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February 25, 2005
Blog Worthy Entry
So, I'm doing designery computery stuff, here at my desk (as I normally do), and my fingers slip, I hit too many keys to remember what I hit, and my monitor goes blank.
I'm thinking "that's weird, my monitor must have unplugged itself or something" and just then, my desktop appears - only this time, it's UPSIDE DOWN.
and so I'm sitting there, like a moron, wondering how the hell I'm going to figure out how to fix things. and trying to mouse and finding out I have to mouse backwards and upside down to get to the properties menu in windows (yeah, I know - windows. believe me when I say that I have it for testing and networking with the rest of the company - my mac is on the other side of my desk, I'm waiting for video to render before I can go back over there....ok, I'm babbling, parenthetically...back to the story).
of course, after figuring everything out and getting back to normal, I have the following conversation with ms. blondie (who I've set up in a pretty new home at piratewench.org) :
me: oh crap. I just accidentally pressed two keys I shouldn't have, and now everything on my monitor is upside down.me: not kidding.
me: this would be funny if i knew how to fix it.
Blondie: oh my god.
Blondie: I didn't even know that was possible.
me: of course,I immediately wrote you about it, so I guess I hope it can be funny to others.
me: hee.
Blondie: Yay!
Blondie: blog material!
me: well, I have a graphics computer, so I have a graphics monitor.
Blondie: ok then
me: isn't that too boring for a blog?
Blondie: I don't know.
Blondie: everything is blog material to me.
Blondie: that's my filter now. Is this blog-worthy?
me: good thing we're not running out of blogs, then.
me: yes. I saw the sponge episode of seinfeld. because Luke from Gilmore Girls was her date. mm....Luke.
me: ooh. there. THAT’S blog worthy. I watched one episode of Seinfeld, because I knew a pretty boy was going to guest-star. News at 11.
Blondie:also: did you ever notice how IM conversations are constantly overlapping themselves? what's with that?
me:oh god. not only did I manage to turn my monitor upside down, I'm now also stuck in Seinfeldisms.
Blondie:Get. Out.
Posted by Heather at 08:19 AM | Comments (1)
February 23, 2005
Feeling Closer
Saw Closer a while back - forgot to write to tell you all about how much I loved it.
the movie managed to capture something about relationships, the wistful sad angry awful parts, as if ripped from someone's notebook and sloppily, elegantly, interestingly pasted together. ..
there was this moment in the film that just pulled my memories out of my head and into my chest and stomped around a bit...
the moment reminded me of the horrible truth of breaking up a long-term relationship...
when you spend so much time with the other person that you know what's happening before it actually happens...
when you both come together and see it in each other's faces, when "I'm going to leave you" overlaps with "you're leaving me, aren't you"...
and both of you feel like shit ...but only one of you feels they deserve to be comforted...
and the only person you can go to at that very moment is the person who hurt you but you go anyway, into their arms, and sob and sob and scream ...
and wonder why the hell things have to end like this. ..
and that was just one scene.
the whole movie was stagey, scene-chewingly talky, and full of beautiful people and places....I just plain loved this movie.
Posted by Heather at 04:26 PM | Comments (3) | TrackBack
February 19, 2005
it's been years. really. years.
I used to sing for 4 hours a day, every single day, minus that week I was in hospital for mono....we performed every week, and during the month of december I don't think a day went by without getting paid to sing some silly song about angels and reindeer or whatever...
but, well, basically, I've been out of music for about 12 years now. seriously. 12 years since I've performed. weird.
oh, wait, I forgot that one year I took drum lessons with Taylor. The class performed once every quarter, so I guess I have performed music, because recitals totally count....we were all on stage and everything.
but still, it feels like it's been for-freakin-ever since I've whipped out the vocal chords and sang a ditty or two...
but next saturday, I get to whip em out with a couple of rock stars....an extraordinary 9 song set, opening for the gentlemanfriend's band....with the added bonus of getting to wear a swishy teal ballgown and be silly!
I can't even begin to tell you how excited and nervous I am. Seriously. there was a day, 12 years ago or so, when I was totally relaxed about performing 4 of 9 new songs with only 2 weeks notice and 3 rehearsals...
but I think that even if I screw this one up (not going to happen - we'll be awesome) I'll have a great time, just getting to wear the cool outfit.
we just had our first run through today - worked out some crazy freakin' harmonies.
and I am still glowing from the flattery that they've asked me to work with them. Glowing.
and, did I mention nervous? I'm nervous.
Posted by Heather at 08:27 PM | Comments (2)
February 16, 2005
library visit
ok, last week was a really crappy week on the "new books" section of the park ridge public library.
what I mean is, it seemed like every book that I picked up was something I'd already read, or something that I knew I wasn't interested in (books about war, various serials {you know, books with A Tits McGee Novel in the title or what have you}, sci-fi or fantasy...).
I ended up pulling a bunch of stuff that I'd passed over on previous trips, stuff that wasn't my first choice, stuff that I hadn't read reviews for...stuff I don't even remember, but for how boring they were.
One exception in the selection from last week was Brendan Halpin's first book, a non fiction retelling of his day-to-day experiences as the husband of a cancer patient. I love how he tells a story, so it is a pleasure to be reading It Takes a Worried Man, but I hate that it was the only book of 9 that i truly enjoyed last week.
but this week. ah, this week. new books from Nicholson Baker. Douglas Coupland. Anne Hoffman. Adam Langer. ok, maybe these aren't new to y'all, but they're new to me. and they're here. in my house. ready to keep my daily 90 minutes of train ride from boring or worrying or otherwise driving me to tears.
and, I tell you, these days, that's a miracle and a great pleasure.
Posted by Heather at 07:09 PM | Comments (2)
February 15, 2005
helping others help themselves.
so, I'm helping blondie get set up with her own domain and with movable type.
which means I'm working on the templates and trying to figure out ways to set things up and explain the interface so that she can do all the picture changing and entry-writing that she wants to do.
of course, I'm all geeky-computery-designer over here, gushing to her on the IM:
me: I had SO much fun stealing pics from your LJ blog and playing with them in the new design....I was sitting here, uploading them to your images folder, thinking "she's going to love this! I am SO excited for her to see this!
(not waiting for response, as usual, I continue:)
me: basically, those pics are called "pic1" "pic1" and "pic1" - so if you don't want an archive of those top pics, all you have to do is re-size any image you like to 99x99 pixels, and upload them through the moveable type interface!
(yes, I'm misguidedly training in IM, not remembering "she hasn't worked with the interface before, this is totally boring to her")
(and then the clincher: geek geek geek)
me: if you want a log, it'll require some ftp action, namely, renaming the top1-2-3 files before uploading new ones with those names...me: ooh, I think I found a firefox ftp client, so I can do the image re-naming for you.
her: huh who what where?
(remembering the reason she hired me)
me: computery thing that lets me do computer thing to put pretty things where they're supposed to go for computery thingyme: (buying her something pretty)
Posted by Heather at 10:30 AM | Comments (1)
February 11, 2005
thinking about him all day, today...
normally, I'd be thinking:
1) about how adorable I look in my pre-teen Hello Kitty sweater (bought at Target while trying on clothes in the little girl's section with Blondie)
2) about how I didn't buy a cup of coffee at the train because of a story my friend Charis told me about how she accidentally spills coffee on herself, like, twice a week...and now I'm worried about ruining the adorable pink hello kitty sweater.
3) about how two days in a row my CTA commute was fucked up - once due to switching problems at the tower, the second time due to "medical emergency...no...police activity...no...power being shut down" which I interpreted as "somebody threw themselves in front of a train".
ok, I did think about those things in the back of my mind, but throughout it all, I'm hoping my lil old guy of a father makes it through his double-knee replacement today. he's in good health, strong of heart and mind and all that, but two new knees? that's quite a surgery to go through in your 70s. especially when you're hoping to be back on your feet and jaunting around your farm come spring.
well, all I can say is, my fingers are crossed, my hopes are focused, and my anticipation of a speedy recovery is all engaged, today.
update: he's out of surgery, everything seems to be going great, and he'll be there for a few days for observation and stuff. phew!
Posted by Heather at 08:28 AM | Comments (2)
February 10, 2005
a book competition that actually makes sense....
ok, I've been meaning to crow about the awesomeness of this but I've been too crazy busy until now....
did i say "crow"? I meant rooster....
Posted by Heather at 08:49 AM | Comments (0)
February 07, 2005
Because she writes about me and then IMs to tell me about it.
When I first started bloggin', a couple of years ago, my blog title was "midwestern, and not minding it a bit."
I'd been doing the online dating thing for a few months at that time, and I had a streak of a whole bunch of really good dates with gentlemen who flew in from New York or L.A. to meet me - and they were always stupidly surprised that the midwest can produce women who are urban, witty, popular-culture-aware, and under-200 lbs.
"Come to LA!" they said. "New York would suit you!" they exclaimed. "I can tell..you're a D.C.girl at heart!" they ejaculated speculated.
But, as much as I loved my coast-dwellers, I couldn't bear to leave my beloved Chicago - I would miss my friends and my family and the architecture and history and semi-affordable housing and autumn...
we're more than just flyover states, after all. . .
Posted by Heather at 09:44 AM | Comments (0)