i've lost my voice again

squeak!

i went on a date with this guy

from LA Can't Drive

And this just in....
A reader emailed this to me, and I just had to share. "My true story... I watched a guy in stop and go Friday traffic on the 10, driving with his knees while practicing his ukulele. I know he was practicing because he had his sheet music propped up on the passenger seat and was turned sideways so that he could read it as he drove. I only wish I had a photo."

no, seriously. we met at a coffee shop. he made me a mix of bluegrass and indie rock. we went on one date and he explained to me that he used traffic time to learn new instruments. it started with the harmonica and progressed from there.

later he told me i reminded him too much of an ex-girlfriend he wasn't yet over. he was upfront about it and there were no hard feelings. it was just one date.

but it makes me happy to know he's still out there, playing the ukelele in traffic.

hawaii moments

tiny creatures

in the car

on the mountain

me by marty

this is olive

olive lives next door. she likes to watch me. it's a bit disconcerting and unbearably cute.

someone stole my bike

i mean, really?

the fuji thrill i bought used a couple of years ago?

it means way more to me than any stupid bicycle thief.

it'll get you where you're going, but i don't think it'll get much at the pawn shop.

so long, mr. bird

i'll miss your blank stares, your loud, random squawks, your hostile demeanor.

mr. bird is back with his rightful owners.

they call him something else (something stupid), but to us he'll always be...

mr. bird.

global warming and my house

marina del rey and venice given a 3 or 5 meter rise in sea level.

i live in the little red star.



these visuals are from architecture 2030, which recently released a coastal impact study on the effects of rising sea levels on 32 coastal towns, including new york and san francisco.

they're quite effective.


predicting the results of climate change is hardly an exact science, so they provide a range of sea level changes. you can find out more about their methodology here.

my emmy-winning roommate

this was on the kitchen table when i woke up this morning. it's really real, really shiny, and damn heavy.

no matter where life takes our little kelly, she'll always have an emmy.

what will you do when your suntan is faded and the summer's gone?

the new york times recently did an article about the last days of summer in stone harbor, nj - the tiny south jersey beach town where i spent all of my summers as a kid. it's been a long time since i've spent any significant time there - by college i'd left behind summer jobs scooping ice cream for resume-building internships, settling for weekends at the shore. but those summers left little footprints in my brain, and i can still taste the bittersweet ending of summer inside my mouth.

summer is ending here too, but i'm not going back to school. i still don't know what i'm doing. i suppose i should feel sad, but i'm not - i'm excited. i have a blank slate and the rest of my life in front of me. i was sad to leave hawaii, but i'm ready to begin.

queens bath

yesterday we hiked down to the ocean.


we swam in gentle, salty pools carved into the lava rocks. later, when we put on snorkel masks, we realized we were surrounded by hundreds of tiny little fish.


i believe those two splashes in the foreground are mike and julie.

miguel in the pool

lunch on the lanai

flying through clouds gives me a funny feeling in the pit of my stomach. when i was a kid i loved it. now i'm not so sure. the light is beautiful, but i'm always relieved to come out the other side.

look! there in her mouth!

tiny baby newborn panda!

bacon-wrapped hot dogs at home?

with corn on the cob?

heck yeah, summer!

clever, clever

i saw superbad last night - fucking hilarious. go see it now.

that being said, one element of the movie did bug the hell out of me [warning: small spoiler ahead]: the unattractive-to-average-looking, nerdy anti-heroes end up with the hot/sexy/popular girls in the end.

now, i don't resent the notion that an average looking person can end up with a hot person - attraction is incredibly complex and personality is critical. i just resent that in hollywood, this personality-as-attractor scenario is only played one way: nerdy guy and hot girl. when was the last time a nerdy, unattractive girl ends up with a hot, popular guy (without getting a music-montage makeover first)? not since the says of john hughes and molly ringwald has this been seen on the big screen - and molly ringwald isn't exactly a hose-beast.

am i a touch bitter? perhaps. after all, what happens to the unattractive-to-average-looking nerdy chicks when their counterparts are off with the hotties? not that i'm really on the market these days, but it still strikes a chord.

perhaps pelle carlberg says it better:

clever girls like clever boys much more than clever boys like clever girls - pelle carlberg*

sigh.

*i'm not trying to imply that women can't be hot and clever, btw, but in the case of superbad and other male fantasy movies, they're usually just identified as hot.

the time between hearing there's been a major disaster in the city where some one you love lives, and hearing that they're ok

sucks.

but by the way, he's ok.

my camera died yesterday

the last image it captured:


do you suppose the television was contagious?

it was a sad day. i own many cameras - toy and digital and polaroid - but this was my camera. the one i've had for 13 years. an extension of my eyeball. it's been around the world and across the country with me (several times). its the camera i learned to shoot with, and it's captured every aspect of my life since i was 16.

it's in for repairs as we speak. i'm keeping my fingers crossed.

my roommate's been nominated for an emmy!

i'm no longer calling her my roommate. from now on she's my "emmy-nominated roommate," the same way actors and actresses are prefaced.

and that's the way it's going to be until she's my "emmy-winning roommate."