Skillful non-attachment, sort of

My yoga instructor, David Moreno, has been quoted! In the NY Times, no less.

Run, Katie, Run!

There is no such thing as a chemical imbalance.

I haven't seen the Oprah appearance, but after reading the transcript, I broke down and watched the Today Show interview. There isn't really much I need add, other than dude, if you can make Matt Lauer look like less of a tool than yourself, you're a lost cause.

Too bad Lauer's mike didn't squirt water...

Old AND immature

Speaking of sooooo Bay Area...

Dined with my coworkers last night, which was sort of an impromptu "girls night/twilight out." We attempted to go to the Trans Day Parade kickoff party in Dolores Park to support one of our other coworkers in her dance performance. Unfortunately, because we had to work late, we missed her act. On the bright side, we did kick off the weekend early (ahem!), so by the time we arrived at the park, we were sufficiently inebrieted. It was a good place to be - people were drinking beers and dancing, dogs chasing frisbees, the sky was blue and cloudless and there were cheerleaders. There was a decent police force present, but they were fairly relaxed, too, sitting around and chatting with each other like it was a huge doughnut shop. Anyways, we got pretty hungry shortly thereafter, and headed towards Valencia in search of food. When we left the park, we noticed one of the officers blatantly checking out my youngest coworker. I mean, we're talking head-like-a-motion-tracking-camera-type stare. As I was casually relaying this information to the object of the officer's attention, another one of us could not resist pointing at her and shouting, "she's straight!" The officer and my singled-out coworker turned beet red, and his buddies burst into peals of laughter along with the rest of us. I only wish I'd been quick enough to point and shout myself myself.

Now, the French one had never been to Good Vibrations before, so we insisted on dragging her in. We started at one end of the store, and worked our way around. She and I were pretty immature, snorting and pointing at just about everything, but by the time we got the the rack of prosthetics, we exploded into full scale giggle fits. Me: (grabbing a rubber phallus) "Look at this!". The French one: "Ohhh, look at the [genitalia] pasta! So cute!" The third coworker tried to be a little more discreet, carefully examining various products, and keeping to herself. Upon further reflection, I now realize that she may have wanted to make a purchase, as she was going to be celebrating her anniversary with her girlfriend later that night. After all, she agreed just a *tad* emphatically when I remarked "God, we're immature" as we left the store.

Afterwardsm we wound up at of our favorite places, Picaro, for tapas. Although the setting was pretty lively and boisterous, our table was remarkably silent. The food was *that* good. Co-Worker: "Wow. We're reallly quiet tonight." Me: "Dude, I'm fucking baked, and I'm eating fried calamari. Fuck off." Yep, it was that good. Hell, we were feeling pretty good. But soon, it came to to leave, and boy, oh boy, navigating the BART station was a tricky proposition. Never had the stairs seemed so steep, and I knew if I made a remark about before we reached the bottom, we'd totally lose it. To further freak us out, we heard this infernal screeching noise as we walked through the station. "What the hell is that???" someone exclaimed. "It sounds like a cge full of howler monkeys!" I replied. I was a little relieved (but not by much) when the sober one assured us that she heard the hoots and screeching as well. We could not leave that station soon enough. "I just want to go home and relax," I told the one celebrating her anniversary She agreed - "We're old!" It was pretty sad, all of us wanting to go home, and it wasn't even 9:00! Despite that, I'd say we had a damn good time.

Sooo Bay Area list...

Post-Friday (a little more than) Five list, courtesy of Jen (again).

My soooooo Bay Area list:

*You pack yourself a sandwich to take to work. It consists of:
some kind of crusty/seeded baguette or pain au levain, heirloom tomatoes/roasted red pepper, fresh mozzarrella and the ubiquitous arugula, drizzled with olive oil.

*When seeing a bad movie trailer at the cinema, (especially Sandra Bullock/Meg Ryan romantic comedies or Michael Bay/Joel Schumacher-affiliated action flicks) you, along with the rest of the audience, hiss at the screen.

*You understand what they're talking about when they say "this chardonnay is buttery/oak-y/melon-y/grassy/pineapple-y/tannic"

*You got real excited when you found out American Apparel was opening a B&M shop in Berkeley.

*You know what B&M stands for.

*You avoid most chains. Except for REI, which you're at every other weekend.

*You keep a Nalgene bottle strapped to your hip

*You use doubled-up paper Trader Joe's bags to transport anything and everything.

*White earbuds.

*"Hella." That is all.

tomatometer 8%

sometimes, when i need a laugh, i love going to rotten tomatoes and checking out the reviews of really bad movies. check out some of the blurbs from reviews of hilary duff's latest vehicle, "the perfect man":

"perfectly dreadful"
-- Stefan Halley, HERO REALM

"...oblivious to its own ickiness."
-- Josh Larsen, SUN PUBLICATIONS (CHICAGO, IL)

" An Imperfect Man. Maudlin love story about awful people. "
-- Angela Baldassarre, SYMPATICO.CA

"You'll most likely want to throw up and call it a night after swallowing this big ball of cotton candy. "
-- Kit Bowen, HOLLYWOOD.COM

"A tweener romantic comedy featuring dialogue so bad it could have been written by a 14-year-old girl."
-- Robert W. Butler, KANSAS CITY STAR

"Just outside my window is a famous bridge i'd sell you if you think there's a public high school in Brooklyn that's 98% white."
-- Harvey S. Karten, COMPUSERVE

"Seriously, the perfect man would call social services."
-- Carina Chocano, LOS ANGELES TIMES

"The Perfect Man takes its idiotic plot and uses it as the excuse for scenes of awesome stupidity."
-- Roger Ebert, CHICAGO SUN-TIMES

"The film's execution is as bad as its conception. Scenes just lie there until the family does something hackneyed like erupt into song and dance in their living room."
-- Carla Meyer, SACRAMENTO BEE

"Inherently mawkish, simplistic and exceedingly numbing, this movie is woefully incomplete—much like a stale Twinkie treat without the creamy filling inside."
-- Frank Ochieng, MOVIE EYE

"Whatever's perfect about this movie starts and ends in the middle of the title."
-- Bob Strauss, LOS ANGELES DAILY NEWS

"Is it possible for a movie to give you a stroke? Granted, I am not a Hilary Duff fan, but this movie is a great example why. "
-- Willie Waffle, WAFFLEMOVIES.COM

"It's shy about addressing anything that requires a moment's thought -- selfish irresponsible parents, selfishly bratty kids, lying, talking others into lying."
-- Roger Moore, ORLANDO SENTINEL

"Dear Hilary... I can’t see you or your movies anymore."
-- Sean O'Connell, FILMCRITIC.COM

"Most of this movie is beyond lame."
-- Lou Lumenick, NEW YORK POST

Damn. That's some cold shit. I guess it was a good thing we chose Lindsay over Hilary!

one of my favorite reviews came from someone reviewing Gigli, and saying it was "so bad I had to cleanse my palate with Glitter afterwards."

three times ten...

anne turns the big three-o today.

Kudos to her for bravely facing it! Not long ago, we used to talk about how much we dreaded that date. But now that we've gotten a little wiser, I'm glad to see that she's adjusted her view. I can only hope that I can accept my thirtieth (which comes in approximately 6 months) with such grace. Friends of mine who have already reached that age tell me that they enjoy a certain sense of peace with themselves and perspective they lacked in their twenties. I think I'm beginning to understand what they're talking about. Besides, Julia Child didn't begin her culinary career until she was 39!

So happy birthday Anne! I hope this was a good one, and that there will be many more good ones to come.

my brother, the philosopher

my yale-attending, kant-obsessed, aesthestics-studying, theologian big brother has joined the blogosphere!

of course, i had to take the theological worldview quiz.

apparantly, i am a modern liberal.

the quiz, although "only 63 questions" is actually quite heavy. it's much more complicated than the "which member of the fellowship would make the best boyfriend" quizilla forms i'm accustomed to. i don't have the wherewithal to take the "what theologian are you most like" quiz tonight. the straight-up "what is your worldview" (existential, postmodern, etc.) quiz, although half as long is twice as hard!

I am not alone

I don't know why, but I just don't really get Coldplay. It doesn't really make sense, given my musical preferences - I idolize U2, have followed Radiohead since Pablo Honey and love the Doves (haha! a rhyme!). Don't get me wrong, I don't particularly hate them. They're not terrible, and I can see why they're popular. I'll even concede that I liked "Clocks", although it took me a really long time to admit it, even to myself. And "Don't Panic" is also a decent tune. But "Clocks", along with well, just about all of their singles are overplayed. I don't know, I just find them kind of bland. Dull. Snoozeworthy. And Chris Martin's falsetto can get really annoying. Maybe I've just got some kind of irrational bias, especially with all the "Is Coldplay the new U2?" hype their label ('cause you know that EMI is totally pushing that shit) keeps feeding the media. What are they, on their third album? And they're talking up this new one like it's the next Joshua Tree? Please. Until they record something as raw and fiery and galvanizing and passionate as War, don't even talk to me about that comparison. Maybe I'm wrong about all of this. Maybe something's wrong with me. I'll confess that I haven't listened to any their albums in depth repeatedly. I don't own them (the little evil voice inside me says, "why would i want to?"), but it really wouldn't be that hard for me to get ahold of them. Everyone else I know seems to own them, and plays them. Maybe I need to see them live or something. I don't know. But I'm glad to see I'm not the only one. (okay, so Klosterman gets a *tad* bitter, but Pareles & Pitchfork sum it up a little more rationally.)

___________

edited to add:

I listened to "Don't Panic" and "Clocks" today. I think I like the first one because of the association with "Garden State". As for "Clocks," I think it's the keyboard riff that draws me in. But what is that riff, really? A string of alternating minor and major arpeggios that anyone can find (and play) in Hanon piano primer. Lord I sound pretentious. But hey, I still think that song's okay even though it's way overplayed. (slinks off to ponder downloading the new White Stripes)

Fruit orgy

Without a doubt, this has to be my favorite time of the year at the farmer's market. All sorts of berries and stone fruits are appearing, fava beans and asparagus still appear, and the wild salmon run has just begun. If you want any of their peaches, you'd better get yourself down to the Frog Hollow stand soon, 'cause if I get there first, you may not get any at all - I've been known to buy a whole flat at a time. This weekend, I came home laden with 2 kinds of peaches, apricots, cherries, blueberries, marionberries(which are now gone) and strawberries. Last night, we finished a batch of homemade peach sherbet, I just pulled a classic clafoutis out of the oven, and another "Laker pie" (peach/apricot and blueberry) might be in the works.

Mmmm, summer fruit.

Friday Five

In response to Jen...

my (current) favorite five lyrics:

The clouds above opened up and let all out. I was standing on the surface of a perforated sphere when the water filled every hole... The rhythms of my footsteps crossing flat land to your door have been silenced forevermore. And the distance is quite simply much too far for me to row - death cab

You say you´ll give me a highway with no one on it, treasure just to look upon it, all the riches in the night. You say you´ll give me eyes on a moon of blindness, a river in a time of dryness, a harbour in the tempest. But all the promises we make, from the cradle to the grave, when all I want is you - U2

Knew a girl named Nikki, guess you could say she was a sex friend. Met her in a hotel lobby masturbating in a magazine - prince (duh!)

We're just a million little gods causing rain storms turning every good thing to rust. - arcade fire

I've been trying to show you over and over. Look at these my child-bearing hips. Look at these my ruby red ruby lips. Look at these my work strong arms and you've got to see my bottle full of charm. I lay it all at your feet. You turn around and say back to me. He said, Sheela-na-gig - pj harvey

and because I couldn't resist a little extra, here's some monty python:

He's a lumberjack, and he's okay. He sleeps all night and he works all day. I cut down trees. I wear high heels, suspenders, and a bra. I wish I'd been a girlie, just like my dear Papa.