"Postcards are my favorite form of commuication" - Molly

For details on Greta's adventures in the Netherlands this summer, please see a new blog, Speaking in Dutch*.

okay, for real this time

I tried to do this last December. But like any addict, sometimes it takes an intervention to change behavior. Someone wise observed last week that most of my life is currently centered around processing information for other people and perhaps not for myself.

And I've been thinking about how it's been hard this year to be present with the people I care most about. And also how I often use this blog as a way to update those people without actually having to be present with them. Which is pretty much cheating - it gives the illusion I am communicating with people I love, but this is a delusion. And really, what I want to be doing with people I care about is hanging out with them. Not to go all Wendell Berry on you. But the man is wise.

So about an hour after that observation was shared, I decided to stop this blog for the next three months. It's easier to give up something for three months than for forever, all at once. And on August 20th I am embarking on a cool trip and will most likely upload some fun pictures.

If you are friends with me, you should do the following:

1) Call me up and invite me to dinner. I'll bring the salad. Or dessert. Or whatever. There's not enough potlucks in the world, and I miss you. Lots. So call.

2) See number 1.

3) Write a letter. If not to me, then to someone else you like. There's not enough letter writing going on either.

If you are not friends with me, then you should do the following:

1) Email me and invite me to dinner. Um, except unless I actually know you, we're gonna have to meet in a public place. Like a restaurant.

2) See number 3 above.


Love you, peeps.

XOXO,


Gretzky

sunny spring spinach salad

when it's sunny out i like making salad combinations out of what's in the fridge. also when it's not sunny out. this weather is making me crazy. The combo below is p.d. good. Let's be honest, I don't know if you can call it salad with the eggs and bacon additions, but if you use a ton of spinach, we'll roll with the salad label.

1) Boil 3 eggs. As in hardboil.
2) Cook maybe 7 slices of bacon in a pan over med heat til crispish. Put on paper towels to drain.
3) Drain pan except for about 3 Tbs. Add 2 Tbs. olive oil.
4) Put pan back on stove over med.
4) Add 1/2 chopped fine red onion, 2 cloves minced garlic, 1 tsp. sugar, salt, pepper. Cook til onion's soft, about 3-5 minutes. Take off heat, add 6 Tbs of cider vinegar. Or balsamic vinegar. Or white vinegar. Whatever you've got is fine.
5) Get a whole ton bunch of spinach and dump on plate. Pour some of the dressing over it while still hot. THIS IS THE BEST PART. It cooks the spinach just a little bit.
6) Add a couple slices of the eggs, and a wee bit of bacon, crumbled.
7) YUM. Serves 4-ish, depending on how hungry everyone is.

the art of losing / isn't hard to master - elizabeth bishop

This school year flew by so fast I didn't realize I was leaving some things and people behind without thinking about it.


One Art

Elizabeth Bishop

The art of losing isn't hard to master;
so many things seem filled with the intent
to be lost that their loss is no disaster.

Lose something every day. Accept the fluster
of lost door keys, the hour badly spent.
The art of losing isn't hard to master.

Then practice losing farther, losing faster:
places, and names, and where it was you meant
to travel. None of these will bring disaster.

I lost my mother's watch. And look! my last, or
next-to-last, of three loved houses went.
The art of losing isn't hard to master.

I lost two cities, lovely ones. And, vaster,
some realms I owned, two rivers, a continent.
I miss them, but it wasn't a disaster.


--Even losing you (the joking voice, a gesture
I love) I shan't have lied.  It's evident
the art of losing's not too hard to master
though it may look like (Write it!) like disaster.

"You've come to assume / protective color"

for K8 on the road to Wenatchee: 

How to See Deer 

by Philip Booth

Forget roadside crossings.
Go nowhere with guns.
Go elsewhere your own way,

lonely and wanting. Or
stay and be early:
next to deep woods

inhabit old orchards.
All clearings promise.
Sunrise is good,

and fog before sun.
Expect nothing always;
find your luck slowly.

Wait out the windfall.
Take your good time
to learn to read ferns;

make like a turtle:
downhill toward slow water.
Instructed by heron,

drink the pure silence.
Be compassed by wind.
If you quiver like aspen

trust your quick nature:
let your ear teach you
which way to listen.

You've come to assume
protective color; now
colors reform to

new shapes in your eye.
You've learned by now
to wait without waiting;

as if it were dusk
look into light falling:
in deep relief

things even out. Be
careless of nothing. See
what you see.

"sometimes it is necessary / to reteach a thing its loveliness" -

- Galway Kinnell, from Saint Francis and the Sow

I was so struck by that line that I had to read it twice. And then I cried. And it's in a poem about a pig.

"you know what Wednesday is, don't you? Hump day." - Mr. Schuster****

I am vomiting as we speak. (lies! types Ringo)

Okay, I'm not really vomiting but I did turn away from the tv while schuster was singing that HORRIBLE song to Sue. ugh. This was the creepiest episode of Glee ever - what's her name, the former Mrs. Schuster having a crush on Finn - GROSS! - and I did not watch the end. i did catch the man's world rendition with all the pregnant mothers and am still pondering that one. I might have something to say about that later.

Much better to think about was dinner at Ringo's after class:

1) Pizza: Red onion, mozzerella, goat cheese, basil, and prosciutto. YUM.

2) Salad: Arugula, beets, goat cheese, sunflower seeds, black pepper, olive oil, balsamic vinegar. YUM.


***My other favorite quote was "We're going to go all Braveheart on Vocal Adrenaline." - Finn

''If Craig M. gets a rose tonight, I will know for sure there is no God.'' - weatherman

um, because i was homeworking, I did not watch the bachelorette. however, I did read Jennifer Armstrong's article about it, and if I were a ew journalist, I would be her, because she is FUNNY. I do realize it's pretty easy to make fun of the bachelorette, but still.

But after reading her take, of course I went to hulu and watched the second part because the weatherman is perhaps the funniest reality tv persona I think i've ever seen, and also because I am just amazed at the level of ridic that people stoop to.

my thoughts are that jesse's adorable but way too young. craig m is an ass, who actually said on national television that he couldn't talk to people shorter than him. and THEN went on to say that he hoped there were some hotties on the plane ride home because he needed some extra attention. And he added that Allie just made a big mistake. Wow, that's a classy act right there. (I'd also like to point out that his conversation with allie was a PERFECT tutorial for what NOT to do on a date. In fact, dating coaches could use it to showcase where everything goes wrong. You know when a girl asks you if you're uncomfortable, it's not going too hot. )

Where does abc get these people? I think they pick some idiots on purpose.

Including my favorite, the weatherman. he is not my favorite for allie, and I certainly wouldn't date him, but he's pretty fricking funny. And too serious at the same time. I also can't really get down with his world view, but he has some awesome one-liners. I wonder if he's as funny on the weather show?

Also, roberto is a good one, chris l is solid, and justin is just weird. And slightly creepy. I vote no.

"the water is wide / I can't cross o'er"

This week I wasn't sure I was making conversation as much as hoping the words coming out of my mouth would make sense in whatever train of dialogue we were on...I am tired...ready for this quarter to be over. Right now. I want to sleep for a week. BUT I got a letter in the mail from Becs and it was perfect! And then we skyped this weekend, which was even perfect-ter. Whoever invented skype is going to heaven. If I were in charge.

I was also reminded of this poem I can't remember, where the poet says to not write, because it's worse, after getting a letter, because you are reminded of how much you love the letter writer, and miss them, and want to be with them. And it's true. I love getting letters, but they just make me want to be wherever the writer is at.

oops, wait i forgot about librarians doing gaga.

I know these people. They are pretty fantastic out of the video too, so it's really not surprising how great they are IN it. And I hear they got onto King 5 news.

studying til the eyes bleed

wow, my eyes are tired of computer screens.

gretzky needs take a break for a bit so I can work on what I'm supposed to be working on.

tune in later.

the indexer in love

i've been doing a project about poetry for teens, and I am in love with it again. I mean, I've always been in love with it, but these poems are amazing.

This one is adorably sweet, and I love it:

The Indexer in Love

by Gray Emerson, from the Time You Let Me In collection.

Answer to My Prayers, 8

- See also You

Board Games (That I Let You Win), 122-124

Dancing, 42-44

- On the Ends of Your Eyelashes, 27

Eyelashes, 18-19

- See also Dancing

Hair, 83-85

- That You Complimented, 86

- That You Wrote a Poem About, 87

- That You Wrung Your Fingers Through, 88

Index, Index

- See also You

Kisses

- Never Given, 23-29

- Stolen/Ransomed/Returned, 81-85

Love, 99-100

- Not at First Sight, 10

Peculiarities (of You)

- Biting at Your Cuticles, 50

- Silent Sneezes, 113

- Words Used Out of Context, 103-105

Things, List of

- I Want to Do to You, Appendix A

- I Want to Do with You, Appendix B

Waiting

- In Line With You, 131

- See also You

You

- Answer to My Prayers, 1

- Index You (Unable to), 1

- Waiting for You, 1

poetry crush

some of you might know I have a poetry crush on Matt Gano, a local Seattle poet.

In fact, THE top MOST AWKWARD moment of my life was when I told him this. I was at an event he was emceeing last year and the first thing I said when I met him was - "Hi Matt. I have a poetry crush on you." I don't know where that filter went, the one that usually stops us from saying things that make us sound like crazy people. My filter got broke for just a minute that night.

Poor Matt. He didn't realize I was just a harmless poetry admirer and backed away. I'm sure he was thinking, this lady's crazy. I hope someday I can reverse the damage, but you know, in situations like this, it's hard to convince people you're actually normal and were briefly star struck and an alien took over your body for a second.

But regardless of whether or not he thinks I'm crazy, he's got a great poem about the truth, and since we're telling it this year, here it is:

"you and homework, you're tight" - Klein

Let me just state for the record I love school. For real. It's fun, challenging, and I'm learning a tooooooooooooooooooon. And I like it, generally.

But the thing I HATE about school is that I would always rather put people before anything else, and the sad truth is that #$%^#%$&$% presentations wait for no one. So I find myself saying the lamest things in the world, like "I have to go write a paper" or "I can't do that, I have to read."

Which are true statements, but let's be honest, right up there with "I have to wash my hair" excuses. Except mine are more true than that.

Thankfully I have friends like Klein, who keep it real and keep me laughing when I say I can't hang out.

"Wanna do parallel activities?" - Ringo

To address the melancholy Monday sitch, I went to Ringo's for dinner, which was AMAZING:

1) Sweet Potato Enchiladas: Mash a few sweet potatoes with cumin, garlic, thyme, salt, pepper, etc. Add black beans, corn and a little pepperjack. Add a teensy bit of sour cream to green chile enchilada sauce. Pour some sauce in bottom of pan. Put sweet potato mixture into tortillas, roll up, and put rest of sauce on top, sprinkle some cheese on top. Bake for around 1/2 hour. YUM.

2) Whatever's-in-the-fridge-Salad: Cut up red pepper, avocado, 1/2 cucumber and some red cabbage. Add a dash of balsamic vinegar and a dash of olive oil. Mix. YUM.

3) Fossil Fuel Ben and Jerry's Ice Cream. YUM.


Then we decided to do "parallel activities" - which apparently means to be in the same room with someone but be working on different things - until 9, at which point my reward for finishing my power point presentation and handouts would be to watch the first episode of the Bachelorette. I finished my power point and Ringo e-mailed.

And then, at 9, we started watching the Bachelorette, and I texted with my boss throughout. It's entirely her fault I ever watched the Bachelor.

I did not watch the entire show because I would have cringed about having those 2 hours of my life gone forever, but here is what I noticed:

1) Ali got botox. It inhibited her ability to talk. AND made her lips look weird.
2) Ali couldn't walk in her dress. Not my idea of a good time.
3) 25 guys, 1 girl, alcohol, and Chris Harrison in a room, something's guaranteed to go wrong. WEIRD dynamics, peeps.

Favorite quotes:

1) "I need someone to go ice fishing with." - Kyle. Ah, Kyle, you know just what to say to warm any girl's heart.*

2) "You can't go wrong with a broken leg." - Weatherman Jonathan, commenting on another contestant's broken leg. Hmmm....so a broken leg inspires sympathy and thus ensures a rose? Jonathan needs to lighten up just a bit.


*For the record, I'd go ice fishing once to see what it was like. But gotta be honest, doubt I'd go for days on end, hours at a time.

listen/ with the night falling we are saying thank you

- w.s. merwin, thanks

This might be my melancholy spring moment. ooh, and on monday, too. Maybe i'll do melancholoy mondays. i mean, seriously, who loves mondays?

i was thinking about this merwin poem because over the past few months I've been re-watching the Wire. The first time I watched the show, I raced to get through it, eager to see the rest of the story. This time, I was savoring it, like those books that are so good you can only read 4 or 5 pages at once so that it lasts as long as you can draw it out. And also I was cramming it in between writing papers on ILS systems and reading about information literacy and making presentations about poetry. I know, my life is sooooo hard.

This time, I wanted to catch the expression on Omar's face when he testifies against Bird, and the way Jimmy self destructs, almost totally imploding. And how Bubs can't really believe he's alive, and the sheer beauty of his survival - he is one of the most lovely characters I've ever met, in a tv series or novel. How Greggs comes to terms with herself, easily missed among the loudness of the men around her. And mostly I'm now head-over-absolutely-heels-in-love with Carver. Over the course of five seasons, he becomes a grown up. For real.

So I was re-watching the Wire, and then also reading Marina Budhos' Ask Me No Questions, and also Marc Aronson's Race: a History Beyond Black and White. Ask Me No Questions is a novel of two undocumented sisters worrying about being deported, holding their family together. Race is non-fiction, and mostly what it sounds like.

I got to skype with these two authors in one of my classes this quarter, and Marc said something about tragedy - how our culture doesn't like to acknowledge tragedy, that we want to give teens a sugar-coated version of events in hopes that they won't re-create the mess we continue to make of things. But the irony is that only telling the truth about the mess is what gets it cleaned up.

I've been thinking about that a lot, since truth is the word of the year, and wondering how telling the truth plays out in different situations...And this poem keeps coming back to me - I think what I've loved about it since I first read it 6 years ago is that acknowledgement piece - just that there is much to be sad about here. And in the midst of that great sadness, there is also great beauty, and in saying thank you we are noticing the beauty around us. I think that's one reason I loved the Wire so much - It was Shakespearean tragedy at its best, with characters we can see the brilliance in even as we decry their wretched choices. Last night at church we sang about how all we have to offer are thankful hearts. That's the truest piece of religion that I know.

Here's the full text of that poem:

Listen
with the night falling we are saying thank you
we are stopping on the bridges to bow from the railings
we are running out of the glass rooms
with our mouths full of food to look at the sky
and say thank you
we are standing by the water thanking it
smiling by the windows looking out
in our directions

back from a series of hospitals back from a mugging
after funerals we are saying thank you
after the news of the dead
whether or not we knew them we are saying thank you

over telephones we are saying thank you
in doorways and in the backs of cars and in elevators
remembering wars and the police at the door
and the beatings on stairs we are saying thank you
in the banks we are saying thank you
in the faces of the officials and the rich
and of all who will never change
we go on saying thank you thank you

with the animals dying around us
our lost feelings we are saying thank you
with the forests falling faster than the minutes
of our lives we are saying thank you
with the words going out like cells of a brain
with the cities growing over us
we are saying thank you faster and faster
with nobody listening we are saying thank you
we are saying thank you and waving
dark though it is

"Fuck Tris. I would give body parts to have a guy write something like that for me. My kidney? Oh, both of them? Here Nick, they're yours."

- Norah, in Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist

Oh, the drama. This is one of my favorite YA books lately - zippy, snappy dialogue and story that perfectly captures the heady craziness of falling in love unexpectedly. Told in alternating viewpoint chapters from both Nick and Norah's perspective. Sweet little story for a study break.

Favorite Quotes:

"Is this what happens on dates? You kiss before you've met, then talk about why your previous relationship failed? I'm stumped." - Norah, p. 53

Me too, Norah. Dates are weird.

"Look," she says..."I know you probably think I'm a horrid bitch from the planet Schizophrenia, but I'm honestly not trying to mess with your head. I'm just messing with my own head and seem to have dragged you along for the ride. I think you're nice to me and that scares the fuck out of me. Because when a guy's a jerk or an asshole, it's easier because you know exactly where you stand. Since trust isn't an option, you don't have to get all freaked out about maybe having to trust him. Right now I am thinking about ten things at the same time, and at least four of those things have to do with you. If you want to leave right now and drive home...I wouldn't blame you in the least. But what I'm trying to say is that if you did that I'd be sorry." - to Nick, p.63


I'm pretty sure my liking this book confirms I'm a sucker for romance. Who knew?

best thai place in the pacific northwest is right here in river city

okay, it's not in river city, but it is near that godawful monstrosity known as Southcenter mall. oh, wait, it's now westfield shopping center. Sorry. Well, Bai Tong is conveniently located next to Toys'r'us. (Did I even spell that right?)

I know, I know, the mall, but for real, this is the BEST Thai place I've ever been to. Food Porn Blogger Jason Sheehan agrees. Yum.

grecian hair g-chats

evs:

♫ Man on the bus this morning: "Your hair has a lot of body. Are you from Greece?"

k8:
patient quote of the day: "Did you change your hair? It looks good. You look less like a little old lady and more like a teenager." 74 year old man who can't speak a whole sentence without going into a coughing fit. Also, he invited me to go camping with him. Um, no thanks.

gr:

♫ gr has a tendency to be too informal when she is with her peers and supervisors: this is one of her greatest strengths and greatest areas for improvement. Her ability to say what was on her mind certainly helped us in numerous situations; at the same time, her lack of a filter with peers and supervisors sometimes created uncomfortable situations.

vans:
http://xkcd.com/616/

"ooh, I can have some orange herbal tea. that's thrilling." - Mom

Mom is on a sugar fast and I am attempting to be supportive by also not eating sugar. But H offered me a red vine at work the other day and I wasn't even paying attention and ate it. Oops.

I don't really mind giving up candy things because I don't really eat candy. And even other carbohydrat-ey things aren't too bad, I don't really miss them.

But chocolate? I want chocolate. Right now. Any kind would do.