music is a powerful thing. and precisely for that reason, i love it. last night i watched a movie and while the movie brought back tons of memories on its own, it was the music that enveloped me and swept me away, back into the past. memories of the first feeling of something closer to love than i had ever experienced at that young age flashed within me and for a moment i felt like i was young, innocent, and giddy again. i turned the television way up and listened to the building sounds of strings, piano, and my favorite - the drums; and, then, not too long after the crescendo came back down, i remembered the pain i felt when it was over so many years ago. it was probably the first real heartache i had ever felt. in my maturity, i would be reluctant to say it really was love, but instead confusion fueled by a flurry of flighted feelings neither i nor my flame could ever properly or sincerely express. i have really only been in love, a love that i can only recently admit, one other time and it was many, many years after this.
when i hear james taylor, peter, paul and mary, or harry belafonte, i immediately think of my father. childhood memories of whirlwind trips to see grandparents in rural idaho encompass my thoughts and i can almost hear my dad singing Sara Maria ever so sweetly to me; i can almost feel in my chest, in my stomach, in my face pure joy, comfort, and true father-daughter love. and, it completely and wholly warms my soul.
i should think of this power that music, much like smell, has over us before i decide to compose a moment with favorite beats, melodies, and lyrics. i should think twice before putting on an album that i love during a moment in which i know will be short lived and will most likely later result in disappointment. just because the kings happened to make an album that serves as the perfect soundtrack for a cluster fucked, yet fairly satisfying, rush of drunken passion, it does not mean you actually have to put it on, sara. while i rarely regret anything and certainly don't this, it would have been nice to have had the ability to think ahead and realize that now every time i hear caleb's sweet raspy, and sometimes hollow voice, i have flashbacks so vivid that i can't help but feel wildly inappropriate thinking about such things while composing a routine email at my desk. and yet, on the other hand, i will admit that such flashbacks fueled by core-shivering sounds almost always make me smile and provide a very nice vacation from microsoft office hell.
anyway, my point is that while visually stimulated memory recall can be strong and effective, it is, for me, nothing in comparison to the recollection that accompanies my most favorite thing in the world, music.
Wednesday, July 22, 2009
Thursday, July 16, 2009
5 Things: Dirty Words, Shitty Stats, Twitter Vomit, Condom How-Tos, and the Demise of Social Interaction
Alright, here we go! The first entry in the new theme. This one got a little long (I envision much shorter ones in the future), but I hope you find something interesting, a little humor, and maybe even something useful below.
1. I was in Leavenworth (which was most recently described to me as Bavarian Disneyland) this weekend for a Bachelorette party and the iPhone came in handy, once again (I really want to hate this thing, but damn it - I freaking love it). As 9 of us, all dressed in shades of red (you know, just to draw a little extra attention to ourselves), walk up the main drag, we pass under a street sign that says Chumstick Highway. I immediately ask, What the hell is a Chumstick? I mean, I know what chum is - chopped up fish, most commonly used for bait. But what would a Chumstick be? So I get out the trusty iSara (yes, I named it) and google the new word. UrbanDictionary displays the first definition. And, now that I know, I'm happy to relay that not one of the nine of us had any clue what this innocent vocab search would come up with. Do you know? If you do, HOW DO YOU KNOW THAT!?!?! If not, I'll let you go ahead and look it up on your own. All I can say is that apparently Leavenworth is Bavarian Disneyland FOR ADULTS!
Photo by Kristen Proctor
2. So, while the majority of my work at PATH is focused on the Safe Water Project, a miniscule amount of my time has recently been allocated to a new project on Sanitation. Sanitation, you say? You mean like hand sanitizer, and disinfectant? Um, no. You see, I have been assigned to a project all about Shit. Yes, shit. And while I can't say I'm passionate yet about my new project on poop, I can definitely say I'm fascinated and appalled by the statistics I'm learning along the way. Though the majority of my small work on this project will most likely be limited document review, I figured it would be good to gain at least a little background on this topic. And, so I have started to read Rose George's The Big Necessity: The Unmentionable World of Human Waste... And Why It Matters. Reading it, my jaw dropped so much that I couldn't help but feel compelled to share some of the things that I found interesting, shockingly eye opening, and that make me feel once more so lucky (even about my the privileges surrounding poop):
3. Ok, so I realize I have succumb to the Facebook craze, and that I occupy a blogspot, and that in the recent past I once had a MySpace account... but, I do NOT get the fascination with TWITTER! It is EVERYWHERE! And, did you know that there is a whole new set of vocab that has been built around this new social phenomenon? I had heard of tweeting, but was in complete awe when I saw (posted on Facebook, incidentally) the word twittascope (yes, as in a twitter horoscope). And then I read in a news article about kids and tweetups! What the F is a tweetup? Luckily the author of this article was either in the same boat as I was in the WTF sentiment, or had the foresight enough to suspect at least a portion of his potential audience would be. He directed me to Twittazon. TWITTAZON!?!?! Ha! There I learned that a tweetup is a meetup in real life between two tweople (yep, you guessed it: people who tweet). At this tweetup, tweople may become tweeps (friends who tweet) and may decide to twirt (flirt) with each other. At this point, I couldn't help but start thinking of my own twitter words (though I'm sure most of them have probably already been adapted by the twitterati and tweeters are using them around the world); I then couldn't help but write with my new words a little twitter narrative (see if you can translate):
4. One of the coolest products being improved and tested at PATH is the Woman's Condom. There are many reasons this is a breakthrough technology, but most notably it makes disease prevention a woman's choice - and, most importantly in the sex trade industry (something very few Americans ever have to consider as a source of income, but one that millions of women in other less developed regions of the world are forced to practice).
I remember hearing about early versions of the female condom that hit the market and made the news a few years back. Like many of you, I would guess, I couldn't fully wrap my head around how it worked. It was once described to me as something similar to a sandwich baggy that gets put "up there." Well, now I know that while that description is somewhat close, its not quite like that. I recently had the opportunity to review an instruction booklet on how to use this new female-initiated contraception tool. The test was to see if I would understand how to use it simply by studying drawings (therefore making it universal in any language). So, as I sat staring at images of a [hopefully] fictional woman's vagina, which had been carefully sketched by one of my colleagues, here is what I learned (boys, if you can't handle words like vagina and labia, you should just skip over this part - and by doing so, you should also come to terms with having no hope of ever crossing over to "man" status):
Photo by Glenn Austin/PATH
5. Friend sent me an email advertisement and coupon this week for AmazonFresh, Amazon.com's newest installment in one-click shopping: groceries delivered right to your door. I realize grocery delivery isn't exactly new, but the fact that Amazon is now offering it blows my mind. More importantly, it also eloquently adds to my "thanks-to-the-internet-we-really-never-ever-have-to-leave-our-homes-anymore" theory. And, we wonder why we have so many socially awkward people walking around. Why practice our interaction skills when we have an internet option to fulfill every need: vpn access for working from home, webmd and online pharmacies for medical care, facebook for socializing, match.com for dating, internet porn for sexual gratification, cnn.com for current events, and amazon.com for [now] everything a person could ever want/need. AmazonFresh... really? Just pry yourself away from the computer and go to the damn store.
Until next week, friends...
1. I was in Leavenworth (which was most recently described to me as Bavarian Disneyland) this weekend for a Bachelorette party and the iPhone came in handy, once again (I really want to hate this thing, but damn it - I freaking love it). As 9 of us, all dressed in shades of red (you know, just to draw a little extra attention to ourselves), walk up the main drag, we pass under a street sign that says Chumstick Highway. I immediately ask, What the hell is a Chumstick? I mean, I know what chum is - chopped up fish, most commonly used for bait. But what would a Chumstick be? So I get out the trusty iSara (yes, I named it) and google the new word. UrbanDictionary displays the first definition. And, now that I know, I'm happy to relay that not one of the nine of us had any clue what this innocent vocab search would come up with. Do you know? If you do, HOW DO YOU KNOW THAT!?!?! If not, I'll let you go ahead and look it up on your own. All I can say is that apparently Leavenworth is Bavarian Disneyland FOR ADULTS!
Photo by Kristen Proctor
2. So, while the majority of my work at PATH is focused on the Safe Water Project, a miniscule amount of my time has recently been allocated to a new project on Sanitation. Sanitation, you say? You mean like hand sanitizer, and disinfectant? Um, no. You see, I have been assigned to a project all about Shit. Yes, shit. And while I can't say I'm passionate yet about my new project on poop, I can definitely say I'm fascinated and appalled by the statistics I'm learning along the way. Though the majority of my small work on this project will most likely be limited document review, I figured it would be good to gain at least a little background on this topic. And, so I have started to read Rose George's The Big Necessity: The Unmentionable World of Human Waste... And Why It Matters. Reading it, my jaw dropped so much that I couldn't help but feel compelled to share some of the things that I found interesting, shockingly eye opening, and that make me feel once more so lucky (even about my the privileges surrounding poop):
- Going to the bathroom will make up approximately 3 years of your life.Amazing, isn't it? And, this is just in the first part of the book. So far, its quite good, an easy read. Intrigued? Visit The Big Necessity site for more info. All facts above are credited to Rose George.
-Scatology is the study of feces and and coprophagia is the consumption of feces (yes I said consumption).
- More children have died in the past decade from diarrhea than all of the people killed in war since World War II. And, guess what is a leading cause of diarrhea? Feces contamination (in food, water, on hands, clothing, etc) and lack of sanitation.
- 40% (thats 4 out of 10, ladies and gentlemen) in this world do not have any access to a latrine, toilet, bucket or even a box to do their business in. Instead they do it in the open, in bushes, next to trees, in rivers, in alleys, on train tracks, in abandoned buildings. Meaning, 40% of our fellow humans spend 3 years of their life searching for a place to do something we simply follow generic signs leading us to a throne in which we can royally sit upon and poop.
3. Ok, so I realize I have succumb to the Facebook craze, and that I occupy a blogspot, and that in the recent past I once had a MySpace account... but, I do NOT get the fascination with TWITTER! It is EVERYWHERE! And, did you know that there is a whole new set of vocab that has been built around this new social phenomenon? I had heard of tweeting, but was in complete awe when I saw (posted on Facebook, incidentally) the word twittascope (yes, as in a twitter horoscope). And then I read in a news article about kids and tweetups! What the F is a tweetup? Luckily the author of this article was either in the same boat as I was in the WTF sentiment, or had the foresight enough to suspect at least a portion of his potential audience would be. He directed me to Twittazon. TWITTAZON!?!?! Ha! There I learned that a tweetup is a meetup in real life between two tweople (yep, you guessed it: people who tweet). At this tweetup, tweople may become tweeps (friends who tweet) and may decide to twirt (flirt) with each other. At this point, I couldn't help but start thinking of my own twitter words (though I'm sure most of them have probably already been adapted by the twitterati and tweeters are using them around the world); I then couldn't help but write with my new words a little twitter narrative (see if you can translate):
There once was a girl named Twara. Having been bombarded with Twitter in all parts of her life (most recently at twork), she thought, "Maybe I should start tweeting, then maybe I can meet a nice twoy and we could twirt." If he didn't turn out to be a twouchebag, Twara could possibly twate him and most likely twuck him. She thought, who knows, maybe they'd get twengaged, twed and have 2.5 twids and a twog (afterall, Twara was not a "twitty person"). If she did this, maybe Twara had a chance to live twappily ever after."Ha! Sorry, Twara, I highly doubt it... You're living in a tweam.
4. One of the coolest products being improved and tested at PATH is the Woman's Condom. There are many reasons this is a breakthrough technology, but most notably it makes disease prevention a woman's choice - and, most importantly in the sex trade industry (something very few Americans ever have to consider as a source of income, but one that millions of women in other less developed regions of the world are forced to practice).
I remember hearing about early versions of the female condom that hit the market and made the news a few years back. Like many of you, I would guess, I couldn't fully wrap my head around how it worked. It was once described to me as something similar to a sandwich baggy that gets put "up there." Well, now I know that while that description is somewhat close, its not quite like that. I recently had the opportunity to review an instruction booklet on how to use this new female-initiated contraception tool. The test was to see if I would understand how to use it simply by studying drawings (therefore making it universal in any language). So, as I sat staring at images of a [hopefully] fictional woman's vagina, which had been carefully sketched by one of my colleagues, here is what I learned (boys, if you can't handle words like vagina and labia, you should just skip over this part - and by doing so, you should also come to terms with having no hope of ever crossing over to "man" status):
The condom, which is quite a bit larger than the traditional male version but just as thin, is packaged so that the majority if it is folded and compressed into what looks like a pill capsule. The part not squeezed into the capsule is the open end, which contains a flexible ring that I would guess to be about 2 1/2 inches in diameter (think about the part of the male condom that surrounds the base of the penis, only bigger). The ring rests outside of the labia after the capsule part is inserted into the vagina, preventing the condom from slipping inside the vagina during intercourse. Okay, so now for the really interesting part: the capsule is held together at the tip by a substance that when it interacts with vaginal fluids, dissolves (usually in less than a minute), allowing the condom to unfold inside. Wait, there's more! Now, we are all aware of the movement involved in intercourse, so how does the thing stay inside? Well, PATH added four small foam dots to outside of the condom. And, again, with the help of those womanly juices, the dots expand and adhere to the sides of the vagina, holding it in place. And, finally, the best part? Apparently, according to couples testing the condom (imagine having THAT task!), these dots produce an enhanced sexual experience.Pretty cool, huh? Yeah, I love my job. More info can be found in the PATH Woman's Condom Factsheet.
5. Friend sent me an email advertisement and coupon this week for AmazonFresh, Amazon.com's newest installment in one-click shopping: groceries delivered right to your door. I realize grocery delivery isn't exactly new, but the fact that Amazon is now offering it blows my mind. More importantly, it also eloquently adds to my "thanks-to-the-internet-we-really-never-ever-have-to-leave-our-homes-anymore" theory. And, we wonder why we have so many socially awkward people walking around. Why practice our interaction skills when we have an internet option to fulfill every need: vpn access for working from home, webmd and online pharmacies for medical care, facebook for socializing, match.com for dating, internet porn for sexual gratification, cnn.com for current events, and amazon.com for [now] everything a person could ever want/need. AmazonFresh... really? Just pry yourself away from the computer and go to the damn store.
Until next week, friends...
Wednesday, July 15, 2009
5 Things
Since taking my new position at PATH, I constantly get questions about what I'm learning and what its like to work there. And, my general response is "so much" and "its awesome so far". But people always want more. And while reportedly entertaining, blogs of late have been few are far between, and usually muddled with insomnia mixed with a little hyped up emotion; I think its time to return to some substance. Therefore, I'm introducing the "5 Things" series. Each week, most likely toward the end of the week (think Thursday night or Friday), the entry will be about 5 things I have learned this week. Now, now, not to worry - these things won't all be work-related (some weeks maybe not at all work-related); the occasional (and not so occasional) emotional outbursts, political rants, and general hollering from my soapbox will still spill out into this Infinite Abyss.
So anyway, there's that. We'll see how well this works.
Preview for the first 5 Things: Worldly Shit (literally), Internet Dependence, Urban Dictionary Bliss, and… well, there's still two days left this week. Surf over later this week to see what surfaces. Happy Hump Day, y'all!
So anyway, there's that. We'll see how well this works.
Preview for the first 5 Things: Worldly Shit (literally), Internet Dependence, Urban Dictionary Bliss, and… well, there's still two days left this week. Surf over later this week to see what surfaces. Happy Hump Day, y'all!
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