Before Today Listening: Would you let me wash your hair? Could I make you breakfast sometime? Well then, could we just hang out I mean, could we go to a movie and cry together? Cause to me baby, that would be so fine (That would be so fine).
The lyrics of this song, Before Today by Everything But The Girl has been playing in my head all day long. Such an amazing song. It's very stripped down and raw. Just Tracey Thorn's voice and some drum 'n' bass beats and tones in the background. No harmonies. No distractions. Just raw, unbridled want.
I don't want excuses. I don't want your smiles. I don't want to feel like we're apart a thousand of miles. I don't want your attitude. I don't want your things. But I don't want a phone that never rings. I want your love and I want it now. I want your love and I want it now.
I don't want your history. I don't want that stuff. I want you to shut your mouth. That would be enough. I don't care if you've been here before. You don't understand. Tonight I feel above the law, I'm coming into land. I want your love and I want it now. I want your love and I want it now.
My heart is that much harder now. That's what I thought before today. My heart is that much harder now. I thought that it would stay that way, before today. Before today. But I don't want a phone that never rings. I want your love and I want it now. I want your love and I want it now. I want your love.
Rhythmic Healing Listening: Walking back to you is the hardest thing that I can do, that I can do for you. For you.
Came back from work in a foul mood. I needed to hear some tracks so I fired up the decks and this is the set that flowed from my fingertips.
Faithless - "God Is A DJ" (Album Mix) Chicane - "Saltwater" (Album Mix) Gouryella - "Walhalla" (Armin Van Buuren's Rising Star Mix) Faithless - "One Step Too Far" (Rollo & Sister Bliss Mix) Basement Jaxx - "Just 1 Kiss" (Extended Mix) Everything But The Girl - "Before Today" (Deep Dish Mix) Sade - "By Your Side" (Ben Watt's Mix) Madonna - "Nothing Really Matters" (Club 69 Phunky Mix) Moby - "Porcelain" (Futureshock Remix) Sarah McLachlan - "Hold On" (BT Remix) Faithless - "Mass Destruction" (Paul Jackson Big Weapon Mix) Jakatta - "American Dream" Bedrock - "Heaven Scent" Simon - "Free At Last" William Orbit - "Barber's Adagio For Strings" (Ferry Corsten Remix)
I had a number of good mixes. I was about seventy five percent on. I needed to get back to basics. I needed to get back to my primitive nature. 1,4,6,7,10,13.
Lyrical Healing Listening: At the crossroads, I am standing. So now you're sleeping peaceful. I lie awake and pray that you'll be strong tomorrow and we'll see another day and we will praise it and love the light that brings a smile across your face.
Today for lunch I didn't eat. I went to CD spins instead and spent an hour and a half looking through CDs. I went through the entire electronica section and all of the CDs in the Pop/Rock/Soul section from the letter A through the letter S.
The two CDs that I kind of had in mind were The Bodeans Joe Dirt Car and The Smashing Pumpkins Mellon Collie And The Infinte Sadness. Secondary on my list were some Depeche Mode discs and the discs that I ended up buying Prince: The Hits/The B-Sides. I had been eyeing it for a while, but I wasn't sure that it was speaking to me as much as the other two albums.
In reality, I wanted to plug into Sade and let her take me away for a while, but all of her CDs of mine are at home. I didn't feel like buying a redundant copy. That wold have just been silly. But I can just hear her:
And if you want to cry, I am here to dry your eyes and in no time you'll be fine
You think I'd leave your side baby, You know me better than that. You think I'd leave you down when your down on your kness, I wouldn't do that.
Instead it's:
Touch if you will my stomach Feel how it trembles inside. You’ve got the butterflies all tied up. Don’t make me chase you. Even doves have pride.
I think Sade is going on the headphones when I get home.
I have no clue what's going on this week. Everything seems to be up in the air. I think the only sure thing is that I'm gonna be cooking up something over a fire at Fester's place on Tuesday. I'm really looking forward to that. There are two types of people who grill. There are those who buy pre-packaged, and those who make their own and add character to the meat. I think that both Fester and I like to add character.
Anyways, enough for now. I have to catch up on my comic strips before I have to work some more.
Internalization And Mr. Clean Listening: We're all sensitive people with so much to give
There are a couple of things that I do when I feel my mind crank. Some of these things are eating, cooking, talking, blogging, laying on my couch, laying on my bed and occasionally I'll glaze over with a beer in my hand. But, probably the thing I do most often when I've been thinking is that I clean. I'll do laundry and fold it, clean dishes, clean the stove, iron, make my bed, tidy stuff up, Windex the mirrors, that sort of thing. I think the only reason that I don't vacuum is because I don't have a good one.
Today I did a great deal of cleaning. I think it was quality me-time. For the last week or so, there has always been someone around or I've been zipping off to go and do something. It's not that I mind the company much, but with Japanaphile moving in, my alone time is cut quite a bit. I'm really not complaining. I think it's just something that I need to ease into a little bit.
Also, there is a lot that has transpired in my life over the past week. Between friends moving in, family politics, job changes, and personal growth and changes, I have had a rather interesting week. I've been knocked off balance in good and bad ways. Sometimes I think about it all it will well in my chest and will wrap itself around my heart and lungs so that for a second I can't breathe.
Damn, do I sound depressed. That's not the case. It's just that I don't really care to talk about all that's going on at the moment. Maybe some other time. But, I just want to say that I think things are gonna explode for me sometime in the near future. I cleaned my apartment today so that maybe when it happens, I'll have less to clean up.
Onto bigger and better things though....
This weekend was kind of interesting. Friday, I was still tired from Thursday, so I stayed in. I completely anticipated working on some mixes that I need to have completed relatively soon, but that didn't happen. The couch ate my brain and I was out like a light from about half past seven until nine or ten. That was about the time I got a couple of phone calls and when Japanaphile got back from Capoiera. I hadn't even eaten dinner. We decided to make spaghetti with meat and zucchini sauce. It came out pretty nicely. I ate the end of the leftovers for lunch today. The rest of the night was filled with some pretty important phone calls from a couple of different parts of the nation. I did, however get a decent night's sleep. That was important.
I was woken up by my alarm early in the morning on Saturday, because I had to be at the WBUR Brewer's Offering And Food Expo by noon. I was out the door by half past eleven and was well on schedule to get to BU by the designated time. The I got to Park Street. Seas and seas of Phillies? fans were all over the place. It was as if the Phillies and the Red Sox had switched towns and that all of their fans were shipped up here. It was crazy. I couldn't get on the train to save my life, so I had to leave to catch a cab. How bad did that suck?
I only got there about ten minutes late. Well, it was fifty minutes early, but I was supposed to meet these two girls who were going to be working for me at noon and the session started at one. When I got there, they weren't there yet, so I was in the clear. I set everything up pretty quick and just ended up shooting the shit with the Harpoon guys. Just as doors to the event opened, the two girls arrived. One of them was the daughter of the owner of Eurobrew and the other was her friend. The daughter was a spitting image of Gwenyth Paltrow. It was insane.
Now, I had never worked with "hot chicks" before at any of these events, so I hadn't experienced first hand what I knew would be happening. It was actually kind of funny. We had two six foot tables for our products. It just so happened that they were always on one and I was always on the other. Let me just tell you that they moved so much more product than I did. There were guys left and right trying to chat them up and so on and so forth. Some of them were crazy middle aged drunk folk. Some were young is yuppies. It was just thoroughly amusing. I have to be honest, I didn't like working with the hot chicks though. I mean they were fine eye candy, but I really didn't get to focus in on what I thought was important there. You know me. Forget the girls (well, no not really). Bring on the tastes. Let's talk about how this tastes to you! I got very little of that. It was a lot of guys who were talking to the girls about everything that had nothing to do with the beer. I doubt that they would actually remember the names of the beers or would look for them at the local liquor store. It was really quite disconcerting. We were pushing such good product and the only thing that these guys will remember will be Gwenyth and her sidekick (who was also very attractive).
During the break between the two sessions, I kicked it over to Super 88 to hook myself up to some bibimbap. Mmmm... bibimbap. I love that stuff. I sat there by myself eating my kimchee bibimbap and slurping on my bubble tea. I was kind of lonely. I don't quite know why it came over me. I just was really lonely. There was nothing to look at out the window and no one to talk with as I enjoyed the food. I honestly believe that food tastes better with good company. I think that bad food will always be bad food, company or not. But, I believe that good company and good conversation can make good food great. This bibimbap was merely okay.
Over the course of the day, I got a number of phone calls. Drama, drama, drama. TOO MUCH DRAMA! Okay, it wasn't all drama. There was some serious drama that I did not appreciate, but there were some nice calls too.
After the beer fest, I got a ride home for Gwenyth and her sidekick, dropped off the tubs and the two cases of beer that I walked away with, washed my face and headed right back out to meet Pookz (now aka Spanky) who was in from out of town and had rounded up the crew of Totoro, Glare, Bombadier, Chocoholic, Japanaphile, Ye-ah and Stringbean. It was a nice little gathering at Marche. Shortly after I arrived, Glare and Totoro kicked it home and we all decided to go in search of a bar. We decided to try to go to the Tiki Bar over on Landsdowne Street, but when we got there, it was packed. To be honest, I really didn't feel like drinking much. I spent the entire day drinking beer after beer after beer. The last thing that I wanted to ingest was alcohol.
An Aside: On the way to the Tiki Bar, we saw a deflated blow up sex doll on the sidewalk. It was kind of amusing. We decided that we wanted to take a picture of it, but when we walked back past it, it was gone.
So after figuring out that we weren't going to get into any bar, we decided to kick it back to my place. I mean, I have a nearly full stocked bar. It just made it much much cheaper for us to drink at my place as opposed to drinking in a bar. So everyone came over and we shit shot until three in the morning.
This morning, I had to be up at the ass crack of dawn to be at Harvard Dudley's practice. I was a little bit disappointed that there was only a half a boat going out, but it was still fun-ish. For the first half of a practice, I trained this girl how to be a drummer. The problem with seventy five percent of girls who drum/cox, is that they sound like fuckin' cheerleaders. I can't stand that. They either sound whiney or they sound like cheerleaders. I try to break every girl I train of that tendency. Though it was only her first time, I was still about a half a second from pushing her off the boat and saying, "Rah rah! Go newbie drummer!" But, I held that to myself.
For the second half of the practice, I steered and I coached from the back. Now, I sucked as a steerer, but because it was a half a boat and because there were a number of people on today's boat that sucked ass, I was pretty secure in the steerer's perch. There was one time where we got waked pretty bad that I almost slipped, but I caught myself.
Something about the Harvard Dudley boat is that they all talk an immense amount on the boat. It's something I really dislike. I think that if I ask for your opinion on the boat, you should give it. Other than that, paddle and shut the fuck up. If I'm going to run any practices for them with a full boat, I'm going to have to institute some form of discipline. I dunno though.
Anyways, it's two in the morning. I have to go to sleep soon. So I'm gonna let this go now. So, perhaps tomorrow....
Upside Down, Turn Around, Touch The Ground. Listening: Once I was lost and now I'm found. Then you turned my world around.
My last post was a bit premature. That day, just after I said that things were like clockwork, things got crazy at work. The thing that I was waiting for at half past four didn't actually come in until a quarter past five. I had a hard deadline of half past five that I needed to meet that had nothing to do with the Corporation, but everything to do with what I had to do, so I was fuct. I was scrambling around to check what I needed to check and get things in by the skin of my teeth. Everyone else was pretty calm, but I think I was just a bit wigged because it was the first time that it had ever happened while I was here.
Another good thing about work is that I'm learning my own stuff so quickly that they're throwing more complex stuff at me in small amounts. I do a complex report for this and a log for that, all stuff that belongs to other people's work, but I am learning it because I have the time and they have the time to teach me. They ask if I want to learn something and I always say yes. And I always go over immediately to learn it as well. Back when I was on the other side of the business, I would ask people if they wanted to learn something and they would say no, or they would say yes and I would say, come over when you want to learn it then and they would never come over. It's nice to have a proactive set of people to work with. I actually really dig a couple of the people I work with. Maybe it's just that I ma working with new people instead of the same people I saw day in and day out for three years back on the other side of the business.
Today, I went back over to the other side of the business to help FOP with an issue. I spent some time talking to a bunch of people over there. I spent a large chunk of time talking to Ink Girl, the one hipster over in that side of the business. We talked a bit of what's been going on in our lives and a bit about tattoos. She's gonna let me know when she's going to get the ones she has planned for her forearms done. I might tag with her when she goes to get hers done. She's known this artist for a long time and trusts his work and his opinion. He has talked her out of some potential "bad ideas." I've seen some of his work on her and it's really nice. He's got a great eye for color and blending.
Yesterday was an exceptional day. Well, actually, as I am thinking back on this, most of the past week has been filled with exceptional days. There has been a lot of good conversations, late nights, good food and connecting with people. I think the most sleep I have had in a night in the last week is probably four hours. Irresponsible? Yes. But the truth of the matter is that the stuff I'm doing at work now is twenty times easier than dealing with what I was dealing with on the other side of the business. So, I could roll into work at ten and just do what I needed to do. Actually, yesterday at work, I thought my eyesight was going, but after a few hours I realized that my glasses were just smudged. I was that tired.
Anyways, back to yesterday... So, I came to work and I did my thing, but for lunch, I went over to Copley Square's Tuesday/Friday farmer's market and did some food shopping. Since I knew that Japanaphile was flying in late last night and Glare was coming over to pick up a check and to pick Japanaphile up at the airport, I decided a decent dinner was in order. It was Glare's birthday on Monday, I hadn't seen her for her birthday, and we both dig food, so I decided to do up a nice meal, with her help, of course. At Copley, I befriended a chef who was doing a demo at one of the stands. I got a few recipes from her and some other information. She convinced me to get some garlic snapes, which I had never heard of or had seen before. She gave me a recipe for spinach and mushrooms with garlic snapes that I made, but we'll get to that later. Other stuff that I bought included some Tuscan mesclun greens, some seven grain rolls and a rosemary plant for Glare for her birthday. I really enjoy walking around farmer's markets and seeing all of the beautiful produce. God DAMN do I love the summertime. Surely, the living is easy.
So for dinner, Glare and I made the spinach and mushrooms with garlic snapes and rosemary pork chops with a sauce made from the drippings of fat, red wine vinegar, whipping cream, garlic, olive oil, salt and pepper. Glare and I are so good together in the kitchen. I think, on the whole, we have very similar kitchen mind sets. She handled the pork chops and I handled the spinach, the shrooms and the snapes. The pork chops came out just right. She popped them out of the pan right as they were golden brown and let part of the cooking happen through reisdual heat while on a plate tented with foil. When it was time to cut into the chops, they were perfect. They were well browned on the outside and tender and juicy on the inside. I was very happy eating pork last night. I had been eating chicken in different ways for the past five or six meals and it was time to give chickens a bit of time to re-populate their species.
The spinach, mushrooms and garlic snapes were also a thing of beauty. The prep was a bit labor intensive because I had to do a lot of chopping and slicing. Garlic snapes are very long and curly. It's pretty damn hard to chop them evenly in a hurry. I started the dish with the snapes, sauteeing them in a touch of olive oil until soft. The aroma they give off is just amazing. Much like their taste, it's like a garlic taste or smell, but comlpetely mellowed out. It's not nearly as pungent or overpowering. Though spinach was the dominant falvor of the dish, the garlicy accent and teh earthiness of the mushrooms really came together well. It was a hell of a meal. We sopped up the remaining sauce with the seven grain rolls. Excellent.
The Violent One, Glare and I went to go pick up Japanaphile at the airport at around a quarter past ten. Originally, he was supposed to be in at half past nine, but his flight was delayed in Chicago. We didn't get back until well after eleven. By that time, Glare had to get home to her hubby and Her Majesty dropped by for a second to pick up and drop off some stuff to me. By the time Japanaphile finished his dinner and The Violent One and I finished our ice cream, it was past midnight.
Originally, I intended to go to sleep early-ish, but it didn't happen. I still got more sleep last night than any other night in the past week, but I was still up kind of late.
Tonight should be fun. Japanaphile and The Violent One picked up some sashimi grade tuna, some asparagus and some green beans for dinner. We're gonna sear it up and gobble it down. Her Majesty is gonna come for dinner too if she can tear herself away from work. Workaholic, I tell ya. My place is so close to her work that she could probably come to my place for dinner and go back to work if she wanted to. The Violent One and I are the queen and king of minimalist searing/crusting of tuna. My mouth is watering justthinking about it. I had better end the blog before I short my keyboard with all of the drool.
Like Clockwork Listening: You and me were meant to be walking free in harmony. One fine day, we'll fly away. Don't you know that Rome wasn't built in a day.
Have you ever had days where life just seems to run like clockwork? Like everything is perfect and things just seem effortless? Like you're cooking a meal and everything is done at just the right time? It's a skill and a talent as well. It just happens. It's like te second when you find peace and everything falls together.
I think that's kind of how things hav been happening lately. I have been very proactive in my life. My new job is going amazingly well. This could be be because they gave me idiot work combined with my anal-ness rearing its ugly head in the manner of getting everything done well before deadlines.
This weekend was fantastic. The weather was just about perfect. And with today being the longest day of the year, we had some very nice long days these last couple of days. So the weekend went a little like this. Friday night, after a week of staying out well past my bedtime, I stayed in. Ahh... The couch just sucked me in and wouldn't let me go. I watched a little bit of Celebrity Poker Challenge where my favorite Gilmore Girl, Lauren Graham, schooled everyone by betting strong, building her stack and using that stack to push the other players around. It was amusing that she also used the whole "I'm just a girl.. I don't know what's going on." routine when, in fact she knew EXACTLY what she was doing, EXACTLY how to bet the pot and EXACTLY how to play the other players.
Since I napped away a lot of the evening, I didn't decide to go to sleep until two in the morning. Just as I was about to shut off the light, I got a call from my DC friend who calls me everytime she's making her way home after drinking. It's great. Talking to her was great. She always has the most amazing adventures. She seems to be having a hard time meeting new people these days. She feels locked into her current group of friends who are either married or are about to have a kid or who are just generally coupled off. It really sounds like she just needs to get out there and meet new groups of people. She sounds stuck in a rut. If she were in Boston, I would introduce her to all of my friends, but, alas, she is not. I'm thinking about hooking her up with Bouldering, but I'm not sure that the personalities would mesh. I was on the phone with her until about three something in the morning. Yeesh! Another late night.
Saturday was an interesting day. For most of the day, I helped Her Majesty pack up her stuff. Well, I helped her pack a little bit, but mostly I just kicked her ass and told her to stop screwing around and pack boxes. See, she has a friend who is going to be moving to London. Since he was already going to have a bunch of his stuff shipped over, he offered to let her put some of her stuff in his crate. So we had to get whatever boxes she could put together by eight that night and drive them over to this guy's kick ass, "I'm green with envy/ eat your heart out," could be party central in a classy way loft apartment in Somerville. So I helped her pack and The Violent One helped by driving teh stuff over. It ended up being three 1'X3'X3' boxes, a box that held a golf set and a larger 4.5'X3'X3' box. All in all, not that much. One of the smaller boxes was filled with books, which was a bitch, but I've carried worse.
An interesting thing happened on the way to help Her Majesty. I was at her door, calling up from the call box, but she wasn't there yet. She had stepped out to get some duct tape. So I kept calling and calling from the call box. Finally, this chick came out of the building, so I thought I would just sneak in and knock on the door because perhaps her phone was out of reach or out of earshot. So I grabbed the door and this girl turns around and says, "Uh huh. I don't like you. No." It was clear that she spoke perfect English, but she chose to be rude. I was like, "Fine. S'cool." I would have appreciated it if she had just turned around and had said, "I really don't want anyone going into the building unless they're bing buzzed up by a resident. And I don't really know you so, I would appreciate it if you just waited for whoever you're visiting." But, no. She chose to be rude and be short with me. I was really hoping that I saw her on the way out. I would have given her the finger. There is no need for you to be that bitchy, especially to someone you don't know or don't have any connection to. Be a little understanding, you know?
Anyways, after we dropped off the boxes, we all went to Union Square for some quality Korean food. We went to this place that a friend of The Violent One had taken her. It was realy good. Both Her Majesty and I each got an Kopdol Bibimbap and The Violent One got some soup. The Kopdol Bibimbap was amazing. It came with several types of pickles. One was cucumber spears that had been pickled like kimchee. So yummy. I think that that kimchee brought together one of my favorite vegetables and one of my favorite tastes. Once again, soooo yummy.
By the time dinner was over, it was past eleven o'clock. We didn't sit down to dinner until ten in the evening, so that's why we didn't finish until late. We were all kind of exhausted by that point. The Violent One had been at Aikido all day long. So we just sat around my apartment for the rest of the night and watched Ghostbusters on TV.
Now, Sunday was a glorious day. The weather, again, was perfect. Originally, the three of us, The Violent One, Her Majesty and I had planned on having a picnic after seeing the weather report being in the high seventies, sunny and zero percent chance of precipitation. Perfect picnic weather. But since we all got a late start, we instead went to this place in Watertown for Taiwanese dim sum. Hella good and hella cheap. I had that stewed pork on rice that PJ introduced me to. It's not nearly as good as the stuff that I had when I was with PJ, but it was certainly tasty. It really hit the spot.
After dim sum, we hemmed and hawed over what we wanted to do for a while before Her Majesty decided that she wanted to go to the beach. So, we drove up to Revere Beach. It was perfect beach weather. We spread out on a sheet and just napped. I was dumb and since we were only planning on staying out there for an hour, I opted out of the greasiness of sun screen. We ended up staying out there for two and a half hours. I did get a little bit sun burnt, but it was nowhere near as bad as I have gotten it before. It was a beautiful day out there though. There were a bunch of kids playing short sided soccer (no keeper)and plenty of people to watch. There were these two kids who were just doing all sorts of crazy flips.
Around five thirty or so, we got a call from one of The Violent One's friends who said they were looking for some folk to play frisbee with. After a brief conference, we decided to meet them at Cassava and then head out to the Fenway to chuck around a disc. You know, normally, I don't dig throwing around a frisbee. I'm not a great thrower or a great catcher. My throws usually end up curving one way or another. But this time, I had a great time. I invented the JT Knuckle chuck. It's basically throwing a frisbee like a rugby ball. It looks freaky as hell. Well, not freaky, but it just looks messed up.
That lasted until nine o'clock or so. Since we had The Violent One's car, we decided to go grocery shopping bedfore going home and calling it a day/weekend. Ahh so nice.
Tonite, I have big plans of cleaning the apartment, cooking dinner and watching Lost In Translation. It's going to be a good, relaxing night before Japanaphile moves in tomorrow. From there on out it's going to be a bit crazy. Dang, I wish my work would roll in. Only a few more things for the rest of the day, but I have to wait on other people. Waiting...
The Rules Of Terabithia Listening: But as the fire smoulders, I will never will grow older, because I drink from waterfalls. The stars above shine on me. I’ll catch and save them in a jar.
I forgot to tell you about the best part of my day today. On my way into work, I got on the T and sat down next to a guy who was reading a book. Out of pure nosiness, I peeked over at his book and read, "CHAPTER 4: THE RULES OF TERABITHIA." That man was reading Bridge To Terabithia, one of my two favorite books of all time!
When it dawned on the that he was reading Bridge To Terabithia, I got really excited. I know it's a kid's book, but I still get excited over the story and the prose. I really wanted to turn to the guy and say, "God DAMN is that a good book, huh?" I wanted to discuss the book with the kid, but I didn't I think everyone on the train would have looked at me like I had three heads.
Anyways, I got off the train to go to work thinking to myself, I am so glad that someone else my age really digs that book.
The Advantages of Later Hours Listening: Lately I've been thinking, the way you're treating me. I've been wondering what it's about?
You know, I really don't know why I haven't written much this week. Is it because I have a new job and I have been digesting it all? I don't think so. Is it because I have been out late at night? It could be, but I don't think that's it. Is it because I have been keeping some major thoughts in my brain from dribbling out onto the world wide web? Again, it could be, but I don't think so. So, essentially, I have no real excuse.
This new job that I'm performing is pretty humdrum and easy. I think that once I erally get the groove of it, I'll be good to go completely. I have found myself with a lot of downtime that I have bee using to do things like find blogs of culinary school students, IM Rebound Girl, ripping my CDs onto my new hard drive, catch up on current events and research online spice shops. Sounds interesting, right? It is, to an extent. The people at my new job have stuck me with the idiot pieces of the job to get me started. I know it pretty well, but I always have this fear that I'm forgetting something, but, in fact, I'm just worrying over nothing. Even with all of the checking and double checking that I have been doing, I still have massive amounts of down time.
I didn't have nearly this amount of downtime when I was on the other side of the business. I was always buzzing around trying to fix one issue or another. The big difference between my new job and my old job is that in my new job, everything is contained within a day. You can't leave until it's all done and it's all done properly. After work, there is nothing to think about in regards to work. Whereas in my old job, if you didn't fix an issue, it would stare you in the face until you went and fix it. If you had a killer issue that was really kind of complex, you could be caught thinking about it outside of work trying to figure out an other way to fix the issue.
But, it's good though. The later hours have been treating me well. I've been out and up late the last couple of nights. Tuesday night, I was out until about half past midnight or one o'clock in the morning and last night I didn't end up going to sleep until half past three in the morning. I think that what does kill me about the later hours is that I can't motivate myself to go grocery shopping before eight in the evening or I don't get out of the gym until after eight in the evening and then it takes me another hour to an hour and a half to motivate. I wonder what time grocery stores open. Could I go before I go to work? Oh, but that would involve getting up earlier. BAH!
Last night, I didn't start eating dinner until a quarter past eleven. I napped on my couch from like seven until eight thirty, prepped food from nine to nine thirty, let the chicken marinate from ten to eleven and was ready to eat at a quarter past. Strange, eh? It was a good dinner though. I had a chicken breast that I marinated in soy sauce, garlic, lime juice and Worcestershire sauce and pan roasted along with some rice. The recipe had potential, but there was something off with either the sourness of the lime juice or the saltiness of the soy sauce. One or both of them were too strong. I need to re-work the balance. Perhaps it would have been better if I had eaten a sweet veggie with the chicken. There just needed to be a better balance struck between the tastes.
Anyways, I have to go. Who knows where tonite will take me? The last couple of nights have been a surprise. Perhaps another one is in store.
Things Change At The Drop Of A Dime Listening: All my useless advice, all my hanging around, all your cutting down to size, all my bringing you down.
Dang, I am tired as hell. It's Monday and I'm already looking to the weekend. I have to say though, I worked my ass off this weekend. I worked hard and I played hard.
It all started on Friday. I only had to work a half a day. The company had a half day holiday for all of those on my side of the business (while the other side had the whole day off) due to the passing of the legend Ray Charles, I mean, Ronald Reagan. Sorry about that. I slipped.
With my newly found extra four hours off this week, I headed out of the office at around noon and I went and stood in line for the bus with The Violent One for fifteen minutes. She was on her way to NYC for an audition and didn't get a bus ticket early enough to get one the eleven o'clock bus and was forced to take the noon.
Following the waiting with The Violent One, I kicked it back to Cambridge and had lunch with Her Majesty just because I could. Half day off. Muhahaha. Very nice, very nice. Unfortunately she had to go back to work, so I was forced to play by myself. I walked around the mall for a little while, perused the bookstore and looked for something to spend my twenty dollar gift card for Best Buy on. After about forty five minutes, I had, once again, decided that the clothing stores were vastly overpriced for the quality and design of the products that they were pushing, that purchasing something at the bookstore would only add to my neglected stack of unread books, and that I really didn't need anything in the electronics stores. So, I walked away empty handed.
Friday night, I kind of wanted to go out to see the movie saved!, but I couldn't find anyone to go with me and furthermore, I didn't really want to chuck the duckets for it. So, instead, I faded in an out of consciousness while watching things like Rachel Ray talk about cheap eats for forty bones a day and some scifi nerd stuff that I'll deny ever having seen.
Saturday, I was up early in the morning to get to the MIT boat house for the Boston Dragonboat Festival's time trials. It was a long day there at MIT. The time trials kept getting backed up. By the time our first team's time trials were up, the organizers were running a good hour to an hour and a half behind. First up were the Harvard Dudley Women's Team. Her Majesty got a slot on their boat for one of their time trial heats. They pulled somewhere around a 2:47 and their start was for shit. I believe their second time trial was better, but I think it was only better by four seconds or so. I think the great thing was that the Dudley Women's boat was contending rather well with the DBCB A boat. I would have loved it if the Dudley Women would have schooled DBCB A. That would have been fantastic. I think if the Dudley Women's boat had been stacked with a few more veteran women's paddlers, they would have barely edged DBCB A out.
The next time trials were the Harvard Dudley Elite Mixed Team. I was the drummer for that team. For the first heat of the time trials, we were still a half a boat up on the dock when the go was called. It was absolutely ridiculous. It was the worst start ever. Luckily we didn't get clowned by losing to Team liaison. If we had sandbagged to them, I would have held my head in shame. At the end of the race, we protested the start. The guy on the chase boat had a hardcore attitude. It was sick. He should have been able to see that not only were the drummers not aligned with each other, but that half of our left side paddlers couldn't have touched the water, because they were all up against the dock. Piss poor officiating, if you ask me. In the end, they decided to give us the best of our two times and we walked away beating liaison and scoring the third best mixed team time with something around 2:26.
Finally, there was the Harvard Dudley Men's Team, who were competing in the Open Division. I paddled for this team. Holy shit did I not anticipate pulling for this team. I was shocked to hear I was on the roster. I hadn't been in the paddler's seat since the Hartford race last year (which we won silver for and the only medal that DBCB won all year long). I was so out of practice it wasn't even funny. I pulled for shit, but at least my timing was nearly spot on. For that time trial, we pulled a 2:20, which put us with the third best overall time in the time trials. I was dead as hell at the end of the time trials, but I was quite happy with the performance.
The time trials lasted until about three, when they were supposed to end at half past noon. I had a hair appointment at five, so I busted my ass to get home, shower and change, and get going. I got to the hair place on Newbury right on time and had a nice relaxing chat with my stylist who won $1100 in Vegas. The bastard. She only put down $100 to win it too. Bastard.
Now, Glare and I had been talking about Totoro's birthday for a little while, what to do and so on and so forth. Finally, it was decided that we would get some tables at Boston Billiards Club and we would shoot some pool and have some fun. Now, I thought that the shindig was at six in the evening. It was a good thing that Glare called me, because it was really at seven. That gave me more time inbetween my hair cut and the party.
At half past five, after my haircut, I met up with Her Majesty at Cassava for some bubble tea. You know, there's nothing more refreshing than a large lychee green tea with lychee jelly on a warm summer's day. Since we had an hour and a half, we sat there for a while chatting. She claimed that she was "shattered" from all of the paddling that she had done over the course of the week combined with the racing earlier in the day. She had taken a nap during the time that I showered and got my hair cut, and it only made her feel more tired. She would get her second wind later though.
When the two of us arrived at Boston Billiards, we were the second set of people to arrive. Glare's sister and her boyfriend from camp (literally) had gotten there before anyone else had and they opened up the room. Boston Billiards actually gave us the wrong room, so they ended up giving us an upgrade. We had two tables reserved in a semi-private room originally. When we got there, they put us in a private room with one table. Then they upgraded us to a private room with two tables. It was all the same price for us. It was a good deal. Hella good deal. Totoro seemed please, though he was on the phone with his grandmother for a large chunk of time. The other people in attendance who I haven't mentioned yet were Bombadier, Booch, THE Hustler, The Violent One, Ye-ah, a college friend from back in the day and her boy. It was a nice. I had some nice shots, but overall played like shit compared to my high school days. I definitely had some rock solid breaks.
After the festivities, everyone seemed to split. Since it was that time of the month, I headed over to the South End to check out Soul Revival and managed to drag Her Majesty and Bombadier with me. You know, I have said this before, but I think I really mean it this time. This was THE best Soul Revival that I have ever been to. The opening DJ was tight as hell. He was rock solid in his track selection and in his technique. He crossed genre borders and just really played with the audience. The live artist who came on at midnight, Adelaide, was great too. She had a soulful voice with kind of a pseudo-reggae backing band. It was, over all, pretty good. But when Osunlade hit the decks, it hit me like a ton of bricks. He was even better than I remember him being back when I saw him two years ago at Life. I don't know if he has a disc out, but I think I need to find out, because if he does, I need to get it. I think the only downside of the evening was that I was wearing my raver jeans. Although, they work rather well in cool environments, and even sometimes in mid temperature places, when it starts to get warm, the raver jeans just retain too much heat to keep dancing in. I found myself not moving my legs as much as I would have been had I been wearing a nice pair of light UFOs. In addition to my pants woes, my good dancing shoes were still wet from Thursday morning's dragon boat practice. YEESH! So, no only were my legs uncomfortable, but my feet weren't cozy either. But, I sacrificed for the music. I sacrificed for the soul.
By the time I got home, around two in the morning, I was dead tired. I had spent all day racing and all night partying. I was beat. When I got home, I brushed my teeth and fell into bed. Well, I changed and washed up a bit too because going to sleep sweaty and nasty from dancing is not so much fun.
When I woke up, it was half past seven. I was to be at the race site by eight. Not happening. I called Her Majesty right when I woke up, because she asked me to give her a wake up call, and hurriedly got ready to go. In fifteen minutes, I had my bag packed, my hair spiked up silver and my feet walking out the door.
On the way to the race site, I bumped into another dragon boater. I didn't actually know her, but she saw the PFD in my had and the dragon boat fleece and asked me if I was in the race. I said yes and we proceeded to talk about our teams. It turned out that she was on DBCB's B team. When I heard that, I thought to myself, Danger, Will Robinson! Danger! Danger! So she tried to engage me in conversation about why I left and so on and so forth. She followed me all of the way down to the race site picking my brain about dragon boating and why I did what I did.
When I went to my tent, the first thing that I did was plop down and take a nap. I needed it. Between all of the racing and running around and partying the day before, I surely needed it. It was a while before any of my races began, but the thing about it was that once they started, it would be one after another after another. There may have been an hour in between each of my races, but it sure as hell didn't feel like it. I could run about telling you word for word about how each race went, but I fear it wouldn't be the same as the experience.
Bottom line of the races: The mixed team pulled a 2:17 and a 2:16. We made it to the semis after a hard decision of whether to sandbag the first heat in order to get a berth into the finals through the loser's bracket. We did, for our efforts, win the first place prize for the local mixed team. The men's team didn't do quite as well. We had one race in the open division and we lost the local first place prize to the Gentle Giants team and took second place. The women's team did well too. They took second prize for the local women's teams to Gund Kwok (The women's lion dance team).
Since we won first prize for the local mixed team, and I was the drummer, I was thrown into the Charles. You know, a few years ago, when threatened with it, I was totally against it. I didn't even want to touch that water. But now, after deciding what I wanted, after deciding that I wanted to acheive the goal of being number one in Boston, I welcomed being thrown in the river. I think it was kind of symbolic for me. I think it means to me that I am all that I claim that I am when it comes to dragon boat. I am the best drummer in Boston. I helped lead a team to victory and the spoils included a medal, a trophy, a cup and a dunk in the Charles. There are pictures to prove it too.
After being thrown in, Her Majesty and I went home to get cleaned up and then we, along with The Violent One, headed back to Harvard to chill at the victory barbecue. To be honest, the food was horrible. I was so hungry that it didn't matter though. I ate, drank, and was merry. We cleaned and filled the cup that we won since we were the local mixed winner for the twenty fifth anniversary of the first Boston dragon boat festival with beer and wine and each drank from it. It was wonderful. I took gulp after gulp from that goblet. It was my victory dance. As the night went on, someone opened a bottle of Pai Jiu, Chinese rice wine. I took some rather huge tugs off of that bad boy. At first it was fine and then it really hit me hard. I started to get cold and sleepy, so I knew it was time to leave. The Violent One left a lot earlier, so it was just Her Majesty and I walking to the T drunk on a Sunday night. I was so sleepy that I couldn't keep my eyes open. I was seriously exhausted. But we both made it home alright and that was the end of the weekend. Let me just tell you. Monday morning, I was so happy to have had my hours changed from eight to four to ten to six. The extra two hours were so incredibly helpful to me. And that was that.
What'd I Say. Listening: Every mornin' 'fore the sun comes up, she brings me coffee in my favorite cup. That's why I know, yes, I know. Hallelujah, I just love her so.
Earlier this week, President Reagan died. Though I remeber him as the first president that I can recall in office, and I recognize his historical importance, his death didn't affect me nearly as much as today's death of the great Ray Charles. I remember his music from all throughout my life. I can remember hearing "You Are So Beautiful To Me," "Georgia On My Mind, " and "Hit The Road Jack" as a small child. His voice had this raspy excellence that was just so distinctive. I remember when I started lindy hopping, I used to love dancing to "Hallelujah, I Just Love Her So." I think that I still would love dancing to it. The lyrics and the music are just so good. Aww, man. Why can't great artists lie in state somewhere? I think that they do a lot more than politicians to bring people together. He was only seventy three years old. So sad. Damn....
So, I haven't really written much lately. I've been busy and tired. I'm actually tired as hell right now, but I'm gonna finish out the post.
Yesterday, I brought Her Majesty to her first dragon boat practice. She had no clue where she was going or what she was doing, but I think she got up to speed. I showed her a few things on the dock and she took off with the Liason boat for a practice. She was going to try to do two practices yesterday, but she only ended up doing one. She couldn't find space on a boat during the second session. While she was on the water, I just ended up chatting with a number of my old friends. Since I'm no longer with DBCB, I don't talk to those people as much.
After practice, we walked across the river to have dinner at The Otherside Cosmic Cafe and bubble tea at Cassava. Her majesty, after spending a couple of years in Boston at grad school and six months in Boston working, had never been to either place. So sad. She really dug them though. She seemed to really be on a high after trying dragon boating. It had been a while since I had been to The Otherside. They've been doing a lot of construction there lately. I can't wait until they open the second floor again.
Anyways, I didn't end up going to sleep until well after two in the morning. On top of that, I had to be on the river with the dragon boat team at seven in the morning. It was a good practice. We did some starts and race pieces that were just off the chain. Amazing starts and to top it off, we were missing half of our engine paddlers. It felt good to be on a decent boat for a change. We were totally rockin' it. The only bad part of practice was that it was cold, rainy and windy. The waves were kicking up like you wouldn't believe. I got absolutely drenched. I waddled all of the way to my gym after practice only to take a cold shower and get into work just in time.
Today was also my last one on one training session. I was dying through the entire session. So tired. I was likea zombie all day long. I came home today and I just crashed. It was nice. Speaking of crashing, that's what I'm gonna do now. Half day tomorrow. Woo woo.
Just When I Thought I Was Out... Listening: Some things never change. I may be old and gray but now the feeling's even stronger than before.
Today was kind of a funny day. I came into work and I didn't have any work to do. With the new crew congealing a bit, they absorbed all of my old work to the point where I didn't have much to do at all. I checked one report and collated and distributed another, and that's about it. I spent the bulk of my time today re-organizing my desk, cleaning up loose ends, archiving old papers, sending e-mails and cleaning up my rolodex. FOP is gonna have to copy a bunch of the numbers that I have in the rolodex. I made it easier for her by actually making it all legible. For once, my desk is completely clean. AMAZING! The really funny thing was that I actually felt busy all day long. It's been a long ass time since that happened.
After work, I did the unthinkable. I went back to dragonboating. Blondie recruited me as the drummer to the Dudley (Harvard University) Elite Mixed team. Today was my first practice back. I actually did two practices today. The first practice was supposed to be the women's team. I was quite impressed by their performance. As in any team, it had its weak spots. There were a couple of girls who couldn't cut it. They couldn't get the stroke and there's nothing I could really say to actually teach them how to do it right from the front of the boat. I think I could have helped them in a stationary boat, but I couldn't help them at practice.
A funny thing happened in the break between the two practices. One of the girls went up to Blondie and said, "Wow, he's really good. Can we keep him? Can he drum for us?" What am I a stray pup? I was mused though. It was a nice compliment. The mixed team, though, was kind of weak for what I expected. There was a lot of chatter in the boat and there was a general lack of focus. Not good, They still shaved about ten seconds off of the race piece time from what the women's team did. I think I may have to go to the seven AM practice on Thursday morning. Should be interesting. I should be able to swing it considering how my job has started off this week.
Anyways, I'm tired. I cooked myself a good meal today. Garlic breaded chicken with parmigiano reggiano cheese shredded over it, red bliss potatoes roasted with dill and parsley and some green peas. Quality. To top it all off I had two asian pears for dessert. I am one full kid.
So I'm gonna do my dishes now and I'm gonna crash out. Sleep is good.
Feeling Age Listening: And I guess that's why they call it the blues. Time on my hands, could be time spent with you.
To be honest now, I am a little bit blue. My day started off perfectly fine. I woke up, got cleaned up, and went down to Quincy for brunch with Glare and Totoro. Glare made this hella good breakfast risotto bake. It was killer. I NEED the recipe. I stayed there from around noon until about a quarter past four.
Upon returning home, I had about an hour of downtime before I had to be over at my grandparents' place for dinner. It had been a while since I had last spent any time over there. I've been too wrapped up in keeping track of my own days. So, I sat down and had dinner with them.
After dinner, the conversation took kind of a steep turn. My grandfather is feeling his age, despite his better than average health. He has seen two cousins in the nursing home, one of which can't walk, talk or see. He fears that he will be there any day now. Both cousins are his same age. I can see how this would spook a fella, but it's causing him to make irrational decisions that will make things worse for him in the future. I hear the hopelessness in his voice and I can't do a thing about it.
A number of people know he's making irrational decisions. He's supposedly being manipulated by some and being ignored by others. All of this because of his own perception of his age and what he can or can't do. He never asks for help. It's all really quite irking. To be honest, all of his blue kind of rubbed off on me due to the simple fact that I can't do a single thing about it. BAH! It's just frustrating.
The Banana Split Listening: Paint a perfect picture. Bring to life a vision in one's mind. The beautiful ones always smash the picture, always. Everytime.
So, so far, this weekend has been pretty interesting. I did somethings I normally wouldn't do. I went to some places that I normally wouldn't go. I talked to some people that I normally wouldn't have talked to. Was quite interesting.
It all started on Thursday during the day. I was sitting at work, minding my own business when Photogenic IMs me and asks me what I'm doing on Friday night. I told her nothing and her response was, "Okay then you're coming out with us." My response to that was "Us?" "Out where?" She then told me that we were going to see the new Harry Potter movie. Now, I despise Harry Potter. The hype turns me off to it in addition to the whole fantasy aspect of the movie/books. See, I'm not much for fantasy. I think the most fantasy that I get are some of the magical realism books like Gloria Naylor's Bailey's Cafe. I don't do Lord Of The Rings or any of that kind of genre. But I went anyways.
Why, you may be asking, did I go anyways? Well, for a couple of reasons. First of all, it was Photogenic and her boy who were heading up the group. The more I hang out with those two, the more I dig them as people. I mean, I already dug them as people the first time I met them, but they just seem to get better with time. They're both down to earth, funny, caring, and intelligent individuals. I can tell they're very outrospective folk, always watching what's going on and such. Yah, so any chance I get to chill with those folks, I do.
The second reason, and probably what put me over the edge, was that I was told a cute girl was going and that she was already told that I was going as well. Who is the cute girl? Well, she's the one who asked me if I was DJ ZEN!!! while at the Sidebar a couple of weeks ago (see the May 23, 2004 entry entitled "I SWEAR I'm Not Looking To Date Anybody!). Yeah. I'm a sucker for cute girls. Photogenic was selling it hard. She knows I think that this girl is cute and that I would totally like to find out if she's got the cool to match the cute. So I had to go, you see.
So, that was Thursday. Friday's workday was kind of cool. I was busy all day and I officially told my client that I was stepping away from my role as their client rep and that I was moving over to the other side of the business as a career move. It was kind of cool. She took it really well when we myself, my boss, his boss and FOP broke it to her. Now for the next week, we start the push. FOP trains the new guy, I train her, and I get trained by the unit's head trainer. It's gonna be interesting. I'll be training for two hours a day, one on one, for the next week. Yeesh!
Friday night, instead of taking the T to the Fenway AMC Theater, I opted to walk. I went over the Mass Ave bridge, and a funny thing happened. See, as I was walking buy Satellite Records, I heard something call to me. It was the new Faithless 12". It dropped in the UK on Memorial Day, but because of the holiday, we didn't get it in the States until midweek. I knew this because I was in Satellite Records on Memorial Day looking for it. I had completely forgotten about it until I walked by. Just on a whim, I went in to see if they had gotten it in. It turned out, they had it, but they only had two copies left. So, I grabbed one of them. I had to. It called me and I answered. So I carried around a 12" with me for the rest of the night.
I'm actually the first one to get to the theater despite the fact that I walked all of the way from Cambridge. As I wait for the crew, I looked in the arcade and saw that there's a brand new Time Crisis game. I didn't play it, but just knowing that it exists makes me happy. I'll have to play it some time soon.
So the group gets there, and the girl gets there and it's all good. The Violent One and I wait in the concession stand line for frikkin ever. I chat a bit with the cute girl, mostly about work. But then again, I don't know that much about her. I don't know, actually, anything about her. See, this makes it hard for me to strike up a really good conversation. I could say, "Hey, have you heard the new Faithless track?" and Ninety percent of the American population would give me a confused look. I can't just start asking girls rapid fire questions either like "What's your favorite color?" "What's your favorite Sanrio character?" or "If you were any household appliance, what would you be and why?" It would just be weird. So, I couldn't quite figure out how to bring information out of her. On the whole she's a quiet girl, I think. She sings to pop songs in the car. She said she would hit me if I heckled Harry Potter too much. And she gets red (like so many of us Asians) after one beer. I guess I just had better chatting up skills to see what kind of gal she is.
The movie itself was okay. It's nothing that I would see again, but it was highly heckleable. I held my tongue quite a bit in the theater. I did happen to let a few comments escape here and there. I think the only parts of the movie that I really dug were the moments where I realized, "Hey, that's Emma Thompson!" and "Hey, that's Gary Oldman!" Other than that, I chuckled at the fact that Harry kept fainting and the fact that his teacher kept giving him chocolate whenever he fainted. It was just odd. *shrug* Most of the movie was telegraphed. I saw twists from about a mile away. But then again, maybe the kids were really surprised.
In other news, Fester ended up sitting next to these three random chicks in the theater. He was chatting them up something fierce. Brother got digits though. Go, dood, go! *sniffle* Ya grownz up and ya grownz up and ya grownz up.
After the movie, everyone scattered. I ended up going to Peking Tom's with the cute girl and this other guy who is a friend of Photogenic and Digitaldewi. He's like Mr. Peking Tom's. He knows everyone there. The cute girl knew a lot of people there too. I knew no one. I don't frequent there very much. I think I know why too. I don't think that I fit in with an exclusively Asian crowd. I think I like a good mix in my crowds. I think that when I hang out at a place like Peking Tom's, I get very self conscious about my Asian-ness. I am, as they say, a banana. I'm extremely westernized with a outlook that I have developed on my own. Most of the Asians at Peking Tom's all seem to be able to speak languages other than English. They all seem to be well dressed in the status quo kind of way. I just don't think I fit in very well. Coupled with my inability to strike up random conversations, I didn't do much talking when I was there. I was hoping to talk more to the cute girl, but it didn't really happen. She talked to other people that she hadn't seen in a while and then went home early. Oh well. At least I got her last name so I can inter-office e-mail her and maybe grab lunch with her sometime. We'll see if I can find stuff to talk about with her in a one on one setting.
Today, Saturday, Fester, The Violent One and I brought all of Fester's cooking stuff back to his place and then The Violent One and I went shopping. First, we went to Reliable Market, an Asian food store in Union Square, and then we went to Costco. By the time we finished, and I dropped the water off to my Grandparents, it was already four thirty/five o'clock. I set up brunch with Glare and Totoro and took a nap after that.
Upon waking up, I went to Photogenic's place, where Kandi Thug was having a b-day party for her boy. It was fun. Actually it was pretty chill. Her Majesty called me while I was over there and asked me what I was up to. I told her to come over. At first she was going to, but then she bailed because her fam called her up. She's got a busy weekend this weekend.
Anyways, it's a quarter past two and I'm tired. I have to be down in Quincy by eleven thirty tomorrow morning. YAWN! Time to sleep.
So not much happened today. Month end reporting continues to go poorly. I almost got caught in the middle of an arguement between my client and my manager. Actually, the reason they're fighting is because I did my job and the details were sketchy, so it was questionable over who was accountable for what. I started the arguement and then I walked away. I let them duke it out. My manager still thinks I'm the shit. And my client still thinks I'm the shit. It's only each other who they think are shit. ^_^ It's actually kind of amusing.
I managed to push through a work out this afternoon. I think Lucien Foort really helped with that though. I have a half hour mix that I got while I was front and center at a tent where Lucien was spinning. I listened to it one and a half times as I lifted and another one and a half times as I did cardio. I have to say some of his beats got me up those hills I was climbing on the eliptical.
When I got home, I didn't do much besides lay on the couch tired as hell and cook dinner. I didn't talk to too many people today on the phone or online. Actually, I think that's been the general trend as of late. I have really been keeping to myself. I had a nice simple dinner tonite. Elbow macaroni in jarred sauce that I spiced up with ground turkey, fresh tomatoes, shallots, orange bell pepper and ribbons of basil. It really was quite nice. I also cut up a cucumber and later a pineapple. Pie-napple. Mmm... Pie-napple. Heh.
So in lieu of anything else to say, I was really thinking a lot about food lately. I'm not talking about, "Oh my god, I am so hungry!" kind of thinking about food, but more like thinking about nutrition and the state of the country, if not the world today. When you look at TV, all you see is "quick and easy preparation," "go out to eat," and junk food commercials. Most of the "Beef: It's What's For Dinner," "Milk: It Does A Body Good," and "Pork: The Other White Meat" have all been pushed off the air for bogus leagal issues (I think I read about it in one of my friend's blogs).
When I was a child, I wanted all of these junk foods. I wanted the Cocoa Puffs and the Shake 'N' Bake. I wanted all of those things. But now that I think about it, the reason that I wanted all of those things was because there was nothing else making noise. There were no flashy broccoli ads or zany multigrain bread commercials. I didn't know anything about fresh herbs and whole spices until I got to college. I didn't know about what it really meant for food to be in season until I started grocery shopping for myself. I used to just think that it meant that it was a little bit more expensive.
Now, as I get more into food and more into cooking, I realize that these things are important. Fresh, seasonal foods, foods that one prepares from scratch is an extremely important thing. First of all, it's healthier. Secondly, it's more flavorful, or at least the flavors are more natural. And thirdly, it has the potential to be a lot cheaper (at least cheaper than going out for dinner every night). I think that the great American family is getting bombarded by all of this fluff on TV, print and radio telling them that Chili's has great baby back ribs, or that The Olive Garden has authentic Italian food, that those who have never been exposed to deep south barbecue culture or fresh mozzarella, basil and tomatoes drizzled with olive oil and a quality balsamic vinegar don't know the difference.
I just wish that there were more people into preserving culture through food and who were about using the freshest ingredients in order to create this food. I have found an organization called The Chef's Collaborative that seems to be a group of chefs and restaurants who seem to cater to these ideals, but it just doesn't seem like something that's accessable to the general public. Maybe this is a reason to bring back classes such as Home Ec in high schools.
Jamie Oliver has been going on a little crusade of his own to get meals served in schools to be healthier and more natural. I really respect this little program called "Dinner Ladies." I really believe that we need to bring it all back to fresh ingredients, stove time and elbow grease. Granted, I know that not everyone has time to cook quality meals every evening. Hell, I don't even have time to cook quality meals EVERY evening. But if I had the time and energy, I totally would. I am, however, extremely disappointed in seeing people eating McDonald's or instant noodles every day. There are a number of quick and easy dishes that one can make with a limited number of ingredients.
I think that another thing that would make it easier for people to eat healthier, more natural foods would be if friends were to eat together more often. That way, only one person would really have to cook. I know that some people do this kind of thing with roomies, but I don't think that that is the only situation where it can happen. I think that if friends gather for dinner at each other's places and take turns cooking, the whole group can be well fed for more days a week, and it would cut down on leftovers which may or may not rot at the back of your fridge. I wish that I could get more friends into this idea. I think it would be really good as a food option and as a social option. I dunno. I could just be trippin' though.
Anyways, it's half past one. I should get to sleep. I hope I've given some of y'all food for thought. Maybe instead of reaching for a prepared meal, you'll preppare one yourself. Man, it's summer. There's going to be so much good produce out there. The raw materials will be there. You just need to stir it up a little bit. So... That's it. Nite!
Do You Ever Get Me? Listening: And love will stretch a little bit but finally it's gonna break.
So, last night I didn't get to sleep until late. I got into a conversation with someone the just went on and on because I chose to prod at something. It wasn't all that cool. It was just me prodding. It lasted WAY too long but I don't think that there was any good way to end it.
Today at work sucked. So many people dropped the ball. It sucked so bad.
I went to the gym for the first time in a month and it kicked my ass. I couldn't even complete my cardio. I think it was also because I had very little sleep.
I need to sleep soon. But I was thinking today:
Things that get me: A really good meal. Pigtails that only extend 3 inches beyond the rubberband. A really penetrating beat. A killer smile and an "I know what you're thinking" look in a girl's eye. A sappy, sappy movie with quality dialogue.
Things that I don't get: People who think chain restaurants have quality food. American mayonnaise. CD Prices. Status Quo. Girls.
