media update: june

this, of course, is more for my own remembrance than anything else. asterisks denote something i particularly enjoyed. follow this advice at your own risk.


MOVIES:
No Reservations
Tiptoes (worst movie ever)
Deliver Us From Evil
MI: III
Bee Movie
Sprout (excellent soundtrack)
Gone Baby Gone
Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (repeat in-theater viewing)
Encounters at the End of the World *
Be Kind Rewind
Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom
Delirious


BOOKS:
"Unaccustomed Earth" Jhumpa Lahiri


MUSIC DOWNLOADS:
The New Pornographers "Challengers"
The New Pornographers "Mass Romantic" *
Joel Auge "So Deep In Love" (iTines free download)
Jorge Villamizar "Como Vivir Asi" (iTunes free download)
Sam Sparro "Black and Gold" (iTunes free download)
Karina "Can't Find the Words" (iTunes free download)
Rebelution "Safe and Sound" (iTunes free download)
Don Tetto "No Estaba Acostumbrado" (iTunes free download)

Six word sunday: Here we go Giants, beat Oakland!

glass slide

i heeded the siren call of evil. i'm ashamed, almost.

i bought a new purse.

but lookit how lovely it is!

marc by marc jacobs faridah hobo

that's it! enough!
(for now, anyway)

and now for something completely different...

Ryanair to offer free blowjobs in first class

seems like not all the air carriers are cutting back service...

all over the map

Things are...okay. Better, certainly. Good, even

My father was released from the hospital on Wednesday, after a heart attack was ruled out and the blood clots in his lungs started dissipating. He is required to be off work until at least Thursday of this week, and being the workaholic that he is, it's driving him nuts. Add in the heat we had last week, and he's going stir crazy. We did go to the pool to cool off on Friday night and Saturday morning, but he just waded in enough to get cool.

But the truth is this, as said by his doc in the hospital -- he's lucky to be alive. Every time I allow myself to really think about that I feel sick to my stomach.

six word sunday: traffic proved worse than he anticipated

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the laws have changed

my father drove himself to the E.R. yesterday morning because he couldn't breathe. turns out he has blood clots in his lungs. he underwent (planned) surgery on thursday to repair a torn meniscus and the doctor thinks this brought on the clots. well, between the surgery and sitting on a plane for 5 hours last week on his return from maui.

at the time the doctor also thought he might have had a heart attack, but they've since ruled that out. thankfully.

he was admitted to the hospital and will be on strict bed rest until wednesday, at least. he's on blood thinners and was on blood pressure meds so hopefully the former works as well as the latter did -- they only kept him on the blood pressure meds through today as we've seen a notable improvement in his blood pressure since his admission to the hospital. he has "bathroom privileges" but even walking the short distance to the en suite bathroom in his (private) room while still attached to oxygen gets him winded.

yesterday was my mother's birthday and my parents 31st wedding anniversary, and of course today is father's day. to say it has been a rough, emotional weekend is an understatement. we spent all day there yesterday, from 10a-8p, and from about 10:30a-5p today. i can truly say i have never felt as scared as i did yesterday that things just might not be okay. i am trying to stay positive and feel like things look brighter today.

if you could spare some good thoughts, could you send them this way?

sushi mania

i never told you about the sushi making class i took in april!

this was, of course, before samantha jones in the "sex and the city" movie made sushi truly, erm, edible.

the class was so much fun! not only did we learn from true sushi chefs, but we also got an etiquette lesson ("never place your chopsticks up and down in a bowl of rice -- it's a symbol of death," among others).

and the best part was that we got to eat our creations.

this was made by one of the chefs right before our eyes from fresh bamboo growing outside the restaurant. none of that fake grass stuff here!


tuna handroll


all the good stuff


tuna and salmon skinny roll, in process


tuna and salmon skinny roll


tuna and avocado inside-out roll, in progress


inside-out roll

kani and tobiko


ebi


i've never left a class so delightfully stuffed. now i just have to try my hand at making them at home...

challengers

it feels like my weekends are getting shorter.

friday night i did a whole lot of nothing, after buying my sister a wedding planning binder and heading to trader joe's. while at TJs, i discovered they have kettle corn in a bag that is to die for! i gorged myself on nearly half a bag and felt so sick that i turned down two invitations to have dinner and hang out. lesson learned.

saturday i was up at the crack of 6a for some reason, meaning i got pretty much no sleep. i went to a photo fair i read about but it was a total bust. it was a $5 entrance fee with the coupon, and i walked the entire thing in 10 minutes and found nothing i was looking for (polaroid film and camera accessories). on the way home i happened upon (supposedly) the last ritz camera with spectra film, and scored a two pack, which was all the had. my stockpile continues to grow.

i met my sister and her fiance on the peninsula to look at two wedding venues. the first was gorgeous, but way too small for what their needs are. the second is decent and now their first choice. she did exactly what i knew she'd do -- look at two, decide one was good enough, and be settled. i'm the exact opposite -- if i haven't looked at 500 places and left no rock unturned, then there could possibly be something better. surely there is some middle ground between us. but because it isn't my wedding, i said i thought they should look at at least one more place before forking over the deposit, and nothing more. we had lunch afterwards, and lots of laughing and fun ensued as we headed to the sporting goods store nearby and her fiance was riding skateboards around the store. he is 25 going on 5.

i came home and got ready to meet Angie to head to yoshis to see orchestra baobab perform. i'd been there years ago when i was dating andy but we'd only gone for the show. this time i was ready for sushi saturday and we feasted on pretty much the whole menu. the toro nigiri was delicious, as was the rest of what we ordered. the show was so great! they have so much energy, and for a venue that usually seems to attract stiff-collared jazz patrons, the place was rocking. many of the audience members got up to dance freely in the narrow aisles and the whole diverse crowd reminded me so much of the "chapelle's show" skit:




folks definitely had their favorite rhythms. we also sat at a table with a woman who could've been heylia james' twin sister. she threw out barbs, looks and judgments that would make her "twin" sister proud.

on the way home traffic was pretty bad, and it was due to an accident. as we were driving by Angie and i both looked over to see the poor man's splayed dead body lying there. the coroner had just arrived and hadn't yet draped the body. the image has been haunting me all day.

today was spent lounging in the morning, followed by hanging with Vanessa all day. we had lunch and went all around taking photos. i got some good shots of an old movie theater, and we hung out and watched planes takeoff and land at SFO for a bit. it's amazing how much i enjoy the little things like that. we have plans to hang out again tomorrow and friday night we'll head to SF for a movie night. yay!

my internet connection has been less than desirable lately, so i tweaked some minor things and it's running smoothly now. i also finally fixed my wireless network, and it's finally secure.

minor victories every day.

six word sunday: its purpose had long since expired

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i wish you had smell-o-vision

cause they were that good.



chocolate croissants. i made 'em.

give it time

despite not being able to remember what exactly i've been up to lately, i've been keeping busy.

our condo's annual meeting was last week, and i was elected to the board. [bunch of stuff redacted for fear of prying eyes.]

i was stuck at a work event saturday morning/early afternoon, an annual event that i dread. we've been a minor sponsor of a show since its inception three years ago, and each year i swear i won't do it again. this year i mean it. i use it to build our catering business, but this year was by far the worst -- there were no local buinsesspeople there, which is our target market. i provided free food on a much, much smaller scale than last year and am certain i didn't make any solid contacts. the good news is we've had several large catering orders within the last week and one coming up on thursday. my current focus is our catering business, and it's nice to see my efforts paying off.

the giants are no longer aired on our local FOX affiliate, which blows because it's one of the few HD channels i get over the air. they now play on our NBC affiliate, but because of other programming it's shown on another channel half the time. i don't get said other channel, as i no longer have cable. so it means that to get my baseball fix i'm currently being forced to watch *gulp* the A's. look -- they're advertising jobs in the oakland police department!

i saw "sex and the city" friday night like so many others. Lisa, Sarah, Julia and i made it a night out and ate at la fondue. they serve so much food, and we all left stuffed to the gills. their menu has some wild game on it, and i tried crocodile for the first time, as well as ostrich and buffalo. for someone who was a vegetarian for 15 years and who still doesn't eat beef, this was quite a feat. it could have been the complimentary shots they bring you that made me so adventurous. the movie was kind-of "meh," i'm pretty sure i'm over that stage of my life in liking "sex and the city."

the most exciting news is that i'm going to boston with my friend Greta in august. we're going to be there for my birthday and the red sox play at home on my actual birthday so i set out to purchase tickets. i tried their website, but none were available, so i called their ticket office. turns out they've been sold out for-EVER and my only hope was to call back at the end of july and hope they had some tickets left over, originally intended for the press to be released to the public. i tried stubhub, but i didn't think paying $65 for STANDING ROOM ONLY tickets was appropriate, world series champs, my birthday, or not, plus their fees. so i found some on eBay, from a seller with 100% positive feedback and about a gazillion feedback in general, and now have two bleacher (ouch) seats for a mere $109 with shipping (ouch) in my possession. i've never been to boston, and c'mon, it's fenway. ON MY BIRTHDAY.

did i mention i like baseball?

six word sunday: soon, sophia will make her appearance

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