designwalks

at the end of a game, i think in tenths of a second

2011-09-25T09:08:00.002-05:00

MIKE KRZYZEWSKI
----------------------------
head coach, duke university basketball

we're lucky we get people coming over to this country who are trying to get established and still believe in the dignity of work.

growing up, i was around all guys. at our dinner table, when my girls were growing up, we never talked about basketball. in fact, i never had a chance to talk. here i was, this hot-shot coach. the girls made you humble right away.

OZZIE GUILLEN
----------------------------
manager, chicago white sox

here's the thing. i can always go back to school and be a doctor. but a doctor can't go back and play basketball when he's forty.

a lot of people think i dye my hair. no, i don't give a fuck. i just worry that my kids live as long as they can. i hope i die before they do. i want to show my friends they are my friends. i want my wife to know i thinks he's hot. i want my team to win games. that's all.

BOB STOOPS

----------------------------
head coach, university of oklahoma football

i've got a prayer on my desk. it says "dear lord, i pray that my place will never be with the cold, timid souls who do not compete yet criticize, for they never know or feel success or failure."

MIKE BROWN

----------------------------
head coach, los angeles lakers

you always hear all the talk about team chemistry. i used to think, dang, what do they mean by that? chemistry is so broad. so i tried to find the simplest way to define chemistry. to me, chemistry equals trust.

*find more interviews at esquire.com

you don't have to believe me

2011-08-22T19:58:00.001-05:00

zust

2011-07-24T09:58:00.000-05:00

2011-07-24T09:57:00.000-05:00

2011-07-24T09:26:00.001-05:00

you were once wild here

2011-07-24T09:19:00.002-05:00

make-your-own-music-video; 628 w surf

2011-07-24T09:12:00.003-05:00

628 w surf

2011-07-24T09:08:00.001-05:00

2011-07-24T09:02:00.000-05:00

2011-07-24T08:59:00.001-05:00

2011-07-24T08:35:00.001-05:00

“If someone wants to lead a double life, they will find a way to do it. And they can promise you things until your nerves unfold and you can finally put up your feet. But it can all be a lie. There are no guarantees, even when people mean what they say at the time. People change their minds. People die. And the hurt is as real as a baseball bat.”
— Stephanie Klein

CAAAAAYYYUUUTEEEEEE

2011-04-18T21:38:00.000-05:00

wildCARD

2011-03-15T21:36:00.001-05:00

"you were once wild here, don't let them tame you." -isadora duncan

blazing books - vonnegut

2011-03-06T14:08:00.001-06:00

"and we will know, too, that those words really don't damage children much. they didn't damage us when we were young. it was evil deeds and lying that hurt us.

if you and your board are now determined to show that you in face have wisdom and maturity when you exercise your powers over the education of your young, then you should acknowledge that it was a rotten lesson you taught young people in a free society when you denounced and then burned books - books you haven't even read. you should also resolve to expose your children to all sorts of opinions and information, in order that they will be better equipped to make decisions and to survive.

here is how i propose to end book banning in this country once and for all: every candidate for school committee should be hooked up to a lie-detector and asked this question: "have you read a book from start to finish since hs? or did you even read a book from start to finish in hs?" if the truthful answer is "no," then the candidate should be told politely that he cannot get on the school committee and blow off his big bazoo about how books make children crazy. whenever ideas are squashed in this country, literaty lovers of the American experiment write careful and intricate explanations of why all ideas must be allowed to live. it is time for them to realize that they are attempting to explain America at its bravest and most optimistic to orangutans." -vonnegut

2010-12-21T12:24:00.001-06:00

Don't forget your roots. But also don't ROT.

2010-12-09T19:34:00.001-06:00

You're worried about the plane going down? What are you, a pilot? -jm

tough lover

2010-11-30T22:40:00.001-06:00

i constantly have lists, but today i made a serious one. a life list. inspired by http://www.mightygirl.net/mighty-life-list/

my life list:

go dog sledding
ballet lessons
safari trip
see cirque de soleil
see barnum & bailey circus
see lion king play
volunteer with lions in another country
rock climb. a lot.
stay in the tree houses in costa rica
go to the newberry library
trip to belize
go sailing again
stay at a cottage in new england
pay off credit cards
kayak. maybe even ROLL!
skydive
boxing classes
improv classes
learn to play piano
learn to do great eye makeup – well, and wear it often
heal my injury & continue great posture
finish my website
start a design-per-wk blog
make more infographics
start sharing design work on a site (have an invitation!!!)
buy a better camera
download more music
learn more about politics
create brittneys tattoo design
get a nice pen – and make my own ink
paint my face in kiss makeup and be photographed
be photographed wearing a fur hat
design a font
find the perfect swimsuit
grow my hair long enough to seriously braid
be little red riding hood for halloween
put bright colors in my closet
fill my sketch book
buy a bright winter coat
try to wear a necklace
fur vest
find a use for mason jars
learn how to polish shoes
see typeface
decorative bowls for jewelry
use google reader
have a serious savings acct
ask for help
wear shoes & clothes i never wear
buy a really big sweater
pottery
street bike
fly a kite as an adult
go on a jungle safari
sleep on brandon and brian’s balcony
conquer men’s egos with mario brothers
take someone i love to a christmas party
make my own christmas cards
write a book
learn web. seriously learn web design.
design, design a lot, for myself and for great causes
check out LA – just because you have to
start something and get others involved in it
sell something i totally dig
ziplining
make my speaker-in-a-suitcase
jump off a cliff into water
smoke a cigar
own a horse
be a runner
stop working a 9-5
californication soundtrack(s)
grind my own coffee
do a 30-day cleanse for me (be chief)
learn a foreign language
see live jazz at the green mill
show my work in an art expo
get my own christmas tree
try ice skating
design a deck of cards
take another trip to california before spring 2011
brand my fox studio complete with site and new bus cards
have a grill
pin-up photo shoot
spend a weekend in boston
try my hardest not to sleep more than 7 hours/night
plant a garden
illustrate a book
buy renter’s insurance
organize a getaway for just me and my brothers
record myself playing piano and singing and post it on my blog (!)
buy and use anti-aging creams
have a dinner party
replace any of my dishes that are white with BRIGHT
sing amazing grace in front of someone(s)
go horse back riding
hire a cleaning lady
own a hammock & use it regularly
lasik
have a blog with advertisements and serious readers

i had a serious list for the summer : http://jenniferwisniewski.blogspot.com/2010/03/i-spent-good-portion-of-my-day-multi.html and then i got a terrible soccer injury.

so, i had to improvise. what i have accomplished this year:

gone parasailing
BA in visual comunications
learn letterspress
buy a fur hat
buy yellow rainboots
cover an entire wall with maps
go camping 3+ times in one season
have health insurance
apologize when i should
make my first student loan payment
pro-bono work
deer antlers for my apartment
ladder shelf
be good at driving a manual

can't i just always have this?

2010-10-20T22:50:00.002-05:00

you know when life just works?
that's today. well most of it.

highlights:
laughed with people i like
learned more about my baby brother
watched my two cousins seriously chomp a hockey team 7-3
#16! #33! my lil hockey rug rats
found prettiest scarf that i've seen in over 2 yrs. now its mine. #baller

it was seriously the best. i wish i could hang around my brothers all the time.

best lines:
jw: justin, you date girls that run out of bars crying. that's "your type."

kev: i kind of like this girl, i don't know what it is about her. sometimes i get the vibe she likes me and then other times i don't.
jw: just don't text her, you'll have her wrapped around your finger in no time. wait, does she have blonde hair?
kev: no, brunette.
jw: cool, do what i said.

jw; he's my precious baby angel
marj; he's so lucky to have a sister like you
jw; tell me about it
kev; dude, you're embarrassing

aaron: yeah i think you girls giggling missed like four goals actually. will it be like this the whole game?

2010-10-20T00:26:00.002-05:00

i started designing this earlier tonight and decided i'd do one page of people per week that have been influential in my life. startin' with the closest folks.

blogging to american football, suits the scene

2010-10-19T23:56:00.005-05:00

i saw this movie tonight:

it's so interesting the things that remind you in which capacity you are supposed to be maintaining young within. when did life get so serious? one part of me doesn't even want to sleep, i just want to work and feel something for what i spend all day doing. the other half of me wants to stay in watching hank moody be a rockstar on californication until something comes across the screen that reminds me what i'm fighting for. what omni track can swing me back?

my injury has really re-shaped my life in a magnitude of ways that are almost incomprehensible to someone like myself. i don't understand limits. always finding a rift in the rule book. isn't that the point? maybe a few other things matter, like surround sound or something. my body doesn't understand a life without endorphins, or... for fucksake, FUTBOL.

this year has been weird, in the most unsettling of ways. when something was dropped into my lap the other day (figuratively), i put my hands up and shook my head and asked "why the FUCK are we all living inside one big haunted house?" every person that's even moderately close to me is having a rough time. we're all just exchanging rooms with one another. and it's a freaking maze. i haven't outrun the men with chainsaws yet.

Regina Spektor - Fidelity
Uploaded by reginaspektor. - See the latest featured music videos.

the best thing

2010-10-16T12:48:00.003-05:00

this is my life right now. it's absolutely excellent.

my suga's getting sowr

2010-10-06T18:03:00.003-05:00

My baby brother turns 17 today. I feel like I should be stepping into an elderly home. I couldn’t imagine kevy ever being older than 12, with his curly blonde head of hair and DC shoes. Doesn’t it seem so often the case with siblings---they become closer when one moves away? Every day of my life while I lived with kev, I would beat up on him and he would tell on me. It was a great thing we had going…really. I moved away and almost instantly fell in love with my little brother. I worried about him all the time. I started finding ways to ensure he worked hard to have good grades. He has this naturally happy, honest and translucent aura to him. Incredibly tall, but very skinny- you always notice him… and he’s always always smiling. So impactful. I think of that smile twenty times a day.

I was visiting home one day this summer and we had spend the entire day at the beach. Went back to my mums and I was just relaxing in the four seasons room with my arms folded behind my head and my legs crossed above my feet. Kevin came and sat with me the entire time and just talked to me. My god, he can make me laugh. Like, really really laugh. He uses his hands when he speaks- I always appreciate people who do that. That day we’re both sitting there just talking about something my older brother had said while we were at the beach and Kevin stopped mid sentence, put his hands out and sort of up in the air and said “GOD I just canNOT get over justin’s hair. I’m justttttt OBSESSED with it.” My brother is a handsome fella and can make me laugh in about an instant with all his goofy voices. He always says to me, “jenny, you’re my girl.” But that hair… man, that hair… it’s his trademark. And kevy’s is his smile.

Things aren’t so black and white now, but I’m proud of where I came from. I have two astoundingly optimistic men as siblings and i’m so thankful I never had a sister. I can swoon most girls, but man… I do not like to share things with them.

Anyway, much love to muh boyz.

total tuesday; inspiration

2010-10-05T22:37:00.003-05:00

what made me geek out today;

on tha' list

2010-10-03T21:49:00.001-05:00

aaaaaand finally, THIS makes my 80+ hour week of work & freelance worth it.

again, check out project nia because they do awesome stuff.

bite o' fall - zaZZZZzzZZZing

2010-10-03T21:39:00.004-05:00

saturday evening was:

fall - cider - cookies - rain - jams (notorious & xx) - pumpkin seeds - carving pumpkins -

........ALL IN PLAID! i felt like i was in a costume.

[hey, when is the last time you had a coat with a hood? hey fall, heyyy]

oh! yeah! i carved a spider-web pumpk! baller-style.

all the best ideas

2010-10-03T21:31:00.003-05:00

ash and i used to have sunday fundays every sunday. then summer came and i started being out of town. we sort of had one on saturday. it was full of inspiration, music, sketching, talking, planning, figuring things out, solving problems, coffee, reading, 0o0o0oh and birthday ice cream... (and presents!)

[letterpress print i printed here over memorial day for ash]

they told me i don't need to worry

2010-10-03T21:16:00.004-05:00

prior to heading out friday night, we had a dance and photo 7th grade party. it was awesome.

flat iron arts hosted a FASHION MASH this last friday. all of the flat iron studios were open and then a fashion show at double door. it was phenomenal.

[live music]

[obsessed with this guy...]

[the hipster version of eminem]
[fashion show]

[double door bathrooms...AHHH]

das boot

2010-10-03T21:09:00.002-05:00

oktoberfest weekend!

things i've found & loved

2010-10-03T10:28:00.004-05:00

if you have twitter, follow @fakeAPStylebook- hilarious

[!]

[nike fo'eva]

farmers market mag- AHHH

2010-10-01T15:48:00.001-05:00

[screen shot from the e-mail i just received]

g'damn, that feels GOOD.

2010-09-29T18:29:00.001-05:00

Everything you need is already inside. Just do it. -bill bowerman (NIKE)

2010-09-26T12:35:00.000-05:00

2010-09-26T12:22:00.001-05:00

so absolutely grateful for dialogue with strangers---fills me right up.

may not be the same, but-

2010-09-24T18:17:00.001-05:00

did i say it?

2010-09-24T17:57:00.003-05:00

[this has been my life this week. that, and spreadsheets, data, office hours & freelance]
[this, this is a gem][don't you love these? i hate writing my name on envelopes.]

[and i want a new name anyway......]
[map wall; fixed!]
[paint design]

[be a sellout and read this trilogy.]

different, but distanced perfectly

2010-09-19T16:15:00.002-05:00

renegade craft fair- last sunday

2010-09-19T16:11:00.002-05:00

filled with all of my favorite things.

and it just feels good coming home

2010-09-19T16:11:00.001-05:00

things i totally dig-

Putting my feet out the window of a car. All things car-related, most times.

The smell of coffee.

A washer and dryer in a hotel room.

A simultaneous strong handshake.

Bug’s Pontiac Vibe.

Saying the same thing as a sports commentator before they say it.

Lottery tickets.

Nailing a parallel parking spot on the first try.

New/Fresh sheets. Can’t beat em.

When I know all the buttons to speed through an automated telephone call.

Re-hashing random questions as you’re crossing any border.

When people I know quote lines from movies I’ve actually seen and all of the sudden remember.

When keys work to open up a taped package.

Sitting next to a babe on a plane.

Adrenaline.

Midwest Tours.

The instant I see Brittney or get into her car or one of us arrives at the destination, we don’t eve say anything, we just start laughing.

Getting home after driving for hours and mom has everything made.

My little brothers smile.

The way Jay Rose says “BENDER.”

Seeing fireworks off a dock.

When your pancakes turn out like the picture on the box.

Wearing white soccer socks.

Leaving the field with those soccer socks muddy and stained.

A great tumble on the field that didn’t even sting.

When the guy at the store brings you out 10 pairs of cleats.

When people at the store don’t ask me if I need help. I can handle shopping.

Realizing I’ve been holding my breath during a soccer match.

When someone says, “god you’re so European, why are you even here?”

When someone grumbles at US Soccer fans.

Rock-Paper-Scissors decision making.

Remembering what happened in a movie.

Waking up and realizing it’s Saturday.

Multi-tasking while brushing my teeth.

Smooth jazz.

The Three Paycheck Month.

Not having to change diapers.

The first shower after gritty camping.

When the rollercoaster drops.

How happy people are when something is designed or re-designed for them.

When someone says “God, I can’t get over your bed though..”

Handwritten things, mail through the post.

Building forts.

New socks.

Clothes coming out of the dryer.

Making it safely up a tree or old ladder.

Laying down in movie theatres.

Getting a really long scrabble word.

When the lights go out before the band goes on stage.

The face people make after they feel my muscles.

The praise from beating every boy I know at Nintendo.

Hearing live music just as you’re about to call it a night.

Seeing firefighters in their trucks.

for when you feel like a lady, but when you really don't feel like brushing your hair

2010-09-11T08:48:00.010-05:00

re-vamped my space, photos to follow:

[mom,duh]

[tonight]
[best gift ever in the mail this week-appreciate the post so so so very very much]
[could anyone know me better?]
[ml]
[thank you so, so, so, very, very, very, much. miss you and ND]
[book i'm almost finished with- saw a review for it that says something about babygurl not being able to write one boring sentence. it is the truth. i'm reading it for each of the sentences.]
[mu+jw]
[letterpress print i recently snagged]
[saw this last night when we met a few folks that do screen-printing in house in pilsen >> i'm obsessed with this. it's all a joke between them that they stole, but i'm going to use the phrase for something else completely. they like it.]
[pilsen/art walk/friday night 1]
[2]
[3 - try it, make it, share it]
[TORONTO EXPO]

[market]
[had to be 12..per usual]

[niagra- what whaaaat]

some things to remember:

1. at first i was like, and then i was like.

2. it's like that instant in the optometrists office when the right lens clicks over, the letters on the chart start sharpening.

3. take it with a grain of salt.

4. what hurts so bad about youth isn't the actual butt whippings the world delivers. it's the stupid hopes playacting like certainties.

5. there are only the pursuing, the pursued, the busy & the tired.

6. figure out what it means to surrender.

7. electricity strikes when you're moving.

8. be grateful for things that work. i am. i'm grateful for things that are easy and work. not many things work, you know?

a quick note from gatsby:

"nevertheless, you did throw me over," said jordan suddenly. "you threw me over on the telephone but i don't give a damn about you now, but it was a new experience for me, and i felt a little dizzy for a while." we shook hands. "oh, and do you remember-" she added, "a conversation we had once about driving a car?" "why not exactly." "you said a bad driver was only save until they met another bad driver? well, i met another bad driver, didn't i? i thought you were rather an honest, straightforward person. i thought it was your secret pride." "i'm thirty, i said. i'm five years too old to lie to myself and call it honor."

notes:

1. first u10 little dudes game today.

2. saw slash the other night live-i either want to be him or have him; either will do at this point.

go wear the world as a loose garment

be of good cheer

2010-09-02T20:02:00.002-05:00

Four simple goals, a challenge by elsie -

uno> Make a design project per week, just for me. Just because I think it’d be neat. AND GET IT PRINTED. & put them on my NEW SITE (under construction)

dos> Obey my sports medicine rehabilitation doctor. Whatever she says, I do. More like-whatever she says I don’t do, I don’t still do it anyway. Then, when she lets me exercise, become addicted to the progress spectrum. Getting up there. Movin. Workin. Foreva.

tres > Stop using technology as an outlet to maintain friendships. Instead, make more plans.

cuatro> Smile more. Every single day, be happier. Don’t be like those fools who walk around grim all day.

2010-09-02T18:01:00.001-05:00

Ps accelerated rehabilitation fucking blows. No cake walk and it isn't fun. And there is no cake either.

mock it up

2010-08-31T20:47:00.000-05:00

peter, peter!

2010-08-31T19:23:00.002-05:00

tonight, i'm devoting 70% of my attention to designing for NIA (project-nia.org). they initiate really cool shit and you should too.

2010-08-30T10:52:00.001-05:00

middle

cyclone

2010-08-29T16:38:00.000-05:00

two

uht uh fuck that

2010-08-16T21:01:00.003-05:00

What is your current obsession?
to-do list, reading, my balcony, michigan, driving, emily, indulgence, kevins smile

What are you wearing now?
v-neck lounge shirt

Do you nap a lot?
not really, doesn’t it feel like a waste?

If you were a tree, what tree would you be?
birchwood

What's for dinner?
salmon salad

What was the last thing you bought?
tip for a service

What are you listening to right now?
documentary

What is your favorite weather?
fall first and foremost-crisp, colorful, tasteful, bold, so melancholy..., then sun

What is on your bedside table?
wood, water bottle, a ring and a lot of books.

What is your most challenging goal right now?
doing something when I don’t know why I’m doing it.

If you could have a house anywhere in the world, where do you want it to be?
a treehouse with running water and a huge king sized bed in the australian jungle.

What can’t you live without?
inspiration, communication, bug, situational music, a phone with email, laughing, exercising/soccer, time for myself, driving through remote land

What was the last book you read?
eating the dinosaur-chuck klosterman

If you could go anywhere in the world for the next hour, where would you go?
my second choice would be Australia.

Last movie you watched?
shawshank redemption

2010-08-12T13:04:00.001-05:00

Your pain is the breaking of the shell that encloses your understanding. -kg

2010-08-11T11:45:00.001-05:00

Play the game for more than you can afford to lose. Only then will you learn the game. -wc

2010-08-09T23:49:00.003-05:00

2010-08-01T19:51:00.001-05:00

it is what it is.

trackBACK

2010-07-27T21:14:00.003-05:00

the past few years, i haven't really taken many photos. i plan to change that now. in the meantime, i pulled these off facebook a while back and left them on my desktop. they all hold a certain exasperating memory for me.

during the summer, i spent a day with a girl by the name of sarah. we've grown apart since, but we understood each other. we had a photography class together, so we got to borrow these really expensive cameras and galavant around the city pretending we knew (or cared) what we were doing. this was one result. [fall 2007]

christian. christian, christian, christian. a kick ass roommate and a great girl. this was taken during our apartment warming party at 1907 n california in the summer of 2007.
whitney, she's been my main squeeze since the first grade. can you believe that? we were six. [winter 2008]bug and i celebrated our 21st birthdays in vegas. exhibit: HOT. [fall 2009]
christian and zach came to visit bug and me in vegas. [september 2009]
easily one of the best nights of summer 2009. kaleigh and jake's wedding. boy did we dance. and i had the best date ever. oh, and i was barbequed to death.

part of a midwest tour. this was before we were 21, bug and me stayed with justin. we went out with nate, jer, david and some other dudes. we went to a bar in east town gr and we ended up accidentally portraying ourselves as lesbians. [thanks justin for the heads up that we were at a gay bar]... in a matter of minutes, our inboxes were full of texts and requests were booming on facebook. we ended up dancing [brit ended up falling down stairs] all night and some other weird bar. every bar in gr is weird. anyway, a kick ass night. [summer 2009]the weekend of whitney's 21st. spent in chicago at my apartment on roscoe/broadway. holly and i decorated and when whit showed up to balloons, banners and a great fruit dessert...she was happy. that weekend, we danced, shopped, and sipped on cocktails. [may 2009]

2010-07-27T16:53:00.001-05:00

Tomorrow marks the eighth week since I've stepped onto the turf with gear on.

2010-07-18T18:27:00.001-05:00

I’ve been truly heartbroken only one time in my life. [sure, I’ve been bruised, battered, fallen apart. I’ve been stung. But I’ve only been uncontrollably I’m-going-to-act-batshit-now heartbroken one time.] And as the years go on, it becomes more surreal that it ever happened to me.

It always kind of stumps me when it happens to anyone else.

My friends always get way more “out of me” than any of my men. I’ve dropped more important things to rescue one of my friends than to swoon any of my suitors.

It’s almost funny. The way we move through things and then just.. trump them. It has literally been so many years since I’ve found someone who could keep up with me that I’m not even sure if I really think about it anymore. I’d rather kayak alone any day than have another Italian dinner with another infused accountant.

It’s interesting to me…it seems almost 80% of our daily conversation is made up of some sort of relationship. I walk down the streets, outdoor patios flourishing, conversations flowing.. and the topic always stems around the latest men. I mean… Jesus Christ, if that was all I was doing, I’d be having weak conversations on plastic patio furniture, too.

I don’t care about having pets or fences or a man who can build me a sunroof. I’ll be traveling rather than taking care of pets, opening the gates rather than being fenced in, and, dude- you haven’t seen me with a drill.

You know something I really want to be better at? Dissecting sports games.

Things I’ve been wondering lately: 1. why are you always late, man? 2. you just know when you know, you know? 3. I do some pretty silly things; I listen to trashy pop music sometimes, I’m obsessed with bark and feathers and if I eat toast or pancakes, I will always get jelly or syrup in my hair.. 4. doesn’t anybody just listen? 5. how am I going to handle a winter without being able to ride my bike? 6. I’m not good at compromising my personality. 6. I could never be a sales person. And sell things. And act ways to sell those things. 7. There isn’t much better than a Monterey from Alonti.

Things we can learn from Jack Nicholson:
“I hate advice unless I’m giving it. I hate giving advice because people won’t take it.” >> What is with the stubborn mental state of… every individual on this earth? I’m exhibit A. And B and C. Probably all the way through Z.

“If you’re playing golf to get a loan, it aint golf, you know what I mean?”

“I’d prefer if people had no impressions of me. As a kid, I had to tell my own family, “please, just don’t talk about me!” Because they always got it wrong. Always. I just didn’t want them to tell anyone anything about me. God knew, they had a great opinion and loved me and meant well, but it was like, Please, you don’t have this right. You know what I mean?”

“When it’s over for a woman, it’s over. You’re not getting an appeal.”

“I respect the social graces enormously. How to pass the food. Don’t yell from one room to another. Don’t go through a closed door without a knock. Open the doors for the ladies. All these millions of simple household behaviors make for a better life. We can’t live in constant rebellion against our parents—it’s just silly. I’m very well mannered. It’s not an abstract thing. It’s a shared language of expectations.” <<< I’m not conventional, but please ADAPT.

“Do unto others… How much deeper into religion do we really need to go?”

Minus the Bear - Omni Pt. 3 - Summer Angel

2010-07-01T15:05:00.000-05:00

2010-07-01T14:52:00.003-05:00

a few things you really need to know. no, seriously...

Heath: what is your favorite firework?

like the of the ones you can set off

me: big ass ones that look like trees

haha

i dunno i usually just watch with a beer

Heath: lol

haha okay fair enough

well if we are talking about the big fireworks

I like the ones that are just a bright flash and really loud..and pound in your chest

like 2 seconds later

me: hahahahah

I AGREE.

i like that we're actually talking about fireworks

me: dude i'm such a dumbass for going running

Dave: as your soccer dad, i would agree.

me: hahah i meant because i've been so gay for like 3 weeks now
it's just a transitional phase and it's weird
Dave: girl, please..
.

me: god i love the shit you say
you're a funny chap!
Sent at 2:07 PM on Thursday
Dave: wow. i need to keep you around. i say something glib and you love it. you do wonders for my ego...
me: dude you tell me i'm pretty like every day
we're a good team

go here... and watch all of these: http://www.youtube.com/dangerbirdrecords#p/c/FE427B46ADB9A16B/0/NAoVj0-bZkI

world cup gallery

2010-06-28T21:39:00.004-05:00

[ via behance.net ]

twenty-three things i'd like to tell my 17 year old self

2010-06-27T16:28:00.005-05:00

1. it is what it is

2. it'll mean the absolute world when you understand that you don't know a thing about a thing.

3. you're going to want to learn everything you can about programming. early. and fast.

4. host people. lots of people. on your couch.

5. work on your ball-handling skills. the soccer kind.

6. pushing and shoving for the pieces to fit isn't being a problem-solver.

7. ask grandpa for the ferrari.

8. talk to all those people you want to when you first see them. other people want more friends, too.

9. get a bicycle instead of a gym membership.

10. pay attention in your photoshop class.

11. stop buying $50 mascara and use lashblash luxe. you'll like it so much better.

12. don't ever try to be a nanny. it's not in your cards, suga girl.

13. you don't have to even act like you know how to dance.

14. you've got to be a better big sister. you're the only one he has.

15. you're not going to like playing house for long.

16. you don't even need eyeliner.

17. a woman can do anything with a good perfume.

18. don't ever become too busy for books.

19. don't buy things you're not absolutely in love with.

20. don't you dare date him. don't even think about it.

21. learn how to take your contacts out, you dumbass, you're doing it wrong and ruining your eyes.

22. just pay for health insurance. life is dangerous.

23. it is what it is

#WC2010

2010-06-27T16:25:00.004-05:00

england is out. outtie. peaced. see ya later'ms.

you can find my remaining body parts underneath the train tracks.

i might be listening to eminem

2010-06-27T16:24:00.000-05:00

the following are a few snaps from canoe/camp extravaganza last weekend. you can't see, but christian and i have ENGLAND flags painted on our faces. YUM.

me and christian, Good Times Football Club-North Ave Beach>>

the following are from christian's birthday party>>

too bad he's not asian

2010-06-26T09:18:00.002-05:00

weekend//

>art projects

>world cup games

>23, like a fox

>taste

>festivals

>bbq

[above images: all credit to ffffound.com]

electric bird

2010-06-25T19:43:00.004-05:00

in exalting news- i now have a bachelors degree in VISUAL COMMUNICATIONS. i have also benchmarked through a sixth (and running...) landmark at my company. <<- these happened in the very same week. THIS HURT.

"now what?" Isn't that the question everyone is supposed to be asking this time of year? I can't help but think it's the question that boring people ask. I guess that doesn't matter. So, what though? What is it that makes my heart fill up? I want to volunteer for a few months working with lions in another country. I want to kayak bi-weekly. I want to go on a hiking adventure with REI. I want to build this letterpress shop. I want to play soccer 3 times/week. I want to keep coaching. I want to get my EMT certification. I want to fill my apartment with homemade things. I want to create my inspiration board. I want to couch surf throughout Australia. I want to sing and finally actually learn the keyboard. I want to eliminate clutter. I want to expose myself to the light, extremely well-rounded company and adventure. Oh, adventure adventure adventure. I want a good camera so I can remember everything. I want to direct fashion shoots for Bazaar. I want to have a yacht and live on the ocean, docking somewhere new every few days-freelancing with 3-5 other individuals... coast to coast, dock to dock, place to place. I want to meet more people-outside of bars and outside of my educational environment. I want to learn ballet. I want to be a firefighter. I want to learn about how to be the healthiest. I guess the deliverable is that I can keep going and going ... I'm curious and anxious and energized. I don't want to ever stop. I want to see and breathe and be so so so free.

I still remember one of the cards I received at my high school graduation. It was from my [one of them] godmother, Laura. It said something along the lines of---- if i ever lose faith in design..or chicago.. or anything, really-- to then return back to writing. she explained how she always appreciated my dialogue, both verbal and written. I will never forget how important that was to me. She had the capability to listen and use her time and thoughts both actively and wisely and then move onto forming thoughtful conclusions. And sharing them. That, that there... is a gift. We don't all have that.

I don't want to be a writer. It's intimidating to me. And not in the challenging-work-your-ass-off-and-make-it-work way. It's exhausting because I'm never satisfied with what I write. [tho i think much of this would have gone away after appropriate classes] And I can't write stories. Hell, I can't even tell stories. I'm actually probably the worst story teller you've ever encountered. I think I have the capability to use fluctuation enabling listeners to laugh and be entertained...but that's only when I'm not losing my place in the story line. It's really frustrating to some people, probably hilarious to others... it's both for me. [while writing this small paragraph, i've gotten out of my seat three different times for no reason at all]. #badatthis

My mums came to visit me a few weeks ago. There was one day worth mentioning. It was a monday, I had taken the day off work and the afternoon free of watching all world cup games. She didn't really get what this was like for me. I took her to Thomas West. We were pampered. For the first time ever, I became bored inside of a salon. She got a really hot haircut. I bought myself a wonderful pedicure. That place is FINE as wine. yum. In the afternoon, we went back to her hotel. I had had soccer playoffs, my girls' playoffs that I coach, an extremely long work week as well as my final week of school. I laid down on the hotel bed and gave up. I closed my eyes and she told me hilarious stories of what her and her friends used to do. I laughed at the same things she laughed about. For the first time, we were in sync. It's only through laughter that we get a glimpse of one another. Then babygurl took her first train out of the city and back to Holland. The next time I see her, I know exactly what it will be like. She'll be grilling outside on the deck with a small glass of coors light and a cigarette. She will have made potato salad because she knows that's my favorite. She'll make salads and get out the wooden salad bowls and the watermelon plates. #fordeckusealways She will talk a lot to Brittney and Brittney will laugh with her and say sentences that start with "jennifer." My mom will get mad when Chloe, our pup, wants to lay on the $400 rug rather than the $20 rug. But then she'll give her treats because she really really had a weakness for animals. Except for cats. No one in my immediate family has really ever enjoyed the company of a feline. Generally, I don't find comfort in knowing how things will play out. It's too safe. I thoroughly appreciate chaos. But this, this short visit we'll both share with my mom- man, i can't wait for this.

I haven't ever been seriously injured. I've never been in the hospital, haven't ever had blood drawn, broken a bone... I haven't even been in a car accident. My tonsils and wisdom teeth are still in. I didn't even have braces. It's ironic I've kept this safe because I spent my childhood keeping up with my brother and his clan of dude friends [including, but not limited to: quads, 3wheelers, jet skis, bmx biking, tree forts, swimming, jumping, sand dunes, sand castles, snowmobiles, skiing, camping, sledding, boogie boards, toboggans] playing sports and off-roading in jeeps and dune buggies. I remember the first time I saw a terrible accident. I remember crying for two hours. I can't watch horror films or people being terrorized. I had to hold my stomach watching "basketball diaries." The second I'm in a doctors office, the world becomes dizzy, hazy at best. It starts spinning and I get really hot and uncomfortable inside of my body, but my exterior is freezing. I'm terrified of shit like this. I'm injured right now, and it's put me in a place so desperate to move freely again that I had acupuncture. I'm just a really big sissy with medical things. When the doctor was pulling the needles out, I thought to myself "AH, freedom.. it's over, i did allright at this." Just after, the nurse says, "well, don't expect results to be immediate and I highly recommend coming back for at least three more sessions of needles." hahahaha. of course she said that.

In other news- DAAAAA WORLD CUP. Two of my favorite teams are advancing: ENGLAND and Portugal. In my last blog, I think I said a tiny bit about how I don't really care for the US. However, today I was forwarded this short read. I printed it off to read on my way home. It gave me goosebumps. I have to share it. I hope you feel something. [via & many thanks to Colin Hettinger]:

Found in Translation: 12 Years of Chasing The US Men's National Team:

Jun 24, 2010 -

Sometimes following a team becomes much more than following a team. Sometimes, sports and life can intersect in strange and moving ways.

My journey with United States soccer began 12 years ago, in Taiwan.

1998

I'm in a a hot train station in Chiayi, Taiwan. You've likely never heard of Chiayi. Think of it as the Charlotte, North Carolina of Taiwanese cities, a bustling city with a redneck core. In Taiwan, rednecks are people in galoshes and do-ris queued up in the morning to eat the breakfast of champions: a bottle of Whisbih (a caffeineated demon brew of alcohol, caffeine, and a nicotine extract), a fried egg, and cigarettes. They queue up for trucks waiting to do road work or head to the fields for the day. It's 90 degrees, and the phone is making strange noises.

I'm making strange noises. The phone makes two beeps, and sometimes one long one, and I do not understand any of them. Moving to another country is to inflict a temporary brain injury on yourself, and the degree varies depending on how far removed said country is from your frame of reference. Move to England, and it is comparable to walking around with a mild concussion. Move to Asia at the age of 21, and you may as well have suffered an aneurysm, and then attempt to function as if nothing ever happened.

I hang up the phone. The phone clearly speaks Chinese, since all my efforting and pawing at the box nailed to the wall resulted in one frustrated American and one clearly baffled but polite Taiwanese operator. At least I think that was the operator; there are no guarantees. I could have been patched through to President Lee Tung-Hui's office for all I know. If that was the case, he was polite, thorough, and completely useless to an English speaker in need of serious help operating Taiwanese phones.

No one tells you about jet lag when you move to Asia: how it distorts your ability to think, function, or see anything objectively. I would walk back after the same fight with the phone across the road from our hotel, and sit in the hotel room in between teaching hours, waiting to hear about apartments, and would watch the only thing on our hotel television: American professional wrestlng, and the 1998 World Cup.

(For some reason, the WWF had secured a serious foothold in Taiwan. Listening to Hollywood Hogan-ah dubbed in Chinese still ranks as one of the most unsharable and delicious comedy experiences of my life.)

I followed the United States out of categorical obligation, out of homesickness, and by default. If you didn't watch any of the matches, good for you. You missed a United States squad with all the cohesion of cut-rate concrete, sent into a sputtering mess by Steve Sampson's mismanagement of the team and John Harkes pulling a John Terry on Eric Wynalda before John Terry even knew what a John Terry was. (Translation: he slept with his wife.)

Harkes was left off the team, the chemistry soured, and I spent the wee hours of the night in a tiny Taiwanese hotel room. Drunks crashing motor scooters in the streets served as my soundtrack for the images of a US team losing to Germany, Iran, and Yugoslavia in three easy steps.

The soundtrack in my case was entirely appropriate for the 1998 United States World Cup team. On the field, they bore the look of a shell-shocked team. Each player seemed to be broadcasting at great distance to the other over deplorable and aged ham radio equipment: crackle hiss pop crackle HERE COMES A PASS I'M KICKING IT NOW crackle hiss pop. They may as well have been calling each other from the phone across the street from me, barking in defensive calls over hissing Taiwanese phone lines in heavily accented Mandarin to a baffled teammate on a cellphone in France. They played soccer as if each were stranded on their own moons, kicking the ball across vast, unbridgeable spaces.

On my own moon in Chiayi, Taiwan, I drank Mr. Brown canned coffee, watching the United States make horrible mistakes while I wondered if I'd done the same. I want to say I met the United States team on a first-name basis under good circumstances, but that was not the case. I met them as failing strangers, flickering over a bad feed on an ancient hotel television, in a sweltering fit of Pacific Rim insomnia, far from home, utterly lost in every sense of the word, and wondering what any of us were doing.

2002

I'm walking up the hill to the Brewhouse in Little Five Points in Atlanta. It's five in the morning, and the United States are going to play Portugal in the opening game of the 2002 World Cup. We've switched time zones, the team and I: I'm somewhere in the American-Euro Community timesphere, and they're in Godzilla Standard Time in Japan and Korea, lining up for a match against the best team Portugal may ever put on the field.

The Golden Generation--Luis Figo, Rui Costa, and a dozen other players who never would fulfill their international promise--are lining up to play what will be a warm-up for them against a vastly inferior US side, an American team made of the same castoff material we always assembled our teams from: college players, second and third-tier Euro players, guys eking out livings in the Saudi league and other bizarre, far-flung soccer environs.

Correction: they might have already lined up and given the US that ass-whipping, since I'm late, and for all I know the US, some twenty minutes into the match now, may have already surrendered five goals. This is a given, that we're not good, and that this will all end badly, and yet I'm up with the birds at a time in my life when I usually came home to them for...for this.

A silhouette of a fan appears at the top of the hill. He's wearing an Uncle Sam top hat and American flag across his shoulders as a cape. I don't know why he's out there. In retrospect, maybe he just wanted to tell someone, anyone what had just happened. In Little Five Points at five in the morning, this would likely be a homeless man looking for grain alcohol, but he would have told him all the same, and possibly bought him a beer.

Instead he sees me, and screams at me down the hill.

"WE'RE UP ON PORTUGAL TWO-NIL! FREAKING PORTUGAL!!!"

I start sprinting up the hill. Every fan has a focal moment, a point where, like a serial killer, you crossed the line from being a normal person to someone who would discard everything in the name of obsession. With U.S. soccer, being up two goals against Portugal at five in the morning is mine.

The rest of the month is a blur. I almost get fired from two jobs. My bank statement goes into overdraft thanks to the eight dollar "orange juices" served bright and early at the Brewhouse, which in fact are screwdrivers sold on the sly to circumvent liquor laws. I apologize day and night to my wife, who sees me for a grand total of four hours that month. My co-workers politely ignore me working drunk, which to my credit I do very well. (At least I think I do it well. I was drunk.)

I get up at 2 in the morning for games. I almost get into a fight with an American hippie in an italian jersey who says he can't root for the US because "We've killed too many people." (My retort: "One too few, in my opinion.") I fall off the edge of the fireplace and spill an entire 24 oz beer in celebration when we score the second goal in a 2-0 win against Mexico, hated, cheating, cheap-shotting Mexico. I nearly break a bone in my hand when Claudio Reyna's prayer of a midfield shot, taken when Oliver Kahn was hopelessly out of position, goes just that wide [holds hands a foot apart] in our final loss to Germany.

Like most of my twenties, the United States making the quarter-finals of the World Cup was a giddy blur of bar tabs and hazily remembered moments. I'm not even sure it really happened, and wouldn't be if I hadn't ruined shirts, potential letters of recommendations, professional prospects, and several thousand cells in my liver in the process. For one month in 2002, I let the brakes off and let life roll downhill without caring, and when it ended the United States had come within one goal of beating the eventual runners-up. A soft landing by any accounts, I say.

2006

It just feels wrong. I'm skipping work again, and almost getting fired, and in fact having that meeting, that meeting with my supervisor, the one where she says "You just don't seem like you want to be here." I don't, in fact: I'm terrible at my job, and spend the better part of my day watching the World Cup on pirate feed, covering the window in my office to reduce the glare on the screen and popping up an Excel spreadsheet each time someone walks in.

The notable exception to this is my Ghanaian co-worker, who in the next office over thumps on the wall to let me know: your team sucks. I'd love to argue, but the 2006 team seems to be playing like two different animals sewed together. The husk of the old--the 2002ers, the McBrides, the Hejduks--is coming off, and the new--Donovan, Dempsey--hasn't quite got its sea-legs. The result is a disjointed mess that loses a howler to the Czechs 3-0 and draws in a disgraceful game against Italy, an Italy squad at their dive-y, theatrical worst.

I blow off work for a "meeting" in the case of Italy. Two of my co-workers see me, but there's mutually assured destruction at work here. Jorge Larrionda sends off not one, but two of our players in what becomes a nine on ten game that the Italians still can't crack open into a win.

(To this day, if I see him in person, I will assault Jorge Larrionda for that game. I am not exaggerating. I have graphs and diagrams of precisely how I would hurt him. This has required some planning, but I've had four years to think about it.)

The team is clearly in between things. So am I: I don't know where I'm going, but it's not this office, not this life. I'm writing a bit. Okay, a lot: compulsively, badly, sometimes far too quickly, but writing, and it's piling up, and sometimes checks for tens--sometimes hundreds--of dollars land in the mailbox. It's starting to affect my work, but I don't care, and with the World Cup it only gets worse. Later, when i blow off three hours of work for the Argentina-Germany match, my boss asks me in again for what could be "the talk" where she tells me it's time to get out the sad little white box of doom and put my things in it. She starts to speak, but I cut her off.

"I had a very important meeting with a partner today, and this saved our relationship with them."

"Where?"

"I had to watch Germany-Argentina with her, or she wouldn't contract with us anymore."

"You expect me to believe that?"

"Yup. Call her."

I don't know if she ever did, but it didn't come up again. Sometimes a little bullshit will fail you, but a lot of bullshit has never done me wrong in a crisis.

A few days later, the US is dying against Ghana, just slowly bleeding out possession and running out the clock on the 2006 World Cup. My Ghanaian co-worker bangs on the wall when Ghana scores their second goal.

"YOU DON'T WANT THIS, YANKEE! YOU DON'T! WOOOO!!!"

She's howling it from the next office over, and she's more right than she could possibly know.

2010

Landon Donovan, at full speed, rams home a wayward deflection from Algeria's goalie on a Clint Dempsey shot. I'm at the Midway, in Atlanta, not drunk, not in between things, a half-finished beer perched dangerously on the bar rail with my laptop open and trying desperately to hold the freshly scattered pieces of my brain together. Donovan runs, his body on full autonomous control, unthinking and frantic with glee, finally sliding on his belly to the corner flag on the left side of the field. Ian Darke bellows noises made incomprehensible by the noise of hundreds of people losing their minds simultaneously.

The bar has exploded. A man in a flag worn as a cape leaps up on the divider between the tables and the bar where I'm working and begins pounding on it with his fist. A man in a 1994 US jersey has his arms up. He is crying. My phone skitters across the floor, and I dive for it, because I have people to text, to call: did you see that? Did you just verify that same event happening with me? Can we both relive it for days, months, and years to come, feeling the same elation by checking with each other that yes, that did happen? Can we verify that every so often, without condition, good things happen even when the worst is on the verge of overtaking it?

The lines are jammed, and the bars on my phone die. Yesterday, when Donovan put the US into the round of 16 for the second time at the last possible second, the internet experienced the biggest traffic surge it had since the election of Barack Obama. Twitter collapsed. Yahoo Sports' servers exploded in a cave somewhere in California. The bars on my cellphone shriveled to a nub. For a moment, the clamor to reach out to someone else and tell them about it, to relive it--to warm the leftover moment up for one last taste--overwhelmed the capacity to do so.

I'm trying to write about it, and I can't. White space sits on the screen, and I want to fill it. I want to say how for twelve years I've lived with this team and not even known it, running parallel with them across the globe, failing, standing in between things, and having moments of random, squandered glory in the interim between mediocrity, frustration, and moments of complete collapse. I want to, really, just like I want to know the rest. I want to know how this team pans out versus Ghana on Saturday, the team that knocked us out last time in a blaze of miserable flames. I want to know if we can go further than the quarterfinals, or if Tim Howard can top the dazzling save-post-pattern throw sequence he made to Landon Donovan to save the game. I want to write about all of this.

I can't. There's all this joy in the way. This team, by sheer coincidence, has been grafted to me, and for the moment all I can see is hope, stars, puppies, and Randy Macho Man Savage eating a Slim Jim while riding a unicorn to Freedomland in a clouded cartoon sky. We've been through things, this team and I. We've sat in the dark together, had lost weekends, and had half-baked times of abject failure.

This was not one of them. On some huge life-map, I'd tacked my course using this team as a reference. Pins and lines ran all over its meridians: lost, confused, giddy, absent. With Donovan weeping during his postgame interview, I put another pin on this spot: happy.

--------

highlights//

>england advancing, duh

>my BfreakingA

somebody said to me the other day.. "stillness is toxic for people like you and me."

[please check out brandonexplores.com & brianexplores.com and prepare to have your world rocked [[and EXPLORED]] by muh favorite bois]

i can't ever get over this song. i can't wait to learn to play this.

2010-06-20T18:33:00.002-05:00

so, i know my blog entries are extremely spaced out, only briefly touch on said subjects, or are just full of lists that you probably don't understand most of the highlights anyway... oh, and random weird current photos.

but i can't help but do it sometimes.

this weekend, i spent my time in wisconsin with a big group of people where i only knew one other person. i was totally the minority, not only because a lot of them were friends, but because i was the only white person, minus 1. but he was the boyfriend of the girl who organized the whole thing so he ultimately had seniority over everything basically. i felt like i had to be cool the whole time and prove i wasn't just an ignorant white person and didn't just want to tan in the sun the entire time. so, i worked extra hard to pick up the area and roast people marshmallows. we had a blast. we drove up to wiscansan, canoed, stayed on an island, lit fireworks, had a fire, etc. oh, this was a funny thing that happened... so christian brought a tent but it was literally meant for a 4 year old to sleep in by himself or herself. so, we called this club tent. next to us were two dudes that were really really cool, oh wait.. one of them was white too.. oops. anyway, so next to us was club blue (their tent). i guess this wouldn't be funny to anyone but us. anyway, these dudes were really funny. i hope i can be friends with them. anyway, now i have a barbecued nose.

this one guy on the trip has been traveling all over with and without his girlfriend. she has been traveling too, separately sometimes, together other times. anyway, the dude got a grant to paint murals with kids in brazil. what? that's so cool. so he's been traveling all around painting murals with children and staying places for free. man, i should at least start coloring or something.

the world cup has started my summer (oh wait, i'm not even done with school yet--speaking of, i'm two days away from graduating!) fantastically. it makes every single one of my days better. i'm rooting for england. i root for them all year long in the premiere league and i feel like i'm being a loyal fan. plus, their country has a huge appreciation and respect for a sport i love... and it seems to be something that most americans don't really care for. and i am part english. but, that's last. i think that's a cop out... to root for a team only because your family does or because it's where you're from. i just don't really know if it honestly makes any sense? that'd be like me wearing dale earnhart jr clothing because my stepdad used to watch the nascar races all the time. dude, i look way better in soccer gear. see?

and no, i don't watch the olympics and if i did, i probably wouldn't root for the us.

anyway, watching soccer, talking about soccer, having the news revolve around soccer.. yeah, that's not half bad.

i wish i had screenshots of every single change i've ever made to my facebook profile, aol profiles, aim profiles, etc. wouldn't that be interesting to see? we're in a time where everything is public and nothing is private, we're an internet jungle. and i think viewing the changes would be so cool. i bet my old aol profile looked something like this:

membername: liljenny4411

location: montague, mi

birthdate: 9-19

sex; *FEMALE*

martial status; [insert get up kids lyrics here]

hobbies: summer, being with my girls, sports. LIVE LOVE LAUGH.

occupation: ~~~*garys*~~~

personal quote: [insert alkaline trio lyrics here]

background color: teal

text color: pale yellow

font: verdana, 12 pt bold

----

how embarrassing.

juXtapose

2010-06-07T20:59:00.002-05:00

this summer i'm going to take the keyboard out from under my bed, dust off the keys and build a phenomenal stand for it to sit upon. i'm going to make melodies. i'll sing my heart out. and you bet your ass i'll post it here for you to gawk at.

cheers!

2010-05-21T08:36:00.001-05:00

www.madebysurvivors.com

joke of all trades

2010-05-18T19:40:00.006-05:00

first!----nothing matters until you watch this;

Our designer left about 2 weeks ago to move back home to iowa to start a cookie company with her parents. She went to a one week cooking school in texas. She’s been dating a guy for 5 years. He lives in Chicago. She now lives in iowa.

This chicks dad:

“you’re not getting any older, ryan is a good guy… either marry him or dump him. And if you dump him you’re going to end up dating divorceeees with 3 kids.”

I guess I have a different opinion. I don’t see marriage as the underlying commitment, the goal, the point of all of this… i really don't think that's a misconception, either. i really really don't. i have things in my life that make me feel something extraordinary every single day. i wouldn't trade my life for 5 seconds to be a hopeless romantic. gross.

Someone posed these four questions to me a few days back(dif scenarios of course, i just found it interesting)----

M: “wouldn’t you want to get married if you’d been dating someone for 5 years”

JW: “uh, no actually.”

M: “well, don’t you like to bake?”

JW: “uh, no actually.”

M: “you could always move to Cleveland.”

JW: “uh, no actually I literally can’t.”

M: “I think it’d be okay if you coasted for a little while, you know.. served til you figured out what you wanted to do.”

JW: “i always know what i want to do. i'm DOING it. not to mention, you couldn’t pay me to be any sort of waitstaff at a restaurant. Oh, except a bartender. And that’d last one night and I’d be bored.”

I read this at work last week:

http://www.esquire.com/women/women-issue/funny-facts-about-women-0510#ixzz0neShBDgA

with the conclusion: i'm totally, absolutely and completely wired like a male.

however, i did agree with the following;

No. 497: We like whiskey. And beer. —Maura E. McGill, 29, New York

No. 587: Suggesting breakfast out in the morning is sometimes just a nice way to get you out. We have lives to lead. —Davian den Otter, 32, Ottawa Ontario Canada

No. 579: Never underestimate the power of your hands. —Kimani Rabess, 29, Brooklyn

No. 224: Call us on our shit. We need it. We shall call you on your shit. You need it. —Rhiannon Falzone, 26, Chicago

No. 818: We judge you based on how you treat us when we're sick. —Penelope Ruth, 24, Ann Arbor, Michigan

No. 228: The most chivalrous thing a man can do is listen when we talk. We don't want to be asked the same question three times in one night. —Kerri Theodore, 28, Tampa, Florida

No. 632: We sweat just as much as you do. But we make sure we keep our deodorant and perfume handy. You should do the same. —Sheila Marie, 25, Pensacola, Florida

No. 242: Dressing nicely doesn't make you look gay, it makes you look like you're no longer in college. —Hannah Friedman, 29, Baltimore

No. 714: Even the most cynical, Valentine-hating girl would secretly love to have flowers sent to her at work. —Lindsey Simpson, 23, San Diego

No. 758: What's with the spitting? No. No spitting. Especially no making that hawking sound before you spit. —Hannah Friedman, 29, Baltimore

No. 421: Sometimes, when we're not sure about you, we look at your shoes to decide whether or not to sleep with you. Just good to keep in mind. —Sarah June Renschler, 30, New York

No. 618: Women like men who are confident enough in themselves to let the women they're with be brilliant. —Teresa Jusino, 30, New York

No. 171: Some of us — some of us — prefer movies with explosions or bad jokes. —Kt McBratney, 27, Omaha

No. 967: Yes, we'll have another glass of wine, thank you. —Meredith Blake Matthews, 26, Pittsburgh

No. 615: You can't brush your teeth too often. —Barbara Govednik, 46, Chicago

No. 192: We love tools. Tools are hot. Learn how to use more tools. —Haiyen Chin, 33, Brooklyn

No. 860: Knowing how much you don't know: that's okay. Attractive, even.Pretending you understand is the problem. —Jen Montminy, 24, Centre Hall, Pennsylvania

No. 905: We love working out with you. —Courtney Harper, 23, Sherman Oaks, California

No. 985: We are not all the same, thus you cannot use the same "game" on all of us. Adapt. Thank you. —Adrienne Jones, 42, New York

No. 897: There is zero correlation between how well we dance and how good we are in bed. —Jenny Harding, 30, Aliso Viejo, California

No. 940: Four words that will turn away our wrath: "How can I help?" —Judith Brodnicki, 50, Omaha

No. 110: It's not that we don't know anything about sports, it's that we know that you like explaining it so much. —Caroline Celano, 28, Cambridge, Massachusetts

No. 67: Women in their mid-thirties have to do everything for ourselves — drive our careers, pay the mortgage, fix broken appliances, assemble furniture. The only place we don't have to do it ourselves is in the bedroom. For that one small slice of the day, we'll actually give up control and let someone else own us. So, own us. —Suzanne Casamento, 28, Los Angeles

No. 76: I only like football because of the pants. —Sondra Gavaldon, 28, Brooklyn

No. 111: When you offer to pay for something and we refuse, insist one more time. Always insist. —Cristina Luiggi, 24, New York

No. 382: Old Spice High Endurance Pure Sport. —Sarah June Renschler, 30, New York City

No. 21: Men drink coffee, not skinny double-pump soy macchiatos. Ordering the latter doesn't impress us; it makes us wonder if you'd rather be double-pumping your buddy Todd. —Kt McBratney, 27, Omaha

No. 403: You should be able to do anything Bob Vila can. Or that HGTV makes happen in a 30-minute episode. —Jennifer Davidick, 30, Hazleton,

No. 210: Even feminists want kitchens with stainless steel appliances. —Rachel Baron, 26, Chicago

No. 929: You should be more concerned when I stop thinking your jokes are funny than with how often I want to have sex. —Elizabeth Oporto, 26, Merrick, New York

No. 21: We understand the World Cup too. —Erin Dowding, 34, Brooklyn (of course i'd agree with this one)

I'm not really a kid person. (I don't get giddy about babies or pregnant people either). I don't understand them or really know how to talk to them. I'm coaching 9 year old girls soccer though and these chicks not only crack me up, but they sort of make my world turn. Seeing them progress over these last eight weeks has been one of the most internally rewarding things I've ever done. I see them do a back pass or yell "all right, let's get back into positions..." and I know I've done something. To have someone not only listen, but allow what you're offering to be instilled in their mind... and then using it as a tool, as part of them and their reactions to things...goddamn, it's a powerful thing.

I can't get over how people in offices of large companies don't speak to one another. It's so awkward. And I never feel awkward. I find it ironic that I learned more about my boss Michael over an hour at lunch than I know about the boss I've had for three years now.

oh. so, this was kind of cool. my boss looked at me yester when i got into the office and said "if you can make lester & lucy (letterpress portion) a profitable part of the company, i will hire you full time and even give you your own desk next to your press and inks." you bet your ass i'm going to do just that.

toured rohner for the second time this past week, angie remembered my face and the company i work for.

i'm thinking australia. yum.

take note;

>doesn't work until it does

>#foxtail

>coast-to-coast

>typeface on sale may 28th

>letterpresslove.com

>just be a programmer

>won both games last week

>babygurls tied their game 1-1

>"dude your legs could be a museum exhibit"-christian wise

>i put hashtags in text messages.

>outdoors; in every form and capability possible

>soccer tournaments around the WORLD.

>"hey this is my best friend and she's getting married, i'm just getting more cats"-leah dale

>"i know you think you're stronger than a 4 ton vehicle so i'm just going to put my hands on you and let you know when it's okay to cross the street."-ashten buxton

>turf grass came out of my notebook and onto a conference table in a meeting the other day

>every room in my entire apartment has soccer gear in it

I really am the worst at blogging. It's probably humorous how weird my posts are.

Don't ever let anything trump what's in front of you because life is too short to ignore what's in front of you. or to think you're better than it. or that you have it under control. or that it can't teach you anything.

simplicity takes the crown -

2010-05-07T17:57:00.004-05:00

i don't have time to do this often, especially right now. i'm cramped for time. all the time. so, my blog is mainly for things i find interesting, the highlights and things i always want to remember. these usually have a lot to do with visual STUFFS. this post won't... but i hope (if i have any avid viewers) that you find something that reminds you of something important, entices you to think positive even if only for 5 seconds, makes you feel something worthy or just makes you laugh or.. goddamn, just makes you feel something.

here's where it's at>>>

turf grass fills my entire life; apartment, floors, bed, shower, clothes, laundry basket, bag, and HEART. awh.

the girls i coach have a record of 3-1. it's interesting coaching 9 year old girls. two of them scream the entire time... the smartest girl on our team looks at me yesterday, points to them and says... "THAT is why you don't sign up to coach U10 girls." I couldn't help but laugh. on that same topic, last week i watched them do SIX consecutive passes while scrimmaging and then my favorite girl on the team yells "ALLRIGHT GIRLS GET BACK INTO POSITIONS!"... there is a god. simply, there IS a god.

i've cut down from playing 5 nights of soccer/week to 3 nights. this is so i can;

a)graduate

b)give my shins a rest

c) be miserable

last week i made the switch from coffee to tea. i want to be hot my whole life. antioxidantsssssss... basically look for the crabby red head.

learned i'm in my friends' phone as jen w, jen chi, jen red, jen soccer... i HATE the name jen. if you know me, please try not to refer to me as a four year old.

walked through the downstairs of my work bldg the other day at LUNCH (your FREE TIME) and every single person had their head down to their blackberry or iPhone. SHOOT.

walked into a mcdonalds to get a coffee a few weeks ago... every single one of the workers greeted me WITH a smile and asked me how my morning was. even if it's only a ploy.. it's irony.

take note;

JL: you can make all that happen with just words

AB: great, now you're being cute and i have to give you ALL of it.

nicks beer garden

new soccer shop in wicker

OMNI

chuck: what is bff?

(comma)

JW: now i'm just walking around taking things that i want

LD: ummmm that's your usual..

LD: you have to be careful with these guys, they don't even know what girls are.

NB: i stand by my belief, if you're not doing what you love every day, or at least working toward it.. what the fuck are you doing?

two weeks ago, my boss: oh, by the way we want to make this friday thing permanent. and we want to pay you. and here's a key to the office.

RP: you've got good cleats, right? I mean... I KNOW YOU HAVE DAMN GOOD CLEATS.

jan: chuck said to look at the girls portfolio with red hair. the one with the REAL RED HAIR.

jw; "i guess i don't like it because the exclamation point is one of my least favorite punctuation marks."

kh: well, i'm officially taken

jw: oh. um..WHY?

last sunday was the best day i've had thus far in 2010. i didn't do anything special, didn't see anything ground breaking and certainly wasn't traveling. a friend of mine who moved to boston a little over a year ago flew in and we spent the day analyzing the city and enjoying each others company. you know, you know when things just.. work? they're simple and they're easy. isn't that the most important part? to me, that's the most important part of it all, of everything. after that, things don't taste the same anymore. what was BOLD before, no longer isn't. the things that used to stick out, now fade into everything else. the symmetrical turns asymmetrical. it's the thing that makes you throw your hands up to the sky.

the other day i remembered exactly why i was a designer. i haven't felt such an extreme in a while and i knew it'd come to me this quarter and i was just waiting for it. i was in a classroom after my class had already finished with about 3 other students and the most well renowned professor i've ever had. he walked over to my computer, grabbed my mouse, moved a few things around on my 20 page brochure, looked at me... touched my arm, smiled and said.. "you're fine. you're going to be fine, you know that?"

today, i spent the day at a design conference. i was given the opportunity from that same professor to show my portfolio during the "intermission lunch." some of the speakers were extraordinary. here is what you need to know (and what i want to remember).

Stacy Benson of Dotomi:

Have a solid creative contact.

An extension to an in-house team.

Always explain.

]Look at the results.

Grow; BE A SOLUTION.

Jana Kinsman - Crate & Barrel

"I only work in Helvetica now, so I don't remember these things."

VOICE FOR THE BRAND.

Dave Pfulgar - Burton Snowboards

Hang Tags. Burton logos on Sketchbooks.

Sketches>focus on the core of the idea rather than the color and type.

>re-invent the wheel every two years, completely start over.

"opening a box is like starting a conversation.."

Mike Segawa - Walt Disney

"too much paper, you know..."

Lawyers for creative arts

"watercolor class... you can't turn in a painting of donkey kong, you know?"

"I did a photoshoot thing, and i mean that's always really sexy."

"Next thing I knew, I was a Production Artist NINJA."

STAY VISIBLE.

It was his dream job to work for Disney. "....after, i just went home and got drunk."

>>have an art COMPASS.

and, here's the big part. i say this all the time but i'll say it again. life is so incredibly simple. i'm grateful for every day and i like pretty much everything in my life. i have a capability of handling situations in a strong and realistic manner. i try to think with my head more than my heart. sure, i like layers... i mean my whole life is a layered texture. that's probably the best way to describe it. but there just isn't any reason to complicate things or... "act like a girl" as i would generally refer to it as. i guess it's the answers we're not willing to accept that make it complicated. i've been through 500 trails of difficult things, but it doesn't blur my actions or reactions. someone once said to me "you just know how to deal with things" or something along those lines. i don't know, really, i honestly just learn things as i go. but i think it's working because i'm happy.

that was a preface to the big part. this is the actual big part;

i've been at the company i'm currently with for three years. it's an incredible firm that has provided me with extreme flexibility, promotions, credibility, references, and a ton of fascinating opportunity. throughout my three years there, i've been promoted three times and offered two full-time salary positions. the first one was unofficial, i was asked if i'd take it and i turned it down.

the other one was just recently. it was to take over my boss' position. i'd be overseeing four database systems and managing a team of twelve people. i'd have health insurance, a salary and a great experience. i applied. i got caught up. i floundered.

it took an incredibly inspiring talk and a gut feeling when i was handed the offer letter, but i turned it down. i declined-respectably and with great appreciation. that was wednesday. the rest of the day was "off." to be honest, after i had the "thanks, but sorry" meeting- i got drunk. much like the guy from disney i guess. everything felt off, nothing matched up. i sat up on roof at the wit hotel and then went out with friends to celebrate cinco de mayo---never celebrated that or st patricks before... a bunch of hooligans. however, we had a blast. i had a blast for sure. anyway, the important part is (as cheesy as it sounds) i feel it all over my body that i made the right decision. in the past 48 hours, i've witnessed about 50 things that have made me completely secure in knowing this was absolutely the right thing for me. ......and i think that's where it's at.

have to get ready for a game-

2010-04-26T01:29:00.001-05:00

we want to make this permanent, pay you, and here's your key to the firm.

under cover

2010-04-18T23:02:00.007-05:00

imagery first>>

ash&liz, wine+din+dance+campout

went to my first fire game last weekendTHE REMEDY

buggaboo

ffffound.com
ffffound.com
all i can think about lately are studio spaces...ffffound.com

i'm made to do photoshoots like this.. ffffound.com

ffffound.comffffound.com

gulf shores > sun hats, oysters, good beer and sunshine

surprising bug>

pearl&buck
friday morning was one of the most intense mornings i've had in a while. i was picked up at my apartment and toured rohner letterpress. they have a huge clientele. i walked in and didn't stop smiling for the rest of the day. we had great coffee, jammed to jazz in a jaguar on lakeshore drive, got into the office and pressed all day.

bug came this weekend. we ended up at a tiki bar friday night- i'm not even sure if there's anything to say about that. saturday we bought kites, water balloons, brunched it, zoo, frolicked around and laughed all damn day. we spent the evening with b2 and had some damn good wings.

note-worthy:

started two new outdoor soccer teams

began coaching 9 year old girls, we won our first game this past sat

played 5 soccer games this past week

rooftops

outdoor seating

camping trips

dallas knowing about street bikes

started an insane new schedule, can't count the numbers of hours i'm putting in

things worth remembering;

Briit:It takes enough energy to even hang out with you, why would I ever try to get my way? I'd have to inject myself with caffeine.

Brit: I'm going to teach you about patience. Wait, nevermind ill cure cancer first cuz thatll be easier.

Chuck gniech: you present better ill than most people do healthy.

Asad, my co-coach for the girls: "she's the one who doesn't listen to anyone...basically she's you, except 9."

Ash: I haven't laughed all day because you're too sick to be entertaining.

makin moves tomorrow... big ones>>stay tuned.

2010-04-16T17:17:00.000-05:00

having

guts

always

worked

out

for

_jmb

my boyees

2010-04-13T22:25:00.000-05:00

http://minusthebear.com/2010/04/photos-omni-la-promo-trip/

shAWck me like an electric EEl

2010-03-20T09:44:00.007-05:00

New boiseLodge branding, collateral, YUMS..

berry sting all re-done and re-shot..

urban organic.. don't tell me it's not where it's at...

ffffound.com

ffffound.com
BOISE LODGE..
gorgeous typography...
ffffound.com (nerds!)

kind of out of season, but this weekend of work has made me realize that i am thankful especially for the following at this time:

>my new bike

>buck and dallas

>alex ha

>emergenC

>bug

>stores that sell letterpress

>old book shops, umm YUM

>a brand new xacto blade

>my desk, i've never been a fan of desks before

>pandora stations

>maps

>the things i've collected that i can use to aid in my photoshoot

>sudafed (speed)

>my inspiration wall

>my paps' phone call sat night

>one week... gulf shores

>the woman who said to me "i printed an extra for you because i assume you'll be cutting these, so just in case you mess up.. you won't have to come back in this weather."

>textured papers

>double sided tape

>my bedroom

>MGMT "electric feel"

things worth remembering:

>RP: princess, you'd never throw your pride away

>RS: nice gel seat you've got there

>DL: if i can guess what kind of ring you'd want, you have to say yes if i ask you to marry me...

>JW: deal, you'll never guess anyway.

>DL: i'm going to go with a pearl

>JW: WHAT THE FUCKING FUCK?!?!?! who ARE YOUUUUUUU?

>jackie: yeah, what ever happened to that guy?

>jw;"oh... well.. you see..."

>CB: flirt with arda and get him to postpone the game 5 mins, we're running late..

>AB: well if I could just have you with your hot bod, hair, glasses and those boots... Then we'd be in business. <-- my girlfriend.

>BB: girl just got on bus wearing red socks, nascar crocs and a budweiser jacket

>Jb; try not to be like every other vagina trying to be bossy

>CB: if there is any silver lining to the situation, i suppose it must be that... the evidence is piling up in favor of you being a badass.

>heathdavin says "well he is going to have to take me out to eat and get me a few drinks first..I'm not easy"

>heathdavin says "sweet so yeah you best get shopping ..or I dont know your lingerie situation i guess lol, regardless that is sweet"

>JW: mom calls me 10 mins ago... YEAHHHH that's exactly what i wanna do after an 18 hour day and finishing my last final... talk to my MOTHER. had to get a jug of wine to soothe my soul after seein her missed call.

>BB: any big plans besides your jug of wine?

>JW: umm don't knock my companion. what the hell are you doing miss priss?

>BB: THE FUCKING LAB...can't even recognize my headache anymore cause it's been here since sunday..

>AP: oh, for MY BIRTHDAY...i wouldn't be surprised if you got me a rack for MY car for YOUR bike for times when you don't feel like riding it home

Best case scenario, they shit in your house. Enough said. >> Why both Deke and I do not care for cats.

I asked god in one of my dreams last night 'well I know the margins and padding are set right...wait, you do know css, right?'

ES: "cap't!!! let's keep the same name for the team since we are WHOOPIN ASS?!!!"

EF: so, when's the wedding??

JW: who's?

EF: yours and britts...............duh

DL:"Leaving work early because of the snow then heading home to work on my shrine for you, um I mean to um chill"

jw: dude my texts make me sound like a les

bb: oh ya mine too.. so far over it

jw: do you like that rat

bb: bahahahahahah

jw: does that mean "sorry, yes." or "fuckkkk no yaaah right.."

bb: sorry and yes

jw; oh. well are you going to date him or just sit there and wish you were dating him?

bb: hahahahahahahahahah god you're killin me

jw: i'll just message him and take care of this for ya.. oh ya.. this reminds me of something... hmm... what could it be??!!!

bb: just fell over laughing

jw: call me when you have your shit together

bb; bahahahah stop, i'm sooooo gay

@AOBUX caribou? @designwalks yeah, let's go (grab my wallet). @AOBUX umm what are you doing? I'm your sugar mama. <>

looking forward to;

the weekend

jonathan being back at soccer

OUTDOOR soccer

a ton of wine

adam letting me have a copy of his map

hiking/floating/lodging in OK

having my little brother here for a weekend.. little sugar doll

We adore chaos because we love to produce order._M. C. Escher

cinnamon says...

2010-03-08T17:22:00.001-06:00

NOTES:

see: pearl museum in paris

and everything else in the world, of course

find out: where i can dive for pearls/oysters, one option..chesapeake bay oyster dives- sat and sun am

excited for:

rock climbing

horse back riding

chesapeake bay

chicago kayak

http://www.shockhound.com/merch/5300-lady-gaga-free-bitch-t-shirt

going on call and running the fire station with hank

questions:

why do people poke on facebook?

how can i become better at infographics (aside from more time for conceptualization?)

does anyone else think grey, olive green and black look nice together?>>wonder why i'd ask a question like that. heh.

how can we make personal branding as far away from "the hardest thing you'll ever do and keep re-doing" part of the spectrum?

now:

fly fishing 101

discovery of the PEARL

old town school of folk music ads

italicized lettering

its a shame people don't get on better than they do

2010-03-08T09:35:00.003-06:00

you want to date me? get me these.

or this.

OR BOTH.. :)

yeahhhh girl

it's 40 degrees. the world is perfect. be happy.

you're so used to fighting, that you don't even realize it

2010-03-07T09:31:00.004-06:00

ffffound.com
anything with bark, gah... ffffound.com
infographics! yum! ffffound.com
ffffound.com

ahhh i don't mind cleaning, but i haaaate taking the garbage out! and i'm basically a feminist.
take a look at the "about me"
ffffound.com - this is what makes me want to work at a magazine firm
mm the warmth of the sun on my face, coming in through my windows... it changes everything.

the entire day friday was just off. nothing really matched up or made much sense. thus, waking up saturday early wrapped up in sheets rather than in a cocoon of 4 down comforters, with the sun wrapping all around into my courtyard and building and windows, yum. i awoke around 8 and immediately got up, got myself together and got outside. i walked around for a while to tunes, spent a good amount of time at the gym and then cooked. i only cook on two occasions- after i get back home from the gym or on saturday/sunday mornings. otherwise, it feels like a chore. in my experience, people have enjoyed cooking as a hobby and i don't want to do it unless it's something similar to a hobby for me.

saturday was actually sort of weird, too. i laid down probaaably close to 8 times trying to nap, i rarely nap. anyway, the best part was going to the driving range, out to eat and on a drive/jam time with a friend. i had a blast. yum.

other highlights:

>spring soccer soon at north ave, my absolute favorite turf

>temps in 40's all week > spring jacket, lakeshore, yums

>a gorg trainer at my gym figured out a whole stretching/workout plan to tame my splints. i couldn't be happier.

>manU won the game yesterday

>chicago, MMM.

yawwwm

2010-03-03T23:17:00.002-06:00

must view:

a few tastes of different things i was working on today:

2010-03-03T10:46:00.001-06:00