KNOW BETTER LEARN FASTER

Okay so I know that there are things that need to be done, phone calls that need to be made, loans that need to be figured out, insurance that needs to be taken care of--

But on Friday I wore shorts and we started early so that on Saturday we could wake up early and play Angry Birds until it was time for breakfast (outside in the sunshine) then watch Attack of the Clones (awful, so so awful) and sort of do work until it was time for BBQ and beer, outside with my favorite people in this city, until we pass out exhausted and wake up to watch Revenge of the Sith (better, so much better!) and do lackadaisical work once again.

38 days until spring break, 67 days till finals. Not bad, not bad.

Six drinks in, tired of your coworkers, wishing you could just go home and laugh at sitcoms with someone? Maybe get laid? The National's got your back.

--Andrew Gaerig, Review for High Violet

FEELS GOOD TO BE HOME

[via Alaskan Eyes]

We take steps the length of table forks. Francine holds my elbow. I have mean secrets and small dreams, no plans greater than where to buy groceries and what rhymes to read next...

--Ethan Canin, We are Nighttime Travelers


In the kitchen--with mugs of tea and Nutella-on-apples and a story being told aloud--it was a peaceful evening.

"Don't be silly," said the hunter. "Who ever heard of a lion giving up. Lions don't give up, lions fight to the end. Lions eat up hunters! So I must shoot you now and make you into a nice rug and put you in front of my fireplace and on cold winter evenings I will sit on you and toast marshmallows."

"Well, my goodness, you don't have to shoot me," said the young lion. "I will be your rug and I will lie in front of your fireplace and I won't move a muscle and you can sit on me and toast all the marshmallows you want. I love marshmallows," said the young lion.

"You what?" said the hunter.

"Well," said the young lion, "to be absolutely honest with you, I don't know if I really love marshmallows or not because I've never tasted one, but I love most things and I love the sound of the word marshmallow and if they taste just like they sound--mmmmmmmmmmmmm!--I just know I will love them."

--Shel Silverstein, Lafcadio: The Lion Who Shot Back

I just want to have these songs that will make people be like, "Alright, let's dance here in the kitchen, baby."

--Devendra Banhart

We picked apples and made promises of the autumn sort.
Then a different we cooked dinner with Neil Young* and Paul Simon and it was delicious, warm, and joyful.
Then another we flipped a coin and saw a dance (which was really many dances) by many dancers (but really one) and it was chilly but that was okay.


I have a bed now.
And I haven't been sad in a while.







*Tomorrow night is the harvest moon, celebrate.

For someone so averse to the idea of marriage, I am way too into weddings. But really, guys. Look at this. More importantly, look at this. The last picture is just magical.

On a somewhat related note, I would love love love to be a florist. Or a collector of stories for a show similar to This American Life or Radiolab. Or the owner of a cafe/bookstore. The thing is, I also want to make the world a less crappy place, and none of these are exactly Superman or Obama-caliber activities.

WITH LOVE

In April 2009, we sent a personal, handwritten letter to each of the 467 households in the small Irish village of Cushendall. We hoped these unsolicited letters would prompt neighbourly discussion, spreading across the town, promoting community curiosity.

--Lenka Clayton and Michael Crowe, Mysterious Letters [via Design*Sponge]

LOOKS PRETTY GOOD TO ME

Today was Spruce St., a charming used bookstore stuffed to the brim with old books and records (owned by an elderly couple who asked if I wouldn't mind kindly climbing the ladder to dust the cobwebs off the top shelf because, well, their knees just aren't what they used to be), yummy yummy roast duck and lychee kumquat tea with aloe jelly in Chinatown, then the Reading Market Terminal which is like a gigantic North Market (but with an old lady who plays a grand piano between the bakery and the honey vendor) where I bought strawberries to eat with blackberry, sour cherry, sour raspberry, mango, and sour apple honey and where a sweet boy bought me a sunflower because I "looked so pretty while admiring them," and then to Anthropologie where I got a cheapass dress, and then, finally, back to Rittenhouse where I got to play with a roly-poly Asian ball of cuteness.

I wish I had a camera here.

I am crossing my fingers that these visits work.

1. I love sun.
2. I love breakfast.



I am: eating breakfast (grapefruit, coffee, benadryl) on my porch, warming my bare legs in the sun.

NEWEST LATEST

The earth smelled good today.

Also, yoga makes me feel like a million bucks.

Also, on the wet grass: my head on your knees, your head on his knees, his head on her knees, her head on my knees.

Also, Scrabble in a backyard with my left half getting crispy by the fire.

Also, emergence almost made me cry (the happy, not sadface kind).

Also, I also.

THE AGGREGATE OF OUR JOY AND SUFFERING

Beautiful beautiful Brian Cox talks about the impact Carl Sagan had on his life. He incorporates clips from Cosmos (now available for viewing on Hulu), interviews with Carl, and interviews with Annie Druyan. The clip will only be available for a few days, so do yourself a favor and spend an hour of your life listening to this.

On a related note, I try to push the Space episode of RadioLab onto everybody I care about. It combines everything I love: Annie and Carl, romance, the Golden Record, Philip Glass, Neil deGrasse Tyson, and, of course, the cosmos and every feeling of wonder and insignificance that is associated with it. Each time I listen to it my heart breaks. Recommended listening environment: warm, dark room, headphones, no distractions.

February !

Renewal !



Yesterday we watched Do The Right Thing and I loved it. Today I am finishing Special Topics in Calamity Physics and I don't really love it but maybe the last twenty pages will blow my hair back.