I get ideas…

Hey y’all! Yes, it has been ages and ages since I last wrote, and really there’s no one to blame but myself.
So here we go. New year. New goals, news aspirations. New POSSIBILITIES. Yes, chicks and chaffs, I submitted to not one, not two, but three grad schools! I am hoping to hear back any time now, so cross your fingers, and wish me luck at UVA, Ole Miss, and Brown. I’d tell you my number one choice, but that would be cheating…

In addition to this, I am also going to visit my best pal in jolly Ol’ England! I’ll be there about mid-April, so pre-Jubilee, and Olympics madness. But close enough that I bet there will be a bit of buzz left in the air.

So all these marvelous things are in the cards/happening, and so I am rather chuffed about the whole thing.

To celebrate this upcoming year and really push the impetus that is keeping this all going, I thought I’d make a sort of list of what I wish to accomplish. Not just in this next year, but in the future. I figure if I cross a couple things off the list by December 31st 2012, I’m not doing too bad.

NOT RESOLUTIONS, mind you. Just desires and hopes.

Places to visit with my brand spanking new travel guidebook:
-Paris
-London
-Berlin
-New York
-Ireland
-Wales

Every day skills to perfect:
-Be more decisive at cross walks
-Write more frequently
-Eat healthy
-Exercise often
-RIDE THE BIKE
-LEARN TO DRIVE

Career/future:
-Get a membership at THE ORACLE CLUB which sounds to me like heaven
-Move to a metropolitan area and find a job within the book business

Happiness quotient:
-Tell him I love him
-Treat myself well
-Be open to risk
-Take things less personally

Books/Films:
-Watch more Orson Welles
-Read Remembrances of Things Past
-Read Ulysses
-Read more Faulkner

Good for now.

Tags: 2012, england, goals, mfa progs

Easter Lamb, Christmas Ham

My friend Rachel at work came up with that genius reverbiaged phrase for “May-December Relationship”, and it’s reminded me, among other things, of the amazing power of words. Sounds maudlin and obvious, I know, but it helps me get through working at bookstore full-time, and working on my grad apps, editing high school papers, and interning for The Encyclopedia Project on my weekends.

Didja see the bookstore website? Snazz, right? Brand spankin’ new, and we are very proud of it. See that first photo at the top with the intense book shelf? Yep, that’s my store. The Napa store. And I am a proud champion of what we do there. Granted, every day is a new experience, and yes, sometimes things don’t turn out exactly the way I want them to, but guess what, dudes? Working with the public, with a product that can be frequently out of my control, this is all part of the game. And honestly, I would rather be at a bookstore than anywhere else. Honestly.

Though I am looking forward to Grad School (if it’s in the cards, which gee whillikers, I hella hope it is). I love Napa, most of the time, but I am ready to check out. Charlotte is now an Oxonian, which is pretty rad, and the fire under my ass is now pretty damn hot.

In other news, my grandfather’s memorial is tomorrow, and it promises to be a day of lobster rolls, beach, beer, bocce, and lots of talking about the man himself. I look forward to seeing my relatives and going over the whole schlemeal.

But I def want to get back into writing on here. It’s important for me to stick with these thangs.

So let’s do it, babies. It’s the fall, quickly turning to crispy winter. And it’s my favorite time of year. Eggnog lattes, Christmas time, and busy busy work. Can’t wait.

See y’all soon!

Tags: Copperfield's, encyclopedia project, grad school, Grandpa

Warren L. Owens

Hello to all…
Yes, it’s been some time since I wrote, and I am hoping to do more, for sure.
But for now, I’d like to put this poem up in honor of my grandfather. He died on Thursday, July 21st, 2011, and as I’m putting together my grad school applications, I keep being reminded of how hard he worked to keep art in his life, even though he couldn’t survive on it alone.

So for now, here’s some Bukowski in honor of Warren L. Owens, one of the bravest, toughest, and wisest men I’ve ever met.

Pershing Square, Los Angeles, 1939

One orator proving there was a God
and another proving that there wasn’t.
and the crazy lady with the white and yellow
hair with the big dirty blue ribbon,
the white-stripped dress, the tennis shoes,
the bare diry ankles and the big dog
with the matted hardened fur.
and there was the guitar player and
the drum player and the flute player
all about, the winos sleeping on
the lawn
and all the while the war was rushing
toward us
but somehow nobody argued about the
war
or at least I never heard them.

in the late afternoon I would go into
one of the bars on 6th street.
I was 19 but I looked 30.
I ordered scotch-water.
I sat in a booth and nobody bothered
me
as the war rushed toward us.
as the afternoon dipped into evening
I refused to pay for my drinks.
and demanded more.
“Give me another drink or I’ll
rip this place up!”
“All right,” they told me, “one
more but it’s the last and don’t
come back, please.”
I liked being young and mean.
the world didn’t make any sense
to me.

as the night darkened I’d go back
to Pershing Square
and sit on the benches and watch
and listen to the
people.
the winos on the lawn passed bottles
of muscatel and port about
as the war rushed toward
us.

I wasn’t interested in the war.
I didn’t have anything, I didn’t want
anything.
I had my half pint of whiskey and I
nipped at it, rolled cigarettes
and waited.
I’d read half the books in the library
and had spit them out.

the war rushed toward us.
the guitar player played his guitar.
the drummer beat his drums.
and the flute player played that thing
and it rushed toward us,
the air was clear and cool.
the stars seemed just a thousand feet
away above us
and you could see the red burning tips of
cigarettes
and there were people coughing and
laughing and swearing,
and some babbled and some prayed
and many just sat there doing
nothing,
there was nothing to do,
it was 1939 and it would never be
1939 again
in Los Angeles or any place
else
and I was young and mean and
lean
and I would never be that way
again
as it rushed toward
us.

Tags: Bukowski, Grandpa, in memoriam

This is how we do it (Napa stylin’)

DL-ing a little Daryl Hall and John Oates, enjoying a nice day off from work with a Virgil’s Black Cherry Cream Sodypop… gonna kick back with the NYT and SF Chron, before a nice evening in Bezerk-town with Charlotte, Juan, and Kelly.

It’s truly the beginning of Spring, ladies and gents. I’m feeling almost fit enough to go to the gym twice a week, the sun is shining after that ever so brief snow warning (though it snowed in Santa Cruz for 3 minutes according to my dear brother), work is bustling in a way, my books are flying off the shelves, and something feels very fresh and new. AND IT AIN’T JUST MY PILE OF LAUNDERED CLOTHES SITTING BEHIND ME.

I think 2011 is finally rolling on up in this bizness, which is nice to see. It felt a bit like 2010 was dragging on and I felt a bit lost and tossed. But now things are moving, and grad school is calling and I’m starting to get the nervy under the fingernail heebie-jeebies I get when I’ve got things to do.

As of now, the grad schools in qvestion are:
-Brown in RI
-Ol’ Miss in Oxford, Miss
-UVA in Charlottesville, VA

I’m rolling with the rule of 3, because I feel those 3 are all solid options and because I can’t stretch myself more than that (physically and writerly)…because of CAMPUS VISITS!

Sometime in the beginning of April, I’ll be bouncing my little self over to Rhode Island to hob-nob with pals and check out the scenery. It should be fun. I’ve never been to RI, and Providence sounds totally bomb dot com.

Hopefully in June or July, I’ll be able to hit up UVA and/or Ol Miss. I did traipse onto the campus in Oxford a couple years ago, but I would like a more concentrated look at what it has to offer.

OOOOOH I also have this great internship with The Encyclopedia Project! I’m working on distribution in various and sundry independent bookstores around the country, so that’s very exciting. Gimme a heads-up if you know of any stores that would be a good fit.

So all in all, I’mma keeping busy and hoping to succeed in more ways than one. I’ll let you all know how the grad school hunt goes— I really need to get my ass in gear on that.

love and bitches

Tags: encyclopedia project, grad school, hall and oates

The BEAUTIFUL Dependency of Museum viewing

Holla holla at y’all,

It’s been very busy around these here parts. I’m still:
full-time at Copps, working hard on sidelines displays, recieving like a motha-licka, setting up NHS Library wishlist displays, creating a rug for the kid’s section out of carpet swatches and rug liners, eating all the food in our fridge when the battery dies, eating all the rich and terrible-for-me-food while my parents do the admirable thing and go on an extreme detox diet, trying to go to the gym and work-out on a regular basis, TRYING to do some writing but rarely getting around to it, but getting psyched about the future and grad schools.

I’m totally loving living at home (doing loan payments rather than rent, wha-CHAAAA), hanging out with my parents, experiencing parts of Napa I’d missed out on before, just trying to have a real life that isn’t consumed by homework and grades. But there’s that siren call of desks and papers and deadlines and writing that’s starting to itch at me and get under my skin.

So thus far, I’ve created a list of what I’m thinking about for grad school. Wanna see? COURSE YOU DO.

Hard at work, as you can see

So, clearly, it’s still quite a work in progress, but I’m def working on it.

Luckily, tonight, I have the glorious pleasure of having dinner with a very special Kate Schatz and my best pal Lotta, so that should be fun and inspiring and just delightful. And there’s an adorable little baby that I get to see, so A+++’s all around, eh?

Glorious sidenote: If any of you get the chance, please please please check out the SFMOMA’s awesome exhibition on Voyeurism, Surveillance, and the Camera. It’s a beautiful, intense, heartbreaking photographic exhibition, with a startlingly lovely video piece by Nan Goldin called the “Ballad Of Sexual Dependency”. It’s magnificent, and I don’t want to ruin it by trying to explain it. Just see it.

Back to the NYT Review of Books…

Tags: back in the saddle, getting to bizness, grad school

Heavy Sugar

Yeah, babies. It’s that time of yiz-ear. The store is bustling, displays are being re-done, stuff is going on 50% off, people are purchasing $100+ at a time, and the Owens Family is about to get out the ol’ advent calendars (yes, days after December 1st).

It’s the December month, holiday time.

I really love this time of year for numerous reasons. The chilly/rainy/frosty weather (I’m def a snuggle up by the fire with some homemade hot toddy and a fatty tome with some slamming Xmas R&B in the background), the food and aforementioned beverages, the time with the family, and the big day itself. I have such great memories of sneaking downstairs at 7AM and being absolutely floored by the effort that my parents and the ol’ fat man had put into the display.

It’s only become more enjoyable as I’ve gotten older— I really love giving my family gifts. Especially my brother. He’d always (and still does) get bummed out when all of his presents were unwrapped, so I really like being responsible for giving him extra fun stuff. I’ve got some doozies set up for him this year, and I can’t wait to see what he thinks.

Also, Christmas lists. I love lists in general (my parents used to get me post-its for the holidays because of all the notes I would write), and one with presents for others on it??? Sounds like fake altruism, but I really enjoy ticking things off it one by one. Just wait ’til I cart home my haul from the bookstore. it’s going to be brutal. I need to get more wrapping paper…

ALSO: Christmas eve plans….going to see reindeer at the SF zoo. How baller is that. I’m so excited to see their velvety and adorable noses. What fun.

All-in-all…frabjous.

I love this time of year…

but not the sickness it incurs.

I’ve got this nasty throat plague right now, so that’s all well and good. Thank god I have 4 days off from work, so I can try to recup while noshing on way too much Thanksgiving feasts.
I’m having 3 this year, dudes! 3!

1)Dad’s test meal last night: Garlic glazed turkey breast, brussell sprouts with other yummy veggies, mashed potatoes, and stuffing with sausage, cornmeal, mushrooms, and loads of other delish things.

2) Thanksgiving with the Watters on Wednesday night: Bound to be hilarious and delish. Cindy demand to have her own leftovers because of my 3rd and final thanksgiving meal…

3) In Oakland with the Watters and Friends on Thursday night:This is the annual gathering that Charlotte and her fam fam attend which I am able to go to, as the rest of my family is abandoning me and driving down to LA to visit my extended rels. But it’s all well and good because I shall be an enormous butterball feastable by the end of this week.

And hopefully less ill.

More tomorrow, perhaps…right now I better go fold some laundary.