heathervescent

5 day Address

I'm here for the next 5 days. Send all postcards and packages to me here.

Heathervescent
Gigsville
Lahontan Corps, off the Uberman and Van-B-Que Circle
4:00 and Destiny
c/o BRCPO
Burning Man
Gerlach, NV 89412

playa packing

I'm finishing up my last deliverables before I start packing for the playa. Some friends who are staying in town have sent along some links that are getting me excited!

Wired is doing a burning man blog. (I personally can't imagine wanting to blog from Burning Man - there is just too much to see and experience)

Then there is supposedly live video coverage on Current TV.

I'm planning to arrive on the playa tomorrow night. In fact this time 24 hours from now the wind will be blowing in my hair as I leave Reno on 80. I can't wait to say "hi" to the Van-B-Que!

But for the next hour my fingers must fly tipatapping on my keyboard composing order from the chaos of opinion and creating more order as I pack my essential playa items.

Fractals - Yum!

I have always loved Fractals. Last night, the boyfriend and I were talking about them. Today, I found this site of beautiful fractal art. Apparently each year there is a fractal art contest. These are this year's winners.

The one below is gorgeous. But I also have to love the one called Fractal Effervescence.

"Goodbye Letters"

It must be breakup season, because one of my old posts about good-bye letters is getting all the hits these days. It appears that most people are looking for some inspiration about what to write when you're saying goodbye.

So maybe I can give some tidbits about "How to write a good Good-bye letter."

1. Be Honest
2. Don't explain
3. Be eloquent
4. Frame the relationship

People change. Situations change. The reasons for the relationship change. Maybe you went into it for one reason and you're coming out of it for another. It's all ok. It's all the turning of the wheel. But put it into perspective. Everything feels like the end of the world at some point. It's not. And even when it IS the end of the world, it's not what you might expect.

Anyway, I'll offer my services. If you need a goodbye letter written, drop me a note with some basic info (your name, break-up name, why breaking up, etc) and I'll compose it for you and post it on the blog. You can do what you want with it.

Bi-costal?

Well, I think I should finally admit it. I'm becoming bi-coastal. Having returned from yet another kick ass week in Boston, to the irrigated desert basin of Los Angeles. My next trip is planned. I'm blogging from both cities for MetBlogs and well... who knows what will happen. In other news, I have to tell the story of my "discovery" at the grove and my audition yesterday. It's your typical Hollywood story. Now however I must juggle the balls of packing, coordinating and planning for the next week. Sam commented this morning that I'm not good at playing it by ear because my ears are so small. That works for me as much as anything.

News from the Future

"It's going to be a kick-ass Wednesday!"

The sun is shining bright and there are many exciting things happening today. People to meet. Plans to communicate. Here in Boston, enjoying the other coast. I'll roll up the red carpet, like Mievelle razes the tracks. Only to lay them down in front of our feet for tomorrow. Zoom, zoom baby! We're flying!

Wheeeeee!

The Droste Effect

I've loved this since I was a child. It's really how I see the world. More fun here.

My biggest worry right now

is not about my house, my job, my work, my client, my boyfriend, my health or my family. It's about a 3 minute choregraphy happening october 7st. and the costumes. and if I have the guts enough to do it. (yes, I do).

I don't know what is happening to me. I am feeling extremly introverted and shy.

What's Crazy?

"What's crazy is living our lives like we already know what the hell is going on, and nobody can tell us differently. What's crazy is being so indifferent to the mystery of the world around us that we never even bother to explore it. "
- S

Well said!

Going to the Playa

It was a total last minute decision. I had planned to take this year off. There are many many things going on in the life that need my attention. But the playa is pulling the heathervescent to the blank slate. So I put the word out. If I get a couple tickets my way, I'll go. I followed up on a couple ticket opportunities, with no luck. Then out of the blue I got a call. Two ticket in Brentwood. I snapped them up, booked the flights and reserved the minivan. It's going to be a short short trip, but I'll be there. With my toolbelt and lazer gun a flashing.

And I'm totally excited. The theme is The Future, Hope and Fear. It's oh so apt on so many levels. Now, what does the playa have in store for me this year. And what do I have in store for the playa?

Manila Stories

My friend Carmen is off having adventures in Manila this month - writing some scripts and mobile content shorts. The two of us have been creatively training together all year and it's been paying off. For both of us. It's great to read of her successes and I am so proud of her. It is exciting to imagine her emotion when she saw the screening of the movie she co-wrote. That was two days ago.

She's just one of my many inspiring friends. And she can inspire you too! Just read her blog.

In some ways I wish I could join her in Manila on her exciting adventures... but were I there, I would have missed the amazing geek dinner that happened in Santa Monica last night. I'm still reeling from evening (and I only had 1 beer) and processing and getting caught up and dumping the booster rockets. I'm headed straight for that planet over there, but instead of getting sucked into the atmosphere and pulled down in a fiery ball of flame, I'll skirt the edge and slingshot around warping the gravitational field around the ship to spin me around and shoot me in the direction I've been planning for some time.

I Support This!

Caprese Fresca!

The tomatoes at the farmer's market are amazing! I made Susanna a caprese salad last week. Here's the tomato before I sliced it:

and here is the salad:

and here is S. taking a bite! It was so yummy!

Heather events this week

Tonight is the LA Geek Dinner. I've got such mixed feelings about calling it "geek". Coming from the Bay Area almost everyone has some level of geekiness. But here in LA geeks are different. For one, I don't consider myself extremely technical - it's because I don't have a CS degree and don't code AJAX, client or server software. But I do know enough to call bullshit on clueless developers and enough to expect that even the best developer can explain whatever technological thing he's the master of and I'll get it.

But here's a funny story. I was at a Halloween party a few years ago when I first moved here and someone of course asked me what I did. The conversation went like this.

Guy: So what do you do?
Me: I'm a tech geek. (I wanted to be vague.)
Him: Me too!
Me: Really. Cool. What kind of tech?
Him: Sound recording!
Me: (face fallen) Oh really.

So much for my definition of tech geek, which I define as: Software, Internet and Web Application development. Any part of the development process. If you design UI, discuss HCI, write code, test or know why each part is important to the whole then as far as I'm concerned you're a geek. Hell - if you just love software, the Internet and web application you're a geek on some level.

--

And then, Tomorrow night, I'm doing my mash-up show on Theory Radio. 8-11pm pacific time. I could make this into a bigger thing than I'm doing - but I really just enjoy mash-ups, you know, bastardized, mixed up music, and I love playing it on the radio. I like to play stuff that wouldn't necessarily be played on the "radio". And then I also play stuff I like.

Tune in sometime.

Today Today Today!!!

The three weeks are up as of today. The three weeks of what you might ask? The three weeks apart. Between my week+ business trip and his 2 weeks of duty, we haven't seen each other in 3 weeks! It's the longest we've gone apart.

My first week away was like any business trip - because - it was a standard trip. Well, more than standard, it was like 3 trips crammed into one, but I was doing my hotel & travel thing. Which I still like to do. But when I got home, it was to an empty house. Just me and the snakes. That was a little strange. My living situation is all mixed up in my mind - or it was. I wasn't ready to admit to myself that I moved out of my house. (Gee - same thing that happened in Berkeley.) And I half-way thought about moving back in.

I thought it would be fun to be back in the house. Maybe try to have the previous kind of experience when I Gloria and I lived together last year. We really had such a good time, talking and sharing ideas and living together. Well, this year has been the 180 experience for both of us. Neither of us have spent much time in the future, for our own reasons.

But, I just never ended up going back over there. And I was fine with that.

So now is the challenge to resolve the future - while living in the present. Which reminds me of a quote I was thinking about at Blogher - in the future, everyone will live in the present. I know most people won't find this as amusing as I will - but I can't help it. The Future holds so many puns for me.

Anyway, in a few short hours, the boyfriend will be home. I'm excited and can't wait for him to be back... but I'm not dying without him in my life. I missed him a lot, but I've also gotten back into the habit of living alone.

I've had a lot of time to read books and remember what it was like when I first moved to LA before I had physical friends in the city. And what it was like to go out and experience the world. And also, to do exactly what I wanted, when I wanted.

Anyway, I'm happy he's coming back. And I'm happy to live with someone. And most of all, I'm pretty happy with everything in my life.

My Friends Kick Ass

Sometimes I just look around at my friends and am amazed. They kick ass. They do the most amazing things. They live the most amazing places. The make amazing art. They are amazingly inspirational. They are intellectual. They are amazingly supportive. They blow my mind and a fair amount of explosives.

--

And it deserves it's own post, but I'll just say it here and now for the universe to see - LA is the new technology center. Sorry Bay Area, keep up the technology development, but for it to truly jump into the human paradigm, transformed and fused to the core culture it has to come from here. I hate to say it, because I hate that it is true - but LA is where Earth culture comes from. That's why it is so important for anyone who opposes this thought - come down here and make it so.

Two Forgotten Daughters

I have always been passionate about things I love. But one love leads to another and I follow the path - a path that sometimes leads me away from the things I've loved. I recently remember two activities I was extremely passionate about in my past. Aikido and Ceramics. The former I haven't actively practiced in 6 years - although I have been know to break out the moves occasionally. I've haven't gotten my hands muddy in the ladder for a LONG time. Since I started my tech career! But I miss both of these forgotten daughters. The centering clay on the kick wheel. The spazz of inspiration with slabs of clay. The swish and blend of attacks and throws. I pick up my Bokken and practice Katas and freestyle. I use my pots as containers for buckeyes, jewels and jetsam. So I'm ready to pick up the sword, dust off my gi and get back on the mat. And I'm ready to buy a kiln and wheel as soon as I have artist space.

Like Cleaning my Room

I've got a million different tracks going in a million different direction and I flit from one million to the other in a millionth of a second. As the loose ends get roped into the whole, the whole mass accelerates and draws more mass and accelerates faster. The fast flows merge and bubble over the rocks gathering rapid speed.

It's not a rocket, nor a comet, not even a beam of light. It's the edge of an idea piercing the edge, but before it breaks through, it navigates the crowd.

It's multi-tasking. The flipping from one tab in my GTD notebook to another. One second it's the phone, the next it's the email, and next the errands section. Then I'm doing things that aren't even in my book and I have no second to even mark them as done.

I have the starting to feel guilty stack of business cards on my desk not only from Blogher but from other meetings last week. Possibilities and people I've connected with. I have three notebooks of valuable thoughts, inspirations, aspirations that need to be translated. I have phone calls full of new tasks and plans and coordinations. And I'm sitting at my desk of glass, in my room of green filled with sunlight and activity.

A break from one work activity is execution on another project. A breath of fresh air is an errand complete. A casual surf on flickr is an inspiration.

Even the big irritation can not stick at this speed. I keep my mind open, like in the taxi. I don't let another person's problem stop me. They are the other's problem. An other I no longer know. I don't care. I deflect the barrage of words and hold up the mirror. And focus my mind on staying in the flow, and executing, and flying high and leaving the dogs to dry land.

Up here in rocket land, I'm moving so fast, I'm no longer moving. And I can see for miles.

Decision Flip-Flop

I've been silent on the topic of burning man this year. I've had mixed feelings about going all year - since tickets went on sale - and I didn't buy one. There are many reasons I should go. I'll be camping with my uberfavorite camp - Gigsville - which I feel completely at home in. I coordinated the cowbell project, which will put the playa aclang of custom gigsville cowbells. Not to mention the personalized patches of beating a dead horse on fire (our favorite thing to do on the list).

In addition to Ubie, the uberman who stands as tall as the man, there's the trebuche being brought up by some friends at Umlaut Haus. Doc's Cheshire Cat will be out there, along with a new one. And there are some new art cars debuting in Gigsville this year. Plus I've lost track of the myriad of weddings happening out on the playa this year. How can I not go?

Well, for some reason, I'm just not feeling it. I want to see my friends, hang out with them, explore the playa, ride around in the art cars, hang out in camp, karaoke on the uberman and hand out hot pizzas from the Van-B-Que (and stoke it up real high). But, the magic sparkle in my eye for Burning Man is just not there this year.

So I'm going to take a breather. I know what will be happening miles away in a Nevada Desert in a couple weeks, but I'll be here in LA - or better yet, I'll be driving the Mojave Road.

Proud or embarassed?

I've finally ended up on youtube.

I don't know if I should be proud or embarrassed by this demo I gave that's now up on YouTube. I'm demoing what is now known as AJAX or Web 2.0 to a bunch of AOL designers at the design summit (I think) back in 2000. At that time, the web 2.0 paradigms that we're used to - web pop-ups, mouse overs, etc, didn't exist. Pop-ups were irritating ads. The whole idea of having your design separate from the code was novel.

Anyway, it's kind of cool, and nostalgic to see the old app I demoed our stuff (the calendar along with several other apps) to over 30 groups in AOL to audiences of more than 200 people. And I all got was a couple lousy patents! :(  (Not even on this tech.)

Another Rolemodel

I wonder if Weetzie and Pippi ever met? I swear I was honest in my answers. And anyone who knows me knows I have more than a slight sense of responsibility. In fact, it probably wouldn't hurt for me to loose some of that sense of responsibility. But then that wouldn't be too responsible. :)

Who are you?

Which Weetzie Bat character are you?

You're Weetzie Bat!  You're usually upbeat and happy, and like to have a good time, although you have a slight sense of responsibility (a very slight sense of it...).
Take this quiz!

Quizilla | Join | Make A Quiz | More Quizzes | Grab Code

Revealed

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Originally uploaded by heathervescent.

I love this reminder. Alternately you can think - nothing is hidden. (when you are aware).

Launcher?!

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Originally uploaded by heathervescent.

A rocket launcher of sorts at a friend's house in the desert.

At the Swap Meet

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Originally uploaded by heathervescent.

I saw this beautiful sign at the Yucca Valley Swap meet this weekend.

Just me an tha snakes!

So it's just me and snakes in the house tonight. The boas downstairs have been freaking me out lately with poses primed for attack (and recent strike at my whiteboard a few weeks back) and have me on edge. I went crazy and bought them some new toys the other day, but I've been too afraid to put them in their cage.  They're dark and ready to shed, so I surprise them with sprays of water. I like to put my face next to their glass cage and tell them sweet nothings.

Upstairs it's little Magellan hidden under his rock. What he doesn't realize is my desk is made of glass - the same as his cage so I can play Mutual of Omaha Wild Kingdom and check up him in his hidey hole. I'm sure he's tired of all the spider songs I've been downloading for my spider mix for the CD exchange on Sunday.

Blasts from the Pasts

About a month ago, I got an IM in Portuguese from a name I recognized, although I had never seen in print. More than 10 years ago I spent more than a summer living in Fortaleza, Brazil. It was a life transforming experience.

Most of those relationships didn't stick to the states. This was before pervasive webmail and social networks. Only a few university students had email. I only kept in touch with one person back in the states, and after a few years that relationship connection wained.

So when Orkut went Brazilian, my old friends started to find me. It was a trip to get random messages from friends I hadn't spoken to in 10 years. Recently I've been IMing with one of my friends from down there. It's cool to be back in touch, although my typed Portuguese is probably far worse than my spoken. But we understand each other enough, and it's somewhat comforting to have that connection again.

--

After that story, it's hardly worth a mention, but when I was in Boston last week, in a swanky hotel restaurant waiting for the rest of the crew, in walks the sister of one of my x-boyfriends. She didn't act like she recognized me, but it was quite a surprise for me to recognize her.

--

It makes me wonder of all the people I haven't met, who will blast me from the past, in some future.

Heathervescent goes Mobile

Everything is going mobile these days, and I am too. Now you can read this blog on your mobile phone via WINKsite. Just visit this URL (http://winksite.com/heathervesce/heather) on your mobile phone and you can read my post anywhere.

Click the link below to see how it might look on your phone. Check it out, let me know what you think.

Happy to be Home

Ah, home. What a funny word. Last week was one of the most intense, challenging, exciting and life-changing weeks I've had in a while. One week of super compressed activities. I came away intoxicated on the energy, possibilities and activities.

I spent two days in big conference rooms 30 stories above the city. Then I walked around in an ancient cemetery, donned my celebratory jewelry and had very interesting conversations deep into the night in different neighborhoods of Boston.

I jumped on a plane and instead of staying high in the heartland, I descended into Denver. My stop over was short enough to pick up the New York Times, where I had been quoted in an article. Paper under my arm, I boarded a flight to an old flame - San Jose.

I haven't strayed north in a while. I pressed my face against the window. I recognized Mono Lake and the many motorcycle roads, familiar to Lady Knight, retired back in Hollywood. We flew over Yosemite, the San Joaquin valley, into the fields of gold, over the hills of gold, south of San Jose and made our approach. I have great memories of the Bay Area, but I like to keep them as memories. As we descended I was filled with a mixture of excitement and yet anxiety. But I was happy to be back. I had forgotten the hills of gold. Those smooth mountains with the occasional live oak. I hadn't realized that I had missed them.

Off to the next adventure - BlogHer. I attended last year and this year I was doing a workshop on the basics of blogging. For some reason, I was more nervous about this session than the two days of conference room meetings. Luckily for me, my workshop was one of the first sessions, so I could get it over with and go onto enjoying the conference.

Workshop came and went fabulously. Then time really compressed. What happened in linear reality of 2 days, felt like a week. Saturday session came and went and it was time for part 2 of Saturday - meeting up with my friend pinky. I crashed her brother's wedding party and played with the flaming lotus girl's angel of the Apocalypse from Burning Man last year. Then we crashed A+D's mini-bootie at DNA.

Oh, the mixed feelings I had in SOMA.

Sunday was the long drive home, after catching up with an old friend. I arrived exhausted, with more baggage than I started out with, but home and happy to West Hollywood.

I've missed LA. I love it here. I'm so happy to be home.