blueblanketblogmy not-so-temporary blog, i guess saturday, december 15You know this isn't a diary, don't you? There are tons of things I don't talk about--can't talk about, even--because I know people are reading. Or because I'm lazy. .: 6:16 PM .:friday, december 14Just finished my cert opp, and then I got hit with the deadlines for this brief I'm working on. Which ordinarily wouldn't be so bad (because, after all, I have no life), except that I want to keep certain slots of time available to do all the hanging out I want to do. To deal with this, I'm cranking on the brief whenever I get the chance. Which means I'm slacking on email. So if I owe you an email, really, it's not you, it's me. Sorry. .: 8:51 PM .:That I forgot to mention. Not only do I not have a television, I also don't have a radio. So I'm missing out on all radio commercials (as well as NPR, sigh). Basically my main form of news is online newspapers (though I much prefer the newswires, because they're faster). And my main association with pop culture is through art-house cinema (if you can call that pop culture). The weird thing is that I don't usually notice how much my failure to watch television or listen to the radio disconnects me until people start talking about ads. I mean, reading is a fairly good way of keeping up with events and stuff. But without television and radio, I've ended up cutting most of the ads out of my life.[*] Inadvertently, even, because my lack of television and radio wasn't started as an intentional, deliberate effort,[**] but, rather, as an attempt to save time and money. Anyway, I barely see or hear commercials these days. Which in general is fine, except that people keep making references to things I've never heard of. And it makes it extra weird when people complain about commercials, or pop culture. Because usually I haven't seen or heard of the things about which they're complaining.[***] So it's hard to relate to the complaint, even though I can imagine that if I could see what they describe, I'd be pretty durned annoyed myself. But it feels so . . . distant now. Like listening to college students complain about the politics of funding different student orgs. I mean, I know in my head that once upon a time I cared about that stuff, but really, it now feels so far away. Like I mentioned earlier, I can't say I'm not enjoying this distance. [*] I suppose ads appear on internet pages as well, and in the metro trains, but as Ilana points out, I'm terribly terribly inobservant. So, honestly, I barely see them. [**] Okay, I'm exaggerating, just a little, the nondeliberation of Ilana and me. I mean, we first decided not to get a television because we didn't feel like spending the money. But after we made the decision, we refused several offers of free televisions from Liz, Ed, Jayesh, and probably several other people I can't think of now, all of whom thought it'd be nice if we had a television (and VCR) so that they had something to watch if/when they came over. But by the time they made those offers, Ilana and I were already addicted to all the time we discovered we were saving. Plus we got DSL, which means we didn't want to be tempted to pay for cable in addition. [***] But wait, you say, isn't that stuff all discussed in the entertainment / culture section of most newspapers, even the online versions? Yes, but I don't read them. I'm lazy. Unless they happen to mention a book/movie/musical/play group I think I might be interested in. Even then, I usually stalk my favorite groups and authors through fan pages. Much easier. I'm all about convenience. .: 6:57 PM .:Vanilla Sky is supposed to be a remake of Amenabar's Open Your Eyes? But Open Your Eyes was so good, and Vanilla Sky looks so . . . bad. .: 12:19 PM .:Richard H. Seamon, The Asymmetry of State Sovereign Immunity, 76 WASH. L. REV. 1067 (gotta tell Andy about this one) .: 10:42 AM .:From Bob, whose office is next to mine, after I mentioned that I live north of Chinatown: "Oh, I love those Chinese restaurants there, you know, Fuddruckers, that Texas Grill..." .: 10:08 AM .:The California environmental justice air pollution rules got approved, though with less teeth than they should. But it's a start. .: 9:47 AM .:thursday, december 13I've been thinking a lot about what got me so whiny last week, and the week before. For awhile, I thought maybe I was feeling lonely. But when I really thought about it, that wasn't quite the right word. I wasn't feeling lonely. I wasn't lacking for company. It was something . . . else. Wayne actually made a good observation about it, too, how this one party we went to seemed to be missing just one teeny something to make it really good, how this other party, though not nearly so energetic and rocking, did have that certain something. And what that certain something was, I now think, was intimacy. The lack of which is not quite the same as loneliness. The lack of which was what I think I was feeling. And no, I don't mean (just) physical intimacy -- you can have that without any mental intimacy at all, as portrayed so well in that Hanif Kureishi film/story collection of the same name, as exhibited so acutely in that one party. (Though perhaps others may not have felt this, perhaps it was just me and my crew.) I'm talking about the absence of long conversations, the absence of -- and gawd it feels so silly using this word -- bonding. That's kind of what I'd been feeling. This week was much better. I've had the long conversations, the small-group hanging out that I had really really been missing. This week's been pretty good. Hung out -- really hung out in that close, familiar, bond-ey kind of way -- with some old friends, met some new people, hung out with an old someone I hadn't really been in touch with, spent chatty time with the roommate. .: 5:25 PM .:.: 12:14 PM .:wednesday, december 12And I'm getting good comments back. Plus, in general, I'm in a much better mood. Yay! .: 10:20 AM .:As in the plural of posse. Didn't realized how I missed having one until Jayesh was talking about how they're the best, how they let you wander everywhere and not feel bored and lonely. But yeah, I miss having a posse. Used to be, I had me, Wayne, Ed, and Grant. Then later it was me, Ed, Wayne, Ivan, and Zoo. We'd go everywhere together, lying and making fun of people. Now it's just me and Ed, which is totally not enough for critical posse mass. It was fun, those nights of hanging out. .: 9:47 AM .:tuesday, december 11It's been a month-and-a-half without television, and I love it! No, don't get me wrong, I'm not actually one of those I-hate-everything-associated-with-tv type people. I don't think everything about television is bad, and I can recognize the value in it, sure. But wow do I have so much more time now to do other stuff! It's incredible how much time it frees up! And I don't have to feel those pangs when I miss my favorite television shows, when I have to stay at work till 11:30 like I did last night. Oh, this is so great. The weird part of being without a television is what happens when you actually see one. Because it's a shocker, seeing those ads after a significant period of time without them. Like there are all these Buy Cars and Show Your Patriotism ads! And these Be a Tourist for the Nation ads! They freaked me out, when I saw them on Saturday at Edna's. They also made me even more happy I don't have a television. It's an ostrich approach, I know. Oh well. .: 10:42 AM .:Eventually I will get the chance to read some of these, really. Kristin Madison, Book Review, Government, Signaling, and Social Norms 3 U. Ill. L. Rev. 867 (I have no idea what this is about, but I want to find out). Marc C. Fleming, Appellate Review in International Criminal Tribunals, 37 Tex. Int'l L. J. 111 Steven D. Jamar, A Lawyering Approach to Law and Development, 27 N.C. J. Int'l L. & Comm. Reg. 31 .: 9:22 AM .:monday, december 10All three holiday parties I went to this weekend had ham. Is that what holiday parties are like when you're out of school? Before this, I'd always thought Christmas was about chips and beer. .: 1:57 PM .:So last night, I went to a "neighborhood holiday party," which, really, is not inclusive of the whole neighborhood, but mainly had people who regularly attend the neighborhood committee meetings. Which, in turn, is made up mostly of property owners. This is understandable, I know, as people who own the places they live in are more likely to stay here, and are more invested (figuratively and literally) in the neighborhood. Still, it makes for an interesting mix of people. Because, really, only certain people came to this party. First, there are the looong term residents -- families or couples who've been here for twenty, thirty years. Lots of them have lived at various houses on the block, rather than stayed in the same house the whole way through. Lots of them had stories to tell about how much more dangerous the neighborhood used to be, with shootings and muggings and stuff. Lots of them are older, and their children have left, and now they have all this income saved for, well, renovations. Then there are the partnered gay architects. No, really, I don't mean to oversimplify, but that's how this clique seems to know each other, from the architect community. This crew makes up a large part of the homeowners I've met here, and they'll probably get to be an even larger part, because they're actively trying to get their friends to buy here, so that they can all renovate together. They seem to have started moving here about five years ago. Some of the friends were at the party as well, scoping out the renovations. Then there are the new (ugh I have to admit it) yuppie-but-trying-not-to-be renters, like me and these atmospheric scientists (yay) who live up a few blocks and these various artist folks, who I'm not sure really count as yuppie renters. Even though there are many low-income apartment complexes in our area, none of those residents came. Because it was that kind of party. But it wasn't the usual form of gentrification. No, don't get me wrong, this wasn't like U Street or Adams Morgan, with all the people redecorating with the help of IKEA or Crate and Barrel. Oh god no, this was totally. Totally. Different. Because the architects (and the long-time residents, possibly inspired by the architects) are doing some incredibly cool things. It's hard to describe how cool. Basically, the holiday party was held at three different houses, all of which had been redone by the owners. All of which were beyond anything I'd ever seen before. Most of them had totally redone their places. And I don't mean just put in a counter here, paint a wall there. No. Totally redone. Knocked away several floors. Put in bizarre openings in the roof, or between floors. Stuck in inset shelves. Put in antique door frames and old-time stoves. Made huge, shiny, two-floor architectural workspaces. No, this was far beyond boring gentrification. And I was in awe. Because part of what I don't like about gentrification is the dullness of it, the IKEA and Crate and Barrel and boring boring niceness of it. This, this was unique. This was beyond anything seen on those home renovation cable shows, the ones that people seem to be so into these days. People here put a lot of themselves into the design, and did some really incredible things. It wasn't ostentatious, or posh, really. Just . . . amazing. It is hard to describe. Really, truly, the insides of these houses were awe-inspiring, and I don't say that lightly. Ilana said that they probably didn't even spend more on their places than the people in those other areas (Dupont, Adams Morgan, U Street) just because the buildings themselves went for so cheap around our place, that they had all this extra money to spend on renovating. And they seemed to know what they were doing, too, where to go and how to shop. There were, of course, the elements I didn't like about gentrification present here as well. We talked about this a little bit, the atmospheric-scientist renters and me. How we felt uncomfortable with how they felt uncomfortable with the lower income apartment buildings in our neighborhood, or the transvestite hooker scene just two blocks away. What a difference it made, owning property. I have to say, though, if the neighborhood goes, this is a better way to go than the awfulness of Adams Morgan and now U Street. Because this, at least, is not cookie-cutter. This, at least, is actually art. .: 8:17 AM .:sunday, december 9* Nepalese rice pudding, and cola, ingested separately but alternately, are pretty darned good for hangovers. .: 2:56 PM .:This town is too small for the two of us. In the small timespan of the parties I've been out to, just tonight, I've run into random classmates, people I've seen at my workplace gym, an ex, and even someone who I think is an ex of that ex. I need my space, goddammit.[*] [*] Not that you all are bad, not that you all suck. Just that, you know, space is important to me. Fuckers. .: 4:16 AM .: |
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