"x37"x14"
high (with 4" foam cushions done soon for a 18" height. It's working
triple duty as storage for books, papers and binders, seating
and a guest bed. The foam cushions will be wearing cushion covers
made out of cotton white-on-white Indian print cafe curtains from
the last apartment. I dyed the cushions pink, kind of pink elephant
pink and took a swatch of it into the hardware store. A friendly
guy mix paint to match. Last
Friday the handyman of my building stopped by to fix something
wrong with my shower/bath tub that resulting in a leak in my downstairs
neighbor's unit - Sorry neighbor! The handyman is Eastern European
something, always quick to smile at me. After he solved the bathroom
enigma, the rest of the apartment caught his eye. At that point
I had 2 of the three units built and was cursing how sore my hands
were from drilling in too-wide wood screws. But with the help
of propping pieces of wood against walls I wasn't having too big
of a problem. The handyman wide-eyed and with broken English asked,
"You did this yourself?" "Yup." "You did this alone?" "Yup" accompanied
by me making a strongman arm flexing gesture. " I explained that
I got the wood cut at the local hardware store - but still I could
tell I just won 25 bonus points of respect from him. He kindly
extended an offer to help if I ever needed any and was on his
way to fix something else in this crazy old building. Cool.
And while I can't say I did a flawless job of the shelves, I designed
and made 'em myself and I know how to get the job done. I
am so eager to see other peoples' response to my apartment - I'm
enjoying it so much myself.
Thursday, November 21, 2002You Learn Something New Every DayPMS = boobs that hurt + playing accordion = ouch. Posted on 11/21/2002 09:25:57 AM
Tuesday, November 19, 2002Eggnog Hub-bubSo a couple weeks ago I had Starbucks' seasonal eggnog frappuccino. It was tasty enough that when I walked into a Starbucks tonight with Alise I was looking for another. They had Eggnog Latte listed, but no frappuccino. So, I asked the lovely, female barrista, "I see you have a eggnog latte, but can you make a eggnog frappuccino?" She said, "Hmmm, I don't know." The nice, male barrista next to her said, with a sense of beverage adventure, "Sure, why not?" He shouted across to the other end of the counter to another, "Hey, how would you make an eggnog frappuccino?" "I wouldn't, answered the evil, male barrista. The
nice, male barrista then said, "Now give me a real answer." He
and the lovely, female barrista talked options. The evil, male
barrista came over, saying, "We don't make those." He then turns
to me and glares, "Starbucks doesn't make these. YOU shouldn't
EXPECT one." I look him in the eye and make a look like, " Hey,
jerkface I'm not demanding one." He repeats, "YOU shouldn't
EXPECT us to make one." I stare back in a look-fucker-am-twister-their-arms?-back-off-kind-of-way.
He walked back to his end of the counter. So,
the two barristas working for good (not evil), made me a eggnog
frappuccino and handed it over. The lovely, female barrista wouldn't
ring me up until I tasted it and made sure I liked it. I tasted
it. It tasted good. Alise tried it. Alise is the best, because
she hollered over the counter, "This is THE BEST Starbucks drink
I have EVER had." Hee hee hee. The good barristas were amused.
I didn't care what the evil barrista thought. Then
she didn't know what to charge and there was no "eggnog frappuccino"
button on the register. We joked a little that it was the new
designer drink and that she should charge $10. Then she said it
was on the house! Hooray!
What a delightful ending! But
if you read this,
Monday, November 18, 2002Last night I took the chronically late Amtrak route from Champaign-Urbana to Chicago. Invariably, the train is packed with students. Invariably I'm sitting next to numbskulls saying the stupidest shit two volume notches two high. Last night was worse, because my cd player batteries went out. So, I sat there with headphones on, no music, trying to read my book while these two idiot boys kept saying, "I'm wanna smash that bitch's skull in" etc, etc.The
mood changed 180 degrees when I was walking towards the Great
Hall at Union Station. For some reason, the Great hall was cleared
of it's benches, and the lights were out, save a few bluish lights
that gave the massive room a cozy feel. Just as I headed through
the automatic glass doors on my way to catch the 151, my CD player
was resurrected and started playing Royksopp's song Sparks. Dreamy
electronica in a dreamy space. Coooooollll.
Friday, November 15, 2002Long lost blogYep, I've been neglecting my blog. Just haven't sat down a devoted the brain cells to it lately. Things here are fine. Good things are brewing, the apartment changes are going well, and preparation for the Open Houses are just fine. At this moment, I have cleaning, packing (for a long overdue and much needed weekend of visiting friends), and client odds and ends to do -- but all I want do is make and design Christmas ornaments! That's
it in a nutshell at the moment.
Friday, November 01, 2002Friday Five1. Were you raised in a particular religious faith? Nope. I can't think of a single time we went to a church service as a family. I've only been a handful of times on Sundays with friends after a Saturday night sleepover. And for a very short stint at age 10 I was a member of a kid's church group. It felt really weird to me but I went because I was really good at memorizing verses and got points and praise for it. It
turns out that both of my parents believe in God, and my mom was
dismayed to learn I'm an atheist. I can't imagine that it would
be such a surprise. I think faith is largely upbringing. 2.
Do you still practice that faith? Why or why not? Not
applicable. 3.
What do you think happens after death? You decompose.
Hopefully you live on in your accomplishment, memories, stories,
possibly history. 4.
What is your favorite religious ritual (participating in or just
observing)? Hmm, good question. I like decorating for
holidays, even if they don't have religious meaning to me. I also
appreciate religious art and it's narrative and drama. And I adore
the vignettes of pilgrimages in Fellini movies. 5.
Do you believe people are basically good? I do. When
they aren't scared. Go
here for more Friday
Five info.
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