:::snapshots -- monday, january 26, 2009:::

{still loving macro mode}

1. first, roberts screws up the oath, now it turns out the musical number was prerecorded?! what's next? is W still president? is santa dead? yeah, yeah, i know it's hard to play in the cold. it's still a bit of a downer though.

i have to admit that i wasn't that impressed with what john williams composed. here is the concurring opinion of a smart person, lest you think i'm a philistine. my favorite quote from the article is, "Rather than write what he is good at, he corseted himself in a straitjacket of what he thought he was supposed to be doing." here, here.

2. i found another store to share: redstamp.com.

not thoroughly inspiring, but still fun.


3. today started out as a 'serenity now' day at work. one of my new year's resolution is to go with the flow more. i think i can, i think i can, i think i can...


4. i did so much work this weekend. it really amazes me how many hours there are in the day when you don't mess around. this weekend alone i finished, stuffed, and addressed all of my valentine's cards, reorganized my closet and reorganized it again, hung a bulletin board using an ingenius system (i can't make holes in my walls), sorted through and folded more clothes for Goodwill, ran errands downtown, and solved a major computer issue, among other things.

i love my word for this year! i'm so glad i picked an action word and not something contemplative. i really need the motivation to actively do what needs to be done, as opposed to sitting around thinking, pondering, and philosophizing (a bad habit of mine).

5. this weekend i was contemplating (see!) what i would possibly do with my life after i felt that i was done in dc. go back to utah? the thought isn't as appealing as it used to be. i unashamedly love utah -- the glorious springs, the white winters, the mountains!!! -- but i'm afraid that i'd just be a nobody again if i moved back there, whereas out here i never feel that way. i'm not eager to be under that cloud again.

i also wonder if i would feel trapped (another feeling from the past), or disappointed that i didn't try other places. to be honest, if i ever went back to utah i don't think i would leave again, so i want to make sure i do all of my living before i settled down.

oh, i just felt a little nauseated when i typed 'settled down'. let's move on, quickly.


6. the heat in my office should really be called 'heat', since it blows cold air straight at me all day long. i've got a blanket draped over my front and have consumed two mugs of hot cocoa since 10 am in an effort to get warm. i might need to purchase a little heater. this is just ridiculous.


7. the american history museum reopened a few months ago after being closed for an annoyingly long time. i plan on going this weekend to see the new lincoln exhibit and to revisit julia child's kitchen, which is my favorite museum exhibit of all time. i love seeing things in situ and supported by context. this is one of the reasons i struggle with traditional art museums -- white walls and little tags just don't do enough to pull me into the art. i always want to know more about where the piece was created, what the life of the artist was like, what his/her supplies looked like in their studio, what the political climate was like, what they ate...

i take the same approach to literature, which, if memory serves me correctly, lends me towards the school of new historicism. heidi? rachel? i feel that a piece of art or literature is just one little point on a larger spider web, that there are always lines of influence that have merged at that nexus to the point of creation.

spider webs are great visualization tools. my first critical theory teacher always used them to describe structuralism and deconstruction to our confused little minds. i miss my literature classes. i could almost be persuaded to pursue a career in academia but for the tales of politicking and infighting. oh well...


8. i'm going to ask my sister to cut my hair for my birthday. only a fellow texture-haired person can truly understand what you want and need from a hair cut.