Automated Phone Systems

I get so angry at automated answering systems. "If this is correct say 'Yes' or press '1', if this is incorrect say 'No' or press '2'"

Argg, it's unreal.

"Yellow Fish"

OUT OF BODY AWARENESS or ENLIGHTENING

THIS IS COPY AND PASTED FROM AN ACTUAL CRAIGSLIST LISTING THAT I CAME ACROSS:

OUT OF BODY AWARENESS or ENLIGHTENING Doc
Reply to: gigs-969755347@craigslist.org
Date: 2008-12-26, 12:29AM EST


Interviewing for those who have had out of body awareness or bind bowling experience. If that is you and would like to share your story, please email us.




* it's NOT ok to contact this poster with services or other commercial interests
* Compensation: TBD ( may be small stiplet)

Canker Sores Arent Cold Sores

Definition

Canker sores, also called aphthous ulcers, are small, shallow lesions that develop on the soft tissues in your mouth — under your tongue, inside your cheeks or lips, and at the base of your gums. Unlike cold sores, canker sores don't occur on the surface of your lips and aren't contagious. They can be very painful, however, and can make eating and talking difficult.

Most canker sores go away on their own in a week or two. Check with your doctor or dentist if you have unusually large or painful canker sores or canker sores that don't seem to heal.

Learn something new everyday, I s'pose.

I Want to go on a Trip

Hmph. I want to explore.

Happy Holidays Comic!

I Really Like Shorts

It's snowing outside. But I'm wearing shorts. That's because we can't control the heat very well in this place, it's either sweltering or freezing. We try to balance it by turning on the heat for a little while, then turning it off for a while. But sometimes one forgets. So, I get to wear shorts today and think about how that's pleasant.

Feathered Dinosaurs! Whoa!

Oh, that's Right!

You should watch this,

I worked on this movie and it's going to Sundance. The director, Cory, is an amazing guy, the crew was awesome and I think the movie is going to be great. (positive, positive, positive, good word, good word, good word[but it's the truth!])

I Made This

Totally flattering, right? Ha!
(click it and it gets bigger [oh yeah, it likes that])

Tonight was a Nice Night

I watched a movie about a vagina that bites off penises.

And a movie with Robert Downey, Jr.

I haven't been feeling well, so I was taking it easy. I thought it might be a bad night,

but,

Tonight was a nice night.

They serenade with honking here. Choruses of honking. They honk so much sometimes that it makes me smile, like someone is telling a joke. A humorous amount of honking. It's their comical frustration, Move Faster, Damnit.

A puppy escaped under a fence and flattened out at my feet. Gosh, what a cute thing. I picked it up and gave it back to it's owner.

At a club, talked to someone about videoing dancers, that's why I went to the club. We met there. Bright lights, loud sounds.

I went home smiling.

I'm very tired and somewhat dizzy. It's time for rest.

Yesterday, I watched this movie:

I really, really liked it. Except that they give away his loss of hair on the cover...
I really don't like knowing much about movies before I see them, especially good ones. And I thought this one was great.

"See ya later", "Bye"

Went to the Laundromat

Last night,

And experienced my first contact with racism in this neighborhood.

A large black man stood tall in the doorway and stared us down as we entered into the room. He asked, in a deep, low voice,

"What are YOU guys doing here?"

With a smile I said excitedly,

"Laundry!"

Not to be a smart ass, but because I didn't know what else to say/do.  His expression didn't change and he maintained eye contact, and said, almost as if giving us permission,

"...Okay."

And then gave us sideways glances as we passed him on our way over to the washing machines.  We began the process of doing our laundry.

I thought I might not do mine at all, the place was packed and I felt very uncomfortable.  I didn't know if the large man's attitude fit with the whole place, or if his discrimination was more singular.

Maryann exchanged the quarters for tokens and I told her to use the only empty washing machine, since she had work in the morning.  I put my clothes bag on the floor and waited around.  I said I might not do my laundry, but I would wait with her.  Not long after a machine opened up and I shoved my clothes in. 

Both of us stood with our backs against the machines, looking out.  It took a while, but eventually I got comfortable.  The large man seemed to be the only one harboring a hateful attitude, everyone else didn't particularly notice, or not blatantly so.

The man didn't talk to us again, though he was there for a while longer.  I thought about what I might say if he did confront us for a second time.  And not what I would say in some attacking manner, more what I would say to add some humanness to the situation.  To see if I could touch something that lives inside, beyond the nature to size one up based upon physical appearance, there is some expectation he had of us that was incorrect and based entirely on our physical looks.  I know often that people with such an outlook are unreachable, certainly there are plenty of whites who discriminate against blacks and have thought it through.   Who have gone through school and have been confronted with literature about slavery, the KKK and other abominations in human history, and when they form a position of hate, they have formed it even with this background.

And I can't pretend to know what was going through the large man's mind when he chose us, but I have guesses.  I know that there are people who are presented such a history and it fills them with an opposing hate and then they watch as their neighborhood, that was primarily one race, begins to become many and then buildings that cost more are raised and rent starts going up and oftentimes a white person in a mostly black neighborhood is a sign of this happening. Gentrification, it's called.  He may have, consciously or not, read us as being a sign of that in his own neighborhood, for as they say, Bed-Stuy is changing.  I can't say for certain whether we're a part of that sign or not, we chose to live where we did because the apartment was beautiful and we could afford the rent, we couldn't afford anything higher.  We did notice that the neighborhood was primarily black, but didn't feel one way or another about it.  The people here are nice and it doesn't seem unsafe.  But I guess we do stand out, I have felt it somewhat before, but we stand out for the wrong reasons.  We aren't well-to-do, we don't come from stuffy neighborhoods filled with white people and we didn't move here because we thought it was hip and up-and-coming.

I know that there are millions of people in this world who have experiences far worse than any I could share.  But it wasn't the action itself that struck me, it was the sentiment behind the action, the sheer back movement of attacking a person for their looks.  I want to think that these things can change, I like to think they aren't still around(though obviously sentiments based upon people's skin color still rage strong, just look at our next president and the huge response of the public and how many times he's been asked about the relation between his skin color and his threat to safety).  I know there are many issues, and a bigger one is Gentrification itself and what it does to people, and how that's immensely disproportionate between people with different skin color.  I'm not blind to these things, I don't live in a fantasy world that 'it's all worked out'.    However, all these thoughts, feelings and examinations get brought to life when one is confronted directly with a comment about where they belong based upon how they look.

Well,

I took my clothes off for a panel of strangers today. And then I struck some poses. That was awkward. Let's see if I get to be drawn by art students...

Drinky drink/Dancey dance

Went to the Brooklyn Museum of Art tonight, where they host a first Saturday free event. You can view all the exhibits for free and there are lectures, performances and, at 9pm, a dance party. Missed out on all the lectures and performances because you have to get there early and get tickets, which we hadn't realized.   I drank a few plastic cups of wine and danced for a while. Ended up getting anxiety for any number of reasons, but still enjoyed myself. I don't do that often, dance that is, or go out for that matter. I don't regret doing it.

Picktours

I've been teaching myself about manual non-digital photography. My friend Alan lent me his old camera(Olympus) that he no longer uses and my friend Dan lent me his grandfather's old camera(Canon), so I've been alternating taking photos with each camera using cheap Kodak color 200 film, to get an idea of how the cameras work and how the different settings effect the image. I write it down in a list. I've been really enjoying using the Canon, it has such direct and simple functions, the Olympus has a couple added features which I don't entirely understand yet. Once I get the photos developed I'll have the sheet to compare to and I plan on writing the settings under which each picture was photographed on the back of each picture, so I have a reference for what settings achieve what.

I took a few pictures around the neighborhood, biked around a bit. But it will be much better once I can adequately choose what camera to leave the house with, because having the two swinging around my neck is a bit of a hinderance and distracts from the search for pictures. There is a building near here I really like, at the bottom it is a laundromat, but the top is apartments and it's painted a neon green, the building connected to it with the same layout is painted a deep burgundy. They look nice, I took a few pictures of that.

I biked through the park that's a few blocks from here, it has a baseball field, I photographed that. But I assume the park will be much more aesthetic at a different time of year, the grass is turning brown and the trees have no leaves. I'm not a winter person.

(don't pay too much mind to the quality of the digital pictures here, the digital camera I have is pretty crappy and is total hit or miss on picture quality being almost completely automatic)

The Post of Posts: Or How the Internet pulled from another's personal supply is not up to par

The Internet is not so spicey here. The connection la a g g g g s s s s s s, a fix should be coming on Friday.

I feel inhibited writing on this thing, it has a strange effect on one's sense of self. I thought I might attempt entertaining, but instead I feel like not sharing.

Perhaps another time...

The Budget Truck

Drove big truck for first time from Philadelphia to New York. It worked out well. I felt powerful. Vrooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooom.