March 10, 2008
Panic and the internet: a combination that means not studying enough for my Arabic test
I just spent a panicked few minutes thinking that Dave had missed his connection in Nashville and wasn't going to make it home tonight. But he's on the plane, it should be leaving any time now if it hasn't left already, and he'll be here in a few hours-- provided his car starts after two and a half weeks in long-term parking...
I got a lot of work done during his absence, both reading and cleaning the building. I am still a bit freaked out when I realize that my MA exam is coming up in less than one month and I still have work to do. But next week is Spring Break, and this week, hopefully, I'll be able to keep up my reading pace. I'm going to have to tell my students that their essays aren't getting graded before break, though.
Did you notice we hit that 40-degree mark, which makes New Englanders go crazy and start wearing t-shirts. I've had one student show up to class in shorts, but he new he was pressing his luck. Myself? I bought some new spring-timey shoes:
You almost can't see how dirty my apartment is. I've been on cleaning strike:
Here's one of the snow storms that I had to deal with while Dave was on tour:
But he'll be here soon enough!
(Ugh.. there's something unbearably bluesy downstairs tonight. I don't know what it is, but I hope they don't turn off my water like the drunken hippies from last week.)
Posted by kelseyfrost at 08:13 PM | Comments (0)
February 19, 2008
Office Hours at UMass
As I sit here in my office, awaiting students that never arrive, I thought maybe I'd visit my own blog for a second. I got a little distracted lately by teaching and reading, so I feel I've been kind of neglectful. I did have a pretty crafty winter break, despite teaching a big intensive class at Hampshire College. I've been trying to make use of my 4 hour volunteer shift at Dandie in the Underworld, using their workshop space to make stuff for the shop. The sleep masks and coffee cozies seem to be a big hit still and are easy to make in a short period of time.
Mostly right now I need to read-- my MA exam is now officially scheduled for the first week in April, so I have a big stack of medieval Spanish texts to get through before then, and then organize my thoughts about them. It's hardest not knowing what I'll be asked about. Well, I'm getting work done, not as quickly as I hoped, but I think I'll finish in time.
I hope to be more productive maybe while Dave is away. He can be kind of distracting, since I like hanging out with him as much as possible. He leaves for a wedding in Seattle this weekend, then Winterpills will be on tour with Kris Delmhorst after that, starting in LA and ending up in Seattle again on March 9. I'm hoping they have a fun tour and I have a not fun, reading-filled non-tour.
Wow, what a boring post-- here, go listen to "Beesting", one of their new songs that I'm completely smitten with. That should be more fun! And I can get back to reading.
Posted by kelseyfrost at 02:48 PM | Comments (0)
Office Hours at UMass
As I sit here in my office, awaiting students that never arrive, I thought maybe I'd visit my own blog for a second. I got a little distracted lately by teaching and reading, so I feel I've been kind of neglectful. I did have a pretty crafty winter break, despite teaching a big intensive class at Hampshire College. I've been trying to make use of my 4 hour volunteer shift at Dandie in the Underworld, using their workshop space to make stuff for the shop. The sleep masks and coffee cozies seem to be a big hit still and are easy to make in a short period of time.
Mostly right now I need to read-- my MA exam is now officially scheduled for the first week in April, so I have a big stack of medieval Spanish texts to get through before then, and then organize my thoughts about them. It's hardest not knowing what I'll be asked about. Well, I'm getting work done, not as quickly as I hoped, but I think I'll finish in time.
I hope to be more productive maybe while Dave is away. He can be kind of distracting, since I like hanging out with him as much as possible. He leaves for a wedding in Seattle this weekend, then Winterpills will be on tour with Kris Delmhorst after that, starting in LA and ending up in Seattle again on March 9. I'm hoping they have a fun tour and I have a not fun, reading-filled non-tour.
Wow, what a boring post-- here, go listen to "Beesting", one of their new songs that I'm completely smitten with. That should be more fun! And I can get back to reading.
Posted by kelseyfrost at 02:48 PM | Comments (0)
January 02, 2008
Meet The Professor:
He was a Christmas present from our friend Scott Alden, who has committed himself to a one-man 24-hour drawing fest he calls Scribblethon, this Saturday (12/5). He will be drawing at a number of places all over Northampton and has put a lot of work into this project, which he hopes will help him in his dream of spending one year concentrating on his artistic endeavors. He already gave up his apartment and his job, I think he's serious! We've pledged him $1 per hour, and plan to hunt him down at one of his drawing spots, or at least end up at the big rock show that will mark the end of Scribblethon, at the Eleven's Saturday night.
For more details on Scribblethon, check out Kelsey Flynn's interview with Scott.
Posted by kelseyfrost at 10:05 AM | Comments (0)
May 09, 2007
Socializing for the anti-social? I definitely am sort of anti-social...
My sister finally convinced me to sign up for MySpace last night, while Spanish for Hitchhiking practice robbed us of our significant others. I feel a little weird, sitting on the internet and asking my friends to be friends with me... I think I'm up to six now. Of course, two of them are Brian.
I'm trying to get Dave to join me there, but does this look like a man who needs internet friends?
Posted by kelseyfrost at 01:57 PM | Comments (0)
April 14, 2007
I can carry lots of things.
Now that I have a camera again (It broke. It was replaced by Best Buy.), I can tell you about my *other* new bag. Kristen made me a beautiful purse that I love and use every single day. See?
It's just what I was hoping it would be when she first told me there was a bag for me. It's the perfect size, I love the colors, and it has pink lining:
I am one lucky girl.
Posted by kelseyfrost at 12:16 AM | Comments (0)
April 12, 2007
When Dave and I first met, he gave me a copy of "Breakfast of Champions."
My senior year at Smith was the year when Kurt Vonnegut came to campus as a visiting professor of creative writing. I was taking a Comparative Literature class on "The Postmodern Novel" in which we read Slaughterhouse-Five and the author came to speak to our class one day. He was gruff and a bit grumpy and we were all very shy about asking him anything. One young woman, who studied Italian, asked him if the name "Tralfamador" came from some Italian word meaning (I don't remember what) and symbolizing (some such other thing). He responded (in a way that would make you not want to question him on the subject again): "THE ONLY SYMBOL IN THE NOVEL IS THE COLUMN OF FLAME AT THE BOMBING OF DRESDEN."
He then went on to tell us the story of how he came up with the name "Tralfamador." He said that when he was a small boy, growing up in Indiana, his older siblings would go outside at night, look up at the sky, and try to point out all the constellations. He didn't know any constellations and felt left out and so, one night, he pointed straight up at some stars and proclaimed: "That one's Tralfamador!"
(Photo from the NY Times obituary)
Posted by kelseyfrost at 08:30 PM | Comments (0)
March 20, 2007
What do "Papa" and I have in common?
A few weeks ago I said to Dave, "I need a new bag to use for school. I want something that's like a big tote bag, but is a little bit padded, for my laptop, and that has some little pockets on the inside. I just can't find anything like it."
The next day, I happened upon Nanda and their lapsac. Guess what? It's a big tote bag, that's a little bit padded, and has a big side pocket for a laptop, and little pockets on the inside. Perfect!
It was a little bit more expensive than I wanted, but I ordered it and it has been exactly the right bag for grad school. It can even handle my longest days, with the biggest combinations of books. Once in a while I get nervous that the straps won't be secure enough for a really heavy load, but so far, so good.
The next purchase from that site will obviously have to be clocky.
Posted by kelseyfrost at 01:21 PM | Comments (0)
February 22, 2007
Regarding comments
I don't know if you'd noticed, but I had to change the way I accept comments to my blog posts because I got so very many ridiculous spam comments on old entries. So, in hopes of avoiding that, I've made it so only "authenticated" users can comment on posts. If you have a Typekey account, or feel like registering for one, then you can leave comments. This way I won't have to go through and delete all the trash that gets posted every day.
If I sound a little melancholy, it's only because tonight is the last episode of the O.C. It's been hilarious all season long, as they wind it down in ridiculous ways. I mean, seriously, we've seen elaborate dream sequences shared by two people, cage matches, and- most recently -a huge earthquake in which every character was crushed by something huge-- four of them by lamp posts! I am looking forward to seeing the big finish and we plan to have an O.C. themed party. Any suggestions of O.C. related foods will be greatly appreciated, as Eliza can only come up with things like orange candy and olives and cheese. And I could only come up with booze in flasks. And cupcakes, because I feel like it.
Look! We're not the only ones who are sad to see it go!
Posted by kelseyfrost at 10:13 AM | Comments (0)
February 10, 2007
Sunrise in Northampton
Every morning Dave and I have to wake up by seven in the morning in order to unlock the building we live in. I don't know if it was just the first time I happened to look out towards the windows at the end of our hall, or just the first time the sunrise happened at this exact time in the morning, but I was impressed enough to stay awake and take a couple of pictures.
Posted by kelseyfrost at 04:18 PM | Comments (0)
February 08, 2007
At least it's the beginning of the semester and not the end.
I came down with a pretty harsh cold this week, and I choose to blame the Super Bowl. Dave and I had several friends over to eat quesadillas and *not* watch the football that was being played on the television. This was mostly because 2-year old Elliott was too distracting and also kept turning the TV off. So I have been in a fog for most of this week and am still feeling crappy tonight. I also think this means I won't be able to go to Maine and celebrate Lauren's birthday with her, since I have way too much reading to do.
I still have to post pictures of my new Sew-U pants, the scarves I crocheted (!!!), and the weird crap I made when I became addicted to needle felting. Oh my! Who would have thought I would have such a crafty winter. I also made three mittens and a fingerless glove... where does that leave anyone? This will all get posted once I find the cable for my camera...
Posted by kelseyfrost at 07:43 PM | Comments (0)
January 01, 2007
Happy New Year!
This was year two of a last minute New Year's plan that worked out perfectly. We had drinks and dinner at our place with a few friends, and then rang in the New Year at the Del Raye with more drinks and a few more friends. I hope everyone else had a great time last night!
Posted by kelseyfrost at 12:07 PM | Comments (1)
December 30, 2006
The new tattoo.
On the day I handed in my final paper of the semester, I went to the Living Art Studio (their website is down) and got my long-awaited tattoo from Coleman. It was a great experience and I will definitely go back to him when I get my next tattoo urge. It took about an hour and a half and wasn't so painful, really. Dave came with me and dozed in a chair next to me. Apparently it's not that exciting a process to watch.
Brian requested that I post a scabby, flakey picture of the tattoo, but I thought I'd wait a bit. It's not totally healed yet, but it's getting there. I think it needs a bit of a touch up in some of the solid black areas, but I'll have to wait and see.
Posted by kelseyfrost at 03:00 PM | Comments (0)
December 16, 2006
Second coffee of the week.
I have one, much shorter, paper to write by Wednesday. It needs to be 12 to 15 pages, and I have about four or five. And I have a pretty good sense of the direction I'm taking with it, so I am somewhat hopefull that I might be at the point of revising it by Monday morning. We'll see! Not having to attend or teach classes really makes all the difference in the world with this kind of work. Unfortunately, this paper is in Spanish, so I'm on my own with the editing, unless I find someone from UMass who's not that busy... which is very unlikely. Regardless, by Wednesday I'll be finished with all my work for the semester and will have a little break before Hampshire January Term starts up.
I seem to have decided to celebrate this by making an appointment on Wednesday afternoon for that long-awaited tattoo... Its been five years since my first one, so I'm a little nervous. Do you think I've prepped myself for the pain by taking up leg-waxing this year?
I'm not there yet, though. I need to go spend a couple of hours in the Smith Library before taking a break to attend my first (sorry I missed yours, Dave and Jen) holiday party of the season! (Hence the coffee.)
Posted by kelseyfrost at 03:44 PM | Comments (0)
December 11, 2006
Jittery and scholarly, that's what I am.
I am getting dangerously close to finishing the semester, which is a prospect that, in the last week or so, has turned from terrifying to fantastic. I will hand in my first of two final papers tomorrow-- and am now waiting for my fourth draft of it to print out so I can continue trying to put everything in an order that works. Since I was in class until 6:30 tonight, I'm having my first coffee in several months in hopes of being awake enough to get it all done before tomorrow morning. One of the most exciting things about this paper is that it's in English, for a change, and so Dave has been able to help me edit it. My next one's in Spanish, though, so I'll be on my own.
Our new apartment is still great, although the responsibility required to live here has made it slightly more complicated to get away for the holidays. I'm pretty sure we've got it all squared away, though, with friends volunteering to come stay here and handle our duties as "Resident Managers." Especially exciting is that Clem has officially discovered that what is outside the apartment is not nature but hallway. He can't comprehend that it's not his hallway, so he frequently runs out the door when we open it up and gets a full head of steam going so he can propell himself down the hall towards the fire escape as quickly as possible. When he reaches his goal, he stops and turns around and just looks at us, to make sure we know that he has beaten us once again. Rosa is a little more freaked out by the hallway. She slowly crouches her way out and then she and Clem circle each other like they've never met before. At this point, she retreats back to the apartment.
Okay, my paper must be printed by now.... time to read it again.
Posted by kelseyfrost at 08:33 PM | Comments (0)
November 15, 2006
I have no title.
Now mostly without boxes, I can't for the life of me think of anything to write here. There's no show at the Iron Horse tonight, but there do seem to be many old-timey street musicians right in front of my building... And I also understand that it's moshi moshi's three year anniversary. Congratulations, Sam! Forgive me if I've already posted this here... I can't remember. Sam singing, courtesy of sighclub:
Posted by kelseyfrost at 05:39 PM | Comments (0)
October 25, 2006
Hi!
I live in the library now. Well, the library and boxes around the apartment. Dave and I move next Tuesday, a.k.a. Halloween, and we are a strange mix of packed and not packed. Not packed enough that it really seems possible to move in less than a week, but enough that I have trouble thinking of what to pack next.
Moving makes it kind of hard to study as much as a should right now, since I am trying to keep my books out of the house for the most part. That's how I end up spending lots of time in the scary, tall UMass library, where I've been loaned a tiny, windowless room on the 22nd floor. So, even though I'm midway through the semester and need to spend time figuring out my final paper topics, along with the rest of the reading and writing required of me, I tend to spend a couple extra hours in the library after I finish each day, and then go home, where I don't touch any books except to put them in boxes.
Exciting things about this move include:
+ It's right downtown, and very close to the bus stop- something I think about every time I take the bus to or from UMass these days.
+ In exchange for a small amount of cleaning and upkeep of public spaces in the office building we live in, we get a ridiculously good deal on rent and utilities.
+ The kitchen has laundry hookups, so we bought laundry machines! I am so looking forward to not having to think about the laundromat anymore. (Which one will be less crowded? Where will I be able to sit and read? Or do I want beer and laundry?)
+ Soon the move will be over and we'll be going to see the Decemberists!
Posted by kelseyfrost at 09:22 AM | Comments (1)
September 29, 2006
I am a bad blogger.
How long has it been? Quite a while, I believe. It took some time to get my schedule sorted out this semester and, in the end, I'm happy with it. I end up being at UMass pretty much all day, Monday through Friday, but my work load should be more or less manageable. I have lots of reading to do at any given moment, but I will only have two (rather than three) giant papers to write at the end of the semester. I've also begun taking Arabic, which is cool but hard. Aside from the alphabet being really complicated to write (for me), the pronunciation is really hard. So far, we're nearing the end of the alphabet and learning a few words and expressions. It's kind of overwhelming. I found Hebrew to be much easier, but Arabic is more relevant to what I am studying.
The bigger news is that we're moving to a new apartment right downtown. This is mostly exciting because it's a fantastic deal and I think we can stay there for a while. Plus it's very close to the bus stop, which will be nice for me in snowy, cold weather. We're moving November 1st, so we suddenly have to start packing- which is kind of scary to think about with all my school work. Another fun tidbit about our move: it mostly seems to involve shuffling drummers from one place to another.
Posted by kelseyfrost at 12:21 PM | Comments (0)
August 23, 2006
Well rested
When Dave and I first moved in together, a friend of his sister's was getting rid of an old king size mattress and box spring, which we took off their hands. It lived on the floor of our Florence apartment, and eventually we got a bed frame and head board from West Elm.
Now, it's been about five years and the mattress was really old and uncomfortable. But, it turns out king size mattresses are really, really expensive. Did you know that? They sure are. We started thinking about options this summer, when Dave was sleeping less and less well. But everything was way, way out of our price range. The only mattresses that were affordable were the Ikea options. So this weekend we stopped in New Haven and checked them out.
Having heard that foam mattresses were comfortable, that's what we were looking for. We tried out several options, and ended up deciding on the Sultan Forestad. And they had a king in stock!
So, after a very nervewracking drive up 95 from New Haven with a rolled-up king size mattress strapped to the roof of the Prizm, we now have an incredibly comfortable mattress and have never slept better.
Posted by kelseyfrost at 07:27 PM | Comments (4)
July 31, 2006
The Ridge
I'd been meaning to post something about our weekend at Falcon Ridge, but I think DG's movie sums it up pretty well:
Posted by kelseyfrost at 07:31 AM | Comments (0)
July 20, 2006
The week winds down.
I decided to skip Falcon Ridge for tonight, so Dave has the option of staying up there if he's tired, and so Eliza can get a ride back with him and not have to drive by herself (with drums, the car fits only one passenger...). But tomorrow we're going to head back to NY and spend a couple of nights there while Winterpills do more band things. And this way I won't be too groggy in my class tomorrow- in our new, air conditioned room!
I'm a little distracted from lesson planning, though, because I have a wardrobe problem. Remember my everyday green skirt? No? Of course not. It's a cute, green, jersey skirt that I wear at least twice a week. I can't find it! Did it get left at the laundromat? Is it just somewhere in my disgustingly messy house? Did I leave it somewhere when we went away for the weekend? I just don't know, but I feel like I'm running out of summer clothing options all of a sudden! I hope it turns up soon, or I don't know what might happen. I might have to go reclaim some of of the clothes that have been purloined by my lovely sister.
Posted by kelseyfrost at 03:32 PM | Comments (1)
July 19, 2006
Vacation is officially over.
My summer class began this week. I currently have 16 students in this elementary Spanish class, all of whom seem very nice. The heat has made it nearly impossible to get through the hour and a half class period in a very stuffy room. The students are all fanning themselves and sweating the whole time, so I requested a change to someplace air conditioned, which I hope works out before too long!
I'm trying to figure out if I will go with Dave tomorrow night to see Winterpills at the Falcon Ridge Folk Festival. It would be a late night and I didn't get it together to have someone substitute my class for me. I'm not sure if I want to be out until 2:00 AM before teaching at 9:30, and Dave might stay in a hotel if I don't go... so I think I'm probably going to skip it. It would be fun to see, though. I missed their show at the Green River festival last week, but hopefully I can make it to the SoNo festival in August. All these festivals! It sounds like such a stupid word after typing it so many times.
Posted by kelseyfrost at 08:50 PM | Comments (0)
July 07, 2006
A visit to the farmer's market tomorrow, and I think I will be a full-on hippy.
Dave and I saw An Inconvenient Truth at the Academy of Music on Wednesday night. It was a really great film and, though it was sort of scary to see how close we are to totally screwing the environment, we left the theater feeling like there was still hope that we can fix some of the damage we've done. The Center for Ecological Technology was sort of hosting the film and had lots of information on how to save energy and reduce your carbon dioxide emissions, including how to sign up for green energy from your electric company. I signed us up yesterday morning, since I figured out it would cost about another $7 a month to do so. Not bad, eh?
Posted by kelseyfrost at 11:25 AM | Comments (1)
June 26, 2006
Hours of entertainment
Now this is a stupid squirrel.
Posted by kelseyfrost at 12:49 PM | Comments (0)
June 19, 2006
Solved.
Not Martha has helped solve a couple of mysteries for me. Namely, why did I start receiving issues of Redbook and emails from Intermezzo magazine?
Also solved (after several days): the clogged bathtub. Apparently, the handyman came and tried to fix the toilet this weekend... which is also what got fixed the first time our heat stopped working...
Posted by kelseyfrost at 02:27 PM | Comments (0)
May 31, 2006
All this was followed by the 10 AM matinee- several hours later, of course.
Last night at about 2:00 AM (I'm guessing), an SUV somehow rolled over and smashed into a tree right outside our house- closer, actually, than I thought at the time, I now realize. Just as we were about to call the police, our upstairs neighbors ran outside to make sure everything was alright and, remarkably, it was- the guy was out of his car and apparently fine. He kept saying he was really nervous, and then the police came. There were flashing lights and loud trucks out there for about an hour and a half, during which time I couldn't get back to sleep- partly because it totally freaked me out. Especially when the guy's girlfriend showed up and began screaming and crying. He must not have been drunk, since the cops just let him go home and were really nice to him at the end of it all. This morning there were huge skid marks through the lawn of the Smith Campus School next door, leading right up to the tree.
Anyway, I'm glad the fellow is alright and I really hope to not see many more accidents here, this being the second I've seen in less than a year. Our old neighbors kind of indicated that this happens fairly frequently.
Posted by kelseyfrost at 03:48 PM | Comments (0)
May 26, 2006
The Moshi neighborhood's going to get even better.
We already spend far too much time at Moshi Moshi and The Toasted Owl (cheap burgers and baseball games...), but when the owners of The Moan and Dove open their new bar where Silk Road was, we'll be in big trouble. (Flora, it's not going to be called "The Bitch and Moan"- although that would be great -it's "The Dirty Truth," apparently.) I've always loved the Moan and Dove and really felt that it ended up in the wrong town.
Posted by kelseyfrost at 09:45 AM | Comments (0)
As you can see, my internet time has increased somewhat with vacation...
I think my apartment building is currently having some landscaping done... altough I'm trying to picture any kind of lawn out there... no, we just don't really have enough lawn to require so large a lawnmower.
The landlord does care about appearances, certainly, since he's always coming over and throwing things away- like last week, when he took a chair that Dave had moved from the back porch to under a tree. I had to call Dave, who was on his way home, and ask if he could please stop by our landlord's place and reclaim our chair, which apparently looked like trash in some way. (It's a nice, wooden folding chair we got at an antiques store several years ago.) Previously, we've lost a bike rack and two snow shovels.
Anyway, I woke up to the sound of the lawnmower, so I'm now settling into my first cup of coffee. Sorry if it's an uninteresting post. I'm also waiting to see what the day brings me; it's my five-year reunion at Smith, so some friends are in town doing reuniony things. I didn't register for reunion because, well, I live here, and I don't feel nostalgic about classes, so I don't need to take any "Alumnae College" classes. But I do hope to see some of my good friends who are in the area.
You can tell it's reunion- last week, at the Basement show, lots of slightly fancy ladies in their forties kept happening upon this very loud rock show, hoping to hang with it, then eventually going elsewhere. Maybe they'll also make it to the Iron Horse for Winterpills.
Posted by kelseyfrost at 08:57 AM | Comments (0)
May 24, 2006
Settling into the free time
Yesterday, I was feeling a bit under the weather and decided to try and feel better by doing *absolutely nothing all day long* (starting by waking up at 11 AM). I think it worked, since today I felt much improved and started the day off with the 10:00 AM matinee at Pleasant Street Theater. It was Friends with Money, to which I say "eh." You can't be picky about the 10:00 AM matinee- it is what it is. They give you free coffee and popcorn, and that's much of the appeal. The nice thing was that there was no talking today, which in the past I've mentioned is a problem at this theater. Today was just fine, and the movie was followed by moshi, which also helps. John Peter and Elliott were there. Elliott enjoyed his eel avocado rolls and, especially, spilling miso soup down the front of his sweater.
Are you coming to the Winterpills show on Friday? 7 PM at the Iron Horse.
Posted by kelseyfrost at 02:59 PM | Comments (0)
March 28, 2006
I can't think of a title for this post. I'm tired and watching Gilmore Girls.
Charlie's cat has a temporary home with one of Eliza's co-workers, but I think she still needs a permanent place to live. At least she is no longer hanging out by herself in an empty apartment.
Something I will not miss about my next door neighbors: the drunk friends who come visit and don't know which apartment "Mike" lives in. Mike's friends are never quite sure where he lives and tend to try my door first (because it's the closest to the stairs?). One of them just stopped by and drunkenly wanted to use the phone (I didn't let him), which was very disconcerting, since I wasn't sure he would go away.
Luckily, my nice former neighbor was upstairs finishing up the move and called to see if I was okay. Luckily, I tend to keep the door locked when I'm home- especially having talked to Charlie about his roommate's friends, who were the reason he decided to move out.
Posted by kelseyfrost at 09:07 PM | Comments (0)
March 22, 2006
Getting new neighbors
Two of the four apartments in my building will be empty as of April first. Our neighbors upstairs are going to their new house, which is very exciting. Our next door neighbors are just leaving (I hope both of them, and not just the slightly less destructive one), and as a parting gift, we found one of their chairs on fire in the back yard last night. Adventure! It will be a little more boring maybe- we'll have to have our own parties and burn our own furniture, instead of just watching -but I won't have to listen to someone playing the bongos loudly at all hours of the day, so that's something.
Posted by kelseyfrost at 09:18 AM | Comments (0)
March 09, 2006
Funny, huh?
Yesterday, Dave came to pick me up from class and on the way home I said to him: "Is something going on tomorrow? March 9th... that sounds really familiar, like we have plans or something... Doesn't that sound familiar? March 9th? Maybe it's something for school..."
I realized this afternoon: it's the return of the O.C. That's the big, important thing I had going on on March 9th.
Posted by kelseyfrost at 07:16 PM | Comments (0)
February 28, 2006
Counting the days (weeks, months) until my lease ends...
There are some benefits to my current apartment. It's cheap, it's close to town, and (for not much longer) we have very nice neighbors upstairs. The down side is definitely the fact that the heat shuts off on the coldest days of the year, without fail. It went off three times last night and this morning.
Do you know how my landlord "fixes the heat?" He comes in the apartment, puts his hand on the baseboard, affirms that "the pipes are getting warmer" (when, in reality, they're getting colder), and basically talks to me like I don't know anything about the temperature of my apartment. He, on the other hand, who has been here all of thirty seconds, knows all.
In the hour and 1/2 since the landlord left, the heat has come back on, probably becaused I turned the dial on the thermostat, which is how I generally am able to get it back on. I just called over to his place of business to say that he shouldn't bother coming back over, since he would just notice the heat was on and leave again, and his wife said to me, "well, it's because he went over there and fixed it that it's back on." It was said in a really pleasant, "let's fight about this" kind of way, that I love to hear in the morning, especially when it's only 59 degrees in my house. I am never calling them about the heat again. It can only be cold for a few more weeks, right?
Posted by kelseyfrost at 09:29 AM | Comments (0)
February 13, 2006
Sister update
Well, Eliza will be flying to Burlington, VT from Colorado tomorrow. The only catch seems to be that she has left her car in Burlington and needs to get home, but doesn't want to be a one-armed driver. So far, Dave has volunteered to meet her in White River Junction, where her other nice friends will leave her and the car, but Dave needs a second driver so that someone can drive Eliza's car home. During all this time, I will be at school. Hopefully we'll get that girl back to Easthampton tomorrow night! And then abandon her so that we can do some Valentine-like thing.
Posted by kelseyfrost at 05:07 PM | Comments (0)
February 10, 2006
Bad vacation.
My sister called me from Colorado last night, on the first day of her vacation. The poor girl went on her first snowboarding trip of the season, and on the first run of the first day she broke her wrist! Another first: her first broken bone.
She was very sad about the whole thing, obviously, and trying to choose between the opinions of our stepfather (a doctor) on the one hand, and Dave on the other hand, about what combination of Vicodin and alcohol was appropriate for the situation. Oddly, our stepfather's recommendation of two Vicodins and a scotch was up against Dave's proposal of one Vicodin and two beers. I wonder which way she went on that...
Posted by kelseyfrost at 09:20 AM | Comments (2)
February 02, 2006
I will not spoil the OC for you.
But if you watched it, did you notice that the featured band was Rock Kills Kid? Isn't that funny? If you don't know why it's funny, wait until they recap the episode at TWoP and skip to the last page.
Posted by kelseyfrost at 10:28 PM | Comments (0)
January 30, 2006
There's a School for the Dead song in my head now.
So, I guess my short break is over a little sooner than I had planned, since I have to head over to UMass this morning for a couple of meetings, and I have some (fun) reading to do before my class tomorrow evening. While it's comforting to know that I will have some information on the class I'm teaching this spring, I wanted to get in one last day of craftiness and try to make another Betsy Ross skirt for when the warm weather comes. I don't think I'll have quite enough time this afternoon- but maybe I'll give it a shot.
We spent the weekend in New York. I hadn't been in a really long time. We had a nice time with our friends in Queens and then spent Saturday in Manhattan, visiting the MoMA and walking an insane amount. We also tried to visit one of our favorite NYC spots only to find that the proprietor was out.
Luckily, this weekend I managed to finish the novel I started last August, the week before starting at UMass. Now I will be responsible and not pick up another one until summer. Luckily, Dave is reading all sorts of things that I know I can't get into right now. For example, he's been reading War and Peace for the past couple of months.
Posted by kelseyfrost at 10:00 AM | Comments (0)
January 25, 2006
And I knitted, too! So far, my week off is going well.
So, I chose to see the new Woody Allen movie, Match Point, at the 10:00 AM matinee today. I really enjoyed it; it was probably one of the better 10:00 movie choices I've made since I moved to Northampton. Of course, I romanticize the 10:00 AM matinee a lot before I actually attend, and then I get there and I begin to get nervous. Why? Pleasant Street Theater is already kind of chatty; the audience tends to forget that they're out in public and just are relatively loud throughout the whole film. At 10:00 AM, it's even worse. When the old lady three rows behind me went into great detail, in her loudest outdoor voice, about her plan to save money by going into lots and lots of debt, well- I began to despair. When the lady right behind me started talking to herself, I wondered if I could get my money back. I moved a few seats down in order to see past the woman in front of me and hoped for the best. It worked! Everyone was quiet for the whole movie. Two hours later, I walked out into the sunlight and felt weird for the rest of the afternoon (this is also an effect of the 10:00 AM matinee).
Posted by kelseyfrost at 05:55 PM | Comments (0)
January 24, 2006
I sort of remember free time...
So that's it. I finished my last day of teaching at Hampshire today. My class was great- you should have seen their choreographed dance to "Fruta Fresca" by Carlos Vives at the final ceremony. It involved lots of counting in Spanish, to keep time. Very cute and funny. I now have one week off before what promises to be a difficult semester at UMass. My only plans this far include finishing the evaluations for my students, seeing the 10:00 AM matinee at Pleasant St. tomorrow (not sure which film), finishing the novel I've been reading for five months, and maybe a little knitting. Okay, now that sounds like a lot...
Posted by kelseyfrost at 07:31 PM | Comments (0)
January 23, 2006
Very snowy.
This morning it seems like every single school in the Pioneer Valley is closed, except mine and Dave's.
Posted by kelseyfrost at 07:59 AM | Comments (0)
January 17, 2006
Still cold, but not as cold.
Well, our heat seems to be back on and working, although we've been at around 65 degrees since last night. It's cold out, though, so I guess I can't expect it to be easy to get those extra three degrees in there.
Posted by kelseyfrost at 07:08 AM | Comments (3)
January 16, 2006
When our heat went out at 1:00 AM, I had a sudden fear that this was happening to our neighbors, too- we have Henning and Lesa's space heater! (I hope they're not cold.)
Hey, know what's really exciting when you're sick? Well, it's really exciting when your heat stops working on a fricken cold day. My landlord likes to come over and spend three minutes in the apartment, ten in the basement swearing and yelling, and then tell me he knows what's wrong and storm out to the hardware store. He's been here twice now and, while he may think he knows what's broken, he certainly doesn't seem to know how to fix it. Dave tells me we have heat now, and that the handymen had connected our thermostat to the wrong apartment... I'll believe it when it's not 55 degrees in here.
I have six more days teaching at Hampshire. It's been a really great experience thus far and I think has given me some new stuff to think about when I get into next semester at UMass. I'd love to get to do this program again some time.
Other than that, I really want to get it together and get back into the blogging routine, now that things are settling down a bit, and before the semester starts up. I'm going to have a possibly deadly courseload at UMass in the Spring. Everyone I talk to about the courses I've selected seems to think I'm crazy. We'll see if I need to drop one when it comes down to it. See, here's what I've noticed- all the students I've talked to say I'm doing too much and taking too many classes, but they're doing as much as I am or more. Are we all nuts? Well, quite possibly.
Winterpills have some exciting shows coming up, including PA's lounge in Somerville on Friday, Portsmouth, NH in March, and SXSW, among other things. We'll see how many shows I can make it to. I at least hope to get to Somerville and see some folks this weekend.
Posted by kelseyfrost at 02:02 PM | Comments (0)
December 31, 2005
Hi. Remember me?
Wow. It's been a hectic December. Does that go for everyone, or just me? After final papers and cat ilnesses, Dave and I finally ended up in NH on Wednesday and got back yesterday. It was nice to visit with family, but that is a long, long drive. On Tuesday I start teaching intensive Spanish at Hampshire College, which is kind of exciting. I hear the students are really motivated and excited, so that will be a nice change of pace from UMass. Anyway- it's New Year's Eve. What are you doing tonight? I'm going to take a nap in preparation for the festivities.
Posted by kelseyfrost at 06:21 PM | Comments (1)
December 14, 2005
No heat!
No heat! Please come back, heat. I have lots of work to do and the cold makes me want to go lie under the blankets and sleep.
Posted by kelseyfrost at 08:49 PM | Comments (0)
December 13, 2005
Still too busy to blog, but...
I got some granola with my milk delivery this morning, which I promptly mixed in with some yogurt, only to discover that the raisins are frozen from being outside this morning. Very disconcerting.
Posted by kelseyfrost at 08:35 AM | Comments (0)
December 01, 2005
An open letter to The O.C.
Dear The O.C.,
I have a big favor to ask you. You see, next Thursday, Winterpills are playing with Death Vessel at the Iron Horse. Normally, Eliza, Flora, Lauren, and I watch your show together. As you can see, we'll be otherwise occupied. (Not to mention that Dave is totally into the show, too, and will be sad to not see it, but won't admit it.) So, I was hoping you might consider postponing next week's episode, and maybe play it on Saturday or something. I don't think it's an unreasonable request, really. I just wanted to write you today and give you plenty of time to work out the scheduling.
Thanks,
Kelsey
PS- Yes, as a matter of fact I do have something more important I should be doing right now. But the reading just isn't holding my attention.
Posted by kelseyfrost at 04:38 PM | Comments (1)
November 03, 2005
Hey! It's my birthday!
Sure, my iPod died and my printer ran out of ink. Sure, I have two papers to write. Sure, I have a cold and feel kind of crappy. But I still manage to be in a pretty good mood, through it all. Which is remarkable, since I usually feel sort of sad on my birthday. Why am I in a good mood, I wonder? Is it because I learned from my father's example and got the Circuit City replacement plan, so my dead iPod will turn into money to buy a new, better iPod? Is it because Eliza's making me dinner and the O.C. is back on tonight? Is it because I'm wicked excited to read all about new historicism? (Probably not that last one.) I don't know, but it's nice in any case.
Posted by kelseyfrost at 03:31 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBack
October 28, 2005
Apparently Clem and Rosa would like dinner before two, if possible.
Sometimes, moms are really nice. Cats, on the other hand: not nice.
Posted by kelseyfrost at 02:00 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
October 27, 2005
It's way too easy to close tabs when you just want to click on them.
I just wrote a post and lost it. Summary: Winterpills good. I don't have a Halloween costume.
The end.
Posted by kelseyfrost at 08:55 AM | Comments (2) | TrackBack
October 24, 2005
And I can't even successfully print out photos of celebrities, which I was sure I would be good at.
Today was another long day for me- longer than it needed to be. And last night I went to bed and dreamed of (seriously) words on a page. I don't know if I was writing them, or reading them, but it was fucking boring (sorry Kirsten). The cats also decided to punish me at bed time. Clem literally cleared everything off the bedside table so he could sit on it and look at me and meow. He got rid of books, papers, a glass of water, and the alarm clock. Rosa just walked over me and chirped. I woke up in a terrible mood which never really left me today.
Posted by kelseyfrost at 08:02 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
October 14, 2005
Rosa sometimes likes to chew on the corner of the computer screen. She's about to start.
It's one of those mornings where, as soon as I got up, I was thinking about taking a nap when I get home this afternoon. It was a short week, but a very busy one. (As you can probably see from my lack of blogging.)
I also never said anything about the benefit Sunday night. It was really nice. Really beyond description.
Posted by kelseyfrost at 06:33 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
October 12, 2005
Why we did not attend the Moshi Moshi sake social:
Yesterday was Dave's and my second wedding anniversary. We had a really nice evening together with dinner at Circa and Six Feet Under on DVD at home. Here's to many more.
Posted by kelseyfrost at 06:25 AM | Comments (2) | TrackBack
October 09, 2005
Things that are disappointing:
It's really sort of striking, to me, the lack of any mention of a relief effort for the victims of the earthquake in Pakistan. I guess that we can't follow every disaster with a fundraiser of some sort; maybe that would just be too much for the world to handle, or something. But in contrast to the efforts following Hurricane Katrina and the Asian tsunami, it just really stands out to me that none of the usual suspects (for me, Amazon and Apple) have a link where you can donate your $10 to help out the people in Islamabad. I mean, isn't it kind of weird? Maybe we just don't care about earthquakes because they are always this destructive and we need to be really surprised in order to want to help. Or maybe we (Americans) just don't care about Pakistan because it's a Muslim country. Although, I'm pretty sure (without really feeling like checking) that Muslim countries in Asia were affected by the tsunami as well. Maybe we (Americans) just don't care about Pakistan because it's Pakistan. In any case, it seems quite sad to me and it must be really sad to the Pakistanis, if they've seen any news of the relief efforts in other disasters.
Update: I did a little more research, and you can always donate to someplace like UNICEF or International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (although the latter is a little complicated seeming, since it takes three weeks to charge your credit card and convert your money to Swiss francs...).
Posted by kelseyfrost at 08:32 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
October 06, 2005
So, in actuality, after that post I wrote, my Tuesday kind of blew. Today was nice, though.
So, even though the O.C. isn't on this week (thank you, baseball), Eliza came over for dinner. We made ostrich. Weird, eh? We went to the grocery store. We looked at fish, at steak, and settled on ostrich because she had eaten it in South Africa and said it was just like steak, basically. It was good. We just put a little salt and pepper on it; next time, a marinade might be a better choice, but still: very satisfying.
I had a nice day today. One class, some reading at Woodstar, some wine, and now a little relaxing time with Dave. If I'm feeling really rebellious, I might even watch an episode of Six Feet Under!
Posted by kelseyfrost at 09:01 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
September 27, 2005
This one goes out to Jason Nargis, who has been shit on at least twice.
A bird shit on me today as I was walking home from the bus. Has this ever happened to you? It was a first for me. It makes you feel special. And by "special" I mean not good. Plus I was wearing my favorite sweater from Anthropologie. You know, the one I hardly ever get to wear and that I am super careful with. Yep. That one. I was just a minute or so from home when it happened, so I was able to do a little spot treatment with laundry detergent in the bathroom sink. I am sure everything will be fine. But it's just one of those things. I had to come post this because I'm writing a report on a class observation for my teaching methodology class. It's on a class I observed today. If I didn't tell this story here, it would have been too tempting to end my report with, "and then I got shit on by a bird."
As I write this, Clem just tried to curl up inside my messenger bag. Never a dull moment with the little animals of the world.
Posted by kelseyfrost at 04:09 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
September 23, 2005
At least we're not going anywhere this weekend.
I'm getting a cold and I don't have time for it. As a lazy college student, I would just take as much time as I needed to get over a cold. I'd sleep all weekend, and see if I had time to get to my reading. I would miss a class if I wasn't feeling well. I can't really do that anymore. I just tried to sleep for two hours, but only ended up thinking of all the crap I have to do and getting back to work after only a half hour. How long does it take to get over a cold if you don't take a break?
Posted by kelseyfrost at 05:37 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBack
September 21, 2005
New clothes have greatly improved a crappy Wednesday.
I got new Mama shirts today! They're very cute and you should be jealous. Also, did I mention the sale is 50% off? I'm definitely looking forward to checking out the new line when it comes out.
Posted by kelseyfrost at 09:28 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBack
September 01, 2005
Yes, I could just do a little work and look for music listings on line, but I thought I'd just ask you instead.
What's going on in Northampton this weekend? Winterpills and Spanish for Hitchhiking will both be playing in Provincetown and I hope to go with them for the weekend. I think it will work, if I can get out of a couple of orientation workshops Friday afternoon. Is there anything happening in town or are all the bands spending long weekends on the beach? Between Eliza and the people I've met in the Spanish department, I know a few people now who are new to the area and are looking for things to do on the weekends.
Posted by kelseyfrost at 07:51 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
August 29, 2005
Sorry, my coffee is brewing, so this won't be very interesting just yet.
It was a nice weekend with Dave's family. This is Gwendolyn.
Isn't she a cutie? She loves her uncle Dave- well, Dave would say she just likes to be sure where he is, as she makes a series of Dave-related remarks: "Where's Dave?" or "Hi Dave" or "Bye Dave." It's best to know exactly where he is at any given time.
Posted by kelseyfrost at 08:02 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
August 26, 2005
As I once heard someone say, "Te montas en la puta y te bajas en el pueblo."
Dave and I are headed to CT this afternoon to spend a weekend with his sister, brother-in-law, niece, and a couple of cousins we haven't seen in a long time. It's been a month or two (?) since we last saw our little niece, Gwendolyn, so that's always exciting. Plus, we always have a good time with these family members. To get going on this weekend road trip, however, I am taking the bus to somewhere closer to Dave's office. Since the actual bus to Springfield seems to only run in the morning and late afternoon (why?), I'm going to have to take the puta to the Holyoke Mall. Oh, if only I had money to spend! I really want a new pair of jeans...
Posted by kelseyfrost at 10:05 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
August 24, 2005
Maybe there will be other Wednesdays.
I can't believe I forgot the one thing I was really excited to do during my week off! I totally wanted to go to the Wednesday (a.k.a. today) 10:00 AM matinee at the Pleasant Street theater. I've only been to the 10 AM matinee twice in all my years living in Northampton, schedules being what they are, but I enjoyed it both times. Plus you get a free popcorn and soda, or something. I forget. But, anyway, I always hope for Wednesdays off, so I can go.
Rosa's trying to kill me right now. She's starving, apparently.
Posted by kelseyfrost at 01:26 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
I have just about completely wasted my alumna membership at the Smith gym, too. It runs out in October, so I'd better get going.
Since I have this free week, I've been trying to use it to get back into a workout routine. I am not into exercising very often. I can always think of reasons not to go, like the weather, being tired, not enough time... Monday I went for my version of running, which is mostly walking, down by the pond at Smith. It was good. I had my iPod, I ran maybe half the time (okay, maybe I'm being generous here), and I stayed out for about a half hour. This was probably the first time I'd gone out to get exercise in months, what with the weather that's either 95 degrees or raining. I was feeling pretty positive yesterday, because every time I sat down I made an involuntary "my legs hurt!" sound. Progress!
Today, however, I tried something absolutely new for me: I used a pilates DVD in the comfort of my living room (I thought, I don't have to leave my house! This is great!). I'm not sure how I feel about this workout option. My arms definitely hurt from the "sculpting" segment, and my legs were sore, too. But I frequently thought that I was on the verge of doing serious damage to my back, so... not so fun. I think I'm going to stick with my walk/run plan for a while and send the pilates video back to Netflix.
Posted by kelseyfrost at 11:38 AM | Comments (4) | TrackBack
I don't know why Eliza thinks Rosa's the evil one; I guess it could be all the biting.
I've recently decided that I'm sick of receiving emails from Daily Candy. I don't know why. Maybe it's because I don't really spend much time in New York or Boston, these days, so I don't need to know all the fabulous things I could be doing in each of those cities. Maybe it's because their "Everywhere" emails are just about expensive things I could buy and have delivered. At any rate, I think I'm going to unsubscribe now.
It's been a slow morning so far. The cats just rolled out of bed at 10:30 and now Rosa has decided she wants my arm for breakfast. Danger!
Posted by kelseyfrost at 10:27 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
August 23, 2005
Do I need to make a new category for blog posts called "Moshi?"
I had a nice walk into town this morning. I got to do the things that only non-working people have time to do, like go to the post office and buy stamps (I never had stamps while employed). I passed by Moshi Moshi and saw Sam and instantly wanted a yellowtail roll and some miso soup. I may have to go there for lunch one day this week. I think I might have to go back into town this afternoon, just so I can kill the busker who got "Margaritaville" stuck in my head. Oh, sorry, everyone. I bet now it's stuck in your heads, too.
Posted by kelseyfrost at 11:46 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
August 17, 2005
Very hungry
I'd love to cook any and all of the things listed on this page. Especially this one. I'm a little scared of puff pastry, though, even if it's "almost cooking." I should get some guidance from Annie...
I'm always starving by this point in the day and never plan ahead well enough to bring food with me to work. (Well, only two more days to worry about that!) This is how I always end up just thinking about Moshi Moshi and wanting to go there. Mmm...spicy crunchy tuna hand roll- now you all want one, too, don't you?
Posted by kelseyfrost at 04:56 PM | Comments (4) | TrackBack
You know, isn't that always the way?
I just wrote a cover email for a part time job, and then Comcast signed me out before I could send it. I give up!
Posted by kelseyfrost at 03:14 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
August 16, 2005
Hopefully our next couple Netflix movies won't make me so depressed. (Harry Potter and Dave Chapelle; what do you think?)
Hey, you know what's really sad? The documentary about Shane MacGowan. Yeah. One of Dave's co-workers mentioned it to him a few months ago, or else I never would have known about it at all. (Thanks, Scott.) It's hard to watch someone who is such a great songwriter be so totally incoherent and effed up. (That "effed" was for you, Kirsten!)
Posted by kelseyfrost at 09:36 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
August 12, 2005
Maybe I'll look dressed up no matter what I wear because Dave will be wearing a suit. Does it work that way?
I would love it if I had time to hem that skirt before we leave for New Hampshire today... I've spent the morning trying to figure out what to wear to Joel's wedding-of-punishment and have come up with nothing. Let's see, I'm currently wearing my every-day green Old Navy skirt and silver shoes, so what could I add to that (other than the t-shirt from Fred Flare I have on) to look fancy-ish? Here, let's figure it out!
(Well, that's as close as I can find to the actual shoes.) So what else? I have a black velvet tank top that could work, I guess, and be relatively fancy. All my other shirts are decidedly less fancy, come to think of it. I have no nice dresses because they're all from the Spanish underwear store. Yep, it's either finish the red skirt or wear what I've got on. We'll see how it turns out.
Posted by kelseyfrost at 11:36 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
This time it was the gay Thai volleyball movie. Next time: the Spanish crossword puzzle/role playing games movie. Who's in?
Last night we had a couple of friends over to watch the Thai Movie Iron Lady (okay, that's what it says on the DVD cover, but IMDB calls it The Iron Ladies, and the picture on that page distinctly says "Iron Girl," so whatever). It's about a Thai male volleyball team, almost entirely made up of drag queens, that goes on to win the national championship. Apparently it's true, too, although there were a few moments when volleyballs would burst after being hit by one of the players, or when the ball would spin for minutes at a time on the edge of the net, that I hesitate to believe. Seriously, though, this movie was way better than any of us expected it to be. It was really funny- far too long -but funny.
Posted by kelseyfrost at 09:29 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
August 05, 2005
I gave her this one to tide her over until I finish the knitted bikini.
I bought an American flag bikini in Spain a few years ago and have worn it maybe once. The bottoms are kind of scandalous. I was glad that the bikini could get some use when my sister told me she needed to find a flag bikini to wear in the Raymond, NH 4th of July parade. (She's brave, what can I say.) I don't know if she ever actually wore the bikini on the parade float, but here it makes an appearance at a party that weekend:
Note the use of pants instead of the bikini bottoms? Very wise decision.
More photos from Eliza.
Posted by kelseyfrost at 03:27 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
August 04, 2005
He also has a song about a turntable.
When I was in high school, I was a huge Ben Lee fan. In tenth grade, my friend Katrina and I somehow came across a zine called "Someone Loves Me in Ohio," which was made by this cool girl named Jeannette who lived in Columbus (I think). We both ended up writing to Jeannette a couple of times and she sent us more issues of her zine and a mix tape. This was one of the two first, best mix tapes I was ever given (the other came from Jason, who I saw last weekend). It introduced me to Elliott Smith, The Smiths, all kinds of girl punk bands, Liz Phair and, of course, Ben Lee. As a teenage girl, you can't not go crazy for a song that includes the lyrics "in the 7-11 of my soul, you're my red slurpee." We spent that year hatching plans to get Ben Lee to come play at the Elvis Room in Portsmouth, NH. Our best plan was to have a bake sale and sell cupcakes with red cinnamon hearts on them and, in that way, raise money for his flight from Australia (or wherever he was from). I spent lots of time listening to the two Ben Lee records I bought that year (and still the only two I have): Away with the Pixies and Grandpaw Would. Okay, I'll be honest, I have probably made Dave listen to at least part of each of these records at some point in the last year. (Okay, maybe it was last month.) Several weeks ago, Dave and I were walking through one of the antique shops on Market Street when I heard a new Ben Lee song playing on their radio. It was the most boring shit I have ever heard in my life.
Posted by kelseyfrost at 11:48 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
August 03, 2005
Victory #2 over wires
I finally succeeded in setting up the Airport Express in the new apartment today. That machine is a little bitch; I don't know why. Like the wireless router, I had everything working just fine on North St., but South St. was a whole different story. Now, however, we're printing wirelessly again. Hopefully, I'll find the cables I bought this spring in hopes of working out the Airtunes thing, too. But our stereo is currently having issues, so we'll need to sort that out first.
Posted by kelseyfrost at 09:06 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
He really looks like he wants to fight you, doesn't he?
Elliott Honey Savage: fashion icon at seven months.
Posted by kelseyfrost at 08:49 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
August 01, 2005
I barely remember what I did this weekend, and it's not because I went to the Wild Dogs' party next door.
Friday night Dave and I headed to Somerville where Spanish for Hitchhiking had a show at the Kirkland Cafe. It was a nice place. They had fantastic burgers for $4. SFH played well and managed to avoid the disastrous sound problems experienced by the second band (I won't link to them because I didn't like them and don't want them to find out!). The final act of the night were pretty hilarious and pretty good, actually. (Sorry, Anthony and Jason, you missed out by leaving early.)There was a squat fellow in a kilt and a tall fellow in (I seriously hope) a fright wig of some sort. They sort of pick up where Lord Russ and the Aloha Steamtrain left off, playing like they never want to forget the seventies and eighties. Of course, I'm no expert at the type of music they were playing, but I believe they played a lot of covers, which is not so like the Steamtrain. Dave and I opted to return to Northampton that night, rather than stay at a friend's house and go home the next day. We stayed awake with the help of crackly New York AM radio and Jalapeno Pringles. Ouch to both.
Eliza had her first shift at Moshi last night and, by all accounts, it went fairly well. She's there again twice today, before heading back to NH and the farm tomorrow. It's a long commute for her, for these three weeks, but at least she's making the move happen. The next step will be to find her somewhere, other than my couch, to live. If anyone hears of a cheap place, let me know! (Not that I'm trying to get rid of you or anything, Eliza...)
Posted by kelseyfrost at 10:35 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
July 29, 2005
We haven't had a picnic since we lived next to Look Park. I think it's about time.
I got the latest issue of ReadyMade a couple of days ago. I haven't had much time to really read through it yet, but I'm looking forward to checking it out. There seem to be lots of kid-centered projects this time around. Their website still seems to feature stuff from the last issue right now. One of the features that's currently on the site gives recipes for a few different picnic treats. I definitely want to make some Vietnamese summer rolls!
Posted by kelseyfrost at 10:46 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
July 27, 2005
You can see why I need to restrict myself to $5 cable.
When I was studying in Spain I shared an apartment with two American girls and three Spanish girls. Every day at lunch we watched Sabrina the Teenage Witch, dubbed into Spanish, and Nada es para siempre. The latter was a terrible teen drama about, well, terrible teenagers. There was lots of crying and there were creepy boys named Manu. When our semester ended, my roommate and I stayed in Cordoba for another two months and moved to a new apartment. We didn't have a television and so we totally lost track of what was going on with "Long Hair Boy" and "Blonde Girl." At some point a friend loaned us his TV and we watched an episode about a funeral. Apparently Long Hair Boy's whole family (mother, father, bratty Brenda Walsh type sister, little sister, and grandparents) all died in a place crash on their way to America. That's a big chunk of the cast right there. But I guess Blonde Girl and creepy Manu must have lived to keep things interesting. The show was definitely aiming for a 90210 type drama but it felt more like Saved by the Bell.
I tried to watch a couple episodes of Sabrina when I got home, but I could never get used to the actors' real voices. Plus, it really was funnier in Spanish. Or, at least, I think it was.
And, speaking of teen dramas, when does the new season of The O.C. start up again? I'm seriously looking forward to that. (No, seriously.)
Posted by kelseyfrost at 11:52 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
July 25, 2005
Everything begins to come together.
So, the futon is gone. It was picked up yesterday afternoon, a process that went very smoothly. If all goes as planned, Dave will head to New Haven this afternoon for coffee and a couch (and a chair? It's possible.).
So, this weekend, my sister Eliza came to town to look for a job. She's planning to move here mid-August and wants to get some plans sorted out beforehand. It's all going much more smoothly than we imagined, since she got hired on the spot at Moshi Moshi on Saturday night. Not bad! I know she's really looking forward to it, despite the fact that she now has committed herself to driving here every weekend before her move so she can train. It's better than Sam's solution: "John Peter: you have to work more. You can't go on vacation because Eliza is coming on the 18th."
I just hope Sigh Club and TIRH will go easy on her.
Posted by kelseyfrost at 10:37 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
July 22, 2005
The hardest problem I've ever had to solve.
I'm working on filling out an application for a part time job at UMass. It was on a whim. I tried (and failed. Three times) to log in to my new-fangled UMass email and, as I'm having email issues, I decide to apply for a job at the OIT Help Desk. That's funny, right? I don't know; I handle a lot of computer problems at my current job and worked in a semi-computer lab at Smith, so I thought, "why not?" I definitely don't want to lose touch with technology while I spend the next three years analyzing Spanish literature.
So, I'm filling out this application and it asks "Describe the hardest problem you've ever solved. What steps did you use to solve the problem?" "The hardest problem I've ever solved?" Well, isn't that an ambitious question! Should I answer with something about the student in Spain who took off for a weekend without any money and got left behind by her bus in some small Spanish town? She emailed her mom in a panic from a hotel where she intended to sleep in the lobby. Mom called me. No one knew where she was, but I narrowed it down by searching the internet for towns on the coast that were anywhere close to her horrible misspelling of the town she was actually in. Figuring out what to tell the mom as we try to find her daughter and the next course of action when we do find her, penniless and sunburned, was a bit of a problem. But it all sorted itself out just before I had to call the hotel I thought she might be at and ask, "Is there a lost looking American girl there?"
Should I write something more from my own life? Something about planning a wedding (it was kind of hard!)? Or about deciding to go back to school and going through a summer where everything in my life is changing in good and scary ways? No, we're still solving that one. And it's not so much a problem; more of a challenge.