Guess it has been more than a week since my last post - I must be slipping. Although, truth to tell, my life is pretty much confined to the weekends since during the week I don't have much time to do anything other than work and commute. Generally speaking that is, because I took last Thursday and Friday off. Not because I necessarily wanted to - since I'm a contract employee, when I take time off, I don't get paid for it. But the rest of the communications staff was down in Baton Rouge, LA for a big company meeting, leaving me with nothing to do.
Thursday I ran a bunch of errands that were piling up on me, like taking my dress from Ella's wedding to the dry cleaners, dropping off clothes for tailoring, getting Yoshi's brakes fixed and getting my allergy shots. Then Friday I drove out to Stony Brook on Long Island to visit Polina. I watched her band practice for a while, then we went to dinner with some of her friends.
After they dropped us off at her dorm, we hung out there for the rest of the evening on her top bunk bed, playing Scrabble on Facebook, videochatting with her friend Patrick, and having some long-overdue private time. Seriously, despite all the time we've had lately, we haven't actually been in a bed together since Aug. 10, the last Poly Cocktail Hour she attended ("Polys in the wild" - Aug. 11, 2009), so that alone was worth the four-hour round-trip.
I probably would have stayed overnight in her dorm room except that Angel was having a Brown Bag Party at her house the next day, and I had invited Agnieszka to come with me, so I had to go back to New Jersey to pick her up anyway. Angel sells intimacy products (i.e. sex toys and novelties) through these Tupperware-style parties she throws, and at events like the Spice NYC party a couple weeks ago. Agnieszka and I drove out to Queens and had a fun time at the party, learning about different lubricants, stimulators, vibrators, and other somesuch. The thing I'll most remember is Agnieszka playing with a latex-like face used for fake blowjobs - she had me in stitches. I also won one of the games where the prize was a deck of Hustler playing cards that said "Barely Legal" on it - I wondered if Angel was making some comment about my girlfriend, but she denied it.
We came back to Agnieszka's place from the party, and chatted for a while to catch up. It's been quite a few months since our last outing ("Shanghai Mermaid" - May 31, 2009) so it was nice to talk with her about what's been happening. As I've mentioned elsewhere, I've known Agnieszka longer than any other friend in the northeast who is still currently in my life, and it's always nice to get her perspective on things.
On Monday, I had a second-round interview with a PR firm in the city, on Vanderbilt Avenue right next to Grand Central Station. I met with the president of the firm, and we seemed to hit it off well. He asked me what I did in my spare time, and in a burst of honesty that comes from being gainfully employed, I told him that I do volunteer work in the LGBT community. He smoothly indicated that he was fine with this by saying that he has a close friend who was the first openly gay board member of the New York Stock Exchange. So that is a plus if I decide to work for them - I wouldn't have to be evasive about Polina, who would surely visit the office at some point.
The real issue of course is whether I want to make a job change in this economy after only a month at my current job. The job I have in Princeton is in many ways my dream job - I get to do a lot of creative writing, I don't have to deal with a lot of people, it's low pressure and low stress, and in an interesting field at a very healthy company. The free lunches and free drinks are nice, and the people are great to work with. The downside is that it's not a full-time, permanent position (which is both good and bad) and the commute is wearing Yoshi and me out. So if I stay there, I will probably end up moving to south Jersey in March, and that's not really where I want to live.
I'm not supposed to think about this dilemma until it becomes one - that is, until I get a comparable job offer from the new firm, and that hasn't happened yet. But if it does, it will be one of those life-altering decisions that I'm not eager to make right now.
Showing posts with label weekend. Show all posts
Showing posts with label weekend. Show all posts
Tuesday, October 06, 2009
Tuesday, September 22, 2009
SBU football, Thriller and Rosh Hashanah
As you can probably tell from the headline, it was another busy weekend for me and Polina. I'm really happy that we continue to find reasons and ways to see each other as much as possible instead of going for several weeks or a month between visits. While we stay in touch constantly via phone, text and video chat, there is no substitute for touch and smell and feeling her energy shine from her eyes.
Friday night I left straight from work to head into the city to meet Angel, who had invited me to a party celebrating the first anniversary of Spice NYC, a queer party planning organization. The party was held at Leopard Lounge, above a bar called Sin Sin on 2nd Avenue and Fifth Street. I was early, so I went to get my nails done and browsed at a few shops before meeting her outside the door. She was toting her suitcase full of sex toys to show at the party and we sat at a booth while she set up a raffle for a dildo she was giving away. It was actually quite funny watching her show people a giant pink dildo and trying to get them to buy raffle tickets.
I left as the party was getting hot because it was still a long way out to Stony Brook University, where Polina goes to school. I bought a Garmin GPS unit on Friday since I no longer have my family to help me with directions when I get lost (I used to call them Oracle based on the DC Comics character) so I made decent time once I got out of Manhattan. Our friend Afiya was also visiting, so they came out and met me in the parking lot just after midnight when I arrived. I changed out of my work clothes and we went to another room on her floor to watch "Robin Hood: Men in Tights" and an episode of "Entourage" with a couple guys before returning to sleep.
Saturday morning we met up with several of Polina's friends to have brunch, which turned out to be a late lunch since we were waiting on people to show up.
After lunch Polina left with her friends to get ready for band rehearsal while Afiya and I wandered around the campus looking for stuff to do. We found some people practicing walking on a slack rope tied between two trees, so Afiya gave that a try, without much success. We played basketball in the athletic center for a little while before they kicked us out. Afiya and I have yet to play a one-on-one match, which we've been trash-talking about for months now. Eventually I'll get to kick her butt somewhere. We parked Yoshi at the stadium and hung out, sitting on Yoshi's inverted couch out the back, tailgate style. We threw my softball around with her using my glove and I used batting gloves which are lightly padded in the palm - it's actually good practice for cricket, which doesn't allow fielding gloves except for the wicketkeeper.
Eventually it was time to go into the stadium, and we watched the pre-game show and visited Polina in the stands:
The halftime show was very entertaining, and I captured it on video using my camera, while Afiya took pictures from higher in the bleachers. They played Jefferson Airplane's "White Rabbit", Blue Oyster Cult's "(Don't Fear) The Reaper" (also known as the cowbell song from Will Ferrell's classic Saturday Night Live skit), "Thriller" by Michael Jackson (where the whole band gets to mimic the famous dance steps, and Penny gets to do them while holding cymbals), "Bye Bye Bye" by N*SYNC and "Disturbia" by Rihanna.
But while the band was very exciting, for once they could not compete with the football game, as SBU won the game 21-20 on a touchdown in the final two minutes and a missed field goal attempt by Brown University as the clock expired. Fans from the student red zone stormed the field in an amazing display of school spirit:
After the game the three of us went to an Indian restaurant to grab a quick bite before we were to drop Afiya at the train station, but we ended up missing the train by about a minute, so we dropped her off at her home on Long Island on the way back to Staten Island. All of Penny's grandparents were there, plus another family friend visiting for Rosh Hashanah, so we slept downstairs in the living room, her on the couch and me on my air mattress.
The next morning we had breakfast together and drove into the city to Pier 45 where Penny's Jewish community group The New Shul had a ceremonial throwing of bread into the Hudson River to symbolize tossing away your sins to the fishes. We then walked to Washington Square Park for a brief lesson by the rabbi, and Penny and I recorded a digital video greeting for her Dutch boyfriend Peter, who is having a commitment ceremony with his girlfriend Floor in Amsterdam this weekend.
We stopped off at the group's art installation called The House of Awe & Repentance before going back to my place so Penny could do some homework and I could make us some food. I made her an improv meal of turkey bacon, white rice and kim chee, while I had some fried rice with very un-kosher Chinese sausage. We drove back to the city so I could drop her off at her grandmother's apartment for a birthday party which was for family only. Unfortunately, that meant I wasn't able to take her back to SBU as we'd planned, so she had to take the train back early Monday morning and call a friend to pick her up from the station.
Finally, I want to wish everyone a very happy Mabon, or Fall Equinox, which is today.
Friday night I left straight from work to head into the city to meet Angel, who had invited me to a party celebrating the first anniversary of Spice NYC, a queer party planning organization. The party was held at Leopard Lounge, above a bar called Sin Sin on 2nd Avenue and Fifth Street. I was early, so I went to get my nails done and browsed at a few shops before meeting her outside the door. She was toting her suitcase full of sex toys to show at the party and we sat at a booth while she set up a raffle for a dildo she was giving away. It was actually quite funny watching her show people a giant pink dildo and trying to get them to buy raffle tickets.
I left as the party was getting hot because it was still a long way out to Stony Brook University, where Polina goes to school. I bought a Garmin GPS unit on Friday since I no longer have my family to help me with directions when I get lost (I used to call them Oracle based on the DC Comics character) so I made decent time once I got out of Manhattan. Our friend Afiya was also visiting, so they came out and met me in the parking lot just after midnight when I arrived. I changed out of my work clothes and we went to another room on her floor to watch "Robin Hood: Men in Tights" and an episode of "Entourage" with a couple guys before returning to sleep.
Saturday morning we met up with several of Polina's friends to have brunch, which turned out to be a late lunch since we were waiting on people to show up.
After lunch Polina left with her friends to get ready for band rehearsal while Afiya and I wandered around the campus looking for stuff to do. We found some people practicing walking on a slack rope tied between two trees, so Afiya gave that a try, without much success. We played basketball in the athletic center for a little while before they kicked us out. Afiya and I have yet to play a one-on-one match, which we've been trash-talking about for months now. Eventually I'll get to kick her butt somewhere. We parked Yoshi at the stadium and hung out, sitting on Yoshi's inverted couch out the back, tailgate style. We threw my softball around with her using my glove and I used batting gloves which are lightly padded in the palm - it's actually good practice for cricket, which doesn't allow fielding gloves except for the wicketkeeper.
Eventually it was time to go into the stadium, and we watched the pre-game show and visited Polina in the stands:
The halftime show was very entertaining, and I captured it on video using my camera, while Afiya took pictures from higher in the bleachers. They played Jefferson Airplane's "White Rabbit", Blue Oyster Cult's "(Don't Fear) The Reaper" (also known as the cowbell song from Will Ferrell's classic Saturday Night Live skit), "Thriller" by Michael Jackson (where the whole band gets to mimic the famous dance steps, and Penny gets to do them while holding cymbals), "Bye Bye Bye" by N*SYNC and "Disturbia" by Rihanna.
But while the band was very exciting, for once they could not compete with the football game, as SBU won the game 21-20 on a touchdown in the final two minutes and a missed field goal attempt by Brown University as the clock expired. Fans from the student red zone stormed the field in an amazing display of school spirit:
After the game the three of us went to an Indian restaurant to grab a quick bite before we were to drop Afiya at the train station, but we ended up missing the train by about a minute, so we dropped her off at her home on Long Island on the way back to Staten Island. All of Penny's grandparents were there, plus another family friend visiting for Rosh Hashanah, so we slept downstairs in the living room, her on the couch and me on my air mattress.
The next morning we had breakfast together and drove into the city to Pier 45 where Penny's Jewish community group The New Shul had a ceremonial throwing of bread into the Hudson River to symbolize tossing away your sins to the fishes. We then walked to Washington Square Park for a brief lesson by the rabbi, and Penny and I recorded a digital video greeting for her Dutch boyfriend Peter, who is having a commitment ceremony with his girlfriend Floor in Amsterdam this weekend.
We stopped off at the group's art installation called The House of Awe & Repentance before going back to my place so Penny could do some homework and I could make us some food. I made her an improv meal of turkey bacon, white rice and kim chee, while I had some fried rice with very un-kosher Chinese sausage. We drove back to the city so I could drop her off at her grandmother's apartment for a birthday party which was for family only. Unfortunately, that meant I wasn't able to take her back to SBU as we'd planned, so she had to take the train back early Monday morning and call a friend to pick her up from the station.
Finally, I want to wish everyone a very happy Mabon, or Fall Equinox, which is today.
Monday, November 24, 2008
The other vampire movie
How ironic that on the opening weekend of Twilight, which as everyone knows I’m dying to see, I ended up going to see a very different vampire movie on Friday night called Let the Right One In, a Swedish film of amazing lyrical beauty. The story is not so much about vampires (although it does focus on an aspect of the vampire legend that is rarely examined in any of the popular art forms) but rather about the relationship between two outcast 12-year-olds Eli and Oskar. The film is in limited release, so it may not be showing at a theater near you, but I highly recommend checking it out when it comes to video. P.S. – if you look at the IMDB link, don’t watch the movie clip, it gives away too much from a critical scene in the movie.
Speaking of Twilight, with its opening weekend of $70.6 million it joined a very exclusive club of Hollywood movies that turned a profit in its first three days of theatrical release (the film cost $37 million to make, and $30 to market). Best of all, the indie movie studio Summit Entertainment announced that it has green-lit a sequel to Twilight based on New Moon, the second book in the series. However, they’re going to have to do some major adaptation work to give the cast something to do, since most of the Cullen family is absent for nearly the entirety of the book, including reigning teen heartthrob Edward, played by Robert Pattinson.
Also on Friday, Polina (I’m going to start calling her by her nickname, Penny) came to see me for lunch at my office, and we shared a plate of eggplant and chicken at the local Chinese fast food stand, then came up to my office to have some of the leftover pumpkin pie from Thursday’s company Thanksgiving lunch. Saturday I took my family into the city for a museum day, which started at my favorite bagel store near my office where we had breakfast. Then we walked a few blocks to MOMA, where we saw the Van Gogh exhibit once more before it scatters back to the European museums the works came from.
We took the subway to Penn Station, and walked several blocks in the frigid wind to CoSM for a last look at the installation before it is shut down on Dec. 31 and moved to its permanent home in upstate New York, 65 miles north of Manhattan. I’d only been here once before on one of my early trips to the city with Tara, and it was a very moving experience to see this space again.
After our trip to the city we came home and had our family dinner, followed by a showing of Wall-E on the big screen projector. Every time I see that movie, I can’t help crying at the end, just like some of my all-time favorites, like A Beautiful Mind, Ben-Hur, and maybe one or two others whose names escape me. I hope it does well at the Oscars next year, as it deserves to.
Sunday I had a rest & recovery day, spent mostly doing laundry and on the couch in front of my 42-inch HDTV, watching basketball games and TV shows on my DVR and old 80s movies on DVD like The Final Countdown and Blue Thunder before my family came over in the evening for ice cream and watching Heroes and Saturday Night Live from the night before. I am so ready for the Thanksgiving holiday to start!
Speaking of Twilight, with its opening weekend of $70.6 million it joined a very exclusive club of Hollywood movies that turned a profit in its first three days of theatrical release (the film cost $37 million to make, and $30 to market). Best of all, the indie movie studio Summit Entertainment announced that it has green-lit a sequel to Twilight based on New Moon, the second book in the series. However, they’re going to have to do some major adaptation work to give the cast something to do, since most of the Cullen family is absent for nearly the entirety of the book, including reigning teen heartthrob Edward, played by Robert Pattinson.
Also on Friday, Polina (I’m going to start calling her by her nickname, Penny) came to see me for lunch at my office, and we shared a plate of eggplant and chicken at the local Chinese fast food stand, then came up to my office to have some of the leftover pumpkin pie from Thursday’s company Thanksgiving lunch. Saturday I took my family into the city for a museum day, which started at my favorite bagel store near my office where we had breakfast. Then we walked a few blocks to MOMA, where we saw the Van Gogh exhibit once more before it scatters back to the European museums the works came from.
We took the subway to Penn Station, and walked several blocks in the frigid wind to CoSM for a last look at the installation before it is shut down on Dec. 31 and moved to its permanent home in upstate New York, 65 miles north of Manhattan. I’d only been here once before on one of my early trips to the city with Tara, and it was a very moving experience to see this space again.
After our trip to the city we came home and had our family dinner, followed by a showing of Wall-E on the big screen projector. Every time I see that movie, I can’t help crying at the end, just like some of my all-time favorites, like A Beautiful Mind, Ben-Hur, and maybe one or two others whose names escape me. I hope it does well at the Oscars next year, as it deserves to.
Sunday I had a rest & recovery day, spent mostly doing laundry and on the couch in front of my 42-inch HDTV, watching basketball games and TV shows on my DVR and old 80s movies on DVD like The Final Countdown and Blue Thunder before my family came over in the evening for ice cream and watching Heroes and Saturday Night Live from the night before. I am so ready for the Thanksgiving holiday to start!
Monday, November 10, 2008
A museum weekend
I took the day off on Friday to celebrate my friend Polina's birthday - she had invited me to her party Friday night but I wasn't able to go, so we spent the day together instead. We met outside Penn Station in the middle of the tourist crowd and walked up to 42nd Street-Port Authority Bus Terminal to meet Laura, one of her friends who also came in from New Jersey, probably about the same time I came in on my train. Interestingly enough, Laura lives in North Haledon, which is very close to where I live.
The three of us headed uptown to the Museum of Modern Art, and we sat out in the courtyard so Laura could interview Polina for an anthropology project for school. After that was done, we took a short break in the cafe before visiting the marvelous Van Gogh exhibit that I saw a few weeks back with my family ("Poly public relations" - October 5, 2008) and viewing some of the contemporary art galleries. Since it was getting late and it was starting to get crowded because of Free Friday Nights at MOMA, we took off to do some shoe shopping so I could buy Polina a birthday present. We went to two stores and she picked out a pair of black Timberland hiking shoes, which will hopefully keep her feet dry this winter without having to resort to using plastic bags.
At one of the stores, we met up with another one of her friends, Patrick, who is a visual arts student and aspiring cartoonist. The four of us went to have a quick dinner before they had to take off to Brooklyn for the party, while I went home for my Friday night date with Tara. We finished our Hannibal Lecter mini-marathon with a viewing of Red Dragon and had our pancake breakfast in the morning, which unfortunately was marred by some difficult conversation.
Saturday was also a miserable day weather-wise: cold, drizzly and windy. I got my usual errands and grocery shopping done, and also got a manicure, since my dark purple polish was chipping off, and my nails were getting too long anyway. In the evening we had a nice dinner followed by a quick lesson in poker - five card draw and Texas Hold'Em - in preparation for watching Casino Royale, the last James Bond movie in advance of Quantum of Solace, which we'll go see this weekend.
I'm hoping we will have a full night of playing poker someday soon so I can play all the game variations I used to play with my old poker group (Pearl, Amy, Dominic and Little Vic) like Five Card Double Draw, Follow the Queen, Guts (or Balls, as we called it), and so many others. Good thing I wrote all these games down in a notebook that survived the two fires or else I'd have forgotten them myself. I'll have to poke around and find that.
Sunday we were planning to visit Alex Gray's Chapel of Sacred Mirrors but unfortunately we found out that morning that it's closed on Sundays. Then we wanted to visit the Picassos at Aquavella Galleries, but that too was closed - bleh! So we strolled around Central Park outside the Met and saw Cleopatra's Needle, a five-story high granite obelisk covered with hieroglyphics before going inside and touring the Philippe de Montebello tribute exhibit and the Henry R. Luce Center for the Study of American Art.
Busy long weekend, but lots of fun. Plus, I'm so happy that the weather is back to being cold and dry.
The three of us headed uptown to the Museum of Modern Art, and we sat out in the courtyard so Laura could interview Polina for an anthropology project for school. After that was done, we took a short break in the cafe before visiting the marvelous Van Gogh exhibit that I saw a few weeks back with my family ("Poly public relations" - October 5, 2008) and viewing some of the contemporary art galleries. Since it was getting late and it was starting to get crowded because of Free Friday Nights at MOMA, we took off to do some shoe shopping so I could buy Polina a birthday present. We went to two stores and she picked out a pair of black Timberland hiking shoes, which will hopefully keep her feet dry this winter without having to resort to using plastic bags.
At one of the stores, we met up with another one of her friends, Patrick, who is a visual arts student and aspiring cartoonist. The four of us went to have a quick dinner before they had to take off to Brooklyn for the party, while I went home for my Friday night date with Tara. We finished our Hannibal Lecter mini-marathon with a viewing of Red Dragon and had our pancake breakfast in the morning, which unfortunately was marred by some difficult conversation.
Saturday was also a miserable day weather-wise: cold, drizzly and windy. I got my usual errands and grocery shopping done, and also got a manicure, since my dark purple polish was chipping off, and my nails were getting too long anyway. In the evening we had a nice dinner followed by a quick lesson in poker - five card draw and Texas Hold'Em - in preparation for watching Casino Royale, the last James Bond movie in advance of Quantum of Solace, which we'll go see this weekend.
I'm hoping we will have a full night of playing poker someday soon so I can play all the game variations I used to play with my old poker group (Pearl, Amy, Dominic and Little Vic) like Five Card Double Draw, Follow the Queen, Guts (or Balls, as we called it), and so many others. Good thing I wrote all these games down in a notebook that survived the two fires or else I'd have forgotten them myself. I'll have to poke around and find that.
Sunday we were planning to visit Alex Gray's Chapel of Sacred Mirrors but unfortunately we found out that morning that it's closed on Sundays. Then we wanted to visit the Picassos at Aquavella Galleries, but that too was closed - bleh! So we strolled around Central Park outside the Met and saw Cleopatra's Needle, a five-story high granite obelisk covered with hieroglyphics before going inside and touring the Philippe de Montebello tribute exhibit and the Henry R. Luce Center for the Study of American Art.
Busy long weekend, but lots of fun. Plus, I'm so happy that the weather is back to being cold and dry.
Sunday, October 26, 2008
Bear Mountain
After a dreary Saturday fighting tropical storm-like weather close to home, Sunday dawned clear and brilliant and my family went out in search of adventure. We found an Oktoberfest festival at Bear Mountain State Park in New York, and even though none of us drink beer, it seemed like a fun thing to do in a place that we all love to visit.
We drove north for about an hour to Bear Mountain and drove to the top of the mountain first to take in the scenic views. Afterwards, we went down to the park at the base and looked at the craft fair listened to a few polka songs from the live band. Here's a photo of me taken by Bug with the Hudson River Valley behind me:
Here is a photo from Perkins Tower at the top of the mountain, showing all the fall foliage:
And here is a photo of the crystal-clear Hessian Lake where we sat and ate Belgian waffles and ice cream:
It seems like this weekend has been so short - I'm not ready to go back to work, but alas, I must. However, I am thinking about taking off Samhain (Oct. 31) to spend the day with Tara celebrating the pagan new year. I have a surprise destination near the Met in mind that I hope will delight her on Friday.
We drove north for about an hour to Bear Mountain and drove to the top of the mountain first to take in the scenic views. Afterwards, we went down to the park at the base and looked at the craft fair listened to a few polka songs from the live band. Here's a photo of me taken by Bug with the Hudson River Valley behind me:
Here is a photo from Perkins Tower at the top of the mountain, showing all the fall foliage:
And here is a photo of the crystal-clear Hessian Lake where we sat and ate Belgian waffles and ice cream:
It seems like this weekend has been so short - I'm not ready to go back to work, but alas, I must. However, I am thinking about taking off Samhain (Oct. 31) to spend the day with Tara celebrating the pagan new year. I have a surprise destination near the Met in mind that I hope will delight her on Friday.
Monday, October 20, 2008
Potpourri
I have quite a potpourri of stuff to talk about, and very little time to do it, so I'm just going to do a stream of consciousness kind of post, omitting some of the formal language I usually employ. Please forgive the brevity.
First of all, proud to say that my alma mater, the University of Houston, is the first school in Texas to offer a gay-lesbian minor concentration in their undergraduate degree program. I'm sure this is at least partly the result of HGTA members at UH, but I forget their names.
"Lessons in diversity" - Houston Chronicle, Oct. 20, 2008
Had an interesting day yesterday - went to dance class with Agnieszka, where we learned the finer points of stripping out of different types of street clothes. Then I rode the subway up to the old Yankee Stadium to meet up with my family and take one of the final tours before they demolish it. Here's a photo Tara took of us in the dugout - Bug is taking my picture behind Bee.
Then rode the subway back downtown to South Street Seaport to meet a new friend, Polina, for a presentation of short films at a LGBT film festival. Polina and I have both been going to Polyamorous NYC meetings for several months now, but only actually met each other at the Poly Pride rally earlier this month, where we were both volunteers. Since then we've been getting to know each other and have gotten quite close, despite spending only a total of a few hours together. What's interesting is that she's the first person I've met who falls under three of my umbrella characteristics: pansexual, polyamorous and transgender (she identifies as gender fluid, meaning she alternates between masculine and feminine presentation). There's definitely the beginnings of attraction on my part, but we'll have to see how things turn out.
Speaking of characteristics, I recently took a Myers-Briggs Type Indicator profile for work, and what's interesting isn't so much the type I scored (INFP, for those interested). The interesting thing is that my type has changed since the last time I took the test at my old job in Houston, four or five years ago. Your type is not supposed to change throughout life - it's supposed to be your innate preferences. In my case, I swapped a "T" (for thinking) for an "F" (stands for feeling), which makes a lot of sense to me, considering the changes I've gone through in the past few years. Despite my tendency to overthink things, I'm much less of a thinker than I used to be in my previous life, and much less reliant on logic and objective analysis. Now I primarily make decisions based on my values and subjective evaluation of person-centered concerns. My description of my complete type, which I think is pretty accurate, goes as follows:
· Sensitive, concerned, and caring
· Loyal to people or a cause
· Guided by an inner core of values in decision making
· Focused on contributing to their own and others' inner development and growth
· Committed to a strong personal belief system
· Likely to enjoy reading, discussing, and reflecting on possibilities for positive change
· Usually seen by others as sensitive, introspective, and complex
Kind of sounds like prerequisites for being poly, among other things, doesn't it? Hope everyone had a nice weekend, and I'll be back soon.
First of all, proud to say that my alma mater, the University of Houston, is the first school in Texas to offer a gay-lesbian minor concentration in their undergraduate degree program. I'm sure this is at least partly the result of HGTA members at UH, but I forget their names.
"Lessons in diversity" - Houston Chronicle, Oct. 20, 2008
Had an interesting day yesterday - went to dance class with Agnieszka, where we learned the finer points of stripping out of different types of street clothes. Then I rode the subway up to the old Yankee Stadium to meet up with my family and take one of the final tours before they demolish it. Here's a photo Tara took of us in the dugout - Bug is taking my picture behind Bee.
Then rode the subway back downtown to South Street Seaport to meet a new friend, Polina, for a presentation of short films at a LGBT film festival. Polina and I have both been going to Polyamorous NYC meetings for several months now, but only actually met each other at the Poly Pride rally earlier this month, where we were both volunteers. Since then we've been getting to know each other and have gotten quite close, despite spending only a total of a few hours together. What's interesting is that she's the first person I've met who falls under three of my umbrella characteristics: pansexual, polyamorous and transgender (she identifies as gender fluid, meaning she alternates between masculine and feminine presentation). There's definitely the beginnings of attraction on my part, but we'll have to see how things turn out.
Speaking of characteristics, I recently took a Myers-Briggs Type Indicator profile for work, and what's interesting isn't so much the type I scored (INFP, for those interested). The interesting thing is that my type has changed since the last time I took the test at my old job in Houston, four or five years ago. Your type is not supposed to change throughout life - it's supposed to be your innate preferences. In my case, I swapped a "T" (for thinking) for an "F" (stands for feeling), which makes a lot of sense to me, considering the changes I've gone through in the past few years. Despite my tendency to overthink things, I'm much less of a thinker than I used to be in my previous life, and much less reliant on logic and objective analysis. Now I primarily make decisions based on my values and subjective evaluation of person-centered concerns. My description of my complete type, which I think is pretty accurate, goes as follows:
· Sensitive, concerned, and caring
· Loyal to people or a cause
· Guided by an inner core of values in decision making
· Focused on contributing to their own and others' inner development and growth
· Committed to a strong personal belief system
· Likely to enjoy reading, discussing, and reflecting on possibilities for positive change
· Usually seen by others as sensitive, introspective, and complex
Kind of sounds like prerequisites for being poly, among other things, doesn't it? Hope everyone had a nice weekend, and I'll be back soon.
Tuesday, October 14, 2008
Third anniversary
Lots of good stuff happened this weekend. Tara stayed over Friday night and we had a leisurely Saturday morning breakfast to the sounds of Yes instead of our usual classical soundtrack. It was the first time in a couple weeks we've had one of those. Also nice is that she's getting a little more used to sleeping in my bed, which is considerably softer than hers. I try to do my best to make her comfortable when she's at my place, but there's not much I can do about the bed.
Saturday night we had dinner and watched The Rock as a little break since we're out of new Heroes episodes now. It's rather funny watching such a testosterone-fueled movie with a roomful of girls. If the movie wasn't so loud, you could probably hear the eyes rolling in our heads. However, I did balance that out with a solo viewing of The Notebook earlier in the day, which of course made me cry my eyes out.
Sunday I went into the city with Agnieszka for the start of our series of burlesque dance classes. There are 13 or 14 women signed up for the class, one other that we recognized from our last class. Sunday's class was actually the exact same class we took before, but this time we weren't 30 minutes late, so we learned feather boa technique that we had missed last time. Our teacher, Jo, invited us to stay for the following class on dance movement, so we did that class too, before Agnieszka went to see a play with another friend and I went home to eat dinner.
Then yesterday I took Columbus Day off work to celebrate my third anniversary of meeting Tara here in New York. The actual date is Oct. 14, 2005 - an important date in my personal fairy tale. As such stories usually do, it took place on a dark and stormy night, and so many things went wrong, from me oversleeping and missing my flight to her getting soaked in the city all day waiting for me. But miracles do happen, and we were able to meet right where we wanted to, in front of the Tiffany window in the American Wing of the Metropolitan Museum, barely 30 minutes before closing time. Our first meeting, our first kiss, and the start of this amazing journey together.
To celebrate, I took her for breakfast at my favorite bagel place near my office, then we rode the tramway to Roosevelt Island (her first time) and walked around the south end of the island (which in hindsight wasn't the most picturesque part, but it was also more private).
After we got back from the island we stopped at the tri-level Dylan's Candy Bar, which is a much bigger version than the one in the Houston Galleria. We got some Wonka bars and Tara tried some of their signature Belgian milk chocolate, which she loved. I took a small piece since I was breaking my diet anyway, but I have lost 15 pounds to this point, so I'm not too worried about it.
We took a train up to the Met looked in on some of our old favorites. We also went to the roof to see the Jeff Koons sculptures, a first for me. These whimsical figures seemed to delight the many children at the museum most of all.
We left the Met and had dinner at a new place for both of us called Burger Heaven, which turned out to be a very satisfying place to eat near the Museum of Modern Art. I had a reuben burger and fries, and Tara had a plain burger with a baked potato. Then we took the subway down to Tribeca for a book signing by author Jonathan Carroll for his new book, The Ghost in Love. I've never read any of his books, but the story sounded very interesting from his reading of the first chapter, and I was intrigued by the fact that Carroll wrote another book called Bones of the Moon which was the same story as "A Game of You" in Neil Gaiman's Sandman series. So I bought a copy of the new book and had it signed - Tara brought her copy with her from home. He signed mine "Michelle's First - Hopefully it will not be your last."
Happy anniversary, my dearest Tara - thank you, as always, for being in my life. I love you.
Saturday night we had dinner and watched The Rock as a little break since we're out of new Heroes episodes now. It's rather funny watching such a testosterone-fueled movie with a roomful of girls. If the movie wasn't so loud, you could probably hear the eyes rolling in our heads. However, I did balance that out with a solo viewing of The Notebook earlier in the day, which of course made me cry my eyes out.
Sunday I went into the city with Agnieszka for the start of our series of burlesque dance classes. There are 13 or 14 women signed up for the class, one other that we recognized from our last class. Sunday's class was actually the exact same class we took before, but this time we weren't 30 minutes late, so we learned feather boa technique that we had missed last time. Our teacher, Jo, invited us to stay for the following class on dance movement, so we did that class too, before Agnieszka went to see a play with another friend and I went home to eat dinner.
Then yesterday I took Columbus Day off work to celebrate my third anniversary of meeting Tara here in New York. The actual date is Oct. 14, 2005 - an important date in my personal fairy tale. As such stories usually do, it took place on a dark and stormy night, and so many things went wrong, from me oversleeping and missing my flight to her getting soaked in the city all day waiting for me. But miracles do happen, and we were able to meet right where we wanted to, in front of the Tiffany window in the American Wing of the Metropolitan Museum, barely 30 minutes before closing time. Our first meeting, our first kiss, and the start of this amazing journey together.
To celebrate, I took her for breakfast at my favorite bagel place near my office, then we rode the tramway to Roosevelt Island (her first time) and walked around the south end of the island (which in hindsight wasn't the most picturesque part, but it was also more private).
After we got back from the island we stopped at the tri-level Dylan's Candy Bar, which is a much bigger version than the one in the Houston Galleria. We got some Wonka bars and Tara tried some of their signature Belgian milk chocolate, which she loved. I took a small piece since I was breaking my diet anyway, but I have lost 15 pounds to this point, so I'm not too worried about it.
We took a train up to the Met looked in on some of our old favorites. We also went to the roof to see the Jeff Koons sculptures, a first for me. These whimsical figures seemed to delight the many children at the museum most of all.
We left the Met and had dinner at a new place for both of us called Burger Heaven, which turned out to be a very satisfying place to eat near the Museum of Modern Art. I had a reuben burger and fries, and Tara had a plain burger with a baked potato. Then we took the subway down to Tribeca for a book signing by author Jonathan Carroll for his new book, The Ghost in Love. I've never read any of his books, but the story sounded very interesting from his reading of the first chapter, and I was intrigued by the fact that Carroll wrote another book called Bones of the Moon which was the same story as "A Game of You" in Neil Gaiman's Sandman series. So I bought a copy of the new book and had it signed - Tara brought her copy with her from home. He signed mine "Michelle's First - Hopefully it will not be your last."
Happy anniversary, my dearest Tara - thank you, as always, for being in my life. I love you.
Monday, October 06, 2008
Poly public relations
As you all know, Saturday was the Poly Pride Weekend rally on the Great Hill in Central Park, and I had so much fun mingling with my poly friends and meeting new people. I arrived about a quarter to 11 to help set up the tents and signs, and it was looking pretty glum because of the wet, cold weather, but by noon the sun was out and the day turned out beautifully.
Once things got started there was too much for me to do, so I hung out with Lyndell and some of the other volunteers backstage, occasionally helping to facilitate media interviews throughout the day. As many people remarked all day, this year's event had an unprecedented amount of media coverage, both before and at the event, including stories in the New York Post, Village Voice, TimeOut Magazine, and the big kahuna, the front page of the Style section of the Sunday edition of the New York Times.
"Hopelessly devoted to you, and you and you" - October 5, 2008
I don't think it can be overstated how important this story might become when we look back on the history of the polyamory movement, and I'm proud to say that I had a hand in making it happen. I write case studies all the time for work, and here's my little personal case study on making this important story possible.
We got the lead on a writer interested in doing a story on polyamory from the event's keynote speaker, Tristan Taormino, author and columnist for the Village Voice. The PolyNYC president asked me for some advice on how to approach the writer to pitch the story. I researched all the stories written by this reporter in the past several years, and found a common theme - each one began with a personal anecdote on a real live subject. Based on this observation, I recommended that the president write the pitch offering someone's personal story, and it was Diana Adams, PolyNYC's vice president and poly attorney, who stepped up. This is what I do for a living - advise clients on how to gain positive media exposure, and for once, I'm happy that I've had a chance to do it for a cause I believe in.
I had a chance to meet Cunning Minx, who produces a weekly podcast on poly issues and who happens to also be from Texas, so we spent a few minutes talking about the Lone Star State. I also met Linda, one of the members of my women's poly group, who was there with her lover and his other partner. At one point I counted about 150 people there, which I'm sure was the largest gathering ever of poly people I've ever heard of. Some people recognized me from our monthly meetings, and it was nice sitting down and chatting with them informally, which we rarely do at meetings.
It would have been nice to go to the after-party, but I wasn't going to miss my family's Saturday night dinner and the finale of Season Two of Heroes, which ended on a somewhat unsatisfying note due to the Hollywood writer's strike. Still, it's all good stuff, and the SNL this week was way above par from the past two weeks.
Today I drove into the city yet again, this time with my family in tow so we could check out the new Vincent van Gogh exhibit at the Museum of Modern Art. On the way to the museum, we saw these huge Hello Kitty statues made of painted bronze in the public atrium of an office building:
We also walked through a street fair on Lexington and the Polish Pride Parade on 5th Avenue on our way to MOMA. The van Gogh exhibit was fascinating, and we were also surprised to see that Salvador Dali's painting, The Persistence of Memory was back on display after a long hiatus. It's so much smaller than we expected it to be, only about the size of a sheet of paper.
I think everyone but Tara got a combination of museum fatigue and onset of illness, so we had to cut the visit a little short, but we all loved the exhibit and we had a good time together. Personally, I feel like I might be coming down with a sinus infection, but the next day or two will tell for sure.
Once things got started there was too much for me to do, so I hung out with Lyndell and some of the other volunteers backstage, occasionally helping to facilitate media interviews throughout the day. As many people remarked all day, this year's event had an unprecedented amount of media coverage, both before and at the event, including stories in the New York Post, Village Voice, TimeOut Magazine, and the big kahuna, the front page of the Style section of the Sunday edition of the New York Times.
"Hopelessly devoted to you, and you and you" - October 5, 2008
I don't think it can be overstated how important this story might become when we look back on the history of the polyamory movement, and I'm proud to say that I had a hand in making it happen. I write case studies all the time for work, and here's my little personal case study on making this important story possible.
We got the lead on a writer interested in doing a story on polyamory from the event's keynote speaker, Tristan Taormino, author and columnist for the Village Voice. The PolyNYC president asked me for some advice on how to approach the writer to pitch the story. I researched all the stories written by this reporter in the past several years, and found a common theme - each one began with a personal anecdote on a real live subject. Based on this observation, I recommended that the president write the pitch offering someone's personal story, and it was Diana Adams, PolyNYC's vice president and poly attorney, who stepped up. This is what I do for a living - advise clients on how to gain positive media exposure, and for once, I'm happy that I've had a chance to do it for a cause I believe in.
I had a chance to meet Cunning Minx, who produces a weekly podcast on poly issues and who happens to also be from Texas, so we spent a few minutes talking about the Lone Star State. I also met Linda, one of the members of my women's poly group, who was there with her lover and his other partner. At one point I counted about 150 people there, which I'm sure was the largest gathering ever of poly people I've ever heard of. Some people recognized me from our monthly meetings, and it was nice sitting down and chatting with them informally, which we rarely do at meetings.
It would have been nice to go to the after-party, but I wasn't going to miss my family's Saturday night dinner and the finale of Season Two of Heroes, which ended on a somewhat unsatisfying note due to the Hollywood writer's strike. Still, it's all good stuff, and the SNL this week was way above par from the past two weeks.
Today I drove into the city yet again, this time with my family in tow so we could check out the new Vincent van Gogh exhibit at the Museum of Modern Art. On the way to the museum, we saw these huge Hello Kitty statues made of painted bronze in the public atrium of an office building:
We also walked through a street fair on Lexington and the Polish Pride Parade on 5th Avenue on our way to MOMA. The van Gogh exhibit was fascinating, and we were also surprised to see that Salvador Dali's painting, The Persistence of Memory was back on display after a long hiatus. It's so much smaller than we expected it to be, only about the size of a sheet of paper.
I think everyone but Tara got a combination of museum fatigue and onset of illness, so we had to cut the visit a little short, but we all loved the exhibit and we had a good time together. Personally, I feel like I might be coming down with a sinus infection, but the next day or two will tell for sure.
Monday, September 29, 2008
Theory of commitment
It was a long, restful and pretty uneventful four-day weekend for me, and thankfully my first day back to work has been slow, leaving me time to blog. Things could pick up quickly this afternoon though.
Thursday was, of course, Bug's birthday, which started out with presents. Along with the plethora of TV show DVDs (The Addams Family, Spaced, Two Fat Ladies, Birds of Prey), books and an Eagles Greatest Hits CD, she also got a cute little Fender guitar amp and a wooden sword made of red oak for her tai chi practice. I miss having a sword in the house - I haven't replaced the one I lost in the fire of 2005. I've never been that much into the martial arts, but I do appreciate the symbolic meaning of blades in Asian culture, as well as pagan practice. Watching Heroes probably puts it even more sharply into focus.
After presents we went to Palisades Center Mall, the tenth-largest shopping mall in the U.S. Bug led us on a tour of all her favorite stores - the Japanese book store, the Asian tea house supply, the Lego store and the Disney store, plus Barnes & Noble, of course. I took a break when everybody gravitated toward the chocolate and candied apple store since I was still on my diet and didn't need the extra temptation. We had a nice lunch at The Cheesecake Factory - it was the first visit for everyone but me, and yet no one had any cheesecake. After all, we had birthday cake waiting at home.
After lunch we played around in the Dave & Buster's game room for a couple hours, playing skeeball, video games and trivia contests. Then it was home for cake (I had a tiny sliver) and watching one of the movies Bug received, Mysterious Island. The movie was fun in a corny, pulpy way, which everyone seemed to be in the mood for. Since it was late, and we were so tired from the day, Tara and I decided to take a raincheck on our planned sleepover, since we were going to get up early the next morning.
Friday I picked up Tara at 10:30 in the morning, and we took the train into the city, whereupon we split up - she took a cab to the Met for an extended solitary visit, and I took the subway to Chinatown for a hair coloring appointment. After about two-and-a-half hours in the salon, my hair is now once again very close to my natural dark brown color, but with just a hint of highlighting in shades of deep russet and ochre in direct light. I made my way uptown to the Met to meet Tara and we had a bite to eat at the museum cafe and a quick look at some of her discoveries before getting back on a rush hour train home. Then in the evening everyone came over to start watching Season Two of Heroes.
Saturday I ran my usual errands, buying lots of carb-friendly food for my diet, and then we had our usual dinner in the evening, followed by a showing of Howl's Moving Castle, which is becoming my favorite Miyazaki movie, displacing Spirited Away, then Saturday Night Live (which unfortunately seems to be losing its spark again after a promising start this year). Sunday was very restful and lethargic, as I didn't leave the apartment at all, even so much as to take out the trash. Even though I was in my pajamas all day long, it didn't bother me the way it used to in the past. I'm learning to enjoy and appreciate my alone time instead of getting melancholy, which is much healthier for me. I cooked food for this week's lunches, watched a lot of TV on my DVR, and one of my Chinese movies I'd checked out of the library, 2046.
On this movie, and a related one that is one of my favorites, Un Coeur En Hiver (A Heart in Winter), it occurs to me watching the protagonists (both male) that there is a fine line separating someone living a polyamorous lifestyle, and someone who has simply closed off from any possibility of a committed relationship. It occurs to me that pursuant to my post about unconditional love that some people might read it and conclude that I don't believe in commitment, since I didn't specifically address it. The answer to that is quite simple really - I believe in a relationship model where you can be equally committed to more than one person at a time. Why is it so hard to understand this, yet people easily grasp the fact you can love more than one child at the same time, or more than one sibling. So what's the difference?
One word - sex.
The root of a monogamous culture is based on taboos and ideals about sex, and by extension, procreation of the human race, which is certainly an important thing. However, they have little meaning for someone who can't have children or chooses not to have children, or someone who can simply view sex as just an extension of all the pleasurable acts we engage in when we love someone. Once we choose not to put such an unjustifiable significance on the sexual aspect of a relationship, it becomes easier to see that multiple romantic relationships (whether they involve sexual relations or not) have just as much validity as multiple familial relationships.
People also talk about how there are only so many hours in a day to devote to yourself and your significant others, and how does one manage to juggle multiple partners when one seems to be more than a handful? Again, I invoke the offspring example. People might talk about how they can't afford another child, but you will rarely hear someone say they don't have enough time or love to bring another child into their family. Of course having everyone under the same roof produces efficiencies that are not always possible with multiple romantic partners, but the concept is largely the same. Every child is considered a blessing - so should it be with new love, if approached with the same level of sensitivity and care as one would employ when bringing home a new baby. And like with those who love children, loving someone should not be considered a burden, but rather something that brings joy and positive energy to your life.
So how to juggle the demands of multiple partners? I really can't answer that authoritatively since I've never actually done it myself. Maybe I never will. But going into any new relationship with a poly mindset will at least give me a good starting framework.
Not that it has anything to do with all this, but Tara and I both had dreams Saturday night where we were either married or getting married. We haven't talked about such heavy, future-related issues for a while, so I'm not sure what those dreams are trying to tell us. They weren't "happily ever after" kind of dreams either - mine was pretty drama-laden involving my estranged birth family, and hers was just surreal. I guess anything's possible in the unknowable future, but I'm not going to spoil the present thinking too much about it.
Thursday was, of course, Bug's birthday, which started out with presents. Along with the plethora of TV show DVDs (The Addams Family, Spaced, Two Fat Ladies, Birds of Prey), books and an Eagles Greatest Hits CD, she also got a cute little Fender guitar amp and a wooden sword made of red oak for her tai chi practice. I miss having a sword in the house - I haven't replaced the one I lost in the fire of 2005. I've never been that much into the martial arts, but I do appreciate the symbolic meaning of blades in Asian culture, as well as pagan practice. Watching Heroes probably puts it even more sharply into focus.
After presents we went to Palisades Center Mall, the tenth-largest shopping mall in the U.S. Bug led us on a tour of all her favorite stores - the Japanese book store, the Asian tea house supply, the Lego store and the Disney store, plus Barnes & Noble, of course. I took a break when everybody gravitated toward the chocolate and candied apple store since I was still on my diet and didn't need the extra temptation. We had a nice lunch at The Cheesecake Factory - it was the first visit for everyone but me, and yet no one had any cheesecake. After all, we had birthday cake waiting at home.
After lunch we played around in the Dave & Buster's game room for a couple hours, playing skeeball, video games and trivia contests. Then it was home for cake (I had a tiny sliver) and watching one of the movies Bug received, Mysterious Island. The movie was fun in a corny, pulpy way, which everyone seemed to be in the mood for. Since it was late, and we were so tired from the day, Tara and I decided to take a raincheck on our planned sleepover, since we were going to get up early the next morning.
Friday I picked up Tara at 10:30 in the morning, and we took the train into the city, whereupon we split up - she took a cab to the Met for an extended solitary visit, and I took the subway to Chinatown for a hair coloring appointment. After about two-and-a-half hours in the salon, my hair is now once again very close to my natural dark brown color, but with just a hint of highlighting in shades of deep russet and ochre in direct light. I made my way uptown to the Met to meet Tara and we had a bite to eat at the museum cafe and a quick look at some of her discoveries before getting back on a rush hour train home. Then in the evening everyone came over to start watching Season Two of Heroes.
Saturday I ran my usual errands, buying lots of carb-friendly food for my diet, and then we had our usual dinner in the evening, followed by a showing of Howl's Moving Castle, which is becoming my favorite Miyazaki movie, displacing Spirited Away, then Saturday Night Live (which unfortunately seems to be losing its spark again after a promising start this year). Sunday was very restful and lethargic, as I didn't leave the apartment at all, even so much as to take out the trash. Even though I was in my pajamas all day long, it didn't bother me the way it used to in the past. I'm learning to enjoy and appreciate my alone time instead of getting melancholy, which is much healthier for me. I cooked food for this week's lunches, watched a lot of TV on my DVR, and one of my Chinese movies I'd checked out of the library, 2046.
On this movie, and a related one that is one of my favorites, Un Coeur En Hiver (A Heart in Winter), it occurs to me watching the protagonists (both male) that there is a fine line separating someone living a polyamorous lifestyle, and someone who has simply closed off from any possibility of a committed relationship. It occurs to me that pursuant to my post about unconditional love that some people might read it and conclude that I don't believe in commitment, since I didn't specifically address it. The answer to that is quite simple really - I believe in a relationship model where you can be equally committed to more than one person at a time. Why is it so hard to understand this, yet people easily grasp the fact you can love more than one child at the same time, or more than one sibling. So what's the difference?
One word - sex.
The root of a monogamous culture is based on taboos and ideals about sex, and by extension, procreation of the human race, which is certainly an important thing. However, they have little meaning for someone who can't have children or chooses not to have children, or someone who can simply view sex as just an extension of all the pleasurable acts we engage in when we love someone. Once we choose not to put such an unjustifiable significance on the sexual aspect of a relationship, it becomes easier to see that multiple romantic relationships (whether they involve sexual relations or not) have just as much validity as multiple familial relationships.
People also talk about how there are only so many hours in a day to devote to yourself and your significant others, and how does one manage to juggle multiple partners when one seems to be more than a handful? Again, I invoke the offspring example. People might talk about how they can't afford another child, but you will rarely hear someone say they don't have enough time or love to bring another child into their family. Of course having everyone under the same roof produces efficiencies that are not always possible with multiple romantic partners, but the concept is largely the same. Every child is considered a blessing - so should it be with new love, if approached with the same level of sensitivity and care as one would employ when bringing home a new baby. And like with those who love children, loving someone should not be considered a burden, but rather something that brings joy and positive energy to your life.
So how to juggle the demands of multiple partners? I really can't answer that authoritatively since I've never actually done it myself. Maybe I never will. But going into any new relationship with a poly mindset will at least give me a good starting framework.
Not that it has anything to do with all this, but Tara and I both had dreams Saturday night where we were either married or getting married. We haven't talked about such heavy, future-related issues for a while, so I'm not sure what those dreams are trying to tell us. They weren't "happily ever after" kind of dreams either - mine was pretty drama-laden involving my estranged birth family, and hers was just surreal. I guess anything's possible in the unknowable future, but I'm not going to spoil the present thinking too much about it.
Wednesday, September 24, 2008
The Appalachian Trail
On a much lighter note than my last post, I had a lovely time on Sunday hiking at the Delaware Water Gap, which is about an hour's drive west from where we live, on the border of New Jersey and Pennsylvania. My legs and ankles are just hitting the peak of soreness from the climb, which was child's play compared to some of the ones out there that go up to the top of the mountain.
We followed a stream into the forest for a while, then started the climb up, higher and higher, until we could no longer hear the babble of the water. This part of the trail is part of the much longer Appalachian Trail that runs from Georgia to Maine. At the higher altitudes we saw lush gardens of forest ferns dappled with sunlight, and unfortunately for me, a lot of pesky bugs. Winding on the loop back, we passed through the other side of the stream and made a couple of water crossings, luxuriating in the shady coolness as the afternoon wound down.
We also finished Season One of Heroes on Sunday night, but I'm not allowed to talk about it :) Season Two starts this weekend, and Season Three is recording on my DVR for later.
The diet is going well. I've lost about 5 pounds the first week, so I'm right on target to lose my 8-15 pounds at the end of the second week. At that point I'll have the option of going to Phase Two, where I can start adding some of the good carbs (fruit, whole grains) back into my diet. I can definitely tell the difference in the mirror with my waistline, it's very encouraging.
Tuesday, September 02, 2008
Dreams and learning burlesque
From a new friend on MySpace - no hidden messages here, I just think this picture is funny.
I've been having some pretty weird dreams lately, and funnily enough they usually come on Friday nights when Tara stays over. The last one I still remember vividly is the four of us taking a road trip in an RV and stopping to visit a casino (like Foxwoods in Connecticut, which is funny in and of itself) but this was no ordinary casino. We split up and I went to the bathroom, and found it to be dozens of unisex open shower stalls, with all kinds of men and women showering separately without embarrassment, reminiscent of Robert Heinlein's book Starship Troopers.
After using the bathroom, I walked through the casino until I came to an empty room, with a door on the far wall. I went through that door and found myself in an infinite outdoor space, a pocket universe of sorts, where there was a lake with an island in the middle, and a footbridge to access the island. It was beautiful and peaceful, with only a few people about, basking in the sunshine and fresh air that was so different from being in a casino. I sat at the lakeshore and gazed for a while at the water before reluctantly leaving to return to the casino to find my family.
When we all met up, I excitedly told them about the lake and island, and wanted to show them before we left. Unfortunately, an announcement came over the PA that the casino was closing and everybody had to leave. Bee suddenly remembered that she had left her sketchbook in the bathroom and we had to go back for it. I said if we were going back to the bathroom, then we should also make a quick trip to the lake since it was only a room away. But then we saw coming down the hall an army of robots, standing shoulder to shoulder like riot police, cleaning everything and pushing people to the exits. It was clear we were not going to get past them, that we would probably be trampled if we attempted it. That's right when I woke up.
We continued our Heroes marathon with viewings on Friday and Saturday nights, and Saturday I took Yoshi in for his bi-annual vehicle inspection, which he passed (I'm so proud!). Sunday afternoon I went into the city with my friend Agnieszka to take a class in basic burlesque dance at the Slipper Room on the Lower East Side. We learned some of the basic moves - the glove peel, the bump and grind, and the tassle twirl. The last bit required us to put on homemade pasties on our breasts under our bras, which we then proceeded to peel off and reveal the tassels and make them twirl in different ways. Thankfully I had just gotten a very cute polka-dotted bra from Frederick's of Hollywood in the mail the day before - I got lots of compliments on it. Aside from being a lot of fun, it was very affirming for me to be with other women in a supportive environment as we all got over our natural shyness together. It was kind of like locker-room bonding is for guys, I think.
On Labor Day Tara and I went out to run some errands, first to the bookstore where I got the second volume of Laurell Hamilton's graphic novel Anita Blake series ('cause I just need more vampires in my life right now until Twilight hits the theaters Nov. 21) and Tara got a Brian Froud book of pressed fairies that she's been eyeing for some time now. I went to Sephora to get some makeup, then we went to buy her some clothes from Target and the Gap. I also got my Clinique Bonus from Bloomingdale's at another mall. Then we went to get groceries for our weekly visits, including a second griddle so she can make two stacks of pancakes at the same time so we can eat breakfast together on Saturday mornings. In the evening, Tara helped Bee organize her bookshelves while I reorganized my closet, since the shelves were repaired last weekend. All in all, it was a very productive day, and a relaxing weekend.
I've been having some pretty weird dreams lately, and funnily enough they usually come on Friday nights when Tara stays over. The last one I still remember vividly is the four of us taking a road trip in an RV and stopping to visit a casino (like Foxwoods in Connecticut, which is funny in and of itself) but this was no ordinary casino. We split up and I went to the bathroom, and found it to be dozens of unisex open shower stalls, with all kinds of men and women showering separately without embarrassment, reminiscent of Robert Heinlein's book Starship Troopers.
After using the bathroom, I walked through the casino until I came to an empty room, with a door on the far wall. I went through that door and found myself in an infinite outdoor space, a pocket universe of sorts, where there was a lake with an island in the middle, and a footbridge to access the island. It was beautiful and peaceful, with only a few people about, basking in the sunshine and fresh air that was so different from being in a casino. I sat at the lakeshore and gazed for a while at the water before reluctantly leaving to return to the casino to find my family.
When we all met up, I excitedly told them about the lake and island, and wanted to show them before we left. Unfortunately, an announcement came over the PA that the casino was closing and everybody had to leave. Bee suddenly remembered that she had left her sketchbook in the bathroom and we had to go back for it. I said if we were going back to the bathroom, then we should also make a quick trip to the lake since it was only a room away. But then we saw coming down the hall an army of robots, standing shoulder to shoulder like riot police, cleaning everything and pushing people to the exits. It was clear we were not going to get past them, that we would probably be trampled if we attempted it. That's right when I woke up.
We continued our Heroes marathon with viewings on Friday and Saturday nights, and Saturday I took Yoshi in for his bi-annual vehicle inspection, which he passed (I'm so proud!). Sunday afternoon I went into the city with my friend Agnieszka to take a class in basic burlesque dance at the Slipper Room on the Lower East Side. We learned some of the basic moves - the glove peel, the bump and grind, and the tassle twirl. The last bit required us to put on homemade pasties on our breasts under our bras, which we then proceeded to peel off and reveal the tassels and make them twirl in different ways. Thankfully I had just gotten a very cute polka-dotted bra from Frederick's of Hollywood in the mail the day before - I got lots of compliments on it. Aside from being a lot of fun, it was very affirming for me to be with other women in a supportive environment as we all got over our natural shyness together. It was kind of like locker-room bonding is for guys, I think.
On Labor Day Tara and I went out to run some errands, first to the bookstore where I got the second volume of Laurell Hamilton's graphic novel Anita Blake series ('cause I just need more vampires in my life right now until Twilight hits the theaters Nov. 21) and Tara got a Brian Froud book of pressed fairies that she's been eyeing for some time now. I went to Sephora to get some makeup, then we went to buy her some clothes from Target and the Gap. I also got my Clinique Bonus from Bloomingdale's at another mall. Then we went to get groceries for our weekly visits, including a second griddle so she can make two stacks of pancakes at the same time so we can eat breakfast together on Saturday mornings. In the evening, Tara helped Bee organize her bookshelves while I reorganized my closet, since the shelves were repaired last weekend. All in all, it was a very productive day, and a relaxing weekend.
Tuesday, August 26, 2008
Empathy
I've only got a few minutes to get caught up on things, so this is gonna be quick. I just don't want to fall behind on things.
As I said before, there are things happening that I'm not ready to talk about. Tara and Bee came over last Thursday night and we had a wide-ranging talk about some of the "big issues" we're dealing with. It was just the first step in what is probably going to be a series of discussions over the next several months, so there's not much I can say about it just yet.
Friday I had to work until almost 8 p.m. and so didn't have time to do much of anything before bringing Tara back to my place for our regular sleepover. We stopped at the grocery store to get some things to make breakfast in the morning, but other than that we just had a quiet evening of reading and snuggling. I finished "The Stolen Child" (loved it) and have now started on the Harry Potter series with the first volume.
Saturday my superintendent came over to fix my broken closet shelf, and in the evening we had dinner and started our Heroes TV marathon. We had to deal with some unpleasantness about my Blackberry, but managed to salvage the evening before it got too late. Later, Tara and I talked on the phone about the incident and the issues and feelings it raised. Eventually we settled things down, but the result was that I didn't get to bed until about a quarter to 5 in the morning.
Perhaps because of my weird sleep window, I was groggy all day Sunday, although Tara did take me out to the bookstore because Bee was in class learning about floral essences used in healing. We spent a few hours looking at books (I bought a new copy of The Usual Suspects, which is currently out of print) and made a couple other stops before she dropped me home and I just crashed on the bed and took a nap. Since I didn't feel like coming over to their house, they came over for a redux of Saturday night and we watched a couple more episodes of Heroes, which everybody is loving immensely.
Last night was date night, but we had a little wrinkle when Bee decided she was too tired to go to yoga. Tara still came over, but our energy was a little off. In a way, I feel a little guilty being with her when I know Bee is not otherwise occupied and would prefer that she stayed with her. I know that Tara and I have a right to creating our own space and keeping it inviolate when the others change their plans at the last minute, but emotionally, I can't help but feel a little uncomfortable when our delicate and complex web of scheduling goes awry. I've always been rather empathic, but never more so than in recent history, and I tend to let how other people's feelings (or things I perceive might affect their feelings) affect my emotions. Regardless, Tara and I had a nice evening with dinner at Burger King and watching an old official bootlegged U2 concert from the Joshua Tree era.
Today I had lunch with Lyndell, one of my polyamorous friends who is coordinating the PolyPride Weekend Event in October here in the city. She wanted to lend some of my PR expertise to her efforts, and I gave her a brainful of advice over salads. Hopefully some of my ideas will help her to promote the event, and I'm planning to attend this year for the first time. It's Oct. 4 in Central Park.
All for now - if I don't see you here again this week, happy Labor Day weekend everyone!
As I said before, there are things happening that I'm not ready to talk about. Tara and Bee came over last Thursday night and we had a wide-ranging talk about some of the "big issues" we're dealing with. It was just the first step in what is probably going to be a series of discussions over the next several months, so there's not much I can say about it just yet.
Friday I had to work until almost 8 p.m. and so didn't have time to do much of anything before bringing Tara back to my place for our regular sleepover. We stopped at the grocery store to get some things to make breakfast in the morning, but other than that we just had a quiet evening of reading and snuggling. I finished "The Stolen Child" (loved it) and have now started on the Harry Potter series with the first volume.
Saturday my superintendent came over to fix my broken closet shelf, and in the evening we had dinner and started our Heroes TV marathon. We had to deal with some unpleasantness about my Blackberry, but managed to salvage the evening before it got too late. Later, Tara and I talked on the phone about the incident and the issues and feelings it raised. Eventually we settled things down, but the result was that I didn't get to bed until about a quarter to 5 in the morning.
Perhaps because of my weird sleep window, I was groggy all day Sunday, although Tara did take me out to the bookstore because Bee was in class learning about floral essences used in healing. We spent a few hours looking at books (I bought a new copy of The Usual Suspects, which is currently out of print) and made a couple other stops before she dropped me home and I just crashed on the bed and took a nap. Since I didn't feel like coming over to their house, they came over for a redux of Saturday night and we watched a couple more episodes of Heroes, which everybody is loving immensely.
Last night was date night, but we had a little wrinkle when Bee decided she was too tired to go to yoga. Tara still came over, but our energy was a little off. In a way, I feel a little guilty being with her when I know Bee is not otherwise occupied and would prefer that she stayed with her. I know that Tara and I have a right to creating our own space and keeping it inviolate when the others change their plans at the last minute, but emotionally, I can't help but feel a little uncomfortable when our delicate and complex web of scheduling goes awry. I've always been rather empathic, but never more so than in recent history, and I tend to let how other people's feelings (or things I perceive might affect their feelings) affect my emotions. Regardless, Tara and I had a nice evening with dinner at Burger King and watching an old official bootlegged U2 concert from the Joshua Tree era.
Today I had lunch with Lyndell, one of my polyamorous friends who is coordinating the PolyPride Weekend Event in October here in the city. She wanted to lend some of my PR expertise to her efforts, and I gave her a brainful of advice over salads. Hopefully some of my ideas will help her to promote the event, and I'm planning to attend this year for the first time. It's Oct. 4 in Central Park.
All for now - if I don't see you here again this week, happy Labor Day weekend everyone!
Monday, August 18, 2008
King Crimson
Another dull week starting at the office - it seemed this weekend was way too short. However, we ended on a good note last night, having a blast at the King Crimson concert at the Nokia Theater in Times Square. Despite Robert Fripp (the guitar player) getting huffy about someone taking his picture near the end of the show, the band came out for three encores, including their big hit "Elephant Talk" (not to be confused with the Henry Mancini tune "Baby Elephant Walk"). There were some electrifying drum duets with Pat Mastelotto and Gavin Harrison (the drummer from Porcupine Tree), and Tony Levin did his usual magic with the Chapman stick and his patented "funk fingers" on bass. I actually spotted Tony in the lobby before the concert - he's a pretty distinctive looking guy. I recognized him from Peter Gabriel's Secret World concert, one of my all-time favorite concerts on DVD.
The rest of the weekend was pretty blah. I put together my rolling laptop desk that came in the mail this week - I'm going to use it as a book stand to hold heavy books so I can read them without having to hold them up (like my "Absolute Sandman" volumes by Neil Gaiman). I didn't leave the apartment on Sunday except for the concert because I was tossing and turning all Saturday night. Tara called me at 2:30 a.m. Sunday because she had a difficult evening with Bee after our Saturday night movie and I was still pretty awake. We talked for a little bit and I went back to sleep, but she didn't get to bed until close to 5 a.m.
Friday night we all went to the mall for dinner and then to the big bookstore in Paramus. I got a couple DVDs that were on sale (To Kill a Mockingbird and the director's cut of Dark City), and a couple comic trade paperbacks, and an out-of-print copy of Mike Carey's "The Devil You Know" in hardcover (they sell used books too). As readers know, I've been smitten with Mike Carey's "Lucifer" series for Vertigo Comics, so I thought I'd give his novel a try.
Speaking of smitten, as the rest of my family laments to postponement of the next Harry Potter movie, the net effect is that the movie version of Twilight will be pushed forward three weeks to Nov. 21, so that's good news for me because I'm dying to see that one. However, I probably won't insist on seeing the earliest shows because I don't want to deal with screaming teenage girls any more than I have to.
Tara and I spent a peaceful night together at my apartment on Friday (other than my closet shelf collapsing with a terrific noise as we were getting ready for bed). Saturday morning we woke up too early at about 8:30 and made snugglebunnies, and promptly fell back asleep until about 11:30, whereupon Bug came to take her to the comic store and other errands while I snoozed until about 2 p.m.
I finally got up and ran my usual Saturday errands and made Saturday night dinner, and we watched Pixar's A Bug's Life in the evening. It's probably the last movie we'll watch for a while because we've decided to do a run of the NBC TV show Heroes for the next several weeks, starting with the beginning of Episode One this weekend.
The rest of the weekend was pretty blah. I put together my rolling laptop desk that came in the mail this week - I'm going to use it as a book stand to hold heavy books so I can read them without having to hold them up (like my "Absolute Sandman" volumes by Neil Gaiman). I didn't leave the apartment on Sunday except for the concert because I was tossing and turning all Saturday night. Tara called me at 2:30 a.m. Sunday because she had a difficult evening with Bee after our Saturday night movie and I was still pretty awake. We talked for a little bit and I went back to sleep, but she didn't get to bed until close to 5 a.m.
Friday night we all went to the mall for dinner and then to the big bookstore in Paramus. I got a couple DVDs that were on sale (To Kill a Mockingbird and the director's cut of Dark City), and a couple comic trade paperbacks, and an out-of-print copy of Mike Carey's "The Devil You Know" in hardcover (they sell used books too). As readers know, I've been smitten with Mike Carey's "Lucifer" series for Vertigo Comics, so I thought I'd give his novel a try.
Speaking of smitten, as the rest of my family laments to postponement of the next Harry Potter movie, the net effect is that the movie version of Twilight will be pushed forward three weeks to Nov. 21, so that's good news for me because I'm dying to see that one. However, I probably won't insist on seeing the earliest shows because I don't want to deal with screaming teenage girls any more than I have to.
Tara and I spent a peaceful night together at my apartment on Friday (other than my closet shelf collapsing with a terrific noise as we were getting ready for bed). Saturday morning we woke up too early at about 8:30 and made snugglebunnies, and promptly fell back asleep until about 11:30, whereupon Bug came to take her to the comic store and other errands while I snoozed until about 2 p.m.
I finally got up and ran my usual Saturday errands and made Saturday night dinner, and we watched Pixar's A Bug's Life in the evening. It's probably the last movie we'll watch for a while because we've decided to do a run of the NBC TV show Heroes for the next several weeks, starting with the beginning of Episode One this weekend.
Wednesday, July 09, 2008
Holiday weekend update
Well, it's been more than a week since I last posted, so even though I don't feel much like writing today, I guess I should give an update.
Definitely the highlight of the past week was Saturday, when after a slow start, we decided to visit the Met and see a couple of the new exhibits, including the Superheroes: Fashion and Fantasy and the J. M. W. Turner exhibit, plus the newly renovated Lehman wing in the back of the museum. The absence of Asher Durand paintings in the new American landscape room upset Tara greatly, as did the lack of medieval armor bothered Bug. Bee, Bug and I were also acosted by a security guard for sitting on the floor while waiting for Tara to come out of the bathroom, and that started me on a rant toward overzealous and inconsistent museum guard behavior. Apparently there will be some forthcoming letters of complaint to the management.
Other than those issues, and a rouge proximity alarm that kept sounding in the superhero exhibit, we all had a great time and a nice visit. In the evening we had a return to Saturday night dinner, after substituting Burger King last week since Bee was still sick. I made the usual Chinese food for Bee and Bug, and an improvised jambalaya for myself, mixing grilled sausage, tomatoes, onions and bell peppers with rice. We followed dinner with a very inspiring movie called heima by the Icelandic band Sigur Ros. Such primal sounds they make! Much like the wilderness shown in much of the footage used in the film. Definitely the biggest thing to come out of Iceland since Bjork.
Other than Saturday, the rest of the holiday weekend was pretty uneventful. We saw Wall-E and loved it (although that experience was also marred by a couple giggly girls sitting next to us) and Wanted, which was our first rated-R movie in quite a while, and therefore somewhat bracing after a steady diet of PG-13 fantasy and animated movies. Thursday night Tara spent the night again, and it was a little easier than the first time she did it a couple weeks ago. Just more relaxed and peaceful with less drama, which was very nice. In the morning I took everyone out for breakfast at McDonald's, which ended up serving us a little more food than we had ordered, but made us wait longer for it. And Sunday, Tara and I had a quiet date night at home and watched a pretty good Yankees game, with a walk-off single RBI by the rookie left fielder, since Monday I was not going to be home.
Monday and Tuesday I was in Reston, VA, working on a new business proposal with some of our partners on a $200 billion project in the Middle East. Reston reminds me a lot of Sugar Land - a master-planned community heavy on the use of red bricks. The nice part - there were lots of shops around (I bought a shirt at Eddie Bauer and tried on a few things at Banana Republic) and I had a nice dinner at Morton's Steakhouse Monday night. It was the first time I'd had a steak since a couple of years, I think. I had a filet mignon with bernaise sauce, plus asparagus with hollandaise, hash browns and creamed spinach. Plus a hot sampler platter of fried jumbo shrimp, oysters rockafeller, scallops wrapped with bacon and crab cakes. And to top it off - a chocolate souffle with rasberries and cream on the side. Tuesday for lunch I went to a Siamese restaurant and had a softshell crab on a spicy salad and a hot-and-sour shrimp and mushroom soup. So at least I ate well while I was working. In fact, I think I gained a few pounds over the last couple of days.
Last night Bug and I put in our pre-orders for "Breaking Dawn" at the local Barnes & Noble, so we can get them at midnight on August 1. Also, I finished the 11th and final volume of the "Lucifer" series and I absolutely loved it. I actually want to go back and read it all over again, but probably best to tackle something shorter until the vampire book comes out. Lucifer was like Neil Gaiman's "The Sandman," but with a more linear and action-packed story line. Highly recommended for anyone who is a fan of "The Sandman," where the character originated from (not originally, but you know what I mean).
Definitely the highlight of the past week was Saturday, when after a slow start, we decided to visit the Met and see a couple of the new exhibits, including the Superheroes: Fashion and Fantasy and the J. M. W. Turner exhibit, plus the newly renovated Lehman wing in the back of the museum. The absence of Asher Durand paintings in the new American landscape room upset Tara greatly, as did the lack of medieval armor bothered Bug. Bee, Bug and I were also acosted by a security guard for sitting on the floor while waiting for Tara to come out of the bathroom, and that started me on a rant toward overzealous and inconsistent museum guard behavior. Apparently there will be some forthcoming letters of complaint to the management.
Other than those issues, and a rouge proximity alarm that kept sounding in the superhero exhibit, we all had a great time and a nice visit. In the evening we had a return to Saturday night dinner, after substituting Burger King last week since Bee was still sick. I made the usual Chinese food for Bee and Bug, and an improvised jambalaya for myself, mixing grilled sausage, tomatoes, onions and bell peppers with rice. We followed dinner with a very inspiring movie called heima by the Icelandic band Sigur Ros. Such primal sounds they make! Much like the wilderness shown in much of the footage used in the film. Definitely the biggest thing to come out of Iceland since Bjork.
Other than Saturday, the rest of the holiday weekend was pretty uneventful. We saw Wall-E and loved it (although that experience was also marred by a couple giggly girls sitting next to us) and Wanted, which was our first rated-R movie in quite a while, and therefore somewhat bracing after a steady diet of PG-13 fantasy and animated movies. Thursday night Tara spent the night again, and it was a little easier than the first time she did it a couple weeks ago. Just more relaxed and peaceful with less drama, which was very nice. In the morning I took everyone out for breakfast at McDonald's, which ended up serving us a little more food than we had ordered, but made us wait longer for it. And Sunday, Tara and I had a quiet date night at home and watched a pretty good Yankees game, with a walk-off single RBI by the rookie left fielder, since Monday I was not going to be home.
Monday and Tuesday I was in Reston, VA, working on a new business proposal with some of our partners on a $200 billion project in the Middle East. Reston reminds me a lot of Sugar Land - a master-planned community heavy on the use of red bricks. The nice part - there were lots of shops around (I bought a shirt at Eddie Bauer and tried on a few things at Banana Republic) and I had a nice dinner at Morton's Steakhouse Monday night. It was the first time I'd had a steak since a couple of years, I think. I had a filet mignon with bernaise sauce, plus asparagus with hollandaise, hash browns and creamed spinach. Plus a hot sampler platter of fried jumbo shrimp, oysters rockafeller, scallops wrapped with bacon and crab cakes. And to top it off - a chocolate souffle with rasberries and cream on the side. Tuesday for lunch I went to a Siamese restaurant and had a softshell crab on a spicy salad and a hot-and-sour shrimp and mushroom soup. So at least I ate well while I was working. In fact, I think I gained a few pounds over the last couple of days.
Last night Bug and I put in our pre-orders for "Breaking Dawn" at the local Barnes & Noble, so we can get them at midnight on August 1. Also, I finished the 11th and final volume of the "Lucifer" series and I absolutely loved it. I actually want to go back and read it all over again, but probably best to tackle something shorter until the vampire book comes out. Lucifer was like Neil Gaiman's "The Sandman," but with a more linear and action-packed story line. Highly recommended for anyone who is a fan of "The Sandman," where the character originated from (not originally, but you know what I mean).
Monday, June 02, 2008
A quiet weekend
Sometimes the smallest things can be very special when it comes to being with the ones we love. Saturday morning I slept in late, and Tara came over while I was still in bed. She buzzed my phone so I could let her in the front door, entered my apartment with her key, and crawled into bed with me. Given the fact that we have spent the night together in the same bed only once before (and that was either a year or two ago, I can't remember precisely) this was a nice treat to wake up on a weekend morning with my mate in bed with me, even if she did had to drive over to be there.
Friday afternoon I got a haircut for the first time since November. My hair grows really slowly, so length wasn't a problem, but it was starting to lose its shape and texture because of the weight. I go to a guy named Edison in Chinatown who was recommended by a co-worker, and he does a really fine job. Plus, he's a super-nice guy, and rather good-looking, although way too young for me (he's 23, I think). But he spends a lot of time on my hair, and does a very nice job making my hair look the best it can. Because of the way my hair grows, I don't have a lot of style options, but it feels nice to have some layers and texture back in my hair. Sometimes you just have to trust an Asian person to cut Asian hair.
Saturday afternoon after Tara and I got out of bed we went to Costco, looking for a new television to replace the one that I smashed several months ago. We looked at a couple of contenders, a Philips, a Vizio and a Panasonic plasma TV, and decided on the Philips LCD. Unfortunately, the last one in the box had just been taken by another shopper (I saw them taking it, but figured there must be more in the store). When the clerk said that was the last one and they were sold out, I half-decided that I should just give up and stick with my broken Vizio (it's still watchable, but about 15 percent of the screen at the bottom right is blanked out). But Tara said we should check with the other Costcos nearby, so we went over to customer service to inquire stock at the other store about 15 miles away.
When we got to the customer service area, I spotted one of the Philips TVs on a cart, new in the box. I quickly inquired if it was being held for someone, or if it was a return waiting to go back to stock. The clerk asked another employee, who looked at me and said, "take it!" so we did. Apparently someone bought the TV and got buyer's remorse or something and returned it without opening it, so we managed to snag the last TV in the store. It's a Philips 42-inch LCD with 1080p resolution and four HDMI inputs, for you tech heads out there. We brought it home and installed it behind my drop-down movie screen and moved the damaged Vizio to the bedroom, which replaced a 20-inch CRT unit that came with my apartment's furniture.
Speaking of furniture, on Thursday I finally found a nice footrest for the living room, a long, low padded footrest suitable for me, Bee and Tara to rest our feet on during movies (Bug sits on the loveseat). What I like about it is that it's not a straight rectangle, but a curvy rectangle, which gives it an organic, feminine feel. Plus the upholstery is a neutral beige with a subtle floral embroidery and dark wooden legs that matches well with my existing furniture. With this, my new full-length mirror and the new TV, I feel like I'm done nesting with this apartment and probably won't make any other major furniture/electronics purchases until I move into a house, perhaps next year.
Saturday night all the girls came over to coo over the new TV, and admire the hyper-realistic 1080p HD picture of the Yankees baseball game. We had a nice dinner together and watched The Mummy on the front-projection big screen, followed by a re-run of Saturday Night Live. Sunday I went out to run some errands, and met Bee and Tara back at my place so we could go swimming for the first time this year. The water was really cold, despite the warm sun, and we spent some time back and forth in the hot tub.
Afterwards, we had watermelon before Bee left to attend a yoga meeting, so Tara helped me take out all my trash, including the big TV box that I'd filled with garbage, then we went back to her place to eat an early dinner and watch the baseball game she had DVRed earlier in the afternoon. I dozed off on the couch while Bug wandered in and out of the living room from her newly renovated studio. After the game and when Bee got home, they did a little gardening and Bee, Tara and I went out to the Dairy Queen for ice cream. I haven't had a dipped cone in many years, and it was as good as I remember from my childhood.
All in all, this was a very nice weekend for everyone, probably the best in a few months. We didn't really do anything special, but what we did do, we did well and with peaceful intention. We didn't need to talk about the big things, or the heavy issues. We just tried to cultivate a healthy, quiet space where everyone could enjoy each other's company and still do what we wanted to do individually. That, in a nutshell, is what our family is all about.
Friday afternoon I got a haircut for the first time since November. My hair grows really slowly, so length wasn't a problem, but it was starting to lose its shape and texture because of the weight. I go to a guy named Edison in Chinatown who was recommended by a co-worker, and he does a really fine job. Plus, he's a super-nice guy, and rather good-looking, although way too young for me (he's 23, I think). But he spends a lot of time on my hair, and does a very nice job making my hair look the best it can. Because of the way my hair grows, I don't have a lot of style options, but it feels nice to have some layers and texture back in my hair. Sometimes you just have to trust an Asian person to cut Asian hair.
Saturday afternoon after Tara and I got out of bed we went to Costco, looking for a new television to replace the one that I smashed several months ago. We looked at a couple of contenders, a Philips, a Vizio and a Panasonic plasma TV, and decided on the Philips LCD. Unfortunately, the last one in the box had just been taken by another shopper (I saw them taking it, but figured there must be more in the store). When the clerk said that was the last one and they were sold out, I half-decided that I should just give up and stick with my broken Vizio (it's still watchable, but about 15 percent of the screen at the bottom right is blanked out). But Tara said we should check with the other Costcos nearby, so we went over to customer service to inquire stock at the other store about 15 miles away.
When we got to the customer service area, I spotted one of the Philips TVs on a cart, new in the box. I quickly inquired if it was being held for someone, or if it was a return waiting to go back to stock. The clerk asked another employee, who looked at me and said, "take it!" so we did. Apparently someone bought the TV and got buyer's remorse or something and returned it without opening it, so we managed to snag the last TV in the store. It's a Philips 42-inch LCD with 1080p resolution and four HDMI inputs, for you tech heads out there. We brought it home and installed it behind my drop-down movie screen and moved the damaged Vizio to the bedroom, which replaced a 20-inch CRT unit that came with my apartment's furniture.
Speaking of furniture, on Thursday I finally found a nice footrest for the living room, a long, low padded footrest suitable for me, Bee and Tara to rest our feet on during movies (Bug sits on the loveseat). What I like about it is that it's not a straight rectangle, but a curvy rectangle, which gives it an organic, feminine feel. Plus the upholstery is a neutral beige with a subtle floral embroidery and dark wooden legs that matches well with my existing furniture. With this, my new full-length mirror and the new TV, I feel like I'm done nesting with this apartment and probably won't make any other major furniture/electronics purchases until I move into a house, perhaps next year.
Saturday night all the girls came over to coo over the new TV, and admire the hyper-realistic 1080p HD picture of the Yankees baseball game. We had a nice dinner together and watched The Mummy on the front-projection big screen, followed by a re-run of Saturday Night Live. Sunday I went out to run some errands, and met Bee and Tara back at my place so we could go swimming for the first time this year. The water was really cold, despite the warm sun, and we spent some time back and forth in the hot tub.
Afterwards, we had watermelon before Bee left to attend a yoga meeting, so Tara helped me take out all my trash, including the big TV box that I'd filled with garbage, then we went back to her place to eat an early dinner and watch the baseball game she had DVRed earlier in the afternoon. I dozed off on the couch while Bug wandered in and out of the living room from her newly renovated studio. After the game and when Bee got home, they did a little gardening and Bee, Tara and I went out to the Dairy Queen for ice cream. I haven't had a dipped cone in many years, and it was as good as I remember from my childhood.
All in all, this was a very nice weekend for everyone, probably the best in a few months. We didn't really do anything special, but what we did do, we did well and with peaceful intention. We didn't need to talk about the big things, or the heavy issues. We just tried to cultivate a healthy, quiet space where everyone could enjoy each other's company and still do what we wanted to do individually. That, in a nutshell, is what our family is all about.
Tuesday, May 20, 2008
Boring Balls of Fury
Surprisingly, I don't really feel like blogging today, as I'm struggling with some family issues under the surface. But since my family is trying to be more consistent in blogging, far be it for me to drag the ship down, so here goes.
Friday night I watched Balls of Fury on my big screen alone, which is probably a good thing because it was the most un-funny comedy I've seen in a long time. I had such high hopes for it because Christopher Walken is in it (Bee's favorite actor) and ping pong is, of course, in my blood.
I used to be a pretty serious ping pong, or table tennis, player. We had a table in a dedicated play room above our garage in the house I grew up in, and we'd host ping pong parties every Friday for years. All the men would play upstairs while the women would sit around the table and socialize. Except for this one woman who was a good player and looked very butch. I think I overheard my parents say that she had a hormone imbalance that caused her to be more masculine - in any case, she would usually play with the men instead of hanging out with the women. But anyway - Balls of Fury - just take a pass on this one.
Saturday was a busy and interesting day. I started by going to the doctor for extra allergy shots since it's allergy season, and then stopping by the pharmacy for my pills. Then I drove into the city to meet up with a pagan group I joined on Meetup.com - they were going to meet on the steps of the American Museum of Natural History. Since I have a museum membership, it was the perfect time to meet the group in person for the first time. Unfortunately, whoever showed up didn't see or recognize me, so we missed each other. Apparently my "witch-dar" is as bad as my "gay-dar" because I didn't recognize anyone on the steps who look remotely like the people I was trying to meet up with.
Since I didn't meet my group, I just walked around a street fair that was happening at the back of the museum and waited until my next meeting, which I'd arranged to meet a couple that I'd connected with through my poly group, Alex and Michelle. We met outside the museum and went to Uno's for a late lunch. They are exploring opening their relationship to poly, and we had a nice talk about my background and the challenges of being poly. Unfortunately, I didn't take a photo of them for the blog, but maybe I will next time we get together. I will note that Michelle is almost as tall as I am - when she's wearing four-inch heels as she was on Saturday.
Saturday night was not our usual dinner and a movie because Tara's cat got sick and had to go to the emergency room. Tara was freaking out so much that I offered to take her to dinner just to get her out of the house and get her mind off what was happening. The cat has had serious health issues so she was afraid for the worst. Everybody was so relieved that it was "just" an ear infection. So dinner did not go quite as planned, but we managed to make the best of it, and Tara and I had a nice quiet meal at Fuddruckers. After everyone got home we watched Bull Durham at their house, which put a nice cap on the evening. Nobody had seen it but me, and we're all big baseball fans. Plus, that is a funny comedy and a quality movie, despite Kevin Costner's trademark wooden acting.
Sunday we all went to see The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian in the afternoon, and then watched the first part of the Yankees-Mets subway series game that evening. It was pouring rain most of the day, so the only other thing I did was buy some books at Borders - one on buying a house and also Stephanie Meyer's vampire tale Twilight, which Bug has highly recommended.
That's all for now - I'm looking forward to a nice, long holiday weekend.
Friday night I watched Balls of Fury on my big screen alone, which is probably a good thing because it was the most un-funny comedy I've seen in a long time. I had such high hopes for it because Christopher Walken is in it (Bee's favorite actor) and ping pong is, of course, in my blood.
I used to be a pretty serious ping pong, or table tennis, player. We had a table in a dedicated play room above our garage in the house I grew up in, and we'd host ping pong parties every Friday for years. All the men would play upstairs while the women would sit around the table and socialize. Except for this one woman who was a good player and looked very butch. I think I overheard my parents say that she had a hormone imbalance that caused her to be more masculine - in any case, she would usually play with the men instead of hanging out with the women. But anyway - Balls of Fury - just take a pass on this one.
Saturday was a busy and interesting day. I started by going to the doctor for extra allergy shots since it's allergy season, and then stopping by the pharmacy for my pills. Then I drove into the city to meet up with a pagan group I joined on Meetup.com - they were going to meet on the steps of the American Museum of Natural History. Since I have a museum membership, it was the perfect time to meet the group in person for the first time. Unfortunately, whoever showed up didn't see or recognize me, so we missed each other. Apparently my "witch-dar" is as bad as my "gay-dar" because I didn't recognize anyone on the steps who look remotely like the people I was trying to meet up with.
Since I didn't meet my group, I just walked around a street fair that was happening at the back of the museum and waited until my next meeting, which I'd arranged to meet a couple that I'd connected with through my poly group, Alex and Michelle. We met outside the museum and went to Uno's for a late lunch. They are exploring opening their relationship to poly, and we had a nice talk about my background and the challenges of being poly. Unfortunately, I didn't take a photo of them for the blog, but maybe I will next time we get together. I will note that Michelle is almost as tall as I am - when she's wearing four-inch heels as she was on Saturday.
Saturday night was not our usual dinner and a movie because Tara's cat got sick and had to go to the emergency room. Tara was freaking out so much that I offered to take her to dinner just to get her out of the house and get her mind off what was happening. The cat has had serious health issues so she was afraid for the worst. Everybody was so relieved that it was "just" an ear infection. So dinner did not go quite as planned, but we managed to make the best of it, and Tara and I had a nice quiet meal at Fuddruckers. After everyone got home we watched Bull Durham at their house, which put a nice cap on the evening. Nobody had seen it but me, and we're all big baseball fans. Plus, that is a funny comedy and a quality movie, despite Kevin Costner's trademark wooden acting.
Sunday we all went to see The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian in the afternoon, and then watched the first part of the Yankees-Mets subway series game that evening. It was pouring rain most of the day, so the only other thing I did was buy some books at Borders - one on buying a house and also Stephanie Meyer's vampire tale Twilight, which Bug has highly recommended.
That's all for now - I'm looking forward to a nice, long holiday weekend.
Monday, May 12, 2008
A busy weekend
It was quite a busy weekend for me, and but well balanced with time at home as well. Friday night I took my family out so they could buy new cell phones and then we had dinner at the mall and visited the comic book store, where I got my latest issue of Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season 8.
It was a soggy night, but the morning dawned clear enough for me to go to the Meadowlands flea market with Agnieszka, held each Saturday in the parking lot of Giants stadium. I like to go because there's a bakery that brings artisan bread all the way up from Brooklyn and sells there, so I get bread with olives, proscuttio, or jalapeno pepper and cheddar cheese baked into it. Agnieszka looks for antiques and things she uses for her pin-up photo projects - this week she bought a black velvet hat with a veil and an old-fashioned bellows camera.
In the afternoon Tara and I went into the city to visit MOMA and their Design and the Elastic Mind exhibit once more before it closes. Then we were going to take the subway downtown to see a gallery showing paintings by Clive Barker, but we sat in the station for almost an hour before figuring out that the V line was not running that day. So we had to walk to Rockefeller Center to get on the F train to get down there, but the reward was that once we got there, we were the only ones in the gallery, so we were able to take some nice pictures of the paintings without crowd interference. Here's a couple examples of the paintings:
After seeing the paintings we came back home and met up with Bee and Bug at my place for Saturday night dinner and movies, looking at the pictures we took today, and listening to In the Name of Love: Africa Celebrates U2.
Sunday was Mother's Day, and since Tara and I don't celebrate these kinds of holidays (e.g. Easter) with our respective birth families, we spent the afternoon together in my bed having incredible sex, since she's mostly recovered from her food poisoning. Afterwards we went to Costco to get some food, and she wanted to go home, but I was being a little emotional about letting her go, which made things a bit uncomfortable. Fortunately, once everyone got home, we decided to go out and see The Forbidden Kingdom, the martial arts film which was directed by Rob Minkoff (probably best known as a co-director of Disney's The Lion King). It was actually a much better movie than most of the ones I see in the genre in terms of story, but doesn't approach the visual artistry of movies like House of Flying Daggers and Hero.
Back to work today - bleh.
It was a soggy night, but the morning dawned clear enough for me to go to the Meadowlands flea market with Agnieszka, held each Saturday in the parking lot of Giants stadium. I like to go because there's a bakery that brings artisan bread all the way up from Brooklyn and sells there, so I get bread with olives, proscuttio, or jalapeno pepper and cheddar cheese baked into it. Agnieszka looks for antiques and things she uses for her pin-up photo projects - this week she bought a black velvet hat with a veil and an old-fashioned bellows camera.
In the afternoon Tara and I went into the city to visit MOMA and their Design and the Elastic Mind exhibit once more before it closes. Then we were going to take the subway downtown to see a gallery showing paintings by Clive Barker, but we sat in the station for almost an hour before figuring out that the V line was not running that day. So we had to walk to Rockefeller Center to get on the F train to get down there, but the reward was that once we got there, we were the only ones in the gallery, so we were able to take some nice pictures of the paintings without crowd interference. Here's a couple examples of the paintings:
After seeing the paintings we came back home and met up with Bee and Bug at my place for Saturday night dinner and movies, looking at the pictures we took today, and listening to In the Name of Love: Africa Celebrates U2.
Sunday was Mother's Day, and since Tara and I don't celebrate these kinds of holidays (e.g. Easter) with our respective birth families, we spent the afternoon together in my bed having incredible sex, since she's mostly recovered from her food poisoning. Afterwards we went to Costco to get some food, and she wanted to go home, but I was being a little emotional about letting her go, which made things a bit uncomfortable. Fortunately, once everyone got home, we decided to go out and see The Forbidden Kingdom, the martial arts film which was directed by Rob Minkoff (probably best known as a co-director of Disney's The Lion King). It was actually a much better movie than most of the ones I see in the genre in terms of story, but doesn't approach the visual artistry of movies like House of Flying Daggers and Hero.
Back to work today - bleh.
Monday, May 05, 2008
Iron Man
I had a lovely time with my family this weekend, the best we've had in quite a while, actually. It didn't start off that well. Friday I felt like I was coming down with a cold, so I took off work early and came home for a nap that turned into an early bedtime. I went to sleep at 8 p.m. and work up at 4:30 a.m., which caused Tara some concern because I missed our usual goodnight call. I also skipped dinner, my evening dosage of meds and washing the makeup off my face. But the extra rest probably did me good, because I'm fully recovered now.
Saturday we went into the city for Free Comic Book Day, an annual tradition at Midtown Comics. We stood in line for about an hour before we were allowed up to the store and were each handed a bag of 40+ free comics and a little plastic Iron Man toy. I also bought a Justice League graphic novel called The Lightning Saga, and volume 2 of the Lucifer books written by Mike Carey, just to support the free comic effort. Bee couldn't come because of work, so we stopped by our local comic store in New Jersey to pick up another bag for her before coming home.
Afterward I ran my errands and watched some baseball with Tara because my tailor screwed up and didn't have a skirt alteration ready when it was supposed to be. Later in the evening, we had our regular Saturday night dinner and movie, which we all seemed to barely make it through because we were all tired for one reason or another.
Sunday I not only slept in late, but also took a midday nap so I was fresh to see Iron Man at the theater with my family. We've all been waiting eagerly for this first big superhero movie of the summer, and it did not disappoint. For those of you who haven't seen it yet, I'll just say one thing - make sure you stay for the end past the credits. There is a key scene tacked on that elicited loud squeals of geekdom from all the fanboys and fangirls (especially Tara) left in the theater.
After the movie, my family dropped me off and I was deciding what to do with the rest of the evening when they called me and invited me over to barbeque, our first backyard grilling of the year. I brought over my last remaining salmon burger and grilled that with Indian hot lime relish on top - yummy! Bee also tried my stuffed grape leaves and didn't like them, but enjoyed the guacamole-flavored tortilla chips I also brought. Bug made some beans, and she and Bee had their veggie burgers and veggie dogs, while Tara had her usual hot dogs and shared one with me. Afterwards, Bug went grocery shopping, and Bee, Tara and I sat on the couch and read our books quietly until it was time for me to go home.
Unfortunately, Tara has been having a relapse of her salmonella poisoning and hasn't been doing very well. We've been trying to get her to go to the doctor, but she has steadfastly refused so far. We'll try to have a quiet date night tonight and not get too active, so hopefully she can continue to get her rest and make a full recovery soon.
Saturday we went into the city for Free Comic Book Day, an annual tradition at Midtown Comics. We stood in line for about an hour before we were allowed up to the store and were each handed a bag of 40+ free comics and a little plastic Iron Man toy. I also bought a Justice League graphic novel called The Lightning Saga, and volume 2 of the Lucifer books written by Mike Carey, just to support the free comic effort. Bee couldn't come because of work, so we stopped by our local comic store in New Jersey to pick up another bag for her before coming home.
Afterward I ran my errands and watched some baseball with Tara because my tailor screwed up and didn't have a skirt alteration ready when it was supposed to be. Later in the evening, we had our regular Saturday night dinner and movie, which we all seemed to barely make it through because we were all tired for one reason or another.
Sunday I not only slept in late, but also took a midday nap so I was fresh to see Iron Man at the theater with my family. We've all been waiting eagerly for this first big superhero movie of the summer, and it did not disappoint. For those of you who haven't seen it yet, I'll just say one thing - make sure you stay for the end past the credits. There is a key scene tacked on that elicited loud squeals of geekdom from all the fanboys and fangirls (especially Tara) left in the theater.
After the movie, my family dropped me off and I was deciding what to do with the rest of the evening when they called me and invited me over to barbeque, our first backyard grilling of the year. I brought over my last remaining salmon burger and grilled that with Indian hot lime relish on top - yummy! Bee also tried my stuffed grape leaves and didn't like them, but enjoyed the guacamole-flavored tortilla chips I also brought. Bug made some beans, and she and Bee had their veggie burgers and veggie dogs, while Tara had her usual hot dogs and shared one with me. Afterwards, Bug went grocery shopping, and Bee, Tara and I sat on the couch and read our books quietly until it was time for me to go home.
Unfortunately, Tara has been having a relapse of her salmonella poisoning and hasn't been doing very well. We've been trying to get her to go to the doctor, but she has steadfastly refused so far. We'll try to have a quiet date night tonight and not get too active, so hopefully she can continue to get her rest and make a full recovery soon.
Sunday, April 20, 2008
A date at the museum
I had a lovely date with Tara today, but first, an update on the softball game from last night.
First off, we played on the Great Lawn in Central Park, which is always a treat. They are some of the best fields in Manhattan, plus the views of the city around us are breathtaking, especially as the sun sets and the buildings light up. We scored six runs in the first inning, and one more the whole rest of the game, and held off the other team to win by two. At the plate, I'm still looking for my first hit of the year, but I had a sacrifice fly my first time up, and the second time, with a man on third, I hit a come-backer to the pitcher and ran to first, thinking for sure I was going to be thrown out. But instead, the pitcher saw the runner break from third and tried to throw him out and they fumbled the ball, allowing him to score and leaving me safe on first. So depending on if you score that a fielder's choice or an error, I think I got another run batted in (RBI), giving me two on the night, and the margin of victory. So at least I'm contributing.
Today I woke up early after a fitful night's sleep and picked up Tara to go to breakfast at our favorite diner. As you probably know, the Pope is in town and was at St. Patrick's Cathedral giving mass on TV while we ate. We were a little concerned that this might interfere with our plans to visit the Met, but since the church is so far from the museum (both on Fifth Avenue), we figured we'd avoid the Pope show altogether.
However, when we got close to the Met, we saw a sign that said Fifth Avenue was closed from 86th all the way to 42nd, which is before the Met. We went down Park and tried to get in at 81st Street, and there was a NYPD traffic van two cars ahead of us. As we crossed Madison, the van pulled over, and were likely closing 81st behind us to prepare for closing 5th Avenue for when the Pope left St. Patrick's, so we barely made it to the museum garage in time before we would have been shut out.
At the Met we walked all the major galleries and some of the special exhibits that are getting ready to leave next month. Here's a picture of me in my colorful spring outfit at the Temple of Dendur in the Egyptian wing:
From the Met we went to Hiram's Hot Dog stand in Fort Lee, NJ for lunch, and then stopped at the Papa Beard's bakery to pick up some chocolate cream puffs. Then we stopped by National Wholesale Liquidators, where I bought a gigantic can of stuffed grape leaves, and some flatbread for myself and Bug. Since it was getting late, and we were both suffering from gallery fatigue and food lethargy, I took Tara home and went to the Chinese grocery store for some tofu and baby bok choy to make for dinner. I got home and promptly crashed for a couple hours until everyone came over for Saturday night dinner.
All in all, today I think Tara and I finally got back to being ourselves again. Time, love and beauty can cure most ills in this world. And while I recognize the value of putting troubled times behind us, I also believe in the value of having some record of how we got where we are, and learning what lessons we can from that history. As the saying goes, those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it, and I don't want a repeat of the negative parts of this past week.
First off, we played on the Great Lawn in Central Park, which is always a treat. They are some of the best fields in Manhattan, plus the views of the city around us are breathtaking, especially as the sun sets and the buildings light up. We scored six runs in the first inning, and one more the whole rest of the game, and held off the other team to win by two. At the plate, I'm still looking for my first hit of the year, but I had a sacrifice fly my first time up, and the second time, with a man on third, I hit a come-backer to the pitcher and ran to first, thinking for sure I was going to be thrown out. But instead, the pitcher saw the runner break from third and tried to throw him out and they fumbled the ball, allowing him to score and leaving me safe on first. So depending on if you score that a fielder's choice or an error, I think I got another run batted in (RBI), giving me two on the night, and the margin of victory. So at least I'm contributing.
Today I woke up early after a fitful night's sleep and picked up Tara to go to breakfast at our favorite diner. As you probably know, the Pope is in town and was at St. Patrick's Cathedral giving mass on TV while we ate. We were a little concerned that this might interfere with our plans to visit the Met, but since the church is so far from the museum (both on Fifth Avenue), we figured we'd avoid the Pope show altogether.
However, when we got close to the Met, we saw a sign that said Fifth Avenue was closed from 86th all the way to 42nd, which is before the Met. We went down Park and tried to get in at 81st Street, and there was a NYPD traffic van two cars ahead of us. As we crossed Madison, the van pulled over, and were likely closing 81st behind us to prepare for closing 5th Avenue for when the Pope left St. Patrick's, so we barely made it to the museum garage in time before we would have been shut out.
At the Met we walked all the major galleries and some of the special exhibits that are getting ready to leave next month. Here's a picture of me in my colorful spring outfit at the Temple of Dendur in the Egyptian wing:
From the Met we went to Hiram's Hot Dog stand in Fort Lee, NJ for lunch, and then stopped at the Papa Beard's bakery to pick up some chocolate cream puffs. Then we stopped by National Wholesale Liquidators, where I bought a gigantic can of stuffed grape leaves, and some flatbread for myself and Bug. Since it was getting late, and we were both suffering from gallery fatigue and food lethargy, I took Tara home and went to the Chinese grocery store for some tofu and baby bok choy to make for dinner. I got home and promptly crashed for a couple hours until everyone came over for Saturday night dinner.
All in all, today I think Tara and I finally got back to being ourselves again. Time, love and beauty can cure most ills in this world. And while I recognize the value of putting troubled times behind us, I also believe in the value of having some record of how we got where we are, and learning what lessons we can from that history. As the saying goes, those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it, and I don't want a repeat of the negative parts of this past week.
Monday, April 14, 2008
Fried tofu
It's a slow day at work, so there's time to blog. I had just the restful weekend that I needed, and feel much more refreshed this week. Hopefully that will sustain me until Friday.
Saturday I went shopping at Burlington Coat Factory for a raincoat, but didn't have any luck finding one I liked. I did buy a couple cute casual tops - they always have bargains there for cheap stuff. I also ran my usual errands, which included a trip to the Chinese grocery store because Bug requested something different than my usual vegetable dumplings for Saturday night dinner, so I bought some tofu and hot chili bean paste to do some experimental cooking. I picked up Tara in the late afternoon and brought her to my place for some afternoon cuddling, then brought her home so she could take care of her errands and I could finish cleaning up my apartment for family night.
Now, for the past few months we've been having family night on Saturdays at my place, and I've gotten things down pretty much like clockwork when it comes to cooking dinner (I make fried vegetable dumplings, white and fried rice for Bee and Bug, Tara makes hot dogs, and I usually make something quick and easy for myself, like ramen, Mediterranean dips or some kind of frozen food). But Bug's request for something different kind of threw a monkey wrench in the timing of the whole works, so everything kind of got done at different times. Luckily it wasn't off by too much though.
I had read an article in the New York Times food section this week about frying tofu and that inspired me to try to fry tofu for the first time. Of course since both Bee and Bug are vegetarians, I couldn't follow the recipe in the paper, but I remembered a fried tofu dish in my youth that consisted of hot bean paste and sauteed green onions. I fried up the tofu with canola oil and the bean paste mixed together, and added the onions at the end, cut into long pieces. I think it turned out rather well for a first attempt - Bug finished it, but it was a little too spicy for her palette. But it was fun trying something new in the kitchen and not having it turn into a disaster.
Sunday I woke up with a headache and feeling very lethargic, so I stayed home all day watching episodes of Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles off my DVR and copying them to DVD. Lethargy slowly turned to melancholy, but I managed to pull myself together enough to go with my family to see the new IMAX film, Shine a Light starring the Rolling Stones and directed by Martin Scorsese. Going to the movies is always fun for me, even if it's a subject that I'm not that interested in. I've never been a fan of the Rolling Stones, and probably never will be. What was interesting was that the concert was filmed at the Beacon Theater in New York, where Tara and I saw Porcupine Tree a few months ago on our anniversary. Maybe they will do an IMAX concert of them someday when they get more famous.
Anyway, all in all, it was a restful and enjoyable weekend, and just what I needed to rebound from last week. I hope everyone had a nice weekend too.
Saturday I went shopping at Burlington Coat Factory for a raincoat, but didn't have any luck finding one I liked. I did buy a couple cute casual tops - they always have bargains there for cheap stuff. I also ran my usual errands, which included a trip to the Chinese grocery store because Bug requested something different than my usual vegetable dumplings for Saturday night dinner, so I bought some tofu and hot chili bean paste to do some experimental cooking. I picked up Tara in the late afternoon and brought her to my place for some afternoon cuddling, then brought her home so she could take care of her errands and I could finish cleaning up my apartment for family night.
Now, for the past few months we've been having family night on Saturdays at my place, and I've gotten things down pretty much like clockwork when it comes to cooking dinner (I make fried vegetable dumplings, white and fried rice for Bee and Bug, Tara makes hot dogs, and I usually make something quick and easy for myself, like ramen, Mediterranean dips or some kind of frozen food). But Bug's request for something different kind of threw a monkey wrench in the timing of the whole works, so everything kind of got done at different times. Luckily it wasn't off by too much though.
I had read an article in the New York Times food section this week about frying tofu and that inspired me to try to fry tofu for the first time. Of course since both Bee and Bug are vegetarians, I couldn't follow the recipe in the paper, but I remembered a fried tofu dish in my youth that consisted of hot bean paste and sauteed green onions. I fried up the tofu with canola oil and the bean paste mixed together, and added the onions at the end, cut into long pieces. I think it turned out rather well for a first attempt - Bug finished it, but it was a little too spicy for her palette. But it was fun trying something new in the kitchen and not having it turn into a disaster.
Sunday I woke up with a headache and feeling very lethargic, so I stayed home all day watching episodes of Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles off my DVR and copying them to DVD. Lethargy slowly turned to melancholy, but I managed to pull myself together enough to go with my family to see the new IMAX film, Shine a Light starring the Rolling Stones and directed by Martin Scorsese. Going to the movies is always fun for me, even if it's a subject that I'm not that interested in. I've never been a fan of the Rolling Stones, and probably never will be. What was interesting was that the concert was filmed at the Beacon Theater in New York, where Tara and I saw Porcupine Tree a few months ago on our anniversary. Maybe they will do an IMAX concert of them someday when they get more famous.
Anyway, all in all, it was a restful and enjoyable weekend, and just what I needed to rebound from last week. I hope everyone had a nice weekend too.
