two unexpected things that put me right to sleep: the movie Se7en and Batman The Animated Series.

Things I worry about before taking even the smallest trip.

• lip balm. Despite the constant presence of lip balm in my life the moment I lock the door behind me it vanishes from my bags.
• pens. See lip balm. I like Uni-Ball Vision Exact, in case you're the type who likes to know.
• the house burning down. This fear has become stronger since the incident across the street. Consequently my careful setting of the VCR (yes, I live in the stone age) becomes worthless when I unplug absolutely everything in the house.
• little Swiss Army knife being taken away. Oh wait, they already have it.
• forgetting something, like toothpaste. Because I cannot seem to wrap my head around the fact that I can purchase things pretty much anywhere I go.
• driving to the wrong airport. This happened to me when I was setting off to get on a plane to Italy for a group college class summer trip (which would have been much more embarrassing than missing a plane to Italy when it was just you). I wasn't the one driving, in fact it was the mother of a friend so I couldn't even really freak out about it. We made the plane.
• purgatory. I don't know why but I tend to overpack a carry on because I'm so afraid I'll get stuck and be bored, but then if I do get stuck do I work through said activities? No, I spend four hours trying to locate a clicky pencil or a pencil sharpener in airport gift shops so I can do logic puzzles which I don't even like. Then I give up and do the hateful puzzles in smeary pen and get them wrong.

You can probably tell I don't travel much.

note to self: Keep up with bookstore events like those happening at Third Place Books, Todd Oldham was here and you didn't even know! And people you like were even there! Shame! Also see Elliott Bay Book Co. Also, !!!, Wendy McClure is going to be here tonight. You have no excuses.

I'm going to be taking a quick trip to San Francisco next week -- is there anything new in the city I should see? (We moved away in August of 2003.) The hotel I'm in is actually just a few blocks from my old apartment and I'm looking forward to visiting a city I already know how to get around in without peeking at metro maps.

how to make moss graffiti via kottke bottle opening ring via make

Welcome to my new domain home. I have to admit while I was being lazy mooching from a friend's generous hosting I was sneakily hoping that Not Martha the band would split up and I could grab the domain. But they are still around, more power to em. The big news? I have added a (drumroll) RSS feed. Thank you to those who bugged me about it. All of the projects are back in place, as well as the archives. Last week I gained both a cameraphone and a Flickr account, so I hope to be posting more picture-y goodness.