esprit de l'escalier

What do YOU think?

Did Natasha have baby rats or adult mice?

Jean, her lovely roommate, votes baby rats. I concur.

BTW, they have been removed from their apartment. Natasha is still not very pleased with the situation. I can't say I blame her.

Two things to look forward to

It's Friday night, nearing 11, and I've been sick all day (all week really). My sinuses are clogged, I'm clammy and headache-y, but I've cat snuggled up at my side and I have two things to look forward to. One of them is that Battlestar Galactica is back next week. (Yes, I'm watching the two mini specials on SciFi right now. I knew Joss Whedon loved it, but how great that Jesse L. Martin and S. Epatha Merkerson of Law and Order love it?) I'm sad I won't have a buddy to watch it with me this season. Nonetheless, I can't wait to see what happens.

The other thing I'm looking forward to is a trip to New York at the end of April to see Josh Ritter play on my birthday. I'm going with Miss Natasha and we're going to visit our friend Allison and celebrate our birthdays. I'm really, really excited. (Plus, I get to meet Kathleen of Diary of a Heretic!)

I hope everyone has wonderful weekends - full of good health.

Morning sky clouds

I snapped the polaroid above of the clouds this morning. My morning and dusk polas are what I'm going to miss most when my stash of film runs out. (I'm currently hoarding the film when I can, but I'm afraid that it will get to a point where I'm afraid it will turn into a situation like Elaine and the sponges.)

I was trying to explain why I loved polaroids to my friend Anthony this weekend. I love that I get an immediate artifact. I love that it isn't perfect and you never know quite what you are going to get when the little square comes to life. I love that it makes me focus on framing, because you never know what details will come through well. I love how it captures and plays with light. Most of all, I love that everyone loves a polaroid camera. How could you not? It was is the most sociable of cameras. (Also, if I had a way of showing you my impression of a polaroid camera spitting out film, I would totally post it.)

On a random side, note, has anyone heard about the collaboration between M. Ward and Zooey Deschanel? I heard their cover of the Beatles' song "I Should Have Known Better" today in a store. Love love love. I cannot wait to get this album. Hear a song from their album here.

Daydreams and thoughts

PART ONE: Daydreams (via email last week)
Email to friend: I want to go to Paris and run into Wes Anderson dressed all nattily. And then make him realize we were meant to be. (Which is I'm sure what the Sartorialist did.)

Her response: Umm - yay! It kind of makes me want to MOVE to Paris and spend my days doing something kind of pointless and yet employable. Publishing? Floral consultant? Then I could spend my days being modestly fabulous and rubbing elbows with the man. How much do you love the little horse lapel pin? And the stars tie? I truly truly love him...

My response: Yes, I have to love anyone that is thoughtful about the little details of their life. Let's move to Paris. You can arrange flowers. I'll push croissants in the bakery next door. We can meet beautifully dressed ex-pats from elsewhere, marry, have little babies with French accents and multiple passports.

PART TWO: Thoughts on the weekend

My weekend was full of friends from different eras/spheres of my life, though they all overlap, even if they don't know each other well. Thursday I got to spend some quality time with my friend Kristen. We hiked around Lake Griffey, and we paused often to admire the brown trees and the silence, and to discuss the finer points of movies and books we liked and disliked. We spent the evening eating pizza, watching Northern Exposure and with me reading her BtVS comics. (I'm totally hooked - damn you Joss Whedon!)

The rest of the weekend was mostly spent with a group of six to seven other girls (the number fluctuated slightly), in celebration of our friend's impending wedding in Ireland. I felt a little out of step, which makes sense since of the girls I do know, I had only seen/kept in good contact with the bride and I hadn't really seen the rest since we graduated college five years ago. In some ways it was easy, as it is with old friends. In others it was hard, since most of the party was coming from NYC and knew each other on a more regular (if not daily/weekly) basis. Plus I was the only one of the group that did not have some major long term relationship. All of this coupled with nostalgia, heavy drinking and poor sleep has left me a little depressed.

I did duck out of the estrogen fest to visit with my friend Anthony, whom I've grown to admire more and more. We shared easy conversation over lunch. Instead of driving me straight back to the Union, where I was staying, we buzzed over to his place to show me the color samples for the walls of his new/old house, because he knows I'm a dork when it comes to thoughts of home decorating. I'm jealous of his squeaky wood floors and his killer vintage stove.

PART THREE: Random thoughts on music
According to iTune's email today, the new Death Cab album out in May is supposed to be good. I don't know how much I believe an ad that doesn't cite its sources, but I'm looking forward to it nonetheless. I heard the tail end of its single this evening on the radio. Really, though, "I Will Follow You Into the Dark" has been in my head for days. Maybe that's because of my demographic. According to AllMusic's review of the album on which that song appears, "Thematically, Plans is the Death Cab for Cutie suitable for graduate students, world-weary and wiser from their experiences, realizing they can no longer be love-starved 20-somethings without a clue yet hopelessly cursed to face the same issues." Yep, that nicely rounds out how I'm feeling. Watch the video below.

Short note

I've been away since Thursday, visiting with lots of friends in old stomping grounds. I'm paying for the weekend already, as a cold is settling into my body. Just in time for the new quarter to start. I'll post later in the week. Hopefully I'll have some good photos to share.

Good weather for ducks

There is this house that I pass on my way to my internship. It's nearing where I work, where the country turns suburban. It's an old house - all stone, simply and well made. It sits on a small hill that runs down to a creek. I feel a little bad for it, though, because two well trafficked roads cut right in front and to its side. It didn't get razed, though, so it has that going for it.

It also has something else going for it, though. Ducks. About five white ducks and five or six mallards. They have a little hutch and easy access to the creek through a white farm fence. They have been missing for the winter, but returned recently.

The first time I saw them last week, I was so happy. And so were they. I was stopped at the light at the intersection and watched them squabble and chase each other, like a pack of third graders at recess. They have been loving the rain we've been having lately. They are covered and mud and running around with the joy. I love them. I'd like to take their photos, but there is no place to stop or even slow down. Instead, please enjoy this song by Lemon Jelly.

Up up up

I don't have anything to say at the moment, so I'm posting this photo I took a couple of weeks ago. I'm itching to take some photos, but keep leaving my camera behind. Not sure what that is all about.

This weekend a couple of friends and I brainstormed about an idea for an event. I heard more details about it tonight, and let me tell you I am excited. I'll post more about it when it becomes more concrete.

I have also taken to referring to anything that reminds me of spring as "hope." Wearing my jean jacket? Hope. The crisp glass of Sauvignon blanc at dinner? Hope. All the ice cream I keep eating? Also hope. (CLAP, CLAP, CLAP.) I do believe in fairies. And spring.

Pi Day

By the time many of you read this, Pi Day will probably be over. I had been planning on big Pi Day festivities here. I had planned to do a special Pi Day PFR, with a friend whose birthday is today. (She's one of three friends that share this auspicious day.) I blame the g-d blizzard, of which I am still very bitter, for my plans derailing. It threw my week out of whack and kept me from pie. I will try and have a post Pi Day PFR soon, but it won't be the same. Since I can't bring you pie, please read about Pi. Did you know that today is also Albert Einstein's birthday? (And Michael Caine's, which is neither here nor there.)

This week and next is full of friends that I don't normally see. In fact, I'll see a couple of friends next weekend I haven't seen since I graduated college, and I'm really excited about that. I got to show another friend around town yesterday, giving her a quick tour of scenes from my childhood, and then we rambled in the country a bit. It was very nice. The weather was supreme. Today it's rainy, and it looks like the rain will continue into tomorrow. I'm cool with it though, 'cause it's NOT SNOW. I swear that if it snows again this season I'm giving up and running away to the circus. Near the beach.

Have a lovely weekend, all. I'm off to celebrate my friend's birth. And yes, I'm bringing her a pie.

A melt

I am in a supreme mood this evening. My final projects are turned in. I already have two grades back, which show favorably for my effort this quarter. The sun is out. The snow is melting. It's warm and I'm feeling better about the world. Really, what I want more than anything, is to have a dear friend sitting across from me so we can chat. Oh, I am a world class chatter, and I feel the urge for some gossip, some back and forth, a little witty repartee or two. I tried bugging a couple of people on my drive home, but no luck. People are at work (or screening their calls).

I did talk for a second with a friend, who I get to see next week, and found out about some of the grad schools she got into. (So far I approve, because they all are places I'd like to visit.) She invited me on a possibly last-minute-whirlwind trip to North Carolina. I'm tempted, because I'd badly like to visit the beach, if only for a day. But I've got expensive travel plans this summer (partially involving her), so it will most likely not happen. It's nice to daydream about, though.

Besides my vague ramblings, I thought I'd post a couple photos from the weekend before the blizzard. Our previous melt. My mother and I went on a walk through Denison University's campus and around town. I'm a little in love with its observatory.

Shhh... don't tell Natasha

But I'm currently *not* doing my schoolwork, as she guessed I would be. I'm a little miffed about being snowbound. I walked out to get the mail and the plow barely made it into the drive before getting stuck. The snow is heavy and wet, but it is melting. If you stand outside any of the doors you hear the loveliest of tinkling sounds as the run-off makes its way out the drain spouts.

Instead of continuing to write my papers I was cooking, or shall I say experimenting? I made a marinade for some chicken wings. I more or less followed the instructions, but I realized while "cooking" why I'm not allowed in the kitchen. I hope it turns out edible!

I also found this cute-o short film on youtube. I wish I was somewhere where driving in a convertible with the top down was an option! (I also must confess that I'm a car dancer and singer.)