Another Pink World

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October 31, 2004

not so quick on my feet

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Posted by lisa at 09:43 PM

let me see if i can pencil you in....

"I cannot stress enough how much I don't have plans." -xander harris, buffy the vampire slayer, 'the wish'

ok, so except for a little trip to asheville next friday to see interpol, i'm what you might call "socially available" for the forseeable future. no deadlines, no obligations (aside from the usual thanksgiving stuff).

yippee!

Posted by lisa at 07:31 PM

the year of disappointment

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Posted by lisa at 04:13 PM

BEWARE OF DOG!

a few weeks ago, my neighbors put a bold black and orange sign next to their front door bearing this statement.

a couple of days after that, i saw one of them in the yard with the tiniest, cutest little black and white puppy ever. awww.

now this ferocious guard dog seems to spend about 50% of his time stationed somewhere within easy earshot of my living room, whining.

is it normal for puppies to whine constantly? given that there are at least five people living in that house, i can't imagine that he suffers from a lack of attention.

Posted by lisa at 03:38 PM

the inner circle

i've set up something for my blog that's similar to the idea of livejournal's "friends only" concept. some entries will be categorized as "the inner circle", and the text of those entries will not appear on this main page. when you click "MORE" to see the text, you'll be prompted for a password.

if you're a friend of mine, someone i know in real life, and would like to read the password protected stuff, please email me and i will send you the password.

MORE...

Posted by lisa at 09:17 AM

a gentle gathering

the party came off nicely last night/this morning. it was never large, which was a bit of a relief. i always worry that a party seems lame when it's small, but i guess if the conversation is flowing, small is fine. and no one gets left out, in general.

at one point the conversations turned to politics and genentics which was more than i could handle, so i convinced joe to go hang out in the van with me. eventually, more people joined us and no talk of politics was allowed while in the van. it was a lot of fun! the van is a great place to hang out.

it is important to note that disgusting recipe cards are not what one wants to see when waking up the next morning, somewhat hung over. no creamed eggs over fried noodles, thank you very much.

Posted by lisa at 08:34 AM

October 30, 2004

trundling forward

georg came over last night to assist in decorating the house for the party... not so much because i can't do it myself, but because my motivation was flagging and i needed a little mental boost. i baked gingerbread and can't keep my hands off the stuff, of course. maybe there will be some left for tonight. hah.

now i have to gather together all the stuff i need to do today, and force myself away from the computer and out of the house...

tomorrow, i swear, i'm going to do nothing all day.

Posted by lisa at 09:20 AM

October 29, 2004

severe comment spamming

i was comment spammed so ferociously this morning that my host disabled the script that allows you to post comments to this blog.

i've cleaned up the mess left behind by the spammer (thank god for mt-blacklist) but i'm going to leave the script disabled at least for today, maybe til sunday when i have more time.

if you want to comment on something, email me. or save it.

what i really need to do is rename the script and change all references to it, but that's going to take a little time to do.

Posted by lisa at 01:18 PM

nummy!

i made my first pass at grocery shopping for the party last night. here are the things i'm now prepared to make:

• hot broccoli cheese dip. you know that bread bowl thing with a bunch of melted cheese in it that i always make? that thing. yum.
• chocolate chip cookies. i've just wanted to make them lately.
• gingerbread.
• s'mores. yep, i'll light a fire in the fireplace and we can make s'mores!

mmmmmmm. party food!

Posted by lisa at 11:14 AM

October 28, 2004

note to self: clean more often

that was gross.

Posted by lisa at 10:05 PM

SPOOOOOKY!

after cleaning the house furiously (or at least intently) for the last two evenings, i feel tentatively hopeful that we can look forward to the following at the party:

• The Room of Mystical Divination. I wasn't sure if I could get the back bedroom ready, but as of bedtime last night, there was open floor space and the sofa was accessible by humans. I even vacuumed! A lot!

• The Caravan of Eyeballs. Since this is the Charming English Cottage of Death, the van of course becomes a caravan, and it will likely be home to the Eyeball Collection.

There may be more to come... but I don't want to promise things and not deliver. I am hopeful that I'll have a chance to execute an idea i've had for years though. whee!

Posted by lisa at 01:38 PM

i voted!

[photo]

however, i didn't use early voting-- i used an absentee ballot. i filled it out last night and d. drove me to the post office today at lunch. i was paranoid about mailing it from work or any other place besides a post office or official blue mailbox. i'm actually pretty paranoid about the mail aspect of the whole thing, but that's not within my control.

i had to get d. and our co-worker charles to sign the envelope and put their full mailing address down, after i signed the envelope too. almost like a notary public thing, except it could be any two people over the age of 18 to serve as witnesses.

i liked voting at home with all my materials in front of me and access to the internet. the mail part i don't like so much.

anyway, i don't get a cute little sticker and therefore no free french fries or anything, but the important thing is that i voted.

after mailing my ballot i hopped back into d.'s car and said, "do you want to exit poll me?!?" we determined that kerry had 100% support in the car, and therefore, he will win.

Posted by lisa at 01:24 PM

October 27, 2004

archeologist

when i was in 5th grade, when people asked me what i wanted to be when i grew up, i would say "archeologist".

it wasn't that i actually wanted to lay about in the sand and dig things up. it was that i enjoyed being able to say (and understand) a word that was much too long and complicated for such a little kid. i liked impressing people with my vocabulary. show-off!

much to my surprise, i have in fact become an archeologist to some degree.

researching the UI for a tool my department is writing is a lot like archeology. there's a lot of buried information that i have to locate, tease to the surface, and collate in a way that will be meaningful. is there already an unspoken editorial policy? do templates already exist in some form? will i ever solve the eternal mystery of why so few rules are ever enforced on the web site? dig, dig, dig. i'm amazed at what i uncover.

ok/cancel wins the geek cute award again this week-- i am so getting one of these likert scale shirts!

Posted by lisa at 11:31 AM

should i stay or should i go?

a lot of people talk about moving to canada or some other country should the presidential election go to Bush this year.

it's something i think about, too. another four years of Bush and America will become a strange, deluded world unto itself, where women have no control over their bodies, and everyone who isn't wealthy will be struggling, at best, to make it through their elder years (or just to make it at all). we'll be shunned by the world; perhaps we'll even be attacked again by terrorists. we'll ignore the fact that entire continents are falling into chaos because their populations are being decimated by AIDS, until the chaos laps at our borders. our liberties will continue to be systematically removed in the name of safety and decency; formerly cutting-edge broadcast organizations will become bland wastelands. dissent will be considered morally wrong, as will any religious belief that isn't Christian.

it'll suck.

i'll stay.

i went to a quaker college during the era of south african apartheid. the quakers do a lot of work to bring political refugees to the states, to help them lead safer, better lives. i met a man named gordon who had thick scars across his back where he had been whipped by the police in south africa. he had seen his entire family murdered by the police. i met a man named mojomotse who told the story of finally making it to america, after a harrowing escape from south africa. he said that the day he arrived, he was so excited to be in a country where civil liberties are guaranteed that he accosted a man on the street and recited portions of the bill of rights to him. mojomotse was astounded to be living in a country where the law guaranteed that he'd be treated as an equal with other men, a country where he could express dissent without fear of whipping, arrest, or death.

if we leave, who will hold back the tide of morons who would change that?

Posted by lisa at 09:54 AM

October 26, 2004

The Charming English Cottage of Death Beckons Once Again

Posted by lisa at 11:07 PM

October 25, 2004

trip to luray caverns for nbeast

[ photos ]

started out friday, october 22, 2004

left durham 10:10am (could not get tank full - b20 biodiesel from Exxon) ar luray, va, 5pm. approx 260 miles, mainly route 15. filled up tank during trip, use about a tank and a quarter, maybe less, for the trip up.

during trip ran fridge on 12 volt while engine was on. began having difficulty shifting into low gears about 3/4 way into trip extreme difficulty by end of trip.

did not want to start a couple of times while warm, jiggling key eventually got it to start

oil light came on after steep curve, about 10 miles from campground. stopped, oil 1/2 way down dipstick. topped off, oil light stayed off for rest of trip up mountain.

strange staying in jellystone campground, have only ever stayed at state parks before.

reasonably rustic site w/ water/electric, in with the tents, not in with the r/v's which are packed in, no trees.. like a trailer park.

many elaborate campsite decorations. one woman said "we come here every year for halloween, it's a tradition." many kids. sullen teenagers hanging out by the bath house at 11pm.

tried the a/c 120v power in the westy for the first time, worked! nice ambient glow of pumpkin lights, instead of harsh white light. also, set up glowing eyeballs on stakes outside the camper. i'd like to get novelty lights specifically for westy and find a way to string them so they're not in the way-- they give the perfect light.

first night sleeping in the westy, the new bed is good, definitely needed sleeping bag and both wool blankets. cold but not extreme cold; would want more warm gear for winter camping.

rethinking rug inside; maybe a piece of bound carpet to fit in the living area floor would be nice-- something still removeable so it can be cleaned, replaced.

a/c powered space heater would be nice too.

spare battery not much use-- not sure what's up with that.

took westy to the car show to serve as office/shelter. it was quite cold in the morning. lots of attention to the westy throughout the day! many folks complimenting her, telling stories of their old bus. the distinctive shape drew people in.

i judged the stock category in the show, which i have to admit, i really enjoyed. i judge beetles all the time in my mind-- looking them over for dirt, paint scrapes, little flaws. the advantage of the stock class is that i can use the knowlege i have of the different models, but don't need to worry about understanding and comparing performance and other mods i might not be familiar with.

van started just fine throughout the day which lends credence to the notion that it's an issue when the wiring is hot, as mark had suggested. maybe trouble shifting and trouble starting means... time to give 'er a bit of a rest.

after the car show we went through the luray caverns. i'd never been in a cavern before. i love the strange, moist, organic rock formations. i was quite exhausted so that sapped a little of my enjoyment from the experience but still it was fun.

i also checked out the antique car museum on the grounds. wow.

hard to be with people all day nonstop. after the caves, i was a little rude to an overenthusiastic japanese woman who practically sat in my lap on a crowded park bench. nice though to see the stephs. good to meet steph. surprisingly, we are sort of free joking back and forth about butchness. interesting moment for me when i said to her, "i wondered what it means that i share so many interests with stephanie's new girlfriend" (meaning.. why am i straight yet so butch?) and she said, "it doesn't mean anything", which is the best answer anyone has ever given me to that question.

rain started before dawn on sunday. awoke early, checked for forming puddles or other potential rain related problems with flashlight; everything looked good so i went back to sleep.

steve came by in the morning and i opened my little sliding glass window to talk. he said, "i feel like i should be placing an order or getting money from an ATM." he told me that he didn't want to do the skyline drive cruise in the rain. i decided i wanted to go to dinosaurland anyway, and figured i would have no trouble recruiting some others to go along.

we had a merry group of john in cleo, the stephs (i rode with them on the way up), britt in his snap orange, and les. the rain stopped but it was quite cold. the gift shop was almost as silly as the big, fake dinosaurs, and oddly out of place king cobra, preying mantis, and king kong statue. i didn't take many pictures since i had taken quite a few on my first visit there.

john was nice enough to give me a ride back. we stopped for lunch at a fantastic old place in front royal, the royal creamery restaurant. it looked as if not much had changed since it opened... probably in the 50's or before. it was nicely kept up, but still reeked of authenticity, and the food was fantastic. crisp, hot fries and a very tasty patty melt. we decided to get ice cream, too... i got mint chocolate chip with sprinkles, my favorite from when i was a kid.

being rather burnt out on conversation, john was the perfect person to ride back with-- he's ok with some silence-- and i told him at lunch that i appreciated that about him. i figure that being quiet and shy is so rarely an advantage, it's nice to let someone know that sometimes, it's really a good thing.

i bought a space heater because i knew i'd be spending some time hanging out in the van on my own. when i got back to the campground, it was practically empty, after being completely filled over the weekend. it was delicious to nap in the westy, hiding just below the un-curtained windows. when it got chilly i fired up the space heater and it works great. i probably won't run it while i'm asleep, but while i'm awake and doing stuff in the van, it's nice to be warm.

the fridge has been a champ through the whole trip, everything has stayed quite cold. i look forward to trying to get it to run off propane so i can run it anywhere. i think i will not run it off the 12 volt system while i'm driving home-- if i'm correct and the wiring is heating up and causing problems starting, it would be better not to strain the electrical system.

:|:

trip home fairly uneventful. stopped at out of the way state park for a one hour break, to let her cool down and because i needed a nap myself. seems to have helped.

scored another cool old diner for brunch in culpeper.

tired now.

Posted by lisa at 09:42 PM

home.

made it there and back ok. sorry for no word but there was no, i mean really no cell phone access on the mountain.

more soon!

Posted by lisa at 07:31 PM

October 21, 2004

ready, steady... GO!

things are looking good for this weekend!

• mark is working on the starting problem-- he was able to get his hands on a starter, and they even knocked part of the price of the part off because they thought it was too high.
• lonnie thinks the starter i have on there is the original 22 year old starter. if so-- that's pretty amazing, because it seriously starts the thing right up every time. well, except for when it does nothing at all.
• mucho thanks to georg and sarah for carting me to and fro today-- and to d. for carting me around quite a bit in the last few weeks.
• and mucho thanks to sarah and christa for all the sewing help, wow.
• and mucho thanks to everyone who has listened me go on and on about my dang van, and been supportive through it all. you guys rock!!!
• mucho thanks also to chris-- who is picking up the nbeast t-shirts for me from the printer in carrboro.

i checked my map today, thinking i'd have to put a lot of time into planning a route on all secondary roads-- but it turns out the 15 goes straight up almost all the way to Luray-- and i think the mileage will actually be less than taking the interstate. so i am very hopeful that this will be an extremely pleasant journey.

last night i replaced the bit of rubber gasket that was starting to fall off the camper top, and which was probably responsible for at least some of the dampness problems inside the van. so i'm feeling like she's in rockin' good shape for this trip.

oh, and mr. metaphor dropped me a line today. yay!

Posted by lisa at 01:39 PM

ok computer

so on saturday i had lunch with mr. metaphor. we had a nice time. i'm left now with two things:

• an addiction to a web site that he told me about called okcupid
• a (probably futile at this point) desire to hear back from him

let's discuss the more interesting of those two things-- the web site. it's an online dating system that uses a lot of preference testing and some algorithms to match people. supposedly to get good results from the site, one must answer hundreds of questions. it's amazingly addictive. i enjoy answering the questions.

anyway, i just ran across a particularly interesting one:

"It is more worthwhile and satisfying to: A) Improve the world. B) Appreciate the world."

it's probably not surprising that i immediately answered "Improve the world", but after answering, i paused over my answer.

after october 30th, all of my non-work-related, deadline-based obligations go away. i basically have no plans. to say that i am looking forward to that time would be a wild understatement; it's like the light at the end of the long, dark tunnel that has been this year.

i thought to myself that perhaps i should make a greater point of appreciating the world after i'm done improving it. perhaps i don't need to be endlessly productive; instead, i could make a greater point of taking things in. new things. fun things. strange things. marvellous things.

Posted by lisa at 12:51 AM

October 19, 2004

my exciting evening

what i'd like to be doing: watching a movie with a cute guy.

what i need to be doing: sewing!

what i am doing: updating the farking starlite site

Posted by lisa at 08:46 PM

award-winning!!!

Whoo! My mom's chocolate-mint brownies won a second place ribbon at the State Fair this year!

Sadly, the family pound cake recipe won nothing :( Amazing, I know... it is extremely fabulous.

Posted by lisa at 10:55 AM

October 18, 2004

making with the ready!

sunday, sarah came over and helped me sew the big curtain that covers the windshield and side windows in the front. it was complicated and i'd chosen a fabric that was very difficult to work with (though it should be quite practical in its final curtainy form), so it took us a long time to do that one-- but we did it! when it was done, we put it up in the van and just sat there for a while, looking at all of its frothy pink translucency. sarah kept saying, "wow."

that evening, i finished off the last of the curtains and installed all of them; then i finished the cover for the first of the three mattress pads. only two mattress pad covers left, and the sewing will be finished!

tonight, i finally scrubbed her down at a car wash. i was able to get the interior cleaner than i thought i would-- and i can actually see out of the windows, for a change. that's always nice.

sometimes i wonder how far i could take the current paint if i really worked at it-- but since i plan to sand it all off or paint over it, it's really not worth it. washing a vehicle that size is difficult enough, i don't need to be buffing the thing.

i should be able to take her into work tomorrow, maybe several days this week. she's running really nicely! i did have trouble starting her on sunday, but was able to roll her down a hill and pop the clutch to start her.

can't wait to install the new bed... i'd love to hack together some kind of seat covers for the front but i'm sure there won't be time. i'd also love to sew some simple covers for these two big pillows i have, out of the pink shoe print fabric-- but again, i doubt there's time and really, they serve no real practical purpose.

anyway, i'm feeling pretty good about things, but this week is crunch time. lots more to do to be ready.

Posted by lisa at 11:31 PM

so knock the fucking bridge down and be done with it already

we're in day... i dunno, five? of the duke street bridge destruction saga, and the nightly pummeling that echoes across all of durham kept me up til about 3am this morning.

now admittedly, my extensive wakefulness was partially my own fault; sometimes i go with the restlessness a little more than i should.

:|:

in the "oh, you've got to be kidding me" department, someone is selling a diesel westy in youngsville, nc. it's from new mexico, so there's probably no rust, and overall it sounds like it's in much, much better condition than 9 Westy.

when a diesel westy popped up a short ways away from me, i thought, "well, i'll never find another one in north carolina... ought to go for it if i want one".

Posted by lisa at 01:30 PM

October 17, 2004

The Orchid Man

in the tv series 'twin peaks' there is a character who grows orchids in his house, which he never leaves, because he is agoraphobic. donna, who has taken over her dead friend laura's meals on wheels route, meets the orchid man and discovers that laura was friends with him. donna slowly and painfully gains his trust, and finally he gives her laura's diaries.

then donna proceeds to ruin his trust and destroy his life, but that's not part of my point.

angela and i were totally in love with the idea of the orchid man-- a sweet, sensitive man whose trust must be slowly, painfully, and carefully gained. his fragile yet fascinating mind requires nurturing and kindness. he was a variant on the Sickly Boy, another type we found oddly appealing.

now, surely, at my lofty age, i have outgrown my attraction for the Orchid Man? hm. maybe not entirely, although i have to admit that i also find him a little bit sad and tiresome. leave the fucking house already, dude. but of course, the original Orchid Man lead a very rich life, through his books and his orchids.

now just imagine if the Orchid Man had had the internet-- he could have charmed women from afar with beautifully written emails, and photos of his orchids, rife with sexual metaphor. or perhaps the emails alone would have contained powerful enough metaphors to get the job done.

Posted by lisa at 11:12 PM

October 15, 2004

yes, i am cute dork who is addicted to bacon

search strings that lead people to my site in the last month:

cute lisa
dork
addicted to bacon
cool names for vw camper vans (booyah!)
cookie torture (that one's for pinky)
gay subtext of laverne and shirley
happy teeth
plus sized wednesday addams
really cheap pink bowling shoes
why is pink the new thing

Posted by lisa at 07:15 PM

what would spacepod look like in 2070?

well a friend and reader of this blog has gotten a sweet role in his company's next game-- lead programmer (congratulations!!). and given the nature of the game, i'm trying to convince him to put a beetle with a spacepod emblem on the side into the game. given that it's set in 2070 after a nuclear apocalypse happens in the 1950's (it's the future as imagined from the 50's), he says it would have to be a rusted out hulk of a bug. that's fine. it'll be like using one of those computer programs that projects what a person will look like when they're old, except on a bug.

kewl!!

Posted by lisa at 05:29 PM

a question for you

here's an interesting question that came up in a conversation i was having recently, and i'm going to shamelessly crib from that conversation and ask the question of all of you, because i think the answers will be very enlightening:

when you were a kid in school, were you ever disciplined by a schoolteacher or by the school for something? if so, what?

i was rarely disciplined because i was extremely shy and quiet, and never missed classes. however, i had a particularly scary 6th grade teacher who would call students back into the coat room and yell at them and smack his very wide, heavy yardstick against the walls in a threatening manner. i think occasionally he did spank a child. i know i was called back there and yelled at at least once, but i can't recall what for-- most likely for not having my homework.

my stepfather would joke with me that they should send me to school with a galvanized bucket on my ass to protect me from the evil mr. stafford. i was really quite terrified of the man.

Posted by lisa at 05:01 PM

reasons why i am EXCITED!

1) a happy van means a happy lisa!
2) new pants!
3) fun luncheon plans for tomorrow!
4) car party tonight!
5) cure/smiths cover show tomorrow night!
6) well, it's an hour and a half before i'm supposed to leave work, my work for monday's demo is complete, and everyone is gone. so i get to sit here and be excited about stuff at my desk alone for a while.
7) whee!!

Posted by lisa at 04:24 PM

tools are great! working tools are better.

last night i broke down and bought some sewing tools-- a cutting wheel, a large cutting mat, and a marking wheel and paper. i've been using things that came from my grandmother's house-- her machine, and all her other tools. she was an amazing seamstress, even taught sewing classes, so as you can imagine, she had a pretty complete array of stuff. i was surprised to find no marking wheel and paper, not even any chalk in amongst her things.

the cutting wheel and mat i am not surprised about-- i think those were only coming into vogue around the time i was really into sewing, about 10-15 years ago. for the project i'm working on, which has no pattern, those two items make an enormous difference. marking tools are pretty cruicial as well.

after breaking down and buying things... i broke the sewing machine :( the bobbin jammed, and after i'd cleared it, found the mechanism that spins the bobbin will no longer spin on its own (although i can turn it freely with my finger). a co-worker has suggested i look for a belt that may have jumped off, which is a good idea. in the meantime, christa has been so kind as to offer to loan me her machine, which will be a godsend-- i really want to sew this stuff properly and not have it be all makeshift for my trip.

however, in the things that do work department, sarah took me to lonnie's this morning where i picked up 9 Westy and drove her straight to work! the clutch is great now, and it's very reassuring to have a working temp sensor. also, they flushed the coolant system and replaced the coolant with the proper type.

lonnie told me that he uses a type of coolant that is not toxic for animals-- it's propylene glycol rather than ethylene glycol. in fact, p.g. is the antidote for e.g. poisoning. so i am going to look for some of that to have on hand should i need to top off the coolant.

anyway, i'm starting to get excited about my trip! the westy is so great to drive. i missed driving her during the time that the clutch was bad.

Posted by lisa at 08:25 AM

October 14, 2004

i heart mark.

Mark called this morning to give me the run down on 9 Westy.

• the clutch is fixed... both master and slave cylinders were leaking and had to be replaced.
• lonnie was unable to get coolant hoses, which is disappointing but not surprising.
• mark was able to restore the temp guage, and found a hose that would fit the one really bad coolant hose. he used an audi hose for that.

so that gets the really worrisome stuff out of the way, even if we couldn't get all of the coolant hoses replaced.

anyway, he told me he had an idea for decorating the van.... that i should pull the rear cabinet, part of which shows through a window in the back, and decorate the part that shows.

i just love that my mechanic has art ideas for the van. he's definitely on board with this whole project.

Posted by lisa at 05:21 PM

ride to lonnie's this evening?

would anyone be up for taking me to lonnie's this evening to pick up 9 Westy, or possibly tomorrow morning before work?

Posted by lisa at 11:07 AM

October 13, 2004

eccentrics

it was sarah who introduced the term 'eccentric' into my current vocabulary, i think. i'm finding lately that it rings quite a bell with me.

i've always been into eccentrics. i have a distinct memory from early high school of sitting in the cameron village library (my favorite post-school hangout), crushing heavily on a very eccentric boy. i remember that he had limp ash blonde hair, and an olive-green old man cardigan. thrift store was the look he was working, and this was years before the thrift store look really took hold, so he definitely stood out. he was about my age, maybe a year or two older, and he was reading a dr. seuss book and taking notes.

obviously, he made an impression, with his adorable eccentricity; i still remember him!

nowadays, i interact a lot with my eccentrics over the internet. i can tell you that the eccentric man, when faced with a girl he may or may not being trying to seduce over email (they tend not to be very direct people; sometimes, it's hard to know for certain), does some very odd things.

personas are adopted. i have had some truly strange email conversations with eccentric men. there's one in particular who likes to pretend that i'm an alien being from another planet.

there's a certain tyranny to this kind of conversation. one is forced to participate on their terms, as best as one can. it can be quite enjoyable-- metaphor boy, i have to say, is not so over the top as to be difficult, just pleasantly challenging. i enjoy exercising my vocabulary and imagination. for those of us who are a little shy, it can be a nice way to flirt safely, and in some cases, quite elegantly.

i find myself wondering, though, about these men in the real world. when a man you have not met speaks to you in anachronistic language, it's difficult to imagine him walking through the vegetable aisle at the grocery store, or pumping gas. i wonder how he makes his way through the day, and what his conversations with other people-- not over email-- actually sound like. does he write the way he talks?

it can make the tension of actually meeting almost unbearable. there's just no way a live conversation could be like the emails.. so a whole other way of relating has to be invented and worked out on the spot. not that that wouldn't be the case anyway, but with the online relationship worked out first, it can be especially awkward.

nevertheless, the pleasure of the email conversation can be so great that it's difficult to let go of it and move a friendship into real life.

because i love to write, and because i love to read things that are written especially for me and for no one else, especially when they are beautifully written things, i almost dread the transition out of the magical world of first emailing with a really intelligent, really odd person who has the time and mental energy to devote to a fantastic email conversation... yet, the email format is constraining, and i crave endless hours in a quiet place to talk.

i'm excited to have a new eccentric in my inbox, so that's why i've been thinking on this topic. i needed to remind myself that i've always loved eccentrics, and not all of them are people i'll regret having become close to... most of them are very nice people that i feel privileged to know.

Posted by lisa at 12:15 AM

October 12, 2004

ok/cancel has all the geek cute this week

as alicia says, dies of adorableness!

(i'm referring to the cartoon. and if you even remotely understand it, and are also a single guy, please get in touch immediately.)

Posted by lisa at 11:56 AM

proceeding apace

In less than two weeks, I will be taking my rusty, 22-year-old camper up some back roads into the mountains of virginia, on our first road trip and camping trip together. Some 300 miles, one way.

I'm pretty nervous about this trip. On my list of things to do today: call AAA and be sure my membership is up to date.

• sunday, christa came over and we sewed about half of the curtains. i'm still working on sewing snaps onto those curtains.
• mark and lonnie are pulling together the parts they'll need to overhaul the cooling system. 9 westy goes to see mark tomorrow morning and will likely stay through the weekend.
• wednesday, christa is coming over to help me sew covers for the new foam mattresses i've obtained.
• tonight i hope to thoroughly wash the van inside and out.
• once i've got her back, my friend chris is going to help me replace the rubber seals on the camper pop-top and forward luggage rack. he's tall. i've also got bright new cleats for the luggage rack-- the original ones are so rusty i'd hesitate to actually use them. when i climbed up there to inspect them, i found a scrap of an old bungee cord still attached to one, rotting away. nice.
• at some point, i need to hook her up to 110ac electrical and see if that works... see if maybe the fridge will come on. and then hook her up to a garden hose and see if the sink will work.

I doubt seriously that I'll have the propane equipment (refrigerator and stove) working by the time I leave, but I may call a local RV center to see if there's any way i could get them to look it over before i go.

Posted by lisa at 10:52 AM

the sound

last night around 1am or so, as i was drifting off, i started to hear this... sound.

at first i thought it was my neighbors revving their car engine in their driveway over and over again.

their back porch light was shining into my bedroom windows; the makeshift window treatments i've had for the last five years had come down, and i'd not yet had time to replace them.

i was unhappy, quite unhappy with my nieghbors. i got up, popped my head out the back door.

it wasn't them.

after a while, i realized that it might be the sound if I-85 construction. if so... i can only imagine how deafening it must have been at christa's house. egads.

since i was up, and unhappy, i decided i'd have to do something about the bright light shining into my windows. chances were, the light would be on all night.

i stapled black fabric over the windows. it's one of those things that makes you shake your head... standing on a stepstool in your robe, late at night, stapling remnants from your fabric basket to your window frames.

oddly, blocking the light from the room seemed to help block the sound as well... it all seemed quite peaceful and i fell asleep.

Posted by lisa at 08:51 AM

i'm cheating on my blog.

i realized this tonight. metaphor boy is getting my best writing right now, and the blog is getting bupkuss. the fact that i'm also occupied with work, westy projects, and home projects might also have something to do with it, but i've actually come to see writing as a need, not a hobby, so i can't kid myself that if metaphor boy weren't around, i wouldn't be writing in my blog. i would be.

i have this whole thing on eccentrics that i keep meaning to write, but quite honestly right now, i need to go to bed.

Posted by lisa at 12:28 AM

October 10, 2004

anniversaries

november 2nd will be the one-year anniversary of my career in blogging.

(technically, i started in early 2003, but i wasn't very prolific and no one read it, and then i quit for most of the summer. november is when i really got into the blogging again.)

november 16th will mark one year since my last date. i was going to say that it also marks a year of van boy asking me if i've "broken in" the van yet, but that's not the case-- i haven't had the van for a year yet.

november 26th marks a watershed moment in my blogging history; the date i posted about why i carry a pointed nail file. i'm not sure i can put it into words, but i really liked that entry.

Posted by lisa at 10:57 AM

October 09, 2004

not such a terrible day

my bedroom is now a new, lovely color; i have received a slightly racy email from one of the previously mentioned young men-- he now may need to be dubbed 'sexy metaphor boy', and i'm tired in that really delicious way, the tiredness of the justly tired. the tiredness of home renovations.

Posted by lisa at 11:44 PM

October 07, 2004

huh?

so last night, hanging out with what's left of the sunday night tv crew from many years ago, something posessed me to drink. and to keep drinking.

maybe it was, finally, a response to having been responsible, productive, and just so totally not a slacker all year. maybe it was that christa kept putting opened bottles of wine next to my chair. i guess i was just in the mood. by the end of the evening, i couldn't drive the four blocks back to my house from christa's, so i left my car there and walked back for it in the morning. nice to have friends in the neighborhood.

i did make an attempt to go into work, but it didn't work out very well. sitting in charles' office, i realized that i was becoming dizzy and queasy, which is a fairly sucky combination. i went home, having done essentially nothing. i felt bad enough at the time that i didn't even feel guilty about going home.

arriving home, i was ecstatic to discover that my new ipod had arrived! and when i crawled into bed to sleep off the rest of my hangover, moses did something he hasn't done in years-- he crawled under the covers with me. it was very sweet.

i feel much better now, just kind of out of it and unmotivated. unfortunately, there is, of course, stuff i'm supposed to be doing. starlite stuff, nbeast stuff. i never called mark to schedule 9 westy's next visit to him. i'm not really caring that much. i know it is only a short, short time before my obligations to both of those groups are over, but just like the final weeks of each semester at school, i'm having a hell of a time dragging myself through to the end.

maybe later i'll go to our favorite local coffeeshop; i always work well there.

Posted by lisa at 04:01 PM

October 06, 2004

my chinese ipod

so, i ordered a pink ipod mini. i ordered it because that way i could get a really decent discount through the company i work for.

i sprang for 2-day shipping (not that expensive, really), because i know i hate to wait for that kind of stuff.

my mini shipped last night. a little later than i would have liked, but it'll be here in two days, right?

apparently not.

i took a good look at the tracking information this morning. it shipped from CHINA and the estimated delivery date is October 25th.

which means no music at work for a couple of weeks, and no new ipod for the trip up to virginia. now the old ipod i can run off the second battery in the van for the trip, so that's not a big deal, but i'm going nuts here at work without an ipod, already.

fucking apple. it's almost enough to make me want to cancel my order and just buy one in the store for the regular price.

update: i called apple, they say it'll be here saturday, the fedex page is wrong. that's more like it.

Posted by lisa at 10:43 AM

October 05, 2004

tickled pink

you'd think that we here at another pink world would be tickled pink more often. perhaps i should work on that.

anyway, through some kind of minor financial miracle, i was able to pay off my entire credit card bill for september, including that huuuuge amount of money that spacepod cost recently, which i completely did not expect. i had to check over my figures many times before i could believe it, and i still half expect there to be some massive bill that i'm forgetting.

but, in the meantime, i am tickled pink!

Posted by lisa at 09:19 PM

web site driven by sleepless morons

interesting conversations today with co-workers about insomnia. d. and i have identified eight people in our department of maybe 20, all of whom have some form of insomnia. some can't fall asleep (like me); others wake up several times during the night.

this is kind of weird.

Posted by lisa at 03:12 PM

massive wads of starch

i'm definitely feeling intense post-lunch sleepiness, but i bet that's due to the composition of my lunch (see title of this posting), and not due to sleep deprivation.

now, i realize that quitting caffiene and eating a low carb diet would wonders for my energy level and ability to sleep. i actually am succeeding in limiting my caffiene intake somewhat lately, mainly due to recent negative physical conditioning-- caffiene-induced blood sugar crashes. apparently, pain is the only language i understand when it comes to discipline.

in the meantime, i'm going to try and coast through the long afternoon on a cup of tea.

Posted by lisa at 01:27 PM

a new schedule, and i'm on the lam!

as of today, i've changed my work schedule to 10-6 for a while. i've been having insomnia for probably six months now, and it doesn't look like i'm going to be getting to sleep any earlier, so i'm just going to get up later.

fortunately, my job, workplace, and manager are quite flexible when it comes to time, and it's possible for me to shift my schedule like that.

i didn't really wake up any later this morning, but the difference was that i didn't have to rush. i had time to take a walk (something i hope that extra hour allows me to do every day-- walking should, in turn, help me sleep much better), and get breakfast, and not feel like i was in a mad rush at all.

i feel pretty good. fed, walked, and pretty much rested. i'm not exactly hitting the ground running here at work; in fact, i feel a little disoriented. but mostly, i feel happy, the way i always do when i feel i've taken a new level of control over my life.

:|:

woke this morning to a dream that i'd become involved in a crime committed by, on, and solved by children. and i had to go on the lam! i woke dreaming of the logistics... how to get my money out of the bank without detection... how to get transportation... a guide to campgrounds... a tent and sleeping bag at any target... and at my grandmother's admonition, i took the time to pack all of my things, since the cops weren't coming for me quite yet.

Posted by lisa at 10:32 AM

October 04, 2004

shoe boy, shoe girl

this evening, sarah met me at the untidy museum to give me her opinion on those black lace up boots that i've been eyeing (ok, coveting) for like two years now.

i got there first, and wandered through the store. drawn, as always, to the vintage shoe section-- the one place in the store where i know i can always find my size-- i picked up a pair of very cute pink heels and then noticed that there was someone else in the section with me, a little ways away.

yep. hat wearing coffee shop boy. trying on a pair of shoes.

i felt embarassed. don't ask me to explain that, but i felt self-conscious about trying on those boots anyway, and i didn't want to have an audience. i put the pink shoes down quickly and walked away to the back of the store. you know, to hide.

the pink haired girl who works there-- well, one of them-- asked if she could help me so i asked her if she could find my size in the boots. amazingly, they did have them, and she flounced up the length of the store to the sofa in the front, which is actually a pretty cozy little place to try on shoes.

so i put the first one on, and sure enough, the calves were too small. i guess that's just the way fluevog makes them-- but i just don't know if i can go through the stretching ordeal again with another pair. and even though they are discounted, i don't need to spend my money on boots. i have boots. i should wear the boots i have.

sarah got there just as i'd taken off the one boot. the girl brought me another style that looked to have wider calves, and as i was trying those on, hat boy walked by me and we looked at each other and he gave me a little smile.

those boots didn't fit, either, of course.

:|:

today i received correspondence from two somewhat promising personals boys, who i suppose i can refer to as scooter boy and supercute geeky boy.

:|:

my horoscope for this week says:

"They say it's best for you to play the field, enjoy the company of whomever you want to spend time with, make no promises, and use protection and breath mints."

Posted by lisa at 11:06 PM

two weeks and three days

i'm freaked out that that's how long i have before 9 Westy and I try the long trek up into the Virginia mountains for NBeast.

there's reams of sewing... the next step in the mechanical overhaul... the camping equipment... route planning... contingency planning... hooboy. it's a lot.

i had hoped to tear through a bunch of sewing this weekend, but other things came first, and no sewing happened. it's something i should be doing at least a little of every night.

my motivation and energy are really low right now. i'm considering trying a 10am-6pm work schedule so i can sleep later in the mornings, because the insomnia is just killing me.

Posted by lisa at 10:18 AM