the color of my blog

Due to friends who are lovely enough to want to celebrate me for my birthday/marathon day, I'm being taken to Distrito for lunch twice this week. This ranks very high on the List of Thinks About Which to Not Complain.

Seems I've gone from carb loading to cheese loading. That's what you're s'posed to do, right?

I am running the Richmond Marathon on Saturday. I have run just over 600 miles since I began training for this race in early July. That must mean I'm ready. I'm not so much focused on a particular time for this race, but I hope to run it well, smartly, as opposed to last year's Steamtown Marathon, where the second half took me 20 minutes longer than the first.

Tonight, I'll watch The Spirit of the Marathon, the trailer for which is above. I will likely weep openly.

Among other things, my advisor Susan Cheever said this in her latest letter to me: "You don't have to work this hard." 

This is likely the best advice I've ever received.

This is down the street from my house + I'll be at home working on school stuff all day + I'm running a total of 50 miles this week (peak marathon training, y'know) + Their cuppycakes are delicious = HOW MANY FREE CUPCAKES WILL I EAT !?!? 

Oh, the agony:

Streisand at the Vanguard

i mentioned to Aaron the other day that a middle school-aged version of myself would have been outside the Vanguard hoping for a miracle, begging for a seat. I'm not sure if it's a good thing or a bad thing that the grad school-aged version of myself just opened a bottle of Syrah and hooked the ol' Barbra-filled iPod up to the speakers tonight instead.

Aaron bought a squat little eggplant a few weeks ago. As soon as I saw it, I thought it was adorable and needed to be exploited. The next day, during a, um, lull in my writing work (not unlike this one), I did a little tinkering: 



I named him Walter. Every time I opened the fridge, I pointed at him and giggled. Every time Aaron opened the fridge, I'd run from wherever I was in the house so I could point at Walter and giggle. 

Then, we decided to have eggplant with our swordfish one night. Shit got real for Walter.



The end.

Over the weekend, Aaron decided our cats needed a scratching post. He found some extra carpet and a few pieces of wood in the basement and started hammering away, as they say. Actually, I think he was using an electric drill. But whatever. As he was attaching the carpet to the 2x4, he put one screw in the top and the way the carpet folded got us both thinking. Aaron then rummaged around to actualize things. Here's what he came up with:

So, you know that Alfie and I moved a few weeks back. You might even say we "moved in." Our household now includes Aaron and his two cats, Bones and Sam. It's been a bit of an adjustment, to say the least. And not just for the cats. But don't worry, we'll all get through this. Eventually, I'll feel that the house is ready for photographin' and I'll post some images of the place itself. And yes, house! We've got ourselves a rowhome in the Graduate Hospital, or "G-Ho" neighborhood of Philadelphia. We're still renting, so don't get too excited, but it's a big step up from my four years of studio-dom. I've got to be honest and say that I miss West Philadelphia terribly. I'm a measly two miles away, but the feel is significantly different. "My aesthetics are screaming!" I said to Aaron the other day as we walked down a treeless, grassless street among boxlike brick houses. (I've also used that line to him while we've been trying to decorate inside our place, but that's a different story.)

Anyway, feel free to have a look at the phtotos I took of Alfie meeting Bones (who bears a striking resemblance to Keyboard Cat, to those of you in the know). There's one photo of Sam, who spent much of the first week here under the bed in the guestroom (yes! guest room! book reservations now!), but for the most part, she's camera shy.

Finally, I've put up photos from my time in Bennington in June. You could blame Bennington itself for not allowing me enough free time to accomplish such a task. Or me. Either way.

Doesn't Alfie look good on wood floors?

We moved. More later.

My father's sister Laurie rents the lil cottage above for a week every June. Last week was the week. I was there from Saturday through Wednesday. Did a lot of visiting, even more eating, and a good bit of running. I also took some photographs. Now, I'm here at Bennington College in lovely southwestern Vermont. There's a ton to say about the goings on here, but I haven't the time now.

In case you're wondering, I was a good daughter last night and watched Letterman instead of Conan's first appearance on The Tonight Show.

Also, if you're wondering, I was a bad employee today and watched Conan's first appearance on The Tonight Show on Hulu at my desk.

My pals John and Rachael got married on Sunday at the F.U.E.L. House here in Philadelphia. I was a groomsmaid and I had the pleasure of reading John Ashbery's "Some Trees" at the ceremony. It was a fun night. I took some photos of both the rehearsal dinner and the reception, which you can see here.

Off to New York today for a work event, followed by a few days visiting some pals there. Also, I'll be running a half-marathon in Brooklyn on Saturday morning. I've recently learned that there's a giant hill that we run at least twice along the way (the course loops 2-3 times around Prospect Park) and that the New York Road Runners are issuing heat warnings for the day. Gulp.

Thirteen years ago today, this happened. (Link to transcript found here, amazingly.)

KING: Epping, New Hampshire. Hello.

CALLER: Hi, Dave.

LETTERMAN: Yes.

CALLER: I'm 13, and I've watched your shows for two years, and I've written letters to you, and I was just wondering if, you know, since you're the most powerful man in broadcasting today --

LETTERMAN: You would like me to adopt you?

CALLER: Yeah, that would be pretty cool.

LETTERMAN: All right, fine. Just send along the forms. We'll have them notarized.

KING: What's your question?

CALLER: Also I was wondering if you could lower the age limit to come see your show, because I've written letters, and they've sent me post cards saying you have to be 16.

KING: You have to be 16 to see your show?

LETTERMAN: Yes.

KING: Why?

LETTERMAN: And you're 13 right now?

CALLER: Yes.

LETTERMAN: I want to tell you something. The kind of show we do gets better and better every day, so you're really in a much better situation waiting three years, because as good as it is now, in three years you won't be able to stand it.

KING: Why won't you let a 13-year-old into the show?

LETTERMAN: It's not my decision.

KING: Oh, cop-out.

LETTERMAN: Because I love kids, and the kids love me, as evidenced by this call from -- where is it, Epping?

KING: Epping, New Hampshire.

LETTERMAN: I think we're missing a letter. It can't just be Epping.

KING: Schlepping?

LETTERMAN: Well, Yes, that's right. Very good, Larry.

KING: Why don't you let 13-year-olds --

LETTERMAN: It's not my decision. It has to do with child labor laws. That's all I can say.

KING: They're not working.

LETTERMAN: Well, we'd like to see them pulling cable, you know, get them in a pair of work gloves.

KING: So you're telling this poor lady wait three years.

LETTERMAN: Yeah, and I'm sorry about it. It's out of my hands. It's the FCC. It's the network. It's Ed Sullivan. It was an Ed Sullivan thing. He wouldn't let kids in the theater and we have to -- it's a grandfather clause. There's nothing we can do about it.

I received this series of text messages last night and this morning.

6:33 PM: Wow. Free drinks!
8:03 PM: Like 8 drinks free.
8:22 PM: I am so drunk.
8:26 AM: Ugh. Stupid free booze.

Also, please let me wish you and yours a happy Broad Street Run Day! I was out in the rain earlier today along with my pals Seth, Jon, Jill, and Mo to run the race, my third go at this 25,000-person 10 miler (the biggest in the country, I believe). Although my training has been a bit relaxed in the last month or so due to traveling and working, I still managed to snag a personal record - 1 hour, 20 minutes, 31 seconds (last year: 1 hr, 21 minutes, 16 seconds). Along the way, I was cheered on by Arielle, John, Rachael, Richard, Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter, and Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell.

As usual, John took great photos, including this one of me literally killing my competition. Here's a shot John got of Seth, who is, in my opinion, an extremely photogenic runner:



ps - regarding the title of this post, did i mention that i found my way into the 11th row of Bruce Springsteen's concert at the Wachovia Spectrum earlier this week? crazy stuff. at first, i though, "wow, i really feel more like a philadelphian being here." that was quickly revised to: "no. i feel more like an american." but, not in a bad way.

Oh, yeah. I went to Assateague Island, Maryland last weekend with Aaron and a bunch of his pals for some camping. They've got wild horsies there who just roam around the campground, beach, etc. It was pretty sweet. I took a bunch of photos of the horsies and the camping-ness. Also, Aaron's pal Sue took some even better photos, as that is her deal, photo-takin'.

I have emerged from Death Valley. The more appropriate thing to say is that I emerged from Las Vegas. Not exactly my kind of place. Sure, the Venetian was lovely. We had an incredible room, er, suite and got to hang out in the hot tub. Of course, there was also an over-the-top-ness to the place - they, um, have canals, complete with gondolas inside. Seeing all the hotels and goings-on was the spectacle you'd imagine. But, overall, I was not all that interested in the Vegas aesthetic. (Read: gambling scares me.) That said, I was glad to get out of there and to the middle of nowhere on our second full day. Death Valley was everything I needed it to be. We camped in four places. We went on at least six hikes, each on a radically different terrain: the wildflower-covered hills, a winding canyon, the Eureka Dunes (my favorite), a crater (at the bottom of which we played frisbee), a joshua tree-lined mountain, and a rock face complete with two waterfalls.

Through all this, the catastrophes were kept to a minimum. No rattlesnakes, scorpion, or tarantulas were seen. Just some lizards and a coyote (from the car). We did hear some coyotes conversing from not too far a distance at our campsite one night though. We did get a flat tire on our SUV on the first day in Death Valley - the ol' stick-in-the-sidewall trick. I was useless, despite my father's profession, but luckily Aaron knew what he was doing. As he located the jack, I was figuring out just how many days we'd be able to survive on the granola bars, tortillas, and veggie burgers we had with us. There were a few hiking/climbing moments when personal safety came into question. Loose rocks sure are scary.

In addition to our hikes, we saw some cool sites: Devil's golf course, the Racetrack, and the adorable Teakettle Junction. You can view Aaron's photos starting here. And then there are mine.