August 2010
16 posts
Minde.
I had to title this post with an “M” word to extend the alliteration, but really this post is about all of my friends in Minnesota.
I miss them a lot.
I’ve recently been lamenting that, as hard as it is to make friends in LA, it’s damn near impossible to make real girlfriends. In fact, the only sort-of girlfriend I have here is one that I made in Minnesota and we both...
Matt's wedding.
So lovely! Cute little park in St. Paul, very small, and filled with little touches that made the event ever so “them.” Like, for example, Matt whipping out his iPhone to read his vows from it. And the fact that they generously and selflessly made sure that Scott got a piece of vegan cake so as not to be left out. And that they brought Jenga for people to play at the reception....
Moongazing.
Who’s the pussy in that video, I ask you? Poor Ferdinand. I think his residual fear of Taco has severely overshadowed his once-affection for kitties. Mario couldn’t have given two shits about the monkeydog in the house. Ferdinand gave him a wide berth.
In fact, he gave us all a wide berth at times. My time came at a particularity inopportune moment: 2:40am on Friday night. I’ve...
Watch
Minnesota.
Arrival in Minnesota: just early enough to locate Minde’s house before it got dark, but too late for my memory bank to reliably let me navigate the streets without a map. I got a bit confused in the 62/494/35W exchange and felt a little bit, well, homesick for a place that I knew like the back of my hand, that was comfortable and welcoming and familiar. Realizing that Minnesota, in general,...
Iowa.
Ah, the Upper Midwest. Nowhere else has the knack of making me feel like a goony freak, like a total light martian, like a misfit just awaiting the next passive-aggressive application of xenophobic bias. Ah, home.
A cafe gas station in Iowa stole 60 bucks from me. Naturally, I entered the establishment to straighten out the situation, and I think I actually heard a needle scratch off the record...
Nebraska.
I guess Colorado didn’t get its own post. Hm. Okay, quickly:
Colorado: Of course there was a double rainbow for the entire lighted drive of Colorado. The scenery is unparalleled. It’s just one gorgeous stream next to a grandiose mountain by a waving field populated by, like, gamboling fucking sheep. Give it a rest, Colorado. You’re making the other 49 look bad.
Okay, anyway....
Utah.
Utah is damn pretty. And full of Mormons. And, they have a town called Panguitch.
Please take a moment to say that aloud: Panguitch. I know, right?
So by the time Utah rolled around, I was starting to relax a little bit about The Beast and its Damocles’ sword called “limp home mode.” I was able to enjoy the scenery, watch the green start to creep back in to the world,...
Nevada.
I pretty much don’t remember Nevada. Scott drove. I slept.
I will take this time, though, to tell you of the audiobooks that I bought. (Thanks for your suggestions! I’d already read pretty much all of them, and congratulate you all on your good taste.)
1) Sh*t My Dad Says. I guess this is going to be a tv show? Based on this book? Which is based on a twitter feed? How does that even...
Start: California.
Scott had picked up The Beast from the dealership the day before, fresh off being rid of some terrible turbo issue that had cause it to go into “limp home mode” (that’s actually an official Sprinter mode. Cute, Germans. Real cute.) on our last long drive. “Limp home mode” means that you can’t drive more than 58mph, with the pedal floored, at any point. Even if that point is going uphill in the...
Celebrity: SIGHTED.
Rosario Dawson, standing on the sidewalk outside Gjelina with a yoga mat.
IMDB lists her as 5’7”, but she’s the same kind of 5’7” that I am. Which is to say not really 5’7” anymore. It’s annoying how short celebrities are. I don’t know why this bugs me so much, but it does. Grow, famous people, grow!
Recos?
Buying audiobooks for the long haul. Anyone read/heard anything good lately? Nothing too heavy - no treatise on the concept of Zero, please - and nothing too insipid - no chick lit for this lit chick.
(Gary Shteyngart? Anyone read him?)
Filling slots.
I’ll be in Minneapolis next week, from the 14th through the 17th or 18th.
I’m looking for people to sneak me into Carmichael, dates to Punch, and anyone with access to a swimming pool. Oh, and I drink in public now, so that’s something to consider.
Any takers?
July 2010
15 posts
Secret Weapon.
Ladies: I’m saying this once. Listen.
Ann Taylor LOFT.
There’s always something, and it’s always $14, and you will get compliments on it all day, and you’ll be the only one in it, because it’s Ann Taylor LOFT.
I’m posting this even though my knees look wonky, because I want you to know the treasures to be found at Ann Taylor LOFT. Everyone thinks it’s...
Serious Chinese Baby.
Long ago, when I lived in London, I had a five minute romance with a serious Chinese baby in a McDonald’s. We passed a pound coin back and forth for a minute or two; I held it out to him, he’d gingerly take it from me, he’d study it, then hand it back. I pretty much decided then and there that if I were to ever have kids, I’d buy them from China. You know, the old fashioned...
I'm a media darling. (Snort.)
Original post.
Reblog. Plus commentary.
Ditto. Plus more commentary and backstory.
Not that you want to read all of that about me me me. I just thought I would point out how I appeared, for a few hours, to be relatively intelligent.
Because at 11am I ruined it all.
Basically, I should never be allowed to talk to anyone. The only reason I sounded coherent in those posts above is because I...
Oh, hi. Just restoring faith is all. →
Finally.
I found a dead flea in the bed. The Frontline is working. Ferdinand is now a roving flea bomb. Kill! Kill!
Do you know who loves Ferdinand? Everyone at the Venice Vintage Motorcycle Rally this morning. Everyone was taking pictures of him. Sorry, douchey boys trying to show off your bikes.
Did you see that picture of me on Facebook from Friday? Bryan’s birthday party. In Hollywood. I have a...
It is July, and I am in sleeves.
There has been no hot this summer. None! Today I wore a sweater, long sleeve thermal, jeans and boots to work, and turned on my space heater. Yes, I’m a little thinned-blooded, but still. IT IS JULY. C’mon, Earth.
Ferdinand seems to have - touch wood - shaken the fleas. Still vacuuming all the damn time, but current buns checks have been negative.
Earthquakes!
We just had a looooong rolly earthquake. It was a six. (By contrast, the Haiti earthquake was a 7).
Our building is on rollers so we had quite a ride. Yikes, that is a bad feeling.
Fleas
We’ve traded in mosquitos for fleas. I didn’t want to believe it when the vet told me last year that you have to keep your monkeys on Frontline all year round in LA. We’ve never had a flea problem before, I argued. I don’t want to put chemicals on him!
Suit yourself, she told me.
So I suited myself and kept him off the Frontline, and this weekend discovered the front...
I like cleaning.
We got out of work yesterday at 2. I decided that since I “should” be working until at least 7, I would spend the free hours cleaning the house.
It’s now Saturday at 2, and I’ve only stopped for sleeping 8 hours and breakfasting with Calleen. (Yay! Calleen is back in town!)
I really wanted to spend the night tonight sleeping in a tent, but with this kind of momentum, the...
June 2010
14 posts
Making what I can.
I’m knitting Jenny a hat. More like a cap. It’s dove gray, with seed pearls, and it’s sort of a swirl pattern, like the top of an ice cream cone. I’m trying to make it summery, because Jenny will be losing her hair in a few weeks.
I used to kid Jenny when she’d sneak a cig: “Jenny! Stop! I know enough people with cancer, thank you very much!” and...
Celebrity: SIGHTED.
Mr. Geordi “Reading Rainbow” LaForge himself: LeVar Burton!
The sighting was corroborated by me shouting “LeVar!” and him looking at me. Followed by my friend hiding under the table.
Kiss 'em if you've got 'em.
It’s my mom’s birthday! Everyone, grab your mom and give her a hug if you can.
Today was the last day of one of the managing partners - that I actually like - at work. Someone made him a giant card. They asked me to sign it. So I did. I wrote…. okay wait a second. Some backstory. I’ve been up since 8am yesterday. That’s like 40 hours in a row. Working. I’m...
Yep, I'm aware that I look constipated. →
My dark alley.
I just received this email from HR:
Assembly Bill 1825 (AB 1825) requires any California employer of 50 or more employees to provide supervisors with at least two (2) hours of sexual harassment training every two years. And you qualify for this training. For your convenience, the training course will be completed online. I will be monitoring the course completion and ask that each of you please...
Earthquakes!
We just had our second earthquake within the last 24-hours.
It’s really hard to explain what they feel like. The recent two were 3.5’s which are pretty mild. It really feels like a big semi truck driving down your street. It’s about that fast too. I slept right through the one in the middle of the night, and this one happened as I sat at my desk. My shades didn’t even...
Denying my cultural heritage.
Genetically, my parents have given me the consummate sum of hair from each of their heads. My hair sucks. On paper, it’s delightful: thick, strong, wavy, full, black-brown with no grays. In life, terrible: huge, frizzy, coarse, unmanageable, kidlike. Not to mention the absolute nests that I tend to leave behind on every pillow, in every drain, and on every sweater.
So today, I become...
Slaw
is the new popsicle is the new macaron is the new cupcake is the new flourless chocolate cake. Hence, I shall invent dessert slaw, completing the circle, and thereby cementing my place in the “trends foods” category for life. I’m thinking apples, cider vinegar, maple syrup, cumin and cinnamon. Seriously. Any guinea pigs?
Speaking of trends foods, I took full advantage of the...
May 2010
15 posts
Remembermorial Day
Holy crap it’s nice to have a day off work.
Yesterday at Art’s BBQ I ran into a fellow Oberlin alumnus, whom I didn’t immediately recognize, but she recognized me. She lived down the hall from me in North first year, though she is a year older. Even after she proclaimed, as a matter of introduction, “Evan Forman!” I still had a hard time placing her. Things have come...
Celebrity: BEFRIENDED.
I promised I wouldn’t say anything, but my buddy Bryan is dating a cast member of Gilmore Girls. (I know!)
So during my routine Facebook cyberstalking rounds, I noticed that I was one degree separated from yet ANOTHER member of Gilmore Girls. Whom I invited to be my friend. (At least I’m upfront about my internet creepiness.)
Today, she has accepted me.
Go ahead and look, Facebook...
Celebrity: SIGHTED.
Ferdinand continues to be a famous-chick magnet. Today, none other than Willow Lilypad herself, Ms. Allison Hannigan.
Her hair looks even more glorious in person.
All quiet on the northern front.
I guess it’s part of being an old girl: the old girls needed a mammogram and an ultrasound of my right pit thrown in for luck. (Everything is fine.) Did you know that boobs have tails? And that those tails are found in one’s armpits? And that one’s ultra-exuberant gyno might decide that it would be advisable to have one’s boobtail squirted with goo and radiowaved at a cost...