1/7/13

stuff i dug in 2012


books:
the glass castle
the great gatsby
to the lighthouse
cranford

television:
game of thrones
sherlock

music:
gone by vacationer
devil's spoke by laura marling
oblivion by grimes
call me maybe (judge not lest ye be judged)

other random crap (that's not crap)
and
my new car.  as you can see from the photo, when we are together, sparks fly.













1/4/13

Dining Out


I'm not well suited for the role of "military wife." I hate rules and military bases have more dumb rules than a cub car rally. No walking on the grass. No walking outside with earphones in. No moving while the national anthem is playing.

Getting caught doing any of the above results in a lecture from a zealous 18 year old airmen. (Be wise and resist the urge to tell him he needs a Zanex.)

But one OK part of this gig is that every once in a while we get to go to a military ball.

This was actually my first and I've decided that ball isn't the right word to describe the evening. The food was bad, the speeches were boring (and generally offend my liberal sensibilities) and there wasn't any dancing. How they plan on keeping morale high without a getting everyone on the dance floor for spin is beyond me.

Also one of the commanders offered an invocation that went something like this:

"Dear God. Thank you that we are Americans and better than everyone else..."

But enough whining.

We got to dress up, which is a big deal when you've spent every minute of the preceding three months in stretchy pants and a sports bra. I wore my wedding dress and Mike wore a (mandatory) uniform that kind of made him look like a (handsome) penguin.

Sipping ice cold diet doctor peppers and watching season three of Sons of Anarchy on our ipad later that night was the real ball if you ask me.

8/14/12

American exceptionalism at the Olympic Games

As a kid I watched the Olympics a lot.  I remember being charmed by CBC profiles of gymnasts who escaped the USSR and shoeless Ethiopian runners who used cinder blocks for strength training. To be sure CBC highlighted Canadian achievement at the Games, but it wasn't the emphasis.  Presenting the Olympic spirit of nations coming together really did seem to be the primary goal of their programming.

I only realized this might be a uniquely Canadian approach after sitting through a two weeks of NBC's Olympic coverage. It struck me that they talk almost exclusively about American athletes and in particular, those who win medals.  
American Brit Jessica Ennis wins gold. This picture no longer makes sense--except it shows Canada losing. 
Every night it's the same thing: a celebration of American superiourity in the pool, on the track, in the ring. It is all evidence of the undeniable fact that America is still the best nation in the world. After all, they beat out China in the medal count. What more proof do you want Obama?

To be fair there was some coverage of non-American athletes. Usain Bolt (a legend in his own words) and Oscar Pistorius (the South African who runs with two prosthetic legs) did receive considerable airtime.  While both are impressive in their own ways, doesn't profiling world's fastest man and a guy without legs seem kind of, like, obvious? Well done NBC for getting the low hanging fruit. 

The games of full of athletes with incredible stories. People who have found their way to the competition in spite of injury, financial hardship, and political oppression. Tell us about them NBC! Help us see the world for a few minutes from other points of view.  

My distaste for the whole "America is the best" shtick isn't just about being annoyed by two weeks of self congratulatory programming. Only exposed to winners, viewers miss some of the messiness of athletic competition: the false starts, disqualifications, and utter heartbreak that comes from not performing your best. I think the public is actually harmed by this sanitized version of sport (and by extension life).  They make it easy to forget that failure happens all the time, and at the highest levels and gives the impression somehow that Americans are immune.  

But maybe the only people who want to talk about American failure are me and Obama.

And I should add--none of this stopped me from tuning in every. single. night.   

8/12/12

Fall Makeup



1 /  2 / 3  / 4 / 5 / 6 / 7 / 8 / 9 / 10 /11 

Notes: If you have any kind of darkness around your eyes you need to get 7. Buy it in the orange tint and it will totally zap any kind of dark blue or purple circles you have under your eyes. It works like a charm.  

8/7/12

link-a-thon

just a random. blogs without pictures are boring.

now that i work from home/have no life/don't know anyone i have more time to devote to my one true love: cruising the internets. i'm reading, pinning and starring like a mad woman.

be the beneficiary of my wasted time.

eugina williamson tells this american life to grow up. she for one is sick of the way they "massage painful realities into puddles of personal experience" and their "preference for pathos over tragedy." zinger!

why buy the song when you get the music for free? wish i would have known about this site before i spent a small fortune in itunes for justin beiber songs. here's is a quick tutorial on how to get your free tunes. (full disclosure: it's probably not legal in the USA. fuller disclosure: i don't care).

i've been looking at this fashion blog all morning.  it is an new england wet dream. the author spends weekends in martha's vineyard, stays at the waldorf when in NYC and she personal friends with lilly pulitzer. did i mention she looks like kate middleton? she does.

7/30/12

AL is a'ite

the humidity is doing wonders for my skin.

unbearable heat is a good excuse for subsisting on real fruit popsicles.

i started going to the gym.

people are really friendly.

so i'd say things are a'ite.


but since i am feeling quite the grouch today let me level with you:

i'm annoyed with sources (for my job) who don't want to talk with me on account my employer's religious affiliation. someone told me the needed to pray before they would consent to be interviewed for a story. i'm told that is pretty normal here.

i'm exhusted because i stay up way way way too late watching the olympics. watching isn't quite the right word. this is not a passive viewing experience. i jump up and down, curse, and run around the room while i am waiting for results. maybe i am a little too invested in this.

then i went to church yesterday and the bishop went off on how it is NOT ok for people to be late to church and how it is also NOT ok for kids to get up and during sacrament meeting. this of course made me want to go off on him about how people are doing the best they can and perhaps if he is so worried about this he should step off the stand to help out those parents who clearly have their hands full.

dang i am self-righteous. i blame my bad temper on olympics/popsicle withdrawal. i mean it has been at least 45 minutes since my last reboot. i think i need s stronger drug. looks like i am headed to the store for ice s(cream).

mazel tov friends.