Da Pixies, etc!

Hey folks! I got back from Boston last night around 12:30 A.M. and Boston was great. I checked out the Boston commons and several old cemeteries. There were tons of chubby squirrels in Boston Commons that were used to being fed by people, I think. I saw one and approached it with intentions of taking a picture, and the little creature came right up to me and swiped around like he was waiting for me to drop whatever precious morsel I had. I didn't have anything to feed it, but man was it cute. I ate a bison burger which actually really upset my stomach. It was from a fast food health food joint, which sounds like a bad idea anyway, but in practice it's even worse than one might believe. Their menu had things like "unfries" and hamburger wraps. Hyper processed health food isn't any healthier than hyper processed versions of anything else. Either way around, I enjoyed the buzz of the city quite a bit. I went into a Macy's to piss on the corporate machine (a.k.a. use their facilities) and was met with crowds of screaming girls. Low and behold, the musician AHMID was there and signing autographs. He was signing photos, shirts, and people's faces. Some girls were standing outside and having pictures of their faces taken, with signatures on them. Last night was also the opening night of the Nutcracker at the Boston Opera House, so the whole block was decked out. Macy's (I guess??) had conducted some christmas event that was fun to encounter. A crowd of people had gathered to eat popcorn and sausage and watch the stage. People were singing and their was a countdown of sorts to the blowing up of a Christmas cannon, which shot red and gold glitter all over the streets. Of course, I walked up two seconds too late to be a part of the crowd, but I was on the outskirts. Perhaps an outsider might have mistaken me for a crowd member that had decided to turn around before the crowd parted and created sidewalk traffic. Anyway, the theater was cool and the crowd was great. There was a definite Jay Reatard and a definite Pixies crowd; there were cute punkers, working stiffs, and students of all shapes, sizes, types, and genders. My favorite audience member was this adorable Asian lady in her early to mid fifties. She was thin, tiny waisted, and about 5'2 tops. She had a bold haircut cut right at her chin, and her hair was still dark rich black. She was wearing a tight black dress that buttoned down and big jewelry. AND she was totally rocking out the whole time! Adorable! There wasn't too much dancing from the audience at first, but by the end of the show it didn't matter. Jay Reatard played a mixture of his old singles and things I had never heard that sounded like his old singles. It was extremely fun to see, and I was so happy that I actually cried during the first few songs. I had forgotten how emotional it is to see live versions of things that one has immersed oneself in during times of emotional fragility. The Pixies played the entire Doolittle album plus random B-sides and a few smash hits. The guy sitting next to me tried to start a conversation about Fight Club, and how awesome Fight Club is, and how he hopes that they play that song from Fight Club. He was a bit stiff, but fun to talk to. He complained about having to pay $39.00 a month for his health insurance.

The Pixies had their stage set up with four glowing orbs that changed colors to match the video they were playing in the background. They had goofy/artistic/interesting videos to match all of their songs except for the encores (there were two!). My favorites were for Crackity Jones, Into the White (ok, technically part of the encore), and Bleed. Crackity Jones, if I remember correctly, featured Hispanic looking clay puppets that danced along to the music. Into the White actually didn't feature a video but was instead an eerie combination of smoke machines and bright white lights. Bleed was incredibly simple; the video was cartoon blood dripping down in beat with the music, and the four glowing orbs were red and moved up in down in sync with the bloody cartoon. It was so simple but perfect. Silver featured a black and white view of the desert (or I suppose a silver view of the desert), Tame featured a bunch of legs, La La Love You featured cartoon hearts running around chasing each other, than catching on fire. Some of the songs just featured long mugshots of the Pixies looking at the camera laughing, smiling, and nodding their head to the music. Kim Deal was the only person that spoke the entire time, but she was witty and silly. The Pixies had all gained some weight and were a bit round. There was this funny guy behind me that kept yelling things like "KIM DEAL IS MY SUGAR MOMMY! I LOVE YOU KIM DEAL!!! PIX-YIES!" He also yelled, not sung, but yelled most of the song lyrics.

But yeah. It was a lot of fun. Thanks, Nic, for the awesome Christmas present, and thanks, Ashley, for letting me borrow your car to get there. But did I mention that I got ripped off on parking? I got to Boston early in the day and ended up having to pay 28 bucks for parking. Oi vey! Next time, it's the train for me.

Today!

Hello Folks! Today is going to be quite an exciting day. After the great Thanksgiving yesterday (where I ate delicious foods ranging from Black Russian cake to rabbit), I went and chilled around a small fire with Nic and a few volunteers, then went to bed early-ish and woke up this morning for the following excitement: The Pixies concert is today!

And so I shall be going to Boston and checking out the city and then going to the Wang theater where I shall listen happily. I'm excited!

38 second book reviews

Well, folks, though this farm livin' occupies alot of time, I, fortunately, have been able to spent tons of time reading books that I've been meaning to read for some time. Here are my reviews and recommendations, each meant to occupy a mere 38 seconds of your time (or less).

House of Leaves:
Mark Danielewski's, Ivy Renfro's, or Johnny Truant's. Crazy blind guy writes book about movie that doesn't exist with gorgeous mental visuals. Buy a used copy and write in it. Or draw in the blank spots.

Daisy Fay and the Miracle Man by Fannie Flag: Little girl moves to city of weird-os, works in a diner with the eccentric fam. Taxidermy in Mississippi, homosexuality, and high school popularity. I loved it, and you will too.

Fried Green Tomatoes by Fannie Flag: Lots of stuff going on during the Great Depression, today, and all of the times in between. Non-traditional family in Alabama cooks fried food and feeds government food to railroad-centered shantytowns of sorts. Old women, fat women, angry women. Read it.

Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen: Polish kid joins the circus. Three people dead before the book even really starts. Super entertaining. Rent it from the library, but don't buy it.

The Things They Carried by Tim O'Brien: Well, what do you know, it really is a love story! I was a trainwreck after reading this. Borrow it from an English major, as any studious one is bound to have at least ten copies.

The Best American Short Stories 2005 by Lots of People: Eh. A lot of crap with some gems. Inspiring in the sense that it makes you believe that you, too, can write. A lot of rabbits. Steal it blatantly. Would anyone stop you?


I love being out of college because it means that I have time to read things that aren't school related. It feels GREAT.

In the process (reviews coming soon!): Middlesex, The Good Earth, Onion John, What The Songs Look Like

Also, WATCH THIS VIDEO : Please?

The Pixies

Well, folks, I sure do have some exciting news! As an early Christmas present, my (wonderful) husband agreed to buy me a ticket to THE PIXIES AND JAY REATARD concert! The concert is this Friday, and oh man oh man am I excited. One, I am not the type of person to go to expensive concerts... but if I were to go to just a handful of expensive concerts, this would be one of my top choices. It's in Boston, which is a gorgeous city full of history that I can spend hours wandering around. I am going to this concert alone, which is, in some ways, a really interesting mental kickback to those (not-so-long-ago) single days of concert hopping. Without thinking or regard to the bands that were at a show, I would walk/drive/bike to the nearest house show/pizza place show alone with full intentions in meeting some generous stranger, sharing a cigarette with him/her, and dancing the night away, beer in one hand and water bottle in the other. I feel comfortable going alone and standing up front and banging my head because of those times when bands would play in my house, when I was a teenage metal head, when I was a grungy oily 18 year old runaway whom, as it turns out, boys had crushes on (it took me years to figure out that people may have liked me in high school after all- hindsight). I've listened to the Pixies since I was afraid of people and have continued to listen to the Pixies since I started loving people. And the best part is: I know I'm neither special nor alone in this respect. Tons of people love the Pixies. And hopefully they're the type of people that won't mind a single smiling goofy stranger in their midst. And why, might you ask, would I be so excited about this Jay Reatard bit?
The Pixies have been there through angst and the realization that there isn't that much to be angry about after all. Jay Reatard came into my life just as I was realizing that I wasn't too old to be pissed off about things, big and little alike. I can dance in my room and I can be an adult, too.
Long story short: I'm excited and I hope everything works out as smooth as silk. Or at least close. I'm picking up the ticket at the box office the day of the concert.

How to better relate to 14 year old boys that may or may not be in your tour group?

So, in which countries does Call of Duty take place? Are any of those countries represented in the global village?*





* = Actual conversation

Say, aren't slightly angry and annoyed posts always a bit funnier than run-of-the-mill here are the basics about my day posts?

I sure hope so.

This morning for chores I fed two pigs, or tried to. One of the pigs is in a barn so of course that pig was there. The other pig, Petunia, has figured out how to get out of her pin in Appalachia and then walks over to the compost piles, and, quite literally, pigs out. And we have huge compost piles- taller than me, wider than a car. 10-12 feet tall, 30ish feet long, and 20ish feet wide. Hog heaven.

Here's why I care: When I went to feed Petunia this morning, her pen was empty. Of course, I dumped her food in the bowl then immediately went over to the compost pile to find Petunia, who was, get this, asleep in a huge pile of onions. This pig was asleep in a huge pile of food. And it took me 20 minutes to convince her to leave her oniony heaven and get back home. This pig is already too fat to breed!

That's like me breaking out of my home, sneaking into a cheesecake factory, and falling asleep in a huge vat of cheesecake filling. Or asleep in a bowl of wet cereal. Or asleep in a vat of melted chocolate. It's just gross.

Lord, pigs are nasty sometimes.

I know it seems like I've been talking about nothing but peace corps lately, but really, other stuff has been going on. We had a great Halloween party here at the farm, and at some point in time I actually do plan on posting pictures. We mostly dressed up as animals here from the farm, or as personifications of animals. I was a goat.

Well, that was a quick diversion, now back to the peace corps thought!

As a direct consequence of the gear shifting resulting from my reassignment as an English teacher, I need to start re-gathering goods and supplies that I will need while overseas. The most important things: Professional looking cold weather gear and CLASSROOM SUPPLIES! I will more than likely be sorting out what I have and what I need here on this blog.

Which means that I will be spending the next couple of months hunting down the perfect english grammar book, the perfect russian-kyrgyz-etc dictionaries, and classroom sets of various books, short stories, and dictionaries for the purpose of assigning homework, having an english language book club, and stocking a small library to refer to as I tutor, teach, and get taught. Now, most of these things I will more than likely just carry with me, but some things, like the sets of books (omfg, I will finally get my chance to teach about the Diary of Anne Frank, lord knows I've read it enough times). I will be teaching a wide range of ages, but I would prefer to stick to young adult literature or even children's literature just because I know I learned German better via children's lit and young adult's literature.... but we'll see how the collecting goes. Luckily, many paperback classics and children's books are available and thrift stores and yard sales for extremely low prices, and I won't have to feel guilty about leaving them in the Kyrgyz Republic because I know 1)that they will probably get used and 2) that they weren't a huge financial investment. If all else fails, I can always order ten copies of a good man is hard to find from Dover....

Oh well. Any suggestions for teaching guides, materials, textbooks, or books that I could obtain multiple copies of for the purpose of teaching with?

Thanks folks!

Ivy R.

Update!

Nic and I accepted our positions in the Kyrgyz Republic! We will be teaching English in the secondary education setting, and there is also the possibility of us teaching at a university. Nic O and Ivy R, university profs? Not too early to dream after all! We've got to do some funny stuff that we didn't have to do in Benin, like bring copies of our diplomas, transcripts, and awards to satisfy those that will wonder about our credentials. We will also have to dress professionally every day. Like, suits and long skirts professional. Also, it is expected that married women wear scarves in some parts of the country. I look forward to enjoying this new culture. Oh wow oh wow. I'm pretty pumped.

Also, the volunteers here at the farm threw me a surprise dinner party which was great. I got a tractor cake (oh how I wish I had photos of it!) and we had a great pasta dinner with two different sauces, both vegetarian and both delicious. Thanks, Overlook, for the great dinner.

Long story short: Things are good. We'll be heading back to Arkansas December 17th for good. We will be leaving for the Kyrgyz Republic in March.

Birthday and Peace Corps

Today I turned 24. It feels pretty great! Nic took me out to a restaurant in Spencer, MA and it was pretty good. I also sort of got a birthday present from the Peace Corps- Nic and I have been assigned to the Kyrgyz Republic and will be leaving in March. Initially, Nic and I were to be going to Benin, but now we've been reassigned to a completely different region of the earth. We will both be English teachers, but opportunities will be given for us both to branch out. Here are the pro's of this new assignment:
1) An incredible level of comfort. We will more than likely have electricity and water, and there are less problems with theft in the Kyrgyz Republic than in Benin. It's more like we have "real" jobs in another country and less like we are doing the stereotypical hippies in t-shirts Peace Corps act. In addition, HIV will not be a major focal point of my time spent there. This is a great source of comfort to some of those very near to me. We're going to have furniture and an electric heater, supplied to us by the Peace Corps.
2) We're going to be learning Russian. RUSSIAN.
3) We'll both be teaching English. Teaching English in the Peace Corps in a country like the Kyrgyz republic was actually what I expected from the Peace Corps when I first decided that the Peace Corps was my post-college plan. I wanted to go to an Eastern European country where I could utilize/experience my history degree and my German studies degree. Though this is not an Eastern European country, the country was formerly occupied by the Soviet Union and is largely Russian with a German minority. The country is gaining independence and the Peace Corps volunteers in this region have the chance to engage in the historical (and largely peaceful) transition from an occupied country to a strong independent nation. It's a fantastic capstone to my college education.
4) It's the Kyrgyz Republic! Every time I talk to someone about it, I'll be able to contribute to their knowledge of geography.
5) The country is gorgeous. It's largely mountainous, and waking up to mountain peaks and blue valleys is amazing. I've only experienced it fully in Taiwan, but it's completely refreshing. Even if classes don't go well, the mountain is unmoved and the waterfalls continue to flow- it's soothing and provides a sense of unity with the earth.
6) We have the possibility of being placed in either a rural area where we would be building yurts and riding horses or an urban area where we will be riding bikes and living in a family compound. Both rock.
7) Religion has no major play in the function of the society or the government. During the occupation of the Soviet Union, state Atheism was pushed. Currently, varieties of Islam are growing in the state, but in general, one is not likely to be judged by their faith and one can politely reject attendance of a religious ceremony if one is truly uncomfortable without loosing their social status (but, to be honest, I will likely attend a variety of religious ceremonies. I love religious exploration, though I am myself without a particular religion).
8) I love to try new foods and liquors, and man oh man, the food is mainly cabbage, potatoes, carrots, and other root vegetables combined with a variety of tomatoes and meats. It sounds rich and delicious. Plus, the country, like Poland or Russia, is "toasting" centered. I am going to get to try all sorts of traditional drinks. Oi, vey, but my liver!

But, in spite of my excitement, there are just a few downsides.
1) I would like to go to medical school. My initial placement provided a very direct foot in the door for medical school. I will have to work much harder to involve myself in the medical community in this region. We'll have to see how this works out.
2) Nic and I have the same job, which could be a potential source of conflict. I doubt it will be, but it's still a concern.
3) The packing list for this country is the exact opposite of Benin. Nic and I bought all sorts of clothing articles expecting to be in a warm tropical climate. Now, we're going to be in an icy snowy mountain range. They recommend bringing several pairs of heavy boots for hiking in the snow, warm turtle neck sweaters, a cold-weather sleeping bag, a laptop, dvd players...things that are a) snowproof and b) technologically advanced! For Benin, we bought solar chargers, crank radios, and linen clothing to keep cool, as well as sandals to wear year around. Oh man. It's so incredible how different the lists are.
4) We have to quit Heifer early. This sucks, long story short.

In general, I'm excited and energized, though on some level I feel like Benin was a better suit for us. It's going to be a great thing in the long run. But in the meantime, Nic and I have alot of empty time to fill. Anybody have a job they could offer Nic or I that begins in late December and ends in March? How about a paid internship? I've got loans, ya'll...

Also: We haven't accepted the position yet, but expect to either tomorrow or the day after. And once this happens, I will breathe out and jump up and down and scream and be so totally happy. In the meantime, I'm remaining rational and weighing things.