Hannah

baby steps

2008-06-22T05:04:43Z

I got a promotion of sorts at work. I'm now managing a women's clothing store instead of just working in one. I got a pay increase and since I switched locations I'm working just down the street from home and can easily ride my bike there. I'm no closer to figuring out what I want to do with my life, but at least while I'm deciding I'll be making more money.

SXSWorld photo credit

2008-06-10T20:01:47Z

A Place to Bury Strangers, originally uploaded by good_on_paper.

The May 2008 issue of SXSWorld is out and they published one of my photos.

Check out the online version here (page 36).

OMG, why?!

2008-04-23T05:57:58Z

Good news for short people who love revolting footwear: Now you can be taller and unfashionable!

No no no no no.

Food Poisoning or Death?

2008-04-13T13:54:51Z

The last three days have been almost unbearable. I'm pretty sure I got a bad case of food poisoning from Wednesday night's reheated leftovers.

I got home late from work on Thursday due to a last-minute shopper who, after saying, "I'm sorry about keeping ya'll here late," continued to take her time perusing the store and being indecisive, despite the fact that we closed over a half hour ago. I was starving by the time I got home, so D and I reheated our pasta from the night before and put on Season 6 of Curb Your Enthusiasm.

About twenty minutes after eating is when it all started. I was up all night vomiting. I got a couple hours sleep around 7 am, but woke again with stomach pains and diarrhea. I couldn't go to work on Friday. I was weak and my entire body ached. I spent nearly all day laying on the couch with a 100.3° fever, drifting in and out of sleep, getting up only to use the bathroom or refill my water glass.

D came home from work around 7 pm. He brought me Gatorade and Jell-O from the store and made me some soup, but I couldn't stomach more than a few spoonfuls. He ran me a cold bath to try and bring my fever down and I went to bed early afterwards.

I woke on Saturday intending to go to work, despite the constant gurgling throughout my stomach. I got there around noon to find that both our toilets were backed up and, consequently, out of order. Fantastic. I was scheduled to close, but ended up leaving early.

I managed to eat a little bit of food that night, though my stomach was still churning. Sometimes, it was so loud, D would exclaim, "What's wrong with you?! Why are you broken?"

Today is Sunday. I woke with a huge headache (probably from caffeine withdrawl over the last two days), but I'm almost back to normal. My stomach pains are mostly gone and I feel like eating again. I'm going to work in a few hours.

I'm still surprised I got so sick. Three other people ate, and re-ate, at the same time as I without any problems. Guess I was the lucky one, eh? I had food poisoning once before, but this was by far the worst. It's going to be awhile before I consume anything "reheated" and much, much longer before I can even smell pesto. (gag!)

I will say this, however: If you're face down in a toilet, inches away from the entire contents of your stomach, while someone waits right behind you with a damp cloth and a glass of water, you can be sure it's love.

photos from SXSW 08

2008-04-03T04:50:46Z

MGMT, originally uploaded by good_on_paper.

These are so two weeks ago...

I had an amazing time volunteering as a photographer for SXSW. Having a camera with me revived my interest in shows and I can't wait to do it again next year.

The whole SXSW music set is up on Flickr here.

Stunted Scamps and the Bauhaus Coat

2008-04-02T02:20:53Z

I have a love/hate relationship with Urban Outfitters. On one hand, I love thier beautiful dresses, but won't/can't bring myself to pay $149.99 for a dress that barely covers my lady bits. Ocassionally, I peruse their dot com sale rack, and when I exclaim, "Are you serious? Twenty-eight dollars for a tee shirt?!" I am safe from their employees' patronizing glare.

However, I did find my new favorite coat in their sale after Christmas last year, so I can't put them on my Naughty list just yet.

The last thing I bought from Urban was a yellow, ceramic owl bank on sale for $1.99. Not only did I walk away with an inexpensively awesome birthday gift, but also a free subscription to Nylon.

This month's issue has a short interview with Mila Kunis, most known for her role as Jackie on That 70's Show. After reading it, I am convinced that Mila and I should be friends, 'cause we've just go so much in common.

She says, "...I really do have the intersts of a 12-year-old boy. I have every game console--the Wii, Playstation, Xbox, even Sega. I play World of Warcraft... It's so much more fun than getting wasted at a bar."

Hey, Mila, call me, k? You and me and Macaulay, we'll hang out, I'll bring Guitar Hero.

Until she calls, I'll be on my sofa, exploring the Plane of Oblivion.

Not a Sledgehammer

2008-03-26T03:25:37Z

New Bike, originally uploaded by good_on_paper.

I bought this sweet bike for a hundred bucks from a clown on Craigslist. It's everything I was looking for: small, 3-speed, fenders, awesome cruiser frame, and check out the stripes on the seat! It's love, for sure.

I needed a few things from the grocery store, and it was a nice night, so I took it for it's second ride. Once at HEB, "a few things" turned into a few more, and I found myself hauling home more than I intended, however the frozen foods did feel nice and cool against my back.

Note to self: A jar of pickles is much, much heavier than it seems.

sxsw 2008

2008-03-11T03:36:23Z

Alex, originally uploaded by good_on_paper.

For the last three years of SXSW, I've volunteered on the Press & Publicity crew. Though it required taking a week off of work and 40+ hours of the phrase, "May I see your badge? Oh, sorry, this room is for Press only," being rewarded with an almost-all-access pass to any music show we wanted was worth it. While volunteering last year, we oogled Paul Rudd, Joseph-Gordon Levitt, Chris Kattan, and Tom from MySpace (Yes, he is real).

I couldn't afford to take off so much work this year, so I chose to leave my friends in the P&P crew. However, Amiee alerted me to an opening in the volunteer Photography Crew and I was so there.

I borrowed my friend's digital camera and have been practicing shooting with flash in different lighting situations. Dustin's band had a show on Thursday, so I brought it with me for a trial run.

I won't have as much creative control with the pictures I take for SXSW, but I do like these images and I can't wait to get my band list (hopefully tonight!)

Grey Gardens

2008-02-29T06:36:44Z

I've always had a fascination with abandoned buildings. There was a period of time, actually the beginning of my photography classes, where that's pretty much all I wanted to, and did, shoot.

I look back on these photos years later, and although I don't think the images themselves are that exceptional, I can remember the allure of being there while taking the images.

On Feb 5, 2004, I wrote:

I've become obsessed with this place, and what posssibly happened to it. A torn up house I can understand. Houses get old, people move out, and the building is left to the elements. But these houses are still filled with the remains of someone's life. Books, clothing, stuffed animals, posters, coffee mugs, business cards, mail, bicycles, bottles of cleaning supplies and shampoo; these things are all still inside. It's as if the people simply disappeared right in the middle of wallpapering the kitchen, or making coffee.

The pull for me was not the space itself, but the mystery of the person who used to be there. And that's something that I could never capture with a photograph.

Grey Gardens (which I watched for the first time tonight) has captured that mystery on film. Little Edie and her mother could be those "vanished" people.

These photos of Little Edie were taken inside their mansion in 1972. (More photos of Little Edie and her mother (Big Edie) can be found here.)

More interesting than their decaying home is their decaying mental state. Both women live in a fantasy world, bickering over events of the past, while their real world fills with garbage, raccoons, and fleas.

Here are my two favorite quotes:

Little Edie, very seriously: This is the best thing to wear for today, you understand. Because I don't like women in skirts and the best thing is to wear pantyhose or some pants under a short skirt, I think. Then you have the pants under the skirt and then you can pull the stockings up over the pants underneath the skirt. And you can always take off the skirt and use it as a cape. So I think this is the best costume for today.

Little Edie: If you can't get a man to propose to you, you might as well be dead.
Big Edie: Well, I don't think it's important.
Little Edie: I think it's disgusting... for women to be alone. What are they proving? They have to go around with dogs or other women or something...
Big Edie: Dogs are lovely. I'll take a dog any day.

Oh! One more Grey Gardens tidbit, and then I'll stop, promise. A snippet of Little Edie lamenting over a lost scarf is included in the song "The Woods" by awesome Canadian band Stars which can be downloaded here (via yousendit.com).

depressing things are empty beds

2008-02-25T07:55:20Z

D's been gone almost 5 days. So far, I've

- reorganized our Netflix queue with my picks at the top (ANTM Cycle 1, Pumpkin, Shopgirl, and Grey Gardens
- cleaned the entire apartment, including all THREE bathrooms
- purchased a sweet bike from a clown on Craigslist
- hosted my first Naked Lady Party
- eaten a whole California Pizza Kitchen White Pizza in one sitting

With all this waking-time activity and my bedtime sprawling area now at its maximum, you'd think sleep would be more welcome. But, I haven't gotten more than 5 hours a night since D left. I need his skinny, little warmth beside me. He's my blankie. When I'm lying in bed, trying to mentally put together what I'm going to wear tomorrow, I can't shut off the Mom Part of my brain: Is he warm enough? Why didn't I make him bring gloves? Are cabbies being mean to him?

It's only now that I understand my parents' need to always know where I was going, who I was going with, and what time I would be back. Sorry about making you worry.

Band-Aid

2008-02-20T16:30:24Z

D left this morning at 7am for a two-week tour with Ringo Deathstarr. He's never been out of Texas for this long before, so if they play in your city, could you please give the drummer a cheeseburger?

Feb 22 @ Brillo Box w/ Used to be Women and Dirty Faces ::Pittsburg, PA
Feb 23 @ The Tank w/ Dead Leaf Echo & Virgo Loves Cancer ::New York, NY
Feb 24 @ Pianos w/ Usvs ::New York, NY
Feb 25 @ Abbey Lounge w/ Quixote, Action Verbs, and Or Nothing ::Boston/Cambridge, MA
Feb 26 @ Glasslands w/ Soundpool & Dinowalrus, Presented by Molten Sounds ::Brooklyn, NY
Feb 27 @ Wonderland Ballroom w/ Ra Ra Rasputin ::Washington DC
Feb 28 @ Drunken Unicorn w/ Slow Motion Crash and Siberia My Sweet ::Atlanta, GA

Some bigwigs are supposed to be at their show in NY, so here's to hoping he comes back with more than credit card debt and a bag of smelly t-shirts.

CL WTF

2008-02-17T06:29:34Z

I've been spending a lot of time on Craigslist lately, hoping that one day, a generous Austinite with good taste and a fabulous job that's relocating her overseas will be forced to post her bicycle and TV bench on the List for dirt cheap, because she doesn't need the money, but has to be out of her condo by the end of next week, so she just wants it gone.

That hasn't happened yet, however I have come across quite a few 'For Sale' posts that make me furrow my brows and go, "Whaaat?" I think I might start a series of such ads and call it "CL WTF's" (What is the correct plural form of WTF? Apostrophe S? How would I even look this up?) Anyway, we'll call this the first CL WTF: round table key wallet table - $21

Already I'm confused as to what and how many are being sold here. A table, a key, and a wallet? Why would someone sell their wallet? Maybe it's a key-shaped wallet, like a little change purse..oh, wait, there's a picture! Two of them, even! It's a table. I should have known since it was listed under "Furniture Furniture."

It's a small occasional table. Throw your keys and wallet on it when you come in the door so you'll never lose them again. Or, if you prefer, it's also the perfect size to hold your loved ones' ashes and two uncooked sausages.

These twin tables are listed for an inconvenient price of $21. I'm guessing it's to leave room for negotiation. Whatever the reason, that extra dollar should be just enough to purchase Webster's Pocket Grammar, Usage, and Punctuation and 1 lb. Fresh Polish Bratwurst.

The Grinch steals again!

2007-12-21T21:21:07Z

I ran into our property manager in the laundry room today and he told me that his scooter was also stolen a couple days after D's. There's no doubt that it's the same people. I hope the police catch these sleazebags.

There's no basement in the Alamo!

2007-12-20T03:57:39Z

I think I'm more bummed over D's scooter than he is. He filed a police report on Monday and the officer told us that last week there had been another scooter near us that was also reported as stolen. He said he would link the two crimes for the detective, but didn't seem too optimistic that we'd ever see it again.

I had yesterday off. I put my graphic design skills to work and posted the flyer on every Austin online community that I could think of, then took to the streets with my iPod, a Red Bull, and a manilla folder full of printed flyers. (Good design can change the world, you'll see.)

I walked down Woodward posting flyers in all the nearby apartment communities' mailrooms and in every mailbox along the street. I was sweaty by the time I got back home because it was near 80 degrees outside. In the middle of December.

After cooling off a bit, I hit up the bulletin boards of the popular Austin hangouts. By the end of the day, I was tired and sad. I felt like Pee Wee in Pee Wee's Big Adventure. I will probably put up the rest of the flyers today, though I know that D's scooter is probably in Mexico by now. Oh, it makes me sad just to think about it.

'Tis the Season...

2007-12-18T19:57:18Z

...to have your (boyfriend's) shit jacked.

Thanks, Scumbags!

mollymolly @ 2007-11-15T15:32:00

2007-11-15T22:34:02Z

I am a resident of Austin, Texas, zip code 78704 and this is what I did today:

I put on jeans, Converse, a t-shirt of my boyfriend's band, and a little boy's blazer. I put all my things into the free tote bag I got at Stitch, grabbed the brown bag of recyclable newspaper from the laundry room, and headed out. I retrieved a business card with an important phone number on the back from the seat of D's scooter, and some guy walking a coonhound yelled at me from across the parking lot, "Hey, I like that hair color!"

I got into my car and drove to the Fire Station on South Congress. As I walked up, a sign on the door read, "Sorry we are out of recycle bins. They are on order." I got back into my car, turned around, and drove to the Fire Station on S. 1st. They had some, but they were low. The fireman gave me two, but I gave one back.

At the HEB, I deposited my recycleables into the large bin, went inside and changed eight dollars into quarters for laundry, and bought some saffron rice and medium-hard tofu for $1.98.

I came home, "grilled" the tofu on the George Foreman, steamed some frozen asparagus, and cooked the rice. I ate my home-cooked vegetarian lunch while reading this week's Chronicle.

And now I'm posting a blog about it.

Sometimes I'm so Austin, I want to make fun of myself.

mollymolly @ 2007-11-05T14:05:00

2007-11-05T20:56:09Z

When I was in the 8th grade, two girls that I didn't know came up to me in the cafeteria while I was having lunch with my friends. One of them said, "We just wanted to tell you that you look like a skeleton." And then they walked away.

A couple weeks ago, my friend and coworker was picked as whowhatweardaily's MySpace fashion muse. The first comment left in response was, "i quite like her style but she should really lose a few pounds."

Seriously, what is wrong with people?

mollymolly @ 2007-10-14T21:22:00

2007-10-15T02:24:35Z

I don't want to make out or anything, but I totally have a crush on this girl.

satan is hungry

2007-10-10T04:52:03Z

I ate the devil's lunch:

One Maruchan Instant Wonton (Oriental Flavor)
HEB Super Star Trio Sushi
One bottle of Sweet Leaf Peach Tea

The total cost with tax came to six dollars and sixty six cents.
$6.66!

narc

2007-10-01T21:28:19Z

I've physically recovered from Saturday night's incident, but we better not hear so much as another peep from apartment 110, or we're calling the cops. Again.

I awoke at 1:50am to the sounds of talking and laughing coming from outside. Not surprisingly, our neighbors were having a noisy party in the building across from us. There were people laughing on their patio, some chodes wearing cargo pants on the sidewalk, and a dark-haired girl throwing up under the porch light in the corner.

I understand it's the weekend, it's 2am, time to par-tay. But, after an hour of lying in bed, D got up, put on clothes, and went over to tell them to be quiet or go inside. At 3am, D went down there AGAIN. From my bedroom upstairs, I could hear some guy outside singing Depeche Mode. I was furious that these people were being so inconsiderate and I made a mental note to pick up a pack of water balloons the next time I was at HEB.

I don't remember what time D called the police. Maybe 4am? IF the cops ever came by, they didn't do anything, because they were still outside all over the sidewalk when I finally fell asleep around 5:30am.

I left for work an hour and a half later, groggy and still pissed. I followed the trail of plastic cups and crushed cigarettes past their apartment, and there were STILL two people outside talking. I so wanted to bang on thier door, wake them up, and prevent them from sleeping by having a lengthy, detailed conversation about why they insisted on being royal assholes the night before.

The good news is that one or hopefully all of them are moving out. On our way to the dumpster, we saw them carrying lots of boxes from the apartment. Their front door was wide open, their music blaring. Figures.

etsy

2007-09-27T20:29:35Z

As a way to make some extra money with all the prints I have just sitting around, I've started my own shop at etsy.com. You can find me at goodonpaper.etsy.com. I'm still adding new things, right now all I've got is photographs, but I'll be adding some linocut prints and handmade books soon.

Monday I opened my email to happily find that I had made my first sale! It's so exciting to think that there are literally millions of people out there selling things online, yet someone wanted something of mine.

FYI, all profits made from my etsy sales will go towards the purchase of this beautiful baby.

mollymolly @ 2007-09-23T19:27:00

2007-09-24T01:14:41Z

I had a good conversation with my dad over the phone the other day. I was expecting very different reactions when I told him that I was A)not working a degree-related job, B)driving a 40mph scooter with no health insurance, and C)planning on buying, and driving, a much faster scooter with no health insurance. I told him that I was really happy right now with both my jobs, even though I wasn't using my degree, and he said it didn't really matter, as long as I was happy. He quit his job in June, took the summer off and worked on the house, and starts a new job tomorrow. It's the same position he was working before, but at a much smaller scale, and hopefully much less stressful. He sounded optimistic.

I was expecting him to disapprove of the fact that I was sometimes riding a scooter, and wanting one of my own. I didn't expect him to understand why I no longer wanted to drive my car. Instead, he told me about his Harley he used to drive around the city when he was young and how much fun it was. He said, "The first thing you do when you get a bike is to start saving up for something faster." It's true.

Dustin's Metropolitan is really fun to ride and I love that it's so small you can almost park it anywhere (for free!), but sometimes it's just a little too slow and lightweight. I want to be able to keep up with traffic on any road, even uphill. I want something that can replace my car as my primary vehicle. Plus, how cute would D and I be zipping through Austin on a scooter for two? This is my dream scooter (a mint green Vespa LX150), but I'm looking at something more financially realistic, like this one.

our new pet

2007-09-17T00:38:07Z

Last night, for the first time in 27 years, I was drunk. Just a little, and from only 3 Miller Chills. Don't laugh, I like them.

Dustin and I made dinner at home after I got out of work. We listened to Bjork while we ate, while Dustin silently hated not being able to see her at ACL on Friday.

Then, during beer 3, we started a mean game of Scrabble. No, seriously. He's got this way cool board from the 70s that he bought off eBay; it's got raised borders so your tiles don't slide and a swivel underneath to turn the board easily. We rented that Scrabble documentary, Word Wars, from I Love Video awhile ago, and it put our Scrabble skills to shame. Did you know that AA, MO, SH, and NY are real words? And I bet you can't name one word that contains a Q not followed by a U. Actually, I can't either.

Anyway, neither of us are that good, though I've won every game we've played aside from the first one. And I guess last night's, I blame it on the alcohol, although we didn't finish the game on account of the scratching and squealing from inside our ceiling.

We've been hearing noises inside our walls for the last week. Scratching, tearing, and scurrying legs. Something's in there, and it's fast. Last night, around 11pm, it was the loudest I've ever heard it; we called the apt. manager over to hear it first hand. The little animal was freaking out, running really fast from one end to the other, running into things and making lots of high-pitched noises. I kept expecting some crazed possum to come flying out of the air vent towards my face. Our manager said, "Whatever it is, it sounds BIG."

Pest control is coming on Monday to investigate and set traps. :(
I want the critter out of our ceiling, but I don't want to think about how they're planning on removing it. After last nights chaos, I'd actually be surprised if it wasn't dead, or severely hurt already. Poor little guy. What if it's just a confused, frightened squirrel? I don't want to think about it.

please vote for pompeii!

2007-08-29T18:07:48Z

If you're on my MySpace, you may already be bombarded with requests, but I have a favor to ask everyone, and it only takes about 2 minutes.

My good friend Erik is in a band called Pompeii and they are in the running with 20 other bands for the chance to play the ACL Festival. In order to be eligible, they have to make the top 5; right now they are 16.

All you have to do is go to this website and enter your email address, then check your email and click the link to confirm. You can vote once per day, with as many email addresses that you have.

It would be really awesome for Erik if they made it to the top 5! Thanks so much!

mollymolly @ 2007-06-29T18:17:00

2007-06-29T23:25:47Z

I sat on the right side of the bus, closest to the sidewalk, and at the corner of Congress and 4th St. I watched a guy trying not to watch a bum rummage through the garbage bin. He had to get way down deep until his face was nearly touching the lid, because the lids are dome-shaped and chained to the bin to prevent this sort of thing. What he fished out was a nearly empty plastic bottle of Dr. Pepper. He put his hand over the opening and gave it one good shake to make sure it wasn't flat before moving on. I found it amusing that someone who just pulled an open soda out of a garbage bin would be so particular.