Did Blair really say "Holla atcha boy" to Tim Gunn? A fatal error I'm sure.
I'm concerned, deeply, about season 5 of Project Runway. Heidi looks surreal, Tim is delicious, Nina is foxy and fierce as ever, and Michael is simply precious. There are more contestants of color than ever before, and some look really promising.
But let's address the shortcomings lest we forget:
- Where did this season come from? Suddenly there were ads everyday on bravo that there was just a week until the premiere. What? A week? Wasn't it switching to logo? Or something? It seems a little thrown together. Not that I mind that suddenly it is back on the air, I just hope it wasn't rushed and is up to par.
- Blair. Oh my. Let's review: first thing he said to his roommate: "I have a ridiculous obsession with tanning." Then Tim gave him some circumspect feedback and Blair responded with "Holla atcha boy." Really? The kicker, indisputably, was his playboy bunny gone grunge design made of a diaper. The icing on the cake that put it beyond the pale: he named his catastrophe "girlicious" and then... and then! He branded his model with it! He wrote girlicious on her scandalously exposed thigh. I don't know who I am more embarrassed for: the model, the designer who seemed to think it was great, or the entire cohort who was demeaned by his juvenile bravado. Ick.
- Stella gave up! What was that? That's not how this works. Pull it together woman. The point is to be challenged, of course it is hard. Silly.
More ruminations to come. While I wasn't terribly impressed, it was fun to have a crew over to watch together, especially having champagne to toast along with the contestants. At least it gives us an excuse for an impromptu sioree, right?
Last summer Danielle said that family week was always hard for her because she didn't quite believe it was real. It is a week of community that makes it ok that I live so far from so many of my friends. I get so much time to spend with with them planning, working, processing, debriefing, hugging it out, and loving them. Each year it seems like the planning starts earlier, is a little more involved, and brings more wonderful friends my way.
Last year Kelly arrived (sick as a puppy - and as cute as one!) a week early, then Chester and Mere on Wednesday, and everyone else on Thursday. We assembled at my house and decorated our cars on Friday before we hit the road, eating breakfast and catching up before the caravan. Another big crew stayed in Boston Saturday at the end too, I just loved being the launch pad
This year Monica was here for a week in June, Ember's been here for a week and a half and is leaving tomorrow, Kyle comes Monday, Mere Wednesday, and the rest of the crew on Thursday. We'll have seven people holed up in my 700 square feet next week, and that's cozy, and that's just right.
My binder is full with my schedule for the week, all my workshops, notes, staff contacts etc. I have put a ton more time into getting ready for Family Week this year and it has given more time to connect with people I miss terribly. Sometimes I get a bit worn from being the den mother; the laundry, the dish washing, the airport trips, etc. Mostly though...being the person in Boston means getting lots of phone time and face time with people who live three thousand miles away 51 weeks a year. And that is worth all the dish washing and laundry in the world.
This year is going to be different for sure. No Dori, Kelly, Ramzi, Nava, or Jesse. That's quite a hole. But then this year Jamon, Mere, Mon and I are taking 4 days to play in waterfalls and swimming holes in VT, to finish the conversations that we never quite got to in Ptown.
After tonight I have my place to myself for the weekend, a mini solo I asked my friends for, to put me in a better space before an intense week. I am looking forward to a quiet weekend, some non-queerspawn events and mostly low key errands - but there is a small place in my stomach that dreads how quickly the weekend before Family Week has arrived. It means the frenzy is imminent, and once it starts it is over in a flash. And then the people I love fly back to the Bay Area, and another year goes by.
We call it the Family Week hangover - the sadness that hits you when you realize that this isn't the reality that we live in. That we don't live in a world that gives us time and space to explore what it means to make community, to aspire to be better, to feel safe. It is invariably a heartbreaking let down, and I am already dreading that the wonderfulness already starting to to arrive in Boston will all board planes, buses, and boats at the end, and my house will be quiet, and there will be fewer people to hug. In the meantime, I am going to soak up every second of Ember's company, Kyle's visit, and the imminent influx of faces I love that put smiles on mine.
4 days down since I first started packing and I'd say things are off to a pretty good start.
Clothes - check
Shoes - check
Unmentionables - check
Now I'm just down to all the little things I want to take, but don't know where to pack. Boxes...I need more boxes!
Oh yeah - and I'm taking furniture. That one is going to be fun to transport. After all, what are dads and their trailers for if not for moving? That's what I thought.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/7509006.stm
I longed to get the Fujifilm Pivi MP-300 and finally last week in Tokyo I bought it. I wish I bought it earlier because instantly my travel journaling or photo journaling becomes much much easier.
Catchy title isn't it? No they don't produce an orange leather Moleskine, it was just me playing around with colors to decorate my Moleskine. Gfeller leather cover was a gift from friend Kelly, which was painted with black shoe polish, a technique taught by illustrator/artist Steve Light, Faber Castell perfect pencil in orange, a promotional leaflet in the form of typewriter from Orange Airline (a stationery company in Japan), and orange/red brick floor tiles.
It has been less fun to see all those Moleskine exhibitions nowadays, for me. In June I visited Tokyo's Lifestyle show and just last week I visited Tokyo again for the International Stationery show. In both event, Moleskine was elaborately exhibited there. My feeling towards the writing, journaling, drawing culture of the Moleskiners lowered significantly simply because it all became too commercial.
With 20 days until my big move, I guess I should start a countdown. Or maybe even packing. Yes - both are probably good ideas.
Don't worry, I'll be sure to take you all with me :)
First order of business...deciding where to start.
I love the odd one out. Only dead fish go with the flow, right? :D
It's pretty long on July Saturdays. Trust me. :)
The annual fountain is back too, no cliché photos by it today though. ;)
Lovely. ;) This is by the graffiti street behind Waterloo station. Stunning art, go see it!
Summer + love = London. ;)
Dear Mama M,
Since I can't be with you on ur birfday, I'm giving u the next best thing...a birfday lolcat!
Dun worry, Mama M - I would never in a million years divulge on teh intarwebs ur age. Enjoy teh cake - it's calorie free!
xoxo,
M
