March 2011
matthewgallaway liked your photo:housingworksbookstore: Every year, men gather…
Ha, yeah, I bet you would.
“And like, I’m a kind of dorky fan when it comes to stuff. My wife is here in the room so maybe it’s bad to be telling this story… But every week the O.C. comes on, my wife, Anaheed, and I, we sit on the couch, and when the theme comes on, “California,” we sing along with it, in full voice, you know what I mean? Like think about what that takes. Like, I’m 47 years old. I’m a grown-ass man, you know, we’re a married couple, you know, sober, we are sober, singing the theme to a FOX show, and I gotta say, every single week, it makes me love my wife, and love TV, and love everything in the world all at once, and last week when the O.C. went off TV, I cried and I’m not ashamed to admit it.”
—
Ira Glass (this is by far his best quote of all time)
(I can hit all the high notes in the West Wing theme, in case you were wondering. It is GLORIOUS.)
I could go to a grad school with two classes a semester, keep my job, not go broke. Or I could go to a program with four classes each semester and totally trash my life.
It sounds pretty obvious when I put it that way.
I'm concocting some sort of dinner that's meatballs over roasted kale, maybe with tomato sauce?
Any advice or guidance is appreciated! I have no idea what I’m doing!
Why are there scholarships for your first year of grad school with December and January deadlines?
How bout April, yknow, once we know that we’re going to grad school?
I'm Back!
Moving week is officially concluded. My clothes remain a disaster and I’m prepping for an interview with the great Sarah Vowell, but I promise you this: we will have new content on Put This On!
Sarah Vowell!
“Sarah Vowell is most frequently called a popular historian, but really she’s a nerd.”
—
The Millions : Aloha, Imperialism: Sarah Vowell’s Unfamiliar Fishes (via housingworksbookstore)
Me: SARAH VOWELL HAS A NEW BOOK
James: as in, it’s already out? why haven’t i heard of it?
Me: out today apparently?!
James: so i see. way to go, her publicists.
Though I guess this is why she was gonna be on Leonard Lopate today? Sorry, Leonard Lopate is my sign that I’m late leaving for work.
It's supposed to have Darcy/Bingley and Elizabeth/Charlotte. WHY DIDN'T I BUY IT I'm so offended I think I have to go back and get it.
WHAT.
Don’t mind us, just watching Pocahontas and Mulan/Jasmine fight over a doughy Frenchman while we clean.
What, do you not tidy up to the Les Mis dream cast concert?
One of the worst calls I have ever gotten
A woman called, looking to be put in touch with someone on the ground in Japan. She has a mansion in Phoenix, Arizona, and wants to find a Japanese family that needs a place to stay, and give them a place to stay there. I explained that we don’t transport patients, but also that this might not be the best idea, what with visas, the language barrier, and what exactly this Japanese family would do with themselves in Phoenix.
I suggested she call a local women’s shelter.
She harrumphed and hung up.
“
When my husband died, because he was so famous and known for not being a believer, many people would come up to me — it still sometimes happens — and ask me if Carl changed at the end and converted to a belief in an afterlife. They also frequently ask me if I think I will see him again. Carl faced his death with unflagging courage and never sought refuge in illusions. The tragedy was that we knew we would never see each other again. I don’t ever expect to be reunited with Carl. But, the great thing is that when we were together, for nearly twenty years, we lived with a vivid appreciation of how brief and precious life is. We never trivialized the meaning of death by pretending it was anything other than a final parting. Every single moment that we were alive and we were together was miraculous — not miraculous in the sense of inexplicable or supernatural. We knew we were beneficiaries of chance… That pure chance could be so generous and so kind… That we could find each other, as Carl wrote so beautifully in Cosmos, you know, in the vastness of space and the immensity of time… That we could be together for twenty years. That is something which sustains me and it’s much more meaningful…
The way he treated me and the way I treated him, the way we took care of each other & our family, while he lived. That is so much more important than the idea I will see him someday. I don’t think I’ll ever see Carl again. But I saw him. We saw each other. We found each other in the cosmos, and that was wonderful.
” —Ann Druyan, wife of the late Carl Sagan
(via see-reverse-side)
Fuuuuuuuuuck for making me cry.
Either/Or
- (the phone rings. Jaime answers.)
- Jaime: [name of the organization]
- Caller: Is this [name of the organization]?
- or
- Jaime: [name of the organization]
- Caller: (pause) Hellooo?
- Jaime: Yes?
- Caller: Oh! I thought you were a recording!
Sorry, Chelsea! I just bought Whole Foods' last two pounds of $5/lb super-sale grass-fed beef!
- James: the primal gays are going to be pissed.
- Jaime: they'll be too weak! no beef!
- James: they'll be like fag zombies, slowly pursuing you on gimpy legs.
- Jaime: also i will be in inwood
- James: they don't give up easily.
- Jaime: meg will defend me
- James: BEEEEEF
25th Anniversary Les Mis Concert < 10th Anniversary Les Mis Concert
Be able to hold out your long notes, Nick Jonas, or get the fuck off the stage.
Update on how to help Japan, the GiveWell blog
I wouldn’t want anyone to take this post as an argument that (a) the situation in Japan is anything other than extremely tragic and extremely challenging; (b) you shouldn’t give to charity.
My interpretation, rather, is that
- the people and government of Japan are extraordinarily well-prepared, as well as competent and well-resourced, and do not need significant external assistance in order to mount a maximally effective relief and recovery effort.
- Therefore, you as a donor do not have the power to improve the relief and recovery effort in Japan. If you do give, your gift will probably be used (a) by the charity you give it to, for activities in a different country; (b) for non-disaster-relief-and-recovery efforts in Japan.
- Of the above two possibilities, I find (a) more appealing, because Japan is a wealthy country and everyday needs are greater elsewhere. But if you’re looking to pursue (a) and help people in need all over the world, I’d highly recommend giving to the best charity you can, rather than basing your giving on who is appealing to you most aggressively with images and language regarding Japan.
- If you prefer (b), a gift to the Japanese Red Cross seems reasonable.
Read the whole thing here.
- Jaime: Gah, today was fucking exhausting.
- Jaime: You know what else is exhausting? Surviving an earthquake.
- Jaime: Waah.
I am worried that I may come to resent this job for making my response to massive natural disasters become, “Oh my god, please let the phones stop ringing.” But that is really my own fault more than anything.
I have never read Kafka, Hurston, Eliot, or Forster, and I read Barthes in that collegey way that doesn’t count for anything.
So can I skip to the part in this Zadie Smith book where she starts writing about movies?
Personal Agendas I Have Slyly Promoted Through Inclusion In Argument Examples In My GMAT Course
- “The city should build more bike lanes.”
- dietary fat is not inherently bad for you
- “My cat is little, therefore my cat is cute.”
Just bought tickets for Sleep No More.
Tanner: There’s this really cool ARG called Sleep No More.
Jaime: I’ve been wanting to see that for a while. But it’s an environmental theatre piece.
You got peanut butter in my chocolate installation art etc.!
"This recipe comes not from a Jewish Grandma but from my friend’s decidedly non-Jewish own mother, a lovelier and WASPier lady you never shall meet. But somewhere in the mists of history her great-greats and mine lived in adjacent cottages in a Polish village." →
cheaphealthygood.blogspot.com
I’m sorry, did you think I was going to entice you to read about this chopped liver recipe with a picture??
(Oh hey also I got into grad school.)
I leave my receptionist desk at 6pm, and I don’t tutor until 7:30. So I am taking myself on a little shopping trip near my tutoring job, at one Coldwater Creek. The 60-year-old hippie grandmas out there understand how excited I am.
“Hi all! Looking forward to seeing everyone on Saturday! If you can, please bring along two recipes for [redacted]: One of your favorite recipes and another “recipe for a happy marriage.” We’ll share these at the shower! Thanks again, and see you soon!”
—This doesn’t mean two food recipes, does it?
Sisters
- Marissa: also
- Marissa: we are in a fight
- Jaime: what??
- Marissa: why did you never tell me to read /watch oscar wilde?
- Marissa: you know how i love history and gay dudes
samkinsman replied to your post: Just watched The Young Victoria. Crying was about…
oh my word does this mean I’m not the only one who weeps through every scene in Amelie? The moment where he walks the man across the street I BAWL.
The first time I saw Amelie, I cried - sobbed, really - for about the last half hour, from the scene at Sacre Coeur straight through to the end. My friend asked me if I was okay. Because I was crying so hard.
Just watched The Young Victoria. Crying was about a 6 on a scale of 1-to-Amelie.
