released.

Today is busy - a state I knew about prior to walking in the door this morning. I was so aware of this that I had nightmares about work. These nightmares involved me conducting a meeting in which I made a foreign old woman cry because I had forgotten to correctly verify her existing front room. AGH! Scary I know!

Now, back to work....

Today I love my job - not for any particular reason other than I love it.

My diet for the last couple of days has been mainly:

toast, soup, coffee, tea, coffee.

I feel amazingly good as a result. I name this the 'South Suburban Diet.' I don't know about the weight loss effects - but it is quite energizing.

Philip Johnson died today at the age of 98.

The world of Architecture and design shall miss him.

"I like the thought that what we are to do on this earth is embellish it for its greater beauty," he said, "so that oncoming generations can look back to the shapes we leave here and get the same thrill that I get in looking back at theirs -- at the Parthenon, at Chartres Cathedral." - PJ

I have talked about Annie Mac before - but I have to again. This girl rocks. She plays the new hip hot music that she finds from all over. Often this suff is tough to get a hold of since some of the releases are only available on vinyl - but it's hott!

Simian Mobile Disco - The Count (Kitsune label) is one I just heard on Annie's show that is full of the blips and bleeps that I have come accustomed to loving.

I find it funny when I look back at the musical journey I have taken in my life in regards to current tastes as well as past ones. I started, as most people do, forced to play the recorder mirgating to the clarinet, saxophone and ending with the guitar. I remember when during high school all I listened to was folk women singers and anything that was over produced was the devil to me - especially sounds that were not created through a 'real' instrument. Now, all I look for is that blip and bleep, computer generated stuff such as magnetophone or 2raumwohnung. I think that it is fascinating to see what these DJ's can do with sounds they produce and create themselves. Imagine creating any sound in your head and recreating it in reality to mesh with other new sounds. Kewl creative stuff.

Tetleys Tea with half and half. A rich treat for a cold winters day at work.

One of my favorite parts of my day at work is that of my after lunch cup of green tea to aid in the digestion process as well as my two pieces of chocolate with mint. What a treat.

Yummy.

Sometimes I don't quite understand my constant mood changes - up and down... but today I am quite happy. I had a fantastic weekend with wonderful people. I couldn't really ask for much more.

Friday involved a party to celebrate my friends graduation - I now have a licensed Esthetitian friend. I also made it to a friends art show as well as a dance club with some euro flavored hits.

Sat was a great evening spent with friends drinking wine and watching a British period piece with Helena Bonham Carter - The Heart of Me.

Sunday was spent bargain shopping, taking a long bath, and watching a great documentary on Andrew Goldsworthy, Rivers and Tides. Very inspirational. It was great to have a Sunday evening that was spent laughing and not dreading the work week ahead. A novelty to relish in.

So, with all of that I attempt to calm down and do some work. I think that maybe turning off Medulla (with bjork panting and heaving) and playing some David Grey would help with the calming effect.

Friday - finally the weekend. Not that this week was long, it was just emotional and draining.

I was told today that I look like Dolores O'Reardon from The Cranberries. I really like The Cranberries so I guess that is a good thing or 'ting' as she would say.

Architectural detail - if only life's details were this simple and structured. This is one I have been drawing today.

Pretty Flowers.

After bombarding myself with happy music all morning in an attempt to cheer myself up I decided to just go with the mood. Sinead O'Connor is doing quite well. The current song playing is "You cause as much sorrow."

Sarah Jane is a very moody person. My family expects at least one call a month from me in a nonsensical altered state of hating the world and all that surrounds. Generally there is nothing signiciant that spurs this mood, it is usually quite trivial.

Today's Mood:

Today's mood consists of wanting to run away with the clothes on my back to a nunnery in a foreign country. I would plant tomatoes because I like them. When I ate too many tomatoes I would plant another favorite food - gooseberries (can't get them in the US.) I would milk big dairy cows and name my favorite ones after all of the apostles. After 12 cows, I would start hyphenating names to the third degree or maybe move onto the saints in hope that one day I would become cannonized and be remembered forever as the St. of Gooseberries or something.

During this lunch 'break' I looked up jobs in Ireland and found quite afew architecture ones. Since I am still a citizen I could move quite easily. I need to get out of Columbus.

Another one...

Columbus, Ohio on a perfect January day.

I am back in the office after a morning of running around to meetings etc. I cannot tell you how much I enjoy being out of the office. I also got some great pictures of the freezing cold, blue skied morning as I jetted around. (Will post later)

One of the stops I made was that to a lobby renovation that we are doing. The project was the first one (interior) that I put together. I started the initial design for it as well as all of the construction documents etc. Granted the design changed during the process, to be expected, and there wasn't anything creative we could do to make it great (government funded) it was still the first architecture project I worked on since graduating. The lobby is pretty close to being done construction wise and I saw it for the first time today. My morning reaffirmed (not that I was questioning) the goal to become an architect. It was a great feeling.

Today is a beautiful day in winter - the snow is still fresh, it is freezing cold outside and the sky is blue. Perfect! A great day for bundling up and going for a quick paced stroll.

Sigur Ros (current obsession) is also the perfect addition to today's mood/setting/feeling.

Today was rather rough. This is the direct result of an evening of Port, Red Wine, Ali G and French & Saunders. Maybe too much laughing and not enough breathing?

I feel rather funny since I was just Surfing around Friendster, a nice time waster, while having my tea and I ran into a guy from Spokane, Washington that I went to school with. Now, if you know much about my nomad history you will know that I spent about 4 years in the Central Valley of Spokane. Beautiful place if you ignore the unplanned urban sprawl. So, I sent this guy a quick e-mail to say hello and with any luck he will be my new friend on friendster.

Regardless, I thought that this was quite funny that I lived in this small town for a portion of my life and I have nobody that I still keep in contact with. It is almost like I have no record of those four years of my life. I haven't been back to that corner of WA since I lived there. It would make an interesting trip to go back for a weekend and check out the old haunts.

I bought the new Solex cd today. It is the usual wack fun. Good uplifting stuff to giggle to. I also
got the Sigur Ros live CD. I think that I am maybe from Iceland back in the day. I just love all of the music out of that country. Quite soothing and ethereal.

New pictures have been added to flickr. Some are quite dated and are fufilling promises that I made months ago.

Noteworthy Note: Do not come home from work, collapse in bed, fall asleep and then wake up at 2am with nothing to do but this.

View of Columbus, Ohio. Taken from the top of the 'booby' buildings on a VERY windy day.

I would like to exclaim from the second floor office window (if it opened) "I am in a great mood."

I think that this is a direct result of:

a. The beautiful weather that we are having... it is almost like fall weather - my fav. time of year.
b. The great time I have had this week hanging out with fun people/doing fun things.
c. The multiple cups of coffee I have drank today.
d. The release after finishing the bulk of a project at work.. only finishing touches remain.
e. I am listening to Sigur Ros - which always reminds me of living in Italy and good times.
f. The great people that I am surrounded with. This includes (for today) the people I work with. After a shift in attitude I have taken towards my boss things are almost fun between us.
g. I have great left over food from Haiku to eat for lunch.
h. I am wearing new, freshly hemmed jeans today - they feel great.
i. I got my hair cut the other day so it looks styled and is easy to deal with.
j. Should I keep on going?

I feel like I am doing an Oprah exercise. What are you thankful for today?

-s

ps... damn, the mailman just walked in and said a big storm was coming later today with a couple of inches of snow. Screw the mail man - I like the bliss of not knowing the future and dealing with the moment.

Today I went to the bathroom, looked in the mirror and scared myself - I am getting old!

What ever happened to the small incompetent, unknowingly nieve me? The one who made mud pies and then tried to eat them? I miss the running around naked with just welly boots on or climbing decrepid apple trees while throwing the rotten fruit at my younger sister below.

Here I am, a middle aged (and yes 23 is middle aged) woman working in the real world and doing adult activities such as communicating.

It seems odd to me to be able to reminisce about being young and having a great childhood knowing that that little booger was me. Sure I hated the ballet lessons - but that was the biggest stress of my life - along with the urban ledgeds of serial killers and flashers that we all told each other. It was fun!

Now it seems that the only fun people seem to have is based upon cruelty towards others. We all get wrapped up in pathetic situations of no real importance other than ego.

Everyone should just relax, smile and have a slice of mud pie.

My weekend was great. I had so much fun at a surprise birthday party on Saurday followed by a breakfast on sunday morning and playing around at easton on Sunday. It was fantastic. I am still thinking about it this morning as I sit here in front of the computer.

I met a fellow blogger - The Well Dressed Librarian - at the surprise party on Saturday and he is as great and wonderful as he says he is. Additionally, quite hysterical!

So, who is throwing the next party for me to attend?

Side note: I have decided that I need to stop being so rude and obnoxious. I am going to make a sincere effort to be kind, and non-judgemental to people.

8: 39am and I just ate a bit of chocolate. I am so screwed for the rest of the day. My mouth now has the fresh taste of heaven on it and I will be fighting cravings for the next 12.5 hours.

While at the gym yesterday an eight year old girl said:

girl: Hello.

me: Hey there. So what did you guys get up to today? Swimming?

girl: Yeah, we went swimming and even though I swam forever I doubt I lost even half a pound.

With this comment I think I accidentally gave a huge look of disgust. Since when do eight year olds worry about their weight?

I proceeded to tell the girl that she shouldn't swim due to weight benefits but because she has fun and enjoys it. I think that went down like a lead balloon.

It is 8am and I have many goals for today....

I just returned from the weekend stay at Niches. A group of us stayed up there in the cabin posted below. It was great fun to be able to hike, chat and ponder the new year. I am slowly coming around to making a list of things to accomplish this year. I don't believe in resolutions - any life change I need to make can be made any time of the year. But, goals are different than resolutions. So far I have things on the list such as:

1. Dry clean sweaters.
2. Hem jeans.
3. Finish the Proust that I am currently reading.
4. Take the GRE.

It is more of a 'to do' list - but hopefully it will give me some direction.

In closing I just want to restate what a great weekend I had. This was the greatest start to a new year I have ever had. I am so glad of all the wonderful people that surround me. 2005 will be a year of preparation, and settling into my shoes.

Goals for tonight -

1. Watch movie.
2. Eat pickles.
3. Have sweet dreams.

Cabin I stayed at this weekend.

What a fun and happy new year it is. I had a great time last night as I ran around with Joe party hopping to say hello to all of the people I love. We spent 'the moment' at a great party with cool fun people and two awesome bands to bring in the new year. Fat Girls was one of them - I felt super cool when I lit the lead singers cigarette for her. ha!

So far the new year kicks ass. I am home and about to head out to a new year brunch and then off to a cabin in the woods for a day or two. A group of us are going to go hiking, chill out, write and paint. I am very excited.

I will post new year pics later - and by the way, Enya has a new song out (hopefully a new album out soon) and it is really good.