Your change, samaritans, your sympathy, too

It was a good idea posted to me (and to others) by Brother. If you've been following the news regarding the devastation wreaked by Hurricane Katrina, then you full well understand the magnitude of this disaster. As a friend recently put it, it appears our tsunami has hit. Please cnosider the scale of devastation and a possible donation toward relief efforts.

The Red Cross
The Federal Emergency Management Agency's relief page
Episcopal Relief and Development

oh, wait

And for more fun...
Or play with this.

In the wilds, unaccompanied, a foot soldier of the righteous

Such was my reaction after seeing the new Wong Kar Wai movie, 2046, at the Harvard Exit this afternoon. After having a few hours to think about it, though, I'm pretty certain I liked it. It was insanely long, though - it could have ended about three times before it actually did. But, as always, it was very beautiful and I wasn't really certain was going on most of the time. Ultimately, though, it's a movie about love and how half of finding love is being in the same place at the same time (with the person you love).

So, yes, I went on a photo safari and scared up a few good pictures of Seattle. Interested? Yes?

This is across the street from the Harvard Exit in Capital Hill. The place where all those people are sitting outside is the world's most adorable coffee shop, where I sat and drank coffee before seing 2046. The inside of the shop is really small, and immediately to the left of the counter where you order is a staircase that leads to a little loft area with two tiny tables. To the right of the counter is a little room with a few tables, and then another staircase that leads to another tiny loft area with one or two tiny tables. The whole place is cozy and nicely painted. A lot of hip, fashionable, young people hang out here, but it's an otherwise fantastic place to sit and drink coffee and read and feel adorable.
Record sale on Pine St. Only ninety-nine cents. Only, I didn't buy it. Who knows when I'll have a legitimate turntable?
Seemed like an appropriate question. Some utility workers stopped working to sort of watch me take this picture. As far as they knew, I was just taking a picture of a wall. Oh, how plebeian! They'll never understand my art - my art of the people, of the streets. I enjoy pictures of graffiti. Many of my pictures from Italy and London were of graffiti. It's an interesting way of documenting what's going on in the world, as much of the graffiti (at least in Italy) is political. It also makes me very curious as to what the graffiti artist was referring when s/he tagged whatever has been tagged. Why did this person ask this question? Was it to provoke serious thought? Was it a reference to religion? Or was it advertising the new Death Cab for Cutie album?
This one was for Tim, who does not read this. Nevertheless, it is for whom conservatism rings. More images from the Citta di Pioggia at a later date.

Now in Amazing Technicolor!

Not to worry all those who worried. Pictures are on the way (PK - this is for you). I have dispensation from the powers that be to use the digital camera belonging to various members of the Greenwood/Mellinger clan. So, tomorrow I will head downtown for a photo safari. I hope to have pictures of water and libraries and coffee shops and cinemas and totem poles and markets and graffiti. And maybe a shot or two of yours truly. Pictures... and in color, too! Who would have thought?

The Fruit Bats cd release party: tedious. I stood through four opening acts, two of which started out promisingly but quickly grew tiresome and unoriginal. When Fruit Bats actually began to play, they ran into several technical difficulties, which ruined the flow of the show. While the lead singer was humorous and apologetic, and while I certainly placed no blame on the band, I was already very antsy and bored and tired from having stood for several hours listening to bad music and having no one to talk to about how bad the music was. However, when Fruit Bats rocked, they really rocked. Sans the openings acts, it was a flawed but rollicking show.

The weekend was also marked by a trip to the fish market. It stank. But we bought salmon because Uncle Tom smokes his own salmon (he also smokes cheese, and it is delicious). So I'm in need of bagels and cream cheese to go with my lox a la Uncle Tom.

Yesterday, Simon Greenwood, the younger of the two Greenie boys, moved home. His lease was up at his apartment and he had not yet found another apartment. So today, it was my responsibility to drive Simon to the University District to check out of him apartment. While in the U-District, I met up with my friend Ari, who is here for grad school. We hung out at his place, and then went out for pho (Vietnamese noodle soup, usually with meat or tofu and vegetables, pronounced fuh). The rest of my afternoon I spent at a coffee shop reading.

I'm currently reading three books: Another Country, by James Baldwin; Thank You For Smoking, by Christopher Buckley; and Imaginary Homelands, essays and criticism by Salman Rushdie. Writers on my list of upcoming reads include Noah Feldman, Philip Caputo, Arundhati Roy, more Saul Bellow, and always more Rushdie.

Stay tuned for pictures!

I flip a coin to decide if I'm taking a shower or not

You know, I only started this blog because I thought I needed a blog with these people in order to leave comments on Bother's blog. Hell, I wasnt even going to keep up with the thing, only Brother made me do it. And it didn't make a whole hell of a lot of sense because everyone I knew and cared about lived in the same city, so what's the fucking point? I'll tell them what happened in the world of Hayley when I see them at the bar.

And then I figured that we'd all be moving far away from each other, so maybe they'd read my blog then. Only, they all hate blogs and refuse to read this. Approximately four people read this thing with any regularity.

For Brother, half the joy is in writing the thing. And he's a good writer. So am I, only in a different sense. I write decent papers. I do research and recycle ideas and use quotes effectively. I could be a decent grant writer, but I'm not a writer by trade. Only one of my friends is, and he's not even a close friend. Closer to a friend of a friend. So none of my friends are reading this for enjoyment. They rely on Dave Eggers and Nabokov for that.

But anyway, here's my day. Every morning starts out the same: I lay in bed thinking: Do I take a shower? or do I put it off until tomorrow? If I do shower, should I do it right away, or should I have coffee first? And if I am taking a shower today, am I washing my hair? getting it wet? keeping it up and dry? Am I shaving my legs? or will I be fine wearing jeans all day? Generally the decision is: shower right away, wash hair if hair was not washed the day before, and wait until in the shower to decide about shaving.

Then breakfast. Coffee is difficult to make here because there's no coffee maker. So I heat up some water, grind the coffee, put it in the perma-filter, place the perma-filter inside a holder-thing, and place those over a mug (usually with some milk already splashed in it). When the water is hot, I slowly pour the water in the filter. By slowly, I mean I pour in a small bit of water, wait for it to soak through, then pour in a little bit more. It's laborious and I have to stand around for the whole thing. A coffee maker really eases this effort, yet there is no coffee maker here. So today I skipped to coffee because I just couldn't handle it, plus the kitchen was a bit crowded and I hate a crowded kitchen.

So I ate an apple and some toasted banana bread and sat outside reading an article about the Plame-leakage investigation in today's paper. I only got about half way through before I got distracted. Gold called and we talked for a long time. I hate the phone, but I like talking to the people who are far away from me, so somewhere a chord is struck. After this, I checked my email. My friends have an email conversation going. We write about whatever tickles our fancies, though often-times a debate/conversation rages and takes over the whole thing. Recently, the thing has focused on "pattycake" John Roberts and (currently) the Iraq war and when disengagement should occur.

I'll skip to something that matters. In the afternoon, Gordie and I took the bus downtown and saw The Brothers Grimm. He liked it a lot, I was disappointed. At the very least, it would have pleased me to no end to have Samantha Morton in the chick role instead of the bad actress hot chick they got. Plus, Matt Damon really kind of sucked. Heath Ledger acted circles around Matt Damon. I was going to see the new Wong Kaw Wai movie, 2046 by myself. I still need to see that. At least for Jack's sake.

Tomorrow night: the Fruit Bats CD release party.

Two bars are better than none (?)

I met with the epidemiologist yesterday who was very pleasant though I think she had no clue what to do with me. Actually, she wasn't really certain what our connection was. It's a bit convoluted, but: Brother lives in LA with Hud, whose cousin is married to a woman who's sister is the epidemiologist. Yes? Are we clear?

The epidemiologist told me that I was on the right path for getting a job at a non-profit and she said if she heard about any jobs, she'd direct them to me. Great. In the meantime, I learned a bit about what she's doing and what the Seattle HIV scene is like - mostly white, gay men. Which has not, as the stereotype may implicate, the way the epidemic has been going lately. In many places it's affecting often poor, minority populations, primarily African American men and (to a greater extent) African American women.

But this is sort of depressing, yes? So to cheer things up, I'll explain last night's adventure. I went to two bars by myself. I read my book at both bars. the first bar was too nice to disappear in and drink and read. The second bar had only about six people in it, so everyone noticed when someone else came through the doors. I really don't mind hanging out by myself, but this was pushing it a little. The only thing that really embarassed me was that I figured everyone thought I got stood up by some no-good man. I don't even know any no-good men to stand me up, so maybe I'm lucky in that sense.

Anyhow, I got bored and came home.

That assassination-provoking jerk would be proud

Brother keeps promising a long, intriguing post regarding lamb logs. It sounds unnatural to me, but if that's what those homosexual liberal media-controlling jews are doing in LA, then so be it. They can have that den of iniquity, for all I care. The Pacific Northwest air is crisp, bracing, puts hairs on your chest, is something you can sink your teeth into. Or, as "Bill" put it, "Broadway musicals? It does not get any gayer than that." By the way, if you read through this entire thing, let me know what it says. I'm supposed to have respected his intellectual property rights, so does it seem like a breach of that respect to quote him here, without permission from him, his lawyers, or any capable representatives? I assume we'll be finding out in due time.

I did not come to Seattle bogged down with am engorged ego; nevertheless, the past few weeks have been humbling. As I look through job listings, I become increasingly aware of how unqualified I am for nearly everything, save for ringing up groceries and carrying cases of wine for old people. I desperately want to be back in school. Yet, having some real work experience will look good and, what's more, I am terrified of the GRE as I am a miserable standardized test-taker. I've got one of those study guides, but I'm so disorganized that my thoughts jump from one subject to the next : math, vocabulary, writing, math, math (cold sweats), vocabulary. Frankly, I don't know how people do it.

Anyhow, I'm meeting with an epidemiologist tomorrow. I don't know what we plan on doing, other than drinking some of the city's fine, fine coffee, but at least it gives me something to do other than sitting in front of the computer, perusing want ads, and feeling horrible about life.

This is what it feels like to discuss Sean Hannity with your cousin while laying on the floor of the Laser Dome

Tonight was an excellent night because I drank beer, watched lasers, listened to cool music, and met a possible roomate. All-in-all, I'd say that's a fantastic time.

Grizzly Bear, a Brooklyn-based super mellow low-fi indie type band played a show at the Pacific Science Center's Laser Dome (or Laserium, perhaps?). While the band mellowed everyone out (not difficult to do after everyone has a few beers in them), we all layed back and watched a rad laser light show timed to the spacey music. It was pretty neat. I had to pee really bad for the first few songs and I eventually just bit the bullet and ran out to find the toilets. I was seriously going to explode. And, while I was certainly glad that I made the decision to run to the bathroom, I have to say that it was not the most satisfying pee. I had high hopes which were not to come to fruition.

So, but, before the show started, everyone hung around outside because there was what some might call a beer garden. Which really means that you could get $2 cups of Miller High Life and sit outside. Well, you could have brought the beer inside, but we didn't know that at first. So then we went in (we, by the way, including not just me, but also my cousin Gordon) and found a place on the floor, so as to lay down and enjoy the spectacle that was to be displayed on the dome above. Shortly before the show began, though, I struck up a conversation with a girl sitting close by. It turns out she had come to the show by herself and, from what I gathered, was cool for having done so. She is probably cool for having done many things (like going to nursing school in New Zealand, and living on Vashon Island, which boasts the highest number of published poets in the US). So at the end of the show, I was told that, should I find a place and need a roomate to relieve some of the rent burden, I should give her a call. Fine by me.

So, you see, it was a great night.

Oh giant vats of pudding, my kindred spirits!

This week has been SERIOUS business. I've applied for a few jobs and I've met some people about living arrangements. I'm suspended in mid-freaking-air now, though. I'm in limbo (though for a moment I almost typed libido, which would have been a very different sentiment), and in the meantime, I just keep searching for possible jobs to emerge. Why won't anyone just pay me to be wonderful and intellectual? (By the way, I have no idea why that last link is what it is. I looked for intellectual, it gave me ancient Passover Haggadot. Google is a mystery as vast as the universe).

Today I met with some young rockers who found a sweet apartment on Capitol Hill. I love the neighborhood, but it's hip and there are a lot of rich, gay men who live there and apparently meet up for flings and drugs in Volunteer Park, which is right across from this apartment that the young rockers found. And these drug-addicited, rich, gay men apparently make property values go up. Anyhow, the kids seemed nice enough and I'd love to live in the location. But I also looked at that house (see below) earlier and I'd be content there. Oh, choices and drama. Actually, the choice is not necessarily mine and... drama... drama... drama... nope, no drama. I'm just bored.

Very bored.

I've finished a few books this week.

I need more.

Hi, two-T'ed Vincentt.

Oh resumes! You are so tiresome to write!

I applied for a few jobs today. They're not perfect jobs, but A) those don't exist and B) I am in no position right now to demand perfection. I need to take what I can get and (hopefully) what will get me experience in the non-profit world, so I can someday get that better than pooh job.

But, let's not think about the work-a-day life right now, darling. Let's go back to the Sound, to seals and the sun, the endless beers, the hiking through thick foliage on the island. I kayaked and oh how I lurved it. I fell asleep in the sun and didn't get sun burned. That, combined with the frisky seals and the beer makes me think that the House on Puget Sound was a mystical place, reserved for only the select few - those who are pure of heart and mind, who believe in Salvation through Beauty. I can think of no other explanation for such a place.

Now we're back in seattle. Yesterday was kind of cold. The weather has been doing this lately: a few days of beautiful, sunny warmth, then a day or two of cool, cloudiness. I'm fine with it, really. It's nice to include some warmer clothing in the wardrobe - breaks the monotony.

Speaking of monotony, I spent many hours today working on my resume and sending it out to various jobs. The most promising-looking one is an AmeriCorps position (read: Hayley will be EXTREMELY poor) with Planned Parenthood of Washington. Otherwise, there was a position working with an organization that sent poor kids to study abroad (I should have included in my application something about the importance of exporting our poor to other, smellier countries. Why didn't I think of that?) and a job with the housing development consortium, helping people apply for Section 8 housing and the like. there was a pretty perfect job working with poorer and immigrant communities to promote health, but you had to be fluent in another langauge. Russian was one of the acceptable languages, and I was kicking myself for not having followed through with that. I'd be so fluent by now!

So, but I also went to a house on the edge of the neighborhood that I want to live in - Capitol Hill. The house is an old house with a bunch of people living in it. The house is sort of crummy, but it's like a co-op house, and the room was gigantic. I wouldn't mind living there just for the endless amounts of room such that, should anyone want to visit, there'd be plenty of space. Also, on Friday, I'm meeting some girls about an apartment on Capitol Hill. They're really excited about the apartment, and it's in a pretty great neighborhood, so here's to hoping.

Oh, and you must visit http://www.accstudios.com/ . You actually have no choice in the matter. Thanks be to Tim McCarty for alerting me to this. Bless his heart.

I'm not really certain just where I am

Alright, I just moved across the damn country, so maybe we can ease up a bit on the no posts thing? I mean, I was not living in a place that had a computer. It would have meant a special trip to computer-land to do this, which is hard, you know? No, you're an unrelenting and (more importantly) unforgiving public. You constantly want more of me, more than I can give. Well, world, here I am - be easy.

I'm in Seattle. That's about all that's really sunk in yet. I'm living with my aunt (bless her heart for the hospitality). But because I'm living with her, it doesn't really feel like I've moved anywhere. Maybe when I start looking for jobs or move into a place of my own I'll feel it. Or when I start meeting people. I need to meet people.

Oh, to all devout readers of the Crime of It All (and to all others who have yet to see the light) - fly Southwest airlines. I liked them a lot. I have a great appreciation for flight attendants who can crack a joke about loss of cabin pressure (because it's really quite funny, you just don't realize it, you with your sophomoric sense of humor).

I've started reading The Satanic Verses. Actually, I started it on the plane, which is funny (cabin pressure!) because it begins with the explosion of an airplane and the plummeting to earth of two people, one of whom has assumed the name of the archangel Gabriel (only it's Gibreel because we're talking about Islam and Arabic, not Christianity and English). And I have to say, I can see how it's blasphemous, why an ayatollah would want to ban it. I think that Midnight's Children begins in a much more blasphemous manner, but we're not actually looking for "book-banners" to make sense. My reading it on the plane, by the way, garnered a few interesting looks, but my guess is that people were more concerned that it had the word satanic in the title (as opposed to the whole hijacked plane aspect).

Paul Kraus - Sara Gold and I miss you.

And if anyone knows how to make ibooks work, let me know, because I'm not a computer person and I've grown so accustomed to windows and all that I'm easily confused. Thanks for being an understanding audience.