rooms I have loved.

So I as I look around my room and see this (see right) ...it is a mite depressing.  There is quite a bit to do.  But forgive me, I have just finished 3 days of moving.  Three, because I only end up in the general vicinity of home at 7:30 pm, utterly exhausted.  Somehow (actually, with help), everything is moved. 

It got me thinking of memorable rooms of yore, and since I have moved every 6-9 months for the past 4 years (No, really.) I have quite a few rooms to remember.   Here, there, everywhere. 

Some I never got around to photographing, some are not as exciting, but here is a bit of a retrospective, in what I hope is chronological order.

Lancaster University, Lancaster, England.  My first study abroad, and my first time having a room to myself in college.  Oh, my flatmates.  I loved them.

The Appleford, a Civil-War-era house on the Gettysburg College campus. I just loved the little details in the bathroom (all mine!) and I would take baths when it was raining in springtime...

Wolf House.  Junior & Senior year of Gettysburg, though this particular photo was taken Junior Year.  Ah, to live on the first floor of a c. 1873 Queen-Anne style house, especially when one gets to live in the Library of the house.   Quite possibly the most depressing years as a bibliophile -- O, to have so much space & yet so few books on hand!  

My first sublet, in Williamsburg.  My first time officially living on my own.  Scary (but worth every second).


My real apartment, that I shared with the inimitable Holly.  I loved it, it was cozy, we cooked food and sewed.  Ever so happy.

My sublet in Alexandria.  One of the most beautiful houses I have ever set foot in.  This was the bathroom.  There were fossils painted on the walls! 

This was the most recent apartment.  I don't really have photos, oddly, but I do like that I documented my wall of pretty homes.  It certainly brightened things up. 

And now, I am living in my little tiny room, eventually to move in with some wonderful friends.  But in the meantime -- and by that, I mean now -- I get to snuggle up with all my pillows & bison stuffed animal.   Behold how squishy it looks!  With that--I am off.  My pillow calls. 

bright outdoors

I walked outside today, after being indoors packing for quite a while, and was struck at the brightness of the outside.  It was so bright, actually, that I didn't initially have a word to describe it. 

It was the brightness that happens at the end of a film, after a nuclear blast, when they open the door of the fallout shelter, and by God, it is a New Day, the first day of a newer, brighter, atomic future.

But that didn't do it justice.  It was the brightness that color Oz was to sepia Dorothy.

summer-time outings

So as a welcome to Summer-time, a few of us headed off to a Washington Nationals game.  I can't remember the last time I've been to a baseball game, but let's get serious, we weren't there for the game.   Weather was great, seats were cheap with a great view, and the food (outsourced from local DC places) was delicious.  We very quickly resolved to make it a monthly (if not bi-weekly) outing.

Here Josh attempts to find something -- I think the velocity of a pop fly -- through geometry and / or  physics:

Tom is very excited about baseball.  (Not really!)  The light was so pretty, though...

The next day, I searched out where my Mom's cousins live, as I had a niggling feeling that it was close to where I'm currently temping.  As it turns out, it is not only close, but officially .4 miles away.  So I walked.  Meandered actually, as I am a fast walker and was afraid I would arrive too soon for supper.

Supper was delicious, and while I have no photos of the boys this time (see: Easter) I managed to play football, soccer, and read Marco 3 bedtime stories, while promising 2 more the next time I came 'round.  Susan said that she should have expected as much, as she sent a self-proclaimed lover of books to read stories... what she didn't count on is that I recognized the books from my childhood, and so was far too excited to read them again!  The official count was:  "The Little Island,"  "My Friend is Sad" (neither of which I had read before, but Island is beautifully illustrated) and "Put Me in the Zoo" (which I had), and I spotted "Each Peach Pear Plum," which I had no memory of until I spotted the cover.

What follows are some pictures of my walk to their house.  So pretty.

outdoorsy

The weather has been beautiful recently, which means I am now entering my phase of missing working outdoors 40 hours a week.  Yes, it can be miserable (see: Virginia Summer) but Springtime and Fall are bliss. 

 Today was a beautiful day in DC, and as I walked to nearby family's house (right near work!) I realized how perfect for walking the weather was.  A lovely 60°, crisp enough to offset the heat from walking, and sunny.   So as a result, I started of thinking back to working at Williamsburg.  Even though the lovely weather is what you look forward to, it's the dreadful weather that you remember. 

I talked to Amy today about the day we worked during Tropical Storm Ernesto, and of course she remembers the whole day.  We spent most of it together, huddled underneath cloaks, trying to avoid puddles (and failing), making our way down the Duke of Gloucester street towards the shops where we were assigned that day.   Meanwhile, tree branches were falling around us. 

We made it to the Wig Shop, where I was assigned, and I realized quite quickly I was soaked through, and so took of layer upon layer until I was barefoot, wearing my chemise, stays, and bed gown.  

To those not intimately familiar with Early American Textiles, I was wearing a knee length cotton nightgown, a fully-boned corset ("stays"), and a woolen knee-length wrapper that vaguely resembles a bathrobe.  Colonially naked.  

All of my clothing at this point was strewn across the shop, along various ropes, as I lamented being chosen for the one shop that had a fireplace that didn't draw. 

Needless to say, it was a rather uneventful day for guests (total: 13) but we interpreters had fun.  The electricity went off, and we didn't realize it until a few hours later, and I trekked across the river that Duke of Gloucester had become to peek in the Millinery shop, and managed to find not only a fireplace, but soup and hot chocolate that they had heated up in the fireplace.  I watched my shoes steam slightly as they became slowly less damp, and wiggled my toes in my wet stocking feet while I sipped my soup. 

It sounds miserable, but I don't remember that.   It's filed under other outdoors days, full of fresh rainstorms, cool breezes, and blissful sunny days.  

quentin's ring

I've started to wear this ring again.  Around my neck, but I find myself absently fiddling with it throughout the day.  It's another remnant of Infernal Gaslamp, which I realize more and more (especially now that I'm reminiscing) was another great formative part of my life. 

I love the world, and I love that it's so tangible.  In the Circle, especially, we are taking this to new extremes and seeing documents as academic sources from days gone by, and having to treat it not as gospel, but as a possibly biased source.  The creation of history, in that strange meta way, is addictive. 

I have been added to the pantheon of saints in the Circle-universe.  In a small homage (or whatever you would call it) there is a St. Emily the Chatterer, who is known for building the greatest library in the world, then losing it all when she moved from Ivortown to Orryk.  

It is, I was told later, a reference to my pages upon pages of notes for Infernal Gaslamp, which I no longer have access to.  Not nearly as dramatic, as they are in storage, not destroyed, but I liked the comparison, which will nurse me through the times of having a meagre stash of pages.

As I like the ring.  I can't remember how I got ahold of it, but you'll have that.  Now, to sleep and prepare for tomorrow.  I'm excited.

"I thought the music mattered"

Today, spontaneously, I went to a rock concert.   I was invited to come with a group of friends, and, oddly enough, I went.  

Usually I'd be so tired from work that I wouldn't feel like social interaction but today, I headed out.  It was a tour of the front man of the band System of a Down, Serj Tankian.

It was great.  Unexpectedly great.  I forget about how many major formative experiences in my youth (hah!) were from live music.  I love it.  I love the communal nature of it, how everyone is there together for the same purpose, and I love that you can just let the music wash over you.  

Even though this was an act -- hard rock -- that I wouldn't dream of usually seeing, there's something about being there and letting the music take the lead. 

Someone lit a lighter during one of the songs -- I had forgotten how beautiful the æsthetic of a flame against all the shadows of heads and lights of the stage could be.  I think the blue-glow of phones is lovely (particularly when we were at the Hollywood Bowl's Sound of Music sing-a-long), but it had been so long since I had seen anyone actually use a lighter.  It was so bright and clear and that orange against the blue lights -- and only a flicker of it, as it was alone in the crowd.   Lovely.

Now, I'm home, and off to bed, after quite a ride.

forays into the æthernet

I'm not sure if everyone knows, but I've been invited to contribute to the lovely Steampunk blog, Brass Goggles.   I'm excited -- and my first post has just been posted, which you can read here.  It's on these amazing tiles that I saw at the RISD Alumni Art Sale.  Stunning.  I want the entire set...desperately.

Go visit the blog... there's a particularly neat post on pocketwatches that was posted today, too!

snakes & characters

Well.  Today is the first day that I've actually been coherent enough to blog.   But what a day!   We met up and headed to the Nature Lab at RISD, where I'd been (briefly) before, but this time, we met up with Kate & Andrew, who work there, and were able to give us a full tour.  

We met Netop (above), an amelanistic (sherbet colored!) corn snake, who, for the first time in my life, made me want to own a snake.  We bonded. 

But first: the show last night.  This was Claire's final show for Illustration at the Rhode Island School of Design [ risd ] and I was absolutely thrilled I got to pop up to Rhode Island to see!  

It consisted of 7 total artists, and while I knew a few and was familiar with their work, I was still blown away at their newest projects, or even looking at the art I'd seen a second time.  It was just so perfect.   The works all had these unintentional parallels, which were neat to follow, and it was great to be in that environment where everyone was so excited about the art. 

(I haven't posted lots of pictures of the art, because their websites do a much better job!  See bottom of the post!)

It makes me contemplative, and thinking back to my own senior year, when I had things pretty much nailed down in March.  I knew what I was going to do, and in retrospect, I worry I picked that too quickly.  But it's done nothing but benefit me, so I should be grateful for that path.  

Dad and I were talking to Claire's professor, Shanth -- who, incidentally, is amazing & we've sat in on classes that I still think about -- and he was talking about what he tells graduating seniors about where they should go.  The idea coincided with Dad's idea of "go where it's scary," with this thought of "go where you can grow."  I really liked that.  I like that idea of going to a place that you're still terrified of, but knowing that you'll find your feet, and the only way is up.   It's a good thing to keep in mind, especially with that on my horizon again. 

But back to RISD! 

The Nature Lab was great.  Kate fed chameleons, I hung out with a snake, we met turtles, saw doves, and ogled an albino Madagascar hissing cockroach.  Also, there is metric tons of taxidermy there, and it's just a great space.  Very Victorian Natural History Museum-y. 

How beautiful is that?  

Beetle Love Tank.  My favorite part.  

More of me and Netop.

And finally, we went to one of Claire's classes on Character Design.  We love the professor -- see above: Shanth -- and just sat and watched.  It made me miss college (and relish that I'm going back!) and my mind is boggled by the fact of just so much creativity there.  

Claire made this orca for her protagonist, and her sketches later of it are quite possibly the most adorable thing ever.  

For more pictures of the show, see my flickr album or Mom's post about it.

Also links to assorted artwork:  

• Claire [ shoomlah.com ] 
  
• Kate Walsh [ oliveselkie.com ]  
  
• Beth Zaiken [ bethzaiken.com ]
  

bleary eyes dark skies

I am absolutely wiped.  Yet I am not in bed.  Why?  No actual reason.  Today was Claire's Senior Art Show (at her school, RISD)  As a result, I have multiple business cards, some mildly blurry photos, theoretically some more photos on Mom's camera, a full stomach (yummy scallops) and am rambling incoherently. 

Most likely, this is from only getting 4 hours of sleep in the past 24 hours.  I have no idea how others do it: I need -- cherish! -- my sleep.  So it is to dream-land I go. 

A more coherent update tomorrow, with photographs!

busy little bee flies away

Well, I've been busy as all get-out, and even today, with packing to do, presents to cushion, and a car at 5:07 am, I still managed to stay late in Georgetown, having a delicious dinner at this teeny french restaurant with my good friend Kara.  The weather today was absolutely pitch-perfect for eating outside (70s-ish?) and we were tucked in between two yellow-painted old brick walls under vines.  Gorgeous. 

That being said, it still takes me ages to get home, though I did manage to catch the very, very last bus from the Metro to my house.  Hooray!  However, this means I got in at 10:45 pm.

The important part is: I am home, though leaving for lovely Rhode Island in the morn.  

Posts to follow, probably including the following:

• travel adventures
  
• the significance (unintentional) eating of duck à l'orange & leaving at 5:07, which I will expound upon
  
• my walk through Rock Creek Park, two times in two days
  
• chess-boxing.  Yes.
  

Toodle-pip!  I'm off to bed.

figuring out the path

All things work together for good to them that love God, to them that are the called according to his holy purpose. -Romans 8:28

Oddly enough, it's all falling together now.  I had a revelation in the shower the other day, which was quite profound, and I won't get into the entirety of it, but the main point was: Maybe this time was just to prepare you.

Wow.  This came like a thunderbolt at a time (in the shower, actually) when I was worried about money, funds, job, relationships -- in a word: everything.   This thought came to me -- one of calm, and the idea that my supply would be met, and that all of this time was not a waste: it was preparation for things to come. 

A few people have commented that they see the change in me, and I see the change in myself.  I'm not sure if I could actually put a name to it, but I know, in the deepest part of me, I have changed.  My faith has grown stronger, my spiritual sense more clear, and my trust in God more implicit.  

I have a job interview tomorrow.  I'm not nervous.  I might not get it, but for once I'm not worried.  In the past few days -- few hours! -- this demonstration of my path has unfolded so clearly before me that I know that if this is not the right step, the next one will appear.   I have heard the voice behind me saying "this is the way, walk ye in it." (Isaiah 30:21) and my path is clear.  

Who knows what my next step will be - and after this time in the wilderness, I do not presume to know what it will be! - but I am sure it will be exactly what I need, at exactly the right time. 

p.s. mom took this photo at the japanese gardens in s.f.  I love it.

acceptance is a wonderful thing

Well, I think that is rather self-explanatory.  I'm quite pleased, especially considering I had officially given up all hope of even hearing from American University (the sender of the abovementioned missive), let alone getting in.  

Well.  You only need one acceptance, as they (Mom) say. 

More information and some thoughts on "place" coming up... tomorrow, when I am less bleary-eyed.

But for now: Hooray!

nerd-cookies.

Today, I made a cookie shaped like the periodic table of elements.  It is pretty amazing, if I do say so myself.   

Please note: I did not make the extra two rows at the bottom, because there was no way to attach them and make it clear they were elements. 

This was a day-long adventure making nerd cookies by Becky & I for one of our nerd-buddies who is studying organic chemistry.  We also made beakers, test tubes, molecules (one of which you can see in the picture!), and the state of Illinois (he attends Northwestern).  Illinois came out remarkably well, considering we had to look up what exactly it looked like!  

A very creative afternoon.

anniversaries

Today, April 26th, is the two-year anniversary of my grandpa's death.  It's strange.  To be honest, I had forgotten.  I have little to no recollection for this particular date, only that I recall that it was mid-April (ish), but I thought it was earlier.   

I remember exactly where I was when I found out (Gettysburg College, senior parking lot, driver's seat) and events afterwards, but I have literally no memory connected with those events happening on any day in particular.   How very strange, but not altogether unsurprising.  

My aunt sent out an email a few weeks ago letting us know of the upcoming anniversary (which, incidentally, was how I found out when it was) and a suggestion that we use the day to spend it thinking of Grampa and do something that reminded us of him. 

Well, I forgot that it was today.  I forgot, that is, until I started to get emails in my inbox from various & sundry relations, forgot again, and remembered as I am heading to bed, as the day is turning into the next.  

I'm not sure yet what I will do.  Right now, I'm listening to a recording of Clair de Lune, which has certain points in the melody that bring out such quick, sharp memories that it surprises me.

I finally finished Atlas Shrugged.  I've had it for 6 years.  He bought it for me (of course).  I finally re-started reading it a few weeks ago, and could barely put it down.

I return again to the Edith Wharton quote that I read during the memorial service, and perhaps it's something good to meditate on:

"...one can remain alive long past the usual date of disintegration if one is unafraid of change, insatiable in intellectual curiosity, interested in big things, and happy in small ways."  

I stick by that being a consummate description of Gramps.  

I suppose the real point is, at least for me, Gramps was such a key figure in my life that I can't help but think of him.  

Little things: pianos, skiing, hawai'i, green grapes, the waldorf=astoria (not so little), Lincoln...  It surrounds me.  Even my cherry-blossom print, which has not yet found a home on my wall.  

Those are my every-day memories, the things that make me smile.  It's the things I don't expect, that crop up in unexpected ways, that are how I cherish his memory. 

Another year will pass soon, and I will most likely forget the date again.  That doesn't matter.  What matters is the love, the happy memories -- I was just reminded of Kemp's Koffee Korner and those marine-layer mornings! -- and lessons learnt.  Be a leader!

fifth grade for lunch.

The place where I work always has peanut butter & jelly to make sandwiches.  So today I made one.  Also, I picked up those orange-peanut-butter crackers that everyone eats in elementary school, and found reese's peanut butter cups. 

Clearly, the theme is peanut butter.   Also: fifth grade retrospective. 

Regardless, it was delicious.   Oddly enough, it looks quite picturesque on that plate.

pilgrimage to the monuments

The Lincoln monument is by far my favorite.  I say this without question - every time I visit (and recently, that has been a lot), I walk in, admire the statue, then head to the sides and read the Gettysburg Address and the Second Inaugural.   In addition to making me realize that I will never write that well in my entire life -- or sum up a nation's feelings (while "binding up its wounds") about a war that had spent the last four years tearing it apart.

Of course, there are other parts that strike me, but the end is particularly stirring.

...let us strive on to finish the work we are in, to bind up the nation's wounds, to care for him who shall have borne the battle and for his widow and his orphan, to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace among ourselves and with all nations.

My own dear friend who has "borne the battle" -- or, rather: bearing -- and I spoke a few nights ago.  I was surprised -- a blip, and a message from across the world.  It was sweet to talk to him, though there is nothing that makes your heart ache so much as knowing they have to go.  I worry.  Perhaps I shouldn't -- I should pray, but I haven't yet.   Instead, I end up finding my way to the World War II monument.

It makes me contemplative.

I think of the plans that were hatched to move with all of our friends to Spain and own a restaurant there, and it is my one exception to my rule that I will never be a server (due to me being inherently klutzy, incidentally).  Somehow Spain will give me the grace I need to balance tapas plates and I will learn Spanish and this idea was proposed to me 2 years ago, and I still cannot wait for it.  It's not set in stone, but it's something to look forward to.

In the meantime, I make my pilgrimages.  I stop at the paratrooper bronze, and remember our day at the Getty, all sunshine and ocean breezes.   

summit, saints & sinners.

This past weekend was the Christian Science "youth activist" (whatever that means) Summit in DC.  It's basically a get-together for CS kids 12-30, to see lectures, go to workshops, and meet other kids.  I went to one in Chicago this past October, which was surprisingly fantastic.  

Also, it gave me an excuse to be tourist-y!

I probably should have expected connections with people, but since Chicago was remiss in connections from my past, I assumed I would fly relatively under the radar at DC as well.  However, no less than five people upon hearing my name said something to the effect of: "You know, I know a Hummel family in California."   Turns out, conveniently, they meant my family!  Small world.  

Also, since very good friends of ours were throwing a "Saints & Sinners" party in Gettysburg, us Gettysburgians headed up -- armed with nerdy costumes, as this was no ordinary party.  To begin with, our ride up consisted of: 

Of course, there were the requisite "sexy" devils and angels, but we demand more creativity than sparkling devil horns and tail.  Josh went as Sisyphus, with our friend Tom as "a rock."   

My friend Mike was dressed as a post-modern Judas ("You know, like Jesus Christ Superstar") and, at midnight, walked over to his friend dressed as Jesus, kissed him on the cheek, and had Josh hand him a bag full of coins.  Mike then wandered off to the bathroom to make a noose, and Jesus was dragged off, dead, to another room.  

Moments later, as Becky and I were observing the situation, I turned, looking for Jesus, but he was not there.  Becky squealed: "He's risen!" and we just fell apart.  

Wonderful.

a love affair with kitch.

Two major things in my life have made me stop and take pictures of them, and so I think that warrants a blog post.

The first is that I found an Abraham Lincoln keychain in the parking lot.  It's pretty fantastic.  Lincoln (in the middle) spins around.   Possibly the best part is that I am currently in the middle of a book called Land of Lincoln: Adventures in Abe's America that is all about the mythology of Lincoln.  It's a sign! 

In other news, I'm doing some temp work, at a place called KaBOOM! (they promote community-built playgrounds - awesome!) which is proving to be more involved than temp work, but that's ok - it's keeping me very, very busy.  Also: money!  This office is super colorful, and there are pots of plastic grass everywhere. 

I love my plastic grass.  I swear it looks real.  It is right next to my monitor, and it's not as if there are not 5 other pots within easy reach, but this pot does not have a pinwheel in it, and I love it.

I could put some "new growth" spin on it, but I won't.  I like it because it's springtime-y and green and fun.  At this point, I'm enjoying simplicity (and, apparently, kitsch!) and it makes things fun.

Tomorrow is the Washington D.C. area Christian Science Summit.  I'm excited, and I have one of my my friends that I met at the Chicago Summit in town, so I will have a buddy.   Here's hoping for good lectures and regular sodas!

adventures in surreality

Today, Amy and I headed into Old Town Alexandria to go shopping, and as we are walking by the town square Amy looked confused, and said "Hey!  Is that the Pillsbury Dough Boy?"

Yes.  Yes it was.

Wow.  Apparently it was the National Trademark Expo at the US Patent Office, and there was a guy dressed as a giant registered trademark sign, which was odd, but so was the juxtaposition of the two corporations represented by characters: Pillsbury & Microsoft.

What? 

All I know is I got a picture with the Master Chief from Halo.  Eat your heart out, nerd-buddies.

let's roll some dice -- or, wait...

scissordice!
Originally uploaded by hummeline

So today was spent driving out to a game store for the intent to buy dice.  Not regular dice, but polyhedral dice.   As you can see, I am now the proud owner of a lovely little collection of dice, including 2 twenty-sided dice ("d20s") - and the middle one is purple, green, and blue: gorgeous!

At any rate, they're the first dice I've ever bought, as I no longer have access to Eric's bag of dice, which contains the sparkly-pink ones I have previously used (and loved).

It's strange, because I don't think of myself as a gamer, yet I've been involved with it for 8 years, and I bought these specifically for a game (and by that, I mean role-playing game) of Tyler's, called the Circle. 

This game in particular becomes an excuse to delve deep into character development & world-building, which provides an excuse to write and makes one think about fictional characters (for that is what they are) in new ways.  They take on minds of their own, which is a familiar feeling for those who write, but it is always strange to have a character react to things in ways that you don't expect -- or to hang on to feelings that you thought they would have long-abandoned.  

I like that.  Even if it never explicitly comes out in the game, there are bottled up emotions that I associate with my character that determine her every move, and in that way, it makes the game more real.  Not real in the sense that Infernal Gaslamp was, when my character was a thinly-veiled version of myself (crushes and all!), but real in the sense that those latent feelings makes the game a more life-like experience.

Of course, I will probably never be in disguise and a member of a ragtag band of mercenaries trying to convince a foreign government to give us an army to beat back mutated beasts, but if I were, I have a feeling it would be similar, because, in game, there are all the personalities, biases, hatreds, friendships, and reactions of real people.

In the meantime, I'm editing the wiki we've created so all the players can keep all the facts about the world straight.  It's currently 573 pages.  That's a lot of information, most of which will go un-mentioned, but the delicious detail is so fun to learn, especially for the historian in me.  

A month left until the next session -- and I cannot wait.  I will be connected through my computer, but at least I'll have fantastic dice.