back

so....made it back to SF. The O.C. was really pretty - it was cold! - but pretty. I do have some funny stories to tell...mostly involving my family. They are great. And wacky.

but...I am soo sleepy right now and can't really form cohesive thoughts, so i'll just leave this with you. ty is on our couch for the week, and so the four folks now living here decided it would be a great idea to run through the Stuff White People Like list and see which one of us was indeed "the whitest" according to the list.

As per said list, I am "59%" white - answering in the affirmative to 55/93 questions. Funny thing, Sibling and I tied...but we agreed on different things. It was really funny to read through the categories. omg. funny.

waiting

i am going to the beach for all of...say....about 36 hours. which means i should already be in bed. my plane LEAVES in 6.5 hours.



however, because i am going to the beach, i must have pretty toes.



i am waiting for the paint to dry before i put on the top coat.



hence this short little blog. yay. have a great weekend, ya'll. back sunday night....





ps: kick ass time at C&A's wedding tonight. it was a lot of fun! so much more to tell but too tired at this juncture....

Hummer-sighting update

Seen: 14 + one humvee limo driving the streets of SF. In one week.

Movie meme

I stole this from Say la vee, because I needed a Thursday meme!

Bold the movies you've seen; italicize the ones you've seen part of:

1. The Godfather (1972)
2. The Shawshank Redemption (1994)
3. The Godfather: Part II (1974)
4. The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly (1966)
5. Pulp Fiction (1994)
6. Schindler’s List (1993)
7. One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (1975)
8.The Empire Strikes Back (1980)
9. Casablanca (1942)
10. Seven Samurai (1954)
11. Star Wars (1977)
12. The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003)
13. 12 Angry Men (1957)
14. Rear Window (1954)
15. Goodfellas (1990)
16. Cidade de Deus (2002) [City of God]
17. Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981)
18. The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001)
19. Once Upon a Time in the West (1968)
20. The Usual Suspects (1995)
21. Psycho (1960)
22. Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964) 23. Fight Club (1999)
24. Citizen Kane (1941)
25. The Silence of the Lambs (1991)
26. North by Northwest (1959)
27. Memento (2000)
28. The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (2002)
29. Sunset Blvd. (1950)
30. It’s a Wonderful Life (1946)
31. The Matrix (1999)
32. Lawrence of Arabia (1962)
33. There Will Be Blood (2007)
34. Se7en (1995)
35. Apocalypse Now (1979)
36. Taxi Driver (1976)
37. American Beauty (1999)
38. Léon (1994)
39. Vertigo (1958)
40. Amelie (2001)
41. American History X (1998)
42. No Country for Old Men (2007)
43. The Departed (2006)
44. Paths of Glory (1957)
45. M (1931)
46. To Kill a Mockingbird (1962)
47. Chinatown (1974)
48. The Third Man (1949)
49. Leben der Anderen, Das (2006) [The Lives of Others]
50. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004)
51. A Clockwork Orange (1971)
52. Alien (1979)
53. The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948)
54. Laberinto del fauno, El (2006) [Pan's Labyrinth]
55. The Shining (1980)
56. Sen to Chihiro no kamikakushi (2001) Spirited Away
57. The Pianist (2002)
58. Double Indemnity (1944)
59. Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1975)
60. Forrest Gump (1994)
61. Saving Private Ryan (1998)
62. The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957)
63. L.A. Confidential (1997)
64. Boot, Das (1981)
65. Requiem for a Dream (2000)
66. Reservoir Dogs (1992)
67. Untergang, Der (2004)
68. Aliens (1986)
69. The Maltese Falcon (1941)
70. Raging Bull (1980)
71. Metropolis (1927)
72. Rashômon (1950)
73. Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991)
74. Modern Times (1936)
75. Hotel Rwanda (2004)
76. Singin’ in the Rain (1952)
77. Sin City (2005)
78. Rebecca (1940)
79. 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)
80. Sjunde inseglet, Det (1957)
81. All About Eve (1950)
82. Some Like It Hot (1959)
83. City Lights (1931)
84. Amadeus (1984)
85. Vita è bella, La (1997)
86. On the Waterfront (1954)
87. The Great Escape (1963)
88. Touch of Evil (1958)
89. The Prestige (2006)
90. The Elephant Man (1980)
91. Jaws (1975)
92. Full Metal Jacket (1987)
93. The Sting (1973)
94. Nuovo cinema Paradiso (1988)
95. Once Upon a Time in America (1984)
96. The Manchurian Candidate (1962)
97. The Apartment (1960)
98. Braveheart (1995)
99. Blade Runner (1982)
100. The Great Dictator (1940)
101. Strangers on a Train (1951)
102. Batman Begins (2005)
103. Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939)
104. Ladri di biciclette (1948) Bicycle Thieves
105. Salaire de la peur, Le (1953) Wages of Fear
106. High Noon (1952)
107. Ran (1985)
108. Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi (1983)
109. The Big Sleep (1946)
110. The Wizard of Oz (1939)
111. Notorious (1946)
112. Back to the Future (1985)
113. Fargo (1996)
114. Oldboy (2003)
115. Unforgiven (1992)
116. Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade
117. Donnie Darko (2001)
118. Ratatouille (2007)
119. Mononoke-hime (1997)
120. Cool Hand Luke (1967)
121. Kill Bill: Vol. 1 (2003)
122. Yojimbo (1961)
123. Per qualche dollaro in più (1965)
124. The Green Mile (1999)
125. Million Dollar Baby (2004)
126. The Bourne Ultimatum (2007)
127. Notti di Cabiria, Le (1957)
128. Gladiator (2000)
129. Battaglia di Algeri, La (1966) The Battle of Algiers.
130. Annie Hall (1977)
131. Die Hard (1988)
132. Into the Wild (2007)
133. Ben-Hur (1959)
134. The Deer Hunter (1978)
135. The Sixth Sense (1999)
136. It Happened One Night (1934)
137. The General (1927)
138. Platoon (1986)
139. Kind Hearts and Coronets (1949)
140. Life of Brian (1979)
141. The Killing (1956)
142. Smultronstället (1957) Wild Strawberries
143. Amores perros (2000) Love's a B'tch
144. Finding Nemo (2003)
145. Diaboliques, Les (1955)
146. The Incredibles (2004)
147. V for Vendetta (2005)
148. The Wild Bunch (1969)
149. Heat (1995)
150. Children of Men (2006)
151. Brief Encounter (1945)
152. Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969)
153. Juno (2007)
154. The Princess Bride (1987)
155. 8½ (1963)
156. The Graduate (1967)
157. Judgment at Nuremberg (1961)
158. Letters from Iwo Jima (2006)
159. The Night of the Hunter (1955)
160. The Big Lebowski (1998) Dude.
161. Crash (2004)
162. Dog Day Afternoon (1975)
163. Stand by Me (1986)
164. Gandhi (1982)
165. Shadow of a Doubt (1943)
166. The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938)
167. Snatch. (2000)
168. Harvey (1950)
169. Kill Bill: Vol. 2 (2004)
170. The African Queen (1951)
171. Witness for the Prosecution (1957)
172. The Thing (1982)
173. Trainspotting (1996)
174. Gone with the Wind (1939)
175. The Grapes of Wrath (1940)
176. Wo hu cang long (2000) Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon
177. Belle et la bête, La (1946)
178. The Gold Rush (1925)
179. Little Miss Sunshine (2006)
180. Groundhog Day (1993)
181. The Conversation (1974)
182. American Gangster (2007)
183. Scarface (1983)
184. Patton (1970)
185. Duck Soup (1933)
186. Toy Story (1995)
187. Nosferatu, eine Symphonie des Grauens (1922)
188. The Best Years of Our Lives (1946)
189. Twelve Monkeys (1995)
190. The Terminator (1984)
191. Cabinet des Dr. Caligari., Das (1920)
192. Sleuth (1972)
193. The Hustler (1961)
194. Umberto D. (1952)
195. The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951)
196. Stalker (1979)
197. Glory (1989)
198. Ed Wood (1994)
199. King Kong (1933)
200. Grindhouse (2007)
201. Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels (1998)
202. The Exorcist (1973)
203. The Lion King (1994)
204. Hotaru no haka (1988)
205. Bride of Frankenstein (1935)
206. Spartacus (1960)
207. All Quiet on the Western Front (1930)
208. The Ox-Bow Incident (1943)
209. The Lost Weekend (1945)
210. Stalag 17 (1953)
211. Magnolia (1999)
212. The Lady Vanishes (1938)
213. Lola rennt (1998) Run Lola Run
214. In the Heat of the Night (1967)
215. The Philadelphia Story (1940)
216. Frankenstein (1931)
217. Out of the Past (1947)
218. Big Fish (2003)
219. Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans (1927)
220. Anatomy of a Murder (1959)
221. Casino (1995)
222. Rosemary’s Baby (1968)
223. Toy Story 2 (1999)
224. Mystic River (2003)
225. Du rififi chez les hommes (1955)
226. Bonnie and Clyde (1967)
227. 3:10 to Yuma (2007)
228. Hot Fuzz (2007)
229. A Christmas Story (1983)
230. Ikiru (1952)
231. Mou gaan dou (2002)
232. Manhattan (1979)
233. A Streetcar Named Desire (1951)
234. Young Frankenstein (1974)
235. Dial M for Murder (1954)
236. The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (1962)
237. Rope (1948)
238. Once (2006)
239. Roman Holiday (1953)
240. Quatre cents coups, Les (1959) The 400 Blows
241. The Searchers (1956)
242. In Cold Blood (1967)
243. Ying xiong (2002)
244. His Girl Friday (1940)
245. Shaun of the Dead (2004)
246. Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (2003)
247. Samouraï, Le (1967)
248. Strada, La (1954)
249. Harold and Maude (1971)
250. Aguirre, der Zorn Gottes (1972) Aguire, The Wrath of God

middle name meme

1. You have to post the rules before you give your answers.

2. You must list one fact about yourself beginning with each letter of your middle name.

3. At the end of your blog post, you need to tag one person for each letter of your middle name.

E - Enjoys globetrotting
L - Loves music
L - Loves languages
E - Entertainer
N - Needs time to "just be"


(More thanks to Wyld for letting me steal yet another meme...)

(No...not tagging anyone for this one, because there are so many memes this week...but if you want to do it, please go ahead!)

Cracking me up

Sibling sent me a link to this site today:
Stuff White People Like.

Wow. I think it's freakin' hilarious in that wonderfully non-PC way that seems to be so taboo these days.

I have no idea who writes this site...but at least according to their list, I fit several of their white people stereotypes. Hahahah!

Living Memoir

Yet another meme - perhaps that will be my theme for the week...hmmmm....

This one comes from Wyld's Q&A:

1. Write your own six-word memoir
2. Post it on your blog and include a visual illustration if you'd like
3. Link to the person that tagged you in the post
4. Tag five more blogs with links (and don't forget to leave a comment on the tagged blogs with an invitation to play!)
----

Always singing, learning, laughing, and loving

Tagging: AZ, Rona, Sandra, Tiff, and Lea Ann

Meme from AZ

A) FOUR PLACES I GO OVER AND OVER:
1. Colorado
2. The Embarcadero
3. Oakland
4. Rehearsal

B) FOUR OF MY FAVORITE PLACES TO EAT:
1. Boulange de....(Polk, Hayes, Cole..etc)
2. Mykonos Greek restaurant
3. Boulevard (um…but only when my parents are in town haha)
4. Askew

C) FOUR PLACES I WOULD RATHER BE RIGHT NOW:
1. France
2. The Rocky Mountains
3. New Orleans
4. In a hammock on a beach somewhere

D) TV SHOWS I WATCH OVER AND OVER:
1. CSI: Las Vegas
2. LOST
3. The Amazing Race
4. Law & Order

E) FOUR CAUSES ABOUT WHICH I AM PASSIONATE
(note from KD: this sounds like an "SF" question, does it not? lol)
1. Supporting our troops through organizations such as Soldiers' Angels
2. Hospitality, making people feel at ease (my own *personal* cause)
3. Recycling (I have lived in CA for almost 7 years, now…go figure!)
4. The Arts...keep them in schools!

F) FOUR BOOKS (or authors) I REALLY ENJOYED READING
1. Isabelle Allende’s books (She’s an amazing storyteller.)
2. The Alchemist (clichéd, perhaps, but true)
3. Doonesbury’s The Sandbox
4. A recent read...Steve Martin's stand-up memoire...very interesting

G) FOUR THINGS THAT REALLY ANNOY ME
1. Dirty dishes in the sink. Especially when the dishwasher is empty.
2. Lack of turn-signaling from other vehicles
3. Manipulation
4. Micro-managers

H) FOUR THINGS I LOVE TO DO ON A WARM, SUNNY DAY
1. Go explore the park or a new 'hood
2. Walk down to the beach
3. People watch the tourists downtown
4. BBQ with friends

I) FOUR COLORS I LOVE
1. Dark aqua
2. Purple
3. Red
4. Pink

J) FOUR TASTES I LOVE
1. Dark chocolate
2. Coffee
3. Peppermint
4. Green figs

K) FOUR SOUNDS I LOVE
1. Sibling's laugh (he totally giggles)
2. Music - esp. the kind that gives you goosebumps
3. My family's southern accents
4. French, Itallian, Spanish - any of the romance languages - being spoken


Tag...you're it!

the easter bunny cometh

I've had a lovely Easter . . . have ya'll?

Played "easter bunny" for the kids (aka Sibling, S and visiting friend in town)
Had breakfast with Sibling
Went to church
Potluck lunch chez AZ
Walk to the beach
Good times...good friends....good food & wine & aguas frescas


UPDATE: I've seen 10 humvees driving around SF since Wednesday. Weird!

USMC vs. Berkeley. Again. But different.

Last month, there was much ado over the whole Bezerkely city council vs. the Marines vs. Code Pink imbroglio. As well there should have been. (My money was on the Marines).

Today, there was a pro-troops protest rally in Berekely. I LOVE it. You can check out the story in this article on SFGate. Again...my money's on the USMC (and the Bikers).

- - -

Speaking of the military....what's up with all the Humvee's in San Francisco? I am now keeping count this week and I've seen 6 since Wednesday. Not including the Hummer-Limousine I saw downtown this afternoon. Seriously? I just don't get it. The only reason one *might* come in handy here is in the aftermath of our next Big Earthquake (which, assuredly, we'll have); but other than that? Really?
Can you say *compensation*, boys and girls?

Good Friday Fives

RevGals Friday Five (via Wyld):

1. Our prayer concerns are as varied as we are this day. For whom would you like us to pray?
P and all the troops abroad and at home; my coworker M; my friend J & her baby; Sibling & S; peace in the Middle East.

2. Are there things you have done or will do today to help the young ones understand this important day in our lives?
Help the young ones? Don’t have much interaction with ‘the young ones’…so probably not.

3. Music plays an important part in sharing the story of this day. Is there a hymn or piece of music that you have found particularly meaningful to your celebrations of Good Friday?
I think I will listen to Barber’s Adagio – but the one performed by voices to the words “Agnus Dei”…it’s a beautiful piece, and I think appropriate to the day.

4. As you hear the passion narrative, is there a character that you particularly resonate with?
The ones who fell asleep while Jesus was praying…

5. Where have you seen the gracious God of love at work lately?
I have seen Him at work through healing…in myself, in others…spiritual, physical, emotional…

My End of the Phone Call

"Hey, Mom...I've gotta hang up soon, I'll talk to you tomorrow, okay?"

"No, Ma...I'm only going to be at home for a few minutes - enough time to grab my stuff and head back out the door."

"No, I don't have a rehearsal tonight, but I am headed to Bible Study up at the church, and I'm going to take the bus."

"Um...hello? Have you *seen* the news? Gas is over $4/gallon here, so, yeah, I'm trying to take the bus more."

"WHAT? The bus is FINE mother. It's fine. Really. My neighborhood is *fine*. Look, I'm leaving when it's still light outside. No reason to get upset. Seriously...What? No, [Sibling] is not at home...he's still at work. Are you going to get him to talk me out of taking the bus??"

"Come on. You can't be serious. MOM. Do you know how many places I've lived where there's much worse public transportation? Seriously. You realize I've ridden public transportation in countries where I don't even speak the language, right? Right?"

"Wait - no...don't worry. I can always get a ride home. Oh you don't have to get dad involved, Mom, just-"

"....."

"Hi, Dad. I don't know. Mom's freaking out over me taking the bus tonight. To church. What? No...it's fine. Really. And I'll get a ride home, I promise."

The familiar

and unwelcome feeling of Panic has been gnawing at me this afternoon. Crawling around under my skin and between my shoulderblades. It started at work, and now I am at home trying my best to breathe in and out at a regular pace - grasping for any hold I can keep on my rational, yet slippery, sense of self - constantly reminding myself that I'm not dying, I'm just hovering on the edge of a mental cliff. It's been over a year since my last full-on panic attack, which I count as a blessing.

I'm hoping that the focus required for rehearsal tonight will help my system to override and reboot itself. I wish it were just a simple means of telling myself to "calm down," but it's not that easy. I can tell myself to calm down, and perhaps that puts off the inevitable, or shortens the duration of an attack, but it really is an involuntary physical manifestation. It's very weird...I can describe all the symptoms like they are happening to someone else...very 'out-of-body' like...but they are not happening to someone else, they are mine.

I think it's probably because I've not slept enough this week...that's happened to me before. Gotta change that and I'll go to bed directly after rehearsal tonight.

blank

I am blank today...do you ever have those times?

Everything feels blank. I think because work was crazy busy and my brain was fried by the time my day was over.

blank.


looking forward to filling in those blanks later this week.

I'm not remotely Irish

...but I still celebrate St. Patrick's Day.
Here are a few funny YouTube clips for ya'll...enjoy!

I *heart* SF

One of the reasons I love SF is by virture of its size; it's a small city. And, well, live here long enough, and you just get to know people.

On Saturday, walking through GG Park with Sibling, a bicyclist zoomed past and I was like...WHOA I knew who that was!

"CIAAAAOOOOO PROFESSOOOOOOOORRREEEE"

~screeeech~ the biker turns around.

It's my Italian professor, running his weekend errands. We chatted for a few moments, then all went on our merry ways.
- - - -
About month ago, I ran into V in the financial district. I was walking down at a time of the morning I'm never out...but for some reason, that day I was. (In fact, it was almost exactly a year to the day since I had last seen him).
He was like "Why haven't I heard from you?"
Me: "Um...because I emailed you and you never returned my emails..."
Him: "oh, man, well I have a new email address, let me give it to you..."
Anyways...I took his info, but have yet to email him. But I might if a really hot salsa band comes to town or something...
- - - -
Today I saw not one, but two people newly returned to SF, both of whom had been away for a few years. It was really crazy - like, suddenly no time at all had passed, when in reality a TON of time had passed, and we are no longer the same people we were when last we met. Makes me realize that I've lived here for a looong time.

prayers needed

Please pray for my good friend J in North Carolina...his father passed away this week, succombing to his battle with cancer;

Please pray for my coworker M, whose uncle had a tragic accident on Friday and ended up hospitalized in a vegetative state; the family was not going to keep him on life support for very long;

Please pray for a close friend and her baby - pray for healing for the mom and safety for the baby;

Please pray for P and his fellow Soliders, as tensions escalate in the 'box;

Please pray for T, still looking for housing.

A good way

. . . to start out the morning (or...mid-morning, as the case may be), is laughing one's ass off walking down the street. I highly recommend this.

Sibling: "Time to make like a chicken and get the cluck outta here."

Me: *WHAT* did you just say?

Sibling: "I just made that up right now - did you like it?"

Me: "OH yeah. Nice. What about make like a chicken and cluck off?"

Sibling: "Make like a plane and jet."

Me: "Make like a ball and roll. NO...make like a ball and bounce."

Sibling: "Make like the band and Jet."

Me: "Make like a gang in West Side Story and Jet."

Sibling: "Oh yeah...but when you say that one you have to spontaneously burst into the dance and slowly retreat backwards, snapping." [Demonstrates said move].

Me: laughing me arse off, doubled over on the street

Sibling: "You should totally do that somewhere, like, next time you're leaving a place with a bunch of people."

Me: "I would - but I can't snap, man!!"

Sibling: "Okay, then make sure your Sibling is with you and we'll both do it. Although I'll probably mess it up and say something like, Make like West Side Story and leave."

Friday fives - Top of Mind

From Five on Friday:
What is the first thing that comes to mind when you read each of these words and why?

1. ice - cold. And I don't like when you're drinking an iced beverage and the ice comes crashing down into your teeth.

2. primary - colors. I don't know why that's the first thing, it just is.

3. dirty - dancing. Nobody puts Baby in a .... you know the rest

4. green - M&M's. Psychological viagra.

5. fly - paper. Never used it, but for some reason it makes me think of old cartoons.

file under: humor

After drinking too much green tea at dinner last night, I found myself on a caffeine-fueled trip through the wormholes of blogs begetting blogs begetting blogs . . . ad nauseum. One of the sites I stumbled upon was called Skippy's List: The 213 Things Skippy Is No Longer Allowed To Do In The U.S. Army.
(#10: Not allowed to purchase anyone’s soul on government time; #16. Must get a haircut even if it tampers with my “Samson like powers”; etc.) I urge you to go check out his list - there are many laugh-out-loud funny ones.

Also ran across this Daily Show clip over at Chuck's blog . . . features our very own Bezerkeley Code Pink as they faced off against the USMC. Pretty damn funny.

Office Kninja

The Office Kninja is stealthy and quiet. Freakishly so.

The Office Kninja prides himself on his ability to creep right up on a cubical dweller - right into the cube inself - and read over the dweller's shoulder unnoticed for several seconds.

Then SUDDENLY!

An arm appears out of nowhere and - as it reaches across you for a large paperclip from your special large paperclip holder - you immediately want to shudder and recoil from this gross invasion of your personal space. But such a shudder would show weakness - or even worse - would insult your supervisor the Office Kninja. So instead, you jump 3 feet up in the air.

"Oh, I'm sorry, did I scare you? Are you busy right now?"

....uh....am I busy? What do *you* think - that I didn't hear/see/sense your kninjaness because I was just sitting here staring into space?? Can't you see that I'm very busy on this spreadsheet? Which I've just now learned has the capacity to contain 65,536 rows??

Did you know?

Did you know that there are 65,536 rows available to use in an Excel spreadsheet? I didn't know, either, until I accidentally hit something on my keyboard, and the cursor jumped all the way to the very last row . . . and then there was just grey space. No additional rows would appear, no matter what I did to try and make them appear.

Who knew?

Alone, And Yet Alive!

Alone, and yet alive! Oh, sepulchre!
My soul is still my body's prisoner!
Remote the peace that Death alone can give —
My doom, to wait! my punishment, to live!

Hearts do not break!
They sting and ache
For old love's sake,
But do not die,
Though with each breath
They long for death
As witnesseth
The living I!
The living I!

Oh, living I!
Come, tell me why,
When hope is gone,
Dost thou stay on?
Why linger here,
Where all is drear?
Oh, living I!
Come, tell me why,
When hope is gone,
Dost thou stay on?
May not a cheated maiden die?

May not a cheated maiden die?

- - - - - -
I've started rehearsals for the new show I'm doing, and this is one of my "big numbers"...it's an achingly beautiful song. And quite sincere - not a song done melodramatically or for laughs in any sense. It is - in a word - 'vulnerable.' And this is one of the hardest things for me to do on stage. Granted, I am WAY way better at this than I was even two years ago, so I'm not that worried about it. I just know that it's going to be a process, and I'm looking foward to this process, but it's not an easy one.

Time to bring back the snail!

oh bliss

the interwebs is finally back up and running chez moi!

understatement

It seems to be an especially bad week for our OIF troops and innocent civilians . . . keep them all in your prayers tonight!

retro

I'm retroactively posting this because I wrote a whole post and then my home DSL went out. BOOOOO. I *hope* it is back up and running again, but I have no idea.

so.

hopefully we'll be getting back to our regularly scheduled blogging soon!!

slight paraphrase, but you get the idea

" . . . I don't even say that when I'm drunk on the phone talking to my Grandmother!!"


(Or something like that, anyways. The speaker will remain nameless, in order to protect the children. The children laughing their asses off over $1.50 beers during happy hour, that is.)

weekend redux top 10

Making this in easy format, because I can't really focus much to make it otherwise. Random order:

1. Planted trees as part of SF Connect on Saturday morning. Made some new friends, and had a great time helping out the neighborhood. Props to GW for getting FBC folks involved.

2. Seeing In Bruges. I no - I can't shut up about this movie. Yes it's crass and morbid and achingly British. Therein lies the genius. And Colin Farrell is effen brilliant. BRILLIANT I tell you.

3. Sent a care package to P with gummy bears (by request) and other assorted random items. Also included some of this candy which made me laugh so hard, I almost peed my pants. Because, you know, you can't send *real* pork products to The Sandbox.

4. Joined a card-sending-team with the amazing Soldiers' Angels, thereby putting my 2008 resolution of writing more letters to the test.

5. Went up to Ledson with Sibling to pick up my wine. I hadn't been in several months, so I had 8 bottles waiting for me. All told, however, we came home with 14 bottles between us...! Time to have a party!

6. Dinner at Fish. in Sausalito. So tasty.

7. The weather here was beautiful this weekend. Springtime has sprung in the City.

8. Rona sent me a text this morning asking for a ride to church. I couldn't give her one because I had to be there at 9am today. Well...I had failed to adjust my clocks prior to going to bed, so I thought it was 7:30 when she texted. NOPE it was 8:30am. Good thing she did text, or I would have been really late!

9. Live salsa music apres-tree planting.

10. Cereal for dinner. Honey nut cheerios, to be precise.

11. America's Best Dance team facing off with songs from Thriller. HOT.

(ps: "but it goes up to eleven...")

stellar

Thus far, I am having a stellar weekend, indeed....so many fun times. I am composing a list for tomorrow.

In the mean time, in case you've not already heard me talking about this:

GO SEE THE FILM In Bruges RIGHT now. It was brilliant, hilarious, morbid, and oh-so-very-British. LOVED it.

Friday Fives - Hope

From RevGals via Wyld:

What have you seen/heard this week that was a:

1. Sign of Hope?
My friend's decision to take the first steps towards leaving an abusive relationship.

2. An unexpected word of light in a dark place?
An email from a friend experiencing a similar mind-fog to mine.

3. A sign of spring?
All the flowers are blooming here!

4. Challenging/surprising?
Finding out an old friend of mine just had a baby - and realizing I need to be better at keeping in touch with her!

5. Share a hope for the coming week/month/year:
Too many hopes to list here! I hope you all have many hopes, too!

all Greek to me . . .

Sibling and I went to dinner tonight - Greek food at what is *probably* my favorite Greek restaurant in SF: Mykonos. It really is awesome. And yummy...

The best part? During the course of the evening, getting to just have "real" talk with mon cher frere. Even though we are housemates, we often pass an entire week without seeing each other for more than a "hey, how's it going?" or the occasional ride into work together.

OPA!
---
In other news...is anyone else out there watching Eli Stone? It is such a quirky show, and I can't *quite* figure it out. I love that it's set in SF - of all places - and has such a spiritual/Higher Power vibe to it. Even more interesting is the fact that this show is seemingly trying to tap into a (long?) dormant spiritual side of your average-everyday-I-just-watched-LOST-so-I'll-catch-Eli-Stone-audience, even in light of this newly released Pew study on religion in America.

NB: If you find the afore-linked study interesting, check out these articles:

Stereotypical SF take on things from SFGate


Secularism makes a comeback from TheAtlantic.com


Read what the NYTimes has to say about things


Ironically, this is a Christianity Today article on the same topic - but from 2002!


And, check out this little gem entitled Religion in World Affairs. It's not quite the same topic, but interesting, nevertheless.

Quote

"Where does India call for tech support?"
- Jon Stewart, The Daily Show

Understatement

I saw an advertisement for IKEA today. It was a large sign on the side of a bus.

The fine print: "Some products might require assembly."

I think

. . . yesterday's post exhausted me and I have low creative juices running tonight.

So. I'll leave you with a little tidbit from Sunday evening.
I was at my alma mater to see a bunch of friends in a performance. While there, I saw my former Italian professor (easily one of my favorite teachers ever) - and got to shoot the breeze in italiano, which always makes me happy.
We talked about how things were going, what I've been up to since the last time we'd run into each other (at the Shakespeare Festival six months ago), how his family was doing etc, etc.

Just before we parted ways, he imparted to me this unsolicited advice:
"I think it would be *good* for you to be a little more hedonistic."

Had I been drinking something when he said that, I probably would have spewed said beverage all over him. Seriously - I don't even remember what my response was.

Hedonism: Pursuit of or devotion to pleasure, especially to the pleasures of the senses.

I'm all for pleasuring the senses . . . fine wines, arts, lingering kisses, etc. However, my 'devotion' lies elsewhere.

La plus ca change . . .

The more things change, the more they are the same . . .
- - -
In an attempt to keep current on the situation in Iraq, I follow the DOD press releases, the blogs, the military sites, online news, and yes even the NY Times. I read lots of different sources to get a rounded perspective (especially because my local media can tend to be . . . of a certain slant, shall we say?) I learned something tonight though, that I hadn't realized before: the city of Mosul is the capital of Ninevah Province.

Growing up, I spent my fair share of time in Vacation Bible School. And one of the most popular stories we read was Jonah and the Whale, of course. As a kid, I was fascinated that someone could get eaten by - and then spit out of - a fish. I learned that Jonah disobeyed God because he had been scared and decided to run away, and his consequence of not doing what he was told was being stuck in a smelly fish belly.

Well...fast forward a few years, and I realize that the story told in Jonah is not just about Jonah, but about the people of Ninevah and God's grace on his people.

Jonah was supposed to go to Ninevah because:

The Lord gave this message to Jonah son of Amittai: “Get up and go to the great city of Nineveh. Announce my judgment against it because I have seen how wicked its people are."

But, of course, Jonah turned and ran in the opposite direction. Perhaps he didn't want to be blamed for the bad news he was to deliver. He was Hebrew, and not generally liked in the place he was called to go. Instead of being concerned for the well-being of the people of Ninevah, he was scared of what they might do to him for telling them they were going to face God's judgement.

Well, after spending what I can only imagine to be a horrible three days & nights in the belly of his fishy prison, God told Jonah a second time to go to Ninevah, and this time he did:

Then the Lord spoke to Jonah a second time: “Get up and go to the great city of Nineveh, and deliver the message I have given you.”

This time Jonah obeyed the Lord’s command and went to Nineveh, a city so large that it took three days to see it all. On the day Jonah entered the city, he shouted to the crowds: “Forty days from now Nineveh will be destroyed!” The people of Nineveh believed God’s message, and from the greatest to the least, they declared a fast and put on burlap to show their sorrow.

When the king of Nineveh heard what Jonah was saying, he stepped down from his throne and took off his royal robes. He dressed himself in burlap and sat on a heap of ashes. Then the king and his nobles sent this decree throughout the city:

“No one, not even the animals from your herds and flocks, may eat or drink anything at all. People and animals alike must wear garments of mourning, and everyone must pray earnestly to God. They must turn from their evil ways and stop all their violence. Who can tell? Perhaps even yet God will change his mind and hold back his fierce anger from destroying us.”

Jonah delivered his message - and to his surprise, the people actually listened! They took heed of his warning and changed their ways. Also to Jonah's great surprise and even his anger, God did not go through with his planned destruction of the city. Jonah was upset because he had thought God was indeed compassionate and wouldn't go through with the destruction, so he shouldn't have even sent Jonah in the first place! God should have shown his mercy from the get-go and why on earth did he bother with making Jonah go someplace he didn't want to go??

Well - perhaps the point of this book in the Bible is not that God has great mercy and love for the world - but do we? God made Jonah examine his OWN attitude towards the people of Ninevah, as we see in the last chapter of the book:

Then Jonah went out to the east side of the city and made a shelter to sit under as he waited to see what would happen to the city. And the Lord God arranged for a leafy plant to grow there, and soon it spread its broad leaves over Jonah’s head, shading him from the sun. This eased his discomfort, and Jonah was very grateful for the plant.

But God also arranged for a worm! The next morning at dawn the worm ate through the stem of the plant so that it withered away. And as the sun grew hot, God arranged for a scorching east wind to blow on Jonah. The sun beat down on his head until he grew faint and wished to die. “Death is certainly better than living like this!” he exclaimed.

Then God said to Jonah, “Is it right for you to be angry because the plant died?”
“Yes,” Jonah retorted, “even angry enough to die!”

Then the Lord said, “You feel sorry about the plant, though you did nothing to put it there. It came quickly and died quickly. But Nineveh has more than 120,000 people living in spiritual darkness,not to mention all the animals. Shouldn't I feel sorry for such a great city?”

- - -
Before P headed back out to "the Sandbox" on Friday, I asked him how we here at home could pray for him - besides, of course, for the physical safety of all our troops. His response?
"Pray for peace in the Middle East".

At first ... wow, that seems to be practically impossible, right? How do we pray for peace to reign in a city - a country, a region - which has been fighting and not peaceful for literally thousands of years? Do I have the tiniest bit of faith that God is compassionate, kind and ultimately wants to save the people of Ninevah - of Iraq, of the Middle East - again from their current path of self-destruction?

Well, I better not spend too much time trying to figure out if I have that kind of faith or not.
There are far too many lives at stake (Iraqi, American, TCN, etc) to delay.

quote

"It's like the Titanic, but with BEARS!!!!!"

- Jackie Moon aka Will Ferrell in "Semi Pro"

Family Traditions

I am 28 years old. Perhaps different from a lot of people, I did not drink alcohol before I turned 21. What can I say? I was pretty goody-two-shoes. Even when I lived in France during college (and I was not yet 21), I only had wine once or twice. Looking back, I cannot believe that!

All this being said - fast foward to now. I still do not drink alcohol very often. Living in the Bay Area, I've come to appreciate good wine, indeed, but I've never been sick from drinking. I don't like the physical symptoms that come with "drunkness" and the lack of judgement that is often part of that, as well.

Anyways. Tonight. We celebrated Sibling & Shanna's bday at our neighborhood Irish pub. I started out with them there and then progressed on to a *different* Irish pub across town for a going-away party, and then went BACK to the original pub to meet up with my original crew.

When I got back, I was greeted with a round of shots. Now. This is the first time EVER that I have ever "done shots" with my brother. It was a real family bonding moment. We did two rounds of something nasty. Ick.

Anyways. A new leap year tradition, perhaps? hahaha - I'm not sure...but it was fun(ny) to partake of the aforementioned adult beverages with the same man whose toys I used to break.