January 27, 2006
love me some quizzies
I was reading stacyo's blog and was inspired to find out: What city do I belong in?
You Belong in London |
 A little old fashioned, and a little modern. A little traditional, and a little bit punk rock. A unique woman like you needs a city that offers everything. No wonder you and London will get along so well. |
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So, tomorrow is my Japanese dinner/slide show. The first real party I've had since J & I moved here. I've ordered a couple big party trays from Kyoto Sushi, and hope to find the time to whip up some "raw food" style sushi as well. Which consists of fillings like macadamia nut paste (instead of rice), thin slices of fresh veggies and a variety of pestos and tapenades, all wrapped up in nori or collard greens. One of the guests I've invited is a raw food aficionado, so I hope to impress her with my renditions of the recipes I got from my health-nut friends in Hawaii.
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Been reading a really engrossing series of graphic novels called Strangers in Paradise — enjoying them so much, i never want them to end. Good thing is, there are at least 4 or 5 more volumes to go. The writer/artist, Terry Moore, is equally skilled at both sides of the equation: the storyline *and* the art. I'm humbled by his talents.
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The fish are doing well. Their water has been a bit cloudy since the first week I got them, but I read into it and it sounds like we're probably overfeeding them. It's cute, cause J has gotten quite excited about helping me take care of them; the only downside of his enthusiasm was the double-feeding that sometimes occurred. But I think we're in sync now: I do the feeding, he does the light-turning-on/off if he remembers to do so sooner than I do.
Furthermore, just to give you some insight into how nutty I am about these fish, I went to the pet store and bought them two varieties of frozen food that goldfish are supposed to like: bloodworms (ew!) and brine shrimp. Plus some fresh cucumber, along with a cute clownfish-shaped "fresh veggie holder" clip that sticks to the side of the aquarium using a handy suction cup. Who'd've guessed that fish feeding had reached such dizzying heights of technology?
When I got home, I was eager to see whether they'd like the cucumber, so I cut off a thin slice to insert into the clownfish clip, and J suctioned it into the tank. No bites. So then he jumped at the chance to try an experiment he'd been noodling over ever since I told him that goldfish like to eat cucumbers a couple weeks ago. He cut off a little chunk and threaded it with string, and tied the other end (the non-cucumber-baited end) of the string with a toothpick. Unfortunately, the fish didn't go for that trick either.
However, I checked on them an hour or so later and I think maybe, just maybe, they were nibbling at the cucumbers… Maybe someday, they won't be too shy to eat in front of us anymore. O, what a happy day that would be! 😉
January 19, 2006
in other news…
I'm making a supercute, little, soon-to-be-felted purse for my niece Maya, who turns 5 on Monday. it's got a frosty green yarn for the main purse part, a pastel multi-colored yarn for the flap and strap, and i'm gonna make a big pink flower applique for the front.
Unfortunately, it's not going to be complete in time for her actual birthday, but I'm hoping it'll be no more than a week or two late. Pix to come later.
I know, I suck.
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J is eating yummy chocolate peanutbutter banana cake and breathing rather heavily right now. hehe. that's cause it's goooooooooood. i'm sure i breathed like a sonuvagun when i was shoving a huge piece down my cakehole earlier this evening 😉
so, believe it or not, the "eating better" non-resolution i made is actually kind of working out overall, despite large infusions of chocolate peanutbutter banana cake and two black-bottom cupcakes yesterday. i haven't given up dessert, true. however, my main meals are far healthier than they've been in quite some time. lots more vegies, lots less meat.
lots less? meh. you know what i mean.
also, i have been doing fairly well on the gym thing this week. already been twice, and planning on going again tomorrow.
however, on the spending less front? BADBADBAD. bought a bunch of clothes over the weekend (but there was a party to go to! and a wedding coming up next month! and and and and…) i guess i'm sort of lucky a lot of the clothes didn't fit so well, necessitating returns and refunds.
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strangely, i'm feeling more love for my parents recently. just this evening, i was thinking that it might be nice to hang out with them pretty soon. where in hell did *that* idea come from?? i haven't thought such things since I lived in Marin, about 10 miles south from them. weird. (now that i live in the city again, it's about 30 miles away, and across a bridge and everything. hard! far! excuse!)
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i've got some dinner parties coming up, and I'm looking forward to them. first one is this weekend, for some of J's fellow expat friends who live in san rafael. we usually go up there (yes! we cross the bridge!) because they have a pool and two cute portuguese water dogs, and trish is a budding pastry chef specializing in chocolatey goodness. but it is long overdue for us to play host, and so i still need to figure out what i'm cooking. eek!! i do have the appetizer fairly decided: salmon and shrimp ceviche (raw fish marinated in lemon and orange juice and tossed with roasted chipotles, avocado and red onion. yum.)
the second dinner is for a fairly sizeable group of friends. i'm thinking of just ordering a big sushi platter for that one, rather than trying to cook. we're finally going to "show off" (aka bore everyone silly with) our photos from Japan.
finally, K's dad and his fiancee are coming to visit in mid-Feb, and I'll be making a dinner for six of us. can't wait!!
September 5, 2005
a pretty nice weekend
Despite the bad news down South and J's work being CRAP again…
This is what we did…
- Watched Amarcord on Friday night
- Slept in late on Saturday
- Obsessive RSS news feed reading all weekend
- Attended Bernice & Rob's BBQ solo (while J was needlessly at work, waiting for a build that never arrived)
- Took care of the kitties
- Went to the gym (!!!) for 2 hours: elliptical, weight machines, crunches/stretches, hot tub, steam room (AH!)
- Brunch at Frjtz with K & P, followed by light shopping on Hayes
- Watched Team America Sunday nite
- Slept in late today – woke up to the sun for the first time in a while
- Brunch at Kate's
- Surfed from laptops at Bean There
- Grocery shopping
- Back home to a clean house!!
- Made guacamole, and baked banana-nut bread and corn muffins while J recorded bass
And for tonight:
- Stuffed salmon filets, green beans and corn muffins for dindin
- A screening of Barbarella
- ???
🙂
June 12, 2005
My Honey is soooo cute
Me: (Laughing out loud for no apparent reason on a Sunday evening)
J: "What are you doing?
Me: "Reading blogs. I like reading everyone's blogs…" (he knows this, of course, as I am bogarting his Powerbook *once again* to do so.)
J: "I don't have a blog…" (looking sad, eyes downcast, lower lip thrust out.)
Me: "You should get one! You'd be great!" (He's been keeping a journal in his Clie for years already. Plus he's an amazing writer.)
J: "But I'm foreign…" (He's, um, BRITISH.)
Me: "Silly boy!! Blogs aren't for Americans only!"
J: "Are you sure??" (He smiles wryly, then goes back to cleaning out his junk drawer. He pulls out a Chewbacca-headed mini M&M dispenser and, for the millionth time since purchasing it, pretends the wookiee is barfing up mini M&Ms.)
May 13, 2005
My new all-time favorite time waster!
For the past few months, ever since J's friend Richard sent us a couple of really good mixed CDs he made, I have been inspired to try my hand at one. And I'm not talking about your basic choose-a-bunch-of-songs-that-express-your-deepest-feelings sort of mix…
(Oh god yes, I was was the hugest mix-tape nerd; every new guy I fell in love with became the "lucky" recipient of their very own made-by-RiseyP tape. I cringe to think of the abysmal sound quality that inevitably marred those otherwise brilliant creations… But I never had any decent recording gear!But when CDR drives got to be standard equipment on computers those times of fuzzy, quiet, crackly tapes that took *days* to record gave way to a new age of quicker, easier and cheaper digital compilations!)
But I digress. I wanted to make something more like a real DJ mix. I wanted to blend the tracks together (not in a super-fancy way, as I'm too lazy/cheap to look into let alone buy all the crap needed to do that kind of thing really well) and i wanted to have snarky-but-relevant spoken word clips mixed in. So I started to brainstorm what music R would like, and decided to poke around online for sound clips. I had no idea how easy they would be able to find and download from my work PC (where I can't have a p2p client, obviously).
So, uh, yeah. OMG, there's TONS of stuff out there!!!! Gawd, if it weren't the busiest week of work I've had since I started this new job, I would have amassed an amazing collection by now. But every single spare moment I could carve out this week, I spent grabbing free .wav and .mp3 files from TV, movies, etc. It was sooo fun!
A few of my current favorites:
At any rate, I ended up making a CD for J instead, as his birthday is tomorrow, and I love making little things for him! (Richard's CD can wait.)
And also for my lovey's birthday, we're going up to Tahoe and staying at the Resort at Squaw Creek for the weekend with our friend N. J'll probably snowboard tomorrow (at some places, they're keeping the lifts open til July 4th!), and me & N will do spa thingies. Yay!
November 22, 2002
here’s what i did this week…
sorry for the lag between posts (though I don't know who I'm apologizing to)
here's what i did this week…
monday: work as usual; convo with h re: his ex in la (boo); rented VGs at b'buster; 420-age
tuesday: chatted w/j; took cute nakie self portraits, sent em to mitten; great advanced speech at tm, took on new mente; stopped by sr house to see pets & pick up stuff; talked to mitten on phone re: meeting chez elle on sunday
wednesday: work, date w/j – jazz cigs, dinner at blue plate (highlight was mascarpone cheesecake with pomegranate sauce), sex, drugs & VG, trolling for bi chix (esp miaokitty – yum!) on nerve.com – another mindblowing evening of hedonism
thursday: tired and headachy all day at work; 420-age at home w/s; drinx and snax @ Ro-Han; kiss goodnite; heard back from jory, a cute boy from SG
today: busy & semi-productive day; found out I'm getting a new boss (in Ithaca, NY – yee ha!) and a real design team; lotsa chats w/j; Die Another Day tonite with Alex, Marie & other discreet folx
and on tap for this weekend…
tomorrow: voice lesson; Medea w/mom @ Zellerbach; Share-bear's bday party @ Pinky's; then bowling (perhaps)
sunday: r/bing w/Ella; meet mitten in Oakland w/j; hedonism afterwards – perhaps some leather shopping for PE
riseypland 