Or short-arming if you like your eggs more blunt. Carnivorous dinosaurs with arms so short that they can't reach their wallets. Anyway, my fingers are tired today so all that I leave you is this; Werner Herzog's anti-camping PSA.
Also a link to Christopher Walken's Twitter page. As my friend siege says, read this in a Christopher Walken voice and it's impossible to be sad.
Gotta run to dreamville. Spanks Pankeees. Night Night.
Tuesday, March 24, 2009
Sunday, March 22, 2009
Experiential Expectations
Sundays are becoming a fun day for me...mostly because it is ending up being the only day that I have off. It was a nice one, Newman and I slept in until 11:30. It's so nice having a dog who may love sleeping more than me. I woke him up at almost noon and he continued to yawn for another hour. He's just my speed though. :-)
Johnette and I went for pedicures and manicures and were gratuitously upsold on the "extra foot massage" for five bucks. Johnette even fell for the extra neck and shoulder massage for another ten. I love getting pedicures but I always feel somewhat guilty about paying a Vietnamese woman to scrub my feet and paint my toes. It's also extremely awkward when they put your feet in their boobs when you're getting the leg massage. I know we're all girls here, but I still don't know if I want to get to second base on my pedicurist with my feet.
Despite the boob-foot debacle, we left there relaxed and our toes and fingers looking lovely on a Sunday afternoon. We hit up a local Thai restaurant for some tasty Tom Ka soup with tofu and I headed out to run some errands. Got home and took Newman for a run (it was chiiiilay tonight) and invited my neighbor Meagan over to drink some wine and watch a movie.
We watched The Diving Bell and the Butterfly and it was a pretty amazing movie. I'd heard about it from the previous year's academy awards, but never made and effort to see it. An artist friend of mine took me to see Before Night Falls years ago and told me negative stories about the film's director, Julian Schnabel so I was kind of down on his abilities...however the film did not disappoint and I'm excited to see what Mr. Schnabel produces in the future. Mr. Schnabel is a painter, and it comes across in his films, every frame worthy of a still photo.
I hope to make films like that one day.
In other news, my friend Jose has gotten funding for one of his films and is shooting this June! Very exciting news! Now two of my best guy friends will have produced two feature films within 6 years of us graduating. Pretty exciting stuff and I couldn't be happier for both of them!
That's all for now. I'm tired. I leave you with this funny video about the ridiculousness of Twittering. I agree with Sara on this one, I'll go as far as Facebook, but when it comes to Twittering, that's where I draw the line...
Johnette and I went for pedicures and manicures and were gratuitously upsold on the "extra foot massage" for five bucks. Johnette even fell for the extra neck and shoulder massage for another ten. I love getting pedicures but I always feel somewhat guilty about paying a Vietnamese woman to scrub my feet and paint my toes. It's also extremely awkward when they put your feet in their boobs when you're getting the leg massage. I know we're all girls here, but I still don't know if I want to get to second base on my pedicurist with my feet.
Despite the boob-foot debacle, we left there relaxed and our toes and fingers looking lovely on a Sunday afternoon. We hit up a local Thai restaurant for some tasty Tom Ka soup with tofu and I headed out to run some errands. Got home and took Newman for a run (it was chiiiilay tonight) and invited my neighbor Meagan over to drink some wine and watch a movie.
We watched The Diving Bell and the Butterfly and it was a pretty amazing movie. I'd heard about it from the previous year's academy awards, but never made and effort to see it. An artist friend of mine took me to see Before Night Falls years ago and told me negative stories about the film's director, Julian Schnabel so I was kind of down on his abilities...however the film did not disappoint and I'm excited to see what Mr. Schnabel produces in the future. Mr. Schnabel is a painter, and it comes across in his films, every frame worthy of a still photo.
I hope to make films like that one day.
In other news, my friend Jose has gotten funding for one of his films and is shooting this June! Very exciting news! Now two of my best guy friends will have produced two feature films within 6 years of us graduating. Pretty exciting stuff and I couldn't be happier for both of them!
That's all for now. I'm tired. I leave you with this funny video about the ridiculousness of Twittering. I agree with Sara on this one, I'll go as far as Facebook, but when it comes to Twittering, that's where I draw the line...
Wednesday, March 18, 2009
Did Chivalry Die and Nobody Told Me?!?
So it's been a weird week for me. I've been noticing some things around here for a while and it sort of came to an existential head a few days ago. I've been thinking about it and watching people with ears pricked as of late. In recent communications with males that seem to be around my age or in the neighborhood of my age (10 years constitutes a neighborhood in my world) I've noticed the absence of a few qualities. Class, chivalry, thoughtfulness, and general respect for other human beings. As those old school peeps such as my baby boomer parents might call it, manners.
I recently attended a few dinners amongst friends, mixed company at which all men were sitting down comfortably while women stood chair-less. Now, I'm not a big proponent of taking someone's chair if they are seated comfortably and I don't mind standing, which is most of the time. However, the fact that none of these males offered any of the ladies a seat is appalling to me! I mean crap, I would even offer my chair to a gentleman if I were sitting and he was standing. You never know, maybe he hurt his knee playing skee-ball the weak prior and was standing there in pain? I'm just sayin...that is what folks with manners do!
In addition to the seat offering debacle, some of my company found it OK to cuss a blue streak in front of the parents of another friend of mine, which again I find to be in bad taste. My parents are cool, we laugh and joke and are open, but if my friends came around and tried to use every expletive in their vocabulary to tell a story I would tell them to cool it. It never happened though. And I was too new to the situation to take a stand. I should have I guess. Where was my gumption when I needed it?
So being privy to this experience, and others in which people have exhibited a complete lack of manners, guys in particular, girls however not excluded, it caused me to contemplate chivalry in general. Is is dead? Has it been dead? Did woman's lib kill it? Does the lack of importance placed on manners kill the use of chivalry? Or are we purely just devolving?
Call me old fashioned but I'm a fan of a man who treats a woman with respect and dignity, and opens a door for and offers a seat. I'm also a fan of a woman who is proud to be a woman and exalt her feminine traits and be gracious and respectful to men in return. I understand that we're not quite as stringent in dress and formalities as we used to be and that's to be expected. But if manners and mutual respect are passe then I want to hop in a time machine and get the hell out of Dodge.
Oy, and now I'm spent. Here, for your enjoyment, is the Knight's Code of Chivalry as it was presented in the Middle Ages. Although some of the thoughts are outdated in the context of time and socio-economic reality, most of the ideas still hold up today.
The Code of Chivalry
* Live to serve King and Country.
* Live to defend Crown and Country and all it holds dear.
* Live one's life so that it is worthy of respect and honor.
* Live for freedom, justice and all that is good.
* Never attack an unarmed foe.
* Never use a weapon on an opponent not equal to the attack.
* Never attack from behind.
* Avoid lying to your fellow man.
* Avoid cheating.
* Avoid torture.
* Obey the law of king, country, and chivalry.
* Administer justice.
* Protect the innocent.
* Exhibit self control.
* Show respect to authority.
* Respect women.
* Exhibit Courage in word and deed.
* Defend the weak and innocent.
* Destroy evil in all of its monstrous forms.
* Crush the monsters that steal our land and rob our people.
* Fight with honor.
* Avenge the wronged.
* Never abandon a friend, ally, or noble cause.
* Fight for the ideals of king, country, and chivalry.
* Die with valor.
* Always keep one's word of honor.
* Always maintain one's principles.
* Never betray a confidence or comrade.
* Avoid deception.
* Respect life and freedom.
* Die with honor.
* Exhibit manners.
* Be polite and attentive.
* Be respectful of host, women, and honor.
* Loyalty to country, King, honor, freedom, and the code of chivalry.
* Loyalty to one's friends and those who lay their trust in thee.
Dave Chappelle's take on things...
I recently attended a few dinners amongst friends, mixed company at which all men were sitting down comfortably while women stood chair-less. Now, I'm not a big proponent of taking someone's chair if they are seated comfortably and I don't mind standing, which is most of the time. However, the fact that none of these males offered any of the ladies a seat is appalling to me! I mean crap, I would even offer my chair to a gentleman if I were sitting and he was standing. You never know, maybe he hurt his knee playing skee-ball the weak prior and was standing there in pain? I'm just sayin...that is what folks with manners do!
In addition to the seat offering debacle, some of my company found it OK to cuss a blue streak in front of the parents of another friend of mine, which again I find to be in bad taste. My parents are cool, we laugh and joke and are open, but if my friends came around and tried to use every expletive in their vocabulary to tell a story I would tell them to cool it. It never happened though. And I was too new to the situation to take a stand. I should have I guess. Where was my gumption when I needed it?
So being privy to this experience, and others in which people have exhibited a complete lack of manners, guys in particular, girls however not excluded, it caused me to contemplate chivalry in general. Is is dead? Has it been dead? Did woman's lib kill it? Does the lack of importance placed on manners kill the use of chivalry? Or are we purely just devolving?
Call me old fashioned but I'm a fan of a man who treats a woman with respect and dignity, and opens a door for and offers a seat. I'm also a fan of a woman who is proud to be a woman and exalt her feminine traits and be gracious and respectful to men in return. I understand that we're not quite as stringent in dress and formalities as we used to be and that's to be expected. But if manners and mutual respect are passe then I want to hop in a time machine and get the hell out of Dodge.
Oy, and now I'm spent. Here, for your enjoyment, is the Knight's Code of Chivalry as it was presented in the Middle Ages. Although some of the thoughts are outdated in the context of time and socio-economic reality, most of the ideas still hold up today.
The Code of Chivalry
* Live to serve King and Country.
* Live to defend Crown and Country and all it holds dear.
* Live one's life so that it is worthy of respect and honor.
* Live for freedom, justice and all that is good.
* Never attack an unarmed foe.
* Never use a weapon on an opponent not equal to the attack.
* Never attack from behind.
* Avoid lying to your fellow man.
* Avoid cheating.
* Avoid torture.
* Obey the law of king, country, and chivalry.
* Administer justice.
* Protect the innocent.
* Exhibit self control.
* Show respect to authority.
* Respect women.
* Exhibit Courage in word and deed.
* Defend the weak and innocent.
* Destroy evil in all of its monstrous forms.
* Crush the monsters that steal our land and rob our people.
* Fight with honor.
* Avenge the wronged.
* Never abandon a friend, ally, or noble cause.
* Fight for the ideals of king, country, and chivalry.
* Die with valor.
* Always keep one's word of honor.
* Always maintain one's principles.
* Never betray a confidence or comrade.
* Avoid deception.
* Respect life and freedom.
* Die with honor.
* Exhibit manners.
* Be polite and attentive.
* Be respectful of host, women, and honor.
* Loyalty to country, King, honor, freedom, and the code of chivalry.
* Loyalty to one's friends and those who lay their trust in thee.
Dave Chappelle's take on things...
Tuesday, March 10, 2009
Jam Sandwich with a Little Ham on It
Betwixt and Between latest and greatest is this week. Hi, I'm Tuesday, quite possibly the weirdest day of the week. Every Tuesday is painfully slow at work, and my roomie and I, still recovering from a weekend of debauchery (Texas peeps in town) are keeping a low profile this eve. Not much to report...
Spent a lovely Saturday in the Newport Harbor with the visitors and usual suspects drinking champagne and ogling the mega-yachts in the Newport Harbor. Roomie whipped up a few cheese plates and we cruised around in style. We were able to dock the boat at the Cannery, a local favorite restaurant, and went inside for a cocktail. I had a cocktail made from Pear vodka and Elderflower syrup that tasted like drinking a flower, sounds weird, but it was mucho good. Off we went for a lovely sushi dinner and some additional cocktails after that. We took a cab home.
Speaking of the word cocktail, I was recently curious as to the origin of this word and looked it up on good ole wiki. Wasn't too pleased with the result because it didn't provide a definite. Oh well. Here are some of the possible origins:
# Barrel taps are known as cocks and the term tails usually referred to the dregs of distillate left at the end of a run in a distillery or at the bottom of a cask. Colonial taverns kept their spirits (rum, brandy, whiskey, gin, applejack) in casks, and as the liquid in the casks lowered the tavern keeper would combine the tails into an additional cask kept for that purpose, to be sold at a reduced price. The patrons would request the "cock tailings" or the tailings from the stop cock of the cask.
# Fighting cocks were given a mixture of spirits by their trainers before a fight. This mixture was known as a cocks-ale.
# In Campeche, Mexico, local bartenders used wooden spoons carved from a native root known as cola de-gallo (cocktail) to stir the local spirits and punches before serving.
# A tavern near Yorktown, New York was popular with the officers of the Revolutionary soldiers of Washington and Lafayette. The American troops preferred whiskey or gin, the French preferred wine or vermouth. All enjoyed a bit of brandy or rum. Sometimes late in the evenings, in a spirit of camaraderie, the spirits were mixed from one cup to another during toasts. A soldier stole a rooster from the tavern owner's neighbor, who was believed to be a Tory supporter of King George of England. The rooster was promptly cooked and served to the customers, with the tail feathers used to adorn the accompanying drinks. The toasts accompanying this meal were "vive le cocktail" and the mixed drinks were so called ever after.[8]
# Cocktails were originally a morning beverage, and the cocktail was the name given as metaphor for the rooster (cocktail) heralding morning light of day. This was first posited in 2004 by Ted Haigh in "Vintage Spirits & Forgotten Cocktails". And can be distinguished from the theory "take two snips of the hair of the dog that bit you", which refers to consuming a small bit of alcohol the morning after a "binge drinking night" to curb the effects of the symptoms of the hangover, in the belief that these symptoms are the result of a form of withdrawal.
# A cock's tail has many varied feathers in exciting colours as a cocktail has varied exciting alcoholic drinks mixed together.
# Some say that it was customary to put a feather, presumably from a cock's tail, in the drink to serve both as decoration and to signal to teetotalers that the drink contained alcohol.
In un-related news, I've been doing some research on the career and You Tubery of Ann Coulter, and it turns out, as I suspected, that yes she is a biiiiiiiatch!
Spent a lovely Saturday in the Newport Harbor with the visitors and usual suspects drinking champagne and ogling the mega-yachts in the Newport Harbor. Roomie whipped up a few cheese plates and we cruised around in style. We were able to dock the boat at the Cannery, a local favorite restaurant, and went inside for a cocktail. I had a cocktail made from Pear vodka and Elderflower syrup that tasted like drinking a flower, sounds weird, but it was mucho good. Off we went for a lovely sushi dinner and some additional cocktails after that. We took a cab home.
Speaking of the word cocktail, I was recently curious as to the origin of this word and looked it up on good ole wiki. Wasn't too pleased with the result because it didn't provide a definite. Oh well. Here are some of the possible origins:
# Barrel taps are known as cocks and the term tails usually referred to the dregs of distillate left at the end of a run in a distillery or at the bottom of a cask. Colonial taverns kept their spirits (rum, brandy, whiskey, gin, applejack) in casks, and as the liquid in the casks lowered the tavern keeper would combine the tails into an additional cask kept for that purpose, to be sold at a reduced price. The patrons would request the "cock tailings" or the tailings from the stop cock of the cask.
# Fighting cocks were given a mixture of spirits by their trainers before a fight. This mixture was known as a cocks-ale.
# In Campeche, Mexico, local bartenders used wooden spoons carved from a native root known as cola de-gallo (cocktail) to stir the local spirits and punches before serving.
# A tavern near Yorktown, New York was popular with the officers of the Revolutionary soldiers of Washington and Lafayette. The American troops preferred whiskey or gin, the French preferred wine or vermouth. All enjoyed a bit of brandy or rum. Sometimes late in the evenings, in a spirit of camaraderie, the spirits were mixed from one cup to another during toasts. A soldier stole a rooster from the tavern owner's neighbor, who was believed to be a Tory supporter of King George of England. The rooster was promptly cooked and served to the customers, with the tail feathers used to adorn the accompanying drinks. The toasts accompanying this meal were "vive le cocktail" and the mixed drinks were so called ever after.[8]
# Cocktails were originally a morning beverage, and the cocktail was the name given as metaphor for the rooster (cocktail) heralding morning light of day. This was first posited in 2004 by Ted Haigh in "Vintage Spirits & Forgotten Cocktails". And can be distinguished from the theory "take two snips of the hair of the dog that bit you", which refers to consuming a small bit of alcohol the morning after a "binge drinking night" to curb the effects of the symptoms of the hangover, in the belief that these symptoms are the result of a form of withdrawal.
# A cock's tail has many varied feathers in exciting colours as a cocktail has varied exciting alcoholic drinks mixed together.
# Some say that it was customary to put a feather, presumably from a cock's tail, in the drink to serve both as decoration and to signal to teetotalers that the drink contained alcohol.
In un-related news, I've been doing some research on the career and You Tubery of Ann Coulter, and it turns out, as I suspected, that yes she is a biiiiiiiatch!
Monday, March 2, 2009
Child Dust Peeps
So it's been quite a while and I've got no excuses. Working a lot, check, enjoying time off from work, check. Just like everyone else in the world. Check. Doesn't mean I can't take the measley time it takes to write a little bit each day. Laziness, and there is no other excuse. Well, that and Tivo. It's sucking my will to live. And I don't even watch more than an hour a day! If even that!!! But it is still more TV than before I had Tivo.
Johnette has been gone and while it's been nice to have a little time to myself, I also miss her. She's spending her days on the big island of Hawaii with our friends Shea, Diane, and Mykal. I hope they're having a wonderful time and I hear Shea will get to swim with the dolphins tomorrow, which I'm sure will be quite the experience.
Work has been OK, just trying to do my best keeping the bar in order, and learning everything I can to be the best bar tender I can be. I cut the tip of my finger off at work a few weeks ago, and finally, after a few weeks of bandages, antiseptic surgical glue, and steri-strips, it appears to be healing. It's funny because the part of my finger that the doctor glued back on actually fell off after the bandages came off and a new finger tip was growing in underneath. The body is amazing in the ways that it heals itself.
If only the brain and the psyche were as resilient. Well, I don't think I'll be playing guitar for a while, but my new finger tip seems to be typing successfully. It still stings a little, but I'm sure to be a 100%, finger-wise anyway, in a few days. Thanks to the wonderful medical professionals at Newport Walk-In clinic, Dr. Lindsay and a bevy of helpful nurses, My new finger tip will live long and prosper.
That's all for now. I promise it won't be as long next time. For now, I leave you with this...
Johnette has been gone and while it's been nice to have a little time to myself, I also miss her. She's spending her days on the big island of Hawaii with our friends Shea, Diane, and Mykal. I hope they're having a wonderful time and I hear Shea will get to swim with the dolphins tomorrow, which I'm sure will be quite the experience.
Work has been OK, just trying to do my best keeping the bar in order, and learning everything I can to be the best bar tender I can be. I cut the tip of my finger off at work a few weeks ago, and finally, after a few weeks of bandages, antiseptic surgical glue, and steri-strips, it appears to be healing. It's funny because the part of my finger that the doctor glued back on actually fell off after the bandages came off and a new finger tip was growing in underneath. The body is amazing in the ways that it heals itself.
If only the brain and the psyche were as resilient. Well, I don't think I'll be playing guitar for a while, but my new finger tip seems to be typing successfully. It still stings a little, but I'm sure to be a 100%, finger-wise anyway, in a few days. Thanks to the wonderful medical professionals at Newport Walk-In clinic, Dr. Lindsay and a bevy of helpful nurses, My new finger tip will live long and prosper.
That's all for now. I promise it won't be as long next time. For now, I leave you with this...
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