Last night, I went to a show. The band was The XX, whom I had never heard of before and can't honestly say I would recognize again if I heard it today. They were described to me as minimalist, but I'm not sure why. They only had three members, and the "percussionist" played beats, I guess, but it didn't sound minimal at all, since it was loud as hell and had a huge light show and enough sonic layers to be described as complex.
But I digress. What was interesting to me about the show was the scene. It seems like music has finally arrived at a place where girls are more welcome, and so are gay kids, based on some of the smooching I saw. Given, this band was pretty twee, but I've seen aggro crap at twee shows, and that really wasn't in evidence. The crowd was diverse and well-behaved. The whole situation was almost unrecognizable to someone who started seeing live music 25 years ago. And the crowds had even settled down by then, compared to what it was like 10 years before that.
I'm just commenting on it because it surprised me.
Friday, May 31, 2013
Wednesday, May 29, 2013
Berkeley Never Fails
I stopped reading the Berkeley Parents Network newsletters when my kids started sleeping through the night. Thankfully, I have friends whose kids must not be sleep trained because sometimes I get juicy updates like these two.
Mindful Housesitting (Berkeley)
-----------------------------------------------
Mindful Housesitting:
Offering Housesitting in a spirit of mindfulness and kindness.
Blessings for your plants, pets, mail, gardens, and home.
Good references and experience
Be at ease while you are away
Especially cat friendly
Mindful, caring, reliable, honest, clean, quiet, gentle, focused, drug/drama/alcohol free, and goodhearted female.
Please contact: mindfulhousesittingamyi@xxxx.com
Longer arrangements given priority, advance arrangements appreciated.
Barter/Trade-OK; donations always appreciated!
Thank you.
Contact: Amy email: amyibelieve@xxxxxxxx.com
Something makes me doubt the drama free part but the "especially cat friendly" part seems pretty believable. This next one makes me wonder if this gal here is actually just looking to move to the Bay Area, and has some other special skills to share.
Is there a market for a wet nurse in the bay?
-------------------------------------------
We are thinking about moving backl to the bay and I have been thinking about trying to pick up some work as a nanny (I homeschool my 2 and 5 year old aswell). I have been following quite a few posts on Breastfeeding support in different ways and it seems like wet nursing is making a come back at least a little. You think there would be any interest for this in the bay? I am very healthy and eat a very healthy diet specifically to give my daughter great milk. She would still be nursing but my supply has alwaysadjusted to meat their demand. I have always wanted to donate milk to help those that need it but just don't get anything if I pump (if I get a little it's only ever for milk).
Would you have wanted your care tiverton step in in this way? Would it have seemed too weird to you? Wu,d your willing to pay extra? The money would come in handy as we dont yet know how we will be able to afford living in the bay again but I would also be very interested in doing it for someone who was really in need wether they could afford it or not. Happy to share this gift of nourishment
It's a huge relief that there are still wierd people out.
Mindful Housesitting (Berkeley)
-----------------------------------------------
Mindful Housesitting:
Offering Housesitting in a spirit of mindfulness and kindness.
Blessings for your plants, pets, mail, gardens, and home.
Good references and experience
Be at ease while you are away
Especially cat friendly
Mindful, caring, reliable, honest, clean, quiet, gentle, focused, drug/drama/alcohol free, and goodhearted female.
Please contact: mindfulhousesittingamyi@xxxx.com
Longer arrangements given priority, advance arrangements appreciated.
Barter/Trade-OK; donations always appreciated!
Thank you.
Contact: Amy email: amyibelieve@xxxxxxxx.com
Something makes me doubt the drama free part but the "especially cat friendly" part seems pretty believable. This next one makes me wonder if this gal here is actually just looking to move to the Bay Area, and has some other special skills to share.
Is there a market for a wet nurse in the bay?
-------------------------------------------
We are thinking about moving backl to the bay and I have been thinking about trying to pick up some work as a nanny (I homeschool my 2 and 5 year old aswell). I have been following quite a few posts on Breastfeeding support in different ways and it seems like wet nursing is making a come back at least a little. You think there would be any interest for this in the bay? I am very healthy and eat a very healthy diet specifically to give my daughter great milk. She would still be nursing but my supply has alwaysadjusted to meat their demand. I have always wanted to donate milk to help those that need it but just don't get anything if I pump (if I get a little it's only ever for milk).
Would you have wanted your care tiverton step in in this way? Would it have seemed too weird to you? Wu,d your willing to pay extra? The money would come in handy as we dont yet know how we will be able to afford living in the bay again but I would also be very interested in doing it for someone who was really in need wether they could afford it or not. Happy to share this gift of nourishment
It's a huge relief that there are still wierd people out.
Wednesday, May 22, 2013
Who Else is Still Blogging?
I got to wondering, if Jenny is back on the blogging wagon, who else might still be out there, sharing their thoughts in a world where people increasingly read only tweets. I checked in on some other blogs I used to follow.
1. Arch Thinking. My sister has not blogged since January, and it was only to reveal that her budding art career. She's moved on to Etsy it seems.
2. A Better Oakland is gone. At least the blog. Oakland itself has gotten better in some ways and worse in others. Probably worth its own blog post, really.
3. James Kennedy is still blogging. We had James over for dinner when he was in town for the 90 second Newbery Film Festival. Next year, we will make sure to get an East Bay viewing location. Meanwhile, you can still read his blog.
4. Speak You're Branes stopped blogging in Feb 2012. Although if you've never read it before, you don't really need it to be updated in order to find it funny.
5. Executive Orc House comes and goes at it pleases, and seems to be entirely written in a secret computer programmer language. There is a recent post, with Likes, but I have no idea what it means. Somewhere, a new Canadian is smirking.
6. Oakland Living has only sporadic posts.
Of the six that I checked, two have stopped, two are sporadic, one is cryptic and the last one is active. I am guessing this is reflective of the blog population as a whole. I will test my theory by looking at other blogs tonight. Research!
1. Arch Thinking. My sister has not blogged since January, and it was only to reveal that her budding art career. She's moved on to Etsy it seems.
2. A Better Oakland is gone. At least the blog. Oakland itself has gotten better in some ways and worse in others. Probably worth its own blog post, really.
3. James Kennedy is still blogging. We had James over for dinner when he was in town for the 90 second Newbery Film Festival. Next year, we will make sure to get an East Bay viewing location. Meanwhile, you can still read his blog.
4. Speak You're Branes stopped blogging in Feb 2012. Although if you've never read it before, you don't really need it to be updated in order to find it funny.
5. Executive Orc House comes and goes at it pleases, and seems to be entirely written in a secret computer programmer language. There is a recent post, with Likes, but I have no idea what it means. Somewhere, a new Canadian is smirking.
6. Oakland Living has only sporadic posts.
Of the six that I checked, two have stopped, two are sporadic, one is cryptic and the last one is active. I am guessing this is reflective of the blog population as a whole. I will test my theory by looking at other blogs tonight. Research!
Monday, May 20, 2013
Blogs are Coming Back
Now that I am paying attention again, I want to share two new blogs that are must-follow. My old friend T&A is blogging again at My Other Blog is A Mommy Blog. Jenny is awesome; I think you'll love her as much as I do.
The other blog that I have obsessively checked like 14 times today (and today was actually way too insane to be reading blogs, involving as it did human excrement, copious amounts of bleach and a formaldehyde spill - not related incidents, by the way) is WHPK Record Library. A little back story. In college, I was a DJ and station manager at WHPK, my college radio station. The record library there was impressive. 8 foot shelves around the entire perimeter of a 12x12 foot room, with additional shelves in the middle, with every snobberific indie or punk band sandwiched into the room. Traditionally, the music director would slap a fat white sticker in the lower left corner of the record, date it and put a few comments to guide the DJ. Best cut, not-safe-for-daytime-play, etc. Other DJs could comment, and usually did. Stickers would be added, homophobic comments would be made. The homophobic stuff is firmly not awesome, but I can attest that most, if not all, of those guys have repented their spiteful ways (externally) and some have even come out of the closet. This awesome site is posting one album per day. They could post a new album every day until the day I die and it still wouldn't touch the breadth of that record library's awesomeness.
Yes, I am nostalgic. But I also think the WHPK blog would benefit from an interactive component, like the New York Public Library Menu collection. On this site, you can assist the NYPL decipher their enormous menu collection by transcribing the menus that have been scanned in. It's hella fun. I would totally spend hours transcribing the comments on record labels, by the way. It would be like meditation for me.
The other blog that I have obsessively checked like 14 times today (and today was actually way too insane to be reading blogs, involving as it did human excrement, copious amounts of bleach and a formaldehyde spill - not related incidents, by the way) is WHPK Record Library. A little back story. In college, I was a DJ and station manager at WHPK, my college radio station. The record library there was impressive. 8 foot shelves around the entire perimeter of a 12x12 foot room, with additional shelves in the middle, with every snobberific indie or punk band sandwiched into the room. Traditionally, the music director would slap a fat white sticker in the lower left corner of the record, date it and put a few comments to guide the DJ. Best cut, not-safe-for-daytime-play, etc. Other DJs could comment, and usually did. Stickers would be added, homophobic comments would be made. The homophobic stuff is firmly not awesome, but I can attest that most, if not all, of those guys have repented their spiteful ways (externally) and some have even come out of the closet. This awesome site is posting one album per day. They could post a new album every day until the day I die and it still wouldn't touch the breadth of that record library's awesomeness.
Yes, I am nostalgic. But I also think the WHPK blog would benefit from an interactive component, like the New York Public Library Menu collection. On this site, you can assist the NYPL decipher their enormous menu collection by transcribing the menus that have been scanned in. It's hella fun. I would totally spend hours transcribing the comments on record labels, by the way. It would be like meditation for me.
Sunday, May 19, 2013
Into the Void
I wrote this post in March 2007. I cannot figure out why I didn't post it. The links don't work any more, but I will see if I can find out any more information and update you later.
Sometimes I don't post about a story because it seems so freaking obvious. But the kerfuffle about Israel's ambassador to El Salvador has been remarkably quiet. Okay, so it hasn't been totally ignored - Wonkette covered it - but it happened two weeks ago and it's just now getting press. It's not every day you hear about someone being found on their lawn, dressed in bondage gear, covered in sex toys, drunk, much less one involving a diplomat. From Israel. To El Salvador. Talk about diplomatic relations I have never even considered. Anyway, I have a couple of theories about this event:
1. If Israel had wanted this kept quiet, it would have been kept quiet. It's not like Tsuriel Raphael would be bragging about this. Take the ball gag out of his mouth, give him a cup of coffee, ship him back to Tel Aviv and tell the world press he resigned to spend more time with his family. It wouldn't even be a burp on the AP's radar. But here we are, with Israel telling it all around. I thought diplomats were known for their discretion, but I guess that's why they're recruiting now, huh?
2. "It's not like Tsuriel Raphael would be bragging about this", or would he? If you are a masochist, isn't this the zenith of mortification? Very few facts could make this story more embarassing, and if that's your bag, well, you can now die happy.
3. Was this story actually ignored for two weeks because its hard to pitch it from any angle in the mainstream media? I don't think the New York Times has touched it with a ten foot whip yet. Maybe tomorrow. Maybe the priggishness of mainstream media makes editors apoplectic over stories like this one. It's like the Weekly World News meets The World.
4. Did a joke already exist that starts: "An Israeli, a Salvadoran, and a masochist walk into a bar...." or will someone need to write that now?
That's all I've got.
Finally, only two more days to join St. Scobie's Mock Brackets. To my anonymous commenter, I cannot help you unless you identify yourself. And if you've picked Oral Roberts to win it, then maybe no one can help you.
Sometimes I don't post about a story because it seems so freaking obvious. But the kerfuffle about Israel's ambassador to El Salvador has been remarkably quiet. Okay, so it hasn't been totally ignored - Wonkette covered it - but it happened two weeks ago and it's just now getting press. It's not every day you hear about someone being found on their lawn, dressed in bondage gear, covered in sex toys, drunk, much less one involving a diplomat. From Israel. To El Salvador. Talk about diplomatic relations I have never even considered. Anyway, I have a couple of theories about this event:
1. If Israel had wanted this kept quiet, it would have been kept quiet. It's not like Tsuriel Raphael would be bragging about this. Take the ball gag out of his mouth, give him a cup of coffee, ship him back to Tel Aviv and tell the world press he resigned to spend more time with his family. It wouldn't even be a burp on the AP's radar. But here we are, with Israel telling it all around. I thought diplomats were known for their discretion, but I guess that's why they're recruiting now, huh?
2. "It's not like Tsuriel Raphael would be bragging about this", or would he? If you are a masochist, isn't this the zenith of mortification? Very few facts could make this story more embarassing, and if that's your bag, well, you can now die happy.
3. Was this story actually ignored for two weeks because its hard to pitch it from any angle in the mainstream media? I don't think the New York Times has touched it with a ten foot whip yet. Maybe tomorrow. Maybe the priggishness of mainstream media makes editors apoplectic over stories like this one. It's like the Weekly World News meets The World.
4. Did a joke already exist that starts: "An Israeli, a Salvadoran, and a masochist walk into a bar...." or will someone need to write that now?
That's all I've got.
Finally, only two more days to join St. Scobie's Mock Brackets. To my anonymous commenter, I cannot help you unless you identify yourself. And if you've picked Oral Roberts to win it, then maybe no one can help you.
Just a Post
I think all the time about blogging again, because I really loved it when I did it regularly. It never seems like the right time to start again because it feels like I should have a momentous reason for that first start-up post. Which will turn out to be a false start, of course. So just like when I first started blogging, I am going to not tell anyone, and see if anyone finds me here.
Why did I stop blogging? For several reasons. First, I had other avenues to share my thoughts. Facebook and Twitter are not going away, folks. They are way easier to maintain than a blog, and the gratification you get from your friends' responses is almost instant. The "long" form of the blog, though, allows more rambling, which I am prone to.
I also changed jobs. At my old job, it was expected that people would have strong political views and there was no problem if you shared them. I now work for a large company where people are expected to keep their personal views personal, and you are not supposed to even check your personal email at work, much less write blog posts. As you might imagine, I am not comfortable in this environment, but I pass really well. However, I've learned that large companies maybe are not the best place for me, and while I figure out what's next, I no longer feel self-censoring. I have a lot of things I want to talk about.
Other reasons. I don't have a lot of time. Also, I find that my hands hurt a lot. I blame the iphone I am almost constantly on. Dealing with this falls into a bucket of self-work that I think about a lot, but haven't done anything about yet. This is a giant bucket, by the way. I having been thinking a lot about perfectability and how subjective perfect is. Like, I think I would be a better (or at least healthier) person if I eliminated half and half from my coffee, but believe that I would be miserable. But then I wonder, how do I know I will be miserable? I might be fine. I used to smoke, and think that my life would be empty without cigarettes, but now that I haven't smoked in 13 years, I don't miss them. Presumably, giving up half and half would be easier than that.
Let me see if I can get back to blogging.
Why did I stop blogging? For several reasons. First, I had other avenues to share my thoughts. Facebook and Twitter are not going away, folks. They are way easier to maintain than a blog, and the gratification you get from your friends' responses is almost instant. The "long" form of the blog, though, allows more rambling, which I am prone to.
I also changed jobs. At my old job, it was expected that people would have strong political views and there was no problem if you shared them. I now work for a large company where people are expected to keep their personal views personal, and you are not supposed to even check your personal email at work, much less write blog posts. As you might imagine, I am not comfortable in this environment, but I pass really well. However, I've learned that large companies maybe are not the best place for me, and while I figure out what's next, I no longer feel self-censoring. I have a lot of things I want to talk about.
Other reasons. I don't have a lot of time. Also, I find that my hands hurt a lot. I blame the iphone I am almost constantly on. Dealing with this falls into a bucket of self-work that I think about a lot, but haven't done anything about yet. This is a giant bucket, by the way. I having been thinking a lot about perfectability and how subjective perfect is. Like, I think I would be a better (or at least healthier) person if I eliminated half and half from my coffee, but believe that I would be miserable. But then I wonder, how do I know I will be miserable? I might be fine. I used to smoke, and think that my life would be empty without cigarettes, but now that I haven't smoked in 13 years, I don't miss them. Presumably, giving up half and half would be easier than that.
Let me see if I can get back to blogging.
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