A day off, one of many, bulletin.

You guys! I was amazed to find so much bloglove in four short days.

I'm overwhelmed by all the news. Short, hopefully not terribly cheap, responses:

1. Nyk, WHAT. Is it unnerving to not really know what's going on with your mom? I've been stunned this year, repeatedly, to see adult figures in a new light- to finally see them in a more peer-like way. It seems, for some reason, that I've caught onto this slowly. I KNEW that I was an adult, I knew they were like us or us like them, but it's so different to be there when they can't handle a situation, or when their actions and responses are not the reaction that seems the most effective, sensitive, productive, wise or...adult?

2. Nikko, your art show sounds like a success, especially cuz it got you in gear. I love to read the art-talk. I miss listening to the antics and concept analysis when art is being made around the house. I like that about you guys.
Beard. With it's own capitalization-- It suits you.
And um, girlfriend?! Can we see her?

3. Dan, I want to come to Actual Cafe! I see it on my way home all the time, while I suffer in San Pablo rush hour stoplight mayhem. I should just stop and wait out the storm with a chai...how's the chai?

4. All, I so appreciate the inspirational reading/listening lists.


ME:

Work: Is slow as fuck. I've been reduced to on-call status, which has got me craigslisting like a maniac looking for part-time work. The most frustrating thing is that Edition One is where I want to work. I want to feel like this tiny business has turned into something in the time that I've worked there. We are going to a trade show in LA at the end of the month and hopefully that will help, our marketing is just so minimal.

Swatch-Swap: This has turned into more of my blog than I had hoped for. There are plenty of followers, but I am the only one who posts, which is disappointing. You guys should post something.

Obsessions: Alphabet stamps. Oogling over fonts and kinds--hoping to order some band stamps, which mysteriously have become an antique notion. I found this cheesy website called StampChamp.com which sells awesome individual small letter sets that snap together vertically and horizontally. Also, stumbled upon this:
http://www.stampxpress.com/category.aspx?categoryID=63
Which appears totally normal, but when it says custom, it means that you can actually put in each letter by hand (with tweezers) out of these tiny little alphabet trays that come with it. The font is SO good and plain. The letters are about 1/16" at the smallest.
Japan, which is monumental in stationary supplies, has so many good options in this area that I can't seem to get my hands on. Nikko, you should look into this prospect for me if it doesn't bore you to death (which I wouldn't take personally if it did.)

Loneliness: What is your take on the differences between isolation and loneliness? I feel isolated more often than I feel lonely. I like the time that I spend alone, but extroversion is hard.

Trips: I am desperate to go on a trip. I have the travel bug like crazy. I took the train to Colorado in December, which was a bizarre experience. (Picture above from ride through Utah). Factoid: Did you know that there is an Amtrak subculture of obese passengers? It is cheaper and more spacious to take the train than to fly, so long Amtrak trips are FULL of enormous people.
It goes without saying, perhaps, that trains in the US are very different than trains in Europe. The ride back, which was scheduled to take 24 hours ended up lasting for 36. I became homicidal after the 30-hour mark. It was excruciating. (Suggestion: do not try the veggie burger, just settle for sketchy meat options.)
However, the scenery was spectacular. I am a huge fan of the Western US and it's expansive terrain.

Reads and Listens:
People of the Book: Historical Fiction involving museum book archival/repair interlaced w the story of a lost haggadah and it's history. Written by the same woman who wrote one of my favorites (Year of Wonders, about the plague in England).
Pillars of the Earth: THIS BOOK FUCKING SUCKED. It is everywhere, especially popular as vacation reading (which should have been a huge red light, but I was craving escapist reading). I literally stopped 10 pages before the end and couldn't bring myself to finish for the longest time because I knew that all the revenge and payback that NEEDED to happen to the loathsome characters wasn't possible in ten pages. I finished it, finally, but still felt wrathful with vengeance for all those medieval assholes gnawing away in my brain.

Robert Plant and Allison Kraus- Raising Sand
Robert Palmer- Clues (specifically Johnny and Mary)
XTC- English Settlement
China Crisis- Difficult Shapes and Passive Rhythms

And um, Shakira- She Wolf (Catchy, so catchy...)