I wanted to post photos of the apartment I've lived in for almost three months, but the cord that lets me upload photos from my camera to my computer has been missing for some time. Instead, here are some of my cell phone photos from the last few months. Way overdue.

Moving day:

The Yeah Yeah Yeahs at Bumpershoot:

And some randoms:

The last photo is a HUGE Lite Brite at Bumpershoot.

Also, please tell me something that will make me smile. I'm having a bit of a down night. Thanks.

When I tell you the story of the adorable boy riding a bicycle built for two back and forth down the rainblack street while I was walking home tonight, you hope that I'll say I called out, "Hey, you need someone else for that bike?" or even "Hi;" or that he pulled alongside the sidewalk and without a word I jumped on and we swerved off through the golden islands of streetlamp light. But what happened is this: I watched him ride past me four or five times as I walked, and stopped in the middle of the street to let him pass without a glance in my direction. I hope he has someone to ride that bike with him.

And the walls began to close in
And I felt so sad and frightened
I practically ran
From the living room
Out into the street.

Update coming soon

Receiving the Adoption News, originally uploaded by froggyboggler.

(One of my favorite children's book illustrations of all time, by Garth Williams from The Kitten Who Thought He Was a Mouse. You would make that face too if you were raised by mice and were just finding out you were adopted).

Don't "We" on My Leg and Tell Me It's Raining

You've been there. You're talking to an acquaintance and within the first five seconds she manages to mention her boyfriend at least twice. "We like sushi," she says, "we think Dane Cook is hilarious!"

I can't describe the reason behind my aversion to "we"ing too soon (or possibly ever) in a relationship. It's staking a claim on someone else's entire identity and fusing it to your own. It makes me sick to my stomach.

So when Emily and I were in the Elliot Bay Bookstore today, I was appauled to find that I've become one of those detested girls. But I wasn't "we"ing a boy, rather the company I work for. I kept pointing to books on the shelves: "We're promoting this right now." "This is one of our new titles for Fall 09." "We publish this book."

"Uh oh, Emily," I cringed.

Got my photos back from the river. Here's a collage of the better ones:


These were taken with this 1940s-50s Kodak Pony 135 camera I got for $9 on shopgoodwill.com!

I woke up today wishing that I was back at the Yakima River...even if it was cramped amongst six people in a tent and 110 degrees in the afternoon.

Last weekend a dozen of my roommates' friends headed out two hours East to the Yakima River to camp. I was a last minute addition, but was so glad I went! It was honestly one of the best weekends I've ever enjoyed.

We left Seattle in the morning on Saturday and had set up camp and were in our rented rafts on the river by 1pm. I never knew anything like this existed. Everyone fills up their rafts and innertubes with beer, ropes their rafts together and parties on the river all day. The current was pretty strong and we managed to avoid a few catastrophes (people separated from the rafts, etc). Over a hundred degrees outside, I was slathering sunscreen on every five minutes (it paid off, and for five hours on the river in the direct sun no one got burned). The area reminded me of the Southwest, and in the desert sun, the cold water felt so good.

I stole some photos off Facebook for you:

Getting ready to set out. That backpack is filled with Rainier and PBR.

Blowing up the rafts / standing around in the shade.

Bridge across the river. All but three of us jumped off it the next morning (hey, I'm not an idiot!)

They found a wheely thing, put it on the tracks, and rode back and forth. Then used it to carry firewood. We were going to explore a cave across the river that ended up being an illusion. On the way back in the dark, two people almost stepped on a rattlesnake.

It was a weekend filled with sun and swimming and stargazing. Perfect.