home time

Heading home to the ol' USA tomorrow. Really excited to eat a burrito that doesn't taste like poop. Really excited to see my beautiful homeland. My blood runs deep and damp and green and mountainous.

Seaside, OR last January

Twin Peaks: a bunch of side notes about current viewing

I'm on season two, episode 19. No spoilers, in case you're as behind the TV time as I am. My notes on watching:

1. Season one was pretty boring.

2. Season two is...amazing?

3. I don't know why I like it.

4. Maybe it's the mystery tunes? The cheese? The puppydog-draw of Dale Cooper and his fellow law enforcers?

5. David Lynch is an endless cutie in his minor role.

6. It turns out that I love this show? I would not have said this through most of season one. But, um, I love it?

7. Now I get all the references they make in other TV I love (mostly cartoons: Adventure Time, Gravity Falls)

8. I love mysteries, and murder, and music with snapping.

9. So much cozy flannel, just like home.

10. I...don't understand my emotions.

11. What about the late 80's/early 90's made the FBI and the paranormal such attractive TV tropes?

12. I want to experience more David Lynch, but I am still positive that I never want to watch Inland Empire ever, ever again.

from here

Weekend in Dublin/Glendalough

Last weekend, we went to Dublin for the first time. It was a crazy, lovely, last-minute trip with some friends from the states. The weather was chilly but mostly sunny--we luuuuucked out. Dublin is a fun city, though I really want to go to the West Coast next time (I'm a West Coast lover, no matter which country I seem to be in. West Coast Best Coast, etc). I seem to be gravitating towards smaller towns these days. Cities have their perks, but they are all pretty similar. Dublin reminded me of a really US East Coast city, oddly enough. Like Philly with different weather. And I like Philly, and I like Dublin, but what I really like is a town with little houses. I also love water and sheep, but Dublin & Wicklow, fortunately, have those aplenty.

Best parts of the trip: Trinity & the Book of Kells. I have waited my whole life to see them. The museums were also hilariously fun--particularly the Natural History Museum (we lovingly referred to it as the Dead Animal Zoo). Four floors of dead, stuffed animals. Ah, the smell of taxidermy! We also went on a day tour of Wicklow and Glendalough, which was beautiful. But the most charming bit was when our friends danced to some live music in a pub and everybody hanging out by the band absolutely loved it. Our friends are really, really good at dancing. It was so much fun to watch. Made me want to dance again. Maybe, maybe. Now I'm daydreaming about a new pair of ghillies. *sigh*

But I know what you want. You don't want nostalgia, you want pictures. I can help.

overwhelmed by emotions

me + stuffed baby walrus 

"The Band" shot

Gotta work on my Irish before we go back and hit Galway and Cork.

Until next year, Ireland. Stay classy. And maybe chill out on the knife crime.*


*we were walking about 30ft behind two cops walking their beat. First, we heard the police yelling a little, then we (at the same time as the police) walked by someone lying on the ground. Thank goodness the police were already there and pretty much witnessed the whole thing, because all I saw was blood and someone (a woman) holding their face and laying on the ground. Turns out, we missed a woman getting either stabbed in the face or severely kicked and beaten or both, by about all of one minute. She's ok, the news tells me. I was pretty rattled the other night, though. I think that's why I didn't have the #1 best impression of Dublin. But I'd like the give the city another chance. Hopefully that kind of violence is not a regular thing. Definitely won't be walking around town by myself, though. I think this is why cities have become less charming to me. Even in a city as small as Oxford, I hate walking around by myself. I get cat-called and harassed constantly. And people laugh when I say I want to learn krav maga.

Art/Lit Survey Data Summary

The results of the Art/Lit survey I posted a while back, as promised!

To view the summary of the analytics, click here!

We didn't get enough responses to be statistically relevant, but I still think it's useful data to think about when wondering how to market yourself and your work. Independent artists--and authors starting out--need to be aware of how to sell what they're making, and this will hopefully help with that.

Enjoy the data! It's pretty fun to look at.

hound dog

I've been dreaming about dogs. Dogs and dogs, and I want a dog so bad, a great big Scottish Deerhound, seven feet tall on its back legs. Maybe I could just turn into a wolf, and then my brain wouldn't feel so much like the Broomway with the tide coming in.

no title, yo

this blog needs a desperate redesign. ugh. sorry I don't have more time to make you pretty, blog. today I have to write and go to the grocery store and research how to dye couch covers. tonight I'll be baking pumpkin chocolate cakes and apple caramel cinnamon rolls and sugar cookies. I think about you often, but somehow you always get pushed to the back burner. hopefully people don't judge you too harshly.

for now:

image here

Vacation, all I ever wanted

D and I went on our first real vacation ever (aside from our engagement trip to Disneyland, which was a different kind of vacation). I totally let the heck go of Real Life and DID NOT STRESS. Seriously. I'm serious. The only time I felt anything close to stress is when I got a little bit of food poisoning and spent five hours puking violently. And you know what? Even THAT didn't put a damper on the trip. Pretty proud of that, because I am an anxiety master. It was a great time with great friends and I tried haggis and drank Drambuie and snuggled with Catherine's giant cat and bouldered some old barracks and I didn't even worry about my cats or my house because my Oxford BFF was on the case.

Ok, picture time:

Daniel found the Higgs boson

We drove from Edinburgh to Ullapool, and then did some aimless driving-and-exploring-wherever in both Northerly and Southish/westerly directions.

Speaking of "west"--GoT fans may be interested to know that Ullapool is located in Wester Ross. Not western. Wester. Wester Ross. I'm just going to keep saying that.

Here are comics I made on the trip! (I'm probably going to ink them with my tablet, but hopefully you can see them ok here. If you click on them, you'll probably get the full sized images, which are way bigger and easier to read.)

Peace out!

Art Show!

Pictures of opening night at Oxford Art Circus! Enjoy the show. ;)

(Photos all by Daniel! Super nice, right?)