Just a Fraction

Made My Day

2006-10-25T14:56:00.000-05:00

I just talked my brother into dressing as Zach Morris for Halloween, cell phone included.

Post a Month

2006-10-24T19:00:00.000-05:00

No, I don't have a quota to meet. Just feel I've been neglecting here. This is where friends who I'm horrible at keeping in touch with occasionally visit to check up on me. So, for those of you who think I may be lost at sea somewhere, fear not. Mary Beth is alive and well.
After typing that last sentance I sat for a second to think about it and I have no reason to correct myself. I am alive and well. I'm not alive and great, I'm not alive and terrible and I'm certainly not dead and anything so, Yes, I am alive and well. Even with a simple statement I lack brevity. Ah well.
I have been missing some of my more creative outlets lately and although I have no plans to return to them they are on my mind. I've got a project brewing that I'll share soon. It has something to do with my upcoming birthday but more than that it's related to enjoying life. More to come.
Hasta!
MB

PS You've really got to check out these photos, de la semana pasada en Ann Arbor.

Lost Before Translation

2006-09-30T16:50:00.000-05:00

For the past few weeks I've been in one of the preschool classrooms helping out - lending a hand with classroom management for certain students and translating for one boy who speaks very little English. During free play the teacher turns off the lights to let the kids know how many minutes are left of play. When the lights go out the students are to stop playing and put their hands on their head to signal that they're ready to listen. To remind this student I told him "manos a cerveza". Which, you might recognize is not "hands to your HEAD" but "hands to your BEER". Oops. I quickly corrected myself telling him "manos a CABEZA" and being a four year old engrossed in play he didn't seem to notice my mistake. Ay yei yei. Clearly, this mistake was made at the end of the week. Focus Mary Beth, Focus.

Tales and pics from a raucous overnight in Ann Arbor to come. :)

Up To

2006-09-23T22:28:00.000-05:00

Obviously taking a break from the internet life.
What I'm up to?
Reading
Watching movies
Reconnecting with friends
Figuring out this thing called life
And the working of the job

First two are documented in the right column with high frequency.
Third's been documented in my brain, a pretty good storage space.
Fourth's recorded all over the place (brain, random pieces of paper, book pages, other people) not yet on the internets
Last... well I feel like I'm constantly doing documentation there... :)P

Sorry for the absence (obviously not sorry enough to not be absent)
This thing's for me and I've been living well without it. If you've felt neglected or desire updates go ahead and shoot me an email, phone call, etc. I'm getting better at returning those. (especially since I'm not on here as much) :)P
Alright, enough sticking out my tongue.
Hasta

2006-08-10T21:40:00.000-05:00

Please dont do what I say
Cause if you dont love me, its worthless anyway
Please dont trouble yourself
Youll only go away in the end

Please dont follow all my commands
Cause whats the point in that
I keep hoping that all of your plans
Will fall through the roof

Like two ships passing in the night we're gone
Only the moon and the stars in the sky did know
To cry for me
As I sailed on

Please dont trouble yourself
I only want your love
You keep giving me your help
Oh please stop playing along
You know your wasting your energy
And your breaking my heart

Like two ships passing in the night we're gone
Only the moon and the stars in the sky did know
To cry for me
As I sailed on

Oh I can just see it now
You're recklessly in love
Your hearts boiling over
Oh I can just see it now
You're coming around

Like two ships passing in the night we're gone
Only the moon and the stars in the sky did know
To cry for me
As I sailed on

[Source]

Back in "Action"

2006-07-19T19:04:00.000-05:00

Been back in town since Saturday. Lots of ramblin around since then.
Trying to figure stuff out: me, my life, direction, priorities, etc.
Answers anyone? I'd be glad to take them :)

Off the Grid

2006-07-09T20:39:00.000-05:00

This week - starting tomorrow (Monday) - I'll be off the grid. Since I recently found out that I have the summer off I told camp that they could call me if they needed help. Well, they do and they did. So for the next six days I'll be working long hours, running around, camping out, getting dirty, hanging out with kids, helping out the counselors, possibly being woken up at night to take care of a sick kid, etc. And I'll be without access to the internet, something that's been increasingly difficult to be away from.
So, just wanted to let anyone who checks this where I've gone.
Have a great week!

Another One

2006-06-29T15:10:00.000-05:00

Since just two posts ago I described a crazy dream I won't share everything about this one. But I will tell you that it had to do with:
* Summer Camp
* Strange Toileting Practices
* An Entire Gym Floor of PE Teachers
* Running Away After Lights Out
* Maps
* Weird Group Games
Quite an adventurous, scary, creepy dream.

1984

2006-06-24T12:14:00.000-05:00

Saw this while searching Threadless today. Pops made a comment about my t-shirts getting ratty. Not that I care much but this one might be a nice addition to the collection. Also looking at this, this and this. Care to vote? :)

Don't Ask

2006-06-23T21:52:00.000-05:00

The other night I was staying in a hotel with two other women, who apparently were my friends but I don't know them. One of the women was in the bathroom and the other was standing by the closet holding a round two-tiered cake. Without warning the woman holding the cake falls straight to the ground face first into the cake. Thinking the situation was slightly comical I walked over, on the way realizing that she wasn't moving. I tapped her shoulder and there was no response. I turned her head out of the cake to find the most horrifying sight - she had no face. I screamed and the other woman came out. She joined in the fright. We tried to get a response from the faceless woman but somehow we knew there was no hope. When we looked back again the woman and the cake were gone and instead there was one black pump sitting on the ground. Somehow we knew that she was stuck inside the footbed of the shoe. She had been jammed in there but she was not visible. We knew that we needed to get her to the hospital but for some reason we felt it could wait until morning. We went to bed.

In the morning we grabbed the shoe and took her down to the lobby of the hotel where there was an Emergency Room. We walked straight up to the triage - they were set up like lanes with a nurse at each desk - and told the nurse what was going on. We needed her help saving our friend. I could see the look on her face and knew that she was doing her best not to treat us like we were insane but I knew what she was thinking. She wasn't taking us seriously. She went to "talk to the doctor" and we followed her and pressed our noses against the window of the room she was in. Suddenly a man ran up to my companion and stabbed her in the leg with a needle and injected her with something that made her pass out. Another man came up and stuck me but before he could inject the full amount I pulled the needle out and banged my hand on the window trying to get the doctor's attention. I started feeling woosy but the doctors and nurses came out and the men ran away.

Chaos ensued in the ER as no one knew where the men went and why they were after my friend and me. The two men ran back towards us this time with guns and I hid around the corner. I wasn't sure what happened but somehow the men were caught and placed in a secure room. There were no police around so we waited until they could come. We waited hours and still no response. We checked the room the men were in and it was empty. We didn't know what to do so we ran. We made it to the corner and then noticed a horde of people running from the hospital in our direction, including the two men. We ran into some abandoned buildings and found a room to defend from. We searched the room and came up with a handful of nails and a piece of wood trim to use and blankets to jam in the holes in the walls. Without much need for violence the horde went by but we had no idea where the men went.

We decided that the best way out would be the airport so we went and met a travel agent who booked us a flight. I had to borrow my companion's credit card because I had dropped my wallet earlier. The agent got us a cheap flight but it was eight hours long and there was no food or drink allowed on the flight.

What the hell?! (I told you not to ask)

Man I Wish I Could Go To This

2006-06-16T12:04:00.000-05:00

Oh Yeah

2006-06-15T16:34:00.000-05:00

The Show was a gem today.

Hilarious and politically relevant.

Good News

2006-06-14T23:19:00.000-05:00

Yesterday I found out that I only have to work 6hr. work days during the summer!! It's almost not worth taking a lunch brake (and for the past two days I haven't). Man, if I go to work at 8 or 8:30 and work straight through I can be out by 2 or 2:30. Whoa, I can't even comprehend what this means for me. It feels like college again. Mid-afternoon frisbee at the park. Naps. Enough time to make a really complicated and time consuming dinner. Man, I'm excited.

I'll also be spending more time on my vlog. Not as much time as I did starting out but more than I have recently. It's a balancing act. I'm the type that rushes in and then backs off and eventually finds a happy medium. But what really needs to happen soon is a redesign of this site. I chose this template because I liked the arrows but I didn't like any of the color options. I definately wanted to add a custom masthead but this template is harder to alter than the one I used on my vlog. So, I've got some new ideas (picked up at Vloggercon) and I'll be messing around with it later. But now it's bed time. Mmmmm sleep. :)

Hasta.

And We're Back

2006-06-13T20:34:00.000-05:00

Had an awesome time at Vloggercon! The conference was good but my best memories were of meeting and hanging out with people I hadn't met in person.

Highlights:

* Staying with Brittany and Serra - being "considerat", safeway salads, saving each other from awkward situations, meeting Carl (the sweetest man in the world), cappucinos sans foam, stumbling into the room drunk knocking over camera ports prompting Brittany to say "Fuck...sweetheart, take care of that later" which she doesn't remember :), slow wake ups and talking in bed in the mornings, wi-fi in "every room", photo shoot goodbye, etc. - great times

* Walking around town - street toilets, spraining ankle (happens on every trip) and watching it fatten up, getting whacked in the face by a pigeon wing, being escorted from The Mint to the hotel

* The after conference parties - awkward (but kind) apology meetings, sex house?, Josh and Raymond singing "Gangsta's Paradise", ordering beer with Erik, Enric with a spot on impersonation of Bob Dylan's voice in "Like a Rolling Stone"

* Impromptu gatherings - tagging along with Serra to set up the conference, bonding with Patrick over PC use, sharing a pitcher of sangria with Raymond while sharing tapas with Brittany, getting kicked out of the click.tv party and chatting outside, after conference hang out with Wolfe, chatting with Andreas and Philip in the hall lobby, walking with Lukas to The Mint

* Traveling - little boy on the BART rubbing his eyes so hard I thought he'd bore them deep in his head, old man sitting next to me on the BART who reminded me of my grandpa (long face, hat that snapped in the front on the bill, being told to walk into a dead end walkway at security and being labeled "continuous" which apparently means they put you in a scary booth and puff air at you to "analyze" the air around you..., having to change my shorts on the plane because they were dipped in the puddle of urine on the bathroom floor, getting my own row on the plane because the ceiling was dripping above my rowmates

Ok, I need to stop now. My brain hurts and needs to go to bed. I'm pretty sure it took me an hour to put this down...

Summary: I had a great time!

PS Pretty sure I lied when I talked about pictures in the last post. I took three pictures. But if you want to see Vloggercon pictures go here, there're millions! (or thousands...) Oh, and here are the chairs I was talking about.

At Vloggercon!

2006-06-10T15:44:00.000-05:00

I'm here in Freya hall (viking theme at the Swedish American Hall, we should be playing Led Zeppelin) at Vloggercon. I'm loving hanging out with Brittany, Serra, Carl and other vloggers. There are some really awesome trees here on the west coast. Also, here at the hall, the people on the panels are sitting in very large angular viking throne type chairs. Pictures later, I promise... Crazy stuff.

Welcome

2006-05-30T14:49:00.000-05:00

Switching here because xanga screwed me over (don't feel like talking about it now) and my vlog is here, so this just seemed natural.

Sidenote - It's raining here after a really hot day (heat index of 94) and the smell of dirt is reaching me through the open window. I love rain!

And the name: Just a Fraction
When deciding to switch I initially wanted the title "skimming the surface". I don't pretend that blogging, or any online means of connection can become deep in the way that face to face relationships can, so I thought I'd mention that up front. There are times that I'll share serious personal issues but most of the time I'll be sharing things that are occupying my mind at the time. But the blogger blog skimming the surface had already been taken.
So I started thinking about the human brain, self-conciousness, self-efficacy, etc. and how there's no way we can even know ourselves completely, let alone share all that we know with the people closest to us. So what I'm saying here is that in this blog, and any in any other place I'm only able to bear a fraction of myself. So you just experienced a fraction, just a fraction.

2003-10-26T20:32:00.000-05:00

"Fontina" cheese does not exist in the local grocery store so I used an acceptable alternate variety of cheeeeez. Rave reviews from the housemates, requests for more was the concensus. If only you could taste it.

Wrote a paper last week about The Awakening, listed below as currently reading, should be stated: rescently read. Specifically I commented on the mental illness of Edna and it's influence on her suicide. In my interpretation the book is a beautiful but terrible story of a woman's discovery. Ednas's life is sadly tainted by depression, mania, the restraints placed around her by society and others, even those least expected, conforming to those standards.

My thesis: Edna Pontieller's suicide was a distressing ending encapsulating her inability to battle the distorted thoughts and difficult situations that were enhanced by her overpowering struggle with mental illness.

Currently Reading
Awakening
By Kate Chopin
see related

2003-10-26T13:35:00.000-05:00

So all, I'm out to the grocery store to buy some "fontina" cheese. Anyone had it? I haven't, but the soup I'm making for my house (or the people that live in there) calls for it. I'll let ya know how it turns out. I'm sceptical....

2003-10-25T18:25:00.000-05:00

Well after a long first day at xanga.com the belabored mistress retires to her... NO WAIT! I have a choir concert. Ok, better brush up on my swahili and pull on my nylons (ewww I hate nylons, damn restrictive clothing imposed by the powers that be!). Later all.

2003-10-25T16:29:00.000-05:00

The virgin has been exposed to the world of xanga. What lies ahead for her she knows not but it will be an exciting journey.

Currently Playing
Rainy Day Music (Limited Edition w/ Bonus CD)
By Jayhawks
see related