doljanchi

my pseudo-nephew celebrates his first bday, korean style

happy bithday sean!!
The highlight of the dol is a ritual where the child is placed in front of a table of foods and objects such as string, books, brushes, ink and money. The child is then urged to pick up an object from the table. It is believed the one selected will foretell the child's future.
Sean picked up a calculator, making his actuary father very happy, and then a paint brush, pleasing his artistic mother :)

birthday post

good birthday.  good morning.  and walk in the park and bodega coffee and nice lady on the bus liked my earrings and other lady was so sweet and thankful that i gave her my seat of course i did she was old and had bags.  bought food for the week in the labyrinthine lines at trader joes in manhattan and read for a long while on the train.  im reading  the good wife by stewart o'nan and i'm enjoying it even though it is very sad.  it feels real and makes me glad i'm not married to someone who has done something to ruin my life.  i am glad to be married to me.  i take good care of my life.

i took the food home and ate and went to ps 108 and voted and walked around for a bit and saw brian and then looked at the computer.

i'm going hiking on the 13th.  i'm looking very much forward to that and to visiting my family this weekend upstate.

i had many birthday wishes today and they were all loved. especially mama and kara and annika calling to sing me happy birthday and my mama sang "baby noni" and i caught a cry in my throat because i know how much she loves me and she is my mother by choice not by birth but still my mother in every important way and i love her.

i am tired and i think i will sleep a while.  then i am going to go to the gym because i find myself with a surfeit of feelings and that is a good and constant outlet.

birthday bash!

by Kelly Carman

i had my birthday party last night and it was great!  thanks to all my friends for coming and extra thanks to foley for hosting and extra double thanks to LEAH AND DOUG who brought party decorations, foods, and amazing CUPCAKES WITH TINY PIES BAKED INSIDE THEM!  i made everyone dance to 90's dance music and hip hop and RnB.  i puffed with tobais fuke, i hugged a man with a snake for a penis, i chatted forever with lydia deetz and a shark bite victim.  the new liquor store that just opened nearby was visited by a dispatch from our party, in full halloween regalia, and the hispanic family that own the store all sang happy birthday to me!  my costume was a great sucess and i was very happy.  i drank too much though as i am apt to do and had to sleep most of the day with terrible headache.  and then i had to clean up and it was very very messy.  but that's ok.  i went home and finished reading "Island Beneath the Sea" by Isabel Allende which was about a slave and a concubine and Haiti before it was a haiti.  it was extremely moving and beautiful.  i would have made it a bit shorter if i was the editor, a few parts were clunky or boring but overall it was a great book.  i have gotten some swell b-day gifts so far including an awesome black gold earring for my rook from dann, a claw money hoodie from foley (claw is one of my favorite graffiti artists of all time), a kettle bell from brian for workouts, a kindle from papa (have yet to order that though, i should get on that, earrings and pez and buttons and light up bracelets from the lovely kelly, superstickers and baked things from doug and leah, and stoli from me!








here's pics of guests!  i stole them all because i didn't have any batteries for my camera.

by chelsea mcchesney

by kelly carman 

i was death from the sandman.  i like her, she's awesome.  I wanted to go to the party at the sacred gallery tonight but i was too worn out and tired and headachey.   we really did the dang thang last night.  ok well i think i'm ready for some sleeping.   see ya later!

by kelly carman

Dann is boss!

Got a new earring for my rook from dannberg 4 my b-day!

TILT!

i'm loving a lot of things this week.

• Helpful clerical personnel.  Shout out to Michelle at the Registrar's Office at the New School for hooking me up with super-fast turnaround on that official transcript request.  You saved my butt and you didn't even give me crap about that fact I had months to take care of it but put it off until the day before.

• My big sister Miriam for post-midnight telephone consultation during crisis and for yummy sushi.   And the city of Philadelphia for having the best sushi roll for yummy bagel-and-lox from the Orient flavor.
• Reading with my girls.  I'm getting to explore the next generation of Children's and Tween literature and I'm really loving it!  Junie B. Jones, Fancy Nancy, Pinkalicious, FreckleFace Strawberry, all that :)

• halloweenie!! i got to make pumpkins with the girls which was awesome and also i am having a halloween-themed birthday party. very excited!!

ok i gotta go to the gym real quick then shower and edits for the ponies and head to manhattan :)

other things i love: that i can now almost do "dips" on the captains chair at the gym, my new sweaters, cantaloupe,  that light therapy exists to help me with S.A.D., dittocat, ECA STACK, unlimited Metrocards, cheap costume jewelry and hairbands, really good salad, homegrown herbs and tomatoes, and KEFIR.

I want this gun so much. It shoots mad bubbles! Also, my birthday is November second btw.