A Succulent's Plea

So, today I was stuck at home with a fever. That's probably one of my all time favorite ways to spend a Saturday.

At least I was able to catch up season two of The Tudors on Netflix. I'm sure sure how I feel about Anne Boelyn yet. I used to think I didn't like her because of the pain she caused Henry's first wife, Katharine. Plus, she always has this sly look on her face like she's plotting something. But now, after she failed to deliver King Henry a male heir and instead gave birth to a female, then had a miscarriage and lost their second child, I find my self feeling sorry for her. 

Oh, I got bit several times by a blood-thirsty mosquito which has taken up residence in my room. I will not scratch!

I found some random images I shot a while back on my memory card. I had meant to incorporate them into one of my past posts. I really like the subtly blocks of color on the first image.

I also spent my time alternating between writing a comparative essay of Olivier's and Branaugh's Henry V, milling around the internet and working on a quatrain poem for my Poetry 133 course.

Working on the poem was by far my favorite activity of the day. I've taken poetry and creative writing courses in the past, and I've always sort of had a thing for the two, so I've decided that I'll begin sharing some of my poetry I've written. This one is a metrical quatrain, which more or less means each line has to have 10 syllables which alternate between stressed and unstressed.


A Succulent's Plea

Rarely do I pine for your liquid love
Like traditional wisdom would suggest.
Yes, my petals look plump, but this soggy,
Damp soil I actually detest.

One would think since the others look content
And green, this one must surely feel the same
Thing. Let me assure you, gardener dear,
to believe this thought would be to misname

All plants as alike, indistinguishable
From the next. We may share the same pigment
And take in what they exhale, but from my
Botanical sisters I am quite distant.

My roots are drowning in your aqua drool,
Too inundated to draw even a
Breath of fresh air. What was once a soil
Bungalow is now a saturated floodway.

I do not like as much as she or her
or even they. The attention you've
bestowed on my leaves me sick and melancholy.
If you wish me to live, you've got to choose.

Withdraw your moistened sentiments, or watch
my foliage rot away, decay into the sea of pea
Colored mud. Grower, do you not see what
Is good for other greens may not be good for me?



Any thoughts? What do you think it's about?

The Tallest Swede on Earth

So just as I suspected it would be, the Tallest Man on Earth show was amazing!

You could tell The Fillmore was full of history. The walls of the hallways and lounge areas were plastered with posters of bands who have played there in the past.

[Disclaimer: As with most venues, the lighting was slim to none. This is great for creating a thoughtful ambience, but not so great for someone who is trying to fulfill her blogger duties and is reluctant to flash up the place, ruinining the ambience they have so carefully crafted.]

Though the venue was more on the intimate side, it had a fairly large standing area where we could crowd by the stage.

There's nothing particularly noteworthy about this outfit, but here's something funny. When I was at the coat check putting away me and the boyfriend's jacket, there was another girl standing directly in front of me in the line wearing the exact same shirt as mine!

Until now, I had been proud to say that had never happened to me before. But, I guess when you shop at UO, it's bound to happen sometime.

The opener was a band that goes by the name of S. Carey. Their music sort of sounded like a cross between Local Natives and a more stripped down version of Fleet Foxes. His voice was beautiful, but a lot of the songs sounded similar - all very subdued and featuring harmonic oohhs and ahhs, with of course their differentiating details like lyrics and instrumental arrangements sprinkled here and there. It was definitely very chill music - a little too chill for a lot of the anxious concert goers. Even though they were great, by the fourth or fifth song you could tell the entire audience was getting restless. 

I really liked it though, and will see if I can find some of his stuff to post for you guys.

And now the main event. As mentioned previously, TMoE was simply divine. Like Joanna Newsom, I didn't really think he could sound any better live than he does on both of his albums. 

He proved me so wrong. 

His one man show was better than 95 percent of the bands I have seen. It really seemed as if he meant each and every word he was singing. Like if he performed to his absolute fullest, this was the show that was going to rise him to the level of the greatest greats. Not that I got the feeling that he was even the type of person who would want to be a household name.

Plus, he was saying the cutest things! He had this humble, unassuming, almost shy way about him. One girl yelled out her phone number at him in between one of his songs, and the conversation went something along the lines of this:

Drunk Concert Girl: I'll be your queen! Six Five Nine Two Four Three Six (or what ever)

TMoE: Oh. I don't normally do that after shows. I just go to sleep. And besides, I probably wouldn't be what you were expecting anyway.

AWWWWW! 

And then another time:

TMoE: I love San Francisco. You all are always such sweet to me. How many of you guys were at Outside Lands(?) ? 

(audience cheers)

TMoE: Yea, that was great. I tried my hardest there, so I hoped you liked it. 

(audience cheers) 

TMoE: I'll try my very hardest again tonight. I always try my hardest to do well up here. It's all I know how to do. At least, I hope I'm doing well. I hope you guys like it. 

(female members of the audience erupt in a collective awwww)

He said a lot of really cute things that made all the girls go awww throughout the night. He's just adorable. The fact that he's probably somewhere between the heights of 5'6 and 5'9 really does help his cuteness cause. I wanted to steal that little Swede and take him home with me.

Oh, not in that way.

Okay, maybe in that way just a little bit. 

Mystery Seedling

About a week ago I did a post on an unidentifiable mystery plant. Both my boyfriend and the little marker claimed it was a watermelon plant, but that just didn't seem right. Watermelon plants are usually lower to the ground in grow in a vine-line manner.

Some of my readers and I guessed it may have been a pepper plant. It actually did look really similar to one, but upon a more thorough inspection of the garden, I found the real pepper plant hidden beneath the leaves of a different plant. It was a bit stunted - it practically hadn't grown at all since we had done the initial planting!

Well, it turns out that we were all wrong. 

I was at my boyfriend's house the other night (where the garden lives) and his kitten escaped in to the backyard, so I went to go grab him. Imagine my surprise when I ran across our mystery seedling.

It's a sunflower!

How we ended up with a sunflower when we were thought we purchased only vegetable seedlings, I will never know. It really is quite a pretty surprise :)

I'm super excited for tomorrow night. I'm seeing one of my favorite folkish artist right now, The Tallest Man on Earth, in San Francisco at the Fillmore. Check it out! Be warned, his voice is one of those love-it-or-hate-it sort of sounds. 

This song, The Gardener, is from his latest album, The Hunt.  Everyone's singing along!

Do any of you guys have a Twitter? I made an account about a year ago but never really got into it. I started back up though a couple days ago, so if you'd like, feel free to follow my tweets. Tweets... does that sound a bit silly? Just search: Playing Hooksies.

Milk Tea, Please.

Lately, I've had a ridiculous craving for milk tea. I had it for the first time about a week ago, and now I find myself wanting it all the time. The fact that I even like milk tea at all is sort of strange because normally I'm not big on ethnic food or drinks. But there is just something about that savory, yet light taste. I'm not exactly sure what's in it, but I think its a a mixture of black tea, milk and flavoring.

Random Fact #46: There are about four milk tea places within a five-block radius from my apartment.

This really does not help my addiction at all.


My boyfriend, the enabler, went with me on one of my daily milk tea treks.

Peach Milk Tea is really the bee's knees. The cat's meow. Purrrr. 

You may have noticed that printed band on my arm. It's this physical therapy bandage called Rock Tape that was originally used for pro athletes who compete in endurance sports like marathons and is supposed to help with the strengthening and healing of the affected muscle. I injured my bicep while rock climbing back in January and spent five months in physical therapy without much improvement.

Thoroughly depressing.

I've started at a new place which used different techniques (like this rock tape!) than the previous office I went to, so cross your fingers for me!

HARRY P. AND ME

Despite the random heat waves northern California has been having, I know that my all time favorite season is just around the corner.

I know that the mere mention of what I'm about to say is going to make some of you either super excited or sigh heavily in disgust, but apparently the jacket that I'm wearing is the same one Bella wore in the Twilight movies.

I happen to enjoy the series. I've read the books and saw the movies that have been released so far, and I take it for what it is: a series marketed towards pre-teen girls.

It's all in good fun. Whether you are team Jacob or Edward(!), there is room enough for all of us on this planet :)

Now, Harry Potter on the other hand, is a whole different bunch of bananas. That series happens to be very near to my heart, as the novels were released throughout my elementary through mid high school years. I basically grew up right along with Ron, Hermione and Harry. In fact, Ron may or not have been my very first fictional crush.

Another reason that series is pretty dear to me is that the films usually happen to be released very near my birthday, November 19. When the films first started coming out, my closest Harry Potter nerd friend and I would see them every year in theaters as part of my birthday celebration.

I'm no longer friends with my former Harry Potter buddy and have since taken to seeing the films with other, non-die hard friends, but I'll always remember the laughs and tears that my best friend and I shared reading the novels and watching the films together.

Oh, and the trademark opening music.. dum di di dum di dum dummmm :) 

Cobalt Gold

Knowing how much I enjoy hiking trails, my boyfriend took me to this really delightful park that manages to span across three cities.

It was in the mid nineties today (which is definitely up there for northern California), so to beat the worst of the heat we timed our arrival so that we'd reach the park when the sun was just beginning to set.


Vasona Park, it was called.

Before we arrived, he told me that this park might just blow my mind. He was right.  I was pleasantly surprised at how many unusual features there were.

Everything was awash in a sea of cobalt and gold.

I wonder how it looks during the day.