stapler

so, my new game that i have been working on lately goes like this:

it turns out that it is really hard for me to generate a completely random and weird thought or object at any given time. the reason this all came about is because the type-writer man (guy who sits on telegraph and writes me poems about anything i want) is a super cool dude. really creative. his poems are so odd-ball and amazing at the same time and i envy his talent. i feel like a lame-o whenever i see him because i can't generate random and neat things that he could write about. i always try and look around to see if there is anything interesting near-by that i could steal for my poem. or, i try and think about something in the context of my day that would be interesting in a poem. i wish i could just make craziness pop out of nowhere. that would be awesome. so, from now on i am going to title my posts with the most random thing that comes to mind. hopefully it will have no context and will be entertaining. and hopefully, someday, i will become a random word generator!

end of game plan.

so, i have been exploring the world of html lately, and it's frighteningly addicting. i spent WAY too much time messing with it the first few days i discovered online tutorials, but i have been able to distance myself more lately. i just like making things look pretty and organized. i think that my artistic withdrawals are quenched a bit by web design, just because it is a type of design and you have to make decisions a lot and put things in fun places. good times. it's a little frustrating working on it at home because i am "borrowing or sharing" the internet there and it's often too slow for my taste. i guess you can't be picky when you are in my position.

so, creeper 37-year old housemate moved out yesterday! hoorah! however, rent is due today and i am nothing but bitter.

lots of exciting events in the near future. i'll update as they come and go.

okay, getting boring fast!

bye bye

elephant

i am always happy right after lunch. maybe it's because i get to leave the godforsaken basement. maybe it's because i get to read my book. i am still working on Even Cowgirls Get the Blues, and loving it. it's hard because i know i have to eat lunch, but all i want to do is read. very unusual for me. last night i walked by a movie store that is supposedly renowned for being great, and i didn't pick up a movie (even though i have sorta been craving one all week) because i wanted to read instead. bizarre. but, i like the breakthrough nonetheless.

last weekend i bummed around the city. i say bummed because i was a lost person for most of the time. at one point i was sitting on the bus with my giant bag in my lap (speaking of which, i think my bag is like the mary poppin's bag, but the opposite. with hers she fills it with a ton of stuff and it remains tiny, but with mine i only add a few things and it is always massive) and a silly map of the city clenched in my other hand. this map actually has a funny story. i wanted to get to the golden gate park, but everyone i asked for directions didn't appear to know what was going on. so, i saw this fancy pancy hotel. i went in a told them my dad was staying there (because i sorta looked like a silly vagrant hippie kid and didn't think they would help me otherwise) and that i was meeting him at the golden gate park. it was really fun. i don't know why. i made up this huge story and they asked why he was visiting (for father's day) and what he did (big fancy lawyer from LA) and what i was doing in san francisco (really living in berkeley, finishing up my PhD at UC berkeley). it was really really fun. maybe it was fun to be someone else entirely. i like to take advantage of being anonymous.

anyhow, this man sat next to me, kinda sketchy looking, and asked if i was going to the park. i said i was, and he said that next stop would work. coincidentally, it was his stop too. i was a little sketched out and was about to bustle off, but he seemed harmless, and there were a ton of people around. plus, if he wanted my wallet, i only have a few bucks in my account. we talked about san francisco. the city is nice, but i hate that there is a total lack of community. people act like there is, but when it comes down to it, they could give a shit about the person next to them. it's really awful. sometimes i will just smile and try to start a conversation with people in the grocery line and they look at me like i'm crazy. he has the same sentiments, and says that things are different in mexico. he's from mexico city, and has been traveling around california for a couple years. anyhow, he asks if i speak spanish, and i tell him i sorta do. so, we just start talking in spanish. it was hard for me, and he often corrected me, but i understood almost everything he said. he walked me to the place i was meeting friends (well someone that was going to teach me poi, who i had only spoke to over email), and said goodbye. it was lovely. renewed my faith in the world entirely. then i met andy, who offered me a joint (which, i would like you to know mom, i turned down), and taught me hyperloops. the day was grand.

i like this story because don't have a high regard for people most of the time.* i just don't think they are that great on a whole. if you get to know them they generally have some merit, but the random people i have brushed up against here have, for the most part, been cold and uninterested in having anything to do with me. this day was completely contradictory to that theory. maybe you just have to push them a little. poke 'em. get them to acknowledge you.

it's funny because i would never be happy without companions. but, people usually disappoint as well. they either make or break your day. i am doing better at ignoring the bad and appreciating the good. when i first got here it was hard, but being alone for extended periods of time forces you to figure yourself out. i am forced to decide how my day is going to be. i could either mope about what assholes people are, or cherish the bum sitting on telegraph who in his best begging voice exclaimed, "pardon me ma'am, could i get a smile?"

PC's are shitty

oh man guys. i am stuck in a pc world. i suppose i always will, if i stay in chemistry that is. everyone here uses pcs because ALL the instrument software is designed for pcs. supposedly only one science lab on campus is mostly macs. which wouldn't seem that bad to a whittie, but there are five chemistry buildings, so that is nothing. these machines are just stupid though. i was almost free of them. i flashed my beautiful little powerbook and enrique carted off the big ugly pc desktop, but it turns out that i need an only pc program to analyze all the data from the light scattering instrument. shitty. it's not that the thing is slow, it just appears to be designed really poorly. the organization of files sucks. it's horrible. also, today i tried to open a file and this was the response:

"cannot open file - strange, this should never happen?!"

what the hell. fuck you mister computer. don't say strange to me you asshole. it's early and i hate data analysis (or processing numbers for hours on end in front of a big ugly desktop), so don't mess with me!!!!

raaaaarrrrrr.

there you go tony.

more light hearted email later, when i am not on the sub bottom floor surrounded by foot wide cement walls. you know you are in trouble when your lab is on the same floor as the NMR.

on the elevator it's button is D, for dungeon.

what a...different place

walking home from work on friday a man with a typewriter in a box offered to write me a poem about anything. of course, i obliged and chose bicycles and amoebas. tricky, but, as the poem proves, possible. it was a wonderful way to begin the weekend, and i have begun to fear the street folks less because of it. wearing headphones helps because then i can just watch them without have to hear the crazy, loud, awkward diatribes. those bother me more than their presence. maybe i am just getting used to this silly place. too many people trying to crunch into a little space. kato came down yesterday and i showed her, well, not much. i don't know where to go in berkeley. today we rode the bart into the city and stumbled upon a street fair on haite street. again, too many people smashed into extremely small places. i found myself feeling a bit claustrophobic. it was fun though.

finally, i went to the park to read and fell asleep instead. when i woke up i noticed jugglers across the lawn, and sure enough, i knew one of them. i met him at the lodi festival, and i have forgotten his name. he, of course, remembered mine, which is the worst. i kinda felt like a jerk, and i was to sheepish to ask.

i visited ironworks, the giant climbing gym in berkeley, yesterday. tony, you would be so jealous. it's HUGE.
check it out.

okay, that is all for me.

hit me with a few comments. come on, i know you are reading. i can see it in my stat counter.

funny quote, silly boys

so, i finished my book, Fahrenheit 451, yesterday. it was crazy in the "wow that could actually happen to our country kind of way". but, being a funny bum that walked the railroad tracks would be that bad. plus, all the stupid people in the city were blown up, which is awesome. if that kept up maybe we could solve the over-population problem. but, i am super all the residual radiation would probably result in four-eyed, six limbed weirdos. but, i like science projects, so maybe it would be a fun adventure.

anyhow, started ANOTHER book for pleasure this lovely morning. it's called Even Cowgirls Get the Blues, by Tom Robbins. and here is a lovely excerpt.

"they remained their whole lives short and peanutlike, with baby faces and genitals of a size that women don't really mind but that other men often feel compelled to mock."

fantastic.

and now a gold peanut:

hoorah,

new internet in the lab!

GO little laptop GOOOO!

Big Sur: the most beautiful place on earth

last weekend i was around the big sur area for my housemate, ben's, graduation party for all the seniors that he knows (most of which i know and am really close with). turns out he lives in the most breathtaking place i've ever seen. he is actually located between carmel and big sur on a huge chunk of property. his and the surrounding property is all under a land trust that is designed to protect the area from growth. there are a bunch of stipulations that limit the development in the area (for example, only one, small structure can be built for every 20 acres). anyhow, i will let the pictures do the rest of the talking...

this is the super mondo and incredibly heavy door to ben's house. so cool. felt like you were entering a hobbit home.


we all ate breakfast looking out at this amazing landscape. it was hard to remember to eat because of how captivating the view was.


maia lived 30 minutes north of ben and this is her view.


what a faded bunch of badasses. good times.

living in the big city

that's right, little ol' kelly peach from bellingham is moving on up. just arrived in berkeley on wednesday night for my huge summer of fun (and work, in the uc berkeley chemistry lab, yes!). when i was picked up by my housemates they announced that another housemate offered us all free dinner, and since i was really sick of airplane peanuts it sounded like the most fabulous idea on the planet. the food was amazing (and wicked expensive, thanks sooo much tim), and i got to chill with the girls that i have only talked to over email previously. they are all very friendly, and really fancy. i feel like a hick, which i never thought i'd say. i spent the next day wandering around the south side of berkeley. i didn't have any destination in mind, but i still felt lost. i just walked and walked and walked. i finally found the center of campus, and bought a map (a complete necessity). on my way home i crossed the street onto telegraph from campus and there was an american apparel, which doesn't bode well for the survival of my stipend. it was fun, but by the end of the day i was super tired. i met CJ who is a little more my speed, and we went out to sushi. he is a bio major that graduated from berkeley a year ago, and is waiting to head off to grad school.

so, this morning i was cooking french toast and looked outside to see two crazies fighting over the trash that the last residents of the house had left behind. there have been a ton of nutso homeless folks yelling crazy monologues to themselves outside our house. it makes me a little more cautious about locking the door to our house, but i am sure i will get used to it.

anyhow, life is good. i am dirt poor, but that will be okay for a little while. lebn, sarah b., and jenny are heading down to pick me up tonight. we are driving down to ben's graduation shindig in big sur. i am pretty positive that it will be fantastic. everyone that i tell down here is always ohhing and ahhing the place, so i can't wait!

i'm so excited and the summer has just started!

only thing i am missing: a bicycle

here is an ode to my bike