Like nails on a chalkboard

Do you ever have those days where everything makes your skin crawl? Perhaps women are more familiar with this phenomenon (you know, the whole PMS thing and all) but that was not the case for me today. I don't know what it was...but like, one of my coworkers eats REALLY noisily. Doesn't matter what it is - it's just noisy. And we have a big common table in the middle of our office...so when I'm furiously crunching numbers for budget worksheets in my cube 15 feet away from said table, and xyz coworker is sitting there doing this weird crunching/smacking combo . . . it makes me want to rip off my ears and scream.

Seriously. It's just one of those things, I guess.

And don't even get me started on people refusing to use the coffee measuring cup when making coffee - so that we waste ridiculous amounts of Peet's coffee - and what we get to drink is sludgy nast.

ARGH.

okay. rant over.

LOVE and other chaoticisms

In Vegas over the weekend, we saw The Beatles LOVE Cirque du Soleil show at the Mirage. I have seen several of the Cirque du Soleil creations - either live or on DVD, but my experience with LOVE was a vastly different experience for me.

Maybe it had to do with the music. I mean - besides being the Beatles, whom I love - I think it had to do with the fact that, unlike other Cirque shows, the music had a direct connection to the audience through words. In most other Cirque shows, the music is beautiful, ethereal and the perfect background for feats of physical prowess - but the words are all nonsense. Made up syllables become part of the soundscape, blending in with the instruments and synthesizers.

LOVE, on the other hand, was like experiencing words come to life. Rather than fade into the background, the music *was* the story: language giving life to tableaux of hope, fear, joy, despair, and yes - even love. A chaoticism of sound, light, color, feeling, beauty, angst, awe, humor and artistry. Not to mention Mr. Kite.


Minor digression . . . I have spent hours - perhaps even days or weeks - of my life doing nothing more than listening to certain albums over and over and over. Especially in high school, when on any given day it would be easy to find me locked up in my room, sprawled across my floor or bed, music blasting, lyrics in front of me, trying to glean whatever wisdom was to be found in those magical combinations of notes, rhythms and words. One of the albums worn down to the ground - and I still know every word of it to this day - is Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. This album blew my mind when I first heard it all the way through. And it still does. Whatever combination of genius, genes and pharmaceuticals the lads from Liverpool were on during the creation of Sgt. Pepper sure did do it for me - even thought I myself had never experienced half of what they were talking about half of the time.

SO - to actually see, hear, and feel something so near and dear to me come to life
...well...it left me practically shell-shocked. And amazed, inspired. And I cannot even begin to do it justice through my own paltry words.

Just - if you ever get to Vegas, go see this show. All you need is LOVE...and I believe it.

Honky!

I honked at not one, but TWO MUNI busses today. Or maybe it was the same bus twice in a row. Whatever. It (they?) cut me off twice. NO signal, NO warning just allofthesuddenholycrapherecomesthebusbarrellingintothesideofmycar!

It(they) deserved both of those honks!

Bragging Rights

Check out the amazing AZ in the following videos in About.com's Food section:

Find the Right Tea for You

Benefits of a Whole Leaf Tea

Pairing Tea With Food

I get to be friends with this woman!! If this is not cause for bragging rights, I do not know what is! She's teaching the world about tea in such an enlightening and professional manner, complete with perfect hand gestures! I know this was a stressful shoot for her, but I only know that because I heard her talk about it. The end product is nothing but polished. Congrats, AZ, on a job well done :)

A rose by any other name . . .

I've been thinking about names a lot recently. More specifically, my name - for various and sundry reasons - and what it means.

KATHARINE is the German and English variant of Katherine, which has a debated etymology. Most often you read that it is a derivative from the Greek word katharos, meaning "Pure". However, it the debated root words have the following alternate meanings:
"Each of the Two"
"Torture"
"My consecration of your name"
"Far off" (From the goddess Hecate, associated with witchcraft, tombs, demons and the underworld).

ELLEN is the Medieval English or Dutch variant of Helen, which also has Greek origins. The Greek word helene means "torch" or "corposant". (Corposant meaning either: "Holy body" or refers to the phoenomenon of St. Elmo's Fire).

My last name stems from the Hebrew word meaning "God is my judge".

So...string them all together, and you get "Pure Torch God is my Judge" or "Torture Torch God is my judge" or "Far off corporsant . . ." etc. It's interesting. There's a lot of weight in some of those definitions - a lot of pressure to live up to, in some cases.


But wait! There's more . . . what about nicknames?
-Katja or Katya
-Grace (for my lack thereof)
-Katarina or Catarina

And, what about taking on attributes of character names? I've run the gamut this year!
-Madame Larina
-Little Buttercup
-Ivana Trump
-Virgin Mary

It's just interesting to think about . . . good times.

Saturday

So you think you can dance audition reruns on MTV. Hey, I never saw them the first go-round. Hilarious!

Toasted pumpkin seeds. Waiting for the oven to heat up as we speak.

Long walk on the beach. (Ha! Sounds like a cliche') With great company and sand in the teeth - it was windy.

Chopin's Piano Concerto #2 on the radio while venting my frustrations on a poor pumpkin. He lived to tell his tale, but man, that is one gutless pumpkin. Now, anyways.

Sleeping in followed by leisurely coffee and crossword. Best. Ever.

As for the rest of my evening. I don't know. I still have 300 rented from earlier this week, so I might watch that. I have to get up early to watch Bethie (friend in town) run her marathon tomorrow...so, we'll see.

seriously?

I have a viral eye infection. Awesome! One thing after another . . . ack!!

I'm *not* just trying to skip work here, people. (As entertaining as that might be! hahahahah)!

I have a couple of good movies to watch, though. Hooray!

Les délices . . .

Sweet potato soup

Atlantic cod with leeks, onions and potatoes

Orange blossom beignets

Mighty Leaf tea

Warning: Purple and Brown have been known to cause uncontrollable giggling

. . . so, I wish I had the full lenghth version of this, but you can find it over on the www.aardman.com site under "new ads".

Enticing the taste buds this weekend . . .

AND - I didn't have a picture of this, but I do have to say I made a very yummy salad comprised of:
-Spinach
-Baby beets
-Garlic and herb feta
-Blackberries
-Dried Cranberries
-Cucumber
-Diced red onion
-Diced green onion
served with Balsamic vinaigrette, or oil/vinegar and salt & pepper...mmmm. The leftovers - after having mingled in the fridge - are even better...mmmmmm

They're baaaaaaack

Yes, indeed, folks, the annual duck and cover event has returned!

Still cool, but also distracting!

chilling out

I am chilling out here on day 5 of my forced rest. I thought it would be good for me (and my attitude) to borrow an idea from AZ and focus on the top 10 GOOD things about my last week! Here they are - in random order:

1. Greek "Knee" Fest - including homemade spanokopita by AZ!
2. Leftover spanokopita (what can I say - I've not ventured to the grocery store!)
3. The kindness of my friends, coming over to spend time with me, watch movies, cook...truly, it has been a blessing!
4. The kindess of strangers - my building manager's gf saw me waiting for my (late) taxi to the doctor this morning, and ended up driving me down there herself!
5. Laughter in spades
6. Sibling got home safely from London yesterday (and he brought home treats!)
7. The Travel Channel
8. Catching up on emailing some old friends
9. Email from Rona, safe in her destination
10. Liking my knee doctor - very important, indeed!