I'm going to Sing!

-apore!
Got news Friday evening that my work permit paperwork went through, so Wednesday I'm off for a solo jaunt to Singapore for 3 days to finalize the permit/visa/KITAS process. I think I'm staying at the same hotel we were at en route to here. That trip was so rushed and exhausting that we only got to see a grocery store and the botanical gardens (see cute pics of Iza and crazy flowers below/earlier). Not sure how much I'll sightsee as everyone's giving me shopping wish lists as Singapore has everything and more that the states have. Empty going there, maxin' out coming back. Though I am looking forward to trying every Indian restaurant I can find! Yum!

Hopefully Iza will survive without me. I will miss her, she's (once again) at a great stage and saying and doing new things nearly every day. Two days ago she said, "Purple" and yesterday she said, and repeats constantly, "Play!" (of which now is all she will say when we put her in her high chair for mealtime... and she points and points to her toys and puzzles and crayons in the living area... I wonder if we'll have to start hiding everything just so she can eat!)

Up soon, Iza's vocabulary list and sign language list...

Seattle's KEXP, John in the morning, and an amazing playlist

From one of the greatest radio stations on the planet, 90.3 FM KEXP, on the web at www.kexp.org

Give it a listen!

Wednesday, November 05, 2008 (LISTEN TO THIS SHOW)

Time	Artist	Song	Album	Label
6:04	Smashing Pumpkins	Today	Siamese Dream	Virgin
6:07	Sugar	Changes	Copper Blue	Rykodisc
6:12	Sufjan Stevens	Chicago	Illinois	Asthmatic Kitty
6:16	U2	Beautiful Day	All That You Can't Leave Behind	Interscope
6:21	Talking Heads	Once in a Lifetime	Remain in Light	Sire
---- air break ----
6:25	Yeasayer	2080	All Hour Cymbals	We Are Free
	DJ Comments: Playing November 20 at Neumo's, and December 5 and 6 at the Music Hall of Williamsburg.
6:29	The Wrens	Happy	The Meadowlands	Absolutely Kosher
6:35	Dogs	End of an Era	London Bridge	Universal International
---- air break ----
6:41	The The	Perfect	Soul Mining	Epic
6:46	The Soup Dragons	I'm Free	Lovegod	Big Life
---- air break ----
6:49	Stevie Wonder	Higher Ground	Innervisions	Motown
6:53	Primal Scream	Movin' On Up	Screamadelica	Sire
6:57	Blur	To the End	Parklife	Food/SBK
---- air break ----
7:04	The Helio Sequence	Keep Your Eyes Ahead	Keep Your Eyes Ahead	Sub Pop
	DJ Comments: Playing Friday night at Neumo's.
7:08	Tokyo Police Club	Citizens of Tomorrow	A Lesson in Crime	Paper Bag
7:10	R.E.M.	Superman	Lifes Rich Pageant	IRS
---- air break ----
7:13	Elbow	Leaders of the Free World	Leaders of the Free World	V2
7:18	The National	Lit Up	Lit Up	Beggars Banquet
	DJ Comments: Playing the Fun Fun Fun Fest in Austin this Saturday.
7:22	Le Tigre	Get Off the Internet	From the Desk of Mr. Lady	Mr. Lady
---- air break ----
7:25	David Bowie	Changes	Hunky Dory	Virgin
7:27	The Flaming Lips	Suddenly Everything Has Changed	The Soft Bulletin	Warner Bros.
7:31	Moby	We Are All Made of Stars	18	V2
7:36	The Go! Team	We Just Won't Be Defeated	Thunder, Lightning, Strike	Columbia
---- air break ----
7:40	Public Enemy	Brothers Gonna Work It Out	Fear of a Black Planet	Def Jam
7:45	Cornershop	Funky Days Are Back Again	When I Was Born for the 7th Time	Luaka Bop/Warner Bros.
7:49	The Tough Alliance	A New Chance	A New Chance	Modular
7:53	Stereo MC's	Connected	Connected	Island
---- air break ----
8:00	Japanese Motors	Single Fins & Safety Pins	Japanese Motors	Vice
	DJ Comments: KEXP in-studio today at noon!
8:04	The Smiths	A Rush and a Push and the Land Is Ours	Strangeways, Here We Come	Sire
8:07	Radiohead	Optimistic	Kid A	Capitol
8:11	Snow Patrol	Wow	Final Straw	Interscope
8:15	Prince	Let's Go Crazy	Purple Rain	Warner Bros.
8:20	Iggy Pop	Lust for Life	Lust for Life	Virgin
8:25	The Replacements	Can't Hardly Wait (Tim Version)	Nothing for All	A&M
---- air break ----
8:31	The Hold Steady	Stay Positive	Stay Positive	Vagrant
	DJ Comments: Playing tomorrow and Friday at Terminal 5, and November 20 and 21 at the Showbox.
8:33	The Pogues	The Sunny Side of the Street	Hell's Ditch	Island
8:36	Bob Dylan	Like a Rolling Stone	Highway 61 Revisited	Columbia
8:42	Bruce Springsteen	Reason to Believe	Nebraska	Columbia
8:46	Johnny Cash	I've Been Everywhere	Unchained	American
8:49	Dusty Springfield	Son of a Preacher Man	Dusty in Memphis	Mercury
8:51	The Velvet Underground	Beginning to See the Light	The Velvet Underground	Verve
8:55	The Long Winters	Sky Is Open	Putting the Days to Bed	Barsuk
	DJ Comments: Playing Town Hall Seattle tomorrow night.
---- air break ----
9:00	James Brown	Say It Loud (I'm Black and I'm Proud)	All Time Greatest Hits	Polydor
9:03	Spearhead	People in tha Middle	Home	Capitol
	DJ Comments: Playing November 28 and 29 at the Fillmore in Denver.
9:07	Jim Noir	Don't You Worry	Jim Noir	Barsuk
---- air break ----
9:12	Nina Simone	Feeling Good (Joe Claussell Remix)	Verve Remixed	Verve
9:15	The Chemical Brothers	Life Is Sweet	Exit Planet Dust	Astralwerks
9:20	Spank Rock	Top Billin' From Far Left	YoYoYoYoYo	Big Dada
9:24	The Perceptionists	People 4 Prez	The Perceptionists	Definitive Jux
9:26	Superchunk	Hyper Enough	Here's Where the Strings Come In	Merge
9:29	Supergrass	Alright	I Should Coco	Parlophone/EMI
---- air break ----
9:36	The Walkmen	In the New Year	You & Me	Gigantic
	DJ Comments: Playing Sunday night at Cornell University.
9:39	White Rabbits	While We Go Dancing	Fort Nightly	Say Hey
	DJ Comments: Working on their next record.
9:44	PJ Harvey	Good Fortune	Stories From the City, Stories From the Sea	Island
9:47	Sonic Youth	Teen Age Riot	Daydream Nation	DGC
---- air break ----
9:55	Yo La Tengo	Big Day Coming	Painful	Matador

The Big O!

Could the Seattle Stranger say it in any better words? (click on title for link)

Even Iza stayed up well beyond her nap time to witness the election results unfold and watch the Senators give their speeches.

Crossing our collective fingers for today/tomorrow

We've just received confirmation that our ballots from us and other teachers here were mailed out successfully, and in time, by a visiting Republican dad who flew back to Texas on Sunday night.

a) We hope our ballots were really mailed and postmarked accurately
b) We hope our ballots won't need to be counted
c) If Palin-McCain miraculously win, we will not return to live in the states for at least four more years. Sorry folks and fam.

We're well ahead of you all, in the future, a good dozen or more hours ahead of NYC et al. So we will be hosting a Hopefully Happy Hour here at our still not decorated flat Wednesday after school gets out.

Wishing our friends well

Thanks to the US's attack within Syrian borders on a supposed high-ranking al-Qaida target, the American school in Damascus has been 'asked' by the Syrian government to shut down ASAP.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081103/ap_on_re_mi_ea/ml_syria_us

We have several friends from our Warsaw school who just started up there this year, and the teacher whom Jill replaced here at our new Indonesian school also began this August. We wish them well with their job search for the 2009-10 school year and beyond and that everyone has a safe return to their respective homes.

I'm jealous of all the guitar practice time you'll get now, Annie! ;-)