shell wildlife photographer of the year. yes!

these fotos are brilliant.this is about movement. incredible!

a nine-year-old took this foto! babies!

narwhal whales know composition better than humans do!

black grouse booty shake.

false. brown bear.
i would love to look a bear in the face.

original story at bbc.com

ziggy era bowie on flight of the conchords 1 of 3

much love and appreciation.

what a beautiful tender mercy is the international cinema!

this summer i made a silent vow to see the moving pictures that are offered in the i.c.

this was for two reasons: first, whenever i go to a theater and pay for a movie, i end up feeling shafted and hollow. paying for this feeling is not ideal. i can get that feeling elsewhere.

second, the i.c. offers high quality films. i am hardly ever disappointed. and thought provocation is off the charts, which is sometimes hard to achieve in a hollywood film.

so consider this a pre-thanksgiving "gracias."

winged migration (2003).
so beautiful! birds!
moving.
made me feel like i could fly.

spring, summer, fall, winter and spring (2004).
beautiful. karma.

sequins (2005).
quiet and angsty french cinema.
beautiful. french guy.

cave of the yellow dog (2006).
simple. beautiful. beautiful.
a favorite from here on out.

watch yo'self

i just want to make clear to the rabbits out there:

to be careful! i have had two weird experiences in the past two weeks, involving strange men with perhaps not the greatest of intentions (or clandestine lurkers as my g-ma would say).

do not go running alone in the dark. please. if i hear you are doing it, i will take you down.

also, please lock yo' doors.

and then the police beat. let's not even go there.

good day breakdown.

9 am__q&a with harry reid
11 am__forum with harry reid
1 pm__ceramics studio
3 pm__q&a with harry reid and college democrats
4 pm__ceramics studio (slab building! favorite.)
7 pm__writing thesis for research THAT I LOVE!
9 pm__posters and thoughts for burma
12 pm__beddy bye with a friendly mexican blanket of beds' past.

leaves fall.

friend of mine wrote about how the fall leaves falling in new england is heaven on earth. started to think about it, and it left me feeling like a conundrum.

i love the leaves falling and crisping into colors that they never hinted at during spring. timp was a delight yesterday, all golden and red. i will be going again.

but how could heaven be like something dying? though it is the most lovely thing?

i think heaven is more complex than i could guess. i don't think heaven is paved with gold. or my heaven isn't paved with gold. unless that gold is made out of thousands of golden gingko, maple, and sumac leaves.

i told amy that heaven was driving down the mountain from santa clara la laguna toward lake atitlan in the back of a pick up truck, with the wind lapping around, and the blue open sky and the blue water with green mountains flanking. this still holds true.

a reinterpretation

to the folks in a row in front of us: sorry for the giggles, gasps, and otherwise unruly behavior.


pardon me, but what would you do if a lip-hand man was drinking your coke? and he had a radish? is that a radish?

i wish i was one a these!

i hear this is the littlest primate in the world.


so is hillery.


just kidding hillo!


this is a phillipine tarsier!


i am in wove wif it!

the list.

i didn't make the list this year.


click here for the list.




xoxx

tacho, unido, el pueblo esta contigo!

anastacio ajsoc-sac won the election in santa clara la laguna!

sensory overload

music so thick you could cut it with a knife.


machete more appropriate?

the set list:

black mirror

keep the car running

neighbourhood #2 (laika)

no Cars Go

haiti

black wave/bad vibrations

my body is a cage

neon bible

distortions

intervention

(antichrist television blues)

the well and the lighthouse

neighbourhood #1 (tunnels)

neighbourhood #3 (power out)

rebellion (lies)

ENCORE

old flame

wake up

muffins

paperclips!

my name is john daker

i just wanted this life changer on my blog. please disregard if you have already seen it. or don't, i don't know. it completes me.

zombie child

thanks, josh.

a good giggle.

If you're not scared or angry at the thought of a human brain being controlled remotely, then it could be this prototype of mine is finally starting to work.
- John Alejandro King

from beyond translation:

Anglakoni zaman edan
Ewuh aya ing pambudi

'(We) walk in an unstable world
Not at home, struggling against our own imagination'

unknown javanese poet

i miss this boy.

i don't get

that last post.

bites.

i don't want to get bit. which is why i run with eliz in the morning. the chances that she will not bite me are better than the chances that she will bite me. but it could be a 60-40 chance, or a 70-30, but i am willing to risk it.

hep cat symphony

merrie melodies: the early worm gets the bird

today i'm not sad. but maybe.

i miss the rhythm of where i was. big time. i miss feeling it in my sternum every day when i wake up (thanks pablo). i have tried to fill the gap by playing my music loudly, really loudly, but it's not really working. probably because you can't just transplant rhythm. actually, if you can, and you know how, tell me. but still, rhythm, it's not like a beating heart. you can't just transplant it. it's not just the music. it's just the movement. the market. walking down the street. i am going to go dance by myself now. or cry. i miss that family!

what am i supposed to do?

there's a picture on cnn right now: oprah and david letterman hugging. what am i supposed to do with this? only my two most favorite celebrities ever. phreek.

german classical radio, bless it!

it makes me think of my three day friend, paul the german. what a person! ha!

not trivial.

i was going to write a trivial little thing about music, but i can't stop thinking about camille and her family. my prayers are with them.

call me crazy, call me what you will.

i think is this love? by bob marley is one of the most romantic songs. put it at the top of my list.

coming home.

rather enjoyable. i thought i was going to go into green withdrawal, but i must say, provo is looking sharp. lovely. and the rain. i am impressed. this is a beautiful little place. and the cabin, dreamy. and the rain! rain. rain!

and nicolasa (my guatemalan mother) called me the other day. i was at the mall (travesty, i know) buying pants (yes amy, tight pants [not really]) and she called me. it was obviously raining hard in santa clara, because she was yelling (ANDREJ! HABLA NICOLASA!) and so i was answering loudly (also yelling) in spanish in the mall. i talked to the children too. jason sang "mi papa y mi sakmol!" which is a song that we laughed at alot during the fair. it means, "my dad and my egg!" it is supposed to be naughty, but i just laugh. i get a real kick out of naughty kids. oh, but they aren't naughty. they be lovely.

and seeing friends has been a gift from heaven! lovely days! my bike has a flat tire!

for my sister, for my self.

Balloonland 1935

for my sister, for the world.

Happy Harmonies - To Spring

blue ringed octopus

added to blog.

i bought a che wristband.

the thought of amy coming fills me with glee. the thought of going back to provo kind spins me down. not that i hate provo. i actually quite like the place. problem is, what comes with it, that being lack of sleep, lack of eating, working, studying, no time to play the guitar though it is sitting right there, spending money on gas, wal-mart, the end. i will say that i am looking forward to seeing my mother and father and brother and sister, having my music, finding new music, riding my bike. lamest blog ever.

i do miss

the marie antoinette cd. it would be perfect for those long field not hauls.

drunk men.

officially not cool.

it´s never over.

this may be slightly fanatical of me, but i still can´t get over lover, you should have come over by jeff buckley. i listen to it nightly. this fanaticism came from a source, and i´m with caitie and amy on this. it is never over. if you have never heard it, please try.

silly blog

i have been trying to blog on my trlog for the last little while, to no avail.

stephanie and i are sitting here writing.

dear me, i have so much to say, and i don't know where to begin. let me first say that i danced the merengue with my little brother, amilcar, this afternoon. i danced cumbia with my little doll, aracely. and giovanni danced gangster reggaeton, and i took a picture of him.

my fellow researchers and i watched the sunrise over san pablo and lake atitlan at the mirador in my family's cornfield. i saw a blue and gold millepede.

i wake up to james blunt, coldplay, and reggaeton in the morning. si alguna vez, sentiste algo lindo por mí, perdoname, perdoname.

i went to a town meeting this morning, and a women's cooperative yesterday. the women are beautiful and friendly and fierce about their families.

i mixed a bucket of hot water with a bucket of cold water to shower this morning. i am clean and happy. thank goodness for 2 in 1 head and shoulders.

my family is full of life like my home family. family family family. like feist says, it's cool it's cool to love your family.

i feel so much more secure about my project today. i feel happy, almost to a weird degree. i will be able to visit mothers to be this month, and nicolasa says that babies will be born at the end of this month, and the beginning of the next. sally, do you read my blog? i want to tell you all about this . . .

green winged guacamaya

i must mention this.

friday midday i found myself with a bit of free time and a hunger pang. i called heather, and we decided to try a new-ish spot in provo. when i got home, caitie was also there so we packed up and went to four seasons hotpot and dumplings, on 236 N. University. the waitress was incredibly helpful, and we ended up deciding on a chinese salad and a batch of boiled dumplings to share. the waitress recommended the salad and i was a bit skeptical--i thought there was a possibility that it would have crushed ramen noodles sprinkled on top, and caitie was thought that it might have canned mandarin oranges, but no, it was the real deal, with glass noodles, cilantro, and i can't remember what else. this was authentic, according to my limited knowledge of authenticity. the dumplings were filled with pork and cabbage per the recommendation of the waitress, and they were deliciosos. they were just like the ones my family had in taiwan. and after all was said and done, we only spent about 6 dollars each. so good! i write this because i want to recommend it to anyone who likes real ethnic food, and wants to support local small business. it's definitely my new favorite, and i can't wait to try a hotpot there sometime. come with me. 謝謝.

destinacion?

i might live near this.

Disorder	Rating
Paranoid Disorder:	Low
Schizoid Disorder:	Low
Schizotypal Disorder:	Moderate
Antisocial Disorder:	Low
Borderline Disorder:	Low
Histrionic Disorder:	Low
Narcissistic Disorder:	Low
Avoidant Disorder:	Low
Dependent Disorder:	Low
Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder:	Low
-- Personality Disorder Test - Take It! -- -- Personality Disorders --

Moderately schizotypal. Does this mean I may be prone to believing silly internet personality disorder tests?

ricky

was the cutest face i met in escalante this time around.

today

in the news

leaves and lemon bars, title brought to you by sister one

from the other side of 7th north i saw the two. they were loitering on the corner, watching me as i crossed the street with a handful of a plateful of lemon bars, going home from the mini-mission reunion.

"hello, fair lady of the night, happy fall" said the shorter one without a beard.

"well, hello" i said.

"take this leaf, and have a happy fall" he said.

i took the leaf. a dead one, perhaps from the true fall a winter earlier.

"would y'all like a lemon bar?" said i, not knowing if it was spring, really.

"no, you should see what sugar does to me, but that man would like one" came the reply.

the bearded fellow silently smiled, nodded, and took a lemon bar from my plate. the beardless fellow was still muttering some words about sugar.

"are you sure you don't want one? i think they're good." i said, last effort.

"no, thank you very much. have a happy fall" he smiled and bowed.

"you have . . . a happy fall . . .too" i said as i turned toward the south and continued home, the leaf still in my hand.

and it stayed there til i got home and told amy this story.

open windows

data recovery is a beast. especially when the data don't recover. is it better to have written and lost, than to have never written at all? who knew that data and information is sometimes worthy of mourning? alas, poor comadrona4.doc, i knew him well.





but a night of watching youtube with hilleroy and amy can cure all ills.




and now i learned that the powers that be AREN'T changing the GRE from a 2 1/2 hour test to a 4 hour test. my adhd breathes a sigh of relief.

lindo sentimiento

i'm sitting here writing a research proposal about midwives in guatemala, and i just realized there is no where else i'd rather be. is this educational fulfillment? i'd rather not mess with the irb application, and when i think about it, i'd rather be in guatemala with the midwives, but right now, this is perfect.

irukandji

Nature holds the key to our aesthetic, intellectual, cognitive and even spiritual satisfaction.

E.O. Wilson

notre terre bleue

je veux retourner là
bora bora e' bora bora nui e'

and the winning buprestid is . . .

birds of prey

black or monk vulture


harpy eagle chick


harpy eagle


barn owl


barn owls

i'd like to see a black or monk vulture in mongolia. i have seen a harpy eagle in brazil. oh, the majesty! and i saw some kind of owl in provo. amy and i were driving near the lake, when amy spotted an owl on a fence post. we pulled over to take a look but it flew away when we cracked the door open. it was dreamy--amy can vouch.


and who couldn't love a harpy chick?


work is a little slow today.
on a final note: props to amy for putting "with arms outstretched" by rilo kiley in my repertoire and permanently in my head.

subtlety

Hemingway is the only author I have ever considered holding as my favorite author, and thus he is my favorite author. Reading, as a pastime, has always been a sort of lost ark for me, as I don't get to do it recreationally as often as I'd like. Sometimes I miss the Staircase for that reason, as I had a good bit of time and a well stocked classics section in the Escalante Public Library at my fingertips. And it was on the Staircase that I read the bulk of my Hemingway. In a word, the reason why I love Hemingway is his subtlety, or how he says nothing and then I see how he said it all. Oh the simplicity! Ha, I'm getting a little giddy. I would reccommend The Sun Also Rises, The Snows of Kilamajaro, The Old Man and the Sea, and For Whom the Bell Tolls. Pero qué sé yo? I should probably read a bit more. By the way, the photo is a young Ernest Hemingway during his service in World War I.

todo fue mio.

desaparecidos

http://www.ndmoa.com/PastEx/Disappeared/Fernando/index.html
http://www.fernandotraverso.com/


ps lonely lonely by feist remixed by frisbee'd is a dreamcicle.

hard bigotry vs. soft bigotry

Va. schools criticize No Child Left Behind rule for English learners
way to go, Virginia!

Sidenote: The Lorax is my favorite Seuss, and I hope that people get to read it in whichever language they like.

on this valentine's day

Today is the day of San Valentin, and by all means, I'm glad about it. But I'm glad about most days. Here's the thing: every year on Valentine's, it seems to me, you hear the rants and raves of Valentine's day. The people who love it, the people who cry in their pillows at night, the people who dress up as cupid and shoot arrows at one another and get locked up. This was not what was intended when we created this semi-pagan holiday. No, no. This is a day to celebrate love. A day to think about how lucky we are in that aspect of our life. A day to appreciate and share that love. It's not necessarily a day to over-materialize and buy all the heart shaped candy and cardboard you can find, or prove your love with a diamond of dubious origin that will probably get flushed down the toilet, planted in the garden, or eaten by a small child in those later years of love.

One heart. One love. Let's get together and feel alright.
*this foto was taken by amy, and i stole it like a scallywag from one of her sites.

coloring contest

i would like to one day sponsor a coloring contest. so i'm starting here. the winner of the contest wins some cookies.

this is a beautiful purple potato

cnn.com and wiki-wiki-what?

In this age of information, I find myself ever so grateful for cnn.com. I drink from this fountain of global knowledge as I drink from my green nalgene late july on the grand staircase.

I remember a time on my mission when at each house we entered I was met with the question: "sabes que pasa en tu pais?" (do you know what's happening in your country?) accompanied by worried looks. Of course I didn't. There was a world between me and my pais. And besides that, the Argentine people had me convinced by that point that I was in my country. What was happening in that country? The thought hadn't even crossed my mind that something was happening.

And this was when the American tsunami was. New Orleans, they told me, was under water, and Bush wasn't doing anything, and people were drowning, and people were going crazy, and all.

I think I went a little crazy. It's a good thing I couldn't call my parents, because I would have told them to donate my skimpy bank account to the South. That's when I realized that the information addiction I had was causing some withdrawal affects. I don't know what it's like to need some sort of illegal substance physically, but I know that I needed information then.

But I got over it, because I was a missionary, and missionaries are blessed like that.

So I like cnn.com. And wikipedia. And the web.

my wikipedings of late:
lionel messi
rosario central
newell's old boys
infant mortality rate of guatemala
water
marie antoinette
shoes
blue ringed octopus
postal service
picasso
maynard dixon
quetzal
quetzalcoatal
demetri martin
colbert report
united fruit company
el mano de dios
guatemalan midwife
havasupai
i will follow you into the dark
teotihuacan
groundhog day
mayan calendar
frilled shark
dumbo octopus
calf creek falls

all i can think about is guatemala.

that's not completely true.

i think about other things, i do.

but guatemala seems to monopolize a major portion of my thought processes.

i'm a fancy writer, amn't I?

the bird is a quetzal. i'd like to see one. a resplendent quetzal. now that is a classy name.

imagination status: captured.

i've gone to cnn.com an estimated 7 times to see this photgraph. i also googled and wikipedia'd its name (frilled shark) several times.

in response to heather: i think i'm in love.

this looks effective.

if it hurts, it must be good.

i am seriously considering this procedure after having had a cold for the last little eon of my life.

forgiveness

my hands are in shreds, and i have one santiago de la cruz to thank.

finals.

1. Ps. 107: 29
   29 He ^amaketh the storm a calm, so that the waves thereof are still.

cup runneth . . . way over.

when i am most over my head in life, i feel good. my head doesn't want to believe this, but my heart knows it. i'm being vague, and maybe cheesorific, but this is true. what i am talking about is that when i feel like everything is overwhelming me, i can see the blessings i have been given, and i'm happy. still vague. i can't fight that.

i was thinking about the time i spent in southern utah, and how i love that place. this has correlation to what i am thinking about only in my head.

i was also thinking about God's love for me, and how He gave me just what I needed last Sunday. i'm talking about a talk that our stake president gave about making choices with the Spirit. i'm not going to go into details, but i am thankful for the trust that God puts in me, and the honesty and sincerity of good people.

and now george michael has come on again with that stupid song. last christmas i gave you my heart, but the very next day, you gave it away. but i can deal with that. i even look forward to hearing it, because it makes me chuckle to myself.

i love christmas and i can't wait for it to come, to get me out of this mess of this semester. but then bring it on. it's good to be in the thick of it. hebrews 12:6 ether 12:27

feliz navidad

has to be one of the great 8. i mean, one of the great 8 christmas tunes of all time, or at least of the last quarter and first quarter of the 20th and 21st centuries, respectively. i don't know what the other seven are. i can attribute upwards of 14% of my bilinguality to the song "feliz navidad." i hope someday you can say the same.