times are achanging

big news in the world today... what with fidel stepping down and george w talking about bringing democracy to cuba and smog* does that mean he's thinking his 'legacy' will be a deomcratic cuba perhaps the 56th state of the union or maybe just a district or whatever it is that they call puerto rico.

oh and also tenbucks is discontinuing their breakfast sammiches (no loss, according to the sister: "too eggy", she reports) and is bringing in refillable coffees and $1 short coffees, at least in their homebase seattle wa.

you know the economy is in the shitter when starbucks starts lowering prices. fortunately the architect is in restaurant design, and restaurants are generally the one market that doesn't suffer when the economy is bad. clearly people are cutting back on the $6 lattes, though. i'm half expecting to see a tim hortons popping up on every block here in SD - their coffee is like crack, yo.

in other worlds, i'm trying to find an outside locale to have my wedding, and a place to host the wedding dinner.

also - all my american friends (and goshfukkit my canadian ones too) should check out rick mercer's rant from the feb 5th show for a remarkably astute discussion of the difference between canadian and american electoral processes. oh and then watch the 'dude' one, just for fun.

oh and i'm homesick in a big way today.





* see previous post for definition.

bottle in front of me (vs a frontal lobotomy, though the differences are not readily apparent)

smog* i did a little drinking last night.... one of the bookclub cohorts rounded up a few people for some presidents day libations at a local dive bar yesterday. the architect dropped me off**, we did scotch flights set up by the bartender, who is a local favourite, and then headed off to a super cheep, super delicious italian joint for pasta and pizza family style (though i had my own pasta 'cause of the whole food allergy thing).

other than that, our weekend was fun and sort of non-eventful. we had a delayed valentines dinner at a local mexican joint (that has the most GINOURMOUS tequila menu, by the way), ate brunch out, did the farmers market, oh and I made hummus with my new food processor (yay for valentines gifts!)

oh and we also scoped out a couple of wedding-type locations. heh. wedding locations.... so surreal.


* sweet mother of god
** a funny conversation occurred on the way down. we'd been discussing (previously) how important it is for couples to have separate interests & activities. it's shaping up that his will be cycling (he's getting back into roadbikes) and mine will be... you guessed it... drinking. amen sister friend.

new topic!

happy valentine's day come on people, now, smile on your brother everybody! get together, try to love one another not later, but right now! (paraphrasing nirvana paraphrasing the indigo girls. no seriously - the indigo girls)

no spring rolls for you!

ok for a country that has suffered so much in the name of 'purity of race' Israel's recent actions to reduce the number of asian cooks seems a little bit like .. i dunno... hubris to me. and a tad ironic, doncha think? they have already dropped the number of permits available to asian or foreign born chefs by 400, and they are seeking to eliminate them altogether, saying that israelis could be trained to do the work.

of course they can. heck - anyone who's read anything about modern kitchens in the US knows that 7/10 chefs in the top french, italian, chinese, whathaveyou restaurants across the country are mexican. just last night on anthony bourdain your fearless leader watched her hero dining on sushi crafted by someone from puebla.

that, however, is not the point. the point is that you already have to prove jewish ancestry in order to immigrate to Israel. the point is that this recent move by the israeli government smacks of non-confrontational ethnic cleansing. the point is that you would think that the israelis, of all people, would be a bit more tolerant.

seriously

is it just me this happens to? i swear to god my tolerance for alcohol is ZERO when i've got my period. like we didn't have any more wine than we usually do of an evening, and i'm *so* hungover today it isn't close to funny. like i've taken god knows how many painkillers and i still have a headache.

of course the wandering to the post office in the 30degree weather probably didn't help the dehydration but goshfukkit i had to mail a letter to my grandma and get me some hangover fries.

so yeah.. married... easter weekend... somewhere outside.. probably some friends and family will turn up, then we'll go to a restaurant and get drunkers. hee. poor guy doesn't know what he's getting into...

actually, he probably does, and yet this hasn't deterred him in the least. he must be sicker than i am.

hey little sister what's your vice and wish

guess who's gettin married?

another manic monday

it's true - mondays are hectic here at the sundae sanatorium. even as we speak i'm lying here in bed, listening to the cat chitter at birds (c-cc-cc-cc-c-c'mere bird! (it's like he stutters)), sipping a cup of coffee that the architect delivered to me in bed before leaving for work, and wondering what to do with myself today NAY this whole week.

ahem.

come on now... don't be hatin - this unemployment gig is hard work.

seriously.

heh ok i don't buy it either but i do have to find things to do to keep myself busy so that i don't go stir crazy and murder myself, the cat, and the architect. i can't imagine being a sixties-era housewife, with nothing to look forward to every day except crying dirty children and six loads of laundry. *shudders*.

(now i know that it is what some people aspire to - being able to stay home and take care of the kids - and i'm not knocking them for it, i'm just saying it's not for me. simmer.)

ug i dunno what to write this morning....

i think this decision to move to SD (aside from the obvious drawbacks like missing my family and friends) was a really good one. knock wood - but my relationship with the architect seems to be getting better and better even with the money stress (which is getting to be less and less); the sunshine does wonders for my depression; my job was sucking the life out of me - now that i'm away from it i can genuinely think about maybe going back to school; our neighbourhood is awesome: we can walk to pretty much everything we need, including bars, restaurants, haircuts, farmers market; and we're starting to actually get a house put together. (knock wood, knock wood, knock wood). we don't live an extravagent exciting lifestyle, but it's quiet and happy and comfortable. i figure that's a good thing...

laugh-out-loud (no really i did)

I wonder if Al Gore realized when he invented the internets that he was just creating a bigger black hole for a calendar so cliched February makes you want to swear: Fuck aphrodisiacs and the “romantic dinner for two” they rode in on.

i love the smell of vitriol in the morning....

i miss this bra

i need a new pale pink under white stuff bra. the one i have is starting to rip and the straps slide at inopportune moments. i want another one like the one in the picture - i like the satiny bit at the top - but i can't remember where i got the original and, let's not kid, it was in vancouver so it doesn't do me any good here. not to mention the fact that the picture is 2.5 years old, so even if i *could* remember where i got it, i probably wouldn't be able to get it again. fuck progress.

isn't it romantic

nothing says i love you like the word 'supermarket' tattooed across your belly. actually, i like the idea of having 'supermarket' written in kanji somewhere on my body - dog knows i heart the grocery store - but i guess when you *think* you are getting your boyfriend's name carved on your person, finding out it actually says tesco, or perhaps safeway, (or ooo! trader joe's!) is a bit of a letdown.

my favourite part, though, isn't the fact that this person didn't actually take the time to do a bit of research to find out what the characters should be (love *is*, after all, dependent upon romantic spontaneity) it's that she "did not think about whether it meant forever". here's a tip - the pain should generally be your first clue that we aren't talking funhouse temporary airbrushing, it's the real dealio.

she works hard for the money

did i ever mention that i became ordained?

yeah i did - so that i could perform weddings. (cue the sound of my mother laughing hysterically. she laughed almost as hard when i told her this as she did the day she tried to watch me sew a straight line on the sewing machine)

anyhoo, yesterday i went and married a couple for the first time. you know, aside from the obvious incongruity of me performing weddings (it's weird even for me, seriously), it's a damn nice way to make a living. you don't work for very long, and it's rewarding to say the least. plus the money's not bad. i made almost as much yesterday as the architect, didn't start till 9, was done by 1, and spent half of the time lounging in the sunshine having lunch once we went through the rehearsal.

wow, though- i wore 'real' heels yesterday for the first time in forever (aside from my boots) and i almost died - squashing my poor toesies into those pointy torture devices, then walking back and forth at a quick pace from one end of a cruise ship to the other after wearing wide toed boots and/or sneakers for 3 months was just this side of agony.
i'm surprised they agreed to hold me up for the rest of the day...

hc *is* tf

you know, i like reese, even with her perky chin. an ad for legally blonde came up yesterday as we were avoiding the superbowl and the architect looked at me and asked 'do you relate to RW in that movie?' and i had to say yes.

man i had a *super* lazy weekend. like lazy even by my recent life standards... didn't really run errands, didn't really do much cooking, didn't really do much except lounge, eat, make out with my boyfriend, read books and watch tv. it was kinda nice to have company in my sloth.

i perused the s-bowl ads online this morning.. i liked the audi ad 'cause i like audis and MINE, by the way, and i liked the JT ad (but mostly cause of andy samberg - also MINE), but my favourite was the coke balloons ad. it was just kinda pretty, and look at charlie brown go he finally got the prize in the end... brought a tear.

or not.

but still.

i'm stuck on bandaid 'cause bandaid's stuck on me

does anyone know why cilantro, more than any other herb, sticks to your fingers? this is something that has puzzled me for *years*, seriously.

i mean, there must be some kind of reason for it. anyone? anyone? bueller?

moving on.

i'm feeling really lazy today - actually, i'm on our couch (which is *not* comfy, and is one of the first things we will change after we get a kitchen table), i'm wrapped up in my fuzzy pink skull blanket, i just finished a cup of tea and i think that if i give myself any kind of chance i will be asleep in six seconds. it's kinda grey outside, and is definitely chilly in here, so why not? i've got the heat on, the cat hasn't emerged from beneath the quilt in the bedroom for hours... i say, nap.

xo

raspberry needs (stolen from facebook)

Type in "[your name] needs" in the Google search:
1) Raspberry needs an abundant supply of moisture at all times. (i got it, ok... i'll drink some water!)
2) Raspberry needs full sun.
3) Raspberry needs a more dignified way.

Type in "[your name] looks" in the Google search:
1) Raspberry looks includes shades for eyes, cheeks and lips.
2) Raspberry looks so beautiful. (heh. blushes)
3) Raspberry looks good on her! (dirty!)

Type in "[your name] is" in the Google search:
1) Raspberry is crumbly fruit.
2) Raspberry is an erect shrub that stands over two feet tall.
3) Raspberry is delicious on a hot summer morning.

Type in "[your name] likes" in the Google search:
1) Raspberry likes to drown herself when the vacuum is running.
2) Raspberry likes last year.
3) Raspberry likes coffee ice cream, and professes a passion for sushi.

Type in "[your name] wants" in the Google search:
1) Raspberry wants a world with no manners. (hardly)
2) Raspberry wants you to try it out. (no pressure, though)
3) Raspberry wants lots of room to go mad in the garden. (mad, i say, mad!)

Type in "[your name] says" in the Google search:
1) Raspberry says that Greenspan does appear to be acting more as apologist
2) Raspberry says Florida's "fascinating school voucher experiment" is intriguing in many ways
3) Raspberry says mister Boggis wouldn like that, he dont like people painting his turkeys.

random acts of fabulous

the only evidence that proves it

i've been having some crazy vivid dreams lately. last night i dreamed that i was in my old apartment in peegee, drinking watery orange juice straight from the jug (again with the massive quantities of liquids consumed in dreamland) and the kiddo came out from his room, wondering if there was anything for him to take for lunch... i pointed him at some leftover pizza in the fridge and settled back to read r/r's blog.

he was writing about a trip he'd made to oceanside, washington (a place that doesn't exist, as far as i know) on a quest for manitoba social clubs and former haunts of kurt cobain.

oceanside is a sleepy little town one might even say lackadaisical or dead inside but we met a charming japanese couple at an exxon on the outskirts. they filled our tank and fed us complimentary sushi: little bite sized salmons and tunas that they fished out of the aquarium on the counter beside the slurpee machine, decapitated and gently laid on a pillow of rice. they didn't know anything about kurt cobain but they told us that isaac asimov was giving lectures at the planetarium about the existential meaning of the space between the stars. admission was only five dollars.

all the while i read i was drinking oj from the jug and it was spilling down my shirt, and the kiddo was telling me about cooking in the restaurant he works at, and his girlfriend, and asking about what we were having for dinner the next night. i woke up this morning and had to look around to see if any of it was true - did the wineglass really fall apart in my hand was there really a 3/4 empty jug of orange juice on the table did ryan ray really get into a fistfight at social club named after regina but dedicated to expatriate manitobans. the wineglass and the juice aren't there, but there are some questions to which i don't have the answers.

i can't think of any song lyrics relating to laundry

it may just be that an afternoon at the fluff n fold has sucked the creativity out of me, or it may be that no one has seen fit thus far in human history to script an ode to a freshly laundered sheet.

pity.

anyhoo. big day - laundry, read a laurell k hamilton novel, and am working my way through allende's aphrodite. (got a library card last night - look at me go!)

i was kinda grumpy about the rain, yesterday, and how it's sort of chilly out, until i spoke with my mom this (snowing in vancity) and some friends from back in pee-gee (day 2 of sub negative thirty degree weather). all of a sudden 15 and sunny is kind of a-ok.

and yes i'm still speaking celsius. i don't figure it's worth learning fahrenheit until i'm legally a citizen. can you imagine how disappointed i'd be if i went to the trouble of learning a whole 'nother weather system, only to be kicked out of the country?

the horror.

serendipity (the word not the movie)

though any romantic comedy featuring john cusack can't be all bad, now can it? it's probably best if you don't answer that question, and take this opportunity to reflect upon the hotness that is martin blank.

onward.


the word itself is today's reason to drink, per my google homepage. wikipedia says that it was coined by horace walpole on this day in 1754 (he stole the word from a persian fairy tale) and means making a happy or fortuitous discovery while looking for something else (you know, kind of how i found the meaning of the word serendipity while looking for a reason to get loaded at 9.30 in the am).

it's not like i *need* a reason to drink, i just like to have something to say when people ask my why i'm on my fourth tequila sunrise by the time 11.30 rolls around.

anyhoo - weekend. mostly non-eventful in a relaxing did lots of walking kind of way... discovered a great new breakfast type cafe within walking distance where you can have oatmeal with soymilk and strawberries for $3 or some other reasonable sum.

oh - note to self. raspberry you need to make a conscious effort to drink more during the day. water, that is, not alcohol - you are doing just fine on that account. when you start having dreams that are centred around drinking big delicious icy cool glasses of lemonade and water then you are probably a bit on the dehydrated side.

just sayin.

where the hell I'm going at 1000 feet per second

in an effort to combat my cabin fever we went out and played tourist today... went walking through the bottom of a canyon in the sunshine this morning then sat outside at a cafe and had breakfast, then went up to the old presidio and walked all over that damn place this afternoon. i wish i'd had my camera in the canyon but forgot to bring it - there's this little log cabin halfway down that looks like it's been there for over 100 years (and it probably has) - you know for sure that it was built before all the ginormous homes were balanced precariously along the top of the escarpment, and will probably be sitting there all snug as a bug long after earthquakes have sent them rumbling tumbling down.

i also ate an in-and-out burger - my first ever. it's apparently a california must so i braved the allergies and gave it a shot.

yum.

the fries aren't the best, but you can watch them hack up giant potatoes to make them, so that's something.

metal health will drive you mad

so after spewing the contents of my brain all over the innerweb in an pseudo-apocryphal mental orgasm this morning, i bawled my eyes out for about 20 minutes while wandering around the apartment (as an aside, have you ever been mid emotional explosion and realized you needed to pee? there's something especially undignified about sitting on the pot crying, wiping your nose and your nethers simultaneously)(anyhoo) and then crawled into bed and went to sleep for about 2 hours. the only word from the outside world was that periodically my cat would poke his nose under the blankets to make sure i was still breathing, before continuing on his feline way.

i did bake the scarlet letter cuppy cake yesterday, by the way, but none of the photos looked anything other than ass-esque. ergo, you will have to use your imagination.