30 November 2007

must attend

don't care who hates him. i love it.

http://www.artcal.net/event/view/1/5990

gotta go to this show.... somehow. :p

so many reasons i love my little brother

AIM convo this morning... after he gave me a progress update on the status of the robot costume he is building for his art teacher's house party...

baby bro: how's work?
baby bro: 'work sucks'
baby bro: i know
me: yeah
baby bro: she left me roses by the stairs
me: hahaha
baby bro: surprises let me knoe she cares
baby bro: SAY IT AINT SO
baby bro: I WILL NOT GO
baby bro: KEEP YOUR HEAD STILL
baby bro: ILL BE YOUR THRILL
baby bro: THE NIGHT WILL GO ON
baby bro: my little windmill

29 November 2007

sappy addiction

i heard this song while listening to a random podcast on my flight yesterday: http://hypem.com/search/spektor%20real%20love/1/

i don't even like her (regina spektor) that much. during her show at ACL this year i was laying in the sand on the sidelines while all the other kids were swaying and screaming for her. it was just ehh. yet, for some reason, i'm in love with her cover of real love. as soon as i heard it i was like, ahh! who sings this, i need to get it! i'm a nerd that way.

maybe cos it flows nicely with my kate nash's nicest thing obsession. i LOVE that song. i can literally listen to it over and over.

sappy love songs for fall 2007.

i go through phases where i listen to one artist over and over. i know it annoys people, and yet i just cant help myself.

spring was full of bluesy winehouse, summer was a return to lily and amy and lots of top40 hip hop. kate is definitely my fall favorite i keep on repeat. and with the cold creeping in - i'm really in love w/ alicia key's new album. its perfect winter music. there's also a lot of electronic-tinged indie that i'm loving right now- very good for winter months as well. kinda spiky.

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i'm back in boston for a few weeks. it's supposed to snow this weekend. it'll be my first of the season. i'm ready for it.

25 November 2007

still a san antonio girl


silent birdsong
Originally uploaded by florajasmine
visited this building on friday. and by visited, i mean i took pictures from outside the fence.

it's an abandoned peanut factory on the southwest side of san anto.

i'd love to jump the fence and wander around inside. i'm sure there's cool stuff in there. i also wish i had some dough laying around so that i could buy the place and turn it in to studios and a gallery. and keep (most of) the graffiti.

ahhh. that sums up my life. i want to go do something slightly illegal and right after i want to invest in my community and buy up property. mmm.

i need to take risks and somehow save up $$$.

my dad suggested i find out who the realtor is for this place and just ask for a tour. ahhh, the legit and feasible way to do things... boring. :P

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thanksgiving break here at home has been nice. time with the fam. food beyond what i can handle. city wanderings... it's all good. i just wish it wasn't so cold! and not just for myself. san antonians with and without roofs over their heads really are not meant to have temperatures this cold. i worry.

back to the great white north on tuesday. it'll definitely be colder there. but i'll be seeing lots of old friends in the next few weeks so it'll be ok. :)

20 November 2007

pink planet



space cadets are cool. who knew they made little grey astronaut ones just like the green soldiers?



nifty.

19 November 2007

ridiculous

this morning it was grey and dark out. wet and a hint of a chill. i was happy to be able to turn on my computer and work from under the covers.

now in the late afternoon i'm sitting on my porch with my laptop open and the breeze blowing the leaves off the trees. it's 75 degrees out and there's pretty much a perfect blue sky with a few puffy clouds. i've been able to whip out powerpoint decks, tracking spreadsheets, and lots of emails with a "birds chirping and dogs barking" soundtrack.

if it wasn't for the ant bites i got 20 minutes ago while opening my car door, i'd say it was a great and productive afternoon.

definitely a great time for my company to send out a survey asking about my work life balance. definitely on a positive note right now.

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and. cos it's happened to everyone: http://www.mitchclem.com/nothingnice/397/

18 November 2007

baby animals


IMG_2418
Originally uploaded by florajasmine
these are the freaking cutest little boogers i've seen in a while.

all baby animals are cute. obvs.

finding these three little tiny, multicolored baby ducklings all huddled together and napping alongside the san antonio river was like striking the cute jackpot. i had to stop and gawk. take in the cuteness.

man. i love nature. cos it makes baby animals. like these.

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my little walk yesterday (accompanied by ma and pa) in brackenridge park also turned up kids throwing pecans, attack geese, screeching monkeys, a vintage car show, a duck that looked like elvis, 4 bouncy castles, and zero armadillos.

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they're native to texas and apparently live everywhere... but i swear i haven't seen one alive EVER. so. my search for a living armadillo continues...

i need to go into the desert at night i think. maybe.

12 November 2007

i miss my girls


saw this shirt this weekend. i want it. only in black.

hope they still have one in my size when i go back... in a few weeks.

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i had lots of good convos this weekend. and all sorts of random fun. with a ton of laziness and couch laying thrown in - of course.

based on some of my discussions, i realize i'm missing out on a lot of things i used to love. the boston i encountered in college is somewhat different from the boston i encounter today. i don't go to a lot of the places i used to love, don't do all the things that made me appreciate this city in spite of the frozen-ness. i still have fun and do things with people that make me happy, but i'm missing out on some of the things i used to do.

i used to make posters. hang out at the mfa for hours. go to rock concerts and hiphop clubs and no-name bars. watch movies in coolidge and browse in booksmith. lay on the grass in the commons and just people watch (ok. that one's definitely not happening any time soon. unless it snows. then i have to go watch the park explode in snowboots.)

i still shop in downtown crossing and nosh in chinatown... and i definitely take more picture walks now. but its not all the same.

i think a big reason i'm missing out on all this stuff is that all my partners in crime have moved away. nyc, dc, la. connecticut. anna took off to freaking scotland and diane is practicing her french in switzerland. girls! you were my bestest buddies and we had so much random boston fun! i miss yall. i miss our adventures. our inside jokes and our mod motto, "not everyone can be happy all the time."

i know its against our motto and how we roll, but i want to be happy! come play with me! lets do fun stuff again!!! i know everyone lives far away. i'm just going to have to make my boston friends do my nerdy activities. and make new san antonio friends to do projects with. and also. i need to visit everyone in your far off locales. i def need to start pulling a schedule together for the coming months. who i get to see, where, and when.

for now- i think i'm going to work on some of my solitary exploits. of course i always have my own sharpie and some paper laying around to make a rad poster. maybe a little thanksgiving decoration for the folks. cheer me up and get my hands dirty on some newsprint or phonebook pages. it'll be good.

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f.y.i. nerd explosion below. but its classic and its me, so there.
----

re-reading this post, i kept thinking of my beloved blink182 lyrics:
But everybody's gone
And I've been here for too long
To face this on my own
Well I guess this is growing up

10 years on and i still sing this song in my head way too often. i'm old, and still sooo 14 years old sometimes. ugh. oh well.

10 November 2007

mitch clem cracks me up

most recent: i love you, but i've chosen darkness














earlier in the week: wash me.

09 November 2007

i'm a loser #43543

i burned my neck the other day with a flatiron. apparently i'm not coordinated enough to watch tv and straighten my hair at the same time. it hurt for a second and i got over it. forgot it happened mostly.

it's freezing cold in my office, so i've been wearing my scarf 24/7.

today i took it off, and while looking at my reflection while washing my hands i realized- that burn left a mark. a mildly scandalous looking mark. on my neck.

ugh.

so. my scarf is back on and my neck is adequately covered. hope it heals soon. it's embarrassing.

08 November 2007

lots of words and not much sense.

beer. facebook. myspace. sillyyyy. too much time spent in hotels sucks.

plans. for the weekend. JW and scorpions. maybe some coffee.

looking for some aerobics. missing out.

early night today. tomorrow will be late. and adventurous. for sure. for boston, for boston.

-------------------------

please don't think i'm weird. even tho i am. oh well.

07 November 2007

all right, all right.

http://www.mcsweeneys.net/links/monologues/18matthewmcconaughey.html

this is an oldish piece from mcsweeneys. which today, i dont know why, i just found SO funny.

it's kinda long and boring in parts. and really only funny if you read it in matthew mcC's voice. then. it's awesome. w/o the voice, it sucks.

so if u have a few minutes and think the matthewmcconaughey persona is silly-ridic, read it.

texas oh texas.

-----------------------

recent revelation about my current self. i think i'm bi-coastal right now, and i'm ok w/ it. eastcoast / thirdcoast. only not really local to anywhere. the part time san antonio, part time boston living thing is good. see the fam, see the friends, stay employed, hang out in lots of airports (blech!).

weekdays are spent in the burbs, going back and forth between work mainly- not much else. then each weekend i either travel to my house in san antonio or my friends' place in boston. both places are just temporary, intermittent places where i hang out for a bit and visit with people. i guess this is just kind of stressful because i never sleep in the same place for more than 4 nights in a row. that's a lot of moving around.

maybe if i get a permanent place to stay in boston, life will calm down some. then it will be like 10 days in one place, and 4 in another. some continuity. still have the majority of my life in boston, but that's ok for now. i can be bi-coastal.

just looking ahead, i know. it's going to be cold in boston. very soon. every year it happens and every year i'm not very happy about it. the first snow is fun, the fresh crisp air feels healthy. then there's a wicked nor'easter and i get scared of freezing to death in a snow bank off the mass pike.

at least i have all my south texas escapes to look forward to this year.

all right, all right.

05 November 2007

inconvenient breakdowns

today is my travel day. time for me to fly back to the bean from sweet and sunny south texas.

most travel days are icky and rushed, despite whatever advanced planning i do. today was no exception. in between conference calls and messing around in excel, i ran around my house feeding the pets and throwing a few last things into my suitcase.

when feeding my dogs i noticed the bag was almost empty. i know it sucks for my mom to have to get a giant bag from the store, so i thought i'd be helpful by running out and getting a bag before i left today. the grocery store is 2 minutes away and i could be there and back in no time.

unfortch, once i loaded the bag into my car and tried to turn my car on - i hit a problem. my car would not start. it would not even fake start. nothing! all those weeks of letting it sit there doing nothing... yeah, not a good plan.

i called my mom and grandma. usually its daddy that attends to my car issues but he's not in town... so. my mom called my uncle and he came to the rescue with jumper cables and some quality time.

i never see my uncle, even now that i am in texas more often. so even though it was annoying circumstances, it was great to see him and hang out. got to chat about him and my cousins, traveling, and our jobs. i probably never would have made a lunch date with him on my own but because i needed help, he was there and we did get to have some fun over miso soup at a sushi bar. family. i love it. if this had happened in boston, i would have just called AAA, gotten a jump and been on my way. since it happened in san antonio i got some family time and sushi for lunch. having family around is really great.

also i highly doubt any shaws employee would ever help jump a customer's car while in san antonio i had h.e.b. guys helping me with no problem. so nice.

a new thing

so the other day (at work. i admit. my mind wanders.) i came up with this thing i'd like to work on. something i have no real direct experience with... but a lot of tangential experience and tons of interest. so i think it could work.

i ran the idea by my family. dad said "ehhh? how long do u think it will take to get started?" mom said "ehh? won't that cost a ton to start with?". and my brother- he was like "yeah! that'd be awesome! can i help?"

since the kid is really more my target audience as well as a key person in helping me get it off the ground, i think his reaction is good- what i was looking for. of course, parental concerns are valid. i do need to detail my plan out better and get the right people involved early on.

ok. so i have a ton of work to do. lots of thinking and writing and planning. i'll give all the news once i have a better plan in place and i'm sure that i'm actually going to go through with it. make sure this isn't a fleeting whim...

02 November 2007

bad drivers

i'm a pretty angry driver. i yell at people a lot from my car. but there are just so many bad drivers out there, getting in my way all the time!

today though- i was the bad driver.

i had to drop something off at my mom's school. but i'm also working today and constantly checking my email. so i took my laptop with me in the car. (broadband is great that way). then while i was driving my brother IMed me. so while at a stoplight i answered back.

then my dad called. he needed some direction on how to use a digital camera that is similar to my own. i tried to walk him through the steps but i myself wasn't completely clear. luckily i had my camera with me. so i popped my camera open and walked through the steps with my dad over the phone. while still keeping one eye on traffic and half an eye on my laptop.

seriously. i'm an idiot. even if it was wicked slow moving construction traffic.

people should not do 5 things at once. especially not when one of those things is driving.

that was dumb. i really need to aim for no more dumb driving. seriously.