mellowyellow

While Feburary and March are metaphorically pink and green, for Saints Valentine and Patrick, the month of April is yellow because you actually see it everywhere. Together, month and hue are the first harbingers of spring; when I first arrived on the Isle of Man in early April so many years ago, I watched  the golden gorse bloom, so bright and cheery along the grey coastline, and it made all the difference in the world. Here, its daffodils, dandelions, yellow tulips, and those flowering yellow bushes whose names I dont know, but that I see everywhere. In every shade, its the perfect color for the season! So electric, so encouraging! And such a precious time of year it is--by May, winter is just a memory, but in April you actually see the world change from horrible to amazing. If youre wondering why I havent been blogging as much these past few weeks, its because I dont want to miss it! Once May is over, summer is summer and nothing really changes until September. But these are magical days! 

Bambi Northwood Blyth by Tim Barber

"I must have flowers, always always!"

... said my mother recently, and Claude Monet before her. Isnt springtime amazing? It always seems to me like its too good to be true. I feel one hundred percent happier on a daily basis now that theres some flora in the world. How lucky and lovely it is to see flowers, flowers everywhere, whenever you walk outside? We humans must find them so beautiful because we evolved from little furry pollinators--I feel like, Im inherently, biologically drawn to them. I really cant imagine a single thing more beautiful, can you? Its like theyre too much, sometimes, it makes me giddy!  To me, flowering trees are especially remarkable; theyre so unbelievably decadent! But with the end of April approaching, most of them already giving way to leaves, which would be sad, sort of, if it didnt mean summer was right around the corner. Here in Pittsburgh, anyway. And Ive discovered that Bloomfield is aptly named: people do a really good job of keeping their gardens beautiful in our neighborhood! For the most part, they feature lots and lots of candy-colored tulips, which are one of my faves! I only wish we had a garden, too! Though looking at other peoples gardens is free, and easy!

Have you ever seen/read Michael Pollans The Botany of Desire? In it he discusses how flowers (specifically, tulips) have exploited our love of beauty in order to prosper, referencing Hollands golden-age tulipomania as the height of the species exploitation of this human desire. Of course, its ridiculous to imagine spending the equivalent of thousands and thousands of dollars on flower bulbs... but also, looking around the neighborhood on my walks to and from work this week, I can sort of understand their obsession. I really truly cant imagine anything more beautiful! And I believe there are sillier ways to spend ones money. So obsessed with flowers am I of late, I sat Felix down to watch Disneys Alice in Wonderland the other day, specifically for this part:

which backfired horribly, as he now asks me to sing 'the flower song from the funny show' at least five times a day. But I suppose its better than his other most popular requests, the theme songs from Thomas the Tank Engine slash Bob the Builder... not quite as romantic, in my opinion. 

living language: emoji slash slash (slash hyphen)

Ive been really in to Emoji recently. Or should I say, 

I dont know why I find them so fascinating exactly, but I do have some ideas. For example, its interesting how using a picture of something can sometimes make your communication more cryptic, not because it isnt obvious what youre talking about (though, sometimes, it certainly is) but because your brain is so conditioned to expect letters arranged to represent an abstract concept in the form of a written word, that an actual picture of the thing youre talking about can sort of throw you off. Unless youre getting used to it, which I think Chase must be, I believe to his chagrin--Ive been challenging myself to communicate exclusively in emoji whenever possible. On the phone, of course. I only wish there were more of them; the alphabet doesnt always include what I need it to. For example, while perfectly suited to our largely ramen-based existence, I find that the food icons lack various western items that would be useful at times. Like, a sandwich that isnt a cheeseburger, for example. And the other night, when I was trying to text about GOT, I discovered that there isnt even an emoji for a Lion--though all the animals from Chinese astrology are represented. And speaking of east vs west, I wonder a lot about whether emoji read differently in their native Japan; that is to say, do they blend more seamlessly into an (originally) character-based written language? Because the jump from 

RABBIT  to 

is visually pretty major, but I wonder if its at all different when the written expression of Rabbit is, fundamentally, a picture of a rabbit. Do you know what Im talking about? 

On a related note, lets talk about this article I recently read on The Chronicles language blog, Lingua Franca, about how the word 'Slash' has fairly recently entered the slang vocabulary of the youth of America. The article doesnt explicitly state this as an American phenomenon, I just assume people in England arent using 'stroke' in the same way. At least I never heard them say it. But maybe Im wrong? Anyway, Im sure that you, dear-probably-american-reader, are somewhat familiar with its usage (and if not, the article includes various examples provided by the authors students). But Im bringing it up in conjunction to my emoji discussion because its kind of exactly the opposite: in one case, symbols are being used to communicate not only nouns, which would be fairly straight forward, but also actions and concepts--like the snowman, meaning 'its cool' slash 'Im cool with that'; in the other case, a punctuation mark (ie, a symbol) with a formerly narrow application is now being spelled out as a word, even in text messages, where youd expect the symbol itself would be more convenient--obviously, because the word 'slash' has gained a richer connotation, and performs more elaborate conjunctive functions, than the slash symbol is able to express.

Id also be interested to read more about the putting-hyphens-between-every-word-in-a-sentence-to-somehow-make-it-seem-like-one-word phenomenon, but Im not entirely sure it qualifies as slang? Any thoughts? Isnt it fascinating?!

ps, if youre really in to emoji, consider reading Emoji Dick, an emoji translation of Moby Dick recently acquired by the library of congress--so you know its legitimate!

the platonic jumpsuit

I usually dont go for Rompers. I think, at best, they make you look like a college freshman at a music festival who shops at Forever21, and at worst, like a slutty/disheveled adult babydoll (Im looking at you, Hannah Horvath). They tend to come with a lot of bells and whistles in the form of weird patterns and strange clasps, and overall, they strike me as cheap-looking. But this is different! And maybe I would never have felt this way, this time last year, but Ive completely fallen in love with this now-sold-out, four-hundered-and-fifty-dollar beige-and-navy colorblocked cotton jumpsuit from Makié. Can you imagine one single thing more comfortable and convenient to wear in the summertime? 

So breezy. With a pair of nude leather flats and some circular sunglasses? Maybe a denim jacket? Come on. Only, I don really understand how you get in and out of it? Which is my number-one problem with jumpsuits in the first place. So scratch what I said earlier about convenient, unless theres some trick I dont know about. Tell me if there is!!!

blah blogblock

Its sort of ironic and silly to write about how I have nothing to write about and expect anyone to want to read about it, I know. But sometimes I just dont know what Im doing... you know? Im sure youve all felt the same way about whatever it is you get up to, professionally or in your spare time. Ill go a nice stretch with plenty of ideas and things to say, and then, all of the sudden, Ive got nothing. I think its partly to do with the fact that Im adjusting to the new season, like my brain hasnt acclimated to springtime yet. Funny, because I assumed that warm weather would improve both my life and my blogging, though in reality, I think the urge to be outside playing has curtailed my blogging momentum somewhat--and then, when the weather does cool slightly, my brain completely shuts down and Im good for absolutely nothing. So its a good thing this is only a hobby. Theres nothing truly wrong with any of this, I dont think. If I dont have anything to say, I clearly shouldnt be writing. Right? So why do I feel like I ought to? Because, I feel constantly compelled to create content, for no real reason. But Ive been thinking, and Ive decided, I like that. It reminds me of being in school, in a good way: having deadlines, feeling pressure to complete projects, forcing myself to be productive. Of course, my blogging is largely irrelevant, whereas the school work once I did was for a reason--though, as a manager at a bakery, I sometimes wonder: was it?

It all comes down to this: am I wasting my life away??

And also, how much tea can one drink of an afternoon, before its officially Too Much? 

ps: how excited are you all about this happening? It premieres two days after I turn 28, and Im considering it a personal birthday present, to me--and heres a sneak peak!

Gluttony, by Julie Morstad

Its April?!

In the hubbub of working, the spring weather that makes me blog less, apparently, and my laziness, I totally forgot to tell you my april resolutions! Remember? And now, April is almost over anyway! Oh lordy, where has the time gone? Anyway, this month, Im working on: 

Making fewer impulse purchases at the supermarket

Trying to get in some extra time at work

Living in the moment (always)

& My Arms

What are you trying to get done these days?

self portrait by Paolo Roversi

ITS TIME

The other day, felix and I were walking and I saw an add on the back of a city bus that said:

If Hes Is Five, Its Time:

Enroll Your Child In Kindergarten 

And it really freaked me out! Im not ready for Felix to go to Kindergarten! Oh wait, hes not old enough anyway. Besides, Im already thinking about preschools, and I know hell love it when he gets there. Then again, signing Felix up for preschool is something we will choose when and whether to do, given our schedules. No one is making me take him anywhere (and leave him there!) But in three and a half years, the government will be. And I have a feeling thatll seem sooner than later.

This train of thought invariably leads into a woeful contemplation of the passage of time, and various other morbid/existential notions Ill spare you, lest I Bum You Out--weve had some bad news in the family, so its been a sad few days over here. But Im not trying to bring you down right now! Like I said before, Im really excited for Felixs early academic future! Hes so funny and curious, he needs to loosen up around other people sometimes, and I think being in a classroom is just the ticket for that. Not to mention how much more flexible Chase and I will be, professionally, once he has somewhere to be in the daytime.  But oh, how Ill miss him so! Motherhood is so bittersweet!