2001-08-03 - 10:33 p.m. - brevis17

There isn't much I have to say as I'm mulling over the poetica-collab topics right now- however. I do need to say that I'm taking off to lovely Indianapolis until the 6th because my cousin has decided to get married there. Now, if you'll excuse me, it's late, and I have a flight at 6 AM to catch tomorrow, so I'll excuse myself now to get a restorative sleep.

Did I fool anyone? If I did, let me mention now that I'm the butchest thing west of the Mississippi, that I'm not a perfectionist, and that I'm not high-strung. Swallowed all that? Want more? I can afford a house in Belvedere. (For those of you who don't know the Bay Area: Marin is expensive. Tiburon is pretty expensive for Marin. Belvedere... well... yes. I mean, rents in the City are outrageous, but so is Marin.)

I'd much rather listen to the Chinese channel on TV (all right, so there isn't any one channel that's all Chinese all the time, you caught me- right now it's channel 66, which during the daytime becomes the Home Shopping Network - go figure) and repetitive advertisements (free translation of one: "add some sugar, add some oil: don't forget the meijin soy sauce!" over and over and over again... quite amusing actually. There's a scene where this husband is in a supermarket and is chanting the above phrase to himself, then breaks out into a smile and piles twenty-odd bottles of the stuff into his basket. Yes, I'm easily amused.)

Ooh, I just checked the site-meter doohickey and it told me that I am no longer my site's most frequent visitor. If I could dance (ha, there goes *that* stereotype), I'd dance a jig.

My leg is falling asleep. I think that's a sign. My playing is getting better and I'm on top of the world. I had a good lesson yesterday. I'm flying. This is great.

I organized my bookshelf today... got all my books sorted into topics (which I have to admit were a bit random: since when should math and science be smooshed into one, especially when there are about seven different headings you've given fiction, not including drama?) and then alphabetized. So now I have all this free space, which is neat. Now we'll see if I can actually find any of my books when I get back.

I'll probably have one or both of my poems ready when I get back from lovely Indianapolis as I'm not quite sure what I'm going to do there for the two days that I have free after the wedding. I mean... I don't like car racing (all right, that stereotype holds). So what can I do? (And is it a town that's friendly to the carless?)

Birthday month is coming up. First my sisters (16 Aug), then my sister (31 Aug) and then me (10 Sep). Wheee. I have things for all of them, too, which is good of me because this year I waited until a month before to get them gifts (hey, don't laugh: I've gotten them gifts in February.) I need have only one wrapped, though, since only one of my sisters is going to the wedding. I wrapped it in grocery-bag brown paper (my eco-friendly wrapping paper of choice) and wrote some nice Chinese phrases on it with my brush.

I love being able to do that.

I also figured out (finally!) how to use a Chinese dictionary with all the radicals and things. It's neat, really, although I still wouldn't ever touch a Chinese typewriter (computers are easier. Maybe in a couple of years)...

See, being left-handed is cool and all, but I write brush-Chinese with my right hand now, because my teacher is right-handed and didn't know how to teach me how to make the strokes with my left hand- so when she saw that I wasn't really learning by example, she and my parents asked me to switch. I did, and I've noticed that ever since, my hand has gotten more coordinated - even the English I write with my right hand looks semi-decent.

Never fear, I shan't switch teams.

Really now, I've got to get some sleep. Why don't you email me (link below) or sign my guestbook (link also below)? It makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside and I may even write a response, either on the guestbook or directly to you. Now wouldn't that be special.

Take care of yourselves.

J (:>