Friday, January 9, 2009
Oh, the things we know...
I just noticed on my personalized iGoogle homepage that the "How Stuff Works" gadget features an article on everyone's most disquieting creature: the tapeworm.
(I was going to post a picture, but they sort of made me feel queasy.)
Happy discovery!
Winter wasteland: a summation
I’ve been back at work for one week and am already feeling burnt out. Just pathetic. (Don’t worry, I won’t let this diatribe last too long.) There’s no one to blame but myself – I threw myself back into things a little too hard and overdid it in a feeble attempt to clobber the enormous mound of work I’ll be facing until March. And, predictably, I was only to maintain my energy for about three days before utterly crumbling.
*Sigh*
Backtracking a bit, our extended winter vacation was good, though it hardly went as planned. We were halfway to Palm Springs when Honky, our car, overheated and appeared to be leaking antifreeze. The nearest town was Coalinga; its most distinctive feature was a huge K Mart (city of pride, my ass). The local garage (run by drunken in-breds) was unable to identify the problem, but refilled our radiator and gave us instructions should the car overheat again. Rather than risk it, we turned around and headed home, our getaway plans thus thwarted. When our trusty, non-inbred mechanic heard about the trouble he was pleasantly taken aback, seeing as our car had just been in for a tune-up. We arrived home without incident and took the car in early the next morning. They were unable to find anything wrong with it – apparently the car had decided that Palm Springs was a bad idea. So, Sean and I stayed home and my poor in-laws were stuck eating an entire turkey by themselves – it’s amazing they didn’t overdose on tryptophan.
For Xmas we went to Sean’s sister’s house for turkey, copious inebriates and family-bonding time with the Wii – a good time was had by all (except maybe by my in-laws who fielded several drunken phone calls from our party). The only other highlight to our time off (unless you call sleeping in, watching movies and eating our weight in rich foods exciting) was a quick visit from my college-era buddy Steph. Frieda and I took her to Half Moon Bay to take in the coastal scenery and see the wintery beach – fun times. For New Year's Eve I left Sean at home and attended a raucous wig-and-moustache-themed party in San Francisco, which was great until people started vomiting everywhere. Nonetheless, there was a sweaty throng of dancing going on when we exited – very impressive, in my book.
And… here I am, in 2009. Work is busy, as I mentioned, but all else is great. I booked a trip to NYC in late May to romp with my beloved Carse and other denizens of my hometown; and Sean and I will go stare into the abyss that is the Grand Canyon in early June.
I was deeply disappointed to learn that the Ranier Maria Rilke class I was registered to take here at Stanford was canceled due to lack of interest. Ditto for the Orson Welles class Sean had planned to take, so instead we’re going to take beginning Italian together, which will be super-fun, but still doesn’t fill the Rilke-sized hole in my soul, I’m sad to say. (More on him in a later post, I’m sure.)
Now that you’re thoroughly bored with my admittedly drab little life, I’ll leave you with the link to a movie I am very excited to see: Milk. Generally I find bio-pics to be ambitious, worthy attempts with terrible results (Ray, Walk the Line [insert your own retching noise here],... Knocked Up), but the pairing up Sean Penn under Gus Van Sant’s direction, to tell the inspiring story of San Francisco’s own Harvey Milk, a gay rights activist and CA's first openly gay politician (in short, a hero), is irresistible.
Here’s to you, Harvey.
Sunday, December 21, 2008
Ain't got shit to do
I'm on vacation.
A long, wonderful, intensely empty vacation. I know, I just returned from a fabulous Hawai'ian vacation, I'm not denying that.
BUT.
But, that was a rush-around, try-to-see-and-do-everything, all-while-dealing-with-my-mother, vacation. Not relaxing. Amazing and unforgettable (and the change of scenery really helped me feel less burnt-out at work) but I did not return well-rested and I had a nasty sinus infection the entire time we were there.
No, this is the vacation I've been dreaming about since I started working at Stanford in August of '06. I have no family obligations, no long-term holiday visitors, no airport travel - none of that. I can sit around, unwashed, for indeterminate amounts of time. This is especially sweet because January and February are going to be hell, I already know this. It's application season, so I will return to boxes of mail to laboriously open, file and process and it will not cease until March.
Fear not, my vacation will not spent entirely on sloth. Sean and I are heading down to Palm Springs for 6 days (more like 4 with two days of traveling) to kick it with his mom and step-dad. They rented a condo or something, so we're going to join them in their imbibing of nog and other inebriates. The reason this does not irk me is because participating was entirely voluntary, we get to explore parts of the state we've never visited, and all that is expected of us is to show up and be relaxed. We plan to go hiking in Joshua Tree National Park on Xmas day (weather permitting) and I'd love to make it to a few yoga classes, if I can find a studio that's open down there.
When we return home, my pal Steph arrives in from the east coast to stay with us for one night. I can handle entertaining people in low doses, in fact I'm looking forward to seeing her.
And sure, there's a bunch of stupid crap I'd like to get done while I have the time: planning my next round of poetry submissions, cleaning the bathroom, cooking good stuff and lots of yoga, but the openness of my time makes these things purely pleasurable undertakings (except the bathroom, that task always sucks).
Today, Sean and I are hanging around the house, hoping our landlady finds a plumber to come unclog our kitchen sink - she was surprisingly cheerful about it when we called this morning. I'm glad we held off until 11:00 - no one wants a work call coming in before 10 am on Sunday. Simply no one.
I'll leave you to enjoy your day with this little nugget of news: the New York Times ran a story today which basically claims that the Bush administration knew about the financial crises as far back as 2003 and did nothing to avoid it. You can read about it here.
Happy, happy holidays!
Friday, December 19, 2008
Thursday, December 18, 2008
Best. Thing. Ever.
Someone, somewhere, somehow has paired some Nietzsche quotations with The Family Circus cartoon panels.
Genius ensues.
Monday, December 15, 2008
Hawai’i and other adventures
Last month Sean and I went to Hawai’i with my mother over Thanksgiving. We spent 10 days exploring the big island, based out of Kona and Volcano, though mostly Kona.
Impressions? The food is pretty lousy, much like Alaska. Most restaurants cater to American tourists, so it was difficult to find anything un-fried. The pineapple is always delicious. Kona (relatively major city on the west coast) has great weather – even when it was overcast the air remained warm. We swam in the clear ocean every day, bought lots of souvenirs (tacky and otherwise) and spent a great deal of time in the hot tub. Besides a hot tub, our fabulous rental house had a huge lanai, beds aplenty (both indoor and outdoor), and a little cat named Eddy to keep us company. From Kona we explored the north point, which is windy; so much in fact that it housed wind farms (alternative energy kinda gets me off). We drove inland from Kona, heading north, through a high, winding road, past farms and rolling mountain hills. We also passed vast stretches of lava fields – swaths of land that are covered with old, crumbling lava. They were fascinating, but also a little eerie. While traveling by these, I spotted a black goat standing in the middle of such a field – he was the same color as the lava.
Near Kona we also visited the Pu'uhonua o Honaunau National Historical Park. Translated, the "Place of Refuge at Honaunau" it is a restoration of an ancient Hawaiian religious sanctuary in Hawaii. I have to admit that the cultural part didn’t interest me much, but the sea turtles, tide pools and vegetation did. We returned later in the trip to snorkel off this point. I had never tried snorkeling before and found it utterly addicting. I would do it every day if I could. I got pretty banged up and bloody from the coral reef, but it was worth it.
After 4 or so days in Kona, we went around the southern tip of Hawai’i and slightly northward to Volcano, the area where there is an active volcano and many craters from past volcanic activity. On the way we stopped at South Point, which was my favorite part of the trip. We turned off the highway onto a long, narrow winding road on which we passed many little farms (one of which had a pasture full of baby goats), a big wind farm (rowrrrr!) and eventually ended up at the water. Much of this coastal area comprises of severe black cliff walls that meet the clearest, bluest water I’d ever seen in my life. In other places, the rocky “beach” led straight into the water, but the waves were easily 10 ft tall, so we kept a respectful distance.
We spent several days in volcano at another nice rental house – this one was bigger, newer and enshrouded by enormous ferns and vegetation, as this rainforest area is wetter and colder, and of a rather high elevation. We mostly drove around and looked at heat vents and craters. We also walked through an old lava tube (a tunnel forged through rock by volcanic lava from an eruption ages ago), which was touristy, but fun.
Along one of the crater-laden roads, we visited newer lava fields, one of which had engulfed much of a paved road. One of the nights we were there we went to a lookout spot and watched the current lava flow meet the ocean, which results in a dramatic cloud of steam. The darker it grew, the more orange and angry the explosions became. If there were a hell, this is what it would look like. We also visited a black sand beach where we came nose-to-nose to with all the sea turtles that hung out there.
After volcano, we traveled north along the east coast, traveling through another tourist city, Hilo. Along the way we stopped to check out a few pretty, but underwhelming waterfalls. We were back in Kona for Thanksgiving Day and spent the rest of our time there.
Overall, I would move to Hawai’i in a heartbeat, but only for a couple of years. The warm ocean, sea turtles and snorkeling opportunities are a huge draw for me and I miss these things immensely. But… it’s also an island, far away from good restaurants.
So, I’m back at work for another 3 days until winter break. Work is busy, as application season is upon us, so I’m dealing with mound upon mound of mail and tons of emails to answer. Nonetheless, the break did wonders for my morale – I’m very happy to be home (even if I can’t snorkel here); I’m also very glad to be spending time in our new house. We found another bookcase on Craig’s List, so the only thing left to unpack is our LP collection. And despite the rain, I’m very happy to be back on my bike, pedaling everywhere – driving is an out-and-out drag these days. Oh! And I recently joined a new Bikram yoga studio and have been a few times – it feels great to back into it and the hot practice room is a joy, what with our rainy, chilly weather of late. I was sick most of this last weekend (third illness in three months – I think I’ve had my fill, thank you very much), so we cloistered ourselves indoors and watched the tube. Sean rented the batman movie – the recent one. The plot was very intricate for a popcorn movie, I have to say I was impressed. Also, that dead guy is really good in it.
I was really excited to watch Gonzo: The Life and Work of Dr. Hunter S. Thompson, which I mentioned in an older blog post. Well, that was disappointing. It’s true, Hunter lived an interesting life and I always find him amusing, but the movie dragged on and there was a little too much blind hero-worship going on. Oh, and the soundtrack was the same shitty one Terry Gilliam used in his 1998 Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas movie adaptation. Speaking of which, inserting full scenes from that movie into the documentary was just sloppy, a truly bad decision. And I really didn’t need a 20 minute recap of the political climate in the 60’s. Vietnam, Civil Rights? Thanks, heard of them; stock footage of dancing hippies did not teach me anything new. Worst of all, the only text of his they quoted were the most over-quoted passages they could find – passages that anyone who’s ever heard of HST knows – talk about laziness. Jesus, I would have lent them my dog-eared, underlined paperback copy if they were that short on creativity.
Do not fear, I drowned my sorrows over this thoroughly mediocre movie by indulging in season 3 of Weeds. Why is it that only cable stations, like HBO and Showtime, understand that television series can be done well? Which is better, The Sopranos or Two and Half Men? American Idol or The L Word? No contest. I rest my case.
Impressions? The food is pretty lousy, much like Alaska. Most restaurants cater to American tourists, so it was difficult to find anything un-fried. The pineapple is always delicious. Kona (relatively major city on the west coast) has great weather – even when it was overcast the air remained warm. We swam in the clear ocean every day, bought lots of souvenirs (tacky and otherwise) and spent a great deal of time in the hot tub. Besides a hot tub, our fabulous rental house had a huge lanai, beds aplenty (both indoor and outdoor), and a little cat named Eddy to keep us company. From Kona we explored the north point, which is windy; so much in fact that it housed wind farms (alternative energy kinda gets me off). We drove inland from Kona, heading north, through a high, winding road, past farms and rolling mountain hills. We also passed vast stretches of lava fields – swaths of land that are covered with old, crumbling lava. They were fascinating, but also a little eerie. While traveling by these, I spotted a black goat standing in the middle of such a field – he was the same color as the lava.
Near Kona we also visited the Pu'uhonua o Honaunau National Historical Park. Translated, the "Place of Refuge at Honaunau" it is a restoration of an ancient Hawaiian religious sanctuary in Hawaii. I have to admit that the cultural part didn’t interest me much, but the sea turtles, tide pools and vegetation did. We returned later in the trip to snorkel off this point. I had never tried snorkeling before and found it utterly addicting. I would do it every day if I could. I got pretty banged up and bloody from the coral reef, but it was worth it. After 4 or so days in Kona, we went around the southern tip of Hawai’i and slightly northward to Volcano, the area where there is an active volcano and many craters from past volcanic activity. On the way we stopped at South Point, which was my favorite part of the trip. We turned off the highway onto a long, narrow winding road on which we passed many little farms (one of which had a pasture full of baby goats), a big wind farm (rowrrrr!) and eventually ended up at the water. Much of this coastal area comprises of severe black cliff walls that meet the clearest, bluest water I’d ever seen in my life. In other places, the rocky “beach” led straight into the water, but the waves were easily 10 ft tall, so we kept a respectful distance.
We spent several days in volcano at another nice rental house – this one was bigger, newer and enshrouded by enormous ferns and vegetation, as this rainforest area is wetter and colder, and of a rather high elevation. We mostly drove around and looked at heat vents and craters. We also walked through an old lava tube (a tunnel forged through rock by volcanic lava from an eruption ages ago), which was touristy, but fun.
Along one of the crater-laden roads, we visited newer lava fields, one of which had engulfed much of a paved road. One of the nights we were there we went to a lookout spot and watched the current lava flow meet the ocean, which results in a dramatic cloud of steam. The darker it grew, the more orange and angry the explosions became. If there were a hell, this is what it would look like. We also visited a black sand beach where we came nose-to-nose to with all the sea turtles that hung out there.
After volcano, we traveled north along the east coast, traveling through another tourist city, Hilo. Along the way we stopped to check out a few pretty, but underwhelming waterfalls. We were back in Kona for Thanksgiving Day and spent the rest of our time there.
Overall, I would move to Hawai’i in a heartbeat, but only for a couple of years. The warm ocean, sea turtles and snorkeling opportunities are a huge draw for me and I miss these things immensely. But… it’s also an island, far away from good restaurants.
So, I’m back at work for another 3 days until winter break. Work is busy, as application season is upon us, so I’m dealing with mound upon mound of mail and tons of emails to answer. Nonetheless, the break did wonders for my morale – I’m very happy to be home (even if I can’t snorkel here); I’m also very glad to be spending time in our new house. We found another bookcase on Craig’s List, so the only thing left to unpack is our LP collection. And despite the rain, I’m very happy to be back on my bike, pedaling everywhere – driving is an out-and-out drag these days. Oh! And I recently joined a new Bikram yoga studio and have been a few times – it feels great to back into it and the hot practice room is a joy, what with our rainy, chilly weather of late. I was sick most of this last weekend (third illness in three months – I think I’ve had my fill, thank you very much), so we cloistered ourselves indoors and watched the tube. Sean rented the batman movie – the recent one. The plot was very intricate for a popcorn movie, I have to say I was impressed. Also, that dead guy is really good in it.
I was really excited to watch Gonzo: The Life and Work of Dr. Hunter S. Thompson, which I mentioned in an older blog post. Well, that was disappointing. It’s true, Hunter lived an interesting life and I always find him amusing, but the movie dragged on and there was a little too much blind hero-worship going on. Oh, and the soundtrack was the same shitty one Terry Gilliam used in his 1998 Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas movie adaptation. Speaking of which, inserting full scenes from that movie into the documentary was just sloppy, a truly bad decision. And I really didn’t need a 20 minute recap of the political climate in the 60’s. Vietnam, Civil Rights? Thanks, heard of them; stock footage of dancing hippies did not teach me anything new. Worst of all, the only text of his they quoted were the most over-quoted passages they could find – passages that anyone who’s ever heard of HST knows – talk about laziness. Jesus, I would have lent them my dog-eared, underlined paperback copy if they were that short on creativity.
Do not fear, I drowned my sorrows over this thoroughly mediocre movie by indulging in season 3 of Weeds. Why is it that only cable stations, like HBO and Showtime, understand that television series can be done well? Which is better, The Sopranos or Two and Half Men? American Idol or The L Word? No contest. I rest my case.
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