fo' shizzle??? Nahh...

I woke up this morning to an email with this link:

http://cnnentertainment.co.nr/2008/SHOWBIZ/Music/04/01

And then I saw this:

READ IT AND THEN WE CAN DISCUSS

Ok ... now that you have done the assigned reading, we can review and discuss (can you tell I am in school?) This is the best April Fool's Joke I have EVER EVER EVER seen ... why you might ask? Because the website looks sooo real ... you can click on ALL the links on the page and they go to the right places ... and the informational details are so right on. Snoop Dogg could very well have seen Gladys Knight preform at a Church building - that part is not a joke - she really is a PEEP and gives performances on behalf of the LDS church. The terminology is right and now on further inspection, too right and that PICTURE ... priceless.

Sigh ... I was freaking out for a moment ... I thought for sure the end of the world was coming if the "D - O - Double G" had become a Mormon but I am a believer that it could happen. Its just that I am aware of the "signs of the time," as they say, and I just happen to believe that this could have been one of them.

Just goes to show the amazing capabilities of the digital and media arts and my gullability when first waking up. I know know to wait five minutes at least between getting up and checking my email in the morning.

P.S. at the very very bottom you will find this:


(it says: "You Just Got April Fooled! Snoop's Not Mormon ... YET!")

ready to ge my passport stamped again

You may be in planning mode now, but this isn't just about idle thinking. You have an uncanny sixth sense that won't steer you wrong. It's as if you can see the future and can organize the present in a way that allows you to reach your goals. It isn't time to negotiate, so be prepared to do it by yourself if others aren't enthused by your ideas just yet.

This is really a perfect Horoscope for me because I just started planning my summer ITALY trip! YEAH for traveling! I will be in Oira, a small town in Northern Italy's Ossola Valley attending a Field School for Historic Preservation. I will be learning how to read cultural landscapes and record and analyze the buildings in them ... plus I get to work along side a master Italian Stone Mason restoring a historic structure! And I get 9 credits toward my graduate work for this ... sweet huh!

"Oira is a small village of about 200 people located one hour northwest of Milan by train. Nestled between the steep slopes of the towering alps, Oira lies at the north end of the narrow Ossola valley as it winds its way toward Switzerland and the Simplone Pass. Through its relative isolation, the Ossola valley has held the secret of its striking natural beauty and amazing stone hamlets for many years. The valley has a long history of granite quarrying and milling and has many intact stone villages, a number of which stand as they did in the 15th and 16th centuries."

(Italy Field School - University of Oregon)

I am sad that I will not be in DC for the summer hangin out with all my DC peeps (and the AHA girls) ... it was a really hard decision to make ... but the internship wasn't panning out in the way I had hoped and really, isn't Italy always a good idea? (ok, so the real quote is actually "Paris is always a good idea" from the movie Sabrina, but you get it) So I will be in Europe for at LEAST a month, but most likely a bit longer. I will be in Croatia for about 5 or so days as well and then ANYWHERE IN EUROPE THAT YOU WANT TO MEET ME! I am looking for travel buddies at the end of July ... let me know if you want exact dates and locations!



Its too bad I don't drink because there is going to be a whole lot of wine around me come July!

All this Italy talk reminds me of this:


And this:


And this:


Oh, and don't forget this:



Summer 2008 looks promising. Have I convinced you to take a week off of work to join me yet? 'Come on ... you know you want to.

distraction

I should be studying ... finals are next week. But ...

Seriously how awesome is this?! Here are two versions of me as a South Park character. Without scarf and with scarf ... try it out for yourself here. I think its hard to make yourself ... so if you want ... make another version of me, maybe I missed the mark.

universal

i believe i have mentioned it here and here in a round about way ... but i think its time to address it more directly.

i think i am a bit behind the curve. the universal shoe curve to be specific. As a kid, adolescent, and even a young adult i didn't really partake in what has become evident to me... THE WEARING OF CHUCK TAYLORS.



Now, i know you may be thinking, "what is she ranting about now, everyone knows that chucks are aren't a new thing!" and this is true. But i was realizing this morning as i was on my hands and knees digging for my left chocolate brown chucks in the back of my closet that i now own more than one pair of this universal shoe. To be exact - I have 3 pairs ... which yes is a bit much, but if you know me at all you know that i tend to by multiples of things that i like. My very first pair of chucks were the typical and safe black and white. i bought them, not when i was 12 or 17 or even 20. i think i was actually 21! Did you get that folks, i was of legal drinking age before i owned my first pair of chucks. We had an awkward relationship, as most first relationships are, and it didn't last long for us. i wore them on occasion, they really hurt my feet all the time (i have sensitive or wimpy feet one might say), and i kept them in the back of my closet until i packed my boxes and bags for DC. they were given to a better home at that time. i was sad that it didn't work out between us ... everyone else seemed to like get along with them - why didn't i? i gave the shoe another chance when i came across a $10 HOT PINK pair in Marshal's on a visit to SoCal a year or two ago. we have been friends ever since.



Well now that i am safely and securely in my MID-TWENTIES, i apparently am all about the chucks these days ... but let me explain. it is not that i haven't liked chucks the whole time, i just felt like i wasn't the type of girl or person that could wear them. they were reserved for those cool alt-kids, which funny enough i was friends with. i just never felt like they fit my personality or "image" (can you believe i just used that word in reference to my teenage self? ridiculous, i know.) i grew up wearing vans mostly and then branched out into more girly shoes as i got older.

now that i am a graduate student i am all about the comfortable but still fun shoe to walk around campus in. it wasn't that i specifically sought out the chuck to be my shoe of choice per-se, it was more of a serendipitous event. Already having my hot pink pair i was desirous of a more versatile color to wear on a more regular basis. i really wanted a brown pair of the prison issue vans but could never find them in my size. Then, a few weeks ago, I was browsing the Home Goods/Marshal's store here in Eugene and what do you know ... brown converse chuck taylors in my size for ... get this ... $19.99. At that price, who can only get one pair?! I promptly bought a turquoise pair as well.

i bother to blog all this now because my search this morning prompted some thoughts on the whole image thing i had when i was younger. i was thinking ... what does this mean that i now where chucks as an adult but never thought i could or should as a kid? it dawned on me that i had never really felt like i had an image or a fashionable projection of who i was and what i was all about. Sometimes it bothered me and sometimes i liked it ... i felt more versatile. But now i feel like its just me. i don't have a specific look or defined style that projects my image ... at least i don't think i do. i don't really feel like a fashion style could really portray the many facets to my personality. i like not being pegged or compartmentalized by my wardrobe on what i might say or think or what music, movies, or art, i might like.

What is so interesting about chucks is the wide variety of people that wear them. Old, young, crazy, mellow ... every color and race ... tons of people wear them, or should I say ROCK THEM. Even indie hipsters wear them and they don't like to wear anything that other people wear. it just goes to show how universal they are. Some may say that is a bad thing ... but i think its great. i like that so many different people with different personalities, beliefs, views, and dreams all find the design so compelling. Really, its a design and marketing wonder.

Anyway ... the only other thing i have to say about chucks is this:

In my semi-extensive world traveling (ok, mostly to Europe) i have found three things present practically everywhere -

Coca-Cola
McDonald's
CHUCK TAYLORS

* Hey top three world dominating brands - just so you know - The Body Shop and Starbucks are on your tail.

retail therapy

My horoscope for today:

"Building on what you already started sounds more attractive to you than beginning anew. Beautiful Venus enters your 2nd House of Possessions to remind you of the pleasures you crave. But be cautious about putting yourself in a financially precarious position as you seek emotional satisfaction through the material world. Ultimately, stability is more important than fleeting gratification."

This weekend I was in a bad mood and was a little upset in general ... never mind that. The point is how I approached these feelings: I went shopping ... and it made me feel better. And then the next day I went and returned the shoes I bought the night before.

yes we can

I just found this on my friends Facebook page ... I am totally in love ...

PEACE ... LOVE ... and stamps are now 41 cents

Went to the downtown Post Office in Eugene yesterday. The line moved at a decent pace. Four clerks were helping customers ... all four had long hair ... only one was a woman and her hair wasn't the longest in the quartet.

Middle-aged Eugene hippies that ended up with real jobs ... workin for the MAN even. I wonder how long each has worked for the US Postal Service.