an occasional feature

August

8/30/98

I am finally getting a wee bit psyched for my trip. Thanks to everyone who has sent me suggestions on what not to forget. I have been having a fairly busy weekend, the high point of which was going to the Word Anarchy open mike night at Left Bank Books. There were about 20 folks who read poetry and essays and even a little singing. Similar to the circus from last weekend, the whole event had the chummy air of anti-authoritarianism without being really militant or noisy about it -- as if it's perfectly normal to read poetry about smashing the state and overthrowing the government. Quite pleasant.

8/27/98

Went to the dentist again today. Got two fillings and she said the words I've been waiting to hear: "see you in six months..." My lower lip is still completely numb which makes coffee drinking almost not worth the effort required, more of a spectator sport really. Dr. Turck also gave me some travel toothpaste cuz I bet she knows that I'd probably just leave my toothpaste at home since it's too big to schlep around with me. I'm starting to think about packing for my trip since I leave in under a week. I know all the things I think I'll forget [asthma medicine, bathing suit, dad's phone number], but other folks have their own lists of make-sure-not-to-forget stuff. I'm taking suggestions for things not to forget.

8/26/98

My main page hit 14,000 yesterday. For anyone who's curious, I get about 1,000 hits a month -- which totals about 500 from me and 500 from my Mom.

I went out to see Gadjo Dilo last night -- a movie about gypsies that was filmed in Romania. I think if all you knew about the gypsies was what you saw in the movies, you would assume that all they do is have babies, get married, die, and yell at each other a lot. And dance and sing -- there's a lot of dancing and singing. There's really a lot more to them, like any culture, even though I did like the movie a lot. When I was a child, my mother used to tell me I was left on the doorstep by gypsies and I think she meant it in the nicest way possible. When I lived in Romania, the gypsies were pretty much the only people who didn't laugh at me in the streets.

8/24/98

On this day in 1967 Abbie Hoffman & Jerry Rubin threw 300 one-dollar bills from balcony onto floor of New York Stock Exchange, to disrupt business as usual. It worked, creating instant bedlam as people scrambled for the cash.

I went to the most glorious circus this weekend. Called the Spectacle From Scratch, it was the culmination of a week of training/retreat for the performers. There were rad lady trapeze artists in the trees, paper mache jaguars, a genuine bearded lady and several of my friends involved with 45 others in an anarchic performance piece that was truly delightful. The whole thing took place on this large farm in Arlington Washington so it was all outdoors and quite beautiful. I slept in a hammock in a half-open goat barn which was nicer than it sounds. The event was marred somewhat by having to sort out interpersonal drama with a recent paramour ["Oh, I thought you were indicating that you liked me when you invited me to share your tent. No, huh? Hmmm...."] but it was still one of the best weekends I've had this summer.

8/21/98

make mental note: remember to eat breakfast before venturing down to the basment to work on seemingly interesting and harmless projects...

So, I went to the basement today to separate out the hazardous, flammable, dangerous crap from everything else, as per the instructions of the efficacious fire department. There's a lot of toxic stuff down there ["gee, I didn't know malathion was approved for household use..."] and I quickly got tired of sorting paint so I applied myself to the huge pile of coat hangers also moldering in the corner since eventually everything has to go. What's the expression ... like herding cats...? This was a project almost guaranteed to have me flailing about tossing hangers every which way and trembling at the knees -- they stick together you know... Well, it wasn't quite that bad but when I had finished, I had over 15 linear feet of hangers lined up on the sprinkler pipes [which will probably piss off the firemen], and a huge pile of paint cans still to be dealt with.

8/19/98

I got a toy catalog in the mail today. One of the great things about sharing a mailbox with so many weird groups is that you get access to a whole bunch of interesting things you would never otherwise see. This catalog has, in addition to the weird Hitler moustaches: religious yo-yos, christmas darts, dressed bunny ["real cute"], doctor glasses ["makes eyes appear BIG"], bendable cavepeople, pocket monsters ["5 spooktacular colors"] and spinning spider tops. All of which can be ordered by the gross.

I leave in two weeks and have already reached such a state of pre-travel inertia that I find it very difficult to do anything but play with P/Zesto and listen to music. Not that there's much else I should be doing just yet, but eventually this will become a problem. The Hermit Mop Man [who requested a job title change from hippe mop boy] will be arriving this weekend and learning the ins and outs of my nutty job.

8/17/98

For those of you who have been following my battle with the Demon Cheese, it looks like 4 months of eating hummus has paid off. My cholesterol levels have plummeted.

8/14/98

One of the things I realized when I was in Vermont/DC/MA/RI, is that rarely am I so happy as when I have a backpack on and only a nebulous destination/plan. Perhaps it's a reaction to my 365-day-a-year job here but I think I just like to travel. So, this weekend I'm heading to Portland to visit some friends as well as the Maryhill Museum of Art. In a few weeks I'll be going to Guatemala to visit my friend who's in the Peace Corps down there. Then it's off to my Dad's wedding in Massachusetts. After that I have no further plans except to go to Las Vegas for Christmas.

Meteor showers were amazing.

8/13/98

There's nothing so much fun as mucking about with hoses on a hot summer day. I finally got up the guts to go next door to the furniture store to see about borrowing a hose. My apartment is in an alley off an alley and has been really grubby for some time now. The nice furniture people not only let me borrow the hose, they let me use their spigot which has pressure-washer type water pressure. So, I hooked it up and let fly, the sheer amount of dirt coming off my place was amazing. And, since my alley off the alley has a roof, I got soaked. Scared the cat. Dribbled water into my apartment [fortunately, I have wall to wall wood-panel style linoleum so this is no problem]. Moistened the recycling, which unfortunately includes several phone books.

The Perseid meteor showers are tonight. Go stare at the sky.

8/10/98

Speaking of strong women who beat people up, here's Madeleine Albright talking about retaliation for the African embassy bombings: "[W]e would all like to go out right this instant and bomb somebody, I think that we've got to be careful about what we're doing and why we're doing it and if we're doing the right thing so that we can be true to ourselves..."

Emphasis added, but that is the way I hear it inside my own head...

8/8/98

Tonight as I was waiting for the bus at about midnight and making small talk with a bunch of guys at the bus stop, one of them asked if I was on my way home to beat up my boyfriend. I said no, why? He said I seemed like such a strong woman it seemed like something I would do. As the bus came, his friend, who had a rabbit on his shoulder, said I could beat him up anytime. And people wonder why I don't like to drive my car...

8/7/98

I'm applying for a job. Don't worry, it's temporary, and part time, but it will get me behind the reference desk again which is what my life has been missing lately, strange but true. Of course, to get a job you need to fill out and submit a bunch of insane paperwork, including my undergrad transcript [which, since I went to kind of a hippie school, is about twenty pages long] as well as the name, address and phone number of the last four people I've worked for. As if everyone keeps the same job forever. As if my boss five years ago knows anything about me now [her last "recommendation" for me said something about my being a bit too independent, but trainable]. As if I need to send them a copy of my FBI files just to get a temporary, part-time job. Can you tell already that I might be a bad worker bee?

8/5/98

I was working on the web pages of the Bungee Sexperience folks today. I would just like to take this opportunity to say that only in America can you patent devices such as the variable position intercourse performance apparatus. To say nothing, of course, of the female security device...

8/4/98

Speaking of stamps, guess what this is. It's a postmark, designed by Walt Disney for the U.S.S. Appalachian which was on hand to witness some of the early nuclear testing on the Bikini Atoll in 1946. Based on my earlier discovery of the shipwreck LC subject heading, I was in the library today looking for something good to read and happened upon Ghost Fleet: The Sunken Ships of Bikini Atoll and have been reading about the debacle that was the US nuclear buildup ever since. Truly scary. The book itself is amazing with a lot of great illustrations and interesting facts. I haven't even gotten to the shipwreck part yet..

For those of you looking for information on Eric, I haven't heard from him.

8/3/98

I finally finished my stamp series. Aside from the Prison? Industry? stamp featured here, I also have:

• Rent is Theft
• Capitalism = Wage Slavery
• Reclaim the Airwaves

8/1/98

Well, after my month of vacation [1/2 in Vermont and 1/2 being in Seattle with Jack as a housemate which can be vacationesque] I am resuming my humdrum Seattle existence. Well, it will be humdrum perhaps after the large party that will be here tomorrow [well, tonight really, Saturday] celebrating Left Bank Books' 25th anniversary here at the Odd Fellows Hall.

Tonight I was at the Showbox for the COCA benefit which featured all the new bands the former Presidents of the United States of America are in, as well as some weird poets and Jack even got to read a few stories -- kinda like how it's worth going to all the Mariner's games cuz if they're losing really badly they'll let you pitch....