Memory as Identity

John Locke said that what gives each person his or her personal identity is that person’s private store of recollections.  If so, then people should be careful curators of the assortment of memories that they collect over the years.  Every time you notice something, every time something strikes you as important enough to store away in you mind, you create another piece of who you are…I am a person who remembers a flock of white pelicans over Thompson Reservoir, pelicans banking in unison into the sunlight, banking into the shadow, flashing on and off like a scoreboard.

--Kathleen Dean Moore, from Riverwalking

Into the great wide open

So I step out of my domestic terminal in LAX, and after getting some confused looks from various airport staff (I asked how I could walk to the international terminal rather than shuttle, how novel), and all of a sudden there is a big ol' commotion. I think, emergency! Apparently my days of living in LA are too far behind me, because this was really just business as usual: the paparazzi. Yep, about a dozen of them swarming some tiny, glossy-haired starlet in a flurry of flashbulbs.

I stomached a predictably mediocre and heinously over-priced dinner at the terminal. Just me and Gregory. Oh, Gregory, you rascal, you Peck. He is the strong and silent type. He is a good listener. He may be a bit gender confused as I had always thought of him as my girl backpack. But whatever. I reckon backpacks should be able to choose their own gender as much as the next inanimate object (or human). Anyway, I positioned Young Gregory in the chair across from me. He was good company. He did not hold my hand for 30 minutes straight like the couple next to us, thankfully. And he did not flirt with me while discussing child education under a boozy haze like the strangers on our other side. For which I was also grateful. Like I said, strong and silent.

The Aussies are getting restless here at the V Australia desk. Is it bad that I find it hard to take their anger seriously with that accent? Am I already throwing down and talking smack about Oz?

And now I bid you all a temporary adieu, as I ride this airplane over the sea.

Hobbits, prepare the mead.

Trying to Understand NZ Culture Through Advertisements

They appreciate DIY work...

And tricks with spoons, apparently

Lost in Translation

The following are some of the more interesting Kiwi slang terms which I hope to use on a daily basis. Whether these terms are actually used by real folks or only nerdy tourists has yet to be determined. But really who wouldn't jump at the chance to shake their head and utter: "what a Wally" under their breath? 

These terms seemed likely to prove the most useful/appropriate:

- Box of birds: feeling very good

- Get off the grass!: no way! I don't believe it!

- Hoon: a rough person, rabble-rouser

- Onya: well done, congratulations as in "good on yer, mate"

- Tramping: hiking

- Wally: a dumbass

Incidentally, I am also looking forward to escaping the critical American Ear (and inevitable eye-rolling) and testing the international waters of self-consciousness by attempting to incorporate various Britisisms into regular conversation. Yeah, you heard me.
Namely I'm looking at: barmy, brilliant, blast!, bloody, bugger, bum, and blimey. 

And on an unrelated note, peep this cautionary tale of two friends in love with the same sexy lady in this devastating video, Flight of the Conchords style.

Get your Baby! Animals! Here!

So, I'm in Chicago this week, kickin' it with the Swirleys and baby Ellis, the Notorious R.O.Y. (so fat, so jolly), and working on tying up some loose ends on my latest Birdcage Press freelance work before heading over the deep blue sea for the winter.

We are currently in production for Birds of North America and Backyard Birds book/game combinations. Thus, my brain has been spinning with Amazing! Bird! Facts!

What's that you say? You want to hear a few? Okay then...

-Did you know that hummingbirds actively gather spiderweb silk which they use in their nest-building?

-Or that crazy crested kingfishers nest by digging horizontal tunnels into riverbanks? 

-And that one of the loon's closest relatives is the penguin?!

-And that you can tell individual blue jays apart by looking at their unique black face, head, and throat markings?

-Or that herons nest in trees, and if chicks feel threatened, they vomit over the side of the nest giving predators something to think about?

These games won't be available until next spring, but in the meantime, you can get your geeky cuddle on with the just-released...  Baby Animals around the world.

I said baby and animal in the same sentence, so you know it is going to be good.

Check it, check it out: