shoe of the day...

shoe of the day...

Thursday, June 26, 2008

you know the universe is conspiring against you...

...when you chip your tooth on a bagel.

A BAGEL.

[i'd offer up a photo, but i consumed the rest of the evidence.]

Wednesday, June 25, 2008

because i'm 12

i haven't seen m. night's latest movie, but from the reviews i've read [both online and in print] i'm severely disappointed that no one has yet to use [that i can find] the headline, "the crappening."

hee.

Monday, June 23, 2008

jazz vestival

melissa, joni and i went to the rochester jazz fest on saturday -- definitely a good time and worth scoping out [my friend dennis is a huge fan. his pictures can be found here.] as we were standing on east avenue, listening to the band playing on the free chestnut street[-ish] stage, we were suddenly aware of the preponderance of leather vests in our presence. what about 'jazz fest' suggests 'hey, you know what? i'm going to wear that leather vest of mine tonite. yeah. totally a good idea." i'm all for freedom of wardrobe expression, and i'm not [so much] questioning the actual wearing of a leather vest as i am questioning the occasion for wearing the leather vests. especially when you're clearly going to the jazz fest WITH someone else -- wouldn't you ask if they were also planning on wearing an item so unique as a leather vest? wardrobe check, people! i've posted my pictures from the jazz fest on flickr [click the box to the left] but here are a few for immediate viewing.

Wednesday, June 18, 2008

sole searching

that...is a lame title.



today i'm wearing the shoes that i wore on my first 'date' with the non-date.

i love, love, love these shoes [see above] for many reasons [the initial one being that i bought them for $14 at the now-defunct cohoes in pittsford. i miss you cohoes...] this was a favorite of olivia's when she requested i wear 'fancy shoes'. i've worn them a lot over the past three or so years. they look ridiculously uncomfortable, but they've molded so much to the shape of my foot that they don't hurt at all. they are, however, disgusting. there's a hole in the toe of the sole of the left shoe, which means no wearing them in the rain. the heel is completely worn away on both shoes. they're scraped. they're battered. they've acquired...not the most pleasant of odors. but i love them.

a few months ago i bought a similar pair at dsw, thinking i could finally throw these out [when i have a favorite pair of shoes that cannot go on in circulation i always look for a replacement pair. i'm very weird.] so, i bought the new pair, wore them a few times. liked them. attempted to put the old pair in the salvation army bag and...couldn't. i look at them and i think of that first date. trying to get ready to go out with this boy for the first time [in the middle of january, no less. although, i remember it being relatively mild.] being unsure if it was actually a date [it was, in retrospect; technically it kicked off our non-relationship.] trying to put together that perfect outfit. being on the phone with my friend karen up to the minute that he pulled into the driveway to pick me up. going first to applebees, not wanting to wait two hours to eat, then heading over to this random family diner for dinner. talking over hamburgers and french fries and coffee. him giving me this classic look of, 'are you crazy?' when i asked why he was paying the bill. going back to my house and watching this horrible movie [the 'actual' reason why we'd decided to hang out.] having tea. then watching the rest of this movie that was on television. him leaving. me thinking, 'i have no idea if that was a date or not, but that boy is pretty darn cute.'

every time i look at these shoes i think about how far we've come from that first date. how we navigated through eight months of ever-growing attachment and denial, and then through another year of frustrations and realizations, progression and setbacks. we're constantly learning, which gives me a lot of hope for the future.

i don't think i'll be getting rid of this pair for a very long time.

Monday, June 16, 2008

sound bites

  • why on earth is 'i will survive' such a popular song to play at weddings? i get the whole 'it's really fun to dance to' angle, but is anyone listening to these lyrics?! so bizarre.
  • the latest death cab for cutie single ['i will possess your heart'] is really long. so long, in fact, that once it started i was able to park my car, go into camille's, wait in line, order lunch to go, pay for my lunch, wait for my lunch, and get back into my car -- and still catch the last 2 minutes.

fun at the mumu

i took the noodle to the strong museum [or, the 'mumu', as she used to call it] yesterday. we had a bit of an ordeal getting there [the foci was rear-ended by a seemingly drunk man, who then had to be an a-hole and drive off. we're fine, the car is mostly fine, but my blood pressure still hasn't come down to an acceptable human level since it happened] but had a blast once we finally arrived.

this is the noodle in what i like to refer to as her 'clint eastwood phase':
acting...



directing...


and composing her own score.



and, finally, two ladies and their friendly neighborhood spider-man:

Thursday, June 12, 2008

bah-din

for those of you who don't know, i sang in an all-female a cappella group for four years in college. [i was actually president for the last two of those years. yes. yes i was.] i remember a lot about those years: my audition [what i sang, what i was wearing]; subsequent members' auditions; the difficulty of learning a piece, coupled with the excitement when it finally came together -- or the disappointment when it didn't; parties; competitions; road trips; shopping for concert attire; the physical performance high; the numerous arguments between group members. i'm fairly certain that tolstoy's war & peace is an extended allegory for collegiate a cappella; dickens clearly had us in mind when he began a tale of two cities, "it was the best of times, it was the worst of times." [perhaps it was supposed to be entitled, a tale of two ditties? i'm lame.]

a cappella is a strange, strange beast. there's a lot of snapping and smacking of one's body in order to keep tempo and provide percussion. there's a lot of 'do-do-do'-ing and 'dit-di-dit'-ing. and for the most part, musical arrangements are ridiculously creative and have you putting sounds and words together in ways that make no sense on paper [and often, initially, out loud] but in the end -- when combined with the voices and notes and sequences and harmonies of the other people in the group -- form this cohesive and [ideally] enjoyable song. i enjoyed about 85% of my time with a cappella. but once i graduated, i had no strong desire to ever sing it [or listen to it] again. [this is only significant when realizing that many people who've sung a cappella DO continue to sing and enjoy it post-graduation. more power to them.] i am thankful for many things that resulted from my a cappella involvement [extremely good friends; heightened snapping skills; the inability to resist singing along to any song where i know at least part of an a cappella arrangement] and, conversely, many things that i could do without [pictures of myself in regrettable outfits; unfortunate relationships; the inability to resist singing along to any song where i know at least part of an a cappella arrangement.]

so when i saw this quote from stephen colbert, in his address to princeton graduates, i knew i wanted to remember it forever:

"When you leave here, no one will ever, ever want to hear you sing a capella."

truer words were never spoken.

dirty tissue birds

i am not fond of birds, to put it mildly.

but this flattened tissue that surfaced from underneath my pillow this morning [hooray for dormant allergies] sort of charmed it's way into my heart:

doesn't it look like a parrot?!
kind of?
no?
whatever. it was like 3AM when i found it.
i'm tired.
go away. and take the dirty tissue bird with you.

Wednesday, June 11, 2008

this...

is the giant, melted gummy bear orgy...

...that i ate.

it's hip to be square

nondate has been unable to find square waffles in florida [a problem, seeing as how he prefers them to round waffles. if you think this is a conversation we have regularly, you'd be correct.] he claims they don't make them anymore, but i kept telling him that WEGMANS has them regularly. i don't think he quite believed me until last nite when i found myself meandering through the frozen food section...and found these:



PUBLIX has nothing on my WEGMANS.
i'm using square waffles to lure him home.

i like beverages


skirt: the issue



skirts that snap all the way down the front should include a warning to potential passers-by that a wardrobe malfunction may be imminent.

or so i've heard.


Tuesday, June 10, 2008

sosupertasty


there are few things i like better than a really simply constructed salad on an exceedingly hot day. i made a very basic vinaigrette this morning [balsamic vinegar, olive oil, dijon mustard, honey and some salt & pepper] and packed my green glitter ziploc bowl with fresh romaine, non-homocidal tomatoes, garbanzo beans, as well as some tuna to be added in at lunch time. [i've come to prefer the packed tuna in the pouch vs. the can.] [hee. pouch and can.]


behold:

i'm not sure if the tastiness is translating via the image, but rest assured: it was sublime.
so fresh! so seasoned!
love.

Monday, June 9, 2008

morning email

from: jennifer
to: me
subject: rhyming
--------------------

according to YOUR niece, pitting rhymes w/ SHITTING

Friday, June 6, 2008

hold the aliens, please

note: why anyone would read this in the hopes of actual film criticism makes me chuckle. but i should, in all fairness, say that spoilers do follow.

i'm the first to admit that i have no long-standing relationship with indiana jones. i came to the movies late [watched the trilogy with non-date over three consecutive wednesday nite non-dates, about a year ago] but liked and appreciated them nonetheless. i didn't have the nostalgia factor working for me when the latest film was released three weeks ago, but i did want to see it - if only to once again appreciate harrison ford as an actor. so mom and i headed out to a friday evening show - well stocked with a can of mixed nuts and some gummy worms [we are no movie-going slouches.] [who brings a can of mixed nuts to the movies?] [we do.] so, anyway. the movie. i found the first 2/3rds of the film to be enjoyable, if on the bloated side. cate blanchett is excellent - an observation that would seem to lose it's effect over time, as she's always excellent, but it's hard to argue with such solid evidence. also: i totally wanted her hair/cut. she reminded me of a harder-assed 'edna' from the incredibles. i didn't hate shia, much as i'd anticipated. if anything, i sort of forgot he was there. harrison? well...the hat still fit. i know the parallels between this indy & shia's character alongside last crusade's indy and his father [sean connery.] i get it. son & father figure. newbie and stodgy old guy. but the brilliance and allure of 'indiana jones' - the character - has always been his excitement, his thirst for action. he may have been reluctantly dragged into fistfights and captivity and near-tortuous conditions but he always fought through with an impish glint in his eye, with a smirk on his face, with a whip in his hand. where was that impish glint? where was that smirk? where the HELL was that whip? i'm not sure the flaw lies in how the character was written -- there was nary any verbal acknowledgement of being 'too old' to do something. it was mostly in how ford portrayed indy...which is probably why i was so bothered. if he was supposed to be grumbly, there would have been more narrative indication. there would have been more emphasis on shia's character ("mutt") as the whippersnapper, as the up-and-comer. but there wasn't. there was a direct conflict in how indy's character was written and ford's interpretation.

that actually wasn't my major quibble with the film [tangents!] i was really ok with the movie until...the end. AND THE ALIENS. are you kidding me? ALIENS? not cool. i have nothing against aliens as thematic implements. i appreciate close encounters of the third kind. i love alien. i loathe e.t. but that is for entirely different reasons [i.e. a four-year old's TERROR when e.t. is discovered in the backyard.] [i'm still shuddering.] [still.] but ALIENS with indiana jones? so very far from the realm of acceptibility.

i completely blame george lucas. he tries to put ALIENS everywhere. mostly places where they don't belong. the movie even had me when it entered into the ruins with the crystal alien skeletons. fine. whatever. but when they morph into an "actual" alien andburn cate blanchett's eyes out of her head? ....what?! i'm all for suspension of disbelief, but this seemed to be such a weak wrap-up. even in my non-nostalgic state, it made me sad.

plus: the movie is almost two-and-a-half hours. you want it to be worth your while. and while i didn't hate the film -- and did enjoy/was entertained by a good portion of it -- the last third blew it for me.

boo.

Wednesday, June 4, 2008

coffee

before i went into work last saturday, i stopped at starbucks to grab a cup of coffee. this is my ritual, every saturday morning. same starbucks. same drink. being that i work in a bookstore [where i'm always on these saturdays] it would make more sense, financially, to purchase coffee once i arrive given my employee discount. but, instead, i insist on having the same debate every saturday in the starbucks parking lot: pull into the parking lot, mull over the plan to go inside and buy coffee, from within my car i think to myself, "you're being irresponsible with your money," and then i proceed to open the door, pop inside and order my venti decaf. as i headed out, drink safely procured, i noticed this on the ground next to my car:



so sad! this errant, lonely pile of coffee grounds. my mind flashed to tom hanks in 'castaway' attempting to lap up spilled coconut and pictured myself in a similar, desperate, needing-a-morning-beverage-in-a-dire-situation type way with these grounds.

i'm gross.
buying your coffee brewed is definitely the way to go.