Or rather, the bed frame is broken. It's been a long time coming, with some evidently poor temporary solutions like just putting a book under the broken half frame for 6 months so as to muffle the vigorous clanking sounds it would make when shaken about, but we are only now getting around to trying to rehab beddinge. It's a rather enormous pain, not to have a bed or a couch. After finding a machinist to push the screw through each of the pieces of the frames (to whom I gave an inordinately long and incomprehensible description of the problem), and trekking over to Ikea for new screws, beddinge is good as new. I think. Both Michael and I declared that this was the last time we would be Ikea customers as their furniture is pretty shoddy stuff, but the catalog came today, and I can't help but think that a few of those products will be helpful around the house--I'm a bad boycotter--always giving in to those consumerist desires for familiarity, even if it has only made me familiar with trash so far.
THE LISTS:
to do work: Make new CR doc for Cham. Reread GCI for new CR doc. Finish day 2 gwc handouts. Read a ton. Comment h's doc. Take notes and copy Jones and Caribe 2000.
done! Made close reading docs for GCI and Cham. Made handouts. Took notes on Jones and Caribe 2000. Peer edited h's doc. Read Boym.
to do life: Pay down debt (currently $1,031.09). Procure dog. Send siff letter. Call kombucha makers re bottle recyclying. Read Theri's paper. Fix beddinge with new screw. Purchase external hard drive to back up my computer files.
done! Did the bills. Fixed beddinge. Bought hard drive--now, must transfer files. Called kombucha makers and they don't take bottles back, so I recycled them the normal, inefficient way (glass is very energy consuming to recycle, don'tchaknow).
to do blitz: sarah, marilyn, giulia, irmary, mariana, dar, nv, sf, marzena, thérèse, hen.
done! ek
Netflixed
The Queen
Is it possible that I really can't be engrossed in movies where I don't understand or connect with the culture? I really do not want that to be the case, but first Cars, which didn't really interest me that much, and now the queen, where really, the question of British modernization and the monarchy strikes me as faintly ridiculous. Moreover, I don't see a character as so restrained as to be almost a cipher to be all that priaseworthy.
Inch'Allah Dimanche. Yamina Benguigui makes some interesting choices in this movie on family reunificaton and immigration in France: there are some absurdist sequences that work really well, and very saturated color, but then again, the protagonist has many 5 lines of dialogue in the whole movie--which does make it kind of hard to connect or to understand why so many of her new neighbors feel compelled to help her.
Monday, July 30, 2007
Thursday, July 19, 2007
Re-org
It's been a tumultuous few weeks.
After a wedding disaster, there's been quite a lot of emotional brouhaha to deal with.
You wouldn't think pretty pretty Santa Barbara could be the site of such dramz, but indeed. I think I've dealt and I've let it all go--it doesn't even seem real anymore. On the work front, I've been doing not a lot: mainly woolgathering and outlining and planning.
Over the course of these two weeks, I've spent a goodly portion of my time reading the archives to Carolyn Hax's advice column in the post, tell me about it. Not leaving the house or showering or really doing much of anything so as to be able to read advice given in 1998 is really not a good sign.
Time for a re-org.
Shows:
Peggy Shaw
Peggy Shaw gives a lot. And is the most endearingly sweet tiger ever. Menopausal Gentleman is a really amazing show, with a running throughline of the physical effects of menopause and the psychological ramifications for a butch lesbian and expressed in physical observation and gendered recasting of older songs. Loved it.
Desire under the Elms
Depressing. Eugene O'Neill. Unstable accents counteracted by beautiful staging. Great play--intense hatred and grasping characters make for fierce tension.
At the movies:
Rescue Dawn [Fictionalized Little Dieter Needs to Fly]
Harry Potter 5
Dude, if the color palate gets any darker in the next few movies, HP7 is going to be a simply a dark screen.
THE LISTS
to do work: Re-org reading notes binders. Make backwards outline of what I wrote a hundred years ago. Make new outline and work plan.
done! Organized all the files. Made new backwards outlines. Had successful meeting with advisor.
to do life: Pay down debt (currently $1,328.09). Procure dog. Redo taxes. Do fafsa. Send siff letter. Repot ginko tree and cactus. Call kombucha makers re bottle recyclying. Read Theri's paper. Fix beddinge with new screw. Prep fac club fellowship app. Purchase external hard drive to back up my computer files.
done: Re-did my taxes. Did the fafsa. Did the fac club fellowship app.
to do blitz: sarah, marilyn, giulia, irmary, mariana, dar, nv, ek, sf, marzena, thérèse, hen.
Netflixed:
The Syrian Bride
Rendez-Vous
Divine Intervention
When they say "vignettes," they ain't lying. Although at first I thought I would be deeming it unwatchable, I got into its rhythm.
Strayed
I am really on these french movies that examine how people respond to the destruction of their societies--the post-apocalyptic genre. I am learning many life lessons: in addition to guns and bottled water, you really cannot trust anyone and you need to abandon your moral codes re strangers straightaway. Oh, and be the first one in the house so you can ensure the telephone lines don't get cut.
Cars
Love me some pixar, but do not give two shits about cars or about car racing. And Owen Wilson is a smarmy douche and it makes the conversion of his character from self-centered fame-monger to caring community man difficult to hear.
Mostly Martha
I cannot believe they're remaking this movie. It was a bundle of loose ends: a downstairs neighbor who is clearly set up as a romantic interest then demoted to occasional babysitter then dropped entirely, a kid who expresses no emotional connection and says no a lot and then we're supposed to believe has an outpouring of emotion for Martha, a shitty psychiatrist whose purpose in the film seems to be as an auditor for her food porn voiceovers. All in all confusing and irritating. Moreover, Michael had not wanted to see it at all and so I delivered quite the victory to him when I declared in the middle of the movie that the forced romance was utterly repulsive.
After a wedding disaster, there's been quite a lot of emotional brouhaha to deal with.
You wouldn't think pretty pretty Santa Barbara could be the site of such dramz, but indeed. I think I've dealt and I've let it all go--it doesn't even seem real anymore. On the work front, I've been doing not a lot: mainly woolgathering and outlining and planning.
Over the course of these two weeks, I've spent a goodly portion of my time reading the archives to Carolyn Hax's advice column in the post, tell me about it. Not leaving the house or showering or really doing much of anything so as to be able to read advice given in 1998 is really not a good sign.
Time for a re-org.
Shows:
Peggy Shaw
Peggy Shaw gives a lot. And is the most endearingly sweet tiger ever. Menopausal Gentleman is a really amazing show, with a running throughline of the physical effects of menopause and the psychological ramifications for a butch lesbian and expressed in physical observation and gendered recasting of older songs. Loved it.
Desire under the Elms
Depressing. Eugene O'Neill. Unstable accents counteracted by beautiful staging. Great play--intense hatred and grasping characters make for fierce tension.
At the movies:
Rescue Dawn [Fictionalized Little Dieter Needs to Fly]
Harry Potter 5
Dude, if the color palate gets any darker in the next few movies, HP7 is going to be a simply a dark screen.
THE LISTS
to do work: Re-org reading notes binders. Make backwards outline of what I wrote a hundred years ago. Make new outline and work plan.
done! Organized all the files. Made new backwards outlines. Had successful meeting with advisor.
to do life: Pay down debt (currently $1,328.09). Procure dog. Redo taxes. Do fafsa. Send siff letter. Repot ginko tree and cactus. Call kombucha makers re bottle recyclying. Read Theri's paper. Fix beddinge with new screw. Prep fac club fellowship app. Purchase external hard drive to back up my computer files.
done: Re-did my taxes. Did the fafsa. Did the fac club fellowship app.
to do blitz: sarah, marilyn, giulia, irmary, mariana, dar, nv, ek, sf, marzena, thérèse, hen.
Netflixed:
The Syrian Bride
Rendez-Vous
Divine Intervention
When they say "vignettes," they ain't lying. Although at first I thought I would be deeming it unwatchable, I got into its rhythm.
Strayed
I am really on these french movies that examine how people respond to the destruction of their societies--the post-apocalyptic genre. I am learning many life lessons: in addition to guns and bottled water, you really cannot trust anyone and you need to abandon your moral codes re strangers straightaway. Oh, and be the first one in the house so you can ensure the telephone lines don't get cut.
Cars
Love me some pixar, but do not give two shits about cars or about car racing. And Owen Wilson is a smarmy douche and it makes the conversion of his character from self-centered fame-monger to caring community man difficult to hear.
Mostly Martha
I cannot believe they're remaking this movie. It was a bundle of loose ends: a downstairs neighbor who is clearly set up as a romantic interest then demoted to occasional babysitter then dropped entirely, a kid who expresses no emotional connection and says no a lot and then we're supposed to believe has an outpouring of emotion for Martha, a shitty psychiatrist whose purpose in the film seems to be as an auditor for her food porn voiceovers. All in all confusing and irritating. Moreover, Michael had not wanted to see it at all and so I delivered quite the victory to him when I declared in the middle of the movie that the forced romance was utterly repulsive.
Thursday, July 12, 2007
oxymoronic heat
I do complain about the heat quite a bit. But can I tell you that I left my deodorant (ultra clear degree for men, which despite its self-proclaimed "sport intensity," does not often last me through the day, but whatever, when this runs out, I'll try something else...suggestions?) on my desk this morning and after the sun had been hitting for a little while, when I uncapped it, what looked like little beads of sweat had formed on the entire surface of the bar. Even my deodorant can't beat the heat. Geez!
In my aggregator is Chocolate and Zucchini, written by a lovely blogger whose voice is so enthusiastic and realistic about experimenting in the kitchen. However, I have now made a number of her recipes and the result of so much hope and promise of a new yummy salad or soup (summer and winter staples, respectively) has been on each occasion: eh.
In fact, the recipes I kind of make up and copy from Trader Joe's prepackaged foods tend to work out much more spectacularly. There also much easier and less inventive, pax Clothilde of C&Z blog.
So far I have 2 that are now staples--an orzo salad and a couscous salad. As of today, I am adding Pan Bagnat to the list. I discovered PB at Doughboys, a wonderful LA restaurant that was closed for a month due to Health Code violations this year. But nevermind that! And I'm copying it. In a small dice: tomato, red onion, green bell pepper. In a larger dice, string beans, artichokes, black olives and tuna. Sprinkle capers and basil liberally and spritz lemon juice over the whole thing. Brills.
Here's another random little discovery for today:
Isn't that encouraging? I encoporate (sic--spelling) the best of both worlds (sic--cliché)!
THE LISTS
to do work: Revise C2 (I decided it was C2, not C4). Organize C3 related files and make list of importance of these secondary sources.
done! In the process of revising C2--handing it in tomorrow, whoo-hoo with a go-ahead from Neetu who said it smart and clear. yay!
to do life: Pay down debt (currently $1,328.09). Procure dog. Redo taxes. Do fafsa. Send siff letter. Repot ginko tree and cactus. Call kombucha makers re bottle recyclying. Read Theri's paper. Fix beddinge with new screw. Prep fac club fellowship app. Purchase external hard drive to back up my computer files.
done: Found ultra-stability Sauconys for my pronating feets and ordered them. Size 6...we'll see if they fit right or if I will have to go for a 5, a confusing decision given that my last were size 5&1/2. Potted the plants!
to do blitz: sarah, marilyn, giulia, irmary, mariana, dar, nv, ek, sf, marzena, thérèse, hen.
Can I mention at this point that Sarah, Giulia, Irmary, and Mariana, I have not emailed in now almost 2 years? Is it getting too late to get in touch? I would understand if they weren't too anxious to write me back but the least I can do is apologize for being an utter ass. But I haven't really been whittling down this task list, have I...it was a summer goal...
Netflixed: Stage Beauty. I loved this movie--despite the fact that the characters don't make themselves particularly likeable. But they're actors! So the drive for stardom and status trumping interpersonal relations: totally realistic. Billy Crudup plays a premiere woman-playing actor right at the moment during the Restoration when the law changed such that women would play parts written for women. It struck me that this story of reorganizing your identity when your job, as a category, is suddenly eliminated was, in its specificity antiquated, but contemporary in its resonance with downsizing. It's a really salient portrait of how work and personal definition intertwine. And well-paced as a film that deals with the rhythms and outsized gestures of theater and the energy these create in the audiences.
In my aggregator is Chocolate and Zucchini, written by a lovely blogger whose voice is so enthusiastic and realistic about experimenting in the kitchen. However, I have now made a number of her recipes and the result of so much hope and promise of a new yummy salad or soup (summer and winter staples, respectively) has been on each occasion: eh.
In fact, the recipes I kind of make up and copy from Trader Joe's prepackaged foods tend to work out much more spectacularly. There also much easier and less inventive, pax Clothilde of C&Z blog.
So far I have 2 that are now staples--an orzo salad and a couscous salad. As of today, I am adding Pan Bagnat to the list. I discovered PB at Doughboys, a wonderful LA restaurant that was closed for a month due to Health Code violations this year. But nevermind that! And I'm copying it. In a small dice: tomato, red onion, green bell pepper. In a larger dice, string beans, artichokes, black olives and tuna. Sprinkle capers and basil liberally and spritz lemon juice over the whole thing. Brills.
Here's another random little discovery for today:
| You Have A Type A- Personality |
You are one of the most balanced people around Motivated and focused, you are good at getting what you want You rule at success, but success doesn't rule you. When it's playtime, you really know how to kick back Whether it's hanging out with friends or doing something you love! You live life to the fullest - encorporating the best of both worlds |
Isn't that encouraging? I encoporate (sic--spelling) the best of both worlds (sic--cliché)!
THE LISTS
to do work: Revise C2 (I decided it was C2, not C4). Organize C3 related files and make list of importance of these secondary sources.
done! In the process of revising C2--handing it in tomorrow, whoo-hoo with a go-ahead from Neetu who said it smart and clear. yay!
to do life: Pay down debt (currently $1,328.09). Procure dog. Redo taxes. Do fafsa. Send siff letter. Repot ginko tree and cactus. Call kombucha makers re bottle recyclying. Read Theri's paper. Fix beddinge with new screw. Prep fac club fellowship app. Purchase external hard drive to back up my computer files.
done: Found ultra-stability Sauconys for my pronating feets and ordered them. Size 6...we'll see if they fit right or if I will have to go for a 5, a confusing decision given that my last were size 5&1/2. Potted the plants!
to do blitz: sarah, marilyn, giulia, irmary, mariana, dar, nv, ek, sf, marzena, thérèse, hen.
Can I mention at this point that Sarah, Giulia, Irmary, and Mariana, I have not emailed in now almost 2 years? Is it getting too late to get in touch? I would understand if they weren't too anxious to write me back but the least I can do is apologize for being an utter ass. But I haven't really been whittling down this task list, have I...it was a summer goal...
Netflixed: Stage Beauty. I loved this movie--despite the fact that the characters don't make themselves particularly likeable. But they're actors! So the drive for stardom and status trumping interpersonal relations: totally realistic. Billy Crudup plays a premiere woman-playing actor right at the moment during the Restoration when the law changed such that women would play parts written for women. It struck me that this story of reorganizing your identity when your job, as a category, is suddenly eliminated was, in its specificity antiquated, but contemporary in its resonance with downsizing. It's a really salient portrait of how work and personal definition intertwine. And well-paced as a film that deals with the rhythms and outsized gestures of theater and the energy these create in the audiences.
Monday, July 9, 2007
terse
My anxieties about the fall are starting to encroach on my current placidness and routine of unscheduled luxury. Yesterday I was reading a really instructive and not too-too-depressing set of blogs about graduate school, professionalization, and the market.
http://delightandinstruct.blogspot.com/2007/06/required-reading-compendium-of-links.html
As if to confirm some of its wisdom on trying to retain your serenity through the job marketing process, I received an email from a good friend suggesting that if I'm already feeling ugly about the uncomfortable closeness of my peers and our competition (not in terms of vying for the same actual jobs because we all do very different things, but in terms of who gets more interviews-visits-a job, you know, the petty shit), then is there any way I can escape?
Geographically, no.
My funding ties me ever so firmly to LA. Which is fine, my partner and friends and support and library are all here. But it also demands that I come into campus 5 days a week.
But mentally, perhaps. I realize that the reason I've been considering Paxil so seriously is because it might help me create a more clear, distanced, thoroughly personal world. A way to disappear into a non-anxious mind, tamping down my own inclinations towards paranoia and overanalytical hysteria, and lifting up the capacity for serene perspective. Doesn't it sound beautiful?
The other possibility is to be just terse. To walk about with my ipod buds in my ear (possibly even disconnected from the actual ipod to elevate the snark of the earbuds statement) and refuse conversation with all and sundry. And doesn't that sound fun?
But actually, I think, without projecting snobbitude, I can probably use some more terseness in my modes of communication. If you recall my bemoaning my difficulties in making myself understood to customer service employees, I think my problem may lie in an over-chatty tmi factor. Giving the appropriate amount of information is something I can certainly afford to work on.
THE LISTS
to do work: Write the two last sections, 1) masks 2) circularity. organize files.
done! Nope, I've decided not to write those last sections: they're redundant. But I did write a good last paragraph to the performatic writing section that I think can serve as a last paragraph of the chapter.
to do life: Pay down debt (currently $1,328.09). Procure dog. Redo taxes. Do fafsa. Send siff letter. Repot ginko tree and cactus. Call kombucha makers re bottle recyclying. Read Theri's paper. Fix beddinge with new screw. Prep fac club fellowship app. Purchase external hard drive to back up my computer files.
done: still not a lot.
to do blitz: sarah, marilyn, giulia, irmary, mariana, dar, nv, ek, sf, marzena, thérèse, hen.
Netflixed: Millions. It was a good movie, I enjoyed it, although I don't understand why the best person who is a naive kid who is seemingly good because he hasn't yet understood how the world works. That always annoys me, why I'm supposed to find what comes off as an uninformed and frankly stupid set of decisions as saintly and admirable. That being said, the humor is snappy, the tension between the brothers works great. NB: This comes from the director of Trainspotting. Crazy.
http://delightandinstruct.blogspot.com/2007/06/required-reading-compendium-of-links.html
As if to confirm some of its wisdom on trying to retain your serenity through the job marketing process, I received an email from a good friend suggesting that if I'm already feeling ugly about the uncomfortable closeness of my peers and our competition (not in terms of vying for the same actual jobs because we all do very different things, but in terms of who gets more interviews-visits-a job, you know, the petty shit), then is there any way I can escape?
Geographically, no.
My funding ties me ever so firmly to LA. Which is fine, my partner and friends and support and library are all here. But it also demands that I come into campus 5 days a week.
But mentally, perhaps. I realize that the reason I've been considering Paxil so seriously is because it might help me create a more clear, distanced, thoroughly personal world. A way to disappear into a non-anxious mind, tamping down my own inclinations towards paranoia and overanalytical hysteria, and lifting up the capacity for serene perspective. Doesn't it sound beautiful?
The other possibility is to be just terse. To walk about with my ipod buds in my ear (possibly even disconnected from the actual ipod to elevate the snark of the earbuds statement) and refuse conversation with all and sundry. And doesn't that sound fun?
But actually, I think, without projecting snobbitude, I can probably use some more terseness in my modes of communication. If you recall my bemoaning my difficulties in making myself understood to customer service employees, I think my problem may lie in an over-chatty tmi factor. Giving the appropriate amount of information is something I can certainly afford to work on.
THE LISTS
to do work: Write the two last sections, 1) masks 2) circularity. organize files.
done! Nope, I've decided not to write those last sections: they're redundant. But I did write a good last paragraph to the performatic writing section that I think can serve as a last paragraph of the chapter.
to do life: Pay down debt (currently $1,328.09). Procure dog. Redo taxes. Do fafsa. Send siff letter. Repot ginko tree and cactus. Call kombucha makers re bottle recyclying. Read Theri's paper. Fix beddinge with new screw. Prep fac club fellowship app. Purchase external hard drive to back up my computer files.
done: still not a lot.
to do blitz: sarah, marilyn, giulia, irmary, mariana, dar, nv, ek, sf, marzena, thérèse, hen.
Netflixed: Millions. It was a good movie, I enjoyed it, although I don't understand why the best person who is a naive kid who is seemingly good because he hasn't yet understood how the world works. That always annoys me, why I'm supposed to find what comes off as an uninformed and frankly stupid set of decisions as saintly and admirable. That being said, the humor is snappy, the tension between the brothers works great. NB: This comes from the director of Trainspotting. Crazy.
Saturday, July 7, 2007
apples stapples
Friday night I went to a little party where we ended up playing a fantastic group game (impossible for only two) called apples to apples because you try to argue that different items are most similar, as opposed to incomparable--such as apples and oranges. Many ironic comparisons ensued, as well as some simply absurd and indefensible winners: I submitted and won the round with ear wax : demanding (beating out the submission of the kkk). I reported this to Michael as an extreme example of how the game reaches (or degrades into) heights/lows of silliness and the phrase, "you're quite the little ear wax" is now becoming part of our increasingly idiosyncratic language.
One of the things that makes me a little earwax is my incapacity to make my needs known to service-industry employees. My orders at restaurants get routinely garbled, and a few times now, I've had my order placement for shows get messed up. Classic example Saturday, I was so proud of myself for having made resas early enough for Kristina [Sheryl] Wong's show, and when we get there, a) the show was sold out and b) I had been marked down for having tickets for July 14th. After some blustering, and trading on KSW's name--that I was a former roommate (although that got translated as I'm her roommate)--we were assured a seat. But I felt really irked and disappointed. I think there's some combination of my voice and my phone that makes it impossible for people to understand me. It's bad.
But the show was great. I'm glad I didn't just walk out in anger (in fact, waiting it out seems to have very positive outcomes--witness, a good show and previously, at the obnoxious dessert shop, sweet lady jane, free breads!!!). KSW is playing the racial empowerment irony well--it's uncomfortable, it's funny. But it is hard to transition between pure personal irony and sincere political attack. So the show is divided along those lines. I assume the transitions will get refined and the tone will even out when there's greater familiarity with the material.
Oh, and Guillermo Gómez-Peña was also great and polished, despite some angsting over age and relevance.
But, I will say this, when they did a joint piece at the end, KSW's physical comedy kept the audience over GGP's lingual play.
Sunday, we saw a matinee of Ratatouille. Word to the wise: see G-rateds at the last showing of the night. It was fun to see it with all the babies though, they didn't make a distracting fuss at all and I did have a laugh during one of the only silently emotional moments of the movie, I heard a little plaintive voice ask: popcorn? I loved the movie, although I thought the ending, whipped through with a story-within-a-story device, was too rushed, left too many unanswered questions. It's beautifully done and hilarious--although when all the mice are cooking, it's pretty repulsive to gaze upon: swarms of little beasties never fail to send little chills up my spine.
I also have gotten mildly obsessed with Jonathan Gold's essential 99 la resaurant list: I typed up the logistics of each restaurant and categorized them by a) places we've been to [14] b) special occasion places (3 money bars, although I think 2 should probably be there as well) [11] c) places I've no intention of going to (steakhouses, primarily) [18], and the rest by geography (14 near me, 8 on babe's side of town). We have about 30 to go to, given that san gabriel is a little unreasonable for us, location-wise, and I am on a mission to take them on! So, there will be a new addition to the blog to dos and netflixed lists: I now add the Restau 99. We went to our first off the list last night. The excellent meat we had made me think that I need to start learning how to cook meat, but then I figure, I can leave it to the restaurants.
THE LISTS
to do work: Write the two last sections, 1) masks 2) circularity. organize files.
done! Typed up some notes on articles I've already read and got them ready to file. Outlined and prepped the last section.
to do life: Pay down debt (currently $1,328.09). Procure dog. Redo taxes. Do fafsa. Send siff letter. Repot ginko tree and cactus. Call kombucha makers re bottle recyclying. Read Theri's paper. Fix beddinge with new screw. Prep fac club fellowship app. Purchase external hard drive to back up my computer files.
done: absolutely nothing.
to do blitz: sarah, marilyn, giulia, irmary, mariana, dar, nv, ek, sf, marzena, thérèse, hen, shan.
blitzed! shan, z, signed up for wayn with hen which counts for something if she ever checks that ridiculous site--I doubt I ever will.
Restau 99: Canele. French. 3219 Glendale. Atwater Village. 323.666.7133. dinner tues-sat. $
The space is lovely: part of the kitchen is right along one edge of the restau, where the cooks in bandanas zip around and the big ovens spit out the pissaladière (of course there are Central Americans doing the dishwashing and prepping in the back--not quite as picturesque, I suppose). There's a communal table that we refused, and good thing because there was a party of 14 or so who plunked themselves down immediately after we got there...seemingly friends of the chef who were visiting from Marin. I kid, I kid, but it is pretty: the ceiling is a poofy black silky material that absorbs much of the noise generated with the concrete floors. As the disappointments to waiters that we are, we had no appetizers, no drinks, no extras: just the mains. The meats (beef tenderloin for him, pork chop for me) were excellent, but the sides were less so: both our potatoes were great (he had pommes anna, which I loved (it's like a tart of thin potato slices) and I had mashed potatoes, which were quite yummy indeed) but the creamed spinach and the cabbage-turnip-apple-slaw (with mustard seeds), not exciting. Looking over the menu, that's how every single main look: excellent meat, good potatoes, and questionable other. However, there was quite a majestic dessert: toffee-crumble flourless chocolate cake with vanilla ice cream. All in all, a fine meal, but definitely imperfect.
One of the things that makes me a little earwax is my incapacity to make my needs known to service-industry employees. My orders at restaurants get routinely garbled, and a few times now, I've had my order placement for shows get messed up. Classic example Saturday, I was so proud of myself for having made resas early enough for Kristina [Sheryl] Wong's show, and when we get there, a) the show was sold out and b) I had been marked down for having tickets for July 14th. After some blustering, and trading on KSW's name--that I was a former roommate (although that got translated as I'm her roommate)--we were assured a seat. But I felt really irked and disappointed. I think there's some combination of my voice and my phone that makes it impossible for people to understand me. It's bad.
But the show was great. I'm glad I didn't just walk out in anger (in fact, waiting it out seems to have very positive outcomes--witness, a good show and previously, at the obnoxious dessert shop, sweet lady jane, free breads!!!). KSW is playing the racial empowerment irony well--it's uncomfortable, it's funny. But it is hard to transition between pure personal irony and sincere political attack. So the show is divided along those lines. I assume the transitions will get refined and the tone will even out when there's greater familiarity with the material.
Oh, and Guillermo Gómez-Peña was also great and polished, despite some angsting over age and relevance.
But, I will say this, when they did a joint piece at the end, KSW's physical comedy kept the audience over GGP's lingual play.
Sunday, we saw a matinee of Ratatouille. Word to the wise: see G-rateds at the last showing of the night. It was fun to see it with all the babies though, they didn't make a distracting fuss at all and I did have a laugh during one of the only silently emotional moments of the movie, I heard a little plaintive voice ask: popcorn? I loved the movie, although I thought the ending, whipped through with a story-within-a-story device, was too rushed, left too many unanswered questions. It's beautifully done and hilarious--although when all the mice are cooking, it's pretty repulsive to gaze upon: swarms of little beasties never fail to send little chills up my spine.
I also have gotten mildly obsessed with Jonathan Gold's essential 99 la resaurant list: I typed up the logistics of each restaurant and categorized them by a) places we've been to [14] b) special occasion places (3 money bars, although I think 2 should probably be there as well) [11] c) places I've no intention of going to (steakhouses, primarily) [18], and the rest by geography (14 near me, 8 on babe's side of town). We have about 30 to go to, given that san gabriel is a little unreasonable for us, location-wise, and I am on a mission to take them on! So, there will be a new addition to the blog to dos and netflixed lists: I now add the Restau 99. We went to our first off the list last night. The excellent meat we had made me think that I need to start learning how to cook meat, but then I figure, I can leave it to the restaurants.
THE LISTS
to do work: Write the two last sections, 1) masks 2) circularity. organize files.
done! Typed up some notes on articles I've already read and got them ready to file. Outlined and prepped the last section.
to do life: Pay down debt (currently $1,328.09). Procure dog. Redo taxes. Do fafsa. Send siff letter. Repot ginko tree and cactus. Call kombucha makers re bottle recyclying. Read Theri's paper. Fix beddinge with new screw. Prep fac club fellowship app. Purchase external hard drive to back up my computer files.
done: absolutely nothing.
to do blitz: sarah, marilyn, giulia, irmary, mariana, dar, nv, ek, sf, marzena, thérèse, hen, shan.
blitzed! shan, z, signed up for wayn with hen which counts for something if she ever checks that ridiculous site--I doubt I ever will.
Restau 99: Canele. French. 3219 Glendale. Atwater Village. 323.666.7133. dinner tues-sat. $
The space is lovely: part of the kitchen is right along one edge of the restau, where the cooks in bandanas zip around and the big ovens spit out the pissaladière (of course there are Central Americans doing the dishwashing and prepping in the back--not quite as picturesque, I suppose). There's a communal table that we refused, and good thing because there was a party of 14 or so who plunked themselves down immediately after we got there...seemingly friends of the chef who were visiting from Marin. I kid, I kid, but it is pretty: the ceiling is a poofy black silky material that absorbs much of the noise generated with the concrete floors. As the disappointments to waiters that we are, we had no appetizers, no drinks, no extras: just the mains. The meats (beef tenderloin for him, pork chop for me) were excellent, but the sides were less so: both our potatoes were great (he had pommes anna, which I loved (it's like a tart of thin potato slices) and I had mashed potatoes, which were quite yummy indeed) but the creamed spinach and the cabbage-turnip-apple-slaw (with mustard seeds), not exciting. Looking over the menu, that's how every single main look: excellent meat, good potatoes, and questionable other. However, there was quite a majestic dessert: toffee-crumble flourless chocolate cake with vanilla ice cream. All in all, a fine meal, but definitely imperfect.
Friday, July 6, 2007
5
We're experiencing a heat wave and I am doing my best to conserve energy. I zipped around unplugging as many things as possible and am down to 5 appliances.
1 fridge (ass hole energy hog)
1 fan
1 lamp, but only intermittently, while the sun is behind clouds or somesuch
1 computer
1 land line phone
However, all that zipping must have sapped my own last reserves as I have been a slooooooow mofo when it comes to even reading and revising. My focus is just gone.
The summer at the writing center is in high gear and I've been giving many a successful presentation on how to get your diss writing. I know exactly how to procede, but I'm really langorous. And even though Michael will parrot that "those who can't do teach" annoying little saying at me (which I think should probably be changed to "those who can, can't always teach others how to, but sometimes are able to teach, even if they can't always 100% of the time, but usually can, do"--pithy, right? right?), I'm going to argue that a) I'm still recovering from burnout, b) revising, although crucial, is also exceedingly boring and unrewarding, c) my brains have actually become a stew, like chowder in a sourdough bowl, only it's brains in my head. And inedible.
THE LISTS
to do work: Rewrite from beginning through performatic writing section. start organizing files. Read S-E's piece.
done! Rewritten. Now considering if I need more sections to tie up the argument and prove the different directions each author takes. It's kind of the crux of my argument, but I only analyze the places where they are on lock similar and the moment where they are each on the fulcrum of possibility. Well, I think I just blogged my way into convincing myself that I need to write beyond the tipping point section. Damnit. Read Sue-Ellen's piece.
to do life: Pay down debt (currently $1,328.09). Procure dog. Redo taxes. Do fafsa. Send siff letter. Repot ginko tree and cactus. Call kombucha makers re bottle recyclying. Read Theri's paper. Fix beddinge with new screw. Put away clothes. Prep fac club fellowship app.
done! Prepped the rec letters for the app. Put away clothes--a more involved process than it sounds because I brought a bunch of things back from the city and how to sway out my winter shirts and rearrange my closet. I did buy dirt for the plants, so much so that I almost feel obliged to go out and buy more plants. One step closer to the repotting process.
to do blitz: sarah, marilyn, giulia, irmary, mariana, dar, nv, robin, fl, ek, sf, marzena, thérèse, hen.
blitzed! fl, robin, michelle.
Netflixed: The Death of Mr. Lazarescu. I'm finding that Romanian sounds very similar to how it sounds when my Russian friend Nadia speaks Spanish. Except that I understand Nadia and only think I should be understanding Romanian. Otherwise, this was one of the longest movies I have ever seen. Repetitive in an increasingly parodic way, and according to an almost as long and self-indulgent director's featurette, distinguished by linguistic Romanian wordplay and religious symbolism. Alrighty then.
1 fridge (ass hole energy hog)
1 fan
1 lamp, but only intermittently, while the sun is behind clouds or somesuch
1 computer
1 land line phone
However, all that zipping must have sapped my own last reserves as I have been a slooooooow mofo when it comes to even reading and revising. My focus is just gone.
The summer at the writing center is in high gear and I've been giving many a successful presentation on how to get your diss writing. I know exactly how to procede, but I'm really langorous. And even though Michael will parrot that "those who can't do teach" annoying little saying at me (which I think should probably be changed to "those who can, can't always teach others how to, but sometimes are able to teach, even if they can't always 100% of the time, but usually can, do"--pithy, right? right?), I'm going to argue that a) I'm still recovering from burnout, b) revising, although crucial, is also exceedingly boring and unrewarding, c) my brains have actually become a stew, like chowder in a sourdough bowl, only it's brains in my head. And inedible.
THE LISTS
to do work: Rewrite from beginning through performatic writing section. start organizing files. Read S-E's piece.
done! Rewritten. Now considering if I need more sections to tie up the argument and prove the different directions each author takes. It's kind of the crux of my argument, but I only analyze the places where they are on lock similar and the moment where they are each on the fulcrum of possibility. Well, I think I just blogged my way into convincing myself that I need to write beyond the tipping point section. Damnit. Read Sue-Ellen's piece.
to do life: Pay down debt (currently $1,328.09). Procure dog. Redo taxes. Do fafsa. Send siff letter. Repot ginko tree and cactus. Call kombucha makers re bottle recyclying. Read Theri's paper. Fix beddinge with new screw. Put away clothes. Prep fac club fellowship app.
done! Prepped the rec letters for the app. Put away clothes--a more involved process than it sounds because I brought a bunch of things back from the city and how to sway out my winter shirts and rearrange my closet. I did buy dirt for the plants, so much so that I almost feel obliged to go out and buy more plants. One step closer to the repotting process.
to do blitz: sarah, marilyn, giulia, irmary, mariana, dar, nv, robin, fl, ek, sf, marzena, thérèse, hen.
blitzed! fl, robin, michelle.
Netflixed: The Death of Mr. Lazarescu. I'm finding that Romanian sounds very similar to how it sounds when my Russian friend Nadia speaks Spanish. Except that I understand Nadia and only think I should be understanding Romanian. Otherwise, this was one of the longest movies I have ever seen. Repetitive in an increasingly parodic way, and according to an almost as long and self-indulgent director's featurette, distinguished by linguistic Romanian wordplay and religious symbolism. Alrighty then.
Monday, July 2, 2007
Whee!
Or Wii.
Michael and I were up in the city this weekend, a weekend that went remarkably smoothly in terms of juggling all the different people and responsibilities. I was thoroughly pleased that he slept fully in my bedroom, which, since I moved away to college by the time my parents bought this place, has never really been my bedroom. And he seemed to be happy to be around my parents, even though he absolutely refused any conversation about his employment or life goals or the like. The weather cooperated marvelously and we had a great time scooting around town on little walks--no death marches this time, only placid strolls.
The highlight, however, was the discovery of the wii. While we were waiting for George, Michael's friend, to figure out if we were all invited to Jason's anniversary hullabaloo, we played tennis, and a bit of baseball (i.e. home run derby) on his wii. I wasn't expecting much, but I adored it. I am now on a campaign to acquire one. First of all, we made little mes for each other and they are perfection--as much as a crude caricature can be. His is smirky and mine is so small and excitable that she/me tumbles about trying to get to the ball. I do get awfully sour when I play poorly, and my right shoulder was awfully sore from trying out vicious overheads, but oh oh, so much thrilling excitement.
THE LISTS
to do work: Rewrite from beginning through performatic writing section. start organizing files.
done! revising away.
to do life: Pay down debt (currently $2,326.09). Procure dog. Redo taxes. Do fafsa. Send siff letter. Repot ginko tree and cactus. Call kombucha makers re bottle recyclying. Read Theri's paper. Fix beddinge with new screw. Put away clothes and fruit. Journal.
done! Paid down some debt, now currently $1,328.09. Journaled. Put away the fruit.
to do blitz: sarah, marilyn, giulia, irmary, mariana, dar, nv, robin, fl, ek, sf, marzena, thérèse, hen.
blitzed!
Netflixed: In the Time of the Wolf. Continuing my obsession with Hanecke. Perhaps I'm getting inured to his style, but I found this less jaw-clenchingly difficult to watch than The Piano Teacher or Cache. It was painful and sad but less dramatic, somehow. Perhaps it seemed inevitable that the little nuclear family would settle into a community and would lose their individuality and terrible things would necessarily happen to them because how could they not in a post-apocalyptic state. But it was also so attentive to the small generosities that people perform, even grudgingly, for one another. The grey palate of the film was also brilliant--not night and not day, always fully uncertain morally and logistically. But the bottom line is that I've got to get to the firing range: the way things are going, the best investment is bottled water and guns.
Michael and I were up in the city this weekend, a weekend that went remarkably smoothly in terms of juggling all the different people and responsibilities. I was thoroughly pleased that he slept fully in my bedroom, which, since I moved away to college by the time my parents bought this place, has never really been my bedroom. And he seemed to be happy to be around my parents, even though he absolutely refused any conversation about his employment or life goals or the like. The weather cooperated marvelously and we had a great time scooting around town on little walks--no death marches this time, only placid strolls.
The highlight, however, was the discovery of the wii. While we were waiting for George, Michael's friend, to figure out if we were all invited to Jason's anniversary hullabaloo, we played tennis, and a bit of baseball (i.e. home run derby) on his wii. I wasn't expecting much, but I adored it. I am now on a campaign to acquire one. First of all, we made little mes for each other and they are perfection--as much as a crude caricature can be. His is smirky and mine is so small and excitable that she/me tumbles about trying to get to the ball. I do get awfully sour when I play poorly, and my right shoulder was awfully sore from trying out vicious overheads, but oh oh, so much thrilling excitement.
THE LISTS
to do work: Rewrite from beginning through performatic writing section. start organizing files.
done! revising away.
to do life: Pay down debt (currently $2,326.09). Procure dog. Redo taxes. Do fafsa. Send siff letter. Repot ginko tree and cactus. Call kombucha makers re bottle recyclying. Read Theri's paper. Fix beddinge with new screw. Put away clothes and fruit. Journal.
done! Paid down some debt, now currently $1,328.09. Journaled. Put away the fruit.
to do blitz: sarah, marilyn, giulia, irmary, mariana, dar, nv, robin, fl, ek, sf, marzena, thérèse, hen.
blitzed!
Netflixed: In the Time of the Wolf. Continuing my obsession with Hanecke. Perhaps I'm getting inured to his style, but I found this less jaw-clenchingly difficult to watch than The Piano Teacher or Cache. It was painful and sad but less dramatic, somehow. Perhaps it seemed inevitable that the little nuclear family would settle into a community and would lose their individuality and terrible things would necessarily happen to them because how could they not in a post-apocalyptic state. But it was also so attentive to the small generosities that people perform, even grudgingly, for one another. The grey palate of the film was also brilliant--not night and not day, always fully uncertain morally and logistically. But the bottom line is that I've got to get to the firing range: the way things are going, the best investment is bottled water and guns.
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