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July 21st, 2004
05:03 pm - Bubbles
Floss and I were blowing bubbles in the front yard with Julian when the Professor happened upon us. The Professor lives on my block; he is from the Czech Republic, wears a suit and bowtie every day, speaks with a slight accent, and is altogether delightful. He said,
"Without blasphemy, I am reminded of the good Lord in a playful mood creating planets and galaxies out of soap bubbles. Ah! children, watch, as before your eyes whole worlds are created: perfect rainbow orbs. Like us, they last but a second- for we are all no more than soap bubbles- but who could ask for any more beautiful world?"
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June 8th, 2004
01:23 pm - Love-E
The other day at the pool, while the kids were taking a break and having a snack, this skinny boy, maybe eleven years old, came up to us and started signing. Sign language is a very interesting language: very orderly and fairly easy to understand, at least sometimes, but it was not until his mother had dragged him away that we figured out that he'd been asking us for some of the kids' food. "That was weird," said Katie. He was part of a birthday party and they'd just been having pizza so we didn't feel too bad about not giving him anything.
About an hour later, the boy approached me again. He waved energetically and pointed to the diving boards. I stood up and went with him. He was very excited and pulled me gently over to the line for the low dive. Just then, a girl, presumably his sister, pulled him away. He kept right on grinning as he waved goodbye and blew me a kiss. I was utterly charmed and kept hoping to see him again so I could sign one of the only words I knew: EMILY.
Current Mood: ![[mood icon]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/mood/neko/kaokitty/pleased.gif) pleased
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June 2nd, 2004
09:15 am - Someone gets it.
Emily, I was just reading over your 24 hour comic, and
I came to the claim that the statement "The positive
square root of 4 is dancing" is nonsense.
Balderdash!
The tango is, of course, eternal. And it takes 2 to
tango. Therefor, the positive square root of 4 must
always be dancing!
--Nat Gertler
founder
24 Hour Comics Day
That made me very happy. We're nearing the end of my comic, and my drawings have become very messy, and I was running out of time, but none of this matters. I will at some point pen a sequel, which will be called "The Best of All Possible Worlds," and which will hopefully tie up some of the loose ends, but the time for that is not now. Maybe once I've begun my delightfully logical sophomore year.
Current Mood: glad
Current Music: Stars: Elevator Love Letter
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May 26th, 2004
03:54 pm - Ohio
"Look, Emily, horses," said Leah, much as you would when entertaining a five-year-old on a car trip. I swivelled my head around.
"Oh, cool- oh, my god! They're green! Leah, looklooklook, those horses are green!"
Leah didn't say anything.
"Leah, why are they green?!"
She still didn't reply. Finally she took one hand off the steering wheel and patted me on the shoulder.
"They're wearing blankets, Emily."
I just got home from a week spent in Wooster, Ohio, home of Rubbermaid, Smuckers, and my best friend Leah. For an entire week Leah and I spent literally every waking moment together, talking, cooking, drawing, listening to music, quarrelling, reading The Catcher In The Rye out loud to one another, and picnicing. We made a board game called "Veganing: The Game" and played it. We baked cranberry merangue tarts and debated which type of crust was superior. Two of our friends, Jess and Meghan, are on a cross-country road trip and they stopped by and spent the night and the four of us went out and had french fries. We watched an old movie from the 30s called Love Finds Andy Hardy and then pretended to be Andy Hardy. When we weren't talking like Holden Caulfield. I got to hold one of her chickens, although I wasn't able to catch one. Leah says I'd make a poor chicken farmer.
On Sunday, I'm heading out to Arizona to help my aunt Claudia with her two kids, Katie and Andrew, since their dad is stationed in Germany at the moment. I'm kind of excited. I thought it was going to be a desperately bleak summer but in fact things don't look so bad right now.
Current Mood: ![[mood icon]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/mood/neko/kaokitty/cheerful.gif) cheerful
Current Music: Sprites: I Want You Back
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May 16th, 2004
09:01 pm - Go, Car, Go!
Yesterday I had my first ever driving lesson! Of course, I don't have a permit, but then neither does Floss, who is only 15, and my dad let her drive, so naturally I had to have a turn as well. It was an intoxicating rush of power as I brought the minivan up to 7 mph. I went around a lamppost- first clockwise, then counterclockwise. As soon as I can scrounge up the requisite 17 forms of ID, I'm getting my permit.
Current Mood: ![[mood icon]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/mood/neko/kaokitty/accomplished.gif) accomplished
Current Music: Jason Collette: Choke Cherry
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May 15th, 2004
10:31 am - Concentration
"What clapping games did you like to play when you were ten?" Lillian asked me last night.
"Uh... I never really did. When I was ten I spent a lot of time wrestling and climbing trees with Jack Vogelsang. But the other girls used to play Miss Mary Mack and stuff."
"Oh, yeah, I know that one. Did you ever play Concentration? That's really fun."
"Show me."
Lillian started to show me. "You start with one hand up and one hand down- no- like this-" she put my hands in position. "Okay- Let's play-" clap clap clap "-Concentration-" clap clap clap "-no repeats-" clap clap clap "-no hesitation-" clap clap clap "-I'll go first-" clap clap clap "-and you'll go second-" clap clap clap "-category is-" clap clap clap "-names."
Jill.
Andrea.
Caroline.
Lillian.
Bill.
Alice.
Caroline.
"Dam- ah, drat!" I said.I was terrible at it. "Emily's getting Remedial Clapping Games 101" said Sara.
"Let's go again!" I said.
Category is:
Flowers.
Breeds of Dogs.
Presidents.
Languages.
Types of doctors. (gynocologist, oncologist, psychologist...)
Animals.
Movies.
Bands.
Stores.
I am now addicted to Concentration. (clap clap clap)
Current Mood: ![[mood icon]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/mood/neko/kaokitty/amused.gif) amused
Current Music: Hutch and Kathy: I Made You a Song
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May 10th, 2004
03:34 pm - Vacation: all I ever wanted
I was supposed to work today but I'm sick. Really. Sick. This is the most sitting up I've done all day, and there's nothing to eat in this house except cookies. First year is over. Provided I managed to pass Biology, I'm a sophomore now. Maybe if I keep saying it I'll start to believe it.
Plans for the summer:
-Work at Hurwitz and Fine. Weep. Be irritable and annoy my family.
-Visit Leah in Ohio. Watch the trees grow.
-Look after small cousins in Arizona. "Emily is our least favorite cousin," they say.
-Take Spanish at Buff State. Maybe something else as well, we'll see.
-Take a class at Squeaky Wheel
-Go to Young Adult Group at Unitarian Church.
-Stand with Women in Black
-Write letters
-Draw. Read Wittgenstein. Learn some of the characters I never managed to learn last semester.
Current Mood: ![[mood icon]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/mood/neko/kaokitty/blank.gif) blank
Current Music: Cub: Vacation
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May 6th, 2004
11:33 am - Finals in Tlon
In Tlon, the concept of plagarism does not exist: all literature is the work of one author, who is "atemporal and anonymous": all men who write are acting as the manifestation of this one author. In Tlon, as in the minds of small children, knowledge is universal. I wish I had myself some of that.
Current Mood: discouraged
Current Music: Chuck Coleman: Haley's Comet
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May 5th, 2004
09:50 pm - Exam week grinds on...
I'm taking my Bio exam tomorrow, and then I'll presumably be dead/kicked out of school/ashamed to ever show my face in the science quad again, so if there's anything you'd like to say to me, you'd better do it now. I'm not studying right now: I am reading Cat and Girl and halfheartedly editing the paper I wrote today on "Tlon, Uqbar, Orbis Tertius," possibly one of the best papers I've ever written, because I totally made it be about logic. I alluded to recursively ennumerable sets. Prof Bruzelius may not like it, but I sure do. If I try to study Bio I will panic and work myself up and it won't do any good, I'm screwed regardless. This time tomorrow it'll be done and I can concentrate on my logic exam and Genetics paper. And then I get to go to Buffalo! It's really telling that right now that's sounding pretty good.
"I hear you might be moving into Grace's old room," said Aimee.
"Who told you that?"
"I don't know, it's just a rumor."
"Yeah, I emailed Randy Shannon about ten minutes ago."
This is why they tell you not to date within the house.
Current Mood: hen jinzhong
Current Music: Mary Timony: I Fire Myself
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May 4th, 2004
01:05 pm - We will not be grownups like my parents and their friends
How could we be? My peers, with their regrettable tattoos (the little prince, a three musketeers hat) and armchair communism, will never settle into respectable adult life. They will not have dull, well-paying jobs: they will have dull, non-lucrative jobs to support their feminist book collectives and anarchist zines. Their children will all have ridiculous names: when my generation starts to breed, kindergardeners will have to be called Sage A. and Sage D. and Sage W. to distinguish between them. They will go to Wiccan Sunday school and color in pictures of Gaia. My peers will all be polyamorous lesbians who will have money for Earth Balance but heaven knows where they'll get it. I can't imagine Jovana or Beth becoming adults any other way.
They will, though, I realise. As far as I know nobody stays this way into adulthood. They will all let their hair grow out and dye it brown (I already have, and it matches my eyebrows, but I look washed out and tired). A lot of them will go to law school (why does everybody go to law school?).
I always think that if I talk to an adult about my problems, they will come up with a solution. This is never the case. Adults don't have any magic, they're just older than I am. Soon I will be an adult and, in all likelihood, an authority figure of some sort. I will not have any answers, either. But I will have a better haircut and less comfortable shoes.
Current Mood: bleak
Current Music: Chuck Coleman: Me and Gertrude Stein
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May 1st, 2004
03:56 pm - A post that isn't about logic
Saw the High Water Marks, Apollo Sunshine, and the Apples in Stereo on Thursday- good show! Apollo Sunshine was quite mad- they all looked like Charles Manson and they jumped around and the lead singer played his keyboard with his head. I think Apollo Sunshine tends to be self-indulgent: I could do without the three-minute guitar riffs that conclude almost every song- but they were an excellent live act. I've always pictured the Apples in Stereo as being young- I'm not altogether sure why- but they fell rather short of my expectations. The lead singer is bald. And paunchy. I wouldn't say that I was bothered by this, but it was funny how little they looked like they did in my imagination. They were really fun, though, and they did a lot of stuff off of Velocity of Sound, so that was good.
Last night was senior banquet, which was fun. The seniors give away all the stuff they aren't taking with them to the next phase of their lives: I got a lamp, a t-shirt that says "I love Hong Kong" in Chinese, some chopsticks, a hat, two issues of The Journal of Symbolic Logic, and some shelving. The juniors write prophesies and the firstyears give out awards. Ordinarily the sophomores do a skit making fun of all the seniors but since we have only two sophomores, Leah, Kristi and I helped out. My impressions of Marley (my big sister) and Sarah were very well received.
After senior banquet, Kate and I took a long walk around and around the Science Quad. We talked about what we've learned in our first year of college. I've never been much of a hand-holder- Erica and I never held hands in public- so it's been interesting for me to discover how nice it is to have Kate's cool little hand in mine. We're going to write letters over the summer- or at any rate, I will.
As I'm learning, I can't be responsible for other people: I just do what I can and take what I can get from everybody else.
Current Mood: quiet
Current Music: The Pale: Wake Up Call
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April 30th, 2004
01:08 pm - All is for the best in the best of all possible worlds
My Comp Lit teacher says that Logic is very anti-literary because words only mean what you tell them to. This is true, but the fact remains that all the logic essays I've read display a clear love of and ability to play with language; much more so than the biology essays I've read.
"I will never be a scientist," Kate sighed. "They have no sense of the beauty of words. They cannot even write grammatically."
"Because you're an English major," said one of the seniors.
Lewis Carroll was a logician, of course. But you can't get around the fact that logic attempts to strip reality down to its fundamental structure and, in so doing, something is lost.
I learned the coolest thing ever yesterday. We were discussing Possible World Logic: the idea that there are other realities where things are different, and you have to consider their impact on our world. I've always been fond of this idea, since I first started learning about it last semester, and sometimes I wonder if maybe part of why I love logic so much is because I am missing the point: perhaps I am so excited about Modal Logic because one of these possible worlds might just be Narnia, or Heaven, for that matter. I suspect I may be guilty of lax thinking, or at the very least of taking thought exercises literally, a habit that always annoys me in others. But what I learned yesterday makes all of that okay, because there are logicians who believe that these other worlds aren't just a thought exercise: they think they're real.
These people are called Realists, and if that doesn't show an appreciation for language I don't know what does.
Current Mood: amazed
Current Music: Yves Montand: Rue St Vincent
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April 29th, 2004
11:51 am - Where I want to be
When I was in fifth grade my best friend told me about a school where all you did all day was make art and music floated through the halls. I pictured rooms full of breezy, gauzy curtains, where the students and teachers would sit on jewel-toned pillows on the floor. What she was describing was actually the Buffalo Academy for the Visual and Performing Arts, where I spent three years as an art major. Although I loved it passionately at first, it fell rather short of my expectations: we sat at desks, we learned math and science (although not well, for the most part), and it smelled less like patchouli than tempra paint and tepid cafeteria food. I was all too glad to shake the dust from that place and go to the Buffalo Seminary- but that's another story.
Now my old fantasy school strikes me as being decidedly unpleasant- I hate the smell of patchouli and I hate sitting on cushions, and I really hated the classes, which were like something out of a Daniel Pinkwater novel. As I watch the seniors preparing to leave Smith and embark on their grownup lives, I think about my own post-grad plans. I indulge in fantasies of studying Logic in cool white marble and steel facilities with classmates who can bend spoons with sheer mindpower.
I can't imagine where these places might be.
Current Music: The Essex Green: Primrose
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April 27th, 2004
09:18 pm - Yonder comes a freight train
Just got back from seeing Laura Cantrell at the Iron Horse, a very nice venue: like seeing a band at the Pearl Street in Buffalo. She opened with Churches off the Interstate, one of my favorites; she did a song she wrote and recorded with John Flansburgh; and she covered Hong Kong Blues, by Hoagy Carmichael, which totally rocked my socks. Plus she did a nice lengthy encore, which was nice of her. She's touring with a band: a standup bass, a guitar, and a mandolin/12-string. The place was crawling with little children, which was amusing, and she did a good mix of old stuff and new stuff. I love seeing acts I know really well: I love the feeling of recognizing the opening chords; it's one of the reasons I like They shows so much. On Thursday, Leah and I are going to see Apollo Sunshine and the Apples in Stereo at the Pearl Street, since we're getting all our concerts in at the very last minute, and that should be exciting too.
Current Mood: pleased
Current Music: Laura Cantrell: Two Seconds
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12:31 pm - Contradiction
Starting tomorrow, Contradiction, my 24-Hour Comic, will be updating thrice weekly at ginkgotree.keenspace.com (the link in my sidebar). (My new icon is taken from it). It's not a webcomic; it's not designed to be, but I wanted to put it up anyway. It's kind of like Moon Over Queen Street combined with Alice in Wonderland and cast with Neon Moon-type characters. And with logic. Today in class I thought of a whole bunch of other things I should have included, particularly Modal Logic (possible world logic). I may just have to do a sequel, which might be a good idea anyway because there were a couple of loose ends. Anyway. Contradiction: tomorrow. Check it out. I've finally made something up. Kind of.
Current Mood: cheerful
Current Music: Stars: Heart
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April 26th, 2004
12:45 pm - The March
Wow. It is my pleasure to say that I was present at what has been called "the biggest march in the history of the universe": a leap of faith I'm not quite prepared to make, although I would maybe accept the planet. I am exhausted but it was so worth it.
I ran into Lindsay, my friend from Moore. "Oh, my god," she said. "Oh, my god," I said. "Is it really you?" We hugged. She's in art school in Philadelphia and was full of news about our classmates from Summer Fine Arts; she's majoring in bookmaking and printmaking and over the summer she and her friends are putting together a feminist book collective. She gave me a purple and yellow wristband she'd made.
The world is not so big and nothing is ever really lost.
Leah and I marched both with the Smith college group (~200 women, plus alumni!) and with the Unitarian Universalist Association. There were a lot of UUs, which made us very proud. We cheered and shouted and sang.
After the march, we sat on the lawn and listened to the speakers, which included Hillary Clinton, Carol Mosley Braun, Kathy Najimi, Joanne Garafalo, Ani DiFranco, Alix Olsen, the attorney who won Roe v. Wade, ministers, rabbis, politicians, students... so many people. Planned Parenthood reported that there were approximately 1,150,000 people, but today in the newspaper they were saying "hundreds of thousands." I really hope we did have a million.
History was made yesterday. And I was there.
Current Mood: awed
Current Music: Alix Olsen: Magnolia Street
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April 24th, 2004
08:54 pm - We'll sleep when we're dead.
I am exhausted. My neck hurts. My hand hurts. My shoulder hurts. I am on the verge of hysteria.
THAT WAS THE COOLEST THING I HAVE EVER DONE.
I want to do it again.
In an hour I'm taking a school bus to Washington D.C. for the March for Women's lives, and I know I should take a nap (and I have an insane little song called "Naptime for Emily" stuck in my head- to the tune of "Springtime for Hitler), but I'm so high on comics I may not come down for a week. Damn my wild jet-set lifestyle.
Oooooh, I absolutely love my comic. As soon as I've recouperated I'm putting it online.
I started my 24 Hour Comic last night at 8:00 p.m. I moved along pretty well at about an hour a page, which is the goal. At exactly 9:17 a group of girls from Lawrence house ran naked and screaming through our house. At 3:30 I took a nap: I slept in my clothes on the TV room couch until about 7, at which point I really needed a shower. So I took a shower and put on clean clothes and by 7:30 I was working again. I worked until 11 and then I had brunch with Kate and Beth and then the three of us went over to Modern Myths, where they were hosting the official event. I worked until 8.
I looove my comic. It is about concepts in logic and philosophy that rock my socks: Cantor's Diagonal Hypothesis, Turing tests, Shroedinger's cat, and so on. No one but me is going to get it at all but that's okay.
I'm sending it to Scott McCloud. I've finally made something I think is good enough to show him, after years of wanting to.
I am so happy.
Current Mood: blissful
Current Music: "Naptime for Emily" by the crazy voices in Emily's head
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April 23rd, 2004
02:18 pm - Twenty Four Hour Comics
Tomorrow at noon Modern Myths is hosting a 24-hour comics session. I'm longing to participate, but I'm leaving for D.C. at 11 pm. I originally thought I'd just do a ten-hour comic (which is still a whole hell of a lot) but the more I think about it the more I want to go the whole way: start tonight at ten and just draw. Complications: I have a two hour radio show tomorrow, there's time involved in walking to and from the comic book store (which I would want to do, cos otherwise why not just do a 24 hour comic by myself, say, over the summer. Also, I have never stayed up all night before (I know, I know, that's pathetic. I was up until about 5:30 am the last night of Moore and around there the night of my senior prom, but then I slept: it wasn't nearly 24 hours of wakefulness.)
I really want to do this. I'm a little bit scared and quite a bit restless: I want to start NOW, predrawing at least, but that's not allowed.
Anybody want to dare me?
Maybe I should take a nap.
Current Music: The New Pornographers: The Electric Version
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April 21st, 2004
06:39 pm - The Things I Really Need
-My computer
-7 pairs of underwear
-4 bras
-6 pairs of socks
-7 shirts
-two pairs of pants
-one skirt
-one dress
-one sweater
-one pair of sneakers
-deoderant
-comb
-Textbooks:
*Chinese
*Genetics
*Logic
-Notebooks
-Journal
-Sketchbook
-Laundry bag
-Sheets, blanket, pillow
-Alarm clock
-pencils
It's amazing how easy it was to move all my essential possessions upstairs to Elisabeth's room. It seems like a lot listed like that, but it fit in my laundry basket. I didn't even have to make two trips. I'm being optimistic, because people keep telling me to, but 7 pairs of underwear is quite a lot and I've got money for laundry on my OneCard.
Current Mood: ![[mood icon]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/mood/neko/kaokitty/tired.gif) tired
Current Music: Atom & His Package: Going to Georgia
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April 20th, 2004
10:44 pm - My rabid roommate
Nina went crazy tonight- she yelled at Leah during their Senate meeting and then, back in our room, she said that if we don't stop talking to her she would have to beat us up. So I moved out. I'm staying in Leah's room for the night, and tomorrow maybe I'll look into moving into Elisabeth's open double on the fourth floor. One thing's certain, I'm not sleeping in the room with Nina anytime soon. I'm not putting up with violence or the threat of violence. Not again.
Current Mood: upset
Current Music: Hutch and Kathy: You Can Count on Change
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