1. I’m reading Glimmer. Question the world, do something, venture far and wide, see what might be. Heavy on Bruce Mau’s “Incomplete Manifesto” which I’d forgotten. Mau’s list is largely applicable across life – which perhaps is design of sorts: go deep, allow events to change you, drift, don’t be cool, remember, collaborate, stay up late.

2. I also recently watched Bright Star. It fit the bill due to my love of period films, British actors, female directors, and watch instantly status on NetFlix. Keats is of my favorite genre of tragic talent, and while his odes are lovely, faery-filled things… watching this reminded me of more writing I’d let slip:

Give me women, wine, and snuff
Until I cry out “hold, enough!”
You may do so sans objection
Till the day of resurrection;
For bless my beard they aye shall be
My beloved Trinity.

- I found one beautiful, smart, well-educated, and entrepreneurial man on Flag Day. Scared him away, or maybe he was way out of my league? In any case, I felt slightly better when someone later told me that he may be gay. I’d prefer that than to acknowledge that I’m shooting too high.

- While I didn’t do this consciously [ahem, tequila], I did reach out not once, but twice to a guy who previously told me that I’m shit. Absolute shit. I’m afraid I’ve fallen into “kicked puppy mode” with him, where I eager beaver it with hopes that the next time I run into/see/force myself into his life, he’ll be a better person.

- I created a profile on match.com, just to see what’s cookin’ in the Bay Area. Despite my filters on height, education, salary, and drinking levels, I can’t say any of them made me want to un-hide my profile and make a stab at online dating.

- I’m still occasionally browsing craigslist’s missed connections, partially because there are some hilariously egregious attempts at spelling and grammar, but also because I’m hoping that gorgeous guy with the gorgeous dog who lives in my neighborhood finally decides we have a missed connection. And that guy from Flag Day. And maybe the guy at Peet’s the other week, who I also saw en route to spinning class on the same day, my birthday [I thought he may be a gift from the gods].

On the upside:

My friends are still amazing. It’s been mostly sunny and my legs are tan. I’ve met some fun new people. I’ve committed to losing my latest extra poundage before San Diego + South Carolina next month through an incentive-based weight loss = shopping allowance program. I got a new romper, as a gift, and it’s awesome. I have multiple reunions with some of my favorite people on the horizon. My orchid is officially alive and blooming in two directions.

Life is amazing right now. Bittersweet at times, but full of absurdity and laughter.

Things I’ve been doing lately that I plan to continue doing for the next 365 days include: spontaneous dancing, long runs followed by copious consumption of chocolate milk, saying yes, trusting people, smiling ’til my face hurts, concert-going, enjoying the wonderful people that are around me and making sure that they know it, laughing at everything worth laughing at, living for the sunshine, making friends and taking names, buying flowers any chance I get, tequila shots on Tuesdays, loving colors and shiny things, spinning/sweating my troubles out, crying when it helps, sending cards just because, making excuses to see friends otherwise far away.

I’ve also decided to start doing a committed job of chronicling my social/friend/dating life, because how many people get chased out of El Farolito at 3:30AM by a 4-foot tall, fedora-wearing, pony-tailed man expressing passionate love? Who ends up body slammed into the pavement while dressed as Slimer during Bay to Breakers without loosening the grip on a beloved, vintage gold clutch? Or is offered a job as a soccer agent by a cabbie? And who can not talk about times like when multiple random men at Peet’s offer to be the first to sign an immaculate neon pink cast?

Life’s a story worth telling. Here’s to telling it.

- The rain has left San Francisco for the time being. It almost feels like a real spring, and the rainless state of things makes me so thrilled I could burst.

- I met someone with a dashing collection of cuff links, including knots. And now I want to buy a pair of orange knots for all the men I know. Seriously.

- It’s almost time for March Madness.

- I’m going to Vegas this weekend… and for the first time will step foot outside of the airport. With some of my favorite people in the entire world.

- My love for running seems to have repaired itself. For awhile, I was nervous that I hated it a bit. Turns out, I was just restless.

- Reading SF Eater. It makes me hungry, and I really do want to spend all my money on never cooking again.

I cannot believe the complete lack of a burden of proof on this organization. Ticketing officers don’t have to take a photo before issuing a tow ticket, are not contacted in the hearing process, and are not required to record any specific details of the claimed issue besides a generic reason code which sheds no light into the justification for an authorization.

Also, the fact that the towing is contracted out to a private enterprise such that any refunds issued mean money out of the city’s coffers = one heck of  motivation to have no justice.

Blowing my mind.

- The fact that I can check my horoscope for Tuesday after 9PM (Pacific) on Monday on the Wash Post. It makes me feel absurdly prescient.

- Finding out that Vegas (talk about a city of lights) is in my very near future AND that it will most definitely include some of my lifetime favorite friends from the East Coast. I have never been to Sin City, save the airport, which I hated. But I’m optimistic that I’ll love this trip as if something is largely lurid and gold, the probability that I will love it is around 99%.

- An attractive guy at the corner grocery: tall (rare in this city), dark-haired, athletic, and frustrated. Another plus at the same place: plaintain chips, on sale [and only the tiniest bit stale].

- I’m digging these guys’ shirts. Maybe because they have a size called “marge” (and “smedium”).  Men that I know, beware, t-shirts are in your future.

- Spinning.

- This.

If I’d done my research, I would have known that I could have had my pick: Trout of North America, What FlyFishing Teaches Us (or Teach Us, if you go by the Amazon entry), The Lure of Fishing, and the list goes on… I would have also known that similar products to the Big Fish calendar are tagged with such choice descriptors as “topless” and “girls gone wild.” I’m not really sure what to make of that.

Regardless, my enthusiasm was reignited when I finally flipped to February (halfway through the month, how time flies) and saw this beaut:

That, my friends, is a Striped Bass.

So, I’m taking Mondays as a chance to remind myself about the things that make me smile, laugh, or wish I had.

Things on my like list today:

- sun-filled San Francisco days (because I’m starting to forget what they feel like).

- bright tights – maybe from Hansel from Basel (I even dig the “Spats knee-hi”).

- solid music.

- beautiful, simple design for much needed organization (praying for the iPhone app).

- glistening + shiny things.

]]> http://peoplearefunny.wordpress.com/2010/01/26/pretty-things/feed/ 0 aetiam http://peoplearefunny.wordpress.com/2010/01/23/i-love-the-internet/ http://peoplearefunny.wordpress.com/2010/01/23/i-love-the-internet/#comments Sat, 23 Jan 2010 19:29:30 +0000 aetiam http://peoplearefunny.wordpress.com/?p=11 ]]> If it’s early adopterish, startup-related, or just means having the scoop before anyone else, I’m all over it. Naturally, social media + networks are a lifeblood as they = real time information and updates.

If it wasn’t for Twitter, I wouldn’t have seen screen captures of the Nexus One before it made on TechCrunch nor would I feel like I know Lance Armstrong. Facebook lets me keep tabs on people I would have long ago obliterated thanks to a short memory, with exceptionally poor recall of generic names. Flickr provides me with a look into what non-friends from my small town high school are up to, photographically (and, not surprisingly, not everyone is as talented as I’d hoped).

The other day, I got an interesting update (based on email contacts imported from my old university email account): “[insert prototypical Irish male name here]” has joined LinkedIn.

A professional networking site reminding me of someone I met in Paris and naïvely fell for immediately?

The story: After a single ridiculous night of dancing in the 18eme (a classier way of saying Pigalle), we exchanged rapid emails, I committed to flying to Switzerland to visit him, and in a short span of time, convinced myself I had a real future with a wonderfully-accented Irish lover. This brash attachment was hugely uncharacteristic (a tightly wound twenty-one with a real hatred for emotion or love of any variety) but somehow became the romantic dream I never knew I harbored.

After a few eager weeks, he put the kibosh on my Swiss rendez-vous with claims of being extraordinarily busy with work + sent a half-assed attempt at rejection.

I promptly blocked him out of my consciousness. Until last week.

Thanks, LinkedIn, for the update. And the unwelcome reminder of my former non-glory days.