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TUE 6.29.04 @ 10:59pm
things I think I would enjoy doing:
travel writer
movie reviewer
florist
html coder
photographer
housewife
mother
editor
journalist
barber
sex therapist
erotic-art collector
tattoo critic
brownie taste-tester
girl who wears glitter and enjoys coloring
What an impossible, stupid list. *sigh*
I need a pink lemonade.
TUE 6.29.04 @ 10:37pm
Once again I am bored/dissatisfied with my life. This weekend at the reception, someone asked me what I do for a living. I was sitting in the sun, with a pretty dress on, sun on me, wind blowing nicely, beautiful scenery everywhere. Everything felt right with the world. I had just explained what Eric's job was, and was so proud of him.
Then BAM! My first thought was: I have a job? Oh, yah. I have *that* job.
I don't hate my job. I am just dissatisfied with my life. I want more from it, but I can't seem to figure out what the hell that more is.
I thought I would be doing something more satisfying with my life. Something more interesting. Something more worthwhile, or just entertaining.
Sometimes, I am very, very happy. When Kyra rubs her wet nose in my face, or when Eric and I are holding hands walking somewhere together. But most of the time, I'm just kind of... bored. I spend my time trying to entertain myself between stints at work. And lots of days, I'd rather be sleeping than trying to do that.
Am I really this tired all the time, or am I just this bored with my life?
I have a week of vacation coming up next week. Time to think about all of these things. Or, more likely, to not think about them.
TUE 6.29.04 @ 10:46am
We had a wonderful weekend in South Lake Tahoe! But the Sacramento airport leaves a lot to be desired. It's quite small. They didn't tell us what carasel to pick up our bags at. The rental cars are at their own special "terminal" where you have to take a shuttle bus to get to. And we walk in, and EVERYONE is at OUR rental car desk. There are 6 desks. There are about 20 people at our desk waiting in line for cars, and maybe 1 or 2 people hit the other rental car desks.
South Lake Tahoe was a bigger town than I thought it was going to be. And there's something endearing about a town that you can walk around and see so much. But there are a lot of crappy looking hotels mixed in with the resorts and clean-looking hotels. Like ours! We thought picking a Days Inn would ensure us a clean, bright hotel. Ha! Do NOT ever stay at the Days Inn on Park in South Lake Tahoe. The staff was friendly enough, but the lobby smelled of piss, nothing was air-conditioned except for the rooms themselves, the lighting was horrible (especially at the mirrors in our room), and the building was not secure at all: none of the doors from the outside was locked. Oh, and the beds were the most uncomfortable I've ever had in a hotel. Not just hard, I swear we were sleeping on 2 box-springs.
There are 5 casinos right at Stateline, NV. You cross the street from California right into Nevada and gambling is suddenly legal! Harrah's is the main casino, but they also seem to own the Harvey's across the street as well. Then there is the Caesar's and the Horizon. All 4 are hotel casinos and quite nice with lots to do. Then there is Bill's casino. Why is there a small casino in the middle of 4 hotel casinos? I don't know. But that's about it. The first night, we were frustrated at the lack of $5 Blackjack tables, so we got in the car and drove down 50 further into NV. Oddly, there are no strip clubs, no restaurants, no more casinos. Weird. About a mile away was one small hotel casino that had a few $5 tables. It didn't look like there was anything else after that for miles. Eric lost money at the tables there, but he gave me $5 to play one hand, and I turned it into $85!
Our 2nd day there was the wedding, and I finally hooked up with Heather at the hair salon. I met her best friends, Lara, Laurie, Jenny, and Amy. It's so nice to know she has such great friends looking out for her. Heather looked amazing after the hair dresser was done with her, but later I finally saw her in her dress!
It was a very romantic evening. Heather looked amazing. Jim was so comfortable and happy. He wore a salmon colored blazer of all things, but it actually looked right. It was a smaller affair, with maybe 50 people on the deck of Jim's brother's cabin. There were all these trees and mountains and you could see some of the lake. The ceremony was short, the couple were happy, and the reception was relaxed. Everyone had a wonderful time, even us, when we didn't know anyone there but Heather and Jim.
And there were the CUTEST baby chipmunks playing in the back yard! I kept demanding Eric catch one for a pet, and he kept replying that Kyra would eat it. *sigh*
The next day we went to the breakfast buffet at Harrah's with Heather and Jim. It's on the 16th floor, and the view is amazing! We talked and ate and chilled. Then we went to their cabin and talked and chilled. Then it was time to let the newlyweds start their honeymoon.
We went gambling at Bill's and lost all of our winnings. I put $40 on the table and lost every hand. Eric gave me $5 a few times to keep me at the table, and I won and pushed a few times, but after less than 15 minutes at the table, I was through. I used my last $10 on a video poker machine and lost it all shortly after Eric joined me to tell me he'd been cleaned out at the table.
Then it was home again. The drive to/from Sacramento and South Lake Tahoe is a very scenic one. There is a stretch where the mountains open up and you get your first glimpse of the lake about 10 miles out. It's incredible, but unfortunately there is no guard rail, just a short cement wall, and a horrifying drop-off. I thought I was going to lose my lunch all over the car. I hate heights, and I have a real problem with mountain roads like that. Luckily, the drive back keeps you hugging the hills instead of the drop-off, but it's still freaky to look back to see the lake and know how close you are to dropping off the side of a mountain. Yeeks.
The only other points of note were that I finally got my Boston Market fix after so many years. For some reason they went out of business in Seattle about 5 years ago or so, and I finally had my yummie meatloaf sandwich again. And I got to walk through a Torrid for the 2nd time in my life! That is such a cool store.
The end.
THU 6.24.04 @ 11:42pm
I've finished 3 books in the past week: Alice Borchardt's Beguiled, Greg Bear's Dead Lines, and Tracy Chevalier's The Virgin Blue. That's a lot for my head to wrap around in a short span of days, let alone to write about here. I'm in Tahoe for the weekend though, so here goes:
I'll get the easy one out of the way first: Dead Lines was about death. At the end I thought to myself, why on earth did I read that? I hate death and reading about it, despite enjoying this book. It was spookier than his other books, and I think that was the point. But I realized that ALL of Greg Bear's books have a main character die. Maybe I should stop reading him. But I won't. I find him very enjoyable.
Beguiled I mention mostly because of Dana. I think she would enjoy it. It reminds me of King Arthur stories. Which, I admit, I've never read. Although I like Fantasy, I prefer Science Fiction. I prefer the future and technology to the past and female inequality. Anyway, this book has a hint of magic and a lot of old French culture was obviously researched, so it was hard not to think about Dana the whole time.
So with these thoughts in my head, I was at the book store and saw The Virgin Blue on sale for $3.99 and I grabbed it up: Dana had recently mentioned delving into the tales of Tracy Chevalier. Alas, I couldn't remember if it was this one or Fallen Angels she had preferred, and I haven't stopped by to reread her thoughts because I didn't want them affecting the read.
It was a difficult book to read, but I couldn't put it down once I started. Today I got off of work and sat in my car for a half hour reading the climactic chapter. And it was hard not to cry on the way home. I kept thinking about the adjectives from the back of the book, like mysterious and strange. What should have been there was "tragic secret". I was really angry at the back of the book not warning me about it, despite it being quite obvious throughout that bad things were going to happen to Isabelle.
But the story, yes. Hmm... I couldn't put it down, but I hated it. I hated almost everything about it. I preferred Isabelle's character, because she was a victim, and I always empathize and connect with victims. I didn't understand the battles she chose to pick - I would have battled more at the beginning, before ever getting married. I thought Etienne was a pig to begin with. Ick.
Ella, she starts out ok, and she is somewhat of a victim, of the mystery and her lack of place in the world. But the way she immediately turned away from her husband and shut her out of everything mystified me. And cheating in books really disturbs me lately, so at the first hints of her attraction to another man, I instantly soured to her point of view.
But it was still a fascinating read. I like the way the author's mind works, creating the connections.
I hated the lack of quotations when people talked in Isabelle's chapters. *shudder* And all the French that was not translated. *Grr*
I like to write, and I like to fuck with the rules a bit when I do. Run on sentences are my weak point: I love them. And I absolutely adore starting sentences with the word "and". But is also a great way to start a sentence.
But why the hell would you make it so difficult to understand what was said versus what was thought versus what was happening as action, when simple use of quotation marks would be such a wonderful RELIEF to the poor reader. And just because Ella was obsessed with learning French didn't mean that I was right there learning it with her. What the fuck was the last line Jean-Paul said to her in the book? How the fuck am I ever supposed to figure that out.
Argh.
SUN 6.20.04 @ 8:51pm
I want a Nikon Coolpix 3200 soo bad!
They just lowered the price a few weeks ago to $249, and I can get it for cost at work. I can't believe how cool it is for that price. I was very hesitant when Eric suggested a digital camera for our trip to Italy, but I went into a shop today and they showed me the quality of print that could come from this camera, and I could not tell that it was from a digital image. I had no idea digital cameras of that quality had become cheap enough for average people to afford. Nikon's website suggested it was true, but I wasn't ready to believe it until I saw it with my own eyes.
And it's so small, it will be much more manageable than my current camera. I thought it would be roughly the same dimensions of a regular camera, except thinner because there's no detachable lens. The thing is tiny, almost too small. 3.5 x 2.6 according to the website, now that I check. Crazy, man!
Anyhow, it's been a lazy weekend, mostly because it's been in the mid-80s here. The living room remains a torn-up mess for another weekend. And also next weekend, as we'll be at South Lake Tahoe. I can't wait to see Heather get married. For years I never would have dreamed to have the opportunity to be a part of such an intimate event in her life. I am so excited. I wish I had remembered to look up the email she sent me about where she was registered, so I could get her a gift this weekend. Oh well, that'll give me an excuse to hit the mall some day after work this week!
We went to see The Chronicles of Riddick Friday night, and I was pleasantly surprised. Kind of like the first Riddick film, which I thought would be crap, and turned out to be entertaining. In fact, exactly like that. Except with even more special effects. And an even bigger opportunity for redemption, which I guess was pretty obvious from the commercials. But I just now realized that Vin Diesel's effect on me may be winding down. I used to lust after the man heartily, and I can't remember one moment that night where I lusted after him. Now Thandie Newton is another matter entirely. Damn, but that woman's hot.
SAT 6.19.04 @ 12:29am
There was an incredible lightning storm over the "East Side" last night. Walking by my window, I noticed a flash of light, and then another when I stopped to ponder. I couldn't figure out if it was fireworks or lightning. A few minutes and dozens of flashes later, I saw my first bolt.
The flashes were behind this ridge of trees that looks so impressive from my "office" window in cloudy weather. Whenever they lit up the sky, you could tell the storm was miles away because it lit up this ethereal expanse between the tree line and infinity.
It was fucking awesome. There was absolutely no thunder, which was bizarre, but it was the most incredible light show I've ever seen. I've never witnessed so many flashes in a storm. Usually, storms travel towards and away from you. This one hovered for at least 2 hours until we went to bed. Lightning of any kind is pretty rare here in Washington, and being able to watch it from a "safe distance" was really cool.
Here are some images I found at Kiro TV. Most of what we saw looked like the first image.
MON 6.14.04 @ 10:50pm
1. iTunes pisses me off. Not only is there no way to shuffle the library or sort it by a play order other than dumping the entire library into a playlist (and then re-doing it EVERY TIME YOU DOWNLOAD/RIP A NEW SONG), but it just ate 2 songs I was trying to rip. The drive spun down to nothing, munched the two songs, so I clicked over into iTunes from what I was doing, and it started on a third song. As I watched the speed slowly go up from .1x to 2.7x. WTF? I've seen it spin down before, but usually I have to be fucking around in a bunch of different programs, doing stuff click clicking back and forth, dragging files, or saving repeatedly. I was just typing along. Like right now. Excpet now I'm watching the speed and it's actually gone UP to 3.7x. WTF??? It's certainly never munched a rip before.
2. Husbands suck. Having your husband as your network manager can really suck. You can guilt him easier, but it's not his fucking job to be attentive to you, so he just gets annoyed. And then he breaks http://mysie.com because he thought no one would link there when they should be linking to http://www.mysie.com. And won't admit to doing anything to break it, just claims he'll "fix it tomorrow." Implying I am a nasty cow for aking him to fix what he broke, and a stupid idiot for making something "wrong" that shouldn't exist anyway. Must. Not. Beat. Husband.
So if anyone out there is linking to http://mysie.com because I was pissed at my favicon not working in Safari at http://www.mysie.com, please adjust your links. Because my husband will likely forget to fix this. Or if he does, he will then turn around break it some time again in the future. Bye-bye favicon. Anyone know how to get Safari from being such a BITCH about remembering sites it's been to, AFTER you dump the cache and history?
Sometimes, I really hate technology. Wish it was light out so I could go out and visit my foxglove. I'm learning to appreciate my garden now that I've forced myself to work on it these past few weeks.
MON 6.14.04 @ 10:26pm
Before I say anything else, there's nothing like a sunset as viewed from I-5 approaching Seattle. There is something so... right about the sky at dusk, the cloud layer high above trying to break up, the blazing pink off in the corner, the water below, the city in front of you. Rufus Wainwright on the CD player and your husband next to you. I can't think of any good adjectives. What was is Angela said in "My So Called Life"? "We had a time." or "It was a time." It's memorable, but you're not sure why.
This last week was an important to the Cairns family. My brother-in-law finally returned from a year in the Middle East with the Coast Guard. We could all breath a sigh of relief when we saw him. There were grins, hugs, and kisses. Then luggage gathering and a big lunch at Azteca. And gift giving. Mostly for Ian, as we headed straight to his graduation reception.
Ian chose not to walk in the enormous ceremony for the entire school, so instead we went to the smaller reception given by the Economics department. It wasn't the most boring hour+ of my life, but it was close. The most entertaining part was reading the names of the graduates and finding Caleb White there. Could it be? The Caleb White, South Kitsap High School Class of '90? Ian said it was possible, but alas he didn't attend, so the mystery may never be solved.
Saturday we went out with the Carter Crew (Heidi, newly-returned John, and The Girls) to see Harry Potter 3. I found it vaguely better than the others. It felt more like a stand-alone movie for fantasy fans, rather than a kids movie based on a religious experience. And I can see why everyone's calling it darker, not to mention the rumor that HP will die in the final book.
Sunday we all met up again in Port Orchard, as it was Stephanie's last day in town. That's a frustrating topic that I can't go into. Suffice it to say, it's sad for us, after having her all summer last year. But we barbequed and poked-crabs as the tide came in. Saw baby geese, but no deer on the base this trip. Eric's dad works on a base where there is a lot of wild life and environmentalism/conservation is very important to them. It was super windy, so we then went back to the house to play Trivial Pursuit. My opinion of the newest Genus is that it's designed to be easier for people not good at trivia, and trickier for people who do. We were constantly tripping ourselves by thinking too hard.
That was the majority of the weekend. Oh, we saw The Day After Tomorrow on Friday night. After having to drive to another theater because for some reason 4 opening day movies and two weeks after it opening, too many people were at the film for us to sit together anywhere but in the neck-breaking section. And the 2nd theater? There were about 10 of us. Weird.
To bring this to a close, I wanted to say that Jay has an interesting sense of humor. I suppose I've known that for a long time, but this newest mix-disc he sent me sheds more light on that. I'm listening now, reserving judgement, but I'm liking what I hear.
SAT 6.12.04 @ 5:38am
I am a crazy person. It is now 5:32am. I have been up for 3 hours researching trains and busses in Italy. And instead of shaving time off my itinerary, I found a new place we MUST go to: Montecatini Terme. So, actually, I spent most of that time trying to figure out how to make that a day-trip from Florence by trying to find out if there are busses or trains that make that trip. Looking for said information without reading Italian is a bit difficult, but it does look like it's possible.
So why am I such a fool? I'll show you why:
Yes, I think the old Italian-fever has swept me up again. But truly, how can I resist? It reminds me too much of Hearst Castle, the place Eric and I swear we are going to someday steal from the state of California to make our home. And we may or may not allow our neices to live in one of its 5 billion rooms. But they're definitely not allowed to share the pool. :p
FRI 6.11.04 @ 8:54pm
Again with the crap updates. Or big spaces between them, anyway. Writing about funerals is just too... It's just surreal is what it is.
So last night I decided to whip out my road atlas of Italy and see if the towns I want to hit will work, and how long the trip will take to hit them. Here's what I came up with:
Day 1: Fly - Seattle to Rome
Day 2: Arrive Rome
Day 3: Rome
Day 4: Rome
Day 5: Rome
Day 6: Rome
Day 7: Car - Rome to Assisi (90 miles)
Day 8: Car - Assisi to Siena via Lake Trasimeno and Montepulciano (85 miles)
Day 9: Car - Siena to Florence (40 miles)
Day 10: Florence
Day 11: Florence
Day 12: Florence
Day 13: Florence
Day 14: Florence
Day 15: Florence
Day 16: Train - Florence to Ravenna via Bologna (60 miles)
Day 17: Train - Ravenna to Venice
Day 18: Venice
Day 19: Venice
Day 20: Train - Venice to Lake Como (165 miles)
Day 21: Lake Como
Day 22: Train - Como to Rome
Day 23: Fly - Rome to Seattle
Day 24: Arrive Seattle
So, yikes. It would be 24 days. I was hoping for 21, or maybe even 18. So now I am contemplating various ways to shave a few days off. Mostly, I'm not liking the train from Venice to Lake Como - it's very long, crossing Italy at its widest part. And for all I know, train schedules may not allow that to happen in a single day. But I don't know how to decide between Lake Como and Venice. I would rather go to Lake Como, but I can't go to Italy and not see San Vitale in Ravenna, which is on the way to Venice. It doesn't make sense to train to Ravenna, and then switch back to train to Lake Como. Argh.
I think I may need to find a travel site to ask someone about the ease of driving in Italy. Driving 60 miles from Florence to Ravenna may be an easy day trip, or an impossible nightmare. And I really need to know if driving from Rome to Assisi in one day, as well as Assisi to Siena in a day, are feasable trips.
This may be why I'm not as excited to go to Italy as I once was. I much prefer my trips taken care of for me. I go to Expedia, book a flight and a hotel, grab a cab once I'm there to go from the airport to the hotel, and I'm done. With so many nights, it's important to save money, so booking hotels on Expedia is right out. I need to call each hotel myself. And speak with people who may or not speak English. Phones and me don't like each other very much. To say I'm terrified of calling Italian hoteliers would be an overstatement, but not by much.
I think I should wrap this up: we're going to go see The Day After Tomorrow. I can't put my finger on it, but I'm really excited to see this film, even though blockbusters never really live up to all the hype. I can't believe how many movies are out as of today that I want to see! Eric and I need to start wussing on opening weekends, or stuff will start leaving the theaters before we can catch up to them.
Oh, speaking of movies, just in time for SIFF 2004 to end, I finally reviewed all 5 films I went to see. You can find them here.
SUN 6.06.04 @ 8:51pm
SUN 6.06.04 @ 10:41am
On this day that we plan on putting Josey to rest, it may seem wrong to speak ill of the dead, but I'm just sick of the headlines, and someone needs to say it: Reagan was a bastard. Not only was he king of the cold, consumerism of the 80's, but the man was horrible in areas dearest to my heart: women's and gay rights. The man never said the word "AIDS" during the course of his two presidencies. That little tidbit still makes me sick.
It's true, I learned more about him after he left office because I was really too young to know/understand what kind of person he was at the time. But I still remember quite clearly how terrified I was as a girl that nuclear war was going to decimate us. Every time a plane or helicopter flew overhead, I thought the end was near. And when we bombed Lybia, I *knew* the end was near. I sat in front of the TV, frozen with terror, waiting for the bombs to drop. America was at war. Obviously that meant we were all going to die in nuclear blasts, right?
I know my age and the media are probably more responsible for those fears than Reagan. But the truth is, he was partly responsible for keeping the cold war around. What's all this talk about him helping put an end to it? If America wasn't so "America First", "big stick", defend our borders with giant nukes, the cold war wouldn't have happened. And Reagan epitomized these beliefs. The man may have helped us "survive" the cold war, but I'd bet a heft sum he was responsible for extending it as long as it lasted.
Bury the dead with honor. He was President of The United States of America. A role that demands respect. And I have no doubts he was an honorable man worthy of the office. But he was also a bastard, who no doubt did more harm than good. So stop prettifying the headlines soon, please?
archived
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Error processing SSI filethings I think I would enjoy doing:
travel writer
movie reviewer
florist
html coder
photographer
housewife
mother
editor
journalist
barber
sex therapist
erotic-art collector
tattoo critic
brownie taste-tester
girl who wears glitter and enjoys coloring
What an impossible, stupid list. *sigh*
I need a pink lemonade.
TUE 6.29.04 @ 10:37pm
Once again I am bored/dissatisfied with my life. This weekend at the reception, someone asked me what I do for a living. I was sitting in the sun, with a pretty dress on, sun on me, wind blowing nicely, beautiful scenery everywhere. Everything felt right with the world. I had just explained what Eric's job was, and was so proud of him.
Then BAM! My first thought was: I have a job? Oh, yah. I have *that* job.
I don't hate my job. I am just dissatisfied with my life. I want more from it, but I can't seem to figure out what the hell that more is.
I thought I would be doing something more satisfying with my life. Something more interesting. Something more worthwhile, or just entertaining.
Sometimes, I am very, very happy. When Kyra rubs her wet nose in my face, or when Eric and I are holding hands walking somewhere together. But most of the time, I'm just kind of... bored. I spend my time trying to entertain myself between stints at work. And lots of days, I'd rather be sleeping than trying to do that.
Am I really this tired all the time, or am I just this bored with my life?
I have a week of vacation coming up next week. Time to think about all of these things. Or, more likely, to not think about them.
TUE 6.29.04 @ 10:46am
We had a wonderful weekend in South Lake Tahoe! But the Sacramento airport leaves a lot to be desired. It's quite small. They didn't tell us what carasel to pick up our bags at. The rental cars are at their own special "terminal" where you have to take a shuttle bus to get to. And we walk in, and EVERYONE is at OUR rental car desk. There are 6 desks. There are about 20 people at our desk waiting in line for cars, and maybe 1 or 2 people hit the other rental car desks.
South Lake Tahoe was a bigger town than I thought it was going to be. And there's something endearing about a town that you can walk around and see so much. But there are a lot of crappy looking hotels mixed in with the resorts and clean-looking hotels. Like ours! We thought picking a Days Inn would ensure us a clean, bright hotel. Ha! Do NOT ever stay at the Days Inn on Park in South Lake Tahoe. The staff was friendly enough, but the lobby smelled of piss, nothing was air-conditioned except for the rooms themselves, the lighting was horrible (especially at the mirrors in our room), and the building was not secure at all: none of the doors from the outside was locked. Oh, and the beds were the most uncomfortable I've ever had in a hotel. Not just hard, I swear we were sleeping on 2 box-springs.
There are 5 casinos right at Stateline, NV. You cross the street from California right into Nevada and gambling is suddenly legal! Harrah's is the main casino, but they also seem to own the Harvey's across the street as well. Then there is the Caesar's and the Horizon. All 4 are hotel casinos and quite nice with lots to do. Then there is Bill's casino. Why is there a small casino in the middle of 4 hotel casinos? I don't know. But that's about it. The first night, we were frustrated at the lack of $5 Blackjack tables, so we got in the car and drove down 50 further into NV. Oddly, there are no strip clubs, no restaurants, no more casinos. Weird. About a mile away was one small hotel casino that had a few $5 tables. It didn't look like there was anything else after that for miles. Eric lost money at the tables there, but he gave me $5 to play one hand, and I turned it into $85!
Our 2nd day there was the wedding, and I finally hooked up with Heather at the hair salon. I met her best friends, Lara, Laurie, Jenny, and Amy. It's so nice to know she has such great friends looking out for her. Heather looked amazing after the hair dresser was done with her, but later I finally saw her in her dress!
It was a very romantic evening. Heather looked amazing. Jim was so comfortable and happy. He wore a salmon colored blazer of all things, but it actually looked right. It was a smaller affair, with maybe 50 people on the deck of Jim's brother's cabin. There were all these trees and mountains and you could see some of the lake. The ceremony was short, the couple were happy, and the reception was relaxed. Everyone had a wonderful time, even us, when we didn't know anyone there but Heather and Jim.
And there were the CUTEST baby chipmunks playing in the back yard! I kept demanding Eric catch one for a pet, and he kept replying that Kyra would eat it. *sigh*
The next day we went to the breakfast buffet at Harrah's with Heather and Jim. It's on the 16th floor, and the view is amazing! We talked and ate and chilled. Then we went to their cabin and talked and chilled. Then it was time to let the newlyweds start their honeymoon.
We went gambling at Bill's and lost all of our winnings. I put $40 on the table and lost every hand. Eric gave me $5 a few times to keep me at the table, and I won and pushed a few times, but after less than 15 minutes at the table, I was through. I used my last $10 on a video poker machine and lost it all shortly after Eric joined me to tell me he'd been cleaned out at the table.
Then it was home again. The drive to/from Sacramento and South Lake Tahoe is a very scenic one. There is a stretch where the mountains open up and you get your first glimpse of the lake about 10 miles out. It's incredible, but unfortunately there is no guard rail, just a short cement wall, and a horrifying drop-off. I thought I was going to lose my lunch all over the car. I hate heights, and I have a real problem with mountain roads like that. Luckily, the drive back keeps you hugging the hills instead of the drop-off, but it's still freaky to look back to see the lake and know how close you are to dropping off the side of a mountain. Yeeks.
The only other points of note were that I finally got my Boston Market fix after so many years. For some reason they went out of business in Seattle about 5 years ago or so, and I finally had my yummie meatloaf sandwich again. And I got to walk through a Torrid for the 2nd time in my life! That is such a cool store.
The end.
THU 6.24.04 @ 11:42pm
I've finished 3 books in the past week: Alice Borchardt's Beguiled, Greg Bear's Dead Lines, and Tracy Chevalier's The Virgin Blue. That's a lot for my head to wrap around in a short span of days, let alone to write about here. I'm in Tahoe for the weekend though, so here goes:
I'll get the easy one out of the way first: Dead Lines was about death. At the end I thought to myself, why on earth did I read that? I hate death and reading about it, despite enjoying this book. It was spookier than his other books, and I think that was the point. But I realized that ALL of Greg Bear's books have a main character die. Maybe I should stop reading him. But I won't. I find him very enjoyable.
Beguiled I mention mostly because of Dana. I think she would enjoy it. It reminds me of King Arthur stories. Which, I admit, I've never read. Although I like Fantasy, I prefer Science Fiction. I prefer the future and technology to the past and female inequality. Anyway, this book has a hint of magic and a lot of old French culture was obviously researched, so it was hard not to think about Dana the whole time.
So with these thoughts in my head, I was at the book store and saw The Virgin Blue on sale for $3.99 and I grabbed it up: Dana had recently mentioned delving into the tales of Tracy Chevalier. Alas, I couldn't remember if it was this one or Fallen Angels she had preferred, and I haven't stopped by to reread her thoughts because I didn't want them affecting the read.
It was a difficult book to read, but I couldn't put it down once I started. Today I got off of work and sat in my car for a half hour reading the climactic chapter. And it was hard not to cry on the way home. I kept thinking about the adjectives from the back of the book, like mysterious and strange. What should have been there was "tragic secret". I was really angry at the back of the book not warning me about it, despite it being quite obvious throughout that bad things were going to happen to Isabelle.
But the story, yes. Hmm... I couldn't put it down, but I hated it. I hated almost everything about it. I preferred Isabelle's character, because she was a victim, and I always empathize and connect with victims. I didn't understand the battles she chose to pick - I would have battled more at the beginning, before ever getting married. I thought Etienne was a pig to begin with. Ick.
Ella, she starts out ok, and she is somewhat of a victim, of the mystery and her lack of place in the world. But the way she immediately turned away from her husband and shut her out of everything mystified me. And cheating in books really disturbs me lately, so at the first hints of her attraction to another man, I instantly soured to her point of view.
But it was still a fascinating read. I like the way the author's mind works, creating the connections.
I hated the lack of quotations when people talked in Isabelle's chapters. *shudder* And all the French that was not translated. *Grr*
I like to write, and I like to fuck with the rules a bit when I do. Run on sentences are my weak point: I love them. And I absolutely adore starting sentences with the word "and". But is also a great way to start a sentence.
But why the hell would you make it so difficult to understand what was said versus what was thought versus what was happening as action, when simple use of quotation marks would be such a wonderful RELIEF to the poor reader. And just because Ella was obsessed with learning French didn't mean that I was right there learning it with her. What the fuck was the last line Jean-Paul said to her in the book? How the fuck am I ever supposed to figure that out.
Argh.
SUN 6.20.04 @ 8:51pm
I want a Nikon Coolpix 3200 soo bad!
They just lowered the price a few weeks ago to $249, and I can get it for cost at work. I can't believe how cool it is for that price. I was very hesitant when Eric suggested a digital camera for our trip to Italy, but I went into a shop today and they showed me the quality of print that could come from this camera, and I could not tell that it was from a digital image. I had no idea digital cameras of that quality had become cheap enough for average people to afford. Nikon's website suggested it was true, but I wasn't ready to believe it until I saw it with my own eyes.
And it's so small, it will be much more manageable than my current camera. I thought it would be roughly the same dimensions of a regular camera, except thinner because there's no detachable lens. The thing is tiny, almost too small. 3.5 x 2.6 according to the website, now that I check. Crazy, man!
Anyhow, it's been a lazy weekend, mostly because it's been in the mid-80s here. The living room remains a torn-up mess for another weekend. And also next weekend, as we'll be at South Lake Tahoe. I can't wait to see Heather get married. For years I never would have dreamed to have the opportunity to be a part of such an intimate event in her life. I am so excited. I wish I had remembered to look up the email she sent me about where she was registered, so I could get her a gift this weekend. Oh well, that'll give me an excuse to hit the mall some day after work this week!
We went to see The Chronicles of Riddick Friday night, and I was pleasantly surprised. Kind of like the first Riddick film, which I thought would be crap, and turned out to be entertaining. In fact, exactly like that. Except with even more special effects. And an even bigger opportunity for redemption, which I guess was pretty obvious from the commercials. But I just now realized that Vin Diesel's effect on me may be winding down. I used to lust after the man heartily, and I can't remember one moment that night where I lusted after him. Now Thandie Newton is another matter entirely. Damn, but that woman's hot.
SAT 6.19.04 @ 12:29am
There was an incredible lightning storm over the "East Side" last night. Walking by my window, I noticed a flash of light, and then another when I stopped to ponder. I couldn't figure out if it was fireworks or lightning. A few minutes and dozens of flashes later, I saw my first bolt.
The flashes were behind this ridge of trees that looks so impressive from my "office" window in cloudy weather. Whenever they lit up the sky, you could tell the storm was miles away because it lit up this ethereal expanse between the tree line and infinity.
It was fucking awesome. There was absolutely no thunder, which was bizarre, but it was the most incredible light show I've ever seen. I've never witnessed so many flashes in a storm. Usually, storms travel towards and away from you. This one hovered for at least 2 hours until we went to bed. Lightning of any kind is pretty rare here in Washington, and being able to watch it from a "safe distance" was really cool.
Here are some images I found at Kiro TV. Most of what we saw looked like the first image.
MON 6.14.04 @ 10:50pm
1. iTunes pisses me off. Not only is there no way to shuffle the library or sort it by a play order other than dumping the entire library into a playlist (and then re-doing it EVERY TIME YOU DOWNLOAD/RIP A NEW SONG), but it just ate 2 songs I was trying to rip. The drive spun down to nothing, munched the two songs, so I clicked over into iTunes from what I was doing, and it started on a third song. As I watched the speed slowly go up from .1x to 2.7x. WTF? I've seen it spin down before, but usually I have to be fucking around in a bunch of different programs, doing stuff click clicking back and forth, dragging files, or saving repeatedly. I was just typing along. Like right now. Excpet now I'm watching the speed and it's actually gone UP to 3.7x. WTF??? It's certainly never munched a rip before.
2. Husbands suck. Having your husband as your network manager can really suck. You can guilt him easier, but it's not his fucking job to be attentive to you, so he just gets annoyed. And then he breaks http://mysie.com because he thought no one would link there when they should be linking to http://www.mysie.com. And won't admit to doing anything to break it, just claims he'll "fix it tomorrow." Implying I am a nasty cow for aking him to fix what he broke, and a stupid idiot for making something "wrong" that shouldn't exist anyway. Must. Not. Beat. Husband.
So if anyone out there is linking to http://mysie.com because I was pissed at my favicon not working in Safari at http://www.mysie.com, please adjust your links. Because my husband will likely forget to fix this. Or if he does, he will then turn around break it some time again in the future. Bye-bye favicon. Anyone know how to get Safari from being such a BITCH about remembering sites it's been to, AFTER you dump the cache and history?
Sometimes, I really hate technology. Wish it was light out so I could go out and visit my foxglove. I'm learning to appreciate my garden now that I've forced myself to work on it these past few weeks.
MON 6.14.04 @ 10:26pm
Before I say anything else, there's nothing like a sunset as viewed from I-5 approaching Seattle. There is something so... right about the sky at dusk, the cloud layer high above trying to break up, the blazing pink off in the corner, the water below, the city in front of you. Rufus Wainwright on the CD player and your husband next to you. I can't think of any good adjectives. What was is Angela said in "My So Called Life"? "We had a time." or "It was a time." It's memorable, but you're not sure why.
This last week was an important to the Cairns family. My brother-in-law finally returned from a year in the Middle East with the Coast Guard. We could all breath a sigh of relief when we saw him. There were grins, hugs, and kisses. Then luggage gathering and a big lunch at Azteca. And gift giving. Mostly for Ian, as we headed straight to his graduation reception.
Ian chose not to walk in the enormous ceremony for the entire school, so instead we went to the smaller reception given by the Economics department. It wasn't the most boring hour+ of my life, but it was close. The most entertaining part was reading the names of the graduates and finding Caleb White there. Could it be? The Caleb White, South Kitsap High School Class of '90? Ian said it was possible, but alas he didn't attend, so the mystery may never be solved.
Saturday we went out with the Carter Crew (Heidi, newly-returned John, and The Girls) to see Harry Potter 3. I found it vaguely better than the others. It felt more like a stand-alone movie for fantasy fans, rather than a kids movie based on a religious experience. And I can see why everyone's calling it darker, not to mention the rumor that HP will die in the final book.
Sunday we all met up again in Port Orchard, as it was Stephanie's last day in town. That's a frustrating topic that I can't go into. Suffice it to say, it's sad for us, after having her all summer last year. But we barbequed and poked-crabs as the tide came in. Saw baby geese, but no deer on the base this trip. Eric's dad works on a base where there is a lot of wild life and environmentalism/conservation is very important to them. It was super windy, so we then went back to the house to play Trivial Pursuit. My opinion of the newest Genus is that it's designed to be easier for people not good at trivia, and trickier for people who do. We were constantly tripping ourselves by thinking too hard.
That was the majority of the weekend. Oh, we saw The Day After Tomorrow on Friday night. After having to drive to another theater because for some reason 4 opening day movies and two weeks after it opening, too many people were at the film for us to sit together anywhere but in the neck-breaking section. And the 2nd theater? There were about 10 of us. Weird.
To bring this to a close, I wanted to say that Jay has an interesting sense of humor. I suppose I've known that for a long time, but this newest mix-disc he sent me sheds more light on that. I'm listening now, reserving judgement, but I'm liking what I hear.
SAT 6.12.04 @ 5:38am
I am a crazy person. It is now 5:32am. I have been up for 3 hours researching trains and busses in Italy. And instead of shaving time off my itinerary, I found a new place we MUST go to: Montecatini Terme. So, actually, I spent most of that time trying to figure out how to make that a day-trip from Florence by trying to find out if there are busses or trains that make that trip. Looking for said information without reading Italian is a bit difficult, but it does look like it's possible.
So why am I such a fool? I'll show you why:
Yes, I think the old Italian-fever has swept me up again. But truly, how can I resist? It reminds me too much of Hearst Castle, the place Eric and I swear we are going to someday steal from the state of California to make our home. And we may or may not allow our neices to live in one of its 5 billion rooms. But they're definitely not allowed to share the pool. :p
FRI 6.11.04 @ 8:54pm
Again with the crap updates. Or big spaces between them, anyway. Writing about funerals is just too... It's just surreal is what it is.
So last night I decided to whip out my road atlas of Italy and see if the towns I want to hit will work, and how long the trip will take to hit them. Here's what I came up with:
Day 1: Fly - Seattle to Rome
Day 2: Arrive Rome
Day 3: Rome
Day 4: Rome
Day 5: Rome
Day 6: Rome
Day 7: Car - Rome to Assisi (90 miles)
Day 8: Car - Assisi to Siena via Lake Trasimeno and Montepulciano (85 miles)
Day 9: Car - Siena to Florence (40 miles)
Day 10: Florence
Day 11: Florence
Day 12: Florence
Day 13: Florence
Day 14: Florence
Day 15: Florence
Day 16: Train - Florence to Ravenna via Bologna (60 miles)
Day 17: Train - Ravenna to Venice
Day 18: Venice
Day 19: Venice
Day 20: Train - Venice to Lake Como (165 miles)
Day 21: Lake Como
Day 22: Train - Como to Rome
Day 23: Fly - Rome to Seattle
Day 24: Arrive Seattle
So, yikes. It would be 24 days. I was hoping for 21, or maybe even 18. So now I am contemplating various ways to shave a few days off. Mostly, I'm not liking the train from Venice to Lake Como - it's very long, crossing Italy at its widest part. And for all I know, train schedules may not allow that to happen in a single day. But I don't know how to decide between Lake Como and Venice. I would rather go to Lake Como, but I can't go to Italy and not see San Vitale in Ravenna, which is on the way to Venice. It doesn't make sense to train to Ravenna, and then switch back to train to Lake Como. Argh.
I think I may need to find a travel site to ask someone about the ease of driving in Italy. Driving 60 miles from Florence to Ravenna may be an easy day trip, or an impossible nightmare. And I really need to know if driving from Rome to Assisi in one day, as well as Assisi to Siena in a day, are feasable trips.
This may be why I'm not as excited to go to Italy as I once was. I much prefer my trips taken care of for me. I go to Expedia, book a flight and a hotel, grab a cab once I'm there to go from the airport to the hotel, and I'm done. With so many nights, it's important to save money, so booking hotels on Expedia is right out. I need to call each hotel myself. And speak with people who may or not speak English. Phones and me don't like each other very much. To say I'm terrified of calling Italian hoteliers would be an overstatement, but not by much.
I think I should wrap this up: we're going to go see The Day After Tomorrow. I can't put my finger on it, but I'm really excited to see this film, even though blockbusters never really live up to all the hype. I can't believe how many movies are out as of today that I want to see! Eric and I need to start wussing on opening weekends, or stuff will start leaving the theaters before we can catch up to them.
Oh, speaking of movies, just in time for SIFF 2004 to end, I finally reviewed all 5 films I went to see. You can find them here.
SUN 6.06.04 @ 8:51pm
SUN 6.06.04 @ 10:41am
On this day that we plan on putting Josey to rest, it may seem wrong to speak ill of the dead, but I'm just sick of the headlines, and someone needs to say it: Reagan was a bastard. Not only was he king of the cold, consumerism of the 80's, but the man was horrible in areas dearest to my heart: women's and gay rights. The man never said the word "AIDS" during the course of his two presidencies. That little tidbit still makes me sick.
It's true, I learned more about him after he left office because I was really too young to know/understand what kind of person he was at the time. But I still remember quite clearly how terrified I was as a girl that nuclear war was going to decimate us. Every time a plane or helicopter flew overhead, I thought the end was near. And when we bombed Lybia, I *knew* the end was near. I sat in front of the TV, frozen with terror, waiting for the bombs to drop. America was at war. Obviously that meant we were all going to die in nuclear blasts, right?
I know my age and the media are probably more responsible for those fears than Reagan. But the truth is, he was partly responsible for keeping the cold war around. What's all this talk about him helping put an end to it? If America wasn't so "America First", "big stick", defend our borders with giant nukes, the cold war wouldn't have happened. And Reagan epitomized these beliefs. The man may have helped us "survive" the cold war, but I'd bet a heft sum he was responsible for extending it as long as it lasted.
Bury the dead with honor. He was President of The United States of America. A role that demands respect. And I have no doubts he was an honorable man worthy of the office. But he was also a bastard, who no doubt did more harm than good. So stop prettifying the headlines soon, please?
June 2004
May 2004
April 2004
March 2004
February 2004
January 2004
December 2003
November 2003
October 2003
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August 2003
July 2003
June 2003
May 2003
April 2003
february/march 2003
2002