Xeriscaping is a funny word, I know but it's quite an amazing technique for landscaping. It's been around for quite some time but hasn't really hit mainstream yet. You hear about it it a lot in those up to do magazines that are all about green solutions.
What it all amounts to is water conservation. You use natural plants of the environment that are usually very drought tolerant and require minimal water and maintenance. This means giving up those luscious green lawns and San Fran flowers but as a trade off, you get to throw away your lawn mower. :)
I'll be adding more plants and vegetation to the front and backyard for sure but I'll be keeping xeriscape plants in mind when I do it. As much as I love colorful flowers, I'm going to try and sacrifice my need for tasting the rainbow in order to conserve water.
Xeriscaping
Nap Time
I used to take a lot of naps in college. I think it was mostly the late nights in the studio and having 8am labs and such. There was nothing more delicious and delightful than letting my mind slip out of consciousness for a few hours out of the day.
Hell, I'd say back then it was even a hobby! But now I never take naps. In fact, I hate the idea of sleeping. I'm not sure what changed. I guess I feel like sleeping makes me lose time. I feel like awareness is a huge virtue and I like having my eyes open all the time.
I owe a lot of that to my life in the meta where every day always shows me something new. I'm addicted to discovering new sights, new cultures, and just exploring the people I've met (without ever having to leave my desk nonetheless). I find even the smallest details about people delectable. And the ability to share and connect is getting easier and easier.
That being said, I still like the idea of naps. I like the idea of peace and rest. I strived really hard in this house to create guest bedrooms that would sponge people and suck them in so they feel nothing but relaxed. (insert jokes about pits in the basement here). There's nothing worse than feeling uncomfortable when you're in another person's home. I guess the only drawback is when you can't get them to leave. heheh.
The sheets on this bed are 100% modal (from BBB) which I discovered this year. They are far better than the highest count of Egyptian Cotton in my opinion. They are as soft as cotton but also have a silky feel while still being warm. Sometimes when I lay on this guest bed, I feel like I'm in a sea of chocolate silk.
As for the comforter, it's micro-suede, nothing fancy and was super cheap. Most people don't believe me when I tell them where I bought it (Walmart). The accent pillows were a present my mom made for me. She is somehow gifted with the talent of sewing which I hope to one day acquire as well. :)
If you ever visit me, this is most likely the bed I'd put you in because it's my favorite. I'm not sure if I'll add another brown accent wall in the new house though but we'll see.
Meta Footprint
I entered Alachia into this cool visualization output tool done by MIT. (http://personas.media.mit.edu/personasWeb). It combined the meta for all digital traces of my existence and compiled this data.
Unfortunately, my name is borrowed from other unique character in the verse who has a lot of data written about her. Queen Alachia of the Blood Elves from an RPG table top fantasy game I used to play. I think that’s why there are a lot of visualizations regarding “books” and “genealogy” in that composite.
I’m fascinated mostly though by the difference in meta output from Alachia and my real name. Because when I entered my real name I got an entirely different result. I don’t exist online as my RL name.
I am not exactly surprised by this at all as I’ve taken great efforts to separate the two identities and leave the one that is most insignificant behind in the RL.
I am quite happy to see that I, Alachia, am able to visualize a completely meta footprint after all.
I'm not ashamed of my RL self at all. We're one in the same really. It's just that her identity, the one bearing my real name, doesn't have much meaning. Just as the visualization tool findings, there is no substance to that identity. I've actually contemplated on changing my RL name at one point but then realized I like the flexibility the duality of existences provides me.
The Wasp and I
Despite rumors about my likeness for the great outdoors, I do actually enjoy warm summer breezes and chilling outside. One of my favorite things to do this summer while working is to kick open the balcony doors and let air circulate.
Today however, I was working and looked up from my monitor to this annoying bbzzzzt bbzzzt sound. There was this gigantic wasp bzzing all over my ceiling.
I tried to lure it out the door by waving around my arm sleeves near it. It panicked and went to desk window instead and lodged itself there. This is when we had a thirty minute stand-off.
After rattling the blinds for about 10 minutes, I was finally able to get it to come down in range for me to beat it with my note pad. However, it would keep playing hide and seek with me inside the window.
This is when I got bored during the stand off and started taking pics of it. lol. I was so terrified it would come and sting me while I was snapping shots.
It finally came down enough for me to beat it scared with my note book and it bolted for the door which I then shut and locked (yeah locked).
I wonder why people think I have something against nature and the outdoors? hmmm. I dunno. damn pesky outdoor aliens! that's why!
Austin Photowalk aka Paparazzi Tour
I went on the Austin Photowalk hosted by Trey Ratcliff last night. It was a public event which started at the Driskill Hotel on 6th street. I think about 70+ people showed up. Huge turn out.
When I stepped inside the Victorian Room which is where we started the meeting, I noticed EVERYONE had a DSLR. Maybe like three other people like myself had a point and shoot (meh Cannon G10 FTW!) Lol. Talk about feeling inadequate.
But for me right now, it has been more important to actually get the shot than worry about the quality of the shot. Once I get into the habit of taking photos, then I’ll worry about upgrading.
The walk was from the Driskill hotel up to the State Capital and back. I only made it to the Capitol Building and then decided not to go back to the hotel for “drinks”….
The only conversation I had was with a guy who asked me, “is that a clicker?” He wanted to know if I was using a point and shoot camera which I thought was an odd question considering I was one of the only people there with a camera lens that is attached to the camera. I wasn’t sure if he was trying to make me feel bad but decided he was just genuinely curious because he was very friendly.
Once I told him it was a G10, he was like, “oh that’s more than a point and shoot. You know you can attach lenses to that?” And I didn’t really know that so I thanked him for the info and asked him how he liked his Canon DSLR and he told me he’d rather have the Nikon. lol.
While I didn’t really learn anything or talk to anyone, it was just great to be able to feel comfortable taking photographs in public. And I think I got some really great shots which I’ll be posting and working into HDRs soon.
Oh and while I only talked to one other photographer, I talked to about five total strangers who kept asking me what the heck was going on…. they wanted to know if it was a photography class or if we were some crazy paparazzi crew. Willie Nelson was apparently downtown as well so they thought it had something to do with him.
I’m hoping there will be more events like this and that as it continues, the numbers will start to get smaller and so I’ll have more of a chance to get to know people. I’m waaaaaay too shy to talk to people in large settings.
Honor
I went out with my brother and his quasi girlfriend today to help her look for bathroom stuff for her new house. After we finished shopping, we met up with Sahd to go eat at Chilli’s for dinner. They’re having this special right now offering up a 3 course meal for twenty bucks. It’s quite a deal.
Anyhow, we get our checks and have the waitress split it down the middle (2 and 2) and the total comes out to 15 bucks. I rarely pay attention to my bills and probably would have signed off on it and not have thought anything of it.
However, Sahd pointed out that there had to be a mistake because it probably should have been closer to 25 bucks each. He didn’t want the waitress to get into trouble so he called her back to tell her of the mistake. She ended up just letting it slide because she didn’t want to bother her manager about it but she thanked us for pointing out the correction.
Not many people are honorable in this culture anymore..especially when it comes to money. And although I would probably have been aloof to the situation, I had to ask myself I would have done the same? The sad thing is that I’m unsure of the answer.
I think mine would have been conditional upon how much I liked the waiter or waitress. I have less sympathy I think for large franchises and such. I know for sure I’ve walked out of stores like Fry’s or Best Buy knowing they’ve made fortunate mistakes at the counter… which landed me free DVDs and such.
However, whenever I find someone’s wallet full of cash, I would never even think twice about taking the money. I’d return it just as I found it even though I could easily claim I had found it empty. I guess my code of ethics tends to swing more liberal whenever I feel it’s less personal? I don’t know. I guess I might not be as honorable as Sahd.
Chapter 32: Adults
So there I am.... Eleven year old me is punching a kid named Joshua because his brother was beating up my brother. It’s the first time I ever took a punch and the last time. It’s also the last time I ever threw a punch. Both the taking and the throwing hurt quite a bit, knuckle on skull is quite like punching a wooden board.
One of the daycare supervisors comes over and separates us and of course I explain my story about how I threw this kid's brother off of my brother and he came over and assaulted me. This had been an ongoing occurance for sevearl months. The adult turns to me and says, “you can’t defend your brother. He has to learn how to defend himself and boys will be boys.”
This felt very unnatural to me of course because my brother is my life blood. My family is the only thing of real value to me. Yet here was this adult telling me a different set of rules I was to go by. I was raised to have respect for authority so when an adult tells me something, I felt like it was the law. As punishment, I was sent to sit out in the sun by the playground gate for three hours on the concrete sidewalk. None of the childcare providers at that daycare ever did anything to break up any of the fights as I thought they believed little boys fighting was part of a social right of passage or something. Later, my brother had to have surgery on his nose from all the punches he took.
You see, the word ADULT meant something to me back then because I thought that age automatically meant that the person knew what they were doing or saying and that adults were never wrong.
When I think back to that incident years later, it occurs to me that I was being supervised, looked after, and guided by a 20 year old. What the f*ck do they know?! Nothing but to a kid, you think they know everything. This thought now terrifies me.
I see this even more so now after having gone through college and graduate school and now am friends with people who have become teachers themselves. You sit in the classroom, thinking that you’re getting an education from someone who knows what they’re talking about or that you can trust them to truly educate you.
Yes, humans are prone to mistakes but knowing what I know now, I can’t help but be a bit horrified at how much faith I put into “adults”…considering I’m looking at my “peers” now and realizing THESE are the “adults” I used to look up to and admire.
PS. Don’t scoff at that t-shirt. Almost all the people I know who became teachers cited at least two of those reasons. And NONE of them ever cited a passion for teaching to be a reason.
PPS. Most of this has been spurred on by a number of people I know who have children actually. It’s just an observation I’ve had of seeing some of the most WTF people go on to give birth to another human being of which they are raising and guiding into future humans. I don’t even feel qualified myself to be called an Adult but apparently, as it turns out, there isn’t much qualification for that after all. Not only that but this is rather a moot point now as the culture has shifted. Adults have lost that respect from children in this last decade. I wonder why?
