Wish list

This seems like such an appropriate thing to put when the title of the blog is now "Shiny Things"....

Most of you who've known me for a while know this, but it bears repeating: I am not of the school of thought that says "it's the thought that counts". For a long time I told people just to please not give me anything; I actually preferred it that way - I was opposed to all the materialism, plus I just feel really awkward and uncomfortable and guilty getting stuff I don't want. Now I've eased off - if it's something you know I'll like, please go ahead, and I will appreciate and enjoy it. But no obligatory gift-giving, and no random stuff that "girls your age tend to like" or, heaven forbid, anything "trendy" (although I do like tech stuff...).

So, with these caveats in mind... here is my wish list.

The things women do...

This, for instance, or any of the other weird goo I put on my face.

Yes, I took this picture in the bathroom mirror. Yes, the tile in my bathroom is yellow. Yes, it is hideous. But I get my own place right next to campus with a nice big back yard for decent rent, so I'll put up with yellow tile.

Biking by the Santa Cruz River and 'A' Mountain

I have biking withdrawal. Every time I see my bike I want to go for a ride. Guess I at least got a good bike.


At any rate, a couple weekends ago, I did at least get to go on an okay ride: down Campbell to Silverlake, west to the other side of the freeway, and then catch the bike trail north up to Grant, across Grant, and down some residential streets back to my place. There was wet mud, and even some actual water, in the Santa Cruz River, since a few tail ends of monsoon rains had just stopped falling.


The sun was setting by the time I got to the end of the trail, which made for a good view, but I did wind up riding home in the dark for the last couple miles - really bad idea on Grant. I actually stayed on the sidewalk for part of that.

Change of name

I changed the name of my blog because I wanted to make it not just about a fixed segment of time. It doesn't seem in the spirit of a blog to make it about one thing with a finite end date, so from now on, this is my events/people/places blog - as distinguished from the other, which is just my ideas, not necessarily to do with anything going on in the world, and almost never with things going on in my immediate environment.