duckling update

the baby ducks have become adolescent ducks. awwww.....

painting update

i'm calling this one done. i realized that i could keep on working on it forever. but i have to let it go. its done. maybe.


and this one has changed a bit.

some paintings i've been working on

this one's done, and i'm pretty pleased with how it turned out.


he's coming along fairly well.


but i'm clueless about what to do with this thing.

duck!

you know what's super cute?









...ducklings.
especially on a beautiful spring day.

jesus christ...

this evening i received 3 emails in rapid succession:

first,

> Hey Everyone,
>
> As we begin to approach the warmer weather, please
> remember to continue to dress appropriately for your
> site. Students, teachers, and office workers at
> your sites all have dress codes, and it is important
> to stay close to these standards even if you aren't
> within them. Avoid flip-flops, super-low or hole
> filled jeans, shorts (unless they are worn by
> students in your school), tank tops and exposed
> chests or midriff, as well as anything else that you
> might deem inappropriate. If you are a distraction
> in your workplace, you diminish your effectiveness
> there and reflect poorly on NSP. As college
> students, you should understand what is or is not
> appropriate and be conscious of how what you are
> wearing reflects back on you and is perceived by
> others. This is e-mail is not intended to chastise
> anyone, but is rather just a friendly reminder to
> nip anything untoward in the bud.
>
> If you have particular questions or concerns, feel
> free to e-mail me back,

then...


Dear All,

I would like to add to this email, especially for the women on
this list, that contrary to C's position if you are
sexually harassed in the workplace (and those of us working in
high schools or middle schools may have had all too much
experience with this) it is NOT your fault. The discourse
surrounding sexual harassment and blaming women for it needs
to be changed. It is inappropriate to condemn women for
"distracting" people in the class room-- rather, sexual
harassment and those who do it should not be tolerated.
Furthermore, if you are sexually harassed in the workplace,
although NSP may find this to be an embarrassment, I just want
to validate all those who have been in this position with a
little solidarity.

I sincerely hope that C's email does not indicate NSP's
real policy on how to respond to sexual harassment. Blaming
the victim in this way is both oppressive and illegal.

I would appreciate it if NSP clarified to its employees how
they should respond to sexual harassment, with an email of
NSP's procedure for sexual harassment and their policy.

All best,

and finally...

Hello Everyone,

In response to the discussion I seem to have generated, there is a need to clarify. This was not a gendered discussion, but rather a reminder about situational appropriateness. The clothes that someone would wear to the gym or out on the weekend with friends are often inappropriate for a school or office. When one sticks out, especially in an institutional setting, one creates a distraction, and it is this 'distraction by abnormality' which we are trying to avoid. This applies to shorts, hats, and tank-tops as much as it would to a suit or formal gown. When moving from situation to situation, such as from class to school or the gym to an office, it is important to be mindful that one is shifting to a situation in which expectations are different.

As to sexual harassment, this is a serious matter and one that was not addressed in the original e-mail. Sexual harassment, or even discomfort that one may or may not think is harassment, should be shared with superiors, both with your supervisor(s) at the site at which you work and at NSP. If it is the site with which you are having problems, we would hope you would come to us directly, and quickly. Regardless of how you handle the situation, we would still want to know what is happening with you and have the opportunity to be supportive of you. You should never go through troubling times alone, and we want to be there for you in any way you are comfortable.

If anyone has any further concerns, please feel free to let me know and open up a dialogue.

Sincerely,


right guys, glad we cleared that up.

it was such a cute bird, i wish the pictures had turned out clearer.

but look, he's *hopping* it's *so adorable*

....




chicago would be really beautiful right about now, if the weather wasn't so fucking awful.

something pretty happened

outside my apartment

here it is

my BA

*sigh* i'm exhausted by it.

snow on march 29th

...oh chicago

another video of my giant shaggy cat

he doesn't look fat does he? ...my boy is over 20 pounds, but i feel like he's not overweight, just massive...

perhaps he's related to Norwegian forest cats or ragamuffins.

it's been raining all weekend

I have a plan—and this is really going to happen. like, really, no-papers-have-been-signed-yet-but -all-parties-agree, this is happening:

The next four (+) years of my life:

1) graduate

· finish BA thesis

· make sure I have all the credits I need

· get someone to take over the lease on my apartment

2) return to Austin for a bit

· live with parents (only two months)

· look at/buy condo? --> if so find a renter until I return (I could be a landlord… that that would go down so interestingly with my soon-to-be Chinese contacts)

· Look at/buy furniture and other stuff for life in Austin? (discount mattress store)

· Teach Marissa Chinese!?! (hope!)

3) go to China for a year!

· teach English/exist as a westerner: "Act as a living resource for everyone at your school" (talk about no alienation from my labor)

· meet people and have fun (talk to law firms in Shenzhen?)

· (maybe make it back to the states for cuz’s (not-yet-declared-but-looking-like) wedding)

4) return to Austin for law school (and I would assume/(hope(?)) longer)

· do fabulously and have a 4.0 GPA

· study hard for three years while being the most fun, successful, fashionable, and all around rockin’ student in Austin. with my kitty-girl back, and access to parent’s washer and dryer, pool, TV, and occasionally food and liquor (but NO living with the rents)

· find a high paying job that I enjoy- and maybe a boyfriend

and I am content. No. I am pleased... Warm fuzzy smiles, pleased.

real snow

...it's been pretty constant all day

weather

yesterday: wet but not too cold... after all the rain, the snow was completely melted for the first time in a while... and at least one group of flowers popped up.


today: brutally cold with grainy sideways-blowing snow flecks.

look at the fuzzy things!

this is my squirrel friend,




and this is my kitty friend

music people should listen to:

thought i'd take a few minutes to benefit humanity by making known some of music i've been listening to lately. after all, i have the best taste in the world...

starting now

lai bu ji

far far

i recently fell in love with the new sound

...it was much harder to find a downloadable version than i expected. of course i was eventually successful.

more news

didn't get into Georgetown, am wait-listed for Duke. -It seems doubtful to me that I'll get a place at Duke, but, oh well, not the end of the world. I only really applied there because they waved the application fee. It's a better school than UT, but would cost about 3x as much. I'm not so sure that it would be a good deal. ...once grandma Dorthy closes her purse my high-flying, i-can-go-to-the-most-expensive-school-no-sweat days will be over. Oh my carefree youth, how quickly she has passed.... that is, if one could call living in apartment where the ceiling leaks, drinking the 4 6-packs for $20 beer, and eating mostly eggs, rice, and tortillas "high-flying." Its my own fault, I just love to shop too much:

Shana Logic

Anthropologie

Plastic Land

Mod Cloth

Pinup Girl

Chick Downtown

...and many, many more. it's not fair, there's just too much beautiful clothing in the world. I should be entitled to it all.

on the walk back from work

so useful!

so this recovery.gov site sure is informative... now i know, in billions, in which of 8 categories stimulus money will be spent! and after learning more i now know into what color floating circle the billions are being divided! i am so totally reassured by this ability to know, down to such detail, what the government is doing to fix the economy. and i'm so pleased that wall street agrees that having the same data presented in three different views builds such confidence.


... seriously, i'm sure the site (and more importantly the plan, of course) will improve. hopefully quickly. i trust you Obama!

i understand protecting the president is important, but can't you do it a bit more quitely?

the large group of police, secret service, and now canine units stationed directly below my bedroom window seem to be having a good time. at any rate they're a noisy bunch.

don't they realize people like to sleep in on saturdays?

--i have no idea who the guy in the illinois jacket is.

Obama update.

mister channel 2 news guy gets denied!

no obama footage for you!

breaking news

the secret service is towing all the cars outside of Obama's place! i have to say, i'd be pretty pissed if my car was towed without any notice. (i know there's no notice, 'cause i live here and i didn't hear anything about all the cars parked on the street getting towed at 2am) dude, there's totally a reason presidents have always lived in gated communities; this 'living among the peeps' thing causes such trouble.

and why did they start towing at 2am? is this supposed to be sneaky or something? do they not want people to know their cars are being towed?

and this morning, of course, there's been a constant stream of people asking the cops, "dude, where's my car???"

i. don't. care.

...there's a message board on the UT-law-accepted-students-site where current students and adviser-types answer questions. knowing i want to teach in china, i asked who i should write to to ask for a deferral for a year. a different prospective student piped in with: *omg! i'm doing to same program! oh how exciting! squeakidy squeak squeak! oh yay! china, eek!* (or something along those lines... i forget the exact wording)

so i reply with: yeah, it sounds pretty exciting. here's my e-mail, if you wanna chat a bit...

and today i get a massive e-mail from her detailing the 16 schools she applied to, how she's already been accepted to berkeley, the u of chicago, vanderbilt, ect. and how it's so hard to decide where she wants to go, and how she graduated last semester and is now interning in d.c. and teaching with kaplan, and blablabla...

...

...

...whatthefuck, bitch, really? ... that's just so. great. for. you.

---------------------------------------------------------------

more enjoyably, found some lovely birds today:
there were hundreds of crows flying around this afternoon. pretty neat.

i was feeling a lot of hate for chicago this afternoon

... not a fan of cold rain.

i'm deciding on the best way to respond to this:

"I love to no you more please tell me about your self.

I have seen and i have liked and now i am falling i want you to get back to me as soon as you have received my message i like you a great deal and i want you to shear the same likeness with me if i can say i am beginning to love the face that i am seing can we be more than friends.

get back at me honey OKIS JD>"

i recently joined a Shenzhen message board, hoping to meet some potential friends and contacts before i arrive in the fall (i'm really doing this thing!... it still seems a little crazy.) i'm surprised that this is the only overt pass so far. i've found that anyone with ties to china tend to be... not particularly subtle. maybe it's a language thing?

despite the fact that JD's comment boils down to the basically the same thing as guys around chicago whistling out their car windows or shouting "hey honey, let me get your number, i wanna know you better!" i still find it a little cute. it's not like i want to meet the guy in person any time soon, but really, "I have seen and i have liked and now i am falling" awwww. isn't that just a tad endearing? besides, his picture wasn't too bad, either.

The snow is gone!

yay for higher temperatures, not so yay for giant puddles, although, there are occasional nice reflections.



i, too, have been affected by the recession. due to giant losses in its endowment, my university cut funding to its Neighborhood Schools Program, so all not-work-study employees are going to have their hours cut to only four a week. i've been working longer than that, but i guess i'll just have to be a wonderful person and call my extra hours volunteer work.

anyways, it's been an exciting couple weeks at the school where i work. we're almost done setting up a brand new computer lab! hope the kids don't rip it apart the first day it opens.

i don't agree with the sentiment, but i can recognize funny

...thanks lolfed.

playful kitty

this is one of goose's and my favorite afternoon traditions.
the light is reflected off my laptop screen, which is on a spinning desk chair.

also, Max Stirner is ... densely confrontational. and if i had known the book was online earlier i could have saved $16.

same goes for Spencer! I really need to check before i buy these books.

squirrels attack hawk/falcon/predatory birdy guy!

two squirrels managed to drive a snacking hawk(?) out of their tree. i didn't get any *great* shots, but it was exciting.





i love the little foot sticking up!





after some consideration, i believe it might be a cooper hawk, but i'm certainly not certain.