things are looking up

After the death of our friend Gordon, we knew we needed to get a new fish. Today we visited Petsmart and picked out this beauty, Odette. She's named after our friend Samira (her middle name is Odette). Samira should be here in Boulder, living with the two of us, but she has decided to live in Indiana instead. So, in fish form, Samira will be our third roommate. Odette's middle name is Livno (a tribute to Josh, who is living in Livno, Bosnia), and her last name is Kerouac, after Jack, of course. By the way, Odette is actually a boy, but we like to think of her as a girl, so a girl she shall be.

Also, we found out today that our applications to rent a house on the Hill have been approved! We can't wait!

Just a few hours ago, I received an e-mail asking me to come in for an interview for a full-time editorial position at a company here in Boulder.

And, I dumped all of my pennies into a coinstar machine today and got enough credit with iTunes to buy a new CD. Nathan, thanks for the tip!

1 step to having a really bad sunday in boulder (or, what happened today)

1. Come home to find the fish that you won at the fair yesterday dead.

20 steps to having a great saturday in boulder (or, what I did yesterday)

1. Wake up early and eat a bowl of cereal. (Yes, I'm still on the cereal kick.)
2. Park downtown, and walk the Creek Path to the Farmer's Market, and check out the wonderful array of produce, flowers, hippies, and organic products. Be sure to sample the organic peanut butter--it's amazing.
3. Walk down Pearl Street, eat lunch outside, while listening to the local musicians playing on the street.
4. Visit an old coworker/friend, who now works in a store on Pearl Street. While talking to him, learn a new phrase, "out where Jesus lost his sandal," meaning "out in the middle of nowhere." Also, convince him that he must get in a photo with you, taken with a Polaroid camera.
5. On the way back to your car, stop by the Trident to cool off with a refreshing and delicious iced vanilla latte. Then browse the poetry selection at the attached bookstore.
6. Head towards the Hill and drive by the house that you will hopefully be moving into at the end of August. Drive by it several times. Pray hard that your application is approved.
7. Drive just one block down the street to your friends' house. Think about how fun it would be to live so close to these friends. Stop for awhile, visit, catch up on life, and talk to a traveler from France about how great craigslist.com is.
8. From there, head towards Longmont, home of the Boulder County Fair.
9. Upon arriving at the fair, take lots of Polaroids of the ferris wheel, carousel, chickens, and longhorn cattle.
10. Play a game, and win a fish (pictured here)!
11. Name the fish "Gordon" after your long lost friend, Josh Gordon, who has recently moved to Bosnia.
12. Don't leave the fair without first conversing with a true carnie (born and raised in the funnel cake booth), eating a funnel cake, and drinking a fresh lemonade shakeup.
13. Eat a delicious pasta dinner at home.
14. Drive to Pearl Street, and buy a book of haikus by Jack Kerouac.
15. Sit outside at the Book End coffee shop, sip some iced green tea, write a letter to a friend, and read some haikus while listening to tribal drum beats coming from the hippies pounding on buckets and other random objects just a few feet away.
16. Participate in the Zip Code Man's show. Test his knowledge by throwing out the zip code of your tiny hometown in Ohio. Be amazed and entertained when he knows where you live, calling it "the farm just outside of Chillicothe, Ohio."
17. Stop by Ventana Maya, the mysterious window in the wall, just off of Pearl Street for a little midnight snack of tostadas and salsa.
18. Stare in wonder at the miniature size of your snack. Ask yourself how they get limes to grow the size of cherry tomatoes and why you gave the man $3 for it. Be tempted to go back to the window and say, "What is this? A snack for ants? It needs to be at least three times this size."
19. Go home and crash on your roommate's bed for awhile. Share lots of laughs.
20. Sleep.

i think i know why

Most likely the reason I'm still single is that I come up with ideas like "the wrist scarf" (modeled by Shauna). Really, it's an unfinished scarf that I began in January . . . when Kayla left, I forgot how to crochet. I found it the other night while sorting through a box of random junk that has been sitting in my room since I moved in. Now that we're moving out at the end of this month, I decided it was time to get rid of it or put it to use. What can you do with an unfinished project like a scarf? Tie it around your wrist and make a fashion statement. Also, I found some body jewels that Kayla sent me last year (also modeled by Shauna).

Other random things I found this week: In a file folder from a couple years ago, I found the manual to my toaster. Apparently I thought I might not know how to use it.

We've been searching like mad this week to find a new place to live. I think we may have found one (or two) today. Both are in ideal locations in Boulder--near Pearl Street, the Hill, and friends. We're pretty excited.

then why?

http://realestate.msn.com/Rentals/Articleforbes.aspx?cp-documentid=694846>1=8384

for crying out loud, try some of our scrumptious magic beans

Oh, the wonderful world of temp work . . . you never know what you may end up doing. This weekend, Jenna and I had the pleasure of working the Jelly Belly Sport Bean booth at the Boulder Triathlon. Job description: Sit at a booth and give people samples of a product we know very little about and have never used (at least not while exercising). What we actually did: sat at a booth, read information about the product off of a box, and tried to be as convincing as possible that it would work . . . we're guessing it does since most people were ecstatic when they saw us giving away free samples. While doing this, we made up a game. We both chose several words/phrases that we had to work into our conversation with customers. For each word/phrase used, a point was given. Here's our list:

1. juxtaposition
2. magic beans
3. neither here nor there/neither fish nor foul
4. til the cows come home
5. for crying out loud
6. scrumptious
7. refer to the marathon that we ran together in '97
8. blasting with flavor
9. ask the customer if they think it would be a good idea for jelly belly to make a buttered popcorn flavored sport bean

I think Jenna won . . . I had a lot of trouble working several of them into the conversation . . . I did alright with "juxtaposition" and "magic beans," but it's so difficult to talk about the marathon in '97 without laughing in the customer's face. Great game though. My favorite moment: When Jenna simply blurted out the word "juxtaposition," totally by itself. So funny. Pretty sure people thought we were drunk.

By the way, people who run triathlons are out of their minds. Get this . . . they swim a mile, then bike 26 miles, and then run a 10k. I think the guy who won it today did it under 2.5 hours. Insane. And 1500 people chose to do this today.

P.S. My semicolon button is now completely broken. I can't tell you how annoying this is . . . must get it fixed this week.

you are my mermaid

Shauna's friend Noelle recently gave her a gift from China--a journal. On the front, there is a drawing of children playing on a playground, and some words:

Wagle
Everyone talks about it,
but no one has really seen it.
You are my mermaid, and I'll protect you.

No clue what this is about. Any ideas?

love

Tonight Jenna asked me tonight if I had a favorite poem. I don't, but I do really like Billy Collins' poetry, and this is my favorite of his:

Love

The boy at the far end of the train car
kept looking behind him
as if he were afraid or expecting someone

and then she appeared in the glass door
of the forward car and he rose
and opened the door and let her in

and she entered the car carrying
a large black case
in the unmistakeable shape of a cello.

She looked like an angel with a high forehead
and somber eyes and her hair
was tied up behind her neck with a black bow.

And because of all that,
he seemed a little awkward
in his happiness to see her,

whereas she was simply there,
perfectly existing as a creature
with a soft face who played the cello.

And the reason I am writing this
on the back of a manila envelope
now that they have left the train together

is to tell you that when she turned
to lift the large, delicate cello
onto the overhead rack,

I saw him looking up at her
and what she was doing
the way the eyes of saints are painted

when they are looking up at God
when he is doing something remarkable,
something that identifies him as God.

my week in photos

Monday: East of Boulder, there was some crazy lighting--big bolts coming down, sometimes crawling across the sky. I sat in my car for about an hour and watched while listening to great music and trying to capture a bit of it with my camera. Actually getting a photo of it was challenging because my digital has about a 1-second delay. But I did manage to get one.


Friday: To celebreate Melissa's birthday, approximately twelve of us girls met at Southern Sun for dinner, then took a limo (yes, the limo actually picked us up at southern sun . . . I wonder if that's ever happened before) to Denver to Sing Sing, a piano bar. Later we walked to Polly Esther's (a decade dance club) and had a good time reliving the 80s on the dance floor.

Stephanie and Melissa


Melissa dances as Boy George looks on.


Megan and Me


Saturday: I spent my afternoon/evening with Jaydn. We had fun watching VeggieTales, playing outside, coloring, and putting Hello Kitty stamps on our hands and feet. Oh to be three again . . . so much fun!

for all of you hopeless romantics . . .

My friend Mel, photographer extraordinaire, sent me a link to a video that documents a couple's proposal. It's a great story . . . Check it out at www.fiftyfootfilms.com. Once there, click on "Screening Room," then "Hidden Camera Proposal."

to eavesdrop on interesting conversations . . .

. . . visit The Trident on Pearl Street.

Every time I spend an afternoon working at The Trident, I overhear some of the most bizarre conversations.

Last week, I listened to a young man and an elderly man discuss their views on religion.
Young guy: Jewish, wants to move to Israel to become a rabbi, but while living in Boulder, he's studying Buddhism.
Old guy: Has made up his own religion, believes humanity is infallible, and continually referred to his "mythological god."

Today I overheard a guy explaining that several years ago he was driving from California to New York, intending to move to New York. He stopped in Boulder and knew this was his home, so he just stayed. Surprisingly, I've actually heard this same explanation from many people, so maybe it wasn't that interesting after all . . .

Then two guys next to me were discussing their roommate who smokes pot every day, all the time . . . Again, not a conversation you hear in the coffee shops of southern Ohio, but here . . . kind of normal.

But now I'm listening to two young girls talk about their trip to Las Vegas. They went with a few friends for a fun weekend; however, two of their friends, while there, randomly decided to get married. And now, of course, they're regretting it and blaming it on these two girls for repeatedly encouraging them to get hitched in Vegas.

I'm realizing that I probably shouldn't work here unless I have headphones . . .

grammar and head-butting

This morning I was casually reading an article on MSNBC about Zinedine Zidane, my favorite French head-butter, and I found at least six blatant grammatical mistakes--and I wasn't even looking for them. Now I certainly understand that editors aren't perfect, but in a 500-word article published on one of the world's most popular news sites, this should not happen. Also, because I used to work for a newspaper, I understand that the news media is under a lot of pressure to get articles published quickly--especially if it's breaking news. But this was not breaking news; it was an editorial.

It certainly seems as though standards are dropping in the publishing field--at least regarding material published on the internet--which frustrates me. But I'm not quite frustrated enough to head-butt anyone in the chest . . . at least not yet. You'd probably have to insult my mother to get me that upset. :)

random thoughts on the day

First, a few random thoughts:

1. Suddenly, I like cereal. For 25 years, I have had no interest in eating it, and now, out of nowhere, I like it.

2. I watched a show today on TLC called Take-Home Chef. Basically, what happens is this guy, Curtis (pictured here), who is an attractive, single, professional chef with a cool Australian accent, intercepts random women at the grocery store. He then offers to cook her and her husband/boyfriend dinner at her home. Nothing like this ever happens to me at the grocery store. It would be nice if it did.

3. I accidentally slept in until 1:45 p.m. today. Whoops. Seriously, I only meant to sleep until 10:00, but apparently my body knew I needed some more shut-eye after many, many late nights and early mornings. But now I'm really awake. And the cycle continues . . .

Moving on . . .

I had a fantastic evening with some friends. First, I met Julie for dinner at the Moongate Asian Bistro, where I had a fabulous Thai curry, panang. (Curry is yet another food that I used to think I hated . . . now I love it. Apparently it's true that taste buds do change.)

Later, I met some other friends at the West End Tavern, which has, in my opinion, the best rooftop patio in all of Boulder; however, due to the uncovering of a dead body (we're assuming it was an animal's dead body and not a human) below the floorboards of the patio, it was closed. Instead, we sat on the regular patio outside of the restaurant. Still a good time.

I feel like nothing I've said tonight is really all that interesting, so I'm now going to simply quote the words of someone who is interesting, Mr. Jack Kerouac:

A haiku:

The world is old
and wise
And I am tired
of my eyes

gamekillers

For a good laugh, check out this site: www.gamekillers.com
Yes, it's an advertising campaign for a deodorant, but it's funny.
My friend Kayla sent me a postcard today that described "The Balladeer" (pictured here).
I have no idea why this particular description made her think of me . . . (that's a joke). :) You can read it on the site. Just click on the guy with the guitar.

making chris martin proud

Somehow the celebration of Aubrea's birthday led Rusty, Aubrea, and I to a bar, where we performed Coldplay's "Yellow." What a crazy night . . . For full details, check back later. As for now, here's a photo . . .

and now, a word from my dad . . .

**Lately, my friend Rusty has been allowing some friends to write guest blogs on his own blog. I love the idea, and I've decided to steal it for the day (hope that's okay, Rusty). However, this guest blog is slightly different because it's involuntary. What my dad intended to be a comment yesterday is being transformed into a guest blog today. I just really enjoyed what he had to say, and I thought all of you might as well. So here it is--a word from my dad . . .

Don't know how it fits into your life, but within the last week or so I have introduced Corbin, my grandson, Mandy's nephew, to wild blackberries, plums right off the tree in our front yard, and most excitedly, lightning bugs. Corbin prefers the northeastern term of "fireflies"--not too fond of lightning, or more so the accompaning thunder that goes with it. I never thought I could get so much joy from picking berries off the vine and watching him eat them as fast as I could pick them. And then I showed him those little beetles that light up at night. He was delighted. It took a little convincing to assure him that they were indeed harmless to humans. Too soon to let him know that sometimes the female will eat the male after they mate. I'll warn Corbin about other female attrocities later in life. We were unsucessful on the first night that we tried to catch some, but the next night we caught four of them. It was funny because they were flying about two feet off the ground at dusk; he could see them, but I couldn't. We put them in a jar and left them on the dresser that night for the best night-light a 2-year-old could ever hope for. Anyway, a lot of bad stuff has been going on in my life, but the task of picking blackberries, plums, and fireflies from the air have set a lot of that stuff on the back burner.

By the way, I ate a few of those berries myself. God makes good candy.

off to the mountains

To celebrate Aubrea's 25th birthday, we're headed to Breckenridge, and we'll be there until tomorrow afternoon. Eleven girls in a beautiful condo in the mountains . . . should be a good time. :)

Here's the lodge we'll be staying at. Nice, huh?

;

So the other night my semicolon button just flew off when I pushed down on it; apparently, I use it too much. And now, it won't stay on. So sad. It's my favorite.

damien & fiona

Just got home from the Damien Rice/Fiona Apple concert. Aubrea got me a ticket for my birthday--an amazing and generous gift. The show was at the City Lights Pavilion, which is downtown Denver. The venue is outdoors, but has a covering over it, which looks a lot like the Denver Airport (white, pointy, moutnainlike canvas). The air was cool, and a slight breeze occasionally swept through the pavilion--perfect atmosphere to hear great, live music.

Damien was fabulous. Our favorite moment: in the middle of my favorite song, "The Blower's Daughter," began to sing Radiohead's "Creep," which I believe was in honor of my friend J., who celebrated his birthday today and loves both Damien Rice and Radiohead. So happy birthday J. from Damien and me. But anyway, if you've never heard "The Blower's Daughter"--especially if you're a female, or if you're a male who wants to woo a female--you need to download it asap. I'm not sure a more passionate and romantic line has ever been written: "I can't take my eyes off of you." So beautiful.

And the most interesting point of the concert: Damien decides to throw back three glasses of red wine within a two-minute time period. Good thing it was the last song. He wasn't looking so good.

Fiona, though a bit odd and frightening at times, was great as well. She actually didn't freak me out as much this time as she did at the Coldplay concert. But then again, i was farther away from her tonight.

Really, it was just great to share this experience with my dear friend Aubrea, who has been and continues to be such a blessing in my life.