ficus digging

mrpalomar @ 2009-10-31T16:03:00

2009-10-31T20:09:31Z

still trying to muster some enthusiasm for being back here. It doesn't help that I have a nasty cold and no real idea of what I can do next. I'd be a lot happier if I got into an apartment but even that is kind of precarious. Today I walked on a landfill that was right next to a vineyard.I also applied to some jobs at bakeries. Who know why? I always liked working in Bakeries though. Why aren't there more examples of people like me who go around trying out different jobs and generally staying fairly unattached and homeless? I don't think what I'm doing is conceptually wrong but it does make me feel like a loser.

mrpalomar @ 2009-09-21T00:03:00

2009-09-21T07:04:32Z

The Small Planets will return with new music 2010...
http://neumunki.squarespace.com/the-small-planets-songs/

mrpalomar @ 2009-08-16T00:41:00

2009-08-16T07:42:53Z

Today I went to Mount Hood

mrpalomar @ 2009-08-01T15:41:00

2009-08-01T22:42:42Z

challenge: "ugly still life". Find the ugliest section of your home and soberly pose in front of it.

Included here: decrepit cat tree to nowhere, grocery bags, bathroom door, discarded post it note, cabinet(?) from the side of the road.

mrpalomar @ 2009-07-15T19:43:00

2009-07-16T02:57:23Z

I have a beautiful nephew! His name is Alden Louis Whitmore.

mrpalomar @ 2009-07-11T18:10:00

2009-07-12T01:13:51Z

I've been enjoying the blog Urban Weeds. Even though everyone is pretty distinctive they all have a very familiar Portland look to them. I'm surprised there haven't been any dogs or coffees yet.

mrpalomar @ 2009-05-20T07:10:00

2009-05-20T14:14:44Z

He's back!

mrpalomar @ 2009-05-19T00:00:00

2009-05-19T07:06:54Z

Peter has been lost for a day and a night...possibly eaten or run over and it's raining. I can't stop thinking about his little grey body and crying. I've done the dish thing, the kittykittykitty thing, the flashlight thing, the running frantically through the neighborhood thing. My poor naive kitty is not made for this. I wish I had been firmer when I told Andrea that I had done research about it and it wasn't a good idea to "train" my cats to go outside. Why did I let her experiment with my precious animal. How can I get over blaming her for this -I work AND live with her.

mrpalomar @ 2009-04-13T01:02:00

2009-04-13T08:04:15Z

party pictures up on http://www.flickr.com/photos/waxtangelo

thanks to all who attended in spirit!

mrpalomar @ 2009-03-22T23:51:00

2009-03-23T06:55:30Z

Today I got my hair cut and it looks really awful. My eyes look puffy and really old and my cheeks look huge and bloated. I am doomed to wear stubby pigtails for 3 or 4 months. On the way back I picked Andrea up from a bench on Hawthorne and we had brunch at Bread and Ink and then hung out in Powells for a bit. Afterwards I went for a run and played frisbie with Andrea and Aurora for a bit in the street outside the house. Later I made playdough and little felt beads for this coming week. I still need to work on my resume and things.

mrpalomar @ 2009-03-08T23:31:00

2009-03-09T06:47:47Z

I've been copy/pasting all the text and pictures from my piebird site recently. I guess I will take it down. It's rather a depressing process. Istarted it when I was 22 and in love for the first time. I had also just started doing comics and listening to a lot of great music and doing all sorts of early adult stuff. I have been having a wonderful time ever since I moved to South East Portland. Part of me wants to document it but most of me wonders what the point of that would be. The melancholy associated with actually looking back on things almost outweighs the happy surprise of being able to retrieve a lot of long dead memories. Still, I feel regretful when I notice large gaps in the blog and can't remember the details associated with what's missing. Should I start a new blog? Would I suddenly start making comics again if I did. Is blogging and making comics actually the huge waste of time I suspect it to be? When you lack talent, these are honest questions to ask. Still, 22 year old Josie would never have asked them and I kind of like her better.

Last weekend Andrea had a birthday party. We made pizza and I made a devils food cake. The day before I had stayed up very late crocheting her a crow but I made a pin cushin instead. We played bunny bowling and hula hooped.
On Sunday Luke called and said he would be visiting in a few weeks
On monday Aurora and I saw Coraline
On Thursday I had a terrible work day and in the evening Andrea, Aurora, and I went to the press club and had irish coffee and looked at magazines
On Friday Cassandra and Andrew came over and we went to the Saphire hotel and had wine while they tried to teach me a card game called Uker (Upper Penninsula game)
On Saturday I had brunch with an old friend at the Cricket and then we had coco at the fresh pot and i bought a barrette and then we walked in Laurelhurst park and had bubble tea and he showed me his new apt. which has a organ that his roommate had picked up on the side of the road. In the evening Andrea and I went to Doug Fir and saw Efterklang. When we got home we shared a walnut burger her dad had sent from Wisconsin.
Today I woke up and Andrea told me it was actually 11. Got groceries and went to the gym listening to Camera Obscurra and Max Richter. Made Cinnamon Raisin Bread. Aurora's friends from Tango are still staying with us.

mrpalomar @ 2009-02-02T02:35:00

2009-02-02T08:38:56Z

to see pictures of the new house on moving day, visit ye olde rarely updated blog
http://piebirdjosie.squarespace.com/oregon-blog/

That thing from facebook

2009-01-29T21:59:32Z

Rules: Once you've been tagged, you are supposed to write a note with 25 random things, facts, habits, or goals about you. At the end, choose 25 people to be tagged. You have to tag the person who tagged you. If I tagged you, it's because I want to know more about you.

(To do this, go to “notes” under tabs on your profile page, paste these instructions in the body of the note, type your 25 random things, tag 25 people (in the right hand corner of the app) then click publish.)

25 things about me...

1-Even though I live alone, I don't like to hang around nude. I tried it once and I didn't feel comfortable sitting anywhere.

2-If I like a song, I will probably listen to it on repeat for a number of days until I get sick of it. Same goes for food... once I ate avocado sushi from the Dartmouth co-op for lunch for an entire year.

3-Even though cigarette smoke gives me sinus infections, I love the smell. It reminds me of play dates with my childhood best friend, Nicole (her parents were chain smokers) and of my friend Sean and probably some other people who smoke.

4-I used to have really beautiful feet but now I do not.

5-I think I would probably love Portland if I had some money, a really healthy plant, and someone great to fool around with... in an emotionally resonate way!

6-I still enjoy playing the original animal crossing for game cube. It's very meditative if you turn off the music and listen to shoegaze.

7-I avoided the work I am currently doing because children used to make me sad. I used to look at kids and see all the desperate hope parents load them up with and think about how much meaningless suffering they will have to endure and wonder how disappointing and boring they will eventually find life. I never expected that working with children full-time would actually pull me out of a lot of that self pitying existentialist muck.

8-I love being driven around in someone else's car while listening to good music. Extra points for stopping for coffee/bringing cookies.

9-I hate driving other people around. Not because it's a chore. I am afraid I will kill them.

10-This month I am moving again for the 11th time since graduating from college. It's depressing. I don't really unpack anymore. I am trying to break this habit but I don't know if I can.

11-I have never been in a romantic relationship that lasted longer than 6 months. Same thing with the unpacking. I would also like the opportunity to break this habit.

12-I love watching other people play video games. This may come from hero-worshipping my brother as a child.

13-I have been a Vegetarian (and sometimes a vegan) for 14 years. I guess I am not really a vegetarian anymore because I have to take fish oil capsules.

14-I have been going to the same cafe to eat a tofu sandwich, drink coffee, and read The New Yorker almost every Sunday for the past five months. For some reason I thought sitting at a table by myself would be a good way to meet people.

15-I started feeling a little calmer about the Apocalypse after visiting Mount Saint Helens.

16-I love giving presents and making packages.

17-I love bookstores (especially Powells) and have worked at four different Borders stores. Other past jobs include: Stable Hand; Dance supplies store clerk; Assistant dance teacher (belly dance and ballet); Cafeteria staff; Assistant Chinese Teacher (preschool); Intern at a health clinic in Philadelphia's China Town; US fund for UNICEF Student Coordinator; Director of Educational programs for a hideous non-profit; Bookseller/Cafe Sales at a school for holistic medicine; Barista at Whole Foods; Assistant puppet maker on and off; Cartoonist/illustrator, and Hotel Front Desk Clerk. Now I am a assistant teacher at a Montessori Preschool.

18-I am a terrible driver and am really nervous parking. I also get lost almost everywhere I go but that is how I have found a lot of cool new places and shortcuts.

19-I have a BA in East Asian Studies and an MFA in Cartooning. I can no longer speak Chinese and I still can't draw very well. Such is life.

20-My body has been on Taiwan time since I lived there 2001-2002. I am never tired before 3am (and only in a nappy way) so I have to force myself into bed at 12. When I do get to sleep, it's extremely deep and grumpy- sometimes 5 alarm clocks is not enough.

21-I am extremely afraid of losing the friends I have to distance.

22-I love traveling around Oregon with my Father when he visits.

23- I have promised myself that I can get a dog if my life is stable enough by the time I am 30. This sounds kind of immature now that a lot of my friends are married and having kids.

24- In high school I once tried to crochet a huge wall hanging of Xena, Warrior Princess but I only got as far as the eye.

25- One of my favorite films when I was a teenager was King of Hearts (1967). I actually really love the way heart-shaped things look graphically but I don't like to admit it because it makes me sound girly. On the same note, I own a hello kitty toaster.

mrpalomar @ 2009-01-25T01:46:00

2009-01-25T08:21:12Z

oh man! I am moving yet again. This time into a pretty neat house in Southeast with the lead teacher I work with and her roommate. I hope it was a good decision. I think it's worth it just to give Portland another fighting change, but still... I'm so sick of moving every few months. It's so expensive. Also as of now I am not sure what I am going to do about my education or if I should go back home. Public school teachers earn almost twice the salary Montessori school teachers do but it comes at a price. I would hate to have to run my classroom according to the dictates of No Child Left Behind. I think the best bet is to aim for a charter school which requires me to follow up Montessori training with another super expensive degree program for state certification and license... and I certainly can't afford to go to school full time again. There is a huge part of me that regrets not making the right choices with my education in the past so I want to do to this right.

I don't know if regret is the right word. I like that I spent 4 years learning Chinese, traveling, and whiling away hours in the library looking at dusty Japanese scrolls. I also like that I spent 2 years in Vermont trying to learn how to do comics... I just wish I could actually USE these things. That said, I did have a really nice conversation in Chinese with 2 year old Chang Chang (about alphabet blocks- he digs them) the other day so maybe it's not all for naught. Also, I think there will come a day when I'm not totally disgusted and turned off by the American comics scene and feel inspired to work on something again. I may even read a good graphic novel again. I'm still looking. Any recommendations? The rabbis cat 2 was so disappointing.

For some reason I feel an urgency to get this all done really fast (ie before I'm 30). Part of it comes from being poor and really wanting to make a decent wage for once but I think the other part has to do with being in my late 20s and having very little to claim for myself. It would probably be different if I was not single.. I definetly need to start going out places and I think I may have some girl buddies to do that with now. I haven't had girl buddies in a long time. I hope it works out. How long do you think I can get out of watching the Sex and the City movie? Thank god there was a knock on the door that last time.

mrpalomar @ 2009-01-13T11:37:00

2009-01-13T07:47:17Z

Stupid superficial problem of the week: I purchased some high heels that may be a little too high insomuchas they shove my toe to the very bottom and leave a gap in the back that was not perceivable when trying them on. The shoes are very cheap and purchased with a gift card given to me by a student for xmas.I tried the shoes on with socks and they work fine but is it silly to wear socks with high heels even if they are under pants? Since purchasing my boots, I have gotten many comments from fellow teachers as to how much "smarter" I now look (?) and now some little part of me worries that if I return to my stubby legged ways my IQ may plummet significantly. I'm sure writing this sort of entry doesn't much help in that department either.

mrpalomar @ 2008-12-25T21:31:00

2008-12-26T02:38:18Z

At 6 pm on Tuesday I started my journey by waiting for the bus in the snow for 2 hours. 26 hours later I was home (after many stops and starts) Hurray! I did not think it would happen. Now I never want to go back.

mrpalomar @ 2008-12-24T05:38:00

2008-12-24T01:42:08Z

my 6am flight has not been cancelled. It's 6pm and i just made two sandwiches. i'm going to try to catch a series of buses and and shuttles and wait at the airport over night. For some reason all i can think about now is how unsupportive my bras all are. i guess ill wear a couple shirts.

mrpalomar @ 2008-12-22T10:24:00

2008-12-22T06:29:02Z

I have been alone in the apt for 10 days now and from the news and the paper and what the cab company said it doesn't look like I'm going to be getting home even if they don't cancel my flight. http://www.oregonlive.com/news/index.ssf/2008/12/icy_snowstorm_slows_region_to.html

mrpalomar @ 2008-12-21T14:41:00

2008-12-21T11:02:45Z

Because I have to wake up at 3am on Wednesday and because it is already 6 am in Maryland and because I needed to justify eating 2 pieces of peanutbutter toast at 2am, I have decided to stay up all night. Lately I've been going to bed really late and waking up 8 hours later. Hopefully, this will set me on the course of wiser stronger men..by playing animal crossing till the sun comes up.

I might read too.

I miss my kids. What are they doing? Are they loving the snow? Are they growing more and more insane and wild so that they forget everything by the time they come back in January? Will they all forget how fun it is to do the Trinomial cube? oh god! What then... I really wish I could see them sledding and making snow men and stuff. At least we got to make lanterns together the day I last saw them.

So it actually snowed a few inches today. After seeing how Portland handled an inch (the city closed down for a week- please take a look at WINTER STORM 2008! GALLERY and note all the fuss around the LIGHT DUSTING - you can still see grass! also note how nothing has been done to the roads which formed into icy deathtraps), I'm actually kind of terrified by what this means. I guess it means this is just the beginning. I will be very unhappy if my flight gets cancelled. It's a possibility. It took a week to get someone to tow my car.

In other news, I took a break from updating this grumble blog by writting in my emo one.

mrpalomar @ 2008-12-18T06:49:00

2008-12-18T03:00:24Z

On Sunday it snowed a few inches but the city did nothing about it so cars crashed and people slipped and school was cancelled (no pay). On Monday my car died. I called several places but they said they were all busy with more immediate things. I called again on Tuesday (school cancelled) same thing. Today (school closed) it snowed again and no one can look at my car. I am going kind of insane stuck here in this depressing apartment by myself. I think the old lady in the apartment above me is a prostitute. Actually I am almost certain... or she could just be having lots of sex with different men from the neighborhood a few times a day for the hell of it.

I hope I can get to the airport on Wednesday. Portland sucks. maybe I have vitamin b12 deficiency.

mrpalomar @ 2008-12-15T00:35:00

2008-12-15T08:41:04Z

Today it snowed in Portland. I've never seen a urban area that didn't do any plowing or salting or anything. It's kind of eery. It wasn't that much snow but everyone going by has chains on their tires because the road is just a sheet of ice with some snow atop it. School was cancelled for tomorrow. I rented a bunch of House episodes on Friday and I pretty much spent all of this weekend watching it obsessivelly. Not surprisingly I've developed a pretty big fear of mold and a pretty big crush on Haugh Laurie. I may have to walk a few miles to get to the video store tomorrow. When did everything become so pathetic? I think I'm just bidding my time before I go home because I lot of false hope there. I don't know if I mean next week or June. Now to waste even more of my life...

01. What are your nicknames?
I am my nickname

02. What did you have to eat today?
I made a wonderful sandwich and nothing else today measured up to it

03. Do you like snow?
not in Portland

04. How many colors are you wearing now?
2

05. Are you an introvert or extrovert?
depends on my mood and the constitution of the crowd.

06. What was the last book you read?
Foreskin's lament

07. Do you nap a lot?
I used to. Now I just wake people up from nap.

08. What would you do with an extra five hundred dollars right now - the only catch being that you have to spend it within a week?
I would pay bills.

09. Is there anything that has made you unhappy these days?
Myself and my job

10. What's your favorite dessert?
I don't know.. right now maybe chocolate pudding cake if I had the dishes to make it.

11. What is your dream car?
I like motorcycles but they are too dangerous.

12. What websites do you visit daily?
lots of maker /crafter blogs and whatever you would expect.

13. What TV shows are you watching this season?
House... because carla mentioned her boyfriend was really into it so I figured there was something to it.

14. Do you like to clean?
no

15. What's the last song that got stuck in your head?
i'm constantly getting annoying kid's songs stuck in my head.

16. What's the last movie you saw?
A really bad documentary.

17. How long does it take you to get ready in the morning?
10 to 15 minutes. it's easy when you have low expectations.

18. What classes are you taking right now? And if you're not in school anymore, what's your job?
I assistant teach at a montessori preschool.

19. What are you most looking forward to in the coming month?
going home for a bit

mrpalomar @ 2008-12-08T23:03:00

2008-12-09T07:14:21Z

I got my computer back today but the shift key isn't working so I have to use the akward one on the left. I guess that sort of stuff helps grow dendrytes though...
Being really sick for 3 days by oneself is really depressing and difficult. I do not want to do it again. There was a point where I had to drive to get kitty litter that was particularly strange. Do not drive if you have a fever and trouble lifting your head. People do not like to have you in their store in those circumstances either. For some reason, when my computer died, I started making earrings and things. I'm getting ok at it but I have no where for these earrings to go...

Do you or your loved one want a pair of free earrings? I'll post some pictures if there's some interest.

Tomorrow I'm going to try to go to work again. I am really looking forward to coming home on the 24th. I think I'll visit Brooklyn too.

mrpalomar @ 2008-12-07T15:51:00

2008-12-07T23:56:02Z

I've had the flu all weekend. I think there is something going through the class because a lot of kids have been missing or having tummy aches and things. I had a bright spot Friday when P. came up to me with her little muppet-y face and asked to shake hands. First she started with this surfer thing and then a thumbs up and then a pinky pull thing that slid into a hand shake. It was pretty cool. She couldn't understand why I didn't know how to shake hands like her mom. I'm not that hip I guess. Still no computer.

mrpalomar @ 2008-11-29T16:14:00

2008-11-30T00:18:45Z

On Thursday, Peter jumped on me and I spilled my coffee on my laptop. On Friday it short circuited. On Saturday, I woke up to find that Mr. Palomar had run away. I found him this afternoon but it sucked. I won't have my computer for a few weeks. I have decided to move back to Maryland in June. There were a lot more pros. I'm pretty sure I have a apartment to stay in for the 8 weeks I'm in school. I just need to find a part time job and look for schools to do my praxis in.

mrpalomar @ 2008-11-26T23:39:00

2008-11-27T07:40:50Z

As the training program I am currently in is remarkably bad and good teachers need a strong foundation, I am considering enrolling in the Institute for Advanced Montessori Studies (yes, IAMS) in ... Silver Spring, MD. Classes start in June and I would begin my Praxis in August. So here's the possible plan: Pack up and move (UGH!) self and cats back to MD/DC. Rent a room in MD/DC for the 8 weeks of summer classes and get a part time after school job (Nanny?) then move to whereever I will be assistant teaching. Is this a ridiculous plan?
The truth is, I have grown to really love Portland-- It's beautiful and full of lots of fun things BUT I have no resources and few people. Life is pretty cruddy without those things. Nothing holds a candle to the Oregon coast or the mountains out here (not even Vermont)... but part of why I enjoy them so much is that I get to see them with my dad when he visits. PLUS there are lots of new interesting good things happening to my people back in the topicgraphically dull and drab north east.
I haven't made my mind up so I'd appreciate any advice. Is it enough to stay somewhere just because I am in love with the view (and it's a real pain to move)?

In other news, tomorrow I am making a squash/blue chesse casserole and joining my supervising teacher for thanksgiving. I may also make peanut butter cookies.