the world is your acorn

Don’t have a wii yet? Amazon seems to have gotten a bunch. The nice thing about it is you can get free shipping and you don’t have to deal with our ridiculous sales tax. Go get yourself one!

Nintendo Wii available at Amazon!

The new Whole Foods over in Green Hills is opening Thursday, November 1. We went on a sneak peek tour yesterday. Color us impressed. Man, first of all, it is huge. There is the regular store as well as the Whole Body store next door and the Salud cooking school upstairs. The seating area for eating your prepared foods is big too, with sections upstairs and downstairs. And there is free wi-fi. Umm, hello, I might have a new office. There were a lot of samples on the tour, but it sounds like there will always be a lot of sampling opportunities. And they kept saying that if you’re not sure if you want to buy something, just get a store employee and they’ll open it up for you to try. Woah.

All the things they kept telling us about their stuff was just impressive. They are making this huge local effort, so they have partnerships with local farms, they have local beers and coffees, and some of the stuff they sell in the Body store is made (designed?) by local folk. The company is apparently committed to the planet, and they talked about some of their different efforts to give back in terms of natural resources and in terms of the communities that contribute to the company’s success. I’ve always been a fan of Whole Foods just because I liked the shopping experience back when I lived in Boston and there were 5 within a 15 minute drive. I sometimes find myself skeptical about them because they seem to be this big corporation that is eating up all the competition around them. But at the same time I like the stuff that they say they’re doing. Also they wooed me yesterday with yummy samples and some free shit to take home. So even though the new store is in Green Hills, I think I will make my decision about the company as I shop there on the semi-regular. Starting this weekend.

I’m in Bermuda this weekend for a good friend’s wedding. It is so freaking beautiful here. This is the view from the little balcony in my hotel room. The little putting green is weird, but other than that it’s fantastic. The water is gorgeous, and the weather is perfect. The Little Red Haired Girl couldn’t come with me cause of her opening, so I’m here alone. Not really, a good friend from college also did not bring a +1 so we are rooming together. It has been pretty fun. We got here yesterday afternoon, sat out by the little pool restaurant for a while, then rehearsal dinner. Delicious. I had scallops, chicken on the best risotto I’ve ever had, and cheese plate for dessert. Then lots of dark and stormys at one of the hotel bars. Today we are going to hang by the pool I think. Our hotel is close to town but far from beach, so there is a ferry to get there. The schedule doesn’t fit ours though, so we’ll have to stay around here, which is a bummer. Not that I’m complaining about chilling by the pool in Bermuda.

Two free and fantastic events:
Thursday, October 18, 7pm -
Get a sneak preview of “MYTHOS: Assemblages by Maureen McCabe” and hear the artist speak! I hear she is really interesting and witty and super talented, so it should be a really neat talk.

Friday, October 19, 6pm-8pm –
Opening reception for “MYTHOS: Assemblages by Maureen McCabe”

In addition to the new assemblages she created specifically for the Parthenon venue, work from four decades of McCabe’s career will be on view. Throughout her career, McCabe’s witty, exquisite creations have explored the themes of fortune, fate, luck, and chance. For example, in the assemblage titled Paris and Helen, McCabe depicts the fated lovers at a critical moment, pondering what would have happened if they had “uncoupled,” thus precluding the Trojan War. As Assistant Curator Brenna Cothran says, “Each of us has been at a similar crossroads at one time or another, and has wondered what our lives would be like if we had taken the other path. The brilliance of McCabe’s work lies in its ability to re-energize these ancient stories and make them personally relevant.”

You should go. To both. You can get into the Parthenon for free and see the new exhibit as well as Athena and the other fabulous show, Erin Harmon’s “Pettest of Pets.” What could be better?

I laughed out loud. literally.

Last week I had to prepare and give my second year presentation. Well, I guess the preparing part could have happened before last week. But let’s be honest, that’s how it generally comes down. Anyway, I put a lot of energy into trying to make something out of some work that I’d done last year with Everything Guy. So on top of my regular school work I was doing this. Also I was getting yelled at for not doing enough on my second job which I do for money but actually kind of hate. So that was crazy busy and stressful.

Then come to find out that the spouse of a friend of The Little Red Haired Girl’s was ill, then passed away all in the week. So I was trying hard to get my work done and still be emotionally available for The Little Red Haired Girl, and I’m not sure I was too successful with the latter. And now I don’t really feel like the week is over yet, since I feel somewhat behind on my regular work and there is a funeral to attend today. Meanwhile we are spending time putting together catering menu ideas for the wedding, which should be really fun but somehow seems like a chore in the midst of all this.

I’m not complaining, mind you. It’s just been a really weird week.

Tomorrow we give our second year presentations. That means we stand up and talk about some research that we did during our second year of school for 15 minutes, conference style. Yeah, that is all I know about it. There are no guidelines other than that. I don’t know if it’d be ok to present something that’s essentially incomplete, or if people will complain that my talk doesn’t have a point or real findings. I’m fairly certain there will be no real evaluation (or feedback even), because that is how first year poster presentations were last year. You’d think that at a school of education they’d try and do a little better than just throw something like this at us. The irritating part of it is that I’m losing sleep over this thing even though there are no academic stakes. I guess it’s a pride thing, because I’ll be publicly representing a year of work and I want people here to think that I’m worth their time and their funding and that maybe I’ll become something someday. Even if deep down inside I think it might be a sham and I might not really.