vingt cinq

Okay, fine fine fine - the noodging of a 1000 facebook notes pays off in this post.

1. Libraries are (one of) my happy places. I love wandering the stacks, picking out random books. I go to the library once a week to collect books I've put on hold. I gave away about a gazillion books when I moved from the East Coast, and I promised myself I'd use my local library. It has worked. I treasure my library card.
2. I nearly went to film school, and was accepted into a medical program. I'm so so glad I didn't pursue those paths.
3. I get all of my news from blogs. No, no - not news sites. Blogs. (Often, blog posts linking to news sites, but still. Blogs.)
4. I just bought a cast-iron pan and I'm looking forward to making pineapple upside-down cake. I'm getting more and more into cooking.
   
5. I'll never be a big shopper. I can only take about 45 minutes in a mall (I think it's the recycled air? Claustrophobia?) Then, I kind of freak out and need to leave. It's a little better strolling around a shopping district, but yeah - not a shopper.
6. I have more girl crushes on celebrities than (boy) crushes. Tina Fey, I'm lookin' at you here. (You too, Rachel Maddow and Sarah Haskins.)
7. I am not allowed to buy candles or bath & body products until I run down the current stocks. It may be a year or more.
   
8. After a self-imposed, years-long hiatus - my political/wonky self is back in full force. I am from DC, after all.
9. This shouldn't be a surprise, but I am a feminist.
   
10. If there's anything with eggplant on the menu, that's what I'll order. (See also artichokes, sundried tomatoes, goat cheese, polenta, spinach.)
11. It's not eco-friendly, but I love driving. Time in the car can be really therapeutic for me.
12. I just finished training to be a Court Appointed Special Advocate. (I got sworn in today!)
13. Hulu and Netflix's "Watch Instantly" feature have broken my "Amish/neo-Luddite" ways. I haven't owned a TV in ... ever, but now - with all the material available online - I've started watching a LOT of TV online.
14. I didn't understand what all the fuss was about Twitter, but I've come to really enjoy it.
15. I'm ridiculously devoted/obsessed with Target, IKEA, and Trader Joe's.
    
16. People ask/assume I'm writing a book on a regular basis. Some day, I'll prove them right.
17. The KitchenAid Mixer is one of the best reasons to get married. (You only get them off your bridal registry, natch.) I really want one (mixer, not marriage), even though I'm pretty sure I wouldn't use it.
18. I'm assumed to be a big-time extrovert, but I only come off that way because I zealously guard my alone-time. I needs it! I must have it! MY PRECIOUS!
19. I'm so lucky I live in the Bay Area - close to wine country, and beaches (with freezing-ass water, granted), Tahoe, etc. My heart really is in San Francisco, high on a hill. I love my neighborhood and its oddly small town vibe. I run errands once a week on foot, and I know my neighbors (and their children and dogs!)
20. I'm into textiles: I sew, I knit, I embroider and cross-stitch. I find it relaxing and producing something is ... satisfying.
    
21. I go through the occasional bout of insomnia. This, above all other things, has taught me openness. I am always open to trying new things that may work. (Aromatherapy, showering at night, "sleep music" - they have all worked for me, to varying degrees.)
    
22. I'm a big-time law geek. Sometimes, when I'm reading a legal newspaper or a court decision, I'm suffused with energy and affection. I love how concepts are clarified. I love arguments, and negotiations. I love words.
23. I enjoy collecting art. Some of my favorite sites include 20X200, and the very addictive etsy.
    
24. I'm not very girly-girl, but I am very picky about my eyebrows, and nails.
25. For reasons unknown, babies and small children *LOVE* me. I think it is somehow genetic, because my father gets the same treatment.
    

Every Day I Write the Book

A recent reader of ze blog said that I had good taste in books, which made me wonder when I last mentioned a book on the blog. And, it reminded me that I've been meaning to respond to Two Timing the Cosmos's tag, so here goes my version of the book meme:

1) One book that changed your life?

Wow. I'm drawing a blank. I'll go with Law School Confidential - I read it when I was in the process of deciding/committing to going to law school. It's not that it changed my life; more like I was in the process of changing it myself.

2) One book you have read more than once?

All of the books that made it through the Great Purge of '05 (i.e. the move from DC to SF) are books that I have read multiple times. It's more than that: I read every book on my bookshelf multiple times during law school. I'm a voracious reader and have difficulty reading a chapter or two and putting a book down. I knew that I couldn't afford the time (or, really, the $$) to read new books in law school, so when I needed a break from caselaw, I would read a few pages from an old favorite.

3) One book you would want on a desert island?

How to Survive Anything, Anywhere. ;)

4) One book that made you cry?

The Poisonwood Bible, Barbara Kingsolver. This could also easily fit the book I have read more than once, and book I would want on a desert island categories. I've read it repeatedly, and I've cried every time. This is saying something as I am not a big cryer. Kingsolver is one of my favorite authors - if I could write like someone, I'd choose her. This novel is a little hard to get into as there are multiple narrators, etc. but it is so worth it. The story is of a Baptist missionary family stationed in the Belgian Congo in the 1960s, but really it is an allegory about American foreign policy.

Man, I may have to re-read it again soon.

5) One book that made you laugh?

A Moveable Feast. I feel pretentious having "a Hemingway" on this list, but I have a very particular memory of reading this book on the metro going home from a party and (literally) laughing out loud at Hemingway's memories of living in Paris as a young man.

6) One book you wish had been written?

The book my best friend is always hassling me to write.

7) One book you wish had never been written?

The Celestine Prophecy - highly, highly overrated. So they are making it into a movie.

Oh, oh - even better! Men are From Mars, Women are from Venus!! One of my best friends mind-tricked me into reading it. I yelled "oh fuck off" twice on the first page, and I threw it across the room by page 5. At that point, I had some kind of vendetta against the book and was hell-bent on finishing it. Don't make the same mistake.

8) One book you are reading currently?

Me Talk Pretty One Day, David Sedaris. I've been meaning to get to the collected oeuvres of Mr. Sedaris and checked out a few of them during my last visit to my public library. I am loving this collection of autobiographical short stories. Sedaris' tales of learning French are fantastiques!

9) One book you have been meaning to read?

Footprint: South India. I finally ordered a guidebook to South India because I need to get serious re: planning. Things have been so crazybusy. 7 weeks to go? Whoah.

This is the part where I'm supposed to tag peoples. Let's go with the A's: archana, ads, ashvin, and a n n a.

La Meme Chose

So, I've been tagged. Apparently, I am to share with the Internets ten (10) of my secrets. I take issue with this. Do they not, by the very nature of being shared, lose their secret quality?

(A legal education makes a person insufferable.)

(1) When I was a wee kid, I thought there were two ways to become pregnant. You either had sex with someone, or you "slept with them." Sleeping with someone only worked if you were not married to the person. (Think about it: no one ever says that people who are married slept together.) Moral: spending your wee childhood in France and then moving to the U.S. leaves you with some f'd up theories.

(2) I can't drink soda. My parents never gave it to me and now even the smell makes me nauseous. I consider it a mark of friendship for people to remember that I don't drink soda. It cracks me up that, after over 10 years of friendship, my best friend still occasionally asks me if I want a Coke. (She always pauses and then says "Wait, you don't drink soda." Ah, ritual.)

(3) I've experienced love at first sight. And it was amazing.

(4) I was vegetarian from the age of 15 through 23. At 15, I volunteered at the National Institutes of Health. One of the things I had to do was "collect mouse mesentery cells." Trust me, that task was incompatible with eating meat. As time went on, meat become more and more weird to me - even the smell bothered me towards the end. Then, one day when I was 23 a friend was having some chicken, and I helped myself. I was not very healthful about being vegetarian (hello! I was in college) I was not getting anywhere near enough protein. So, I started eating meat again, but no red meat. That has been my rule until now (as I like to say "no hoof", for those who really think that "Pork is the Other White Meat") Weirdly, lately I've been experimenting more and more with red meat. I doubt it will ever be a favorite, but I may start eating it in earnest. I never thought I'd see the day.

(5) My milkshake brings all the boys to the yard. They're like, 'It's better than yours.' Damn right, it's better than yours. I could teach you, but I'd have to charge.

(6) I have lived without a TV for fourteen (14) years. It happened kind of accidentally - didn't have one in college (cable was too expensive), and intended to buy one for my new apartment. After some snafus with Best Buy, I realized that I didn't need one. I think that I read more, go out more, etc. than I would if I had one.

I'm sort of cheating these days as I have Netflix (and I'm obsessed.) I sometimes watch TV shows on DVD. I'm not sure how people can watch a serial show in little 1/2 hour (Lost) or one hour (24) bites. That would drive me nuts!

(7) When I was in college, I wore combat boots every single day. Or pretty close to it. Mmmm... Canadian issue, 10-hole, pebble finish. They were the only shoes that seemed to stand up to snow, salt, etc. Plus, I was experimenting/rejecting what people told me I should look like. I had supershort (what I called "George Clooney") hair. I stopped removing body hair. I crushed up eyeshadow and made lipstick (for example, electric blue.) Honestly, I've never been hotter or been a hotter commodity. Since college, I have become much "girl-ier." I am religious about eyebrow shaping and pedicures (as anyone who reads this blog knows.) I always wore makeup, and now I can afford the really good 'ish if I want it, etc. etc. I feel I can be both now: I can arch my perfectly shaped eyebrow while I tell you off about your anti-feminist agenda.

(8) I love a lot of really, really bad movies. In fact, I may do a secret shame post on them. ("Earth Girls Are Easy" anyone?) This is especially embarassing since I'm such a cinephile.

(9) I don't always wear underwear. It's not really necessary with a lot of things (and it's a great way to avoid VPL. Not that I give a damn about VPL.) My mother would be horrified, horrified to (a) know this secret, and (b) that I shared it with the internet. At my last job before law school, I designed a week's worth of outfits that I could wear without underwear. This is some kind of statement about how unhappy I was there.

(10) I'm more than a little afraid of water. (Not in a rabid, hydrophobia sort of way.) I don't like to swim in the ocean. Conceiving of the amount of water, not being able to touch the bottom, etc. makes me feel claustrophobic and like I can't breathe. It's a mental thing. Sometimes, even the deep end of the pool can freak me out. At the same time, being on the beach at night is where I feel closest to the divine.

Tag, tag - you're it: if you read this far and feel like doing it.

Hindsight: 20/20

These are the tunes that no one tracked down:

(1) Take me to heart, and nobody can make me do wrong
Do Right Woman, Do Right Man - Aretha Franklin. Soul was the music of my childhood and adolescence. (See also, number 11.)

(5) I can't hold this day any more
Over - Portishead. I'm a huge, huge Portishead fan.

(9) Love - I see you there, adrift on the air
Open Window - Sarah Harmer (A fellow Queen's alumna!).

(11) Sit back down and talk to me about how you want to be
You Ought to be With Me - The Reverend Al Green.

(12) I told you how I feel, but you don't care
Sleep to Dream - Fiona Apple. I'm surprised no one guessed this one, but maybe the lyric is obscure, or generic-sounding.

(14) I'd say love was a magical thing, I'd say love would keep us from pain - had I been there
A Different Corner - George Michael. Love him, ain't ashamed.

(15) You're my love, you're my sweetest thing
Ooh Aah ... Just a Little Bit - Gina G. How embarassing is this? Even worse - it's off of an MTV CD! (The Grind, Vol. 1)

20/20

Straight-ripping this from brimful.

I set my iTunes on shuffle and wrote down the first line of the first twenty songs (excluding songs where the initial lyric is, or contains, the title.) There's some embarassing stuff here - but here it is:

1. Take me to heart, and nobody can make me do wrong
2. I never thought you were the letter writing type brimful - "If I Wrote You" - Dar Williams.
3. Tears on the sleeve of a man, I want to be a boy today brimful, encore une fois! "Pretty Good Year" - Tori Amos
4. I'm not talking about a year, nor not three or four - sandhya (the lurker who came to stay ... I hope) "Forever" - Ben Harper
5. I can't hold this day any more
6. Love (love) is a verb, love is a doing word ^* brimful, aka Goddess of Lyrics - "Teardrop" - Massive Attack
7. Love is like a never-ending melody, poets have compared it to a symphony scorps1027 gets very close. "Desafinado" (English lyrics. Many, many recordings. I have Ella Fitzgerald, Coleman Hawkins, and Astrud Gilberto/George Michael versions on my iTunes. Perry Como's version uses the title 'Slightly Out of Tune.')
8. I've got no chauffer to chauffeur me, I've got no servant to serve my tea scorps1027! "Nobody But Me" - Lou Rawls
9. Love - I see you there, adrift on the air
10. Missed the Saturday dance, heard they crowded the floor andrea! "Don't Get Around Much Anymore" (Jazz/swing standard - so recorded by many, many people.)
11. Sit back down and talk to me about how you want to be
12. I told you how I feel, but you don't care
13. The people keep repeating that you'll never fall in love - brian! (There's a first time for everything!) "Let My Love Open the Door" - Pete Townshend
14. I'd say love was a magical thing, I'd say love would keep us from pain -had I been there
15. You're my love, you're my sweetest thing
16. Nicky's in the corner with a black coat on scorps1027 (a rockstar in her own right) "Beautiful Girl - INXS
17. You are far when I could have been your star brimful - "Kissing a Fool" - George Michael (and I ain't ashamed!!)
18. Shattered dreams, worthless years, here am I encased inside a hollow shell - cookiemonsta is close enough: "I Believe (When I Fall in Love It Will be Forever) - Stevie Wonder
19. You think you gotta keep me iced - you don't andrea (brimful with the assist) - "Love Don't Cost a Thing" - J. to the L-O
20. I was at the mall, sippin' on a milkshake - cookiemonsta! Ladies Love Cool James - "Big Ole Butt"

^* - Initially, I thought this was "Love (love) isn't fair", until I decided to check it against the lyrics as found online. Mmmyeah - more than a few of what I think are the first lines may be mondegreens.

Your assignment: without Googling (or other search engine-ing), name the tunes!

Quatre

Thanks, Heather.

Four jobs I have had:

• All-arounder at The International Centre. I loved this job - I knew every international student on campus!
• Temp in Judicial chambers, Fairfax County Circuit Court. This is where my interest in "the law" began. I temped here during the summer before my last year of college. I remember thinking, "too bad you have to go to law school to be an attorney - I will never do another degree!"
• My stint in retail: I worked in a Minnesota Fabrics store (now known as Hancock Fabrics . )
• software engineer/application developer/etc. etc. - translation: code monkey. This is the illustrious career I had before the harebrained scheme (i.e. to go to law school.)
  

Four movies I could watch over and over:

• Lost in Translation
• Muriel's Wedding
• Frida
• Matrix, The

Four places I've lived:

• Kingston, Ontario
• Northern Virginia (McLean, Fairfax, and Falls Church)
• St. Genis-Pouilly (France)
• Palo Alto, CA (when I was a super-wee kid, and again when I was a summer associate.)

Four TV shows I love to watch: (keeping in mind that I don't have a TV)

• Northern Exposure
• Sex and the City (or as my friend's mom (Indian) calls it "City Sluts.")
• Six Feet Under
• 24

Four places I've been on vacation:

• Portugal
• Australia
• Spain
• Thailand
  

Four of my favorite foods:

• sushi
• Massamun curry
• soup (comfort food for me)
• breakfast, generally. I feel like I'm getting away with something when I have breakfast for dinner.

Four places I'd rather be right now:

• Venice. I've seen quite a few movies that take place and/or have scenes in Venice. Now, I feel a hankerin'.
• Hawaii. I've never been! Now that I live on the west coast, I think it's much more likely that I'll go.
• Costa Rica. I had hoped and planned to go to language school in CR, and I will make it happen! I didn't buy Lonely Planet: Costa Rica for nothing!
• Malaysia. I miss the fam.

Four sites I visit daily:

• Bloglines
• Gmail
• washingtonpost.com
• Netflix

Four Bloggers I am tagging:

• brimful
• J-money
• wt
• ANNA
  

sept

So, I'm getting around to this 7/7/7/7/7/7 (notice there are SIX lists of 7, could not one have been added to ease my OCD?)

7 things I want to do in this lifetime:

• waltz in Vienna (or, tango in Buenos Aires. Or both.)
• write a book/make a movie (ideally: write a book that I make into a movie!)
• fall/be in love
• learn Spanish
• parent a child
• take a honeymoon (even (especially?) if I never marry)
• live in a foreign country

7 things I can do:

• knit, sew, cross-stitch - I'm crafty, bitches!
• chat up strangers (airport waiting lounges, at bars, in line at the post office, you name it)
• commit to long-term goals
• go from post-gym sweaty to semi-formal (i.e. shower, makeup, and hair, etc.) in under 1/2 hour
• give good advice (and know when to shut the hell up)
• pick myself up, dust myself up, and move forward
• laugh at myself

7 things I can not do:

• hula hoop
• deal with chipped nail polish
• drink soda
• live with a television
• suffer fools
• ice skate (this is one of my secret shames - 5 years au Canada and I can't skate! My feet aren't built for it - it's excruciatingly painful.)
• flirt

7 things that attract me to another person:

• humor (in my view - you can't be funny without being smart, so this takes care of the intelligence requirement)
• goofiness (covers not taking yourself too seriously)
• vulnerability (the "I can open up and share" thing)
• an artistic side - whether as an actual artist, or an afficianado
• vibe
• self-awareness
• slightly imperfect features. Give me a gap-toothed smile, or an interesting nose any day!

7 things I say most often:

• Dude
• Whatevs, yo
• 2 and 9 (as in "Dude, there were like 9 thousand people in line. I was like "whatevs, yo"" I'm 30 and I seriously talk like that. See also, final bullet in this section.)
• F'ng hell - not really sure why I made that PG
• WTF
• Actually
• Seriously

7 people 's 7/7/7/7/7/7 results I'd love to see:

• Little Bro 1 & 2
• DTG
• the Star
• my anonymous commenters
• those who lurk, but do not comment ( My statcounter doesn't lie - I know you're there)
• the person who keeps googling Malayali aunties
• Jake Gyllenhaal