Eco In The Home

*This is an article I wrote last summer whilst volunteering for an environmental program on the North Island of New Zealand. Its kind of long, but you have to keep in mind it was meant for publication in a journal and few small magazines, rather than a blog post. The topic is how to go about "greening" your home. The second half of the article (which I'll post next time) focuses on the different types of architecture for residential houses which already utilize these steps.

Eco in the Home

            It is no longer opinion or speculation, the fact is that our current way of existing is having a detrimental effect on our environment, to say the least. So we are faced with a choice. We can continue down the destructive path we’ve been on for so long, or at least attempt to make an effort to change and undo some of the damage done. Going out and joining a volunteer group may be a bit extreme for you, but that’s not the only way you can make a difference. It is perfectly acceptable to start small, and close to home. Actually, at home is the perfect place to start. This is because home is where you are a majority of your time, and all good habits should start in your home, and radiate out from there. For some the answer is easy, “Of course I can, and I will.” For others this may seem a daunting task and the words “Why?” and “How?” come to mind.

            There are many reasons for going green at home. According to the U.S. Green Building Council, there are three main advantages of living in a green home: health, cost-effectiveness, and environmental sensitivity. Using building materials that are free of toxins helps reduce indoor air pollution, which can be much worse than outdoor pollution. Unhealthy air inside can pose serious health risks for residents, like cancer and respiratory conditions like asthma. Green homes also have fewer issues with mold and mildew, due to natural ventilation and the utilization of mechanical ventilation systems to filter and conduct clean air inside and vent stale air outside. Also, having a green home is simply good economics. As reported by the USGBC, living in a house that is environmentally responsible saves money. Some of these savings are due to using forty percent less energy and fifty percent less water than standard homes. A green home is more long-lasting than most standard homes by using building materials and structural methods that are of higher quality. They also note that the worth of a green home is usually higher than that of an equivalent average home, and the market demand for green homes continues to rise. Most importantly, green homes are better for the environment than a regular home. As stated before, they use much less energy than their non-environmental counterparts. Also, the use of recycled, renewable, and salvaged building materials means far fewer natural resources are implemented in the creation of a green home. Moreover, the use of wood that is certified by the Forest Stewardship Council assists in encouraging socially and environmentally favorable forestry conventions. The USGBC observes that constructing a standard 2,500-square-foot home generates roughly two tons of building waste that finds the end of its journey in landfills, whereas construction of a green home generates 50% to 90% less waste.

            How to create a green environment at home is a bit trickier than why. You don’t have to jump into this endeavor at full speed. There are many small things you can do at home to improve its energy efficiency and reduce its carbon dioxide output that aren’t too extreme and won’t break the bank. It may seem like a no-brainer, but living by the rule of 3 R’s is essential: Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle. Keep these ideas in mind when you acquire, use, or dispose of anything and encourage your family members to do the same. You can close curtains at dusk to stop heat from escaping through the windows and turn off the lights when they aren’t needed. Having potted plants around the home can help purify the air indoors. They act as natural air filters and remove harmful chemicals such as benzene and carbon monoxide from the indoor air. Plants which are particularly helpful in improving indoor air quality include the bamboo palm, gerbera daisy, and peace lily. Only use the washing machine and dishwasher when they have a full load, using cold water to run them, and fix dripping taps. Avoid leaving appliances on standby. In a year 80% of the energy used by electronics is while they are on standby. Use power strips for your computers. Even after you turn off your computer, power continually flows to other units like printers and scanners. Power strips stop energy from being wasted and

are not terribly costly.

            If you are ready to take things a bit further, and would like to get a bit more in-depth with your home-greening venture then it would be wise to consider doing an energy audit in your home. Afterward make a list of what needs to be done to get things up to par. Take that list to your local hardware store and recruit their help in acquiring the supplies needed. When carrying out work, enlist local tradesmen to save on fuel and energy emissions. However, don’t rush into this lifestyle until you have done a bit of research.

            Start by replacing all the light bulbs in your home with compact fluorescent ones. These bulbs use 70-75% less energy than the incandescent kind and last up to ten times longer. By using 26-watt compact fluorescent light bulbs, it will save about $60 on energy costs per bulb, which can be used anywhere from five to seven years. If you can’t tolerate the light from these fluorescent bulbs in your everyday living areas, try using them at least in the hallways, outside, and in the garage. Installing a motion detector outside to replace your outdoor lighting would also be very useful. Outdoor lights that are left on throughout the night waste energy and agitate wildlife. Lighting equipment activated by motion sensors or a timer will keep an area well lit and save energy as well.

            When attempting to save water consider wearing that shirt once more, if it was only lightly worn, before throwing in the wash. If you have children, set a good example by teaching them to turn off the water while brushing their teeth and to take shorter showers. You could then install low flow showerheads to further cut down on water usage. They are worth investing in, especially if you are renting, as you can take them with you. Another way to save water is by installing a low water use toilet.

            One of the biggest areas of energy wastefulness in standard homes is heating and cooling both air and water. Invest in a high-efficiency HVAC system that is Energy Star certified and install it in your home. This will reduce the amount of greenhouse gases emitted. It will also trim quite a bit off of your energy bill. Be on the lookout for products with a higher SEER rating. This means that the product in question meets strict government criteria required to be certified “energy efficient.” The standard is 13 SEER, but many heating and air conditioning products have a rating up to 18 SEER. A dirty air filter will obstruct the air flow and cost you more to run your system. Regularly clean out or replace your air filters. When not a home, adjust the thermostat to correspond to the shifting temperatures outside. Consider purchasing an automated thermostat. They are well worth the cost because, as with almost all eco friendly investments, you will get back what you spent on it in lower energy bills. You save an estimated 3% of your heating costs for every degree you lower your thermostat during the winter and up to 6% for every degree you raise it during the summers. You should also place more fans in your home. Exhaust fans can pull unwanted heat and humidity from bathroom and kitchen spaces during the summer months. Ceiling fans can help reduce your dependence on air conditioning during the summer and they are also helpful in the winter as they can push heat down from the ceiling. Keep in mind that your roof color and the type of materials used can help lower attic temperatures. Energy Secretary and Nobel laureate Steven Chu recommends painting flat roofs of homes and corporate buildings a heat-reflecting white. He says, “Making roads and roofs a paler color could have the equivalent effect of taking every car in the world off the road for 11 years.” This reflected sunlight could help delay some of the effect of global warming. If white is not your taste, there are other reflective paints out there with the same effect. Light colored tile roofs out perform the shingle ones when it comes to decreasing temperatures.

            Another great way to heat your home is through radiant heating. Forced-air heating sends air at you from vents in your walls and floors, and directing air through all those ducts results in lots of heat and energy loss in the process. Radiant floors can heat the home with less wasted energy in some cases. There are two forms of radiant heating, electronic and hydronic. Electronics carry heat using electricity running through cables under your floor and hydronics warm the home using a series of tubes containing hot water which circulate beneath you. For smaller areas the electronic method would be best, but for those with a larger area it would be a smart choice to use hydronics. Under floor heating raises the room’s mean radiant temperature, which causes the habitant to be able to occupy a room with a lower temperature without a loss of comfort. The lowest air temperatures in the room usually are present right beneath the ceiling. This causes reduced heat loss though the ceiling insulation and results in lower heating cost. A great aspect of hydronic heating is that there is no noise, and it is a very clean method of heating your home. It creates very subtle air circulation through the home, therefore those with allergies would highly benefit from this type of heating as opposed to a forced air system. Another benefit of hydronic flooring is that is can be used in reverse, to cool in the summer, whereas electronics cannot.

           

            A typical hot water heater will run constantly to keep the water hot all the time, which makes this appliance one of the most costly to operate in your home. You could install one of the newer models that only heat water on demand rather than continuously. Models which are tank-less work very well and can save up to 50% of what an older model would cost to run. There are also solar powered hot water heaters for the ultimate in energy efficiency. Natural heating and cooling is important. Solar heating depends on the sun’s warmth for heat and it converts sunlight into electricity. This is most practical if you live in a warm climate. This can reduce a need for heating by 30-50%. Solar panels just sit on your roof and collect energy without requiring you to add any fuel or replace any parts. If you want to invest in solar panels, consider buying ones that have been previously owned. They are quite a bargain and even after they are upwards of twenty years old they still generate a good percentage of the power that was produced when they were brand new.

            You wouldn’t want to put all this time into heating and cooling your home effectively just to let it all escape to outside. This is why good insulation is essential to an environmentally responsible home. Doors and windows are two obvious areas of concern. Install an aluminum-clad storm door. This type of door will help insulate the entryway of your home, especially when used along with weather-stripping. Double-paned windows have argon or krypton in between. They block sound and insulate better than regular windows. While you’re working on windows, you might also want to think about window tinting to reduce the glare of the sun. It will reduce heat loss in the winter and heat gain in the summer. Tinting will also eliminate up to 99% of damaging ultraviolet rays and reduce fading of your fabrics and furnishings. Put in glass doors for your fireplace. They are not only safer than screens, but they reduce the amount of heat that escapes from your home through the chimney. Use your fireplace only for special occasions because it sends valuable heated air directly out of your home. You should also add insulation to your hot water heater if you don’t invest in a tank-less version. Take care in choosing the kind of insulation you will use in your home. Use formaldehyde free products to avoid health risks. Fiber glass and cellulose are good alternatives. Cellulose is 75% or more recycled newspaper and is non toxic. It is also insect, fire, and mold resistant. Foam insulation comes in rigid sheets or can be sprayed between wall studs and joints to expand and set, afterward surplus foam can be skimmed away.

            After taking all these steps to make the shell of your home eco-smart, you might wonder, “What about the inside?” Many people associate becoming environmentally aware with a sacrifice of style, this quite frankly just isn’t so, but a little tweaking of the mindset of what “in style” is may be in order. Beginning with the walls, avoiding the use of petrochemicals and solvents can make your choice of which paints to use much easier. Environmental paints use traditional materials such as linseed and citrus peel oil. Look for items with a low VOC content.

            For flooring you have a few options. Cork flooring is becoming trendier as green living is embraced by the general public. It naturally produces a waxy material called suberin. This substance causes cork to be a great insulator and resistant to mold and mildew. Cork is an extremely regulated industry. A cork producing tree must be at least 25 years old before its bark can be removed to make products like wine bottle stoppers. Many floor tiles are made out of discarded bottle stoppers and other cork products. The bark grows back over time which is why it is considered a renewable resource. Bamboo is also very eco-friendly as it is rapidly renewable. Bamboo grows quickly and is resistant to insects and disease. This plant is considered far superior to trees because, when you cut bamboo it does not require replanting. The roots stay in place and the plant continues to grow. Also, it matures in about three years which is much faster than trees. Yet another benefit of bamboo is that is contains an antibacterial and pesticide complex called “Bamboo Kun” often making chemicals unnecessary. Amazingly, this compound is retained in the wood even after it is processed. This gives your floors the benefit of being anti-bacterial, anti-microbial, anti-fungal, and even odor resistant.

         

            If you need something a bit more durable, try tile. It can be made out of a variety of materials including ceramic, glass, or stone and is perfect for high traffic areas. The best thing about tile is that it is a great conductor. When using radiant heating, it can easily warm your home, and it helps keep your home cool in the summer with or without the aid of under-floor cooling. As for carpeting, modular is the way to go. Many companies offer stylish carpet squares that use non-toxic dyes and are made using recycled materials. Carpet squares are a great décor option because when one gets irrevocably soiled; you can replace one square, rather than an entire floor of carpet. You can even send the marred square back to the manufacturer to be recycled. The best part is how very little labor is involved to install and remove them.

            Fifty years ago your grandparents may have bought a living room set and lived with it for twenty years, with a bit of maintenance when needed. Today we are expected to get the latest look and replace our “outdated” furniture every couple of years. Make a conscious effort to think about the long-term. Choose furniture of a high quality grade that will age well and adapt to your evolving lifestyle. Sofa’s with removable covers are great because they are much easier to clean, and can be swapped for a different fabric and color should you decide to change the color palette of that particular room, without buying an entirely new piece of furniture. It’s a good idea to choose shapes that will work well in different rooms. Making yourself think long-term will help eliminate impulsive decisions.

            Being green doesn’t have to stop inside. Why not take it outdoors as well? Create a garden and grow some of your own food. You can even use your decomposable food waste to help maintain it by making a compost pile. Find a private spot in your yard to house it. Mix food waste with dirt and use a shovel to turn the pile over every other week or so to give it some air. This turns your throwaways into something useful.

            So if you’re thinking about making your home a little greener, take it to the next level and make it happen! Start small or go all out, it’s up to you really. Regardless, anything done in an effort to create a more sustainable future is a step in the right direction. If everyone puts a minimum of effort in it really adds up, and if we all made a conscious decision to make our living practices eco friendly in as many aspects as possible, it would put a huge dent in our environmental problems. There is no reason not to go green in your home, to save everyone’s home, our beautiful and irreplaceable Earth.

Book Review - Inkheart

Inkheart - Cornelia Funke, 2003

This isn't my usual reading material, but occasionally I like to throw back a few YA and stories as breathers, so to speak, between the heavier books. What I think I loved the most about this was that it is a book about a book, and the glorifying of all books in general. If you've seen the movie you know the basic premise, but I promise you the book is very different and a lot better in many ways. I think Dustfinger might be one of the biggest literary crushes I've ever had...is that weird? Cause I totally lust over fictional characters if they're good enough....even though he's kind of an a-hole through much of the story...geez, what does all that say about me? Anyways, so its about a book binder named Mo who can read stories to life. He ends up getting kidnapped by some characters he read out of the book and most of the plot revolves around Mo, his daughter and a bookworm aunt (who for better or worse, reminds me way too much of myself...her home/book sanctuary especially) overcoming obstacles to come out of everything alive and together, acquiring other story-creatures along the way. Meggie, the daughter who is basically the main character, has to find her own ways to outsmart her captors when Mo is no longer there to protect her. 

I thought it was kind of wonderful that this book included quotes from other books at the beginning of every chapter, which kind of encapsulates the driving idea behind that section of the story. The quotes were often so poignant that I'd find myself thinking, "Oh I've got to read that one next!" each time I'd start a chapter. Also, the way she would describe Mo working with the books on his table was enough to have me searching for book-binding classes, which I've had zero luck with by the way. I'm not giving up though, I'm going to look until I find something. It was interesting to learn through an interview that Cornelia Funke actually wrote Mo's character for Brendan Fraser. She sent him the book and told him that he had been her muse. Isn't that neat? That had to have made him feel good, so obviously he took the role for Mo in the movie. I thought he was great in it before I knew about the muse thing or had read the book, although I think his character could've been better had they kept some of the complexities of the book...but eh, it was a kids movie. 

Anyways, all around this was a great YA novel and somewhat of an epic. What I really admire about Inkheart is that it gives you a reason to read another book at every turn, to learn more about this or that character who you get just a glimpse of in this book. I find this is an excellent way to, in a sense, trick kids into wanting to  read more, which I think is fantastic for those who don't just get the urge naturally. I'm excited to read the second book, Inkspell. The only downsides of the book are that there are some continuity issues about the workings and rules of who goes in and out of the books and how, which is probably not noticeable to most readers, and the massive overuse of the phrase "Good Heavens." Although I'm sure the issue with the latter has more to do with it being a translation rather than a fault of the actual author.

Rating: 4 stars

Wanderlust Chronicles - Episode Two

Fair Warning: This one is kind of a doozy.

Detail of Stones and Rocks and Stones and Bones - Andrew Scott Ross

Concrete Jungle - Senior Trip to New York City

            It was early one foggy October morning and all the art majors were scurrying across the airport terminal trying not to miss our fight. We had been worked four years to squeeze out every ounce of creativity in us, and to put it lightly, we were desperately lacking inspiration. We were headed to New York for the weekend to run around and look at the galleries pertaining to our interests, which we would later create lectures about and present to the school as our "Senior Caption Experience". I was excited to give New York another chance. My first experience of it verged on traumatic. I was 11, it was the Puerto Rican Day Parade and there were triple digit temperatures. The streets and sidewalks were filled to capacity, the smells were almost lethal, and lets just leave it at multiple rapings and vandalisms in Central Park (where we were walking through to some museum we never reached) put an end to the festivities for that day. New York was one place I had no interest whatsoever in revisiting. Well, moving on, during our travels the infamous balloon boy story began to develop. Okay, so I may not have any kids of my own, but I do have 9 neices and nephews and generally like most children. (That is until they turn into those little brats on those "Sweet Sixteen" shows. I'll choke a bitch. I'm sweet, but I have very low BS tolerance.) Maybe its just a maternal instinct in me, but when I heard about what was supposedly happening with this kid I was terrified. When we boarded the plane all the girls with net access were frantically checking the developments while waiting in the plane. Then when we landed we learned it was all a hoax. Thank God, but still, what the hell is that about? We all know how it turned out but I had to include it as it was one of the more memorable moments of the trip.

                      Drama Balloon                                                        Glowing-stairs-installation-thing

   See His Work!!!                                              Architecture is <3

               When we got to NY we waited for the second group of students to get there because we had been separated between two planes. It was about 10 pm when we got to our hotel, and it was drizzling, but we decided to check out Times Square at least for a little bit before crashing. Truong Le, (who now goes by Danny because its easier for others to say, but I still say I love his original name and he should embrace his uniqueness) is my Vietnamese home-boy who is, girl scout's honor, one of the coolest cats I know and one of the most talented - check out his site! (There is a link under his picture, which I took because I wanted evidence in case it was the last time I saw him lol.) He had his enormous camera in-tow, and just took off by himself into the night, because as he made it clear to me many times during this trip, he is in fact, a ninja. Personally, I'm a big fan of the buddy system, especially when its a bunch of young 20-somethings from relatively quiet towns running aimlessly around the Big Apple. (So I was quite relieved to see him the next morning, alive and un-mugged.) Booth and I took off together and walked up this cool red glowing stairs thing in the middle of the Square and saw some gorgeous buildings all lit up against the night. Eventually we called it quits when the cold and rain became unbearable and went back to the Skyline Hotel to get some rest before our first day of exploring. 

                                                         Museum of Natural History                          1500 Year Old Tree Stump   

   

                 

                                          SRS BZNS!!!                                                                                 I really love rocks.

        Booth (he is pretty much my best friend in the Art-Dept) and I started off our day with breakfast at a small bakery. It was very cold outside so I got lobster bisque, which is my favorite soup and very unfortunately hard to come by back home. After that we went to the Museum of Natural History so I could look at the Native American gallery and then the gemstone room. I was in love with all the wampum. Bead work like that is truly inspiring to me. The belts were so intricate and colorful for the time in which it was made. I also saw an awesome 1500 year old tree...it was crazy huge.  

 

Sweet Subway Mosaic Action                                              Crazy Random Jade Carving 

             Then we got lost for a long time on the subway, and I started taking pictures of things so I could identify where we'd been. Luckily Booth has a functioning sense of direction and navigated the tunnels like a pro, after our original lostness. We got some lunch at an Italian place (which we mostly chose for its desperately needed restroom facilities). After that we headed to the Museum of Modern Art and Design, and it was by far my favorite museum. There was an exhibit there called "Slash: Paper Under the Knife" which featured works by many different artists in many different styles, but all utilizing paper in creative and unexpected ways. (aka: This is what you came here for.)

      

                                                                Mia Pearlman                                             Andrea Dezso

Night Gathering - Ed Pien

Drawing with ink and papercut / Size 500 cm x 230 cm

           I was really interested in Adrea Dezso's "tunnel books" which used layers of paper with different designs on them to create a whole picture, which told a story about part of her life, if you look at it directly from the front. Since my senior show series was all about past experiences in my life, I was really drawn to her style. She also implemented Dali-esque surrealist techniques so of course I was in love. Mia Pearlman was another favorite. Her works can best be described as epic paper art. They are often large, sweeping, mysterious paper sculptures that dominate whatever room their are in. A similar artist is Andrea Mastrovito whose work graced almost the entire ceiling of the lobby area. It was a ship sinking into a turbulent sea of shredded paper. I was in awe. I was also very impressed by Ed Pien's work. Just looking at all the lines and swirls and intricacies hurt my head to try and comprehend. I can't even imagine how hard it must have been to cut all of that out. Then there were the altered books, which I often like to use in my own art. Some people might think that, being a devout bookworm, this would be against my religion. However, I find its not so much of sacrilege if done in the name of art. (Though personally, I do still try and use books which have fallen into disrepair or those which weren't good in an attempt to keep my conscience clean.)  The next day we went to dozens of other museums and saw prolific artists like Cornell, Dali, Warhol, and Van Gogh but I'll leave it at that because they really aren't hurting for the publicity. 

Non ci Resta Che Paingere (There's Nothing Left To Do But Cry) - Andrea Mastrovito

 Ariana Boussard-Reifel                                                                      Su Black well

           That night Booth and I went out for his first real bar experience. We've been going to college in a dry county this whole time... God help us. We went to an Irish pub where we were served by a Russian waitress who only kind of understood English, and I'm using the term kind-of very generously. I asked for a Tequila Sunrise and he ordered a beer. He ended up getting a beer, and I got a straight glass of tequila. I was too nervous to get into an argument about her comprehension of my order so I just sat there and downed that thing, all the while trying to keep my "I'm a little bitch" faces under control, but it was hard... at least Booth got quite a few laughs. Then we walked back to Times Square and found the sound exhibit. It sounded like a diggery-doo and Booth held my hand while we listened to it. It was really cool and kind of magical. I'm glad we had that moment. Then Elaine, who you will remember from the DC post, was only a few hours away a decided she would come into NY for the weekend while I was there and get a room. So she saved me from having to room with my teacher more than one night, got a room in the same hotel and I went and stayed with her. If you can't tell by now, that girl kicks ass. Then we got ready and went out for a night on the town. 

  

                 This place is fuuuuun.                                             Why did I just waste 2 hours of my life?

  

             I love these branch things                                                Enchanting and yet, disgusting. 

           So that night Elaine, Booth and I went to the Fat Black Pussy Cat, a pub/lounge with a club underneath it. I really liked the decor. It kind of reminded me of my living room. Lots of warm ambient lighting, plush fabrics, and Moroccan colored glass lamps everywhere. We found a little nook next to a ornately decorated Egyptian sarcophagus and got to drankin'. Then Booth started doing his white-boy rapping which was very entertaining, he's actually surprisingly good. Every now and then we'd go outside to get some air and talk politics with homeless people. We were going to only stay there until midnight, but the next time we looked at our phones it was 3:25. Oops. Before we headed back we decided it would be a good idea to get some food. We went to Mamoun's Falafel and wow, I don't know if it was because I was so drunk but damn, thats the best falafel I've had in my life. Then suddenly, out of nowhere, came a guy in a Spider-man suit who was pulling some people on a rickshaw. Okay, so that was strange by itself but then he started doing flips and spinning the couple around and setting them down on their backs and then flipping then back up. It was the coolest thing ever. We were all unusually calm about like, "Oh yea, thats totally normal".... but the next day we couldn't believe it and thought we might have had a co-hallucination moment. (Up until I started writing this post I honestly wasn't sure if this guy really existed, but now I have proof! I'm including his video at the bottom of this post.) The next day we saw more museums and that night Elaine and I went to see a play called Oleanna at this really tiny theatre off Broadway. The entire play happened in one room, so no set changes, and there were only two actors: Julia Stiles and Bill Pullman. Pullman was excellent (and for an older man, he's still lookin pretty good) but Stiles just reminded me why I hate watching her movies...and she's even worse on stage. The whole thing was rather infuriating but I guess that means they did a good job. After that we went to Haru for sushi and to pay the most I've ever spent on a meal in my life, but I really loved the light up decor. Then we walked back to the hotel and and met up with Booth after visiting the liquor store. (do we see a trend on this trip?) We watched SNL and wondered how we might be able to kidnap James Franco (who was guest starring) before we had to leave NY. We stayed up until 2:00 am doing this when Booth and I had to catch a shuttle to the airport at 5:45 am. Not the smartest of choices. We were so.hung.over. My head was swimming and it was raining cats and dogs when we met up again in the lobby. In the van the driver had it on an R&B station and I was using the beats to keep a rhythm and avoid getting sick as best I could. Then that song by Jay-Z and Alicia Keys came on, Empire State of Mind, and the first time any of us ever heard that song was while we were in New York, and I have to say, there was something kind of special about that. 

Coming up next in the Wanderlust Chronicles: NEW ZEALAND.


*pictures of works in the MAD gallery are not my own. cameras were not permitted in the gallery so i had to find pictures of the works as my visual aids.

Wanderlust Chronicles - Episode One

    
           I'm going through one of the roughest patches of cabin fever I've had in a long while. I just feel like I have got to get out of here. The worst thing about that is I have less than no money to do this with. So if staying here is my only option I've decided to re-live the biggest trips I've taken in the last year or so. I'm not going to post all the pictures (there are literally thousands) but maybe 3 for each won't be overdo-ing it. I mean, I'll try to keep it under control, but I make no promises. Oh yea, and I'll be going in reverse, so backwards in time...cue twilight zone music.

The Semi-Professional Triangle Player (or Planes, Trains and Automobiles) - Road Trip to DC

              So one of my best friends is working in DC at the capitol. She's been living there for over a year now without a car. So in April she decided to come home to Arkansas, get her car, and then drive it back out to DC. Her mom didn't want her to go by herself so she called and asked me if I would be willing to ride out there with her and then fly back after spending a day or two in DC. She said everything would be taken care of as long as I could pay for my own meals. Now I like to think I have a few wild hairs but I haven't done any superbly spontaneous things in quite some time. Still the next morning I was in the car ready to hit the road. Let me just say here that road trips are a big step in a friendship. One of two things will happen, you can bond deeply and strengthen the friendship ten fold, or you can learn how crappy their taste in music is and the deafening silence for hours on end will remind you just how little you have in common, bringing down your union like the crucial block in jenga game. My friends, on the whole, things could not have gone more wrong. Little did we know that the day we would try to leave the entire state of Tennessee (which is the majority of the drive) would flood (God: 1, Mae and Elaine: 0). 

This was day two (after most of the flooding) but the traffic was still crunk.

Gas station-guarding Tiger saying whats up.

              We were detoured from the highway FIVE times, and even the roads we were re-routed to had fast, deep currents of water pouring across them (which we unfortunately did not get pictures of because we were frantically trying to keep her car from getting swept down-stream, but trust me, it was the craziest flooding I've seen in person). Most people would think we would consider this trip a fail...but we had the time of our lives. We laughed, we cried (mostly from laughing), and we screamed bloody murder while forging rivers like we were on the damn Oregon Trail. It was seriously intense, and although we took over 11 hours to get to our first destination (which should have been 6 hours away on a regular day) and talked to handfuls of cops in the rain, we remained positively jolly about the whole thing. 

Elaine is a master of the air guitar arts.

              The next day ended up going off without a hitch and we saw World's Largest Guitar, Foamhenge, and some of the most beautiful countryside in the States while going through Virginia. When I got to DC I toured the capitol building (which I was escorted to via the underground tunnel which connects it to other buildings - how La Dee Da!) and lots of museums (the Native American one was my favorite) and road my first train on the way to the airport in Maryland when I basically got out of her car, pivot stepped, and came right back home. 

I must own some of these before I die.

                                                                                                                                            

  Modern Day Totem Poles                      Gas Can with Hole Punches

In the native arts gallery there was this awesome series called Strange Comfort by Brian Jungen.

I really like the tribal masks made out of sports stuff. (Especially the air jordan one!!!)

             If someone had told me that DC would have much worse humidity than here in the South, I would have never believed them, and I would have been so so so wrong. It was so thick I felt like I was swimming through the air. Let me tell you, after about the fourth museum on foot I was no pretty site to behold. At night we would sit out on the porch (it was just slightly cooler than indoors because their AC was on the fritz) and we'd watch trannys (she didn't exactly live in the safest part of town lol) chase other boys down the streets soliciting them. I'm always so surprised that they are much more catty than most women I know. It was also really entertaining to see how their look would change from day time to night time, what a transformation. Now be assured, I don't really have anything against them (save my complete dislike for all clear plastic heels). You know, different strokes and all... It was just all kinds of fascinating to me. The one (openly) cross-dressing man (I'm not sure if he's taken the surgical plunge) that lives in my town is almost a celebrity...its just so rare around here.  Anyways, even with how crazy our trip out was, I have to say that getting there was much more fun than being there. For how terrible it should have been, we had a truly amazing time driving out there, and now I think we can safely say that our friendship is Road Trip Proof...but I guess we kind of knew that already. I sort of love her to pieces. 

                                                                   

Album of the Month

Dark Side Of the Moon - Pink Floyd

1.  Speak to Me / Breathe — 4:00
2.  On the Run — 3:32
3.  Time — 7:06
4.  The Great Gig in the Sky — 4:44
5.  Money — 6:32
6.  Us and Them — 7:40
7.  Any Colour You Like — 3:25
8.  Brain Damage — 3:50
9.  Eclipse — 2:04

Click Here to Download the Full Album

          I recently watched a documentary about the making of Dark Side of the Moon and it convinced me that this album certainly does deserve to be the album of the month. Dark Side of the Moon came out in 1973 and has been on the rock charts most of the time since.  In my opinion, it is Pink Floyd at their creative best. This album is a must have for any collection - great guitar work, magical synthesizer moods and some sultry sax action. Add to that the haunting lyrics and almost operatic back-up vocals and you find yourself soaking in a psychedelic audio sauna. Dark Side of the Moon has 3 instrumentals and 6 lyrical tracks. It focuses on certain pressures people encounter during their life. Time (Breathe, Time), Stress (On The Run), Money (Money), Division (Us and Them, Any Colour You Like), Death (Great Gig), and finally mental instability (Brain Damage). Within each of these topics resides more metaphor and meaning, which varies from listener to listener. This album is truly a powerhouse of music which is not only a great place to start in the realm of Pink Floyd, but also for music in general.

           I heard this album for the first time when I was 15 years old. I instantly fell in love with this band which could convey so much emotion to me without saying much at all. I ended up tracking down and vinyl copy and would play it into the wee hours of the night, letting the music take me anywhere else but where I was. My brother was diagnosed with (what they can only call) a mental condition similar to schizophrenia a few years ago. He was in his late 30s with two kids and no mother to care for them, and after he became disabled my family was bound together and yet torn apart in more ways than I care to explain here. It left him in a state very similar to that of Syd Barrett, strange/sadly enough. Since then I have found a deep appreciation for music associated with mental illness.  If for no other reason than if I can’t understand what is going on in my brother’s head, I can at least find comfort in understanding the music that somewhat describes it…or maybe I’m just glad that it understands what I’ve seen…either way. This part is more my personal reason for a reignited interest in this CD than why everyone and their mom should go out and buy this album on the double, even though they totally should.

Click Here To Download The Full Album

Please Note: I encourage the sharing of music through mp3s for sampling purposes. If you like what you hear I must strongly suggest that you purchase music from the artists of the albums I post. I understand most people don't have a lot of money to spend on media these days, but please do what you can. The only way to keep talented musicians making great music is to support them. In the case of Pink Floyd, some artists which no longer produce music have made such great contributions to the history and evolution of music that I find it almost my obligation to express their value to others.

Glass Soup - Book Review

I found this book during a random trip to Goodwill. Most of the times I've gone there I'll come out with a couple books that end up being nice additions to my collection. Most times, though, I usually don't find books that are just spot-on for my taste using this method. Living in the Bible Belt, there aren't just a whole lot of second hand books with metaphysical and surreal themes. Jonathan Carroll is known for his magical realism, which if you know me, you know I love some magic (read: any fantastic stories, not just witch/troll/fairies etc). However, I really don't like when authors go overboard with saccharine characters and perfectly predictable plots which end up with everything exactly as it should and all are happy and woodland critters help you clean your room and sing Disney songs to you... If you feel me.

In this book the afterlife is created out of the dreams and subconscious thoughts a person had while they were alive. Danger is following a living woman named Isabelle and her unborn child, whose birth will effect all of existence and the balance of power between Chaos and Order. The only person who can help her is a dead man who may not even know he is dead yet. 

I made the mistake of reading this book without knowing it is actually a sequel to another book by Carroll, called White Apples. I had no idea it was a sequel until after I was done but it really didn't matter. This book is fine as an independent and worked well as a stand-alone, and I think that says something. (Although I will now be finding White Apples and reading it asap if its half as good as this one - but I hear its even better!)

Rating: 4 stars