MINE!

Gen-eral Thoughts.

2011-12-01T11:53:00.000-08:00

Right now I am supposed to be writing a paper about Richard Serra's Drawing Retrospective but as I am earning a double major in Procrastination, I am writing this instead.

Just some "Gen"eral Thoughts I had over the last couple of hours....

1) The Dream Act. Children are stuck with their parents decision to come to the US illegally. Why should they be punished for that? If you are a stellar student, shouldn't you be given a chance to be a productive member of society (who pays taxes) as a college grad or member of the armed services, rather than being a maid/laborer paid under the table? Srsly!

To Qualify: I would like to say that on some things I am quite liberal and in other respects quite conservative. I don't like either party and think that most politicians are very silly. I'm also very close to the immigration issue with most of my family having come from Guatemala.

2) Is it wrong that my leather Jacket cost more than my wedding dress? The idea that a wedding dress is the most expensive piece of clothing you will ever wear is ridiculous. I want my most expensive piece of clothing to be the one that I will wear every day.

To Qualify: We had a small budget for SF though pretty standard for the rest of the country. However we could afford to have this budget. If I only had 300 for a wedding, I would have had a BBQ in the park. Just Saying.

3) I have so little time left to get everything done for school and work, yet I waste time doing unproductive things (like this blog that no one will read). I sometimes wish I were a machine that just did things like a Ford assembly line. That is the way I was taught I should be, but is that really the best thing? Just a thought.

I can't think of anything else so its back to my essay.

Fashion!

2011-01-28T06:38:00.001-08:00

This morning I read this interview with Helena Bonham Carter in my People Magazine RSS feed. (Yes, I read People. You wanna make something of it?!?)

The King’s Speech star — andOscar nominee for Best Supporting Actress — Helena Bonham Carter is the first to admit she’s made a few fashion mistakes on the red carpet but that’s not stopping her from dressing up in non-traditional styles. “Sometimes I get it right and I sometimes I get it wrong,” Bonham Carter, 44, tells PEOPLE. “But fashion is all about having fun. I think fashion has been hijacked by the fashion industry creating rules on what one should wear and I feel like breaking the mold and seeing that the world won’t crumble.” Known for her eclectic fashion choices, Bonham Carter raised a few eyebrows by attending theGolden Globe Awards wearing one red and one green shoe simply because she wanted to. “Why not wear mismatching shoes? Who says we can’t? I was just having fun,” says Bonham Carter. “For me, fashion is all about fantasy and putting unlikely things together. That’s what I love. I genuinely love dressing up.” One person Bonham Carter praises is Lady Gaga for her daring fashion choices. “I love the way she dresses. She’s like a work of art,” she says. “Anybody who is inventive, different or has fun like her, I love and admire. I’m amazed that she’s able to stand up in some of those shoes she wears.” When asked what it’s like to be compared to the “Bad Romance” singer, Bonham Carter demurs, saying “I feel honored to be compared to her but I would probably be called Lady Haha. She’s fantastic.” So what can we expect on the red carpet at the Kodak Theatre come Feb. 27? “Maybe I will wear the exact same [Vivienne Westwood] dress I wore at the Golden Globes but with matching shoes,” she says with a big laugh. “Or put the shoes on my head!” – Paul Chi

Bonham-Carter is always dubbed the worst dressed, as is Tilda Swinton, but these people are some of the few who take chances with their fashion. You often see everyone wearing the same thing over and over again. Fashion is a means of self expression, a way to tell the world who you are (not who your stylist is).

Those are my two cents anyways.

Random link

2010-11-19T07:45:00.000-08:00

http://www.arteaser.com/2010/11/artists-as-curators-two-shows-lots-of.html

Just a quick link from the art show I participated in at Bar Basic. They don't mention me by name, but then again, I'm an art nobody at this point. But that is Monkeynova and myself blurred out on the last picture.

yes there is a maymontt.com, Virginia....

2010-11-10T13:53:00.001-08:00

With all this attention being paid to my drawings, I decided it might be a good idea to have a website of some sort. With me not being as html savvy as I would like, I decided to hire google to do my web pages. All in all, it didn't turn out too badly, I think. Maybe a little 1999 but, oh well.

There is a gallery slideshow, which is kinda cool, so visitors can see what I do. There's also a little blurb about me. Hopefully I don't sound too full of myself.

Maybe one day, I'll ask my mom to make me a real site, so I can be a real artist... but this should hold me through community college and maybe part way through art school, at least.

Check it out: www.maymontt.com

art shows

2010-10-12T09:44:00.000-07:00

It looks like two pieces of my art are going up for sale.

The first has been donated to raise money for Rainforest

Action Network, to help stop rainforest deforestation. Its being entered in a silent auction, so hopefully *fingers crossed* it will sell and make some money for the cause.

The second is a show at a bar all about the 90's. They've told me I'm in but I've yet to actually drop off the piece for hanging. It should run from October through February. I will post the dates and info later.

Its very exciting. I hardly know what to do with myself!

commentary

2010-03-18T00:15:00.000-07:00

So today I get this email saying I have a new comment on my blog. Now looking back at the last posting done almost 8 months ago, you can see I don't really do much writing in this blog anymore (Twitter is my new lord and master.)

The comment was regarding a blog post where I posted an essay I did for my English 1a class, Geek Love.

I thought the whole comment rather odd seeing that

1) it was nobody I knew

2) it was regarding something long since past (2007)

3) it was making a personal mockery of me

So this is a brief response to the person who made the comment, who will never see it, and probably is getting exactly what they wanted in the response from me:

i was very proud of going back to school and getting tested into the highest engllish class possible. while i know that what I wrote wasnt grammatically correct nor spellingly correct thw whole way through i very happy with the result of my essay, so suck it you fucking cowardly bastard!

I got an A on that paper and in that class. I don't know how I could possibly do better than that.

Thank You.

Comic Con International 2009

2009-07-29T00:29:00.000-07:00

The checker at Trader Joe's asked me casually, "So did you do anything interesting this weekend?"

"I just got back from Comic Con, " I answered.

He looked at me a bit funny and then we had a pleasant conversation of what I saw. So this is the recap of two days of comics, movies, and mayhem. Well, maybe... not really.

We arrived at the San Diego Convention center what I considered early, maybe around 9. I started getting flashbacks of three years ago when we weren't able to get in, but Monkeynova kept reassuring me that we'd get in. But you have to realize why I was so concerned: the line snaked around the building, through the parking lot and down the marina along the water. I kid you not that the line was a mile long. We waited for almost two hours just but did get our passes. No one got heatstroke this time, which was fortunate.

Once on the convention floor, we we inundated by all the wondrous things. There were so many that I cannot recount them all now, but you can see the pictures. Monkeynova and I both went around taking pictures off all the cool booth things. Though really my favorite pictures were those of Bruce Campbell at the Burn Notice Signing and Adam Baldwin ( aka Jayne Cobb) at another booth. For both, I tried really hard to get good pictures. I made a miraculous shot of Bruce, where I had the camera up high, and just took the shot. The picture came out perfectly. For Adam, all I got were some fuzzy pictures. I had to come back later to take more and finally got one, even though its kind of silly.

We ended up meeting our friends, who we normally stay with while in San Diego, and we got to wander the floor with them, which was very cool. At the end of the day, Mongolian BBQ was had. Afterwards there were drinks at The Field with my cousin, while Monkeynova and our friend, had an all engrossing brain dump.

On Friday, I tried dressing up, but it didn't feel right so I changed midway through the day. We totally expected the con floor to be crazy and we were right. I usually like to wander the con and then do the algorithmic pattern to make sure I didn't miss anything. This year due to the sheer quantity of people, that was impossible. We spent and hour looking at about 4 isles. Just because you had to fight your way through.

The crowds were just too much after a while, so we went to have lunch at the SyFy booth. Yep, you heard me right. This channel's marketing coup was renting out one of the Hard Rock's restaurants and turning it into Cafe Diem from the show Eureka. They had flat screens inside showing previews from all the SyFy shows and cut outs off all the characters so you could take pictures with your favorites. And to tell the truth, the food wasn't half bad either. Lastly, we got to see Joe Morton, the actor who plays Henry on Eureka, and I thanked him for a great show. Monkeynova was a bit star struck. It was awesome!

We tried to see some panels but only got into one. The Big Bang Theory Panel and the misfortune of being in the same room as the Dollhouse/Joss Whedon Panel so people were lining up 6 hours early and filled the line to the point that the officials weren't letting anyone else join it. Needless to say we and many others who really wanted to see that panel weren't let in. I do wish they'd empty the rooms between panels. I think it be a fairer system, but hey what do I know?

We did get to see the Eureka Panel which was awesome, especially when they called the actor who plays Jack Carter in Bulgaria on the SyFy VP's iphone. And yay they will have a next season!

Friday was also my shopping day. I got the next Mouseguard graphic novel, a super awesome book, which I heard about through one of my favorite podcasts, To Old to Grow Up. At another booth, they were selling all graphic novels for 50% off cover price so I got some more books that I'd wanted. Finally I got the GI JOE graphic novel. I heard that the new series was good and wanted to check it out. It was the last one they had. Score!

Due to getting our passes late, like in April (wtf?!), we were only able to get tickets to Thursday and Friday, though I wish we could have stayed longer. I wanted to see the masquerade and the Eisners, but there just wasn't enough time. Fortunately for us, we got next year's four day passes already.

Ultra High Heels!

2009-06-19T12:49:00.001-07:00

Ultra High Heels!, originally uploaded by What Makes The Pie Shops Tick?.

I love me some heels but honestly 5 inches are redunkulus!

But I still want them.

My shoe fetish may slightly be out of control.

Personal Assisting

2009-04-30T21:48:00.000-07:00

As I was driving back to Emeryville from Pleasanton today, sipping on my orange mango vivanno, watching the sun sink down behind the hills on the 580, I pondered over my experience as a Personal Assistant.

Current events have made me wax nostalgic I suppose.

In the beginning, I had no idea what I was getting into. I was hired for one day a week to help my original boss (Boss A) publish a book. I had some graphics experience mostly gleaned off my mother from so many years of living with her. Boss A then paid for me to learn Adobe Illustrator because she thought I could illustrate her book. But in addition, I was the personal shopper and gopher when I wasn't working on the book.

Eventutally, the book thing sort of fizzled (in terms of me working on it) and the personal shopper/gopher role became more predominant.

And then I became the handyperson. (and hired the guys when I couldn't do the job.)

And then the decorator (for the house in Florida.)

And then they moved and I was the packing person (and sometimes the moving foreman.)

And then I called and set up their utilities and waited for all the people to come and set them up.

And then I became the maid, and finally drew the line (cause really I hate cleaning.)

With the increasing work, the one day a week gig turned into two (sometimes more) days and I was up to my eyeballs in errands.

The perks were cool though. I got to use the VW when Boss A was out of town. When the insurance changed, I got an old company station wagon that no one was using. Definitely not as cool as the original car, but still not bad. I also got to make my own hours, and got to travel a bit.

Then there were the other cars...Boss B started out with a Mercedes and then got a Lexus. Boss A also had a Mercedes, then traded it in for a Lexus coupe and finally upgraded to their sporty convertible. And I got to drive them all. (for some strange reason this is a perk to me. Go figure.)

And during it all, I became friends with the cleaning people, the cable guys and the security guys. Chatted cars with the dealership service people hearing all their war and horror stories. (Enough so that I don't think I'll be purchasing a Non-three-letter-German-car should I ever have the wherewithal to do so.) Then heard all about the life of the home warranty guy.

It became my job to do all the stuff that my bosses didn't want to do for themselves. That was the best way to explain my job to people.

I'm the one that found the jewelers to get the watch band fixed and traveled to Marin to get it done.

I'm the one that returned the stuff purchased on a whim that Boss A then later felt guilty about.

I'm the one that purchased the socks and underwear, when the old ones got too holy.

As you can see I know way too much about my bosses That's the downside of the whole thing really. You are much too close. You become part of the family, and a failing on your job becomes a personal affront to them. They come to depend on you more and more, until you sometimes think that they have forgotten how to do some of this stuff for themselves. And you feel guilty, like the world will end, if heaven forbid you need to take a sick day.

The dissolution of Boss A and B sort of became a custody battle for me as the PA. They got shared custody of me really. I still do work for both A and B, though mostly for B,and sometimes for Boss C (who is a friend of A and B).

I've gotten into an email sort of place with Boss B where I just get errands and do them. Don't disucss much, just "this is what got done".

It's not as glam as "The Devil Wears Prada" makes it out to be nor is it as much fun as it was in the beginning, when every new errand was an adventure. I suppose once you've gone to Safeway once a week for 6 years to purchase the same stuff every time, it can get a bit monotonous. But hey, its a living.

Giving up the 818

2009-01-12T10:58:00.000-08:00

So yesterday, Kong and I went to get new phones. I've needed one for a while. Ishy, (the dog) got hold of mine and made a chew toy out of it. It still worked, mostly. It would every once and a while, turn off for no good reason. Of late though, it had come to a point where the phone wouldn't stay on long enough for me to make a call.

So off to the AT&T store we went. My happiness at getting a new phone was rudely interrupted by the news that I'd have to change my phone number, they couldn't combine phones from two separate markets.

Now I've had my 818 number for years. I'd gotten it back when AT&T was Pac Bell, which was before it was Cingular. It was a source of pride for me to have been a cell phone customer for so very long. Also it was the last thread holding me to LA.

The area code 818 covers Glendale, a town which I lived in for many years. It was where I lived for a time in Jr. High, and where we moved back to during my last year of High School. It was where I got my first paying job, and where I had some of my best jobs (shout out to Panda and UMS). It's even where I remember meeting Kong for the first time. It was the number that all my friends had for me, and even though I wasn't in LA, they'd all still know where to find me.

So in the AT&T store, I felt like crying because I would no longer be an LA girl. But then Kong reminded me that I am now fully committed to being a Northen Californian. So with that, I have crossed over to the Dark Side and am rather pleased to be a 415. And honestly really happy not to be a 925.

The March of Time- random thought of the day

2009-01-08T10:29:00.000-08:00

Today, I went on myspace and found out that an old friend of mine, Fancypants is married with a kid, and the kids who were toddlers when I left to SF are now close to being teens.

I know things change, I see it happening here around me. Heck, all I have to do is look in the mirror to see the laugh lines getting deeper every year. But back in LA where I just go to visit, its hard to see the changes until it smacks you in the face like a mack truck.

wedding blog

2008-10-13T14:21:00.000-07:00

If I haven't mentioned it before, we are doing a wedding blog over at http://blog.genandkeith.com/. There is also a site http://genandkeith.com/, which at this moment just redirects you to our Knot site.

So it is officially less than one year to the big day (give or take a week if we can't secure a venue on the day we want) and the wedding planning has officially begun. Here is a taste of some of the stuff we're working on.

Who You Gonna Call....GENNY!!!

2008-08-28T17:07:00.000-07:00

My boss lives in a large building with doormen/security people. One of them in particular has been there forever; he's really an institution. Anyways, over the last several years, he has seen me come and go, and knows that I work for several people in the building as a PA. Today, as my boss was leaving for work, he mentioned to her that he had several packages for her. She didn't have time to pick them up so he said "You should make a Genny Call" meaning have me come pick them up for her. To her it was the most hysterical thing that he should suggest that. It also made her realize that there are no secrets from the security guys. They know *everything*.

It's also cool to know that I have my own secret red "Genny phone" for the "Genny Call" and a "Genny Signal" that cuts through the night...I think.

T-mobile is retarded

2008-07-28T17:32:00.000-07:00

Sorry, I don't mean to be politically incorrect but it's the best way to describe it.

In San Diego, I tried to connect to the internet at a *Bucky's because we were trapped in San Onofre and I was trying to find out what the heck was going on with the 5. Turns out a Vons Supermarket Truck collieded with a minivan, blew up and then started a grass fire right in the middle of Ft. Pendleton. But that is a different story... back to the *Bucky's. Anyways, I tried to connect, was told that my UN and PW were not recognized. I reset the PW and was told that the account was closed. WHAT?!?! Needless to say, we took the crap shoot and got back on the freeway, spent 4 hours traveling 16 miles or so and got the burnt wreckage as our prize. Which is better than those that waited the 10 hours to get through.

So today I called T-moble and found out that after 120 days of not using your Hot Spot account they close it. Yep. Just close it. If you want to use it again, you have to re-sign up. I also found out that they have several closed accounts for me. The whole point is to be able to use the internet at any T-mobile hotspot whenever I need to and not have to worry about entering in all that info. Is it harder to keep the account on hold rather than having to create a new one every time? Really?!?

So now if I want to go to a Bucky's and use the internet again, I'll have to give them all my info...again. So retarded.

Beautiful ring

2008-04-27T11:03:00.001-07:00

Beautiful ring, originally uploaded by gbeemaymontt.

Once upon a time there was a boy and he realized he loved a girl.

Then one day he asked her to marry him. And she said "yes".

Sorry Colin Firth.

Addendum to Last Post

2008-04-25T08:08:00.001-07:00

In doing research for a totally different subject, I came across a couple of websites that I missed on my last rant on larger size clothing. I'd like to give them proper credit.

While I haven't bought anything from them, I was very impressed by the styles and website. They are pretty current in terms of style, and I think I'd be able to rock most of that. Anyways, without further ado: B&Lu

The other site of note is Alloy

While most of Alloy's stuff is geared to the much younger person, they carry extended sizes and are pretty cheap.

And that is the end of this subject.

On my next blogger entry: Why Colin Firth is still sexy.

Can I get that in a 14?

2008-03-03T18:12:00.000-08:00

So I am not a small girl. I never have been except for the months between birth and 6 months. I was not a skinny little kid and I relished my stretchy leggings and large t-shirts in the 80's. But once that went out of style, clothes shopping became like pulling teeth. For a long time I was a 12. Then I was a 14 in denial. Now I am 14/16 depending on who is making the clothes.

Now I am rather proportionate and when I tell people my size they sort of look at me in dismay saying, you don't look fat. Well I am. So there. And like every other person in America, I am working on losing weight. And I am, slowly. However in the meantime, I don't want to wear Mumus. And I want to look decent. Fashionable even.

The only place I can find pants that are even remotely fashionable and decently priced is Old Navy. But one cannot exist on Old Navy alone. The quality sometimes leaves things to be desired.

I went to help a friend go shopping this weekend and it struck me as I was walking through the Banana Republic and the J. Crew that they carried hardly anything that would actually fit me. It was rather sad cause I'd probably look very nice in much of what they have. Supposedly they carry my size on-line, but really with my figure I really have to try it on to make sure that it actually fits. And who wants to buy it and send it back, get the larger size find out that doesn't fit and end up with nothing in the end? No Thanks.

I can recall a past shopping experience looking for a pair of higher end jeans. I was honestly willing to pay up to about 120 for a good pair. But that whole experience went south and ended with me in tears. I don't fit in anything that Diesel makes, I don't fit in Lucky Brand, and forget about Guess/Marciano. Forget about the others like Seven for all Mankind, Paper Denim or even an Ambercombie and Fitch.

I had previously gone to Nordstroms to help a friend buy Jeans in a 14/16 and their selection was horrible. I have been to the Women's department at Macy's and other large department stores and I am sorry but all of that is made for really unfashionable women. And on the subject of Lane Bryant, I don't fit in their clothes either. They are too big. Even at the smallest size. And now I am looking on line for somewhere in San Francisco and all I can find are clothing stores that really awful ethnic "THINGS". I really can't even call them clothes. Cause they aren't. They are just ugly.

I really am tired of not being able to go to a mall and find something in my size. I also really hate it when I walk up to a sales person and ask "Up to what size do you carry?" and they casually say "10" or "12". Kong once got mad at me for rudely just turning on a a sales person and walking straight out. But honestly what else can I do? Discuss the merits of clothes I can't wear? No. I leave.

Will some very large multi-national company get off of the size two high horse and design something for real women? PLEASE? Something that's actually fashionable and works with the fashion trends everyone else works with?

I am not the only one here. From the Cotton Inc. website: "According to the Lifestyle MonitorTM, 49 percent of women lament that the current styles available do not flatter their shape, while 45 percent generally can’t find their size in the clothing they like."

I would like to give a shout out to all the places that do cater to real people. And don't charge and arm and a leg. Thank you Old Navy, H&M and ..... nope that's it.

The Bell Rings

2008-01-19T13:43:00.000-08:00

Today was the first day of my English 1b class. The first assignment was to finish the story:

“A woman sitting in her old, shuttered house. She knows that she is alone in the whole word; every other thing is dead. The doorbell rings.” (Aldrich)

So here is my take on it:

The Bell Rings

“A woman sitting in her old, shuttered house. She knows that she is alone in the whole word; every other thing is dead. The doorbell rings.” (Aldrich)

The woman slowly walks to the window and draws back the dusty curtains. As she does this she thinks to herself that there couldn’t be someone there. She knows that her mind often plays tricks on her. It must be the wring gone bad, just a short circuit.

Looking out the window all she sees is the large wrap-around porch clothed in darkness, the porch light having long since burned out. She stays very still looking for any movement in the dark, but sees nothing.

She retreats back into her sitting room. She cannot decide whether or not to open the door to see what is there. She paces the room nervously wringing her hands. She decides finally to open the door only if the bell rings again.

Still pacing, waiting for the bell, she wonders what it would be like to find another person after all this time. A person to talk to, to share her experiences with, someone to share the rest of her life with. With these thoughts bringing her courage, she walks to the door and slowly opens it.

Standing there is empty darkness. The bell rings again.

Art Class

2007-12-09T10:06:00.000-08:00

Part of the reason why this blog has been so sparse since Sept. is that I have been taking two classes at CCSF. One of them is the Fundamentals of Design with Mine Tiernar. I cannot recommend the class enough. She is a great professor. The information she covers works as a good review for experienced artists as well a good learning experience for true beginners. There have been many really great projects over the semester ranging from collages to color wheels. My Final project was to do a self portrait using cool colors and/or warm colors to express temperature.

In addition, since I will be going out of town this week, I will not be able to submit them in person to my prof, so part of the reason for the photo shoot is to have the digital images to send to her.

Take my picture!

2007-12-08T19:55:00.000-08:00

After looking at Kong's photos on line for several years, I have decided to post my cell phone pictures up on Flickr too. They are all a bit random and the quality is a bit pixelated to say the least. Most are pretty mundane, but some might be considered risque. Hopefully Flickr will not suspend my account for the indecent exposure of certain body parts like... my foot.

http://flickr.com/photos/maymontt/

Halo III

2007-09-25T08:16:00.000-07:00

The phenomena that is Halo has sucked in Kong's soul. The third installment of this video game came out last night and Kong went to Best Buy at MIDNIGHT. Do you know how late that is? And stayed up playing after that until his eyes hurt (Kong is usually the first one into bed at the very late 10pm.)

Today I suspect there will be a lot of people calling in sick... halo 3 sick...And I will have to sleep with ear plugs and a night mask for a while. At least there aren't 10 people over at my house all night long playing Halo like my friend had. She can't even listen to the Halo theme anymore.

I think Kong may be one of the rare men whose gf actually supports and feeds the addiction. I gave him a Master Chief figurine, which he proudly displays and I have even played with him on a rare occasion or two, which he was really happy about.

I know that eventually the addiction will fade, he will come back to me, and then the next game to get a 5 out of 5 on X-play will suck out his soul again.

what's in a name...

2007-06-27T21:37:00.000-07:00

while looking at my dying myspace page, I came across one of those stupid chain letter things that asks you to google your first name, add the word "needs" and see what comes up. Kong is off carousing with Kuliga, so having much time on my hands I tried it.

I used my proper first name, and what came up is that I am pretty but needs more (boobs). Obviously the Nigerian's in question have not currently seen my chest but it is more than enough. Maybe they are talking about my chest when I am thin? That's probably it.

Anyways, I decided to see what would happen if I put in my first and middle names. And to my shock and amazement, there is another one of me in this world.

I swear we look like twins separated at birth:

Final Essay

2007-05-22T07:29:00.000-07:00

I decided that the time had come to finally get that college edjumacation that I have heard so much about. My first class was English 1A with Professor Gordon Ross at San Francisco City College. I would like to share with you my final essay.

This one goes out to the single geeks out there....

Geek Love

We women are on a perpetual search for the perfect man. He must be everything that is honestly unrealistically attainable in a single person. Someone who looks like either Brad Pitt or George Clooney incarnated, who will sweep us off our feet, pee in a toilet without any splashes or spills, take us off to Paris once a month to go shopping, and cuddle on command. In our search, we tend to over look certain men, the ones we think of as geeks. But geeks make even better boyfriends than non-geeks.

The first misconception I hear from women is that geeks are boring. Well, they aren’t! They do have other interests besides computers…honestly! As a geek girlfriend, you will be treated to dates that are not only fun but mentally stimulating. That moonlit stroll will be punctuated with the merits of string theory, the most recent project they worked on for NASA or a laser pointer presentation of the constellations. Dinner will be peppered with stories of pranks pulled in college like liquid nitrogen frozen pumpkins being dropped off the Millikin Library for Halloween, going out into the middle of the desert to blow up common items with explosives, and the time they got manhandled into every shower in their dorm with all their clothes on. They also have more mundane interests such as movies, books, music, food and wine. But they plunge headlong into these subjects so really, it is never a dull moment with a geek.

Another commonly held belief against dating geeks is that that they are socially inept. While I wish I could deny it, this is mostly true, except for some very rare exceptions. Now before you say this is a deal breaker, consider this: most of their lack of social skills comes from a lack of proper socialization into mainstream society. Geeks tend to have a geek pack mentality. They stick with their own kind where they feel comfortable discussing the mathematical benefits of …pretty much everything. Geeks will want to please their girlfriends more than anything else, so can be taught social graces, though it may take a while. Also in comparison, your social skills will look fabulous.

Even geeks themselves know that they are not the best communicators. If you have a problem with them, you may hear about it in an email instead of in person. When they do talk, geeks can be pretty blunt, but it doesn’t come from a malicious place like it does with non-geek men. But this, again, can be worked around. You have to be crystal clear and not mince works with geeks. Geeks don’t get hints. For example, if you don’t like something they are wearing and mention “Honey, that shirt doesn’t look good on you” they will not get the hint that they should take it off. If you say “take that shirt off and put on the blue polo that I put out on the bed” they will understand you better. The upside of being socially inept is that geeks will not play mind games with girls. They just don’t know how. Also, if you want something done, like having a geek take out the trash, getting flowers, or taking a vacation, you can email him, and you can be relatively confident it will get done. On the other hand, with a non-geek, something like telling him to take out the trash will involve lots of nagging and the possibility of it not getting done.

The benefits of dating a geek really outweigh the all the negatives. Though there may be more negatives than I have mentioned, most of them can be dealt with fairly easily. Now that we have seen that the bad isn’t all that bad, we can see what common benefits you can expect from dating a geek .

If you date a geek, you will always have 24-hour tech support on speed dial. In this high tech world this can come in handy. Geeks take pride in being able to help you through a technical crisis. They also have some of the best toys, so you are always going to be on the cutting edge of technology. As an example, he will have, an Xbox 360, a Nintendo Wii, an HD TIVO series 3, and a 58” plasma television with Dolby Digital 5.1 surround sound at home, as the most basic audio-visual set up in his living room and complain that he needs to upgrade. He will also make sure that you are decked out in the latest tech gear too. Your cell phone may be his hand-me-down, but it will be a gently used, two month old mobile phone that will do everything including making toast, which will not come out in the United States until next year.

Geeks are also a lot more romantic than non-geeks. They do the regular things like send flowers to your office, but included will be a love poem composed in C++. They will also usually declare their undying love for you on the Internet by composing a blog post celebrating you, which you can then share with all your girlfriends to make them jealous. Geeks are also very thoughtful. They will listen to your conversation, remember the little things you say and will surprise you with some thing that you mentioned you wanted two months ago for no good reason except you said you wanted it.
Geeks will also try really hard in the bedroom, much more so than non-geeks. The females of the species mostly ignore them when they are young, so they tend to obsess about sex. Once that obsession is coupled with the desire to please you at all costs, it is not hard to imagine the outcome. Geeks also take direction really well, so if something isn’t working for you, all you have to do is let them know what you want them to do, and they will do it, without any hard feelings. For all this pleasure, they do not ask for much in return. They are just happy to actually be having sex (with something other than an inanimate object.)

The question now is where do I find that hunk of burning geek love? There is a secret location nestled in the foothills of Pasadena, called The California Institute of Technology. This place manufactures the best geeks on the West Coast. These people, collectively known as Techers, are everything one thinks a stereotypical geek should be and more (their median SAT scores are 1460 to 1570.) After they graduate from school, they tend to migrate to the good tech jobs in the Silicon Valley and San Francisco. If you can find one of these Techer guys, you have hit the proverbial geek jackpot.

Geeks don’t have the best reputations as Casanovas, but they try harder than any other group to be that perfect man. I have dating both geeks and non-geeks, and I definitely prefer geeks. All I am suggesting is that women who wouldn’t normally date a geek, should give geeks a chance. They will be the best boyfriend/husband that you will ever mould to your own will.

Mother's Day

2007-05-16T13:43:00.001-07:00

This is a reprint of a note from my Ma, because I thought the email was so cute....I gave her a card that had a picture of a rubber ducky on it. That is why there are so many little ducky comments.

Dear diary:

Today, I finally went to my mail box, after a running around
crazily all day yesterday. To my wonderment I got a bag full of
surprises from my little ducky, the one in San Francisco!

When I opened the package(I confess I was very exited and
curious about its contents)I found a beautiful handbag that goes extremely well with my hair! Not only that, it's soooo soft and nice to the touch and easy on the eyes...

And then....I found a little pouch for my shades --which I really needed because I don't have one--that of course matches again with my hair, my hand bag and the frames of of my pinkish-purple shades. What a coincidence! You see, I couldn't have asked for a better bag.

But...that's not all. When I touched the baggy for my sunglasses, I felt something like marbles...or maybe chocolates or maybe rocks!.....Hmmmm, this is another surprise!

Yeahhhhhhhh!There is more. Yoohoooooo!!!!! There is something else...!!!!

Oh my god! I got beads! Beads, beads and more beads, all coming out of the little
pouch, yeahhhh!! I like it. I like the colors, yes! I can wear it with my black pants, or my other black pants and the other black pants that are in the washer right now...hmmm. I love that it's long enough to touch my belly! Wow! This is cool a deal...I like these beads, beads and beads. And, I don't want to be redundant but, they match my hair, my purse, my sunglasses and the bag for my sunglasses. So I'm
totally, totally coordinated.

Gosh! Now I can go out and show-off to my friends! Yes, I'm Happy! Very, very happy!

Eu*

*Mama Duck says thank you soooo very much to the little Ducky --the
younger....(:

my poor car

2007-02-06T12:45:00.001-08:00

Over the last 135,000 miles, I have totally abused my car. I break like a race-car driver, and honestly I just drive a lot. One year I put on almost 60-70k miles. That's over 4 (maybe more) times the national average.

While my mom had the car and she took excellent care of it. When I got it back, I started abusing it again and not being a very good car mommy.

Well today I get to write the biggest check I have ever written for getting my car fixed. Albeit it's not as bad as Kong's biggest check, it's still pretty bad for me.

There is still a little bit of stuff to fix but that can wait a bit or so the mechanic says. But for now I have a new oil pan, new rear breaks, new spark plugs, a tune up, a new transmission oil gasket and piece of mind that my engine and tranny (transmission not transexual) won't blow up on the way to pleasanton.

hello, my blog..

2007-01-09T22:32:00.000-08:00

So sometime over the last little bit, I quit writing in my blog, really for no good reason in particular. Everyone has thoughts that pop in and yell, "hey look at me" or maybe its just me, but since I haven't been writing in my blog mine have been overflowing. More often than not, I have started on blog posts in my head and have just not gotten around to putting keystroke to keyboard. Well, my thoughts have finally caught up with me. So here goes almost nothing...

Its about the time I should be going to bed but I really can't. I am not that tired and TV doesn't appeal to me at the moment. Kong's passed out upstairs; he's not been feeling so good and he's under a lot of stress. I feel bad that I can't just make it all better. All I can do is be a smart-ass with foot in mouth disease. I would just like to say that Kong is really "St. Kong of the Infinite Patience" who puts up with my shenanigans. I am not the happiest person sometimes. Its sometimes even hard for me to live with myself. But even though it sounds cheesy, he really does brighten my day. I only hope I do the same for him. My only real fear is that I one day I will do something really stupid to mess it all up.

And as with the nature of the beast, the idea that was rattling in my head is almost completely gone (the internal censor killed it), and I am staring at the screen just wondering what to write next. Pithy saying are not coming to me and I feel bad depressing everyone or really confusing people 'cause really people, I make no sense, so with that I bid everyone a good night. Or good day. Whatever.

My cup overfloweth with Awesomeness!

2006-12-12T08:29:00.000-08:00

An ode to Barney Stinson aka Swarley:

Several days ago, I woke up just full of awesomenss. And still I am just so full of awesomeness, I can hardly stand it. It feels almost as if awesomeness comes out full speed, almost to the point of being painful. I suppose one must suffer for ones awesomeness. But that is not all dear readers as my awesomeness has now become:

lengend ... (wait for it)....ary.

If you have no idea what I am talking about, then you really need to see "How I met your Mother" on TV. Or wait for Barney's Blog.

or if you are going to do niether, then here is the laymans version. I am sick. I am coughing up lots and lots of... stuff. And the capilaries in my nose are upset so they are leaking too. Which gives some color to the stuff hence the lengendary. And since I am kind of delerious this post makes no sense whatsoever!

I hate it when that happens...

2006-09-20T21:37:00.000-07:00

I have been wanting to write, I have even composed stuff in my head but I never seem to get the chance recently to write. I really hate it when that happens.

Kong is washing dishes after my cooking dinner and Ishy-butt is heavily medicated. He got his nuts chopped off today. So I have a bit of time to waste on the computer.

This has been a very weird week for me. Sometime around Sunday night a mood came over me and hasn't left. I really hate it when that happens. Monday didn't help. I went and saw the Black Dahlia. Now granted I only went to see the film because I know someone in it and wanted to show my support. She was good, the rest was not to my liking and the subject matter was very disturbing.

And then sometime around Tuesday that old Avril Lavine song got stuck in my head. I really hate it when a song I don't like gets stuck in my head. And it was a weird day at work and I came home and didn't want to do much of anything. And I hate feeling like that.

This morning we dropped Ishy-butt off at the vet, and I don't know why but I felt myself getting mad at the stupidest things. I hate that too.

And after picking up Dog-Dog, I feel like crap. I hate seeing him like he is and I feel bad that I can't do anything.

So I hope that getting some of it out on virtual paper will help. Hopefully cause I'd hate it if it didn't.

Zombies

2006-09-04T12:47:00.000-07:00

Kong's new addiction has been Dead Rising, a video game for the new xbox 360 he recently purchased. To tell the truth I think he just bought the system just so that he could play this particular game.

This game takes place in a fictional town of Willamette, CO. A photojournalist has gone in to find out why the military has cordoned the whole town off. You have three days to figure out what is going in. But while you are investigating, just moving around the mall involves killing zombies before they make you into a zombie.

Its a very graphic game with heads getting chopped off, limbs getting chopped off and blood splattering everywhere.

But yesterday I went to the standford shopping center and all of a sudden I got this weird deja vu, I felt that the zombies were going to start coming after me. It didn't help that the mall had some similarities to the one in the game. It had the outdoor courtyard and the painted frescos on the wall that made it look like a french provincial town.

Is this wrong?

Pregnant?

2006-08-28T23:17:00.000-07:00

Rumors of me being with child have reached my ears and I would like to bat down those flames before they become a wildfire.

I am currently NOT PREGNANT.

Thank you and goodnight!

Mother F'ing Snakes on a Mother F'ing Plane!

2006-08-20T20:33:00.000-07:00

So originally this was going to be a whole post about the movie, but I never finished it, but I love the title so I am keeping it.

This is more of an update since I haven't posted in a while.

Kong came back from Ecuador without any pieces missing. Yay!

Then we went to Vegas for the weekend and saw "O" at the Bellagio. It was hella impressive! We stayed at the Venetian and went to their spa. Kong had his first professional massage. I think he's addicted. Hopefully now I can get him to get a pedi. After that we went to the Star Trek Experience at the Hilton and got chased by Borg. They injected me with nano-probes but I have a gene that prevents them from taking over. So I might just turn into a Borg one of these days, you never know...

Anyways, the following weekend was Jon and Linh's wedding. It was held at a Chinese restaurant in the Richmond (I think?). Anyways, I had never had a Chinese feast before and this was very impressive. They had about 8 courses each with different types of meats and stuff I didn't know. I was slightly traumatized by the chicken and duck heads looking at me as I ate (it may be a while before I eat Chinese food again). It was a very nice reception and to my credit I got Kong on the dance floor once again and we shook our groove things to some questionable rap/hip-hop choices by the DJ. Though my groove thing looked better than Kong's on the dance floor but that just may be my opinion after all the Ricochet Malt liquor I drank.

Last weekend was Teqilaugust. Which was...interesting. I was a bit apprehensive in going but once I got there things were fine. Kong got a really nice tequila at bevmo and I brought some Agave Juice that I found at my friendly neighborhood taco truck.

Kong had lots and lots and maybe even lots more tequila. There are some really good blackmail pictures floating around on the internet now. But the piece de resistance was Kong getting sick... all over me. So the rest of the evening consisted of me and Lexi and Mike getting him back to the hotel and letting him sleep it off. There were some funny yet embarrassing episodes in between but I think leaving it at that is enough.

He was much better the next day enough so that we went and saw snakes on a plane. It was awesome. I don't usually like that kind of film but it was one of the worst and best movies I have ever seen.

That brings us back to Last Monday.

Since then I have been sewing like a mad woman trying to finish Andrews coats. I have been super emotional (If you look at me funny I burst into tears). And yesterday I had some very ugly and old prostitute bang on my car window wanting to ax me a question. But I was late for work so drove off (Sorry prostitute lady).

HAIR!

2006-08-04T18:49:00.000-07:00

Today as I looked at myself in the mirror, the song from the musical Hair was running through my head. "HAIR, Flow it, show it, Long as God can grow it, My hair!"

Though in my case it was in reference to my Body Hair. This is a thing most women deny exists. I needed to do something about mine, because it was beyond the point of plausible deniability.

Most women have fuzz on their upper lip. I have a particular sore spot with this, my "moustache", because, well frankly, I have dark hair and so it looks like my upper lip is dirty or just a hair darker than the rest of my face. Some women bleach, but I don't think I can. In my mind I think it will look like I have some sort of albino caterpillar on my face. Ugh! So I resort to waxing. Several months ago I went to whole foods and asked the lady which wax she recommends and she handed me this box. I was a bit skeptical as I have had waxes that didn't take off any hair what-so-ever. It was a ton of pain for no gain. But this stuff worked, really really well, so now I use it at least once a month. (Email me and I will give you the name if you're interested)

Anyways, back to the story... Today as I looked at myself, I realized I had become a very hairy Yeti. I hadn't shaved my legs in a whole month and I hadn't shaved my pits in at least two weeks. I really hate shaving, so I try to shave the least amount possible that I can get away with.(One of these days I really have to wax these parts. I really should have done it today. Everything was perfect wax length... next time...)So in the shower I shaved all the parts, and was a bit shocked at the amount of hair going down the drain. (Note to self, I should get some drano, just in case.) Once that torture was over, I waxed my lip.

I was going to wax my eyebrows but those are some particularly tricky things. My eyebrows are very hard to get symmetrical once you start removing the hair. They are pretty straight across. The style is to have a bit of an arch and mine really don't. So when I wax or pluck my brows I try to make them arch, a little, and it is a very tricky process to get them symmetrical. And at the same time, I don't want to end up looking either permanently mad (\/) or surprised (^^)so I decided to leave them au naturale.

So now, I am perfectly groomed. Except for my toes. They are totally bare and are crying out for polish. I guess next time I get the urge to spill my guts it will be about my toes.

Did I mention I have really cute toes?

T-minus 8 minutes

2006-08-02T21:55:00.000-07:00

There are only eight minutes as I start to write this post until Project Runway starts. I am so addicted, its terrible. I love me some Tim Gunn. The voice, the style. I guess now I have about 7.8 minutes left. I better type slower....

Right now, TIVO is finishing recording Nightmares and Dreamscapes. I made a vow about 10 years ago never to watch or read anything by or based off of Stephen King. I kind of broke that after I found out that Shawshank Redemption was based off of a story, but that is the only exception because Tim Robbins and Morgan Freeman are truly brilliant in that movie.

This means that I have turned off the TV and am waiting patiently until Project Runway starts. Why don't you just watch the other stuff on TIVO you ask? Because I already went through it all!

Today while I ate my dinner, I watched Meet the Ancestors. Its a fascinating show on History International. They dig up old bones in the UK, reconstruct the face of the individual and try to find living descendents if possible. I guess it happens a lot in the UK. One day your tearing up the old garage to build a bigger one and the next day you ram a shovel into someone's tibia. Today's guy was found in the middle of a field. It seems that 400 years ago that field was a chapel. Go figure.

Anyways, the other shows TIVO recorded didn't really interest me that much. I had already seen that episode of the TICK, and even though I like John Stewart, I can't really watch him by myself. I need to be with others to really appreciate him. I don't know why, but it just happens.

Well, the clock just struck 10. Its off to watch Project Runway for me... YAY!

NEVER GO SEE MIAMI VICE

2006-07-31T00:05:00.000-07:00

Gin called me tonight and said that she was going to see Miami Vice. She had a couple of cocktails before heading in and thought, being drunk, that she might enjoy the movie. Unfortunately, the movie killed her buzz.

I just got a half hour tirade on how awful it was. She actually walked out an hour through it because it was just that bad.

It was so bad that fantasizing about doing Colin Farrell wasn't enough to keep her in the theatre. That's pretty darn bad.

She asked me to post this. So there you go.

Two subjects, Totally unrelated

2006-07-30T23:34:00.000-07:00

My mother called me the other day and mentioned that in my blog I sound like I am some impoverished sick person. I don't quite agree with her and really didn't like her "suggesting" what I should and shouldn't write about in my blog. It made me rather mad. I don't really care, well not that much at least, about what people think of me.

You either like me or you don't. And if you don't like me, well then, I don't like you either! So there!

This blog is my sounding board. This is cathartic to me. This gets all the craziness out.

Everyone goes through stuff, good and bad, and it is my belief that it is more damaging to ones psyche not to share than to share. It is my belief that the really messed up people are the ones who can't talk about things, are afraid of what others might find out, and/or really and truly care what others may think and try to keep up appearances.

And as for me, I may not have all the money in the world but I get by pretty ok. I may spend a bit more than I should, but then again doesn't everybody? And unfortunately, I am very hard on myself and have a tendency to stress myself out more than I should. Which kind of makes me sick sometimes. But not all the time. This time, I just got hit a bit harder. And like many Americans I don't have insurance, but I still get around that too. And I am doing better.

Anyways, now that that is off my chest...

I have taken over Kong's TIVO. I have it recording all these cool shows for me now.

The other day, I was going through the list of programs to record and I found a program that someone I know was in and TIVOed it. Its a program that was made for the BBC and I thought it would never be seen in the states but BBC America put it on and I got a couple of episodes. I wish I had gotten the whole thing because I don't really understand what is going on, due to having missed previous episodes. It is an interesting story line and it definitely ends differently than most American TV would, but the acting is just ok. I think it could have been pulled off better and the characters could have been fleshed out some more. They kind of felt like stereotypical caricatures of themselves.

Anyways now I get to watch all my crime and medical dramas. I am all about HOUSE and GRAY'S ANATOMY at the moment. And I keep adding more and more shows to watch.

TIVO has this function where it records programs for you based on what shows you record. It had an idea of what shows Kong would like, but now I think TIVO will be very very confused with this new data.

More Drugs for Me!

2006-07-26T21:23:00.000-07:00

Acute Bronchitis Day 7...

Over the weekend I didn't feel so good. Monday I didn't feel that hot, but Tuesday I started feeling a little bit better.

Today, as I left to take the office manager to the airport. My boss asked me how I was feeling, so I told her, as above. She immediate told me that I needed to get more antibiotics and an inhaler. So she whipped out her pad and wrote me the rx.

1) Zpak as directed.
2) Albuterol Inhaler. ii puffs qd 4-6 prn. (two puffs every 4-6 hours as needed)

Zpak is the Brand name for Azythromycin which is a pretty strong antibiotic. Its what they give you when you have pneumonia.

So after hitting some really heavy traffic and heading back to the city, I headed for the 24hr Walgreens on Potrero and 24th(?). Its right around the corner from SF general so it was a bit busier than I thought.

So I went to the counter and handed my rx to the guy. He asked if I had ever been to Walgreens before. I said that I had. He asked if I still lived on Kenmore. Which I haven't lived on since 2002. He updated my address and asked if I had insurance. I said no, except for Birth Control. See, I qualify for Family Pact, a birth control program run by California, because well, I don't make all that much. So my birth control is at no cost instead of being like 40 to 50 bucks a month.

Anyways, so the guy tells me the price for my prescription. Its 60 for the zpak and 30 for the inhaler. I kind of expected the worse so In my head I am thinking to myself, well, I don't really need to eat this week; It will be a good week to go on that diet. Until the guy tells me that miraculously, Family Pact will cover the zpak. They only cover birth control and very few other meds, so I ended up only owing the guy for the Inhaler. This guy is my new BFF (best friend forever).

So I waited for about 2 hours at the Walgreens for my rx to be filled. I read all the gossip rags, and the TV guide, and the teen fashion mags, and walked around the store, scratched my butt a few times, and picked out a card for my dad's birthday, since he couldn't open the e-card I sent. What a technology Neanderthal! Sorry Dad, its true. Then got some juice and chips since I was so hungry.

So finally I got my rx and went home. So here I am, buzzed on albuterol and swimming up to my gills in antibiotics. Fun, no?

Shit Happens

2006-07-24T23:08:00.000-07:00

This morning I woke up, and mosquitoes had bit the shit out of me.

And I felt like shit. My head felt like I was swimming in shit. And I felt like I couldn't breathe for shit either.

The shit continued for most of today but I powered through. Though at the end of the day, I felt like I didn't do shit, even though shit got done. But that shit made me feel worse.

Then I checked my balances and they were shit.

Then I found out shit happened with my bank. And felt even more like shit. But then got over that shit once I figured out how to handle that shit.

Then I realized I have to have shit to eat for lunch and dinner. And since I didn't do shit yesterday, I went and bought shit. And I spent too much on that shit. Hopefully the shit will last.

Then I hit shit and broke shit on my way home. Which made me feel like a shit especially cause it wasn't my shit. I wouldn't have given such a shit if it were my shit. But because its not my shit. I really give a shit. So I emailed shit and got shit off my chest.

Now I gotta figure out how to pay for shit. Cause I don't have shit. And that made me feel even more like shit.

I still feel like shit. And this day was shit. Shit.

The Comic Con that wasn't

2006-07-22T22:48:00.000-07:00

This morning, my friends Pam and Ginger both got up at the ass crack of dawn so that we could drive down to San Diego to see the comic book convention. We knew from previous visits that there would be crowds so we left at around 7 am. There wasn't much in the way of traffic, and I was hopeful that we would get there pretty early. We made it into San Diego around 11 and there wasn't much traffic on the streets. It made me even more hopeful. We found parking pretty easy at PetCo park and walked over to the convention center.

Now it was about 90 with 60% humidity today so when we got out of the car it was really hot. We complained a bit as we walked and debated taking one of those rickshaws that were cycling about.

When we got to the convention center we noticed the lines were pretty long, for people that had purchased tickets on line. They snaked back and forth about three times. We kept walking towards where they were directing for on site registration. We walked the length of the entire convention center, went back around the side, through the parking lot, out the back, through the marina and down the street. I estimate that the line was 3/4 of a mile long. The sun was beating down on us pretty much the whole time. I went to get water at a restaurant that we passed, and we felt better after being a bit more hydrated.

I asked the guy at the end of the line how long he though the line was and he said it would be about two hours. We made the decision that if we were through the parking lot in a hour that we would stay and finish the line. If not then we would leave. About a half hour in, Pam was starting to over heat so she went to sit in the shade. After another half hour we weren't even to the parking structure. We decided to leave.

We started walking toward the car and about half way there Pam started feeling dizzy and nauseous. We found an area back stage where the AC from the convention center was blowing and stopped there to rest. The security guy told us that we couldn't be there because they were afraid that we were going to be a threat to whoever was going to be coming out of the panel that was going on inside. I got kind of mad and lashed out at him. Pam wasn't feeling well and I wasn't either. He let us stay off the stairs and over to the side. Gin and I decided to leave Pam there and make the rest of the journey to the car.

As we were walking Gin and I were discussing the situation. It seems that Comic Con did lots of advertising this year and they were not equipped to handle the influx of people. We were really concerned for the people still in the line. Some of them were showing early signs of heat exhaustion and heat stroke and there weren't any canopies or misters or even vendors with water around to combat the heat. We decided to let the police know so that they could help some of these people before they started passing out or something. Gin told me that there was a riot at the comic con in New York a few weeks back, so the cops should at least be aware of what was going on.

We found some guys we thought were cops but they were transit private security. They were less than helpful. Ginger found a cop and let her know and was very appreciative of the info as they had no idea what was going on and the comic con organizers weren't supposed to have people going into the marina. It was a health hazard.

Gin and I were done with walking so we made a deal with a rickshaw guy to give us a ride back to the parking lot, then we went to pick up Pam. She was feeling better, but was still very burnt and sweating profusely.

So we headed off back to LA.

We still had fun though. We played a variation of 6 degrees of Kevin Bacon, where we get two actors and within 6 actors, try to find the relationship. Some were easy and some were hard. Gin and Pam are movie freaks so I know nothing in comparison to them. And we talked and caught up, since I haven't seen them in a while.

There are now master plans for next year and this time I am organizing!

X-ray

2006-07-22T06:02:00.000-07:00

Occasionally I have some mild hypocondriac tendencies. I think in worse case senarios so when I was having chest pain, I was thinking worse case. I went to the doctor and she did an EKG and poked me and told me that I had costiochondritis, an inflammation of the cartilage that holds the ribs to the sternum. This made sense at time and she said that it would be gone in six weeks. And that it was not my heart.

Six weeks came and went, and I was stil having this pain. I kept thinking of putting myself on the schedule to be seen by the doctor, but things just never worked out, and since the pain was getting worse and more persistent, I kept thinking worse case, and was making myself worse with the anxiety over not knowing what was going on. So a couple of months pass with this pain.

Finally, last week the office manager made me put myself on the schedule, and for whatever reason, we kept running late so my appointment got bumped both days. At the end of the second day, as we were wrapping up, the office manager kind of threw my chart on the counter infront of the doctor. Now it had been very busy and a day that seemed to take a lot of effort to get through, so the doctor was kind of burnt out for the day, and really didn't want to work me up then and there. She said that she would see me the next day in LA, and kind of as an afterthought, gave me a prescription for a chest x-ray, to rule out a tumor or something that could be causing the pain.

I was a bit nervous, but I went to LA and went to the really cheap x-ray place since I don't have insurance. It was only like thirty bucks! Then I went to work and later on they called the x-ray place and got my results.

Well wouldn't you know that I had acute bronchitis, and have probably had it for months.

The doctor listened to my lungs, and they were all tight and when I took a deep breath, it kind of hurt at the end. So she put me on antibiotics. But the funny thing is I don't feel "sick", and I don't have a cough. And I am not dying. Which is always nice to know.

So in a month I have to come back to LA for a new chest x-ray to make sure the infection is gone and that my lungs are ok, because it is cheaper for me to fly, get the x-ray and come back than it is to get the x-ray in the bay area, go figure.

Crack Is Whack

2006-07-20T00:53:00.000-07:00

You all heard the one about the time my car window was broken. Well today, it happened again.

I have been driving Kong's car, Sally, all about town since he left. She is a bit of a gas hog though. So for my trip to LA, I decided to take my own car, who is slightly more economical. So last night, on my way to Kong's house, I dropped off Sally at Yerba Buena Island, and picked up my car. I drove to the house and parked outside since, in my infinite wisdom, I forgot to take the clicker out of Sally.

This morning, I was very rushed. I put my bag into the car and rushed back inside to get something I forgot. There were three guys standing around talking about how some window had been broken. When I got back to my car, I realized that it was my window...again.

Now, I really don't understand this. There wasn't anything of value in my car. The only thing that they took was a charger that was already broken. I wonder how much crack it will buy?

Po-po, I don't love you anymore...

2006-07-18T19:38:00.000-07:00

Dear Po-po,

After many years of giving you love, I would like to let you know that I don't love you anymore. It was your betrayal of giving me a speeding ticket today that totally killed our relationship. Sure I was going 48 in a 25 zone, but still, that doesn't give you the right to make me appear in court. I would have appreciated a warning instead. I swear that if you had given me one, I wouldn't have done it again.

Honest I am usually a good driver and all and usually I love you enough not to do anything too bad on the road. You are never there when there are horrible drivers on the road doing 100 or more zooming by. Why do you have to target me?

You said it was because "the neighborhood" was complaining about the noise, from all the people zooming by on Central. But honestly, you should really label the speed a bit better. It goes from being a 30 zone to being a 25 zone in like 4 blocks and the signs aren't clearly visible. I know that I should know that residential streets are 25 as stated in the California Driving Book. But still, that stretch of Central calls for doing at least 40.

But anyways, you still decided to give me the ticket. So, I don't love you anymore. Now I have to do traffic school. Thanks a lot Po-po!

sincerely,
G. Bee Jayne

Symmetry and Volcanoes

2006-07-17T23:36:00.000-07:00

Today I finally picked up after myself. I cleaned up all the dishes, ran the dishwasher and did the laundry I had piling up. The Main floor doesn't look like a total disaster only a partial one. However I did have fun moving furniture around. This is one of my guilty pleasures. I hate having a room be only one way for a period of time. I like to change things around, shake things up a bit. But today I got to have even more fun. I didn't make the room symmetric. It would drive Kong utterly mad if he saw it. I haven't quite decided if I will keep it or if I will put it back but for the moment I am happy with it. Like the color of my hair, my whim can change at any moment.

Also today, my mother called me up at 11:15pm worried because she heard that there was a volcano erupting in Ecuador. Fortunately, last I heard, Kong, Mike and Tahoe Keith were climbing up Cotopaxi which to my best calculations is approximately 60 miles away from the erupting volcano, as the nasgul flies. Currently per the news reports I have seen, they are worried that the lava flow and ash may threaten Banos which is approximately 5 miles from the volcano so I am not too worried about 60 miles.

I am off to bed, I have to get up early tomorrow to buy flowers and balloons for a co-worker. It was her birthday a little bit back and we have decided to celebrate tomorrow. WOO HOO!

Pirates

2006-07-16T22:37:00.000-07:00

I finally went to go see Pirates of the Caribbean today. Needless to say this movie was never meant for critical acclaim, it did have it moments, especially for a pirates ride fan like me.

The story was pretty far fetched but it was funny nonetheless. I really liked the way they incorporated parts of the ride within the movie.

Tortuga itself is straight out of the ride with the mayor being dumped in the well and tossing the ol commodore into the pig mud. I especially enjoyed the gag with the dog and the keys, though it was a cute dog and should not have been left for the cannibals!

They also went to an area that looks like the beginning of the ride in the swamp. They had the fireflies and everything. I just kept waiting for them to start thumping out old suzannah on the banjo all nice and slow like.

It was a fun couple of hours and it was free for me, I've had passes to an AMC theatre for about two years that I have never used, now I only have one. I think I will make a day of it next time...
(hop...hop...hop...)

Home

2006-07-14T23:32:00.000-07:00

My room sits empty. Clothes are piled in a corner, designated as either ill fitting or horrid, waiting for me to get my shit together to take them to either good will or the salvation army. Mail sits piled on the sofa, mostly just credit card offers or fastrak tickets from all the times my transmitter has failed to be picked up by the sensors at the toll plaza. The curtains billow occasionally, as the window is open to make sure the room doesn't get stuffy and stinky. The bed is made, but there are clothes that need to go to the drycleaner laid out on top. The closet is half open, revealing clothes and shoes that haven't been worn since at least December in most cases. I don't think the room has been slept in since January to tell the truth.

Why?

Because it is not my home.

My home is somewhere else.

My home was a dirty little apartment that smelled of dog and where fleas bit me all the time, my home then became a loft in the city, where it isn't safe for me to walk by myself after dark.

Why?

Because there was someone there who apologizes for coming home later than expected and gets worried when I don't answer my phone. And when I can't sleep and go watch TV, someone comes downstairs in the middle of the night to make sure I am ok. The list could go on and on.

I miss Kong. And I wish he were here. Its just not home without him.

Myspace

2006-07-13T18:23:00.000-07:00

Myspace is the weirdest place. It is a place of nostalgia when you find all the people you went to high school with 10 years ago who unfortunately don't remember you, and it is a place to keep in touch with some people you see once and a while, and it is a place to be a total voyeur and see how the other half live, so to speak.

You would think that myspace would be perfect for me. I don't call people that often and I get a kick out of photo albums and stuff. I have found quite a few people and some people have found me. Though it is weird to get messages occasionally and be all cordial and all when it is someone who you haven't seen since 1992 and who you had the biggest crush on and he didn't even know you were alive.

I often will loose track of people I was once close to and kind of stick to the group I'm with for the moment. I think it may come from moving schools so often. I really don't have any friends I grew up with, unless they were older people and friends of my mom's, but really no kids my own age. Its not that my mom didn't try to introduce me, but I was just shy and didn't make those sorts of friendships. But when I do make friends, I am one of those people for whom time hasn't passed really. If I was your friend then, then I am your friend now even if I haven't seen you in 2 years or 10. I pick up where I left off. Though don't expect me to call you that often. I like it better when people call me. I feel weird about calling others.

I have always been a painfully shy person who kind of has to force herself to be more outgoing. Sometimes I am able to hide the fact quite well and can be a social butterfly; Other times the shyness is obvious like when I sit in a corner looking like a deer in headlights and don't say more than 10 words. As I get more comfortable with people, I become more and more myself, but often I revert to the painfully shy persona or make up another personality to deal with the situation.

Hopefully if you know me this explains much, and if you do not, well then, you can just laugh at how silly I really am.

FIRE!

2006-07-12T23:38:00.000-07:00

Today, after work, I went over to the Crucible to check out the Desert Art Preview for Burning Man. The Crucible, if you don't know is a place where they teach welding and other metal arts. Its way cool. They had a place in Berkeley some years ago, but then they lost there lease or something and they were in a kind of limbo. I was very happy to see that they are back in business.

For the Desert Art Preview, they had a whole bunch of people there describing the different projects that will be set up for Burning Man, as well as the author of a 10 year photo retrospective of that event. It was a bit hard to hear what all the people were saying and since I got very lost on the way there, I missed a lot. But I did get to see the presentation on the DDR (Dance Dance Revolution) Fire Ring. That was kind of cool. (I know I am simplifying it but that is the best way I can describe it.) If I get to go to Burning Man and it is set up, I don't think I will ever leave.

Part of the reason for the Preview is that this weekend is the Crucible's main fundraiser of the year. From the adverts, the Fire Arts Festival will be awesome. I would love to go but the funds are running a bit low... and I still need to fund poker tomorrow, and I also need to save my pennies for Comic-Con. Maybe next year.

On Pins

2006-07-11T21:50:00.000-07:00

About 10 years ago, I really got the sewing bug. I made my own clothes and made costumes for other people. Our house in Glendale, where I lived at the time, had this luxurious dark Forest green carpet throughout all the rooms except for the entry way and the kitchen. Since I didn't have a large table to work on, I did all my cutting and pinning on the floor in my room. I would walk through my room barefoot constantly and there were pins all over the floor. My mother would peek her head in and see me dropping the pins on the floor willy nilly and get very concerned for my tootsies. She'd ask me to pick them up, and I would refuse, like a proper teenager and just keep walking barefoot all over them. And nothing ever happened... to me.

One day, as I was sewing, my mother came into my room and not two steps in she had a pin in her foot. She cursed me, though she really couldn't say much seeing as most curses involve herself as a mother, but anyways, she finally was able to get the pin out. I think I was laughing during this whole thing. Here I am practically dancing over all the pins barefoot, and my mother, so afraid of getting a pin in her foot actually does.

So the moral of this story...wear shoes when you come into my sewing area. I have excellently trained attack pins.

Another day, another blogger

2006-07-09T16:49:00.000-07:00

I know this is going to get old fast but until then...

So today I spent most of the day at home (Keith's House). I did go out to Pearl for art supplies and then spent most of the day either making patterns, sewing, watching TV or trying to pick up after myself. he last part didn't work out so well. The living/dining room is now a disaster area. But I did finish the muslin version of the coat. I messed up on the sleeves but can fix that pretty easily, however I need to see how it fits and make adjustments. I also realize that I need fusible interfacing to make parts of the coat stiffer. Grrr.

Sometime during the day my mom called. I guess Italy won the world cup. Yay?

My TV watching was pretty egregious. I got sucked into My Celebrity Home, another extreme makeover and watched the seconds from disaster about the Hindenberg. That was pretty interesting. They concluded that it was the hydrogen that went up and that it wasn't an act of sabotage by the acrobat. They also made the hypothesis that it was the electrostatic charge that made the hydrogen go up after a metal wire snapped and ruptured a hole in the hydrogen tank. I also watched most of the special on the real pirates of the Caribbean and thought that was pretty cool. They really were some nasty ass people. And to think the one that did the most damage and carnage was a teetotler and did Sunday services every week. Go figure.

I also got an email from Kong. It made me very happy to hear from him and at the same time sad cause he's not here. But he's off into the mountains.

And I guess it is off to bed for me too.

My new best friend

2006-07-09T00:37:00.000-07:00

So I have decided that blogger will be my substitute best friend for the next little bit. I usually have Kong to say "hey look at this isn't this funny/interesting/weird?" but he is MIA for a bit. He's off having a testosterone fest in south america for a month.

I am trying to keep myself busy which is kind of hard as I have a penchant for laziness. But if I sit around then I will be v. sad and may even go mad. So...

Last night I went and hung out with people at Free Booze Fridays. I hadn't been before and I am sorry to hear that they will be less frequent. I enjoyed it immensely and Jora and Lisa are most excellent hosts. They get 5 emily posts from me. I am not really the talkative one at social gatherings so I had fun listening to everyone talk about all sorts of stuff. And of course gossip.

I didn't get home until sometime around three or so in the morning. And I had trouble sleeping so sometime around four I realized that I had been up for 24 hours. I haven't really done that in a while. I think my sleep schedule is now permanently messed up. It is 12:30 now and I don't really want to go to sleep. This may scream doom for me on Monday but I will eventually get back to my old schedule. I hope.

I got up about 9 and got some food and dozed until about 11. I tried to do housework but then kind of slipped down the stairs and landed pretty hard on my butt/tailbone. It still kind of stings to tell the truth. But then I dyed my hair. And that was weird because my head felt all itchy and burney and I thought I was getting an allergy and then it went away. Wierd.

From there I went off to the chieftain, which was totally packed, for an eggs benedict but due to world cup festivities they were only serving lunch so I had to settle for something else. But I got to finish Y: The last man on earth #7 which just came out (well that I just learned about would be more precise). It was very good. I left just as someone scored a goal. I guess Germany won. Sorry Paulo.

I came back home and half heartedly continued my attempt at housework. Once that was out of my system, I went to boarders and read and then went to trader joes and got food.

So tomorrow I am going to start my diet/exercise program. Let us just say that I am not in the shape I want to be in. I think that I may start blogging my progress to help me get motivated or something. I'd like to drop 10 lbs in the next month. I think I will go to Gold's Gym tomorrow and check it out. I kind of liked Mavericks in emeryville, so if Gold's is scary then I will give them my money instead.

Then I watched extreme makeover and a documentary on Superman. Then I looked at myself in the mirror. I haven't really gotten used to myself with this new color yet. I guess I will. But in a few months I will want to change it again. Its just the way I am...

So that was my day. I feel super-exciting at the moment.

This is all the stuff I would have gone over with Kong. And I am so happy that he still likes me even when I am boring as all hell. I do miss his smart ass remarks though...

I am not Bitter...

2006-07-08T03:18:00.000-07:00

Today I found out that someone, I am not naming names is engaged to be married and is living with his new girlfriend, sorry, fiance in Fremont.

Well it took several months but it finally got back to me. It was something that slipped out in conversation with a bunch of people, that I guess I wasn't supposed to know. And on what a lovely day too. It made me really wish Kong was here.

I am sorry, but I have to rant here.

I am so happy to be out of Berkeley. It was way too small town for me. All I wanted to do was go to the city but it was like pulling teeth to do it before. And now I don't live in bum-fuck-fremont. I live in the city. I am in the cultural center of the west coast. I go to the De Young for cocktails, I can walk to the SFMOMA to see the latest collections and can walk to the IMAX. I go to XYZ and say eh, they aren't that great and find lovely holes in the walls in the Mission. I can take the muni 24 hours a day to get my drunken ass home from any club in the city. And I only live 10 miles away from where I work and can get there in about 15 minutes.

And I don't have to deal with all the stuck up people who think they are better than me because I am just a lowly medical assistant/personal assistant. And I don't have to hear about how they all wish they lived in blackhawk or talk about something totally banal and endure horrid fake social situations.

I may not be the sharpest tool in the drawer, and I may not be the most socially gracious but I like listening to real people with real opinions that make me think, not facsimiles that really don't and only think of what others think of them. I like people that will listen to me and not make me feel extremely stupid when I try to put my two cents in and will understand pop culture references when I express them. And who will even send them right back at me.

Really I am not bitter. There is just a lot of emotion held up inside of all the stuff I went through. I know it may not seem like a lot but it was emotionally draining for four years. Really I am over most of it. I swear. This is just the last little bit coming out.

Actually I wish them all the luck and happiness. Honestly I do.

And I really have to thank him for making me move here. In the end I am very happy I did.

Sometimes, I wonder about myself...

2006-06-05T19:32:00.000-07:00

Today, walking out of Kong's house on my way to work, I saw a father come down stairs in his jammies to give his son the flute he forgot. I looked at my keys, and saw the one that I had darkened in marker to distinguish it from the other key, that looks exactly like it. I turned back to see what they were saying and then looked in the other direction towards where I was going. I didn't see anyone there and I was relieved. I don't like it when I see other people walking around me, they may have evil intentions or something... you never know in that neighborhood.
I passed a window near where the horse head thingies are and looked at myself in the mirror. I didn't like what I saw. I had just thrown on a t-shirt, covered by a light jacket and I had my trainers on. I don't like wearing them, but they are comfortable. Oh, well, fortunately no one will see me today...

I went through the chronicle parking lot, since it cuts the curve of the corner and I think its shorter, and walked up 5th Street. I wasn't really watching who was going by me, but a smartly dressed Asian girl caught my attention. She had really cute silver shoes on, with gaucho pants and a wife beater with a military jacket on top. I liked the look. Though I didn't think I could pull it off. Oh, well...

I noticed that the one coffee shop that I have always wanted to go in to had its window busted, and there really wasn't that long of a line at Starbucks today. But I was running a bit late and didn't have time to stop.

I went down the stairs into the Bart Station and pulled out my wallet on the way down. I looked at the broken ceramic mosaics done by kids that line the wall on the left hand side. I thought to myself that I really shouldn't have my wallet in my hand at this point, that perhaps I should wait until I reach the machine.

I got to the Ticket machine and pulled out my credit card. A person came up to me and said " excuse me..." to which I responded..."WHAT?"

He started asking me for money, giving me a story on how he needed to get to Pittsburg and that he had just gotten out of a mental hospital and that he had been trying to get the money together for a Bart ticket since 4 that morning. I told him that I was late and that I only had plastic and he seemed rather annoyed at me. Oh, well...

Once I got down the escalator, I walked over to the benches and sat down, and heard someone screaming profanities to themselves. All the other passengers were kind of looking around, a bit perplexed and uncomfortable, not knowing at all what to do.

And then it hit me...

Did I lock the front door?

The panic welled up inside of me. I couldn't remember. I remember the key, but the actual turn of it was lost to me. I couldn't go back. The train would be there in less than 6 minutes and it was the last train I could take without being late for work. There was no way.

I was almost positive that I did, but the more I thought about it, the more I was unsure.

I tried to forget about it, but I couldn't. The whole ride to work it was in the back of my head.
I just couldn't remember.

I had to tell Kong. There wasn't any way around it. And after I saw his email, I called.

All I wanted was a reassuring that, of course I had locked the door, of course I turned the lock while I was looking at the father give the boy his flute. But no, the knowledge made him drive all the way home from Mountain View to check.

And of course, I locked it.

X-Men: The Last Stand

2006-05-31T19:23:00.000-07:00

I caution you, true believer, that parts of this post are mostly for comic geeks. And that this post contains spoilers if you haven't already seen the film.

So last Friday, Kong and I went out to see the new X-Men film. I thought is was good, but it definitely lacked that touch that you get from a Bryan Singer film. I don't know how to explain it except for how I already did.

The story is a retelling of the Phoenix saga which I could see they were setting up at the end of the last film. I did like the way they explained the Phoenix but the makeup thing they did with it kind of let me down. I wanted there to be the Phoenix fire stuff. That was so cool in the comics! I know, Pyro already has the market on fire stuff, but still, it would have been a hell of a lot cooler than some veins popping out.

Anyways, I did have a little bit of a problem with the whole Juggernaut thing. He is supposed to be Xaviers step brother. He hates Xavier but is not a mutant. There are many other mutants like maybe the Blob, who is an original Brotherhood member and has the power that they gave to Juggy, that they could have used instead. There are so many characters to draw on. And yet they chose him. The actor was great, but the idea of the character... Not so much.

And then the whole thing with killing Scott. That really pissed me off. You know what that means? Cable will never be born. There will never be a Madeline Pryor clone of Jean Grey made by Mister Sinister to give birth to Cyclops' son. The real Jean Grey will never be found at the bottom of the Hudson River, she and Cyclops will never get married and get carted away to the future to raise Nathan who is infected with the legacy virus who then becomes Cable and comes back from the future to present time.

And because Phoenix stayed on earth, Lillandra and the Shi'ar will never come to earth, and well since Xavier is dead the whole relationship plot point becomes moot. And Xavier doesn't get a new clone body that is about 30 years younger and then gets to walk again only to loose that ability again in a fight.

And the whole Rogue thing. If she had gotten Carol Danver's powers she totally wouldn't have gone through with the process. Honestly, if you were nigh invulnerable, could fly the speed of sound and had superhuman strength, you wouldn't give that up, would you? Besides all you need to do is find someone with a personal force field like Gambit, and then you can touch all you want and more!

I know it is an alternate reality to the comics but still people, have some respect for the cannon!

But the end was very very sad. Maggie shouldn't have to live that way. I think that the effects are only temporary. Maggie will be back. Maybe he'll get a clone and move to the Savage Land! But this time he won't have Rogue to keep him company.

But what they did get totally right and correct was good ol' Hank McCoy. The Beast was expertly made up. I really couldn't find a fault in him and that whole "Oh My stars and Garters" line...Priceless! I think Kelsey Grammer deserves an Oscar for the best portrayal of a comic book character ever!

But that is what I think. And like I said, I actually really liked the movie.
You should see me when I don't....

CIV

2006-05-20T11:49:00.000-07:00

Civilization IV, I just found out, is a game.

In this game, the Greeks, lead by Generalisimo Keith, from Sparta are civilizing the world.

It was a slow beginning to this civilization. First off his people became Buddhist, then Hindu and finally Jewish. He was doing so well that I heard that other people became Jewish too. There was some sort of encroachment by the Russians, but I didn't hear what came out of that.

Then I heard that Julius Cesar became Jewish and that the Greek Generalismo Keith was declaring war on the Romans.

I also heard that there was "I love my despot" day in both Sparta and Athens.

The war is still continuing. It takes a while....

But I think I have lost my boyfriend again. If I thought Kingdom Hearts was bad, this is even worse and it just started. I think I may see him again sometime in August...hopefully.

Trivial

2006-05-20T11:31:00.000-07:00

Trivial Pursuit is not just a game, it is really a way of life. Needless to say, I love the game. I am not always the best at it but I get lucky from time to time.

This means that bar trivia is something I always love to play. And the Chieftain has a trivia night every Tuesday. I have tried to get Kong to go with me, but he either gets home too late or doesn't remind me that its trivia night or feels bad for leaving Ishy/Booger/Stinky/Stink-erella/Stink-erbell at home by himself so we have only been once and only for a round. But we did really well so I had hope that bringing in a team of TECHers we'd win by a landslide.

So last Tuesday, Andrew, Lexi, Keith and I became the "We are Blogging This Right Now" team. During the first round, I didn't know half of anything and I felt like the weakest link. But as the night wore on, my useless pop culture knowledge finally came in handy. There was another team that was trailing us closely during the game, and as one of the rounds was architecture trivia, and they were architects, they caught up to us. (I thought it was kind of funny that it became the Architects vs. the Engineers). The last round was the picture round and I knew most of the people. I read People Magazine way too much. It is a guilty pleasure...

So, we won a $30 gift certificate.

And since I had a Birthday party at work, we had cheesecake for desert.

T-minus 34 hours and counting

2006-05-13T13:35:00.000-07:00

Tomorrow is my birthday. I am not as excited as I should be.

Usually I plan something. Like dinner or a party. The last two years, the tradition has been to have fondue on my birthday. Fondue Fred's is a small hole-in-the-wall restaurant in Berkeley. For about 20 bucks you get all-you-can-eat fondue and all-you-can-drink boxed wine. But this year I really haven't felt like doing anything, really.

I know I should call up friends or send out an evite for Fondue, but the "ganas" have not been there. If you don't know what "ganas"are, go rent Stand and Deliver. Or learn Spanish. Your choice. But anyways, I don't know what it has been about this year that has made me not really want to celebrate. It may be that the big three-oh is now only two years away. That is very scary in and of itself. Soon, I will no longer be a young twenty-something, I will be thirty-something. That connotes that I have to be a grown up. And I don't wanna be.

I know age is in the mind of the person, but as I look in the mirror, I can see the wrinkles and the gray hair. No its not my imagination, they really are there. I am having a mid-life crisis and I am not even 28 yet. That's tomorrow at 11:27 pm.

How can I be this old? I watch cartoons daily. I love comic books and toys. I want to go out and have fun. I want to play at Chuck E. Cheese and run around D'neyland like a maniac. I want to swing on the swing set and slide down the slides, and run through the sprinklers at the park fully clothed. I want to party in Ibiza and dance until dawn in Vegas.

These aren't grown up things to do, are they?

That settles it. I don't want to grow up.

I wanna be a Toys R Us kid!

Crepitus

2006-05-10T17:06:00.000-07:00

Did you know that crepitus is the proper word for the noise of a fart? Or as my mother would say "farth". It also means the crunchy sound you hear in a shoulder or knee from cartilage rubbing together too. That's the definition I need.
But the fart thing; that's so cool.

An ordinary day

2006-05-06T19:47:00.000-07:00

Today has been a day of the ordinary.

I walked the dog.

I bought a book for Kong, which he has been trying to get for at least a week now...

I watched a performance art piece at Lotta's Fountain.

Watched TV for a while and learned about japanese automatons, the spectacular things the romans did with concrete ( I love me some concrete), and watched about 30 seconds of Issac Mizrahi interviewing Kiera Knightly.

Went to the Chieftain to pick up lunch and got recognized by the owner and now get a discount since I am a local...Yay!

I washed laundry. And burned myself on the metal from the fresh-from-the-dryer jeans.

I read half of the first book of the Dresden files. It's a good think Kong has the rest of the series...

Not too exciting.

Though I have been talking to the dog a lot today. Fortunately he hasn't answered back yet...

Napa

2006-05-01T14:38:00.000-07:00

About two months ago, I was forwarded an email with the subject line of "I hate you all". This was the beginning of the best napa trip ever!

It all began with a limo ride to Napa with twelve scurves. (Forgive me if I spell things wrong; I have been a Darb groupie for a while and have only recently stepped over to the dark side).
There was champagne and red wine at 10 am. We were originally supposed to go to a champagnerie somewhere near Sonoma, but the driver took us to Domaine Chandon by accident, which no one minded at all.They had one very nice champagne, something called etoile (I think) but not the pink etoile, the other one.

Well, after that we were headed toward Milat but hit a traffic snarl, so headed over to Rutherford Hill instead. I used to like there wines but was very disappointed this visit.

We made it over to Oakville Grocery for yummy samiches, and then hit up Napa Wine Co. They wouldn't let us eat inside so we all stood around and ate outside. Once inside, however, we basically took the place over and had a very nice conversation with the wine lady. I finally got to try the Mason chardonnay or savigon blanc, I don't remember which, but it was pretty good. I really liked the Habitat this year round, its much better than the last time round. The wine lady suggested that we go to this place in Yountville since it stayed open pretty late. I don't remember the name, but their wine was only so-so anyways.

The finale was dinner at the Culinary Institute of America Greystone. It is a large stone mansion north of St. Helena. This is the second time I have been there. Last time, I went with Andrew, Lexi and Bryan. Andrew thought that we'd get a reasonably priced lunch there. It ended up being about $40 bucks per person. Not very reasonable for us the starving student/medical assistant.

But this time, we all knew what we were in for, and I had a wonderful steak. The appetizer for the whole table were really good, especially the squash soup and the tuna tartare on a wonton with wasabi tobiko.

A grand time was had by all. Moshing ensued on the ride home, while I fell asleep.

Don't Panic

2006-04-26T08:53:00.000-07:00

There have been some "incidents" around Kongs house recently. It first started with me getting yelled at for about two blocks by some very drunk and dirty person. He was running toward me and when I turned around he stoped and accused me of being paranoid. Then, he started saying things like, "you think your better because you have a job". I pretended to ignore him until I made it to the front door of the building and let myself in. Then I started shaking a bit.

Then, my car got broken into.

Then, in the middle of the night, there was a loud bang. We discovered in the morning that the window downstairs had been hit with a heavy object. Fortunately, the building has double paned metal reinforced windows, so nothing happened exept that it got cracked. Kong's landlord replaced it and everything was fine.

Last night, there were 3 (I think) loud bangs which woke me up. I listened for a while and didn't hear anything else. I thought that they might have been gun shots, but could have been something else. Well this morning, as I left Kong's house, I saw crime scene tape about a half a block away. And while on the bus to work heard that there had actually been an incident there where someone had been shot and died.

So this is mainly to my mother,

1) DON"T PANIC. I AM FINE. So is Kong and so is the dog.

2) I don't go walking around Kong's house by myself, after dark.

3) If I do happen to get back to the city on Bart after dark, I wait at the Mall or at The Cheieftain until Kong comes to walk me home.

4) If I do have to walk in the early morning, I take the dog with me to scare off any potential evil do-ers. He likes to bark like an attack dog at homeless people.

My mother has instilled a very high level of paranoia and panic in me. I know it sounds a bit silly sometime for me to be taking such precautions, but I'd rather be safe than sorry.

Death and Taxes

2006-04-17T12:30:00.000-07:00

Today is tax day. And I have had my tax return all ready and waiting to print for about a week now. But in my infinite wisdom, I decided that it would be a good idea to mail it out on Monday. The reasoning being that although I feel that paying my taxes is a necessary evil, I don't feel like being too nice to the IRS. They make those forms pretty darn confusing, and because they confuse, don't want to make it easy on them to process my return and thus I send it in with the mad rush of the rest of the world, so that my return helps swamp them. I know it is mean and evil, but that is just the way I am.

There is another reason, but I don't feel like making that public.
I LOVE YOU IRS PEOPLE! (just in case they are reading this...)

Anyway, this morning I made sure I had all the forms, that I had my credit card to pay for the Turbo Tax, and guess what I did...I forgot my check book.

So now I have to scramble home, write out two checks (Captain America for the Feds because I want them to see my patriotism, and maybe Hulk for California?)and find a post office open late. I have already started looking and unfortunately, there isn't one in all of the city of San Francisco that is past 6 pm. So its looking like I am going to have to drive back across the bridge into West Oakland in order to drop off my taxes.

Silly me.

Kingdom Hearts

2006-04-08T18:57:00.000-07:00

I was a deprived child, my mother wouldn’t allow me to have video games, so I unlike so many of my peers didn’t grow up playing video games. I did have a brief stint on a week long cruise with a Nintendo Gameboy but never got through the second level of the original Super Mario. And I would occasionally play Street Fighter vs. X-Men in the student union during lunch in high school. But that is pretty much it.

So now here I sit, on a gorgeous Saturday afternoon, after going to the Alternative Press Expo and having a nice lunch with Andrew and Lexi, next to Kong watching him play this video game, Kingdom Hearts, which he has been playing for over 22 hours in the last week. And I am bored out of my mind!

The only respite I get is when there is plot. Then I am kind of interested but other than that, not so much. And the music is very repetitive, its on something like a 30 second loop. So about 5 minutes in I just want to go to sleep. So for the last couple of nights I have fallen asleep where I sit, on the couch. Only to be awakened about an hour or so later to be dragged up two flights of stairs to bed.

From what I understand, 22 hours is nothing. For games, I hear estimates of 40 to 50 hours. I don’t know if I want to see that.

The Suit

2006-04-04T23:49:00.000-07:00

So there was this wedding that we were invited to and Kong needed a suit, as the dress code was semi formal. There is a great little side story on how Kong walked into his co-workers office and had a discussion on the meaning of semi formal, but we don’t want to embarrass the poor fellow. But needless to say it was not a very manly conversation from, what I recollect.

Any who, Kong and I walked into Banana Republic on Friday morning with the mission of getting a suit. I had backup plan B of going to J Crew should none of the suits actually fit him. There was some concern because we had been there before and he tried on a velvet blazer and it was way too big for him.

Well the Banana Republic store is huge. And I had to walk by all the pretty pretties that I couldn’t buy, and headed downstairs to the men’s dept. I was looking for someone to help us and this lady came up asking to help. I asked her for the suits and she directed us to the section. There was quite a selection and Kong had no idea what he was looking for. We had him try on jackets. It was kind of like the three bears, one was too small the other too large and the just right size he needed, they didn’t have. The lady became rather frustrated with us and left.

I saw that the fit was “MODERN” and that they had a “TAILORED” fit. It somehow occurred to me that there might be a difference, so I had Kong try the jackets on and lo and behold, it actually fit. The lady swooped back in once she smelled the potential sale and that kind of got her on my bad side. Well actually she had been on my bad side since I saw she was wearing skin colored nylons with open toe slides, no less! And then she was almost no help and then abandoned us. She got us a changing room.

While she was otherwise engaged we went through looking for the shirt and tie that would go with the navy pin stripe he had chosen. We got a nice light blue shirt and darker blue tie. Once I saw it next to the suit fabric, it looked great.

He put the suit on and I saw that the shirt was too big. He argued against getting a smaller one, but he finally agreed with me when he put the smaller one on. Also the pants hung a little bit wrong, so he got the next size up and it looked much better.

However, I had tried to get the lady to help get the right pants size and after like 10 minutes said that they didn’t carry it. She was being absolutely useless so I bypassed her and went straight out to the floor looking for the right size. I saw that they didn’t have it but one of the other sales people saw my frustration and asked what was wrong. I told him that I really didn’t like my sales person. I asked him about the size and he said that he would check in the back. About the time I got back to the dressing room, he had 4 pants of that size in his hand, and the lady was brazen enough to take credit for making him check the back, when it was ME!

Anyways, we got the suit all taken care of but the shoes that I had liked originally they didn’t have in his size. So he paid for the suit and the suit was taken to the concierge to get pressed. Kong gets cranky after shopping for a certain amount of time, so I kind of had to forcefully make him sit and try on a couple of others. I was able to get the guy who helped me with pants to help me with the shoes. He came back in a timely manner and brought the choices that I had asked him for and if he didn’t have that size he brought the size down to see if that would fit. It was excellent service. There was one pair that fit and looked really good, so we got them.

So that was the suit buying experience. It was great to spend someone else’s money. And the comments from his co-workers when they actually saw him in the suit were priceless.

Poker

2006-03-24T14:10:00.000-08:00

I didn't do as well as I hoped last night at poker but its ok. I learned quite a bit thanks to the resident poker teacher person, Andrew. He's been looking for a new job so I think he should be the poker teacher like Brad Pitt in Ocean's 11. "Fellas! Fellas! Check this... all... reds!"

Anyways, the game was very interesting. Agi was on fire. She had almost no chips and psyched out one of the other players so that he just folded every time she went all in, which just barely kept her in the game. She got second place.

And it was nice to see people I don't see that often.

The Wonders of Today

2006-03-23T19:15:00.000-08:00

What better time to blog than when you are bored off your ass waiting for something to start. In my case, I am waiting for Thursday night poker to start and since I got off work early have tons of time on my hands.

I have been in a very weird mood today. It started out ok. Well, I must admit that I didn't sleep well being that my back hurts like a mother. I can barely move. It really sucks.

The back thing is not new, its been around for a while. It is the wonder of being in a car accident and being hypermobile, all at the same time! The car accident was in 2000. An PAC BELL, then SBC and now AT&T truck hit me from behind. The car was fine, but I couldn't walk for a month. Now every once and a while when I am too "active" my back goes out and again I have a hard time walking. Well actually to be honest, moving. Every motion seems to send bolts of pain through my back down my legs or up my spine. I am super happy about my current situation. Can't you tell? And to top it all off, my nose is still running after two weeks of a cold/allergy thingy, and the post nasal drip is driving me mad!

I don't know whether sarcasm transmits well, but please take it as such. And Ma, I don't need a lecture about taking B vitamins or immunoplex or anything else. Thank you.

But anyways, one of these days I think I want to rip out my spine, Mortal Combat style and just get a new one. The old one is defective. I need an upgrade.

So that is how I feel starting off, then I get a call from my boss saying that I am over a half hour late to pick her up from the airport. In over two years of doing this, I have never been more than 5 minutes late. I just wrote the wrong time down on my hand. I put 8:3o and it was really 8:00. So I rushed from Peet's Coffee in El Cerrito up to Pt. Richmond in all of about 7 minutes flat, then weaved through rush hour traffic to make it to the airport by 9:10 for a 9:30 flight. And of course I was in big trouble for mis-duplicating the time.

I notice I have a tendency to misunderstand or forget about things when I am in searing pain or have some emotional turmoil. I have not had much emotional turmoil recently, well that is not true, I have been listening to the news a lot more lately. All the bad news kind of bothers me, but at the same time, I don't want to be left out of the loop of what is going on. So I end up feeling icky about it all.

I didn't have too much work today, so I got what I needed done and decided to numb my min d with TV! I had a great conversation with Gin on the way home, and got something that had my knickers in a twist off my mind. But I got bored with the TV. I know, its shocking that I actually couldn't stand to watch another minute of TV. So I cleaned up my stuff, went to my house on Yerba Buena Island, and then took a driving tour of San Francisco. I got totally lost and it made me so happy. But now I know the city just a little bit better and it doesn't freak me out as much as it used to.

Once when I started coming up here, I had to drive into the city to drop off my mom at her friends house. I didn't know the city at all and I got totally lost and started screaming at my mother even though she was only trying to help get me un lost. I very sorry Ma. But today I felt at peace with the city. The thought of driving through it no longer makes me panic.

So that brings us up to where I am now. Well not quite, I came back home and watched Seconds From Disaster about the Oklahoma City Bombing and Chernobyl and tried to stretch out my back but I think I only succeeded in making it worse. Yay!

Bachelorette Party

2006-03-13T12:20:00.000-08:00

Hol, a friend of a friend is getting married on April 1st. No, it is not a joke. But since I can't make the wedding, I thought the least I could do was make the bachelorette party.

The whole thing started off with Drinks at the Beauty Bar. The idea of this place is great, except they can't make a drink to save their lives, at least the last couple of times I have been. But I was going to give them the benefit of the doubt this time; it has been three years since I last went. But no, they still can't make drinks. Usually I order a cosmo, because honestly, you really can't mess that up. But they did. It was barely drinkable. But it was alcohol, so down the hatch it went. Fortunately the ten bucks I spent paid for a beauty service as well. I had the choice of either a henna tattoo or a manicure.

I really wanted a cure, but the lady who was doing them took like two hours on one person. Either the manicurists was really slow or that person really needed a manicure. So henna tattoo it was. Since I was wearing a halter, I chose to get one on my back. Most of the other girls were opting for pretty pretty flowers on their hands, but that is totally not me. I wanted something not so girlie. I did get a flower, but it looks good so I am not complaining.

Anywho, the next leg of the party was at White Lotus in Hollywood. I think living in the bay area, I have become a bit of a food snob. Because their food SUCKED! Their prices were $$ but there food was about par with Denny's. Honestly. Their creme brulee tasted like refrigerator. Their miso was nothing special, and their bao was about what I would expect for 50 cents in Chinatown but I paid 6 bucks for two.

Dinner was fun. We got to play fun bachelorette games and I got to find out fun facts about the Bride to Be, like her bra size (36 DD) , that she has two moms and 11 siblings (she's from Utah), and that she was an exchange student in Peru.

After dinner, the organizers of this shindig decided to head over to the White Lotus club in the next room. The first thing that hit me was that the DJ sucked. There were minor train wrecks every time he went from song to song. It was painful. And the music he chose was all the most popular hip hop they play on KIIS FM and some really old school rap. It was bad. But the place was packed.

It really was a weird crowd. There were definitely no A listers there. It was on the order of Y and Z listers. The girls were overly made up and in the skimpiest outfits they could muster. Gin couldn't find any cute guys in the crowd and I got hit on by some slimy fresh of the boat Armenian guys and I wasn't even in Glendale! Definitely not my scene. I am much more of a lounge or nice club or dive bar girl myself. I think Gin best described it as an Asian-Themed, slightly better dressed Palace. (for all of those who don't know The Palace in Hollywood, you are fortunate. You get weird men stuck to your legs there...)

The whole party sat off in a corner of the bar and continued playing fun bachelorette games. We had dice that you had to roll and either do the dare or take a shot. Gin became the group pimp finding all the tall guys, short guys, and nerdy guys needed for the dares. The bride was supposed to go around selling blow pops but she couldn't do it, which is kind of funny seeing as she is a sales person for a software company. So as people came by, I ended up selling them, a buck a blow. Some people also got up and danced from time to time.

At around 12, Gin and I were about fed up with the music. I had stuffed napkins into my ears because it was just painfully loud. We were going to leave but our stuff was in another girls car. We wanted to move to another club called Holly's as this is the Bride's name and thought it would be awesome to go there. We went to the car, went by the club which was so much better than White Lotus, and went back. Along the way we were convinced to stay at the club where we were, and besides it was only about an hour until last call at that point.

When we got back the boy toy that had been hired to be the perfect gentleman for our "bride to be" started getting really drunk. He started dancing and giving the bride lap dances and showing off his pecs. It got to the point where the people in the next table were throwing dollars at him and the bride. Gin and I could only sit back and laugh. Now the boy toy was totally built. I think he works normally as a personal trainer or something. He really wasn't my type but you couldn't deny the fact that he had a good body. But then he started dancing like a chippendales dancer and that killed everything. However Jo became more and more fascinated with him as the night wore on. She likes them tall and muscular and not quite so bright; so he is perfect for her.

The Bride was having a blast through it all. Which really is the most important part.

We ended up leaving when the club closed. We were supposed to stay the night at a hotel with the rest of the party but Gin and I had had enough. It was sleepy time.

But I was proud of myself. I made it the whole night in my 3.5 inch stiletto heels!

The good and the bad and the wierd...

2006-03-06T17:17:00.000-08:00

The good was that I had the best ski trip ever. And that I can actually go on the front edge of my snow board. Its more like, back edge, front edge, back edge, front edge, fall, back edge, front edge, back edge, front edge, fall, but it is a huge step forward in my snowboarding abilities. Hopefully the next time I will be able to increase my skill, being able to do the some gnarly moves on the half pipe, ride the rails and give some Olympic medalist a run for their money (my imagination running wild... Again. Anyways, back to reality.)

Going snowboarding almost didn't happen, but by some miracle, I was actually able to get up at 5 am, yes, you are reading this correctly, FIVE AM, on Sunday no less to head out to Yosemite. I have always just gone to Tahoe, and didn't even know they had skiing there but Yosemite is actually really nice. It has some really nice runs, it's almost totally deserted, and you can't really beat the scenery. And I had fun driving with Kong and Mike. They are very funny fellows. And Mike is pretty ok, for a gringo.

Anyways, for the bad and the wierd...

Last night, I had this dream. I dreamed that Kong had just moved into a new loft. The loft itself is awesome; its like this huge warehouse that has all these cool rooms and floating mezzanines, hidden back stairwells and other cool stuff. Anyways this loft has a huge patio that is surrounded on two sides by glass. In my dream some person broke this glass patio and stolen stuff like books and couches and left the more valuable items like TV's and computers. I guess this was just foreshadowing for what was to come.

When I got out to my car this morning, I found out that someone had broken my car window. The car was ransacked but the only thing they stole was the transmitter for the ipod, and that was it. They were stupid enough not to pull down the back seats and steal the stuff I had in the trunk. It was a truly pointless robbery. Just like in my dream...

Hey, does this mean that that my psychic abilities are getting stronger!?!? Maybe soon I will be able to read minds and levitate objects. And then I can get a secret identity and join the X-MEN! (I can dream, can't I?)

Perfect Little Dinner Party

2006-03-02T11:28:00.000-08:00

I think since he got a dining room set, Kong had been wanting to have Andrew and Lexi over for dinner. Well finally we made that happen and they came over last night.

Now I really have not been the host of too many dinner parties in my time. But there is a Martha Stewart inside of me that heard the word "dinner" and all of a sudden a PLDP started being planned. I think for the last week, since the day was set, I have been on line looking for recipes and trying to decide what to make. Kong was gracious enough to give me the cooking duties. Besides there being a Martha Stewart inside of me, there is also this wanna be gourmet restaurant chef. However my own skills may not be up the the gourmet chef's ideas.

I really had been trying not to make a big deal out of the whole thing, but also inside of me is this person that wants to show off. That person wanted to make the best meal possible and wow the crowd with some delicious food. This person may also be the gourmet chef too or the Martha Stewart, but I am not sure of that yet.

Anyways, shopping began Monday night with a trip to Whole Paycheck (Foods). I had about 5 different cook books in hand, and was trying to read and shop and decide what to make at the same time. Somewhere along the line I decided on braised lamb. However I couldn't find the recipe and realized that it was in the Joy of Cooking, which I don't have access to anymore. Also in my piles of books was Under the Tuscan Sun. Yes, the novel. For any of those who haven't read the novel, Frances Mayes includes some recipes in the book. And this seemed the perfect time to try some of them out. I guess I was feeling a bit more I-tie than Frog.

Well, since we arrived at Whole Paycheck about 15 minutes until closing, it was a mad dash to get everything I needed. And mind you the whole paragraph above was taking place as I was shopping too. Needless to say I didn't get everything I needed. But fortunately for me, I had most of the next day off so I thought I could take care of the rest of the shopping, come back home and cook without a problem. Maybe even take a nap or watch TV or something.

Oh how I love Murphy's Law....

So, I finished up work the next day, and was on my way to the freeway when I heard a thump, thump, thump, from the back of my car. I pulled into chevron and found that I had a flat tire. My first action was to call AAA. About a half hour into waiting for them, a fellow, who became super nice to me after he noticed that my shirt was rather see through, inspected the tire and saw I just had a nail in it. So he filled it back up for me and I drove the couple of miles to the nearest Big O tires. Now one thing I didn't mention was that through this whole day, I had offered to puppy wrangle, so here I am with Booger in tow, somewhere in San Pablo, waiting the hour to hour and a half for them to fix my tire. So now I am an two hours behind schedule and I still need to shop and stop off at Borders to buy the Joy of Cooking.

I finally left, did what I needed to do and arrived home around 5 pm. People were scheduled to be gathering around 7. I had the general idea of what I was going to serve but the final menu and studying the recipes had yet to be done. The anal retentive control freak inside of me was really freaking out at this point. The final menu I decided on was an Antipasti of Cheese, crackers and raw veggies. Then Primi of Fennel Soup and Risotto with Mushrooms, followed by a Secondo of Braised Lamb, and a dolci of wine stewed pears with Gorgonzola.

I started cooking and realized that I forgot to buy yellow onions. So I started doing in the kitchen what I could, and then grabbed Booger and started to head out to Whole Paycheck. It came to me that it would take me a half hour or more to put the dog in the car, go there, buy the stuff and come back. And this was a half hour I didn't have. The braised lamb was supposed to cook for two hours and it was about 6 already. So, I walked to City Produce on 6th Street, and bravely took the dog in. The owner was very nice and didn't mind the fact that the dog was with me. And I got my three onions for fi'ty-five cent'. And more importantly only took me 10 minutes.

I finally got the braising liquid all done and got the meat simmering and started on the risotto. I was about half way through when I realized that the stock had to be boiling in order to add it to the rice. And unfortunately for me, the stock was still in the carton at room temp. I quickly dumped the stock in a pot and put it on the fire. I did try to yell at the stock while it was cooking to boil faster but it didn't seem to help. I think at about this point I gave up on the idea of stewing the pears in wine and just serving them raw, and I also realized that the gourmet chef may have been a bit too ambitious. Well, the guests came and I was still in the kitchen and about an hour behind schedule. I decided to cut the braising time down to only an hour and a half and hoped that it would still be tender. I finally served the meal about 7:45 and I was really glad for the antipasti.

I can only speculate what people thought of my meal. The gourmet chef inside of me really wanted to ask, but the Emily Post inside of me didn't let me. But everything seemed to be eaten, I didn't see anyone passing food to the dog and no one ran to the bathroom to throw up after tasting something. So that's good.

My own take on the meal is highly critical. The NY times food writer in me thinks that the soup needed to be blended like it said in the recipe (I didn't because there is no blender at Kong's), the flavours would have come together better and the appearance would have been more appetising. The risotto tasted pretty good, the mushies needed to be cooked more and I didn't add enough liquid so it dried out after sitting, so it was a bit more sticky than soupy. The Braised lamb came out pretty tasty, though I should have seared the meat more before braising it. The pears were really good raw and of course gorgonzola is always good and stinky!

So, the gourmet chef in me wants another chance at cooking some masterpiece dinner and to exquisitely plate that meal. The Martha Stewart in me wants to make the next dinner more pretty, and the anal retentive control freak just wants to take over and make sure the next time there is a dinner party it runs like a military exercise. The lazy bastard in me just wants to order out next time.

Good Manners

2006-02-24T17:26:00.000-08:00

Manners. They make social interaction work ever so much more smoothly. They are the grease in the cog works of society. I try to actually use manners but there are certain niceties I think of as just plain stupid. But on my part it is a conscious decision not to use the manners I have been taught. And I will use my manners when I am out with people I don't know so well, and I will relax them around people who I know can deal with that. That's just plain good manners.

Part of the deal with manners is just simple consideration of others. You wouldn't just sneeze in the face of some guy on the BART. Or keep a book that you borrowed from a friend. That would be plain rude.

What leads me to this rant is a recent time when manners just weren't used. And it really made a whole bunch of things rather inconvenient to me. And really pissed me off to be frank.

When one says one is going to do something, it is good manners to do that. And if one forgets, it is always good manners to inform the other party that it has been forgotten and then try to make an effort to do it. But if one yet forgets again, it would be good manners to once again inform the party that one, again, forgot, and so on and so forth until the thing is done or the person finally decides to give up on the matter and let you keep whatever it was. Or they take matters into their own hands and expedite the matter by picking up whatever it was or just doing it themselves.

And when in a case where one waits patiently for someone to give them something that was promised four months ago, it is good manners to give that thing in GOOD WORKING CONDITION, and not fucked up beyond repair when that person comes to pick it up after your not sending it to them after you promised to do that god knows how many times. And if one does this, do not expect the party who then had to go out of their way to pick you up from work to take you to your house to get some stupid messed up hard drive and then drop you back off at work and feel bad about asking someone to try to get the stupid hard drive thing to work, to like you very much anymore.

My own stupidity

2006-02-16T08:26:00.000-08:00

Sometimes my mind is like a sieve. Things go in and then drain out. I notice this happens more often when I am either tired or emotionally drained.

I almost got fired from my job a while back because I was forgetting everything. But at home, I wasn't sleeping because someone was coming home at anywhere between 2 am and 5 am and there were other frequent temper tantrums to deal with. But once all that crap was out of my life, all of a sudden I was so much better at my job. Go figure.

Well yesterday, I forgot to do something rather important. The courier from the lab came by to get a specimen and I forgot to put it in the lock box. It would have been really bad because blood goes bad pretty quick and the results could have been skewed if it had been picked up today. Then I would have had to redraw which is bad for us and the patient, because I have to poke them again.

Fortunately for me, my boss was here to catch my mistake. Which is rather unfortunate as well.

I really have no one to blame but myself. I have not been sleeping as much as I should (I have been having too much fun hanging out to go to bed). And valentines day didn't help any either (it was super great, but at the moment it is overshadowed by how upset I am at myself for being such an idiot) as I was up pretty late. And I know I don't do well on not enough sleep. I know this!

Well we shall soon see how much trouble I am really in. And how profusely I need to apologize to my boss.

My Booger

2006-02-13T17:39:00.000-08:00

On Sunday, Booger was a very bad dog. This is what I have taken to calling Kong's dog. He has been trying to crate train him, so that we don't have to take him along everywhere. There really are only so many sidewalk cafe's open on weekends within walking distance of Natoma. We went to WonderCon and tried to leave Booger in his crate. When we got home, the soft sided crate thing was torn to shreds, and Booger had begun to claw at the door after he'd gotten out. At the old place, Booger had his own room and could tear it up as he pleased. But in the new place, there really isn't a place to lock him up. And tearing up the place is not an option.

Now I realize that it is very hard to train a dog. I tried once with Amber, who was a puppy we got from the pound. She was finally relegated to the back yard and not allowed inside because no one else except me had the patience to train her and I wasn't getting any help. She eventually escaped from the yard and we never found her again.

Booger has gotten much better recently. I have been trying to be a bit more firm with him and trying out different things the all-mighty internet has offered. But until he is crate trained going out will be tough. I don't mind that too much. I have a tendency to be a bit of a home body anyways but it is frustrating occasionally. But I don't think its half as frustrating for me as it is for Kong.

But it really is totally worth it in the end. When you have had a crappy day, and you come home to a puppy that is so excited to see you and he puts his head on your leg and looks up at you with those big eyes, everything seems a thousand times better.

We had an interesting relationship at first. He wasn't used to having someone else there and didn't know what to make of me. Now he will sometimes prefer me over Kong to snuggle with, which was really nice when I was sick. And he's gotten used to me handling him and will actually listen to me, well... sometimes.

Kong's Blog

2006-02-10T16:01:00.000-08:00

Today, I got a call from my mother in Mexico. This is her weekly call, but today the first words out of her mouth were: "Did you see what [Kong] wrote on his blog?". Quick as a bunny, I ran to the 'puter to see for myself, and I sat there reading his post with my mom still on the line. Needless to say the next hour was a grilling about how our relationship is going...

I would just like to say, I am truly touched by what he wrote about me. And that I feel the same way about him. He is silly. And brilliant. And funny. And... the list goes on an on.

Like I said before, he is really and truly, everything I never knew, I always wanted. And the more time I spend with him...well... um...I hate to say but words just don't do what I feel any justice.

His post was just the thing to lift me out of a weird week, which was originally what my post was going to be about. But I can't write about that anymore. I tried, but well... I can't...

My inquiring mind wants to know...

2006-02-02T14:54:00.000-08:00

Much has been revealed to me over the last several weeks. None of it is very upsetting, but it is funny to see what happens behind the scenes, so to speak. What you think is going on isn't always what is. And others don't always feel that is their place to share. While others get mad at the parties involved for being so silly, and still others think that sharing will bring on untold evils. Things work out the way they do for some reason or another. And right now I am really happy they worked out the way they did.

But I have thought of what might have happened had someone tried to do something earlier or if I had been told about things earlier. Things might have worked out for the best, but they might not have, also. Timing may have been everything. Or things might have just worked out that way, anyway.

But there is one thing that I am glad didn't happen but at the same time would have been interesting to witness. I mean, I know I wasn't the only thinking that this would happen (I know of someone who wanted to make sure he was there for the main event). I mean I know it is rather well self important of me and all, thinking that I could be the cause of such thing, but at the same time it kind of hurts that I wasn't (and I still wonder who would have won?).

This weekend, the one that just passed...

2006-01-31T09:43:00.000-08:00

Besides feeling like I was going to die, my weekend was great.

Let me explain...

On Thursday I got to hang at my new adopted home waiting for the DSL guy to come, it was not very exciting per se, but I enjoyed doing nothing with the company I was keeping. Then I got to hang out with Agi in the Haight. I really hadn't seen her since the Pre-New Years Party, and it was fun going shopping with her. I also had never been to the Haight before as certain people thought I wouldn't like it because in their words "there are nothing but head shops there". Well there was a lot more there than that. I had a blast at most of the shops I went into. And I got to try some really good beers. You have to know it was good because I hate beer and I drank it anyways.

On Friday, I again didn't have to work so I went off and futzed around. Friday has usually been date night, but due to puppy issues, we didn't go out like we normally do. At least I don't think so. Many of my nights are starting to merge together, I can't remember....

Saturday, was shopping day. And we used up all our shopping karma for the day, we found some of the most perfect items. Also, Saturday was Ginuary. I was a bit nervous going as I didn't really know too many people there. But I didn't really have to worry. Sam and I made up the entry gauntlet (how would you react to a black man and a Hispanic woman greeting you at the door?) and we had fun talking about god knows what for god knows how long. I even had a great conversation with B. and his new girl, and I actually enjoyed the conversation and didn't want to strangle either of them. Towards the end of the night, I had a very successful stint as bartender. Jacuzzi's for all! The end of the night came around 2 or 3, I was very happy by that point... The ride home was a bit scary since, I think the driver was a bit more tired than he let on, but we arrived home safe and sound.

Sunday started out way too early. I woke up at 9 and made sure to wake up everyone else at that point too, to share in my misery at not being able to go back to sleep. We took a long walk through the city which went pretty good. I have an uncanny ability to wander and find what I want. I don't really know where I am going but end up there eventually. I found out later that a plan entered into the wandering so it wasn't one of my normal wanderings, so I think that is partly why it went south. Well, someone (not mentioning names) didn't stop to eat at the crepe place when I mentioned it and we kept on walking for another hour. I was starting to get grouchy so I ate something at Starbucks, but as we kept walking and I was tired and didn't eat any protein, I got shaky and felt like I was going to pass out and die again (this also happened last week, where I almost passed out at a Peet's in Potreo hill. I thought that a lesson had been learned but alas, no).

I finally ran to Mel's (almost passing out at the street corner and then again at the counter) and got some bacon and eggs and slept for two hours. When I woke up I still felt like crap and looked like shit, so I stayed home and we had a Friend's Marathon. I was kind of upset because I really wanted to go to a birthday party BBQ...

Anyways, that was my weekend.

The love of my life

2006-01-25T08:02:00.000-08:00

Now for most the love of their lives is usually a person, however for me, I am realizing that I love an inanimate object more than anything else in the world. I devote much of my free time to it, I can't stay away no matter how hard I try and no it is not what your dirty mind thinks it is.

It is television. We have had a disfunctional relationship at best, but I always keep coming back, no matter how much it abuses me.

I have loved it since I was little. The list of shows I have watched is endless.

My mother tried to control how much time I spent with my love, but I found out that if you only watched for short periods of time and then turned the set off, the back wouldn't heat up, so when she checked to see if I had been watching it wouldn't be warm.

She once made the mistake of getting cable for a summer and I honestly did not get up from the couch for a week. At the end of the week, cable went bye bye.

As I grew up, I stilled spent a lot of time with my love, but as I was busy with other things, it became more about quality of time (like Batman the Animated Series) instead of quantity. Then, once I started working, our time was relegated the news at night and the weekends.

Once I had a boyfriend, though, my time was truly limited. And a three way just wasn't the same as the experience of one on one. My then-boyfriend finally got mad at the time I spent with my love, and when we moved my love was banished from the house.

Little by little, my love was let back in, in the form of Rented DVD movies and series. It seems that my then-boyfriend started missing it as much as I. I would go on binges occasionally, but it really was not as bad as it had been.

As I look at it though, I am fully addicted to my love. It is more of an obsession. Sometimes it totally ruins my life. I come home and just plop in front of the TV and not move and that is really not good. And I have no will power. So I am doubly screwed. So I realize I must fight against the urge . I must go outside, walk around, write something, do something instead of just watching my TV. Occasionally sitting for hours and hours is ok (like maybe once a month for a marathon of 24, or maybe a movie or two on a weekend) but on 4-5 hours on a daily basis. That is bad.

My name is Genny and I am a TV addict.

MOTHER...

2006-01-18T07:50:00.000-08:00

Yesterday I received a call from my mother. It seems after many false starts she finally made the move to Mexico City. This is the first step in what I hope will be a grand adventure for her.

My mother and I are very close, probably a lot closer than most people in the mother-daughter relationship. To give you all a little history lesson: My parents broke up when I was about 6 months old, so there really wasn't a time when I had a two parent household. My mom had some financial and parenting help from my dad, but mostly did it all on her own. She came to the US without a lick of English. She did struggle a bit to keep a roof over our head and food on the table but through good fortune, she landed a job in Promotion and Marketing, which is what she had experience in, and learned English(which is a hard language to learn). She even started her own business so that she could work at home and spend more time with me, and make sure that I grew up well.

She is one of the most talented artists I have met, but she basically continued in a line of work she really wasn't thrilled with, in order to support us and made quite a few personal sacrifices on my behalf. Now that I am older I realize this, and I am very grateful for everything she has done for me.

Now everything wasn't a bed of roses growing up. My mother, being an artist is a bit crazy and I have always been the responsible one. There have been many times where I am the one shaking my head at her shenanigans. We are polar opposites and sometimes things got rough, but she has always been there for me, no matter what, even when I was mad at her.

The thing is: now that I am all growed up (kind of), and am taking care of myself (kind of) I think it is time for her to strike out on her own and do the things that she always wanted to do. Like I mentioned before, she is supremely talented and capable of some amazing things, and I have no doubt she can do anything she sets her mind to.

I have been listening to her stories since I was young and honestly my mother should write a book on her experiences. But the other things I listened to were the things she wanted to do. She wanted to write cook books (man can my mama cook!), travel the world, paint masterpieces (she's already really good and she barely started!), throw ceramics (which she is really really good at)... the list goes on and on.

So to my mama: Go for it. Don't worry about me. Go have fun.

Temper, temper

2006-01-16T17:47:00.000-08:00

I have a temper. Certain things just set me off. And the worst thing about it is that I stew. I can't just bring up the subject, I will sit on it until something provokes me and then I will explode. My cell phone is just one casualty of this fault (miraculously, the thing still worked but the screen was broken so I got a replacement). I have screamed at my mother for not picking me up on time (for the 500th time) and for several other things, and I have yelled ex's so loudly (after he picked a fight because he wanted to fight while I was sick and had to go to work at 8 am and it was Midnight and he was being an ass) that the neighbors almost called the cops. I even started dreading road trips because they usually ended in screaming matches between us.

I am Latin. I have passions. I have a hard time helping it.

However, I have not been mad or upset at all in my current relationship (until yesterday, and it has a happy ending). And I am the one that is truly amazed that I lasted that long (months!) without getting mad. I even made it through a roadtrip without getting into a screaming match. I had the best time actually.

Yesterday was a stressful day and being a little under the weather didn't help any. And he said something that really bristled me. It wasn't anything big (it was very very small actually) but it was enough to start me stewing. I tried to let it pass, but I couldn't. I have been trying to be more responsible about my temper, so I brought it up as tactfully as possible and I was fully satisfied with the outcome. There was no yelling, throwing, kicking or hitting of inanimate objects. And I was happy about that.

And that's the thing. I hate, absolutely do not like, being mad and upset. I don't like to fight.

So the moral of this story is:
1) don't get me mad ( I will throw things)
2) don't pick a fight with me ( I will throw things)
and finally, 3) I really prefer talking about things rather than yelling.

As promised

2006-01-16T08:41:00.000-08:00

The embarassing photos. Here is a link to the website where they live and will be for posterity (unfortunately).

http://www.flickr.com/photos/ginyu/sets/1803104/

shenanigans

2006-01-09T16:17:00.000-08:00

There were lots of shenanigans this weekend.

I went to D'neyland (Yay! Space mountain! Indiana Jones! Big Thunder! Fantasmic! Toontown!)

I stayed at the Ritz in Pasadena (No more Motel 6 for me!).

I played with Aidan at The Grove (who actually ignored me to play with Kong instead).

I helped celebrate Jo's 31st birthday (for the 4th time, and have v. embarassing pictures to prove it).

I ate at Pea Soup Andersons (Yay! Hap-pea and Pea-wee!)

And I didn't kill anyone! (it was a very good weekend...)

Happy New Year

2006-01-02T08:29:00.000-08:00

New Years is one of my favorite holidays. It is the night when all the amateurs come out to drink and make fools of themselves. Parties abound and good times are had by all. What more could you ask for?

And fortunately for me I had one of the better new years. A party with friends, a super yummy delicious dinner at Acme Chophouse and beautiful fireworks along the Embarcadero with someone I really care for, kissing me passionately at midnight. It was a good start to the year... fo' sho'.

Two thousand five, now that year started off really crappy. Those who were there remember. I don't really need to get into the specifics. But fortunately for me things ended on a much better note.

But to recap the year:

I went to Florida this year and realized that I can fully decorate a condo in 4 days. I toured the California coast and saw some of the most beautiful vistas I have ever witnessed. I mourned the passing of several people; they will be truly missed. I have seen people who I haven't seen for over 10 years. I made it to another comic-con (yay!). I have loved and lost and lived to tell the tale. I found happiness in unexpected places. I kept friends I thought I might loose. I have grumbled at having to celebrate the fact that I am another year older. And most importantly, I have laughed.

The only way I made it through the year was to be able to laugh and be amused by life itself. At the big things that are obviously funny, the small things that people would look at me funny for laughing at, and the idiotic things that only I, in my infinite humor, find funny.

I have learned lots and hopefully have learned from my mistakes to make the next year better than the last (and so on and so forth).

An Xmas tale

2005-12-29T18:04:00.000-08:00

This tale is purely fictional and has no resemblance to anything that actually happened...

Hero (the name of our heroine, v. Shakespearian, no? Ann reminds me of too many other people...) had gone off to celebrate the Christmas festivities with her family. Once she arrived, she realized most of the time she was talking about Kong. It seems her family was obsessed to know everything about him. She found herself being asked about him by almost everyone she saw. She knew it was because they cared about her and wanted to know if this Kong character was on the up and up. It was on the millionth retelling of some romantic tale of his bringing her soup when she was sick, that she realized how much she actually missed him. There was no one to turn to in the sea of people, to share some witty anecdote. Hero's mother didn't quite get the things she found funny or amusing. The more she spoke of him, the greater she felt his absence.

Hero had told herself that she wouldn't be that kind of girl that called a boyfriend a million times a day, but that's exactly what she felt like doing. She just wanted to hear from him, hear his voice, talk of nothing in particular but just talk to him; she was very proud of herself for exhibiting self control. She and Kong had only recently begun dating and it scared her to feel that way so soon.

Kong had gone away too for the festivities as he had family of his own to visit. And on the day he was scheduled to arrive, the weather turned to delay his flight. Hero had promised to pick him up from the airport, and even though it was re-scheduled to an ungodly hour, she was going to keep her word.

Hero was nervous as she approached the airport, excited to see him, yet also oddly apprehensive. She saw Kong arrive before he saw her and she thought that her apprehension was warranted. He didn't look very happy. He finally noticed her and his expression didn't really change. But he made a bee-line towards her, hugged her, grabbed her hand and wouldn't let go. Everything negative melted away. He had missed her too. And once again she was happy.

xmas

2005-12-24T16:59:00.000-08:00

I was not really raised in the christian tradition. When the "PASSION" came out, I was totally lost as I didn't really know the story. I had to ask my companion what the hell was going on throughout the whole movie as they assumed you knew the story already. And just the other day, my co worker made some comment about a burning bush. I had no idea what she was talking about. She had to explain to me that it was the voice of god from the Moses story in the bible. I have even been advised by many that I will burn in hell, if there is one, because I do not accept Jesus in my heart ( I think?).

And yet every year I still end up celebrating christmas. And I enjoy doing so. The holiday is quite infectious so I get caught up in the whirlwind, go out, buy pressies and end up at someone's house for the holiday.

I know last year it was a very big deal that I was allowed to go to B.'s house for christmas morning. I guess it's a tradition that it is for family only and I felt privileged to have been allowed to participate. And I got to see how others celebrate this holiday.

In Latin America, christmas is more of a "let's have a huge ass party" with friends and family (and whoever else happens to drop in) on the 24th and everyone opens pressies at Midnight. Today is really the holiday I celebrate. The 25th is just a day to recover from the hangover.

Tonight I will be going with my mom to her roommate's sisters house. There will definitely be screaming children, a total must for christmas, and tons of food and wine. And I will forget the fact that I have no idea why I am celebrating this day, but will be happy to be around people that care about my mother and I.

So to anyone who actually reads this, HAPPY CHRISTMAS!, even if it isn't your religion, and remember to "BE EXCELLENT" to one another!

Insomnia, my friend...

2005-12-23T00:22:00.000-08:00

Here I sit, in my mother's house. I can't sleep and I finished the novel I started on the plane. My mother sleeps comfortably in the next room, I sit at the computer, thinking what to write next.

Insomina is a funny thing. Sometimes I feel so tired that I can't keep my eyes open, sometimes I am so awake that I feel that I will never get to sleep. Some evil thoughts run through my head, I almost feel that if I fall asleep I will never wake again. I really hate feeling that way. It's how I felt the first several days of being sick this last time. Only I had someone to keep me from going insane.

However, tonight, I sit alone in the dark.

Today has been a wierd day. Its most likely the cause for the insomnia. I don't usually sleep too well to begin with, sleep and I have never been the best of friends. But definitely, I think today had something to do with it.

Firstly, I simple repair job on my car now turns into a huge production number. But the mechanic didn't tell me that. He said that it would only take a few hours. So I walked through Burbank, realizing that it is not a pedestrian friendly city, almost getting run over by some really heavy traffic trying to get to the other side of the street where there actually is a sidewalk. And I walked through the malls at the height of xmas induced frenzy, witnessing the shopping carnage, feeling sad that it was actually happening and that I couldn't be a part of it, trying to waste time until my car was done. Barnes and Noble lost its charm pretty quickly, and I can't belive how much time I spent doing absolutely nothing today. It is almost maddening to me. But eight hours later, without hearing from my mechanic, with my phone practically dead, I called and found out that he has no idea when my car will be done.

I called my mother to get a ride and had to wait almost two hours for her to come get me. But instead of going directly home, I had to accompany her and her roommate to get her roommate's daughter and mother. So after sitting in traffic on the 5, going to the house of some of my mom's friends, a tiny headache formed. But alas, home was a distant dream. So at 8 pm, I was in a car, in the parking lot of a Food 4 Less in the middle of one of the worst parts of LA, because my mom's roommate's mother HAD to go shopping for food. And as my headache reached a crecendo, my mom's roommates' daughter pitched a hissy fit because she couldn't find a toy her grandmother had bought her.

And at that point I realized that LA wasn't my home anymore. My mom's house wasn't my house. I felt homeless in the city where I grew up. All I wanted to do was go home but realizing that I didn't have a place where I belonged. Actually, that isn't true. There is a place where I feel most at home, but it is someone elses home, and I don't want to overstay my welcome, even though I find myself spending more and more time there, and it scares me at the same time.

The real point is that even though I am with my mother and her friends, I have not felt this alone in the company of others for a long time. I feel more at home with my friends than with my family. It is quite wrong, I know. And my mom never did push the whole family concept, except between the two of us, so I am left with these weird ideas. And my mom is still on my shit list so, it puts me in a really wierd position.

Well hopefully, my car will be ready tomorrow, and I can get over this insomiatic melancholy.
And hopefully I will wake up tomorrow morning.

Kong

2005-12-19T09:42:00.000-08:00

So one day, the heroine of our story was minding her own business, when she met Kong. She and Kong had been friends, not close ones, mind you, but they got along well enough. She had a tiny crush on Kong, but due to circumstances, she never did anything with these feelings. But circumstances changed, and when they met on this fateful day, these feelings surfaced in her. Kong wooed her, and she was impressed with his prowess. The more time she spend with him on amazing adventures the more she realized that Kong was everything she never knew she always wanted.

Usually at this point you would read the whole happily ever after bit, but this story is still being written, with more adventures happening every day.

Maybe I will share more stories of our heroine and Kong, but then again maybe not...

many apologies

2005-12-12T08:17:00.000-08:00

So reading back over the blog, I have noticed that my posts have been way too serious and sad. Dude! I almost want to kill myself after reading them, they are so depressing, and I wrote them! This must change! Reason being is that it totally doesn't reflect what is really going on and how I really feel.

I am not depressed!

Very far from it actually. I have been happier than... well, hmm... Well the happiest I have been since I can remember. I have been having such great times recently. I have been doing things I enjoy, and even when things don't quite go as planned, I have a blast anyways.

I guess I have been using the blog more as a sounding block for my frustrations. Which I guess kind of what it is there for but doesn't really give a whole picture.

So this is to add a little balance back to the force.

Yesterday

2005-12-07T09:12:00.000-08:00

So yesterday was a fun and interesting day.

Firstly found out that the ex has a new girl. And that I had actually met her before I had been told who she was. And that certain people got perverse pleasure out of seeing us have this long conversation at his house. Yes (you know who you are), word travels fast.

But inner peace and zen prevail and I am pretty ok with it all.

I am glad that he is happy with someone. She is definitely more of the kind of person he needs. I am a bit too, well you know. And I don't do some things which I guess he feels he needs to do on a regular basis, but that I have a huge problem with, and she does.

But besides the point, it was very interesting finding out the way I did yesterday.

He emailed me. Which I was ok with. It kind of took out the over- emotional aspect of the whole conversation.

But I didn't expect to be socializing with her on the same night. And after not eating for about 10 hours. And after a really depressing movie. You can imagine my state of mind. (It's called low blood sugar).

Well there is a happy ending to this story, at least for me. And that is the real reason I ran out of there. Though I don't think I'll share the story here in this forum.

But needless to say, I am actually not mad at the ex or the girl. I am more upset at (you know who you are). And that hurts me more than anything else at this point.

Urges

2005-11-29T17:02:00.000-08:00

Recently I have noticed the urge to fellowship with others. As an only child for most of my life, I have enjoyed the time spent with myself, doing all sorts of fun things. I cherished my alone time.
I guess recently my alone time has been more tortured than before. My mind likes playing fun tricks on me. So much so that I don't like being alone so much.

Now as I cross the bridge to go home and find traffic, I call my friend just to shoot the shit.
Dude! I never do that! And I have probably done it at least twice in the last week! Before, she would be lucky if I called once every two months!

I am also now calling my mother to entertain me when I am bored. And I get all excited now when she calls and try to keep her on the phone as long as possible. The old me would have never done this. I called at least once a week to keep her off my back but that's it!

I think the only reason I am writing in my blog right now is to feel magically connected to millions of people, because honestly, I am bored and have nothing better to do at the moment than laundry. And I hate laundry. And writing helps me resist the urge to call someone I know at the moment. Maybe if I get all my frustration out here I won't call. But probably not.

Its just sad.

I love my mother

2005-11-23T17:36:00.000-08:00

Sometimes I really love my mother.

I Just want to squeeze the life out of her. Perhaps slap her around a bit. Not do any real bodily harm, just knock some sense into her.

See, I have had a real love/hate relationship with her.

Most of the time, I really really love her.

And sometimes I just HATE her. Some of the things she pulls...I just can't fathom. No words.

I don't mean to say she is a bad person or anything. I think she is one of the best people, EVER!She can be a wonderful friend. A great ear. She can even give some sage advice. She did a great job raising me on her own. And she's super talented at what she does.

But in certain areas...she pulls these super wonderful marvelous things that get me into loads of trouble. And I have to bail "us" out. And I am tired of doing it.

I really don't know what I am going to do with her sometimes.

Word!

2005-11-23T08:02:00.000-08:00

I have been pondering what to put in my blog and it has been very difficult decision.

I will start on one topic, scratch it and start on another topic. There are also things that I would like to write about but for one reason or another now is not the right time to share.

But my epiphany has been to realize that I really like writing. The whole process. I wake up in the morning and look at my disheveled face in the mirror and think about the different things I could write about in my blog. I may even think of the first couple of sentences in my head.

At night I sit at my computer, and stare at a blank MS word page. Sometimes I'll write a story when I feel inspired. Sometimes I will try and realize that things just aren't flowing so I read instead. I know what I write are stupid things really in the grand scheme of things, but they are important enough to me. At the end I feel fulfilled in a way that I don't really feel otherwise. And with writing I will get into that groove where everything else falls away and several hours feel like five minutes.

Two days ago in a conversation with a friend, I realized that I really love telling stories. And that I always have. Now that I look back at it, even in grade school the teachers would comment on what interesting stories I had to share. I enjoy telling others the stories of my friends, the fun times that we have had together, and the insanity that ensued. And I love hearing what other people did and have done as well.

I also realized that I love words. I love learning new ones and I love being able to express myself in the manner to which I have become accustomed. There is something about being able to say things in certain ways that just tickles my fancy. My spelling is still horrible but hey, that's what spell check is for.

This weekend I think that I will even kick my friend to write a script she has been thinking about. It should be fun to write with two other people with vastly different writing flavors.

My dad has been asking me what I want to do when I grow up. Who knows maybe one day I will grow up to be a writer.

Hopefully I'll just be a writer and just not grow up...

sick

2005-11-16T08:24:00.000-08:00

I hate being sick.

Last night I felt the tickle. The one that starts behind your nose and just doesn't go away. I hoped that it was just allergies as the cat wanted tons-o-love and left fistfulls of hair in my room.
This morning the tickle was worse. And I could only breathe out of one nostril.

Needless to say I wasn't very happy about this development.

I tried to cheer myself up with some Pride and Prejudice but even Mr. Darcy had no effect on my illness. And that's saying a lot.

I finally couldn't stand it anymore and took a shower. Which helped.

But now as I sit, writing this rant, I realize today is going to be very bad. I can hardly keep my eyes open and I have projectile sneezes. And even though it is a very mild temp outside, I am freezing! And even though I would love to go home and do nothing I have to work.

This sucks.

Monkey

2005-11-14T08:37:00.000-08:00

When my friends son first started talking, he couldn't say my friend's name correctly so he started calling him Monkey. My friend Gin, started referring to him as Monkey and I started introducing him as Monkey. So now most people know him as Monkey.

Now Monkey's name fits him more than one would imagine. He is not very tall, very thin, and is rather jumpy, like his namesake. And Monkey can be annoying from time to time.

He once came to Gin's house at 9 am, after not sleeping all night, because he wanted to take her son kite flying. Now mind you, my friend usually doesn't get up before 10 if she can help it, and on this particular day had gone to bed at around 4 or 5 am so you can imagine her response to his barging in like that.

But Monkey is a great friend. And I didn't realize how much I missed his company (in small doses, of course!)

Now for those of you thinking I like him more than a friend, that is not true. We actually slept together, after what started off as a dare. And after wards we had more fun talking about stuff than actually doing it.

And Monkey will talk about pretty much anything. I think over the weekend there was talk of Nair-ing his whole body and then just his balls, and some other stuff that was very funny that I can't share in polite company.

But Monkey is chivalrous of all things. Which is rather surprising.

After Gin's party at the Dresden, Monkey followed me and a friend back to her car because we were walking down a very dark alleyway. Then he made me get in his car and he drove me to my car.

Part of Monkey's personality is to be the most abrasive New Yorker he can be. Which is rather funny seeing he lives in LA and has for most of his life. I will give him that his parents are from New York and I think he lived there for some part of his life but tries super hard not to loose that even though he doesn't live there anymore.

But over all Monkey cares about his friends. Even if it is in his own way. Yesterday before leaving to come home, we called Monkey to go out to lunch. He was sleeping, but woke up to talk to me. All he wanted to hear was that I would be back and that we would have coffee the next time I was in town. And just that thought gave me the warm and fuzzies.

Love and Hate

2005-11-09T22:10:00.000-08:00

I apologizefor this, but here goes...

When my 4-year relationship came to an end, I was devastated. But not surprised. There had been trouble for quite some time and I was tired. I think he felt the same way too. I had thought about ending everything for a while but due to my own fears I hadn't.

Well, he was much braver than I.

A small part of me hoped that he would say that this was all a big mistake, that he would come back home. But most of me was releived that it was over and didn't want him back. The evil part of me wanted to hurt him as much as he hurt me, but I knew that I couln't give into that.

So I did the sane thing, I met with my chaplain, did some real soul searching, and realized the errors of my ways. I mean, it really is both our faults, but I had to take responsibility for my own actions, or lack thereof. And part of this was seeing what I needed to change for future relationships.

And then I realized I really didn't hate him. Even though others thought and still think of him as the villain in this story, he really isn't.

And to him, I would just like to say: Thank You.

birdy man and blurry bunny with evil mickeys revisited

2005-11-04T07:15:00.000-08:00

Gottfried Helnwein is the artist who did these.

Aren't they pretty?

halloweenies

2005-11-02T07:51:00.000-08:00

On Monday, I was very depressed. For several reasons actually. One was that it was all hallows and I had no plans and no costume. The other was that I was desperately waiting for an email response, for something that I had sent early in the morning and as of the end of the day, had not come. Another was that I had to finally remove the last items from my old house and fight the traffic to get to my new one.

So with a heavy heart, I climbed into my car for the trek to my old house. I finally picked up all my clothes and some odds and ends that I hadn't been able to get myself to remove. And I was sufficiently distracted with my own thoughts that I took the wrong way towards the freeway. I ended up wandering the streets of Emeryville, looking for a freeway entrance in the bad part of town, hoping that the dealers wouldn't notice me as I drove by.

But there are actually happy resolutions for everything. For starters, I found the entrance and it turned out to be the best freeway entrance to the 80 towards SF. I breezed straight to the toll lanes and made it home in about 10 min.

And, after arriving home, my roommate invited me to go with her to the Castro to see all the fun costumes. On the drive, I found that I really liked her quite a bit, and the fact that she is a connoisseur of the single malt helped quite a bit too.

After picking up some of her friends, we headed off to Mikado, a sushi restaurant, which is god knows where, as by this time I was totally lost. But to get to the main point, the sake bombs started and her friends were duly impressed by my ability to down one faster than they, that they accepted me into their little group.

One of her friends was dressed up as Rocky (think boxing), and had an old school boom box with Eye of the Tiger on continuous loop. Needless to say this was a huge hit in the Castro, with people dancing as he went by. Except by this time, I could have smashed the boom box. A human can only take so many times listening to that song without going insane. But it was all worth it when we found a fellow dressed as "the Russian", red silk boxing shorts, warm up jacket with the hammer and sickle and all. Instead of a boxing match, they had a dance off, with dozens of people making a circle in the middle of the crowded street. In this case, the Russian won.

So to conclude, my evening was great and I got to celebrate my favorite holiday, the email I was waiting for finally came the next morning and I was relieved and I didn't care so much after all that I was moving as I realized that it was probably all for the best.

Yearly Rituals

2005-10-30T01:18:00.000-08:00

I am not really a big fan of holidays and aside from All Hallows eve really do not look forward to anything every year.

However, I have added a new holiday to my calendar and that is Scotchtoberfest.

Yes, as the name implies it is a celebration of this most alcoholic of beverages. I have never really been a drinker and I think before Scotchtoberfest, I hadn't really ever tried a scotch. I had this notion that it was stinky and nasty.

I have known about this holiday for years, though I hadn't actually attended until last year. The previous year, my then boyfriend thought that it was Saturday night instead of Friday, so as we packed the car with sleeping bags and pillows to spend the night, he called to find out what time it started and we were both disappointed that it had come and gone already.

Last year was well worth the wait. It was a blast and I was able to celebrate all hallows and scotchtoberfest at the same time. I must say that I got many compliments on my Frida Kahlo outfit. And I learned the definition of a good scotch. And realized also that I HATE PEAT! No dead bog people for me, thank you very much.

This year was a little different than the last. And for once I didn't have to take care of anyone other than myself so could really get rip roaring drunk (sorry ma!) And I realized once again, that I really really really don't like peat.

Unfortunately for me, there are pictures available of Scotchtoberfest. This is a friends link:
www.scotchtoberfest.com

The end...

2005-10-10T00:01:00.000-07:00

I don't know how many people actually read this. But something in my life that I truly cherish has come to an end.

But I would like to share the begining if I may.... names have been changed or omitted ...

Michelle had asked me to come out with her, god knows how many times, but working two jobs made it really hard. That morning she’d asked me and I finally relented and said, fuck it! I had to work tomorrow but I needed something to get my mind off of things. I needed this. 10:30 at a place called the Colorado.

I think I went there once before with Sheba. We walked in for full 10 seconds and then went off to DHOF. She was dating Michael at the time and because it wasn’t his scene it wasn’t hers. Oh well.

Pulled off my work clothes in the bathroom and put on a little mini-skirt, don’t know what I was thinking, slipped on my platform slides and headed out the back door hoping no one would see me in this outfit. Turned on car, clock said 10:45, shit!

Peeled out of the driveway and headed toward freeway. Didn’t know where to get off though. Shit. Better just go down Colorado and look for it.

Fifteen minutes later…there! Must be the place.

Pulled around the block and parked. Too much parking. Bad sign. The place must be dead.

Damn its cold. Must walk quickly. Must get inside before I freeze to death!

The bouncer looked me up and down and let me in, no problem. Great. Now to find Michelle.

The bar was over to the right hand side. To the left was a pool table and in the back beyond the bar was another room. I did a quick once over and didn’t see anyone I recognized. Oh well.

They’re probably in the back. I walked there looking for all the potential guys. You know, the guys that you wish would hit on you because they aren’t hideous. I noticed this one guy in the doorway between the front room and back room. He was tall. A good attribute. I looked at his shoes. Ugh! Rockports. What was this guy thinking!

Oh well.

Thank god! There’s Michelle. I thought for a minute there she hadn’t shown up. Wow and she’s brought friends. Shit, I am never going to remember any names. Great. That one guy friend is kind of cute, but I think he is dating the redhead. Damn.

The tall cute guy with the bad shoes is still the best catch in the place. I need a drink. Liquid courage, Michelle says. For what, I don’t know but still Amen to that Sister.

I totally need a cigarette. Thank god they let you smoke inside. Michelle is totally my cig supplier. I don’t have a light. Hey isn’t that tall guy smoking? Wonder if he’s got a light. Yes! Now have excuse to talk to him.

Well he’s got a light and he’s really polite and nice. Says he goes to college around here. Must be community college. Gah!

Well he’s fun to talk to. He asked me something about lord of the Rings. I haven’t read it I said but I did all the dune series when I was 16. Hopefully that sounded somewhat impressive. God. He likes science fiction. Shit I promised myself, no more sci-fi geeks. Relationships cannot be based on X-Men alone. Well whatever.

Well my bad. He goes to Cal-Sci. I didn’t know those guys could look so normal, well except for the shoes. Well I take that back, that one lady who’s married to, gah, what’s his name, works there and she pretty cool. He says he’s studying something called chemical engineering. What the fuck is that? Must make mental note to look that up at work on Monday.

Well, I realize I can’t play pool worth shit. But I can help distract the guys by sitting on the edge of the table while they TRY to make their shots.

Music is pumping. I have had way too much alkeyhol. I just want to dance. Oooo Chair!

Well the tall guy, would like my number. Crap! Oh, have the dump line number… nah, I’ll give him the real one, I kind of like him.

I wonder if I’ll ever hear from him. Probably not.

Oh I drank too much, and have to be functional at work. Must concentrate, cannot fall asleep at the computer like that one time, god that was embarrassing.

Work over. Thank God! Randy and his mom invited me over for a movie. Realize that Randy is friend material only. I would kill him if we ever dated. Besides there is the fact of his WIFE!

Spent the night on the couch at Randy’s parents’ house. Most of the night spent watching Tenchi Muyo. Can I say that I love the bunny thing! Also may I say Zorro the Gay Blade is one of the best movies ever made! I am so sad.

Finally had it out with Randy once his mom went to bed. Both agreed to be Friends. On one side, great. On other side, fuck! Mostly great though... I really would kill him… sigh…

Gah, its already the afternoon. Shit. I gotta get home. I need to clean. I have dishes growing into new life forms in the sink. Clothes piles are size of Everest and growing.

Just got home. God it’s already four. Shit. Phone! God damn it. I hate that ring tone. Must change it to something less aggravating. Keep your panties on. Shit.

Oh my god. It was that guy. He actually called me. I can’t believe it. He asked if I remembered him. Of course I did, how could I forget? Asked me if I wanted to go to sushi. Almost forgot we talked of Tokyo Delves, the best sushi place ever, last night. Well what about tonight? I ask. Way too bold. Sure he says. Great! Decide to meet at Wok N Roll. Tokyo Delves isn’t open on Sundays. Crap. Oh well. This sushi will have to do. God. What do I wear?

Met the guy at Wok N Roll. Dinner was fabulous. Could tell we were feeling each other out. God he’s cute. Stomach flipped constantly though all of dinner. Very good sign. He’s so smart. Made me feel like a dumbass. That’s rare. Usually I’m the one using the big word and people look to me as the smart one.

Don’t want the date to end. How about an after dinner drink and pool. Q’s! Perfect. I really like him. Haven’t liked anyone this much before in such a short period of time. And I am not tired of him yet. God that’s amazing. He’s Amazing….

God it’s so late and I drank way too much way passed by two-drink maximum. I am going to fall asleep if I try to drive all the way home. May get DUI. No way Jose. Will he think I am way too easy if I ask to stay at his house? God I’m tired. Shit I gotta get up early tomorrow and its already one in the morning. Shit.

What a cool place this Cal-Sci place is. God! Mediterranean style buildings. I love mediterranean. What a cute room, with a sink!

He’s so nice. And he kisses so well. Must use self-control. Must not sleep with him. Must not…GAH!

'PUTER

2005-10-03T18:14:00.000-07:00

A while back, my mother purchased laptop computer for her to take on her worldwide trek to find herself.
She ended up in an artists' loft in Downtown. And needless to say the laptop was rather redundant.

I ended up with the computer and I realized that this is actually MY FIRST COMPUTER. At least as an adult. I mean when you're four years old and your daddy wants you do be totally computer literate by five, you don't really want anything to do with the commodore 64 he bought you. And you hardly ever use it for the years it sits in your room because you dispise it so much for torturing you to learn how to make the computer list "iloveyou" billions of times down the page.

But then you enter high school and everything needs to be typed. The poor commordore had been given to your little brother who probably didn't even want it and wouldn't be able to spit out the pretty double spaced papers required by the uber demanding english teacher anyways. Then you realize how handy mom's LC II is. Then you grow up and mom buys a G4 and you use that for years, and then you get a boyfriend and you get super spoiled using his computer that had not one but two processors, and then he takes it to work and he builds another computer for home but since he uses it so much you end up living in his log on and having to search everywhere for your My Documents, and finally you just create a folder on his desktop and call it yours. Now, I have my own 'puter, that I can change the background of and no one will change it to some wierd political photo of John Kerry. And I have my own My Documents.

Now I can go to go to Cafe Triest, sip tea, write a story and listen to Papa Giani belt his heart out in italian.

Serenity

2005-10-01T15:26:00.000-07:00

I love sci-fi. If sci-fi was a person I would leave my current boyfriend and marry it!

My friend, Gin, told me one day that I had to see this TV show called Firefly. I think I caught a snippet or maybe it was another show, but I was instantly biased against the show. I put it on my Netflix queue and forgot about it. When I recieved my first disk, and watched it, I was hooked! The story was fantastic! And when it ended, I was thirsting for more.

Last night I saw the movie based on the series and it was fantastic. I highly recommend it! Even for people who don't know the story. I have seen it compared to the original Highlander and Star Wars movies and has gotten pretty decent reviews. It was so good that I can think of it and feel great even though today is not such a good day.

Not all sci-fi is good sci-fi. They sure do make a lot of bad sci-fi. I have read some really bad books, seen some horrible movies (the one with james spader and alfrie woodard comes to mind) but through it all I think the things that draws me to it is the hope of the future, the speculation of what will come to pass. Unfortunately probably not in my current lifetime... oh well.

VACATION

2005-09-11T09:42:00.000-07:00

B. and I had been talking about a vacation for a long time. Early plans included going to New York or Boston, but that would have been too expensive. We thought that road trip would be better and decided that going down the California coast would be this year's vacation.

Day 1:
We left pretty late that morning and drove across the bay bridge into the city. The plan was to go all the way down the 1. We intercepted the 1 around Pacifica which is a city south of San Francisco but on the west side of the peninsula. It was very pretty but very cold. We drove down the one and stopped in Half Moon Bay. We found a small coffee shop/book store that faced the water and sat and had coffee taking in the beautiful view. B. decided to go swimming. It was way too cold for me so I decided to stay in the comfort of my jacket at the coffee shop. I was sitting next to an older couple, who were talking about someone in the water. I looked up and realized they were talking about B. They were wondering if he was just crazy or brave to be going out in the freezing cold water. I assured them that it was the former rather than the latter. As we were discussing this the lady pointed out that there was a seal swimming right next to B. For about a minute he stayed right by him and then started to swim off. I thought he was going to chase after him but he didn't. He came back up to the coffee shop very excited not only about the seal but energize about the swim.
We took a walk for several hours along the beach. It was very pretty. We finally got back into the jeep and drove down to pigeon point. They have a light house there and a hostel. We checked in and headed into Santa Cruz. Of course we did the whole tourist thing of the Santa Cruz beach boardwalk. They had two rollercoaseters one of which had been around since the 20's which was really cool. We had to leave early because they had a curfew at the hostel. We tried to use the hot tub at pigeon point but there were key issues so that didn't happen. Unfortunately, the couples rooms were all taken so we had to sleep in the dorms.

Day two.
We headed into Santa Cruz again for breakfast and were heading to Hollister and San Juan Bautista. I thought that if I was going to torture B. with going through the mission that he should do something he likes first. Anyways, Hollister didn't go quite as planned. First off, the lock broke to the off road park so it took us about an hour to get in. Second, we were running on empty so didn't want to do too much. We did eventually make it to the top and did some fun off roading and got kind of lost but eventually made it out. We headed to town and had lunch at the Jardines de San Juan which is a great Mexican restaurant with a wonderful garden. After lunch we headed over to Mission and did the tour. It was very impressive. I think the most memorable part was the actual church. It is the last of the missions that is actually still used as a church. We actually wandered too close to the padre's quarters and were asked to leave the area. There is actually a state park surrounding the mission and we did the tour of that too. I thought that was super cool because the buildings were so well preserved and you could go through them and see how people lived back in the mid to late 1800's.
After B. started getting bored and antsy we headed over to Morgan Hill. His aunt and uncle live there in the hills. We went swimming, had dinner and talked late into the night. It was tons of fun. They are very fun people. And we got to sleep in the same room!

Day three
After breakfast in Morgan Hill, we headed back down to Monterey to see the aquarium. It was an awesome aquarium. They had tons of fishies and sharks and I finally found out what Mahi-Mahi is. It is dolphinfish. It looks like a dolphin but it is actually a FISH! They also had a huge display of jelly fish. They also had squids and huge tanks of other fishies. My favorites were the otters and the Penguins. They were so cute. Anyways there were so many fun things that its hard to describe. After the aquarium we went through cannery row. That was very educational and cool. We also went into some of the shops. B. bought some candy and tried to get me to eat it but he had this look on his face that made me think it was some joke candy. So his ploy didn't work. We went to to the fisherman's wharf and had a super great dinner. We stayed at a Motel 6 and watched TV , which for us a treat.

Day four
We headed down to Big Sur. It was a glorious drive with the sea on one side and the Forrest on the other. We checked into our room and went for a hike through the woods. We ended up going to the top of a trail and seeing a pretty waterfall. At the end of day we went to the Redwood Gill Cafe and played chess with B. I realized that he is a really bad loser and then I realized so am I ...

Day five
We left very early thinking it would take forever to get to Hearst Castle. We ended up getting to Hearst State Beach around noon and Bryan of course wanted to go swimming. I went in for a few seconds and my feet went numb. We thought about going ocean kyaking but it was too expensive. We went to lunch and on our way back to Hearst Castle. There was an accident ahead of us and we tried to help by getting GPS coordinates to the police but they were already on the way. It was very scary to pass the scene and affected us both very deeply.
Hearst Castle kind of helped push the sadness aside. I had been with my Dad and Daina when I was young but I didn't remember the sheer majesty of the place. It was different, as they'd built a visitor's center with an Imax theatre. You took a shuttle all the way up to the house. They now have 4 different tours that take you through different parts of the house. We only had the time and money to do one. I found out that the architect was Julia Morgan, who is very famous in Berkeley for building houses and public buildings. After the tour we saw the film at the Imax which was pretty bad. The acting was horrid, it was like an ad for how great Hearst was, when he really wasn't that nice of a person. Anyways, that night we stayed in Cambria and I found this really nice hostel that is like a bed and breakfast. All the people there were really nice and friendly.

Day 6
We decided to cut our trip short and head home. We went down to San Luis Obispo and toured the Cal Poly campus. After that we hit the 101 and headed all the way home. We stopped off in Sallinas for lunch and stopped off in Gilroy to get new jeans for B., but that was the extent of the excitement for that day.

Day 7
We stayed at home and relaxed.

Update since last post (until vacation)

2005-09-11T09:21:00.000-07:00

So many months have passed since my last post. Some very fun things have passed since then so I thought I would update who ever is actually reading this.

Well towards the middle of August, Bryan's friends called and said that they were moving to the bay area. We have an extra room so of course we both offered a place for them to stay while they found a place. For them it was a whirlwind couple of days traipsing through the city to find an apartment in only a couple of days. Having them around was loads of fun. On one night, we had crepes with scallops, asparagus and a nice Swiss cheese. Another friend came over and lots of wine and food was consumed. I guess unfortunately for me, I had to go to work so went to bed early while the rest of the people partied into the night.

I actually became better friends with one of his friends. She was heading off to see her boyfriend and had to pick up a ticket from Greyhound. The thing is that the station is in the bad part of Oakland, so I offered to go with. We talked the whole evening and she was way cool.

Anyways, two days later we left for vacation.

Mortality

2005-07-21T21:01:00.000-07:00

There are times when time somehow catches up with you. When you look up one day and 10 years have passed and you didn't even feel them.

A few years ago I realized a baby that I once knew, who intently watched Jurassic park and jumped every time the dinosaur roared, is now a teenager. All the time we spent together when he was young, and he doesn't recognize me at all.

I see my own face in the mirror and see every new laugh line that I swear wasn't' there a year ago. I see the white hairs multiplying like an evil disease on my head. I try everything to not look my age even though to most, I am not that old.

I bet my own brothers wouldn't recognize me. I haven't seen one since he was about six. I think, if my math is correct he must be about 21 now. My other, older brother, I have only met three times. He now is somewhere in Arizona and has a young baby. And I don't think that either of my brothers have ever even met each other!

I notice, my peers getting married and having babies. The high schoolers I thought were so cool when I was in elementary school are now in their late thirties and early forties, with teens or elementary schoolers of their own. And to top it all off, the thirties doesn't seem so far away for me now. Thirty is just around the corner.

And my parents generation, the boomers are getting up toward retirement age. They are now look like the grand parents we knew when we were very young. They are about the same age if you look at it. And many of the grandparents we know are memories. Or shadows of their former selves.

So time marches on and we march along with it; taking each moment and making the best of it. But what happens when its all over, finito?

I like to think that the end is not the end. That the "I" is not lost, that it becomes another "I".

Many would disagree and give me proof on why there is no soul, and that all I am is a combination of chemical reactions or why I will burn in hell because I didn't accept somebody into my heart.

My faith makes me able to live another day, without being horribly depressed that life is not worth living because in the end I will just be bacteria food.