Bustopher Jones

I'm moving ...

2006-11-29T13:28:00.000-08:00

I may change my mind about this later, but for now I'm moving my blog to Wordpress. Check it out here!

You know your book is too long when ...

2006-11-22T11:58:00.000-08:00

... an error warning pops up that reads:

There are too many spelling and grammatical errors in this document to continue displaying them. To check for spelling and grammatical errors, please select Spelling and Grammar from the Tools pull-down menu.

That happened at 494 pages.

Thanksgiving Fun

2006-11-22T11:48:00.000-08:00

See if you can identify the turkey in this picture. Take your time ...

(photo from the NYTimes)

If I Did It

2006-11-21T13:51:00.001-08:00

Damn! OJ's If I Did It, which was canceled by NewCorp's Rupert Murdoch, is sellling for $4k on eBay. Apparently 300,000 copies were shipped before it was canceled.

Coutances

2006-11-21T07:50:00.000-08:00

The other day on XMU I heard "Coutances" by Dutch singer Dick Annegarn, a song from "The Science of Sleep," which we saw last weekend. The movie is good (who doesn't love Gael Garcia Bernal?) and I love that it's set in Paris, but the best part is "Coutances." I bought it from iTunes the other night and can't stop listening to it. It's SO good.

And the Academy Award for Best Actor goes to ...

2006-11-20T10:00:00.000-08:00

I have so many things to blog about-our trip to Mendocino, hiking Half Dome with the cables down, the wedding (I'm so far behind)-but right now I have a deadline for myself to get a rough draft of my book done with Thanksgiving. I'm getting close. I have 480 pages (scary!). Then I plan to print it out, read it, cry when I see what a mess it is, and come up with a plan for revision. In the meantime, I'll blog about the cat crisis we had the other night.

I come from the gym Thursday night around 10 p.m. to find Dr. Xeno (above), curled up on a sleeping bag on the sofa. This is how I usually find him, curled up on something soft, sound asleep. But when Martin tried to pet him, he hissed and growled and moaned like he was in terrible pain. When we tried to pick him up he howled in such agony that we were sure he had a broken leg. Either he had been hit by a car or he had fallen off the balcony. And when he tried to stand up to turn around, he winced in pain and lay back down. We called the emergency vet, who told us we should bring him in. We got the cat carrier out and lined it with Xeno's favorite blanket. Then, to avoid removing him from the sleeping bag, we instead carried the whole sleeping bag out to the car. While I was sitting in the passenger seat with him on my lap, before I could close the car door, he jumped out of the car and ran away. He was limping when he ran, so I still thought he had a broken leg. We chased him (he ran around the house, in through the cat door, and into the basement where I caught him by the tail as he tried to crawl between boards in the ceiling). Then Martin carried him back to the couch, where he curled up on the sleeping bag and went to sleep. He didn't budge for the rest of the night (he usually sleeps with us), so the next morning Martin took him to the vet. I drove down to the vet, too, as soon as I was dressed. It turned out the only thing fractured was Xeno's ego. No broken leg, no mortal wounds, NOTHING. Just a big melodramatic pussy. And later that day he was fine - FINE - as if nothing had happened. Martin's giving him antibiotics every day, but what I think he really needs it to toughen up, learn how to fight. If Bustopher were around, he'd teach him a few things.

The Purpose of Blogging

2006-11-15T14:44:00.000-08:00

A quote from Eve Batey, blogging editor of the SF Chronicle: "That's the purpose of blogging, to give people a reason to fuck around at work." Ah, now I really feel like I have a PURPOSE in life.

New Yorker Pileup

2006-11-06T12:48:00.000-08:00

What do you do with your New Yorkers? It's rare that I manage to read the fiction story every week, let alone the rest of the magazine, so I save all mine - for a while. Then, as the pile mounts in my living room and then is transferred to the basement, I wonder, "At what point do I throw them out?" Do I become a library and keep every back issue? Do I throw each issue out after I've read it? Do I keep my favorite ones for reference? Do I keep one year's worth (52 issues?) Help! What do YOU do with your New Yorkers?

Substance in Red Wine Extends Life of Mice

2006-11-01T13:01:00.000-08:00

All you red wine lovers check out this NY Times article.

And once again ...

2006-10-26T10:59:00.000-07:00

Congratulations to Yiyun Li for winning the Whiting Award, which comes with $40,000 she plans to use to take a semester off of teaching at Mills (where she was my thesis advisor last year) to finish her novel. Yiyun has won umpteen awards, including the PEN/Hemingway Award and the Frank O'Connor short story award, but she's not alone this time. Micheline Marcom, another Mills creative writing professor, also won a Whiting Award (I never took Micheline's workshop) as has Christina Garcia, a visiting Mills teacher, in the past. This photo of Yiyun was taken from her website. Go Yiyun, and go Mills!

Climber Dies in Yosemite

2006-10-26T09:48:00.000-07:00

A sobering reminder that climbing can be dangerous, famous climber Todd Skinner died in Yosemite Monday when his belay loop broke while he was rappelling. The only lesson to be learned from this is that if your harness is old or worn, spend the $50 on a new one ASAP. Here's the story from SFGate.com:

Todd Skinner's hands were cut up and he was tired after a hard day of climbing, but he was a happy man standing high above Yosemite Valley on what is known as Leaning Tower.

He and his partner, Jim Hewett of Fairfax, had spent two weeks practicing what would be the first free climb up this route, one of the hardest they had ever attempted.

"We'd probably been up and down it 100 times," Hewett said Wednesday. "We were working out the route, figuring out moves. He was the same super happy person he had always been."

They talked about their plans for the next day, then Skinner began rappelling down from a ledge part way up the 2,000-foot face. Five minutes later, he was dead.

Skinner, a 47-year-old former rodeo cowboy and world-renowned rock climber, fell more than 500 feet to his death Monday after the nylon loop used to attach the climbing rope to his harness broke. The accident has sent shock waves through the climbing community, where Skinner's outgoing nature was almost as legendary as his courage and skill on some of the world's most dangerous rock faces.

"There is just general disbelief that this could happen to him, because he was such a safe climber," said Ann Krcik, a longtime friend who also employed him as a motivational speaker. "He was the pioneer of big wall free-climbing, but he also affected every climber he ever met because he was so personable."

Skinner, who lived with his wife and three children in Lander, Wyo., was a specialist in free climbing, a style in which ropes and other equipment are used only as backup in case of a fall. He is credited with more than 300 first ascents in 26 countries, and his adventures have been documented on film and in magazines in 12 languages.

Among the highlights was the first free ascent of the Salathe Wall on Yosemite's El Capitan in 1988. The route, which is considered by many climbers as the best and most intimidating rock climb in the world, is steeper even than the famous Nose route, also on El Cap.

Skinner's other first ascents include the north face of Mount Hooker in Wyoming's Wind River Range, the Great Canadian Knife in the Cirque of the Unclimbables in Yukon Territory, the Northwest Direct Route on Yosemite's Half Dome and the East Face of Trango Tower in Pakistan's Karakoram Range.

He also led mountain and jungle expeditions to Pakistan, Vietnam, Mali, Greenland and Kenya.

Through it all, he gained a reputation as one of the world's great storytellers. With a mirthful cowboy twang, Skinner would describe in colorful detail his bull-riding experiences on the professional rodeo circuit or his jungle adventures with National Geographic, often with an emphasis on shocking detail.

"He was a character," said speed climbing record holder Hans Florine, who often ran into Skinner climbing the big walls. "He told me once that during an expedition in South America, their food drop didn't happen, so he had to eat monkeys. He said the meat smelled like burned hair because the monkeys weren't skinned before they were barbequed."

Skinner, whose stories were generally regarded as 85 percent true, parlayed his gift for gab into a money-making venture as a motivational speaker, inspiring audiences at 30 events a year.

Steve Schneider, 46, of Oakland, said he met Skinner on the rock climbing competition circuit 20 years ago and was captivated immediately.

"One of the things I remember him telling me was that his heroes were the Japanese left on the islands after World War II," Schneider said. "He said they found some of those guys 15 to 20 years later in the jungles still fighting the war. He emulated those guys in that nothing was going to deter him, and it didn't matter how long it was going to take. He had that dig-in-and-never-say-die attitude."

It was as much his attitude as his skill that made his death shocking to climbers, many of whom regarded Skinner as virtually invincible.

"It's really affecting the climbing community because harness failure is pretty unusual -- it is not supposed to happen," said Ken Yager, president and founder of Yosemite Climbing Association. "It's gotten people thinking about their old harnesses now. I know I'm going to go out and buy a new one."

The part that broke, called the belay loop, is designed to be the strongest part of the climbing harness, but Hewett, 34, said Skinner's harness was old.

"It was actually very worn," Hewett said. "I'd noted it a few days before, and he was aware it was something to be concerned about." Friends of Skinner said he had ordered several new harnesses but they hadn't yet arrived in the mail.

On Monday's climb, Hewett said the belay loop snapped while Skinner was hanging in midair underneath an overhanging ledge.

"I knew exactly what had happened right when it happened," he said. "It was just disbelief. It was too surreal."

Stunned and in shock after watching his friend fall, he checked his equipment.

"I wanted to make sure that what had caused the accident wasn't going to happen to me," he said. "I then went down as quick as I could."

Hewett said he knew there was no hope. A search-and-rescue team found Skinner's body, wearing the harness with the broken belay loop, about 4 p.m. Monday on the rocks near Bridalveil Fall. He was pronounced dead at the scene.

Skinner had survived virtually unscathed on many harrowing climbs. His closest call, friends said, came when a huge block of granite broke off Salathe Wall just as he and his partner reached the top in 1988. The huge slab scraped by them as it fell, breaking their bones but not their rope, which saved them.

In a sport that is full of rivalries and increasingly driven by competition, Skinner was universally regarded as the most generous, helpful and encouraging of all the top climbers.

"It's a huge loss for the climbing community," Schneider said. "I pay him the greatest compliment by saying that I was really jealous of Todd. He turned climbing into dollars better than anyone in America, and by doing that he's broken ground for other climbers. I really looked up to him for that."

My latest obsession

2006-10-25T21:55:00.000-07:00

I've been obsessed with the Decemberists' latest album since I went to their concert last Thursday. I should have taken a picture - we were on the floor and pretty close up - but I was too enthralled by the music to bother. My favorite songs on the album are The Crane Wife 3, Shankill Butchers, and Sons and Daughters. Oh but they're all so good, and their last album is fantastic, too. (Can you tell I grew up in the 70s by the fact that I keep saying "album"?) My opinion of a band rests so much on what they're like live, what their personalities are like, and my favorites of the ones I've seen live in the last couple of years have been Norah Jones, Belle & Sebastian and The Decemberists. I couldn't stand Jack White, even though I love the White Stripes' music. But The Decemberists are wonderful onstage. They have six members now and they played a gazillion different instruments - many guitars, a xylophone, an accordion, a stand-up bass, a cello, and a banjo to name a few. Some highlights of the show were Colin's commentaries about the San Francisco Tenderloin, the whole auditorium singing "Hear the bombs fade away" over and over, and Colin taking a cell phone from a kid in the front row, calling his mom and playing the next song live into the phone.

Supermodel Quote of the Day

2006-10-25T11:37:00.000-07:00

There are a lot of great supermodel quotes ("We don't wake up for less than $10,000 a day," for example), but this one really - er - takes the cheese. From Danish supermodel Helena Christensen:

"Whenever my head is like a maze, I turn to the easy things in life, the things that mean the most to me: Sex and cheese. These things are connected. Truth be told, I love all cheese: French cheese, Italian cheese, even British cheese, but Danish cheese is the greatest. I get my best nightmares after I eat Danish cheese. Actually I've seriously thought about getting a cheese tattoo. A nice Edam on my shoulder, maybe." (From GQ Magazine)

Women vs. Men in the workplace

2006-10-17T16:29:00.000-07:00

I'm reading this book about women getting rich. I love to read get rich books since I'm poor, and my favorite so far has been "Smart Women Finish Rich" by David Bach. Thanks to that book, "Rich Dad, Poor Dad," and another that I forget the name of, I no longer have credit card debt and I have an IRA, a money market account, and several stocks. But, like anything, I need to constantly remind myself of the cardinal tenets of money management, like what David Bach calls "The Latté Factor" - saving those few dollars you spend each day on lunch or BART by taking a bagged lunch or riding the casual carpool, for instance. Anyway, this new book annoys me because it assumes women are math-challenged and spends several pages explaining what fractions, percents and decimals are, but it does have a lot of good advice, too. I forget what it's called, or I'd tell you. Anyway, she mentions that men still make more money than women in the workplace and that one of those reasons is that men ASK for more money. Given the same offer by a potential employer, on average, a man will negotiate for a higher salary. I saw proof of this today when I was talking to someone who has begun to work as a writing coach for entrepreneurs. This guy once worked as a business consultant but now is a writer working on his first book, and I asked him how much he charged for his writing coaching. "$150 an hour," he said. $150 an hour! This was his first job ever working as a writing coach and he asked for $150 an hour and got it. And he thought that was low, that he could have charged more and the guy would have happily paid it. Meanwhile, after several years of editing and tutoring, I am charging $60 an hour. Should I be doubling my rate? I think it's so difficult to know how much to ask for when you're freelancing, and yet now I really do believe that, under the same circumstances, men tend to ask for more money-and get it. (Of course, whether he could get full-time work at that rate is another question.)

Population 300,000,000

2006-10-17T11:56:00.000-07:00

The U.S. population estimate hit 300,000,000 today. Thanks to all those out there not having babies so there's still a little room for us who do want to have them.

They only want you when you're 17

2006-10-17T11:04:00.000-07:00

We saw Ladytron last night and I would give them a 3 out of 5. They weren't bad, but not amazing either. You had to be in the mood to dance to electroclash I guess; or just stare at how cool and beautiful they are. The upside of getting bored and wandering out early is that we got posters, and the posters are better than the band. I had wanted to see Sufjan Stevens last week (my friend Amy said the show was AMAZING (she compared it to a religious experience), but I had forgotten when tickets were going on sale and they were sold out by the time I got around to trying to buy them. The band that played before Ladytron, CSS, short for Cansei de Ser Sexy ("tired of being sexy" in Portuguese), is a Brazilian band with a lot more energy than Ladytron. They were pretty entertaining, although I'm not sure I loved their music either. This Thursday's Decembrists will hopefully be a better show.

Addicted to Lost

2006-10-17T10:55:00.000-07:00

Like Robert Palmer, I am Addicted to Lost. It's the only show I watch on TV (although I am renting The Office and The Wire on Netflix.)

Tower Records Going out of Business

2006-10-16T18:19:00.000-07:00

I don't shop at Tower Records. When I buy music, which is rare, I get it at Amoeba on Telegraph or download it from iTunes. Mostly I copy other people's CDs-not so much off the Internet, but those of friends, who are copying them from other people, or off the Internet. And I saw the toll of that yesterday when I drove through Emeryville to see a giant "Going out of Business" sign on Tower Records.

Short Stories

2006-10-13T16:35:00.000-07:00

Most writers, when they finish their first book, are encouraged to quickly churn out a second, usually a novel, while their name is "out there." When I finish my book, I'm taking a break to write short pieces - short stories, features, anything that can be written in less than four years. I miss the days when my name was in print every day, when, by 4:30 p.m. when Judge Judy came on, I transferred my city council or school board story to the editor's files, then sat and waited until he read it for changes. I felt like a writer back then because I was published every day (Hey, it's 4:30 right now! I could be getting published!). Is a writer a writer if she never gets published? If a tree falls in a forest ...

Le SIDA

2006-10-11T17:25:00.000-07:00

I came across this ad while I was doing research for my book today. The text reads: “AIDS doesn’t concern you? Every day 20 people are contaminated in France. Homosexuals and heterosexuals, women and men, they think that to go without a condom is a sign of confidence. Now they know that it’s the contrary. Only the condom protects against AIDS.” I find it really shocking, and really powerful.

That's our governor!

2006-10-11T13:46:00.000-07:00

Okay, I'll try not to post TOO many videos on my blog, but here is one more. This one forwarded to me by my friend Alta, and the note that came with it: " 'Boonda' means 'ass' in portuguese ... keep that in mind as you watch this."

Google + YouTube = Yougle?

2006-10-10T23:52:00.000-07:00

You probably know by now that Google has bought YouTube - where you can watch the World's Funniest Home Videos 24/7/365 - for $1.6 billion. (YouTube started in Feb. of 2005. Damn, I wish my investments grew that quickly.) So, in celebration of this marriage, I am posting a video someone sent me earlier today that is pretty damn funny.

Risen from the Dead?

2006-10-10T23:17:00.000-07:00

Tonight I stopped by a house where a friend of mine is housesitting for a friend of hers - just a few blocks from where I live. "This is Curly" my friend said as her friend's cat came running up to the door. I looked at Curly, followed Curly, touched Curly, picked up Curly. "What?" my friend said, wondering why I was so obsessed with Curly. "My cat," I said. "He ran away. This looks like my cat. I think this is my cat. He's exactly like my cat." I was totally freaked out. I examined Curly for white fur - none, just like Bustopher. I examined the length of Curly's fur, the size of Curly's paws, the markings on Curly's face - exactly like Bustopher in every way. Curly is a little fatter than Bustopher, but I'm a little fatter than I was a few years ago, too. I asked my friend how long her friend had had Curly, but she didn't know, and her friend is in Africa right now. I explained to her that I had Bustopher since the day he was born, that he grew up in my apartment in LA, then I moved to the Bay Area and he frolicked in the Oakland Hills, hunting rodents and birds ... "Curly's not a hunter" she said. Okay, okay, I get it. You don't want your friend to come home from Africa to find someone has claimed her cat as their own. I'm not going to take the cat. My husband's cats hated him and it would never work and now he's found a very happy home and he's close enough that I cam come visit him. I just want to know - is it him? How can I tell? I guess the only way to tell is to ask my friend's friend when she got him. But if she knows that I think it's my cat, will she tell me the truth? She'll be the adopted mother and I'll be the biological mother who could, at any time, change her mind and decide she wants her baby back. But I was so in love with Bustopher, and I spent months looking for him and ... wait, if he IS Bustopher (and there's a chance he's not because Bustopher was a hard-core hunter and Curly apparently isn't ... on the other hand, we were living in the hills, with woods on all sides where there were rats and birds to hunt when Bustopher used to leave me presents), but if he IS Bustopher and she found him on the street, then why didn't she call or visit the shelter, where she would have found my lost cat ad? And why didn't she respond to the fliers I posted for three months on Solano Ave.? NO ONE in the area could have missed those fliers! And Bustopher had a collar with a tag on it with his name and my cell phone number. But Bustopher often got his collars off. He hated collars. Okay, I'm rambling. But whether Curly is Bustopher or not, it totally freaked me out to find a cat who looked EXACTLY like him in every way. It was like he had risen from the dead.

Creatures of Habit

2006-10-10T17:57:00.000-07:00

Last night when I entered my yoga class and unrolled my mat in the middle of the room against the far wall, the guy next to me said, "We're such creatures of habit. We always take the same places," and I thought, "And how!" When I was TAing two years ago, I thought it was funny that our students always sat in the same chairs they sat in on the first day of class, even though no one ever told them they had to. Maybe we got accustomed to that in grade school when our teachers made us write our names on a seating chart the first day of class and sit in those seats for the rest of the year. But our habits (my habits) aren't limited to seating. There are other things I do - HAVE to do - every day - like drink a giant cup of rooibos every morning with honey and soy milk, balance my checkbook in Quicken, sleep on the right side of the bed, and change into my favorite fleece pants the minute I get home at night. And when I go camping, I cook pasta with sautéed mushrooms, zucchini and sundried tomato fontina cheese chicken sausage for dinner the first night and Tasty Bites the second night. I eat oatmeal with apples and bananas for breakfast and turkey sandwiches on bagels for lunch-EVERY time I go camping. The list goes on, but I know from TAing and yoga class that I'm not the only one. What are some of YOUR habits?

Overwhelmed

2006-10-09T09:20:00.000-07:00

Sometimes I get overwhelmed with all my "goals." Here are some things I try to do every day/week:

Read (Because I was so busy with the wedding, I haven't read as much this year as I would have liked, but my goal is 24 books by the end of the year)

Write (15 hours/week)

Climb (two times/week - hasn't been happening lately)

Yoga (two times/week and I have been going regularly)

Balance my checkbook (every day) - otherwise I overdraw

Study for the GRE (every day)

Tutor (4-5 days a week)

Write thank you cards (they're so late! but I just got them! and I'm trying to write five/day)

Sleep a lot so I get well (but I only slept six hours last night :()

Take a shower, drink tea, wash the dishes, feed the cats, read Bloglines, all that good stuff.

Blogging 2

2006-10-09T09:17:00.000-07:00

The more I blog, the less I write, so I may take a few days off from blogging this week. Last week I decided to blog every day and ended up writing just five hours all week (my goal is 15/week). I can't blame it all on blogging, becuase I certainly didn't blog for 10 hours, but between yoga and climbing and tutoring and reading and studying for the GRE, etc. etc. it all adds up. My goal is to get a rough draft of my book done by the end of the year, so I need to get back on it.

GRE

2006-10-09T09:13:00.000-07:00

I'm studying for the GRE! I don't need to take the GRE to get into grad school (I already went to grad school), but because I tutor the SAT and sometimes get requests to tutor the GRE, I decided to go ahead and take it myself. (Often when I say I tutor the GRE, students ask me what score I got when I took the test, so now I'll be able to tell them.) Being the geek that I am, I really like studying for the GRE, although it's kind of sad that I'm better at the math sections than the verbal sections. I was always better at math, and my mom wanted me to be a dentist or a doctor, but I liked writing much better. I do okay on the vocabulary, but the reading comprehension I find so difficult. The readings are so dense and difficult to follow, and the questions are complex, too. I feel like I'm doing some complicated IQ test every time I read one of them. (They do say that the GRE is a good test of IQ, so I guess that IS what I'm doing.)

My word of the day: Minatory: menacing, threatening

Wine Snob 2

2006-10-09T09:04:00.000-07:00

Martin and I recently joined Cork'd, a website where you can rate the wines you've drunk and record which ones are in your cellar. We also went to a fabulous wine tasting party on Saturday (I can't believe I forgot to take my camera!) for our friend Nate's 30th birthday party. Nate's wife Laura organized the party with eight fantastic Arrowood wines (three whites, one rosé, three reds and a dessert wine. Each wine was paired with food, and there was a LOT of food - ceviche, vegetable curry, sushi, and butternut squash risotto and prosciutto with canteloup paired with the white and rosé wines, beef, lamb, cheese, portobello mushrooms and stuffed mushrooms paired with the reds, and rum cake, ice cream and some pie I didn't get a chance to taste (yes I tasted everything else - MORE than tasted - with the dessert wine. We rolled home drunk and fat that night. I'll add the Arrowood wines to my wine journal soon.

Under the Weather

2006-10-09T08:32:00.000-07:00

I've been a bit under the weather for the past week. I'm not really sick, but I have headaches, sneezing and a stuffy nose, and feel really tired. I haven't been climbing and I can't tell if that's a good thing or a bad thing. I hate not climbing because climbing has been my Prozac for the past four years and I get depressed when I don't climb. On the other hand, when I climb when I'm sick, I tend to just get sicker. So it's probably best I rest until this cold is gone. I'm still going to yoga anyway, two times a week. One of the reasons I like climbing better than yoga (besides that it's just a lot more fun) is that there is this thing in yoga I CANNOT do, no matter how hard I try, I can't do it. And yet our teacher always tells us to TRY it even if we can't do it, or we'll never be able to do it. And I just get frustrated, whereas with climbing, if there is a climb I can't do that frustrates me, I can't just avoid it until the route changers take it down and put something else up. So anyway, this thing I CANNOT do in yoga is jumping back. If you've done astanga yoga, you know what I mean. It's when you start your vinyasa by lifting up in a cross-legged position, swinging your crossed legs through your arms and - touching or not - jump back into chataranga (sp?). The problem is that my legs are just too long and I cannot get them through my arms. It's SO frustrating. Back when I was doing astanga every day in India with Derek Ireland (who died several years ago of cancer), Derek never made me jump back, so I never got frustrated. Anyway, I love yoga, but I dread that part of the class, which is most of the class, and would rather be climbing instead.

Speaking of climbing, I realized recently how transient climbers tend to be. I have had 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 climbing partners move away (Chicago, Baltimore, SoCal and Oregon), another that's moving in a couple of months, and another that is likely to move next year. Then I have those climbing friends who are only free at night and, because I'm only free to climb during the day, I don't see much of them anymore either. And then I have those who are free during the day but who aren't reliable. In other words, a good climbing partner is hard to find.

Plugging Away

2006-10-04T15:17:00.000-07:00

I'm up to 101, 354 words on my book, or 336 manuscript pages. I still have a long ways to go - probably 500 pages, then I'll pare it down. My goal is to get a draft done by the end of November (huff huff huff). Then I'll go back and rewrite the whole thing - fun!

Blogging

2006-10-03T13:17:00.000-07:00

A lot of people have themed blogs - photo blogs or recipe blogs or writing blogs or music blogs, and mine is just all over the place. I write about writing, rock climbing, wine, food, family, friends, events, you name it. Sometimes I feel like I need a theme, but then I'd have to write about the same topic all the time. It's the same reason I tutor all different subjects. I think I'd get bored writing just about writing all the time, or just about rock climbing, or just about wine.

Two Bitter Genes

2006-10-03T13:04:00.000-07:00

Last night I had a craving for pork, so Martin, being the wonderful husband that he is, made me pork chops. Over the phone I told him we should have it with applesauce and I did Peter Brady's imitation of Humphry Bogart saying, "Pork chops and applesauce" (did you see that episode of the Brady Bunch? I think I've seen every episode at least three times.) I was expecting Motts, straight out of the jar, but Martin made his OWN apple sauce - not with all the boiling and the cone-shaped strainer and cone-shaped rolling pin like my mom used to make, but with sliced apples cooked in some sauce in a sauté pan. Anyway, we each had one pork chop with the apple sauce and one pork with my brother Pat's homemade chili sauce and they were both delicious. HOWEVER, on the side was a big pile of collard greens. NASTY nasty stuff. I had to cut it into small pieces and dip it into the chili sauce (which tastes like chutney) and swallow it down with lots of wine and water. "These taste AWFUL," I told Martin, and that is when he informed me that he thinks I have two bitter genes. He said he read in the Economist that some people have one bitter gene, some none, and some two, and people who have two hate leafy greens and people with none love them because they don't taste the bitterness. And I think he's right. I have two bitter genes, because I love broccoli and spinach but red lettuce and collard greens and brussel sprouts and (sometimes) chard make me want to gag.

Wine: (I'm going to start blogging about the wines we drink) We had a Kendall Jackson Merlot - Grand Reserve - I need to check the year - that we bought at the Kendall Jackson winery on one of our trips up to the ranch in Calistoga. It was very good and went well with the pork but NOT with the collard greens. (Does ANYTHING go with collard greens? Yuk.)

Wine Snob

2006-10-02T16:39:00.000-07:00

Okay, this is why I don't blog every day, because once I start, I can't stop, and I'm not getting any "real" writing done as a result. But this is the last post for today:

We had dinner at Cafe Gratitude again on Saturday. I was in the mood for something healthy, so I ordered the Mediterranean plate (I am Generous?) and Martin ordered the quinoa un-stir fry (I forget what it was called) and we ordered the most expensive bottle of wine on the list (not very expensive really - $28). And the wine was awful, very acidic, so I said, "Let's send it back!" so Martin asked what the protocol was for that and they brought us a new bottle ($24) which was worse. I wasn't going to send a second bottle back, so we drank it. Then last night we were playing this game I bought called WineSmarts - a wine trivia game - and Martin chose the card, "Is it acceptable to send a bottle of wine back if you don't like it?" and the answer (to my shock and dismay) was NO - that you can only send it back if there is something wrong with it (kind of like if it's the bank's fault, they'll pay the fee; if it's your fault; you pay it). So I guess I won't be sending wine back anymore. It didn't do any good anyway. And I'm out of love with Cafe Gratitude now that I know their wine isn't very good. The vegan chocolate cream pie, though, is delectable.

LitQuake/LitCrawl

2006-10-02T16:08:00.000-07:00

LitQuake's opening night is this Friday, Oct. 6. I've never been to a LitQuake event, and am looking forward to it, although I don't plan to attend opening night. The following weekend, on Saturday, Oct. 14, is the LitCrawl in the San Francisco Mission. The Grotto is hosting a reading by published Grotto writers from 8:30 to 9:30 that night and here are the details. I'll be there, so please stop by!

Ritual Roasters
1026 Valencia Street
Going Grotto: Authors from S.F.’s Famed Writers Collective
Lineup includes: Tom Barbash, Elizabeth Bernstein, Po Bronson, Xandra Castleton, David Ewing Duncan, Rodes Fishburne, Melanie Gideon, Gerard Jones, Julia Scheeres, and Ethan Watters. Emcee: Caroline Paul

For the full Litquake schedule, click here.
For the full LitCrawl schedule, click here.

Writing

2006-10-02T15:44:00.000-07:00

So my original goal was to write 20 hours a week. Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha. Then I lowered it to 15 - three hours a day, five days a week. Sounds reasonable, but it's more difficult than it seems. There is always some reason not to write at all at least one day a week and I find that I need to schedule five hours in order to get three done (because of tea breaks, potty breaks, e-mail breaks, phone calls, etc.), so that's not easy either. Here is what I've managed since I started at the beginning of July. All I've got to say is I'm getting better!

July 5-8 5h43m
July 9-15 7h2m
July 16-22 0
July 23-29 0
July 30-Aug 5 0
Aug 6-12 0
Aug 13-19 4h50
Aug 20-26 8h22
Aug 27-Sept 2 10h39
Sept 3-9 6h21
Sept 10-16 14h38
Sept 17-23 9h03
Sept 24-30 11h42

Lost

2006-10-02T15:38:00.000-07:00

Speaking of Lost, debut this Wednesday at 9 p.m.!

Dilated

2006-10-02T15:33:00.000-07:00

I went to the eye doctor last week to get new glasses because mine snapped in half (right at the bridge of the nose) and the doctor put drops in my eyes to dilate them. I've never had that done before and it freaked me out. Everything was blurry and very very bright and I had to pick out my new frames and run all these errands afterward. I couldn't read street signs - just see cars and people. I really shouldn't have been driving, but they told me it was okay, just that I wouldn't be able to read. I thought, if I can't read and I can't write and I can't watch TV (because I had no glasses), then what am I going to do besides run errands? Anyway, I got home and Martin said, "You didn't pick out your frames while you were dilated!" and I said yes and shrugged. What was the big deal? Well, the big deal is I have these new frames now that I hate. They're way too big for my face, and I really like my old ones better. But I can't afford another pair (the insurance covers one pair every two years), so I'd better get used to the ones I have. (I'll post a picture when I get home.)

The Aristrocrats

2006-10-02T15:17:00.000-07:00

Saw an awful movie over the weekend - The Aristrocrats. I hate renting movies from video stores since I have Netflix, and it's so much more convenient (and since it has a much better selection), but we'd watched all of our Netflix movies and wanted to see something else. We were hoping to rent The Notorious Betty Paige, but it was out both at Front Row and Blockbuster (I'm too lazy to drive to Reel), so we ended up renting the Aristocrats. I thought it would be funny and would be good for me to laugh since I was having a bad weekend, but it was just crass and vulgar and not at all funny. If you know The Aristrocrats joke (the title is actually the punch line), you know that the point is to improvise the story and to make it as vulgar as you possibly can. And they did - from Jason Alexander and Whoopi Goldberg to George Carlin and Don Rickles. Okay, I have to admit there were a few funny moments, but overall the joke is awful and the movie was as awful as the joke.

Speaking of comedians, last time Martin and I were in Vegas (to rock climb in April) we came out of one hotel (I forget which now) and there was Carrot Top standing there waiting for a taxi. Martin couldn't believe how buffed he was.

Lies

2006-10-01T22:42:00.000-07:00

Since I've been such a bad blogger lately that I think I'm going to make it a goal to blog once a day for a week and see what happens - even a short post - so I don't feel like I have to write some big long thing (who likes reading those anyway?) with photos to post something.

Today's post is about lies. I have had several discussions this week with friends about lies, how often people tell them, what lies are acceptable and what are not, etc. I was surprised to learn that some people think it's okay to lie about casual things - like when you're tired and don't have the energy to meet a friend to tell them "Sorry, I have to work today" instead of "Sorry, I stayed up all night and am too tired to have lunch now." I decided to monitor my own lies. So far I've lied once in the past two days. It happened today when one of my students said, "Hi! How was your weekend?" and I said, "Good! How was yours?" I mean, what was I going to say, "I had a horrible weekend, PMS, cried for hours.You?"?

Lost

2006-09-29T15:24:00.000-07:00

I have been lost in Writerland for some time, three hours a day, although not quite every day. Will post more about our wedding and my niece's wedding soon.

Microscopic Art

2006-09-15T10:00:00.000-07:00

My brother Pat passed this along to me. This guy creates art so small you need a microscope to see it. Check it out here.

Writing Anxiety

2006-09-12T15:28:00.000-07:00

Although I haven't given up on sending my book proposal out to agents, I've decided to table it temporarily while I finish up the book. (I was rejected by one agent, and now I'm afraid to send that proposal out to other agents without revising it first. The agent told me there are three other books out that are similar to mine and she "doesn't have the vision to make this one stand apart." Of course, that could be a bullshit way of saying, "It stinks. I'm not interested," but assuming she is telling the truth, I feel like I need to find a way to make it stand apart myself - in my proposal. The other three books, by the way, are focused exclusively on modeling and all take place in New York, while mine is set in Paris and Tokyo. Two of the three are also novels, while mine is a memoir.) So now I'm forging ahead, laptop glued to my lap. (I know it's bad for my back and a waste of my expensive ergonomic office chair, but I much prefer to write on a couch than at a desk.) I now have 280 manuscript pages, but the more I write, the sloppier my chapters are getting. I'm trying so hard to just GET IT ALL DOWN and not go back and revise, but the result is that my most recent chapter, 30 pages about working in Tokyo, is a mess. Some pages are in present tense; others are in past tense. I describe a woman's outfit twice. I slip from first person into second person at one point. It's killing me not to go back and fix it all, but I know it will take me a week to revise those 30 pages and in a week I could write 30 more. I just think at this point, aside from sending out my proposal to more agents, I should write, write, write because I won't know until the book is done what chapters should be removed altogether, and there's no point in revising chapters that may get the ax. This type of writing gives me anxiety becuase it feels wreckless. Somehow taking years to write a book, with many pauses for other life events--weddings and vacations and even trips to the gym, for example--feels more natural to me. But I need to get out of my comfort zone and finish the damn thing. If I can lead .10as, I can finish a book. Right? Right??

A Day of Remembrance

2006-09-11T11:33:00.000-07:00

It's Sept. 11 again, and in addition to being the day the World Trade Center came down (and yes, I watched the towers fall, live, on CNN), it is also a day of mourning, and a day of remembrance, for me. Because Sept. 11, 2004, was the day my cat, Bustopher Jones (after whom this blog was named), ran away, never to return. Sept. 11 is also the day my memoir begins, Sept. 11, 1988, 18 years ago today. I was 18 then, which means I am double the age I was that day. Wow.

United Nations of Mammoth

2006-09-09T14:25:00.000-07:00

Those of you who know me know that I spend two to three days a week at the rock climbing gym, mostly toproping. But every now and then I make it outside (this year less than most due to the wedding) to climb some real rock. This year I've been on trips to Red Rocks, Owens River Gorge and Mammoth. Usually I make several weekend trips to Tahoe, but I haven't been yet this year. I came back from the hot springs (after the wedding) so relaxed and focused that I had no desire to plan any climbing trips. All I wanted to do was read and write, so I set a three hours/day writing goal for myself (that's another story). Anyway, some friends of mine planned a climbing trip this past weekend to Mammoth and, although I wasn't at ALL in the mood to lead (and I told everyone that), I ended up doing a lot of leading anyway. It was all sport and nothing too difficult but I hadn't led since our trip to Owens in June, so I was a bit scared. I led a 5.7, 5.8, 5.9 and two 5.10as the first day. The second I did just one 5.9 but it was tougher than the first day, and scary. The last day I did a 5.8 and a long, hard 5.9 before it was time to go home. That last 5.9 was long and pumpy and definitely scary. I define a "scary" climb, by the way, as a climb I have a good chance of taking a lead fall on. I've never taken a lead fall outside, and I know I'd be a better climber if I got used to them because then I'd take more risks, but until I do, I'm going to avoid them at all costs. (I've thought about taking practice falls, to get used to them the way I have in the gym, but practice falls are so much scarier than real falls.) Here's an idea of what it's like to lead a "scary" climb: On the last 5.9 I did the first bolt was so high that I knew I might not make it up before I chickened out and downclimbed. But I was up so high by the time I got scared that it would have been even scarier to downclimb. (You really CAN'T fall before the first clip because you're not on rope yet and falling would mean likely breaking a bone or spraining an ankle or worse. One guy I know who fell before the first clip broke both wrists and cracked his head open. He's okay now, but he was out of work for four months and went from climbing 5.11s to 5.7s.) Anyway, back to the 5.9: There was a closer clip, slightly lower than mine, that led up an .11a. So I went a little higher and clipped that one before climbing up to my clip. The top was a little scary, too. It was a long climb and I didn't take any rests, so I got to this one point where I had my right hand on a hold and needed to clip left, and I didn't have the strenth to switch hands. It was a long fall and I was in a corner, so there was a chance I'd hit a wall if I fell. So I panicked and downclimbed all the way back to the previous clip. I hung there for a good five minutes while my forarms throbbed. The choice was to finish the climb, lose all my gear (six quickdraws x $12= $72) or ask some strange to lead it for me (pretty embarrassing.) So after hanging there for a few minutes, I said a prayer (yes, this is when I believe in God, when I desperately need help with something) to get up to that damn clip without falling, and I did it much easier the second time. Then the top was a little scarier. Off to the right was a big flake that looked like it may not hold if I hung my body weight from it, so I decided to go up left. The holds were good off to the left but led me away from the anchor, so I had to stem back and stretch a bit to get it. I did it, though, then came down and toproped it to see how difficult it really was. Definitely a long, pumpy climb.

In other news, my friend Aditi led her first outdoor climbs, including a 5.7 on the first day and a 5.8 on the third. I have to say I was quite impressed because I knew Aditi back when she did her first climb in the gym and she was terrified to toprope a 5.6. And while she still doesn't have her lead card in the gym, I had mine LONG before I led outside, so I'd had lots of practice falling indoors before leading anything on real rock. Kudos to her. I'm proud.

We had quite the international group on this trip- too bad we didn't get a photo: two French men, a Spanish man, an Italian couple, a German man, a Romanian woman, a Chinese woman, an Indian woman and six Americans. And thanks to Michael (who's French), I now know how to say "belay" and "lead" in French.

That Time of Year

2006-09-09T14:12:00.000-07:00

It's the time of year to stave off colds. Two weeks ago, it was chilly and gray. Last week it was warm and sunny. This week it's chilly and gray again, and I have no energy to do anything that requires getting up off the couch. I am happy to read, to write, to watch movies or surf the Internet, but my body feels like a lead weight. I don't want to clean or cook or exercise or go outside. All I want to do is lie here and rest - and yet I'm not sick. Maybe I'm fighting off an impending cold?

In other news: I made it halfway through Murderball last night, a documentary about quadriplegic rugby. I highly recommend it, although I can't say how it ends because I fell asleep before it was over. I'll watch the rest tonight.

I am trying to add YouTube to my blog, but have been unsuccessful so far. Will keep trying.

I have joined SmugMug and am currently uploading all my photos. It's a great site that allows you to share high resolution photos for just $40/year. Well worth it.

Attending a family BBQ today. I'm happy I won't have to do any work. In one hour I'll have to get dressed and get in the car. Otherwise, my only job today is to eat, drink and be merry. (I LOVE attending BBQs, dinners and parties because I love to eat and drink without having to do any work.)

Little Miss Sunshine

2006-08-28T15:46:00.000-07:00

If you haven't seen it yet, go see Little Miss Sunshine. I saw it last week and haven't laughed that hard in a movie in many, many years.

Congratulations Yiyun and Jason!

2006-08-28T14:21:00.000-07:00

Congratulations to Yiyun Li, my friend and former thesis advisor at Mills College, and to Jason Roberts, my colleague at the San Francisco Writers Grotto, for being nominated for the 2006 Guardian First Book Award. The award is for 10,000 British pounds and will go to one of 10 first authors nominated for their outstanding fiction and nonfiction works this year. Yiyun was nominated for her book of short stories A Thousand Years of Good Prayers, and Jason was nominated for his nonfiction book about a blind adventurer called A Sense of the World. A shortlist will be announced in November and the winner will be announced in December. I hope they both win!

I Am Elated

2006-08-26T12:17:00.000-07:00

Last week I had dinner at Cafe Gratitude on Shattuck in North Berkeley for the first time. I have friends who frequent the place, so I'd heard of it, but it wasn't until that night that I discovered that the food there is both vegan and raw. Only the grains - the rice and the quinoa - are steamed. I know raw food is trendy, and I believe there is some big restaurant in Manhattan called simply "Raw," but I also think the idea the whole idea is atrocious. I mean, what in God's name would possess someone to eat all their food raw when they could cook it? Fine to have a salad with a few raw vegetables, but all vegan, all raw, all the time? Yek. I also know a couple who live up in Mendocino who eat only raw foods. The last time I saw them they had a giant salad for lunch, some green juice (spinach, kale, green chard, etc.) for a snack, and another huge salad for dinner. Okay if you're trying to lose 10 pounds, but EVERY day? They showed me the dryer they use to dry out dough (because they can't cook it) to make pizza, and they showed me the $500 contraption they bought to make ice cream out of almonds. I determined that weekend that you have to be rich to eat raw - and crazy. So I wasn't too excited about Cafe Gratitude and kept telling Martin that I was going to get some good pork tapas at Fonda afterward. Then, just before we entered the door, I joked, "Watch, after all my complaining I'll probably love it and want to go back." And that's what happened. Cafe Gratitude's food is SO good that you would never know it's raw and vegan. I couldn't tell you exactly what I ate, but it was some kind of enchilada with quinoa and salad and it was DELICIOUS. For appetizers we had bruschetta (on some type of biscuit, not bread) and samosas and they were both delectable. For dessert they were all out of the vegan chocolate cream pie, so we had tiramisu and it was wonderful. The place isn't as cheap as vegetarian food often is (last night I got the veggie plate at Curry Cafe for $4.99) - with wine and dessert we paid $35 apiece - but it's worth every penny. The decor is beautiful, too - all the walls are exposed brick. The place used to be a Polish restaurant, then an Italian restaurant after that. Now the downside ...

Each dish on the menu is called "I am elated," "I am grateful," "I am generous," etc. So when you order, rather than say, "I'll have the carrot avocado soup" you're supposed to say, "I am divine," and if you don't, the waitress will say in an annoyingly chipper voice, "So you are divine?" The waitresses are hipper than thou and all dance around to "Today is your birthday!" if it's someone's birthday. The whole gimmicky "I am (fill in the blank)" is a little too much, but the food is awesome, the atmosphere is cozy and best of all - according to TrafficSchool.com, raw fruits and vegetables will make you a better driver!

Traffic School

2006-08-26T12:08:00.000-07:00

I'm taking a break today from my reading/writing/tutoring schedule to do traffic school online. It's due Tuesday and so far I've only completed one out of seven lessons. And this is what I've learned so far:

You should get lots of sleep every night.
You should eat your fruits and vegetables-especially raw ones.
You should exercise (but not too close to bed time).
You shoudn't do drugs.
You should reduce stress in your life through deep breathing.

This is TRAFFIC SCHOOL! What a waste of my time! The whole first chapter was on health - really basic, obvious health information. But then on the chapter quiz they ask you some specific question like "What percent of commercial vehicle drivers had accidents due to a lack of sleep?" Fortunately, you can keep two windows open - one with the quiz and one with all the answers. And you can take the final exam as many times as you want.

Back on the Stopwatch

2006-08-26T12:00:00.000-07:00

This week I started a new writing schedule-three hours a day-or 20 hours per week. I started on Wednesday and I am up to nine hours so far. It usually takes me five hours on the computer to write for three because of all the e-mail and Internet distractions. That's why on Thursday I walked down to the pub to write. The pub on Solano in North Berkeley is my second home. But I drink tea there, so it's not as bad as it sounds. I LOVE the pub. I tutor there, write there, and play board games there on Sunday nights. I'll blog more about the pub one of these days, and take some photos of it. Meanwhile, I've been very tired the past few days from all the writing. Writing is more tiring than climbing or running or tutoring or reading (although tutoring several hours in one day wears me out, too). Still, I need to finish my book this fall, so I need to stick to this schedule. And there's no reason why I shouldn't. I'm done with school. The wedding is over. I work less than 20 hours per week. So now it's time. Time to finish the book, get an agent, sell the damn thing and be done with it so I can start writing some fiction.

Checklist MEME

2006-08-22T11:34:00.000-07:00

I think of memes as blog fillers. When you can't think of what to write, meme! But they are fun, and sometimes I can't resist. Plus I'm buying time while I study quadratic equations (to help a student). This one is from C(h)ristine. Highlight the things you've done.

01. Bought everyone in the bar a drink
02. Swam with wild dolphins
03. Climbed a mountain
04. Taken a Ferrari for a test drive
05. Been inside the Great Pyramid
06. Held a tarantula
07. Taken a candlelit bath with someone
08. Said "I love you" and meant it
09. Hugged a tree
10. Bungee jumped
11. Visited Paris
12. Watched a lightning storm at sea
13. Stayed up all night long and saw the sun rise
14. Seen the Northern Lights
15. Gone to a huge sports game
16. Walked the stairs to the top of the leaning Tower of Pisa
17. Grown and eaten your own vegetables
18. Touched an iceberg
19. Slept under the stars
20. Changed a baby's diaper
21. Taken a trip in a hot air balloon
22. Watched a meteor shower
23. Gotten drunk on champagne
24. Given more than you can afford to charity
25. Looked up at the night sky through a telescope
26. Had an uncontrollable giggling fit at the worst possible moment
27. Had a food fight
28. Bet on a winning horse
29. Asked out a stranger
30. Had a snowball fight
31. Screamed as loudly as you possibly can
32. Held a lamb (petted one, but not held)
33. Seen a total eclipse
34. Ridden a roller coaster
35. Hit a home run
36. Danced like a fool and not cared who was looking
37. Adopted an accent for an entire day
38. Actually felt happy about your life, even for just a moment
39. Had two hard drives for your computer
40. Visited all 50 states
41. Taken care of someone who was shit faced
42. Had amazing friends
43. Danced with a stranger in a foreign country
44. Watched wild whales
45. Stolen a sign
46. Backpacked in Europe (traveled MUCH in Europe, but never by backpack)
47. Taken a road-trip
48. Gone rock climbing
49. Midnight walk on the beach
50. Gone sky diving
51. Visited Ireland
52. Been heartbroken longer than you were actually in love
53. In a restaurant, sat at a stranger's table and had a meal with them
54. Visited Japan
55. Milked a cow
56. Alphabetized your CDs
57. Pretended to be a superhero
58. Sung karaoke
59. Lounged around in bed all day
60. Posed nude in front of strangers
61. Gone scuba diving
62. Kissed in the rain
63. Played in the mud
64. Played in the rain
65. Gone to a drive-in theater
66. Visited the Great Wall of China
67. Started a business
68. Fallen in love and not had your heart broken
69. Toured ancient sites
70. Taken a martial arts class
71. Played D&D for more than 6 hours straight
72. Gotten married
73. Been in a movie
74. Crashed a party
75. Gotten divorced
76. Gone without food for 5 days
77. Made cookies from scratch
78. Won first prize in a costume contest
79. Ridden a gondola in Venice
80. Gotten a tattoo
81. Rafted the Snake River
82. Been on television news programs as an expert
83. Gotten flowers for no reason
84. Performed on stage
85. Been to Las Vegas
86. Recorded music
87. Eaten shark
88. Had a one-night stand
89. Gone to Thailand
90. Bought a house
91. Been in a combat zone
92. Buried one/both of your parents
93. Been on a cruise ship
94. Spoken more than one language fluently
95. Performed in Rocky Horror
96. Raised children
97. Followed your favorite band/singer on tour
99. Taken an exotic bicycle tour in a foreign country
100. Picked up and moved to another city to just start over
101. Walked the Golden Gate Bridge
102. Sang loudly in the car, and didn't stop when you knew someone was looking
103. Had plastic surgery
104. Survived an accident that you shouldn't have survived
105. Wrote articles for a large publication
106. Lost over 100 pounds
107. Held someone while they were having a flashback
108. Piloted an airplane
109. Petted a stingray
110. Broken someone's heart
111. Helped an animal give birth
112. Won money on a T.V. game show
113. Broken a bone
114. Gone on an African photo safari
115. Had a body part of yours below the neck pierced
116. Fired a rifle, shotgun, or pistol
117. Eaten mushrooms that were gathered in the wild
118. Ridden a horse
119. Had major surgery
120. Had a snake as a pet
121. Hiked to the bottom of the Grand Canyon
122. Slept for more than 30 hours over the course of 48 hours
123. Visited more foreign countries than U.S. states (not sure about this one)
124. Visited all 7 continents
125. Taken a canoe trip that lasted more than 2 days
126. Eaten kangaroo meat
127. Eaten sushi
128. Had your picture in the newspaper
129. Changed someone's mind about something you care deeply about
130. Gone back to school
131. Parasailed
132. Petted a cockroach
133. Eaten fried green tomatoes
134. Read The Iliad - and the Odyssey
135. Selected one important author who you missed in school, and read
136. Killed and prepared an animal for eating
137. Skipped all your school reunions
138. Communicated with someone without sharing a common spoken language
139. Been elected to public office
140. Written your own computer language
141. Thought to yourself that you're living your dream
142. Had to put someone you love into hospice care
143. Built your own PC from parts
144. Sold your own artwork to someone who didn't know you
145. Had a booth at a street fair
146. Dyed your hair
147. Been a DJ
148. Shaved your head
149. Caused a car accident
150. Saved someone's life

The Bachelorette Party

2006-08-19T18:26:00.000-07:00

I never wanted a bachelorette party. I associate them with drunken frat parties and sorority rushing. But then someone at my bridal shower jokingly said, “So who’s going to organize the bachelorette?” and I piped in with, “I’ve never been to a strip club!” It was true, I hadn’t. And why should guys have all the fun? “Let’s go to a male strip club,” I said, half-jokingly. Then Whitney organized it. Only Whitney couldn’t find a straight male strip club in San Francisco (how pathetic is that?), so she planned a night at Asia SF, with the choice of a trannie show and dinner upstairs or a private party with a male stripper downstairs. I chose the private party mainly because it included a scavenger hunt, and I love scavenger hunts. We ended up getting the best of both worlds because one of the transvestites did shows for the bachelorettes who had chosen the spotlight show over the male stripper (I chose the male stripper because I hate being in the spotlight more than I hate men shaking their things in my face) AND we got to see all the transvestites dance to musical numbers upstairs while I was searching the security guard and spanking the bouncer (as part of my scavenger hunt.) First we ordered drinks and had a private buffet dinner—chicken satay, soba noodles, tofu and seafood—then we watched the other girls’ spotlight shows and danced for a while, then my friends made me drink two more cocktails before they stuffed my boots and bra with one-dollar bills. I have to say the stripper show was pretty entertaining. I couldn’t bear to touch his oily body (ew), but I was laughing really hard when he made me lie on the ground so he could mimick “doing me” in different positions. Turned on I was not; hysterical I was. And now there are plenty of incriminating pictures of me on the Internet so I’ll appear well rounded - just one o' the gals - if I ever decide to run for office. By the end of the night I was drunk enough to give the DJ a lap dance. Yep, a lap dance. Amazing what six extra-sized cocktails will do for your self-confidence. (The photo is of me with Simone, one of Asia SF's transvestite performers.)

Mrs. Bustopher Jones

2006-08-19T17:10:00.000-07:00

On Sunday, August 6, I got married. For about ten nights before that, I couldn’t sleep. I would fall asleep at night but then either wake up at 3 and fall back to sleep around 6 (sometimes with the aid of melatonin) or I would wake up at 5 or 6 and not be able to fall back to sleep. I would lie there in bed worrying about the seat arrangements, the hotel arrangements, my dress, the place cards, you name it. I wanted to have it all done at least a week beforehand, but then the weekend before the wedding I had a bachelorette party, then Martin had his bachelor party, then we drove to Orange County for my friend Jenny’s wedding and drove back the following afternoon after boogie boarding in warm water and eating burgers and fries. It was Tuesday night before I’d even unpacked-five days before the wedding. Then my family started arriving the following day-on Wednesday. Wednesday night Martin and I had dinner in Chinatown with 11 members of my family all seated around one big table. Thursday I let them do their own thing so I could get the place cards and envelopes finished. Friday night we spontaneously invited most of my family (19 of them) over for pizza and drinks. Saturday afternoon Martin’s mom hosted a wonderful dinner for all of the out-of-towners (48 or so people) at her house. Sunday was the wedding. It's going to take a series of blog posts for me to write about it all. I'll start with the bachelorette. (The above picture is courtesy of Jenny Talavera. We don't have our professional photos back yet. To see more, visit C(h)ristine's flickr stream.)

Pet Peeve

2006-07-28T08:22:00.000-07:00

Nine days before the wedding, I am not sleeping well at night, so I'm often up at 4 or 5 or 6 a.m. reading or thinking or surfing the net, and this morning while reading an e-mail I was reminded of one of my pet peeves. It's when you have an e-mail correspondence with someone and neither of you deletes the previous conversation (like G-mail, only I rarely use my G-mail account) and then, at some point, that person CCs someone else on a response, so your entire conversation is forwarded to some other person without you having any control over it. It can even happen after just one e-mail. I may write you an e-mail and, when you respond, you CC the response to someone else. That drives me NUTS. What right is it of yours to forward my e-mail to someone else? It feels like such a violation of privacy, even though no one has ever forwarded anything personal or incriminating, I guess the potential for that happening is what bothers me. And just the principle of it. It's one of my PET PEEVES.

Games to Save the World?

2006-07-22T22:08:00.000-07:00

In addition to playing sports (rock climbing and body boarding), Martin and I also love to play games. Once a week we try to play Settlers (of Catan) or Puerto Rico or our new favorite, Caylus, at the Pub on Solano, my second home. Martin also loves video games and my friend Whitney turned us on to a new video game called Guitar Hero. It's one of those reality video games where your joystick is a toy guitar and you play the notes that come up on the screen to songs like Joan Jett's "I Love Rock and Roll" or Boston's "More Than a Feeling." It's so fun and addictive. We went to a party at Whitney's house last month and spent the whole night playing this thing. With two guitars you can compete against each other. The only downside is the game is only made for PS2 and we have an XBox, so if we want the game we also have to buy a PS2.

I discovered another great game tonight on the New York Times website. It's called Peacemaker. The way it works is you play either the Israeli Prime Minister or the Palestinian president and your goal is to negotiate peace. One player said he learned more about the Israeli-Palestinian crisis from playing this game than he has from reading the newspaper for ten years. I believe it. Games are a great way to learn. And this game couldn't be more timely with the Israelis and Hesbollah blowing each other up right now. The UN also has a game called Food Force, which teaches about the difficulties of dispensing food to war zones. MTV has a game called Darfur is Dying in which players try to escape the Janjaweed while looking for water, and a Serbian youth movement has created A Force More Powerful, a game that teaches principles of nonviolent strategy. And the best part? Food Force and Darfur is Dying are free. I'm downloading Food Force right now. A Force More Powerful is just $20 (but runs on PCs only) and Peacemaker will be free when it's ready for general distribution.

A Day at the Beach

2006-07-22T01:33:00.000-07:00

I LOVE the beach and I miss the beach and this hot weather has made me want to do nothing but go to the beach. I think it's funny how people from the Midwest and East Coast assume if you live in California you go to the beach every day. I think the last time I went to the beach was when my nieces came out to visit last summer, and when we got to Stinson it was cold and foggy and empty. We got out, looked around, then got back in the car and went out to lunch. Other than that, Martin and I went to Costa Rica three years ago for a surf vacation, but I don't think I've been to the beach since. So last Sunday we drove down to Stinson and after about 20 minutes of me complaining that we'd driven all that way and it was cold and foggy once again, the marine layer burned off and the sky became blue and the sun was hot and we lay there until we were sweaty and risking sunburn, then ran through the hot sand to brave the cold water. Another misconception is that you can throw on a bikini and go surfing or swimming in the waves in California. Maybe in LA ot San Diego - MAYBE. But up here you need a 4/3 wetsuit to survive longer than an hour. I was so desperate to swim, though, that I followed Martin into the waves. He jumped right in. I walked slowly, letting first my feet, then my calves, then my thighs and midsection get completely numb before I submerged up to my neck then dived all the way under. Usually a wave gets me before I get brave enough to go all the way in. But once I'm in, I'm fine. We body surfed long enough for me to decide that we were going to buy body boards THIS WEEK. I LOVE body boarding, but I'm not very good at body surfing (without a board). I won't say I've given up on real surfing completely, but it's such a commitment and when you live in the East Bay, such a pain to lug your board all the way to Santa Cruz or Pacifica or Bolinas only to find that there are no waves, or they're closing out, or blown out, or whatever. The best time to surf in CA is in the fall. In the summer, when I really want to surf, there are no waves. The good surfers all like to surf in the winter, when the waves are big. That's also when it's cold and rainy and the last thing I want to do is surf. Surfing just isn't all that convenient in Northern California. So for now I'm sticking to body boarding, and we're going to Berkeley Board Sports tomorrow to buy boards.

Updates

2006-07-21T22:47:00.000-07:00

Exercise
Today and yesterday I took a rest after eight straight days of working out. I have been climbing twice a week (2+ hours), running 3.5 miles twice a week and doing Astanga yoga twice a week. But yesterday the pulled muscle in my leg was making me limp and my shoulder was sore from climbing so I decided to take a break. I am a firm believer in rest, especially from exercise. I don't think it's healthy to work out every single day. It does feel good to get back into yoga, though. It's something I've been doing on and off since 1994 when I enrolled in a month-long Astanga teacher's training course in India. After about a year of doing the first (and half of the second) series four to five times a week, I got bored. Then three and a half years ago I started climbing and because I find it a lot more fun than yoga, I've dedicated most of my exercise time to that. But since I'm out of school now and have a tight wedding dress to fit into in two weeks, I've been taking the time to do both, and it feels like such a luxury to spend that many hours a week exercising!

Writing
My stopwatch method is effective - sometimes. This past week I didn't write AT ALL (I don't count blogging as writing, although I haven't done much of that lately either). I spent all of my writing time doing wedding planning and editing. Oh well. Maybe next week will be more productive.

In other news, while writing my book proposal (which is completed and ready to send to agents) I had my first doubts about whether anyone will want to buy my book. I'm not famous and never was. I wasn't a drug addict or an orphan; I was never suicidal, and I never had an eating disorder. WHO will want to buy my book? I was just an ordinary "not-so-supermodel" who has the inside scoop on what it's really like to work as an international fashion model. But will anyone care? I really don't know. I just have to keep at it and see. Ugh. My first doubts. Really. Btw, I love this months' Vogue cover with Linda Evangelista on the cover. When I was modeling, Linda Evangelista was on EVERY cover. I did shows with her and Christy Turlington and Naomi Campbell and now they're all 40 or nearing it and talking about their Botox treatments.

Wedding Stuff
It feels like an entire wedding season! First I had a fabulous bridal shower hosted by Alina, Anna (Martin's mom) an Aditi replete with games and balloons and champagne and fabulous gifts. The theme was "Around the Clock" and each guest was supposed to bring a present that fit a particular time of day. And guess what? It turns out that thongs can be worn ANY time of day! And alcohol can be drunk any time of day, too! We've been getting gifts in the mail nearly every day, my friend Meeta took me to high tea at the Fairmont for my shower gift on Thursday (we had a delectable time!), and this Friday Whitney is organizing a bachelorette party. I feel honored that people are going to this much trouble. Thank you everyone!

As for wedding planning - we have our wedding license; my dress finally fits; I finally have shoes; the table and name cards are done. All I have left is to make the guest book and help Martin (who is busy at work while I'm blogging) finish writing the ceremony. I think that's it! And with two weeks to spare!

Another Trick of the Trade

2006-07-07T16:06:00.000-07:00

I bought a stopwatch on Wednesday. It was Meeta or Laura who suggested it at my shower the weekend before last. The idea is to turn it on when you're writing and turn it off when you're not (including when you check e-mail, go to the bathroom, get up to make tea, etc.) in order to record how many hours you're REALLY writing - not blogging, reading blogs, surfing the Net, etc. - each week. (Right now mine is turned off.) My goal is to write minimum 10 hours/week. I bought the stopwatch Wednesday afternoon and am at 5 hours right now, but I can't tell you how often I turn it off and how much more writing I would get done if I could be more disciplined. Still, it's a great idea and I thank Meeta or Laura for suggesting it!

Deerhoof, Radiohead

2006-06-24T08:55:00.000-07:00

Deerhoof opened for Radiohead last night. Yes, I got Radiohead tickets! I had two alarms set to get up at 9:30 a.m. the morning tickets went on sale and after I save my credit card information on the Ticketmaster website, at 9:55 I started clicking to buy tix and I clicked and clicked until it hit 10 a.m. and then finally at about 10 and 30 seconds they went on sale (that 30 seconds was agonizing) and I got them. The only disappointment was that I didn't know ahead of time that I'd only be able to buy two tickets (it didn't even say how much the tix would cost ahead of time), so friends I planned to get them for ended up not going :( Anyway, Deerhoof was good. I really like the lead singer and guitarist, Satomi Matsuzaki, although some of their songs are a bit loud for me. Radiohead was great. I have to say I was a little disappointed that they didn't play my favorite song, Creep, but then again it would have been a little too cliché if they had. They played some new songs that were really good and they played a lot of old stuff from Kid A and OK Computer, like "The National Anthem" and "Idioteque." We were too lazy to go down to the floor; we sat up in the bleachers with our bag of Andronico's food so we could eat and drink to our hearts' contents. I like sitting, but it's also a lot more exciting to be up front where you can see their faces and not just little figures on the stage. Speaking of the stage, their stage show was phenomenal. They had ten jagged screens onto which were projected black and white videos of them playing live from different angles. Behind the screens was a colored background (the last couple of songs were different, which is what you see in the photo). Pretty cool to see close-up videos of the guitarist's hand, Thom York's face, etc.

Since I never blogged about this earlier, we also went to see Belle & Sebastian, the Strokes and Brazilian Girls in the past few months and here is the report:

Belle & Sebastian - wonderful. I LOVE them and that was the one concert at which we got up close enough to see their faces. Stevie Jackson is a character and I love how sweet and sincere the lead singer (Chris?) is. And I love that they had a female in their band who looked like a suburban housewife - not thin, not hip, not sexy at all - just a normal looking woman in a B&S hoodie. Very cool. I do love their old stuff more than their new stuff, but I've heard enough of their new stuff on XMU that's it's begun to grow on me.

The Strokes - One thing interesting about concerts is the crowd that goes to see them. At B&S you had the hip indie crowd of all ages. At The Strokes I think I was the oldest person there. Everyone was about 14 and dancing (and elbowing me) like crazy. Even though the crowd was super young and annoying, it felt much more like a real rock concert becasue they all screamed and jumped up and down when Julian Casablancas came out. I felt like I was at a Rolling Stones or Beatles concert. We were on the floor at the SF Design Center but not as close as at B&S so we got the worst of both worlds - being jostled about but not getting a close-up view. They're still fantastic in concert, though.

Brazilian Girls - I was introduced to Brazilian Girls by Ani, but hadn't listened to their album before I went to the concert. They reminded me of Pink Martini, singing in different languages. I wasn't crazy AT ALL about the lead singer's mask - she wore this piece of white organza over her face, lifting it up so it uncovered her mouth later on, but never taking it completely off. It was really annoying not to be able to see her face. Anyway, they have great dance music and I danced for the first time in a long time. Definitely a fun concert.

In August we're going to see Death Cab for Cutie, whom I saw last fall, but this time will be at the Greek (like Radiohead), which will be much better than the Warfield. We decided to pass on the Flaming Lips and the Raconteurs. Just too much going on this summer. I do like the Raconteurs (Jack White's new band) though, and I'm amazed at how mainstream the Flaming Lips have become.

Well, since I so rarely blog about music (I'm not into music or being up on the latest greatest NEARLY as much as Martin or some of my friends), here is a list of what I've been listening to in the past year or so - some of it new, much of it older:

Sigur Ros
Air
The Strokes
Death Cab for Cutie
Modest Mouse
The Raconteurs
Ambulance
The Avalanches
Sia
Zero Seven
Radiohead
Belle & Sebastian
The White Stripes
The Notwist
Yo La Tengo
The Decembrists
The Shins
Nico
Le Tigre
Ladytron
Pizzicato Five
Badly Drawn Boy
Sufjan Stevens

There are also tons of great bands I hear on XMU but there are so many that I can't keep track. Some I remember are: Acid House Kings, Milosh, Nada Surf, Sun Kil Moon, The Go! Team, Mobius Band, and the list goes on.

I Love Google

2006-06-24T08:37:00.000-07:00

One thing I love about Google is their sense of humor. I just noticed that when you open your Spam folder in G-mail, they have a link titled "Spam Hashbrown Bake-serves 8" and when you click on it, this is what you get:

Title: SPAM HASHBROWN BAKE
Categories: Main dish
Yield: 8 Servings

1.00 pk Frozen hashbrown potatoes,
-thawed slightly (32 oz)
0.50 c Butter or margarine, melted
1.00 t Salt
1.00 t Pepper
0.50 t Garlic powder
2.00 c Shredded Cheddar cheese
1.00 cn SPAM Luncheon Meat, cubed
-(12 oz)
1.00 cn Cream of chicken soup
-(10 3/4 oz)
1.50 c Sour cream
0.50 c Milk
0.50 c Chopped onion
0.25 c CHI-CHI's Diced Green
-Chilies, drained
2.00 c Crushed potato chips

Heat oven to 350'F. In large bowl, combine potatoes, melted butter,
salt, pepper, and garlic powder. In another bowl, combine cheese,
SPAM, soup, sour cream, milk, onion, and green chilies. Add SPAM
mixture to potato mixture; mix well. Pour into 2-quart baking dish.
Sprinkle with potato chips. Bake 45-60 minutes or until thoroughly
heated.

MMMMM

"Will This Marriage Last?"

2006-06-21T10:58:00.000-07:00

How appropriate. Po Bronson, author of What Should I Do With My Life and Why Do I Love These People is running a series of posts on his blog this week titled "Will This Marriage Last?" I am anxiously awaiting his next post!

Six Feet Under

2006-06-20T17:18:00.000-07:00

I finally watched the finale of Six Feet Under. First of all, now that my friend Jenn has watched episode 9, I can say "Holy Shit! They killed Nate!" I know this is really old news for anyone who has HBO, but I don't, so I had to rent the last season from Netflix. It was so sad when Nate died, but so good. It was all so good. What a great but depressing show. I loved the finale, too. Such a perfect ending for a show that takes place in a funeral home. I'm sad to see it end, though.

Friendship has many faces

2006-06-20T17:15:00.000-07:00

A friend of mine is upset with me - doesn't want to come to my wedding partly because she says she doesn't feel she's a part of my life anymore. I drove a long ways to her birthday dinner back in November, and she came to our wine tasting party in February, but I haven't seen her since and that's mostly my fault because a few weeks ago when we did make tentative plans to see a movie, I completely forgot and never called her. We had no firm plans, so it wasn't in my calendar, not that that's an excuse. I just have so much going on right now that sometimes I need someone to e-mail me or call me a couple of times before plans are firm and in my Palm Pilot. I tried to explain that I am insanely busy (nearly fainted while driving-if that's possible-from stress, remember?), that I just graduated, am working on a book proposal and planning a wedding, that I hardly see my friends who live three miles away and she lives much farther, but she is still upset and doesn't want to make plans with me or come to my wedding. I guess there's not much I can do about it. I wish her well and hope that some day she will stop being angry with me and give me a call. I have friends that I talk to very seldom, that I see once a year, or not for many years, but we are still close friends and I am always excited to see them when I do and I always wish we lived closer so we could see each other more often. In fact, I have two close friends from Michigan, whom I only see once a year at Christmas, who are flying out for our wedding. I have another friend in Seattle, whom I haven't seen in four years, who is also hoping to come. I have a friend in Paris whom I saw last summer for the first time in TEN years and whom I can't wait to visit again. All this to say that friendship has many faces - friends who only call when they're in town, friends who send Christmas cards once a year, friends you don't talk to at all for years and friends whom you see once a week or once a month or e-mail ten times a day. I'm very thankful for all those friends.

Giraffes in Calistoga

2006-06-20T16:39:00.000-07:00

In other news, I am no longer in a foul mood (yay!), even though I have a student with two no-shows who doesn't want to pay me for them (sigh). Such is the life of a freelancer.

Sunday Martin and I spent the day running wedding errands. First we went to Walnut Creek to buy him a shirt and a tie. We went to about ten different stores in the mall, but all I bought was some face cream with SPF. Then we went to Calistoga to look at hotels for people who aren't staying at the ranch. The second one we stopped at was called "Safari West." It was a bit expensive ($225/night), but so near the ranch that we thought we should at least stop in and look. What we didn't expect was to find that Safari Ranch isn't just a hotel, it's a wildlife preserve. I saw 10 giraffes, including a baby! And some wild cat (I forget it's name), but we didn't get the full tour because it's $62 and takes 3-4 hours. They have buffalo! And cougars! It occurred to me at that point, as I was dripping with sweat at 5 p.m. in June, that it's going to be f---ing hot in Calistoga in August. I had a minor panic attack. "Why didn't we have our wedding next to the ocean? Where there's an ocean breeze? What were we thinking? It's going to be so f---ing hot! And there aren't enough umbrellas for everyone. And what if there are no umbrellas on the tables for dinner?" It will definitely be in the 90s during the day in August. Maybe up to 100. I just hope that by 6 p.m. it's cooled down to the 80s. And I'm happy there's a pool. I think I'll tell people to wear their suits beneath their suits. On the way out of Safari West, Martin asked the woman who was showing up around whether a lemur was the guy in Madagascar who sings, "I like to move it, move it. I like to move it, move it." (He loves that song.) "Yes," she replied, trying not to laugh. "That's a lemur." I wish we'd had a camera with us that day.

An Inconvenient Truth

2006-06-20T15:54:00.000-07:00

Saw the Gore movie Saturday night - "An Inconvenient Truth." It was bascially a documentary of his PowerPoint (or whatever youc all the Mac version - I forget) presentation that he has given "more than 1000 times." It's interesting, but I would definitely have liked more hard facts and more footage of polar bears, glaciers, etc. and less footage of Gore on his PowerBook putting the presentation together. There was a great cartoon of a polar bear, but I would have liked to see a REAL polar bear (for instance.) Anyway, what did I learn? Global Warming is definitely happening, definitely a crisis, definitely goinig to get a LOT worse in the next 50 years. The graph of the last seven ice ages stuck with me most. It showed the relationship between carbon dioxide in the atmosphere and temperature change and it is VERY clear from the graph that this is not cyclical. The carbon dioxide levels are far far higher than ever before and rising exponentially, and temperature is clearly linked to it. What bothers me is we don't know WHEN these changes are going to take place. I heard NY Times reporter Andrew Revkin (who wrote ""The North Pole Was Here" interviewed on NPR last week and, like Gore, he said that if Greenland melted, the sea level would rise 20 feet. Anyway, he said it would happen over thousands of years, while Gore made it sound like it could happen in the next 50. I want answers - consistent answers! For anyone interested in climate change, Gore suggests you visit climatecrisis.org You can also visit this blog. The big question everyone has (which I've addressed before) is: What can I do? Here are a few things you can do:

Replace incandescent bulbs with compact fluorescent bulbs
Move your thermostat down 2 degrees during the winter and up 2 degrees during the summer (also turn if OFF at night during the winter and use an extra comforter)
Clean or replace the filters on your heater and air conditioner
Use less hot water
Use a clothesline instead of a dryer (also keeps your clothes from shrinking!)
The list goes on and on and on. Visit climatecrisis.org and click "Action" on the right sidebar for more ideas.

Foul Mood

2006-06-16T10:40:00.000-07:00

I also have to say that I've been in a foul mood this week, and I don't know why. The only explanation that really makes sense is hormones because it's that kind of mood I get in every month. This time it's not "that time of the month," but I did go off birth control (yes, we do want to have kids), and I think that's messing me up. It's so unfair that men don't have to deal with hormone changes. PMS sucks. Moodiness sucks. Depression sucks, and short of taking drugs (maybe that's what I need), there's nothing we can do about it. Anyway, after a very successful rock climbing trip during which I led more and more difficult climbs than I've ever led before, I have little desire to climb. I'd rather do yoga, hike, surf, read, watch TV, just about anything else but climb, and it makes me sad that every time I start to get better, I lose interest in climbing. I get burned out/bored so easily when I do too much of one thing. I'm also working on a book proposal to send out to agents, and my self-imposed deadline was May 31, and it's still not done. So I'm pissed off at myself about that. I've spent more than one day sitting here at the Grotto (where I rent an office to write two days a week) editing, blogging, e-mailing and getting no work done on my proposal. Wedding invitations are overdue and they're not even made, much less mailed (Most people who are invited already have the details, but I haven't even notified some people-like my cousins-yet.) AND I ate like a cow two days ago-a fruit and cheese danish and half a box of cookies-so I spent three hours at the gym yesterday. Okay, this post is depressing. Maybe I've been watching too much Six Feet Under. We're renting the last season and have watched all but the last disc and holy shit is that show good but depressing. The night after we watched the episode where the guy at the beginning gets mauled by a mountain lion, I had a terrifying dream that Martin and I were in a tent in the mountains and there were three grizzlies and two tigers the size of elephants nearby looking for food and we had all our food IN OUR TENT with us! I sat there cowering in fear as I watched them tear about two big dogs. In the end though, we got away. On the flip side of my bad mood, I DID get a lot done on my proposal the past two days and hope to finish it by Monday. I also have most of the wedding planning done besides the invitations (and ceremony and vows). And I just graduated, so I should stop being so hard on myself. I really think that's my problem, that I expect myself to exceed in everything I do and get angry at myself when I don't. Why is that and how can I fix it?

Letting Go

2006-06-15T21:51:00.000-07:00

Last week I had a client who refused to pay me, and I spent several days being pissed off about it and dreaming up plans for revenge. But in the end, all I can do is try not to make the same mistake next time and make sure that I get paid up front or in person in the future rather than trust someone to mail me a check. For tutoring, most clients pay me for the month in advance, so it’s not an issue, and for editing, clients pay me 50% up front and the other 50% afterward, so that’s not an issue either. But this particular instance was a combination of tutoring for a couple of hours and editing for a couple of hours and rather than insist that the UC Berkeley student pay me when I met with her, I trusted her to send me a check once the editing was completed. Now she’s not returning my e-mails or phone calls and I don’t have her home address, so there’s nothing I can do but let it go and hope she got a terrible grade on her paper (not that I’m spiteful). The reason she is refusing to pay me is that, after she waited until 10 p.m. the night before her paper was due to send it to me for editing (when she was originally supposed to send it to me two days prior), she wanted me to rewrite it for her, and I refused. I copyedited it for grammar, spelling, punctuation and continuity and sent it back to her, and she was pissed. I should have known when she came to me complaining about the incompetence of another editor that she’d be bad news. So now I'm letting go. I'll still e-mail her an invoice from time to time with a reminder that she hasn't paid her bill, but emotionally I'm giving up on getting anything out of her. C'est la vie.

Bridezilla Two

2006-06-12T00:20:00.000-07:00

I've been so stressed out lately. I haven't been sleeping well, and I almost fainted while driving yesterday. I was on my way to pick up my dress from the alterations woman and I got stomach cramps so badly I had to pull into the Long's parking lot and put my head between my knees. All this wedding planning is just too much stress. No matter how much I do, there's still a ton more. So far I have:

Booked ...
The venue
The photographer
The cake
The flowers
The DJ
The ceremony musicians

Bought...
The dress (and fitted it and altered it)
Candles for the tables

Done...
A make-up trial
A registry at four places (not done yet)
A wedding website
Room assignments for the ranch
Ordered wine country brochures
Planned the day after the wedding, and the day before

Looked at...
Name and table place cards
Invitations

Chosen
Colors for linens
Flowers
Favors (yes, I'm even doing favors! What has become of me?!)
Names (yes, names!) for the dinner tables
The cake
The menu

But I still need to:
Finish making the invites and mail them
Finish putting together out-of-towner packets and mail them
Buy shoes and jewelry
Do something with my hair
Create a music playlist
Write the ceremony
Write my vows
Shop for rings
Visit hotels and choose hotels people can stay in
Get a marriage license
Make the guest book
Buy lanterns

It never ends! And I'm getting so little writing done. Sheesh!

Minima Black

2006-06-09T15:44:00.000-07:00

I noticed while visiting a great blog yesterday called To Do List (more on that later) that there is now a Black Minima blog template. I'm bored with mine, so I'm switching to black for a while.

I think, therefore I am a thinker

2006-06-09T13:29:00.000-07:00

Since I often post entries and photos about things I'm doing - like climbing, backpacking, graduating, and making books - one may get the impression that I am a DOER, not a THINKER, which ins't true at all. It's just that thoughts are difficult to take photos of and photos look nice on blogs. Some things I have been thinking about lately:

1. Descartes (I think, therefore I am). I helped a woman write a paper on Descartes for her philosophy class this week and by coming up ways to refute his certainty argument and theory of substance dualism, I grew to believe even more strongly that there is no God. This doesn't mean I'll stop praying though.

2. Racism - as I was walking down the street the other day, I clutched my purse so it would stop banging against my leg. Just then, a big black man walked past me and looked at me clutching my purse and then at my face, and kept walking. I wanted to chase him down and explain that my purse had been banging against my leg, but I didn't.

3. Peak oil - The Economist says it's not true that we're running out of oil, but if it IS true and the geologists who are asserting that it's true are right - then we're pretty fucked. So just like I pray in case I'm wrong that there is no God, I would suggest that you start conserving energy just in case the Economist is wrong. I've discussed this with Martin and Aditi and have learned that the best way to conserve (besides buy a hybrid, like I did) is to not drive at all (I also take the casual carpool and BART when I go to the city two days a week, but I don't have a bike) or drive less - ride a bike when possible, carpool, take public transportation, etc. Also consume less of everything - heating, water, lights, etc. Use cloth grocery bags and recycle the others if you don't. Also buy locally grown produce instead of stuff imported from afar - a lot of energy is expended transporting it. If you have more suggestions, please let me know!

4. The Meaning of Life - New York Times war correspondent Scott Anderson came to the Grotto last week for lunch and talked about his experiences covering the war in Irak and, several years ago, Darfour. (He, by the way, has a novel out titled Moonlight Hotel.) Anyway, what struck me most about his experiences are how difficult it is to come back to normal life after being in a war zone. He said, like soldiers, it's difficult to talk to people about your experiences and, as I can imagine, very difficult to listen to other people's (he didn't say this, but I thought, "mundane") concerns after seeing babies' limbs blown off, etc. Listening to him made me want to go to a war zone and work for the Red Cross. It made me feel like our lives must seem SO mundane, so pointless, in comparison. At the same time, I'm glad I don't work in a war zone. I'm happy that I have nothing more to worry about than laundry and dishes and whether I fed the cats. What an easy time we live in.

5. Signs of the times. I was thinking yesterday how we associate Tang with the 70s and legwarmers with the 80s. What are some of the things we consume now, that will later remind us of the 00s? (And how will we refer to this decade?). Whether I'll remember these in the future or not, here are some things that are ubiquitous in my life:

a. Hand sanitizer - everyone's using it!
b. Blogs - everyone's got one!
c. Netflix - everyone's got that, too!
d. Of course, iPods, podcasts, evites and everything Internet-related
e. Digital cameras - everyone's got one!
f. XM Radio - it's becoming more popular
g. Hybrids - they're especially popular in Berkeley
h. Therapy - everyone's got a therapist - at least out here in CA
i. Anti-depressants - and most of them are on anti-depressants
j. Of course, yoga and pilates
k. Red, white and green tea

What else? I'm all thought out.

Owen's River Gorge

2006-06-09T12:25:00.000-07:00

This past weekend, we went rock climbing in Owen's River Gorge, 10 miles or so north of Bishop, off the 395. I have been too tired to unpack and do laundry, much less blog, since we got back late Monday night. It was a fun weekend and this year (unlike last year), I was prepared for the steep and rocky hike into Central Gorge, so it didn't seem as bad as I expected. We climbed on the Great Wall of China, or China Wall as we call it, and Warm-Up Wall on the first day. On the second day, we hiked into Upper Gorge and climbed on Triple Play Wall and Gorgeous Towers. I climbed Gorgeous itself, a classic in the gorge, which is a .10b - too difficult for me to lead, but not too bad on toprope. Aditi earned the nickname "Inchworm" and prompted Martin to say, "Aditi can climb anything if given enough time" after she top-roped the .11b on Gorgeous Towers. There wasn't time for everyone to climb it as it was the end of the day and we were climbing on someone else's rope. I did more leading this trip than I did at Red Rocks, where I led lots of .8s, but nothing harder. This time I led lots of .9s and one .10a. I was feeling brave for some reason - maybe because I led several times in the gym before the trip. I haven't climbed since we returned - too much editing and tutoring this week, and now I'm totally exhausted and still haven't put all the camping and climbing gear away. Here are a few pictures from the trip.

Owen's River Gorge from below (Notice Matt belaying Jenn on the right side)

Looking down on Gorgeous Towers from the parking lot
(Gorgeous is the arete in the far left of the frame)

Jenn on Gorgous Towers

Martin belaying Meghan on lead (You got me?!)

Aditi bathing in the river next to our campsite

Our campsite

Martin climbing on Upper Elbow Room

The backwards-seated belay, invented by Martin and perfected by Aditi

Highlights of the trip:

When I fell in the river fully clothed before breakfast after so carefully balancing on the log to pour water over myself
Porc chops and Pinot Noir at the Whoa Nellie Deli at the Mobil station in Lee Vining
Throwing a snowball at Martin on a stop through Sonora Pass
Peeing side by side with Aditi on the side of the road on our drive back - we didn't even bother to find separate trees
Aditi and Matt quoting Pulp Fiction, "I'm super fly TNT"
Jenn imitating Cartman: "Oh! RainBOW! Yeah, those are cool ..."
The sign at the top of the gorge that said, "No trundling and no posing," which prompted us to yell, "Stop trundling" and "Stop posing" at each other all weekend

Lowlight of the trip:
Very bad accident on the Sonora Pass. SUV clipped a camper - camper torn apart, SUV upside down - people still in it - young guy trying not to cry - I hope nobody died.

Procrastination

2006-06-01T21:05:00.000-07:00

Things I did today in order to procrastinate on a huge editing job that is due tomorrow and that I am not enjoying one bit:

1. Put up French class fliers all over Berkeley.
2. Looked online for a cute purse I saw a girl wearing and asked her where she got it. Never found it.
3. Registered at Williams-Sonoma for very expensive knives.
4. Looked at my E-vite to see who is coming to my shower.
5. E-mailed students to reschedule tutoring for next week.
6. Booked a florist for the wedding.
7. Looked at the website of the band we hired for the ceremony.
8. Bought vegetables.
9. Packed some things for rock climbing in Bishop this weekend.
10. Fed the cats.
11. Ate and ate and made tea and made more tea.
12. Looked to see what bands are playing in town next month.
13. Went to the bank.
14. Stopped at Berkeley Games and bought Martin a new board game.
15. Blogged about procrastinating.

Backpacking in Butano

2006-05-30T14:48:00.000-07:00

I don't have time to write much today because I have a lot of editing to do, so I am posting a few pix from my weekend backpacking in Butano State Park instead. It felt great to get outdoors, and I was reminded how much fun (and mellow compared to rock climbing) backpacking is.

Jenn, Aditi and I

Cori, Renee and Jenn

Trees

Jenn taking a rest

Aditi

Cori and Renee

Beautiful Butano

Ah, childhood

2006-05-24T15:15:00.000-07:00

On my way back from a florist in St. Helena, near Calistoga, yesterday morning, I stopped at Starbucks to drink some tea and eat a fruit and cheese danish. When I saw the New York Times sitting there, I missed those days when I had time to sit down and read a real newspaper, instead of just headlines online. So I bought the Times and plopped myself in an armchair next to a window. Next to me sat two kids - one about 15 and one about 10. "I can get a good one for about 200 bucks," the 10-year-old said. "But you have to know the right people. My dad bought this really nice watch and necklace for my mom and guess how much he paid? 246. They know these people ..."

Will the real Bustopher Jones please stand up?

2006-05-19T17:26:00.000-07:00

All of these women are named "Bustopher Jones"!

Midweek Excitement

2006-05-17T15:26:00.000-07:00

As I was walking from the SF Flower Mart (where I went to get ideas for flowers for our wedding) back to the Grotto at about noon today, a truck across the steet from me cut a corner too close and clipped the fire hydrant. Water sprayed out from beneath the truck until he drove off the hydrant, resulting in a 30-foot geyser. Then everyone standing nearby held up their phones to take a picture. I was one of them.

Bustopher Jones, MFA

2006-05-15T09:24:00.000-07:00

Well, after the MFA reading Friday night and graduation Saturday morning, I finally have my MFA. And now it's time for summer! I have a million plans for this summer, including planning a wedding, finishing (writing) my book, and lots and lots of reading. Something else I'd like to do, partly to make reading outside more enjoyable, is fix up the gardens in the backyard. We don't use the backyard, so the grass is worn or weedy in spots, and the gardens are unkempt. And I feel like I'm wasting my time in the garden when I could be reading a book. SO, I decided to kill two birds with one stone and rent books on CD and listen to them on my iPod while working out in the yard. Then it occurred to me to check the Berkeley Public Library so I wouldn't spend a fortune buying audio CDs (which I can't get used, like I can print books), and I discovered that I don't even have to rent them. With my Berkeley Public Library card, I can download audiobooks from the Internet for free. So, five minutes ago I downloaded Daisy Miller (which I must reread after reading The Master). Now I just need my sunscreen, my sun hat, some knee pads and a cup of lemonade, and I'll be all ready to go.

Final Project Photos

2006-05-09T23:38:00.000-07:00

Okay, after my long post about my final Book Binding project, here are some pictures of it. First is the box. Inside each window is a book inside another box, with a ribbon to pull it out. In the middle is the door, behind which is the "colophon," a sheet of paper with my name and the date. The photos inside the books are ones I took of friends who spent a Saturday posing in our spare bedroom.

Close up on a window of the house

The Dad-a kodex book

The Mom-a tunnel book

The son-a carousel concertina

The daughter-a concertina

Concertina close up

The baby-a Jacob's Ladder-remember playing with these as a kid?

Graduate MFA Reading

2006-05-08T09:55:00.000-07:00

Before I forget, the Mills College Graduate MFA Reading is this Friday, May 12, from 5 to 9:30 p.m. and I will be reading FIRST. I guess that's because I RSVP'd for a spot first. I'm happy to get it overwith early in the evening, although I haven't even decided what I'm going to read yet. Everyone's invited, so bring your dogs, your chickens, your headless snakes and your kids for some cheese, crackers, wine and good entertainment.

The Joy of Find and Replace

2006-05-05T17:46:00.000-07:00

I changed the name of a character in my book from Amy to Anna using Find and Replace, but forgot to match for capitalization, which resulted in my eating a steAnna cheese omelet, visiting the steAnna Caribbean and hoping I didn't contract chlAnnadia.

Where I've been the past two weeks

2006-05-05T16:04:00.000-07:00

Just when you were getting used to my two-line blog entries ...

I wrote a while back about how Martin said an Indian music class at Berkeley “bit him in the ass” and that I didn’t want that to happen to me with my Book Binding class, an elective I didn’t even need, at Mills. (By the way, Martin says I misquoted him and that he never said “bit him in the ass” and I told him that’s why I’m afraid of publishing a memoir, for fear that people I haven’t talked to in ten years are going to crawl out of the woodwork to say, “You misquoted me!” So, for the record, Martin said something along the lines of “it bit me in the ass” but because I didn’t have my reporter’s notebook with me at the time, I don’t remember his exact words.) Anyway, I didn’t want to ruin my GPA over an art class and I got a B+ and A- on my first two projects, so I knew I had to get an A on the final project (25% of the class grade) to get an A in the class. So when we turned in our proposals a month ago, mine was quite ambitious—to create a house-shaped box with five windows and a color photo of each member of the family in each one. The windows would open to reveal a small book that would illustrate that family member’s secret. I posted a blog entry asking people for secret ideas and got lots of great response—thank you!

Two weeks before the project was due, I got really stressed out about it and had trouble sleeping. I would wake up at 3 or 4 or 5 a.m. and not be able to fall back to sleep. I spent one weekend organizing and doing the photo shoot—a challenge since I know nothing about indoor photography—then designed the size and shape of the house and windows and took the following weekend off to visit the ranch, where we’re having our wedding. That left me two weeks (with only one weekend) to do the project. To keep this blog entry from going on for pages, I’ll quickly summarize: I worked almost every night until 1:30 or 2 a.m. until the Sunday before the project was due (on Tuesday.) That night I worked until 4 a.m. and got up at 9 to go to school. Monday night I worked until 8:30 a.m., slept for two hours on a couch at school, then worked until it was due at 1 p.m. But I hadn’t finished it, so my prof, Julie Chen, said I could turn it in on Thursday without any penalty since it was “above and beyond” what was required. Tuesday night I slept 10 hours then worked all day Wednesday (tutoring and doing other homework). At 10 p.m. Wednesday night, I started again and worked until it was due at 1 p.m. the following day. It was finished, and I turned it in. Julie, ever the perfectionist, told me I should add biographies of each character and I wholeheartedly agree, but I didn’t need to show it to her again (thank God!). Here is a list of the materials I used, and the steps I took to complete the project:

Materials
Paper—thin white paper, 90 lb black, red, yellow, white and orange paper, lots of card stock, several different decorative papers, off-white Mohawk paper
Tons of PVA (glue)
Exacto knife and lots of #11 blades
Bone folder
Scissors
Mechanical pencils
Pen
Screw driver as chisel substitute
Glue stick
Rocks from garden to flatten things
Acrylic paints
Newspaper and other scrap paper for gluing
Cutting mat (I bought one!)
Lots of book board
Lots of olive book cloth
Some gray book cloth
Yellow waxed thread
White unwaxed thread
Foam core board
Olive ribbon, pink ribbon, pink and white gingham ribbon
Lots of text books (both for props and text)
Six bone clasps
Olive ink
Dishwashing liquid
Many paint/ink/glue brushes
Tie-back (a sturdy type of “paper”)
Screwdriver
Mallet
Glossy color prints
Laptop for resizing photos
iPod to listen to while working
Fiancé to cook meals
Caffeinated tea (yes, I drank it) to stay up all night

Steps
Photo shoot—color and b+w photos of five people. Buy backdrop and film, rent hot lights, organize costumes and people, feed them, etc.

Design box—figure out size and shape of house and windows, how I’ll attach windows, cover box, etc. etc.

Shopping—spend endless hours making multiple trips to Blick, Pearl, Paper Source, Poppy Fabrics, Mills and Julie Chen’s home for paper, book cloth, ribbon and other supplies. I never did make it to Flax, but Paper Source has a great selection of paper now, too.

Make prototypes of each book, including a carousel concertina, another type of accordion book, a Jacob’s ladder, a tunnel book and a kodex (regular book).

Then make the real versions of each of those books, adjusting sizes, shapes, materials, etc. (I won’t go into the details of how to make each book—would take pages.)

Make boxes for each small book and a sixth for the door where the colophon would go. Let boxes dry overnight.

Cover all boxes with green book cloth. Glue green ribbon into bottom of boxes and glue more book cloth onto the top of that.

Cut layers of foam core board, book board and poster board and glue to the bottom of each box (Each had a different depth to match the depth of the book it held.) to raise them all to the height of the deepest box.

Cut boards in shape of house, then cut sides and make house-shaped box. Let dry.

Cut windows in top half of house using an Exacto. (It took me 25 cuts per side of each window, so that’s 100 per window x 7 windows=700 cuts, bending over, holding tight to the ruler so it wouldn’t slip=very sore back.)

Cut windows down smaller than window frame to make room for book cloth, etc. (another 50 cuts per window.)

Sand windows and window frames. Make sure frames match up perfectly with boxes.

Dye (white) tie-back green. Cover all windows in tie-back and flatten to dry.

Make loops using green book cloth, feed through bone clasps (all different sizes, therefore requiring all different sized loops) and glue to the windows of the house. (First use Exacto to cut divots in the windows so the ribbons will lie flat.)

Dye more tie-back green and use to attach windows to top of house.

Cover top of house with green cloth (this was a bitch because the windows were already attached, so I had to cut slits where the windows were and glue that edge down, then cut flaps for the other three sides of each window and tuck that part of the cloth in. It took forever and, in the end I ended up with some air pockets where I didn’t glue the cloth down well enough.)

Use screwdriver (if you don’t have the right-sized chisel) and mallet to punch holes through top of house, which is covered with book cloth. Make second loops out of book cloths and feed through holes and glue beneath.

Glue boxes to top of box, beneath windows.

Then glue bottom of box to both top of box and bottoms of small boxes.

Cut photos to right size and glue onto each window. Do the same with the colophon and the paper that goes on the front of the door.

Turn in project.

Sleep.

Sleep.

Sleep.

Lost and Found

2006-05-05T15:28:00.000-07:00

Mills just sent out an e-mail with a list of everything in the Lost and Found, so students could retrieve their things before the school year ends and they throw everything out. I am AMAZED at the list of things in Lost and Found that no one has retrieved and equally amazed that they took the time to type everything out. Here is the list for Keys ALONE. Then there are categories for discs, books, notebooks, reading glasses, sunglasses, glasses cases, watches, gloves, sweaters, sweatshirts, scarves, hats, bags and purses, other clothing, earrings, rings, necklaces ... and the list goes on. WOW. I should go shopping there tomorrow. My favorite is the one that says, "5 misc. keys and key ring that says “Look … my key ring says SHIT” "

***Keys***

- Volvo keys with orangish-yellow tag, in Children’s School, 12/14/05
- Black Chevy car key, in Mills Hall 9/15/05
- Copper-colored key, possibly to a vehicle, only marking is H76m
4/16/06
- Key “Curtis” black w/green tag
- Axxess+ on black wrist strap
- Keys with Subaru key, with “Spa fitness Centers” tag
- Key set with silver carbineer, black car key and bike lock key
- 3 pool keys on a Lake Tahoe key ring, 4/14/06
- Keys with blue carbineer and small compass and yellow tag, found in
library 5/9/05
- Key chain with “Fubu 05” lanyard with three keys and photo of child
keychain, 4/3/06
- Honda key and clicker, “Club” key, 2 other and blue bracelet on key
ring, 11/16/05
- Key to WO computer room, found in WO, 10/19/05
- Four small keys on ring with blue clip “waterfrontplaza.com” cleaner,
10/25/05
- “CH 751” key
- Lexus key, 2/13/06
- Mary Morse old front door key, in Founders 11/3/05
- Black Scion key, in Kimball 10/11/05
- Black Volvo key, other key with round keychain with bell, 4/11/06
- Key set with 2 kwikset keys, two AA Lock keys, one glow in the dark
tag, and round metal tag, 1/4/06
- 3 Mills keys on ring, 110/Px, #5, OMC, in Orchard Meadow computer lab,
12/15/05
- Single silver ILCO 1003a key, in CPM near 101 3/9/06
- “Curtis” vehicle key with black plastic top, in Mills Hall 12/5/05
- Bronze colored Schlage key with yellow rubber marker, 5/1/06
- Key set with Toyota key and clicker, kwikset key, other key and small
key on Nine West keychain, 3/9/06
- Mills keys (to Commuter Lounge and RC 178) on Kauai keychain, 11/8/05
- Key set with black leather Jeep logo keychain, Reel video tag, silver
“the Club” key, and one misc. key, found in Tea Shop
- 2 misc. keys on ring with red ribbon tied on, in library 4/18/06
- Keyset with 300ZX car key, 5 misc. keys and key ring that says “Look…
my key ring says SHIT”
- Keyset with one VW key, one bike lock key, one misc. key, toe nail
clipper and Canada Key chain
- Keyset with Ford key, clicker, one small misc. key, pink flashlight,
and Aloha Hawaii key chain
- Keyset with Strattec car key, clicker, VW key, two misc. keys and
happy face ring
- Keyset with three Assexx+ vehicle keys, one misc. “W” key and brown
leather Canada key chain, 8/26/05
- Keyset with gray topped car key, three small misc. keys, clicker,
“Prudence au Volant/Drivesafe” tag and brown leather key chain
- Blue lanyard with key ring, no keys
- Keyset with three misc. keys, one teal-top key (possibly a vehicle
key” and Bad Boys Bail Bonds black and teal strap
- Keyset with Toyota key, clicker, and red marked misc. key
- Single flowery key on Jackson Hole key ring
- Keyset with black car key, misc. blue marked key, clicker, blue “FW
Olin Library” flashlight, and Lake Tahoe key ring
- Clicker, no ring
- Keyset with seven keys, several being vehicle keys, key chain with
“Mills CL-DT” and bar-coded tag
- Keyset with black-top Cadillac key, clicker, and “Symes Cadillac” key
chain
- Keyset with black Volvo key, clicker, and misc. key
- Keyset with “Cole” black-top vehicle key, two misc. Cole keys, and
silver ovular solid brass key chain
- Keyset with black Nissan key and “W” key
- Keyset with black-top vehicle key, bike lock key, four misc. keys (one
with green marker)
- Single green-marked key on ring
- Single copper-colored unmarked key on ring
- Keyset with black-top Subaru car key, four misc. keys, one tiny key,
clicker and Rite Aid tag
- Key ring with silver clasp, no keys
- Keyset with black-top vehicle key, three misc. keys, and Castro Valley
Storage West flashlight key chain
- Black-top BMW key with built-in clicker, on fusion.com bottle-opener
key chain
- Keyset black-top Chevy key, misc. vehicle key, misc. key, and bike
lock key. Found near Prospect Hill apts, 5/10/04
- Keyset with black-top Honda key, two misc. keys and San Andres islands
key chain
- Keyset with black-top vehicle key, misc. vehicle key, two silver keys
and one small copper key
- Single “W” key on ring with Albertson’s card, found 9/9/05
- Black KARR clicker
- Black-top Toyota key, broken top, no ring
- Misc. silver key from Ace on ring
- Black-top Chrysler key
- Ring with two small keys and Albertson’s tag

DONE!

2006-05-04T19:53:00.000-07:00

DONE! Done, done, done. I'm done! (Dance, dance, dance.) More on the craziness of the past two weeks, including the raccoon in our living room last night, after I get some sleep.

Lost

2006-05-03T22:04:00.000-07:00

Holy shit. Did you watch Lost? That was better than the first episode of the Sopranos this season.

Thesis, Completed

2006-04-20T22:44:00.000-07:00

I turned in my thesis! Woo hoo!

Crack of Pain

2006-04-20T11:48:00.000-07:00

Last night I climbed one of the cracks in the gym for the first time. It was sheer agony. If you aren't familiar with crack climbing, imagine a smooth crack varying between two and four inches wide, then imagine jamming your hands and feet in there and walking up it. Pure masochism. My feet were in pain, my hands were in pain, and the swelling still hasn't gone down on my wrists (I was wearing Hand Jammies, but they only protect the backs of your hands.) Jenn tells me if I can climb that crack, I can climb any crack outside, so I'm going to keep at it until I can do it as quickly and painlessly as she can.

Looking for a good book to read?

2006-04-19T16:59:00.000-07:00

Colm Tóibín's The Master, a novel about the life of Henry James, is excellent. Now I want to go back and reread some of Henry James' novels and his most famous short story, The Turn of the Screw. The author, Colm Tóibín, will be visiting my workshop tomorrow.

I like to eat and play, too

2006-04-19T13:39:00.000-07:00

Our class was in tears laughing yesterday when our Book Binding professor, Julie Chen, told us that she often dreams about music, sometimes heavy metal music, that is so loud it wakes her up. She recalled one dream in which her cat was walking down the hallway singing very loudly. We asked what her cat was singing, so she imitated him for us: "I like to eeeat- and eat and eat and eat- and playyyyyy!" Maybe you had to be there. But we were crying.

Flickr Sucks

2006-04-18T05:14:00.000-07:00

I hate Flickr! Although I've heard that most photo uploading sites are similar, unless you pay a monthly fee. I spent an hour the other day downloading the Flickr uploader so I could post my Red Rocks photos for friends, but it asked me to resize each photo because they were too big. Resizing 95 photos would have taken me forever, so I gave up after three and told it to upload them as is. It only uploaded about 15 before it said I was out of bandwidth - for the MONTH. So I went onto Flickr and deleted all the photos with plans to resize them before re-uploading them, but it said, "Sorry, you've used your bandwidth for the month." So even though I only have ONE photo posted on Flickr, I have to wait until May to upload more. Screw Flickr! I'm uploading my photos on Snapfish (this month).

Easter Fun

2006-04-16T10:42:00.000-07:00

Witness the performance of Peep separation surgery, sent to me by Jon. And while you're at it, play the Where's Elliott game. Happy Easter!

One Big Happy Family

2006-04-16T10:02:00.000-07:00

Housewife Kari

Rebellious daughter

Bad-ass son

Cute baby

Dad with his Barbies

Sometimes we pretend to be things we aren't, like on Halloween when I pretend to be a rock star or Howard Stern. Last night, I pretended to be a photographer. I dusted off my old Nikon; bought some Tri-X 400 film, purchased a nine-foot backdrop and rented a hot light kit. Hot lights, you're wondering. What are those? I was wondering, too. What do I do with this umbrella and this screen and why are there no bulbs? Well, I found the bulbs, attached the umbrella and shot away. And I learned something valuable in the process. Hot lights are yellow. Natural light is blue. So if you shoot with hot lights without a blue filter, everything looks a little yellow. (I can't attach filters to my lens because the plastic is cracked at the end, so my lighting turned out pretty awful. But I had fabulous models and I'm hoping the print photos (here I've posted the digital backups) will turn out great.) This shoot, by the way, was for my final project for my Book Binding class. Preparing for it felt like preparing to lead a .10c - a frightening uknown. Friday I led a really overhanging .10c in the gym and hung about four times, so I figured the worst thing that could happen is that the print photos look terrible and I have to use the digital backups. Not the end of the world. They're going to be tiny anyway.

By the way, Barbies are a total pain to unwrap. They're tied into their boxes with a gazillion strings and wires, and their hair is actually sewn to the cardboard insert. I'm assuming that's so there's no way to return them once they've been taken out of the box.

Red Rocks Rocks

2006-04-14T12:08:00.000-07:00

Jenn and Aditi taping hands

Meghan in cold and windy Calico Basin

Aditi at the top of a .10a in Calico Basin

Martin climbing a .10a on Panty Wall

Our star rope gun, Sylvain

The gang without me

The gang with me

Well it's been two weeks and I still haven't blogged about my trip to Red Rock Canyon outside of Las Vegas. Because I had class Thursday until 4, we didn't get on the road until almost 5 and arrived at the group campsite at 3 a.m. An hour and a half outside of Vegas, I couldn't stay awake any longer and asked Aditi to take the wheel. She said she'd never driven on the freeway for more than 10 minutes, but I was desperate. There were no motels in sight and I've fallen asleep at the wheel (ran red light, got hit broadside) before. So while Grandma Aditi poked along in the slow lane at 60 miles an hour, I tried hard to refrain from saying, "We're going to arrive at 5 a.m. at this rate." The one time I convinced her to speed up and pass the car in front of us, she moved into the fast lane then hit the brakes. Another time she went onto the shoulder. So after I had a string of minor cardiac arrests, we switched back 20 minutes outside of Las Vegas. Aditi slept through our drive down the Strip except when I woke her to see a semi whose cab was in a ditch, whose contents were spilled all over the road and whose trailer was charred. Scary accident. The next morning we slept until 9, then trekked to Calico Basin with Jenn and Matt. Calico Basin sucked. We top roped a 5.8 and 5.10a, which were a lot of fun, but then set up ropes on two other climbs that proved to be unclimbable - one because the rope kept getting caught in the crack and the other because the first move was V4 bouldering move that none of us could do. So after an extremely cold and windy and whiny day, we bailed around 4 and went back to camp. That night we had planned to eat at the brewery in a strip mall between Red Rocks and Vegas, but the line was too long so we went to Islands next door. I hate Islands! The strawberry margaritas were good, but that's about it. Then we went to New York New York and after MUCH cajoling on the part of Jenn and I, we convinced Aditi to ride her first roller coaster. She kept her eyes closed the entire way, but she did do two upsidedown loops, including a corkscrew. I LOVE LOVE LOVE roller coasters, by the way, and was inspired to make a trip to Michigan this summer so I can take Martin down to Cedar Point in Ohio. If you've never been to Cedar Point, it has the biggest, best roller coasters in the country. Every year they build a bigger/better one and I haven't been since they installed the Millennium Force in 2000, so I have lots to catch up on. By the way, since I am getting a little old and do get motion sickness now and then, I have to throw my arms up in the air and scream all the way down every drop.

After we picked up Martin from the airport (which is conveniently located right near the Strip), Martin and I dragged Aditi (who was half asleep and wanted to go back to her tent to bed) to see the Mandalay Bay, The Hotel (I loved The Hotel, but didn't think the Mandalay Bay was anything special) and Luxor. We tried to make it to the pirate show at Treasure Island, but missed it by a few minutes. That's the second year in a row I missed the pirate show and I really want to see it. Around midnight we went back to the campsite to sleep.

Saturday we climbed at Panty Wall. I don't remember which climbs we did, but I do remember what some of them were called: Butt floss, Panty Line, Panty Liner, Victoria Secret, etc. We led three 5.8s and toproped a 5.10a, then hiked around the corner to lead a 5.6 and toprope a 5.10a slab from hell. That night Jenny and Sylvain arrived and we made a huge pasta dinner with beer and red wine and vegan chocolate chip cookies, then everyone crashed out early.

Sunday we climbed at Black Corridor. Martin, Aditi and I had to hit the road, so we toproped a 5.9, a 5.9+ and a 5.10c, then ate lunch and hiked back to the car. I really want to be able to lead more 5.9 sport climbs (and eventually 5.10a's) outside, so I since have been toproping .11s and leading .10s in the gym. I just wish all the outdoor climbs had 10 feet of foam beneath them like the gym does. I'm terrified to fall before the first clip, so I won't lead anything unless I'm absolutely sure I won't fall. Then again, isn't that how everyone climbs? (before the first two clips.)

We left at 3:15, got stuck in horrible traffic on the 15 and didn't make it home until 2:30 a.m. Martin drove most of the way while I tried unsuccessfully to do homework and Aditi and Martin shared a diet Cherry Vanilla (or is it Vanilla Cherry?) Coke so they wouldn't fall asleep.

Red Rocks is a wonderful place to climb, especially if you want to go out and gamble at night. Oh, I forgot to mention that Aditi and I played $2 in the $.05 slots and lost $.35. It was a rough night.

I am looking forward to climbing in Owen's River Gorge end of May but NOT to that death hike into the gorge. At least this year I'll know not to wear sandals, and I've got baking soda in my first aid kit to combat the stinging nettles along the river.

Secrets

2006-04-12T16:07:00.000-07:00

This weekend I will be doing a photo shoot of a family (mom, dad, son, daughter and baby) and their secrets. The family isn't a real family, although they do happen to be related, and their secrets aren't real either. This is for my final book binding project. The assigment is to depict public and private space by combining two (or more) books in one. I am building a box in the shape of a house with five windows. In each window will be the smiling face of one of the family members. Behind that smiling face (when you open the window) will be a small structural book - each one different - illustrating that person's secret or secrets. The books will vary in structure. One will be a tunnel book, another a carousel concertina and so on. Each one will be illustrated with black and white photos, so I need secrets that can be photographed. For example, the boy (who will look tough in the window) will be a cross-dressing ballerina (wearing a tutu.) the problem is that I don't want the secrets to be too cliché. My first thoughts were abuse, gambling, cutting, etc. but I'd rather think of some that are less depressing. I've skimmed PostSecret, but still need some more ideas for the mom, the dad and the teenage daughter. Got any?

Tragic Trip to Tilden

2006-04-08T19:13:00.000-07:00

I wish I had a photo of this, but I've only recently begun carrying my camera with me. The day after the Day Spa from Hell, Martin and I decided to drop by Tilden to see if Lake Anza was open yet. I've been dying to go swimming and never have time to go to the pool while I'm at school. We arrived to find the path occluded by a giant puddle, so Martin suggested we cut across the grassy field straight to the stairs that lead down to the lake. I was wearing flip-flops becasue we were on our way home from a yoga class. Halfway across the field I realized my flip flops were flinging mud not only onto my calves but all the way up my pants to my butt. I took them off and ran the rest of the way through the muddy grass barefoot. Once at the lake, I dipped my feet and shoes in the water to wash them off. I was cold, wet and muddy and ready to get back in the car. On the way back to the parking lot we took a different paved path to avoid the field and the puddle and just as I was about to step over a ridge into the parking lot, my flip flop hydroplaned on the wet ashphalt and down I went, flat on my back. I hit the ground so hard and fast that I just lay there in the water crying. Martin helped me up and I limped back to the car wet and muddy from head to toe. "I hate Tilden," I told him and went home to take a hot bath.

Day Spa from Hell

2006-04-08T17:03:00.000-07:00

This photo is deceiving!

It was the last weekday of my spring break two weeks ago (I'm a little behind on blogging) and I wanted to do something that made me feel like I had actually taken a vacation (something other than tasting wedding cakes, visiting florists and posting tutoring fliers). So I convinced my friend Aditi to splurge on a day at a spa. Although I've been to many hot springs both in California and Japan, I'd only been to one day spa with my friend Alina - Nob Hill Spa in San Francisco. Nob Hill is a wonderful oasis with its private claw-foot bathtubs and swimming pool that overlooks the Victorian peaks of the city, but it's also a bit pricey ($115 and up for a massage, which includes use of the pool, tubs, sauna and steam room for as long as you want.) My friend Meeta mentioned she was going to Piedmont Spa that weekend so we called Piedmont Spa and discovered it was only $65 for a massage. They charged extra for the hottub, but for an hour that still came out to $80 and it was our understanding that we could stay in the steamroom (and lounge on the beds reading magazines and sipping tea, etc.) for as long as we wanted. So with tip we'd spend just under $100 - my kind of day spa. So we booked it with my credit card and got there to discover that we did not have an appointment at Piedmont Spa, but at Piedmont Springs, so we dashed between the raindrops across the street. Inside, we were greeted by two unfriendly women at the front desk women who took our money and handed up basket with thin cotton bathrobes. After of them escorted us to a private hot tub, we asked where the changing rooms were. "Here" she said. The hot tub had a shower head and drain next to it and we were supposed to just change and shower right there without a locker room or a sink or slippers ... oh, and the best part was that there was no roof, so it was sprinkling on our hot tub. So we change and get into the tub, trying to stay toward the end that was slightly covered by a roof. There was no hot tea, no bottles of water, no drinking fountain. I hadn't brought any water, assuming that they'd have some there, so we had to get up and drink out of the hose used to clean the shower when we were thirsty. And to use the bathroom we had to dry off, put our robes on, and walk out near the lobby where the public restrooms were. Toward the end of our half hour, we mistook the five-minute warning knock for the time-to-go knock and put our robes on and carried our clothes outside where there were no beds to lie in and no chairs to sit in. Not knowing what to do with us, the woman at the front desk escorted us up one of those teeny tiny spiral staircases (like the one in the Statue of Liberty) to a hideous waiting room furnished with patio furniture and cheesy women's magazines. We waited there until our masseuses came to get us. My masseuse was a woman who looked more like a man and who was wearing muddy hiking boots and cargo pants - not exactly what I was expecting. The good thing was that she was strong and gave me a good massage, which almost made up for the fact that she was using lotion - not oil - one of those brands you buy at Safeway like St. Yves. After my massage, I asked the way to the steam room and my masseuse's response was, "Did you book one?" Book one? I thought that the steam room was included? Nope. $10/half hour/person. So it was pay the $20 or leave. So we agreed to pay and they escorted us back down the teeny tiny spiral staircase to a steam room - at least it was private. Again, we had to jump out the steam room when we wanted to take a drink - this time out of the shower itself since the hose was on the floor. And if we wanted to take a shower, a beautiful bottle of Anti-bacterial Softsoap, the kind you buy for your kitchen sink, was at our disposal. The minute our half hour in the steam room was up, a woman banged to tell us to lock the door on the other side of the steam room that led to a second changing room so another couple could get ready to go in. They didn't hose or wipe down the steam room that I could see, just herded us out and the next couple in. On our way out we left tips, but forgot to pay for the steam room. The staff never mentioned it and we didn't go rushing back through the rain once we remembered halfway down Piedmont Ave. We end our day by drinking Rooibos chai and eating mochi and almond cookies at l'Amyx. I felt relaxed from the hot tub and massage, and happy to be spending time with a good friend, but I will never return to Piedmont Springs.

An Apple with Windows

2006-04-05T12:56:00.000-07:00

First Apple came out with the MacBook Pro (which I bought last month after my future brother-in-law insisted my Powerbook G4 would be obsolete within a year, then returned unopened the following week after a bout of buyer's remorse), with its Intel processor. Then today Apple released Boot Camp, software that allows Mac users to run Microsoft Windows on their machines. Now all you people who want to be cool like us Mac users but need to run Windows software can have the best of both worlds - great design and versatility. Except the cost. Macs still cost significantly more than PC computers. Guess you get what you pay for. By the way. the NY Times headline "Should Microsoft just buy Apple?" pained me. NO. It should NOT.

Happy Talk

2006-04-05T11:45:00.000-07:00

It's very rare that I hear a song on the radio to which I know the lyrics. Maybe that's because I sing like a frog, so I rarely sing out loud. Or maybe it's because I can't understand what the singer is saying half the time. But yesterday on FRED, XM Radio's 80s rock station, I heard Captain Sensible's (whoever that is) hard rock version of South Pacific's Happy Talk, which brought back fond fourth-grade memories. We must have learned Happy Talk in music class because I don't have any recollection of our school putting on the play. What I do remember is singing it over and over and over with my friends - on the bus, on the playground, in the classroom, upside down ... and yesterday, in my car. Here it is:

Happy talk, keep talkin' happy talk,
Talk about things you'd like to do.
You got to have a dream,
If you don't have a dream,
How you gonna have a dream come true?

Talk about the moon floatin' in the sky
Lookin' at a lily on the lake;
Talk about a bird learnin' how to fly.
Makin' all the music he can make.

Happy talk, keep talkin' happy talk,
Talk about things you'd like to do.
You got to have a dream,
If you don't have a dream,
How you gonna have a dream come true?

Talk about the sparrow lookin' like a toy
Pickin' through the broaches of a tree;
Talk about the girl, talk about the boy
Countin' all the ripples on the sea.

Happy talk, keep talkin' happy talk,
Talk about things you'd like to do.
You got to have a dream,
If you don't have a dream
How you gonna have a dream come true?

Talk about the boy sayin' to the girl:
"Golly, baby, I'm a lucky cause."
Talk about the girl sayin' to the boy:
"You an' me is lucky to be us!"

Happy talk, keep talkin' happy talk,
Talk about things you'd like to do.
You got to have a dream,
If you don't have a dream
How you gonna have a dream come true?

If you don't talk happy,
And you never have dream,
Then you'll never have a dream come true!

NYTimes.com

2006-04-03T13:50:00.000-07:00

I don't like the New York Times online's new design. Do you?

Hungry Ferret

2006-03-26T13:47:00.000-08:00

There is a hungry ferret living in my intestines. He gnaws on them until I sedate him with Ibuprofen, then it wears off and he wakes up, hungrier than ever. I had plans to rock climb today, to meet a friend for lunch and a client for tea, to tutor for three hours and to visit friends tonight. Instead I have watched the first four episodes of the first season of Project Runway because I can't get up off the couch. I was up and down all night with these knife-like pains in my abdomen. They're milder now, but it still hurts to walk. I don't know what I have, but I wish it would go away. At least I'm getting some reading done and finally starting on my taxes (I don't usually wait this long to do them!). When I feel better I'll write about the Belle & Sebastian concert, the Strokes concert, my Tragic Trip to Tilden, and the Day Spa from Hell.

A Good Way to Waste Time

2006-03-19T23:14:00.000-08:00

If you need a distraction, watch this video curtesy of my friend Whitney. And if anyone speaks German, we'd love to know what this kid is saying (beyond "Was ist das?"). And if you liked that one, watch this one, too. By the way, I'm having trouble uploading photos to my blog or I'd include one with this.