I'm not dead, I'm just moving

Well, I am sad that I have abandoned the blog for so long, but I ran out of ways to make mailing boxes interesting. I think I am in the last stretches of the big move, though...if only because the enforced end is less than a week away. The major obstacle at this point is that people keep saying, "oh yeah, I'll buy your furniture," and then these people never show up. It's no secret that Craig's list is full of flakes, but c'mon, you people are giving crazy a bad name. Maybe once this ordeal is over, and I'm far away from these loons, I'll copy and paste some of the priceless emails I've accumulated.

I'm a huge packrat, but I'm trying to rip off the band-aid and throw a lot away. Here's a list of some of the random stuff that I've thrown away in the last week. It might not look like much to you, but these are things that I would have hung on to forever if I wasn't moving away in just my little Camry.

--My first bus pass paid for by my company (about two years expired)

--Paperwork from when my car got towed, because of a misleading sign (I thought the space belonged to our apartment building, but it was the building next door). According to the paperwork, I was towed about 45 minutes after I parked there, proving that there is a landlord who's a bigger asshole than my landlord. Well, I guess if that person were your landlord, you'd be grateful that they fought for your parking, but as a person who made a mistake, I thought that towing me was excessive. I guess that sounds whiny. I don't like people who think that they shouldn't be held accountable for their actions, and I did technically park wrong. But 45 minutes and then towing? It just seemed excessive at the time.

--My Gap, Inc. discount card, which I think I was holding on to because I was impressed by how thick the sticker bar was (every two weeks, they give you a different bar code sticker to scan, to prevent former employees from trying to scam the company), although that's not so much an impressive thing as a sad thing, because a thick bar of stickers just means you worked there for far too long. It should be said, I could not bring myself to throw away any memos that store management sent out, because if I didn't keep the evidence, I might not believe my memories of how ridiculous that place was.

--Engagement notices for people from my high school, from my hometown paper, that my mother mailed to me.

--The paperwork from when I knocked my driver's side mirror off my car, on the garage of my first apartment building. That happened right after I had started temping, about three years ago, and I had those first few paychecks under my belt. I thought I'd get something fun, but instead I had to get a new driver's side mirror. I learned a valuable lesson in driving responsibly.

--All the paperwork from the hospital when I sprained my knee. I thought it would be cool to have the thing that shows I was admitted to urgent care, but no, I don't find that cool now that I have to think about moving it.

--My jury summons...man that was cool.

--The paper copy of my Washington driver's licence that they give you while you wait for your real one to come in the mail.

--Rome bus tickets. I was in Rome in 2003. How bus tickets from Rome made it to Seattle, I have no idea.

--Speaking of things from Rome....before I went to Rome, I made MP3 cd's of all the music I owned, but because it burned funny, it was in a weird order. So over the semester that I was there, I wrote down all the tracks on all those CD's. Probably like 200 songs on 20 CD's or something. It was a lot of anal-retentive work, but really useful for when you needed to hear a specific song right away. But now I've upgraded to Ipod and other MP3 CD's, so I threw away all that work (well, I recycled it)

--Old horoscopes that still seem profound to me today.

--Business cards from anyone who ever interviewed me in Seattle.

--Address labels that some charity sent to me, hoping for a donation, but they showed me as "Mrs." I couldn't use them, because it seemed to weird, but they just looked to weird to throw away. Til yesterday. Then I got over it.

However, all these things will live on now that I've blogged about them.

Emmys!

Well, if you read the post below, you'll learn that I am drinking, packing, and live blogging, which is all the rage these days. The Emmys are about to start. Stay tuned for Emmy gossip, three hours late (pacific time).

God help me, I love musical numbers at award shows, but Jeremy Piven looks a little bewildered.

Oh, awkward! They mention Isaiah Washington, but cut to T.R. Knight! Everyone will reference that in their round-up!!!!!!

Who is Ryan Seacrest?

The Emmys are "in the round". So hip.

First award of the night...we have to sit through a monologue from Ray Romano before we can get to it. And the winner is....Jeremy Piven! Are Jeremy Piven and John Cusack still friends? I don't know, and it drives me crazy!!

Time for ice cream!

I think Jaime Pressley teared up more when thanking her lawyer and manager than she did when talking about her baby.

Moment #1 that I love: Katherine Heigl correcting the voiceover announcer's pronunciation of her name.

Ooh, a montage! The best thing you can have at an award show, after a musical number. Funny lines from late-night talk shows, seguewaying into a tribute to Tom Snyder. Weird!

Jennifer Love Hewitt, you're so dumb.

Now, if you know about my late-night viewing habits, you know a Stewart vs. Colbert vs. Letterman face-off is impossible for me. But then, Conan won, for writing. I haven't watched that show since Andy Richter left, and I don't plan to. But I guess I'm okay with it? No. I'm not. But I guess it's better than Bill Maher.

If there was an Emmy for best box packer, I'd win! It' sbecause I use so much packing tape. It's the equivalent of gratuitous crying in terms of acting.

You can see Christina Aguilera's arm hair.

Things are kind of boring right now.

Steve Carell is on. Hopefully a sign that things will get better...and yes, there's John Krasinski. Things are better. Daily Show wins. Then Tony Bennett wins, and his director or someone says something weird like "documusical." Apparently Tony married a 25-year-old (but don't sue me Tony Bennett, I'm bad at telling people's ages).

I like how Mary Louise Parker looks vaguely pissed off by everything.

I'm getting vaguely worried that Britney Spears hasn't made a surprise appearance yet, per the rumors. I could just check the internet to see if she appears. But that would be cheating. I'm trying to pretend that I'm watching this on Eastern Standard Time (a.k.a. God's time).

The cast of the Sopranos gets a standing ovation.

Al Gore gets an Emmy presented by the president of MySpace. If only I could provide incisive political commentary....then I would have something to say. "More to come...current.com next month"....what does that mean, Al?

I just cut my jeans on my packing tape. Damn you, moving.

Ooh, Kanye West and Rainn Wilson...seems a situation ripe for comedy!

Nah, not really.

Ricky Gervais didn't show up, so there was a Daily Show reunion because Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert just gave the award to Steve Carell.

There's been like this weird cutaway three times in the show. Is that when someone cursed or said something political? It just happened during Sally Field's speech.

Right now they are doing the tribute to people who died in the past year. At the Oscars, this is my least favorite moment, because it becomes a popularity contest between the people who have died, and I think they should all be recognized equally in death. The Emmys people seem to be muting most of the responses, which is good, but a few people are getting applause that I can hear. People miss Ed Bradley and Peter Boyle.

Oh man I'm tuckered. I think we're getting into the home stretch. Ugly Betty wins best actress. James Spader beats James Gandolfini. I don't watch either Boston Legal or The Sopranos but even this doesn't make sense to me.

Emmys in the round means that some people get really awful seats.

30 Rock wins best comedy series (hope you didn't Tivo this!). Then another commercial! Are you kidding me?! This show is running long and you decide to do a commercial?

The Sopranos wins Best Drama. Are they going to say what the ending means?....No, they just talk about how the music on the show was good and how gangsters are people like you and me.

Well, that's the Emmys. I have to go to bed.

Emmys pre-show

Have you heard of this thing called live blogging? All the hip bloggers do it, so I will live blog the Emmys (while I pack boxes). I won't keep pushing "post" though, because really, I'm watching the Emmys three hours after they happen, so it's not even like it matters. I just love award shows, and I love celebrities, and I'm drinking wine, so I think it's a good night to blog.

So right now I am watching E! for the pre-show, which is always a nice mix of awkward and uncomfortable. It's ideal if the interviewers have no idea who they are talking to.

Man! I just want to date a celebrity so I can go to award shows!

Ryan Seacrest just gave a shout-out to the designers that he's wearing and then said that Varsity Blues is one of his favorite movies of all-time.

E! has a stiletto cam. Dumb.

Right now Jon Stewart is being interviewed about hosting the Oscars. That's so far away! Why did they announce it so early? We have to get through Christmas before we can even think about the Oscars! It's the equivalent of putting Halloween candy out in January.

I want to find out how to do my hair like Tina Fey has her hair right now.

Hayden Panettisomething's dress makes her look a little pregnant.

Eva Longoria said that the mark of a good purse is whether a Blackberry fits. Make a note.

My archenemy Jennifer Love Hewitt is on. Oh I do not like her. I do not think that being on the Ghost Whisperer is an excuse to come to the Emmys.

Kate Walsh seems a little drugged and I don't understand why she agreed to wear her hair like that (drugs?)

Oh CRAP in a sign that I might have had too much wine, I just spilled wine on an unboxed pile of books. That is not going to smell good after it's been in the mail.

Did my boyfriend John Krasinski just arrive with a pregnant woman? I bet it's his sister or something.

Oh hooray! He just told E! that it's his agent. Whew.

Should I get into "House"? It gets great reviews and that Hugh Laurie seems so charming. But I feel like I have enough shows to watch.

Vanessa Williams' beauty secrets are "moisture, moisture, moisture" and working out a lot. She is wearing something that looks like feathers.

Only 30 minutes left until the Emmys, pacific coast time!! Can you handle it?

Ryan Seacrest is alleging that he does not know if Britney Spears will be on the show. Hmm.

Yeah! Neil Patrick Harris! He was one of my first celebrity crushes. From his Doogie Howser days. Now we have a platonic love, since he came out as gay. "How I Met Your Mother" is a great show.

Heidi Klum and Seal? What's the deal? One time Matthew and I hypothesized that Seal made a deal with a devil, that he had to be disfigured, but he could marry Heidi Klum.

"Can you rock our stiletto cam? Do you mind?"

I like Ellen Pompeo, but I am not loving her dress, hair or jewelry.

Okay! Time to switch to the Emmys!!!!

return to sender

Because the mail never stops. It just keeps coming and coming and coming. There's never a letup. It's relentless. Every day it piles up more and more, but the more you get out, the more it keeps coming. And then the bar code reader breaks. And then it's Publisher's Clearinghouse day.
-Newman, Seinfeld

The postal system is a pretty amazing thing, and I'm not just saying that because they have about eight boxes of my books in their grip right now. It's kind of amazing that you can give somebody an envelope and 41 cents, and ask them to send it to the other side of the country.

This week, I've been spending an awful lot of time in line at the post office. Before this week, mailings I did that involved the post office were very few and far between...sometimes I would go to buy stamps, and every now and then I mail cd's to people. I assumed it was the same for everyone. But so many people are mailing so many things! I like to sit there and wonder where all their stuff is going. I think that curiosity would get the best of me if I worked in a post office. I would want to see what people ordered from Amazon or what that law firm has to say to them. Also, I would want to read their magazines.

They have neat stamps out now. Look at these Star Wars stamps. A cool thing, I think, would be a machine in a post office where you go in, and it takes a picture of you. Then it prints stamps with your face on it. Today I was at Fred Meyer and saw that Ellen DeGeneres has a line of greeting cards. If Ellen can have greeting cards, I can have stamps, right?

Oh, I just Googled the stamp idea. People have already thought of that. Oh well.

Fun facts about the postal service in the United States:

• The USPS delivers more then 213 billion pieces of mail every year.
• Mail was delivered 7 days a week until 1912. Local religious leaders asked the government to close post offices on Sunday so people would go to church instead.
• When fuel costs increase one penny, the costs for USPS increase $8 million.
• Most interestingly to me, about 14 percent of the nation's population moves every year, creating more than 45 million address changes.

And a fun postal service fact from overseas:

• The Vatican post office issues a special stamp when the pope dies, and the special stamp is only valid until the new pope is elected.

moving tips of the day

--About a month before the move, line up all your grooming products, such as lotions, gels, etc. Increase your use of these products so that you don't have to move the bottles. Yes, this might lead to such things as too much hair gel, or exceedingly soft hands (I'm using a lot of hand lotion these days), but you will feel never feel so much satisfaction in throwing out an empty container.

--If you're at work, cleaning your desk up a bit, and you have some old papers, and you're not quite sure whether to recycle, or to give it to someone else, I say recycle it. You'll be long gone by the time they figure out they might need it, and you won't have to deal with it.

--Accept that the perfect-sized moving box just hasn't been invented.

--Two-part tip: Part One: Don't feel bad for not thinking up good content for your blog. Part Two: Don't make a personal pledge to update a blog everyday.

--Never buy books. You might have to move them one day and then you'll regret it.

--Actually, just never buy anything, no matter how long you think you might live in a place. It will only cause trouble later.

--You can never use too much packing tape.

--If your apartment is getting shown to a lot of potential renters, and you've hidden some of your stuff around the apartment so that no one sees it, it's best to make a list of places where things are hidden. Also, if you happened to hide a lot of things in your laundry basket, underneath the clothes, don't try to pick up the laundry basket like it just has clothes in it. Particularly if that's where you hid the heavy stuff. This will break the laundry basket.

Tired Thoughts

--When you Google "What should I blog about?" absolutely nothing useful comes up.

--Today I went to my dentist out here for the last time. She was really sad to see my cash cow of cavity prone teeth go away. She got a vibrating chair though which was really nice.

--Per yesterday's post, Joseph at the Queen Anne post office is totally on to my little game of shipping all my books home. He tried to get me to upgrade to parcel post and asked me weird questions about my mailing. Or, something might be wrong with him mentally. I haven't decided yet.

--I am in the middle of watching "The Last Waltz," which is the Martin Scorsese film of the last concert given by The Band. There is a scene where Martin Scorsese is interviewing Robbie Robertson, and Robbie says, "We wanted it to be a celebration." Marty says, "Celebration of a beginning or an end?" And Robbie says, "Beginning of the beginning of the end of the beginning." And when he says that, it just kinda sounds like he's high, but it's been running through my head all day as sort of an apt metaphor or simile or whatever for what moving at this stage of my life represents. I wish I could say I was having a mega-concert to celebrate moving and that Neil Young and Eric Clapton would stop by, but I'll probably just leave town quietly.

--Today is Jayden James Federline's first birthday. I bet he is so drunk right now.

Moving is so hard!!

I think quitting my job really made this whole cross-country move seem more real than it did when I had a job that was not going to end in a few weeks. I have a lot to do. But because I’m me, and because I am slightly, oh, let’s say, neurotic, then I have created bigger problems for myself than just selling my furniture or finding insurance after mine runs out in a few weeks. Cause, you know, those problems aren’t big enough. Here are the problems I’m creating on my own:

Post office conspiracy—So in my time in Seattle, I accumulated approximately 719023798908 books, thanks to those frigging library sales where I bought like there was no tomorrow. Now, because the library sales were so cheap, and because the media mail rate is also cheap, I don’t have a problem with the idea of spending some money to ship all these books back to the east coast. My problem comes in that I have somehow developed the idea that every postal worker is against me.

First, I’m convinced that the postal people who man the desk are going to come to resent me when I start bringing in 20+ boxes, and they will take it out on me by losing my boxes. I have a real fear that the post office will figure out I’m using them to move cheaply. So I am trying to be strategic in which post office I go to, and how often I allow myself to go there, and how many boxes I can take each time. The problem is, most post offices have the same hours as the hours I work. I can’t really get boxes to work because they’re so big, and there’s only so many post offices I can get to after work but before they close. So I’m really hindered by my post office choices, yet terrified to use the same post office over and over. So you know what I’m doing Saturday? Driving around to every post office in the city and dropping off two boxes at each of them.

Part two of the post office conspiracy is that the people delivering the boxes will manhandle the boxes and they’ll break, with 20-30 books going everywhere and my heart breaking into a million little pieces. I am trying to counteract this thought with lots and lots of tape, and after I pack the box, I have been throwing it around my apartment a little bit, just to see how it holds up. I just don’t have time to do this.

Library holds—I think I have mentioned before that the Seattle Public Library subsidizes my entertainment habits, to the point where renting a movie or buying a CD kind of seems like a ridiculous expense, because they’re all free at the library. You get to see/hear the newest stuff by placing holds, and I know my days of placing holds are coming to an end, but I desperately want the holds I have now to come in before I move. So I obsessively check them about every ten minutes to see if I am any closer to the top of the line. Has anyone returned their copy of the new Spoon CD yet? What oh what will I do if I don’t get to see Season 2 of Weeds? (it’s worth noting that I do not have time to watch Season 2 of Weeds, or any DVD I have a hold on, at this point in my life, but I want to watch it, for free from the library, all the same)

Cable—I thought I was doing a good thing by canceling the cable/internet when I did. It ends about 5 days before I move. You know what else happens 5 days before I move? All the new TV shows start. How will I watch television?!? (see above, where I note that I do not have time to watch television. I worry about this all the same)

Blogging—Why oh why did I get on this streak of blogging every day? Now I’m too scared to break the streak! So at the end of a day of packing boxes, I still have to think of a blog! Why have I done this to myself?

Food—I would like to note that my food situation is not a problem. It was for awhile, and it does require planning---no one wants to have a whole lot of food left over that will just be thrown away. I have decided to just eat toaster waffles for the rest of my meals here. It’s easy to count how many you have left at any given time and buy accordingly. Plus, they’re cheap—you’ll never find a store that doesn’t have toaster waffles on sale. Best of all, they’re delicious.

to market, to market

So, this isn't going to turn into a photo blog, but I have some more photos today. I have been trying to take a lot of pictures lately, especially of Seattle things I'll miss, and one of the things that I will definitely miss the most is the Pike Place Market. Well, actually all of Seattle's farmers markets, especially the Sunday market in Ballard. The markets are about the only thing in the world that make me wish that I cooked, although the feeling never lasts long enough to do anything about it. I think I just like to see produce and flowers artfully arranged.

Here is a man shopping for some fruit:

The best bargain at the market is the $5 bouquets of flowers. When my friend Brian from high school visited, he remarked, "Girls in Seattle must be hard to buy flowers for, because they probably get jaded from having flowers like this available for $5." Except I don't think the sentence was so long when he said it. My mom loved the flowers as well, and said that if she were me, she'd buy fresh flowers every week for the apartment. Sadly, she is not me, and I am usually too lazy to go get flowers ever, and I am starting to think that I might be allergic as well. But when my aunt and uncle came to visit, I told them to tell my mom that I had flowers everywhere.

Look, I'm no photographer, and I know it. But I can't help but be exceedingly proud of the picture below. Maybe if I had a more high-tech camera, it would show everything in more detail, but I think this picture captures the moment better. This is the part of the market where they throw the fish:

Better hope one of those fish guys doesn't sit next to you on the bus on the way home! They are all nice guys, but very smelly.

Perhaps one of my favorite stories involving the market was when I had first started my job, and they were having an anniversary party. It was only my 4th day, so I didn't have much to do, so they sent me on errands related to the anniversary party. One of those errands was picking up shrimp from the market for shrimp cocktails. They had already ordered it, so I just picked up the box and went back to the office. We opened the box and the shrimp were still frozen (they had ordered thawed). So then began this comedy of errors where I walked back and forth between the office and the market about 4 times, lugging boxes of shrimp back and forth and haggling for some shrimp that would be ready to eat in an hour and finally we just had to manually thaw shrimp and I smelled kind of fishy at the party.

Book #26: Here If You Need Me

The book: Here If You Need Me by Kate Braestrup

What is this book about: After Kate Braestrup's husband was killed, she became a chaplain to Maine game wardens. This new job finds her on the front lines of search-and-rescue missions.

Why did I read this book: It got a good review in Entertainment Weekly, and then Entertainment Weekly had a longer interview with her where she seemed funny and kind and worth reading.

What did I think of this book: It's a lot of beautiful and touching scenes strung together, but there were a lot of times that I questioned how it hung together...sort of, why are you telling me this? Some things are painstakingly spelled out, and others are vague, and I found myself wanting more, but not even knowing what I wanted, because I didn't know where it was going.

Ultimately, I've decided, it's a meditation on death, by someone who seems as lively as they come, but who has been intimate with death for years. Her husband died, and then her career involves seeing the horrible ways in which others can die, and having to tell their loved ones about it. But in death can come blessings (Kate points out herself that she wouldn't have become a chaplain if her husband hadn't died). This will probably be one of the most quoted lines of the book; it's from a section where her child is asking why her dad died:

"God is justice and kindness, mercy, and always--always--love. So if you want to know where God is in this or in anything, look for love" (187).

And Braestrup's book is an account of horrific deaths tempered by love--the way the game wardens search relentlessly so they can bring the bodies home, the way neighbors will comfort you with casseroles. The people who are "here if you need me."

What was my favorite part of this book: Near the beginning, there's a chapter where Kate describes how she insisted on dressing her dead husband's body, and the love and the sadness that went into the act. Whoo boy. Don't read that part in public, or you'll have to sit in public crying, as I did (the same thing happened when I read Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants)

What did I learn from this book: I learned about this woman's life, and I guess I learned what a game warden does.

What grade do I give this book: B-

home sweet home

The rest of my cleaning spree went okay, I guess. One problem I've already identified is that I stuck a lot of random stuff in random places, just to hide it, and now I have to find it all again. Today my landlord had an open house, but I don't know how it went. I can't imagine anyone not snapping this place up...when I got it, I was the first one to see it and I think I just lucked out. On the one hand, she's raising the price quite a bit, and I wouldn't pay that much for it (but I know about the upstairs neighbor who has a habit of walking around the hardwood floors at 4 am), but on the other hand, they did just build a really nice grocery store a few minutes away.

Anyways, here's a tour of my apartment, as I'll always remember and treasure it. I can post these now, because I'm only living here a little bit longer, so I think my chances of being robbed are probably going down. Although, depending on how many people came to the open house today, a lot of people were probably able to case the joint.

This is my kitchen nook. I love the table, which my dad found at an antique store...it's tiled on the top. My Uncle Ken did the paintings on the wall in the 1970's...they're of Germany. They were in my grandmother's condo for a long time, but they made it out to Seattle.

Here's the living room. That is Barnabas Pete Bear on the couch, who keeps an eye on the place while I am at work. Ruth Orkin's "American Girl in Italy" is on the wall there. That is one of the most comfortable couches ever and I spend an awful lot of time on it.

The other side of the living room. Above the tv is one of my favorite things in the world...a painting of St. Basil's in Moscow, which my uncle painted for me while I was in Russia. He gave it to me when I graduated. That blue chair is where most of the blogging magic happens.

The kitchen and living area are separated by this bar thingy. That's the bathroom door in the corner, and the bedroom is behind the couch.

Here's the bedroom...as you can see, pictures of Italy around the bed. One crutch is there, from when I tried to bang on the ceiling to get the girl who lives on the floor above me to stop doing her elephant impression at 3 a.m.

Here's where I get ready and whatnot:

Since I couldn't really be around during the open house, I drove about 30 minutes east of Seattle today to look at Snoqualmie Falls. It was alright. I didn't walk to the bottom because if there is anything TLC has taught me, it is, don't go chasing waterfalls. So instead, I had some strawberry ice cream and looked at some train things that were set up in downtown Snoqualmie.

Frankly, Mr. Shankly

Apparently my landlord reads my blog because I got a little more direction on the cleanliness situation. It involves my bathroom. So I have spent the past few hours with my shower, toilet, and a can of bleach. I have seen things no person should have to see. I am about to pass out from bleach, but I figured I should write one last blog entry before I die. Then, when my landlord comes over to hold the open house tomorrow, she will feel awful. "Oh, she was doing such a good job cleaning!" she will exclaim. Actually, I doubt she will. My dead body will probably really hurt the chances of finding the next renter. If the apartment doesn't rent tomorrow, I am convinced it will because of the state of my shower. I don't know. I would try to say something funnier, but the bleach has gone to my head.

The weirdest thing I saw today was this very prim old lady on the bus who put on an Ipod and must have had it cranked up as far as it could go. The whole bus could hear it. And you know what she was listening to? Destiny's Child.

Today at work they announced that I am quitting/moving. I felt kind of emotional about it earlier but the bleach has killed my feelings. Unfortunately it has not killed all the mold.

I can't shower or go to the bathroom until this apartment is rented. I simply can't go through what I've just been through again. Maybe I should sleep outside tonight.

glass houses

Tonight I went to the Seattle Art Museum, and it was truly wonderful. I highly recommend it. As a bonus, the first Thursday of the month is free, and tonight there was live music and the museum was open til midnight. I don't think I've ever done a museum at night before, and I think that's the ideal time to do it.

The night didn't start off so lovely....I got a little surly and resentful because they asked me to take notes with a golf pencil instead of my ballpoint pen, which I understand in principle but I still walked around fighting the urge to draw on the walls with my stupid baby pencil just to teach them a lesson. Then I got over it because I saw such wonderful, weird things. Here is a list of some of my favorites:

--I think my favorite thing was the Porcelain Room. It's like the Amber Room in Russia, except with porcelain. Cups, dishes, statuettes...in these cases that go all the way around the room. A thousand pieces. It's got this low-lighting that makes the porcelain glow and you feel like you're in a fairy castle. I just want to put a big bed in the middle and live in that room. I wouldn't need a computer or a tv or anything, and I would never turn the lights down to go to sleep. I'd just lay on the bed and look at the porcelain.

Midway through the room I was like, this is so stupid that I'm getting excited about porcelain, you can get it in junk shops or at Target. Then I read the wall and that was kind of the point: "Today when porcelain is everywhere in our daily lives, this room evokes a time when it was a treasured trade commodity--sometimes rivaling the value of gold--that served as a cultural, technological, and artistic interchange between East and West."

Here's a slideshow of it (I would mute your computer because the narrator is creepy!) http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/specials/sam2007/porcelain/

--A coffin shaped like a car by an African artist. There was this film about these customized coffin sculptures. There was a screwdriver for a carpenter, a can of evaporated milk for a marketwoman, and a stack of fabric for a clothes seller. They carry the coffin all around so the dead can visit their favorite places and people before being buried. This sounds like the way to go. I definitely want a customized urn. I will have to think about what it should be though. If you had a customized burial container, what would it be?

--Any painting by an Italian, because the Italians will always be my favorite. Tonight I saw "Madonna of the Magnificat" by Sandro Botticelli and wanted to go back to Italy so badly that I could hardly stand it.

--A sculpture called "John with Art" by Robert Arnesen. It's a stoneware toilet with a fake crap in it.

--Erotic Frog Cup by David Gilhooly. It's two frogs doing it in a cup.

--Mann und Maus by Katharina Fritsch. It was a giant black mouse standing on a man lying in a bed. I just Googled it and it has to do with the dominance of the mouse in human biology and biomedical research.

--Some/one by Do-ho Suh. This is a gigantic coat made out of military dogtags. It's huge..covers the floor. It's about the individual becoming part of the collective.

--The African stuff. They had these cool cloths with bright colors and wacky patterns that I wanted for a bedspread. They had these awesome chairs that were so intridately carved...something sitting on every rung, or a back made out of a person or a bunch of leopards. I'm not describing it well, but maybe I should go to Africa to decorate my next apartment.

--Totem poles. Also a head dress made out of cedar but shaped like a heron.

--The Japanese teahouse

--These aboriginal paintings that were just dots or lines but had this enormous effect when you stepped back to look at them. They were supposed to represent places, I think.

--Mark Tobey's paintings, of these wild crowd scenes, that were paired next to his recollections of the Pike Place Market.

--This bear that looked like taxidermy, but when you got closer, you saw the bear was made of glass and beads and shells and the like.

I guess there was more, but I am getting tired. I hope I have colorful and creative dreams about art tonight!

say what you mean, mean what you say

So, I don't really know who all reads this blog, and I'm not really asking people to reveal themselves if they don't want to. But, if you don't happen to know, there are about to be some major ch-ch-ch-ch-changes in my life. I am in the midst of quitting my job and moving away from Seattle. I can write more about that later, but it's all a good, positive thing, and I'm really at peace with the decision and excited to see what comes next in my life.

But one of the things that comes with this kind of change is you have to deal with your landlord and the renting of your beloved apartment to someone else. Today my landlord came over to fix my oven door handle and to see the general shape the apartment was in. Last night I cleaned up, sweeping, artfully arranging things, etc. I even got up early this morning to make my bed.

When I got home, there was a little note from the landlord. One thing that stuck in my craw is she told me to replace a light bulb in a light fixture that I have already told her is broken. But here's the thing that really gets me:

"I will be showing the apartment this week, so would appreciate if it was clean."

Now, as I said, I cleaned before she came over, and the current state of my apartment looks pretty good to me. Does the sentence above mean, though, that certain people did not find my apartment to be clean? Does that sentence mean that I need to clean more? Or, does it mean, as a heads up, hey, don't let your apartment get messy, as I will be back shortly? I don't know whether to try to clean more, or whether just to maintain the current state of cleanliness.

Normally, when I complain of someone in my blog, I send a little hope to the heavens that they do not find my blog through Google. But if you're a landlord, and you wrote that sentence to a departing tenant recently, could you clarify? Are my shoes, which to me, are neatly lined by the door, messy to you? Should I take the trash out every morning? Does the scent of maple syrup lingering from breakfast repulse you? Can I not leave a stack of magazines on my own coffee table?

All I'm saying is, I dusted for this woman, and I haven't dusted in the 2+ years I've lived here. Dusting to me is the epitome of cleanliness. If you're telling me that I have to clean more, I'm going to need a little more direction.

Kodachrome

Did you know that on this day in 1888, George Eastman registered the trademark Kodak, and received a patent for the camera? In honor of that, let's look at some pictures I took recently at the Olympic Sculpture Park.

The sculpture park opened at the beginning of this year. It's on the north end of downtown Seattle. It's part of the Seattle Art Museum. It's a nice place to walk around, or to sit and look at water.

Here is some sculpture:




These are the kind of sculptures you see, and then you read the brochure of what it's supposed to mean, and you go, hmmm. But they are neato all the same.

Here's the most famous, or at least most photographed, sculpture, the Eagle, with the Space Needle in the back. I bet you anything that Grey's Anatomy will try to film there this year. Watch for Meredith to go jogging here or something:


The park is next to Myrtle Edwards park, which has gotta be one of the nicest places to sit in all of Seattle:

Bumbershoot, Day the Third

Today was the third and final day of Bumbershoot. You will have to bear with me on this entry, as I am so so so tired.

Today was my long day of work (8 hours) so I don't have as much music stuff to report. On the work side, I would just like to say that our booth was located near the King County Republicans booth. If I could, a word to my fellow Democrats---yelling out obscenities and being assholes to a few Republicans working a festival booth doesn't really make Democrats look that much more civilized. I don't agree with them anymore than you do but let's not act like monkeys. Being an asshole never changed anyone's mind. Let's lead by example.

Now that I have brought about bipartisanship through blogging, it's time for the music roundup. I sneaked away from work for awhile to watch Allison Moorer, who's a country singer who's never gotten quite as famous as critics have said she should. She's probably more famous for being the younger sister of Shelby Lynne and the new wife of Steve Earle. To be perfectly honest, I have never really fallen in love with any of her cd's and she can make my attention wander. But she was really quite compelling live and I'll have to give her another listen. It was just her and a guitar. I didn't even get distracted by the sight of Steve Earle walking around in the off-stage area (he eventually came on-stage to sing Pete Seeger's 'Where Have All the Flowers Gone?')

After work I watched the Frames. They are from Ireland, and the guy from the Frames was in the movie Once, which I haven't seen, but I want to.

Then I settled in with an onion burger to watch the hardcore troubadour himself, Steve Earle. Simply amazing. He played a lot from his new album, which comes out later this month, and it sounded fantastic. His "band" was a DJ, and there's a lot to be said for a song that's anchored by a DJ providing the beat and Steve on the banjo. Anyways. There were the political rants that you'd expect from Steve Earle these days, as well as some nice love songs with Allison Moorer. Ultimately, he said he is an optimist, and doesn't want to have to have political songs. He talked about how years ago the raptors were almost extinct, and now there's third generation raptors flying in Central Park. And how that should give all of us hope. I think. I'm really tired.

And that was the end of Bumbershoot. My legs and feet have lost all feeling and I'm a little worried about my ability to get up for work in 6 hours, but oh well. While I was writing this there was a gigantic roll of thunder and the rain started (coincidentally, I am listening to "The Rain Came Down" by Steve Earle, and I was like, is this a sound effect I don't remember?). I am just grateful to whomever can control such things that the rain didn't start til an hour after Bumbershoot ended.

Bumbershoot: Day #2

First off, I should finish off my Day #1 report by saying that Devotchka rocked my socks off last night. They were just amazing live, and I went home a very happy camper, with a mild interest in learning to play the tuba.

Today's Bumbershoot activities started with the Trucks, who are a group of gals from Bellingham, WA. They play keyboard-fueled electro-pop songs about sex. They were fun and I recommend them. I watched a group of teenagers throw rice all over each other during their set. Oh, kids these days!

Up next were the Watson Twins, of Jenny Lewis solo album fame. They were also excellent, but in a different way. Country-folky.

Then I had some time before I had to go to work so I walked up and looked at the visual art stuff. There was a Nick Drake exhibit, and some rock posters. Also, there were portable confessional pods, but staffed with artists instead of priests. There was this thing about kitchen nooks and how they create community, so they had all these nooks and people were in there chatting and doing crafts and being art, I guess. Last, I went to the Miranda July exhibit, Learning to Love You More. Miranda and this other artist give out random assignments on a website and anyone can do them. This one family in Seattle did them all so that's what the exhibit was. The assignments are things like: write your life story in a day, photograph your parents kissing, make a video of the minute after a crime. It was kind of interesting.

I went to work, ate dinner, etc. Then I watched Andrew Bird. Good set.

After Andrew Bird, I could have gone over and watched Devendra Banhart, but could Devendra Banhart entertain me with booty-shaking and a little ditty called "My Humps"? The odds were low, so I went to see someone who could--Fergie. Fergie managed to have three costume changes in a mere 75 minutes. During one of her costume changes, her back-up dancers had a dance battle. There was a Black-Eyed Peas medley that took basically one line from all the hits, excepting of course "My Humps" which got the deluxe treatment. Some of the personal insights that Fergie revealed during the show: she is living her dream; if you are going through a crazy period in life, Fergie has been there too; she likes the word Bumbershoot; she has a friend named Shrek who put her on the Shrek 3 soundtrack.

Here's a fun fact about Fergie that I read in a magazine: she travels with picante sauce and sugar-free maple syrup, and she puts a little bit on each of her meals so that she can trick herself into thinking that she's eating something flavorful or sweet. But really she's just eating lettuce or something.

I'd like to think that maybe Fergie is doing the same thing I am doing right now, blogging before taking a shower and going to bed. But I doubt it.

Also today: I got sunburnt on my shoulders and ate a delicious funnel cake.

Bumbershoot, Day One

This morning I went downtown to go to the gym. After, when I was waiting for the bus to go home, I read my Time Magazine. This old man came up to me and said, "Someone told me you couldn't read!" Then he said, "Just kidding!" and laughed like it was the funniest thing ever. I don't know why it was funny. What if I really couldn't read?

Anyways, today marked the start of Bumbershoot, the gigantic music festival that is about five minutes from my apartment. My company does community outreach at events such as these, so I can get in for free if I work a little bit, which is what I have done for the last few years.

Entering Bumbershoot always begs the 2-part question, a-why does earth have so many people? and b-why have they all decided to come here? It is very very crowded, and a bit overwhelming for someone like me who does not like large crowds in close proximity. But I do like free music, so I try to grin and bear it.

Today I went down about noonish to watch Crowded House. They had a solid set and Eddie Vedder made the drive from West Seattle to do two songs with them. After Crowded House, the Shins were on. This was the mainstage, and the place was absolutely packed. Not all with Shins fans mind you; as I wrote in my Wilco post, it was a lot of people who probably just wanted to say they saw the Shins or who didn't have anything else to do. The set was good, but the Shins are probably not the best band to play in a football stadium (where they were).

One thing I noticed during the Shins was how many crowdsurfers there were. I felt really bad for the people at the front, because they must have stood there for hours to get that spot, and then they couldn't even concentrate because so many people expected to be held up.

I hope I am never the kind of person who brings a child under 5 to a festival such as Bumbershoot, because it's just trouble for everybody. They don't enjoy it, the parents probably can't enjoy it, and no one around them enjoys it. The only exception to this will be if I marry a rock star, then my kid can come and wear fashionable ear protection and we can eat catering backstage.

Anyways, then I went to work for about 4 hours, and then I had dinner, and now I am at my apartment taking a brief Bumbershoot break. I need to put more clothing on (it is a bit chilly), and then I am going to head back and see DeVotchKa. More on Bumbershoot tomorrow.