Julia's Bloglet - Monday 7 April 2003

I'm just not sure what to think of this. I mean, really. WTF? _
respond? (6)
11:38:06 AM, Monday 7 April 2003

Another museum dream last night. And I didn't even realize it until I was relating the dream to Moss. This time it was a Flamenco Dancing Museum with bright mosaic tiles. I was supposed to go there with my mother, but there was a bit about a train wreck which I was forced to watch before I could. THe passengers got run over forwards and backward. They were bloody and all wearing gym shorts. My boss called the old lady who let me stay at her house to tell her I was so worthless I couldn't even speak English. _
respond?
08:52:36 AM, Monday 7 April 2003

What kind of beef do you like to eat with your friends? _
respond? (12)
04:14:53 PM, Friday 4 April 2003

I never have to write another workbook again. Fuck yeah! _
respond? (6)
02:27:44 AM, Thursday 3 April 2003

Moss: Julia, you can stop detailing the deaths of Disney theme park visitors any time now. Really. I mean, not that it isn't a perfectly lovely thing to think about first thing in the morning, but...
Me: Oh, right. Sorry.
Moss: It's all right.
Me: You know, the worst one was the employee who got crushed between these walls... Er... um. Would you like to hear something delightful, though? Not about death...
Moss: Please.
Me: Harlan Ellison got fired by Disney studios for joking about making Disney porn.
Moss: Sweet.
Me: Yeah and also Walt Disney wasn't actually cryogenically frozen. According to Snopes he was cremated.
Moss: Yeah, that what they say.
Me: yeah, and I dunno know how far I really trust 'em. They're probably part of The Man's conspiracy. I mean they say that the phallic shaped tower on The Little Mermaid isn't for real. Quoi-ever. _
respond? (7)
01:50:34 PM, Wednesday 2 April 2003

Last langue écrite workbook has been sent to Patrick. Hurrah! _
respond?
06:07:27 AM, Wednesday 2 April 2003

Balls, I say, balls! _
respond? (2)
03:26:03 AM, Wednesday 2 April 2003

Well I certainly hope we're not inviting Margaret Thatcher over for Truth or Dare! _
respond?
11:15:17 AM, Saturday 29 March 2003

Oh, Hockey Monkey, how do I love thee? _
respond? (4)
08:25:53 PM, Friday 28 March 2003

Eeeee! _
respond? (2)
07:26:23 PM, Friday 28 March 2003

Oh my God. And it really doesn't look like a joke. _
respond? (7)
04:21:21 PM, Friday 28 March 2003

Moss waxes romantic:

"I love you more than any 17th century puritans. I love you more than Oliver Cromwell." _
respond? (4)
02:26:37 AM, Friday 28 March 2003

Rachel (from her office across the hall): We're screwed! We have less than a week to get these workbooks done, we're out of ideas, and clearly we have no motivation... except to eat coconut cookies.
Me: Yeah, when it comes to eating coconut cookies I have too much motification...
Rachel: Hey George! What are you doing over there? I thought you were supposed to be busy waging war.
Me: Oh god, I deserved that. Motification. Jesus. _
respond? (1)
12:03:38 PM, Wednesday 26 March 2003

Occasionally, when trying to refresh a page, I catch myself saying, "RELOAD!" just like the voice in the arcade version of House of the Dead 2. I even imagine the red lettering in my head. Do you think the internet would move faster if zombies were after it? _
respond? (5)
07:54:41 AM, Wednesday 26 March 2003

Okay. Done with that. Now to get the last set of workbooks underway. Need to finish them très vite. Well, that is to say, I have a couple of days. But oh for the glory days of next Autumn. As I said to Madre, "You know what'll be nice about Taco Bell? I won't ever have to correct a chalupa's homework. And I won't have to teach a Mexican Pizaa anything... except how to be cut into four slices!" At all, ta. (Also the whole slices thing sounds much better if you sort of read it with a slightly psychotic edge in your tone.) _
respond?
06:16:41 AM, Wednesday 26 March 2003

Well, that was quick. Now I just have to re-write them all. Before 12. In forty-five minutes. Fuck. And people keep thinking I'm crazy to want to work at Taco Bell? _
respond? (2)
05:06:33 AM, Wednesday 26 March 2003

my boss justcalled to inform me that I need to change the exams. They're too difficult. Meeting time. God I need this fucking academic year to end already. _
respond?
04:55:46 AM, Wednesday 26 March 2003

Discussing band names with Sarah makes me remember that I thought of the Tycho Brahe Project the other day. Which in turn reminds me that I forgot to mention my latest Odd Museum Dream from the other night. It was abou the Tycho Brahe Dancing flower sclpture exhibit. Sculputred of enameled metale flower petals. Big iris petals and such. On poles attached to axels that spun them round and in uneven courses so that they appeared to be nodding and boobing and dancing; individual orbits overlapping into one big dizzy whole. It was outdoors in a plaza, but we didn't get the tickets that would have let us see how it was really meant to look from the observation tower. I still don't know wtf is up with the Museum Dreams. Subconscious? Wanna give me a hint here?

Also: It's like Disneyland with the Death Penalty! (Um, who said that, Moss?) _
respond? (5)
03:23:49 PM, Tuesday 25 March 2003

Ladies and gentlemen, I think we've found our man.

Meet Jim Iler. _
respond?
03:12:40 PM, Tuesday 25 March 2003

New Anarchist graffiti up in the passage between Rue Isabey and Rue de l'Armée Patton (as of late last week):

Police Partout

Justice Nulle Part _
respond? (2)
01:33:53 PM, Tuesday 25 March 2003

"Of course it's natural! It's the most natural thing I can think of!"
--Caprina Lynn on electrolysis. _
respond?
01:26:58 PM, Tuesday 25 March 2003

At l'Excelsior having chocolat chaud, CapLynn, Breecer, Chris and I had front row seats to the Manifestation Contre la Guerre. Anarchists and Socialists (two groups known for disliking each other - last year's Le Pen/Chirac election saw them tagging nasty things about each other all over the city) marched beside each other and expressed solidarity. The pictures of Bush as Hitler were a bit unnerving. Mostly because we kind of got the feeling the people holding them might be volatile and hostile towards any and All Americans, regardless of our political views. I'd guess I saw somewhere around three to five hundred people altogether. Most of them didn't seem agry at all Americans, which was reassuring. The police were escorting them so that they would be safe as they marched. A bit different than at home, I guess. I kind of wished I was among them. But it was enough to watch, really. I gave them my nods and waves of support. They seemed to be cool with that. And I got to do it while having fluffy chocolate with even fluffier whipped cream. My kind of protest. _
respond?
10:04:37 AM, Saturday 22 March 2003

Once upon a time I applied to be Neil's boyfriend. Or... I tried to apply. But the no good very bad internet goblins ate my app before it sent. It was a grrreat app. All that remains is the sonnet. And so, without further ado, for Neil (though meter may e shaky and content even moreso):

I am a woman graced with breasts and womb,
I am not transgendered awaiting change,
And woman I shall be even cold in tomb,
And not a man at all by any range,
Wishing me like to one more masculine,
Featured like him, like him with manly charm,
Desiring this man's nose and that man's chin,
Still I'm a woman -sound the alarm!
Yet still though many women have I tasted,
Wise Aristophanes would call me out,
For 'tis to a man I wish to be pasted,
That we on eight limbs may caper about,

So, not a true woman, yet still no man,
We're clearly not meant, but woo you, I can! _
respond? (8)
11:32:06 PM, Friday 21 March 2003

hellinda23: I guess we'd both best go, eh?
hellinda23: you to lunch
hellinda23: me to... lunch
MossHamparts: Okay, admittedly, it's four o'clock here, so I can't REALLY talk...
MossHamparts: but... Julia...
MossHamparts: one a.m. is FAR TOO LATE for lunch.

So... yeah, about that. I guess I ought to go eat something. Myar! _
respond?
06:57:57 PM, Friday 21 March 2003

It's not that I don't think about the war. It's not that I turn a blind eye. It's just that I have no words. I didn't even laugh at the latest Get Your War On. Sumana pretty much said what I feel and Moss covered the linking to vast amounts of information thing. There is no way to describe despair. And that's why I just don't tend to say much. _
respond? (3)
06:44:54 PM, Friday 21 March 2003

I started out with a comment, but then thought I might as well make this it's own post. Tim expressed concerns about the horse in vaulting. I have to say that while the danger of hurting or mistreating the horse is never something to ignore, in my experience the whole thing is very humane. Most practices I've participated in or witnessed began and ended with the vaulters grooming the horse and seeing to its needs, and at several times during the practice, vaulters will stopp to pat the horse. In addition vaulters are taught from the start to perform the moves as smoothly and gently as possible. When done correctly, vaulting shouldn't hurt the horse at all. It is much gentler than the average stunt you might see in a Western.

Happily, today, the AVA page seems to be back up. There you can see a far more detailed description of history, moves, rules, etc. as well as some more impressive photos.

Also, the Valley View Vaulters site talks a bt about how vaulting can be used as a form of therapy. One of the Valley View coaches, a v. nice guy named Rick Hawthorne, only has one arm. _
respond? (2)
12:04:58 PM, Friday 21 March 2003

I tried to explain vaulting to Moss. It's not easy to do without visuals, and photographs aren't as good as video where you can see movement. Sadly, the American Vaulting Association page appears to have been eaten by the web, but I found pictures of some random team demonstrating the six compulsory moves and some freestyle (kur) moves. I've done most of them at some point or other (though not necessarily well). _
respond? (5)
10:52:19 AM, Thursday 20 March 2003

"Maybe the demons made her do it!" _
respond?
01:49:44 PM, Wednesday 19 March 2003

Talking to Moss earlier I was wondering about the history of San Francisco. How old it was as a city, etc. Imagine my surprise and delight to find this mangled English site on that very subject. God I love poor translations! _
respond?
01:20:38 PM, Wednesday 19 March 2003

I've got this post-it note on my desk that says, "March 17 is Mirabai's Birthday." I think originally I expected to remember to prepare something cool in advance. But we're talking about me here, master of the fine art of procrastination. All I have to offer is this: I woke up this morning with a half-formed idea for some sort of story or comic tracing the adventures of Mirabai and her evil twin sister, the femme Mirabelle. Sadly, I have no time to write it because work is a monster. But it's the thought that counts, right? Happy Birthday, Mirabai! _
respond? (2)
01:04:09 AM, Monday 17 March 2003

Folklore exam done. I think. Langue écrite exam still half done. Yikes. Something pleasing: The place that sells motos near my house is called Scoot Mania. I just notice that today. I've got to get a bike! I've got Scoot Mania! (no, not really) _
respond?
02:18:07 PM, Sunday 16 March 2003

Maybe I need some of this. The soup is civilization! _
respond? (2)
01:29:00 PM, Sunday 16 March 2003

I saw an Asian family in the grocery store today. I guessed they were Chinese, though I have no idea how to accurately differentiate between nationalities, really. A mother and three kids. Two little girls I'd guess were five and a half and just turned four and then a little child in a stroller.

They were in front of me at the register, and the just turned four year old was off in her own little 'the grocery store is a playland of wonders' world. I iknow this world well, because I used to live in it when I was four. There are bars between lanes that are great for climbing around or through or sliding under, and then the whole conveyor belt for groceries thing that you're just sure would be great fun to ride on if only you could somehow get up there... Anyway she was all cute.

The older girl was more prim and proper mommy's little grocery store helper, standing quietly with her hands folded in front of her. She wore a head band to keep her hair out of her face, and her hair was really neat and tidy for a little girl. Far tidier than my own is now, though I'm not sure that's saying much.

The mother wasn't much older than I am, maybe 30 tops, and they all had what I think most people would agree is black hair. I mean, it was glossy and shiny and it appeared to be black. Upon closer examination, however, I noticed that there were glints of red or dark brown in it. And I wondered if this meant that their hair was in fact not black, but my thoughts were interrupted by the thing in the stroller.

It may have been a child, or it may have equally been a demon, I can't be sure. All I know is that the mother tried to pry a box f cereal from its clutches and had a devil of a time succeeding. When she finally did, the thing howled with the force of ten wolves and thrashed so violently that I thought the stroller might explode. The commotion didn't cease until the family had left the store entirely.

I'm not exactly sure what the point of this little vignette is. It may have several. One being that kids can be cute or terrifying and that I'm still suspicious of them. Two being that people exhibit markedly different personailties from a very early age. Three being that perhaps black hair is not always entirely black.

This last I resumed considering as I walked over to the university. Here's what I've tentatively concluded: "black hair" may not always be true black, but may have other colors hidden within. My brown hair has blonde strands in it, but I still call it brown and think most people would agree. I think the same goes for black hair. If I see someone and the overall impression I get is black, then I will call that person black-haired. Does this seem reasonable? _
respond? (2)
11:07:29 AM, Saturday 15 March 2003

Meh, exams half done. Off to catch the train to Paris. They'll just have to be turned in on Friday Morning. _
respond?
06:49:04 AM, Wednesday 12 March 2003

Finally, workbooks done and turned in. Now the exams. I have two hours. go go go! (but at least (though I haven't slept) I've showered and eaten something in my two hours of away time. _
respond? (1)
04:35:11 AM, Wednesday 12 March 2003

Hello, sunrise. _
respond? (9)
01:02:09 AM, Wednesday 12 March 2003

older entries

site & script courtesy of Moss