| big sis |
[18 Jun 2007|07:40pm] |
lately, I have felt very proud of my brother and sister. A few weeks ago, Nina graduated from Mount Holyoke, and this weekend, Sam graduated from high school. they are on their way to bigger and better things! also, it was fun for me to return to these spots I have also passed through... but these were their days.
congratulations to all the graduates. let's watch American Graffiti.
|
|
| tripz |
[30 Apr 2007|06:02pm] |
In the last couple months, I have visited three places whose names begin with my favorite letter (a): Arizona, Anguilla, and Austin. Also, all trips related to archaeology, which is like, one of my favorite things. I have thousands of pictures, but here are some neat panoramas from the Grand Canyon (where Shawn and I celebrated our 4yrs11mos anniversary) and Rendezvous Bay (where I lived with 10 archaeologists for 15 days while doing the most amazing Caribbean archaeology ever). I took pictures in Austin (we were at the Society for American Archaeology meetings) but I forgot my camera in Mary's purse while she was avoiding arrest. Anyway. Check it out!
|
|
| 2006 year in review |
[01 Jan 2007|06:38pm] |
"this is how you say hi and bye! bye 2006! hi 2007!"
-mary stilley wesley, 10:45 pm central time, dec 31 2006
Yes, it was a pretty good year. Many things occured, most of which were enjoyable.
For example (reminders):
There were ten cats in my apartment this spring!
I spent a week in a foreign country!
My friend Anitra became my roomate! (I had a dream the other night that she wanted to move out. I cried. Don't worry, it won't happen.)
I spent many days enjoying the sunshine and fresh air! (aka working)
Some good movies and music were made this year: especially The Departed (reigniting my flame for Leo) and Neko Case's Fox Confessor Brings the Flood. I don't actually wanna make top 5 lists.
A top moment of 2006: there was a really nice afternoon walking along the ocean at Popham Beach this May, reunited with my french-ified sweetheart. also enjoyed most other moments with sk, fun times with friends, finding artifacts, etc.
Low point: I went to the Burton store with Anitra one day and fell off their stupid Voodoo board. It kinda hurt. also any time I had a cold.
# of beds slept in over the year: 60+, what with all the hotel stays and sleepovers
# of plane trips taken: 3 (France, Minnesota, Tennessee)
# of international scarves given to me as gifts from globe trotting friends: 4 (Morocco, Peru, Guatemala)
# of John Updike books I've checked out of the Fletcher Free Library: 7 (this year's favorite author)
# of times I wore my grown-up suit this year: 1 (to be James Bond for Halloween)
# of clothing items from the Carhartt line I wore regularly this year: 6
# of cats remaining at my house: 2
Plans for 2007 include applying to, getting accepted to, and moving to grad school. That should go over well. Also some more travelling. I'm looking forward to reunion at MHC, and the graduations of my brother and sister, from high school and college, respectively. Sweet, dude.
Hope everyone had an exciting night welcoming the baby face of 07!
|
|
|
[06 Nov 2006|10:20pm] |
Tomorrow is election day! It is the first time I will be voting in a booth, rather than by absentee ballot!
Bernie, listen, I am SO excited.
Hopefully this level of excitement will be maintained, or even heightened, when the election results come in. Word.
|
|
| fly down the highway |
[24 Sep 2006|04:57pm] |
My friend Cullen really likes this song, "Comin' Home" by City & Colour. It's a sort of slow song from a guy who has spent most of his music career in the hardcore band Alexisonfire, and you know how those slow, contemplative songs are, especially when the mornings get chilly and the mosquitoes start dying off. Yeah, in the fall. I love it a lot, but it's hard to say "goodbye summer."
I just went to Mount Holyoke for a quick visit this weekend, which was beautiful. I drove in with my new roomate Anitra, and Nina and I showed her all around campus in a lil drizzle, and I visited my friends who are still students, and everyone seems really good & happy & excited. Breakfast was as many cinnamon buns as one could eat, and lunch was another breakfast at the Lone Wolf, owwwww. We got our picture taken at the Antonio's webcam, which is still the weirdest thing.
And then we came back to Burlington, and as we drove into our driveway, I said "home again home again" and remarked to Anitra that our visit to Mount Holyoke was my first where I drove onto campus not feeling like I was coming home. I wonder what it will be like when my sister and my friends have all graduated? I feel good about Burlington, but I am not in fact sure where this adult life is going.
I spent last Sunday with Cullen at the Abenaki Tribal Headquarters here in VT, washing and sorting bones from a 500ish-year-old Native burial ground that a backhoe exposed in a gravel pit. Cullen's the project osteologist at our program, and I'm TAing an osteology class he is teaching this semester. It's so great to work with bones some more. Our job was to determine how many skeletons had been bashed up and pushed together by the backhoe; if we could establish that there were 5 or more, the state would be required to buy the land and preserve it as a burial ground (no more backhoes). There are 6 burials, so sayonara development!
I keep meaning to have a lil meeting with my boss and hear his advice on getting money for grad school, and also, where to apply. Well, I have a few schools in mind and I want to do bioarchaeology so I can always work with bones. I'm taking the GREs in four weeks, so I should probably brush up on my math. Also, get some references. Okay, I guess there's a to-do list that needs to happen.
So the plan is that by this time next year, I might be visiting Burlington for the weekend and then goin' home to somewhere new, one step closer to all bones all the time. Dallas Green's song about home says that life is a risk, but I wouldn't worry:
risk is a synonym for possibility.
|
|
| oh summer you're so cool |
[29 Jun 2006|06:50pm] |
I really like making entries with pictures. Unfortunately, I don't have a digital camera. So I end up waiting until a friend has taken photos of a occasion, like, for example, a crazy party at the Moretown compound, and then revel in them and laugh at them for days.
( Anitra had a Pirate Parrrrty alright... )
|
|
| Paris in April, Love in Bloom |
[03 May 2006|06:34pm] |
Now, many people have said they enjoy travelling. I might have said that in the past, but I didn't know what I was talking about. What I meant was, I like arriving at and spending time in other places. Actually riding on busses and trans-Atlantic flights -- not the highlight of any trip, especially 10 beautiful days in France with your sweetheart.
( Here are the actual highlights: )
|
|
| au revoir! |
[20 Apr 2006|08:35am] |
Thu 20APR06 BURLINGTON VT. 1:15PM NEWARK EWR 2:37PM ERJ-145
Thu 20APR06 NEWARK EWR 6:15PM PARIS/CDG 7:35AM 777-200
Mon 01MAY06 PARIS/CDG 9:55AM NEWARK EWR 11:55AM 777-200
Mon 01MAY06 NEWARK EWR 12:55PM BURLINGTON VT.2:05PM ERJ-145
Finalement! 10 days with sk in Bretagne and Paris.
Yeah, there might be some stories and pictures when I return.
|
|
| meow |
[18 Mar 2006|03:14pm] |
My cat gave birth to six kittens this morning!
|
|
| love poem |
[17 Mar 2006|05:21pm] |
I thought of this while I was walking to work today.
|
|
| welcome to march already, thank you! |
[01 Mar 2006|05:54pm] |
I have a Bread and Puppet calendar in my kitchen. I have wanted this for a long time. March is a head of lettuce. Lettuce celebrate!
Today I had a weird experience of feeling kind of bad for my boss, whom I rarely interact with. He is usually down in his nice office (on the phone) while I am in the field or the lab, but he comes upstairs to visit sometimes (and I guess I was in his hot tub in my underwear with my other coworkers and supervisors at the end of field season party this December). Anyway, today he came up to the lab to see if my coworker Emma was there, which she wasn't, because she had already left for a short trip to a conference in Amsterdam. He was hoping to find her because he had a cute little guide to Amsterdam book to share with her. She had left kind of earlier than she originally said she would and apparently didn't check out in the office, which is too bad, because she probably would have liked to look at that book on the plane.
|
|
| preguntas |
[17 Jan 2006|09:30pm] |
Sometimes, ljay is great for helping me to find things out. Today may be one of those times! I am thinking about several areas of interest.
LEARNING: I have been thinking a lot lately about how when I was in elementary school, I often wished I knew everything. I know now that that is really hard, and have been wishing more that I could just remember everything I do learn.
1) I have been missing classes and lectures and resources, so I have been reading more non fiction. I would like to recommend to you the author Sarah Vowell, who is also a contributor to This American Life and McSweeney's. I just read her book Assassination Vacation, which is a funny and personable account of her obsession with presidential assassinations. I wonder, could you recommend some books to me? Please!
2) Also, if you are in college, I really would like it if you would send me any papers you have recently written, for fall semester finals or whatever. My email address is gogo.alix@gmail.com. Seriously.
3) Also, do you suggest any magazine subscriptions? I have subscribed to The Nation so far. And am on a budget.
FRIENDZ: One of my five very simple New Year's resolutions was to "keep in touch." It is real hard. However, I was wondering if anyone is a member of any of these online systems? Let's interweb.
1) Netflix
2) Audioscrobbler
3) Skype
MEXICAN FOODS: Later this week a few friends and my roomate and I will be making enchiladas and maybe a pinata. Does anyone know where to find any of the following important Mexican items in the US (most helpfully, Burlington VT)?
1) Enchilada sauce recipe
2) A tortilla press
3) Mexican hot chocolate blocks
(Life is pretty cool, except washing dirt is a little boring and I wonder what I'm going to be when I grow up?)
|
|
| what a great year |
[02 Jan 2006|11:31am] |
You might not know this about me, but five is my favorite number. So, I was really excited to start out the year of 2005. I remember last year's party at Kev's lake house when I got to pick the first song I wanted to listen to for the year (I Am a Rock by Simon & Garfunkel). And, not surprisingly, it turned out to be an awesome awesome year. I had my last semester of classes, during which I finished my thesis, took fun classes, had great times with my beautiful friends, drove to Graceland, and then graduated! Graduation weekend, I received an email from my new boss at UVM, would I like to work in Vermont? Of course! I started being an archaeologist in June and continued to have an amazing year. I met so many amazing coworkers, partied and worked hard with them, learned a lot about archaeology, became tan and strong, and then moved on to working inside in the lab!
I can't believe it is already 2006. The holidays were nice, of course, and I guess here we are in January, whaaat?! I was home in NH for a week and now Shawn is here visitng me for another week before he goes to France for the semester. Here are some great plans ahead for OH SIX: visiting Shawn in France, going to the Society for American Archaeology meetings in Puerto Rico in April, and going to California at some point because I've always wanted to and now Liz O is there, so I haveee to, right? Burlington is a great place to visit, too, for all of you who are not here, but would like to come hang out in my guest room.
This year's first song was Bridge Over Troubled Water, again by Simon & Garfunkel. Just, if you need a friend, you know?
|
|
| revealed... |
[13 Dec 2005|10:37am] |
Sorry, but after I left the hotel I really didn't have much computer access. I know everyone is dying to know which is the lie though, especially Claudia who sent me a postcard wanting to know!
The lie was about the kittens, but as it turns out, we are actually cat sitting for our friends (Dave, Kaplan, and Ripin) while they are doing an archaeology project down in Miami. We now have two kittens (Hunin and Munin, the ravens of thought and memory, who sat on Odin's shoulders, Odin being the Norse sky god ), their mother, and their older brother (June, named after June Carter Cash, and Frances). They are so cute it's ridiculous. Oh man, it is so fun having cats.
The hotel staff really did love us, and our neighbors really do think we walk too loud. It's a shame.
Anyway, I'm in the lab at UVM right now and I'm supposed to be sorting dirt, so I've got to get to it!
|
|
| rabbit rabbit |
[30 Nov 2005|08:52pm] |
Many things, many many things. I moved into my apartment in Burlington in October, and more importantly, Mary and I painted all of it. It is beautiful, and we have a guest room, and I'd love to have visitors! (I'd also love to have bookcases, so if you come to visit... please bring a bookcase.) It looks like the field season is ending this Friday, so I ought to be up there almost all the time. I don't know yet whether I'll be working in the lab -- if not I will look for other cool jobs like subbing at the middle school across the street from my house.
Other stuff has happened recently. like seeing friends and family (I have to say I kind of like the holidays!) and I really love the apartments of Becky & Jim in Lowell and Rose & Vanessa over at Mt Holyoke. Everyone seems so great but I miss a lot of ladies and dudes.
And now it's time to play two truths and a lie (guess, which is a lie?):
1) Mary and I are going to get two kittens once we are in Burlington full time and name them after our friends Ripin and Kaplan.
2) The hotel staff loves us so much that they let us bake four pizzas in the industrial oven this evening. They will miss us. We will miss the hot tub.
3) My downstairs neighbors hate us because they think we walk too loud. Also we are youthful and fun and they are mean.
So until later, maybe send some mail?
159 South Union St (<<< I can see downtown from my bedroom window!)
Apt 4
Burlington, VT 05401
Welcome to December!
|
|
| It's been a hard day's night... |
[23 Sep 2005|09:44am] |
Yesterday, while digging test pits out in the middle of a huge, beautiful field, I sang Beatles songs with my crew for at least an hour. I didn't know I knew so many Beatles songs!
Here are a couple news items I really want to share: although I am currently living in a hotel in Middlebury, VT (while we are working on a huge powerline survey project), I am soon moving to my own apartment in Burlington, with my coworker Mary. I'll send out an email with our address once we move in on Oct 22nd. It is in a great house right in downtown Burlington and we are so excited. We talk about our moving in plans prettyyy much every day while out in the field.
Also, here is a ( picture of my crew. )
We look like we just woke up, because we did. My future roommate Mary is in the brown shirt on the left, and my hotel roommate Mike (who actually just went back to Utah to snowboard) is behind me in the blue hat. Anddd, my crew chief Geoff is the guy in the white shirt with his cap on backwards. Cool dudes, huh?
I guess there isn't that much news, actually. Things are going really well up here -- work is great and we have plenty of time to party at the hotel. We are getting kind of sick of Middlebury restaurants, though. I really want to be able to visit more of my friends who are far away, but I still don't have a car, and I am not even sure whether I can afford one. Let me know if you all have any leads on that topic.
I hope everyone who is out there in the world with new jobs or whatever are having great fun, and for those of you at Mount Holyoke still, I hope Mountain Day comes soon. I am thinking of you out there eating some ice cream sandwiches!
|
|
| UPDATE TIME, Happy Birthday America! |
[04 Jul 2005|08:07pm] |
 This is probably my favorite holiday of the year -- not because I love America the best, but because I love feeling real summer. When I was a kid, the 4th came only a few weeks after school ended, and it was like a big bash welcoming me to summer. I also completely love fireworks.
On this particular weekend, I went to Montpelier, the capitol of my newly adopted state, to spend time with Rose, one of my very best friends. We did wayyy too many things to list here, but there was swimming going on, maple creemees, strawberry shortcake, an alligator gar fish, and of course the parade and fireworks (from the roof top of a restaurant downtown). It was grrreat!
Also, I love my job so much. The work and the conversations I get to have with my awesome coworkers every day are stimulating and hilarious. I cannot believe I am getting paid for this. Actually, I can, because I'm not getting paid very much.
Anyway, summertime rules, Vermont rules, archaeology rules, and spending time with Rose rules. Am I lucky or what?
|
|
| It's been awhile. A lot has happened. Highlights include... |
[05 Jun 2005|02:00pm] |
First, I'd like to acknowledge the completion and success of my anthropology thesis. (Actually, I still have to edit and format the final final copy for publication in the library, bummer.) Whatever, it is like 130 pages and awesome.
After the thesis defenses, my best friends and I went on a road trip during senior week (the week before graduation when people like to have fun because they've been working hard for four years). We took tents, snacks, and a friendly old Grand Marquis station wagon with a dreamcatcher hanging from the rear view mirror and drove 2,703 miles to Graceland and back. It was an awesome vacation and we learned a lot about Elvis, Memphis, soul music (on Beale Street and at the Stax Studios museum), civil rights (at the Lorraine Motel turned museum), and the South. Here is a kind of goofy picture of the four of us (Liz, Becky, Emily, and me) at the Great Smoky Mountains National Park in Tennessee.
Next, we returned to the chaotic celebration that is gradutation weekend. There are many nice traditions and overall, it was crazy, bittersweet, and rainy. My brilliant friend Claudia gave the commencement address. Also, I graduated cum laude plus praestantem in anthropology, yesss. Here is a picture of me in my hip robe plus Nina, Sam, and Shawn.
Now, I am apparently leaving for Vermont in about one week to start working for UVM's Consulting Archaeology Program. It looks like I will be working in Burlington, then Rutland or Middlebury, so if you will be around those areas, especially for the 4th of July or my birthday (the two best holidays of summer!), please let's share phone numbers. I will also share my address, once I get one.
Well, I miss my friends but I think they are all doing well too and I can't wait to see them.
Peace out.
|
|
|
[20 Apr 2005|10:04am] |
yesterday was a good day. i sent my thesis (drafts) to my committee members, and i bet they will say "alix, this is awesome! you rule. A+++!" i did get an email back from one of the museum curators i interviewed, and she liked it so much she wants a final copy for the museum files. cool huh.
i also sent out 5 resumes & cover letters for CRM archaeology firms in new england -- if i don't get hired around here i will just keep expanding the area i'm willing to work in, i guess. (southwest here i come...)
also, yesterday was free scoop day at ben & jerry's across the country.
 
the lines in amherst were long! but they moved fast. and liz and i got two delicious ice cream cones each.
i hope there are thunderstorms today. it's going to be great.
|
|
| navigation |
| [ |
viewing |
| |
most recent entries |
] |
| [ |
go |
| |
earlier |
] |
|
|
|
|
![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small}
alightningseed's journal
