P-Tree and the Hall of Fame

This weekend was a celebration of one of the happiest events of my life so far - meeting the three people I call my family here in New Jersey on October 14, 2005. On that date two years ago, I got on a plane from Houston (a midday flight because I overslept and missed my morning flight) and after many delays due to weather and air traffic congestion, I arrived at New York La Guardia airport and took a shuttle bus to Grand Central Station, then hopped in a cab to the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

It was about 30 minutes before closing time when I pulled up on Fifth Avenue in front of the museum, where I met Bee and gave her a quick hug before going in and meeting Tara in our special place (that is currently closed for remodeling - ugh). We got kicked out of the museum shortly after and drove home to pick up Bug and have dinner at our local diner. So every Oct. 14 we celebrate the anniversary of our first meeting in person at the Met.

Saturday Tara and I went back to that great museum in the afternooon and spent some time checking out a new African exhibit and a photography exhibit before walking across Central Park to grab a bite to eat.

We sampled hot dogs at Gray's Papaya and it turned out to indeed be a nearly-exact clone of our beloved Papaya King. I got a Subway sandwich and Tara had her daily allowance of saturated fat at McDonald's before walking over to the Beacon Theater to see the Porcupine Tree concert. We each bought copies of their new EP album Nil Recurring, which is only available at concerts and from their Web site. Unlike the last concert at the Nokia Theater in May we attended with Bee, we actually got to sit down in seats, although we had a couple of tall people sitting in front of us and again, we had to put up with clouds of smoke from potheads. The show was terrific, and the lightshow was even better than the last concert.

After the concert we went to a nearby Haagen-Daas for ice cream (yes, I took a night off the diet) and hopped a cab back to the Met. It was nearly midnight, and the deserted area was lit with preturnaturally soft lighting that captured the moment perfectly. We took some pictures and found a new spot to celebrate our anniversary, one that couldn't be closed for remodeling!

Sunday, the 14th, I honored the anniversary by repeating the mistake of oversleeping, but to much less deleterious effect. We were taking a day trip out to Cooperstown, New York, to visit major league baseball's Hall of Fame, so leaving about a half-hour later than expected wasn't too much of an inconvenience. We drove north and saw some impressive views of the fall foliage covering the Catskills region, plus some herds of very cute Holstein cows.

Upon arriving we sat in the bleachers of Doubleday field and watched two local baseball teams warm up before having lunch at T.J.'s Cafe. After eating, we sat and watched an inning of the game, seeing a no-hitter broken up in the third inning and a couple of errors in the field. It reminded me of the movie Field of Dreams, which coincidentally I was watching late Saturday night after the P-Tree concert.

We left the game and walked up the historic main street a few blocks to the hall of fame, where baseball's greatest players are enshrined and the history of the game is preserved for future generations. My family comes here a few times a year on average, but it was my first ever visit. Perhaps we will come back for Craig Biggio's induction ceremony in a few years.

After a quick tour of the hall, we walked out to Otsego Lake and took pictures of the magnificent mountain vistas surrounding the area. Words probably aren't necessary when we have such pictures to look at, so I'll just close by saying - Happy Anniversary Bee, Bug and Tara. <3

Diner talk

I had a nice dinner last night with my family at our local diner, the first time we've all sat down at a table to eat since Bug's birthday last month. It was great to catch up with everyone's day and hearing the little minutiae that I miss from not being around more.

I followed up dinner with a long bedtime phone talk and unfortunately got to bed a little later than I had intended and slept through my alarm clock this morning. I think it's only about the second or third time it's happened since I started this job 15 months ago, but I'm surprised it doesn't happen more often with my crazy hours. When I was in high school, the only time I ever got detention was due to excessive tardiness from not being able to wake up in the morning. I was such a good kid, just habitually lazy and a night owl to boot.

I also got the news this morning that client meeting in Utah scheduled for the end of October has been postponed to January. This is good news because by January there should be enough snow for skiing, and I'll have plenty of vacation time to extend the trip into the weekend so I can ski without having to pay for a plane ticket. Utah is such a good place to ski too, and I know the terrain well from skiing there several times in the past. I should get some rollerblades and start training since I'm so out of shape for skiing (or for anything else, for that matter). I have found in the past that getting good on blades makes a HUGE difference on the slopes. This also means I need to shop for some skiwear, which I obviously don't have anymore. I just hope some of my co-workers or clients also want to stay over, so I won't have to ski alone.

Lastly, I'm so happy the heat wave finally broke. It's rainy and drizzly here for the rest of the week, but at least the temperatures are out of the flippin' 80s! Hopefully this weekend will be wonderful for a trip into the city.

Bring on the fat!

This is a fascinating article in the New York Times today about how the myth was born and perpetuated that a diet high in fat contributes to poor health:

Diet and Fat: A Severe Case of Mistaken Consensus

Aside from the fact that it appears that eating fat does not actually lead to bad things like heart disease, the real interest in this article is how it's an example of the dark side of democracy in a sense. The point is that if you get enough reputable people to agree on one thing, there are social forces that can compel a group to reach the wrong conclusion, one that is based on assumptions and not hard data.

If the long-held idea that consuming fat leads to a shorter lifespan has such a dirty secret origin, it tends to make me suspicious of any conclusion made by the so-called experts of the world. And of course, don't get me started on the politicians that perpetuate fallacies for their own agendas. I guess the lesson is that we all need to think for ourselves and not rely too heavily on expert opinions.

I got a new assignment today to help prepare a pitch for a governmental agency in the country of Qatar, which is located on a peninsula in the Persian Gulf. I narrowly avoided having to actually go there to present the pitch, since my boss wasn't able to go, but another VP stepped up and volunteered. Part of me does like the idea of traveling overseas, but the idea of being alone on business in a Middle Eastern country, even a relatively liberal on like Qatar, doesn't sound like my idea of fun.

And by the way, it's hard breaking the habit of reaching for the "u" key on the keyboard when typing Qatar! There's also been some disagreement on the correct pronunciation - some call it "Kay-TAR" and others say "CUT-ter." Anyway, new project, so I'll be learning about this country with the funny name.

The Yankees lost last night, so their season is over. My family is taking it really hard, being lifelong Yankees fans. For myself, I have the comfort of merging right into the basketball season, where I still follow my beloved hometown Houston Rockets on NBA League Pass. That's pretty much the biggest reason I even bothered to get cable installed last weekend.

Plus, as the weather gets cooler, I'm looking forward to going out to the park and shooting some baskets with my brand-new ball I bought last year and never took out of the box. I think the fact that the Rockets won their two NBA championships in 1985 and 1986 during my formative years has something to do with my being a lifelong fan. Being part of a sports championship is a very special thing for a sports fan - you have to be a fan of the right team at the right time, unless you're the fair weather type of fan that jumps on any championship bandwagon.

And besides, how many other women can say they've shot baskets one-on-one with the great Rockets center Hakeem Olajuwon on the court of Hofheinz Pavilion at our alma mater, the University of Houston, as I did when I was in college?

Blade Runner

It's Sunday night, past midnight, and I should be getting to bed soon, but I wanted to write a little about the weekend while I'm waiting for my hair to dry a bit.

Friday night I went to the New York LGBT Center for the Cuddle Party, which was pretty much what I expected and fun, although I didn't quite feel comfortable enough on my first time to fully participate in the non-structured part of the gathering. We went through exercises on how to ask for what we wanted, and how to say yes, and how to say no without hurting others' feelings. All these things are practiced in my family, so it wasn't completely unfamiliar, but it's all still new to me. I come from a culture where many behaviors stem from unspoken expectations and obligations (a high context culture, for those of you familiar with communication theory), so it will take some time for the idea of explicit, honest and open communication to become second nature to me.

Toward the end of the party, I met a few nice people I just felt comfortable talking to, a pagan couple and a very bubbly cat-lover. I'm actually a little disappointed with myself for being so inhibited, but I knew this was going to be a challenge for me to let go a little. But I think now I know what to expect, if I have the opportunity to attend another party I will probably be able to participate more fully.

Saturday I had my cable TV installed in the early afternoon and spent some time tweaking and setting things up properly. Then Tara and I took a trip into the city to the Ziegfeld Theater, which is probably the largest movie theater I've ever been to, one of the old-fashioned one-screen movie palaces I've always dreamed of visiting. This weekend was the opening of Ridley Scott's final cut of his classic sci-fi film noir Blade Runner.



The sound and picture of this new digital presentation was breathtaking - I don't remember ever being so impressed with the quality of a movie screening, and this is a restored movie that's 25 years old. Scott's cut of the movie wasn't much different from the version on DVD, but it seemed to me to be a little more linear in the storytelling. After the screening, we took some time to fill out the questionnaire for the film's marketing team, since this is an exclusive engagement at this one theater for now.

Sunday I went over to my family's house to watch the Yankees game, and fortunately they won their elimination game against the Cleveland Indians, which means there will be a Game 4 tomorrow night. Go Yanks!

Across the Universe

Thursday night I saw Across the Universe with Agnieszka at our local AMC Theater in Clifton. It was pretty good, and I thought I was probably not in the right mindset to fully engage with it, having literally just stepped off the train from work to make the 7:10 show. But I'm reminded of the fact that when I first saw Moulin Rouge, I almost stopped watching it 15 minutes in, and now it's one of my favorite musicals. Time will tell if this movie grows on me, because there were parts of it that were very enjoyable, and the ending did bring a few tears of joy, which is always a good sign.

Visually, the movie is a feast, and maybe that's what got to me a little. There's so much kinetic energy and wild choreography that it is almost exhausting to watch. I wonder - if I watched it over and over, would I burn more calories than watching TV? Of course, the music by the Beatles is faultless, and it's fun listening to new voices sing these familiar songs. I enjoy the soundtrack to Honeymoon in Vegas for the same reason. If it's one thing I didn't feel the movie did enough was to reach me on an emotional level, choosing perhaps too many distractions with multiple characters and non-stop musical numbers. Conversely, I'd have liked to see more of the Asian lesbian character - besides her opening musical scene, she is barely heard from through the rest of the movie.

Friday night I'm going to what is billed as "an All-Gender Super Massive Cuddle Party at the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual & Transgender Community Center in New York. Cuddle Party is a structured, safe workshop on boundaries, communication, intimacy and affection. This playful, fun space gives people the opportunity to rediscover non-sexual touch in a relaxed drug and alcohol-free environment. It’s a laboratory where individuals can explore and experiment with what makes them feel safe and good."

Aside from the promotion-speak, personally I'm looking at the event as an opportunity to make progress in feeling more comfortable with my own body, because my formative years have left me feeling disconnected at times to my physical self. It's part of my continuing growth and healing as a person who has suffered from negative body image issues and was raised in an environment where affectionate touching was discouraged to boot.

Ramen obsession

Here's a fun article about the fanaticism of ramen aficianados in Japan - it's about a New Yorker who moved to Tokyo to open his own noodle shop. As usual, the movie Tampopo (often mentioned in this blog) was an early influence for this chef. However, I have to correct the synopsis in the story in that it was a woman, not a man, who was obsessed with creating the perfect bowl of ramen. The man was simply helping make her dream come true.

"Trying to Out-Noodle the Japanese" - Wall Street Journal, Sept. 29-30, 2007

It was a relatively uneventful weekend, other than some personal drama on Saturday. Mostly, I spent the weekend shopping for clothes, as this was my final chance to use my birthday discount at Loehmann's, on top of the other discounts and coupons they were offering. Friday night after work I went to the Manhattan store located on 16th Street and bought a couple of shirts, and Saturday night I visited the store nearest to me in New Jersey and bought a purse, a black pantsuit for my upcoming business trip to Utah, and several skirts, a couple of which were of the evening wear variety. I don't really expect to have any occasion to actually wear these, but they were so beautiful I just had to have them "just in case". I'm sure any shopaholic knows what I'm talking about.

Sunday I went to Target to pick up a few necessities, and noticed there was a lot of stuff on the sale racks since summer clothes are being phased out. I found a couple nice shirts that fit me well, plus a few more skirts. All in all, it was quite the shopping adventure this weekend.

So today I was poking around the Net looking for something to do this Friday, the night that the rest of my family is occupied with their own individual pursuits. I was checking out the New York LGBT Center calendar and saw a listing for a "Super Massive Cuddle Party" this Friday night. If you don't know what a cuddle party is, here's a list of frequently asked questions.

Despite what it sounds like, there's nothing sexual about it - it's all about learning to express yourself through touching, which has been one of my areas of interest for a long time. The first time I'd heard of cuddle parties was a couple years ago on a Lifetime channel show about non-traditional social practices that included a woman who taught other women how to striptease for their husbands and similar such topics. In the vein of having new and different experiences, I'm happy that there's a opportunity to participate here. It should be interesting if nothing else.

Funnily enough, this morning I was taking some required sensitivity training at work, and the message was repeatedly brought up that there should never be a reason for employees to touch each other in the workplace (other than handshakes, etc.). While of course I understand the reasoning behind this rule, part of me feels it's really a shame that touching has become such a taboo in business environments. At least that hasn't stopped some infrequent-visitor clients and employees from sharing a hug now and then, for which I'm grateful.

Mondegreens

Misheard lyrics (also called mondegreens) occur when people misunderstand the lyrics in a song; e.g. Hold me closer, Tony Danza from Elton John's "Tiny Dancer". I've been emailing some of these to my family, but they are so funny that I feel compelled to post about it. You can tell I really have way too much time on my hands at work right now.

This one of the well known song "Another One Bites the Dust" by Queen was so funny that I started crying because I was having to stifle the laughter in my office. I actually laughed so hard (or actually kept myself from laughing so hard) that I wet myself a little. Especially when I actually put the song on my iPod and found out they are right! So I had to take off my panties and seal them in a Ziploc bag and put it in my purse. Now I'm thinking that if I get stopped by the subway cops and searched, they're going to think I'm carrying around a lesbian sex trophy or something...

Queen's, "Another One Bites The Dust"
Misheard Lyrics:
Ah, take it!
Right in the nuts!
Call a doctor!

Original Lyrics:
Ah, take it!
Bite the dust!
Bite the dust, yeah!

If you liked that one, here are some more, gathered from various places around the Web.

"Born to Run," Bruce Springsteen
Truly a classic, but it's got some awesomely misunderstood lines . "Wrap your hands 'round my INCHES?" "The highway's jammed with broken GYROS?" "CHUMPS like us, baby we were born to run?"

"We Didn't Start the Fire," Billy Joel
Like all list songs, "Fire" trips listeners up with its sheer torrent of names and phrases, especially when the age groups singing it aren't familiar with topics such as Dien Bien Phu and children of Thalidomide. A few choice mishearings include: "Chocolate in the sewers" ("Trouble in the Suez"), "Gretchen's in Afghanistan" ("Russians in Afghanistan"), and "British beat Romania" ("British Beatlemania").

"Smells Like Teen Spirit," Nirvana
Kurt Cobain could be difficult to understand on his best days. But "Teen Spirit" is probably the song that most people get wrong. The title was sparked when Kathleen Hanna of Bikini Kill wrote "Kurt smells like Teen Spirit" on a wall, referring to Teen Spirit deodorant. And as for the lyrics, well, I don't think I understood them until I heard the Tori Amos cover. On the misheard-lyrics site AmIRight.com, "Teen Spirit" has the second-largest number of misheard lyrics submitted, behind only "Blinded by the Light." And I'd say it might have some of the funniest ones ever. Here we are now, in containers! A mosquito, ate my Cheetos! Amaretto, in a needle! I'm with Kato, in a Beetle!

Manfred Mann's Earth Band 's, "Blinded By The Light "
Misheard Lyrics:
Wrapped up like a douche and then I rode her in the night.

Original Lyrics:
Revved up like a deuce, another runner in the night.

KILIMANJARO RISES LIKE A ... WHAT?
The Toto song is even more fun. I confessed that, in Toto's "Africa," I always heard a certain lyric wrong. The actual line, according to Toto's own Web site, is "Sure as Kilimanjaro rises like Olympus above the Serengeti." I always heard it as "Sure as Kilimanjaro rises up like Memphis above the Serengeti" (or even the nonsensical, "rises like a membrus," whatever a "membrus" is...it sounds kinda sexual to me).

Happily, I was not the only confused listener. From your comments:

• "Whoa, all this time I thought it was 'rises like an empress....' Hmmm." --Kristen
• "Oh my God. Kilimanjaro rises 'like Olympus'? I always thought it rose 'like a leopard!' What a disappointment." --Lori
• "I always thought it was 'like a leopress'... isn't that a female leopard, and doesn't that make more sense?" --Rick
• And from a different part of the song, Sue confesses "Growing up my sister and I always sang Toto's "Africa" as ' I left my brains down in Africa,' rather than 'I bless the rains down in Africa.'"

PAY THE RENT, COLETTE
Another song that came up often: Prince's "Little Red Corvette." Now for this one, I thought the title alone would give it away, but here are some of the versions you heard:

• "My sister used to sing 'Pay the rent, Colette' instead of 'Little Red Corvette' whenever the Prince song came on the radio. She's grown now, with daughters of her own, and they think that is the funniest thing in the world!" -- Jen
• "My brother swore it was 'pay the rent collect' which even he admitted didn't make sense." --Rob
• My mom, when she was young, used to think 'Little Red Corvette" was 'pay the rent or else.' " --Des
• When I was a kid, I always thought Prince's 'Little Red Corvette' was 'Live in Corvette.' " --Julie
• "When Prince would sing 'Little Red Corvette,' I always thought it was 'Livin' in Quebec.' I think I was around 19 when I realized I was wrong." --Tiffany

My daughter has always had a problem with the chorus of "Africa" by Toto. Instead of "There's nothing that a hundred men or more could ever do" she hears "There's nothing that a hundred men FROM MARS can ever do."

When I was I kid I thought the line from Nine Inch Nails "Down in It" was "I was a muppet now I'm doubted". The line is really "I was up above it now I'm down in it". Yeah, I know. At the time it made sense.

For years I thought it was "Secret Asian Man" until a few of my friends laughed outloud when they heard me singing it!!! I still think it sounds more like that than "Secret Agent Man." He slurrs.

Here's one that made me cry laughing... I remember sitting listening to Elton John's new album and wondering how in the world someone could get away with singing "Someone saved my life tonight.. s**t the bed". We STILL sing it that way and it never ceases to make me howl.

I was married to a musician and he continually got angry over my misheard lyrics. The one that sticks into my head to this day is from The Eagles Hotel California when the "warm smell of policemen, rise up in the air."

My sister always thought "Rock the Casbah" was "F**K the Catwalk" she used to sing it as a kid and got in big trouble at school!

Happy Birthday to da Bug!

It's been a quiet week at work, which has been pleasant. I was out on Tuesday celebrating Bug's birthday (more on that later) and Wednesday my boss left for Saudi Arabia for 10 days. Plus, we lost the ethanol pitch, so quite frankly I've got a lot of free time on my hands right now until other stuff fills the void. Which is all good because I've been dealing with some personal issues this week.

So Tuesday we started the day at home with our traditional overwhelming pile of presents. Bee and Tara wrapped theirs in blue and silver, to coordinate with Bug's blue-streaked hair. I opted for traditional French provincial wrapping paper I got from the Met when we visited the Rembrandt exhibit last week, so the pile looked a little uncoordinated, but my creative piling method helped to restore some order to the chaos.



After opening all the presents, we drove to Palisades Center and followed Bug as she led us around to every store in the mall. We stopped at Jo-Ann's for a good while since Bug is a visual artist who works in textiles on occasion. She also got a cool Alienware PS2 controller in electric blue at a game shop, while I picked up some cheap used copies of Batman Returns, The Curse of the Golden Flower and The Brothers Grimm (a recent Terry Gilliam film). Of course we had to fight through the hordes of Halo 3 fans to check out, since it was launch day for that game.

We had a bite to eat at the food court (which was possibly the worst bowl of chili I've ever had in my life) and then went to Dave & Busters to play video games. We had dinner at a place called Cheeburger Cheeburger, which has some of the best burgers anywhere, I have to say, although I'm not really a burger aficionado. We ate way too much, then went home to digest and watch the end of the Yankees game.

After the game we had our Carvel ice cream in the shape of a whale (we call him Fudgie the Whale). Bee had the very cool idea of decorating the wall with blue and while ballons (again, to coordinate with Bug's hair, not because we're Jewish or Greek) and spell out Bug's age in binary code. Funnily enough, with the flowery wallpaper in the background, it looks a lot like the huge pile of presents she had opened that morning. Props to those who can decipher her age from this picture - you get the geek gold star award!

La Boheme

It was a relaxing weekend after my crazy week, which was punctuated by Friday night's adventure with Agnieszka and Carol at the New York City Opera.



We met at an Italian restaurant just across the street from Lincoln Center and had a quick dinner. I came directly from work, and they took a bus in together from New Jersey. It was Carol's first opera ever, and I'm glad it was this one, being one of my top three favorites. Agnieszka has seen several operas, but never this one. I saw the Met's performance of the opera last year, but it was interesting seeing the different staging at the NYC Opera.

Of course what makes it even more interesting how I just saw Rent on Broadway, and less than two weeks later I'm seeing the opera that inspired it, with the truly original Mimi, Rodolfo (Roger), Marcello (Mark) and Benoit (Benny). Different music, different names, but the same story, with the notable exception that Mimi actually dies at the end of the opera. In fact, the only opera with a happy ending that comes swiftly to mind is Mozart's The Marriage of Figaro.

After the opera I rode the bus back to Paramus with my friends, and then had to hike about 12 blocks over the Passaic River and through Wallington to get back to Agnieszka's house. Fortunately we didn't run into trouble, but I'm not keen on doing that again. Carol then gave me a lift back to Yoshi at the train station garage on her way home.

Saturday was a relaxing day - did my errands in the early afternoon including a stop at Borders to pick up a couple of DVDs: Troy (Director's Cut) and Absolute Garbage, a band I've been rediscovering since checking out their album Bleed Like Me.

Speaking of getting into music, I've been obsessing over the British rock band Muse for the past two weeks, listening to their past two albums, Absolution and Black Holes and Revelations. I think of them as a cross between Jeff Buckley and Radiohead, with a little of Porcupine Tree's penchant for writing catchy rock melodies. Check out the songs "Time is Running Out," "Starlight" and "Supermassive Black Hole" and you'll see what I mean.

Sunday I cleaned the apartment, and also went to Loehmann's to spend all my collected coupons, including my legal birthday discount of 15% off the top of everything. I got several tops, four pairs of earrings, a colorful skirt and a couple thongs. I didn't buy many bottoms because I'm still losing weight and my size is likely to change. I've lost 15 pounds now since starting my diet August 13 (about six weeks ago) and still sticking with it. I'm starting to see a difference in my face, which is noticeably less chubby, and of course my waist size has gone back to about what it was in late 2005. I had set a goal for myself of 20 pounds when I started, but I might amend that when I get there.

More museums

mu-se-um \ n : an institution devoted to the procurement, care and display of objects of lasting interest or value

That's from Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary, which a journalism professor once told me is the only dictionary that matters because it's used in U.S. courts of law. No offense to those of you who use Franklin, Oxford or American Heritage dictionaries.

Anyway, I was talking with my family last night after watching Star Trek Nemesis (first time for all of us, and it was a good ending to the series which I bought yesterday in a nine-movie box set) and the conversation turned to my recent survey, specifically the museums we've visited. We all realized that we've left off museums from our respective lists, and then it became a discussion on what exactly separates a museum from a visitor's center or historical landmark.

To elaborate on the definition above, I think a museum has to be a dynamic collection, one that actively seeks to procure new pieces for its collection. If the collection is static and unchanging, it becomes less of a museum and more of a gallery or a monument. Procurement means that there has to be funding, above and beyond what's required just to keep the current collection on display. That usually implies the use of civic grants, memberships and patrons, although the scale of acquisitions may be at a level that can be supported by visitor fees, gift shop revenue and donations alone.

For example, I've seen the Crown Jewels in the Tower of London, but since there are no new Crown Jewels being added, I don't consider the Tower of London a museum, even though it houses many artifacts of historical significance. It's really more of a historic site and tourist attraction than a living, breathing museum. An interesting corollary is that by this definition a zoo is also a museum, but a specific subset that isn't part of this discussion.

So in the spirit of completeness, I have to add the following museums to my previous answer to the question of which museums I have visited in my life: the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago, the Cloisters in NYC, the Brooklyn Museum of Art, the Getty Museum in Los Angeles, the Children's Museum in Houston, the New York Historical Society, the Menil Collection in Houston, and the Bayou Bend Collection and Gardens in Houston. Three others I'll mention, but don't really fit the description I've spelled out, are the Houston Fire Museum, Madame Tussad's Wax Museum in London, and the Sherlock Holmes Museum in London.

Busy 5 days

Now that my recently whirlwind life is winding down, it's time to get caught up on this blog. It's been a confluence of work and family events that have combined to make life very interesting this past five days.

Saturday I got up late as usual, barely enough time to run my regular errands (post office, library and pick up my tailoring) before it was time to pick up my family for a trip to the Met for a members-only sneak preview to the new Rembrandt exhibit.

After touring the exhibit, we browsed through the gift shop and I got a poster of John Singer Sargent's painting, "In the Luxembourg Gardens" (1879) for my living room. I was also looking for a poster of Renoir's "Sleeping Girl with a Cat" (1880) a painting from the recent Clark Brothers exhibit I found particularly striking, but had to settle for a book on Renoir instead. I also got a lovely black pleated velvet scarf inspired by Sargent's "Madame X" (1883-84) that hangs on permanent display in what little space remains open in the American Wing while it's being remodeled. I also got an Impressionist desk calendar for the office, and some gift wrapping paper, since there was a member's sale going on.

Also during our tour of the American Wing, I wanted to shoot this movie of the 360 degree panoramic painting of the gardens at Versailles, just to show everyone who hasn't been there what it looks like.

Versailles in the round

After I shot this clip, I moved to the center of the room to shoot another one, and got halfway around when a security guard yelled out, "NO VIDEO!!" so loudly that my family heard it in another gallery down the hallway. I thought it was pretty stupid to allow photos but not video, especially since it's a PAINTING, not a dance routine. But since I already got what I needed, I put my camera away. I just wanted everyone to know what I routinely endure to bring this stuff to you!

Sunday was my one day to relax, but as it turned out to be filled with errands. I had originally thought about going to the Pickle Day Festival in the city with Agnieszka, but I realized I had too many things to do to prepare for my busy week ahead. When I got up Sunday I realized that I didn't have a suitcase for Tuesday's trip to Washington D.C. I once had a small carry-on bag, but I had forgotten that it was destroyed in the fire in March. All I have is a full-size suitcase, which is too big for an overnight trip. Then Sunday morning I also discovered that my face powder had run out, so with two additional chores, I decided not to go so I could get stuff done.

I started out by getting my nails done, as I wanted to make a good impression and my nails were looking rather shabby. Then I went to Michael's Arts & Crafts because they are having a 50% off sale on custom framing, and I wanted to frame my new Sargent poster. Then I went to Home Depot to get a tool for hanging pictures on the wall, then to Marshalls to buy a suitcase. Then I went to Bloomingdale's for my face powder, and last to Costco for food and stuff. So it was a very busy but productive day for me, and I was happy to get all that done before the craziness of the work week started up.

Monday was my usual day at work, but that night my family and I met at Madison Square Garden to see Rush in concert and it was awesome! Probably the best concert I've ever been to, better than the Police at Giants Stadium last month. I've only been exposed to Rush since December 2005 (other than the ubiquious tune Tom Sawyer; Moving Pictures was the only Rush album I've ever owned). For me, as a Rush newcomer, even the old songs like Spirit of Radio sounded so fresh, especially when driven by the enthusiasm of thousands of die-hard fans clapping and singing in unison. In addition to the music, the lightshow, lasers, pyrotechnics and creative video surpassed anything I'd ever seen before at a live rock concert. Plus the sound quality in the Garden is outstanding - everything was so clear and full-sounding - much better than what I'm used to in the Astrodome, the Summit and other such arenas. Definitely the highlight for me was Between the Wheels, which has emerged from obscurity to become a recent show favorite.


Tom Sawyer with South Park intro

Tuesday I had to get in extra-early to do a dress rehearsal for our big ethanol pitch, and I think it went well. We'll probably hear the results in the next 24 hours on whether we won it or not. Then I was off to Washington D.C. on the Amtrak Acela Express train with two of my co-workers. It was the first time I've ever been on an Amtrak train, and it was very nice. Much better than a cramped airplane cabin, that's for sure. The ride was also a lot smoother than the New Jersey Transit trains I'm used to taking every day - it's like they have better shocks and a lot more noise insulation. There's even a "quiet car" available where cell phones and loud talking are prohibited. And also, there's no danger of being sat next to a crying baby, as on an airplane with assigned seating.

We got to DC in about three hours, and checked into the J.W. Marriott one block from Pennsylvania Avenue. Here's the view from outside my hotel room:



That evening we went to dinner at a nice seafood restaurant, where I gamely tried to stick to my diet by ordering the albacore tuna. But the hot appetizer plate of crabcakes, clams casino, oysters rockefeller and shrimp al douce undid me a little. At least I passed on what had to be the world's largest hash brown patty:

Wednesday morning I got up too late to do any sightseeing, so we went to our meeting which was very friendly and productive. I did manage to snap a couple of photos of landmarks from the taxi on our way to Union Station.

And I got a nice photo inside Union Station after my boss and I finished lunch before boarding the train. Sure looks a lot nicer than Penn Station in New York!



Another three-hour ride home, but luckily we sat in the quiet car and I dozed most of the way while my boss checked his email on his Blackberry. We stopped at Newark and I had a car waiting to take me back to my train station where Yoshi had been parked since Tuesday. Then I went to the doctor for my allergy shots and finally returned home.

Today should be a quiet day at the office (as evidenced by this long entry) and I'm looking forward to spending some quiet time with my family tonight. Then Friday Agnieszka and I are taking a mutual friend to see La Boheme at Lincoln Center, so that should be fun too. Probably won't get away with taking pictures at that event though :P

Survey for mature readers

What with all the surveys I've done since I started blogging, it's always been in the back of my mind to actually create my own survey of questions that I'd actually ask someone I was trying to get to know. I don't really care what kind of toothpaste someone uses, what they wear to bed, etc., that you see on a lot of surveys that float around the Net.

So here's my Survey for Educated Grown-Ups - feel free to spread it around.

MOVIES
Three movies everyone should see someday
Citizen Kane, Lord of the Rings, The Shawshank Redemption

Guilty pleasure movie (a movie you shouldn't like, but do)
Xanadu

Most memorable Oscar moment
Anna Paquin's reaction to winning Best Supporting Actress for The Piano - she looked like she was going to pass out from hyperventilating!

Favorite movie to cheer you up
Love Actually

Movies that make you cry
A Beautiful Mind, Return of the King, Ben Hur

Favorite musical
Rent

Favorite foreign-language film
Tampopo

Scariest horror movie
Angel Heart

Favorite documentary/docudrama
Gandhi

Most disturbing movie of all time
Muholland Drive

Favorite action movie
Gladiator

Favorite James Bond movie
From Russia with Love

Star Wars or Star Trek?
Star Trek

Favorite Sci-Fi movie
Aliens

MUSIC
Favorite modern musical artist (still actively performing)
Porcupine Tree

Favorite classic musical artist (deceased)
Jeff Buckley

Vocalist you would actually want to hear sing the national anthem
Freddie Mercury

Which song(s) make you think about someone you love?
Everything by Lifehouse

What was the first album you bought/heard growing up?
Da Doo Run Run by Shaun Cassidy (hey, I'm older than most of you)

Three most-played songs on iTunes/iPod
Prodigal and Lazarus by Porcupine Tree, Day for Night by Spock's Beard

Three albums last played on iTunes/iPod
Ten by Pearl Jam, The Ladder by Yes, Nevermind by Nirvana

BOOKS
Books on your current reading list (read or about to read)
Book of Shadows, Pagan Polyamory, House of M, and Wicca by Scott Cunningham

Favorite Shakespeare piece
Twelfth Night

Favorite comic book or cartoon strip
Sandman by Neil Gaiman

Which book did you love/hate in high school?
Loved Silas Marner by George Eliot, hated The Odyssey by Homer

Favorite fictional character
Sherlock Holmes

Favorite animated character
Wolverine

ART
Favorite visual artist
John Singer Sargent

Museums you have visited
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, American Museum of Natural History, Guggenheim (NY), the Louvre, the British Museum, the Victoria and Albert Museum, the Houston Museum of Fine Art, Houston Museum of Contemporary Arts, Houston Museum of Natural Science, Columbus Museum of Art

If you were a professional artist, what kind of artist would you be?
A glass sculptor

Favorite type of live performance event
Broadway shows

Best concert / play / show that you have actually attended
Linda Eder’s debut run of Jekyll & Hyde in Houston

FAVORITES
Favorite clothing brand
Mossimo from Target seems to fit me the best, but for couture I like Dolce & Gabbana

Favorite item of clothing you own
My orange beaded diaphanous dress - never worn it in public though

What colors look best on you?
Black, dark red, dark brown, earth tones, cream

If you could have any animal as a pet, what would it be?
A winged horse

If you had to spend a million dollars without tax implications, what would you buy?
An apartment in Manhattan

Favorite beverage
Diet Mountain Dew

Favorite American president in history
George Washington

Famous person - alive or dead - that you would have lunch with
Kate Winslet

FUTURE & PAST
Where do you want to retire to?
Santa Cruz, California

What worries you the most about the future?
Terrorists

Major turning point(s) in your life and how things might have turned out differently
In 1991, I was a finalist for a job at the Sacramento Bee. They flew me out to Sacramento for a week-long tryout, but I didn't get it. If I had, I'd probably be living in California now. Also, the fire in April 2005 was obviously a turning point - if it didn’t happen, I'd probably still be married. Finally, a big turning point was meeting Tara - if I didn't, I'd probably still be in Houston.

Describe the best or worst day of your life so far
The worst day in recent memory was in February 2006 when my first job offer in New York was rescinded two days after it was extended. The best day was Oct. 14, 2005 - the day I met my new family for the first time.

What did you want to grow up to be? Why didn't you become that?
An oceanographer - didn't have the opportunity and lost interest.

Your idea of a perfect day yet to come
Visiting Glastonbury in England, participating in a ceremony at the Chalice Well in the morning, then climbing up to the Tor on a perfectly cool, breezy day, seeing a cricket match in the afternoon and taking a private tour of Stonehenge at dusk.

Scenes from a French restaurant

It's extra-busy today at the office, so no time to write, but I wanted to post this Web site of a restaurant that I'm dying to try.

La Mangeoire

If anyone has the opportunity to visit me in the Midtown area, we can go to this cool French restaurant, which is only a block from my office. If the weather is as nice as it is today (73 degrees, clear and dry) we can sit out on the patio and watch people walking by on Second Avenue.

Rent redux

Saturday my family and I went to see Rent on Broadway. The original lead actors, Adam Pascal and Anthony Rapp who play Roger and Mark respectively, are in the middle of a month-long run reprising their roles on stage. It was quite an interesting experience seeing this play again, because I'd seen it once before about six or seven years ago with my old Houston co-workers when we came to New York for a conference. Back then, it wasn't really my cup of tea, but since seeing the movie last year, it has had a tremendous effect on me. "No day but today" has become a idea I try to live by each day.

Perils of pursuing prettiness

This story on the Today show made me think of my friend Kyla in Houston. I wonder what she's up to these days? At least the Kyla I know never showed off her crotch!

"Too sexy to fly?"

I got a curling iron last weekend and I've been using it this week, to nice effect. Curling my hair gives it a lot more body and lift than it normally has, since I have pencil-straight hair. I guess it's easier to curl hair than to straighten it out though, although I was late to work on Wednesday because of spending too much time fussing with my hair, so I don't plan on making it part of my routine. I value the extra sleep more than pretty hair.

Speaking of being pretty, I saw The Devil Wears Prada last night - very funny movie! It was also interesting seeing all the places in New York that I actually recognize. In fact, one of the deleted scenes Anne Hathaway comes out of a subway station on East 53rd Street that is under the Citibank building that houses the Barnes & Noble right across 3rd Avenue from my office, so I recognized it immediately. One of these weekends, I want to tour the Fashion District and look for sample sales and such.

Yesterday I picked up a couple of CDs from the aforementioned B&N, a compilation by Michael Hedges called Beyond Boundaries and a movie soundtrack collection called Star Tracks 2. The former was inspired by watching the DVD of Michael Hedges concert last weekend, and the second is a replacement CD for a great subwoofer test disc. The first track, Superman: The Planet Krypton from the opening titles of the movie, has a low organ pedal note halfway through the track that is down around 18 Hz, which means unless you have a sub you won't hear it at all. I admit it's a geeky thing to do, but since I do have a killer Outlaw sub, every once in a while I like to work it out. Plus, I just like the music.

I also saw that this old James Newton Howard disc has been reissued and remastered on CD by Sheffield Labs. This disc has a special connotation between Tara and me, which I'm sure she remembers. I might get a new copy when it comes out on Sept. 30.

New York street fair

I had a very relaxing, productive weekend, spending some time with my family and some on my own, so a good balance overall. Saturday I felt like going into the city to have an adventure and to do something unplanned. Fate obliged me by providing a weekend street fair near my office where I parked Yoshi (it's near my office in Midtown, so it's cheap and they don't charge extra for minivans like many garages).



I walked about six blocks up Second Avenue getting a feel for things that were on sale. It was literally a shopper's paradise - a cornucopia of food, designer handbags, clothes, linens, arts/crafts, cosmetics/toiletries, bonsai trees, tools, designer sunglasses, you name it. After six blocks, things started to repeat, so I turned around and started walking back and shopping in earnest.

The first things I got were a couple of Coach-style purses for $30 each (after haggling a little, and a quick trip to the ATM for cash). I almost bought a copy of the new Chloe bag, but changed my mind at the last moment. I tried on an Indian-made silk dress, but it didn't suit me. I also picked up a 600-thread-count embroidered sheet set for $20 for my new bed, and three Victoria's Secret Second Skin Satin-style bras for $20. As tempting as some of the food was, I stuck to my diet and passed up all the goodies.

Saturday night we all went out to Palisades Center to have dinner and fun at Dave & Busters. I found a low-carb burrito at a Mexican food stand that was passable for my diet. I wanted to check out a candle store where I had gotten some soy candles before the fire, but they were out of stock. Not only that, but the new sales clerks were so pushy and annoying that I doubt I will go back to that store.

After a quick side trip to Target and Barnes & Noble (where I bought an Imponderables book, because I'm full of questions about obscure stuff) we hit the midway at Dave & Busters and played games until about midnight. I got the high score on our Joust tournament (the 80s vintage version), and once again bested Tara at air hockey (although the puck was defective, and she's still achy from her recording sessions so it wasn't really a fair contest). Bee crashed her F-18 Hornet jet fighter into the ground, and Bug enjoyed shooting up zombies a little more that you'd think was healthy. All in all, a fun time was had by everybody, although we missed our beloved 18-wheeler driving game.

Sunday we had a family barbecue, where I cooked a steak and some chicken breasts for the first time over a real charcoal fire. I was having a very bad allergy day, but that didn't spoil the fun, although I did have to go home early. It's been a heavy ragweed pollen count all weekend up here, which has been unfortunate. Another reason to look forward to colder weather.

Monday I cleaned the apartment, finally scrubbing down the bathroom, which has been long overdue. Tara came over in the afternoon and we watched The Adventures of Baron Munchausen the final installment of our Terry Gilliam trilogy and one of my favorite movies. Bee came over later and we all went swimming one last time before the pool closed for the season. After dinner I came over and we played a couple rounds of board games and Tara showed me the pictures and rough tracks from the recording session.

It's kind of weird, but it feels good to be back at work today. My boss is back after a two-week vacation, and it's a short week. I've finished several of my big projects, so I'm getting a bit of a breather. Our bathroom renovations are done, so it's quiet now. I'm looking forward to taking a walk during my lunch hour and visiting the nearby Bloomingdale's flagship store to get some of my Clinique moisturizer.

4 things

Not much to say this early on a Thursday morning, so here's a meme from Stewgad's blog:

4 jobs I've had in my life
-newspaper delivery - my first job in high school (before child labor laws) and it was a toughie. Had to get up at the crack of dawn on weekends, which sucked every way you can think of. My hands got all ink-stained from wrapping papers, and I sometimes had to ride my bike in the rain if someone wasn't available to drive me. I even got attacked by a dog once, who chewed a hole in my newspaper carrying bags attached to my bike. Maybe this is where I got my work ethic.

-Circuit City salesperson - this was actually my favorite job because I love hanging out in electronics stores, and the people I worked with were fun to be with, lots of interesting personalities. This was the only job where I made some real friends (one of my co-workers lived with me and my family for a few months). Also got some nice employee discounts!

-DOT spokesperson - this job made me famous in Houston. I was on TV a few times every month, talking about highway construction and every time I went to gatherings, people would always come up and say they saw me on TV. There were some fun moments where I got to be a photographer and newsletter editor, and I met some famous people (Nolan Ryan, Clyde Drexler, Houston mayors) but overall it was a pretty repetitive job.

-PR agency executive - so this is the job that pays the bills. Again, some high points and some nice people I've met along the way, but after doing it for eight years, it's become a little repetitive.

Come to think of it, those are practically the ONLY jobs I've had that weren't related to school. I got paid for working on the college newspaper and I had a couple of paid internships at newspapers and PR firms, but that's about it.

4 places I've lived
-Phoenix, Arizona, for less than a year and don't remember anything about it
-Scotland, when I was a child and I wish I could remember more about it
-Houston, Texas, which will always be my hometown after spending more than 30 years there
-Wayne, New Jersey, my current abode

4 favorite foods
Every once in a while, I dream about what my last meal would be, if I could have anything I wanted, so this question is easy!
-a platter of steamed Pacific oysters from East Ocean Chinese Restaurant in Houston on Bellaire, topped with garlic and scallions, or black bean sauce
-shredded Szechwan pork (the #10 lunch special) from Feng Ling on upper Westheimer in Houston
-Thai steamed mussels from Thai Spice on Bellaire near Fondren in Houston
-Dim sum in a nice restaurant in Hong Kong

4 places I'd rather be
Than here at work? That's easy...
-in bed with one of my loved ones
-Glastonbury, UK (or anywhere in the UK, for that matter), standing in a crop circle or watching a cricket match
-in a bungalow over the water in Tahiti, being served breakfast by canoe
-in a redwood forest on Vancouver Island, British Columbia, listening to the trees

4 movies I can watch over and over
Wow, this is a tough one. There are my all time favorites that are well-known (Casablanca, West Side Story, Ben Hur) but I'll pick some of my more obscure pleasures.
-Every Time We Say Goodbye (an early Tom Hanks movie, sort of Romeo & Juliet in Jerusalem)
-JFK (yes, it's Kevin Costner, but once you muscle your way past the gag reflex all kinds of possibilities open up)
-Legends of the Fall (I love watching this on a cold winter's day when I'm home all day alone)
-As Good As It Gets (Oscar-winning actors doing great comedy and drama at the same time!)

4 TV shows I like to watch
Like Stewgad, I don't have any TV reception or cable at the moment, so these are all historical favorites.
-Buffy the Vampire Slayer
-Iron Chef / Iron Chef America
-Star Trek (the Kirk/Spock/McCoy version)
-The Twilight Zone (the original Rod Serling version in b&w)

4 websites I view daily
-MSNBC
-Family & friends blogs
-Dealcatcher
-MySpace

4 computers I have owned
I'm dating myself a little here...
-Franklin DOS machine
-Apple Macintosh SE
-Apple iMac
-Dell Inspiron notebook

4 people to tag
-Tara
-Bug
-Chris (because he LOVES surveys!)
-Colleen (because I know she's reading)

Top 50 movies I haven't seen

There's a full-page ad on the back page of today's New York Times Business section (page C10) that asks, "Dear Ketel One Drinker, Are these the 50 best films of all time?"

Now, I'm not a Ketel One drinker, nor do I love drinking alcohol at all. But I do love movies, and of the 50 movies listed (all of them from the AFI's Top 100 list) I've seen them all except 11:

Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid
Chinatown
The Deer Hunter
Doctor Zhivago
Easy Rider
The French Connection
The Godfather Part II
High Noon
Midnight Cowboy
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
Rocky

Some of these, like Rocky and Doctor Zhivago, I might have seen a long time ago, but I can't remember if I sat all the way through it, so that doesn't count. So one of these days I'll have to get around to seeing some of these.

My ethanol proposal got done and out the door last night, so it's back to business as usual for me. I'm hoping to leave a little early today to go get my allergy shot and go grocery shopping - my icebox is quite empty this week, and I've even run out of eggs, which is a big no-no for the South Beach Diet. Luckily Costco sells packs of 36 eggs for about $4.

Acting method

So, pursuant to my last post, my friend Colleen wanted to know what kind of "quantum leap" my acting instructor was referring to in his evaluation. He's referring to my ability to find the authentic feelings moment-to-moment in the course of reading a script with a partner. Many people think that acting is "pretending to be someone else," but that is not strictly the case. "Pretending" to be someone will invariably ring false, much like an impersonation or a caricature.

Real acting is about finding the character on the page inside of you. It's about channeling your unique energy, perhaps your own divine connection if you like, and letting that inhabit you as your character reacts moment-to-moment in the course of the scene to what's happening with your character and your partner's character. It's actually a lot more complex than most people think, and I certainly gained an appreciation of acting as an art form.

The scene I did in my second-to-last class that the instructor referenced was from the movie She's the One, the second scene between two ex-lovers, played by Cameron Diaz and Edward Burns. Mickey is in Heather's apartment reclaiming his television set after their breakup due to her infidelity. It's a short scene, but lots of opportunities for channeling feelings of loss, anger, contempt, scorn, lust and loathing. If you haven't seen the movie, I highly recommend it as an intelligently written romantic comedy.

But while I feel I have some natural ability (probably honed from my real-life experience) I don't have the desire or passion to pursue it as a hobby or career. It's fun for me, but it's not something I love doing. If I am going to pursue an art form, I want it to be something I feel truly passionate about. If I never find that opportunity then I'll just remain a patron of the arts instead of being an artist.

This weekend was very quiet, and I hardly even left the apartment - mainly because it was record-hot on Saturday. I did get a lot of cleaning done, and watched a lot of movies, including another go-round with the Lord of the Rings extended trilogy. Sunday night Tara and I watched Brazil, the second in our Terry Gilliam trilogy, and we're planning to finish that up this coming weekend.

The big excitement these days is that Tara is recording a new album with her band at a studio in Connecticut, so she's been working long hours these past two days (they wrap it up on Wednesday). It's a project that's had a long gestation, and I'm sure it's enormously satisfying for her that it's finally happening. I'm so proud of her for sticking through all the trials and tribulations to get to this point, and I hope the recording is a smashing success.

Getting out of my head

I've been reading a library copy of Daniel Pinchbeck's book, 2012: The Return of Quetzalcoatl and I'm on the last few chapters now. It's fascinating stuff. It reads partly like a scientific journal, partly like a diary, and partly like a travelogue of strange and exotic places and events.

Some of the things I find to be particularly resonant with my current life, such as the author's stance on the current state of interpersonal relationships (as outlined in his article The Sexual Revolution, Take 2). I've also become newly interested in crop circles, and I hope to visit England in 2008 to look at some, as well as visit the Chalice Well in Glastonbury, an organization of which I am a Companion (you can see a replica of the well cover I wear around my neck in my pictures, given to me by my family as a Christmas present last year).

Couple of other interesting tidbits from Pinchbeck's book I wanted to share:

"In the version told to me, one of the Buddha's disciples went to him and asked to be shown Heaven. The Buddha said, "If you want to see Heaven, you will have to see Hell first." The disciple agreed. The Buddha took them to Hell, where an enormous banquet table was set up, piled high with fabulously delicious food. Unfortunately, all of the diner had, instead of hands, enormously long forks on the end of their wrists, and they kept trying to get the food into their mouths, but could not reach them. They wailed and gnashed their teeth in misery. The Buddha then took his disciple to Heaven. Heaven was exactly the same situation - diners at a sumptuous banquet table, with long forks on their wrists instead of hands. The only difference was that, in Heaven, everybody was feeding each other."

"Robert Johnson notes that the English language reflects our emotional paucity. Ancient Persian and Sanskrit possessed more than eighty words for love, denoting different qualities and valences of communal and erotic feeling. Whether we want to proclaim our affection for Krispy Kreme doughnuts or our significant other, we are stuck with just the single word, obliterating differences and qualities."

In other news, I went to my last acting class last night. I've enjoyed my time there immensely, and of course it's great that my company paid for those classes, but I think I've learned everything I can learn from that class and it's time to move on. As part of evaluation process required by my company, my instructor wrote a summary of my progress in the class, and I think his comments on my character are pretty illuminating and probably align with what most people who know me would say about me.

To Whom It May Concern:

Michelle began to study with me in my beginning acting class on Thursday, April 5, 2007, participating once and week for five months. Initially she exhibited an openness and willingness to learn and amazing courage in letting the class share in some of her private and personal challenges. This is rare for a beginning actor and it parallels what I teach, for the class is as much of a life class as it is an "acting" class. Overcoming your fears to trust yourself enough to fully express your uniqueness while being raw, open, and truthful moment-to-moment - this is the challenge of acting. And Michelle was open to the coaching. Her progress was steady and she showed improvement every week.

Michelle's challenge is to get out of her head and to trust her gut instincts more often. Yogi Berra once said "you can't hit and think at the same time." That is also true of acting: you can't act and think at the same time. Although still a little "heady" in her acting, she made a quantum leap in her last class and is moving in the right direction. If she wants to continue on in this field, I would recommend a class in improvisation.

Sincerely,
RHB

I'm not sure if I want to continue to study acting, as I don't have aspirations to be an actor, and I think the craft has limited benefit to me professionally. However, it did help me in other ways, so it's something I might revisit at a later date.

Craving ramen

Obviously one thing I miss on my diet is pasta. Next to Italians, there is probably not another ethnic culture in the world more concerned about quality noodles than Chinese, who are credited with inventing noodles, or at least being the first to write it down sometime between 25 and 220 CE (Common Era).

One of my favorite movies of all time is Tampopo, a story that celebrates the art of Japanese ramen. This is one of those cult classic movies that has been in and out of print a couple times in the past 20 years, but it's available now from Amazon. I first saw this movie at a film festival at Rice University with a girl named Darien, who is probably the president of some company in China by now (she got a job at Andersen Consulting, shipped off to China and I never saw her again). But enough about that - the movie is hilarious, sexy and practically invented a new genre of "noodle western" movies in Japan.

So today I saw this restaurant review for a new noodle shop called Ramen Setagaya Ramen Setagaya in the East Village that referenced Tampopo. Told you it was a cult classic! So now I'm dying to watch the movie, and then go down to the restaurant and try it out.

Of course, I have to wait for a few weeks because whenever a restaurant gets a good review by the New York Times, it's going to be crowded and crazy in there for a while. Plus, I have to get into Phase 3 of my diet before I slurp down a bowlful of ramen.

So far, so good

Last night I stepped on the scale to weigh myself since it's been exactly one week since starting my diet, and I have lost five pounds. So I'm right on course in losing the 8-12 pounds I expect to lose by next Monday when I go to Phase 2 of my diet. I was happy to know that my friend Colleen is giving the diet a try too - I hope it works as well for her.

The basic philosophy of the South Beach Diet is based on the power of positive reinforcement. Sure, you can diet any number of ways and lose the weight slowly, maybe a pound a week, and many people consider that healthier. However, by "crash-dieting" in Phase 1, you get fast results that motivates you to stick with the diet. Also, in Phase 1, by restricting almost all carbs, sugars and fats, you not only lose most of your cravings for such things (plus a lot of your appetite), it also makes Phase 2 (where you reintroduce good carbs) seem like indulgence by comparison. Eating bad carbs (white bread, refined sugar, corn syrup) puts your metabolism on a roller coaster of quick energy and carb cravings that's hard to break just by slowly reducing your intake. Let's face it - it's easier to maintain your willpower for two weeks than for two months.

The point is that I've tried traditional "slow and steady" diets and I tend to get frustrated at the slow progress and just give up. I suppose that's in my nature - I'm very results-driven. But in the end at Phase 3, the South Beach is like any successful diet in that it should produce a lifestyle change. In my case, it's about cooking more food at home and eating out less (especially during the work week, which saves money and weight gain), eating treats in moderation and eating more vegetables. A big part of that is learning to cook healthier foods and using healthier ingredients, like olive oil (or as Rachel Ray chirps "EVOO") instead of butter, herbs instead of salt, and hot sauce instead of ketchup.

The first week of my diet I pretty much ate the same thing over and over every day:

Breakfast: 2 hard-boiled eggs with A-1 sauce
Morning snack: 15-20 dry roasted cashews
Lunch: 1 soy burger patty and stir-fried vegetables
Afternoon snack: Two slices of roasted turkey with low-fat Laughing Cow cheese rolled up
Dinner: 1 soy burger patty with roasted garlic hummus and stir-fried vegetables

Other ingredients included pickles, capers, salsa, Indian garlic relish, and whatever else I could find that fit the criteria. I also had sugar-free Life Savers and other hard candies for desserts. When I went out to eat, I could usually find broiled fish on the menu - I just skipped the rice it came with. I could also have salads with balsamic vinegar and olive oil, but I didn't bother to mess with the fresh ingredients. You'll notice that everything on my list can be prepared in advance and refrigerated, which isn't as healthy as fresh food, but a whole lot more convenient. Also, everything I'm using is available at Costco, which makes shopping even easier. And the thing about Phase 1 is that it only lasts for two weeks, so it's not very long to put up with such restrictions.

I'm also starting to do more experimental cooking with fish and my soy burgers. I got a spice rack from Costco with 20 difference spices on it, and I'm trying different combinations. On Sunday I made a Cajun blackened salmon steak that tasted really good. I used to enjoy cooking, and I hope to continue to make progress on it.

Some of my other lifestyle changes are that I'm trying to exercise two or three times a week now, and I'm taking a daily multivitamin again. Bringing food into the office requires coolers and plastic containers, which I had to acquire, and cooking requires more pots and utensils. All these things I planned for in advance of my diet, and that's what's going to make this effort a success.

Of course, I feel that the reason I did not keep the weight off the last time I was on the diet is the tremendous upheaval in my life immediately following the diet in 2005 and 2006, namely quitting my old job in Houston, leaving my family and moving up to New Jersey and looking for a new job while staying in a hotel for two months. But now that my life has achieved what I feel is a pretty stable equilibrium in all areas, I can focus on improving myself and making lasting changes - not just with the dieting and exercise, but also with the allergy shots, expanding my reading list and having new experiences in general.

Ratatouille

I'm completely slammed at work today, so the only thing I'll post is this recipe for ratatouille that I might try once I get out of Phase One of my diet (after Aug. 27). I don't expect it to be better than the Pixar movie, though.

I'm excited about tonight - going to see Tara's band play at a restaurant in Battery Park City. Then tomorrow Tara, Bug and I are having a museum outing. How I live for the weekends!

Make it a good one, wherever you are!

Are men just gullible?

You know what's interesting about sex-related spam messages? Almost all of them are directed at men - "Gain up to 5+ inches" "Become the man you always wanted to be" ad nauseum. I see very few ads these days on increasing bust size, although they were quite common in the past.

From what I know about the science of human anatomy, it's much easier to grow boobs than penises, so I'm wondering why all the penis enlargement ads. Could it be that they have indeed found a way to enlarge male anatomy, or could it be that men are just more gullible and likely to fall for a scam than women? I think we can all agree that men, not women, are the more concerned party when it comes to penis size, although women seem to have more body image issues than men in general.

It's the third day of my South Beach Diet and things are going well. I've noticed a diminishment of my waistline, not so much that it's flat, just that it's not protruding as much as it was before. There is a noticeable loosening of my "fat" clothes that I've been having to wear, and hopefully soon I'll be able to wear more of my "thin" clothes. I just hope that I don't lose fat from my butt or my boobs, since I've gone from a C to D cup in the last year and I'd like to stay there. Hopefully losing the fat in my belly will make me look a little curvier by not being so thick-waisted.

On the work front, I got put in charge of a project to submit a proposal for an ethanol advocacy group, which is a pretty interesting subject and a politically hot topic right now. Unfortunately it means a lot more work for me, so less time to goof off like I'm doing now. Also, I'm thinking about canceling my acting classes to lighten my schedule, which is a shame, but I need to get more sleep, especially at the tail end of the workweek.

Unwelcome overtures

It's a beautiful day up here in New York - 74 degrees, clear and sunny. After the recent heat wave and rain, I'm so happy to not have to dread the weather, which is magnified down in the subway. I feel sorry for those people in Phoenix though. I heard a story about the city on NPR this morning and how because of global warming and urbanization, the city stores up heat during the day and radiates it at night, meaning hotter days and little respite from triple-digit temperatures.

So last night I had to go back to Paramus because I needed a new bed frame. I had an old frame, but I didn't realize it had no center support, which is a requirement for a queen-size mattress. So since I was there, I went back to Barnes & Noble with my coupons and got my book, Charles de Lint's The Wild Wood and my DVD of Brazil. We're planning to do a Terry Gilliam festival someday with his loose trilogy of Time Bandits, Brazil and The Adventures of Baron Munchausen. Gilliam has said these three films represent allegories of youth, middle age and old age, respectively. I've seen the last two, and most of my family has seen one or two of the others, but none of us has seen them all.

So in other news, last week I actually got propositioned by a guy from my old life in Houston. It was a guy I'd met once or twice before on the job back in Houston, and he called me up out of the blue and said he was coming to New York on a business trip and would I like to get together and have a drink or something? So me being friendly, I said sure, but his work ran long and he had to stand me up. Then later I got an email from him:

I was swamped all day. Sorry. Not sure if you can travel but maybe we meet in Dallas or san Fran or next time I am here.

Please.......between is only.....very discreet. I would like to meet up. Could be fun.

Interested? But please keep this between us please.

Ok?

It seems a little ambiguous, but I'm certainly not going to travel to another city to meet up with a man I barely know, so I politely declined and told him I'm only available for lunch here in New York. Anyway, just thought it might make interesting blog material.

Speaking of traveling, I have to go to Washington DC on Sept. 12-13 for a business presentation, which fills me with ambivalence. On the one hand, it's exciting to go to such an important city where I've never been (despite years of half-hearted planning for family vacations), but on the other hand it's a bummer that my first visit to the nation's capital has to be for business and not for pleasure. At least I can get some maps and brochures for a return visit someday.

Also, I was astonished to see in the newspaper that you can buy a plane ticket to London from New York for only $199 each way these days. Makes a trip to the UK not all that far-fetched someday, perhaps next year when I have some vacation time again.

Beds and Boca burgers

It was a fairly eventful weekend, although it doesn't make for exciting blog print. Stardust was wonderful, although they changed a lot from the book, so it was not as faithful a rendition as Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings trilogy. Still, it was a well-crafted and engaging fantasy movie, although I would hesitate to call it a classic. Perhaps subsequent viewings might change my mind.

Saturday I slept in late until after noon since Bee and Tara were off on their own and Bug was spending the day writing. I woke up with a very stiff back from being in bed so long, and I decided that it was time to bite the bullet and buy a new bed. The current double bed I had been sleeping on was not only too short for my liking, but it was also too firm for my liking, since it was a donated set following the fire of 2005.

I had bought a new bed last year that was very well-used earlier this year when I was recovering from surgery, but I lost that one in the March 2007 fire. The reason that the donated mattress survived the recent fire is that I had given it to Bug to replace that awful inflatable Sleep Number bed she was using. So when I moved into my current apartment and bought all the furniture, I got a bed even more firm than the one I'd given Bug. Since she likes firm beds, we switched them, and that's how it came to be that I was back to sleeping on the bed I was sleeping on in Houston after the first fire. But with the disposal of that bed, there are no more pieces of furniture left from my days in Houston.

So Saturday I went to Paramus to find a bed, but first I stopped at the big B&N bookstore to look around. I had picked out a book and DVD, but didn't buy them because I discovered I'd left my coupons at home. I'm sure they will still be there when I go back this week. On the way to Sleepy's I stopped at Burlington Coat Factory and found several nice tops, mostly in black. This was a nice find because they were the same brand as Tall Girl typically carries that are designed for tall women, but at 75 percent off the price that Tall Girl would charge. I got two short-sleeve tops and two hip-length tunics with 3/4 sleeves.

At Sleepy's I tried out all the Simmons mattresses (I'm a fan of their pocketed coil design - two of the last three mattresses I've actually purchased have been Simmons) and liked their pillowtop the best. It was pretty expensive, but they gave me 20 percent off, and free financing for two years, so that makes it a lot easier to pay for. Sometimes it's nice to have good credit. Plus, they even threw in a dust-mite barrier cover for free, plus free delivery and removal of my old mattress (about $200 all told) since I had to wait around so long. The best part of the deal is that I bought the mattress at 9:30 p.m. and they were still able to deliver it on Sunday. That's what I call service!

Sunday morning I got up before noon and went to buy some queen-size sheets for my new bed and pick up my monthly prescriptions. Almost as soon as I got back, the delivery truck arrived and we set up the bed. Ah, it's like sleeping on a cloud! Unlike the rest of my family, I like soft beds, and this one is probably the softest I've ever had. I should have done this months ago - sleep is too important to skimp on.

The rest of the day was spent washing sheets and preparing for my diet, which starts today. It's the South Beach Diet again, and I'm back in Phase 1, which lasts for two weeks with minimal carbs and fat and no sugar. That means I'm eating mostly eggs, nuts, turkey, low-fat cheese, Boca soy burgers and stir-fried vegetables for the next two weeks. At the end of two weeks, I'm supposed to be 8-12 pounds lighter and ready for Phase 2. We'll see if I'm as successful this time around as I was last time I did this.

Google Black

Just a short entry today, as I have things to do at work before there's a happy hour at 4 pm - we are saying goodbye to all our summer interns, which is as good as any reason to celebrate around here.

Practically the only time I talked to any of them was when I was asked to be one of the four judges for their summer PR project. I was a pretty hard judge - more of a Simon Cowell than a Paula Abdul, despite being the only woman on the judging panel. But there was one crusty judge that out-Cowelled me - he's our resident friendly curmudgeon who has been around longer than anyone. I think he's in his 70s, but still walks around and says hi to everyone every day. But he was a tough judge!

Tonight Tara and Bee are picking me up in the city to go see Stardust with Bug later, which is great because I don't have to take the train home. Another reason I have to get going, so I can leave on time to meet up with them near the American Museum of Natural History, assuming the subways are working after a day of rain. Yesterday's storm caused me to be about two hours late to work due to flooding in New Jersey along the rail line.

So for those environmentally conscious readers, here is a Web site that my Corporate Responsibility team leader forwarded me today - http://www.blackle.com/. It's basically the Google homepage but all blacked out so that you conserve monitor power while using Google's search engine. Pretty ingenious, if you ask me. Al Gore can stop crying now.

Have a great weekend everybody!

Movies, magic and Speed Racer

I saw a very interesting and fun movie last night - The Illusionist starring Edward Norton and Jessica Biel. I didn't have much high hopes for it because of reviews I'd read, but it turned out better than expected. The ending was very satisfying, and that's important for a movie - to end well, and a happy ending certainly doesn't hurt. I'm not going to say more because some of my readers are interested in seeing it and I don't want to spoil it for them.

I've always been fascinated by magic - the stage kind at least. Real magick has been a recent interest. I used to practice sleight-of-hand tricks with cards, coins, balls, etc. I can roll a quarter across my knuckles, make a golf ball appear between my fingers and throw a playing card about 15 feet indoors with enough force to break a corner. These are mostly flourishes, not real tricks, because I never had the discipline to practice. But for as long as I can remember I've always been interested in cards and card games.

This past birthday my family got me my first tarot deck and a book to study on the art of tarot, and I'm looking forward to learning more about it. I used to have a card game called Dragonmaster that used a deck very similar to a tarot deck - large, colorful cards with beautiful artwork. In fact, the same artist did a vintage electronic game called Dark Tower which I also enjoyed playing as a child. Interestingly, this game was discontinued due to a copyright infringement lawsuit and now is becoming increasingly a collector's item. I wish I still had mine - they go for hundreds of dollars now on Ebay, but I'd like to play it once more for old times' sake.

Anyway, speaking of nostalgia, I've been watching episodes of Speed Racer a lot lately - I bought the first five seasons on DVD and I'm just starting the third season. What strikes me is how violent the show is when seen through an adult's eyes. As a child I didn't pay much mind to the number of casualties that occurred in a typical race - as long as all the major characters made it out okay, what did it matter right? But in one episode when Speed and Racer X (in disguise) race through a volcanic mountain course, at the end Speed says that 96 men started the race and only two made it out (!!!) you realize what a tremendous toll in human life we're talking about just for a sporting event. I started counting car crashes in some of races, but couldn't keep up. But it's not just the car crashes - there are numerous scenes of people being gunned down by machine guns, burned alive in pools of molten lava and all manner of mayhem. Lots of organized crime bosses, Speed almost goes blind in one episode, nuclear bombs in cars, ICBMs, etc. etc. It's funny how I never realized how violent these shows are until now - a loss of innocence I suppose.

I had a nice dinner with Agnieszka last night at Uno's Pizzeria, and she gave me a copy of Milan Kundera's novel, The Unbearable Lightness of Being, as a belated birthday present. The movie starring Daniel Day-Lewis, Juliette Binoche and Lena Olin, has long been one of my favorite dramas, and I've been meaning to read this book forever, and now I have no excuse! We talked a lot about expressing emotions and how we each have difficulties in our own ways. It reminded me of a French movie called Un Coeur en Hiver (A Heart in Winter) starring Emmanuelle Beart (from Mission Impossible) that I'd recommend to anyone with a Netflix account and a taste for foreign movies with bittersweet endings.

24 hours of Bourne

The theme for this weekend was pretty much summed up in two words - Bourne and Police. With The Bourne Ultimatum coming out this weekend, I suggested to my family that we should go see it, but none of them had ever seen a Jason Bourne movie, and it didn't make sense to see the third in the series until you'd seen the other two. So Friday night I stopped at Best Buy on my way home and picked up The Bourne Files, a three-disc set of the first two movies, The Bourne Identity and The Bourne Supremacy with a bonus DVD in a mock expandable folder. It's on sale for $14.99 this weekend, plus you get $5 for using a Mastercard, which make it less than $5 per movie - you can't beat that! I had actually purchased The Bourne Identity separately about a week ago from Borders for $11 (before I knew about the three-disc package) but since I hadn't opened it I was able to return it on Saturday and get my money back.

So Friday night we watched The Bourne Identity, and everyone seemed to like it - it's definitely my favorite of the three. Some of us wanted to just plow ahead and watch The Bourne Supremacy that night, but as it was getting late, we decided to watch it Saturday afternoon before going to see the third movie at the theater Saturday night, which we ended up doing. We came out of The Bourne Ultimatum at the theater only a couple hours later than we'd finished the first movie the night before. After three Bourne movies in about 24 hours, we figure the next one should be called "The Bourne Redundancy".

Now, I'm a big fan of spy movies, if you consider James Bond a real spy. I've seen every Bond movie ever made, some of them more times than I can count. I also loved Sneakers and I was even a big fan of the Bond spoof TV show Get Smart, which is coming out on the big screen next year. But I have to say there are few spy movies as smart and contemporary as the Bourne movies. Unlike Bond and some other spy movies, Bourne movies are totally serious. No quips, no corny punchlines, no laughing in the face of danger. In the Bourne movies death is a real threat (except when Jason Bourne is driving a vehicle, apparently) and the violence is brutal and realistic. But what I really like about the Bourne movies is how the character is so smart - he's always thinking two or three steps ahead of his situation, and the films do a good job of portraying that intelligence without dumbing down the movie. In other words, you have to pay attention and be pretty smart yourself to follow what's in Bourne's head with what the director shows you.

On Sunday afternoon we went to Giants Stadium to see The Police in concert on their reunion tour that I'm sure you've heard about. Our seats were way up in the nosebleed section, but aside from the distance it was a nice view of the entire scene, and the breezes were cool up there. After sitting through two opening acts, Sting, Stewart and Andy hit the stage about 8:30 pm and played about two hours with two encores. The Police have long been my favorite all-time band, and it was great to see a concert where I and most of the audience knew all the songs, and you had 50,000 people singing "Roxanne" in unison. It was probably the best rock concert I've ever seen in my life so far.

Heel thyself

Interesting article yesterday in the Wall Street Journal:

Heelpolitik: The Power of the Stiletto
Why Female Executives Keep A Pair for Clashes and Crises; Ferragamos to Be Fired In

Look under many a powerful woman's desk and you'll find a serious pair of heels. Whether they're on her feet or tucked in a drawer, the shoes' key attribute is a three-inch spike that, if redirected, could put your eye out.


I've been wearing a modest heel more often lately, not the lethal stilettos a la "Single White Female", but heels nonetheless, usually about two inches. Being almost six feet tall, I really don't need the additional height, and with my size 12W feet it's hard to even find decent shoes to begin with. Despite this, I have a fairly impressive collection of shoes, most of which I've never worn outside my bedroom. I bought most of them after the fire of 2005 when I didn't have any shoes and got caught up in building a shoe wardrobe.

Back when I was job hunting in New York, I wore heels on days I had to walk a good piece from interview to interview. I picked shoes that looked good and made my feet look smaller, but they didn't fit well and consequently I have problems with bunions now. These days I'm a little more sensible with both buying and wearing my shoes, but it was a hard lesson to learn.

Probably the highest heel I have is a three-inch skinny heel on a bright pink strappy sandal. It actually does fit pretty well, but it's hard for me to walk in, and I'm sure I couldn't go very far if I did try to walk in them. I suppose I bought it because it's such a rare event to find a pretty shoe that actually fits me. Plus, I thought I might want something dressy if I were ever to go to a cocktail party or fancy dinner where I wouldn't have to be on my feet very much.

But the truth is that I'm not really part of that world anymore, if indeed I ever was. However, I do admire women I see who can walk around on four-inch heels with ease - I just feel sorry for their feet.

this...is...SPARTA!!!

I had my family over to see 300 last night, which of course was released on DVD yesterday. We're all fans of Frank Miller, who wrote the original comic book on which the movie was based. I've been a fan of Miller's since college when his classic Batman story The Dark Knight Returns was published in the original form (yes, before it was a trade paperback, I read it in individual issues). As you may know, that landmark work completely reinvented the Batman mythology from being a self-caricature in the Adam West-Burt Ward TV show to the obsessed and ruthless vigilante that defines his character.

I even wrote an opinion piece in my college newspaper about this change, and got some flack from a bleeding-heart liberal who took offense to my implied support of justice without due process. However, a fellow Batman lover (and someone a little less literal in their thinking) came to my defense with a letter that made two points - first, if you see Batman beating up on somebody, you KNOW that person is guilty, and second, that of COURSE he reads the college newspaper every day, like the real-life person that he is.

In addition to Batman, I was also a big fan of Miller's art in the Wolverine mini-series by Chris Claremont, one of the early solo adventures for Marvel's favorite mutant, and Miller's work on Daredevil in the Electra/Bullseye era and his graphic novel with artist David Mazzucchelli called Born Again, both of which I recently reacquired in trade book format. Heck, I've even read Ronin, one of Miller's less-known works.

I hadn't embraced Miller's more recent work with Sin City and 300 until I met Tara back in 2005. And I'll admit the first time I saw Sin City at a friend's apartment in Houston, it kinda grossed me out. But it wasn't long before I came to appreciate the Miller vibe once again, especially the artistry in Zack Snyder's film rendition of the epic Spartan/Persian battle.

Plus, check out this cool collector's edition of the DVD that I got from Best Buy yesterday - it includes a replica Spartan helmet cast in resin and painted to realistically look like bronze, plus four movie poster postcards. They were in very limited supply (only 15 per store), so I was smart enough to buy one online and pick it up at the store after work. Sure enough, by the time I got there to pick it up, they were sold out - I actually overheard people asking for them and being given the bad news. And of course, the very next day they are now going for more than twice the purchase price on Ebay. Seems like someone could make some money doing this sort of thing if one were so inclined...

Anyway, a fun time was had by all last night, with a kickin' movie, popcorn and frozen treats aplenty. It was nice spending time with my family where we didn't have to go anywhere and still make it a special evening.