kurimsky

I've been reading LJ pretty regularly, but haven't posted in a long time, so here's a neat poll I thought up the other day during a conversation with phobean.

On a scale of 1 to 10 and also 11 (which, for our purposes, is much greater then 10) How guarded a person are you?

I think I'm a 7.

I'm a line cook again. At Bella Luna/the Milky Way. JP's finest lounge/rock club/lesbian bar/bowling alley. Sort of making a living.

Getting a new job has really stirred up alot of emotions and thoughts in me that i didn't really expect. In short, I'm enjoying it but it's also making me uneasy for reasons I can't quite articulate yet.

This is sort of normal for me, I make a big change in my life like it's no big deal, and then I'm confused about the mysterious background stress that I feel.

Anyhow, surviving, not dying in the gutter, cooking, all good stuff.

I spent Thanksgiving in bed. I was either sick or really tired. This was no great tragedy, however. My immediate family doesn't make a big deal out of holidays or even like turkey that much.

Drove to NJ on Friday. Hung out with family, watched 30 Rock on DVD. I like the show, but don't love it. The last sitcom comedy I really loved was Arrested Development and before that Seinfeld.

Saturday, I went for a walk with my sister, got coffee and got my ass handed to me in a game of checkers. Later, I went to Chuck E. Cheese for Phobean's nephew Kemi's 2nd birthday party. I found the place surprisingly unsmelly and the hot wings surprisingly good. I thought Kemi handled himself rather well for a 2 year old. Also, I half tricked Phobean's mom into chucking a ski-ball overhand into a piece of plexiglass, hilarity ensued.

Sunday, I spent my morning listen to some great gospel music on WKCR (Columbia University radio)
My interest in guitar is starting to veer from 1960's soul towards 1930's - 1960's gospel. But never fear, my fundamental religious belief system is still grounded in the Atlantean/Hollow Earth/Psychic Lizardmen tradition that I grew up with.

I read an interesting article in the Atlantic Monthly and wouldn't stop talking about it. It was all about looking at "yourself" as more like an arguing, scheming and occasionally co-operating council of personalities rather than a single personality. I wrote down the authors name, Philip Bloom. He's a Yale psychology professor and has a book in the works.

The rest of my Sunday was spent in rain and holiday traffic in my 9 hour trek back to Boston. The trip usually takes about 5 hours, but all in all it wasn't the worst trip. We had snacks, company (it was Pho, her cousin and I ) and it wasn't obscenely late.

I haven't posted or read here in a long time.

Partly because my computer was fried, partly I just got out of the habit.
I feel like I had a serious delayed reaction to the economic kick in the head.
Working freelance, I'm used to going through periods of unemployment while living like I'm still working.

It hit me far too late that this was not just typical economic doomsaying, that in fact, work has entirely dried up.

I interviewed for a job last week, which offers far less money than I'm used to, but have yet to hear back from them.

So, anyhow. That sucks. Probably sucks for you too. However, it's still highly unlikely I'm going to die in the gutter anytime soon. But still, no fun.

So, what has been fun? Riding my busted bike in the brisk fall weather. I saw my ex-band perform a song I wrote (the main riff and melody anyway). That was fun (we parted amicably months ago). I've done a lot of cooking, which I enjoy.

I've stopped eating gluten, following the advice of my dermatologist. I haven't seen a remarkable difference. I suspect If my skin is going to be improved by my diet, it will involve giving up all my favorite yet highly-allergenic food/substances: chocolate, eggs, alcohol, caffeine, soy and peanuts (in addition to dairy and wheat, which I already avoid).

The desert is big. It looks really dry and uninhabitable. Sure, I know that that's the text book definition of a desert but it just didn't hit me till I saw it.

It still suprises me how different the west coast can be: the architecture, the landscape, the weather, the people (to a degree). Everything is still suprising and different.

The fashion... not that different. I saw the occasional person who looked undeniably "California". If anything, I'd say people seemed less concerned with how they looked in San Francisco than in Boston.

Had some Tacos from a farmer's market that were unbelievably awesome.
I thought i knew at least something about Mexican food... but now I seriously doubt that. Had some mediocre Pho at a Vietnamese place. Excellent Jasmine Tea from the Japanese Tea garden in Golden Gate Park and bought some to take home.

Lots of sketchy dudes hang out in Golden Gate Park.
To get the appropriate image in your mind, picture the 2 or 3 sketchy dudes in Boston Common, now double thier sketch factor and multiply my 20.

Rented a really great mountain bike. I now understand spending upwards of $500 on a bike. Went on a pretty hardcore bike ride. It was fun.

My face exploded on the plane... by which I mean I had a really bad breakout of this allergic skin problem I've been dealing with... haven't figured that one out yet.

And now... to work!

On the way to the dermatologist's office this morning, I was thinking how I was going to explain, "Sorry, I usually forget to take my medicine, I'm not that well organized" then I got there and found that the Doctor is not in and that my appointment is on Monday. Thus underscoring the point.

But I didn't really mind. Newton is a nice place to drive around.

I played Excite Truck for the Wii last night, and I have to say it was ridiculously fun.
Partly for the gameplay partly for the wacky internal logic— you can smash into another truck, fly off a cliff, drive up a nearly vertical surface or drive on water (Jesus style), but don't hit a tree... trees are the enemy and will slow you down.

I've been going to lunch at a hole-in-the-wall Korean/Japanese place in East Boston, Orient Heights Cafe.
It's so good I've developed this total fantasy where I ask for a job, get hired and work for Kim-Chi.

I've never really cared for electronic music (except hip-hop) but lately I've discover the genre of "dub-step", which I really like. I don't really know the artists yet, but I'm enjoying the "dub war" podcast, free on itunes.

I don't know if this leading me down the road of buying an ipod, but I'm starting to appreciate the iTunes store.
Mostly as a way to quickly and cheaply gain an overview of an artist or a scene.

I've been working on a freelance design project, basically formating a reference guide to elder services in Cambridge. Last night I found a typo that threw me into fits of laughter (keep in mind, it was also very late).

The line was, "Paul's Ride is a service that provides free tripe for the families of people in nursing homes."

They just mentioned this on NPR, so I looked it up.
I vote hilarious.

I've hurt both my finger and my toe, so I feel I have a certain balance.

I'm going to miss my hole-in-the-wall vietnamese sandwich place when I move out of Dorchester.

I'm reading a time-management book currently. I've never read a self-help book I really liked.

I have a long commute to my current job, and I sort of enjoy it. I take three different subways and a bus and I walk. I feel more awake when I get to work.

I think about getting rid of my car, but haven't decided one way or the other.

I started reading a russian novel. It said right there on the back cover, "bleak and psychedelic". Not my usual cup of tea, but I figured I would give it a shot. The first chapter was all spy stuff, I enjoyed that. The second chapter was a psychedelic feverish story about an old paranoid spy dying on a mountaintop in China. The writing made me kind of sick and I haven't picked it up since.

This job offers oodles of free donuts. I was being not so good for a while there, but I'm back on the no-donut wagon.

I haven't read the paper or listened to NPR in weeks. I'm starting to feel out of touch. I need to rectify that.

Phobean and I close the deal on our new apartment tonight. In a less likely scenario, we run screaming from the scene, a-scared of our prospective landlord.

to honor the long standing tradition of kvetching about work on live journal...

I would like to say that it is really really cold in my office.

How cold is it?

It's so cold, I had a stiff neck everyday before I started wearing a fleece and winter hat.
Now people look at me a little funny, but at least I'm relatively comfortable.

This is a new job, by the way, not the advertising job where I did nothing. This job, I mostly retouch photos of silverware. Which I enjoy doing.

I've been telling everyone about this article, so I figured it was time to post it to LJ.
Steampunk goes high-fashion. More photos and links here:

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/08/fashion/08PUNK.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=steampunk&st=nyt&oref=slogin

http://www.maximumfun.org/blog/2007/03/podcast-coyle-sharpe-ep-1-maniacs-in.html

"In the early 1960s, James P. Coyle and Mal Sharpe roamed the streets of San Francisco, microphone in hand, roping strangers into bizarre schemes and surreal stunts".

Heard this on the radio years ago, just found it today.
These guys have had a big impact on me and have inspired me to concoct many ridiculous stories over the years.
Their material is a mixed bag, but this one is a favorite.

A while ago, I posted about being uncomfortable doing nothing at work-finding activities that while still technically "nothing", did not draw attention to their intrinsic "nothingness".

Apparently, I had a lot to learn about doing nothing. And a lot to learn about "working" in advertising.

Take today for instance: My boss insisted I watch LOST online this morning. So I did. Good episode.

I've been playing music with two guys sporadically for the last few months. Now, though I've been playing guitar for a long time, I don't have much experience playing with other people.

It's been a pretty stressful experience. It's very daunting to play with musicians you consider to be more accomplished than yourself. Unfortunately, my long-time-professional-musician guitar teacher tells me this never goes away and that he still feels that way all the time.

Anyhow, I've spent a lot of time feeling unnecessary in this band. They already have another guitar and a keyboard player. Recently, in our last two rehearsals or so, I feel like we've hit a stride. Things seem to be clicking. We seem to have figured out our "roles" and our sound. And while artistically, It's not my dream sound, it is pretty good.

Kind of "garage rock/soul". Anyhow, I feel better about the band. And I thought I would share that.

Saw this today on Mark Bittman's blog...

It’s called the Hangtown fry, and the story of its origin goes something like this: A successful 49-er (the gold-miner type, not the football-player type) goes into a bar in Hangtown (in California gold country, and now known as Placerville), throws a pouch of gold on the table, and asks the bartender to make him the most expensive thing he can.

On the spot, the bartender takes bacon, eggs and oysters hauled in from the coast and whips them into an omelet-like concoction. And a new (if ultimately not-too-famous) dish was born.

I'm a big fan of Zucchini and enjoy cooking it lots of ways.

Last night I cut it into thin strips with a potato peeler, lightly steamed it, and tossed it with pesto and shrimp like it was pasta. Very light and tasty.

Also, I'd like to give a shout-out to the shrimp at the Co-op! best shrimp ever!

I never ate much Indian food growing up. Even as a teenager, I discovered Japanese food but didn't venture to far out of that, and didn't have much opportunity, living in suburban NJ. Somewhere between being a teenager (and being constantly sick) and being a near adult I learned about food intolerances, stopped eating dairy, and stopped being sick all the time. (There was a period in there where I thought all my sickness was psychosomatic and that I was mentally ill, but that's not at all relevant to this discussion at hand.) Anyhow, after I started dating Phoebe, she introduced to Thai and Vietnamese food, the latter of which I absolutely love. But I always avoided Indian because what little I knew involved a lot of dairy. Anyhow, I've realized lately that there are lots of things at Indian restaurants that I can eat. And I have been, and even learning to cook some.

So, well done India. That's a damn fine cuisine you have there.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/30/nyregion/30dogs.html?em&ex=1207108800&en=48b2aa4a12281088&ei=5087%0A

eh... I was hoping for a more in-depth article. Pho and I have talked about this before, if it's ethical, helpful, harmful. Still a hard call for me.