gmail gems

one of the best things about having 7 years worth of archived gmail and gtalks is the gems that come up when you search for something.

in this case i put in 'twenty twelve' (a techno song in the vein of aviici that my brother sent me) and up came this incredible poem by what looks to be one of huyett's friends. not sure how this was missed the first time around (aka december 12th 2008) but it's too good not to be shared. plus we like power hours and christmas is coming.

i wish to give credit to whoever wrote the below poem and say 'well done friend'.

HOW THE GRINCH STOLE POWERHOUR

Every Yorker up in York-ville liked PowerHours a lot…

But the Grinch, who lived just south of York-ville, did NOT!

The Grinch hated PowerHours! They came once a season. 

Now, please don't ask why. No one quite knows the reason. 

It could be his head wasn't screwed on just right. 

It could be, perhaps, that his undies were too tight. 

But I think that the most likely reason of all 

May have been that his liver was two sizes too small. 

But, whatever the reason, his undies or liver, 

He stood there before PowerHours, anger making him quiver. 

Staring down from Trump Tower with a sour, Grinchy frown, 

At the fun and festivities to the north side of town. 

For he knew every Yorker from west side to east, 

Was preparing to take 60 shots at the least. 

"And they're finding their shotglasses!" he snarled with a sneer, 

"Tomorrow is PowerHour! It's practically here!"

 Then he growled, with his Grinch fingers nervously drumming, 

"I MUST find some way to stop PowerHour from coming!"

For, Tomorrow, he knew, as happened four times a year, 

They'd arrive at 86th St. with glasses and beer. 

And then, oh the fun! Oh the FUN! FUN! FUN! FUN! 

That's the one thing he hated! The FUN! FUN! FUN! FUN!

Then the Yorkers, at long last, would raise glasses of beer. 

They'd drink beer! They'd drink beer! They'd drink BEER! BEER! BEER! BEER!

They'd drink beer once a minute, as their sobriety decreased. 

Which was something the Grinch couldn't stand in the least!

And THEN they'd do something he liked least of all! 

Every Yorker up in York-ville, the tall and the small, 

Would gather together, the guests and the hosts. 

They'd raise up their glasses, and shout out the toasts! 

To your mom! To the 80s! And to girls that be craaazy! 

To good friends! To Christmas! And to not making babies!

And the more the Grinch thought of these good-natured toasts, 

The more he decided it's what he hated the most. 

"Why, for a year and a half I've put up with it now! 

I MUST stop this PowerHour from coming! But HOW?"

Then he got an idea! An awful idea!

THE GRINCH GOT A WONDERFUL, AWFUL IDEA!

"I know just what to do!" The Grinch said in a flash. 

And he found an ironic t-shirt and m'stache. 

How sarcastically witty, though not known as a quipster, 

In his tight jeans and t-shirt, he'd look just like a hipster!

"All I need is a fixie…" The Grinch looked around. 

But since he wasn't in Brooklyn, there were none to be found. 

The Grinch snarled to himself,  "As the situation demands it, 

I'll do the next best thing and take public transit."

So he walked to the subway, paid with nickels and dimes, 

And finally got in after swiping twelve times. 

THEN he boarded the subway running under the street, 

And kicked an old woman out of her seat.  

And the train started moving with leaps and with bounds, 

Towards 86th St. at the north side of town. 

All the sub stops were empty. A slight haze filled the air. 

All the Yorkers were dreaming sweet dreams without care. 

Then his stop, up the stairs, down the street to the east, 

As the Grinch saw the red door his excitement increased.  

"This is stop number one," the old Hipster Grinch hissed, 

And he jimmied the lock with a flick of his wrist. 

Then he climbed flights of stairs, taking breaks in between, 

To ease the discomfort of tight hipster jeans. 

When he got to 4B he tapped lightly on the door, 

And on hearing no answer he jimmied once more. 

Once inside the first thing that he saw were shotglasses, 

A whole pile left by prior shot masses. 

So he tore open the shudders and threw out the sash,

And tossed all the glasses outside in a crash. 

Then he slithered and slunk, with an unpleasant jeer, 

Around the whole room, and he took all the beer! 

Budweiser! Keystone! And Milwaukee's Best! 

Coors! Pabst Blue Ribbon! And all of the rest!

He stuffed them in bags, then the Grinch, without care,

Threw all of the beer down four long flights of stairs. 

Then he took all the wine, which he drained down the sink, 

To ensure that there'd be nothing left for to drink. 

Then he dashed to the stereo gleaming with glee. 

"And NOW!" grinned the Grinch, "I will take the CD!"

So the Grinch grabbed the mix and was leaving the house, 

When he heard a small sound like the squeak of a mouse. 

He turned around fast and he saw a small Gee! 

Little Dylan Grace Gee, who was not more than twenty-three. 

The Grinch had been caught by this Dylan Grace Gree

Who'd arisen from bed for a middle-of-night pee. 

She stared at the Grinch and said, "Hipster, but why? "

"Why are you taking our precious mix? Why?"

But, you know, that old Grinch was so smart and so slick, 

He thought up a lie and he thought it up quick!

The fake Hipster Grinch declared, with a sneer on his lips, 

That the songs on the mix were insufficiently hip. 

"So I'm taking it back down to Brooklyn, my dear. 

I'll add some new songs, then I'll bring it back here."

And his fib fooled Ms. Gee. Then he patted her head, 

And she went to the bathroom and got back in bed. 

Then the Grinch took his leave, for the damage was done, 

Took a cross-town bus, then the downtown 1. 

It was quarter past dawn, all the Yorkers in bed, 

All the Yorkers still snoozing, with dreams in their heads. 

The Grinch took off downtown, his mission complete, 

Imagining the faces of Yorkers in defeat. 

He had the CD! They couldn't drink without songs!

There was no way his plan could have possibly gone wrong!

And just to be safe, he had taken the beer, 

He had taken the shotglasses, the outcome was clear!

So he hurried back home to the top of Trump Tower, 

And took a long nap 'til the Hour of Power. 

In his dreams he envisioned just what they would do, 

They would gasp! They would groan! They would cry out "BooHoo!"

The Yorkers, at last, would cease with their fun, 

And the PowerHour tradition would finally be done. 

When the Grinch finally woke he was full of good cheer, 

He ran to the edge, put his hand to his ear. 

And from York-ville up north he heard something real low. 

It started out low, then it started to grow. 

But the sound wasn't sad! Why, this sound sounded merry!

It couldn't be so! But it WAS merry! VERY!

He stared down at York-ville, the Grinch popped his eyes!

Then he shook! What he saw was a shocking surprise!

Every Yorker in York-ville, the tall and the small, 

Was toasting! Without any beverage at all!

He HADN'T stopped PowerHour from coming! IT CAME!

Somehow or another, it came just the same!

And the Grinch, staring down at the merriment below, 

Stood puzzling and puzzling: "How could it be so?"

"It came without beer! Without glasses or songs!"

The Grinch stood there thinking: "Where had he gone wrong?"

And he puzzled three hours, till his puzzler was sore. 

Then the Grinch thought of something he hadn't before!

"Maybe PowerHour," he thought, "isn't just about beer."

"Maybe PowerHour…perhaps…it about people and cheer!"

And what happened then? Well…In York-ville they say, 

That the Grinch's small liver grew three sizes that day!

And the minute his liver felt up to the fight, 

He whizzed up to Yorkville in the night's fading light, 

He brought back the CD, bought some beer for the host, 

And he, HE THE HIPSTER GRINCH, made a holiday toast!

hat tip to oprah

read a bunch of magazines while i was in florida last weekend - (great time, weather was chilly sat/sun but lovely mon and tues, did some shopping, drank a lot, saw some gators by the boardwalk, caught up on family, politics and dartmouth with my grandparents) - including a couple issues of oprah and was inspired by her monthly feature 'books that made a difference to me'. usually she's asking a celeb this question but this time you get my thoughts:

1. gift from the sea - anne morrow lindbergh (yes that lindbergh)
you might think this one is a no brainer, but not only is it filled with ocean imagery to describe life, it's also a bit of a feminist manifesto. she goes down to sanibel island off the coast of florida to reflect on her life as a wife and a mother, which is where the feminist bit comes in. there are several passages that really speak to me, especially the ones about relationships and patience, and being 'an ocean person' i take along a marked up copy anywhere i go.

2. go dog go - dr. suess
perhaps another no brainer given the dr. suess/dartmouth connection, but this one is on here b/c it's the first book i remember reading on my own - giving birth to a life long appetite for the written word. my parents placed a big emphasis on reading growing up - books and red felt tip pens for annotating everywhere. i'd crawl into my parents bed for 'special time' (aka one child with two parents - a rare thing in a family of 4 kids) and we'd read. my dad and i still have a running joke from go dog go: he or i will say 'hello - do you like my hat?' and the other will reply 'no i do not like your hat.' and then 'goodbye' and 'goodbye'. spoiler alert: she busts out her party hat at the end of the book and they eventually ride off into the sunset, which is why i'm fond of party hats.

3. the winner within - pat riley
this one combines business with pat riley's experience coaching the los angeles lakers and later the new york knicks. one of the best parts about it is it takes place when the celtics were the basketball team to beat and it's a blast to read about larry bird, kevin mchale and robert parish in their heyday but it's on this list because it's about sports psychology, coaching yourself and the life cycle of a team - playing sports growing up required a lot of mental toughness training and self-coaching - much of which carries over to life as well - and so i still find myself returning to my dog-eared and highlighted copy to find a favorite concept, mantra or quote when i need to be reminded of a time when i was a lot more disciplined and a heck of a lot tougher.


4. the goal - eliyahu goldratt
i know this one is standard b-school reading, but i read it because my mentor at the time gave it to me as a gift and told me to read it. i've read a ton of business management books (hi 'what they don't teach you at harvard business school') - looking for ways to keep learning and improving in business, but this one has stuck with me because it's based in manufacturing ala creating car parts in a factory and solving business problems like supply and demand and bottlenecks. reading this book helped me understand where so many of the ways to think about business originated. i suppose there's a reason it's standard b-school fodder!


5. bridget jones's diary - helen fielding
not deep or particularly life changing, just a good friend to have on hand when life gets crazy. i've read it so many times - it's hysterical, relatable and quotable (there's a theme) - the first time i read this was on a bus for a school trip and cracked up so hard at the vcr episode. celeste and i like to refer to ourselves in the third person when speaking to each other and everyone has a mr or mrs. darcy driving them mad in the realm of love in one form or another. 'she who laughs, lasts' and this is a good one for laughing. :)

season of joy

She asked me when the season of joy was supposed to end & I said I didn't really think there was an exact date, so we left the tree up till June that year. - storypeople - 'season of joy'

belated merry christmas posting. couldn't bring myself to open my work computer until just now, but i've been thinking about this post for a couple days. we went, as we always do, to christmas eve services at union chapel in hyannisport. it's sort of an atypical christmas eve service - my mom plays the organ for a couple of familiar hymns and carols and families read or recite poems, stories and pieces that encapsulate the season.

this year someone read a poem i'd never heard before but liked a lot called 'at christmas' by edgar albert guest. sampling below, full poem here:

a man is at his finest towards the finish of the year
he is almost what he should be when the christmas season is here
then he's thinking more of others than he's thought the months before,
and the laughter of his children is a joy worth toiling for
he is less a selfish creature than at any other time
when the christmas spirit rules him he comes close to the sublime

at christmas he is almost what god wanted him to be

this past christmas i was grateful to have all my siblings home - my sister's boyfriend joined for the festivities for the first time as well. it was a little strange to have him but i suppose it had to happen sometime. i was also grateful that both my grandparents are in good health - i know there are changes - both good and bad - in the near future - but for this year at least we could celebrate and reflect together. it truly is a wonderful life.

ruminations

with the demise of google reader's sharing function i can tell i'm going to have to share more stuff via this blog. not a bad thing for you lucky readers!

a writer should concern [her]self with whatever stirs [her] fancy, stirs [her] heart and unlimbers [her] typewriter - eb white

"I used to feel so alone in the city. All those gazillions of 
people and then me, on the outside. Because how do 
you meet a new person? I was stunned by this for many 
years. And then I realized, you just say, 'Hi.' 
They may ignore you. Or you may marry
them. And that possibility is worth that one word." Augusten Burroughs

new york can be a difficult place to describe. never has a city of so many paradoxes existed. there are moments i feel this indescribably deep love for it. and then moments and days and months where i can barely breathe here, where i want to run screaming from my own skin.


all new yorkers know you must constantly flee this place in order to sustain and cultivate your love for it. 

both from so-i-feel. amen.

these are my confessions

i know you all (all 3 of you) must be asking yourselves, so ms lyon, why haven't you posted recently? i'm not entirely sure, but i know a lot of it is due to my new lego harry potter iphone game and my recent discovery of the hbo series 'true blood'. we'll take these one at a time.

lego harry potter: years 1 - 4

i have been telling everyone about this and while they generally look at me like i'm crazy (lingley called me a dork) and then scoff when they find out i paid $5 for it, i'm telling you it's awesome. if you're a harry potter fan and you have an iphone you should get it. here's why:

1. it's remarkably true to the books. the characters look like how they're described and the levels as you advance follow the same progression as the books. in year 1, the sorcer's stone, you start out in privet drive, advance to hogwarts, duel with malfoy, defeat aragog and finally the basilisk. beating the troll in moaning myrtle's bathroom is an actual level! if you've ever wanted to be harry potter and live in his world, this game is for you.

2. you get to cast spells. you learn spells as you go along and cast them by tracing them on the touch screen. i know reveliao, reducto, transfiguration, lumos and a whole bunch more. how cool is that?

3. you get a lot of bang for your $5 buck. there are 4 years to defeat, and each year has about 20 levels in it. and it's hard! i cheat a lot. once you win you can go back and play through to get all the wizard hats, special things and red bricks you didn't get the first time too. this game is worth way more than you pay for it. 

4. it's got a sense of humor. there are little vingettes of the characters interacting that are adorable and the lego take on the story is great. they made a lego buckbeak that you feed meat. it's neat. 

so i'm telling you - check it out. tons of reviews in the app store to back me up. AND they're releasing years 5 - 7 this year! MORE FUN!

true blood

i know i'm preaching to the choir, am late to the game, etc. etc. on true blood, but that just means i can watch episode after episode and get instant gratification. wasn't really into vampires and didn't think anna paquin was cute at all, but christine lent me one of the books to read on my way home from boston and while the book was okay i decided to try the show. i like fantasy mixed with reality (i'm sure no one has forgotten my obsession with ghost whisper) and i'm hooked on true blood. the southern setting, with the magic, the sex and the element of danger at all times is fantastic and jason stackhouse is super attractive. i'm almost done with season 1 and of course i've wikipedia'd the entire thing but damn i'm excited to watch the rest. thoroughly enjoying it.

otherwise, had a good time down in dc over the wknd with lingley. loved my ladybug costume - had a blast wearing it. agreed to go back down to dc for the patriots-redskins game in december, which means the next 6 weeks are going to be a little crazy, but i'm excited for my first pro football game.

vin's in nyc this week so we had dinner with her bro on monday and are doing cocktails tonght and going out on sat. yay vin time! saw tower heist with rowena last night thanks to an employee screening - it's so nice that they do that. it had its moments but i wouldn't recommend spending $13.50 or whatever it costs to see a movie these days on it. rowena is also running the marathon in nyc on sunday so i'll be tromping around cheering for her before cheering for the patriots when they play the giants. 

looking forward to going home for thanksgiving - fortunately it seems it will be here before i know it. also i just had the most delicious pizza of artichoke pizze from artichoke pizza here in chelsea. my new favorite place for sure. 

now - back to true blood . . . 

dictionary of exeter language

rediscovered a long lost favorite today: the dictionary of exeter language.

both my dad and my uncle went to exeter, and my uncle gave me his copy of the new dictionary of exeter language (circa 1977) when i went to exeter in 1998. as the name suggests, it was this great book of terms, many unique to the exeter lexicon, and their humorous definitions. it's where several of my favorite sayings originated, including 'beer goes well with more beer' and 'nothing in particular, everything in general'.

i gave my copy to a family friend when she went off to exeter, and haven't been able to track down another version since. was talking about it with charlo in boston over the weekend and decided to do some googling. i found the 1960 version of it online, and while this version doesn't have some of my favorites, it's still pretty great. exeter, like dartmouth, has a lot of slang and i'm still not sure why the dictionary of dartmouth language hasn't been published yet. maybe everyone figures the d has this covered with their 'shmen issue for incoming frosh each year. could be a missed opportunity.

a couple of my faves below. full listing here:

• New Hampshire:  a state in the far-northern United States; notorious for its cold food, cold weather, and cold women.  " She was pretty good-looking, in a New Hampshire sort of way." 

• Latin:  a linguistic system abandoned by its inventors long ago, but it still persists at Exeter.  "It is Latin, it cannot be read." — old Greek saying.

• Exeter Summer School - Exeter without the work

• C:  what most of the brains call a mediocre mark, the faculty calls an average mark, and the rest of us call a damn good mark.  "But the school average is C-and three-fifths!" – telephone conversation at the end of the marking period

• diploma:  a little slip of paper that admits begrudgingly that you have finally paid your debt to society and are free to leave Exeter without out-of-town permission, provided that you don't do anything ungentlemanly within forty-eight hours after receiving it; some are allowed to end their Exeter careers without benefit of this certificate.  "Four years, and all I get is this?" — any new alumnus. 

• cross country: the only legitimate reason for being in the woods

• kinda nice:  useful description of anything from town girls to Sunday-night suppers.  Synonyms:  nice, not nice, attractive, rather attractive, unattractive, cute, kinda cute, not cute at all. 

• Yale: a school for people who enjoy grinding so much they want to do it for four more years

• Study Hours:  enchanted hours in the morning, afternoon, and evening when almost everything stops, at least anything of any great importance.  Not to be confused with class hours, during which the world stands still

• suck seat:  either of those sets immediately adjacent to the professor.  “This is a very comfortable chair.” — Nye Stevens.

• ya well:  no one is sure of the exact meaning of this handy phrase, but its usefulness in situations where there is nothing else to say is beyond doubt

guest post: everything is illuminated

never read the book 'everything is illuminated' but i've always loved this quote:

"this is love, she thought, isn't it? when you notice someone's absence and hate that absence more than anything? more, even, than you love his presence?"

and now: 

"do you think i'm wonderful? she asked him one day as they leaned against the trunk of a petrified maple. no, he said. why? because so many girls are wonderful. i imagine hundreds of men have called their loves wonderful today, and it's only noon. you couldn't be something that hundreds of others are."

*swoon*

namesake

“the thing about life is that you must survive. life is going to be difficult, and dreadful things will happen. what you do is move along, get on with it, and be tough. not in the sense of being mean to others, but being tough with yourself and making a deadly effort not to be defeated.” - katharine hepburn

i'm named after her. she's a smart one.

the interweb

going to start posting my google reader shared items to the blog, as most people don't use google reader and there's just too much good stuff out there. hat tip to celestia for this one.

McSweeney’s Internet Tendency: It’s Decorative Gourd Season, Motherfuckers.

via www.mcsweeneys.net on 8/21/11

I don't know about you, but I can't wait to get my hands on some fucking gourds and arrange them in a horn-shaped basket on my dining room table. That shit is going to look so seasonal. I'm about to head up to the attic right now to find that wicker fucker, dust it off, and jam it with an insanely ornate assortment of shellacked vegetables. When my guests come over it's gonna be like, BLAMMO! Check out my shellacked decorative vegetables, assholes. Guess what season it is—fucking fall. There's a nip in the air and my house is full of mutant fucking squash.

cape cod girls

liz mumford print :)

footloose and fancy free

last week was super stressful b/c i was taking off early on friday to go to seattle for zana's wedding, and i had a dentist appt to have 3 cavities filled, which meant 2.5 hours out of my thursday to have needles and drills and lockjaw. now that both things are behind me i feel a strange sense of euphoria, which can only be because my calendar is (relatively) wide open and i'm staying in nyc for the next two wknds.

that is not to say i didn't have a fantastic time on the west coast this past weekend. it was my first trip to seattle, so i didn't know much about it, and i was excited to get the grand tour. jess was kind enough to act as my hostess and tour guide, so i learned quite a bit about the pacific northwest.

got in around 7 on friday night and was so surprised to see snow-capped mountains on the air train into the city. according to wikipedia seattle gets 71 sunny days on average a year, and friday was one of them, so it's only fair to note i'm biased.

met up with jess and ppocket and headed to dinner with swanny, skips and skip's girlfriend. was fantastic to catch up with them, eat delicious thai food and see an almost full moon over the space needle.

saturday we picked up a zipcar from the local community center (a vintage porsche car fair was going on. we were driving a vw rabbit) and got all gussied up for the night. picked up skips and ppocket and we headed out to the red hook brewing company for lunch and the brewery tour. for $1 we got 5 samples of beer, a rocks glass and learned that one of the co-founders of red hook is the founder of starbucks, there's a red hook brewery in portsmouth, nh, and 30 people work at the brewery. highly recommend it if you're on the east or west coasts.

we cut out of the tour early to get to zana's parents' ranch where the wedding was being held. they live on a gorgeous piece of property north of seattle and zana and linda were married down by the pond in an incredibly beautiful and heart-felt ceremony. afterwards we ran around looking for horses, giving hugs to zana and rosi, and getting drinks in the dressage arena where the reception was held. jess and i gave toasts, zana, linda and the boys did a choreographed dance to get things kicked-off, and we had brick-oven pizza for dinner. we also took a number of pictures that ppocket is converting into a collage at the photo booth, and danced the night away.

sunday jess and i had brunch downtown, and then i explored the waterfront of docks and ferries and pike place market (think real world seattle fish and original starbucks) before heading back to the airport for my red-eye. seattle is the western-most terminus of i-90 (of boston and james taylor fame) and it was so funny to think about being on the other side of the country but on the same road. really liked seattle overall - it's such a cool combo of water and woods and mountains. everywhere you looked there were boats and beautiful scenery and people outside running or playing soccer or sailing. there were also lots of gardens, farmers markets and community centers. was surprised to see tons of red sox fans out and about, but realized it was likely because they were playing the mariners. still, it kind of felt like home. all in all it seems like a very legit place to live and that there is a lot more to explore. will have to get back out there soon.

liking a song lately by emmylou harris (covered by miranda lambert) called 'easy from now on'. the lyrics i like are

It's gonna be easy to fill
The heart of a thirsty woman
Harder to kill the ghost of a no good man
And I'll be ridin' high in a fandangled sky
It's gonna be easy, It's gonna be easy
It's gonna be easy from now on

part of why i like it is that it resonates, part of it is the 'fandangled sky' bit, but worth a listen if you're into bluegrass country.

in the vein of culture and arts, i also read 'the big house' last weekend - a great memoir about summer houses, family and boston W.A.S.P.S. i've touched on the role my grandparents house in craigville has played in my family and i'm sure i'll get around to doing a post on it one of these days, but worth a read. started reading 'last call' about prohibition on sunday night as well. in the middle of that now but enjoying learning about something i don't know too much about. will report back.

stuff i like

today's mary engelbreit calendar:

sea shell sea shell sing me a song o please
a song of ships and sailor men and parrots in tropical trees

of islands lost in the spanish main
which no man ever may find again
of fishes and corals under the waves
and seahorses stabled in great green caves

sea shell sea shell
sing of the things you know so well
- amy lowell

we are all fools in love

loved this rumination on love from a fellow blogger at 'totally confident and completely insecure'. it resonated so much that i'm reposting rather than linking, but you can find the original post here.

Okay so I saw the movie "Crazy Stupid Love" last night. I won't go into my thoughts on the movie because I'm not qualified to critique a movie and any criticism i have is hypocritical considering that I'd kill to have been in it. The point is that it's all about love and yearning and loss and the kick in the face that happens when we fall in love and the kick in the gut that happens when someone leaves us or stops wanting us. How powerless we are to it, how rational thinking goes out the window and logical reasons of why we shouldn't love them simply can't be factored into our feelings. Being in love can make the toughest person vulnerable. Once you've had it, its the only reason to live and once you've lost it, you can't imagine how you'll continue on living at all. I'm obsessed with watching this in other people. The way that we swim against the tide. When someone pulls away we try pulling them closer. It pushes them further. The way that one person's indifference creates an others panic. The smartest person acts like an idiot. The most seemingly insignificant person levels someone you had on a pedestal. Time moves so fast you can't catch your breath. You see something in someone that no one else can find. Watching them stand next to the new girl in their life makes you forget how to move the muscles in your legs. It makes you wonder if you'll ever eat food again. People who have never experienced this, they glide on the surface above you where nothing is ever too painful and nothing is ever so amazing they're speechless. They're somewhere in the middle. And that's a fine place to be, but we don't really have a choice do we? So, I thought back to the songs that captured the desperation of love and loss and the crazy person it stirs up in us. Here they are. Maybe you're feeling it right now and hearing the insanity in someone else helps you remember that you're not alone and you're definitely ALIVE to the fullest degree. You shouldn't ever regret that.

gunk'holing

gunk'holing is the art of getting a boat into any small, shallow cove forbidden to boats of deeper draft and out again, without running aground much over a dozen times
- j benjamin - cape cod life magazine, june 2001

barn dance

if you know me/read this blog, you know i was brought up on PBS. sesame street, square one, ghostwriter and reading rainbow clips, dialogue and songs have stuck with me, even after all these years.

there's a gorgeous full moon over the city tonight - after yesterday's crazy rain storm the humidity is down and it's amazing out. when i saw the moon as i got off the subway i was reminded of a quote from a reading rainbow episode

full moon shining, shining big and bright. pushing back the shadows, holding back the night

i remembered it was from a book they read during the episode called 'barn dance' and i was thrilled to discover the entire episode, including the reading of the book, in video format online. so if you're in the mood for some childhood nostalgia, and a book that captures the mystical way the night can feel, i suggest you 'take a look'. :)

true story

this is kind of like 'err on the side of raging'

"rule number 1: always stick around for one more drink. that's when things happen. that's when you find out what everything you want to know."
- john berendt 'midnight in the garden of good and evil'

hat tip to agp in nyc

puppy tails

My parents' new German Shepard puppy is so freaking cute I can't stand it. Literally cannot handle the cuteness.

Jill and I spent 20 minutes watching him and squealing on Skype yesterday.

4 out of 5 randomly polled people behind AD on Saturday agreed that he is LITERALLY the cutest puppy on campus. Not even the presence of a real puppy could sway their vote.

Sooo CUTE!

look at me, i'm crying

loved this article about crying in public in nyc. i've definitely done it - both streaming tears as i walk down the sidewalk when a beloved boss suddenly announced he was leaving, and sniffling on the subway with the tears welling up as i waited for my stop the day after i reluctantly ended a love affair. sometimes i was drunk, sometimes i wasn't. but i think this article hits on a lot of what it means to live in nyc where so much of life is shared with strangers without ever interacting with them at all.

well worth a read.

channeling gutenberg

i discovered the letterpress studio at dartmouth my senior year - it's in the basement of baker library and is this incredible suite of rooms with at least three hand presses, and copious different collections of typesets in all sorts of different fonts, as well as book binding classes and materials. as a person who has always been more of an audio/verbal person instead of a visual person, words as art resonate more with me than pictures and this was basically heaven on earth.

the studio was essentially free after a small activities fee, and it was never super crowded - i got the sense most students didn't even know it existed. i printed some ee cummings poems and messed around with my name and graduation announcements with fun fonts, inks and images on luxurious paper. finished projects would be hung in the hallway between the reserves and sanborn library and always included a few save the dates and/or wedding invites and i'd think about coming back to hanover one day to print my invites at the letterpress studio.

there's a blog i like that ceppos turned me on to called 'a practical wedding'. don't even get me started on why i'm reading wedding blogs when i'm the furthest person i know from the altar, but was pleasantly surprised to discover a post on printing your own wedding invitations with a letterpress.

as i was reading the post and reflecting fondly on my time at dartmouth's letterpress studio i was even more surprised to discover that the poster was a dartmouth grad and had discovered the letterpress studio on campus in time to do her wedding invites as an undergrad. couldn't figure out who it was, but i had to comment on the post to chime in on the wonderfulness of having a letterpress studio as a resource and the pleasure of making something beautiful by hand. :)

guest post: hunter thompson

“Walk tall, kick ass… love music, and never forget you come from a long line of truth seekers, lovers, and warriors.”

“Let us toast to animal pleasures, to escapism, to rain on the roof and instant coffee, to unemployment insurance and library cards, to absinthe and good-hearted landlords, to music and warm bodies and contraceptives… and to the “good life”, whatever it is and wherever it happens to be.”