Warning!

Tomorrow, I am cutting my hair off and donating it to locks for love.

I am going to go short for the first time ever. And i'm psyched! Woot! It takes so long to deal with, and i am really looking for ease.

See picture to the right to see the style i'm contemplating.

I'll put up pictures, i promise. Q will be there for me for moral support, to take before, after, and during pictures, and frankly, i don't think i could beat her off with a stick. Q, i know how sad you'd be if i left you out of this :) And hopefully you know how sad i'd be if you weren't coming! Man... i think i'd be petrified if i had any idea of what to expect.

300th Post!

I just realized that. Go me.

However, it's been quite a while since i've updated anyone on anything, and i recognize the lack.

Brief rundown: daN and i have been actively looking for a condo in JP. Alas, it certainly takes some time, and though it is a buyer's market, it's been a buyer's market for so long that there is not much to buy. Sellers who don't HAVE to sell aren't. However, there are a couple places that would work for us; we're just waiting. Either the prices on them will drop, or something else will come along. That's THAT for now.

We've got up to Maine a few times for quick runs. Nothing terribly relaxing, but that's summer for ya. If you aren't taking the summer off, it manages to be pretty hectic. At least for us. We saw Matt and Kathy last weekend (woot!), and have been woefully neglectful of other friends lately. It's sad! Looking at condos certainly takes time. In addition, it takes us about an hour and 15 minutes to get to that neighborhood from here on public transit. By the time we get home, we don't have any time or chutzpah left to be social.

The good news is that Harry Potter is out, and even though daN and i are reading it to each other (which is SO enjoyable but takes longer) we are almost a third of the way through the book. "Why is that important?" one might ask. In a city where people are reading it while walking down the street and talking about it in public with their friends, the chances of hearing a spoiler by naive happenstance go through the roof. The sooner we finish it, the sooner we relief ourselves of the stresses of hearing a spoiler. That being said, we are both really enjoying this one. I have got to say that JK Rowling has really outdone herself on the pacing of this one. And so far, doing a great job of tying in old themes and characters.

What else? I am still loving my job. It's pretty darned great. In fact, they gave me a raise last month that I wasn't expecting at all! How nice! And helpful. Not to mention that it continues to be a warm and caring environment. And, being scientists, they're all very excited about my new thoughts for a future career... i'm still mulling it over, but I have been experiencing renewed interested (in the form of completely geeking out over the most recent articles in "Nature" magazine in front of my coworkers) in astronomy and particle physics lately, and it occurred to me as i was falling asleep the other night that i just might LOVE being a high school physics teacher. I love physics, i have an aptitude for it and did well in the class, took more of it in college just because i wanted to, and i love teaching.... and i would have summers off. I also sort of want to be a drivers' ed teacher, but that would certainly be on the side. And i could teach yoga after school or something. I don't know .. the idea has really excited me, because it seems like some kind of a missing link. I would certainly need some further education. More algebra, trig, and geometry (which were the math classes i LOVED)... i'm mulling it over, but i'm REALLY excited about it. Fascinatingly, it's even practical, a characteristic typically lacking in my job ideas.

That's all for now, folks. I am going for a walk before it gets too f**king hot to move.

A Post

Happy Fourth of July, everyone. Things are good. I am looking forward to a day off in the middle of the week to relax, and, perhaps, go to the beach. I think that sounds like a nice time :) Will i go to fireworks? No. See, they start at 10:30, and it takes about two hours to get home after the works end because of crowds. It's a bit much for me given that I have to work the following two days. But you know, i miss fireworks a lot.

In other news, I have an announcement that explains everything about my digestive system and why have I have chosen to eat the way I eat recently. I have IBS (Irritable Bowel Syndrome). It turns out that it isn't normal to have such painful and extreme reactions to certain kinds of food as I do, and I officially have to be careful about how I eat in general now, even at restaurants and other people's houses. Long story short, the more tired and worn out my intestines get, the sooner I am incontinent. That doesn't sound appealing to THIS 27 year old. The diagnosis was vindicating in many ways -- I'm not just making this up; it really does hurt for days whenever I eat wheat and dairy, and also when I eat too many tomatoes or peppers. It's all about balance. "Moderation," as I recall saying in my high school graduation speech. So there it is. One in five or six Americans has it, and it is expressed differently in everyone, including the major trigger foods. For example, I have a very averse reaction to wheat and dairy wh ile others are fine with those foods but can't eat fruit. This process has been an education. Moreover, it explains EVERYTHING! It's quite exciting to finally have a clue, and feels validating to be able to tell people solidly that I really do have to be careful about what I eat.

I have some kind of a bite under my right armpit that has been itching since Thursday evening. What's with that?

On a closing note, a hopeful tale for young Mainers in exile like me:

-------------------------------------
One Student Does the Incredible: Gets Law Passed for State to Pay Off College Debts
http://www.alternet.org/story/55646

Don't miss the last paragraph.

First, a quick shout-out to Lee-- I love strawberry rhubarb, too! I think it's probably my favorite as well. It's delicious :)

Shout-out to Mark and Stef -- congrats on the new home! I really can't wait to see it! I bet you're very happy to have a place of your own now. And congrats to Mark on graduating!

Shout-out to Q -- generally doing extremely well with her new business ventures of doggy-walking and being willing to work all those inconvenient times. I hardly see ya anymore, but you're making it work well!

OK, that's enough shout-outs for the time being. This is getting ridiculous.

So the original plan was to bomb up to Union, Maine this weekend (Sat afternoon, to be precise), and come back down to Boston on Sunday. We decided against that. Instead, we went hiking on Mt. Wachusett yesterday afternoon (which is such a lovely, if a bit too rocky of a hike) -- it's about an hour and 20 minutes away, which is just at that not-too-far away point. Since we were in town, and remembered that Lyrica was in town, too, we called her up and asked what she was up to last night. As it happens, NOTHING! So we got to see her! It was great. As soon as she got here, we drove over to Christopher's (our favorite neighborhood bar and grill -- they even have buffalo tofu!) and hung out over food. There's something about sharing food that is so wonderful. Anyway, she had to leave really early this morning, but daN and i are both so glad we got to see her.

Today? Who knows? I think we're going to take it easy. Sitting on the grass reading, doing some yoga, etc. Making bread.

In other exciting news, daN and i were preapproved for a mortgage last weekend, and tomorrow we have an appointment with a buyer's real estate agent we both really like... Very exciting...

Oopsie...

Some of you are probably wondering if i am, in fact, still alive. Well, i am. And i've been very busy lately!

2 weeks ago (or was it three?) i went to Denver, CO for the Mod 67 Reunion! And it was a blast! A few short things about Denver and Colorado in general, from my short stint there:

• The Rockies are AWESOME. The landscape there is just amazing, swinging from deciduous trees to coniferous trees to snow-covered mountains to desertous mountains in a wink.
• Denver itself has a high percentage of small businesses that look like they're actually doing well. I was surprised at how few chains i saw.
• The weather is perfect. No joke.

Seeing the roomies again was, in a word, homey, in every great way possible. It was harmonious, and because we've lived together before, in addition to the fact that we've all become more adult and are not crazily trying to finish our rigorous Hampshire educations anymore, it was just plain chill. My heart was so happy. I had a great time.

daN and i went up to Maine at some point for a day or two, and that was fun and short. At this point, i can't even remember the point of the trip, but we had a good time.

Last week, i went to Washington, DC for two days to assist at a conference that i have been helping to plan at work. It was very successful, and the experience was very much like being backstage for 48 hours straight. The weirdest thing was not seeing the sun for that long. When i returned, my circadian rhythm (controlled by exposure to sunlight; that which tells you where you are on the planet) was fucked.

I have spent the last week recovering from all of the above. In between, i have managed to see some friends, and lots of good movies. I finally saw the most recent version of "The Producers," Mel Brooks at his finest. It is brilliantly ridiculous -- a Thanksgiving-sized plate of satire served in a DVD case. I also saw "Spiderman 3" and "Pirates of the Carribean 3" ... but really, the highlights for me have been aforementioned Brooks film and "Everything is Illuminated," complete with Ukrainian rap.

Overall, I am happy to see the sun again. It's not as warm as the pie i made last weekend. Then again, not much can live up to a good strawberry rhubarb pie.

Public Service Announcement

I will not be available this weekend, as i will be reunited with most of my college roommates in Denver, Colorado! I'm so excited!

Have a fun one without me, 'cuz you better believe i'll be having a blast.

Inspired.

For those of you who knew me when i was much younger, you may be surprised to hear that i had more or less given up art altogether for about ten years...that is, until last Monday morning. So inspired was i by the Somerville Open Studios last weekend that i picked up a pad of drawing paper, hauled out the pastels that haven't been used for, yes, ten years, and decided to give it a go. In fact, i was SO excited that i woke up at three in the morning on Monday too brimming with creativity to sleep, and around five a.m. decided to get up and set up a still life. I drew a lovely arrangement of a pair, an orange, and a teapot before doing yoga and getting ready for work.

Today, also brimming with creativity, i went to the Arnold Arboretum for Lilac Sunday. I plopped myself on the grass in front of two rather fetching lilac bushes and started in with the pastels. I don't really know what i'm doing when i start, i just sort of grab a color and go, and it's so freeing! I just kept adding layers until it felt right. I'm so happy! I want to do oils as well :)

In other news, Kal-El graduates this weekend. It's been great seeing the Bogs in their preparations, as we go for walks after big meals. It's so good to see Kal again, too! It definitely doesn't feel like it's been four months. I suppose that's growing up for ya.