roadtrip

micah and i drove to san francisco for the weekend.

we drove up on friday, spent saturday at the oyster and beer festival, and drove home today.
the main reason we went was to see flogging molly. they played at the festival, and it was their last show for a very long time.

and they were totally worth the drive.

in order to save money, we stayed at a hostel which turned out to be in one of the worst neighborhoods in town. but it was great, because we met a lot of fun, random people.

friday night, we met paul, who was restoring this ford truck and was kind enough to let us check it out and take photos.

saturday morning we met earston, who told us we needed to see the rooftop garden at the YMCA, which turned out to be wonderful. and it had a spectacular view.

we spent saturday afternoon at the oyster and beer festival at fort mason and met lots of incredibly drunk people, and even a larger-than-life-size pint of guinness.

and of course we took the time to see some of the sights.

i think that we did a lot in a day, but at the same time we took our time and enjoyed ourselves.

and it sure was nice to get out of riverside for the weekend.

words

i was just thinking today that there sure are a lot of fun words.
but they're all fun for different reasons.
some have interesting meanings and make you sound super-intelligent, like misogynistic.
some are fun because they have sounds in them that sound like other words that are nothing like the original word, like condiments.
but then there are the fun words that people rarely have use for and probably don't even know the meaning for, but are oh-so-much fun to say. i have lots of favorite words that fall into this last category, but the reigning word for the moment is phytoplankton. i will probably never have a reason to seriously use this word in a conversation, but that is just a tragedy, because i love how it sounds when i say it.
phytoplankton
love it.

news?

yet another example of why i despise and actively avoid the fox news network...
i was just at wanda's, getting some coffee. while i was waiting, i glanced up at the television to see if anything interesting is happening today. now, these televisions are religiously tuned to the fox news network 24/7, so the glance is just to see if there is something going on in the world for which i need to make sure i catch the story on either NPR or the nightly world news on ABC. this afternoon, the lovely fox network was covering a car chase in the LA area. already i'm slightly annoyed, because the last time i checked, car chases are not news, they are sensationalism. what really provoked my ire was the blurb they were showing under the video stream which informed the audience that 'the suspect is heavily tattooed'.

what the crap!?!

what does that have to do with anything, except to play into the already heavily entrenched prejudice and racism prevalent in the right-wing, ultra-conservative fox news audience? if they're anything like my grandmother, they believe that everything that comes out of pat robertson's mouth is uncontroverted gospel, which is therefore also attributed to the network as a whole.

i am so sick of 'news' networks and programs using a medium which should be educating the populace in all information so as to enable them to make their own educated opinions and decisions to instead indoctrinate the populace into their own biased opinion. these opinions are not based on any true introspection or thought, but on the fact that some talking head in a flashy suit who supposedly subscribes to the same 'religion' told them that this was the best and most 'christian' way to think.

while i'm on a news rant, i'm also disgusted by the network news programs who pawn car chases and reports on paris hilton and anna nicole smith's baby off on us as 'news' when important events around the world are completely ignored. where is the news about france's elections and the fact that they have fallen to 50% unemployment and the 17th economy in europe and are on the verge of imploding? where is the news about the genocide in sudan? where is the news about everything that is going right in iraq instead of only what is going wrong? where is the news about how vladimir putin is slowly but surely eroding away at the democracy in russia and setting himself up to be another russian dictator? a majority of the american public get their news solely from these networks and are being spoon-fed exactly what they need to be placated into a false sense of global security and superiority. and then armed with these half-truths they turn around and demand certain actions from our government which might serve america well, but will ultimately harm our global community.

i'm coming to the realization that i need to use my voice to change this travesty instead of just using it to yell at the television.

anybody else with me?

san diego

heather treated me to a weekend in san diego. we went with no plans, and it was splendid. the hotel we stayed at is in the gaslamp district and was the hotel wyatt earp stayed at when he was in san diego.
on saturday we decided to go to the zoo, and it was a gorgeous day. this was the view of the city from the skyway at the zoo.

it seems that if you point a camera at heather and i, we are incapable of making normal faces. this was our attempt at 'scared face'.

aren't meerkats enormously entertaining? these guys live in the children's section of the zoo, and they kept us hanging around for about 20 minutes with their schenanigans.

and finally, i came across the 'star wars cookbook' at urban outfitters. i was tempted to buy it until i realized that the key to star wars cooking was adding an action figure to your recipe. just add the princess leia action figure, and those boring old cinnamon rolls become 'princess leia hair rolls'.
so who would win in a light saber duel, obi-wan or a chicken kebab? that's a hard one.

russian wisdom

i moved most of my stuff out of my storage unit this weekend.
*applause and congratulations here*
i only have a few big things to move, once i figure out how to do it. (anyone with a large vehicle willing to donate about a half hour of your time will be greatly appreciated.)
so today i was sorting into keep, give away, throw away, and sell on ebay piles and i came across my old chalkboard.

slightly ironic, don't you think?

garden

this weekend i planted an herb garden. i've been buying fresh herbs at the grocery store for various recipes and realized that it was getting really expensive. so this weekend i went out and bought parsley, thyme, peppermint, spearmint, basil, oregano, dill and cilantro plants. i spent less than half of what it cost me to buy bunches of herbs at the store. i'm all excited for them to get bigger so i can go out and clip some and bring them in and cook with them.
now the trick is to not let the snails eat them first.

music

don't be afraid to bask in my unparalelled coolness, but i'm seriously considering learning how to play the.....accordion.

that's right folks, you heard correctly, the accordion. i am newly enamored with irish folk music and would love to learn an instrument that i could play such folk music on. i just can't decide between the ubiquitous keyboard-style or the traditional two-row diatonic B/C scale button-style accordion. many factors must be considered, not the least of which is cost. i think the cheapest button-style i've found so far is $500.

i think my mother will have a heart attack when i tell her, because when she was a child she was forced to learn the accordion and hated every minute of it. maybe she could give me some pointers.

and if i get any snide 'polka' comments, i will throw said accordion at you.

seasons

i can't decide which season is most becoming of my hometown.
when asked, i generally say that my favorite month is november, because fall is such a wonderful time of year. plants start getting ready for the impending cold, sometimes in spectacular fashion. the sun moves to a different position in the sky, casting a different light and making everything look a little mysterious. even the air takes on a delightfully different smell. the oppressive heat of summer gives way to a briskness in the air. i'm getting all nostalgic.
well, that's what fall is SUPPOSED to be like, but it never really delivers here in riverside.
but then there is spring. grass gets greener. daffodils and tulips give an early shot of color to the landscape. wildflowers make everything look more cheerful. plants and trees of all kinds come out of winter dormancy and put on the new year's clothes. but hands down, the best part of spring in riverside is when the orange groves are in bloom. there are still enough orange trees around here to make the wait for spring worthwhile. all the citrus trees are blanketed in little white flowers that give off the most delightful scent that hangs in the air and becomes thick by dusk. it compels me drive around with my windows rolled all the way down and makes me wish i had a porch swing so i could linger outside on warm evenings.
i think spring would win out over fall if it weren't for my allergies.
stupid hayfever.

drought

i have just been relieved of a 24 hour media-technology drought.
the fine folks at charter communication, who provide us with cable and high-speed internet, apparently had some kind of malfunction and we were without both services since some time yesterday morning. i have never before realized exactly how much i have come to depend on the fact that cable and internet are always there at my whim.
i already know that i would have no problem living without either of those luxuries, but it would have been a lot easier to deal with if i had known it was coming. at least i've gotten a lot of reading done.
so i can now resume watching the various television shows and surfing the various internet sights which seem to suck my time into some undisclosed vortex.
should i be happy about this?

irish fair

today micah and i went to the los angeles irish fair and music festival.
it was good times.

irish food, irish music, irish dancing, irish people...

they even went so far as to dye the water in the fountains green.

there were some awesome bands who were obviously proud of being irish...and even made some good music.

good times, good times.
i'm definitely going again next year.

exercise

yesterday i was out jogging through my neighborhood (that's right folks, i said i was jogging. i solved my shin splint problem and decided to start it up again. i walk more than i jog, but a person's gotta start somewhere.) so like i was saying...i was jogging through my neighborhood and saw a lady pull partway up the driveway of the house which was unfortunate enough to host the neighborhood mailbox in their front yard. she got out and fetched her mail and got back into her car and backed out. my first reaction to seeing this was 'wow, that's kinda rude'. but then i kept watching and saw her proceed to pull her car into the garage of the house NEXT DOOR to the house with the mailboxes.
wow
and people wonder why they have weight and health problems.
i'm still a bit speechless.

festival

micah just brought to my attention that there is an irish festival going on this weekend at the la fairgrounds. the first thing that comes to mind is 'why haven't i heard of this before?' the next thing that comes to mind is 'why have i never heard of this before?' i mean, really. i'm not being a very good irish person. so i guess i'm going to go get my irish on this weekend. awesome.

peer pressure

by popular demand (maybe 2 people), i've decided to bring the old blogger account out of retirement. i will now be dual-posting my thoughts and ramblings both here and on myspace so as not to leave anyone out.
enjoy.

weird weather

today on my drive home from work i saw horizontal lightning and two rainbows. one of them ended somewhere around march air reserve base. so that's where they get all their money....

what we have here is a failure to communicate

i watched cool hand luke for the first time a couple days ago. and i have to say, i really don't know what the big deal is. i can understand why it was a big deal when it was made, but i really don't know why people still make a big deal out of it. granted, paul newman is pretty dreamy. but still.....i'm glad i saw it and now i understand that whole thing about 'nobody can eat fifty eggs'. ewwww.

oxford

i've been home for almost two weeks now, but my two weeks in oxford will stay with me for a very long time. i was blessed to be able to stay at one of the colleges at oxford university and call that beautiful city my home for a brief time. i've been to england several times before, but this was a truly unique experience. now i'm wondering if i would be able to manage a graduate degree from oxford. maybe a degree in soviet history.....oh, i know why not.....stupid money.

strangers

i just finished my first art sale to a stranger. i've sold plenty of my creations, but always to friends and family. i frequently go to familiar houses and see my work, but have never had to deal with it going to a house where i will most likely never see it again. i know my prints will be loved and appreciated, but this is a new and extremely foreign feeling of separation. i'm going to have to get used to it.

farewell to a faithful friend

i have bid adieu to a steadfast and faithful friend. after a series of bizarre health problems, i came to the difficult conclusion that i needed to cut caffiene out of my diet. so two weeks ago i went cold turkey. now i have my cup of tea in the morning (i know, there's still caffiene, but not as much) and that's it. tea is actually turning out to be a much more interesting friend than coffee ever was.

cacti

i admit that i am a bit addicted to collecting cacti and succulents. today was the annual spring plant sale at the huntington library, and it is oh-so-easy to get carried away and spend a ridiculous amount of money on plants. but this year i was good. i only bought seven plants. the grand total of the collection is now 89 different cacti and succulents. when does it stop being a hobby and start being just plain scary?

Moby!

i just got back from the moby show. wow. he has so much energy, and his knowledge of music and creative abilities are incredibly humbling. he's just so cool. i want to give him a big hug and take him home and drink tea and play scrabble with him.

tatoooooo

i went to sid's in santa ana last night and got my third tattoo. it's always such a fight of conflicting emotions. i've been wanting this for two years, and i know i want it, but still the weight of the fact that it is now covering half my back FOR THE REST OF MY LIFE can be a bit frightening. i'll just be glad when its done healing and it doesn't hurt to lean back against things anymore.

portland

i am once again being seduced by the siren-song of the pacific northwest. i didn't get into graduate school and my parents are moving, and i haven't been as content in myself since i lived in portland. i don't know if i can make it work, especially since i'm working on getting rid of credit card debt and it is so hard to make much money up there. i'm extremely tempted, though.

mother's day

the holiday celebrating mothers is coming up, and i'm trying to find the perfect gift that says, 'i love you mom, but it won't keep me from going to san diego to see moby instead of spending the day with you.' maybe tulips....

acceptance

after my recent flurry of rejection, it was nice to get an acceptance letter today. it was only an entry for the juried show at the national orange show in san bernardino, but its still acceptance. who knows, i could possibly even win 400 bucks.

dinner

i went out with the girls tonight and we had a progressive fast-food dinner. drinks at del taco, appetizers at pick up stix, main course at jack in the box, and dessert at cold stone. the best of all worlds. way too many calories, but all kinds of fun.

spring cleaning

my parents and i have spent the last few weekends doing some major spring cleaning. i wish i could say that this is a regular thing and we are just doing what we always do, but the only reason we've gotten serious about it is that they want to put the house on the market. there are things we've been meaning to do for YEARS, but have only gotten around to now because we have to. and people wonder why i'm the world's biggest procrastinator....

GMP

all of yesterday and half of today at work i sat in a training room and learned about things like microbial contamination, consent decrees and FDA regulations, among other things. it was interesting in a 'huh, i wonder if i will ever need this information for any reason other than this job' kind of way. (GMP is FDA jargon - Good Manufacturing Practice)

high five!

high five, everyone! i got my last grad school rejection over the weekend! that makes 4 for 4. my friends are all pretty weirded out that i'm high five-ing them over universal rejection, but if i don't stay upbeat about it, i'm just gonna get all overly depressed and maudlin about it. its not the end of the world, just an elongation of my 5 year plan.

riversiiiiide

this place sucks my will to live. i'm now a temp doing data entry and making copies all day and i feel like i've joined the ranks of lifeless zombies living from paycheck to paycheck. i could never do this for any extended period of time. i just don't feel like doing anything between the times i'm at work under those florescent lights, sitting beside the woman who laughs like a chipmunk.

ick

i have discovered that it is extremely easy to get used to not having to pay sales tax, and yet extremely difficult to get used to having to pay it again. weird.