life is like...

Today would be Kurt Vonnegut Jr.'s 87th birthday. Although I have a bzillion other things to do today, I'm going to take some time to re-read a couple of his short stories from "Bagombo Snuffbox".

I don't think I ever showed anyone, but I made this piece in a ceramics class that I took in the fall of 2007.

I modeled it after THIS self portrait.

In other news: Jughead gave me a Whitman's Sampler last night... "You know, for when you need a fix." He is so wonderful.

THIS inspires me...

I can't get enough of this.

Man Photographs His Life Every Day for 18 Years

Jamie Livingston's Photos

save me from myself

"Between the great things we cannot do, and the small things we will not do, the danger is that we shall do nothing."
- Adolph Monod

I am learning so much everyday, about great causes, great movements, events and situations that incite anger, passion and action. The hope is that it will motivate me to work for social change, be the change I want to see in the world, fire me up... but it's just making me tired.

I'm tired. Too tired to do homework, or even read. I'm desperate for a craft day, or a creative outlet. I tell myself that that's what I really need to re-charge and de-stress myself.

But I think I'm just looking for more distractions. I don't want to work hard. I'm not hungry for success. I don't want to be in school. I am a lazy person.

packaging idiocy

I love getting mail. Who doesn't love getting mail? Especially a package! How fun! Well, when I got home today, I found this box waiting for me:

And you know what was inside this box? This Micro SD card for my new phone. (Shown with battery for scale.)

Yes, for some reason unknown to me, someone shipped an item that could easily fit into an envelope, in a box that could hold a pair of large boots. So unnecessary.

But it is a nice box. I can use it. I shouldn't complain.

Arguably, the ONLY acceptable use of auto-tune.

Katie Cadwell shared this video with me...

It's really beautiful.

I can't tell if I've been ripped off or not.

I stopped at Target just before I got home from Wisconsin this evening, to buy some shampoo and a package of nail files.
I went through the checkout, swiped my card, carried the two items out to my car, and went home.
After I parked, I looked at the receipt and saw that my total was $2.84. Evidently, the shampoo wasn't properly scanned, and I didn't pay for it! Free shampoo!

A few hours later, as I was getting ready to take a shower, I took the lid off the shampoo and smelled it. As I did so, I realized that the bottle is only about 2/3 full.
Had I PAID for the product, I would have had to decide if it was worth going back to Target to complain about, but because of an associate's mistake, I got 2/3 of a bottle of shampoo for free.
How weird.

Oh yeah-- my Atlas's 1st birthday party was a blast!!! Check out the photos HERE.

"Let's do our calendars!"

When I was little, my mom had us "do our calendars" at the beginning of every month. This meant that my mom would sit down with me and my sisters, her calendar and notebook (she always carried a spiral notebook in her purse), and a big manila envelope of stickers. We would go through the month, day by day, and she would tell us what school events, holidays, birthdays or appointments we had. My mom collected tiny stickers of different colors, shapes and themes, so it was really fun to pick one to go on each special date, and I practiced my writing too. This ritual was obviously really beneficial for my mom, as it gave her a chance to sit down and get our schedule straightened out, but it also built great time-management and organizational skills for me.

One year (1991, maybe?) I got a Mickey Mouse-themed calendar for Christmas that came with a whole sheet of stickers for different holidays and events. There were several rows of stickers with pictures of balloons and birthday cake, and a little line where you could write someone's name. Early one morning, in my excitement to "do our calendars", I wrote my own name on every single birthday sticker! It made sense to me at the time...