Wonkybusker

The Small Things that Count

Sometimes small chores can make a big difference.  For instance, last night I cleaned the kitchen and Chris was so happy with this that it made the task so worthwhile.  Chris promised me that if I moved down to DC, he would do all the dishes.  It may not be fair, but so far I've pretty much been holding him to that.  If we used the dish washer it would be different, but Chris insists that the dish washer doesn't clean the dishes, so he washes them by hand.

And today, I cleaned the fish bowl.  Monkey Monkey is now in crystal clean, filtered water once again.  I love that sense of accomplishment when you can do something a quickly see a difference.  It almost makes me feel like doing chores more often.  Maybe one of these days I will.

Weekend

Some weekends, I sit around the house and don't do much different than I do during the week at work.  The only difference is that instead of doing work on the computer, I play games.  Since I don't leave the house as much as I should when I'm working, this isn't always the best thing for my time off.  Anyway, this weekend I managed to plan a bit and back out of a bit.  For instance, the picnic for jazz in the garden didn't work out and we didn't go to pick-up ultimate for fear of rain and due to laziness.  However, we did bike down to the zoo and we saw the baby panda.  He was asleep, and facing away from us in the new panda habitat, so for all we knew he could have been a carefully placed panda rug set out for the tourists.  Our zoo photo safari with the brand new camera ended quickly upon the realization that we recharged the battery and forgot to put it back.  Ah, well.  Oh, and we also finally saw Pirates of the Caribbean.  It was much like we had heard; entertaining, worth seeing but just barely, and easy on the eyes.  Sequels in general have a fairly generic formula.  It involves using as much of the original as possible redone a slightly different way to capture the magic of the first movie, bigger and more spectacular special effects, and that sinking feeling you get in your heart when you realize that the original movie has been irreversibly tainted by this blatant attempt at cashing in on a good thing for a few more box office dollars.  And yet, for a summer flick, sometimes that's all it takes to get you into the air conditioned theater for a few hours.  In other news, bit by bit Chris and I are freeing ourselves from the stranglehold of Verizon.  We switched over to T-Mobile for our cell phone service.  I don't know that it's better but it's definitely different, and for now, that's enough.

The Web bringing Journalism Closer

Chris and I went to a presentation and discussion last night about war.  It was at this little pieced together cafe and featured guys from a site called thefullmonte.com.  Basically, it was journalists and camera people who have spent time in places such as Afghanistan, Iraq, Nepal, Ethiopia, and other war torn countries.  They have gotten to know the people there and a lot of it is just raw footage that would never make it onto a news broadcast.  At the presentation, the seats were really uncomfortable and it was impossible to see the subtitles, but it was an interesting evening and made me curious to visit their website and see what they had.  It's definitely a worthwhile site and they have some unique footage there.  Stop by if you get the chance.

Post Office Complaint

Yesterday, my red curry paste was sent back to Thailand.  I'm sure they put a big "Return to Sender" sign on it.  It's so aggrevating.  I ordered the paste off of eBay 6 weeks ago.  It took a while to ship since it was coming straight from Thailand.  After a few weeks, I wondered why I hadn't gotten it.  Then, this past Saturday I got a card in the mail saying that the post office tried to deliver my package.  It was a final notice even though I had not received any previous notices.  And working from home, I'm almost always around, so I can't imagine there were 2 or 3 other times they tried to deliver it and I wasn't here.  Anyway, this notice was dated last Wednesday and it said that the package would be mailed back on Monday.  I've been checking my mail at least daily for any RSVPs, so I know for sure that it didn't arrive in my mailbox until Saturday afternoon.  By then the post office was closed, didn't open on Sunday, and then first thing Monday my package was sent on it's way back.  I guess I will never see my red curry paste.  Alas.

Another Summer

I've been told I need to update my blog.  I guess I never really consider that there are regular readers who are interested in what I have to say.  Thank you for that.  Let's see, what do I have to say?  First off, you won't hear from me next week, because Chris and I are taking an impromptu vacation.  We will be headed to a place out in the woods, with no Internet and where my cell phone may not work.  It's called Ohio.  I'm really looking forward to it.  Our early wedding present to ourselves is an amazing digital slr camera that will be arriving tomorrow and then we can read the manual and play around with it.  We're going to be ambitious about trying to cook all sorts of stuff and I'm bringing 3 books to read.  Nothing to do and nowhere to be; perfect.

It will also be a break from wedding stuff, which can absorb your free time quickly.  Our photographer cancelled yesterday, so we have a meeting with a new photographer this Friday.  Our last photographer is moving to London and found this out last week.  Nothing like scrambling to get a major vendor lined up again when you're 2 months from the wedding.  But it looks like it will work out.

I came to a realization in the car the other day.  Chris tended to agree, so I wanted to bring it up and see if we're crazy or if there is a general consensus on this.  Female musicians seem to be disproportionately hung up on relationships in their music.  That's not to say that a lot of guys aren't writing love songs or break up songs or whatever.  It's just that guys can to branch out from these topics sometimes while women tend to become fixated on singing about them.  I know it's a broad generalization and won't hold true in all cases, but I do think there is some truth in it, nonetheless.

Oh, and I didn't write a Wildwood post this year.  Sorry about that.  I must say, it was definitely a different Wildwood than it's been in past years.  Well, it was sandy ultimate, there was lots of fun to be had on the boardwalk, and plans to be out and about on Saturday night deteriorated to just hanging out in the hotel room with friends.  In that way, it was pretty much like all other Wildwood weekends before it.  But this year it felt less like a big ultimate reunion on the beach and more like a tournament with my team.  It's a small distinction, but an important one...in my mind anyway.

Summer League wrapped up for the season with the tournament last weekend.  It's annoying how you finally know the people on your team, enjoy seeing them every week, and are finally playing cohesively on the field and the season ends.  They were a fun group.  I am very much looking forward to clique league starting again in the Fall.

I hope you enjoyed this fun-filled Jess update.  No drama to speak of and life just kind of bumps along quietly.  Ah, the price of being happy.  :)

I hope all is well with everyone out there!

DC First Date Spot

Last Friday evening, Chris and I found one of the best things going in this city.  The National Gallery of Art has jazz during the summers from 5-8:30pm in the sculpture garden.  You can take a blanket, sit under the trees, and get a pitcher of sangria (it's really good) and a spread of cheese and crackers.  It's quite civilized.  You can bring a picnic or get something at the cafe.  The jazz is fun and not too loud.  It's just a really pretty setting and a fantastic way to spend an evening.

As Chris and I were sitting there, we noticed many couples that obviously had not been around each other that often and realized what a perfect first date spot this would be.  It's casual and unintimidating.  It makes you look cultured.  You can talk over the music if you want, but silence isn't awkward because you can just listen to the concert.  You can come and leave as you please, so it's easy to arrange if you can't meet until a certain time or if you'd rather find somewhere a little more private later in the evening.  It has great potential as a perfect first date spot.

It goes until September 15th and no matter if you are bringing a date or going with friends, I highly recommend it.  I only wish it would still be going on when every one comes down for the weekend for the wedding.