lonely planet?

The nightmare lives on an island.  Ok, technically an archipelago...whatever.  The last week was spent "exploring" (and that term is used very loosely) one of the 7,000 plus islands that make up this part of the world.  We are ever so glad that we decided to go slightly off the tourist walks and to be against the flow.

1000 cranes

There is a Japanese legend that says if you fold 1000 origami cranes, you will be granted a wish...I've kind of lost count but guess what my wish will be...

image from foreverflying.com

image from planetpals.com

mary jane

This nightmare has heard it all before.  They look funny, for kids, for gardening.  This nightmare does not care.  They're mary janes, they come in a lot of colors and they last forever...

image from vogue.com

stuck

I've gone through 95% of the books I got in the past 6 months or so and for some reason, I can't tell you about them.  I keep opening the drafts, editing a bit, then I end up staring at the blinking cursor for the rest of the day.  Maybe it's because my typing skills can't keep up with my thought process or probably that I'm trying too hard to be as erudite as possible without coming off as a know-it-all ass.  The contradiction that generally rules my writing isn't helped one bit by procrastination.

@sonielle

Kim turned 30 this year and to celebrate, she threw a themed party at Astoria.  The theme gave this nightmare a headache for two weeks preceding the event.  Legally Blonde, come in your best pink or purple outfits.  I have exactly ONE pink shirt in my closet.  In case you haven't noticed, I am not a pink type of nightmare.  In fact, I am allergic to pink.  It's probably psychosomatic but I can prove it by the appearance of rashes.

I digress.  Kim's 30th birthday.  I ended up in black and polka dots.  The pink part was covered by the pearls.  Dressing up once in a while is fun but if I had to stress out about what to wear every day or even every week, I'd go bonkers.

image from Kim

cough cough hint hint

1. Wuthering Heights (Penguin Classics Deluxe Edition) - No complaints if I get the entire set

image from we'll always have books

2.  Starbucks stainless steel water bottle with straw

image from starbucks.com

3. Whole roasted almonds

image from amazon.com

4. Proenza Schouler PS1

image from purseblog.com

5.  Bialletti Moka Express Stovetop Espresso Maker

image from amazon.com

6.  Moleskine 2011 12 month weekly notebook/planner - LARGE - THANK YOU PEACHES!

image from amazon.com

7.  Nokia E63 or E52 or E71 or E72

   

images from amazon.com

8. Gimble

image from national bookstore.com

9. Wizard of Oz shoes or Mary Janes - Miu Miu Glitter Loafer Pump or Patent Mary Jane Platform Loafers

image from fashionfuss.com

image from talkshoes.com

10. Canon Powershot G10

image from dpreview.com

11. Smashbox Cream Eyeliner Palette - PROOF

image from smashbox.com

12. Bookmarks

baggage

Everyone has baggage.  This nightmare carries about 10 pounds of baggage whenever she leaves the house.  And this is the same no matter how big or small the bag.  When tiny bags were the norm, mine looked like a hamster.  With the big bags now, I have a tendency to keep adding stuff until my shoulder screams bloody murder at me.  Spring cleaning the other day showed my wallet, kikay kit, the for-all-possible-semi-emergencies kit, a Starbucks tumbler, cologne, alcohol, throat spray, Envirosax, 3 lip balms, brush, planner, notebook, 3 tech pens, 1 clutch pencil, 1 automatic eraser, iPod, shades, planner, a book and snacks...yes, I NEED all of that.

guy shirts

This nightmare has a thing for guy shirts.  Not T-shirts.  We're talking oxfords, tuxedo, dress and polo shirts.  All long sleeved of course.  Don't ask why because we're still trying to understand it.  But we are collecting...and as of the last count, we have around 25...I think.  Show me 100% Egyptian Cotton and I'm sold...We have no impulse control at all.

define in six

In 2006, the editors at Smith Magazine asked their readers to describe their respective lives in 6 words.  The result was a book that is mostly funny, sometimes weird and never boring.  They also created a website where anyone can add their six words to a growing database.

Six Word Memoirs

This is mine so far: Books. Detached. Thrifting. Nothing finished, learning.

How would you define your life?

totem

This nightmare is a mystical empiricist.  Does that make sense?  Illogically, in a contradictory manner, probably.  

Let me clarify...

I learn best through experience; sometimes firsthand, sometimes vicarious.  If it cannot somehow be qualified and quantified, I have a hard time comprehending it.  I had to research the different chemicals and what parts of the brain are working when one "feels" love to understand that concept.  But I believe in the things that go bump in the night.  I have lucky charms and superstitions.  When something gets lost, I blame the dwarves that live in my house and follow me around.

This is one of my totems.  It always has to stay on top of the headboard because it stands guard while I sleep...At least until I become a vampire and no longer need sleep...;P

jellies

When this nightmare likes something, she has the tendency to buy it in multiples.  If it's comfortable, looks good and is reasonably priced, all the colors and styles find their way into my closet.  This is a compulsion that I cannot control.  For the past 3 months, this nightmare has been obsessed with jellies.  Not the food, the shoes.  "Jelly" refers to the material; a molded plastic that will last forever.  Which is one of the reasons that feed this obsession.  Though I must remember to stop killing the cigarettes when wearing these...

  

love

I read...a lot.  Books and reading was something that was automatic growing up.  It was never something I felt I had to learn because EVERYONE in my family reads.  My mom used to use the bookstore as a day care center when she had to run errands.  She'd let my brother and me choose 2-3 books, we'd look for an out of the way corner and she'd leave us after pointing out which sales girl to go to if we wanted more books.  Books, instead of toys were used as rewards for good behavior for my brother and me.  I remember asking for clothes or toys and my mom would always say that it was too expensive but when I bring 5-10 books to the register, it was always "That's it?".

You will see books almost everywhere in my house, even in the kitchen and bathrooms.  Both of my grandfathers dedicated one room in their houses as libraries so the smell of wood and old paper makes for a very vivid childhood memory.  My uncles would always be trading books and this is something that my cousins and I still do.  Books have even been used as leverage in family arguments.  I held my brother's Tolkien hostage for two weeks because he refused to let go of the remote.  Don't think first editions because none of our books are for display.  Dog ears, cracked spines, oily fingers, everything that would make a collector cringe.  Although I draw the line at tearing pages out, I've been known to use the blank pages as notebooks in a pinch.

Every time I move, my books comprise 35-40% of my stuff.  Aside from fixing my closet, packing, unpacking then arranging the books on the shelves is my official moved-in moment.  Makes me wonder what would happen if I have to move to another country.

As of this year, I have officially run out of shelf space.  Since the installation of new shelves is not possible, I have taken to bed and floor filing... 

petty

image by katikut

I reserve the right to indulge in a fit of pettiness every so often.  I think one should fully experience all major emotions once a month and the secondary ones, every six months.  Might not be scientifically proven, but such outbursts are beneficial to my wellbeing.  Think of it as taking a ginormous crap everything so often.  Now imagine the relief that comes after that.


Normally, I try to limit myself to two petty-rants a year but there are some situations where raining down curses and hellfire is the only way to keep from imploding.  Grandma Maleficent not only wrote the book on petty, she published it, sold the rights plus directed and starred in the movie.


"Oh, you "forgot" to send me the invitation to your daughter's christening?  No hard feelings but don't expect her to live beyond sixteen."


In my case, just because I say that I don't like weddings in general, doesn't mean that I don't want to go to yours especially if you are supposedly one of my closest friends.  This year, that count of supposeds has gone up to three.  Is it so wrong to be pissed because they did not even tell me?  One of them came home for a "vacation".  Non-committal responses to my questions of meeting up then I find out later that they did the church wedding here.


National Geographic had a commercial that said in high school, one has twenty friends which will go down to three by the time you hit forty.  I think this will be extremely true for me.


No one had bloody well better complain if and when I get married and I get very selective with the guest list.

gift suggestion

People, it should be simple.  If you have to give a gift to a bookworm and you're not sure what she would like, get her the biggest denomination gift certificate to any major bookstore that you can afford.  Barring that, get her a bookmark.  It's only logical that someone who owns a lot of books will need and appreciate receiving a bookmark as a gift.  This nightmare is giving plus points to her two friends who gave her bookmarks as a gift.  See the kitty and the N?  The K bookmark was from this nightmare's mom so technically it doesn't count.

We are also calling out to the bookworm bookmark that disappeared.  Did the dastardly bear-napper get you too?  Or did you run away like the Zippo man?  If you did run away, please remember that abandonment of one's post is a crime punishable by death.  If you were bear-napped, tell the dastardly bear-napper that we are still waiting for his ransom demand...

entomology 101

the lesson of the moth
By Don Marquis, in "archy and mehitabel," 1927


i was talking to a moth
the other evening
he was trying to break into
an electric light bulb
and fry himself on the wires


why do you fellows
pull this stunt i asked him
because it is the conventional
thing for moths or why
if that had been an uncovered
candle instead of an electric
light bulb you would
now be a small unsightly cinder
have you no sense


plenty of it he answered
but at times we get tired
of using it
we get bored with the routine
and crave beauty
and excitement
fire is beautiful
and we know that if we get
too close it will kill us
but what does that matter
it is better to be happy
for a moment
and be burned up with beauty
than to live a long time
and be bored all the while
so we wad all our life up
into one little roll
and then we shoot the roll
that is what life is for
it is better to be a part of beauty
for one instant and then cease to
exist than to exist forever
and never be a part of beauty
our attitude toward life
is come easy go easy
we are like human beings
used to be before they became
too civilized to enjoy themselves


and before i could argue him
out of his philosophy
he went and immolated himself
on a patent cigar lighter
i do not agree with him
myself i would rather have
half the happiness and twice
the longevity


but at the same time i wish
there was something i wanted
as badly as he wanted to fry himself


archy

off grid

Almost 365 days ago, my mobile died.  I think it contracted a cellular form of pancreatic cancer because it was ok one day then dead the next week.  The repair guy couldn't even figure out what exactly went wrong and the only recommendation he could give was to sell it.

Due to budget constraints and a chronic inability to make a decision, I have been phone-less for almost one year.  I am resisting the call of the iPhone for the sole reason that I do not want to be an Apple whore.  I've narrowed my options down to the models below although I could still be persuaded to change my mind...see?  I told you it was chronic...  Maybe I should go crackberry?

Going off the mobile grid has been very liberating in one sense and time-warpy (?) in another.  It's been very easy avoiding people but I have to finalize all plans before leaving the house.  Or at least make sure I have people's numbers written down in my planner.   Alcohol for the payphones is another essential.  It's also very funny how the fact that I don't have a mobile doesn't register with most people.  I mean, how many times do I have to say "I don't have a cell!"?!?