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Good bye for now, WordPress. Hello, 2011!
I went to sleep about 10pm and woke up thinking that I beat the alarm clock yet again. I looked at my cell phone expecting to see that it was about 5am or 5:30am when in fact it was only 12:58am! After lying in bed for a good 30 minutes, I knew there was no way I was getting back to sleep. I started to read a book I’ve been working on which is called The Empire of Tea–an interesting read. Even more intriguing was the mention of the Burmese letpet, or tea salad, only three pages into reading this morning.
‘This is a pickled tea which Pelungs long have had a custom of preparing by boiling and kneading jungle tea leaves, and then wrapping them in papers or stuffing them into internodes of bamboo, which they bury in underground silos for several months to ferment. Eventually the product is dug up and eaten as a great luxury at marriage feasts and similar festive occasions.’ Okakura, Tea 3.
Now, its 3:59am, and I’m hungry. Instead of trying to go back to sleep, it might be time for an very early breakfast. Or I might go back to sleep. It would be easier to think if I had woken up at six instead of one.
I really need to get on to updating this resume. It’s not really going to be that difficult. I plan on just reworking the last one I wrote a year ago to include my time at Hibiscus. Will Google documents be good enough for the job? I hope so.
I’ve also been slow in getting together with some friends from Laney College, visiting Hibiscus and friends there, and a long list of other things. These books to my left need to be sold. These papers to my right need to be shredded. Books need to be read. Photos need to be organized and edited. My car interior needs dusting and vacuuming. Cousins need to be called. Dishes need to be planned and worked on for the upcoming Christmas party. I can’t believe that’s only some of the things that I need to get to before this year is over, and we all know how the days just come and go.
It’s a bit sad that “procrastination” is one of my blog categories, and it’s more upsetting that I just had to tick it off again with a click of the trackpad on this laptop.
What the hell? I was recently on Costco’s website checking to see what offers they had on photo books, and I came across this page, and now I am thoroughly disturbed. Caskets, urns, keepsakes, and sympathy flowers. I don’t want to crack too many jokes, but it’s not something one would expect from a place that’s known for over-sized jars of mayonnaise, palettes of croissants, and packages of toilet paper that last for six months.
After that detour, I discovered that Costco has a 20% discount with MyPublisher who state on their site:
We manufacture our own books, right here in New York State — a rare thing in these days of outsourcing and downsizing. Each book is handmade and hand-inspected for quality. We make sure no book leaves our shop unless it’s perfect.
I’m sold. It’s nice to know that some people still want things to be made in this country. If I find some photos from my recent Ireland/England trip that I want to see printed, I’ll test their services out.
Woah. I really need to write some stuff down in my notebook regarding the trip to Ireland and England before I forget details. It was a really fun trip (click on the flickr link in the sidebar), and I can’t wait to go back during warmer months for more drinking and eating. More reading on those two countries are on my list of things to do next month. Hopefully, I can squeeze in some research for Spain and other countries while I’m at it. I figure if I keep doing research, it’ll push me to get over to those countries as soon as possible instead of putting it off for another five years.
I’d better get out of the house to do some drawing now, not to mention some job searching.
Someone at work told me that she has used bible paper to roll joints because it is comparable to the standard stuff. Yikes! She also mentioned that there are always bibles in hotel rooms. I refrained from making a dirty comment, and that wasn’t easy. Now, I’ve never smoked weed in my life, but I’m pretty sure even I wouldn’t tear out Corinthians 10:2 to get high. After 12 years of Catholic school, I don’t even know if that’s a real chapter and verse and if that’s the correct format for writing it out.
Haven’t written here in a long time, but I’ve been writing in a notebook that I got from the Oakland Museum of California. Big changes start a week from this Monday.
Now, that I think about it, I have to get back and see that Pixar exhibit again.
A few days ago, I made a decision that set those wheels in motion. Our talk (more on who and the details some other time) went well, and something good will come of it next month and definitely before the year is over. If there’s time to meet up with the same friends I had dinner with tonight, I’ll probably talk about it with them since they’re always good listeners and are genuinely interested. Then, sometime soon, I’ll get the family together and tell them what I’m planning on. Very excited to say the least.
Only some people at work and a few of my friends know how bad an experience I had early Monday morning until that evening. As I told my friends tonight at dinner, it was one of the worst experiences in my entire life, and I don’t plan on making the same mistake. That’s all I will say here because there’s no way I can forget it. Maybe I’ll make a comic about it and just keep it somewhere. At least, write it down in one of my many notebooks.
I bought Michael Ruhlman’s Ratio: The Simple Codes Behind the Craft of Everyday Cooking because I think it will help me become more efficient in the kitchen and because it was recently released in the more affordable paperback (more on where I’ll be getting books next post).
Tonight, I went to the cookie dough chapter and made a simple shortbread. So simple in fact that it only required sugar, butter, flour, and a pinch of salt. The ratio: 1-2-3. Amazing. Like he said in one paragraph, it’s good to understand what a cookie is, and I like cookies, and I liked the taste of the cookies that came out of my oven. Now, when I go on to improve upon this most basic formla, the differences will be noticeable. Next, I’ll add some vanilla and maybe some lemon zest.
I did notice the dough wasn’t holding together as well as I would have liked even though I did weigh the three ingredients on a digital scale. Was it the quality of the butter or was it the special blend of flour from Costco that has a tiny bit more fiber than standard AP flour? We’ll find out next time I guess when I decrease the flour by 0.15 of an ounce. If that doesn’t work, I’ll try better butter. Actually, I’ll try better butter next time, too, and not the cheap stuff that was in the fridge. With all this cookie experimentation, I’d better send the rest of this batch off to my youngest niece and nephew because self-control isn’t my strong suit, and a diet high in cookies probably isn’t good for someone trying to get back to regular exercise.
Damn Google Reader. Too much geek stuff that must be shared with my two readers.
It only fails at the very end with the last dialog screen, but everything else is right on!
Okay. Turning off computer.
with comic captions superimposed onto the images. Will they be in the final cut? Who knows, but look. Gemma Arterton!
I just email silly links, greet people belated happy birthdays, read unimportant news stories, admire art, but others do videos like this one and bring joy to people [who waste too much time on the internet].
That’s pretty freaking funny.
Stop the presses, Vicky Vicki Vale! Look at The Darkparted.
Well done, AEmovieguy.
Was lying in bed awake after my alarm went off when there was a quick jolt to the house. Turns out it was a 3.3 earthquake in Richmond, CA. I really dread the day of another major one in the Bay Area. I’d better get that emergency kit ready, but that does make me wonder. Doesn’t a 2010 emergency kit require different things than one prepared, say, 20 years ago? Sure there are always basics like water and food and can openers and zombie repellent. I bet there’s a company that specializes in products that keep your computer/laptop going, so that you can check email even if everything else has gone to shit.
ps: why did a search for “earthquake vallejo california” result in the pic below:
Weren’t these girls on youtube singing in a bathroom? The 21st century makes me say some weird things…
Title says it all.
Six-hundred fifty-four dollars to Cork, Ireland. Taxes and fees included! I need to make this happen.
I can taste the Guinness already…
A close friend is moving to the Los Angeles area. I’m certainly glad that he has escaped the lameness of our hometown, but still… I’ve known this guy since first grade.
