Epistulae Ciceronis

Photos are public; most everything else is not. Leave a comment to be added.

I suspect most of you are on my 1928 party invite list, but for you Facebook haters: we're throwing a birthday party for Katie on Sunday, June 21st, 1959 at 5:00PM. (Yes, that's a subtle hint at a theme). It's a potluck so you should come prepared with sides to share or meats for the grill. Katie also just bought some new patio furniture which we should have in by then; since everyone tends to lounge on the patio during summer parties anyway, we figured we'd at least make it comfortable.

Also, this is a heads up that you should block off the evening of Friday, September 11th, 2009 on your calendar as you're committed to coming to my as-of-yet-unannounced-but-hardly-difficult-to-guess-the-theme-of party, which will last well into Saturday. I don't like to hype my own parties but seriously, this is the event we've all been waiting nearly a decade for.

"When our food and clothing and housing all are born in the complication of mass production, mass method is bound to get into our thinking and to eliminate all other thinking. In our time mass or collective production has entered our economics, our politics, and even our religion, so that some nations have substituted the idea collective for the idea God... There are no good collaborations, whether in music, in art, in poetry, in mathematics, in philosophy. Once the miracle of creation has taken place, the group can build and extend it, but the group never invents anything. The preciousness lies in the lonely mind of a man." - John Steinbeck, from East of Eden.

[+24 | Slideshow] I was kicking myself when we decided to go to the Atlanta Zoo and I realized I'd left my 100mm lens at home. Not that I have any real interest in nature photography but there are some shots that are simply obligatory. Of course, I'm even more disappointed that I didn't even bring my camera to the Atlanta Aquarium, which was really awesome - although it's not like I would have taken any photos that haven't already been taken a thousand times before. Overall the Atlanta Zoo isn't really that great. I much prefer the Woodland Park Zoo here in Seattle if only because the habitats feel much more natural. The big attraction at the Atlanta Zoo is the baby panda which was cute - although Katie and I got more out of the reptile exhibit which included tons of baby turtles.

[+24 | Slideshow] Photos from the Friday Night Social back in November. Back when I still through threw parties.

Like half the photos on my camera were from that week in December when it snowed and everyone decided it would be better to hang out with friends than go to work. Everyday should be snow day. Unfortunately, most of the photos fall under the "had to of been there" category but I managed to salvage a few. I think this is the only picture I have of the outside of my house. Everything looks so pretty in the snow!

I totally forgot that I owned a camera. I have photos going back to like December! These two were taken in January after Katie and I finished hanging my peacock screen. It may not look like much but it took us a couple hours to get it mounted and level, so were were pretty proud. I think it fills out the room nicely. Now we just need to get a new bedspread and rug. (The sheepskin rug was actually intended for this room but we put it in the library until we find a cowskin rug for that room).

I'm so eager for adventure that I never really think about where I'm going (or why) until I'm there. If you called me up and told me you had an extra ticket for a trip tomorrow I'd agree to go even before knowing the destination. And its for that exact reason that I now find myself in the middle of Georgia. (Sweet home Georgia not Russia Georgia).

"There's an American TV show in which the president of the US is black. People say, 'Oh look, that's OK, there's a black president on TV.' That's completely humiliating because that's not how it is. There's no black president. Political correctness kills discussion." - Lars von Trier.

Have I mentioned how much I adore Roger Ebert lately? "Art-directed in gloomy House of Tudor colors, "The Other Boleyn Girl" offers high-toned pulp for those who like to imagine themselves superior to ranch-colonial Desperate Housewives, and who don't like to feel so guilty about the pleasure they get from vicarious lust and treachery. Movies like this are designed to let the art-house crowd revel in marginally educative vulgarity without getting their sensibilities dirty."