vika – Page 13 – Words' End

September 10, 2008

burning man! (it is over.) (it isn’t over.)

Right! I am once again falling into the trap of having so much to write that I don’t write anything. Bits and pieces are better than nothing. And so, bits and pieces.

In short: on Wednesday the 20th of last month I left home absurdly early and drove westward to Black Rock City, NV. I took a northerly route on the way there and went through Ohio, Duluth MN, Fargo ND, Billings MT, Custer National Forest, Yellowstone and Jackson Hole WY. I got to the burn in the afternoon on Monday the 25th, stayed in the desert until stupid-early in the morning on Monday the 1st, and got home around 4:30pm last Sunday the 7th. On the way home I went south to Las Vegas, and then drove through Albuquerque and Santa Fe NM, Tulsa OK, Little Rock AR, Memphis and Nashville and Knocksville TN, Pretty Everyplace PA and Sleepy Hollow, NY. I drove a total of 7,253.5 miles in my friend Molly’s little 2001 Honda Civic Something Just-Pre-Hybrid, which was a complete doll and got me an average of around 45mpg. I was gone nineteen days (Stephen King, where are you?) (The number 19 carries a huge significance in the Dark Tower series); my cats expressed their unequivocal disgruntlement, and are currently over it.

It was exhausting and exhilarating and exactly the cathartic road trip I wanted. I saw some friends I hadn’t seen for a long time, met new and fantastic people, had the best burn yet (of my meager three), and spent a lot of time thinking and singing, sometimes at the same time.

Neuromancer is a bitch to experience as an audio book if you’ve never read the paper copy before. When I told Mark (who gave me the audiobook for the road) about the difficulty I was having understanding anything that was going on, and mentioned it was my first pass through the novel, he looked downright sheepish. I am glad to report that, after several false starts, I did listen to it all the way through, and am now listening to the whole thing again. It is brilliant and well read.

It’s 11:18pm, and i’m sleepy. Many more thoughts on each of the above-mentioned places.

July 31, 2008

priorities

To hell with sleep. I now have an ungodly amount of pesto. Probably a couple of pounds of it (or a medium mixing bowl – pesto is heavy, what with the oil and all).

Oh, tasty tasty summer. And I’m just starting with the pesto. Watch out, world.

July 30, 2008

coincidence? you decide.

News in the past day or so: out-of-state couples will soon be able to marry in MA!!, as a 1913 state law originally aimed at interracial couples is repealed.

AND.

Jetpack.

I’d say we’re taking off, as a society.

Haven’t been updating, or not here anyway. Dealing with taxes and other emotionally loaded issues, as well as being super busy at work, participating in my village and preparing for Burning Man and its attendant road trip, have all kept me running around. You can see some of my life on Flickr. I suspect this – both the relative dearth of posting on Words’ End and the snippets viewable on Flickr – is going to continue for a while.

July 14, 2008

i want to ride my

Today I went out on my bike for the first time in well over a year. Halleluiah for bike paths! I got past Arlington Center and out towards a football field – no idea how far that is from home, probably no more than four miles or so. Were it not getting dark fast (and had I had any water or food with me), I might’ve kept going – and will, soon, because oh gods that felt good.

Riding through swarms of insects out by Spy Pond in the dusk, though, maybe not so good. On the bright side, glasses double as mini eye shields!

On the way back, the ripening moon was peeking through the tree canopy straight ahead of and above me, along the path. And on ’til moonrise.

The lovely, warm evening ride gave me hope for dealing with the tax man tomorrow. Word to the wise: don’t be late filing your taxes. The penalties, they hurt.

At least one more ride this week. Next week I’d like to bike out to work.

July 13, 2008

psa: wordsend.org email bounces

I’m changing some DNS settings via my registrar, and may or may not have screwed things up. I’ll have to wait 24-48 hours (so until late Monday night at most) to figure out whether it’s just a propagation issue. Meanwhile, if you need to get in touch with me by email, please send mail to vzafrin-bu-edu, with the appropriate punctuation.

Fixed by reverting to the old settings, for now. If there’s some weirdness with my email in the next few days, you know why.

July 10, 2008

askAcademe

Have you ever used an institutional repository to find/retrieve or publish research? Which repository was it? What did/do you like and/or dislike about it?

Information on multiple repositories, of course, even more welcome.

July 9, 2008

fragments

The last thing in my dream before I woke up, four minutes ahead of the alarm: a place padded with cotton cloth with flames on it; a place where someone needs to go to rescue someone else, a place “so quiet, even the mimes are muted.” A prison for the mimes.

More-or-less unrelated: going through my head right now, and all morning, is Peter Mulvey’s “On the Way Up.”

The cumulative effect of this: strange, unsettled, want to go to the ocean and sing to the waves. I wonder what new storm is around the corner – there is one – and whether this storm will inspire or blight.

July 8, 2008

john perry barlow on the occasion of the 4th of july

Just under 7min long. Watch it. Worth it. What’s your dream for your society? What do you consider your society – like your friends and your family and your pets, an entity that gives you much, and for which you’re responsible? I want to know.

Barlow, by the way, is fantastic. I want to cook him dinner and ask him about the world.

July 7, 2008

lyrics got me by the heartstrings

Dream with me, oh, dream with me, and we’ll wake in better life / And until we rise with open eyes, good night, my love, good night / Yes, until some sun wakes everyone, good night, my love, good night. –Kris Delmhorst, Jeffrey Foucault and Peter Mulvey, “Lullaby 101” off of Redbird

July 7, 2008

for the dreamers

From NBC:

Exclusive Heroes Webisodes Coming Soon!

On July 14th, Heroes unleashes its first ever web series, “Going Postal.” The trilogy of online-only videos introduces us to Echo De Mille, a seemingly ordinary mailman with an extraordinary ability.

The three-part series is written and directed by the same creative team behind the award-winning TV show. Part one, “A Nifty Trick,” premieres Monday, July 14th, with new episodes rolling out on subsequent Mondays. Visitors to this year’s Comic Con, will get a sneak peak at the epic conclusion at the Heroes panel on Saturday, July 26th.

Here’s the trailer, if you’d like to see it. As usual these days, the links are to pretty processing-intensive pages.