August 2007 Archives

Call Me When You're Sober
August 23, 2007 | permalink

I've started this post nine times, I swear... I get halfway through, and then fashion rears is hideous, beautiful head, and I can't find the time or focus to get back here for hours or days, and by then whatever I have started writing about no longer seems interesting or important, so I delete it and start over and then fashion rears its hideous, beautiful head, and... well, you get the idea.

So really, Gentle Readers, I suppose this has now become my bi-annual 'I'm sorry I have no time to write, I don't mean to neglect you, it's just that it's Fashion season' post. I will try to write something more interesting soon, I promise.

Posted in Blogging & Fashion Week & Working


The Map of Belgium
August 13, 2007 | permalink

I was out and about today, enjoying the beautiful weather, and I was treated to several strange and unusual sights, all of which (in their own special way) reminded me of how much I love this fabulous city, and how no matter how many times you have walked through it's streets, there is always something new to see. Of course, sometimes it's not really new, it's just something tucked away in an out of the way place. Well, like this:

Really?!? A plaque dedicated to the first automobile fatality in the Western Hemisphere? Is that something that we really want to advertise? On the other hand, it is kind of fitting. I can't imagine a place more plausible than New York to be the site of the first poor bastard to be run down by a car. And I suppose it can be viewed as a kind of cautionary tale for the tourists- look where you're going, if you want to get out of here in one piece. Sometimes it seems like they (the tourists, I mean) lack all sense of self preservation, so I suppose every little bit helps.

Then there was this little gem:

I guess it's an HOV lane scam. But I would think that a) you would want to perhaps conceal your scam once you were in the city and your car was parked, and b) you would use a dummy that was a little more realistic. This picture isn't great, so you might not be able to tell, but it's basically a cotton scarecrow with a paper mask on. It's kind of creepy, actually.

Regretfully, the last unexpected thing I saw I was unable to get a picture of- I just wasn't fast enough. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw a tail disappear into a knothole in a tree. My top-brain said 'squirrel,' but my bottom-brain thought that didn't look quite right, so I stopped and peered into the hole, which was at least 9 inches across and 18 feet up, and a raccoon poked his head out. He looked at me for a few minutes (enough time for me to have gotten a picture, except I was too fascinated to think of it) and then disappeared back inside, presumably to sleep for the rest of the afternoon.

What did you see this weekend?

Posted in Around New York & Random
(4) Comments

Quiet as a Mouse
August 7, 2007 | permalink

What do you do, Gentle Readers, when you have a knotty problem you need to solve? Do you sit and pick at it, peering for any weakness or chink, searching for the first step and meticulously picking it apart thread by thread until you've unraveled it? Or do you set it down, and circle it from a distance, examining the whole thing, trying to hold the shape of it in your mind and understand it, and wait for it to tell you what the solution is?

I'm thinking about this because it is nearly Fashion season again, which is of course my busiest and most hectic time of year. The entire month of August is pretty much consumed with The Boys (and by The Boys I mean our design staff) designing and re-designing our shows, while Smacktalk and I, in our roles as the production department, try to figure out the least stupid way to implement the aforementioned designs. Sometimes the shows are relatively simple and straightforward, without any major challenges (even the simplest has minor challenges). And sometimes there are major challenges, but they are similar enough to something that one of us has encountered before that it isn't too long until we find an acceptable solution. Every once in a while, though, something comes up that really stumps us.

Which, really, is part of the fun of the job. I like the challenges that come up, a lot. What I find endlessly fascinating (aside from the problems themselves, of course) is how Smacktalk and I will consistently approach these problems in such completely different ways. He is far more methodical than I am, and will worry the problem apart by sheer stubbornness. Sometimes it is almost like the fact that the problem exists is a personal affront to him, and he cannot rest until it is resolved.

I, on the other hand, am content to mull it over and let it percolate in my head for a while. Often, while I am doing something else, the answer (or an answer, at least- I'm not claiming to be the be-all end-all here) become clear to me. I have a lot of Eureka! moments in the shower.

It's funny, too, because his way of doing things will often drive me nuts. And vice-versa- I know that it makes him crazy that I will seemingly ignore the problem that is driving him insane, just as it makes me crazy that he wants to talk the problem to death rather than let it sit for a bit.

So how about you? Are you a picker or a percolator?

Posted in Fashion Week & Musings & Random & Working
(4) Comments

weird spam
August 3, 2007 | permalink

Okay, this is some of the weirdest spam ever:

Hello my friend! I am ready to kill myself and eat my dog, if medicine prices here [redacted url] are bad. Look, the site and call me 1-800 if its wrong..

My dog and I are still alive :)

WTF?

Posted in Miniblog
(0) Comments

You'll Have Time
August 3, 2007 | permalink

The other day was my one year anniversary at my full time job. I can't believe how fast it went by. I can't believe how fast time seems to be going by as I get older, period.

In fact, I think the sensation that the passage of time is accelerating is the thing I most notice as I get older. Not that I'm saying I am an old man, mind you; but there are definitely some changes. My eyesight is not quite as good as it was when I was twenty, for example. I have some grey hair. I ache more than I used to the morning after a hard day's work. None of that makes me feel old, though. I still feel strong as an ox (or a bear, if you like) and in the prime of health and heartiness and virility. Hell, I even like the grey hair. It's dignified. But the way time seems to go by... that makes me feel old. My sense of time kind of sucks anyway, which I am sure isn't helping; it just seems to go by so much faster thank it used to. It's a little disconcerting, at times.

I am sure you will be surprised, Gentle Readers, to hear that I have some theories on this phenomenon. Well, maybe not. Be that as it may, everyone I have mentioned this to say that they have the same sensation of time speeding up as they age, so I feel secure in laying out my theory and making broad statements about how everyone's brains work. It might all be crap, of course, but it makes sense to me.

I think there are two things happening, both of which contribute to the sensation of time accelerating. The first is that as you get older, each successive year is a smaller fraction of your life experience than the one before, and so each one gets less and less real estate in your memory. The summer you were five was 5% of your life up to that point; when you get to be 30, those same three months are 0.8% of your life. And the numbers only get smaller from there...

Additionally, I think that new experiences make much more of an impact on your memory than something that has become normal or routine. I'm sure all of you can remember every detail of your first kiss. What can you remember about a kiss you had last month? I also think that we use the things that stick out in our memories as milestones. As you live your life, an ever smaller proportion of the things that you do are new experiences; they simply have less impact. There are fewer things to break up the monotony, so to speak, and as a result time seems to go by faster than it used to.

Anyway, that's my take. Like I said, it might be crap, but it makes sense to me.

Posted in Musings & Random
(3) Comments

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