I am currently processing the last round of Ferguson violence, and I genuinely cannot get over that an officer shot a young man, practically a boy, maybe from his car, SIX TIMES, then didn't call it in, left the body outside to rot and be seen for FOUR HOURS. Then, the fact that they have the gull to try to suggest he maybe stole cheap cigars (maybe) from a convenience store as if that justifies killing him. Ugh ugh ugh ugh. Also, how do they get off keeping this officer on paid leave? And not just apologizing for goodness sakes? Or trying to use the actions of a few people to tear gas crowds of children and try to lock out the press? Anyway, I am just spewing now, as I basically have been to the Boy all weekend (I gave up blogging last night because I was following live feeds), so I am going to pick lighter things for this and will write more about Ferguson later.
1. Buying the Boy a Baby Wrap for our Anniversary- I got him a Solly Baby wrap? They seem like pretty simple ones, and I am hoping he really likes baby carrying. I gave up doing the one on Uncommon Goods where you wrap your baby in tortilla. I don't entirely understand how someone turns a scarf into one of these things, but I am sure by the time our spawn arrives, we will have figured it out.
2. That someone in the world bought this for their baby- I love those people and would like to be their friends. That takes some panache. I would like to believe the nursery is either Flinstones or Meret Oppenheim- themed.
3. "Do we Look Fat in These Suburbs?" on The Atlantic- This article on urban/ suburban planning and it's correlation with obesity articulates an issue I have thought about a lot in a much more substantiated and cogent way (though I don't see the point of coming down on Fitbits). So much of our activity level depends on the spaces in which we live, and cities (and I think small towns) encourage active movement whereas suburban spaces, you never see people walking. Los Angeles also always blows my mind, because the weather remains so consistently beautiful, but because of its sprawling layout, people mostly don't walk.This issue is obviously very complicated, but being aware of how public space encourages or denies just walking places can help us understand ways to better address it
4. The Announcer of Fantasia- While The Boy slept in Saturday morning, I worked on the blog and for my job and watched Fantasia. I really wanted to watch Aladdin, like everyone else, but Fantasia was a good option too (good for the baby, right? Starting to send some classical music to his brain). The speaker cracks me up, because in more than one intro, he pauses, almost like he doesn't know the camera is on, for a very long time before he gets going. Also, the lighting in this movie and transitions into the animation doesn't get enough credit.
5. Craft-shopping- We drove over to the East suburby side to buy craft supplies for some of our various nursery and life plans. We used to live like a mile from a Michael's (and we walked there once, for the record), and I miss being able to go impulse buy yarn or strange glues. I also enjoyed the Boy realizing just how expensive professional level paints are. I think he will continue to encourage me to be an amateur.
6. Pianos in Seattle Parks-You can read the official statement on this King County initiative to put pianos (and players) in the parks
here. I loved coming across one (with robot arms no less) while we walked around Green Lake on Saturday. This is one of the swimming areas at the lake (very Two Mile Run-ish), so people could listen to music while they swam or ate ice cream. That's a good day. I love this city already.
7. Waffles- As Eddie Cantor says, we were making them. We thought we were having an adventure day, but waffles and remaking our to do list took Sunday in a totally different direction.
8. Drilling down the Pergola, Painting over the Stain Stains, Donating a Car's Worth of Stuff, Fighting the Spiders, and Just Generally Making Progress- We did a bunch of the elbow greasing needed in our house (and nothing cost any money, which was a nice change). We finished off our work outside, and we finally started tackling the catchall basement. We gave away a ton of stuff that we moved here, but doesn't currently serve a purpose, and I think tonight we will organize what's left onto the plastic shelves we bought. I still get sentimental about things, but I can't deny it is a good feeling to debulk our house in the name of making our house a manageable home. It felt good to do another round of work, and I am looking forward to when our to do list isn't so epic.
9. High school drama- Sometimes, you really wonder if you did high school wrong, because you weren't twitter feuding with anyone. I am not sure I was even ever regular feuding with anyone. I think my life needs more feuding. At the very least, if you are going to feud with someone, let me know so I can enjoy the drama. Just fascinating.
