Archive for June, 2009
Last night I got to play DJ at our very favorite bar, and I had a very good time doing it. I put together a couple of hours of music in iTunes ahead of time, so most of what I did during my actual DJing was adjusting levels and moving songs around and drinking free beer and hanging out with my awesome friends. The best part of the whole thing, though, was that people kept talking about the songs that they loved and their experiences with the music – like that B-52s album they bought in high school and listened to every night. I love that, and hope that I can have another DJ night at the Hut before we (eventually) leave DC.
Galaxy Hut Playlist 06-24-09:
- Tom Jones – What’s New Pussy Cat
- James - Laid
- Beauty Pill - Cigarette Girl from the Future
- Belle & Sebastian - Step Into My Office, Baby
- Talking Heads – Girlfriend Is Better
- Chairlift - Bruises
- The Cure - Friday I’m In Love
- Magnetic Fields - Washington D.C.
- The House Of Love - I Don’t Know Why I Love You
- M.I.A. - One for the Head
- CSS - Music Is My Hot, Hot Sex
- The B-52′s - Planet Claire
- Motorcycle Wars - Emphyzine
- Funkadelic - I’m Never Gonna Tell It
- Luniz - I Got 5 On It
- Metric - Succexy
- Belle & Sebastian - Love On The March
- M.I.A. - Paper Planes
- Talking Heads - Once In A Lifetime
- Loquat - There Is A Light That Never Goes Out
- Magnetic Fields - I Think I Need a New Heart
- Happy Mondays - 24 Hour Party People
- New Order - True Faith
- 2Pac - California Love (Original Version)
- Jamie Lidell - Figured Me Out
- Moloko - Party Weirdo
- Magnetic Fields - The Night You Can’t Remember
- Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings - Inspiration Information
- New Order - Age of Consent
- Blur - Girls & Boys
- Anoraak - Never Ending Romance Disaster
- Feist - One Two Three Four
- Pogues - Broad Majestic Shannon
- The Knife - Heartbeats
- Talking Heads - Houses In Motion
- The B-52′s - Mesopotamia
- FannyPack - Hey Mami
- MGMT - Time to Pretend
- Of Montreal - The Party’s Crashing Us
- LCD Soundsystem – All My Friends
- New Order - Your Silent Face
- Talking Heads - Born Under Punches (The Heat Goes On)
- LCD Soundsystem - Someone Great
- Luna - 23 Minutes In Brussels
- Neko Case - Knock Loud
June 25th, 2009
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Me and SB and Dan (and lots of other people) at Fort Reno Monday night. via disorganization
Continue Reading June 23rd, 2009
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Metro Trains Crash in Washington
Really fucking scary stuff. I was on the Red today, though not anywhere near where this went down – and thankfully neither were any of my loved ones. My thoughts are with those who lost someone – or were hurt themselves – by today’s accident.
Continue Reading June 22nd, 2009
Train derails: Woman dead after train derails; 600 families remain evacuated – Rockford, IL
This went down about 5 miles from my parents’ house while I was home this weekend. Scary stuff.
Continue Reading June 22nd, 2009
Number of days of the festival : 4
Number of days inclusive of travel: 6 (Wednesday 10am through Monday 9pm)
Number of hours spent sitting in traffic on Thursday: 5
Number of miles covered in those hours: 8
Number of people in the car: 4
Number of performers (inclusive of bands, comedians, and other kinds of performers): 150+
Number of performers I saw: 17 (David Byrne, Lucinda Williams, Katzenjammer, Dirty Projectors, Phoenix, King Sunny Ade, The Features, Bruce Springsteen, Heartless Bastards, Of Montreal, Chairlift, Phish, Andrew Bird, Neko Case, A.A. Bondy, Ted Leo & the Pharmacists, Jessica Lea Mayfield)
Number of performers I listened to but didn’t see: 4 (Bela Fleck, Bon Iver, The Decemberists)
Number of performers I heard from the tent while trying to sleep: 3 (Paul Oakenfold, Nine Inch Nails, MGMT)
Number of performers seen multiple times: 2 (David Byrne (special guest spot with Dirty Projectors) and Katzenjammer)
Number of movies watched: 3.5
Number of visits to the Silent Disco: 2
Number of bears playing video games: 2
Number of times I cried: 4
Number of times crying was related to the weather: 2
Number of times crying was related to not feeling well: 2 (simultaneous with the above)
Number of times crying was related to the music: 2
Number of large spiders spotted near the tent, resulting in screams: 3+
Number of times I showered: 0
Number of pop-tarts: 5
Number of coconut fruit bars from the mini Whole Foods: 4
Number of amazing quesadillas from Bearly Edible: 2 (pesto mozzadilla, feta medadilla)
Number of chicken naanwiches: 2
Number of Fruit & Nut derivatives concocted: 2
One of a kind:
- Guy sitting by the side of the road with a bottle of vodka balanced on his head for 2+ hours
- 5am fight between extremely unhappy camping neighbors
- Very mellow hippie dancing in Shane’s face at Phish
- Camping neighbor stumbling into someone else’s tent and passing out – henceforth referred to as “stoneylocks”
- Girl scorning at me for running the water while washing a stain out of Shane’s shirt
Things that sucked: waiting on the road, the constant pouring rain on Thursday, the spiders omg, not enough sleep because we were sleeping in a tent, too many people smoking pot, not enough sleep because of loud neighbors, missing NIN because I couldn’t stay up, crack in the windshield from something on the road driving home, Shane getting sick on the last day.
Things that were great: fantastic music, David Byrne love, good food, Neko Case love, running into friendos, the weather when it was good, being outside, not showering, non-stop hilarity from Mike and Mark and Shane together.
We’re home safe from Bonnaroo, tired, sunburned, and scratchy-throated. The good mostly outweighed the bad – but I think this probably was our last year. We’re just too old (well, not old but definitely too much in favor of being comfortable) and don’t love drugs enough to make it work. Maybe if we rent an RV we can do it again?
June 16th, 2009
Tonight: broccoli, This American Life, thank you notes, laughing til my face hurt on the phone with Carl, a lot of cherries, sleep.
June 8th, 2009
- farmer’s market bounty: zucchini, broccoli, radishes, strawberries, cherries, some other stuff I can’t remember, and SOFT SHELL CRABS that looked like giant bugs but tasted delicious
- made amazing strawberry and toasted coconut ice cream, and then had kitchen disaster #3 of the weekend when the ice cream maker overflowed
- brunch with Mel and Ray and Jill and Kevin and Fred, wherein Fred was charmed by a strawberry, and Mel beat everyone at Carcassone
- feeding and playing with the cats at KSC
- crabs and grilled zukes for dinner with Mel and Ray
- Shane goes to Michigan tomorrow!
June 7th, 2009
This year, I resolved to complete one project per month. I’m not sure how well I’ve done at posting about those projects, but that’s neither here nor there, as this post is about May’s project. And by ‘project’, I mean ‘projects’!
Project #1: envelopes for the Etsy shop
Earlier in the year I inherited three boxes of deaccessioned USGS maps from the library. After asking and then asking again if I *really* got to take them home, they sat in a corner ignored until I finished my last class and could focus on them. Right now I have 9 sets of envelopes posted, and a possible custom order pending. Hooray!
Project #2: Handmade items for the Facebook meme
I promised handmade items to Jackie, Jen, Tina, Molly, Rachel, and Greg. So far I’ve made an apron each for Jackie:
Molly:
Rachel:
and a special bonus for Jennifer, who was late on the draw.
Items forthcoming for Jen, Tina, and Greg. I have plans, but I’m not revealing them yet.
I also canned four pints of strawberry-rhubarb jam (and 7 more half pints tonight!):
And no, I have no idea what June’s project will be. Hopefully the Etsy custom order – and also more canning (pickling too)!
June 6th, 2009
The other day Mike posted a challenge – Henceforth, of all Beatles songs, you can listen to only three. The rest are lost to you. Which three do you save?
My answer? Dear Prudence, In My Life, and I’m So Tired. I then passed on the challenge to my friends via Twitter and Facebook, with the following results. Out of 18 responses, including mine and the responses of 3 people to Mike’s original Tweet, the top songs – with 3 votes each – are: In My Life and A Day in the Life.
Receiving 2 votes each: Dear Prudence, I’m So Tired, Let It Be, Norwegian Wood, Across the Universe, Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds, Strawberry Fields Forever, and Blackbird.
A total of 29 other songs received 1 vote each.
Amongst the 18 respondents, the White Album appears to be most popular, with 9 songs receiving a total of 12 votes. Sgt Pepper came in second with 4 songs receiving 7 votes total – however Revolver actually had more songs receiving votes – 6 songs with 1 vote each.
The moral of this story is that amongst my friends, the overwhelming majority believe that The Beatles were better after taking drugs (i.e. post-1965). Take from that what you will. I don’t make up the facts – I just report them.
June 3rd, 2009
On Saturday, my friend Tina and I will be running in the Susan G. Komen Global Race for the Cure. The fundraising for this race supports breast cancer research and women’s health advocacy around the world. If you know me well at all, you know that both of these things matter a great deal to me – which is why I’m asking for your support in my fundraising efforts.
When I was 17 and a senior in high school, my mom was diagnosed with breast cancer at age 44. My brother, then barely a year old, refused to nurse from one of her breasts, so she had my dad, an oncologist, check it out. He found a lump, and a biopsy found that it was cancer. I remember coming home between school and rehearsal and getting the news from my dad, then going back to school and being wrapped up in the arms of two family friends – one of whom had been my dad’s patient when she had Hodgkin’s lymphoma – as the three of us cried. My senior year of high school was overshadowed by the fear and uncertainty that goes along with chemotherapy, with watching your mom’s hair fall out, with helping to care for your baby brother because your mom is sick from a treatment.
Me and Mom at Iowa v Illinois, fall 2006
Jenn and Grandma, Thanksgiving 2006
We are very lucky and thankful that Mom has been cancer-free for a number of years, as has my grandma, who was diagnosed in her 60s and is still healthy at 91. With two close family members diagnosed and treated, though, my sister and I are considered to have an elevated risk. It’s fair to say that my interest in supporting breast cancer research is a selfish one – I want there to be money for research so that if/when my sister and I are diagnosed, there will be a better understanding of the disease, leading to better treatment for patients and better education for their loved ones.
In addition to these personal reasons, I also believe strongly in helping women become advocates for their health. Several of the Komen programs emphasize education and strengthening doctor-patient communication – both things that we worked on when I was a gyne instructor at UIUC. I grew up in a medical household – my father’s an oncologist, and my mother’s father was first a surgeon, then practiced occupational medicine until he retired at age 79 – so medical care is something I’ve taken for granted all my life. Despite this, it wasn’t until I worked as a gyne instructor that I felt any sense of ownership of my own healthcare. Going to the doctor was something that I did because it’s what you’re supposed to do – not because I wanted to make sure I was getting what my body needed. Gyne instruction changed this, and I now feel responsibility to help empower my loved ones to ask questions and get the care they need.
If these things are important to you and you can spare the money, please consider donating on my behalf – or to our team, Team Helpful Paws. If you’re in the DC area and feel like running on Saturday, consider joining our team! For personal, selfish, and altrustic reasons, I greatly appreciate your support.
June 3rd, 2009