Ohhh French Canada, You're so Funny!

The 70's must have been a crazy time for all you Quebecers. Even riding the Montreal Metro must have been a perk-tastic time. Right? Right! I mean, Olympia has it's own series of commercials for our Intercity bus system but they're no where near as inviting as this crraaaazzzyyy French-Canadian bit of fantasmic transportation.

Tuesday

I walked to the transit center again today, and then took the bus to campus, had class and then came home. I found these flowers on my walk and I thought they were beautiful. I have no idea what kind they are, but they were so tiny and perfect that someday I'm going to have a yard full of them.

These and poppies.

I just enhaled some salad and some cheese on crackers and I thought I'd put a picture of my newest little creation thing up.

I just discovered a place called Canvas Works in Olympia and I picked up some wool roving to doodle around with. I have these felting needles I got this summer but never used and now that I had the roving I finally tried out this whole "needle felting" idea. I really like it once I stopped stabbing myself in the fingers. This is my little long-necked pony. It's a good 3-4 inches long and 2-3 inches high. He looks a little dorky but I'm pretty happy with him, especially because he's my first try. I don't usually put my first attempts up here, but he's cute enough that I thought I'd share.

Tab! You're It!

This is a silly post, but one that I'm going to put up anyway because I can and that's just how it's going to be.

I've been collecting can tabs for... oh about a year now. I don't really drink anything that comes with a tab so I've been getting them from my Grandparents and Star. That's pretty much it really, so all these tabs are from two people, except a couple from Katherine because it's getting towards the end of the quarter and she's running on energy drinks and caffeine.

I have a couple vague ideas of projects that I could use these for. But since it IS almost the end of the quarter I'm going to content myself with blogging about these tabs instead of actively doing anything with them. I guess homework SHOULD come first, that's the theory anyway.

These are the two shapes tabs generally come in. Squarish and roundish.
These are the colors I have. The green ones I know come from energy drinks... the light blue I think are from cream sodas from Star, I think, but the rest are a mystery. If you know, then maybe you shouldn't drink so much soda that you know what color the tabs on the cans you're swilling from are.
The plain silver tabs make up the majority of my collection. They fill one of those Lucerne yogurt tubs I have a bajillion of (it's tasty yogurt and the containers are handy for flower pots, to hold extra powdered sugar and to hold the rocks from my mosaics). I'm not at the stage of procrastination where I feel desperate enough to actually count them all, but I think it's safe to say that you people drink ALOT of soda. None of these are from the cans that litter Evergreen's campus, or the ones I see by the side of the road (though I am tempted to take those too, it's just a little weird (I DO pick them up and throw them away when I see them, you naughty litterbugs you)).

Drink up mateys! Arrrrr...

Bun in the Yard

So I've rigged up a line between the fence and a tree in the back yard. I slip the handle of Monty's leash through the string and set him to romp around for a couple of hours each morning. I can sit in Paul's room and watch him while I do my homework and drink some tea. Over all it's a nice little set up.

This is Monty's special spot in the yard. I don't know what it is about this little patch of dirt in the flower beds but he likes to spend his time digging a little hole and rolling around in it. Whatever. He hasn't touched the flowers so I guess he can have at it as long as he wants to.

He really likes to come up and lick the camera, so I get lots of shots of his chubby little legs and his jowls disappearing in front of the lens.
There's lots of paw licking that goes on, making sure all of the dirt and damp is evenly distributed.
Aaaannddd he's gone, running to the tree, back to his spot, stop, look around, back to the tree, back to his spot, stop, jump in the air, back to the tree... etc.

My Grandparents

This is my Grandpa Dave with the dog Baley (I'm not at all sure that that's how to spell her name, but I have a feeling that she won't really care as long as I throw her sopping wet toy one more time... just one more time). This dog will spend a good portion of her day licking the couch and pressing a saliva-filled plush toy against your foot in the exact spot where your sock doesn't quite meet with your pants... you know, that little spot of your ankle that's most vulnerable to the spine shivering feeling of cold dog spit. She'll do both of these for hours and hours and hours. And hours.
And this is an older picture of Buster, their other dog. He spends his day just being BIG. He's huge, and white, and spotty.

Plants, Water, Fishies and Pavilions... It Must be the Classical Chinese Garden!

For my Art of the Mosaic class our teacher had us go down to Portland for the day to take a tour of the Classical Chinese Garden in the city. It was a lovely day, warm and a little overcast but it didn't rain so even that was just fine. The gardens were a little tricky to find, but once I realized they were in the Chinatown part of the city (DUHHHH, but hey, I never claimed to be a genius), the rest was easy.

The garden was formed as a result of Portland's sister-city relationship with Suzhou, China. We gave them a rose garden, they gave us a traditional housing compound. Makes sense.

This was a bit of rock, one of many, that was hauled out of a lake bed in China and imported into the United States for the purposes of being used in this garden. The currents of this lake are strong enough that they wear away the stones in these unique patterns. The stone is called Taihu stone , and is now illegal to export from China because it is considered a national treasure.

After looking at the plant map for the gardens, I haven't been able to figure out what this flower is. It was in the L/K area but it doesn't sound like one of the plants listed. Oh well, it was my favorite plant, I think.

Our tour guide, she did a wonderful job and I think that if you go, it'd be worth it to take the tour. It should take about 45 minutes (ours took 2 hours) and gives a nice history to the area that you wouldn't otherwise get. Since the gardens are pretty small (.8 acres), going through the gardens on their own is quick work, and the tour forces you to slow down and see everything. There's alot crammed into this small area.

The moon gate.

This tree was wrapped around a rock, the whole thing reminded me of the mandrake root on Pan's Labyrinth.
Plum blossoms.
Pretty purple thing.

Part of the stream that fed the pond. The pond had a couple schools of goldfish that seemed very happy floating around.

The water fall next to the tea house where you can have tea. Next time I think I'll stop in.

I DO remember what these were called. These are paper flowers and they smelled sooo pretty.

And here are the mosaics the class came to see. I'm not sure how relavent the field trip was for the class but the gardens themselves were beautiful enough to make the two hour drive worth it.

All of these mosaics paved the pathways between pavilions, courtyards and around the pond. I think I'd like to do some of these whenever I get a house. I always like having moss grow on things, especially on pathways like these.

Manos: The Hands of Fate

I just got done watching a terrible terrible movie Manos: The Hands of Fate. Now, this movie is only terrible on its own, as part of a Mystery Science Theater 3000, it is AMAZING. We've started watching MST3K episodes as part of a weekly, Thursday ritual. I approve.

Here is some trivia from this stellar box-office hit:

- the movie was filmed with a handheld camera that could only record 32 seconds of film at a time. The film was shot without sound; all lines were later dubbed by only three people.
- only two members of the cast were paid for their performance were Jackey Newman (a three year old girl) and the Doberman. Jackey got a bicycle and the Doberman got a bag of dog food, every other member of the cast was to by paid by a cut of the movie's profits, which, of course, never materialized.
-The word "Manos" is Spanish for "hands". The title literally reads "Hands: The Hands of Fate."

In other words, every aspect of this movie is brilliant.

What Book are You?

I saw this quiz on Star's livejournal and she was Watership Down, my all time favoritest book in the world, so I thought I'd give it a go. I love Babar, so it worked out.

You're Babar the King!

by Jean de Brunhoff

Though your life has been filled with struggle and sadness of late,
you're personally doing quite well for yourself. All this success brings responsibility,
though, and should not be taken lightly. Life has turned from war to peace, from damage
to reconstruction, and this brings a bright new hope for everyone you know. These hopeful
people look to you for guidance, and your best advice to them is to watch out for snakes.
You're quite fond of the name "Celeste".


Take the Book Quiz
at the Blue Pyramid.

Riots?

The Geoduck Union released the video footage of the Valentine's Day riots here on campus. Here are some of the comments students gave CPJ (Cooper Point Journal) writers about the riots:

"The melee that occured gave Evergreen a bad name" Jimi Sharp.

"I think it's crap that Hip Hop Congress had to come out at 3 a.m. to clean up. People didn't think about who had to clean up" Serena Powers.

"Impressive display of white privilege on the part of the Caucasian students. The repercussions would have been different on a more ethnically diverse campus. The majority of the crowd was white" Sky Cohen.

"It's not fair to Evergreen cops to have reacted this way. It was ridiculous" Sean Parker.

In the Cooper Point Journal there was an article about the "Student Reactions to Riot" by Jason Slotkin. In it there is a quote from Alexandre Chateaubriand that I think sums up what I think about this business:

"I saw the vandalism on the CRC that said 'Welcome to Evergreen' with an anarchy symbol, and it was really frustrating to me because that's not my cause and I understand that it is some students' cause, but all of a sudden it was alll of us... And we have to continue talking and make it understood that there are 5000 students here who all have different voices and all have a different point of view on this."

Here are the videos the Union released. They're on Youtube, so you can enjoy them there as well.

The basic timeline for the idiocy is as follows:

9:30: Concert starts, there are volunteer security workers in attendance but aren't wearing identifying markers. Reports of activity begin which include marijuana use, fighting, inappropriate contact between male and female attendants.

11:00: Reports of dangerous activity begin to filter in.

12:00: one offender is identified and the Evergreen Police services is called, they respond within the hour, and Officer Meyers arrives and arrests and African-American man.

1:00: Suspect is identified and arrested but not charged. The Officer and suspect leave the building and are approached by 12 attendees who question the arrest. Meyers calls the Thurston County Police to the scene to take statements because it is against policy to take statements while a suspect is in custody.

1:30: More attendees gather around the Police car and begin to throw objects and kick the car, the Thurston police arrive and begin to clear the area using batons and pepper spray.

2:00: Meyers interviews and releases suspect. She is then hit with pepper spray. Two Officer's cars are immoble because of environmental or mechanical issues, one car is then abused and flipped.

2:30: Crowd disperses and the car is towed away.

3:30: Show organizers are left to clean the debris (glass and trash) along with students working in Housing until 5 or 6 in the morning.

Really? REALLY?

I got this e-mail this morning from the Evergreeninfoshop, a mailing list I'm never really able to get off of. But today that's alright becuase, again, it showed the idiocy of Evergreen students. I love Evergreen, but this is ridiculous.

---------------------------- Original Message ----------------------------
Subject: "And they called it a riot, I called it an uprising..." REVISED
Date: Mon, February 18, 2008 6:16 pm
-----------------------------------------------------------------

The meeting will now be at 5 PM
Community Meeting, Thursday, 5PM, Library Basement.

RESPONSE TO POLICE ACTIONS

Now that frustration with the police and momentum for change has madeitself evident, we as a community need to discuss what our next steps willbe in building a movement and a strategy to remove the presence of police> from our campus and our lives. We need to formulate strategic demands and actions. All Power to the People!

WHAT ARE WE GOING TO DO NEXT? THURSDAY, 5 PM, LIBRARY UNDERGROUND

__________________________________________________________________

But WAIT I just got another e-mail in my box right when I posted this the first time. Thank you Larry.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Hi folks, It is my understanding that some folks have been handing video to the police and talking with the police in the hopes that that will make them act reasonably and end the investigation. I hate to be the one to have to say this, but don't do this! The Miranda warning is accurate. Anything you say can and will be used against you. The most innocent appearing thing can be twisted. The police are not trying to resolve the situation. They are being very up front about their purpose; they are investigating to see who they can charge. Don't help them. Study, look at the role of the police in this society historically. They are not your friends. Even if they've helped you at some time in the past in your life. That is not their role here; their role is to find someone to blame and to prevent and deter a deeper analysis of what happened. there is an ongoing problem. Look at this critically, learn from history, and please, attend a know your rights training. Ask LeGrand, ask us. We're happy to get together and give one. Being nice doesn't keep you safe; being smart does.

Yours in Struggle,

Larry

Brithday Birthday Birthday Day of Birthie-ness

I had my birthday party on Sunday. The 2-0. So we decided to throw a party at the house because it's supremely difficult to get people up here and it's got hella room for people and their bodies so it just makes sense to have a party of any sort up here.

The people.

I think this was in the middle of our slightly epic mario cart N64 tournament. We didn't actually finish it because with that many people it takes a while, so we watched the equally epic Superbad movie instead of finishing the game. All of this was after eating a diabetes-triggering amount of waffles, chocolate chip waffles, syrup, cool aide, off-brand Captain Crunch cereal, and then this sweet cake that Star made me. Oh, the food theme was breakfast foods, I think I forgot to mention that. I like breakfast foods, I like breakfast for dinner, it's my party SO that means we eat waffles for dinner on my birthday. So there. It was awesome.

The cake.

Cake had dinosaur sprinkles, chocolate frosting, little round crunchy sprinkles, captain crunch, marshmallows and huge Ikea candles. Plus, I'm getting younger because I only had four candles. Four was a good year anyway so I'm not too worried about it.


Katherine and Peter gave me bunny peeps and a bunny drawing for my birthday (infinitely appropriate, I think). Towards half way or somewhere during the party we decided to nuke the bunnies. Not the real Monty, but the little neon pink squishy ones. This was not as exciting as it sounds. But it did give us flat road-kill bunnies.

The present.

Before and after shots from the day after.

Rain, Rain and MORE Rain in Tacoma

We were bored. We’d explored Olympia, campus and the rental house so it was time to move on to bigger and better things: Tacoma. Exciting point number 1: I drove. I can’t parallel park (not really, and especially not on my own). Cities, therefore, have a special place in my heart (and hell) because of my lack of skills.

We got there and parked near the Museum of Glass and the Tacoma Art Museum. Closer to the TAM, but whatever. Those who make the distinction are picky (Dharyll). Anywho, back the story. We parked there, started to walk around and then it started to frinkle. Frinkling is NOT sprinkling. Frinkling is even more indecisive than a nice, hearty sprinkle of rain. But then it started to sprinkle and then rain in earnest. So we went into the Museum of Glass’ gift shop. I touched some magnets, peered at some books and then thought about walking back into the rain way before we actually did it. Of course I didn’t have an umbrella or a hood so everything got a little wet.

Here's a picture of the Museum of Glass from the Union Station/Court House.
The bridge.

A bit of vase that I liked on the walkway.
Mosaics: they're EVERYWHERE.
Union Station.
Grass.

On the way back to the car Dharyll and I found this crazy little popcorn store run by these two old ladies who were more than excited to tell you all about the different varieties they stocked. We liked them so we got three different kinds. By the time we got done talking about jawbreakers and kettle corn it’d stopped raining.

We got back in the car, headed south on I-5 and wound up at Cabela’s at exit 111 (not that you care about that little detail, it just makes me feel better to list them out). Exciting point number2: Cabela’s, in essence, is a Disneyland for the bloodthirsty modern hunter in all of us. Dead animals on every surface, a sweet aquarium with cat fishes, ghillie suits, guns, camouflage pacifiers for the mini, future hunters. Crazy times, but I think my new favorite place.

The view from the main entrance. A mountain of death, but all so pretty. Pretty furry death...

Fishies in the aquarium!
Dharyll and a stuffed sea lion.
"Gimme a huuugggg rrrooooarrrr...."

Death-topolous.
Looking for the fire extinguisher? It's right under the death.
Dead Africa.
Dead fake elephant, rampaging past tiny deer.

A lion having a tea party with
This cow thing with blood on it's nose.

It's a party of death.
Good bye deer, another day, another death.