pb & j

Over the weekend, I was making myself a peanut butter & jelly sandwich and realized that I was using two knives: one for the PB and one for the J. Growing up, we rarely -- if ever -- had peanut butter in the house. Some of this is the typical "we're Indian, we didn't grow up eating cheese" thing, but most of it is because my little brother has peanut allergies. Using two knives on the rare, rare occasion of having peanut butter in the house was a way to limit the contamination of the jelly. I can remember just how illicit it felt, sliding the knife into the peanut butter and it's exact heft. The texture as it was spread against the bread.

But, in my kitchen, with the light making patterns on the floor, I didn't need two knives. In two and a half years of living here, my little brother has visited me once. During which time he consumed exactly zero jelly.

I looked at the two handles sticking out from similar brightly colored jars. I'm continuing and propagating old, vestigial habits. It's not that the double knife technique is a jarring interruption (other than washing an extra knife, it's meaningless.) I'm just feeling.... Thoreau-esque: I want to live awake.

55 Fiction Friday: three point one four edition

Friday thanks ashvin for the reminder that it today is Pi Day.

Joni warbled over the bar's scratchy stereo system about the Northern Star being constantly in the darkness. I swallowed the last of my beer, and thought of Juliet proclaiming that Romeo should not swear by the inconstant moon. Those chicas had it right: promises on astral bodies are romantic, but I'll take my constants mathematical.

silver & gold

Email from a new friend:

I decided to get a new cell phone. Here's the new #
415-255-5372

Notice how every non area code digit is prime....

Oh man, I loves me the math geeks!






(number changed, naturellement)

in absentia

I've stuck to the blogging rule that nothing is more boring than being all meta and writing about blogging. And yet, I've violated that rule often. And I'm doing so again. I took a solid break from blogging for a number of reasons, some of which I can't talk about. (Yes, this is a reference to my alterna-life as a superspy.)

But, I've been missing it. I've had these moments, thoughts, experiences and wanted to share them. I've written a dozen blogposts in my mind. I've taken photographs and thought about how they could help me tell a story. But, the longer you stay away the weirder and more daunting it seems to come back, to start again.

I missed the friendships I've made through blogging. Three years later, many of my original readers (and the writers of the OG blogs I followed) are still my v. good friends. I think that golden age of blog friendships may be over, but I'd like to think that type of connection is still possible. I miss the small thrill of getting comments. I miss a lot of things.

That is all to say... I'm back, bitchez!

the paris of the prairies

I had this quintessential moment of connection and I need to share it. About three weeks ago, I was at this Tiny Mexican Joint in the Mission. (Hereinafter, TMJ.) The food was great, and I totally vibed with the waitress. We ended up talking about this little tattoo that she had on her arm that a friend had done for her. She wanted to tweak it, and I recommended going to Body Manipulations on 16th Street where I had recently had my nose ring swapped out. A lot of piercing/tattoo places are pretty disdainful if you aren't all "modded" up, but the people here were great - super helpful and (important!) great sterile technique. (Which didn't really affect me as I wasn't getting something pierced - but it's GOOD to see!)

Then, last weekend, I was waiting for a bunch of people to meet up for brunch at Luna Park (catty corner across the street from TMJ. The organizer told me that he wanted to have brunch there next time. I raved about the food and the waitress.

After brunch, I wandered over to Body Manipulations to get my nosering tweaked. That process took about 2 minutes, and I walked out of the back room .... and there was the waitress! We did the whole "OMIGOD!!!" hug thing, and then had to follow it up with "Wait .... what's your name?" Hilarious. As it turns out, she wasn't even there for herself. The friend that she was having brunch with asked to stop by to get something looked at.

I can't get over the coincidence of it all - 5 minutes either way, and I would never have run into her!








(And, yes, we exchanged info - she's clearly meant to be my new BFF!)

roses really smell like ....

I bought my mother roses for her birthday. The Jedi master's response: "You shouldn't have. When you kids spend money on me, I feel sad."


AAAAANNNNND.......SCENE!!

Name check!

Virginia patriot George Mason gets name checked on A Daily Show!

Birfday!

Bonne Année!

Gia, backlit, originally uploaded by maisnon.

I love this picture of Gia that I took yesterday. She's gorgeous, of course. But, I also love her "expression" - and how you can see the lynx-hairs at the tops of her ears.

So, Happy New Year, y'all! I have been doing my usual analysis and consideration of the year past, concomittant with planning and strategizing for the upcoming year.

One thing that I know I want is to be more organized and productive. That is something that I intend to write about here. (I'll come up with a tag for it - and then if it bores you, you can avoid it.) Why is this one of big goals for 2008? Well, similar to when I studied for the Bar exam, I find that my attention span is pretty shot. It's not even attention, it's my doing span. It's only with great difficulty that I can stay completely focused and on task for more than 15 minutes. I know that this is something that I can improve.

There are so many things that I want to do, and see, and try, etc. Being more organized would make me more productive, and give me more time, as well. My first step was to purchase the eBook Zen to Done, which I am now reading. It is a variation on David Allen's (in)famous Getting Things Done. I own that book, and really tried to make it work for me - but it just didn't. This system seems much more my speed. In particular, it stresses adopting/changing one habit a month - something that I experimented with this year, and enjoyed. I'm very excited - in a year, I'll be (finally! finally!) organized.

Wham! - Last Christmas

Ah! My favorite (non)Christmas song for Christmas Eve.