Mosaic Life

Cuteness update: 5 months

Wendy W — Wed, 08 Oct 2008 13:50:48 +0000

We were able to make a trip to Alabama last weekend despite how unbelievably busy we are. I’ll be happy when we’re less busy and can enjoy such luxuries as breathing and doing the dishes. Anyway, highlights were being able to see my painfully cute niece and nephew and playing Rock Band (now I have a huge urge to listen to Garbage and Radiohead).

Aren’t footie pajamas the cutest? When I have kids, that’s all they’ll wear. In public, during the summer, that’s it.

Rylan is such a sweet baby. You can usually get her to smile just by smiling at her, which never worked with me. I’ve heard that when I was a baby I was more into crying. I do recall that as a kid I enjoyed glaring, too, and pinching. One of my teachers told me that I was so much prettier when I smiled, but what kind of motivation is that until becoming interested in boys? No motivation at all I tell you. One thing that Rylan already shares with my baby self is that she’s already figured out how to throw a tantrum. Seriously. She goes all limp or puts her arms back like she’s skiing. Remember little girl, pizza and french fries. You’ll make an olympic skier someday, tantrum or not.

Dawson is getting so big. He’s already wearing clothes recommended for 9-month-olds. He could be a prize-winning spitter upper if he put his mind to it. He also is very much into eating, which shows that he too takes after his auntie. When I was a child, my grandma nick-named me “bottomless pit,” which isn’t as cute as my other nicknames, roly poly or Winnie the Pooh (which I hated at the time).

Anyway, that’s the cuteness update for the month. I’m glad I usually get to see them each month as they develop.

Say cheese

Wendy W — Tue, 09 Sep 2008 15:13:57 +0000

So since my dad got me a rad new camera for an early birthday/graduation gift, I’ve been thinking about what it would be like to become a photographer on the side for things like weddings, children’s photos, and graduation pictures. And so I’ve checked out some work done by other photographers.

Hi-larious, my friends. I don’t know what goes through the heads of some photographers. They want something cute, something different, something poignant. And somehow they don’t think through what the pretty picture might make people think in the end. For instance, one photographer set up a toddler on a cute little red chair on the train tracks. Did you hear me? On the friggin’ train tracks my friends, no lie. Hello, social services? I have photographic evidence that these parents are negligent to their photogenic kid, and are probably standing on the side, twisting their curly mustaches and laughing like the villains in old movies. Let’s see, what else? Oh, having babies of the opposite sex (no relation to me), naked, spooning. Might I mention this was done in the South? We have enough jokes about incest as it is, y’all. And then there was a picture of a bride, alone, out on the dock. She’s laying there, looking at her own reflection like Narcissus, or maybe pondering taking her own life rather than entering into the bonds of marriage. Oh, and then she heads out to the woods alone, followed only by the camera person. The woods are lovely, dark and deep, but I’ve got promises to keep…

So anyway, if I ever did decide to take up photography, I’d have to be sure and think through how the pictures might be perceived, because I’m sure there are snarkier people than me who will critique my work.

Face to the book

Wendy W — Sun, 07 Sep 2008 22:50:03 +0000

In my Communications class last fall, we discussed the scary and wonderful world of Facebook. My professor (who, funny enough, is now one of my Facebook friends) expressed her wonder at it, since we all have a collection of selves that we present to different people. For instance, the crass yet hilarious joke I might tell to one friend might be something I’d never utter in front of, oh, say, my Communications teacher. Or the way that I boldly proclaim my political beliefs in front of my friends who I know share them, yet politely abstain from argument or disturbing the peace with those who don’t. To many of my coworkers, I’m quiet but friendly, and I probably seem fairly reserved. So I agree, I do change a bit from group to group.

My professor, at the time, found Facebook troubling. How can we reconcile the selves that we create for different reasons? I didn’t find this idea troubling at all at first. I thought it could actually be very good. It could force us to show others who we really are, and they can accept us or not. But then again, it could also force us to play down who we really are, for fear that others will be put off by what they see.

I suppose it’s also similar with blogging. When I start thinking too much about just who might be reading, I find that I tone things down, hold back with some of the honesty, and in a sense defeat the purpose of an online journal, depending on exactly what my purpose is on a given day.

He’s still around

Wendy W — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 00:52:44 +0000

I realized I haven’t blogged very much about Monster lately, and that my Flickr content has been overwhelmed with pictures of my niece and nephew rather than our gray beast. Rest assured, he’s doing quite well. In fact, we’re thinking about potty training him! (If you click on the link, you’ll find lots of videos of cats using the toilet; you are welcome.) That’s right, if you come over to our place in the next few months, you could very well have to wait your turn at the bathroom door while our cat takes a squat. After that maybe we’ll teach him to eat with a fork and spoon and drive the car to Steak ‘n Shake. The sky is the limit, my friends. The sky is the limit.

Let me get this one

Wendy W — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 18:20:09 +0000

Since Brandon lost his debit card, I often used my card to pay for meals when we dined out. The money comes from the same bank account, but it gave me the opportunity to say a variation of the following line when the bill came:

“Let me get this one, I know you’re struggling financially right now. But your ska-country band is going to make it big someday, and then you can pay for dinner.”

He totally loved that. I think he’s sort of sad that Bank of America finally got around to mailing him his new debit card.

Hear me out

Wendy W — Fri, 18 Apr 2008 15:00:34 +0000

Okay, you guys know that I’m totally not an activist in any sense of the word. Well, I never was anyway. But the older I get, the more I care about things in regards to politics, which can be bothersome because apathy is so much more convenient. But I strongly urge you guys to go to save the internet.com and click on “Tell Congress to Save the Internet” and to do so forthwith.

So here’s why. It’s all about keeping Net Neutrality. I’ll quote the site’s information because they’re better at saying it than me:

The consequences of a world without Net Neutrality would be devastating. Innovation would be stifled, competition limited, and access to information restricted. Consumer choice and the free market would be sacrificed to the interests of a few corporate executives.

On the Internet, consumers are in ultimate control — deciding between content, applications and services available anywhere, no matter who owns the network. There’s no middleman. But without Net Neutrality, the Internet will look more like cable TV. Network owners will decide which channels, content and applications are available; consumers will have to choose from their menu.

The free and open Internet brings with it the revolutionary possibility that any Internet site could have the reach of a TV or radio station. The loss of Net Neutrality would end this unparalleled opportunity for freedom of expression.

The Internet has always been driven by innovation. Web sites and services succeeded or failed on their own merit. Without Net Neutrality, decisions now made collectively by millions of users will be made in corporate boardrooms. The choice we face now is whether we can choose the content and services we want, or whether the broadband barons will choose for us.

Okay, I realize that that was long, but still. I’ll summarize it for you. Net neutrality = good. Big companies making it so that if you pay a lot, you keep getting fast service (that you’re used to) and you can go to the sites that you’ve always been able to go to, and if you pay less, your service will be slow and you will be limited as to what sites you can visit = bad. It would mean taking away the freedom that we presently have online. So go to go to save the internet.com. Do something.

Aw yeah, personality test

Wendy W — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 19:14:05 +0000

I bet you guys didn’t know I’m a free-wheeling visionary. That’s right. I am.

I did think a few points weren’t too far off:

- You take a practical approach to people, not getting too involved in their feelings—or their business.

- At the same time, your acceptance of others leads you to be understanding of their life circumstances, even if you don’t quite understand their emotional reactions to some things.

- Although you have a wide circle of friends, you’re very discerning as to whom you can trust.

- You’re not rigid in your beliefs about the world, and you don’t want to impose your perspective on others, but at the same time, you know that plenty of people don’t always act responsibly.

Yeah. Interesting stuff.

Colin Meloy Concert

Wendy W — Fri, 11 Apr 2008 13:09:01 +0000

We had a great time at the Colin Meloy concert last night. For those of you unfamiliar with him, he’s the lead singer of the Decemberists. For those of you unfamiliar with the Decemberists, get your act together. They rock the hizzle. Laura Gibson opened for him, and though she has interesting choice in clothing, she has a beautiful voice. One of her songs was featured in a Humane Society commercial that you can hear here.

We actually were able to get pretty close to the stage, which is nice considering that when we saw the Decemberists at Chastain Park last July, we were oh, say, 150 feet from the stage. But not this time. No, this time we were close enough to see how recently Colin Meloy might have shaved. For the record? His chin looked smooth as a baby’s behind.

How did we get to be so up close to the front? We stood up for over three hours. That’s right. And near the end, we were saying things like “we’re getting too old for this” which is awful because we’re too young to be saying that we’re too old for anything except maybe High School Musical or Chuck E. Cheese’s.

Apparently Meloy started a group, Musicians Against the Calling Out of Freebird (an audience member made him the t-shirt). This group is quite necessary, as I recall some drunk guy at every smaller concert that I’ve been to yelling out, “Play sum free bird!” No Freebird last night. I can’t remember all of the songs he played, but I do recall the Sporting Life, Crane Wife #3, Apology Song, Kingdom of Spain, A Cautionary Song, Tristan and Iseult, Cupid (cover of a Sam Cooke song he sang with Laura Gibson), and of course, Mariner’s Revenge.

Flower patterns from the 30’s

Wendy W — Wed, 02 Apr 2008 13:53:29 +0000

You know that commercial where Milla Jovovich and Carmen Hawk (yes, I had to look up their names) are talking about their new line of clothes at Target? I overheard Brandon lecturing the commercial last night.

Commercial: It’s like art nouveau flower patterns from the 30’s, but like how they used them in the 70’s?

Brandon: Who are they? That’s so ambiguous! Use the passive!

Now I ask you, doesn’t that make you envy me for having such a cool husband? One that’s more concerned about grammar than how lame the commercial is and how brilliant the creators of the “ironic” clothesline think they are?

He’s mine, ladies. All mine.

I feel like I don’t even know him anymore

Wendy W — Wed, 05 Mar 2008 18:30:38 +0000

I’m flipping through radio stations, and I momentarily rest on a station that actually isn’t playing commercials.

Brandon: So what, we listen to Fergie now?

Wendy: (raised eyebrow) How do you know this is Fergie?

B: (shrugs)

W: Besides, this doesn’t sound like the chick whose London-London bridge want to go down.

B: I know, but this song is actually from that same album. All of her songs sound so different.

W: How did you know that the songs are from the same album?

B: They were talking about it on Mtv.

W: Since when do you watch Mtv?

B: I was watching it the other day when I was flipping through channels.

W: Huh. That’s dangerous stuff.

So yeah, my husband knows more about Fergie than I do. Do you know what that means? Both of us need lobotomies.