False/Start/Fall/Tart

Just a little series of word arrangements my mom and I thought were amusing last summer.

I don't owe you anything!

For some reason I've had the image of myself sitting across the table from myself shouting "I don't don't owe you anything!" back and forth stuck in my head... And I find it really funny. I don't know why, but I just think it's hysterical.

Jellyfish/Snakes -- 3 Stories

Dream Installment #7: Jellyfish/Snakes -- 3 Stories

This dream was particularly strange because it felt so much like a series of movie shorts. Three movie shorts to be exact. In all three I was in the same one room wooden house. And I was a character from the Israeli movie "Jellyfish":

"Jellyfish" is set in Tel Aviv and the woman who I was in my dream played a caretaker. I watched that movie back-to-back with "Tiny Furniture". Both movies, particularly in conjunction in one another, left me feeling a bit existential and unsatisfied.

As this woman, in a rickety old wooden house I led three lives. In the first, the room was beautifully well-kept and decorated. It was my younger sister's wedding (not Maia, just a fictional younger sister of the dream.) I was laying on mattress on the floor with my mom, watching her twirl in a beautiful wedding gown, but all she could do was complain about all the work she had to do. My mom and I weren't having any of it.

The second life was in the same room, but the walls were unfinished wood, and the whole house felt old and flimsy. I was scrubbing a toilet in the middle of the room for a long time.

In the third life, the same room had been painted so that it was suitable as a school house. The room flooded so we all went outside.

I decided that since the room was flooded we should all just go outside and I'd teach everyone an Afro-Brazilian dance I'd learned. Then we looked down and the shallow water was filled with snakes.

I woke up with spider paranoia.

Riding the Hammock Subway

Dream Installment #6: Riding on the Hammock Subway

This dream and painting are from summer-- I just haven't taken the time to scan and post it.

As I walked out of the hostel I was staying at in NYC, I saw two Reed graduates whom I'd known as a freshman and found very intimidating. They were walking towards the subway and I could overhear them talking about Reedies I knew. I caught up with them and asked what train I should get on to go to a good shopping neighborhood. They rudely directed me onto the wrong train and I foolishly followed their advice.

The car I'd gotten onto was packed. I had to sit on the back of some dude's chair, which for some reason he was fine with. Slowly, about half the car emptied and everyone left looked haggard. I knew what those expressions meant-- they were commuters just like I'd been in high school. Just instead of a ferry and bus ride, they were stuck on the long train ride home. "So, there's nowhere fun to go shopping out here, right? We're outside of New York now, huh." I asked. "Yeah, you should definitely get off at the next stop," someone replied.

So I did. A very unusual stop.

I had to walk carefully along the edge of the track to the "train" waiting for me. School children getting off of it easily walked passed me, while I clung to the guide rope. "Just tangle yourself so you don't fall in! It's the only way back to NYC!" they informed me. As I imitated the commuters around me, wrapping myself into the net, all the random junk I always carry around in my pockets and purse fell into the river below me.

On the bright side, I managed to save my wallet, and when I got used to the terrifying movement of the hammock over the river, I found it to be a very beautiful ride back towards the city.

The Big Country

I'm getting very excited to go back to Portland. Living on Vashon is definitely fun, but also a very mellow, and I feel like I'm at a retreat every day. I'm excited to drive down to Portland with my mom and sister. And I'm excited to return to my normal level of over-stimulation. And as soon I get there, I'm sure I'll miss the peace, quite, and carefree island life.

Here are a list of my favorite names (taken from my sticky notes):

Ida/ Ioda       Titus

Diderot          Xerxes

Appoline

Agamemnon    Tempelton

Pascal            Pluto

Lolita             Cosmo

Quentin          Hidlegard   

Basil              

Desmond

Fanny/ Ernest

My parents would have named me Cosmo if I'd been born a boy.

I've still been dreaming a lot. But the images are less exciting visually. Like, the other night it was just a dream where I was serving beer at the Red Bike to D Ku and Jensen, and I'd just had a baby and I was carrying it around but dropping stuff all the time... very weird.

Or I had one where I went to Santi's Bar Mitzvah.
Or where William and I were in a dance concert together. I might paint that one though, so I'll save it.

I love Vashon, but I'm excited to get back to the land of irritating college students.

Raining Rainbow Pepper

Dream Installment #5: The Raining Rainbow Pepper

The same night I dreamt about the conspiracy theorist, I had a dream in which I was a young boy, probably 8 or 9, showing my bride-to-be the ways of the world. We were living in the same run down part of the city that all my dreams took place in that night, and our house was just a rickety structure built off of the street over a huge canyon. I climbed out onto a piece of scaffolding with her, to look out over the beautiful view.  I wasn't scared of the drop, but she was. Above us floated a huge bell pepper.

We sat there, watching the giant pepper as it changed from being completely green, to being a bluish- purple, and then to red. As it changed, powdery liquid color dripped onto us. "You see, it's real color is red," I explained to my fiancée. As soon as it turned red, the green powder magnetically flew to it out of the air, coating it again.

As we climbed back into the house, my fiancée  slipped and almost fell. I tried to save her, but almost made her loose her grip because I got distracted looking at the sunset. Finally we both got back into the house, but she was mad at how careless I'd been, and I realized how badly she needed to eat.

Home Sweet Home

I've left the Giant Peach for good.

I'm bored at home.

I've gone on some runs. (Two, to be precise.)
Both of them for 2.5 miles. The first one took 30minutes. The next day I went for the second run, but half way through I got a terrible stomach ache and I walked the rest of the way home. That said, the first half of the run went really quickly and I think it would have been an improvement from the previous day, so in total I only took 45minutes. Now, to some this may seem like a long time for a 2.5 mile walk/run. I was extremely proud. Here is selection of my post-run photos after my first run:

update: My physical therapist has told me not to run again. Otherwise I'll throw out my back again.

Please note my squirt t-shirt. My dad saw it and went, "Did you steal that from me? Because, Squirt is my favorite soda. I want a Squirt t-shirt!" I laughed. I felt kind of self conscious wearing it around Vashon. Anyway, I hope you can sense my pride and intense feeling of accomplishment. I celebrated by eating a bowl of creme brulee with Maia that we'd made the day before. Speaking of which, I've become a master chef:

Chicken Sausage Noodle casserole
Cilantro Pesto Feta Pasta Fry
Fresh Garden Salad
Udon Noodles with Spicy Curry and Black Bean Broth (I actually hated this, but my dad liked it... so, at your own risk, really)
Creme Brulee
Mago Lime Sorbet
Crepes with Jam (I actually haven't made the crepe batter or the jam recently, but my dad makes the batter, I fry it and put jam in it. I recommend it, but I can't really give any more instruction than that.)
Garden Burrito with Tofu (this is a fancy name I've given to a burrito with no bean and whatever is in the fridge and some lettuce from the garden...)
Simple Bruschetta
Simone's Famous French Toast!!! (haha)

Maybe future blog posts will hold more exciting news (like pictures from dance concerts!) but these days my life has been filled with contemplative cleaning and song writing about feelings towards lemon creme pies and my incredible twerking skills.



So, that's a fun vid i found of myself. I was showing off my sick outfit.

At long last.....

So, for those dweebs (i.e. 2/3 of my readership) who think that they're too good for facebook, here's a small sample of what could otherwise be found in a much more expansive album. Here, William, are the Renn Fayre pictures you've begged me for for the last 8 months.... sorry about the delay! Love, you and Merry Belated Christmas!! p.s. loved your Christmas mass email! I showed it to my whole family- it was a hit!

p.p.s (to those who have scrolled this far), is anyone else freaked out about the new facebook layout? It's trying to be blogspot #amiright?

It's the end of Finals Week

oh, thinking child slouched

                                                                                                                     stood  up to catch her balance

sat down sideways

elbow out                             

                                                                  if you find her 

                                                                                                   tread lightly     

even when her eyes are closed     -

-----

Losing it.
The pictures are from Times Square last summer.


Edit: 2:37 pm the next day- this poem resonated a lot more with me after the all-nighter before my nap...

Before It Happens Again (Part 3)

Now, the next, and final, few are a progression. The first theme is "Crotch-Shot", but it goes into two or three pictures that I actually like (which I, for the most part, excluded in favor of the abundance of funny ones.)

I really wanna get my crotch as open to the audience as possible.

Pose 1

Pose 2

Pose 3 

 Pose 4

1/2 of Pose 5 

I'm the left most dancer leaping. 

I'm in the middle. 

OK, so that was fun! So, if you didn't catch Part 1 or Part 2, that's fun too. And I broke them up so it would be chewable portions. Or, lets say you're looking at the pics in the library and you're laughing so hard you need to step outside, there are good breaking points so that you can do that. 

Before It Happens Again (Part 2)

Now, in case you didn't know, this is part of a series and you might have missed Part 1 or Part 3. This is the best part though, so don't worry about it either way.

This series is an excerpt from a longer collection titled, "Simone Never Fully Learned the Dance":

 So I'll start with quickly slapping Allie... (seriously, you gotta click on all of these)

"What are you guys doing? I can't see!"

"Keep doin' what you're doin'. I'll just watch you."

 "Bam!" (I'm on the far right btw)

 I'm thinking 'monkey'.

 ...

 Just a quick butt wiggle...

... continuing to wiggle.

Yeah, you could say I got a comment like "you looked a little lost out there".... But whatever, I worked it.