practice makes ... if not perfect, at least a little better

a progress report

I don't really remember what it was like to feel like I was actually learning a new language, jumping skill levels in leaps and bounds in piano, but I think if I could go back to being a little kid with the awareness of an adult, it would be a lot of fun. ;)

this is so exciting

^^ learning a new language

^^ still rough, but getting there :D

(the clicky sound in the background is my laptop, sorry)

a sort of fall-cleaning

I spent an hour today organizing the bookmarks folder on my laptop. A smattering of what I re-discovered:

on fitzgerald
a beautiful blog
raymond carver
on missions
a feminist analysis of rand paul
exposing sexism
gluten-free chocolate cake
syrian civil war reaches maaloula
congress is actually getting dumber
why we should support basic science research
on arguing
the case against high school sports
kim jong-il's sushi chef
a nuanced view of GM food
on systemic evil
on mountain top removal
on racism
why I love wendell berry
DFW breaks my heart
I had this guy as a professor
NSA pickup lines
how to create a letter postage scale
llama font
how a sewing machine works
the frog that didn't quite make it into space


The Housemate & I were talking recently about missing our Friday Night Dinner conversations from the past two years. That dinner group lead to so many interesting thoughts and conversations. But I said something about how my internal life has still been feeling really interesting to me, recently...I think it is possible to cultivate interesting thoughts just by being curious in all kinds of things. Like, for instance, the above links.

200th post

I thought about doing some kind of epic "200" list for my 200th post, but that seemed like a lot of work for a small payoff. But then I thought, 20 is kind of like 200, except... pleasingly small.

So, I bring to you:

20 things I want to do (in no particular order) before I write 100 more blog posts

1. read Infinite Jest again, this time in chronological order.
2. submit a poem to a literary journal, just for fun.
3. gain greater guitar skills. this is actually going to happen, unless I somehow manage to write 100 blog posts in the next 3 weeks.
4. go to an NHL game, try not to feel guilty about the violence of the game, etc.
5. read The Brothers Karamazov; attempt to build a friendlier relationship with russian literature.
6. go on a date. ...one recent trip from harrisonburg to bethesda included a conversation between 4 women on the merits of online dating. which was hilarious, I tell you what, but a less creepy option might be to find a guy from hyattesville to go with me to a poetry reading at busboys and poets.
7. make pumpkin soup in a pumpkin. this also will happen, thanks to The Housemate.
8. memorize another Eliot poem. 
9. meet Christian Wiman. this will never happen, but a girl can dream.
10. go to a political protest. surely something interesting will happen near me before I reach 300 posts.
11. sleep a lot. this will definitely happen.
12. make something edible with The Housemate using the foraged acorns. hopefully be pleasantly surprised.
13. get a pet. a turtle? give said creature a name relating to particle physics (charm? lepton? yes.)
14. send more mail. this is not altruistic. I would like to get more mail.
15. go to an art museum. maybe after the government un-shuts itself.
16. visit baltimore & hopefully run into the crazy americorps people again. oh, and hopefully NOT get lost.
17. gain public transit skills. DC Metro, I'm looking at you.
18. start a fiction-writing group? this probably will not happen, given my neuroses about my writing + how busy all my writing friends/acquaintances are. 
19. re-henna my hair. or something.
20. grow an avocado tree. seedling. whatever. it's in the works.