tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-215669632024-03-07T18:18:59.387-08:00butter is betterannehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05068678248501399228noreply@blogger.comBlogger128125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21566963.post-16849759781829821932008-01-11T16:22:00.000-08:002008-01-11T16:27:20.909-08:00David Bowie... acoustic... what's not to love?I'm particularly digging the version of Heroes from the 1996 Bridge School Benefit Concert, which you can see on <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sIRKtcAhzz0">YouTube</a>. Listen to the bass--it's rockin'. <br /><br />My appreciation for bass has been increased since I started playing it myself. Okay, I didn't really start playing bass (I wish!)--I only played it a few times. On Guitar Hero. That counts, right?annehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05068678248501399228noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21566963.post-13032673976861044102007-12-23T10:39:00.001-08:002007-12-23T10:43:58.935-08:00Just when you thought it was the end...Okay, so there was a time when "director's cut" meant that was the movie as supposedly envisioned by the mastermind behind it. Now, there's a "final cut" of Bladerunner. Supposedly remastered. Supposedly with new scenes. I'm going to see it, of course (how could I not?) but I have to wonder, will this really be the final one?annehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05068678248501399228noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21566963.post-40726941313696274532007-12-20T09:01:00.000-08:002007-12-20T09:05:53.639-08:00FarewellR.I.P Slinky the cat, a.k.a. "The Whacker"; 1992(?)-Dec 19 2007<br /><br />I will always remember your bright, earnest eyes, your poor battered ears, and your ready purr. Your claws may have been sharp and your strike swift, but your heart was gold. Farewell, my furry friend. You will be dearly missed!annehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05068678248501399228noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21566963.post-37286419351855273102007-11-01T09:02:00.000-07:002007-11-01T09:08:05.394-07:003:10 to YumaAnd so passes another Halloween spent hiding from the kids. It's not that I'm against Halloween. I like Halloween. But we never seem able to get our stuff together. Rather than risk angry mobs of kids at our door demanding candy, we turn out all the lights and slip away.<br /><br />This time we decided to see a movie, and selected 3:10 to Yuma. My choice. I sort of knew it wouldn't be your average Western, and indeed, it turned out not to be. Ebert has a descent review of it <a href="http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070906/REVIEWS/709060305/1023">here</a>, and I don't have a lot to add. It's a character piece--not a lot actually happens, and yet it's fraught with tension and drama. Christian Bale is an amazing actor, and plays off well against Russel Crow.<br /><br />There were a few things that threatened to snap the illusion, but not enough to ruin the movie for me.annehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05068678248501399228noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21566963.post-18245951182296089452007-09-20T18:34:00.001-07:002007-09-20T18:34:18.329-07:00Geico Cabbage Patch Kid<div xmlns='http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml'><p><object height='350' width='425'><param value='http://youtube.com/v/uh81YFnIwq0' name='movie'/><embed height='350' width='425' type='application/x-shockwave-flash' src='http://youtube.com/v/uh81YFnIwq0'/></object></p><p>This is why I love commercials.</p></div>annehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05068678248501399228noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21566963.post-25126255941453322582007-09-19T10:20:00.000-07:002007-09-19T10:24:58.718-07:00Gimme some pirate love, matey!That's right, it's that time of year again. So shake the dust off your pirate hat, get your eye-patch out of its drawer, and give some cpr to that parrot to revive it. Time to get your pirate on!<br /><br />Argh!annehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05068678248501399228noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21566963.post-18084934432448285942007-09-07T10:23:00.000-07:002007-09-07T10:37:05.871-07:00New google maps feature brought to you by me!Well, I was at least one of the people that suggested it to them. I can take credit for it, right?<br /><br />With the new google maps feature you can <a href="http://maps.google.com/help/maps/directions/index.html#utm_campaign=en&utm_source=en-mapshpp-na-us-google&utm_medium=mapshpp">Customize your route</a><br /><br />I pointed out to them in a long and detailed email that people like to take detours on their route or want to pass through or avoid a specific area (such as the MacArthur Maze, for my hood). So now you can drag your route to include a side trip or a route you want to take.<br /><br />Yeah, I know. It's brilliant. Though really, Google, a little appreciation would be nice. So here's my next suggestion: "Dear Google, I think you should try to thank the visionaries whose ideas you use to increase the value of your stock. One share should be enough. Thanks!"annehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05068678248501399228noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21566963.post-59164736958767785802007-09-06T13:47:00.000-07:002007-09-06T14:05:26.674-07:00I miss JapanBut the Japan I miss I can't return to-- it exists only in the jungle of my memories. What remains now is the right-angled, towering concrete of modern Japan. I miss the wild of Oba-chan's back yard, where Jane and I, dripping with sweat, would stalk spiders and stray cats. I miss listening with a mixture of laughter and awe as Oji-chan chanted his prayers, the incense heavy and woodsy in my nostrils. Of how he would throw the left over rice out the window and marvel at the birds as they swooped to catch the grains. We would go every night to the public baths and steep in water so hot I swore it scalded me every time. Later Jane and I would sit outside, the summer heat now feeling cool against our skin, and tease the giant koi in the pond outside with our toes.<br /><br />Ghosts and spirits descended on us from the mountains, kodama lounged in the bows of the pine trees, and the red bean ice cream was sweet. I try to relieve this hunger for the past through my writing, and increasingly Japan has been sneaking in, one way or another. Is this what is meant by ethnicity?<br /><br />On a slightly different note, but related, a couple weeks ago I observed the fourth anniversary of my mother's death. They lie when they say time heals pain. It does not. I sat quietly in the room where I had found her fallen and reflected. Did I do the right thing? I pulled the plug, now I have to live with the consequences. I think I did the right thing, but I will never know, for sure, and always there's that lingering hope, turned to dread now, that maybe, maybe she could have made it.annehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05068678248501399228noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21566963.post-35803998569738487752007-08-10T13:47:00.000-07:002007-08-10T13:50:07.368-07:00Oh, the responsibility!Okay, I screwed up again. I have lost a library book and now ow $44.95 in fines. This is why I can't trust myself with the responsibility. It's also disheartening--for this money, I could have bought 3-4 books on Amazon.annehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05068678248501399228noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21566963.post-76926026115078862392007-06-24T16:22:00.000-07:002007-06-24T16:31:07.983-07:00silly silly girli can't stop thinking that this is my last (insert activity here) as a single person. it's silly because i know, practically speaking, not much will change. after all, it's not as if i've been flirting like crazy, or doing things without ryan that i wouldn't do with him. in fact, i'm secure in the knowledge that a week after our wedding, we'll be doing pretty much the same thing as what we were doing before getting married: taking our weekly walks to fourth street in berkeley to get our hoffman game bird chicken, going to the gym together on sunday morning, or poking around on my computer while he programs. these moments have become part of our life together, and i wouldn't give them up for the world.<br /><br />and yet, there is that nostalgic feeling of yeah, this is our last weekend together as single people. much as i used to believe the whole marriage thing was a senseless piece of bureaucracy, an institution designed to exclude, and much as i've avoided deluding myself that either of us will magically change on marriage, i know, instinctively, that marriage means something huge, and that something huge will change between us.<br /><br />we were trying to work this out as we took our walk together today. it's a hard thing to put into words. marriage, i suppose, marks an era of commitment, not that you don't have commitment when you date exclusively, and even live together, as we have done for the last year or so. but this commitment feel qualitatively different. this commitment is for real. because both of us believe, and intend, marriage to be until death do us part, and it's scary, too, to think we are intending to be together for more years than either of us have been alive. what does that say about a leap of faith? about trust?annehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05068678248501399228noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21566963.post-5200501444454944362007-06-14T15:33:00.000-07:002007-06-14T15:38:16.080-07:00what a rip!okay, this is the first time i've ever bought baseball tix, and i'm only doing it now because japanese relatives are coming to town. but man, what a rip off! first, there's the "convenience fee" of $3.00 per ticket for using the on-line system! And _then_ there's a $3.50 ordering processing fee, and *then* they wanted to charge $2.50 more if i wanted to print it at home on my computer,using my electricity, my ink, my paper. j.h.c! enough all ready!!! they charge us because they can, because we will pay extra for the convenience and efficiency of buying tix at home on line, and ka-ching! they can reel in the cash.<br /><br />f*ckers.annehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05068678248501399228noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21566963.post-54789001596806316682007-06-08T13:16:00.000-07:002007-06-08T13:55:37.662-07:00me want eat ur brain!where does the time go? oh right, i've been idling away the hours playing <a href="http://www.armorgames.com/games/thelaststand_popup.html">the last stand</a>, a browser game of surprising complexity, with good solid graphics and eerily realistic sound. the goal--you've survived some sort of apocalypse, you've barricaded yourself into a building, and now you have to make one last stand... against the zombies who want to eat your brains! if you can survive long enough, the u.s. army will come and rescue you, and the game is over.<br /><br />you start out with a simple automatic, and you have to survive until dawn against the first wave of zombies, shooting them down. the grunts and cries of the zombies are accompanied by the satisfying squelch of dead flesh giving way to the bullets, and the death cries as the zombies squirt blood and collapse to the ground. okay, now you have 12 hours before nightfall, and you've got some options. you can divide up your time searching for survivors, who will help you shoot the zombies and can make your days more efficient, you can look for weapons--better than the little pea shooter you start off with, and you'd better spend some time fixing your barricade, because if that goes down, it's brain taco time.<br /><br />okay, we all know that shotguns are the best weapon against zombies, but in this case, i found the reloading time aggravatingly slow, even with the powerful shot. normally, if you can escape or withdraw, this wouldn't be a problem, but in a game where you as stuck, it spells death pretty quickly. you actually get two weapons, a primary and a back up. i sadly put away the shotgun and chose, for my primary, a nice uzi, upgrading to an ak47 when it was available, with a chainsaw for a back up. sweet, blessed chainsaw! turn those mf-ers into meatloaf! it never runs out of gas. the only drawback is, of course, the lack of range, but when they're right in front of you tearing apart your barricade, you kind of want something mroe direct, anyway.<br /><br />sadly, despite the hours i've logged on this game, i have yet to really figure out consistently how to aim. you move with the wasd keys, aim and fire with the mouse, but i couldn't get the hang of it.annehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05068678248501399228noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21566963.post-34858644976901594822007-06-06T10:40:00.000-07:002007-06-06T10:55:04.949-07:00to sleep, perchance to dreami am a cursedly light sleeper. the slightest noise, the slightest movement will wake me up. this is bad news for someone who has to share a double bed with three cats and a fidgety boyfriend in a transitional neighborhood. sometimes it's the neighbors down the street shouting at each other. sometimes it's just someone walking down the street talking too loudly on a cell phone. or the cats scratching at the door to be let out, or in, or just getting up to clean themselves. or the boyfriend flipping about. or the light from the neighbor's bathroom shining into our bedroom window through a crack in the curtains. i've tried eye masks and ear plugs--unfortunately, the sensation of them is enough to keep me awake, though i suppose if i kept it up long enough i'd get used to them. <br /><br />i remember an old cartoon- can't remember if it was porky the pig or daffy duck, but anyway, he can't get any sleep because there's all sorts of disturbances, and gradually his eyes get more and more bloodshot and he becomes more and more insane. this is how i feel, insane with out sleep, disproportionately angry for it. the need to sleep reaches an almost painful desperation. i fantasize about a sound-proofed, completely dark with a comfortable bed where i can just sleep sleep sleep. it seems like forever since i've last slept well enough to wake up refreshed.annehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05068678248501399228noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21566963.post-44630067091914823852007-05-30T11:24:00.000-07:002007-05-30T12:00:55.917-07:00new strengthafter nearly five months of working out, i'm beginning to feel not slimmer, but stronger, at least. exercises i know would have tired me out earlier i can now do not with ease, but at least not with the painful struggling before. it's a great, empowering feeling, though i know i still have a long way to go. weight training is pretty gratifying, too, since it's so quantitative--i can definitely lift more than i could, say, a month ago or so. significantly more.<br /><br />in other news, i don't understand freelance people who have no concept of doing business. they never return emails, don't deal with contracts, don't respond to phone calls. um... are you in this to make money or not?<br /><br />and, amusingly, i was at the laundromat today when a woman started asking me the most basic questions about laundry. her: can i use liquid soap? won't it get all foamy? me: uh, no, i think it will be all right. it's designed to work in machines, after all. her: what do you use? me: powder her: what temperature should i use? me: it depends on what you're washing... and so forth. recent college grad, perhaps. or she just crawled out of a cave and had to do laundry for the first time!annehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05068678248501399228noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21566963.post-23458537947225736622007-05-25T10:51:00.000-07:002007-05-25T11:15:13.096-07:00rattling in my headfor the last few days i've had beyonce's song irreplaceable stuck in my head. this happens to me periodically, where i have an odd song, far outside of the genre i usually listen to, that sticks with me for a while. last month it was gwen stefani's hollaback girl. but while gwen stefani's song i find toe-tap, hip gyration, and snap inducing, beyonce's song i've concluded is worth a second look.<br /><br />despite her unsophisticated lyrics ("I could have another you in a minute/<br />matter fact he'll be here in a minute - baby" --the repetition of "minute" here really doesn't work for me), her song works because it's great music. She catches you with a great hook "to the left to the left", sung softly, almost sadly, makes you immediately think, what's to the left? ah-- "everything you own in a box to the left..." at that point the song picks up, and she sort of sing/ talks to the rhythm of someone shaking their finger or chicken-necking, both of which she does in her video as she chews out her man for cheating on her and leaving her. <br /><br />But here's what gets me. She's essentially herself, both in the song and the video, a rich, successful woman empowered by her wealth and possessions. her ex has nothing but a small box of his stuff- everything else, she's bought for him ("And It's my mine name that is on that Jag/ So remove your bags let me call you a cab"). The point of the song is expressed in the chorus: "You must not know about me/ You must not know about me/ I can have another you by tomorrow/ So don't you ever for a second get to thinking you're irreplaceable." <br /><br />right, there's the catch. even with all her wealth, even with her success and confidence, she still has to kick him out because he was cheating on her-- "So go ahead and get gone/ And call up on that chick and see if she is home/ Oops, I bet ya thought that I didn't know/ What did you think I was putting you out for?/Cause you was untrue/ Rolling her around in the car that I bought you." The Beatles had it right--money can't buy you love.<br /><br />in the video, she acts as if she doesn't care, and in the last scene another man shows up at her door (at least, that's what i think happens... it's hard to tell because his back is to us and he's wearing a hat.)<br /><br />but here's why the song, to me, has more depth, despite the video. There's a modulation in the last stanza ("Baby I wont shed a tear for you/ I won't lose a wink of sleep/ Cause the truth of the matter is/ Replacing you is so easy..."<br /><br />and then the song launches into a coda of "to the left to the left", again, sung softly. the repetition makes it reflective, and this time, you're sure it has to be sad, and the repetition of the statement "Don't you ever for a second get to thinking you're irreplaceable..." becomes bitter and almost vengeful.<br /><br />and i've given way more thought to this song, more than even beyonce herself, perhaps. can you tell i'm procrastinating?annehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05068678248501399228noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21566963.post-77222365659222202412007-05-23T17:14:00.000-07:002007-05-23T17:18:45.533-07:00too cute!okay, i am now officially addicted to the site <a href="http://www.icanhascheezburger.com">icanhascheezburger.com</a><br /><br />my recent favorite:<br /><a href="http://icanhascheezburger.com/2007/05/21/oh-noes-5/">oh noes!</a> (resistance is futile, lil' kitty!)<br /><br />but this one just makes me laugh and laugh:<br /><a href="http://icanhascheezburger.com/2007/05/22/can-i-plz-has-dis-shiny-device/">can i plz has dis shiny device?</a><br /><br />don't know why, exactly. something about the serious look on the cat's face that i know too well.annehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05068678248501399228noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21566963.post-51266028123244030242007-05-23T09:24:00.000-07:002007-05-23T09:39:38.078-07:00windowswhile coming home on the bart train the other night ryan leaned in close and whispered in my ear, "you keep staring at people."<br /><br />i averted my gaze, realizing i had been, in fact, rather intently focused on a woman with a tattoo of a witch on her neck. a moment later i realized that i had looked away from her only to study the slack-faced, sleeping teen-aged boy a few seats down.<br /><br />i've always been a people watcher, and now that i don't get out of the house much these days i guess my watching has intensified. i love trying to figure people out from what they look like, as if their life histories, not just their emotions, are evident in the protrusion of their lips or the dip of their brows. what was that woman thinking that morning when she paired her somber black dress with a pair of bright red shoes? why did that man choose to gel his hair straight up like that, and what might it say about his attitude toward life?<br /><br />the more i think about writing, too, the more i like to see what people are reading. i find myself craning my neck to catch a glimpse of their page, to see what the title is. it gladdens me to see people reading on the train, anything from michael crichton to malcom gladwell's blink. what sorts of people read these books, i wonder, and what sorts, someday, might read mine?annehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05068678248501399228noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21566963.post-46056361619036129792007-05-17T07:54:00.000-07:002007-05-17T08:07:37.946-07:00ah, grammar, and the horrors of high schoolwalking down the streets of berkeley i passed a sign advertising "clairvoyant classes."<br />hmmm... don't you mean "clairvoyance classes"? or better yet, "classes in clairvoyance". psychics, apparently, can't intuit grammar.<br /><br />i also walk past berkeley high almost every day to get to the ymca (i'm too cheap to park in the nearby lot or take a metered spot so i park for free in the 'hoods, which means a three or four block walk). but it means i have to move through hoards of hormone-crazed teens hanging out in front of their campus or accumulating in the park across the streets. i am amazed anyone, myself included, makes it through high school. i am at once charmed by the cute idiosyncrasies teens develop and think are cool (that belt you always wore, those boots you thought were just so you and original) and horrified by how advanced these kids seem to be. i cringe now to think about all the affectations i surely must have had at that age. and sadly, even at my age, that visceral, forever-scarred part of me whimpers under the assessing eyes of The Popular and The Hip, and thinks, i'm cool too! see my jeans? er wait, no, maybe my teeshirt? no no, not that either...<br /><br />And then i remember that right, i'm beyond all that now. phew!annehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05068678248501399228noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21566963.post-54782086699855279892007-05-15T13:18:00.000-07:002007-05-15T13:19:55.372-07:00good bye and good riddancecan i just say how happy i am that the gilmore girls series is finally finally over?? hopefully it won't under go the lazarus effect as seventh heaven did. i swear that show advertised its huge series finale... and then a few months later, oh look, a new episode.annehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05068678248501399228noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21566963.post-81433294407164891762007-05-15T12:31:00.000-07:002007-05-15T12:46:19.049-07:00a week or so ago ryan and i made a big batch of oxtail soup. at the time, it was in the 80s, and we sat there sweating as we ate it wondering why the heck we had made so hearty a meal. well, now i know. i'm reheating it now, and it's going to be damn good as i sit here shivering in the freakin' 50 degree, fog enveloped weather.<br /><br />no wonder the durn tomatoes never grow in my yard. no wonder my poor gardenia never flowers. <br /><br />okay, clearly this is one of those posts i post to post just cause i don't know what to post and i haven't posted in a while. life has been suspended in a bit of a limbo right now. ryan and i are counting down to the big day. most of the stuff is in place. a few key features aren't, but stressing about them isn't going to do much good. i'm sort of looking for a job but not really, only if something sort of hits me upside the head. but the timing will be all off, since i'll have to arrange time off for the wedding and then time off again for the honeymoon. my writing has come to something a lull too, getting up the momentum to start revising and rewriting, toying with a few new projects, but with no clear direction.<br /><br />in other words, i feel something like the fog must; suspended, hovering, waiting.annehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05068678248501399228noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21566963.post-32914782560046119402007-05-02T10:22:00.000-07:002007-05-02T10:35:33.923-07:00ain't no ordinary chickenlast night we roasted up a chicken ryan picked up from the berkeley farmers' market. it was a little frightening, actually, because anatomically it was so unlike what i've come to expect of chickens. it barely had "breasts" (i really hate that term), and its legs were strong, muscular, long. i could almost picture the beast, proud and powerful, the sort of animal that would give you a run for your money. (who ever prepared the carcass also managed to pack three feet in, though i swear to you, there was no evidence of a third leg to go with it.) anyway, it was delicious, its legs darker than any chicken, duck, or goose leg i've ever seen. at $3.75 a pound it's not much more than the hoffman chicken sold at cafe rouge ($3.50), or rosie's organic chickens at berkeley bowl ($2.99, i think?)<br /><br />at any rate, dealing with this thing made me remember a life-long dream of mine, to raise chickens. i really like chickens, not just to eat, but for companionship, too. they are unusual creatures and far more complex than most people bother to recognize. or maybe it makes people uncomfortable to think of the creatures that way since they are intended for eating. so the big question: if i do raise chickens would i be able to kill them? if not, i feel i shouldn't even eat meat. but i think i can do it, because i do believe there's a way to raise animals compassionately and lovingly, and still take their life for food.<br /><br />i told my dream to ryan, who immediately said, yeah, maybe we could have a cow, too you know, for milk. <br /><br />uh, no, no cow for me. too much flesh to deal with, and think about how much it would eat and shit! besides that, i don't want to deal with breeding it every year and the calves that would result. so i draw the line at chickens.annehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05068678248501399228noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21566963.post-27106870989771063262007-04-26T17:39:00.000-07:002007-04-26T18:10:25.257-07:00on being a school kidfor the last month or so i've been volunteering at a berkeley public school as a classroom helper. i'm considering becoming a school teacher (come on, you get summers off!), but really i was curious to know what it was like in public schools. as a kid, i lucked out--i was able to attend private schools k-12, though i'm not sure how my parents finagled it. <br /><br />some of what i'm seeing is inspiring. there are conscientious teachers, there are smart, earnest students, there is a city that really cares about their kids. unlike other school districts, berkeley unified is funded, except for the admin section (and don't quote me on this without doing your own research), on local city props, not state money. berkeley is the home of the edible schoolyard, thanks to alice waters, and has one of the highest number of volunteers out of the state school system.<br /><br />but, of course, there's the days when the teacher is frustrated, because year after year it feels like trying to elevate cement. i was taken aback my first day in class at how he spoke to some of the students, disrespectfully. since then i've seen his good side, where he really strives to help these kids, and i understand some of his frustration, because some kids you could bonk on the head and they won't get it, and they won't even try. they've checked out, at least for now. he says sometimes he's seen remarkable turnarounds, when the kids come back to visit years later.<br /><br />the biggest struggle for public schools seems to be huge disparity in kids' abilities. some kids can already read and write decently for their grade level. others probably shouldn't have graduated 2nd grade. it's heart breaking, and i see what the teachers have to do: do their best, and hope it's enough. to a certain extent, society is cutting their losses on the bottom-of-the-barrel kids. it hurts, but it's the reality. public school is their last stop.<br /><br />i know oakland has it much, much rougher, and if i were really brave, i'd go volunteer there. i knew a woman who taught in oakland for two years before she felt her spirit was broken. she's an incredible activist, someone who tries so hard to work for her ideals, but she said it was too depressing. oakland, apparently, has very strict rules on what you teach and when. according to her, every oakland school must be on the same page of the same curriculum on the same day (again, don't quote me on this!). berkeley, at least, doesn't seem to matter how you teach, as long as you get the required material across.annehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05068678248501399228noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21566963.post-896279165862154342007-04-25T10:05:00.000-07:002007-04-25T10:07:05.758-07:00rantingi hate cover letters, i hate having to find a job, i hate trying to couch every i've done in positive terms, i hate trying to sell myself, and i f*cking hate reducing everything i've done in my life to a few lines.<br /><br />okay, i'm done.annehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05068678248501399228noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21566963.post-50870070473548393772007-04-13T09:28:00.000-07:002007-04-13T09:32:09.569-07:00subtle flawsHow how how, oh Juliet Barker, can you write such an excellent book about Agincourt and not include a single bloody map???<br /><br />Maybe it's me. I love maps. Have loved them since I was a kid. My sister and I used to draw maps of far away countries and countries that never were.annehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05068678248501399228noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21566963.post-839337679993550982007-04-11T19:38:00.000-07:002007-04-11T19:40:39.405-07:00arghgeneral frustration... sometimes i just feel like checking out, sometimes the bay area just pisses me off.<br /><br />on the other hand, a really good friend, as i discovered today, is one you can nap with. i guess i really am a cat. except for my poikilothermic tendencies.annehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05068678248501399228noreply@blogger.com0