Which Disney Princess are you?

Which Disney Princess are you?

You are a true bookworm and dream of a life better than the simple, quiet one you lead now. Your good looks can attract the town jerks, but you manage to ignore them most of the time. Sometimes you feel like you're surrounded by idiots. So what are you waiting for? You don't need your father to be kidnapped to get out and see the world. Although you can be stubborn, you're also very compassionate and see beyond people's façades.

JJ came out as Esmeralda. (His comments in parenthesis as we read his profile out loud)

You are an exotic beauty who enchants everyone you meet. (Oh, that's true.) You have a special love for music and dance. (Oh, fo' sho'!) You are very kind to strangers, regardless of appearances, but you don't always see beyond good looks when romance is involved. (That's so true.) You have a strong attachment to your community, whether that be made up of family, friends, or both, and you never forget your heritage. Your beauty might attract the wrong sort, so take care that you're not taken advantage of. (That's very true because I attract all sorts) Luckily you don't die at the end of the Disney movie, although in the book you're hanged. (I'm a gypsy; I like that! But, I don't like that hanging part.)

Such a hilarious end to the day.

Elder JJ Quotes

1. JJ's advice on dating:

• Never date a man's potential.
• Playing with a man's emotions is worse than playing with his money.
• Just talk to him, get it out and let it go.

2. Kristin and I were talking about moving around some tables for the meeting later.

• JJ says, "Do you guys want me to help? You might need some muscle."
• Kristin: "Are you flexing right now?"
• JJ: "No, this is the regular, muscular me."
• (laughter explodes in the room)
• JJ: "Ok, you all are laughing a bit too hard." (walks out of the office)

I appreciate that we laugh a lot in our office.

My first celebrity crush

Paul Newman, 83, is dead.

I think Paul Newman was my first celebrity crush. I watched a lot of AMC growing up because of Mama Liu's love for movies and she somehow believed that "classic" films were okay for children to watch (although many of the films were probably inappropriate for a girl my age).

I remember watching Cat on a Hot Tin Roof and Cool Hand Luke as a child and just being so captivated by him. I don't know what I really saw in him as a young girl.

There was something beautifully sad about the characters he portrayed in my favorite movies.

subject line: psst

my profile picture on Goodreads.


In my inbox this morning:

David said to you:
your photograph of your toes is outstanding! a fine example of the self portrait of toes genre!

you said to David:
why thank you kind sir. I'm always looking to contribute to the oh-so-avant-garde self portrait of toes genre.

David said to you:
you should be proud as they are outstanding toes.

For some peculiar reason, I am quite proud.

(Sometimes I get in this strange mood when I just listen to Jeff Buckley all day. There's something about the way he sings that totally draws me in.)

a short film featuring rain (not the Korean pop singer, but real rain, as in water falling from the sky)

While You Were Sleeping: the seductive sight and sound of rain.

I heart.

Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close

“Does it break my heart, of course, every moment of every day, into more pieces than my heart was made of, I never thought of myself as quiet, much less silent, I never thought about things at all, everything changed, the distance that wedged itself between me and my happiness wasn't the world, it wasn't the bombs and burning buildings, it was me, my thinking, the cancer of never letting go, is ignorance bliss, I don't know, but it's so painful to think, and tell me, what did thinking ever do for me, to what great place did thinking ever bring me? I think and think and think, I've thought myself out of happiness one million times, but never once into it.”

“Being with him made my brain quiet. I didn’t have to invent a thing.”

“The meaning of my thoughts started to float away from me, like leaves that fall from a tree into a river, I was the tree, the world was the river.”

“We laughed and laughed, together and separately, out loud and silently, we were determined to ignore whatever needed to be ignored, to build a new world from nothing if nothing in our world could be salvaged, it was one of the best days of my life, a day during which I lived my life and didn’t think about my life at all.”

“Our laughter kept the feathers in the air. I thought about birds. Could they fly if there wasn’t someone, somewhere, laughing?”

“I shook my tambourine the whole time, because it helped me remember that even though I was going through different neighborhoods, I was still me.”

“Humans are the only animal that blushes, laughs, has religion, wages war, and kisses with lips. So in a way, the more you kiss with lips, the more human you are.”

“I like to see people reunited, maybe that’s a silly thing, but what can I say, I like to see people run into each other, I like the kissing and the crying, I like the impatience, the stories that the mouth can’t tell fast enough, the ears that aren’t big enough, the eyes that can’t take in all of the change, I like the hugging, the bringing together, the end of missing someone…”

“I hated myself for going, why couldn’t I be the kind of person who stays?”

“You cannot protect yourself from sadness without protecting yourself from happiness.”

-Jonathan Safran Foer

St. Nick

My email to Nick:
I want these for Christmas. I'm a size 6.5 Thanks Nick. You're the best! ;)


First, I heard a gasp (I believe from looking at the $945 price).

Then, here was his reply:
Judging from what I heard about last night, Ms. Liu, you've been a naughty naughty girl. *Shakes head* You're getting the Payless knock-off of those Manolo's for Christmas… ...Pity

You have to imagine him saying it waving his finger with all the sass in the world. It's a good thing Nick is here. It makes working quite enjoyable.

After a weekend of...

• battling allergies and sounding like a bullfrog
• phone tag with Awk :(
  
• Street Scene (thanks to JJ, we were able to watch Spoon and Beck backstage. Beck was amazing. Stupidly, I didn't charge my camera battery the previous night, so my camera died right before Beck came on. Boo. But, I think I was able to enjoy the show more. Watching the crew set up the stage was one of the most efficient things I've ever seen in my entire life. 15 big guys and no one running into someone else. I was in awe. I also liked watching the audience during the show. Everyone looked so happy.)
  
• ice-skating (for Andrea M.'s birthday. A glorious night of sequins and spandex. The theme somehow became "Bad" - as in Michael Jackson - on ice. It was pretty fantastic.)
  
• the Dead Crow (a "saloon" in the backyard of the guys' house. They built a saloon on their patio with swinging doors and everything - including a Tom Selleck picture. It oversees a canyon and was quite nice. However, the highlight of the night was the dance-off.)
• Flood Church (not too big, but still bigger than what I'm what used to. I liked the pastor and all the various ministries at the church.)

it's a Sufjan Stevens day :) I can't wait to go home after work and fall asleep at 8 p.m. (Don't call me after 8 Johny!)

Cut

I keep forgetting I cut my hair and get a little weirded out when people at the office stare at me. Then, they finally say something and I'm relieved they're not weird. And, I eventually feel like the goober for forgetting that I pretty much cut off 2/3 of my hair.

I'm thinking of going shorter.... Hmm, I think I'm getting myself into a dangerous habit.

My place.

As soon as I walked in, I knew and *felt* it was my place.

• studio apartment
• on 8th (I just keep moving closer to Whole Foods; I've now gone from 4th to 6th and now 8th in Hillcrest. Oh, and the place is closer to my yoga studio.)
  
• hardwood floors
• open, and not too small
• sky light
• separate bathroom and kitchen
• an ironing board that comes out from the wall!!!
  
• an ice box!! (the place was built in 1929; there's even a secret door for the ice man to drop off the ice. I'm kind of bummed it won't get used.)
• a murphy bed (for guests :) )
• and here's the thing that sold me - a nice walk-in closet. It's not that big because the space is shared with the murphy bed, but there's a large shelf on top. I immediately envisioned all my shoes in their happy homes sitting pretty on the shelf.
  

My first place alone.
I feel like a grown-up.

Radiohead & Reading

I had the absolute pleasure of attending a Radiohead concert. It was simply amazing and the best concert I've attended in my entire life (thus far). JJ and I kept turning towards each other after EVERY song to say, "That was amazing," "This is unbelievable," "This is an amazing concert". We knew we were experiencing something special during the entire concert. The night started out as a fun night because we went in JJ's '63 Chevy, his pride and joy. The car is pretty rad and has a crazy stereo system. JJ happened to have a Snoop Dogg CD in, which baffled the Radiohead fans waiting in line to get in. As we passed by, I think they were first confused by the music, then the car, then the two people sitting in the car. I wish I would have taken pictures of some of the facial expressions. Once we got in, it was excellent people-watching. Radiohead fans are so diverse. JJ and I just sat on a bench and made up stories about people as they walked by. THEN, the magic happened: JJ's hook-up escorted us to the pit. From this moment on, I was 100% giddy.

They started the set with 15 Step. I love that song. My favorites in the show: All I Need, Nude, Where I End and You Begin, Climbing Up The Walls, Just, Paranoid Android and Videotape. They ended the whole show with a super long version of Everything in its Right Place. Pure perfection. I was on a music high for the next couple of days after the show.

***
If you have some time, I highly recommend the following books:

• Sex, Drugs & Cocoa Puffs: witty look at pop culture (there's a chapter analyzing 'Saved by the Bell' - it's pretty fantastic)
  
• Killing Yourself to Live: road trip visiting places where rock stars died
• The Complete Maus: graphic novel about a holocaust survivor's son documenting his father's story
• American Splendor
• Dreams From My Father: It turns out Obama's a good writer too. :)