Posts (page 2)

Thank you, Ohio, for your insanely sporadic weather... This morning was a rude awakening.

2008-03-04

I'm taking a break from several hours of writing my final analysis for my folklore project. I've been pondering something for a while now, and I've got a question for you, my lovely neighbors, and anyone else who wants to chime in.

When you put yourself out there on the web, do you have a different screen name for every service (i.e. myspace, facbook, flickr, vox, etc...) or do you have one name that follows you everywhere? or maybe just a few select names that follow you.

I've been using Flock as a browser for a few weeks now, and I realised that I have one name that follows me around with all the services I use that are integrated into Flock. At the time I signed up for Vox, I was going a totally different direction in my life, and I guess the name I chose originally for my Vox suited my temperament. Well...that passed, and I found myself throughly irritated that my Vox didn't match every other name I've got out there. So I changed it. Maybe I'm neurotic, but it really was bothering me. So, in short, same Erin, different url. It's nice that Vox does all the forwarding of links and such for you.

Do you like being able to reinvent yourself with a new name?
    Depends on the medium, but generally, I change the layout and I feel fresh and new. No name change needed.

Have you ever outgrown a name and replaced it with something better suited for you?
    I've done this, many many times. Until I found the one that stuck.

and on the same topic...

Do you have a Blog name that follows you? Would you be upset if someone else was using it? Can you even copyright those things?
    I know I'd like to keep my current blog name all to myself, as it is from a poem I wrote a few years ago that I love. I'd be fuming mad if someone "stole" it.

The word of the day is transcribe.

This is a cross post from elsewhere. Granted I'm giving away my age here, but you folks have stayed in my neighborhood for a reason, so you must not think I'm vapid and immature. I hope.

When asked to describe high school memories in terms of music...

2000
The Casket Lottery - Moving Mountians
A Silver Mt Zion - He Has Left Us Alone But Shafts Of Light Sometimes Grace The Corners Of Our Rooms
Godspeed You Black Emperor! - Lift Your Skinny Fists Like Antennas To Heaven
Appleseed Cast - Mare Vitalis
Alkaline Trio - Alkaline Trio
Alkaline Trio - Maybe I'll Catch Fire

2001
The Faint - Danse Macabre
Jimmy Eat World - Bleed American
The Strokes - Is This It
The White Stripes - White Blood Cells
Appleseed Cast - Low Level Owl Vol 1 & 2
Alkaline Trio - From Here To Infirmary
Dashboard Confessional - The Places You Have Come To Fear The Most

2002
Hot Hot Heat - Make Up The Breakdown
The Decemberists - Castaways and Cutouts
Bright Eyes - Lifted
The Black Keys - The Big Come Up
Queens of The Stone Age - Songs For The Deaf

2003
Yeah Yeah Yeahs - Fever To Tell
The Black Keys - Thickfreakness
The Postal Service - Give Up
Muse - Absolution

I might be slightly embarrassed by some of these, but oh yes, I still own them, or I did until my hard drive died last month. and keep in mind this list is a.) NOT complete at all, and b.) ONLY albums that came out while I was in highschool, that I actually started listening to while still there...

You'd never know how much weird shit I like...

and I totally got to skip all the REALLY shameful stuff....you know...ska...crass...citizen fish....things like that...(cough cough)

I have to admit, I love eBay. I love eBay international even more. Why? Because you can find obscure amazing things that were never released in America. Like these...

Moleskine Limited Edition Zoom Series from 2001

My notebook/moleskine loving heart just exploded. Exploded I tell you!!! You bet I hit that "But It Now" button, or whatever that is in Spanish.

I just registered for next quarter's classes, and I hit the jackpot. Not only am I only on campus 2 days a week, but I got all the classes I wanted. Yay!

Comparative Studies 377: Contemporary Folklore in the Arab World
    "This course will introduce students to a wealth of Arabic folklore, including the lore of Muslim, Christian, and Jewish Arabs as well as Berbers, Kurds and other Arab world communities. Folklore is defined here as traditional expressive culture: verbal art (e.g., myths, legends, folktales, riddles, jokes); material culture (e.g., the construction of shrines, homes, boats as well as production of pottery, jewelry, embroidery, carpets, and calligraphic art); visual presentation of self (e.g., applications of henna, tattoos, dress, hairstyles); folk religion, rituals, and festivals; and folk music (e.g., lullabies). Emphasis will be not on finished products but on cultural process. We will look at what Arab world "Folk," from different regions, religions, and language and ethnic traditions have in common in regard to ethos, world view, practical and aesthetic needs and how they differ, as well as at national and international appropriations of local lore."

German 250: The German Experience in America: German Literature and Popular Culture
    "This course serves as an introduction to the literature, culture, and history of German immigrants to North America, especially to the Midwest and Ohio, from the seventeenth century into the twentieth. We will study selected settlements (like Schoenbrunn, Zoar, and German Village in Columbus) and selected individuals (from Ohio missionary David Zeisberger to Wernher von Braun and Henry Kissinger) and their (auto)biographies and letters, as well as stories and tales of German pioneer authors (like Sealsfield and Therese Robinson). A field trip to German Village in Columbus will provide a first-hand encounter with the culture and life of the settlers—and what is left of it."

English 577.02: The Ballad (Folklore Genres)
    "This course will study development of the traditional folk ballad (songs like 'Barbara Allen' and 'The Gypsy Laddie') from its origins in the British Isles down to its continuing presence in contemporary North America. The primary focus will be thematic (Tragic Ballads, Supernatural Ballads, Outlaw Ballads, Humorous Ballads, etc), but there will some opportunity to discuss the traditional ballad in relation to related types like the broadside, and the literary ballad. There will be a strong emphasis upon the ballad in performance"

As you can see by the classes I get excited about, I'm a huge nerd, and I love it.

It doesn't matter how I attempt to sleep after getting tattooed. I inevitably end up gluing myself to something, or Friday tries to curl her little kitty self up on whatever area is seeping with plasma.

Needless to say, it was a strange awakening to realize she was just about to pounce on the prime sleeping spot that is my chest.

Effort thwarted. Now she's outside the shut bedroom door meowing her little furry head off. I love my little fuzzy face, but damn. All I wanted was another 15 minutes. I suppose I should go feed her and then attempt to shower. This will either be funny, or hurt a whole lot. Probably both. Ugh.

I'm going to get my chest piece touched up next week. I'm taking an etching to my artist that I'm thinking about having tattooed this summer. I want to see what she thinks.

It's a work by Edmund J. Sullivan, out of the book "Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam". While my reasoning behind getting it done has nothing to do with the book, I still think it's beautiful and profound in the meaning it holds for me. I'll have to enlarge it quite a bit to capture all the detail, or simplify it to make the image more suitable for preservation on skin. and there is also the question of where to put it. I've also been thinking about breaking it down and adding to my chest piece. Maybe grapes on the left and roses on the right, birds at my shoulders and the heart on my sternum. We'll see what she thinks about placement. This is really just musings about new ideas.

 and if the style looks familiar, Sullivan also did a poster for the Grateful Dead that is everywhere nowadays.

Sorry the photo isn't clearer. My scanner is busted and there's no way to adjust the focus on my phone. You can also ignore my thumb in the corner. Heave forbid I buy an actual digital camera! What do you think?

Nightingale to the Rose