glitter pissing

ipernity test

2013-05-21T23:32:00.001-05:00

HA WELL THAT WAS EASY! ignore what i said about in the last post about things being sporadic here WE ARE BACK IN BUSINESS FOLKS GLITTER FUCKING EMOJI

all of the lanterns are finished early

2013-05-21T23:21:00.001-05:00

give me your owl, a photo by Rakka on Flickr.

you can see them all in this set. i mean, if you want to brave the ui at flickr. hahahaha god, what fucking ever. i don't even care.

but speaking of which, i will be cancelling my pro account and moving over to ipernity if you are interested in keeping up with my photos.

posting will be a bit sparse on this site until i figure out how to synch up ipernity to blogger 'cause i'm not paying for picassa. (i will probably throw some pictures of the bday party and the bday beer and stuff up here in some sort of recap though.)

see you soonish!

HERE IS AN OWL

2013-05-20T15:45:00.001-05:00

HERE IS AN OWL, a photo by Rakka on Flickr.

aw yeah, chittlings, bday week is in full effect. this weekend, leff got me a parade and a new british "quiz" show to watch. today SOMEONE GAVE ME AN OWL

i also got a card with puffins on it but i like the owl better. (they were from the same person. i'm not being an asshole by playing favorites or anything, silly.)

fun with mascots

2013-05-18T14:02:00.001-05:00

eagle on the street, a photo by Rakka on Flickr.

leff and spent about three hours on the porch today just watching the parade go by. i honestly didn't think that many people lived here, let alone marched in bands.

anyway, i particularly enjoy this clip because of the cougar guy.

parade day

2013-05-18T11:42:00.001-05:00

parade horse, a photo by Rakka on Flickr.

a word to the wise: don't live near a park if you like to sleep in on the weekend.

that being said, i don't particularly mind parade staging so long as i know about it in advance. because, trust me, if this is what you can hear while standing in the bathtub with the window open

you're not going to be catching any extra zzzzs.

only 10 more candles left in the project!

2013-05-15T08:22:00.001-05:00

feather lantern, a photo by Rakka on Flickr.

because my bday is in 10 days. D:

eegads, foresooth, etc. i am not looking forward to it.

anyway, whole set's here if you're interested.

duh duh duh duh duuuuuh, it's poirot, it's poirot

2013-05-14T09:38:00.001-05:00

poirot, a photo by Rakka on Flickr.

leff has the motion blur. it's like you can SEE the speed of poirot's little grey cells!

c'est vrai!

2013-05-13T15:43:00.001-05:00

best postcard from berlin EVAR!, a photo by Rakka on Flickr.

this is so true of casa rakkaleff that i feel like i should post it outside of our house as a warning.

thanks again, jens!

my lovely horse

2013-05-12T19:19:00.001-05:00

my lovely horse, a photo by Rakka on Flickr.

stuck in my head.

almost there

2013-05-08T10:14:00.001-05:00

charlie, a photo by Rakka on Flickr.

this bday project is still going strong. although, i must admit, i'm not so pleased that i will be reaching that milestone date in, what, 17 DAYS?! D:

still, charlie is cute, isn't he?

peely peel is chilly chill

2013-05-07T19:01:00.001-05:00

peely peel is chilly chill, a photo by Rakka on Flickr.

because it is WARM!

the ups guy might hate this weather (he told me. it is truth.) but EVERYONE ELSE LOVES IT especially flat peels.

having a hard time getting started this morning

2013-05-06T10:11:00.001-05:00

alien tea, a photo by Rakka on Flickr.

i had forgotten what it was like to sleep with the windows open. it's lovely and i don't want to get out of bed. not even the siren call of coffee is helping.

hooray!

2013-05-05T20:09:00.001-05:00

ice cream bar, a photo by Rakka on Flickr.

it has been warm enough here for ice cream!

new mexico 2013, days 3 and 4

2013-05-02T11:46:00.003-05:00

our last day in new mexico saw us heading north to santa fe.

UGH SANTA FE. beloved by old people. i am assuming this is because their dating pool is so much larger there. that town is FULL of greystaches. you know the ones, old dudes with grey ponytails, athletic socks pulled up to half calf, paired with "action sandals". the stench of entitlement. it is just like seattle only in the desert. THIS IS NOT A COMPLIMENT.

they do have a fairly decent donut shop though. whoo's donuts. yes, we went there because there was an owl in the logo.

the donuts and coffee were fine. the staff was, apparently, stoned. when the 45 year old white dude with dreads came into the store, we knew it was time to leave.

basically, if you find yourself in santa fe, I AM SO SORRY. also, fine, get donuts here. but i would not go out of my way for them again.

here is one thing that i liked about santa fe. these trees are nice.

but this mural is SO SHIT and FUCKING MYSTICAL and it was near an "art market" that had such shit. SUCH SHIT. eagles and horses and fucking dream catchers. if i could vomit though my eyeballs, i would.

god, the composition. it just skeeves me out.

thankfully, bandalier was nearby so i could scrub the visual grotesqueness of santa fe from my head.

ahhhhhh. now that's better.

bandalier has pueblos and petroglyphs. !!!!! contrary to what this sign said, the area was not closed due to snow and ice conditions.

the rock here is very conducive to carving. since it is so soft, it is also pockmarked with holes. here is luther inside of one.

i couldn't believe that there were ladders available for climbing.

sadly, i am a chickenshit when it comes to heights but leff and his dino were able to take advantage of the opportunity.

he also took luther into some of the dwellings. if you squint, you can see the little deer.

georgia o'keefe got NOTHIN' on me.

i think this was my favorite petroglyph.

after all of the climbing around rock cliffs, the trail become positively serene. here is a stream that has caused flash flooding problems. it was very well behaved on the day that we were there.

honestly, i could have spent the rest of the day looking at petroglyphs. this type of visual communication is much more up my alley than the new age bullshit of santa fe. (also, the punk guy working the gift shop was cute and he did tricks. heee!)

still, we needed to head back to the abq. on the way, we passed valles caldera. here is my donut at the caldera.

and a video to give you scale. this place is HUGE! did it cause the lava flow at el malpais? I DO NOT KNOW

i DO know that the roads around the caldera can be treacherous.

and that the land itself is now used as a ranch. STAY SAFE VOLCANIC COWS

back in abq, we went to the frontier for dinner. it was all college divey and the staff was awesome. i could see eating here frequently if i was an undergrad at unm. the food was cheap if not really food?

idk, my sandwich was really weird. i ate it anyway because i we had a flight the next day which meant i wouldn't be eating for about another 24 hours or so. (what. i may fly fairly frequently but i still deal with flight anxiety. i just force myself to deal with it so i'm not always trapped in the pnw.)

that night i watched "mad men" for the first time on broadcast television. THERE ARE ADS?! how does anyone watch that show with ads?!

the next day found us back at the sunport.

this place. seriously. it looks more like the lobby of of dorm than an international airport.

and yet ONCE AGAIN people heading to seattle did NOT KNOW HOW TO BOARD A FUCKING PLANE. we were 15 minutes late pushing back. WHAT IS YOUR PROBLEM FIND YOUR SEAT, SHOVE YOUR BAG IN THE OVERHEAD BIN SIT DOWN SHUT THE FUCK UP EVERY FUCKING TIME i take a plane back to seattle people fail to understand this. sweet fucking jesus. IT IS NOT HARD SEATTLE PEOPLE WHAT IS YOUR PROBLEM

whatever. that flight is over now. and GOOD NEWS there is a new 7-11 downtown!! FINALLY A CONVENIENT CONVENIENCE STORE IN SEATTLE

leff and i were there in the first 15 minutes that they were open. THEY FUCKING HAVE TAKIS!!! NOW WE CAN HAVE HOT CHEETOS AND TAKIS WHENEVER WE WANT WITHOUT HAVING TO SPECIAL ORDER THEM DANG JONES we are moving up in the world

so yes. i am back in the pnw. and things are settling back down into the boring old routine. or at least they will once i finally finish peeling from sunburn and heat rash. THOSE are my favorite kinds of souvenirs. I MISS YOU ALREADY BLISTERY SUN

new mexico 2013, day two

2013-05-01T11:14:00.002-05:00

day two in new mexico dawned bright and creepy.

which is fine. if i am not scared out of bed, how else am i going to make it downstairs in time for breakfast?

besides, leff and i needed to get out the door. we had a lot of driving to do if we were going to see everything that needed to be seen.

we headed south on saturday to socorro. it was here where we first started seeing warnings for rattlesnakes.

i also created a warning of my own.

"why socorro?" i can hear you asking. tech, baby. leff's alma mater.

this is the building where he learned how to code. (although, i have a sneaking suspicion that he already knew how to do that before he went to college.)

it's a very compact school with lots and lots of stucco. leff says that it has changed rather dramatically. that socorro has grown a bit as well. i just thought it was neat seeing leffie's old stomping grounds. (he's been on campus at both of my old schools. i think it still astonishes him that some of my intro courses had 500 students.)

one thing that had not changed, however, was the giant mountain with the "m" painted on it.

since there is a mining contingent associated with tech, there are areas that are not open to the public because of, you know, controlled explosions.

i never got used to that.

anyway, the MAJOR thing that leff was looking forward to in town was el camino. I COMPLETELY UNDERSTAND WHY

we were mainly there for the green chili cheese fries. THEY WERE SO DELICIOUS!! leff and i shared this plate.

AND THEN my chili rellenos showed up. OH. MY. GOD. i couldn't even finish them. they were SO GOOD but it was SO MUCH FOOD

do yourself a favor and go to el camino if you are anywhere near socorro. the staff is wonderful, the atmosphere is perfect and the food. OH THE FOOD

before leaving socorro, we stopped to take pictures of the owl cigar mural.

HERE IS THE OWL I AM GIVING IT TO YOU

right outside of town is a box canyon where leff used to go climbing. he said that it didn't used to have an official name but it has now been branded as "the box".

it's incredibly quiet here. so much so that the only thing i could hear was the ringing in my ears.

leff scrabbled around on the rocks for a while, climbing all the way up to one of the caves. since i am really good at spraining things and bruising for no reason, i stayed further down the hill and took pictures.

and then we started driving to my favorite place during this whole trip. not even another warning for rattlesnakes dampened my spirit.

although, they did freak me out. this tree? this tree was surrounded by snake holes. D:

still! i could not let the threat of some snakes get between me AND THE VLA!!

this place! COR! things are VERY LARGE!

they are also very nicely arrayed.

and there are these warnings all over the place.

here, have two pointless videos so you can get the scope of the place. we were at the vla when the dishes were in a very tight configuration.

it's all so goddamned impressive even if i almost puked from altitude. (7000 feet, kittens. i have lived at sea level for a LONG TIME now (too long.) and do not do well at very high altitude.)

guess what! rattlesnakes. rattlesnakes had been seen in the area.

thankfully, we did not see any on this trip. just lots and lots of warnings. and many, many satellite dishes.

ANYWAY, after about an hour at the vla, we climbed back in the car and headed to el malpais!

this is how leff and i navigate, fwiw. i refuse to give up my map reading skills.

in name, el malpais is a badlands. in practice, it is a bad ass lands. there is a 3000 year old lava flow. you can HIKE on this 3000 year old lava flow. just follow the cairns.

it is not easy going, however. particularly if you are wearing converse without socks like a moron. like me.

i am not doing this place justice with my photographs. it is desolate. and spooky. and there are sinkholes.

while we were on the lava the wind kicked up. it was a lonely, knife edge noise what with all of the cracks in the lava and the low scrubby trees. i will admit to being spooked. leff and i were the only people out there. we couldn't even see the road.

i wish that i didn't always have thoughts of the fucking donner party at times like that. but, well, i am morbid and ridiculous. (the only thing that cheers me up in these situations is thinking about how gross a "donner kebab" would be. (i'm horrible.))

on the way to el malpais, leff and i drove through a small dust devil. it was one of the strangest things i have ever done. the car was suddenly surrounded by swirling dust and paper and then BOOM it was over.

that experience didn't prepare me for the larger dust devil that confronted us on our way out of the lava area. here's really shitty video of the fucker that threw a tree at us.

and then the park threw some gorgeous scenery at us.

i mean, COME ON lava flows AND a natural bridge? el malpais does not know when to stop. (and i am very glad for that.)

after about 11 hours or so on the road, leff and i rolled back into the abq where we stopped at the dog house.

jesus christ, they have great hot dogs. they were incredibly simple and cooked really quickly. i have missed this type of place. THEY HAVE FRITO PIE ON THE MENU you cannot get frito pie in seattle. not that i would want to eat it here. the pnw has a unique way of removing the soul from anything delicious. YEAH I SAID IT

tomorrow! we head up north to santa fe and it is just as horrible as i thought it would be. THE DAY IS SAVED, however, by bandelier and the caldera. i think we ate some food? it might not have been food though. check back soon!

new mexico 2013, day one

2013-04-30T10:44:00.000-05:00

leff and i have been craving sunlight. all the d vitamin supplements and light therapy in the world cannot replace full on blistering sun. (and, no, the very brief, watery, indirect light here in fish armpit village does not count.) so we headed to new mexico where the people are friendly, the skies are wide and the temperatures are as hot as the green chilies that people eat on everything.

on the way to the ferry, we found waldo's hat.

we were based out of albuquerque on this trip. their airport is called a "sunport". i am not kidding.

"sunport/airport" had to be printed on all road signs. i'm assuming this is because everyone who does not use this airport was always asking "the fuck is a sunport?" 'cause really. the fuck is a sunport?

we stayed at the hotel parq central which i can recommend with the slight caveat that it is a popular place for proms and weddings. however, these loud things are over by 10pm so it is not that big of a deal provided that you turn the volume up on your tv.

our first night in new mexico was spent rambling around in our rental car. in case you're new here, leff and i don't drive/own a car in real life so driving was kind of a novelty. we drove through old town

to our TRUE destination, blake's lotaburger!

leff lived in new mexico for about four years and he has wistfully sighed about lotaburger since leaving. i can now understand why he was so fond of the place.

i mean, green chili cheeseburger. GREEN CHILI CHEESEBURGER

suitably fueled, we hopped back in the car for more of the aimless business. but when i saw the natural history museum, i knew that we had to stop. i'd seen dinosaur sculptures on the city of albuquerque's public art flickr page when i was doing cursory research.

i mean, leff needed to take this picture, right? he totally did, hush.

a critical mass biked past while when we were leaving. they thanked us because leff let them go through the red light.

because of the bikes, we weaved through back roads instead of taking the main road to sandia peak. it was really nice partially because the streets weren't jammed with shitty pnw drivers.

sandia peak is kinda' weird. do the businesses there exist for skiers? hikers? it didn't really feel like it was for anyone in particular. also, the fire danger was high.

we did not take the tram.

but we did go to the ski museum? ???? because that is what i primarily think of when i think of new mexico. skiing.

the view was really nice, however. and there was also a bike gang so everything felt kind of "rebel without a cause"/"wild ones" even though they had those shit choppers and not the vintage style bikes that i am partial to. (i like indians and not harleys. so what?)

tomorrow: road tripping begins in earnest. soccoro and new mexico tech! EL CAMINO! THE VLA!! EL MALPAIS!! we end up in the doghouse. check back!

snooping around for travel posts?

2013-04-29T20:25:00.001-05:00

harriet the spy lantern, a photo by Rakka on Flickr.

hang in there, they're coming soon.

i am mary sunshine

2013-04-26T07:46:00.001-05:00

ramona lantern, a photo by Rakka on Flickr.

because i am OUT OF HERE for a short trip today!

many thanks to k for watching the cats and the house! updates will be available starting on monday if i am not too tired.

where are we going? YOU WILL JUST HAVE TO WAIT TO FIND OUT

birthday beer has been bottled!

2013-04-26T07:44:00.001-05:00

birthday beer, a photo by Rakka on Flickr.

leff managed to get the rakka beer bottled last night.there is a TON of this stuff which, honestly, FANTASTIC because maybe i will be blotto enough to forget that i have gotten older.

beer just has to hang out in the basement until my birthday. woo and etc!!

that "mame" banquet quote goes here

2013-04-24T11:24:00.001-05:00

mame lantern, a photo by Rakka on Flickr.

good news, travel post fans! leff and i are going on a short mystery weekend trip. (it is a mystery where we are going, we are not doing one of those "whodunnit" cruises or whatever.)

travel posts should start on monday of next week. we are probably going to bottle beer before we jump on the plane. OH YES ALSO A PRIVATE CAR TO THE AIRPORT which is why i used the mame lantern to illustrate this because, my goodness, how fucking posh. how fucking out of character.

VICTORY!!

2013-04-22T13:24:00.001-05:00

VICTORY, a photo by Rakka on Flickr.

it is amazing what you can do with the correct drill bit.

just a reminder: this bottle was obtained legally and delivered to my house with bottlelox still on the bottle. frustrating, for sure. especially since i didn't have a metal drill bit. but, whatever, THIS BITCH IS MINE NOW. #SHOTSSHOTSSHOTSSHOTS erm, sorry.

tana french candle

2013-04-22T09:53:00.001-05:00

in the woods, a photo by Rakka on Flickr.

today's candle is the cover of in the woods.

if you haven't read any of tana french's books, i envy you as you will be able to experience them for the first time.

no, i don't need to sleep,

2013-04-21T21:56:00.001-05:00

don't tell me that clowns aren't creepy, a photo by Rakka on Flickr.

so you're watching the original "sleuth", right? the one where michael caine is the young guy and not the old guy? HAHAH GUESS WHAT there is a clown outside the window.

this might be worse than bob.

hop pellets

2013-04-20T15:13:00.001-05:00

hop pellets, a photo by Rakka on Flickr.

these hop pellets resemble gerbil food, non?

they disappeared when we put them in the liquid. here it is being all boily and shit.

we have started brewing rakka beer!

2013-04-20T13:11:00.001-05:00

leff waits on the water to boil, a photo by Rakka on Flickr.

here is leff proving that a watched pot eventually boils no matter what anyone says.