blog/flickr tutorial

okay, so i want to share these pictures with you guys from my graduation week. ah, what a week it was! i'll stop there.

anyway, it seems redundant to give you this little picto-bucket viewing, since i've already posted them to the right here on flickr. but i figured it's a good opportunity to draw attention to and acquaint you with the features of my lovely site in case you've been to shy to take a look around. this may keep you busy during times like now when i'm either too busy or uninspired to entertain you with my brilliant writing....

over on the right hand column, you can find a link to my photography site, generously and beautifully designed by emir balik. under that you'll find a link to my 'serious' flickr site. under that, my snapshot flickr site.
still further below, you can see who is officially 'following' my blog, and you can join them if you like. membership does not get you a free lollipop, but it does get you a pea sized photo on my blog!
then of course there are links to some of my favorite people (friends and cyberfriends hand in hand), a totally accurate and serious bio by my dear friend matt peake , an archive of old posts (you can just start from the beginning and pretend they are current--i guarentee them to be as irrelevant as anything fresh i would write!). and then some more junk like my favorite books and music. because that's so important.

dismissed.

it's about frickin' time!

i was an overachiever all throughout school. i was the teacher's pet in every class. i was the kid who stayed late after school to teach my gay math teacher who still lived with his parents our junior high cheerleading routines, the president of the model un. i took summer classes at university of california at berkeley. when i was in junior high. i was groomed to attend a four year university straight out of high school. but somewhere along the line i burnt out. i got scared. i didn't know what i wanted to do with my life. and that overwhelming question that seemed to need answering made me dread college. i made it as far as my associates degree and then i got the hell outta dodge--defected to new york city, where i told everyone i would "work for a year to save up money for school" then dive in.
right.
any new yorker would snicker at that statement. generally the first year in new york beats you to a pulp. you're lucky if you come out even, let alone save money. and so it was i got caught up in the rat race. working to live, living to work. i was comforted to have a reason to put off school. after a while, i told myself it didn't matter to me. who needed a degree? i was making more money than many of my masters holding friends. but every year, come may, when, as an event planner or captain i would work my tenth graduation in a week, i would feel this big aching sadness. this unfinished business that hurt me. it wasn't about money or finding a career. it was just about achieving that goal that i took for granted since kindergarten, as though the degree would just magically appear on default.
finally, 30 was approaching. it was time. in the spring of 2005 i enrolled at that new school university. overcoming my fear to apply and begin was monumental. kim will recall walking me past the very building that i just spent the last four years of my life in, and me having what could only be described as a panic attack, while she went inside alone to request information that i refused to look at.
once i began though, i was in my element. teacher's pet again. loving my classes. studying photography. for the first time in, i don't know--ever, i felt like i was doing what i was supposed to be doing with my life. it was a blissful feeling.
slowly i weaned myself off of my soul-confining, though flexible and well paying catering job and threw myself into the art world, where i should have started out when i arrived in new york at twenty years old--were i not so scared.
so, in short, i've blown through the savings from my cushy job. i've racked up a staggering amount of student and credit card debt. i will not be scoring any higher-paying jobs due to my prestigious bachelor's degree. that's not the point. i did it for myself. for my peace of mind. and i couldn't be more thrilled.
yesterday i picked up my cap and gown. despite the poking fun at the pomp of it, and how old and behind it makes me feel, when i pulled that goldenrod hood out of the package, i got tears in my eyes. this evening i will graduate (divisional with name calling--and i don't me dipshit!). and again on friday (the whole school, probably with some protesters and the whole regalia at madison square garden)!
i'm having a party. if you somehow missed my invitation, just come to my house tonight at 8:30pm--64 diamond. the parents are here. and, incidentally, the catering hasn't fully left my blood. there will be a lot of food!

brilliant idea of the day

cleaning the bathroom with bleach dressed head to toe in black.

another brilliant highlight:
turning while getting up quickly and knocking my head so hard as though it could move through the concrete wall that i see stars and pick up a nice sized goose egg. what is a goose egg anyway?

thirsty

ah, what i wouldn't give for these two things right now! alas, the heavenly mojito is back in cuba, and jade, my new love, is in colorado this week for work....

mr. softie

just when i rejoice in not carrying my big camera every single day, now that the semester is done, i come across a scene like this and i wish i weren't just trying to make do with my iphone. but nonetheless, a beautiful moment.
many a summer evening (and early morning, noon and night) did i spend at flushing meadows corona park, working at the us open. now the boss and i will be working on a project this summer on these grounds, so tonight when we got out of work and wandered through the park i felt nostalgic for those old days of grabbing cookie and the golf cart and following the mr. softie truck all through the weaving park roads.

something to do!

http://www.earthcelebrations.com/spring.htm
for those of you who are local, bored, and interested in water, this sounds like a really cool event, recommended to me by a friend from school. mostly geared toward kids, but bet kids-at-heart would enjoy just as well. check out the above link or the below words....

JOIN & PARTICIPATE
Earth Celebrations Hudson River Pageant
in partnership with Manhattan Youth
For A Printable Flyer about the Pageant, Click Here

An ecological parade and performance art event, to raise awareness for the restoration of the Hudson River as a vital urban estuarine sanctuary, and address the future effects of climate change on the river and our shoreline in New York City.

The community is invited to participate in a Earth Celebrations ecological art workshop series at Manhattan Youth Downtown Community Center, from February 26 -May 6 creating spectacular giant paper mache puppets and spectacular costumes representing the various species and habitats of the river. The culminating pageant on Saturday, May 9, 2009, 2-5pm, (raindate: Sun. May 10) features a magnificent parade of giant puppets, spectacular costumes, music, dance, performances, songs, and poetry, highlighting the river and issues. The performances are presented at the various piers and significant sites along the parade route, from Manhattan Youth to Gansevoort Street, in the downtown portion of the Hudson River Park.

VOLUNTEER: COMMUNITY, ARTISTS, PUPPETEERS, COSTUME-MAKERS, MUSICIANS, POETS, & DANCERS
* Assist Puppet & Costume Workshops: ( teens & adults )
* Volunteer for behind the scenes event production
* Sign up to be a Hudson River Costume Spirit, or Puppet Volunteer, or Parade Marshal.
* Participate as a musician, poet, dancer, in performance presentation in the pageant and along the parade route.
* Children of all ages join the pageant as mermaids and river creatures & find out about additional workshops & pageant participation opportunities such as Live Fish Release!
* Organizations, schools, community centers, invited to host workshops to create costumes & participate as a local River Species group such as Sea Horses, Oysters, Crabs, & Fish.

VOLUNTEERS NEEDED - SIGN UP TO PARTICIPATE IN HUDSON RIVER PAGEANT
To Restore the Hudson River & Address Climate Change in New York City
Volunteers are needed to participate for various roles.
Sign up to:
- Wear a spectacular marine species costume
- Carry a river creature puppet
- Join as a parade marshal directing puppets and volunteers
- help with security and crowd control
- hand out programs & help with mailing list
among many other colorful and exciting tasks!

Call (212) 777-7969 or mail@earthcelebrations.com

sappy, sentimental: in love

upon my return from the restaurant restroom in cuba, the ever present green st. pat's beads greeted me in such a heart-melting fashion....