Random randomness

This is funny; I've now seen this guy in three different news articles about obesity. The first time I saw him I thought he actually had something specific to do with the article proper; like he was quoted in it, maybe. Now I see that he's just a piece of morbid obesity clip-art. The literal poster-boy.

Here's something interesting: an incoming freshman basketball player at the University of Arizona is named Jerryd Bayless. Some of you have probably heard my mini-rant about how many different ways my name has been spelled in my life—by teachers, people on the phone, new acquaintances, etc.—but it's never, EVER been spelled with a y. So that's cool.

In other news: we're only one year away from incoming freshman at universities having been born in the 90's. Just in case you weren't feeling old enough before...

I saw both The Darjeeling Lmt and No Country for Old Men last week. I need to see Darjeeling again, but I liked it—about as much as I ever like Wes Anderson movies the first time I see them, which is honestly not much. As I stated before, it's a scientific fact that Wes Anderson movies get better upon multiple viewings—when they showed Royal Tennenbaums to lab rats, on the first viewing they were chasing each other around, drinking from the drip bottle, eating pellets... but by the fourth showing, over half of the rats were crying when Richie slits his wrists. True story.

No Country, well... all I can say is "meh." It seems like everyone is so geeked up that the Coens didn't make an unmitigated crapfest for the first time in years that they're willing to overlook the fact that the movie A) completely falls apart in the last half hour, and B) is completely predicated on a patently unbelievable scenario. Beautifully filmed though.

Played tennis twice and ultimate Frisbee once over a four day period. And yes, I am still sore. Thanks for asking. But it was all worth it, mwhahahaha! I'd do it all again! Especially the Frisbee. God damn it I loves me some Frisbee! It was a perfect group, too; everyone hustling and trying hard, but nobody crazy competitive or aggressive or anything. None of those "sweep the leg, Johnny," types, who undercut you on high throws after you score a point or two. So that's nice.

What else is exciting is that I am leaving for Spokane on Thursday! Can't wait to see everyone. I just realized that I'm going to have to pack warm clothes; when it's sunny and 70 in mid-November, it's easy to forget what the weather in Washington is like. I'm honestly not sure where I'm going to put everything...

much afoot

I've been spending quite a bit of time on craigslist recently; it's an addictive habit, as I'm sure many of you can attest to. So far I've found two tennis partners (played for the first time in over a year on Thursday, and I'm playing again on Sunday); an ultimate Frisbee game (tomorrow morning, yeah!); and a poker game (Sunday evening, TX hold'em tourney). So I'm defining activities I want to participate in and finding people and groups to do them with. So far, so good...

Work is also going really well, on all fronts; we finally found a viable replacement for me for my caretaker gig, I am going to do a training shift on Wednesday and then (god willing) I'm done. I will most likely pick up a couple shifts in December since a lot of people are going to be gone during the holidays, but I am finished with the regularly scheduled shifts.

This is a good transition for me; Aurora (the woman I work for) and I have become good friends over the past six months I've worked with her, and I think it will be a lot easier for us to develop our friendship if we're not in an employer/employee relationship. The dynamic has already shifted, in the last few shifts I worked.

As a result, I'm going to pick up an extra shift at the tutoring job and be able to get insurance again as a result. So positive changes all around.

Tutoring is going well, I like the kids, I like the company, I like my coworkers, I like my schedule... all in all it's the perfect gig for me right now.

I'm right at the beginning of a very busy, social month and a half, and I couldn't be more excited about it. My bff Vanessa visited last weekend, we had a blast and explored my new neighborhood a lot more. She helped me clean out a bunch of unnecessary crap from my room, too. It looks and feels a lot better now. We also saw The Darjeeling Lmt., which is very good; I definitely need to see it again, as it's a scientifically proven fact that Wes Anderson movies get better and better the more times you see them. But I did like it. And now "No Country for Old Men" has come out, to outstanding reviews... I'm almost too excited. It can't possibly be as good as I've built it up to be... can it?

Next up is Thanksgiving in Spokompton with my favorite family, the Tubbs... flying out on turkey day proper (six days? Really?), coming home on Sunday. Then, Glenn comes to town on December 14^th for four days (I convinced him he needed to check out the Cornell Box exhibit at SF MOMA, we're both pretty geeked about it), and then I'm going home for xmas. I'm flying on the holiday proper again, and staying through January 3^rd. It's the perfect mix of visitors and visiting. Good times.

Oh yeah, and keep your eye out for issue 2 of Conscious Dancer! It will be coming out in late November/early December. I have an article about a really cool and interesting Bay Area band called Gamelan X in this issue. Please visit our website at consciousdancer.com for more information...

fall back

Can I just say this? Daylight Savings always messes with me. Like, always. Every time. I do prefer the "fall back" portion, generally, because it's usually better to gain time than to lose it. But "spring forward" is good, too, because, well... it's spring, right?

Those distinctions mean less when you live in middle California, though. Because fall is actually really sunny and beautiful, generally. I hear the pattern will be fog-rain-sun (honk-fog-punch), but so far it's been fog-rain-sun-sun-sun. So that's nice. Whenever I get homesick for Seattle I remind myself that it's the beginning of November... or "the bad times" as we call them in the Pacific Northwest.

In other news, I've moved again. Yes, yes, yes, go ahead and make your adult ADD jokes. God knows I've made them all myself. I'm now living in Oakland, the murder capital of the country! Actually, that's not quite true; now that New Orleans has gone third world I think they've taken the mantle. And I do have a hard time believing that Oakland is worse than Detroit or Houston... but that's what they tell me.

Important note: like any city, there are okay parts and the you-don't-want-to-ever-find-yourself-here parts. I'm living in what has been roundly described as the best neighborhood in Oakland. And so far everything has supported that view. I am about a mile and a half from Lake Merritt, which as far as I can tell is pretty much exactly the same as Green Lake. About 3.5 miles in circumference, jogging/walking path around the outside, etc. Only this lake has an added bonus: bird sanctuary in the middle! Yeah! Yesterday I walked around the Lake and saw what I thought was a crane or a heron but have now identified as a "great egret." And it was pretty great. Wading around a bunch of huge seagulls and occasionally doing that cool "spear a fish with its beak" thing. And I saw a flock of cormorants fishing, and a bunch of other cool smaller stuff. I think I might've seen some pelicans, too. Turns out this is the oldest National wildlife refuge in the country. So that's pretty cool.

What else is happening... still working all the jobs for the time being. I'm more comfortable tutoring now, but it is still intimidating in a way. When I first started, I could just study and read all the time and feel like I was preparing and getting better whenever I started to feel anxious. Now, I'm at a point where pretty much the only way I'm going to get better is to just do it. Which has both good and less good points. On the good side, my time outside of work is more my own, to fill with what I want; on the less good side, it's harder to deal with the nervousness if I can't just plop down and study for a while.

I don't think it's just the job that is making me anxious, though; it's just a convenient thing to project the anxiety onto. The move, of course, has left me unsettled, as well as the fact that I really haven't been down here that long. It feels like forever sometimes, but I've only really been gone for eight months.

My brain trip for the day: one year ago I had just moved into my own room in Barcelona.