Welcome to silencia.net, a personal blog and professional portfolio website. I am Ang, a 26 yr old web designer and kickboxer from northern Minnesota. I have a full-time job, a car, a house, 3 cats, and a moderate phobia of taxidermy. I enjoy stand-up comedy, movies, books, technology, genetic anomalies, history, Dave Attell, Dexter, money, and pizza. What more do you need to know?!

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Bicycling around the neighborhood.

Awesome trail near my place Wow, make one post about bicycling, and my visitors double. (Although double 10 a day is like…) Apparently bicycling is a popular topic. Which is exciting for me, in a way, being a new interest and all.

I biked around my neighborhood a little today, for about 45 minutes. The new bike seat I ordered hasn’t arrived yet, so I didn’t want to push my luck. But I did want to get back out there. Get a little exercise, enjoy the weather, explore my neighborhood. I’ve lived here a year now and I haven’t really wandered around. So that was enjoyable to check it out. Lots of meandering roads and huge trees everywhere.

My neighborhood is somewhat interesting. It is almost its own little village. There are only 2 entry roads to get into this area. It was constructed about 100 years ago, a planned community for a steel company’s employees and their families. A couple gas stations, a small commercial building for different offices, a school, a community center. Most of the homes are townhouses made out of steel and cement blocks. There are a few different styles. I got a kick out of pedaling my bike around and seeing more of them. I saw where the nicer steel/cement single-family homes were, which housed management, I am guessing. I found a nice playground just a few blocks from my house, I’ll have to keep that in mind if I ever have my niece over.

Lots and lots of trees. Sometimes I forget that I basically live in the forest. Most of my time is spent downtown in the office, or here at home, in my house. I see rabbits and deer almost daily, and think nothing of it. The two skunks I encountered on my previous bicycle excursion were frightening but not really surprising. And of course there was the time I hit a bear with my car in town, a few years ago…

Yeah, I guess I really do live in the forest.

Update on my bottom: no bruising this time! Hope that new bike seat arrives soon so that I may trek the 20 miles in a day to and from work again.

Tuesday, July 8th, 2008 | Categories: Health and Fitness, Observations | Permalink | No Comments

Some women are self-centered.

Bored man and child I went shopping for clothes today for the first time in… a year? More? I’ve done a little shopping for special items, like a dress for my brother’s wedding last fall. But my everyday clothes are started to look a bit ragged, so I figure I’ll slowly start adding new items to my wardrobe, so I can feel better tossing the tattered stuff. It’s one thing to look like I don’t care about clothes, it’s another thing to look homeless.

Anyway, as I was there, perusing the women’s clothing departments, I noticed something. There were a LOT of men there, trailing morosely behind their ladies. And the women were completely oblivious to these guys who looked embarrassed and bored senseless, if not pissed, about having to be there with them. The women would hold up this or that and ask what her man thought of it. The men of course don’t fucking care. Their disdain was obvious to me. I can’t believe these girlfriends/wives were just happy as clams to be forcing their men to go shopping with them. AND I can’t believe that these men weren’t like, “you’re going to go look at clothes? Cool, I’ll be over in the electronics department.” Or maybe they did and their ladies threw hissy fits about it. Either this time or at previous shopping trips. So they tuck their tails under their whipped hind ends and follow them around like abused dogs who don’t know any better than to stay with their master. I wasn’t sure if I felt sorry for the couples, or mad at them.

Another thing? Don’t bring you screaming kids shopping. If you can’t get a sitter, don’t go shopping. If you have good kids who know how to behave during outings, by all means, bring them. Although bringing a gigantic stroller that completely clogs the already too-narrow aisles is not cool. But in general, your child doesn’t want to go look at clothes with you any more than your bored-ass man does. I have a friend who actually laughed while saying “I can’t even hear my kids when they’re whining!” Well, guess what, I and everyone else can. If you’re going to be a mother with an attitude like that, then I am going to shake up the social norms and yell at strangers’ kids for them from now on. A well-timed and surprising SHUT IT! from a stranger might be all your brats need.

I can’t believe women even WANT to go shopping with screaming ill-behaved kids or men who are glaring at them the whole time. Are you really that self-centered? Get out on your own and ENJOY yourself. Spend some time with a friend who wants to go shopping too.

Also, I WANT THIS SHIRT SO BAD! But alas, they are sold out of the men’s size. And I am not into love-handle-hugging “girly tees”. Nor do I care for that shade of green that the girl size comes in. So I do so very much hope they make more. That design is so right up my alley. Sidekick to your solar plexus!

Sunday, March 9th, 2008 | Categories: Observations | Permalink | 1 Comment

I can’t find new web friends.

It’s hard finding people my age with similar interests and lifestyles. In real life, but even online too, among the blog/personal sites. I’ve been link-hopping lately (going to a site, and visiting all the sites they have linked, and so on) and been less than enthusiastic. I’m sure these people are nice enough and interesting in their own ways. But I am 25, single, no kids, out of school, and work full time. So I find it hard to relate to someone my age, they are usually not single, they have kids, go to school and/or work part time - if at all. Occasionally I’ll happen across someone who is not my age but shares some interests. People that I find interesting to read about. And sometimes they have nothing in common with me, but write about interesting things at least. If you can find a common ground, it’s easier to become friendly with someone. And I have very little in common with (seemingly) most bloggers out there now.

And what makes this extra aggravating is when I’ll go to a site, it has a nice design and appears to be well coded, read a little about the author and s/he seems to be pretty cool. Check out the blog - and it’s a goddamn PPP spam blog. Time wasted. Close tab, move along.

I can’t believe people a) have PPP-style blogs and/or b) link to PPP spammy blogs. Grr!

I like all the websites and people I have linked now, of course. I just thought it would be nice to get to know some new people through their websites. Many of my favorite people online are people who found me though, so maybe I don’t have to seek them out.

Thursday, November 22nd, 2007 | Categories: Observations, Relationships | Permalink | 16 Comments

Something disturbing in the restroom.

A CANDY DISH IN THE RESTROOM The photo you see is from the ladies restroom in the building where I work. To the right, you see something normal for a restroom. A toilet, a toilet paper dispenser (empty 50% of the time). And to the left, something strange that appeared today.

A little table. Upon which is a fake sprig of flowers, some business cards for Mary Kay, some back issues of Cosmo and InStyle. And a candy dish.

A candy dish.

There is a candy dish in the ladies restroom.

More disturbing than the question of who would put a dish of candy in the ladies restroom is the question of WHO WOULD EAT CANDY FROM A RESTROOM?! Especially a public restroom. Who is sitting on the can and thinks, boy I sure could go for a peppermint right about now! If you’re cranking one out while reading a gargantuan issue of InStyle, I’m pretty sure your mouth is not the orifice in need of freshening.

When I’m in there, all I can do is stare at the dish and wonder why? And if I ever see any candies missing, I will be both shocked and repulsed. Folks, if you are kissing a lady, ask if she’s had any peppermint candy from a public restroom today.

Unrelated, ViolentAcres nicely sums up my thoughts on the holidays. I buy one book each for three small children in my life. That is the extent of my holiday spending on gifts. And when I came to the decision a couple years ago to refuse receiving gifts or giving gifts (to adults), I have never felt happier or more free during the holidays.

Monday, November 5th, 2007 | Categories: Observations | Permalink | 10 Comments

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