Continual State of Becoming

So summer is moving right along. It seems that at this rate, December will be here in no time (as will graduation). I can hardly wait! In the meantime I'm trying to keep myself busy. Summer classes are doing a good job at that, but I'm also trying to do what I usually do in spring cleaning, but never got around to this year. I had big plans for today, but I did something stupid that has kinda hampered that. My sister Elizabeth is over sealing our deck for us today. So around 1 I started to make lunch for her, Matt, and myself. I made Matt a little frozen pizza first, and as I was getting ready to put Elizabeth's pizza in the oven, I grabbed the handles of the hot stone (just used to cook matt's) with my bare hands. I don't know why, I just wasnt really thinking... I guess I figured that since the pizza was frozen, the stone wouldn't be hot either... not thinking. So after realizing that the pan was hot, I dropped it and immediately ran to the sink and put...

For Virginia Residents: If you are as outraged about the new traffic violation fines as I am, you may want to visit this site: Repeal the VA "Civil Remedial Fees" for Traffic Offenses Petition You may also find this information interesting: Washington Post Article Metroblogging DC Post

After two rainy days spent indoors, yesterday Matt and I decided to head out to Great Falls with the dog. It was really nice out, especially in the shade under all the trees. matt and eve overlooking the river. i didnt get that close to the edge.

Xanadu on Broadway !! How crazy is that?!? Last night my sister Sarah came over to pick up some stuff she had left behind after house sitting for us. I convinced her to have dinner with me, and then we watched Xanadu... singing along and laughing at all the beyond crazy outfits throughout the movie. Then today, Matt checked the mail and pulled out his new Entertainment Weekly. And smack in the middle of the magazine is a 6 page article on the tragic, yet popular (among some) movie Xanadu and the fact that it is going to be a Broadway musical (opening this month). If only there were a (cheap) way to get me, my sisters, and my mom up to NYC to see it... Xanadu (doo doo doo doo doo), Xanadu-u-u Now we are here In Xanadu. Xanadu your neon lights will shine For YOU XANADUUUUU! (it's time to break out the leg warmers and roller skates)

Vacation is almost over :( We fly home tomorrow morning... then it's back to living life in the real world. No more reading by the pool or ordering room service or standing in line for roller coasters. But it's been good while it's lasted. Me with the topiary Sorcerer's Apprentice in front of Fantasia Golf Matt doing his part to stop the at-ats from attacking us. Overlooking Tampa from the hotel's gazebo

As mentioned in my previous entry... First of all, the circumstances weren't great. It was a Thursday evening and Matt and I both had to take off work early because the tickets and website said that the show started at 6:30 (which I thought sounded crazy early, but I then I thought... well it's an outdoor venue, maybe they want to do it while it's still light out?), and there was no mention of an opening band (again... weird). So we wanted to make sure we got there on time (I know what rush hour beltway traffic is like). And we got there earlier enough to have dinner before hand at the Cheescake Factory. And while we were eating there was a thunderstorm... which could be distressing for an outdoor concert, but I was smart enough to buy tickets for seats under the roof. They weren't great seats, but at least we didnt have to worry about getting wet, and we had actual seats to sit in. We got to the concert close to 6:30 and surprise surprise, there was an opening ba...

I've been tagged (thanks Tom)... here's the game: a) I have to post these rules before I give you the facts. b) Each player starts with eight random facts/habits about themselves. c) People who are tagged need to write their own blog about their eight things and post these rules. d) At the end of your blog, you need to choose eight people to get tagged and list their names. e) Don't forget to leave them a comment telling them they are tagged and to visit your blog. My 8 Random Facts: 1. I dont know how to parallel park. And I really dont care to learn either. In all honesty, I think the world is better off without me trying to do it. I count this as one of the reasons I could never live in a city. 2. I dont like being in cars with black leather interiors. To me it's the same as having a bedroom with the walls, ceiling, floor, and furniture painted all black... depressing and confining... not to mention how hot the car would be in the summer. 3. I...

Total commute time I've been dealing with over the past months: School: twice a weeks, 9 hours in class, 8 hours driving Work: two or three times a week (alternating) avg: 20 hours of work, 10 hours of driving/metro That's like having a part time job of just commuting. I realize that in this area there are a lot of people who do it every day (and from places even further than Leesburg). My grandpa used to commute into NYC from a little town called Mahopac NY (about a 2 hour train ride... that's a train, not the subway) and he did it for YEARS. I talked to him a week ago at my sisters graduation party and told him that whenever commuting started getting to me I would just think "hey Grandpa did it everyday so why can't I?" and he looked at me and said "grandpa was an idiot." But in all honesty, he and my grandmother had 11 kids to take care of, so they were in a different situation than me. He also told me that several of his children would ask...

Some pictures from a lunch time stroll (from a few weeks ago) to the Botanical Gardens: A pretty combination The boat is a sculpture (the red, yellow, orange objects are made of glass). I got a lot of material at work about the sculpture so I decided to check it out. View of the Capital just a few steps away from the Gallery. The National Gallery of Art... if you look about 20 feet underground of the right end of the building.... that's my office!

... though sometimes I feel like that might be easier. So summer classes started. I remember last summer's classes, and how I used to complain about how easy and work-free they were (I'm sure I even blogged about it), well, you'll be happy to know that I'm now eating those words. I'm currently taking a Young Adult Literature class (YA for all those who enjoy acronyms), which is actually really interesting, partly because I genuinely enjoy reading YA materials, partly because the teacher is really good (which is a rare and beautiful thing in my program), and of course partly because my friend Melissa is in it with me (how else would I survive the school library media frustration?). But it is a LOT of work. We have readings and writings due every class... I think when all is said and done I will have read 12-14 books over a (very short) 6 week period (plus boatloads of scholarly articles-- my personal favorite). Not that I mind the reading, I love the reading, but...

My summer class starts today. ugh.

Having a little time on my hands today, I decided to make some iced tea and fresh lemonade. Knowing that not everyone likes lemon in their iced tea (crazy), I like to make them separate. So I made the usual black tea, nice a strong (if people think it's too strong they are free to add some water to it). And then I started squeezing lemons when I realized that I had a bunch of oranges in the fridge too. So I squeezed some of those and added them to the lemon juice. Then I remember that I had some canned pineapples in the cupboard, so I added a little of that juice to the mixture. And when all was said and done I had a nice refreshing citrusy concoction. It tastes really good. Kinda reminds me of a juice I used to drink when I was a kid. I'm not sure how it mixes with the iced tea, but it does taste really good in a tall glass with a lot of ice cubes. Recipe (for those interested... note- I squeeze the fruits by hand, so it tends to get messy and may not make as much jui...

Purple flowers The backyard The deck The monster hosta My orchid My hibiscus

With the semester over, I'm finding myself with some free time. Not too much... I'm still working, and I start classes again in two weeks... but until that time, I'm going to enjoy doing all the things I couldn't do in the past 3 months but would think about whenever I was stuck in my office writing papers. For starters, there's a lot of housework to be done. Matt and I started rearranging the house after the piano was sold and gone, but there are still areas in the house that need fixing up. For one, my new office has turned into a catch all, so at some point I'm gonna have to suck it up and clean that room. I got some book son Feng Shui to help with ideas of how to arrange things, which has been really helpful. It at least gives me an approach to design. And after using it in the living room (which I think has turned out great) I'm excited to see what I can do in my office. Though with all the junk in there right now it's all a little overwhelmi...

Here's something I came across at work the other day. I think this is one of the more interesting sculptures I've seen. It's located at the Seattle Airport (part of a public art project). I tried to find up close pictures of some of it, but haven't seen any on the internet that were as good as the ones in the brochure I got. The sculpture is of a bird landing on the water. The bird is made up of small little bird sculptures hung on cables, then the reflection of the bird is made up of small fish sculptures. At the very bottom (which you cant really see) are little sculptures that have something to do with the Seattle area or airports. Some of pretty much what you would expect (coffee mugs) but some are really clever, like a suitcase with the clothes spilling out of it, and the way the clothes are falling, they spell the word "lost" (as in a lost suitcase... see the airport connection?) Anyway, I'm not sure if the sites I found do it justice, but in ...

It's over. The semester is finished. And not a moment too soon. I just emailed my last paper to my teacher, so I officially have no work left. For some reason, this semester just wiped me out. I dont understand how that's possible, especially since I didn't have any instruments to practice (which was always my undergrad excuse). I have my theories... my job (plus commute time), the # of papers I had to write (I think it was 5 total, with about 55-60 pages overall-- I'd much rather take tests though), and lack of sleep (due to staying up late writing papers and waking up early to go to work). But I made it through alive, and I'm pretty sure my grades will reflect my awesomeness (I already know 2 of them, I just have to wait on the last one before I can feel completely assured that I did as well as I hoped this semester). But now my brain in mush. I dont know how long it will take before it recovers... hopefully less than two weeks though because that's wh...

Lately my new favorite band to listen to (just new to me, seeing as how they’ve been around since the mid90s) is Wilco . Matt started listening to them a few months ago, and instantly knew they were good, but it always takes me a while to warm up to new music, though once a do, watch out, because it’s all I’ll listen to. Wilco is a great band, the kind of group I would love to be a part of if I were a “band” kind of musician (despite my new attempts at bass playing, I don’t except to ever really fit in to that kind of environment). But the songwriter/lead singer Jeff Tweedy writes some amazingly interesting (and good) songs as well as the kind of voice i love hearing. I tried to describe the band to my sister a last week and I think it went something along the lines of (depending on the song) a mix between John Lennon, Bob Dylan, Radiohead, Beck, and the Rolling Stones. Who wouldn’t like that kind of combination? They have a new album that came out yesterday (Sky Blue Sky) and I r...

The other day I went to the library to pick up a book that was on hold and to also do a little browsing. I found a book on container gardening. On the cover of the book is a little bubble with the words "All New Edition" in it. All I could think about when I saw that was: Should I consider that an official edition statement if I were cataloging the book. I mean it does say something about the edition, but doesn't really seem like one of the standard edition statements (like 2nd Ed. or 4th Ed.). Would I put that in the 250 field for MARC, or is that really something that would be better as a quoted note in the 5XX area? hmm... I wonder... let me check the CIP to see what they did, oh wait, there's no CIP in the book... great that means I'm actually going to have to look it up in WorldCat or LC's catalog (since i can't view the MARC record in the public library's OPAC. Turns out, the Library of Congress does this . The 250 field says "1st...

So these past few weeks have been fairly intense. Somehow I managed to finish 3 papers that were due within 10 days of each other. I wrote over 40 pages by the time it was all over (not including scores, appendixes, a CD, and lots of bibliographies). So this weekend I made sure that I had nothing to do with writing (cleaning, gardening, dinner with family, movies, tv, napping, reading for FUN-- it was great). Unfortunately, my music paper was only a rough draft so at some point I still have to edit and turn in a final copy, and I have a final exam on thursday, so I'm not entirely done with the semester, but for the most part, I've made it through the stressful week (it probably didnt help that I actually worked more than usual last week too, to help out with absences while some of the librarians were at a conference.) I'm almost finished, it's so close that it's starting to get tempting to blow off the few things I have left, but I know myself well enough to kn...