April 30, 2007

Haikus for Booze -- More

More souvenirs of last winter's party (some are more coherent than others):

folks have tried although
sweet corn is better than sex
oh vegi lover

Dans nos lourds tombeaux
Eternelle decadence
douce extinction.

Please
I got a bone ner
what is a syllable 4
give me a dring now

Have you seen your life,
Moving slow before your eyes,
Catch it if you can.

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April 17, 2007

Haikus for Booze

Not that I'm a jaded partier by anyone's standards, but it takes a lot to perk my interest in traveling 1+ hours to a Bushwick warehouse on a freezing winter night for an event.

But when an invite arrives mentioning fire twirlers, 4 crazy djs, burlesque, stilt walkers, fondue, whip cream fiasco--it's hard to say no. Last February armed with a can of Reddi-wip, a sense of curiosity and many hours of sleep, I attended such a party. Great time was had.

Fast forward two months later, I'm clearing off my coffee table and find a few souvenirs of the night -- scraps of paper with handwritten haikus. In order to get a free drink, which had names like Agent Orange, partiers had to compose and read aloud haikus. Subject: anything goes.

I penned a haiku about disliking whip cream because I'm dairy intolerant, I think. Christina wrote about needing a shower, I think.

A sampling of a few penned by anonymous partiers that night:

I LIKE TO DRINK BOOZE
IT TASTES SO VERY YUMMY
PLEASE GIVE ME A DRINK

He kills me softly
While I try to make him believe
Does he love me?

Spontaneity
Its what is required of me
Please pour it for me FREE

Many are about the subject foremost in the mind of thirsty poets -- give me a free drink now. Some are more mysterious about their subject. I love finding souvenirs like this. Next warehouse party--I'm there.

Will post more boozy haikus later.

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April 16, 2007

Morning/Evening Listening - Travelust Edition

Continuing this thread, I've been listening to a lot of Orient Expressions in the mornings.

Orient Expressions with Imer Demirer at Babylon.

I'm not sure how to classify their sound -- a blend of electronica Turkish folk jazz dance music? When I was in Istanbul last October, I was fortunate to see them perform with trumpet player Imer Demirer during the Akbank Jazz Festival. Standing room only crowd ate up every note. Hahaha--my travel journal contains this sentence, "I'll definitely be pimping OE on the blog" for that night's entry!

So it took me six months, but if you're in Turkey do check out a gig. It will definitely be worth the money and time it takes to find the club (My friend and I cabbed it that night. There's no way we would have found Babylon in the maze of twisty Beyoglu streets on our own).

Listening to this only means one thing -- my feet are getting itchy. I need to get of New York. Perhaps not Istanbul, but somewhere without grimy subway stations packed with pissed-off commuters, the sound of bass pumping from someone's car stereo through closed windows at 3am, mountain of deadlines, sitting on my butt for 9+ hours a day in meetings, in front of a computer. After this weekend, my summer-fall travel plans will finally become a little more clear and hopefully my feet will find some relief.

Currently on my playlist:

AM: Orient Expressions - every track from the album Külliyat
PM: Elvis Costello - "Peace Love and Understanding"

The Costello-version has been stuck in my head since Saturday, when my upstairs neighbor was blasting this song.

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April 15, 2007

It's Spitting Rain Outside

and we can all use a break from the gloom and damp outside.

The Landlord, a short starring Will Ferrell and an irate Pearl

I love Ferrell and his bouffant hair.

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April 05, 2007

Eggstacy, Ukrainian Style

Last night I learned how to create an Ukrainian easter egg (pysanka). Learned but didn't quite execute properly:

step 1: pick what seems to be a simple-to-replicate traditional Ukrainian egg design.

step 2: heat the tip of your stylus (kistka) over candle, scoop wax into the tip. think positive and negative space--etch design onto egg (1st layer of wax yields white design).
step 2.1: realize you just messed up your design because the stylus leaked a big glob of wax onto your egg. get new egg and repeat step 2.

step 3
: dip new egg into pink dye bath. realize you also dipped three fingers of your left hand in dye. after a few minutes, remove egg from dye bath and blot moisture.

step 4
: give up trying to replicate traditional design. repeat steps 2-3, progressively dipping the egg into darker layers of dye.

step 5
: try to unsuccessfully scrub pink dye from fingers. curse yourself for your clumsiness.

step 6
: melt wax design off egg over candle. eat malt balls. 20 minutes later...

Ta-da!


Definitely going to make this an annual tradition.

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April 02, 2007

Ghosts of Apartments Past

I moved into my apartment almost a year ago. This is my first home without a roommate, the New York City first/second etc. apartment requisite for many young folks. Solo life has been good (minus the crazy downstairs neighbors with pitbulls, funky smells emanating from the first floor, weird building issues).

Having lived with roommates off and on since college, I firmly believe that privacy, the freedom to walk through the apartment door whenever with whomever and in whatever condition, a space free of the overpowering reek of fish and the peace of mind from worrying whether your roommate will flake out of paying her share of the bills on time again (can you tell that I'm still a wee bitter about my last apartment share experience?) are worth the minuses of my building.

I love the intense blue of my bedroom walls.

The funny thing about living here is the variety of mail for previous tenants, which still ends up in my mailbox. Quite a few folks have called this place home. Based on the junk mail and return addresses of letters which they've received, I have crafted the following profiles for them:

Russell - on the run from the IRS whose after him for $267,982 in unpaid taxes
Jo - extremely devout Catholic with a taste for Shepherd's pie and fish and chips
Lisa - cash-strapped executive assistant and part-time CUNY graduate student
Jo Ann - fitness trainer
Emma - multimedia artist now living in Greenpoint with a vegan collective

How far off I am from the truth is anyone's guess. Wonder what my junk mail will say about me -- currently spread out on my coffee table:

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