I hope it's not genetic

In conversation with my mother yesterday:

Mom: I'm ready for you to have a boyfriend. Someone you can go to the movies with.

Me: Uh. Okay.

Mom: Are you a member of xyz online dating service? Because I heard they sent out thousands and thousands of rejection letters to folks they couldn't find matches for!

Me: I've experimented with them in the past.

Mom: OH! Well. Were you one of the people who received a letter like that??

Me: *Sigh* No, mother.

Mom: Oh. Well. I just worry about you - it just can't be safe meeting up with people from the internet.

Me: . . .

(This coming from the person who - unbeknownst to me at the time - signed me up for an online dating site. I kept getting email from random people, and I had NO IDEA WHY for seveal months).

Okay . . .

. . . does embedding a youtube video actually count as a blog entry? I'm going to go ahead and say that yes, yes it does. That counts as my first entry for NaBloPoMo...National Blog Posting Month. I don't think I could ever participate in the National novel writing month (which...I believe Jennifer did last year)...but Blog Posting, I think I can handle.

One post a day. Every day...no matter what?!? I'll try it, I'm game.

In the interest of full disclosure . . . I *am* counting this as my Friday, November 2nd post...even if it is after midnight already. I'm still awake - not having gone to bed yet, so it feels like it's still Friday night to me. So there. I'm backdating this time - but I'll try my best not to do that if I can help it. I guess that is the downside to staying out and staying up late. One's days and nights get all mixed up.

----
Sibling, Shanna and I just saw "American Gangster". Denzel Washington is freaking awesome...he knows how to play a badass. An - almost - likeable badass, too. Go see it, you'll not be disappointed!

You're gonna wanna go ahead and turn up your speakers for this one . . .

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!

Laughter is the best medicine

So, it's been a rough week, and in my convalescence on the couch, I am surfing the net, and finding some very amusing things.

For your reading pleasure, may I suggest the following:

Survival of the Fittest Hilarous - best of Craigslist.

Ass-Kicking Machine. Odd (bofCL).

Left-hand strung piano. I love this (bofCL).

LOL Cats. I know they've been around for a while. But I still find them oddly creepy and funny.

The I, Claudius drinking game rules. Oh man, it's been forever since I watched some of this show...it might be time to netflix it...

Bar jokes

Question: What do they call the cabs lined up at the Dallas-Fort Worth Airport? Answer: The yellow rows of taxis.

No good very bad week

It's been a rough week.
A friend a colleague passed away. One friends's father passed away after being diagnosed with lung cancer. And a dear friend of mine on the east coast - who I thought fell off the planet - has really just been carrying the burden of caring for a his sick father by himself all summer. Granted, these tragedies are not necessarily "my own" in a way...and yet, I feel them all, deeply. As mom mom said "You are just tender hearted, K, and you've always been that way.". And it's true. Even though my skin has toughened over the years, and I can hide my emotions under a cloud of humor when I have to do so . . . underneath it all, I feel the hurts of people I love quite acutely. It has been a great blessing to me over the years, but it's not always easy.
And I wouldn't change a thing.

But finding out about these three friends in 24 hours - this on top of some already stressful situations - this was too much.

Fast forward to this morning. I woke up late, was in a rush, and in my haste, slipped and fell on my wooden floor (my feet were still wet from the shower).
In the process, I wrenched my knee quite badly . . . nothing new, if you know me. So. Thankfully Shanna was home and took me to the ER, where I hobbled in with great pain, and hobbled out on crutches, knee brace and ibuprophen. I am to see the orthopedic surgeon on Monday.

Several years ago - after my last serious knee injury - my doctor told me that if I ever seriously injured my knee(s) again, I would knee surgery. So, of course, those are the thoughts running through my mind right now. I hope I don't need surgery - that would suck. But, I guess if I had to get it, now's as good a time as any other. (Things could be worse! Praise God that they are not!)

So. I'm at home, on the couch with ice pack and pillows. hey hey! no work for a few days :) That's a silver lining!

comic relief

R.I.P.

A friend and fellow lamplighter has passed away quite suddenly. Peter Weller was a lovely spirit, kind and genuine. Truly a gentleman, indeed. I shall miss him and his crazy antics.

A Midsummer Night's Dream

It was truly an international gathering. At this year’s Shakespeare Festival in the Presidio, we had a truly international gathering.
I had sent out a mass invitation for people to join me at one of my favorite SF “summer” events, and we had quite the eclectic and fun turnout. Also, perhaps it is just further testimony to the genius of Shakespeare that half the people in our group for whom English is not a first language truly enjoyed the play. (It’s also a testament to the brilliant production and very fine acting!)

From the corners of the globe (France, Germany, Korea, Japan, Brazil, Texas haha) and across the US, we laughed and bonded over great food (thanks, AZ), wine and Shakespearian chaos. It was a wonderful evening! I often feel as if I lead multiple lives, and this evening was a mixture of some of them: my music world; my church world; my personal relationships world; my household. I try to keep them all balanced, but I don’t always succeed. I tend to not be able to say no, sometimes.
Right now, our church is going through a big “get out of your comfort zone and meet people outside of these walls” push. In all honestly, I find it a strange concept to have to go out of one’s way to meet people outside of one’s house of worship. If anything, I feel I’m on the opposite side of that fence. Just between work (musical and non-musical) and home, a majority of my time is spent with colleagues, friends and family who either a) couldn’t be bothered with ‘religion’ and/or b) get paid to attend church several times a weekend. In saying this, though, I do not wish to imply that my circumstances make me any better or worse a “Christian” than anyone else. I just have a different perspective; different goals. I feel like I don’t have to create circumstances to “share with all”…but rather, be a good steward of the friendships, relationships and opportunities I already have. Am I loving people? Am I listening to them? Really? Am I too quick to judge? Do I spend enough time in relationship with my Father? Quality time? How much time do I waste watching bad TV, when I could have made a phone call to a friend or family member?

Things to consider.