Daily affirmations of a word mercenary
Trip Out Category
I like to go places. Sometimes far (annual expat experience in France) and sometimes near (I bounce up and down the Left Coast several times a year). This is where you can read stories about my travels.
Hiking with two men and a dog
24
Jun
2007
In: Trip Out
2007-06-24 Camping Trip 040
Originally uploaded by Andreas Fetz.
This weekend Dre and I went camping and hiking with my dad and Sassafras. Dre’s posted his pictures, and I’ll be posting mine in little batches over the next few days. Here are my pics so far. Keep watching the set.
The moral of the story: the 8-mile hike that had me limping and gimpy hardly slowed Sassafras down at all! Who knew the little dog had it in her? She scampered up a 3000′ ridge no problem — the only thing that freaked her out was coming back down. She needed a little help with that.
Heading to Los Angeles
29
May
2007
In: Trip Out
While I sit here navel gazing until I become the psychological equivalent of a klein bottle, I would like to inform you that posting may be slight this week because I’m heading to Los Angeles tomorrow night. While there, I intend to mostly talk, smoke, and laze about in the sun with friends not thinking about all the stuff that’s been driving me batty lately* — but I’ll also be doing two readings:
SATURDAY
7:30pm Offbeat Bride reading and drunken farewell to my book tour
@ Tangier Lounge, more info here
SUNDAY
8pm LA Angst reading (like the Salon of Shame, but with more sun!)
@ The Liquid Kitty, more info here
*Sample discussion re: me being batty:
Me: Whine whine whine!
Andreas: Uh, we should all be so lucky to have those problems, Ariel. These are problems of abundance.
Me: … DOES THAT MAKE THEM NOT PROBLEMS!? [returns to sullenly sipping Cristal by the infinity pool]
I owe y’all a summary of my time on the East Coast. There’s a lot to tell, so prepare yourselves.
- 5 Comments
- Tags: book tour, nyc, publicity
I’m weirdly earthquake sensitive, known for waking up in the middle of the night feeling the bed shake and thinking “This is it!” only to realize that “it” was just Andreas violently rolling over on his side of the bed. When the Nisqually earthquake happened in 2001, I had no delay of wondering what was happening. Of course it was an earthquake. Me and the shifting plates, we’re totally close.
That said, I had to stifle my tectonic reflexes while visiting New York. Because when you feel the ground shaking beneath you there — it’s not an earthquake. Just a train.
PS: I’m home and I’ll write more about my trip soon. I’m cracked out from over-stimulation, and it’s gonna take me a couple days to come down.
Seeing what sticks
5
Mar
2007
In: Trip Out
It’s always the blogger’s balance, trying to figure out what to reveal and what to withhold. Do you really need to know how about I danced so hard on Saturday night that the balls of my feet are still aching and tingling 48 hours later? Do you need to know what it was like to tell a friend I hadn’t seen in 10 years about who’d died since we’d last spoken? Do you care about my mad dashes through Manhattan trying to catch a bus called the Dragon Express? Can I tell you about how, as much as I love the Very Serious electronic dance music, there ain’t nuthin’ like a little pop and R&B to get me to make me sweat myself into a slick disco-ball mess? I want to tell you about asymmetrical blond bowl cuts and people who ask “Do you know who I am?” and actually seem to mean it.
The geeks might be amused by the fact that I’m realizing that as much as I love looking at my pretty Apple laptop, I’m 10 times faster at actually getting shit done with a PC laptop. Should I muse about productivity tips right now? Can I tell you all the back-stories about the people I saw on Saturday night — how one of them was the first ecstasy dealer I ever met and another one has a 10-years-younger adorable boyfriend and another just relocated from Los Angeles, and another was there the night Andreas and I first met, and yet another had read this blog since I was living in Olympia in 2001. I want to tell you about making the little veils, and I want to tell you about guys from Pittsburg who call me buddy and say shit like “Buddy, I don’t even READ and I liked that shit. Damn.”
I want to tell you stories until you’re drowning in them like you’ve fallen into an industrial vat of waffle mix, gasping for air under the creamy whirlpools of tangents and anecdotes and asides and apostrophes. I want you to be so full of stories that the words are simmering out your pores like garlic, and everywhere you go people sniff and think, “Hmm, stories” and aren’t sure if they like it or are sort of repulsed. I want you loudly flatulating atonal stories and sighing with relief as you smile apologetically at your spouse and explain, “Too many stories.” Sometimes I think the world is my wall, and the stories are wads at spaghetti I toss at it to see what sticks.
Synchronicity
28
Feb
2007
In: Trip Out
I love that I arrived in New York and almost immediately stumbled across a copy of New York Magazine from a couple weeks ago, which included this article: Kids, the Internet, and the End of Privacy: The Greatest Generation Gap Since Rock and Roll. This article exactly, perfectly fits into a project I’m stewing on, and the fact that I just randomly picked up the magazine and saw it is a delicious fantastical piece of fortuitousness. It sort of made my brain feel like an unfolding origami crane.
Also, it’s just a really well-written article. You should go read it, while I sit here trying to adapt to the three-hour time difference.
Hiking with two men and a dog
24 Jun 2007 In: Trip Out2007-06-24 Camping Trip 040
Originally uploaded by Andreas Fetz.
This weekend Dre and I went camping and hiking with my dad and Sassafras. Dre’s posted his pictures, and I’ll be posting mine in little batches over the next few days. Here are my pics so far. Keep watching the set.
The moral of the story: the 8-mile hike that had me limping and gimpy hardly slowed Sassafras down at all! Who knew the little dog had it in her? She scampered up a 3000′ ridge no problem — the only thing that freaked her out was coming back down. She needed a little help with that.
Heading to Los Angeles
29 May 2007 In: Trip OutWhile I sit here navel gazing until I become the psychological equivalent of a klein bottle, I would like to inform you that posting may be slight this week because I’m heading to Los Angeles tomorrow night. While there, I intend to mostly talk, smoke, and laze about in the sun with friends not thinking about all the stuff that’s been driving me batty lately* — but I’ll also be doing two readings:
SATURDAY
7:30pm Offbeat Bride reading and drunken farewell to my book tour
@ Tangier Lounge, more info here
SUNDAY
8pm LA Angst reading (like the Salon of Shame, but with more sun!)
@ The Liquid Kitty, more info here
*Sample discussion re: me being batty:
Me: Whine whine whine!
Andreas: Uh, we should all be so lucky to have those problems, Ariel. These are problems of abundance.
Me: … DOES THAT MAKE THEM NOT PROBLEMS!? [returns to sullenly sipping Cristal by the infinity pool]
I owe y’all a summary of my time on the East Coast. There’s a lot to tell, so prepare yourselves.
- 5 Comments
- Tags: book tour, nyc, publicity
I’m weirdly earthquake sensitive, known for waking up in the middle of the night feeling the bed shake and thinking “This is it!” only to realize that “it” was just Andreas violently rolling over on his side of the bed. When the Nisqually earthquake happened in 2001, I had no delay of wondering what was happening. Of course it was an earthquake. Me and the shifting plates, we’re totally close.
That said, I had to stifle my tectonic reflexes while visiting New York. Because when you feel the ground shaking beneath you there — it’s not an earthquake. Just a train.
PS: I’m home and I’ll write more about my trip soon. I’m cracked out from over-stimulation, and it’s gonna take me a couple days to come down.
Seeing what sticks
5 Mar 2007 In: Trip OutIt’s always the blogger’s balance, trying to figure out what to reveal and what to withhold. Do you really need to know how about I danced so hard on Saturday night that the balls of my feet are still aching and tingling 48 hours later? Do you need to know what it was like to tell a friend I hadn’t seen in 10 years about who’d died since we’d last spoken? Do you care about my mad dashes through Manhattan trying to catch a bus called the Dragon Express? Can I tell you about how, as much as I love the Very Serious electronic dance music, there ain’t nuthin’ like a little pop and R&B to get me to make me sweat myself into a slick disco-ball mess? I want to tell you about asymmetrical blond bowl cuts and people who ask “Do you know who I am?” and actually seem to mean it.
The geeks might be amused by the fact that I’m realizing that as much as I love looking at my pretty Apple laptop, I’m 10 times faster at actually getting shit done with a PC laptop. Should I muse about productivity tips right now? Can I tell you all the back-stories about the people I saw on Saturday night — how one of them was the first ecstasy dealer I ever met and another one has a 10-years-younger adorable boyfriend and another just relocated from Los Angeles, and another was there the night Andreas and I first met, and yet another had read this blog since I was living in Olympia in 2001. I want to tell you about making the little veils, and I want to tell you about guys from Pittsburg who call me buddy and say shit like “Buddy, I don’t even READ and I liked that shit. Damn.”
I want to tell you stories until you’re drowning in them like you’ve fallen into an industrial vat of waffle mix, gasping for air under the creamy whirlpools of tangents and anecdotes and asides and apostrophes. I want you to be so full of stories that the words are simmering out your pores like garlic, and everywhere you go people sniff and think, “Hmm, stories” and aren’t sure if they like it or are sort of repulsed. I want you loudly flatulating atonal stories and sighing with relief as you smile apologetically at your spouse and explain, “Too many stories.” Sometimes I think the world is my wall, and the stories are wads at spaghetti I toss at it to see what sticks.
Synchronicity
28 Feb 2007 In: Trip OutI love that I arrived in New York and almost immediately stumbled across a copy of New York Magazine from a couple weeks ago, which included this article: Kids, the Internet, and the End of Privacy: The Greatest Generation Gap Since Rock and Roll. This article exactly, perfectly fits into a project I’m stewing on, and the fact that I just randomly picked up the magazine and saw it is a delicious fantastical piece of fortuitousness. It sort of made my brain feel like an unfolding origami crane.
Also, it’s just a really well-written article. You should go read it, while I sit here trying to adapt to the three-hour time difference.
Hey there. I'm Ariel Meadow Stallings, a native Seattleite who's written my way up and down the Left Coast. Electrolicious is where I post daily randomata, but I also write for a living. My first book, Offbeat Bride, was published last year.
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