i can't help but sing along

walking after midnight

i should be working

but instead i'm procrastinating with this little bit of silliness (courtesy of ryan senseless). basically, you put your mp3 player on shuffle and "answer" each one of these questions with a song - whichever song comes up next on the shuffle. here's mine:

Will I get far in life?
in the morning of the magicians – the flaming lips
the universe will have its way, too powerful to master…

How do my friends see me?
mouth to mouth – adult
dirty electronic music. i doubt it.

Where will I get married?
50 ways to leave your lover – paul simon
guess not.

What is my best friend’s theme song?
double dare – yo la tengo
boh

What is the story of my life?
bird and flag – the sea and cake
yeah, it’s pretty nonsensical to me too.

What was high school like?
astro – the white stripes
i was not this badass in high school. i was like, the anti-badass. still am.

How can I get ahead in life?
dirty eyes (sex don’t sell) - the raveonettes
i guess I have to stop using sex to get ahead. damn!

What is the best thing about me?
need you tonight – INXS
rawr

How is today going to be?
la valse d’amelie (version orchestre) – yann tierson
oh i think it’s going to be a nice day.

What is in store for this weekend?
the girl from ipanema – stan getz and astrud gilberto
this probably means I’m going to cook, which is a fair assumption.

What song describes my parents?
all summer long – the beach boys
yes

My grandparents?
vegetables – brian wilson
yes again

How is my life going?
california – joni mitchell
california, i'm coming home...

What song will they play at my funeral?
leisure suite – feist
in my leisure suite...come lie next to me
kind of creepy.

How does the world see me?
just can’t get enough – nouvelle vague

Will I have a happy life?
don’t stop living in the red – andrew w.k.

What do my friends really think of me?
triste – antonio carlos jobim
sigh.

Do people secretly lust after me?
front 2 back (todd terry remix) – playgroup
i’m going to take that as a yes.

How can I make myself happy?
philter – fantastic plastic machine

What should I do with my life?
danger of the water – the futureheads
you got everything together, you sailed it down the river, you said it was relaxing, then you disappeared forever…

Will I ever have children?
the soil featuring e-40 – turftalk
ummm?

What is some good advice?
them and me – brendan benson
taking your time, you won't be rushed, you'll move at your own pace

What is my signature dancing song?
women’s realm – belle and sebastian
yeah! although if this weekend was any indication, i would have expected some booty hip hop.

What do I think my current theme song is?
surf’s up – brian wilson
apparently i’m tripping BALLS.

What does everyone else think my current theme song is?
hold me now – thompson twins

What type of men/women do you like?
clementine – elliott smith
yeah…no.

i would like to amend that previous post

to include mix cds from half-japanese canadians that correspond thematically to new kids on the block albums.

you set the bar high, internet friend.

what makes a good gift?

i like fancy things as much as the next girl, but when it comes to gifts, i'll take the homemade mix tape or the hand-knit homage-to-delaware potholder any day. i like the thoughtful ones.

and speaking of hand-knit homage-to-delaware potholders...


thanks, jess. it's beautiful.

macaroni and cheese

brrrrrr

i want to wear great big warm fluffy things.

i suppose that can be arranged.

i am full up to here

with two separate dinners in one night. with veggie omelettes and thai barbequed pizza and wine and spinach dip. with meetings and site visits and group work. houseguests and reunions and goodbyes and a giant empty house all to myself (for the moment). with transit-oriented development and physical planning. illustrator and maps and specific and general plans. with my dying tooth. with historic preservation and neighborhoods in transition. clothes and photographs and confusing boys. with macaroni and cheese. with cleaning and lost and bowling and appointments and south central and pasadena and prefab housing and marketing and communications and negotiations and summer jobs. i could go on...

but i guess i asked for it.

proper utensils

from an exhibit at the cooper-hewitt.

they seem to have forgotten the appropriate utensil for that last food, though...

jane jacobs died today

it's hard to be sad about the passing of someone who led such a full life, and who affected the lives of so many people.

let's just say that i'm glad she was born.

she may be a cynic

but julie takes beautiful photoraphs.

julie says that i am too quick to give people the benefit of the doubt

that is, i tend to believe the best of people, unless i'm proven wrong. i like to call it optimism, although i suppose it could also be classified as naivete.

i don't think this is a problem. sure, sometimes i'm wrong and that sucks. but every time i'm right i am filled with wonder - like the world i want to live in might actually exist. i think it's worth it.

i found myself at a party tonight

telling a 24 year old a&r scout how he has to listen to more oldies.

i would end the story there, with "oh the irony," but the truth is, he asked for my email address so we could exchange music. and for a moment i realized: maybe i am a bit too cynical.

i forgot to get the gas turned back on

i've been in exile from venice for the past few days, as my house was being fumigated. yes, the tent and everything. i got back in yesterday, tested the gas (which seemed to work), and commenced unpacking. it wasn't until i got in the shower that i realized something was off. it was lukewarm. oh well, i figured. maybe the water heater takes a bit to warm up. then i checked some clothes in the dryer. still wet. hmmmmm. i went downstairs to check the stove. no dice. cold showers and wet clothes it is, then.

this also threw a wrench in my dinner plans - no oven, no stove. necessity can be the mother of invention, though, and we patched together a toaster oven supper of croque monsieurs, salad, and roasted peaches with brown sugar and basil, paired with port. yum.

lemons into lemonade, and all that.

just so you all know, we're doing it on purpose

an excerpt from my marketing readings:

no more hiding. just as everything is becoming branded, so will everything - you, your business, and every part of your products - become a form of communication. communications will be ubiquitous, and they will all be linked to the brand.

passing afternoon

on monday i went down to the beach to do some work (and fortunately by do some work i mean sketch). it was sunny and blustery and i could barely keep my papers down. my ipod was set to shuffle and this song came on. like so much iron and wine, its sad and beautiful and bittersweet. it was so windy that i was forced to take shelter. the only places without wind, however, were also the ones without sun. i got cold so i went inside.

i woke up this morning and that song was playing on repeat inside my head. i don't know if it was still there from monday or if it was playing in my dreams.

moules frites

so tasty.

it's been too long without music

apart - gypsophile

merge (dntel) - grizzly bear

mittens

handsome boy.

confusion

there are so many thoughts stuck my head.

it's like they are all cramped up in there and have no place to go, so they just mill around all day and gossip and talk about me behind my back.

black on black on black on black

i seem to be wearing a lot of black these days. today, for instance, i found myself wearing a black scarf with a black jacket over a black shirt over a black tank top.

thank god for colorful shoes, eh?

some of my favorite recent spammers

Separately Q. Aristocrats
Mitten J. Parent
Byte A. Moodier
Michael F. Colloquialism
Handedness C. Sleeted
Stewing S. Chamber
Swedenborg I. Forlornest
Amplification D. Prescott
Prohibitions V. Wantoner
Percussionists D. Sticki

although these are in no specific order, i'd have to say that mitten j. parent holds a special place in my heart.

i love the name mitten(s).

"We called for a labor force, but it was human beings that came."

-max frisch

i don't really know where to begin with this. i don't understand the people, the children and grandchildren of immigrants, who want to cast undocumented workers as criminals.

is it the color of their skin that's the problem?

is it so easy to forget where we came from?

it's not an us/them situation. it's just us. we're all just us.

somewhere up there

do you see it?

life on mars - seu jorge

it's a steel! (oh yes i did)

the lustron house, comprised completely of steel, was one of the original prefab houses. designed by carl strandlund in 1947, they enjoyed brief popularity before the lustron corporation went bankrupt amid poor sales and scandal (but we won't get into that here). the point of this post is that the biggest concentration of lustron homes still in existence are being given away - that's right, given away - by the marine corps base at quantico.

you can apply for one here. you just have to figure out how to dismantle, transport, and reassemble the house. oh, and the due date is april 12th.

i would but, well, i've got all the house i can handle right about now.

the centre pompidou is one of my favorite places in the world, for many reasons. here's one:


the concrete plaza seems so simple, so bare, and yet it's constantly populated by people.


people sitting, people standing, talking or just lying around.


clustered in groups, couples, or on their own.


it's just an expanse of grey concrete, like any other. and yet it pulses with a life of its own.


what magic is this?

it has long since been determined that i am a clumsy, clumsy girl. i bump into things. i fall down. i knock things over. and yet, in certain situations, my reflexes are amazingly fast. throw something at me when i'm not looking, and chances are that i'll catch it. drop something in front of me and i'll save it before it hits the ground.

like a jungle cat, i am. a clumsy, clumsy jungle cat.

rawr.

my father read me a poem tonight

venice poem

the city itself, what it
is, a
city of walking at nite
city of old and ugly houses
city of real pain and real children
city of open sores and open eyes
city of doom and terror
city of ocean and animal lust
city of dying and struggle
city of Venice, my city, city within a city I do not
know or love

...

what a city is/
a vision, a
holy eye, a
structure

what a city is/
a face, a face of
love, of the place, the real
place...
yes, there is a king of
knowing, it can be called
love

stuart z perkoff

homework

one of my studio classes this quarter has 'boyz N the hood,' 'friday' and 'rize' listed as recommended background material in the syllabus.

sweet.

more

Every morning I jump out of bed and step on a landmine. The landmine is me. After the explosion, I spent the rest of the day putting the pieces together.

If we listened to our intellect, we'd never have a love affair. We'd never have a friendship. We'd never go into business, because we'd be cynical. Well, that's nonsense. You've got to jump off cliffs all the time and build your wings on the way down.

My stories run up and bite me on the leg-I respond by writing down everything that goes on during the bite. When I finish, the idea lets go and runs off.

Touch a scientist and you touch a child.

rb

he loves dinosaurs

i saw ray bradbury speak last night. he said that life is about love. when you find the things you love you must take them and run, and apologize to no one. the world can be yours.

he said the internet talks too much.

"life's too short to live in anyone's box, especially if that box is constraining your shine."

dj shadow gets freaky on new album

hokay

3 freaks

i waited all morning for the rain to let up so that i could leave the house, but the grey just persisted. so i bundled up warmly, cuffed my jeans, fetched my umbrella and ventured into the thick of it. i had to get out of the house. it was raining hard but warmer than i expected when this song came on my ipod and just for a moment everything was gentle around me.

i accidently scratched a mole off my back

i've had it forever. and now its just a scar.

by request

i hope you're well, i am and i send you my fingers - my name is nobody

last night i dreamt three times - my name is nobody

there's something sweet about his voice...it reminds me of erlend oye or someone else who's native tongue is not english. anyway, i think sweet is a good way to descibe the album. not genius, but not bad for being bought on a drunken whim. and he does have a way with words.

la défense

field

secret agents

the metro goes above ground

tamara

gas station bathroom...belgium?

antwerp

the tuileries

scratching an itch

this song has been stuck in my head for 10 days.

got your money - odb feat. kelis

i am full up to here

with two separate dinners in one night. with veggie omelettes and thai barbequed pizza and wine and spinach dip. with meetings and site visits and group work. houseguests and reunions and goodbyes and a giant empty house all to myself (for the moment). with transit-oriented development and physical planning. illustrator and maps and specific and general plans. with my dying tooth. with historic preservation and neighborhoods in transition. clothes and photographs and confusing boys. with macaroni and cheese. with cleaning and lost and bowling and appointments and south central and pasadena and prefab housing and marketing and communications and negotiations and summer jobs. i could go on...

but i guess i asked for it.

every time i go away

returning feels a little more like coming home.

we've had daylights savings time already

the fluidity of time - something we take so seriously - is quite remarkable.

lardons

such a perfect thing. such a descriptive name.

some things are universal

last night i bought this cd at a little indie rock club, not because it was the band that was playing (it wasn't), or because the boy who sold it to me was cute (he was), but because it had song titles like "i gave up with my neo hippie thoughts" and "i hope you're well, i am and i send you my fingers."

i'm listening to it now, and it's actually pretty good.

the food

so i've been rambling for weeks about how i just want a baguette with butter and jam. that is it. well, sam and i have yet to get up early enough for breakfast, and so i am limited to cafe taken at the bar and buttery croissants eaten on the street.

i think i will never eat mayonnaise again. it's just way too out of control here. meat seems to somehow be making its way back into my diet - and not so subtly either. last night it was beef carpaccio.

as for the cheese - well, i adore it.

years ago

when i was travelling by myself for the first time, i used to plan every trip down to the minute. itineraries were set, tickets bought in advance, reservations made. as i've become more comfortable with travelling (and with myself) my style has changed. these days i seem to just show up and see what happens. i am not sure which is the better system - they both have their advantages. but for now, this certainly keeps things interesting

today sam and i are off to do the only thing i am resolute about in all of paris: the centre pompidou. my favorite museum.

after that...who knows?

drink now...this is the youngest we'll ever be together

after a couple of days in amsterdam (ridiculous and sublime, what else?), we are now snug as bugs in antwerp with t's granny. we've spent the day smoking lemony cigarettes and playing scrabble. we had aperitif, and then a supper of cheese and pototoes and beef stew and wine wine wine. after dinner and many stories about the war we sat around and drank port and ate cheese and looked at photo albums named "paris 1952" and "rotterdam 1956."

this is why i make photo albums, i suppose.

rack

ow

i am going to have some big-ass bruises tomorrow.

andrew

katie

amanda

on living by the beach

every day feels something like a holiday.

green is the color of...

a visitor

naps

new york los angeles

new york is about instant gratification. you can pretty much get whatever you want, whenever you want it, fast.

los angeles is about delayed gratification. you have to plan life, think about how you're going to get somewhere, and how you'll get back.

new york presents itself to you. it is unavoidable. to find the wonder in LA you have to look. it is easy to avoid, if you choose.

new york is spontaneous. you have to work for LA.

this american life

flying or invisibility?

flying.

one week

2 houseguests. 3 shows. 1 presentation. 3 papers. 1 birthday. capped off by 1 very long plane flight, and a whole new adventure. consider my mind boggled - and it's not even begun.

this strange man just sat down next to me

and said: "phalange. look it up. that's all you need to know."

and then he left.

i follow the sun around my house

like a cat.

houses by the beach like balconies

millicent and etienne

in the last 48 hours i've met both a millicent and an etienne.

i want to have little french babies names millicent and etienne.

i just never get tired of saying those names.

speaking of maps

i like to think these are the actual colors.

my kind of map

fallen fruit maps public, edible fruit trees in los angeles. check it.
now we just need to get this started on the westside.

like it's my job

yesterday i saw a duck slip and almost fall into the water

i love it when animals are clumsy.

i am a 12 year old girl

in the body of a 27 year old woman.

i think that's apparent.

butter city after the quake

i don't really need any more dishes

but i *love* these

via curbed

"i'm in love with everyone and everything they've ever done..."

i read that somewhere once.

don't forget the flowers someday

everybody's got a hungry heart

every once and a while i go to hypemachine and search 'covers' just to see what happens.

sometimes it's something as sweet as this.

i'm still not speaking to me

so i had to vent this somewhere:

crash is garbage. i usually don't really care about this kind of thing, and it wouldn't really have made a ripple if any of the other nominees had won. but crash?!? are you kidding me? it was the most heavyhanded, unnuanced, white-guilt-induced waste of two hours of my life.

and the squid and the whale should have won best screenplay.

the only worthwhile parts of the evening were meryl streep and lily tomlin's tribute to robert altman, and three 6 mafia's win, despite the interpretive dance.

i am so angry with myself

i somehow totally missed urban planning course registration. and now every course i want to take is closed. such a minor mishap, with such disastrous consequences.

i would smack myself upside the head if such a thing were possible.

ha ha

this is how the colors change as i walk away from the ocean

the gated community viewing platform

courtesy of heavy trash.

mmmm...the truth is, i just like lying in bed anytime.

the rain

just sucks the awake right out of me.

i love lying in bed listening to it.

it's only fear

i've been thinking a lot about fear lately.

watching the power of nightmares and thinking about neoconservative and radical islamic ideologies. how they shape each other, feed off of each other, and use fear to manipulate the masses.

attending setha low lectures and thinking about fear and the built environment. learning that gated communities only make us more afraid. that walls and bars and guards don't really make us more secure, only more paranoid.

listening to alexi murdoch and just...thinking.

the ground beneath her feet

Liquefaction
Land identified by the State of California that is located in the general area of sites that possess the potential for earthquake-induced transformation of loosely packed sediment into a fluid mass.

sometimes the fuck-ups are the most beautiful

i am so clumsy

it's kind of out of hand. really.