Amber & Best of 2010

I know everyone is doing Best Of lists, wrapping up the year that was.  But there are a few significant and overlooked categories that I would like to address.

Like: Best Stickie Note Exchange of 2010

It's literary, involves tomatoes, and all happened on a stickie note. (Thanks to Kevin for the set-up and the blogging suggestion.)

Also, Best Ampersand Pair Received by Email.

2010, you weren't so bad after all.

Amber & Baby Kevin

It was on this day in history that baby Kevin entered the world.  He was very small and probably wrinkly, like babies are, but I imagine he looked something like this.

Only maybe he didn't have glasses then.  But that scarf is from his heritage and so it seems likely they swaddled him in that in the hospital.

Well, today we celebrate that day, long, long and almost six feet tall ago.  Several rotations of the hands of this clock have passed, anyway.

(Photo by Jimmy)

And, now Kevin is my professional colleague in addition to being my morale booster, musical entertainment, life advice coacher, and truly wonderful friend.  He is also a snappy dresser--this jacket is also heritage, so maybe this was what he wore to his Christening?

(Photo by Jimmy)

Kevin is the kind of loyal, heartful friend that you need for your first chakra.  If someone is going to pack up the contents of your life and present them to you in a U-Haul truck, you want it to be Kevin.

(Photo by Jimmy)

 Kevin will present you with the truth (maybe that you are a hoarder) with humor and caring.  Kevin understands that you're just a regular person and he respects you for it.

Thanks, Kevin, for being born, and for being one of the smartest, generous, funniest, most celebratory, best-haired, book-lovingest, tallest, most dedicated, strongest, and kitty-lovingest people I know.  Had we not met sometime in between your birth and now, I would be much, much less and not at all who I am today.

So, Happy Birthday, Baby Kevin.  And Big Kevin, too.

Amber & Strengths vs. Weaknesses

I've been doing a more structured play time with the kitties every evening before their dinner time.  Not only is group play supposed to help with kitty relations (since Woody came back from the hospital he has no patience for his little brothers, and inexplicably, Tiggy has even less than he does), but more diversion is supposed to help with Pickles's anxiety which is a prime suspect in his pee problems.  Energy spent on PLAY EMOTION means less energy spent on FEAR.  (Illustration of FEAR provided by Pickles's eyes.)

On Monday, I wrapped a few treats in four little strips of brown paper bag and gave one to each kitty.  There was some initial sniffing, but, even though they had seen me put the treats inside, no one seemed to understand that the treats were still in there.  I tried partially unwrapping each treat pack, but only Woody really did any digging.  Ginger did mostly eat one corner of his paper pouch, but then didn't seem to notice that he had exposed the treats.  Sigh.

So, today, I bought one of these things.

See how the cat in the illustration is poking at the toy?  Well, Tiggy, Pickles and Ginger all did that.  They even worked together to knock it about and knock out the treats.  But Pickles?  He took a couple of sniffs, tried to eat treats the others knocked out, and then retreated to the blue donut with the cardboard it came with.

So, let's just say his weakness is Problem Solving and leave the hidden treat games to the other cats.  And then think up another game that somehow uses his strengths: Curliness and Babyness.

And in the meantime, I'll be playing the game where he and I chase each other up and down the length of the apartment until he decides it is dinner time.  (Sorry downstairs neighbor.)

Amber & The Storm Before The Calm

1.  Go to Schaubhut to pick up more meds for Pickles.  Check.

2.  Go to Whiskers to get calm drops for travel and gut-pills for barfy Woody.  Check.

3.  Get, but do not eat, a chocolate croissant for Nick's Birthday Breakfast treat.  Check on the getting...

...and we'll see about the eating.

4.  Work.  (In Progress)

5.  Pack up work laptop, stuff at office, including books to read and bike helmet.

6.  Whole Foods for last minute purchases: sunblock, citronella spray, face scrub and shampoo.

7.  Stop by Spoiled Brats to place order to pick up tomorrow on way out of town.  (Rather than lug two cases of food, 35 lbs of litter, and other supplies up the stairs and then back down tomorrow.)

8.  Buy $5 gypsy skirt on the street.

9.  Laundry.

10.  Pack and clean apartment.

11.  Go to River House.

 Breathe.

Amber & My Gift

So, today is a super big day for me for two reasons.

First, I got a chiropractic jaw adjustment, my first ever.  Dr. Cooper is a miracle worker.

He started off my massaging the inside of my mouth which was not very enjoyable.  And then he did that scary magic thing with the cracking sound.  And now my jaw is in a different place; I am actually biting my tongue a bit and have a lisp, which the doc says will get better as I adjust to the correct position.  He said it moved a whole centimeter.  Crazy stuff.  And, now I am wicked sleepy, likely from the release of all of the tension.  Maybe tonight, I can sleep through dawn?

The second big thing today, maybe even bigger than my jaw miracle, is that maybe I will get my big dancing break tonight.  I mentioned to my chiropractor that I was planning to go see Nick's sister dance tonight.  (Also, I asked to leave postcards in his waiting area.  Seriously, it sounds wonderful and you should go.  It's about the Forest, which is very timely for me--stay tuned.)  Dr. Cooper asked what I had been doing to prepare in the event they asked me to join them on stage.  Why, I have been born to dance, as readers of this blog know.

But, even those with natural gifts sometimes need to use them lest we lose them.  To this end, I have spent the week watching Shakira videos.



See?  Anything I want, anything in the whole wide world.  And what I want?  Is to share my gift.

I only hope the world is ready.  I fear the crowd might yell, "Give us Barabbas!"  And then my dance would be silenced.  Not to use too heavy of a metaphor.  Or to bring to mind my favorite summer reading.

More than anything else in the world the Procurator hated the smell of attar of roses.

Amber & The Bloody Truth

Everywhere I go lately, I see those bus ads for True Blood, the HBO series about vampires which are based on the popular series of books but are not that other popular vampire movie/book franchise.

I've never seen the show.  But I did really, really like that other show about vampires.  (Little known fact: Awesome Club originally was Buffy Club.  Hence the Tuesday night schedule.)  So, I asked James if he thought I would like it, and he said yes.

But I was still sort of skeptical, although I couldn't tell you why.  Maybe the ads are just too lush?  Maybe it's the challenge for me of watching any HBO shows?  Maybe it's that I missed the first two seasons and would have to catch up fast?

But then Kirk, hot off his successful recommendation of Frisky Dingo and therefore an expert on what makes good TV, pointed me to this video by Snoop Dogg, a tribute to one of the characters on the show.  It is so over-the-top, I can't even bring myself to embed it.

Suffice it to say that it is more Snoop than Snoop ever was, a real simulacrum of Snoopdom.  I have no idea how to take it.  Does he know she's not a real person?  And?  "Yellow cars ain't fly, So hop in my jet."  For real?

I say no thank you to the whole endeavor.  Until I watch all the new Psychs and there is nothing else to do.

Oh, Snoop.

Amber & Cross-Country Novelty T's

My San Francisco professional colleague Alison was wearing this amazing novelty t yesterday and gave me permission to blog it.

Get it?  It's a Lord of the Rings thing!  I thought it was awesome.

Also, Alison suggested I might want to crop out all of the mess behind her, but I think it shows both a) how busy she is multitasking all aspects of consumer subscription marketing and low-dollar fundraising and b) how far from dead print is.  So take that, Interweb.

Amber & R.I.F.

Thanks to CRD for helping me read.

And thanks to Nick for showing me new places where you can read.

Amber & Imaginary Numbers

Please allow me to get my Math Geek on today?  The square root of -1 is all over the news today.  No, seriously: i has not one but two of the most-emailed pieces from the New York Times today.

There's first this article about...

“complex dynamics,” a vibrant blend of chaos theory, complex analysis and fractal geometry

...wherein computer models of complex equations with multiple solutions result in fractals.

And then, if that's not enough to make your math brain cells spin for one day, there's also this article about how everyone's favorite fantasy novel Alice in Wonderland is, among other things, parodying the early world of algebra.

Guess what I'll be reading next instead of going to see the new filmic adaptation in 3D?  (Sorry, Johnny, I'll have to love you in 2D after my three-day Avatar migraine.)

And now it makes so much more sense that Alice is my baby/laptop name.

Amber & Some Things New, A New Thing Old

I feel like I am constantly in a struggle with the Entropy of Clutter in my home.  It's hard to carry out myself and the trash and the recycling--especially since the refuse area is down five flights of stairs, around the corner, and in an alley out behind the building frequented by what I like to think of as sleek-tailed squirrels.  And, I seem to accumulate stuff: direct mail samples, Fresh Direct boxes, books of to-do lists, cat fur, etc.  It's crucial to do a weekly Junk Round Up to make room for new, magical space-occupiers.  For example, I'd much rather have this weird sushi wind up robot that Nick gave me than a stack of Con Ed billson my desk.

(Seen here with Big Nose Felted Guy, another keeper from Nick.)

That's two pieces of inari on the left (my fave) and two pieces of tuna on the right.  And I can't show you because I got my phone before they invented video for iPhones (drat to early adapting), but the two sushis sort of bicycle up and down and round and round when you wind it.  Why?  Because it's amazing.

Gifts are not always keepers, but this new Ganesh statue that Diana brought back for me from India sure is.

(Like the mechanical sushi, Ganesh is not as blurry in real life.)

And that reminds me that my blurry-making phone is actually another place to collect wonderful, and muladhara chakra comforting, things.  Like this Ganesh application.

 (See how the bell is all lit up? You can pick it up and ring it. That is mostly what the app does.)

And, Jimmi referred me to this absolutely essential app where you can gong a mokugyo or the metal gong on the left and induce nagomi ("harmony").

(I won't spoil what "With Cat Mode" is.)

And, speaking of cats, this guy came to live with us a few weeks back.

(He's actually laying on a pile of books to return to other people, on the theme of getting rid of old stuff to make room for the new.)

This new buddy is actually an old artifact from the Boxing Day Heritage Booty.   I molded him from greenware, painted his eyes, paw pads and nose, and then glazed the heck out of him in ceramics class.  Proof?

Every great artist signs her work.  In 1981, I was apparently trying something new with my R's.

Amber & My Literary Heritage

One of my new morning rituals is that I spend some time reading every morning while I finish my milky Earl Grey tea (Diana-style).

Now, it's not that I am suddenly jumping on the bandwagon of adults reading children's literature (and I don't really see anything wrong with that other than that they should be reading more crime dramas), but this book is actually one of the more delightful reclaimed artifacts from my youth.

How did I recognize the book and know it's not really some copy my parents picked up at a flea market and thought was my heritage?  It's inscribed.

This is the copy that my elementary school BFF, Valerie, her sister and her mom gave me on my 7th birthday.  (Good inscribing, Susan.)

The great thing?  Valerie is now my Facefriend.  And she has a daughter.  And I bet her daughter will read Charlotte's Web.

Sunrise, sunset.