Wednesday, January 16, 2008
Tuesday, November 13, 2007
Jesus, please save me from your followers
While ‘Sicko’ left me feeling small and helpless, I left ‘Jesus Camp’ feeling energized. My future plans involve studying theology, working for ecumenism, and strengthening my own small church, a church will encourages questions, mixes rationality and faith, respects others' beliefs, and encourages members to seek justice in the world. I still have doubts and fears about this plan, but seeing this film reminded me of how much need there is.
Monday, November 12, 2007
enter doubts
On Saturday night, I saw ‘Sicko,’ which was interesting and depressing. The first half of it—before a tour of a British millionaire doctor’s home and the romanticization of the Cuban medical system—is probably my favorite thing that Michael Moore has done, possibly because he is in it so little. I was really annoyed by the way he introduced Hillary Clinton, though, making comments about her appearance that just wouldn’t be made about a male politician. (That immediately preceding the screening, I had a long talk with MK and J about how
Start spreading the news. I’m leaving next week.
I rarely listen to jazz, which is ridiculous, as I really enjoy it. I recognized many of the standards they played from my high school jazz band career and, remembering my own lack of skillfulness, appreciated the music even more.
A highlight of the night was the last song. Somehow, the singer—probably the best scatter I have ever hear—learned that there were a couple of Americans in the audience. He announced this fact and sang, ‘
Thursday, November 01, 2007
Three Costume Day
And then in the evening, another transformation. A few friends and I decided to throw a Halloween party in a small café. We invited nearly everyone we knew. I was impressed with the number of people who showed up and the number of amazing costumes. I was a fairy princess: wings, wand, crown, polka-dotted sun dress (pictures coming soon). If there had been a costume contest, I would have given prizes to Cruella De Vil (who somehow made half her hair white) and MK and B, who were Tymoshenko and Yushenko (complete with a creepy dioxin-poisoned face), respectively. Definitely the most creative costume idea. (And my friends and I further reveal ourselves to be big nerds.)
Friday, October 26, 2007
Is she Balki or am I?
F and I have talked about how my going back to Seattle will be like a TV shows set in high schools in which the characters all go to college together (so many people from my Portland life + my family + people from my childhood live there now/still). Little did I expect that my life would take on a plotline from primetime TV quite so soon.
A few days back, I received an e-mail telling me my landlord would be coming to town. She has lived in Phoenix for the past four years. We’ve never met. She knocked on my door seven hours later and has been staying with me ever since. She’s nice enough (well, except for her waking me up last night to recap her day), but it’s not the most fun I have ever had. There was no warning. And while my lease does say I should have 24 hours notice of any landlord plan to visit the apartment (and nothing about joining me to live here), I am trying not to be a jerkface about it. I’ve been lucky to live here. I am sure it must be weird for her to see my Pirates of the Caribbean poster and postcards up all over her wall.
Living with strangers is not something that I am fond of, not something that I was planning to do again so soon. I like being able to be loud and messy in my own space – not that I am particularly loud or messy. Having the possibility is what matters. I don’t like having people tell me to clean (which happened this morning – cleaning is my plan for tomorrow morning). I didn’t realize how dependent I have become on having my own refuge of sorts from the world, where I can sit and embroider while listening to Dan Savage’s podcasts without fear of offending delicate ears.
Still, it’s not all bad. Having her around means that she will take care of the few minor home repairs that I have been too lazy/lacking appropriate vocabulary to deal with.
Let the hilarity ensue.
Tuesday, October 23, 2007
At least there were no snakes
I had a terrible travel day coming back—I was sick enough that I couldn’t get too worked up about it, though.
My flight was early in the morning. My roommate also had an early flight, so we went together. We first caught a taxi to a train station, where we were supposed to catch a train to the airport. Even with her French, we couldn’t figure out if the trains were running and none of the English rugby fans sleeping in the station were any less clueless than we were. After about a half an hour, I started to get panicky. We decided to take a taxi – we arrived at the airport with plenty of time. I checked in and got on my first plane of the day.
Somehow, I managed to lose my boarding pass for the second flight. I was expecting headaches because of this, but the customs man was kind and when I finally got to my gate, the clerk there just printed out another one for me (a bit worrying, when I think about it now.)
And then, I arrived in
I am hoping that these events take care of all of my bad travel karma for a while.