Adventures of Isabel

Yet another bizarre, poorly-planned coup attempt in the Philippines. This has basically become an annual event. In fact, it may have been a bit behind schedule.I don’t really have the mental energy right now to wrap my head fully around this one, although it’s worth noting that one of the coup leaders was Antonio Trillanes, [...]

During our discussion about Eric Tagliacozzo’s Secret Trades, Porous Borders: Smuggling and States along a Southeast Asian Frontier, one of my classmates coined a new term: “Cool-guy academic.” Which is to say, the type of academic — preferably as nerdy as possible — who focuses on “cool guy” topics like smuggling, piracy, drugs, organized [...]

The UN Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions (now there’s a job title) has just released his report on the Philippines. I realize that some of you may have actual lives, but I’m pretty excited it’s out, and I know human rights activists in the Philippines are too. The report doesn’t say anything [...]

My friends, and friends’ friends, are generally pretty considerate of other people’s homes. They would’ve gladly helped clean up after the meal. But with the kitchen sink completely broken, there was really nothing anyone could do that night. So, the morning after Thanksgiving, we had to wake up to this:

And this:
Exactly how I wanted to [...]

Getting in touch with my domestic side. So, so many more pictures to put up tomorrow.
For now, despite the sink exploding this morning, everything’s actually enough under control that I’m taking a break from the crowd and hiding out with my computer.
Next up: dinner for 30.

Mt. Shasta, from I-5 in Northern California
It’s been a rare sunny day in Olympia. And cold! Four months of living in the Bay Area has made my blood thin.On the way up here, I was remembering the only other time I’ve ever been on I-5 between Oakland and Oregon — tail end of what was [...]

I’ve been feeling kind of stressed lately, so I’m trying to remind myself of small things that consistently make me happy no matter how stressed or grumpy I am:

Photobooth pictures
Dancing
Skating
Swimming
Mail (paper, though email’s not bad either)
First cup of coffee (and second! The best thing about addictions is that you create problems for yourself that you [...]

[I seem to have internet access again. Which does more for my mental health than I care to admit.]
I made a decision, somewhat consciously, to keep this blog personal, except for when the political became explicitly personal. Back when I first started posting, this made sense. I had other outlets for passing on [...]

I’m still working on getting all the tags and dates organized, but I’ve started putting some of my photos from the last 5 years up on flickr.Check them out at:http://www.flickr.com/photos/19958499@N03/

“Like many people, I started blogging out of an urgent need to procrastinate” –Alex Ross, in the New Yorker, Oct. 22

While I’ve been distracted by other things:
The Glorietta blast has been ruled, officially now, an accident. I’m still not sure what to think. And I also can’t quite help being suspicious about the [...]