My Collection - Calendars

I'm not much of a collector, if I buy one of something I don't feel the need to get the whole set. I do tend to collect wayward abandoned cats, and that's why I have three of them- but that's it I swear! Because I like cats, people tend to give me things with cats on it, but that's more of an unintentional collection of things!


Looking around my house, and trying to figure out what I did collect was a bit of a challenge. However I saw a stack of calendars from as far back as 2002 and realize that I apparently collect those!

The collection starts when I go to the store to buy a calendar. There are so many awesome calendars that I can't decide which one to buy. I often buy ones with beautiful landscape pictures that nearly transport me to the tropical places on the pages, just by looking to see what day it is. I also like to buy ones with animals on them, but not those cute puppy and kitten calendars- those sort of make me gag. There has to be some good photography involved or interesting shots at least.

Once I've used the calendar for the year, it becomes a collection because I often can't throw them away. I like to save them 1)because I imagine that I will rip out some pages and frame them and put them on my wall somewhere or 2) because the appointments and things to do that I've written on them chronicle my life like a diary. It's a nice way to remember my life and the things I've done, by the appointments I kept or people I meant to meet. It shows what was important to me at the time, whether it was job interviews, or college exams, friends birthdays.

My favorite current calendars are my Lonely Planet Exotic Cities Calendar, and my Busy Family Animal Calender (it has sections for each of each member of the family to write their to-do things for that day). My favorite from the past is my 2003 Auuobon Society Exotic Song Bird Calendar- it's really colorful and the shots are beautiful!

Something That Caught My Eye-Tupac Shakur, Legacy

For my 'something that caught your eye' show and tell last week I brought in my Tupac book- Tupac Shakur- Legacy.

I got this book because it features all much of Tupac's lyrics, and poetry, and also because of it's cool interactive nature. I love the way it features his writing in an authentic manner. For example they've included a composition book full of his writing and notes, but instead having regular pages full of writing they've added actual copies of his work in the same format that Tupac created it. For a copy of his actual composition book, where he wrote poems, lyric, and notes, that looked like an actual composition book, and it's actually in the format of a composition book. Other fun pieces are flyers from shows, notes from other artists, like Quincy Adam, and even his mug shot photo, included like an ID card. There's also a reproduction of a school report, written by a friend in high school (who would later become his assistant). The report is in typewritten school report format, as an actual reproduction, with the teacher's comments included on the front. It's titled, Conquering All Obstacles With Tupac Amuru Sakur. The teacher wrote: 9 (circled) Excellent Choice of Subject.

It's a really fun book and they way they've laid it out and included reproductions on the appropriate paper type is really fun. Even if you aren't a fan of his music, I think you could appreciate this book and the interactive way it tells Tupac's history.

Great News for Chimps!

You guys probably remember that I chose to do my cause campaign on End Chimpanzee Research/Retire Chimpanzees from Research. Well there has been some good news on this front! The Great Ape Protection Bill was introduced into Congress on April last month, that would end invasive testing and research on the chimpanzees currently in U.S. laboratories.
While the introduction of a bill does not mean it will pass, it at least means that many organizations, like The HSUS and Project R&R are working hard to get legislation like this and that enough people cared in Congress to actually sponsor the bill. With continued hard work- and maybe a few awesome posters, maybe public support of this campaign can sway Congress to support the bill.

If you want to help, tell your Congress person that you want to end government research on Chimps.

Also you can take this really fun quiz to find out which sanctuary chimpazee you are most like: Chimpanality Quiz

Artomatic-Opening May 9, 2008

This is a really interesting showcase of multimedia from local artists. Installations feature music, paintings, photos, sculptures, and bizarre concepts. You never know what you'll find there. Over a thousand artists participate, presenting all kinds of work. The exhibits often fill, and even incorporate the room they are in, which makes them like an experience rather than just something to look at.

The venue changes every year I believe. Last time I went it was held in the former Children's Museum in Northeast DC. The basement level seemed like a creepy old hospital to me though, which lent itself to some interesting exhibits on that level! Last year it was in VA and drew over 40,000 visitor according to its website.

The exhibits range from beautiful and serene, to funny and/or bizarre. There's alot of interesting stuff there and I 'd definitely recommend checking it out!

The website is www.artomatic.org

Artomatic
Opening Friday, May 9 - Closing June 15
1200 First St NE
Capital Plaza I - corner of First & M streets NE - NY Ave Metro
Wed-Thu: 5pm-10pm; Fri-Sat: noon-2am; Sun: noon-10pm; closed Mon-Tue

Bembo's Zoo-Animal Typography

This image is from Bembos' Zoo. A cool site that combines typography and one of my favorite things-animals!

Bembo's Zoo is a flash site that presents the letters of the alphabet. When you choose one of the letters, you see the name of an animal spelled across the screen. Then the letters fly around and move together to create the shape of the animal. When the animal is created, it jumps, hops, walks, or crawls across the page.

Interestingly enough, the animal for X is X-ray Wolf (I guess since wolf is the W animal preceding it. I can't think of any other animals starting with X so I guess this makes sense.

Comment on Unnecessary Process

One quick thought I had on the unnecessary processes that everyone brought in- including myself. I realized that alot of them were bathroom related, about this we do and use in the bathroom. I guess these are more likely to be seen as unnecessary because that is one place that we figure needs no instruction! We go there daily right?!
Really it depends where you are though, as far as bathroom culture and knowing what to do. I was a bit thrown off when I was in China and some bathrooms were nothing more than a trough that you squat over. And it was BYOTP in many parts. It took some getting used to, especially in a few places where there were no doors on the stalls. Not all bathrooms there were like that though and there were plenty of places that had modern plumbing. I never thought I'd be so happy to see a modern toilet!

One Sentence Stories

I read one of my one-sentence stories in class but I had written several others. Here they are:

In the last 24 hours I bought a car, told off my boss, and moved to Arkansas.

In the dark it was hard to tell if the person underfoot was friend or foe.

When I finally stopped running, I had no idea where I was going or even who was chasing me.

The oncoming headlights forced me to make a decision.