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August 31, 2006
Impulse "Vacation"
I suddenly have the urge to fly back home to take care of some half-unfinished business.
Posted by Charlie at 02:45 PM | Comments (2)
Moment's Memory
Fleeting, unattainable.
Posted by Charlie at 02:09 PM
August 29, 2006
I Really Want To Be With You
"You know, I had the biggest crush on you for the longest time. I miss you."
"You don't miss me. You miss your mouth around my cock."
"True."
Posted by Charlie at 03:15 PM | Comments (0)
Live at KEXP
Get this album and you'll understand why most Seattlites have the most eclectic and broadest tastes in music. There is nothing hotter than a guy who can appreciate good opera as well as post-grunge rock.
Posted by Charlie at 10:51 AM | Comments (0)
August 28, 2006
Collapsing
Silly me and trying to save an extra $200 by doing all the moving by myself. I have about three more days to vacate the rest of my stuff from Williamsburg, and it feels as if I've been moving forever. My body is finally starting to shut down, and going out four, five times this past week has not really been helping one bit. Moving from a four-bedroom apartment to a two-bedroom one will be a great exercise in small-space manipulation, and although our place is huge compared to what other housing virgins can get in Manhattan, there is no oppportunity to sprawl out material possessions (I am going to have to hold off on getting that dream 30-foot Nakashima dining table for my next apartment). I have to take a cat nap everyday now in the afternoons. Thank goodness for Nouvelle Vague's new album or else I will get deliriously crazy from lack of sleep.
Posted by Charlie at 12:48 PM | Comments (0)
August 27, 2006
More Changes
I wrapped myself in a jacket for the first time in a very long time this past weekend. I felt a little less vulnerable. Autumn is just around the corner; I cannot wait. It's going to be an interesting next couple of months.
Posted by Charlie at 09:21 PM | Comments (0)
August 25, 2006
Favorite Quote of the Day
"I come from a long line of very open-minded lovers."
~Ann Curry (who is of French, Dutch, Irish, South American Indian and Japanese descent)
Posted by Charlie at 12:49 PM | Comments (0)
Verner Panton Stacking Chair
In the dining room:
What is probably his most recognizable creation, Verner Panton's S Chair has remained strikingly fresh in design in over the 40-plus years it has been in production. I am going to pair a couple of these puppies with a dining bench—quite possibly another Nelson Bench with seat cushions—to create a nice modern dining environment.
Posted by Charlie at 12:20 PM
August 22, 2006
Chinatown
I walk out the front door of my apartment, and everywhere there are reflections of my past and visions of my future: little kids with their Gameboys running alongside aging immigrants with their walking sticks. My six-foot frame sticks out among the crowd like a sore thumb, and if I hop into the bakery for some pork buns the ladies there try to converse with me in Cantonese, a language my mother forgot to teach me growing up. Although I was hardly raised in this sort of environment growing up—my parents are very much multicultural—Chinatown feels strangely comforting and homey. I feel as though I am in a Wong Kar-Wai movie.
Posted by Charlie at 10:27 AM | Comments (0)
August 21, 2006
Ingo Maurer's Blushing Zettel'z
On the ceiling:
In the world of innovative residential lighting no one does it better than Ingo Maurer. Besides the Blushing Zettel'z, my favorite pieces from them include Hi, Bruce, a custom chandelier of layered, twisted neon tubes, and Fly Candle Fly!, a wax candle held by suspension wire to make it look like it's floating in midair.
Posted by Charlie at 11:15 AM | Comments (1)
August 18, 2006
George Nelson Platform Bench
At the foot of my bed:
"The single common element in all man-made things is that they are designed." ~George Nelson
Posted by Charlie at 12:51 PM | Comments (0)
August 16, 2006
The Annals of Interior Designing
Creating a home, especially when working off a blank palette, is a long, patient process that requires weeks of planning and thought. The first time I lived out on my own my roommates and I were too lazy and busy to purchase any sort of furniture for our place, and thus the living room was left bare save for a pair of lawn chairs. I am not going down that same route this time. Living in a highly energetic and stressful place like New York City almost requires you to have a home that can service as a place of refuge and sanctuary from the toils of daily life. If I have to pay a premium for something because it will look and feel better in the space, then so be it.
Posted by Charlie at 09:29 AM | Comments (0)
August 12, 2006
And Then There Were Four
Posted by Charlie at 10:46 AM | Comments (0)
August 09, 2006
Hoppipolla
One of my most favorite songs ever is Hoppipolla by Sigur Ros, one of my most favorite bands ever. This song makes me want to climb a grassy hill under a dark, starry California sky with my hunny and just lay there while we hold hands and watch as the lights above us blink up there silently.
Posted by Charlie at 11:33 AM | Comments (0)
August 08, 2006
HELP!!!
I'm now sitting in front of a public computer at a Rutgers University dormitory in Newark, New Jersey, where I was coerced into spending the night. I've never been to Newark proper before, and just like drunken stripping in front of 300 dirty old men at the Web, this is something I only needed to do once. The area around Rutgers here is eerily quiet at night, devoid of any sort of human activity, illicit or otherwise. Walking through the deserted campus, I am reminded of my 3AM runs through the University of Washington. There's a certain kind of energy that permeates the air in places of academia. It's infectious and vibrant, and seems much more so when you're traversing at night. You can be all by yourself and still not be alone; you're surrounded by layers upon layers of history.
Posted by Charlie at 12:20 AM | Comments (1)
August 07, 2006
Happy.Ness
Happy people are characterized by the belief that they are able to control their situation. Unhappy people tend to believe that they are a toy of fate.
Posted by Charlie at 02:14 PM | Comments (0)
Eyes
Posted by Charlie at 11:26 AM | Comments (0)
August 04, 2006
If You Build It, He Will Come
In an effort to change my bed karma, I've gone all out and bought new pillows, shams, quilts and bedding for my Alu. Seeing as we spend a third of our lives in bed, what is the harm in spending $200 for a pair of down pillows? We own pairs of jeans that are just as expensive, and we will only wear those for a few months before casting them off for the latest season's pair. My sleeping and sexing sanctum is a place of refuge and recuperation, and my body (and mind) deserves the best.
Posted by Charlie at 01:15 PM | Comments (0)
August 02, 2006
I Am A Typeface... Which You Have Never Seen Before
Would you look at that. Looks like last night's club-going crowd at Happy Valley got themselves into an orgy and left all their clothes on the gallery floor.
Posted by Charlie at 02:58 PM | Comments (2)
August 01, 2006
Back To The Motherland
My life has been a blind whirlwind these past couple of weeks, from hand holding to club hopping to Jersey cruising to apartment hunting. Daily routine has suddenly gone from repetitious to random and exciting. It's funny how during times when you least expect it the cosmic universe throws you a bone. While there's still a couple more weeks, even a month before things start slowing down for me again, I'm savoring this period of anxiousness and uncertainty.
I'm moving out of Williamsburg and into Manhattan. The apartment we settled upon is on a top floor of a seven-story walk-up in the middle of Chinatown. It's bright, quiet and just down the street from the cheapest good eats in town. I think I'm going to like it here.
So farewell, Williamsburg. I hardly knew thee. I will miss your pretentious hipsters, your sexy Boricuas, the greasy side-swept bangs, the $2 red-stripe beers, the coked-up girls with oversized sunglasses and striped shirt-dresses, the 3AM games of stickball, and the tourists from Manhattan and Jersey.
Chinatown, it's going to be swell getting to know you. I anticipate the days where I would only have to walk ten minutes to work, go next door for some of the best ice cream in NYC, greet the ultra-cute next-door neighbor every Saturday morning before heading down for dim sum, cancel my gym membership from all that stair-climbing, and host Sunday night dinners with friends.
But until that day comes... uncertainty. Anxiousness.
Posted by Charlie at 10:08 PM | Comments (0)