...yet another adventure

2006-09-12T11:53:00.000-07:00

today is tuesday the 12th of september. but i am still high off of my flying trapeze class on sunday the 10th of september. i did a pretty cool trick and...most importantly...i turned around in mid-air after the trick and caught the other trapeze flying toward me! yay me! it's actually suprisingly difficult to turn in mid-air in one place. every muscle has to be contracted. i don't think i would have done as well if i hadn't had a three hour ballet class the day before where every muscle n my body was contracted for the entire three-hour period. i should thank the gods of muscle memory for the mid-air piroutte. even though i would rather take the credit myself...
oh man oh man, trapeze is such a good time. i sure wish it didn't cost as much as it does though. and since (ahem) nobody bought me trapeze lessons for my birthday like i soooo subtly suggested, i must continue scrimping and saving for my one precious class a month. maybe twice a month. maybe every day. oh how i wish. my hands would be really torn-up if i went every day though. and i would probably be a professional and work with a travelling circus and go all sorts of exotic places and that would just be toooo awful. i hate to travel, as i'm sure you all know.
i think i'm finally getting the hang of pottery as well. i made a bowl last night that worked out pretty great. it is, unfortunately, a size and shape entirely unconducive to eating out of but....too bad. i'll have to think of another use for it. maybe it will be the perfect bowl to put buttons in. or peanuts. or...or...something. i'm open to suggestions. whattya got?
i guess i don't really have anything else wonderful and informative to say...not like this blog is ever wonderful or informative. so have a nice day everyone. and then write about it on yer own blog gosh darnit!

2006-08-30T07:35:00.000-07:00

ohmigawd. stop the world. i'm posting on my blog again.
three months later....
i shan't even attempt to fill you in on lost time. it looks like everyone i know has been rather lazy about keeping current so i don't feel quite so guilty. what is with my guilt complex anyway? you would think i was raised catholic or something. so---today is wednesday (i hope i spelled that right---i never remember that stupid day's spelling...) and my family is coming into moorpark, california tomorrow. moorpark, california is my place of residency. that means we will all be together. i am sooo excited! whoo-hoo. but our house sorta resembles a train wreck so i must clean and scrub before it falls under the scrutinizing eyes of my mother. but i have ceramics tonight and then tomorrow is already here. ahh. i'm taking ceramics by the way. thus far i have not managed to throw anything but lumpy, squishy bits of clay. but one day i will make a beautiful bowl. and i will eat my daily cereal out of it. my knitting is coming along a little better---though it is lumpy as well. sigh...
perhaps i'm doomed to lumpy art. i'm making a scarf for all these freeezing winter nights here in southern california (notice the sarcasm?). i'm also signed up for modern dance and ballet once again which makes me happy. for a fleeting moment i considered taking tap dance but then backed out. tap dance is a little too freakishly happy for me. come to think of it---have you ever seen a mournful tap piece? niether have i. maybe i'll coreograph one... it'll probably come out lumpy.
oh! big news! nick and i bought a new car. that's a lie. the car is actually as old as i am. but it's new to us! her name is "woman" or "beast" or any combination thereof. she is a mercedes 3000sd and she is maroon. she runs on vegetable oil. that's right---veg oil. screw you exxon/mobil! blow it out yer 'ol wazoo british petroleum! i go to costco to fill my tank! she (the car) is quite the land-yacht. nick and i feel that we should be wearing polyester and boat shoes and listening to smoooooth jazz when we drive her around. don't worry though--we don't do any of those things. she has quite a laundry list of problems but i won't get into all that here--it gets depressing. however, we must remember that she runs on vegetable oil. when she drives it smells like someone is cooking delicious french fries. that is a perfectly good reason for buying a car not in perfect condition.
what else? what else?
i'm still doing yoga and getting nicer by the minute. watch out! i'm sooo nice now. i was planning to do the teacher training for yoga but i was just informed recently that the training had to be postponed because not enough people signed up. that is sad but i'm secretly really happy because now i can start taking trapeze lessons again. if anyone is clueless as to what to get me for my birthday---trapeze lessons is a sure-fire winner. i will profess my undying love to you if you purchase that for me. the name is gaona trapeze or something and it's in woodland hills, ca. and my name is brandyn. and my birthday is on friday. i will be celebrating the 6th anniversary of my 21st birthday. it would be delightful if you could be here. if not--a card and some cash will be an acceptable substitution.

2006-06-26T07:25:00.000-07:00

no toad mind.
but that's ok. the zen centre has a "wall-gazing day" every couple of weeks or so. maybe i'll find enlightenment whilst gazing at a spot on the plaster.
or maybe not.
i didn't do so hot the other day on the flying trapeze. i was up there just enjoying the feeling of flying and forgetting that i was supposed to keep my hip against the bar and go into the splits and arch my back and look forward and etc etc. i just kept thinking "man---why does he have to yell so much? why can't i just stay up here forever....?"
oh well. next time. but not this sunday because i'm going to hang out with becca! wa-whoooo! gonna leave work at noon on friday. gonna drive to santa cruz. gonna hang out with my good friend and her family. sweet.
on monday i took a yoga class with a new teacher and whoo-wee! he sure kicked my behind.
i don't know what's going on with the "wa-whoos" and the "whoo-wees". they're just flowing right now. just gonna let 'em come on out. i think it may be the voice of my inner farmer wearing overalls and pinching a stalk of grass between his teeth. surveying the property and reminiscing..."whoo-wee! back in 1960 we shore did get us some heavy rain. that shore was a rainy year. wa-whoo."
i never knew i had that particular inner voice until this very moment. i'm so glad i keep finding out stuff about myself.
and you? what are some of your inner voices? this could be fun...
what was i saying before farmer tangent? ah yes--yoga. yeah, it was hard. i was sore. but felt stellar. i had a couple of spiritual transcendence moments in yoga class the other day where the time-space continiuum did not exist. that was amazing--like being on top of a mountain, only less lonely.
blah blah. from farmers to transcendence.
my post is rather disjointed this evening. i think i shall retire to my boudoir and tuck into a delicious book. yum yum.
good night all. i wish you toothsome dreams.

2006-06-21T12:21:00.000-07:00

sorry i've disappeared from the blogging world. voila! here i am again! impressive isn't it? just like pulling a rabbit out of a hat.
i guess the lack o' posts corresponds directly with the lack of exciting,provocotive news. pretty much same 'ol same 'ol round these here parts.
tons of yoga. flying trapeze again (it gets better and better...and harder and harder. that's usually how things go though huh?). work. or quasi-work actually--there seems to be a dearth of things to do in the admin assistant world lately. so i get paid to pretend to look busy. nick got a similar job---i guess that is hardly worth a complaint. paid for pretending? hell yeah.
although i'd rather have a lot of work--it makes the day go by faster.
i've started cooking a lot more and experimenting with yummy vegan cuisine. last night we made very authentic tasting chinese food (michelle---come over. NOW!) and the other night we made a big vat of tasty tasty chili. everyone should come over and i'll cook for you. i'll make a delcious carrot cake....
i've made a commitment to myself to organise my life because the random bits o' paper everywhere are starting to make my sanity unravel. and we all know how very delicate my grip on reality is already...
so i've decided to spend 30 minutes a day for 30 days organizizing. i can handle 30 minutes. and if i do it for 30 days that equals 15 hours! who says i can't do the math?! check out that complex equation i just solved for all ya'll!
i know it must sometimes seem like i have a boring existence if i write about what i cooked for dinner and my organizing efforts---but believe you me i am not turning into betty homemaker (can you imagine?) but am having a fabulous time! i feel better than i have in years---i am sure it is a healthy mix of diet, exercise, and gentle self-discipline. and i still have time for a glass of sake and a bad foreign film every once in a while. yeah!
nick and i are going to check out the zen centre of los angeles on saturday. we're going to sit in silence, gaze at the wall, and try to find toad-mind. toad mind is not a zen saying incidentally. i made it up. i figure a toad has a perfectly zen mind--sitting perfectly still, eating a fly every now and then, sleeping, ribbiting. sounds like zen to me. i don't really get zen---but i'll give it a go. if i reach "toad-mind to the max" level---i'll let you know.
just keep checking this post to find out.
sending much love to all my delicious readers. happy day!

2006-06-05T20:31:00.000-07:00

i'm sore as hell today. i think my trapezing muscles are way under-used. but i still feel great. i don't think i was nearly as productive today at work as i should have been and i blame it on the glorious flying daydreams i was revelling in. am i too old to go pro?
i hate being "too old" for stuff. that's lame. age is a mental thing right? that means my dad must be getting close to four.
speaking of age--nick is turning 25 on thursday and we are going out for sushi. and i am buying him a present of sorts and we are going bouldering/camping this weekend. good times. everybody be sure to call him and make him feel as important as he is.
it is now 8:32 p.m. nick is at aikido (yay! he is learning to throw people across the room. don't mess with him..) and i am contemplating bed already. it was over 100 degrees (i am always so frustrated there is no degree symbol on the typer) this weekend and i think it sapped the energy out of me. last night was somewhat apocolyptic--nick and i returned home to find the entire block without electricity. and it didn't come back on until 5:30 this morn. you never realise how loud the white noise that surrounds us is--until it's gone. the house was so beautiful and silent. the crickets and birds sounded so much louder. i shut my eyes next to our wide open window and pretended i was in a tent. a bed in a tent---there's an idea (i think that's the attraction for the evil r.v.s that people seem to love around here. barf).
i'm reading "omnivore's dilemma" by michael pollan which is an incredible book thus far that i highly recommend. it's basically about corn but manages to be so fascinating. who knew? just like al gore's movie being so riveting. life is full of suprises. right now i'm reading about the cruel things we do to cows in feed lots. it's so disturbing and really comes right back to the human. just like polluting the environment comes back to polluting our bodies. i am really glad i gave up meat---even though it's only been a few months my head feels so much clearer. and it is indeed a more compassionate way to live. not that i am preaching to give up meat---it is just interesting how it affects my life. i feel great. and i hope everyone reading this takes their own lives into their own hands and feels great too.
but soy bacon (facon) is actually legitimitely tasty. yum.
(i can just see the rolling eyes. "oh no here goes brandyn on her health soapbox again. can't help it.)
anyway--enough of that nonsense. i love you all and i want each and every one of you to come visit me. it's summertime. visiting-your-friends-and-family-time. hang-out-at-the-beach-time. give-hugs-to-me-time.
stop-writing-this-blog-and-go-to-bed-time.
sayonara.

2006-06-04T19:05:00.000-07:00

it's stinking hot here. i left an apple in the car whilst trapezing (oh holy trapeze--thou art great..) and when i got back i had a baked apple. no kidding. baked. yowza.
so today i flew with ease on a flying trapeze. oh i haven't had so much fun since...i don't know when. it's like nothing you've ever done. my first fly i screamed so loud with sheer delight and amazement. i was flying! that made everyone laugh---the class is mainly seasoned veterans and i think you forget how fun that first flight is. but i got to hang on my knees and get caught by the other trapeze and then turn around mid-air and try to catch the empty trapeze again. i didn't catch it...but...next time maybe. because there will be a next time. of this i am sure. it's never to late to run away and join the circus.
i have the beginning of calluses on my palms and the back of my knees and wrists are scraped from the swing and the net but i feel spectacular. now i just need to learn the spanish web and how to juggle and tightrope walk and....
ok. one thing at a time. or maybe two. yoga and trapeze. i am unstoppable.
come visit and we'll go fly on the trapeze. and go to yoga class.
sound good?
that's what i thought.
nick and i have been listening to japanese tapes in the car and learning a suprising amount. do you know how to say "where is the beer" in japanese? i do. i bet you don't wanna go to japan without me by your side. otherwise you'll be sad and beer-less.
i worked three 13 hour days last week so i am excited to go back to the measly 8 hour days. and the paycheck will be fatty. and i will spend it all on trapeze.
unless you come visit--then i will take you to eat sushi and buy you a beer.
everyone should read sister alex's blog. it is no longer mexican adventure but turkish adventure extrodinaire. good stuff.
you're good stuff too.

2006-05-31T20:58:00.000-07:00

happy birthday alex!!! i'm jealous---i've never spent a birthday in turkey.
i'm so glad i got to talk to you, it made my day the happiest.

i just worked a 13 hour day (boo for overtime! yay for overtime pay!), came home, did 100 jumping jacks, about 15 minutes of yoga, took a shower, and now i'm off to bed. another overtime day tomorrow and then it's friday. and friday means camping. and saturday means bouldering in the mountains. and sunday means my first flying trapeze class. weekends rock my socks.

any friend of mine who reads this should get on alex's blog and wish her a happy birthday. because if you don't love my sister...i don't love you. (and if you don't know her...trust me...you'll love her. she's stellar!)

2006-05-29T21:17:00.000-07:00

two things you must do right now:

a) watch al gore's movie (an inconvenient truth). amazing, informative, eye-opening, perfect. al gore for president 2008! yeah!

b) click on this. be changed.

2006-05-27T17:40:00.000-07:00

quick update---
my beeautiful sister alex is now safe in turkey living on an olive farm that also grows strawberries, raspberries, walnuts, and almonds. apparantly the food there is delicious and she ate some leaf wrapped around pine nuts and rice which makes me salivate. they make their own olive oil there and she better bring me some. ya hear that alex? deliver!
i went to amazing yoga class today and feel great. the room is clean. the laundry done. and life is swell.
just wanted to put up another blog quickly to counteract the blah one last night.
everyone should call me and talk to me. because i miss you.

2006-05-26T21:46:00.000-07:00

welcome to my riveting friday night here in moorpark. so far i've done heaps of laundry, pasted my face to random internet, drank some tea, and cleaned the room. brian is not answering his phone because he is a dumb-dumb and i can't be bothered to go all the way to l.a. for excitement. seeing kyle (never enough kyle time) and katie (wonderful!beautiful!) and michelle and riley and georgia and all of chicago was terrific. except that it was about one year shorter than i would have liked to have stayed. i basically had enough time to high-five everyone then fly back home and go to work. stupid. but at least i got to give/receive hugs.
sister alex is in turkey now being a nanny and living in a castle on the beach. life is very tough. hopefully she'll blog all the time and i can pretend she is next door.
lindsey is in africa but will be home soon. by "home" i mean chicago. which is far away. i wish home for her was moorpark. sigh...
i think i'm a bit lonely. i want people around. and not just any people. my friends. and my family. scruffy barks too much and pees on the carpet.
nick is coming back from chicago tomorrow night. that will be great. some things are pretty nice without him here--i have a lot more room for example. and it smells better sans the constant passing of gas that seems to accompany nick at every turn. but those things pale in comparison to the sense of completeness i feel when he's around. that was cheesy. sorry.
i miss michelle too. we had, like, a minute to hang out. but i got to go to the farm with her and play with the two-year old twins. remind me never to have two-year old twins please. the first thing they did was barge into the bathroom while i was peeing and ask if i "go poo." then later one of them proceeded to grab both my boobs at the same time. children are more of an invasion of privacy than scruffy even. maybe i'll just stick with cats. speaking of cats---the most beautiful knuckles that ever there was was at the farm. and i loved on him. and he loved me.
i'm gonna go check and see if my clothes are dry now. whoo-hoo.

2006-05-19T07:36:00.000-07:00

the other morning whilst on my way to work i was struck by how un-urban i am. read on to find out why.
susie jessup from KCLU gave me her throaty-voiced up-to-the-minute traffic report as she has been doing every day for a year now (this particular traffic report was made possible by lowes building stores if you're interested...)
susie told me about the three incidents of the day causing blockage on the major thoroughfares:
a shovel in the right lane
a horse running along the shoulder
a mama duck and her ducklings in the left lane

i'm fond of my sweet suburban life.

2006-05-03T15:32:00.000-07:00

i am blogging from work which is highly illegal. i like living my life on the edge.
the fog has been taking over sunny southern california all week and it's been gray and wet. i relish the change.
all kinds of interesting things are happening around me. a boston physician is running for president of the democratic rupublic of congo (check out day to day on npr.org for the story), bolivia's natural gas fields were nationalized (ayn rand would be in a rage), adam smith wrote "the wealth of nations" (i know that was in 1776--but i'm listening to his biography now in 2006), and i'm tormented by a decision between taking flying trapeze classes or yoga.
there is a school of aerial arts in hollywood that teaches flying trapeze and the spanish web (the big ribbons of cloth that hang from the ceiling that one twists up in and then falls---escaping the floor by clutching with the big toe at the last moment). i've wanted to learn these things for a while. back in austin i had a friend with a trapeze in her backyard that taught me some moves. such fun! so hard! painful! but oh---to fly through the air with ease. that would be incredible. most likely i would fly through the air with unease but....i would eventually get over it right? right.
but yoga is so good for me and opens my chakras and stuff. and makes me love the world more i think. i need some help in that area. living in so-cal does not make me feel the love so much. hmmmm....
to love or to fly? that is the question.
how 'bout flying whilst loving? i think i could make that happen.
i've been horseback riding a couple of times since my lovely parents bought me lessons for christmas. the other day i was in a class of six other girls. all age 9 or under. learning new things as an adult is a humbling experience. but i am learning very quickly. my posting trot and 2-point position are lovely if i do say so myself. and i finally forked over the money to take pilates twice a week after complaining about how much it costs for years and years. and i think i'm hooked. swell. another expensive hobby i love. i should start a "fund my expensive hobbies" programme. where people give me money. and i take their money. and go hobby it up.
but pilates really is incredible. very challenging. i will soon be able to break very large, hard objects on my abdominal muscles. like someone's face. oh oops. love. i forgot about feeling the love.
between pilates and work and rotaract and afore-mentioned dilemma---life is pretty busy. i've been listening to "the 100 most influential people" series that i checked out from the library. so far i know everything there is to know about aristotle, francis bacon, john locke, voltaire (my favourite so far), descartes, and adam smith. but don't ask me anything about them because i don't remember. i think this series is woefully incomplete. there is only one woman (but it is marie curie---one of the coolest humans ever) and i am not in it. not even a mention. ah well. i found descartes to be especially inspiring. he basically never left his bed. so i too took to my bed to see if i could come up with something as influential as "i think, therefore i am" whilst lying there. it didn't work. but don't give up on me yet my fellow philosophes-----one day. one day.
unlike descartes, i must work to support myself. and my hobbies. so i should really go and at least pretend to be deserving of the money i am making right now. ciaou.

2006-04-18T20:17:00.000-07:00

i keep checking this blog and it's still the same 'ol "i got a job" post. boring. i'm already over my new job. on to bigger and better things. nick and i purchased a food processor for one. i'm sure i don't need to sing the glories of the magnificent kitchen all-in-one utensil. suffice it to say that it does indeed slice, dice, and make julienne fries. i henceforth will never grate another carrot again. easter came and went this weekend. i ate a greenish-blue hard-boiled egg in celebration. i still don't really understand the connexion between a bunny that hides eggs (egg-laying bunny anyone?) and jesus but....that's okay. easter lunch is pretty yummy. however, nick and i were discussing if it was tacky to eat lamb on easter (another side of lamb of god anyone?). i've started working out again after a very long absence and it hurts and isn't fun at all. right now i would like to be pummeled by a professional masseuse and then fall asleep to someone fanning my face with a palm leaf. alas....some dreams never come true. but then sometimes they do. i never ever had a dream to be on e! entertainment television but if i did---i guess i could die happy. because that stupid interview in front of roscoe's house of chicken and waffles is apparantly now open for viewing by the american public. so i've heard... neither one us has seen it. but both of us have been told (by different people, at different times) "i saw you on television!" so there you go. come move here and become famous. it's the american dream. forget working hard to put your children through college and maybe even buying an r.v. when you're 60---NO! get on television by god! all you have to do is be at the right place at the right time and you can be a bazillionaire! egad.
actually---i have a confession to make.
nick and i are going to audition for a television show.
i'm serious.
suzanne found this post on craig's list that stated "wanted: a couple, romantically involved, willing to drop everything and travel on us!"
obviously she clicked it.
apparantly the travel channel (which aunt melissa has been trying to get me to work with for years) is looking for....well...a couple, romantically involved, willing to drop everything and travel on them. so we have to try at least..right? they are doing this show based on the book "1000 places to see before you die." and we have to make a three minute video selling ourselves. it's ludicrous. but also very very hilarious. send us ideas.
if we win i'll be sure to send each and every one of you 1000 postcards.
other than that, life is continuing as swimmingly as ever. i eat, go to work, read, go to work, run, use the restroom, go to work. you know....life. but somehow---time is travelling far too fast for comfort and i never feel like i get everything done that i need to. my dad's birthday present is sitting in the trunk, wrapped and ready to be mailed. i haven't written colleen a letter yet. i haven't spoken or emailed emily or timothy or practically anyone in ages. i need to clean out the garage. and not shy from my civic duty. and save the world. i should stop writing this blog and go do things. but it's my bedtime. why do today what can be put off until tomorrow?

2006-03-14T20:27:00.000-08:00

ok---the last post is totally obselete. i got a job! i got a job! i got a job! not all jobs are crappy and stupid. mine isn't. yay for me! i got a real grown-up people job with benefits and stuff. pretty soon i'll have a corner office. pretty soon i'll be able to buy and sell all ya'll. watch out. i'm a good little capitalist. i'm living the american dream. i AM the american dream. whoooohooooooo!
i have too much to tell all you glorious people---i wish you could come over for a cuppa. basically i got a temp job with a translation company and it was the first job i've actually liked since i've been in california (almost a year incidentally...). the people i work with are rad--two french ladies, one polish dude, two peruvians, one chinese, one korean. two have their phDs and all are super nice and speak at least two languages. there are world maps on the wall and people laugh a lot. such a change from the previous home loan nightmare! but they apparantly like me too so they offered me a postition. i will be doing something called "interpreter relations"
which consists of relating with interpreters. i think. i won't go into all the boring details now. but i will be making money. and i will give it all to visa.
i am so excited to be part of a job that i can actually feel good about---no more pushing pointless numbers around on a screen or selling clothes made in china. yay! there is a lot more i want to tell you---about bill and nick's matching linen trousers, about tall ships and nature documentaries---but that will wait for another post because i have to go now and do a happy little "i got a job" jig. whoopeeeeee.

2006-02-28T20:19:00.000-08:00

ergh. ergh. and ergh again. all the jobs that exist that pay any kind of money at all consist of cold, souless computer work which has almost no social relevance. i may as well be an automaton. i need work. give me a job.

2006-02-16T16:17:00.000-08:00

thursday--the day after the day after valentine's day. valentine's day consisted of driving back from l.a. in traffic, falling asleep in front of a nature documentary, and being awoken with wine and moldy blueberries. nick claims he didn't know they were moldy. i'm trying not to over-analyze.
at this moment nick and bill are changing the water in our huge new aquarium and michelle is slumbering peacefully on the couch. yep--shelly is here and all is well. i thought she was coming in tomorrow so i called her early this morn to check her flight number etc. and she was like "...er..i'm in the airport now...i'll be there in an hour and a half." i awoke nick with a squeal and we were off--sleepy eyes and all. good thing i called. and becca is coming down for the weekend as well and life will be grand. life is grand now actually. two weekends ago nick and i voyaged to sequoia national park and gazed in awe and wonder at the largest living organisms on the planet. an amazing sight. the mountains were covered in snow and as we were driving up the windy mountain road under a full moon the snow was reflecting silver and the stars were twinkling in the cold air and the shadows of the trees were so dark and tall and i am positive that a unicorn lives in that forest. i am more sure of that than many things in my life. i didn't see it---but that means nothing. unicorns are purty. then last weekend, in direct contrast to our nature time in the mountains, we hung out in a recording studio in hollywood. bill and courtney were making a short film and enlisted our help. "help" consisted of sitting in front of a very large plasma television on a leather couch and eating delicious food all day. lox and bagels for breakfast, gourmet pizza for lunch and on and on. i ate a lot. and watched dog shows and winter olympics. sometimes the two blurred and i thought i was watching doglympics. anyway---a weekend of decadent laziness for all. oh--except for the people actually working on the film. they seemed to be working hard. l.a. is hilarious. in every cafe, on every street corner and in every bar there is someone talking about the "industry." i overheard so many location scouts, editors, cinematographers ad infinitum. silly silly. oh--speaking of the industry--this morn after picking up michelle we were walking into roscoe's house of chicken and waffles where--you guessed it--you eat delicious chicken and waffles, nick and i got interviewed on the street by some people with the e channel. halfway through we realised what channel it was and stated in a suprised voice--on camera--that it was the worst show on television. i don't think we'll be making it onto the t.v. oh well. we could have been famous. another opportunity lost. michelle is now awake and i can not choose a computer screen over her cute sleepy face so i'll away now. ta ta for now.

2006-01-27T18:55:00.000-08:00

i remember once upon a time i had a blog.....
sorry for the deplorable lack o' posts. i find it maddening when i check other people's blogs and it's still the same damn entry from 2005. i was moaning about that the other day for a bit before i realised what a hypocrite i am. i am henceforth trying to become un-hypocritical (at least in regards to blogging...).
so---let's see. christmas was cool. new years was great. blah blah blah. nick is on some new kick where he is momentarily blinded with love for some game called---get this---warhammer 40,000. warhammer.it's true.
according to the makers of this splendid game "in the grim darkness of the far future there is only war." that was a direct quote. warhammer 40,000 is very complicated. and beyond geeky. i'm dreadfully afraid nick will grow a ponytail and forget how to talk to women and develop unbearable body odour. it consists of small figurines (space marines, aliens, and a host of other frightening future warriors) that nick will paint with model paint and glue their tiny parts together and then...i don't know...fight some epic battle i suppose. we went into the warhammer store the other day and all the dudes that worked there were staring at me like i had two heads. nick reckons it took them a while to realise that no, i was not a boy with a deformed chest. those are boobs. and i am a girl. i am infering that women are a rare breed in the warhammer universe. i can't imagine why. i firmly believe it is because we are far too complicated and deep. although he won't say, i'm pretty sure nick thinks it is because we are missing some vital human element. i guess we'll only know the answer if we live till 40,000. that grim future where there is only war. sigh... i used to think i was dating a hot guy in his twenties but i'm starting to have nightmares that i'm gonna wake up to some pimply-faced 13 year old. yeah--so in addition to listening to nick drone on about c-span and calculus i now get to engage in riveting conversation about warhammer 40,000 as well. yippee. as my father remarked over christmas i sure "picked a winner."
compared to that latest news...my real life pales in comparison. i quit my cubicle job so i am once again a functioning human with an (almost) real grip on reality. even though now my reality consists mostly of women who carry teeny dogs around in pink purses and wear diamonds the size of my big toe and drop $300 on rhinestone doggie collars and thongs. (the thongs are for themselves i'm supposing. not for the dog. not rhinestoned either for that matter). but those are acutually more of an occasional sighting than the norm. thank the lord.
georgia was here for a long time and we went on a mini-road trip up the coast to the gigantic and magnificent redwood forest. such a beautiful magical place. nick and i found the perfect little cottage that i want to live in and grow a wee garden in and drink tea in and study french in. perhaps i'll post photos. it's on an acre of land and has a fire-pit in the front and the trees sing my name when the wind blows through them. and there are chubby little fairies who leave presents on the doorstep every morning and the stars sleep in the hollow behind the bedroom. it's pretty perfect--in case you can't tell. geez--i hope i get into humboldt after all this talk about arcata. i don't know what i'll do if i don't. chuck it all and go teach in japan i suppose. or become an indentured servant to some well-to-do warhammer miser. i think i'd rather go to the redwoods...
i haven't spoken to anyone in ages. well---that's not entirely true. i did get to talk to colleen. which was fab. and michelle is coming out in 3 weeks which is also fab. and becca and i are planning a rendez-vous which is super-duper fab. but i miss my aunts and uncles and my india-traipsing friends and my chicago friends and my austin friends and my friends in other places too. much love to one and all. i promise i won't wait until 2007 or 40,000 to post again.

2005-12-18T20:24:00.000-08:00

i'm going home on thursday for christmas cheer with the family but now i'm at this home with a fever and scratchy throat. boo. nick just made me some ginger-lemon tea with honey and we're about to snuggle with bill and courtney (the girlfriend) in front of a movie. i will work on my crooked knitting project and cough. stellar. i really want to go to work tomorrow to make my daily gazillion dollars but i think giving people sick for christmas is not exactly the " spirit of giving" people talk about so much. christmas decorations are up and the tree is beautiful and all i'm waiting for now is snow snow snow. i have a feeling i'll be waiting for a while. i'm gonna go watch my movie now. adios.

2005-12-12T18:25:00.000-08:00

ahem. (clearing of throat).
do you guys remember me? i have a blog.
read it.

2005-12-06T20:14:00.000-08:00

^{the wonders of the interweb------two minutes ago i was wondering where the word "cockle" came from. now i know. thank you al gore.

p.s.--you warm the any of several weedy plants, especially the corn cockle of my heart.

2} P Pronunciation Key (kkl)
n.

Any of several weedy plants, especially the corn cockle.

[Middle English cokkel, from Old English coccel, from Medieval Latin *cocculus, diminutive of Latin coccus, kermes berry, from Greek kokkos.]
[Download Now or Buy the Book]

Source: The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.

cock·le¹ P Pronunciation Key (kkl)
n.

Any of various bivalve mollusks of the family Cardiidae, having rounded or heart-shaped shells with radiating ribs.
The shell of a cockle.
A wrinkle; a pucker.
Nautical. A cockleshell.

intr. & tr.v. cock·led, cock·ling, cock·les

To become or cause to become wrinkled or puckered.

Idiom:
cockles of (one's) heart

One's innermost feelings: The valentine warmed the cockles of my heart.

[Middle English cokel, from Old French coquille, shell, from Vulgar Latin *cochillia, from Latin conchyllium, from Greek konkhulion, diminutive of konkh, mussel.]

2005-12-06T19:12:00.000-08:00

becca is back in america!!! it makes me all warm and fuzzy inside to think about her sweet self here in california (albeit far away northern california...). now everyone i know is back from the clutches of dark, dangerous latin america. sister alex suprised the hell outta us (well---she didn't suprise ryan or melissa who were both part of the grand master plan) on thanksgiving day. apparantly when i saw her i just stood there waving my arms around in an ungainly manner exclaiming "oh..oh...oh..." while katelyn peeked out around my back in a terrified way. i have no recollection of this occurring however. i just remember seeing her big blue eyes sparkling in her tan face. that was poetic huh? i shore is poetic.
scruffy had a dove-egg sized bladder stone removed the other day and now she has to wear a clear plastic cone round her head for two weeks. she looks like scruffy the cosmo-dog now. moon doggy. scruffleupagus the astrodog. poor girl. her normal running, barking, jumping self has been severely hobbled. her cone-head is now too large to get out the doggy door and she is dependent on us daft humans to figure out that she needs to relieve herself and take her outside. i'm sure it's all quite annoying for her. but (don't tell anyone this) i find it somewhat morbidly humourous sometimes. like yesterday, i dropped a crumb of coffee cake on the floor and she went for it as would any dog, but the cone didn't let her get her mouth to the floor. she fought valiantly, which did not get her the desired crumb but did make her resemble one of those portable dust-buster vacuum cleaners. in a dog-like way. high hilarity. ok--enough about surgery dog now.
i have been christmas shopping at least four times and i have succeeded in buying not quite four presents. my mom is the most difficult to buy for, of course. if i had a trillion dollars it would be a breeze. speaking of trillion dollars---i'm going to win money. i've been doing internet surveys like they're going out of style. i will win. i will win. i will win.
and speaking of christmas pressies--ms. katie and ms. lindsey will you please please be somewhere with a post office around december 25th? i can't imagine how bleak it would be without family and a christmas tree AND presents! let me know as soon as possible; i have a feeling the indian postal service is rather snail-like (considering i just now recieved your lovely letter katie-----dated early november!). i really need to learn to write without using parentheses and erratic punctuation. i annoy myself. i need to learn to write period. i'll do that tomorrow. but for now--i must away to research/buy more christmas presents. i love presents. i love giving them. i love getting them. i love wrapping them. i love unwrapping them. i love the suprise. i love shaking them and trying to guess what is inside. i love trying to decipher my parent's insane coded labeling system. i love family and hot chocolate and holly and good cheer and santa claus and snowflakes and peace and goodwill towards men. i personally don't have much goodwill towards men but i love it when other people have it. it's nice. i pretty much just love the holidays. too bad i work retail over the holidays. nothing like working in a clothing store during christmas to bring out the worst in people. my oh my. and nothing like christmas sales to bring out the selfish un-present-giving part in myself. bah humbug.
on that scrooge note--i depart. i hope this post has warmed all the cockles of all your hearts. where, i've often wondered, where does the word cockle come from?

2005-11-19T18:08:00.000-08:00

nick is grumpy. i think this is because he hasn't eaten. and he slept too long. people that sleep too much tend to be grumpy. i was in a funk earlier but he was asleep so it couldn't have rubbed off on him. i got a cup of coffee and talked on the phone to my sweetest katie sister and then i felt great. but now i have to deal with him. woe is me. woe for the rampant funk.
i get to go home tomorrow. this is about the only thing i have thought of for at least 2 weeks now. but, somehow, in those two weeks i have not even started to pack. and here i am, down to the wire again. i get off of work at 10:00 or so and then i have to throw some rags in a suitcase and leave very early morn. woe is me again. except this time it is all my fault. oh where is the scapegoat when you need him? i wish i had my own personal scapegoat that i could carry round in my pocket and blame whenever the whim took me. i think you can buy them but they're rather expensive. i'm pretty sure tom cruise has one.
all i do lately is obsess over my future--it's getting old. why is it so hard to discover what you really truly want? i always heard about how it was hard to get what you wanted---but i didn't realise finding out what you want in the first place could be so difficult. if only everything went my way----that would be great. i think tom cruise has a little make-everything-go-my-way-thing too. curse him.
but wait! i forgot. i'm going home! that means everything IS gonna go my way. i'm gonna sleep, and watch movies, and not work, and not help my mom or dad at all, and burp at the table, and say exactly what i want when i want, and get my butler to bring me crumpets and tea, and not bathe, and make my maid go rob a bank for me and give me all the cash, and so on and so on. what would you do if you had a whole 24 hours to do whatever you wished?
nick just bought me some lasagne. i feel kinda bad about the earlier grumpy statement. and i feel sorta bad about writing such a dumb blog entry. if you're reading this right now; stop. go no further. this is the end.

2005-11-10T21:13:00.000-08:00

so i have only worked at anthropology about a week and my wardrobe already shows it. yay! for discounts. at the same time boo! for discounts. i'm supposed to save....not spend. and if there is anything i have learned in life thus far, its that you can't do both simultanously. i don't know how to spell. i get it from my father.
i just now learned that a grouping of larks is called "an exhaltation of larks" and there is a "wedge of swans" and a "seige of herons." that is phenomonally interesting. i once saw this astounding book in a bookstore that was bascially just a list of names for groups of things. a pride of lions, a parliment of rooks and so on. i, for some reason, did not purchase it. i have probably talked about this book for over five years now---bemoaned the fact that i don't own it and having no way to look for it since i didn't know the title or the author. but i just found it on the inter-web. it is called "an exhaltation of larks" and it is by james lipton. i will purchase it very soon. i will keep you intrigued with names of groups of things. i wonder if there is a name for a group of fools. or a group of ketchup bottles. endless possiblities! boundless knowledge!
i would like to share with you all one very important piece of news. i am now the proud proud and pretty owner of a pink leotard, pink tights, and a pink tutu. this is all due to the sense of humour of one melissa mora. i laughed all day after receiving a package full o' pink in the mail. very very witty aunty m.
i work very long days (16 hrs) and am tired when i get home. but i make money. when i find out how to make money without working for it i will be the master of the universe i think. but i haven't time to put thought into becoming master...for i must work. they say money doesn't grow on trees but i don't know....i may stick a quarter in the soil just in case. and water it with my tears. that was dramatic.
i am counting down the days until turkey. and sweet potato...and pumpkin pie....and stuffing....mmmmm

2005-11-01T21:11:00.000-08:00

the days after cool days are always so uncool in comparison. take today for instance; the day after halloween. what a drag to be today. and the day after christmas. and the day after the day after thanksgiving. and the day after my birthday. oh well. today is the day after halloween and it has lived up to its name. another day of work. i went to a pilates class at the gym which was one of the dumbest things i given my time to in a while. it was basically a few stretches and breaths with the instructor saying "nice n' easy now, that's it.." if i wanted it "nice n' easy" i would have stayed home...
but i guess i got to breathe and stretch some. that's nice. i topped it all off with some almond fudge ice cream when i got home. i think doctors recommend it as the perfect end to a good workout---you know--all that...um...protein.
i got another job today. i figured i could use some extra money around the holidays so i could buy myself some christmas presents. and i'm trying to find a couple of part-time jobs so i can quit countrywide before i go absolutely postal and throw computer screens over cubicles. so i am now officially employed at anthropologie as well. which is a very fashionable clothing store where everything costs at least millions of dollars. i don't even think i have clothes cool enough to wear to work. they must be desperate. but i get a 40% discount there and at urban outfitters which basically means i will not be saving any money whatsoever. but even cooler--i get to put my whole immediate family (sorry ryan) on the discount as well. so katelyn and alex and mom and even you dad (i think you would look especially stunning in a glittering circle skirt) have a discount too. they have home furnishings mom. maybe something for katelyn's (previous) room? i can just hear the excitement from the sisters. do they even have urban outfitters in very un-urban olympia katie-bug? i pretty sure they don't have any in mexico--even though their labour probably comes from there. oh--nothing like parting with your values for a buck. first--pushing numbers around on a computer. now--pushing numbers around on a computer AND selling expensive clothes made in china for $1/day. blah blah. when i don't think about it that way though--and merely think about it as a stepping stone to get to the next place--i don't mind the dumb jobs so much. i have to save money to eventually make money. and buy a farm. and go to school. and have a yacht.
i'm looking into getting my teaching certification. i think it could be excellent. me and a blackboard and tons of pliable minds. muuuuhhhaaaaaaaa.
more on that as i discover. my tea has steeped for well over the recommended time now and will probably be harsh and bitter. but that, my dear friends and family, is the willing price i pay to be able to communicate with you. i am a martyr. never never forget that.

2005-10-31T20:29:00.000-08:00

aloha blogging world. today is halloween and this post has already been interrupted by kiddies at the doorway. one little princess promptly handed ME candy as i opened the door to give her candy. i took it and offered her some of mine in exchange. a sweeter version of halloween, really. last night nick and i carved one hellava jack o' lantern and took loads of photos but alas! the put-the-pictures-up-on-the-blog-thing isn't working. next time maybe. you can witness the saga of my affair with jack...the lantern.
sorry i've been so incommunicado. i really have no excuse besides the usual---staring at a computer all day puts you in no kind of mood to stare at it again when you get home. and i've been sucked into the harry potter world and just laziness in general. but i'm beginning to snap out of it. i've taken to running in the gym every day of my life practically and yesterday...i'm proud to say...i ran three miles in 24 minutes! yay! i don't think i have run an eight minute mile since i was in middle school. go me. i made bread the other day--it was cardamom raisin bread and it's yummy. and i made beet ravioli tonight. it is also yummy. i'm on a cooking kick lately--it's such a nice way to spend some creative time--and you get to eat the results! speaking of food--my mouth drools at the thought of thanksgiving. i'm so so so excited to come home. mom asked me today if i had warned nick about the extended family--in all seriousness. i assured her that i indeed had, but now that she said something i've gotten a bit worried. but can one ever prepare someone for brady-isms and tante-isms and mom-isms and dad's sense of humour? i don't think i can even describe it. but he'll know soon enough....

2005-10-13T19:04:00.000-07:00

i'm back. i've been home for about a week. i've been sleeping a lot. and reading harry potter. it is hot and dry. and there is wind blowing that is hot and dry. it makes me peevish. i made a terrarium today. i will write more later.

2005-10-01T16:13:00.000-07:00

i snuck into one of the computers here at the service centre really quickly---the clients have all gone and we're closing up shop for the day. i'm exhausted. i've cried too much and i haven't had a decent meal in days. i am finding a restaurant and a beverage and i'm falling on my cot and that is that. i helped a lot of people today---i also didn't get to help a lot of people today but i'm trying not to think about that now. i have to go in 2 minutes or something---so some corrections on my wonderful boyfriend's post. she was 17 not 19. cardboard seperates the boys from the girls not the "clients" from the "staff". there is indeed a thick forest and a graveyard outside of my southern baptist temporary home. does that strike anyone else as creepy creepy creepy? um....what else? oh yeah---politics are corrupt--even when dealing with the red cross. i never ever ever want to live in monticello, mississippi. and----if i had to work this hard----i'd quit.
more later. love you all.

2005-10-01T11:10:00.000-07:00

Nicholas, not Brandyn is writing this. She asked me to post something because she has no access to computers at all, and she wants family et al to know that she is ok. I posted something on my blog as well.

I heard from the lovely lady last night as she was in a field, drinking a little beer after some incredibly difficult days. I can not truly do her tales justice for they were told to me with such celerity; for the real seriatim and veracious details we all must wait for Brandyn to tell us.

Some highlights:

She is staying in a Baptist church in Monticello, Mississippi, with only a cardboard divider seperating the Red Cross volunteers from the "clients." There are pitch pine (one of the volunteers is works in a lumber yard in PA) trees in front of the church, and behind that, a cemetary.
Red Cross/FEMA management is disturbing. I didn't get much out of her on that subject, but surely we will hear all about it in a few weeks when she is a little bit more free to talk.
Most people in the affected region are illiterate. They can not sign their own names, and certainly have no idea what to do with an ATM card.
There are people still coming out of New Orleans.
She had a pregnant 19 year old girl who had just gotten out of New Orleans early this week, where she had been stuck in a house with the corpse of her mother for days.
She has made a circle of friends (she used the word "family") composed of amazing sounding people, including one woman with fern tattoos on her feet. Coincidence?
This group of friends are going to try to go to New Orleans on their day off.

That's about all I can remember at the moment. She may return after two weeks, as I imagine the work is incredibly draining. I will post more as I hear it.

2005-09-24T21:20:00.000-07:00

i have been deployed. and i slept in the mountains last night. i'm not sure which is more exciting. i am going to montgomery, alabama on tuesday morning. i don't know what i'll be doing there but i have an official red cross identification badge so i guess that means something huh? i know they need a lot of logistical work done so i believe i'll be helping with that first. whatever----i will go where i am most truly needed. so that is exciting. i went and spent some of mom and dad's birthday present to me (a gift cerficate to R.E.I.) on a couple pairs of miraculous smartwool socks that will keep my feet dry and non-stinky even after days of no washing. when i stop to think about it i really don't know what i did with my feet before i discovered those socks. yesterday right around traffic time nick and i decided to drive to the sierra nevadas and revel in mountain air and moonlight. it was fantastic waking up this morning to the sound of a babbling brook and sociable trees gossiping in the wind. we drank some tea, indentified some trees with my handy-dandy new tree indentification book, went on a walk and drove back through the desert to some bbq and a hot shower. a truly beautiful day. now i plan to spend the rest of the weekend building bookshelves and getting packed and ready. i am anxious to hear about all the houses that went through hurricane rita----have we lost anything? it made me feel so much better to know everyone was safe in austin during the storm. although it initially feels like a bit of a drag that i'm not going somewhere in louisiana or mississippi to help out--it is nice to know that i will have internet and phone access so we can keep open communication whilst there.
maybe i'll even devote more time to actually putting my latent writing skills to use instead of these dreadfully utilitarian entries i've been posting lately. all apologies.

2005-09-22T07:20:00.000-07:00

after a few frantic phone calls last night i discovered that gamo (my grandmother for those of you who may not know the family terminology) and uncle brady and aunt melissa are all either already in austin or in route and thereby safely out of harm's way. hurricane rita is due to hit land on saturday and it is apparantly going to be a doozy---category 5 now---bigger than that last hurricane that hit. remember that one? katrina--i think it was called. (i am being very sarcastic here in case you can't tell). anyway---everyone hope and pray that my family's houses/stuff is all kept intact. melissa---where are nana and poppa? big love to you all.

2005-09-19T19:54:00.000-07:00

errrrggghhhh....
that is my frustration because try as i may (and i've tried a number of times already) i can not post on melissa's or ryan's blog. i try to sign up...i come up with username and password....blah blah blah. i think my computer rejects xanga.com. but i will try again another day when i don't feel like throwing this monitor across the room. but i want you both to know i read your blogs and i love them. and i'm proud of you ryan for being so awesome and making team opera and whatever else and i'm proud of you melissa for being a courageous writer. and i'm proud that you're both part of my family. our family is the bestest.
p.s. tell brady to start rocking on this here blog thing. has nana posted anything yet?

2005-09-18T10:28:00.000-07:00

where in the world is sister alex? write soon. write now. where in the world are lindsey and katie? write soon. write now. how does mexico/ india smell? what are the colours? the weather---hot and soupy? cool and breezy? salty? sour? what gastronomic experiences have you had so far? what was your first taxi ride like? tell us everything......

2005-09-13T17:59:00.000-07:00

ok ok---people have been demanding that red cross mumurings be explained. so--here is the scant amount of info i have at the moment. i have been trained. i could be deployed at any time.

really--that is all i know. they need gazillions of people to go open shelters and help feed hungry people and do logistical work surveying damage and other such disaster stuff. i always feel this great tug at my conscience to go help in times like these but i usually have handy excuses at the ready (school, work, rent etc.) but at this particular time in my life i have nothing holding me back (except for some dumb job that i'm not particularly trying to work my way up in) so i figured that this is it. carpe diem and all that. not to mention that is the largest disaster to ever strike the u.s.a. and millions of people are displaced and have lost everything and i can at least give some effort to help out. i hope they call me. apparantly i'm fit enough and sane enough to participate and so now all i can do is wait. i've been studying sign language like a madwoman because i told them i could speak it well and that may be a leetle exaggeration. i can speak it. but maybe not so well.

i've been relatively uninspired by blogger.com lately---sorry for my very dry entries. but, let it be known that i am very inspired by everyone else's blog. alex is funny. melissa is nutty (but i can't comment--what do i need to do?). becca is apparantly having too wild of a time. michelle is chasing tornados. emily is in never-never land. these are all good things.
thank you one and all for the encouraging comments---much love.

(of course you'll be the first to know if i get deployed. does anyone wanna come with?)

2005-09-10T08:04:00.000-07:00

i have figured out some way to keep spamming robots from commenting on my site--i will try to implement it soon. i have somehow forgotten to mention that nick and i recently purchased two fabulous goldfish. our tank has been running, empty, for over a month now and we we actually kinda digging the whole zen feeling of an empty fish tank in our room but finally decided to put the thing to the purpose for which it is intended. thusly----fish. they are only babies at the moment but soon they'll be gawky teenagers and then full-blown fishy adults. they're the brainiac fish (as i call them)--you know--the kinds with the really big brain looking things on the outside of their heads (very martian looking). we haven't decided what to name them yet but we're contemplating naming the very golden one mariko-san after our favourite character in Shogun (a great book, incidentally) and the brown one admiral boots. we'll keep you updated. i'm up very early for a saturday morning but i'm off to go to training for horse rescuing. more on that later.....
alex--if you don't start a blog before you leave i will come down to mexico, find you, and punch you.
(love you)

2005-09-06T18:03:00.000-07:00

i just realised my birthday blog got totally cut off in the middle which is a drag. i do not remember what else i put in it but i'm quite sure it was brilliant. i do know that i put if anyone wanted to get me a late birthday present to donate to the red cross or any institution of your choice that is helping out the victims of the hurricane disaster. those poor poor people. everyone should stop sometime today and count your blessings.
i had a luxouriously (that is spelled so so wrong--feel free to correct me) lazy labour day weekend hanging out with my pillow and some movies. what a delight.....
and i bought some tights and i got 2 leotards for $10 which is way way cool so i think i am officially a dancer now that i have the outfit right? oh i wish outfits made one official. i think i would dress up as the president. what would you dress up as? an opera singer, a cheesy lounge singer, a flower? do tell.
scruffy almost fell over backwards smelling something in the air that only she can smell. i checked out a sign-language dictionary and a french slang book from the library (librarys are the coolest) and i'm studying both assidiously. i've also been perusing the word lists for the GRE so don't be intimidated if i drop some really big words on you---but i can't even really remember any right now. what are some of your favourite big words? i like equivocate and ephemera. and, of course, supercallifragilisticexpealidocious.
i hope your family and friends are undamaged by the storm lindsey--please let me know.
emily is changing lives in pennsylvania working with developmentally disabled kids---i have linked her blog to mine so be sure and read it. i have to go eat the rest of my soggy ravioli and go dance dance dance the night away.

2005-09-01T19:53:00.000-07:00

by the way--i am 9490 days old.

2005-09-01T18:42:00.000-07:00

yesterday was my lovely mother's birthday. today is my birthday. without my lovely mother's birthday my birthday would not have been possible. life is cool. i thought today was just gonna be another day with work (which it was) and coming home to an empty house (which i did) but it turned out to be almost perfect. almost...but not quite. i haven't had a birthday with my family around me in way too long. i miss everyone. and i still haven't talked to any one on the phone! where is everyone? are you all gonna surprise me by showing up on my doorstep any minute now? i wish that were true....
but...back to the perfect bits of my day. i got jolted out of deep sleep at midnight by nick jumping on the bed and yelling something about birthdays and a huge brown paper package wrapped up in ribbon sitting on my chest. i think i incoherently tried to be civil and unwrapped said package through slitted sleepy eyes. it was so fun to see nick's huge grin and excitement--an amazing way to start a birthday. he got me one of those super duper memory foam pillow thingies because i complain about neck pain every second of every day and always talk about how i want one of those super duper memory foam pillow thingies but they're so expensive and i feel wierd spending money on a pillow but geez my neck always hurts.....you get the picture. so he woke me up so i could sleep better. and i did. it's a little bit like sleeping on a cloud. when was the last time you did that huh? then nick came to work during lunch bearing a massive sunflower plant and a spectacular present from sister katelyn and a book from suzanne (i like to read a little bit. i don't know if you know that about me...)

2005-08-29T18:42:00.000-07:00

ooh---chicago. it sucked all my time away with its' mighty mighty lungs and i didn't even get close to a computer the whole week long. so here i am, tucked in quietly in bucolic moorpark again. i must admit.....i don't miss the big city at all. i can go without hot garbage smell and dirty sidewalks and smoky air. but of course i will miss the people that populate the city----namely my friends. hello friends.
and hello family! i am pleased as punch that melissa and brady (!) and ryan and nana are all beginning to get into the blogosphere. hopefully sisters and parents are not far behind....(hint hint). chicago was an absolute whirlwind of activity and non-activity hopelessly jumbled and i feel as if i need a vacation after my vacation. sleeping on a very hard mat on the ground is not something i reccomend incidentally. my neck is so much happier in the softness of my bed. i was back at work this morning at 6:00 a.m. sharp, blearly-eyed and brain-addled. thanksgiving was gluttonous just as it should be and aunt melissa's stuffing was an absolute smash. i made a tart apple pie that looked cartoonish and there was cranberry sauce and turkey and salsa (?!) and bread pudding and loads of other goodies. the sideboard was definantly groaning under the weight of the victuals (how is that for some dicksonian language?). i am now offically moved out of chicago--all the books are on their journey here along with a heavy winter coat that will be completely useless and various other things that i found too important to give away but now can not even remember what they are. nick and i had beautiful dreams of going to the art institute and listening to some jazz and eating brunch at one of our favourite restaurants. somehow....none of those things happened. but i did get to hang out with michelle and riley and emily and michael and jon b and bryan and katie and lindsey and the cuddly cats bulldozer and battleaxe. it was better than good to get some kitty love. dogs are cute and all but you really feel like a winner when a cat deems you important enough to like you. speaking of....i deem each and every one of you reading important enough to like you.

2005-08-14T20:31:00.000-07:00

graduate school. that is the keyword o' the day. i researched it all day without break. well....that's not true. i ate a cheeseburger for lunch. and i vacuumed the floor. but i was still thinking about it even then. oh grad school grad school. who will accept me? who will pay my way? when will i go? WHERE will i go? so many questions. sigh....
i drank far too much coffee today and i am sore in some very strange places from my oh-so-fit- personal-training-session on friday. i didn't even know i had muscles there. ow.
i'm putting in yet another action-packed, cubicle-licious, flourescent-lit, 55 hour work week. i'm telling you---this whole life-as-a-working-adult schtick is totally rotten. thus the graduate school dreaming. and i keep having these memories of mom coming home at the end of the day and yelling at alex, katelyn and me because we were still in our pajamas eating ice-cream and hadn't unloaded the dishwasher yet. and suddenly, instead of being like "oh man, the only reason she had children was so she could get slave labour really really cheap," i'm like "oh. man. sorry mom."
i dreamt about israel last night and woke up to the evacuation of gaza strip splattered all over the front pages of the news. i emailed some of my friends from there and asked questions. what a crazy time we live in...
speaking of crazy----it's 8:43 which is just about my bedtime. life is totally out of control over here folks.

2005-08-10T22:26:00.000-07:00

now it is way past 5:00 a.m. and too close to 5:00 a.m. tomorrow. but i just wanted to write a quick word to tell all the chicago folks out there that we are flying in saturday the 20th and will be there until sunday the 28th. thanksgiving in august will be the talk o' the town, the event o' the decade. it is unbelievable how excited i am. i am a strong believer in thanksgiving at least 3 times a year. my mouth is salivating at the mere thought. i'm gonna peruse all my cook books and come prepared....

2005-08-10T05:14:00.000-07:00

ergh....it is 5:00 in the a.m. i now officially work 55 hour work weeks. so much has happened that i want to tell you about---sonic booms, brainaic fish, georgia time etc etc. but it will have to wait until a decent hour. 5:00 is not decent.

2005-08-04T21:48:00.000-07:00

oh california summer living.....
my belly is stuffed full of fresh fish from the grill and cherry tomatoes off the vine and artichoke all bought earlier this evening at the colourful farmer's market. yum yum. now i'm enjoying a cup of tea and trying to catch up on this blogging thing. georgia is home with her fabulous mohawk/40's style pouf hairstyle (didn't think it was possible did you? i'll post photos later to prove it to you). she is beautiful and sweet and it's very lovely to have her around. she has some very talkative friends that like to hang around till late in the night and...um...talk.
i signed up for ballet and modern dance classes at the community college here---i'm so so excited. i can't wait to be a ballerina and wear a tutu. i actually signed up as georgia because it's so much cheaper. i can imagine it...the teacher calling roll..."georgia lange" and me raising my hand and saying " i go by brandyn DeCecco actually."
we'll be in chicago soon. we're planning on leaving the 20th o' august and staying there for the week. dan and riley will be back from setting bones with bricks and we'll have a swell ol' time together again. yay chicago! we may have to throw a rip-roaring party or sumpin'.
i hope i haven't lost all my faithful readers by not ever writing. forgive me. i love you all.

2005-07-19T19:36:00.000-07:00

i haven't posted in ages i know---but if you read the previous entry you see how busy my life is. between juicing and gymming i barely have time for anything....
actually---it has more to do with the fact that i got a new job that involves looking at a computer screen under florescent lights all day long (michelle--i am sooo jealous) so the last thing i want to do is sit in front of another monitor when i get home. what i need to do is figure out how to do this at work when the boss ain't lookin'.
i'm so glad to see that near and dear friends and family are keeping up with our escapades down here. i see that katie and lindsey and becca are now reading. yay! you can click on the link to read about becca's adventures in mexico and i'm hoping to have a link to katie and lindsey's india traipsing soon. how good it feels to be part of a community of adventurous individuals! i'm gonna drop a hint here about others starting their own blog---i'm bored of reading my own.....
so----about new job. well, there is very little to say. i push some numbers around on a screen and answer calls from people (often irate) that demand overdue payment. then i tell them "oh the check will be cut soon" or that "sorry that invoice is not in our system" and push some more numbers around. i think i'm going to be getting my own cubicle soon. i think that is supposed to be exciting.
but i'm actually not complaining (too much anyway..). it feels good to be making money and taking care of some debt and maybe i can begin saving soon. blah blah blah.
my friend bonnie from austin lives in l.a. now with her husband and we have started to make it a weekly thing to hang out. she is such good fun and a wonderful friend. with her around and bill around and, of course, nick around i have about all the society i can handle! well...that's not true. i wish you were here. come over. have some juice. we'll go work out.....

2005-07-13T11:09:00.000-07:00

yesterday nick and i joined a gym, bought a water purifier and purchased a juicer. it is evident that we are on our way to a whole new lifestyle....
24 hour fitness here we come. last night (after a tasty sashimi dinner) we hung out in the sauna to officially start our new memberships. ahhh---how i love saunas. today i took a multi-vitamin with my morning juicer juice and i think i'll go to some frightening class entitled "turbo kick-boxing" tonight. life is hilarious.
we keep joking about how nick needs to grow a moustache and wear short gym shorts and sweat bands. wow. he'll look so great with his rippling biceps. pretty soon he'll be so huge that he won't be able to fit through the door and his voice will get deeper and he'll eat 10 hamburgers a day. and i'll have bleached blonde hair and fingernails. then we'll really be a southern california couple.
(all of the above was a completely fabricated scenario. do not worry. it will not come true).
(well...maybe the moustache....)
but seriously, we are both really excited about being so fit 24 hours a day. we'll put all your names on the guest list so when you come visit you can be fit with us. hee hee.
i think the best thing that has happened to me besides being born is the juicer. let me tell you about this juicer please. it is silver stainless steel. it is handsome. i put in strawberries. it makes strawberry juice. i put in cucumbers. it made it into cucumber juice. i put in lime, lettuce, celery. it turned it all into a magic potion of power and majesty with a pleasing taste and aroma. this juicer is my new favourite pal. i have to name it....please give me some ideas or i'll end up calling it mr. juicer which is too clunky for this royal machine.
ok---enough about juice and fitness. we watched "bush's brain" the other night which is not a good documentary in the film-making sense but amazing in the sheer- amount- of- information- and- interesting- facts- it- posseses sense it made me think of my dad---watch it dad. you'll love it. but everyone should really check it out---especially in this time of carl rove talk and scandal. very insightful. i also finally got around to watching "fog of war" the other night which is an amazing and emotional interview with robert s. macnamara. another one you should check out dad.
i don't think i have much else to report. i might be getting another job with some mortgage company. from telemarketing to mortgages. i sure am climbing the social totem pole at an alarming rate!

2005-07-11T14:48:00.000-07:00

my job is dumb. but sometimes there is comedy. like the other day i had to call someone named tony mozzarella that lived on pesto lane. seriously. that is funny.

2005-07-09T08:47:00.000-07:00

ahhh...early morning. how i love it. no one is awake except me... and scruffy. i am enjoying my cup of tea and solitude. june gloom is officially over so no more soft, foggy morns---now the sun starts shining with a vengeance right away. i don't have to work today. i don't have to do anything today actually and that feels so so good. my plan: read the l.a. times, drink my tea, do some yoga, eat a leisurely breakfast, check the farmer's market for ripe tomatoes, let the day unfold as it will. some things on my mind: poor poor london, how all my lovely friends in chicago are doing (i miss them), financial affairs (trying to expel that from my thoughts until at least afternoon), and breakfast. what shall i eat for breakfast? any ideas?

last night nick and i dressed up and went into oh-so-very-hip los angeles for bill's birthday. he didn't get off of work so we went there and made as much of a ruckus as possible. he works at some very strange indian bar/restaurant with loads of mirrors and one fake palm tree. i made sure to make some kind of very loud birthday celebratory yell every few minutes or so. and bill arranged it so that all the tips at the bar went to the american cancer society in a characteristic warm-hearted bill gesture. i love that boy.

thanks for the comments each and every one of you. i wasn't expecting chicago friends to reply. what a pleasant suprise. big love and hugs to you all.

2005-07-07T14:58:00.000-07:00

why is no one commenting? no one loves me. sniff sniff.
i'm not going to post any more until i get some confirmation that somebody out there is reading this.
(that is a threat)

p.s. i have some cool photos that you may never see...
(that is another threat)

2005-07-04T23:20:00.000-07:00

happy 4th o' july everyone! (even though there is only 46 minutes left until tomorrow. and the 5th of july is a rather banal day to be honest...)
i hope you were all model american citizens and ate some watermelon and watched (or set off) some loud explosions in the sky. i meant to do all those things but i got sidetracked.
here in moorpark, u.s.a. they celebrate july 3rd, which is the day BEFORE july 4th. but that doesn't stop them. i think it is to eliminate competition with other surrounding towns that are all vying for the biggest festival and the most spectacular firework extravaganza. so nick and i sat in lounge chairs in the backyard and watched the festivities last night and decided to forgo fighting the crowd tonight. we did eat a hamburger though and i think that is as american as one can get.
nick and i spent the greater part of the day transforming georgia's (nick's sister) childhood room into a study/ creative space for us. this involved a huge amount of dusting, vacuuming, dusting again, washing walls, and moving things into the garage (which is now messier than georgia's room was before we started. oh well---one thing at a time). the room used to have old posters of movies and albums on the wall and clutter all over every available service, but now it has a border of photos reflecting varied landscapes from across the globe and a map of the u.s. and a clean desk and a minimalist bed cum sofa. we sat back once we were finished (about 30 minutes ago) and surveyed our handiwork with pride. it feels great to have a room devoted to study and writing and creating and planning etc etc.
well---i'm sleepy from so much scrubbing so off to bed i go. sleep tight.
oh yeah---i changed the settings so now you don't have to be a member to comment on this blog. so anyone can just press the button and tell me things. do it now.

2005-06-28T14:23:00.000-07:00

hello everyone! i finally got around to posting the photos of sister + boyfriends time. it was heaps of fun to have them around (the only drag was when the v.w. bus decided it didn't want to go up one more hill and spewed all its antifreeze on the street....). the big news of the day is......I HAVE A JOB!!! yahoo! yipee! hooray!! i was starting to get really down about it. the job market here is so so tight at the moment. ahh---i guess that's what happens when the country is in economic depression. but--anyways-- thanks to my experience on the phones (thank you professional telemessaging) and my "great" voice i get paid $15/hr. big sigh of relief. it's not exactly the most stimulating job but i stopped being picky about 3 weeks ago! today was my first day and it seems ok. the people are nice and (unbelievably) it is not too far from the house. it seems like you have to drive 100 miles to get anywhere in southern california. the route from my house to work is particularly beautiful----through dusky farmlands and horse stables and golden mountains. eucalyptus trees line the road and make the air smell minty fresh. i'm so glad i don't live in the city anymore and have to step over trash on my way to work. i was so glad when i logged on today and had a comment from ryan and emails from mom and dad and tante. thanks for reading. hope you all are having a sensational day!

2005-06-28T14:22:00.000-07:00

scruffy and s.d. found each other at last!

2005-06-28T14:21:00.000-07:00

this is katelyn and i being sweet to each other

2005-06-28T14:20:00.000-07:00

ha ha---this is jeremy. the only bright spot in a grey grey world.

2005-06-28T14:19:00.000-07:00

lounging in the wide angle..

2005-06-28T14:16:00.000-07:00

this is their car....AFTER their stuff got stolen!

2005-06-28T14:06:00.000-07:00

don't pay any attention to the girl on the left. she's a wee bit retarded.

2005-06-28T14:05:00.000-07:00

on the other hand don't pay any attention to the girl on the right either. thank goodness there is one (me) that you can count on.

2005-06-28T14:04:00.000-07:00

this photo makes me laugh because it looks like it should be on the front of a christmas card or something. with the dog and the couch and the way jeremy's shirt matches the carpet.

2005-06-28T14:03:00.000-07:00

more fun with image manipulation. it kinda looks like she is in heaven. except she seems a bit bored...

2005-06-28T14:02:00.000-07:00

it was the camera that was tilted---not us. i think.

2005-06-28T14:01:00.000-07:00

i'm having fun playing with images. here is one example of the delights of computers---you can make everyone look like sunkist oranges!

2005-06-28T13:59:00.000-07:00

s.d. and katelyn on one of the beaches in malibu.

2005-06-25T21:19:00.000-07:00

2005-06-25T21:18:00.000-07:00

very hairy, very dirty, very weary travellers.

2005-06-25T21:05:00.000-07:00

our very dear friend bill from chicago that moved here about 6 months before us. the painting in the background is one georgia (nick's sister) did when she was 11!

2005-06-25T21:04:00.000-07:00

this is my boyfriend nicholas. he's kinda slow but we're very proud of him. by the way--the hat was my idea...not his.

2005-06-25T21:03:00.000-07:00

this is some infuriating japanese game that is supposed to help you achieve zen. nick loves it. it makes me wanna hit someone.

2005-06-25T10:44:00.000-07:00

at home. with the new love of my life. scruffy the superdog.

2005-06-25T10:43:00.000-07:00

a photo of nick sans bear hat.

2005-06-25T10:41:00.000-07:00

amazing jellyfish exibit at the monterey aquarium. i overheard one teeny boy say to no one in particular "no. no. i'm not scared of these jellyfish."

2005-06-25T10:40:00.000-07:00

the group we saw consists of juvenile (JUVENILE???!!!) males and pregnant females. there was one young lad there that weighed about 1500 lbs. a mere teenager. the adult men were still in antarctica having boy's club (cigars? cognac?) before they join this group to impregnante some more females. busy schedule.

2005-06-25T10:37:00.000-07:00

these are very large (up to 5000 lbs.) very stinky and very loud elephant seals.

2005-06-25T10:35:00.000-07:00

this is the santa cruz campus. yes--it is actually the campus. there is a 25 acre organic farm and redwood forests on campus also. not to mention heaps of wildlife. very very cool.

2005-06-25T10:29:00.000-07:00

klaus the german artist father. you can check out his photographs if you want by going to the link on the side of the page. his stuff is neat.

2005-06-25T10:24:00.000-07:00

this is the rough life i led whilst staying with klaus (nick's dad) in beautiful san fransisco. you can't see it in this photo but beyond that fence is a soothing, inviting hot tub. i spent much time in that hot tub.

2005-06-25T10:22:00.000-07:00

this is a blue whale skeleton on santa cruz campus. if this whale were alive i would probably not be kissing its nose.

2005-06-24T09:21:00.000-07:00

ok i am finally starting to find some kind of order in my daily existence here (my room is still messy but one thing at a time...) and i have finally learned how to play with digital photos and computers which is a huge step for me. so i thought i would start this blog as a way to stay in constant touch with the family. i also have further hopes for a larger internet family network. you can sign on if you want and create your own blog (by the way---blog=weblog) connected to this one and then all of our adventures and stories or thoughts can be in one place. i know that melissa and ryan will be into it without too much coaxing! just imagine.....getting on the internet and logging on to a site where you can hear about what rachel and cowboy did at school today and look at photos of ryan's new apartment or read about farmer katelyn's day. this is my vision.

so i'm gonna try and start it off with a bang. nick got a digital camera from his dad when we were in san fransisco and we went crazy. which essentially means we have exorbiant amounts of photos of ourselves. and lots of the ocean. oh yeah and some trees. it's really such a shame we didn't have it when we were in washington with katelyn but....oh well.

this first post is going to be picture heavy so i hope you enjoy. i think i 'll divide it up because this is already getting somewhat long. but i'm going to try to post all the photos from alex and katie's visit (sososososo much fun) tomorrow. so keep checking this thing and please please respond and comment and start your own! love you all bunches.

oh and please be sure that gamo and rachel and cowboy get to look at this too.

b