Uma is Interested

Turn either your head to the left or your computer monitor/laptop to the right...

wildwood days/nights

In between dashing around the island the other night, we stopped to admire this new sign they put up on the boardwalk by the new convention center. Those beach balls are solid concrete, and are a whimsical version of those barricade things they have at the end of the driveway to the White House.

There have been lots of changes in my hometown in the last 10 years, and there are a lot of streets I don't recognize that I once knew like the back of my hand. This sign didn't replace anything, so liking it doesn't have to be bittersweet. If I had any sort of determination/ambition I'd take some pictures of the things that are left on the island that I love (double entendre intended)...maybe one day.

Profiles in Dopeness: Powhatan

You can't blog about Rogers without Powhatan. Powhatan is/was the relatively low cost "first" apartments after you finish your first year in the dorms. Here all your living costs go strictly to "living" and you must feed yourself. Which works out well for some - others found themselves rationing out ramen. Most people I knew lived here one year and couldn't take sharing their room beyond that year and moved off campus. I couldn't afford that so I lived there for the next 3ish years and 13 room-mates.

It feels like a gazillion miles away from any spot on campus, and with the crappy parking situation I was walking everywhere. All the time. The shuttle took forever and I couldn't find a seat hardly ever, so I only rode that like twice.

In terms of changes between my time there and what's happened since, it seems a little drastic. All the older ODU buildings are in shades of gray and blue -- while all the new buildings on the other end are bright brick (with fountains!). Powhatan needs a paint job like nobody's business. After all it was built in 1978 (nearly but not quite 30 years ago!) The Powhatan buildings all have names below them now - instead of the I-building - it's called Diamondstein and Hofheimer and other rich highly education names like that.

Having lived in a wide array of spaces in my life I can say that P-town was not THAT bad. Would I live there again? Probably no. I like having a sofa that doesn't look like I stole it from a waiting room at a hospital. And I like my bed that I can roll over in 3 times.

Profiles in Dopeness - ODU: Rogers Hall

It’s too bad they don’t make yearbooks for college, or maybe dorm hall books more likely. I understand why - a meager 20 % of the freshmen that come in during that opening semester barely make it to the second semester much less the final semester 4,5, and even 6 (or more) years later. Remember Big Brody, Crazy Stacy, or Pulp Fiction Soundtrack Stealing Michelle? (Didn’t think so.) Then with ODU in particular there’s commuters - which to me at the time always existed on some other planet. The Dorms/P-town while not the Hilton of living arrangements did lend themselves to a certain social metropolis that seemed to run 24 hours a day. Any given moment was a good time for a water balloon fight, a fire drill, or a party. 3 p.m. no problem..crank the Busta Rhymes.

After avoiding ODU for a long time, the school I was mad at because it became even MORE awesome after I left - (and mad because I had all these big ideas and hope.) I decided that for the next couple of weeks I was going on a nostalgia tour for those of you who also haven’t been back in awhile. It’s time to revisit the old..and see what’s been going on since. You know you wanna......

Here’s some Rogers Hall places and why I’m fond of them - feel free to comment!
(Click on them to make them larger, also was having a font problem with my “i’s”.)

Sniffles & Stuff

I meant to write something about the whole Ellen dog adoption ridiculousness, and my thoughts on the subject as animal adoption has been quite prevalent in my life lately. But, as usual, I never got around to it until it was too late and/or I didn't care about it anymore. Plus, I heard somewhere that Ellen may have adopted & discarded up to 9 dogs or something in recent years, which is just batshit crazy.

I got a flu shot the other day, and am feeling the effects now. I hate the sniffles, but at least it gave me something to pass the time earlier tonight as I watched the movie "We Own the Night"---my sister is big on Joaquin. This movie was terrible. A terrible movie with good actors in it and Eva Mendes, who is not a good actor. This movie was like "The Departed" (in that Mark Wahlberg was in both), but for people with head injuries. It was just baffling, really. It was set in 1988, probably the least interesting time in American history. And the music was all wrong. Lots of Blondie & Clash which was totally inappropriate for 1988. I did see a preview for "No Country for Old Men", which looks kinda badass, so that's something.

REJECTED!

The resurgence of Ray Ban sunglasses as a viable fashion option.

"Glad I'm Not 'Indie'"

I kill a lot of time on craigslist, reading Rants & Raves, looking at the Pets section (though my little "townhouse" is already bursting at the seams with pets and pet-related junk) and the Pets forum. As I was perusing R&R yesterday, I came across a posting called "Glad I'm Not 'Indie.'" I clicked on it because it was one of the few without pictures (ever since I clicked on a post while at my workstation and the nastiest picture I've ever seen popped up, I shy away from posts that announce that they have a picture attached). And also because I, too, am glad I'm not "indie."

Anyways. The post is from somebody who found an "ad" in the "Strictly Platonic" section. I'll re-post the original ad here..... I sincerely hope it is a joke. If not, this may be why the original poster finds himself/herself friendless. Yeeowza! Even if it is a joke, still the person took all this time to write out a huge list with pretentious references......wait a minute....in or around DC, pretentious, hmmm......maybe I already know this person!

Well now. On to the ad (in block quote formation, since it is basically a huge quote)!

I’m a recent returnee to the area, know no one here my age, and am looking for someone to hang out with once a week or so, maybe catch an occasional indie show or art exhibit, talk movies and books over drinks, make stuff, play video games, swap mixes, whatever. I’m a librarian with an art background, pretty self-sufficient in terms of keeping busy, but I need some friends my age. I live and work in FFC but might travel for good company, especially re: music snobbery.

I’m definitely not just looking for any random 20-something with free time -- hence the following screening questions. No right answers and you don’t have to have an answer for every question. That said, common ground is kind of the point. Please, don’t bother writing if you can’t answer any.

Also don’t bother if you’re just looking for sex; you smoke or use drugs (sorry!); you can’t occasionally and completely separate yourself from your SO and your children (mentally and physically). Social liberals only. Ages 21-30, please.

Anyone still reading? Amazing! On to the questions.

1. What is your favorite Stephin Merritt project? Kathleen Hanna? Spencer Krug?
2. Who is your favorite living artist?
3. Meat is murder. True or false?
4. Alternately, Meat is Murder or The Queen Is Dead?
5. Your favorite book EVER?
6. What is the last album you bought (or downloaded)?
7. Mr. Darcy or Mr. Thornton?
8. What’s the last live show you saw?
9. What are you going to be for Halloween?
10. Audrey Hepburn or Katherine Hepburn?
11. Have Okkervil River completely and irrevocably gone the way of Bright Eyes?
12. What is your favorite Wong Kar Wai film?
13. What is the last thing you made with your hands?
14. Dame Darcy vs. Melora Creager.
15. What have you read in the last month (or two)?
16. Amuse me with Tom Waits quotations.
17. Captain Jack Sparrow or the Dread Pirate Roberts?
18. Who is your favorite feminist?
19. What does the term “fandom” mean to you?
20. Did you recognize my post title? DID YOU?
21. Name a few favorite record labels.
22. What’s the last movie you saw in theaters?
23. Abishek Bachchan vs. Saif Ali Khan.
24. Mix tapes or mix CDs?
25. The Blow are playing the Black Cat in October -- how excited are you?

Send me your answers, I’ll send you mine, and we’ll go from there.

Wow. I love craigslist!

Reasons to NOT own an iphone.

While it seems I should have an iphone. I actually don't. I'm not saying it's not one of the coolest things since the invention of the microwave, but the fates in my small fraction of the universe have said - "Leslie, an iphone is not for you."

So here's why -
1. My phone service doesn't support them yet and I kinda LOVE my service. I'd be a better rep than the "Can-You-Hear-Me Now" Guy.
2. It's expensive. Even after a rebate, it's still expensive. I can think of 50 other things to spend that kind of money on.
3. I have a computer with high speed internet on a fairly large screen (which i pay for too). I can see all things large, live, and most of the time with relatively litte connectivity problems. Anytime I access my mobile web on my current cell, I have to wait for 30 minutes.
4. I own an ipod. It's less than a year old - and it stores up to 10,000 songs. Some people don't need that kind of storage, but I do. I think I was a dj in another life. I will never own or purchase enough music. It plays TV shows already and movies and podcasts and it's everything I need it to be. I've got it in a nice sports case so it will withstand running, the elements, and whatever ipod torture I can come up with for the next year or so.
5. It's operated on a touch screen. And much like kids at the daycare center I spend all day dealing with germs, dirty keypad, dirty restroom door, greasy chicken leg, sticky chocolate bar, sweaty palm -- you name it. I have no desire to put all that crap all over my iphone (despite reg. handwashing) and then smoosh that thing against my face. Yes, I know about bluetooth - but it looks dumb to put in bluetooth and hold cell phone in front of you as if you were examining space rocks on Mars.
6. It's a phone. My pink razr is pretty cool and I'm loving the blue LG.
As for the rebate, I'm glad S.J. apologized. He knew that phone shouldn't have been that much. But if you actually break it down, you are buying a phone and and ipod smooshed together. 150 phone + 350 ipod = do the math. You are getting exactly what you pay for.
So there it is peeps. Now let me know why I should buy an iphone....Call my Razr. If you like. :)

The Battle for Molar 14

So most everyday throughout the summer I’ve been having headaches. Bad ones. Since this hasn’t been a stellar work summer I thought they were stress related. Pop a motrin and rock on, right? Wrong. Last week and two motrins ago, I poured myself a glass of ice cold / fiery hot tooth pain. You know that scene in “Cast Away” where Tom Hanks finds himself at odds with a figure skate? Well that was me, except with a Chuck Taylor considering beating my head until I fell unconscious.

My new dentist has a head rotating xray machine that shows all your teeth in 3d in Photoshop right in front of her. She clicks a few buttons and bam - the cavity shows up with a detailed map of how far down it goes and bada bing: A map of your busted tooth appears. This maybe me being old, but I would have loved to have that thing when I was a child. Instead I was strapped to a dental chair with an umbrella like structure in my mouth for what seemed like hours. Left to drool and stare off into space and dream of a place where candy eating did NOT result in metallic substances in your mouth. The new technology (while more costly) means I’ll be fast asleep when whatever happens to my teeth happens.

As fate would have it, a third hidden wisdom tooth which laid dormant (I had two out 2 years ago.) decided to make it’s cameo appearance this summer. And that was causing all the trouble. Wisdom tooth three has to come out to fix the pained Molar 14.

My appointment is still more than 30 days away, so I am resolved to eat everything on the right side of my mouth and drink only hot tea. Candy of any sort will be disastrous and painful, so friends if you see me venturing towards the candy dish, smack it away. Molar 14 thanks you.

Beta Personals

Since it’s tradition to introduce new pets on OEF (and sometimes announce their passing :( - I thought I’d show off my new fish Dorian. I know it’s not a cat or a dog, but he’s energetic, always a good listener, and never wastes a bite of his crushed sea pellets. He’s low maintenance and clean, and speaks toddler very well as he always swims up to the glass when kids are smooshing their faces against his dwelling.

His best friend is P.L.P aka Plastic Lilly Pad, or Lilly for short.

His eye is always out for a compatible lady fish whose habits should include: hiding behind the cove, hiding behind the cove, and hiding behind the cove. (He’s not real good at cohabitation.)

So ladie betas, if you’re tired of the “shelf” life at Wal-mart - swing by Dorians.

J.K. :)