Gah I need to get a life

Sorry I've been so bad at blogging. Just swamped with work. But I've finally uploaded photos from Ithaca: http://picasaweb.google.com/obelomestnykh/IthacaSummer09?feat=directlink

Wish I was there now so I could go swimming!

TODO: Get a life so I have stuff to blog about :) or else I'll be reduced to blogging about my lunch...

Home sweet home - stream of consciousness

- Opened the swim season today. After a few cold laps where I had trouble catching my breath. I was loving it. It was so hard to get out and get back to work.

- Getting used to driving again. Nothing more stylish than driving around in a van. Weird to have passing drivers flashing their lights to warn me of a cop around the corner. Forgotten experience.

- Saw Bruno with U and C today. Finally in a mostly empty theater! Finally could get to a movie right when the previews are about to start. Woot!

- Had the first feeling of missing NYC today when I was driving home at 10pm after the movie. What an early time to come home. Not used to that. Now sitting with the open patio door watching TV with my brother. I hear the wind rustling the trees and smell the greenery, I <3 being home!

A night with vinophiles

6 Rieslings from local wineries. The winery owner gives the following advice:

Don't be to anxious to swallow. Hold it in your mouth for 5 seconds.

Still can't really drink much of white wines, but it was fun.

And after...

Chrysalis wanted herbal tea. We went (in the dark) hunting for mint in my mom's garden. Came back with oregano. She wouldn't make tea out of it :(.

And then...

How come there are still clementines in the stores? I guess these are from Chile, not Morocco so it's a different climate.

U: You know a clementine is only two bites.
as he shoves half a clementine into his mouth

Yay for Ithaca nights! Though it doesn't feel much like summer...

The Red Wheelbarrow

by William Carlos Williams

So much depends
upon

a red wheel
barrow

glazed with rain
water

beside the white
chickens

This is one of my favorite poems.

Reading

When I'm reading I like to know exactly how many pages I have to read. It doesn't matter if I love the book or hate it, if it's a novel or an essay or a textbook (I think there was a time in middle school I used to read those). 'Ah this story is 11 pages, I can do that' I think to myself.

I used to hate reading and maybe that's why I'm so slow at it these days. But now I wish I had more time to devote to it. Really, I need to make more time. I couldn't help but smile when reading David Sedaris's 'Keeping Up' where he describes navigating through the Taronga Zoo in Sydney. Yea, I've been there. :) And for a second I'm there again. And then the fridge starts murmuring and I'm back to my couch in my apartment wondering when and where will I travel again...

Independence

I've wanted one for a month and I finally got my grilled hot dog this weekend :). BBQ, chocolate cupcake, chocolate covered strawberries, a glow necklace, watching the fireworks from the 15th floor with a bottle of red wine... Independence Day in NYC.

Watched Man on Wire:

To me its really so simple that life should be lived on the edge of life. You have to exercise rebellion, to refuse to taper yourself to rules, to refuse your own success, to refuse to repeat yourself, to see everyday, every year, every idea as a true challenge and then you're going to live your life on a tight rope.

Reading:

• The Inhabited Island by the brothers Strugatsky. I was hoping to see the movie in theaters in NYC, but I think I might be out of luck.
  
• When You Are Engulfed in Flames by David Sedaris.