April 2009
61 posts
Most of my communication with my brother is via email. This works out quite nicely for me as his emails are usually the most entertaining part of my day. Today, for example, I emailed him this morning, irritated because he put me on the listserve of the most notorious spam email sender of all time. I finished my email by saying “Eff you.”
He responded with an email that dropped the...
You know that episode of Friends when Joey and Rachel have finally gotten around to both being interested in each other, but they haven’t told Ross yet? They’re determined to tell Ross, but they keep missing the opportunity to do it (in true Friends/sit-com style). Then, they’re making out and Ross walks in and Rachel just totally freaks out. She can’t stop talking and her voice is all high...
“Just remember, the same as a spectacular Vogue magazine, remember that no matter...”
– Chuck Palahniuk (via kjohnson)
100 Days of Obama's Facebook News Feed →
“Barack Obama deleted the group Guantanamo Bay Detainees 4EVA.”
Love this.
Book #14
Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott In reading more in recent months I’ve come to a rather startling realization. I have about a 25 second attention span. Maybe shorter. Maybe even a 140-character attention span. Damn you Twitter. Seriously, I lie down to read at night and can get through about a page and a half before, as I’m still focused on the page, I reach over to my bedside table,...
Watchrickyv:
Real Life Twitter by Dan.
“Just got to New York City. What are good things to see and do here?”
Digg link
Mouse Update
Because I know you all really care. I have now trapped five mice. The first three being Herbert, Henry, and Harold, all of whom were happily set free. Unfortunately for the fourth one, by the time I realized he’d been caught, it was too late. He had died. I felt awful, but decided that sometimes these things happen, unfortunate though they may be. Then, this morning I caught #5. I hadn’t heard...
“Everything changed the day she figured out there was exactly enough time for the...”
– storypeople
Done and Done →
I think it’s pretty obvious that both the bird and cross options are off the table now.
The only real question is, should I get Rosie’s name scrawled beneath the tat or above?
On Friday night I went to a concert. I went with four friends and after standing in grass watching people smoke grass for about four hours straight, we decided to grab a drink at a bar in uptown Charlotte afterwards. We’d been on the bar’s patio about five minutes when I ran into several people I knew. (Note: This happens all the time in Charlotte as I went to school in NC and grew up 45 minutes...
Spoiled Dog vs. New Baby →
I’m doing some serious re-blogging today, but this is too good to pass up. Here’s a sample, just to whet your appetite for imaginary dog v. baby convos:
Amelia: Fraggle Rock called, they want their hair back. Sophie: Keep talking about my hair and I’ll eat ANOTHER one of your pacifiers…while you watch. Amelia: And they will board you in doggy prison again while they take...
Texts from Last Night →
How did I just find out about this site? Obviously, I have now wasted an untold of amount of time reading this and snickering.
*Thanks to my friend Chris for this gift of a time passer.
I am going to see Kings of Leon on Thursday...
Maybe a little fast
Last night, while standing on the lawn at the Charlotte Dave Matthews concert in the middle of felt like about 8 million college kids:
Random fratty guy: So, what school do you go to?
Me (laughing): Yeah, I don’t go to school anymore.
Frat guy: What school did you go to?
Me: Wake Forest.
Frat guy: Ohhh. Can I stand next to you? I mean, are you here with your boyfriend or something? ...
A few posts below I posted the song Quelqu’un qui m’a dit by Carla Bruni.* I think that the lyrics are just as beautiful as her voice. I’ve put my favorite below. First in French. Then in English. Because—and I could be wrong about this—I’m guessing most of my blog readers are English speakers. But who am I to say? Maybe most of you guys are fluent in Swahili and...
Herbert
I know everyone has been waiting with bated breath to find out what happened on the rat front last night. Well, it’s really not that exciting, but just to keep you updated on what is apparently an infestation of rats, I’ll share. I reset two traps and around 11 p.m. one went off and when I went to peek inside, I could see a third rat. We’ll call him Herbert. I really wasn’t in the mood to go back...
I am obsessed. Totally obsessed.
In case you feel like looking at a whole heck of a lot of photos of Spain, I’ve uploaded almost all of my photos from my recent trip there onto Picasa (you can click the link there to the right). They’re in two different folders (“Spain” and “More Spain”). You can see an abbreviated version of pretty pics on Flickr (also to the right).
*Disclaimer: I...
Harold... and Henry
This I did not anticipate. Yesterday I purchased two mouse traps. I purchased two because they came two to the pack. I picked a kind that was designed not to kill the rat, but merely to trap it inside. So, last night, I was preparing for bed a little before 11. Truth be told, I usually go to bed later, but I am exhausted because I have the world’s worst cold right now. (It’s a cold I caught...
Book #13
Revolutionary Road by Richard Yates
(Warning: This post contains spoilers for the book and movie.)
In case you happened to have spent the last six months or so with your head under a rock, this book was made into a major motion picture starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet. I thought the movie was awesome. I thought the book was even better.
It’s a pretty easy read. And since...
There are certain life decisions I am constantly considering. Like, for example, I am constantly trying to decide if I want a tattoo or not. (Other similar decisions include, but are not limited to: constantly trying to decide if I want to continue living in the United States, always trying to figure out if I should breed my dog or not, flipping back and forth between a desire to settle down, get...
Harold
I have a confession: When I was eight I had a hamster named Honey. As it turned out, Honey was a guy, but when I named him Honey, I really thought he was a girl. I felt kind of bad about that afterwards. Anyway, I got Honey for a playmate. And once, I really wanted Honey to play with me, but he was snuggled up under his hamster-sized staircase and refused to come out. I poked him with the end...
Book #12
Night Soldiers by Alan Furst This novel begins in Bulgaria in 1934 and ends in the United States in 1945. Its characters are in Russia, Germany, Poland, Hungary, and Spain among other places. However, as I was reading this book while in Spain, that made the Spanish parts of particular interest. It was kind of cool, for instance, to read about a character staying at the historic Hotel Alfonso in...
Gambling to me is what a telephone pole might be...
- David Sedaris in this article in The New Yorker.
I totally get this. I may not be the most wise person in the world when it comes to my money, but I find no entertainment in risking its loss. I have big dreams to go to Vegas one day, but I have a feeling I may find myself kind of bored there.
Since I last wrote a lot has happened. Here’s a brief recap: Julie Ann dressed me in half her wardrobe so as to prevent any more North Face sightings, I fell in and out of love with a Spanish cardiologist, a girl we were hanging out with had her wallet stolen while we talked, I said a sad farewell to Julie Ann and headed solo back to Madrid, I checked out some awesome art at the Prado, I...
When I arrived at Julie Ann´s office today after posting the previous two book review entries she pointed out that it´s just not cool to post book reviews from Spain. Come to think of it, Julie Ann is doing a lot of pointing out what´s not cool that I do. I could use her around more often to keep me in line. Think of all the dachshund talk that could be avoided.
Anyway, so I agreed to post a...
Book #11
Losing my Virginity by Richard Branson A few years ago when I was living in Atlanta, Richard Branson visited the city and co-hosted a party there with Sara Blakely, the founder of Spanx (as in, those awesome things that perform incredible feats of sucking your stomach with little to no effort on your part). It was probably the coolest party I’ve ever been to/will go to. There were celebrities...
Book # 10
The Collectors by David Baldacci Ok, I’m not going to go through all my usual rigmarole with this book description. It’s a mass market fiction that reads just like any other Baldacci, Grisham, Patterson, or other writer who talks about spies, government conspiracy, and assassins. It’s entertaining, fast and fun. If you want something to pass the time while you sit on the beach… or, I don’t know,...
Julie Ann v. Sarah
Sarah: Every single one of Julie Ann’s friends here have been incredibly kind to me. As I sit, with a very blank expression on my face, while they talk away in Spanish, I keep thinking “Gee. They must be really annoyed with the seemingly mute American girl.” However, despite my relative silence and forcing Julie Ann to translate every fourteen seconds, they’ve all been great. Tonight was her...
Today was an “excursion day” with Julie Ann’s students and school. This afternoon we went to a place just outside of Sevilla called Italica, which has some very old Roman ruins. Once, when I was studying abroad in London, I was required to go on a tour around central London with a professor who pointed out where ruins would be if there were any. And occasionally, we would actually see an old...
“Socialism breeds mediocrity.” – Julie Ann, two glasses of wine into the night. Being in a foreign country is always interesting. Being in a foreign country with a close friend who has lived there almost three years is extremely interesting. I have about a million questions a minute and the brilliant thing is that Julie Ann has all the answers. I ask about why half the guys on the street are...
Well. That was interesting.
This afternoon, after Julie Ann and I had lunch, she returned to work and I headed out to take a tour of the cathedral. Unfortunately, the cathedral had closed for the day by the time I arrived. So, I decided that the next most Spanish thing to tour in town would be the bull fighting ring. So I went there.
Now, it´s worth noting that I´m not really particularly into...
Madrid: Day 1 of Sarah Struggling in Spanish
So, in about five hours my dear friend Julie Ann will be arriving at the hotel where I am staying. While I have thought of Julie Ann as one of my closest friends for some time and have missed her as she´s lived in Spain the last few years, I have never really wanted to see her quite so badly as I have today. You see, Julie Ann is fluent in Spanish. I, however, am not.
There are countries in...
Seriously.
When I was growing up in the bustling metropolis of Shelby, THIS was the biggest, closest city where we went shopping and hit such hot spots as TJ Maxx and—on the glorious day when it finally arrived—American Eagle. It was the Manhattan to our Long Island, the Atlanta to our Alpharetta, the Dallas to our Plano, the DC to our Alexandria… you understand?
Luckily, we always had our own...
The Pirate Latitudes →
This April 09 Vanity Fair article about Le Ponant, a French luxury cruise ship captured by pirates off the coast of Somalia last year is interesting. Today, in light of the US-flagged freighter being hijacked off the same coast, it’s very interesting.
Amir’s Online Home » When It Rains… →
rickyv:
The craziest thing happened to Amir a couple nights ago.
Now THIS is a good story.
In case the plethora of dachshund photos and posts about lesbians in saunas didn’t give it away, I should tell you: this isn’t a political blog. However, today I have a few political thoughts. And well, if this blog is anything, it’s where I share my thoughts. Confession: I voted for Barack Obama on November 4th. Whew. Ok, that’s out of the way. And now about 50% of my readers have left...
Some days when I finish swimming at my gym I go into the sauna after my shower. I’ve never really understood the point of a sauna, but I like it because it is dry and warm and after an hour spent being very cold and wet, it feels good. Last night I opted for the sauna because I don’t have heat at my house right now and it seemed like it was probably going to be the best bet for me being warm at...
What I’m listening to on repeat these days. ...