Sprizee :: A simple girl replete with complications

This month being September I'm really into...

...saying goodbye to my dad, going to Husky football games, soaking up as much sunshine as possible, Portland based singer/songwriter Tyler Stenson, cake with friends, politics, fall accessories, Crater Lake, Farmoween anticipation, attending my ex-stepdad's wedding, candidates that can list off publications they've actually, like, you know, actually READ and this delicious pear cake that smells like fall as it quietly bakes in your oven.  Bake it.  Bake it now.  Unlike the Republicans, it does not disappoint.

What drives you in this adventure?*

Buy Shopgirl and then memorize this sentence.  "He doesn't yet understand the subtleties of slights and pains, that it is not the big events that hurt the most but rather the smallest questionable shift in tone at the end of a spoken word that can plow most deeply into the heart." Also, that part about being her watch wouldn't hurt either.

Listen to the soundtrack to Amelie while bumbling through another day at the office.  But make plans to go to the park after work and swing on the swings.

Read Scientific American, The New Yorker, and anything else that keeps you curious about the world.

Fall in love with the violin especially when Joshua Bell is involved.  Do you know about that time he set up shop in the Metro as a busker?  Do you know he's probably coming to your town soon?  Vancouver, BC on April 17th and Seattle on April 19th.

Make plans to take in Holst’s The Planets June 25–27, 2009 at the Seattle Symphony! Jupiter I adore you.

*Just got out of an interview where one of my coworkers actually asked this to the prospective employee.  Hello random, confusing and bizarre!  So yeah, I totally wrote it down and then mocked my coworker mercilessly.  Next time please be more obscure with the questions, yes?

Go on or go ahead.

Yesterday I purchased Rufus Wainwright's Want One.  I've adored two Rufus songs for as long as I can remember. A Beatles cover of Across the Universe off the I Am Sam soundtrack and Complainte De La Butte off the Moulin Rouge soundtrack.  But for whatever reason I never bothered to look around for more songs to spin.  You know, my third grader teacher's name was Mrs. Wainwright. Of course I'm almost positive she is not related to Rufus, so I'm not sure why I brought that up.  Other than the fact that that's how my brain works. 

Want One sounds a little bit like Radiohead's Pablo Honey and a lot like bittersweet chocolate.  It's complex, and wistful, and moody.  And at one point he even uses a riff of Bolero in one song, Oh What a World.  Uh huh!  Which, of course, reminds me of Torvil and Dean, and ice dying and how back in the day Misty and I couldn't get enough of either one of those things.  Which is now reminding me of that Bryan Boitano Ice Skating Special I had saved on VHS and watched over and over and over again.  Wow, that's not something that should be admitted it public.  Anyways, to bring it back full circle Bryan Boitano is Canadian and so is Rufus Wainwright.  Ta da.

It does make me wonder though.  What other great bands, songs, albums am I missing out on?

Go or go ahead
And surprise me
Go or go ahead
And just try me

Obamanation! I want! I want!

Who wants a president that can inspire and lead?

Who wants a president that can be thoughtful?

Who wants to condem these sorts of tactics?

Who wants a stylish Obama t-shirt? 

Who only wants to pay $8 for it?

Just bought one.  You can too!

"I want to campaign the same way I govern, which is to respond directly and forcefully with the truth,"
~ Barack Obama

Mismash.

Larry David on cancer and why it sucks.

Patton Oswalt will be in Seattle this Saturday! and Portland this Sunday!  I won't be in Seattle tomorrow during the day but if I make it back to town Saturday night, I'm going to try and catch his show.  Funny guy!

SciFi author Neal Stephenson will be speaking on September 15 in the U District (originally spotted via NotMartha).  I'm torn about this. I haven't read any of his books yet, but I want to, and I'd hate to have something plot spoiled for me.  But, apparently, he doesn't speak in public very often.  Dilemma.

The current iTunes Single of the Week, Need U Bad by Jazmine Sullivan, is damn catchy.  Especially if you're an R&B fan.  Also, free!

I'm headed to Portland, Oregon the first weekend in October to watch Sally run.  Yay!  Any suggestions about where to stay?  The Ace is already booked up.  Boo.

Again, thank you everyone who reached out to leave a comment, or text me, or call me, or email me, or send me a card, or leave flowers at my house, or reply to some crazy twitter I posted from the road about the passing of my dad.  It was an emotionally painful and physically exhausting trip. 

But it was also full of wonderful moments like finding small treasures, getting to know him a little better by immersing myself in his world for a few days, talking with some of his friends, visiting his grave on the way home via Crater Lake, letting go and, most importantly, allowing my friends and family to surround me with an overwhelming amount of support and love.  

From the bottom of my heart.  Thank you.  Thank you.  Thank you.