venerdì 29 febbraio 2008

my last of 6 quirks for Todd's meme

This is my 6th and final quirk . It's a no-longer-actively-practiced quirk -- a former quirk. I hope it counts.

I used to take cell phone pictures of the insides of bathroom stalls when in a seated deficating position. I think I got burned out because I can't figure out how to get the pictures off my phone. I tried mobile blogging, but the photo links always end up broken, and I don't think my phone has an easy way to transfer photos using a USB port like other phones do. So...I've got a lame phone with 50 bathroom stall photos locked inside. They're screaming to get out. But they can't. They're trapped. And the memory is full. And I can't bear to delete any of them. And so I can't take any more photos with my cell phone camera. And I'm not eligible for a new phone until July, and even then, I'm not sure I will go for an upgrade right away. Why? For one thing, cell phones need precious metals that they get from the forests of the Congo. And do I really need another way that I'm tacitly or explicitly encouraging deforestation of the last remaining habitats of primates? When the primates are gone from the wild, then where are we as a species? How fucked up will it all be when we have to say that we killed off all our most closely related sister and brother species???

By the way, in a recent issue of the New Yorker (and the last before our intentionally lapsed subscription ((overall, we were dissapointed and traded it for a subscription to the New York Review of Books)), there is an article about being green by Michael Specter.

One of the quoted pundits in the article says that the thing we need to do RIGHT NOW to slow anthropogenic climate change is stop freaking clear cutting the remaining tropical forests. That means you Congo. And Amazonia, you too. And you, in the back, Ms. Indonesia is it? YOU'RE not excused.

What's that? It's US? We in the West have an insatiable appetite for your hardwoods and cheap beef and soy? And now we also want your land to plant biofuels so we can feel good about oursleves even though in the big picture we're even more fucked using biofuels than just shooting up with oil and being honest about it? Oh. Sorry about that. Well, could you like stop burning anyway? We have all these depressing photos in glossy magazines printed on chlorinated paper. And those photos make us sad. So could you like stop? Please.

What? we're the ones that forced global Captialism down your throats? And now that you're playing by our rules we don't like it and we do like at the same time? Don't get all psycho-babble on me you little fuck! Just stop the clear cutting and slash and burn! Is that clear? Are we fucking clear? Have you gotten that into your thick-ass skulls? Please stop burning. If you do, we might throw you a few cases of meds. But no condoms. Fuck no. You don't get any condoms. You're just supposed to be in hetero-monogamous relationships and you're supposed to do what we say we do, even though there is no way in hell we're following our own adivce. But that doesn't mean you shouldn't. Got it? Now go run outside and make me some fair trade products. I'm bringing some shrimp scampi farmed from a former mangrove swamp to a dinner party tonight that I'm driving to, but I need some fair trade chocolate to bring to the host. What???? I'm not paying $5 for a fair trade chocolate bar!!! there is NOTHING fair about paying five fucking dollars for a goddamn chocolate bar. You got to be fucking kidding me. Who do you think you are? I don't give a good goddamn how much it costs you to sustainably harvest cacao seeds in the forest. Ever heard of a fucking plantation? A fair trade sustainable forest is fine, but you got a goddamn price point to meet you piece of uneducated shit!!! go fuck yourself. I'm bringing Godiva to the party.

another freakin' work video

I got "sea sick" making this video yesterday...if you get to the end of the video, you'll know why.

giovedì 28 febbraio 2008

mercoledì 27 febbraio 2008

go nina!

martedì 26 febbraio 2008

the pick of the litter



I was hanging around on campus after work waiting for a phone call and started taking pictures of trash and related debris in the mulch and on the street near a big construction site.

This is the pick of the litter.

a real winner

orange you glad this isn't your lunch?

another video



I did most of the interviews and all the editing (but not the shooting). I could only use shots without faces of the kids b/c we didn't have permission from the kids parents...except for the boy at the end...that interview made me want to cry and also made me want to be a teacher. I'm fascinated by how his left eyebrow rises when he says "one"

-d

domenica 24 febbraio 2008

seed purchase from Seeds of Change

Seeds of Change Saturday night purchase:
1 PACK, CALENDULA, CLASSIC
1 PACK, BASIL, GENOVESE SWEET
1 PACK, BEAN, POLE, ITALIAN
1 PACK, Marb lights (hot smart fun 24 yr old woman "who cares about world events, but doesn't care too much" included with the Marb lights...I'll pass her on to Gregory...since for me she is like one of those weird toys you used to get at the bottom of the cereal box...and you're like...okay, I just wiped the Cheerios dust off of you...now what???)

sabato 23 febbraio 2008

christmasletter.blogspot

I couldn't sign into my blog today. I tried and tried and tried. And after considering the fact that
1. i am going crazy
2. someone logged in and changed my password
3. blogger is having technical difficulties
I realized that I couldn't log in b/c I was using the wrong username. Even though I call my blog "christmas letter" the login is absurdchristmas b/c someone else has christmasletter.blogspot.com

so i went to christmasletter.blogspot.com to see what was up...i'd been there before but I'd forgotten what the site was. all I can tell you is that in may 2002 there were a bunch of crawfish festivals around Houston, TX and that the blog author needed to remember to wake up on Tuesday mornings.

i'm a dork

caption and photo credit: Chris Schmidt-Wetekam, David Zhang, and their award-winning robots, iHop and iLean. (Andrew Phelps/KPBS)

I'm a dork and I'm not good with long names. Listen to the news story on the local San Diego NPR station about a cool robot project that I publicized last week to see what I mean. You need to click on the link and then click on the listen link on the page and wait for the end of the short segment.

Calendularity

east coast spring

recent phone conversations with the two fraternal dudes in the photo below tell me that people are fucking ready for spring. so here is a teasing rememberance of iconic east coast spring.

familia (and daleview snack bar collaborators)

mercoledì 20 febbraio 2008

teleporting

the general consensus from douglas and kelly is that I should come up with a teleporter so that we can all be bicoastal, bicontinental and bihemispherical...of course, we'll also all be bipolar...in more ways than one...but i'd be willing to take the risk.

and I think i know just the overachieving smart kids to come up with a teleporter...featured in this 2 minute video that I helped put together yesterday and today...

martedì 19 febbraio 2008

Closed Mic

I tried to go to an open mic on Friday night to read a poem that is a synthesis of part of the Black's Beach part of the 07 Christmas Letter. But the host of the event was sick and they couldn't find a replacement so it was me and a pair of odd-ball lesbians shootin the shit in the parkinglot of the lesbian owned sex shop in San Diego, The Rubber Rose that was hosting the event. In the end, the shit shooting was possibly more fun than the reading would have been...and i still got the benefit of preparing my poem (thanks ivano for listening to it 20 times and giving me amazing feedback. I had no idea you were such a performer at heart...but what is teaching a 200 person lecture about a relatively dry subject if it is not performing?) anyway...the friday evening turned out nicely in the end. But i'm bummed that I have to be typing into a computer with REM's "losing my religion" on repeat to tell u this story. I'm in one of those why-do-we-all-live-so-far-away-from-each-other moods. Why were none of my friends at my yoga class tonight,for instance? (although you're glad you missed my mushroom and barley soup i made on thursday night. it was okay the first night and really nasty for lunch a couple of days later. too much dill and parsnip!)

san onofre state beach park

giovedì 14 febbraio 2008

todd's meme number 5

I've had a thing for porcelain and marble ever since I was a little kid.

last Saturday, during my North Park meander, I stopped in a couple of thrift stores. In the first, I satisfied my marble and porcelain fetishes for a price tag of $3.50.

The marble wine cooler was three bucks and the ashtray stolen from a cruise line was a whopping 50 cents.

the marble fetish has at least two primary sources:
1. The marble trophy bases from various swimming, basketball and acrobatics teams.

2. The second marble fetish source: catholic churches. No matter what church I went to, I ranked its value and worth based on how much marble was inside. Marble altar good. Carpeted altar bad. Carved marble benches on the altar: VERY good. Wooden benches: bad. Upholstered benches: horrible. I still remember the disappointment I felt the day that I realized the big "marble" rectangular boxes flanking the side stairways to the altar at St. Bernadette's were in fact fake marble.

The porcelain fetish comes from just one source, I think. My mom's obsession with danish porcelain plates and figurines.

mercoledì 13 febbraio 2008

Todd's Meme part 4

When I go to a movie, I never sit in a seat where there is someone already sitting behind me b/c I then feel obligated to slouch the whole movie. I choose a seat where it is clear behind me, and then sit up tall before the movie starts so that if someone chooses to sit behind me, they are forewarned that I'm tall and have big hair.

Todd's Meme part 3

I like to read the campus crime section of the student paper as poetry. for example:

Suspicious person:
A 6-foot Latino male wearing a jacket reading "peace and love" was seen chasing cars at Gilman Parking Structure.

Noise disturbance:
A child was reported as running around screaming and creating excessive noise at a Regents Road apartment.

lunedì 11 febbraio 2008

Todd's Meme part 2

I apologize for the insider blog-ball nature of this post, but when I get memed, I never post right away, and when I do post, I usually end up with a meme that is not exactly the one that was given to me. For example, Kelly memed me on the alphabet meme way way back in october and I ended up posting on some other meme that I thought was the one she gave me. and now today...i just looked at Heather's blog (she got the meme from Kelly at the same time that Todd did...I think)...and according to her, the meme is supposed to be 6 random habits or quirks... whateve...my first response to this 6 part meme was not about a habit...and now that I've said that my weird habit is to not follow up memes properly, I am compelled to continue this habit by continuing to post on this most wonderful meme improperly!

Todd's Meme

So...Todd memed me...and so it is my solemn responsibility to tell 6 quirky or weird things about me... 1. On Sunday, I scared the shit out of two different people...totally by accident. The first victim was Ivano. I heard him wake up from his nap and so I walked toward the bedroom and said "ciao ivano" but he didn't hear me, and when he turned the corner and saw me standing right in front of him in the hallway, he was super scared! He let out a freaky primal noise that I don't like to hear...but I heard it again that evening when I ran across the street on my way to Chipotle in the dark...I ran along the road and jumped in front of a couple walking that I approached from behind b/c I needed to get onto the sidewalk beforeI got to the car that was in my way. When I lept in front of the couple, the guy let out the same primal freak out noise that is neither a shreak or a scream. More of a terror gasp...what shaking jello might sound like if it its jiggling could make soundwaves. And what i really don't like about this noise, is that everytime I hear it, I think, "What if this really were a case where terror is warranted." What if the person in the hallway that ivano encountered was not me, but an intruder? what comes after the terror gasp then? what is the next sound that you make? knock on wood for everyone on earth on this one...ick...

domenica 10 febbraio 2008

sabato 9 febbraio 2008

giovedì 7 febbraio 2008

That Snot my Rag

I just put on my sweatpants (aka my house pants) and found a used handkerchief in each pocket. How does one decide when a handkerchief is dirty? After one day? after that one serious nose blow that leaves you feel like you're folding up a half-baked orange marmelade fruit roll up...one made with the chunky bitter marbelade with real pieces of orange peel... or is there some other way to know when your nose has had enough? when the cotton has adsorbed enough of your nasal stuff? for my friends with kids, this question probably ranks as pretty low interest on the body-meets-clothes/textiles meter. but now that i'm okay with wearing socks two days in a row, I need something else to think about in this regard. btw, are we the last house on the block using handkerchiefs?

mercoledì 6 febbraio 2008

Just an FYI...

I voted for Obama yesterday.

martedì 5 febbraio 2008

Yoga Cookies

To further blab about the contradiction of bringing cookies to yoga class:

it's really dumb and fun at the same time. And that's why I did it.

dumb and fun

dumb and fun

much better than nuts and gum

and that's why they call it

dumb and fun

lunedì 4 febbraio 2008

For Wonga and anyone else who is down...

I said a boom shick a boom

I said a boom shick a boom

I said a boom shick a boom

I said a boom shick a boom

I said a boom shick-a-rock-a-shick-a-rocka-shick-a-boom!

I said a boom shick-a-rock-a-shick-a-rocka-shick-a-boom!

uuuuuuh huuuh!

uuuuuuh huuuh!

OOOOOO-KAY!

OOOOOO-KAY!

Let's do it again

Let's do it again

The breakdance way!

The breakdance way!

domenica 3 febbraio 2008

Unbaked Obama Fat Tuesday Yoga Cookies

Tuesday is Fat Tuesday.

Tuesday is also Super Tuesday.

To combine the two Tuesdays with the yoga class I teach on Tuesdays, I made unbaked obama fat tuesday yoga cookies.

Unbaked because the cookies are...well...not baked. You pour boiled butter, milk and sugar on top of oatmeal, coconut, cocoa and vanilla.

obama because they are close to the skin color of my choice for the Democratic primary in California.

Fat Tuesday because they will be consumed in honor of fat tuesday, the day before Lent begins (even though I don't plan to give up anything for Lent!)

yoga because we're going to eat them in the yoga studio after class on tuesday

These cookies are an act of unncecessary conspicous consumption as well as a contradiction. First of all, I'm bringing them to yoga class. I seriously doubt anyone in that class, or anyone else I know for that matter, really needs any more refined sugar in their lives. Second, the recipes requires cocoa...which is a rainforest product and I seriously doubt the Nestle corporation is looking out for local forest peoples. Third, how bout those preservatives in the shredded coconut? And the stick of butter? Sure, it's organic (and therefore expensive) but it's industrial organic. Were the cows that made the milk fed on grass in a sustainable agricultural environment? I doubt it. Plus, I had to buy a roll of wax paper to let the cookies cool on.

One point for the industrial-food complex. Zero points for planet earth.

The cookies are also a bit of a contradiction because they reflect my desire to remain attached to the past. Nonattachment is the way of yoga...I know I know...but yoga sutras or not, I am emotionally bound to this recipe. I grew up with unbaked cookies. They are part of my personal history. Part of my culture. Walking into the kitchen after school and finding unbaked cookies cooling on the counter...made by mom mom before she went to work. Priceless.

coming back to Obama...I think these cookies will be like his presidency...sweet, but fundamentally not enough to sustain us in a healthy way. We need to be looking beyond unbaked obama fat tuesday yoga cookies and the oil, coal and natural gas that made them possible. We need to be thinking about a total restructuring of our food economy and more generally of the capitalistic system we have inherited.

but change doesn't come easily...look...I didn't even manage to change a cookie recipie to make it more earth friendly because I had a vested interest (my memories) in the status quo. If I can't change a cookie recipe, how are we going to reinvent the world economic system and the power structures that want to keep it in place?

venerdì 1 febbraio 2008

I'm teaching yoga again

I started teaching yoga in a studio four Tuesdays ago. It feels so good to be back in the studio as a teacher. Not only is it a lot of fun to try to share what I have learned about yoga in the last 6.5 years, but it's good for my personal yoga practice (I try to practice what I preach).

It is especially satisfying to be teaching at Sean's studio, FourSeasonsYoga.com

Sean is the yoga teacher who died in a freak car accident on December 28, 2006. His parents have been running the studio ever since. Last night, Sean's parents sold the studio to Jenny, the new owner. Jenny and Sean both practiced up at Tim Miller's studio in Encinitas. Jenny is good people and wants to remain true to Sean's vision for the studio...which to me means love, laughther, fun, community and good old fashioned sweaty yoga asana time!!!

I took Jenny's primary series class on Weds night. The practice led me to feel energized and at peace. The studio is still Sean's creature....but of course now it is also Jenny's. And as with every studio, it also belongs to all the students...past present and future.

Sean put so much of himself into the studio and into his role as teacher and guide, guardian and go-to-guy for the yoga tribe that sprouted up in his presence. Sean is gone but he is still here. He inspired so many in just 31 years.

And he created a damn-nice space. The wood floor is spring loaded. The room gets warm but not stuffy. There is both natural light and privacy. It's a sweet place to practice.

So, if you come to visit San Diego or if you live here, take a class at FourSeasonsYoga.com and catch Sean O'Shea's optimistic wave...

You'll be glad you did.