snow in the morning

Chris is shoveling, originally uploaded by ducksRfriends.

The funny part about snow is that it can sneak up on you. Rain you can hear… it wakes you in the night, you expect a wet morning. Snow comes silently, covering completely. Its still snowing. Our backyard has turned into one big white mass…. I can’t wait to see what the morning will bring.

Hello Winter my Friend

The temperature is dropping.  Hello winter.  How we parted last year, I’d rather not remember. You were fun, you splayed your hands before me and I reached for your icy grasp.  How I stayed warm, I’d rather not remember.

Iceage Babeland

(Full disclosure: Stolen title from a song currently playing, only appropriate because I just walked in from outside, and it’s getting cold out here in Seattle)

I love family.

My housemate asked if I’d gone out last night, he heard me coming in near midnight, and I paused for a second.  Does it count as “going out” if I’ve gone directly to spend time with family, and yes, we went out, but mostly stayed in and played games?

Last night I (we):

Giggled and confused the poor attendant at the Christmas tree stand.

Took pictures in a wooden tree cutout as though our faces were ornaments.

Had delicious Thai.

Played a card word game and came within points of each other.

Tried two tree stands, once again collapsing to giggles trying to hook the metal legs in the right place.

Found the clown topper wasn’t about to work, as is, and will need some engineering help.

Delay Delay

I wish that I had a picture to share, but I don’t.

I’m sitting in Belltown right now, on the 12th floor of an office building where I should be entering orders for my temp job, but the server has gone down and I can’t do much about it.  I’m catching up on some reading (Sir Oliver Lodge, I might be equally in love with you as with John Tyndall) and some letter writing, but I haven’t updated this in a long time, so why not use my time here.

The view from here is wonderful, and I really will bring my camera soon.  Monday it was dusk all day here, low clouds and mist, but the past two days have been bright and sunny.  Clear.  Which also translates to: cold.  This morning as I hurried down to the bus frost coated all the lawns and cars lining the street.  I think the temperature plunged below freezing last night, but that’s only a guess.

The mountains were in sharp relief, still catching the colors of sunrise, and I caught other people staring out of the bus windows with me.  There’s something about the beauty of this city that continues to captivate me. 

I’m trying to use my bus commute for more than just travel, and I’ve started to note things down without knowing how they will be used.  I have been so busy lately that I have forgotten the moments throughout the day where stillness enters.  Simply jotting down “sunlight on glass buildings, the glare against the damp road” might help.  I have to be unafraid of notating in cliché.  I can revise it later, but getting down the sketch is important. Even if I end up writing “sunset” “sunrise” and “beautiful” way too often.  In reading for book club I found I tend to notice specific categories of words/images for each author, and I have to learn to trust my own.

More about Sir Oliver Lodge (and Sir Walter Rayleigh, and Lord Kelvin, and and and) here.

Vocal Blog Jam

http://www.mediafire.com/?zm3itzhfnje

(the website says ‘download’ but it really means PLAY)

Sunset from HM

Sunset from HM, originally uploaded by ducksRfriends.

Taking pictures of sunsets is so frustrating. My camera isn’t terrible, but it isn’t great either and it never quite captures the majesty. Although with this one, that could be because I’m taking it through the treated glass windows at the office. As much as I hate that its already dark by the time I leave the office, the sunsets from my desk can be pretty fantastic. But what I really miss are the stars. There is just too much light in this city to see anything properly. Perhaps if I had a roof deck I could get above the ground-level-glow… but alas, my house has a backyard but no roof access. I miss crisp fall nights by the bonfire. Now when I smell that burning-leaf fall smell, it makes me happy for a moment and then concerned- what building nearby might be burning? Although I suppose we were never supposed to burn leaves….. Not that we burned bushels or anything, but some always seemed to make into the flames, stuck to the logs or fallen into the pit since last fire. I look forward to curling up next to the fireplace this Christmas.

The Thing About Seattle

I’m still in love with the city. And it (might be) starting to love me back. I’ve found my way into an office for two days of the week, and it’s banal and lovely.  Music on, computer on, no need to interact with humans. The commute is half the distance, the people (when I do talk to them) are friendly enough, and looking out the 12th floor windows is lovely. Better pictures will come from a better day, but for now, here is what I see in Phase 6 of Seattle: Office Temp Girl.

David: I have to say, enjoy your time right now. You’re lucky. Moving breakneck speed through school left me out of school and flailing, with out a college fund help me through the periods of questioning. Take photographs, travel, do all the things that your mind can soak in. And travel. Travel. Travel.  I love Seattle, but I would love nothing more than to be able to pick up and visit Europe for a bit, see Venice before it sinks, say hello to a dashing Scotsman living in England, wander through a castle… if you can, do it. Don’t let anything hold you back.

Still/Bright

I’m in happy kind of stuck. I’m an unemployed post-grad only child living at home, living off of an inflated allowance drawn from my still healthy college fund, and living truly spoiled for the first time in my life. To see friends and talk to friends, I drive through the streets of Long Beach, I drive to Cerritos, I drive to Redondo, I stop in Riverside, I circle Pedro. I drink and smoke and think things like, “I don’t know, I don’t think I’m being too bad to myself.” I take pictures wherever I go in a ‘reaching for non-fiction’ sort of way, I daydream about doing graffiti then do graffiti, I make mixes, I avoid writing, I put off starting on my grad school applications, then I put it off again. I don’t look for a job, but I wait and hope for my Hollywood job prospect to flesh out- working art department.

I try not to think about the ‘why’s’ of what I’m doing- the flaws and gnarled roots that I’m empowering- thinking there could be something I am learning here, too, and that perhaps foolishness can be a lighter shade reason. I try not to think of the time that I’m loosing or how rapidly I’m approaching NYU’s December 15^th deadline. Try not to think of the stories I could be writing and want to be writing. I think about fun.

Far off in my mind, I think about submitting photo and drawing portfolios to galleries- finding out where the weird ones are then think up arrangements and arguments to appeal to their cruder natures. I see myself reading the books on my shelves and growing eight feet taller. I watch more movies.

I see myself stopping this bullshit and listening to my arm.

Philadelphia skyline at Dusk

Philadelphia skyline at Dusk, originally uploaded by ducksRfriends.

I am so used to the skyline from my office, I forget how breathtaking it can be from West Philly- the city just sits there and sparkles. My co-worker and I went to a networking event at the Cira Center on Monday. What with this time turn back, we usually end up leaving the office after dark. But the event started around 5, so we got to enjoy a good chunk of sunset. Quite lovely. The sparkling reminds me of one of my favorite exhibits of all time, “Fireflies on the Water” by Yayoi Kusama. Photos don’t really do it justice… I saw it at the Whitney, during the 2004 Biennial Exhibition. The Whitney site says that they’ve acquired it, but I don’t know if its still on display. How I would love to have an empty room to make one of these in my house… walking into it felt like floating in the center of the galaxy.

lights