HELP! with books...

2008-04-18T05:29:20Z

So I have to select book prizes for undergraduate students:

2 are social-justice types
1 is into economics, anthropology and cool buildings
1 is into design (so an Edward Tufte book for sure)
1 is a high-achiever, fun-loving, mountain-biking, skiing, speaks 3 languages gal
1 loves music and fiction
1 i just don't know about

any ideas???

moving yet again (4th place in 1.5 years)

2008-03-16T17:13:09Z

I had to move out of the wondrous cabin-in-the-woods that I could actually afford, because of a little dog. The short of it is: I am now living with partner C. and we have a puppy. Too stressful. I've just now moved in and already am ambivalent and want my own space! But I also hate living alone, I have discovered. We'll give it a month or two; I'll keep looking in the meantime.

Photos of Zsuzsa, who is wonderful and a rascal as all puppies are. She was rescued from Mt.Currie--the runt of the litter who managed to survive despite serious worms, living in the cold in November, and malnourishment. http://picasaweb.google.com/ohaartirana/Zsuzsa
She officially belongs to C., but I spend more time walking in the woods with her as he's teaching this term.
Am negotiating with work to take 2 months off every year to start Feldenkrais Training, which would put me in San Francisco 3 times a year.

parallelly @ 2007-05-22T18:40:00

2007-05-23T01:40:43Z

This is a good set of questions from beelavendar, from chocobotkid

Say hello, tell me:

Something interesting?

What book I should read?

What film should I watch?

If we could spend the day together what would we do?

What are you going to have to eat today?

parallelly @ 2007-05-06T14:22:00

2007-05-06T21:56:20Z

A brand new canoe landed in my lap at just 70% of its used price--great!! So I'll have the use of it and make a profit in the resale. Now for finding an affordable roof rack for my Corolla.

hmm...someone replied:

2007-04-20T02:23:40Z

Phenocane.
I'm looking into it.

wonder drug for chronic pain?

2007-04-19T03:04:25Z

One that improves my brain-state. If you know one, SEND MY WAY please.

parallelly @ 2007-03-31T12:41:00

2007-03-31T19:41:40Z

(Click here to post your own answers for this meme.)

× I miss somebody right now. (a long list...I live in a town with no family or friends that weren't made here in the last 6 months.)	✓ I don't watch much TV these days.	✓ I own lots of books.
✓ I wear glasses or contact lenses.	✓ I love to play video games. (I only do it once a year with my little cousins, but I enjoy it tremendously!)	✓ I've tried marijuana.
× I've watched porn movies. (alas no. Keep meaning to.)	× I have been the psycho-ex in a past relationship.	✓ I believe honesty is usually the best policy. (usually)
✓ I curse sometimes.	× I have changed a lot mentally over the last year.	× I carry my knife/razor everywhere with me.

* * * * *

× I have broken someone's bones. (just my own)	✓ I have a secret that I am ashamed to reveal.	× I hate the rain.
× I'm paranoid at times.	× I would get plastic surgery if it were 100% safe, free of cost, and scar-free.	✓ I need/want money right now. (just enough to pay off student loans; but I'm not worried.)
✓ I love sushi.	× I talk really, really fast.	× I have fresh breath in the morning.
✓ I have long hair. (for the first time!)	✓ I have lost money in Las Vegas. (Nevada, but not L.V.)	✓ I have at least one sibling.
✓ I was born in a country outside of the U.S.	× I have worn fake hair/fingernails/eyelashes in the past.	× I couldn't survive without Caller I.D.
✓ I like the way that I look.	× I have lied to a good friend in the last 6 months.	× I am usually pessimistic.
✓ I have a lot of mood swings.	× I think prostitution should be legalized.	× I slept with a roommate.
× I have a hidden talent. (nothing hidden)	× I'm always hyper no matter how much sugar I have.	✓ I have a lot of friends.
✓ I have pecked someone of the same sex.	✓ I enjoy talking on the phone.	× I practically live in sweatpants or PJ pants.
✓ I love to shop and/or window shop. (thrift. and find things.)	× I'm obsessed with my Xanga or Livejournal.	× I'm completely embarrassed to be seen with my mother.
✓ I have a mobile phone.	× I have passed out drunk in the past 6 months.	✓ I've rejected someone before.
✓ I currently like/love someone. (of course!)	× I have no idea what I want to do for the rest of my life.	✓ I want to have children in the future. (perhaps not my own)
✓ I have changed a diaper before.	× I've called the cops on a friend before.	× I'm not allergic to anything.
✓ I have a lot to learn.	× I am shy around the opposite sex.	× I'm online 24/7, even as an away message.
× I have at least 5 away messages saved. (what's this?)	✓ I have tried alcohol or drugs before.	× I have made a move on a friend's significant other or crush in the past.
× I own the "South Park" movie.	× I have avoided assignments at work/school to be on Xanga or Livejournal.	✓ I enjoy some country music.
× I would die for my best friends. (hmmmm...strange questions)	× I'm obsessive, and often a perfectionist.	× I have used my sexuality to advance my career. (no, but my ethnicity has certainly advanced my career)
× I think Halloween is awesome because you get free candy. (awesome for the dress-up, but i prefer non-halloween dress-up.)	✓ I have dated a close friend's ex.	✓ I am happy at this moment.
× I'm obsessed with guys.	× Democrat.	× Republican.
× I don't even know what I am.	× I am punk rockish.	✓ I go for older guys/girls, not younger.
× I study for tests most of the time.	× I tie my shoelaces differently from anyone I've ever met.	× I can work on a car. (I could when I was 13, but have forgotten most of it now.)
✓ I love my job(s). (It's damn difficult, but I don't want anything else right now.)	✓ I am comfortable with who I am right now.	✓ I have more than just my ears pierced.
× I walk barefoot wherever I can.	✓ I have jumped off a bridge. (well...swung off a bridge)	✓ I love sea turtles. (why not.)
× I spend ridiculous amounts of money on makeup.	✓ I plan on achieving a major goal/dream.	× I am proficient on a musical instrument.
× I hate office jobs.	✓ I went to college out of state.	× I am adopted.
× I am a pyro.	× I have thrown up from crying too much.	× I have been intentionally hurt by people that I loved.
× I fall for the worst people.	✓ I adore bright colours.	× I usually like covers better than originals.
✓ I hate chain theme restaurants like Applebees and TGIFridays.	✓ I can pick up things with my toes.	× I can't whistle.
× I have ridden/owned a horse. (only camels (ridden, not owned))	× I still have every journal I've ever written in.	✓ I talk in my sleep.
× I've often thought that I was born in the wrong century.	× I try to forget things by drowning them out with loads of distractions.	× I wear a toe ring.
× I have a tattoo. (in a few months...)	× I can't stand at LEAST one person that I work with.	× I am a caffeine junkie.
× I am completely tree-huggy spiritual, and I'm not ashamed at all.	× If I knew I would get away with it, I would commit at least one murder.	× I will collect anything, and the more nonsensical, the better.
✓ I enjoy a nice glass of wine with dinner.	✓ I'm an artist.	× I am ambidextrous.
× I sleep with so many stuffed animals, I can hardly fit on my bed.	× If it weren't for having to see other people naked, I'd live in a nudist colony.	× I have terrible teeth.
× I hate my toes.	× I did this meme even though I wasn't tagged by the person who took it before me.	× I have more friends on the internet than in real life.
✓ I have lived in either three different states or countries.	× I am extremely flexible.	× I love hugs more than kisses. (no way!)
✓ I want to own my own business.	× I smoke.	× I spend way too much time on the computer than on anything else.
× Nobody has ever said I'm normal.	✓ Sad movies, games, and the like can cause a trickle of tears every now and then.	× I am proficient in the use of many types of firearms and combat weapons.
✓ I like the way women look in stylized men's suits.	✓ I don't like it when people are unpleased or seem unpleased with me.	× I have been described as a dreamer or likely to have my head up in the clouds.
✓ I have played strip poker with someone else before.	✓ I have had emotional problems for which I have sought professional help.	× I believe in ghosts and the paranormal.
✓ I can't stand being alone.	× I have at least one obsession at any given time.	× I weigh myself, pee/poo, and then weigh myself again.
× I consistently spend way too much money on obsessions-of-the-moment.	× I'm a judgmental asshole.	× I'm a HUGE drama-queen.
✓ I have travelled on more than one continent.	× I sometimes wish my father would just disappear.	× I need people to tell me I'm good at something in order to feel that I am.
× I am a Libertarian.	✓ I can speak more than one language.	× I can fall asleep even if the whole room is as noisy as it can be.
✓ I would rather read than watch TV.	× I like reading fact more than fiction.	✓ I have pulled an all-nighter on an assignment I was given a month to do.
× I have no piercings.	✓ I have spent the night in a train station or other public place.	✓ I have been so upset over my physical gender that I cried. (a long time ago)
× I once spent Christmas completely alone because there was a miscommunication on which parent was supposed to have me that night.	× There have been times when I have wondered "Why was I born?" and may/may not have cried over it.	× I like most animals better than most people.
× I own a collection of retro games consoles.	× The thought of physical exercise makes me shiver.	× I have hit someone with a dead fish.
✓ I am compulsively honest.	✓ I was born with a congenital birth defect that has never been repaired. (no, but I wanted to take the opportunity to note that I was rescued from the strangle of my umbilical chord and i haven't forgotten it!)	× I have danced topless in front of dozens of complete strangers.
× I have gone from wishing I was a girl to revelling in being a boy to feeling like a girl again in the span of five minutes, and not cared a whit for my actual sex.	× I am unashamedly bisexual, and have different motivations for my desires for different genders.	× I sometimes won't sleep a whole night or eat a whole day because I forget to.
× I find it impossible to get to sleep without some kind of music on.	✓ I dislike milk. (except buffalo milk. and I drink soy/rice milk.)	× I obsessively wash my hands.
✓ I always carry something significant around with me. (...house keys! or some funds. or a passport.)	✓ Sometimes I'd rather wear a wig in day-to-day life than use my own hair. (why not.)	× I've pushed myself to become more self-aware and thereby more aware of others.
× Even though I live on my own I still cry sometimes because I miss my mother.	× I hand wrote all the HTML tags in this document.	✓ I've liked something which a majority of people claimed was either bad or weird.
× I have been clinically dead for a brief period of time.	× Instead of feeling sympathy/empathy with people and their problems, I simply become annoyed.	× I participate/have participated in auto drag races and won.
✓ I do not 'get' most comedy acts. (well, that's not true. I actually love laughing, and do it habitually at things. But I don't 'get' most sarcasm--am working on it this year.)	✓ I don't think strippers are money-greedy or slutty for dancing.	× I don't like to chew gum.
× I am obsessed with history/historical things and can't wait for someone to build a time machine so I can be the first to use it.	× I can never remember for the life of me where I parked the car.	× I had the TEEN ANGST thing going for at least 2-3 years.
× I wish people would be more empathic and honest with each other.	× I play Dungeons and Dragons weekly.	✓ I love to sing.
× I want to live in my mother's basement when I grow up.	× I have a custom-built computer.	× I want to create a certain someone's babies, even though there's a 0% possiblity of ever achieving it.
× I would be in a relationship with one of my pets if they were human.	✓ I've gone skinny-dipping.	× I've performed in three plays.
✓ I enjoy burritos.	× I'm Irish and loving it.	× I have a thing for redheads.
✓ I am a twin! (kindof..my sis is 3.5 years older, but we look like twins, and are even closer in tendencies)	× Most of the times, I'd rather do something intellectual instead of doing something generically 'fun'. (what an awful comment!)	× Once I set out to finish something, I always stay at it until it is completed before I move on to something else.
× I wish there were a way to erase past mistakes.	× I sleep more than 12 hours a day.	✓ I wish I could be prouder of what I've accomplished, but it's never enough.
× I need more time to myself.	× I wish I was more open-minded.	✓ I hope that I go really prematurely grey.
× I download songs from the internet.	× I've just reenacted chapter 58 of Death Note with my best friend.	× I say random things to freak people out.
× I'm still a little mad about the ending of Death Note.	× I love playing Truth or Dare.	× I love listening to slow music, but I hate singing to it.
× Music helps me remember that I am not alone.	✓ Playing my favorite sport makes me temporarily forget my problems. (Kissing makes me temporarily forget my problems, and so does sex, sleeping, biking, listenning to a radio program, etc. etc.)	× I think this survey is particularly long.
× I prefer my LJ friends to my real-life ones.	× I can only hate someone that I love.	× I've ordered an extra two shots of espresso to an Americano at Starbucks.

Bowling for Funds

2007-03-30T02:02:55Z

Tomorrow night I bowl to raise money for Big Brothers and Big Sisters! My goal is to raise $100 by TOMORROW. As of now, I've raised $77. If you're interested in pledging funds, please send me an e-mail at: ohaartirana (at) yahoo (dot) com. Oh so close...

parallelly @ 2007-03-16T18:19:00

2007-03-17T01:21:59Z

Raoul mentioned that he once read something about flower bombs? Placing seeds in some kind of collection of matter that would enable them to grow just about anywhere. There are a few "contaminated" abandoned fields here (sites of old gas stations) that are fenced off. I want to throw hundreds of "flower bombs" over the fences.

parallelly @ 2007-03-15T00:42:00

2007-03-15T07:48:15Z

In Seattle tonight, hotel downtown. Went out for drinks and got a glipse of Grad School World (drunken folks you assume are assholes and find out they're damn smart. but still drunken asses. I'm never going to Grad school!)

I like Seattle so far, which surprised me. But I'm glad to be in any city these days. Back to Canada tomorrow morning.

bowling for Big Brothers/Big Sisters

2007-02-08T05:43:47Z

I'm Bowling for Big Brothers/Big Sisters next month. Let me know if you'd like to pledge money!

p.s. we won the scrabble championship! playing scrabble for literacy. My prize was a starbucks ceramic teacup which, I admit, I adore. I gave away the coffee.

parallelly @ 2007-01-17T22:37:00

2007-01-18T06:39:24Z

Formerly was on LJ for over six years as "liquor". Now here, watching. Space for occasional posts with updates on projects, whereabouts, questions, concerns, commentary. But updates will be much more sparce, I imagine.

Aha!