isn't it eaaasy?

I have gotten really sucked into watching the Grammys with Marina and Jenn.

Tonight has been full of surprises- attempting to complete my "Net Gen" reading about effective multitasking, all the music, all the Taylor Swift acting humble ("thanks to my record label for letting me write all the tracks..." [You are SO real.]), and that they have only shown this hot piece TWICE over the last three and a half hours:



There's a lot of snow on the ground here in Richmond, and I had my first real SNOW DAY (!!!!) in years yesterday. My hair is dirty, my boots are soggy, and I've had plenty of time to think about art I'd like to be obtaining for my walls and books I ought to be reading.

Oh yea, and the RMIC Italian Film & Food Festival coming up February 20th. Excited to be volunteering for the 11am showing of:

"I PUGNI IN TASCA (FISTS IN THE POCKET)
Directed by Marco Bellocchio (1965, 105 mins., b&w)
Part of the Second Italian Renaissance, writer-director Bellocchio shocked Italy with this first feature – a stark and memorable portrayal of bourgeois dysfunction and murder. Burdened by his own epilepsy and as weary caregiver for his blind mother and three epileptic brothers, the hero makes a rational decision to end the family curse. This is one of the great, unheralded films to emerge from Italy in the sixties. With Lou Castel, Paola Pitagora, Marino Masestar."

what's a book to you in bed? do you feel better, older?

I love this week. Four birthdays since Tuesday and everyone's wishes are rubbing off on me.

(I had the last sentenced framed differently and it would give you the wrong picture entirely.)

you've been nighttiming baby and you oughta get home

Here is a short list of some of my favorite things:

Staying up all night
Waking up really early
Heavy exercise
Making dank quiche with daiya cheese
Coconut Records because listening to Jason Schwartzman in movies isn't enough anymore.
Dads On Vacation
Zoe's new spot is under the kitchen table at my feet
Dog sighs
Freshly dyed black hair
Vacuums
Dancing in a bathrobe
!!!s

it's about time to start keeping un-gifted xmas presents?

"Students on average retain 10 percent of what they read but closer to 30 percent of what they see. Much of the reading done by the Net Gen has been on the Web, where they are more likely to scan than to read.

In fact, overreliance on text may inhibit Net Gen participation. Net Geners “prefer their graphics before their text rather than the opposite.” In one course (Library 1010 at CSU–Hayward) significant numbers of students would not process extensive written directions. They would either try to infer the directions or they would turn in incomplete assignments. When the homework was altered, presenting pictures first rather than words, refusals to do the assignment dropped (by 10–14 percent) and student scores increased (an improvement of 11–16 percent); pretest versus post-test scores gained 4–9 percent."

From my Net Gen online book. This class is already sort of strange, because the text focuses heavily on those who are reliant on technology over any other means of communication, which is partially true in my life...it is even a little reassuring to hear that I'm not supposed to be able to focus on one task at a time or have the odds stacked against me when assigned an ambiguous project. However, I don't feel the pull toward immediacy the way younger people do. In fact, I find it pretty annoying and immature, like a toddler mindset.

Visuals, group projects and peer-to-peer instruction will be prevalent methods used in my future classroom. These methods are useful even for me, but the way students should be taught is very different from how I was taught to learn. (Obv, I like the idea of sitting in a lecture class, listening to someone talk and NOT texting, fucking around on the internet or trying to figure out some way to multi-task. That is the "structure" my generation apparently craves, but anyone more than two years younger than me is incapable of.) Everyone's reliance on discussion based classes seems to contradict what I know from my experience- that most middle and high school students find it difficult to speak in front of their class and even specific questioning often only engages a core of already achieving students.

Listening to: Bishop Allen, "Little Black Ache"

sleep on the beach if i ain't got a ride

This song, twice today.

I taped a penny I found to my wrist for good luck...within fifteen minutes French Dad came into my store. (My #1 customer crush, around 40 with a thick accent, I've been going weak in the knees over him for three years, it has been six months since he's been in, maybe I lay it on too thick.) Anyway,,BIGDEAL, thanks lucky penny.

Few fun things about this vid 1. this is the show my Australian pen pal went to on my recommendation. and 2. the name of the venue is the Annandale Hotel.

face down in the right town

A few things being admired on a cold, wet evening:


Geoff McFetridge; I've got a birthday coming up (in April).

Hello Tiger!
Super cute Swedish blog. They collectively remind me of my friend Whitney Rainey.


Bjorn Bruun's Ibiza vacation house


Tomokazu Matsuyama and this work.

It is driving me crazy that the images don't automatically resize. The CSS hack codes suggested to quickly fix this issue failed. Help?

Also, is reading >= social networking? My time management suggests otherwise.

Also, the sight of a hungry cat waiting patiently on a dresser while I dick around on the internet is equal to the affluent American version of heartbreaking. Her wide eyes suggest she has eaten, but not nearly the amount she deserves for her loyalty, admiration, resume writing and Arnold Palmer fetching.

Also, Go ahead and read this interview with author Richard Rodriguez about Prop 8 and religion.

My whole life is one last hurrah.

hell yea i don't even know what this is

A few things about my life as of late:

I shouldn't be driving. Wed, my car key mysteriously disappeared between Lamplighter, Carytown and Sticky Rice with M & L.H. Thurs, I get pulled over for making a right on red on the VCU campus. Two blocks from the scene of my first ticket seven years ago. (These are my only traffic infractions caught by the badge/the only traffic laws I've ever disregarded.)

Watching this video before bed:

Allowed me to dream that I was taking Aziz Ansari out on a date. At a party on Cumberland, I prevented him from being hit by a car and after explaining the nuances of beer pong left him in the basement to win a few rounds in my name.

School starts again on Tuesday. My schedule has changed since my last posting, so I'll be taking one grad class, two undergrad and sitting in on a survey class to review. I would like to be doing more, but I have a feeling this semester is going to challenge me regardless. I plan on taking Praxis I and II by March. My results will be something like this:

Throwback!

I've been visiting DC more often recently. My father is still in Florida and no one knows when he'll come home. My mom is okay with this and plans on doing major renovations to the house while he's gone. I will be attending this event with a very smart lady next month. This will be in contrast to the ridiculously reckless Jersey Shore dance party I'll be at next week.

My hair is finally long enough for a First American-style braid, but I haven't been rocking it. Why?

Harvest of Hope line-up posted! I had so much fun last year and would love to attend this again. Three days of camping, music, friendship, and slip 'n slides.

I don't want to be a cat anymore. Gotta get moving.

Listening to: "The Boy I Used to Be", Bombay Bicycle Club

actually, more love on the run

Spent the last hour and a half at the gym. It feels good to be back. Coming soon for your listening enjoyment: my Jersey Shore and workout playlists.

& If David Lynch directed Dirty Dancing

& Jay Z "On To The Next One"


& And duh, a little Billy Ocean for my walk over to Lamplighter.

Midnight Listen:

little bit of hi-fi

Jon Hamm's heavy breathing is driving me insane. I could turn off the space heater!

I'm having a few cups of coffee to prepare myself to clean the apartment. Card game nights should begin shortly. Women who attend can bring small items they want to get rid of to gamble away. This is turning into a diary and I'm sorry for that.

wake up call.

I want this!


On my budget, this is more realistic:


P.S. Here's a place I'd like to check out- the Dunton Hot Springs. Remodelista.



On my budget, this is more realistic:

it's time to PARTY, PARTY

Last night encompassed the following:

Rum & cherry cokes, 30 Rock marathon, breakfast, sequins, having my hurr did by my fabulous boomate, VCU colors all over the city (black and gold), smoochin' on best friends, floral wallpaper, and ended with a slumber party with my BFF Mattie.

Once in awhile I get really lonely and weird, but it doesn't take very much to bring me back around to reality. 2010 is going to be the best year yet. Here are a few of my resolutions:

1. Get in shape so I can go backpacking.
2. Push myself.
3. Learn to swim.
4. Ace the Praxis.
5. Celebrate my birthday.
6. Try a new recipe each week. Start writing in my cookbooks.
7. Go to the language lab at least twice a month.
8. Something about dating?
9. Continue my life as a non-smoker.
10. Get a credit card with a low limit.
11. Go on an adventure outside the U.S.
12. Quit being so initially shy around crushes. Stop worrying so much about people thinking I like them if I do. (I'll start working on this one around July or August.)
13. Take my studies seriously and make them my #1 priority over vegan cheesecake, hang-outs, movies, sexy paperbacks.
14. Take more of a proactive role in my brother's life. 2009 left both me and my parents incredibly drained. I hear about him everyday, talk to him at least once a week, but refused to really get involved because of how much it stresses me out. Obviously "putting him to the back of my mind" and "only letting myself worry when I'm on the phone with my mom" isn't working. I don't think those tactics ever really worked.
15. Get my health care expenses paid off.