There is a door. Use it.

Apartment life, as opposed to Bateman Street life, has its advantages and disadvantages. Advantage one is that there is less to take care of at our place on MLK Jr. Way. Advantage two is that the rent is less. Advantage three is that my room has its very own external exit making it possible not to ever have to leave the apartment through our front door. Advantage four is that my room's internal door is the closest to the bathroom - I can hear when people slip out of the shower and don't really have to bother to leave my bed to check. I just use my powerful sense of hearing.

That very sense of hearing, usually a blessing, has sporadically caused me great qualms when I find myself actually hanging around the house. Normally, I am at school the entire weekend. This weekend, an odd one, I find myself on my bed writing a little history paper. Anyway, the hearing problem has to do with the fact that my roommates like to use the bathroom faclities without fully closing the door. Twice alone this weekened I've been here in my room, which is less than 8 feet from the bathroom door, and heard the very noticable audible chime of peeing. Yes, loud audible peeing. Something about the way my room sits next to the bathroom makes it like an echo chamber in here. When the bathroom door is closed, this really isn't a problem - although I can hear it a little bit. But as stated, the door is regularly being left more than half the way open when my roommates relieve themselves.

I clearly do not understand. From my earliest memories, I can only recall that proper etiquette dictates we should make effort to reduce exposure to other people of the realities of our biological functioning. For example, most people will ALWAYS flush the toilet when leaving the bathroom. The idea of intentionally exposing someone to the visual of an unflushed toilet bowl is kind of preposterous, don't you think. Another example is that farting or belching loudly in public is considered very uncouthe. Sure, a quiet burp is ok and emitting some kind of silent gas at times is critical for survival. But the point of this is that we take EFFORTS to mask or reduce the impact on others of these trivial facts of life.

I would like to have this problem resolve itself and the only way I can think to do it would be to walk past the bathroom while the noise is happening in order to shock the user into exercising better privacy strategies (i.e. shut the door). I could also ask directly for the door to be shut, but I do not think that would ultimately prove successful and it seems like an awkward kind of conversation to bring up ("Say, that's some LOUD-ass peeing you got going on in there!").

They emerge at dusk and take refuge in our sewers. Beware.

Today at dusk, about 4:45 p.m., I threw on my running gear and headed out the door to get a little ejercicio. I headed up Woolsey Street from Adeline, hung a left on Claremont, then began running due west down Channing. At this point, it was about 5:20, still light out to some degree. I was passing through the area of Berkeley understood to be the fraternity and sorority area. It was rather loud on the street due to the USC/Cal showdown that day. Down the block, I had even passed a fire engine and EMS crew giving aid to some hopelessly drunk member of Delta Tau who'd taken pregaming to new and dangerous levels.

Let me get to the point of this....

On a fraternity porch, sitting like content housecats, are three enormous raccoons. Procyon lotor strikes again! I couldn't believe their audacity to just hang out like that. What I find even more strange is that they could have cared less about being seen or all the ambient noise around them. I think urban raccoons are getting a wee bit too casual and comfortable in Berkeley. They should at least stay in their dens until 9:00 p.m. or so.

A few days earlier, on Thursday night, I ended up walking all the way home from campus at 2:00 a.m. in the drizzle due to a wiley and incompetent shuttle bus driver who never showed up for the 1:15 a.m. pickup route. I was pretty lucky to have gotten home without a slip. I think the rain kept all the downtrodden criminals and such at home that night. I hardly saw anyone the whole walk home. However, I did see some coons. Crossing Adeline Street (an 80' wide street) I saw two large raccoons trotting toward me. I wanted to see what they were doing in the street like that so I veered off the sidewalk onto the road at a brisk pace. At this point, the raccoons suddenly disappeared into a storm drain. I walked by the drain and could see their glowing eyes in the moonlight and their tell-tale chittering noises.

Damn coons. Before we know it they are going to be surfacing in our toilet bowls or something.

To El Distrito Federal

It appears as though my class (well, 12 of the 14 of us) are going to Mexico City over the winter break. I am excited because this is a place I have always wanted to go. There are some fabulous sites to see from both a landscape and a city planning perspective. I even have a friend living there now. However, I am equally as unexcited because of the fact we are doing the trip over the winter break and that it has the slight potential to be a logistical night terror.

We find out about departmental funding for the tickets tomorrow.

In other developments, I am going to a movie this Friday. I can't believe it, it's been many months since I've seen anything. I have a history paper to write by Tuesday and a 30 scale chip board model to build for studio, but somethings must wait. I wanted to go see The Queen (Helen Mirren) but it looks like we'll go to another queen-genre move (Marie Antoinette). While I haven't heard anything spectacular about the performances in the latter, at least there will be some great shots of the Versailles compound to ponder.

I miss you

I really miss you, Dad. I cannot believe it's been almost three years.

In memoriam - Dale William Edmonds, b. Oct. 28, 1946, d. Nov. 14, 2003

The Apples in Stereo

Here is a link to The Apples in Stereo. Good for listening at your laptop unit...

Impressive

This picture is from way back in September, but I just found it again while looking through my old folders. You see the progression of the rebuild of the Bay Bridge, which spans from Oakland to San Francisco. Eight miles of bridge!

It's going to be very interesting when they get to the point of switching traffic from old to sparkly new...



This picture was taken while I rode the F Transbay AC Transit bus.

Oakland revealed

Although Oakland is well-known for its robberies, skuzzy burger drive-ins, Gold Teeth shops and gang-related violence, there are some overlooked gems one shouldn't miss! Let your eyes be amazed at Oakland's Morcom Amphitheater of Roses. Yes, Oakland has a Italianate renaissance rose garden, complete with water chain and grotto element.

This game is fun

Here I am playing shuffleboard. I enjoyed knocking the other team's pucks off the board.

The white junk on the board is salt.

Headlining

I really want to go to these shows but I probably will be lucky to go to one or two of them.

Nov. 5: Eef Barzelay (of Clem Snide), Cafe du Nord
Nov 17, 18: Hot Buttered Rum String Band, The Independent
Dec. 1: The Dears, The Independent
Dec. 2: Gogol Bordello, Berkeley Community Theater*
Dec. 19, 20: Joanna Newsom, GAMH

*This band is probably one of the best acts to see live....ever. Explosive! I saw them at Slim's in March and was pretty much blown away. I have no idea if the BCT knows what it is getting into by inviting this retinue of overzealous Russian-Serbo-Croatian gypsy punk rockers to perform under its roof. There will be mayhem and chaos. I hope I can make it! Go! Go!

Attended, Bought

Attended:
Friday evening at the Doug Fir in the fair city of Portland, Oregon, I went to see The Heartless Bastards with my sister and brother.

Simply awesome. Even more so after three Maker's Marks. Hoo-yeah. They have some music on their site.

Bought
There is one less ticket available for Joanna Newsom's two night appearance in late December at the Great American Music Hall. Get your tickets, people! Joanna rarely tours due to the cumbersome harp...and her new album comes out in two odd weeks.

Product

This is a drawing and watercolor I did in LA 134a last week. The idea is that I (violently) imposed drainage pools onto a building and eucalyptus tree grove in order to see the impact of built structures on the groundplane. The displaced trees are then exploded into the sky.

It's not meant to be realistic. But you probably figured that one out already.

Complaint

So WHY exactly are hedgehogs banned in the State of California?

Those feet are adorable. What's more...the guy is palm-sized.

Dumpies

It's Thursday. Wait, it's Friday. I have to get up in four hours to pack, shower, commute and attend class at 9am where we present our Vectorworks viewport assignments. Ho hum. I am packing because I am going to Portland for the weekend.

Still, despite the favorable change of venues, I am stuck in the dumpies. I don't know what the deal is, but it needs to be fixed soon. There are still 6-7 odd weeks of school left where I need to produce inspired, uplifted final projects. As it stands, such things won't happen very easily in a state like this.

Perhaps I just need mom....

It was a weekend

This coming weekend I am going to Portland, city of roses, to attend a family celebration. No, it isn't a Halloween party. No, I don't have a costume, either. It is my three uncles' birthdays on Saturday...two of them are turning 58 and my uncle David is turning 60. My dad would have also turned 60 with them if he was around today.

Sixty! I can't believe it. How time flies. Seems like just yesterday they were turning 45 and 43. Alas.

It will be a fun two days of family goodness. I hope it doesn't rain. It always frickin' rains when I am in Portland in the fall. Never fails.

This weekend was good because I took an actual day off for once. I slept in until 1, thereby kind of sleeping part of the day away, but it was still quite fab-u.

This entry is boring. I will write more when there is something interesting to share.

Other news: this week I plan to purchase two new albums: Joanna Newsom and the Decemberists just released new work.

Finally. It's over.

Some time ago last summer I told my reader(s) about my journey to Ko Lanta Yai. Well, even though that trip ended in late June, our class project continued. It only ended TONIGHT, nearly five months after our research team arrived in Bangkok.

From 9am yesterday until nearly 1am today, our team of 10 strong (well, more like 6-7) worked like we had guns to our heads to produce 10 final presentation boards of our recommendations. Our professor, Louise, is going to Thailand on Monday to deliver the proposal to the island. I hand it to this lady for staying at our sides until it was all printed and ready to go. She is confident and excited about the proposal we are making towards this island's (sustainable) future.

But while good and everything, I am just glad to have the thing over with. I feel like I know more about Ko Lanta Yai than I do my own neighborhood. Today, I put in about 12 hours and I am not the hardest working person on the team by a long shot. My friends Rusty and Mike are actually still at school finishing a village axonometric drawing we need for the last remaining board to be printed. But we owe our lives to Ms. Sadie.

Alright....Friday 1am. Glad to be home from school. Ko Lanta Yai....you just wait. You are gonna be impressed.

In other news, my sister bought a house in NE Portland and got a job offer the SAME week. She is psyched. I am excited to see it when I go home next weekend for my three uncles' birthdays. I am missing Halloween to do so, but I don't have a costume anyway.

Part of the whole

Can you find my contribution? It's in the front row of the class model.

This is what I spent three hours doing today.

Weekend wrap up

Stork Club: Friday I went to the Stork Club at 23rd and Telegraph to meet up with my friend Woody very briefly. The two "bands" that I was lucky enough to see were pieces of work. And by that, I mean that their program and delivery was altogether vexing and induced bodilly reactions that approached nausea. I came home and did a little research, these two bands are called "The Hospitals" (as in take me to the hospital now before I vomit) and "The Skates" (the first band that played, "Bobby Blood" was good apparently). Anyway, the Skates were two dudes kneeling on the floor making noise into a looping device. It was very loud and disturbing. Their one song lasted about 14 minutes. The Hospitals took about 30 minutes to set up their drum set. When they finally began, the drummer began screaming into the mike and managed to knock over his snare drum. After the snare was set back into place, the drummer yet again became wiley. At one point, he ran off stage with the mic and disconnected several cables along the way. He then proceeded to tell us he was sorry a few times and insisted on starting the song over. I left at that point because the music was so thrashing my insides became distressed.

Axons: My school project this week is an axonometric drawing of some buildings on campus with some proposed drainage basins to be installed in the glade. My rough is finally complete and I shall put it onto vellum tomorrow if all goes well. Then I have to cut some chip board and fold some paper for my topo models that are *also* due on Wednesday.

Haircut: I got my hair cut on Saturday. I normally hate going to the salon on Saturday because all the picky people show up then. I usually have my appts. for Thursday evenings, but this week it was cancelled because Christine injured her back. I was squeezed in on Saturday. End result is ok, although it looks kind of Carole Brady right now. It needs a few weeks...

Kickball: Sunday at 1:00 Adam scheduled a co-ed kickball game at Rossi field in San Francisco at Arguello and Anza. By 1:30, our group was 12 kickers strong, splitting up into two teams of 5 and 7 in order to account for equal skill level. By 2:45, two more people had arrived and we had a fine core of 14 people playing kickball. Don't remember who won, but it probably wasn't us...

I have touched a Nobel

On Wednesday, Orhan Pamuk was awarded the Nobel Prize for literature.

In 2002, the guy was in DC and he was a guest on the television program I used to produce. As the only woman in a production crew of 5 people, I also had the job of doing makeup on the show. I don't remember the exact details, but I think Mr. Pamuk had some pore issues and suffered from an unruly moppish haircut...which he appears to still have.

Blast outta the past

This photo is circa 1986...yeah, people. I was in the fourth frickin' grade. Eat it up. We were in Loreto, Mexico (Baja) with my father for a vacation in July. The setting is the La Pinta Hotel (I do realize I just typed "The The Pinta Hotel"). Yes, we went to Baja in July. And it was hot as you could ever guess.



My sister was in the sixth grade and was practicing being difficult.