"i went wee in my friend's living room" and other embarrassing events of last night

ok, ok, i didn't actually go "wee", but "Wii".

yes, i'm ashamed to admit it, but i have a Mii. and it's cute. in my defense, i didn't even know what one was until last night. but now i am a champion cow racer!

embarrassing-event-of-the-evening #2: i punched the birthday boy...in the stomach.

i didn't know he was the birthday boy! in fact, i still don't even know his name. what i DO know is: he shouldn't have been standing behind the door like that, as i came out of the restroom at the sushi restaurant. and i DO know that he didn't come back to his table for a very long time. oops. and all his friends were looking for him because the waitress was bringing ice cream with candles in it. sorry, birthday boy!

quotes of the day

Be nice to geeks. Chances are you'll end up working for one of them. -Bill Gates

MySpace is coming of age. That's why it's so awkward and lame. -The Bohemian

They say that Rome wasn’t built in a day. They say it like it means something, like they’re proud of it. But it doesn’t matter how long it took to build. Who cares? What’s important is that Rome didn’t fall in day. That’s the point. -Jim Page

life lesson

when you're sitting IN a small cupboard, don't pass gas.

more later...

what's the world's general opinion of smugmug?

the name sort of triggers a gag reflex, but it seems like it's an OK system...

pepsi gets naked

i just read an interesting article about fresh juices.

i've always been unable to resist grabbing a Naked Juice when they're on sale. it's just SO good! but apparently they've sold out to "the man". people say that american soil is the one safe place for do-it-yourselfers, entrepreneurs, and small businesses. but if everyone ends up selling out to the monopolies in the end, is it really better?

odwalla is another culprit. not only did they sell out to coca-cola, now coca-cola's employees, when restocking odwalla juices several times per week, shove small competitors juices to the back of the cooler and place their own product in front. the comparatively small competitors have to run themselves ragged, going from store to store to ensure that their product is even visible.

apparently this also happens in the wine business. like, people go around store by store hiding other people wine behind their own. this strikes me as extremely LAME. i bet these were the same people who peeked during hide-n-seek in their childhoods.

part two (a day later, after remembering related stories):

just before leaving my beloved portland last year, one of the best coffee chains also SOLD OUT. Coffee People has--well, had--cool drinks and even cooler employees... 'til now.

Starbucks buys Coffee People stores, hippies mourn.

oh, and chipotle-- the construct-your-own burrito shop? now owned by McDonalds.

also, Wild Oats, the natural food store has been bought out by the food giant Whole Foods, better known as "Whole Paycheck".

at least there are still farmer's markets, craft fairs, saturday markets, antique stores, and vintage shops.

and there are small businesses, doing things the way God and the Founding Fathers intended it to be. among my favorites:

Nomadic State of Mind-- rope sandals (like the ones i wore on my wedding day), cool t-shirts, other hippy accessories.

Anna Bannana's-- funky coffee shop, with the motto: Coffee should be Sweet as Love, Strong as Death, and Black as Hell. -Turkish Proverb

St. Benoit-- yogurt made from local milk and sold in reusable ceramic containers.

The Next Adventure-- alternative and 2nd-hand outdoor gear. also, super employees.

Oregon Holly-- A family farm, in operation since 1942.

Liberty Natural Products-- essential oils, herbs, scented waters.

i spent a sunny, spring sunday with seven friends, serenading the sleepy town of napa.

we started out at a cafe, moved to the lawn of the "records building", strolled down the street to another cafe (yes, playing and singing the whole way), made it onto several tourists home videos, got kicked out of the 2nd cafe, played on benches in the park... surrounded by curious skater kids, some bums, and 3 old ladies who had the hots for stephen barker (they gave him $2). our responsible friends bid us farewell at this point, for it was late afternoon.

but then, the napa trolley stopped right next to us. we were unable to resist the fact that it's FREE, so we hopped aboard with our guitarist, our banjoist, our harmonicist, and a plethora of vocalists. the trolley driver was so excited by the break in monotony that she nearly wrecked the trolley... multiple times! at one point, as stephen and charles were imitating a female vocalist (we were passing through the outlet mall parking lot, as bystanders stared) the trolley conductor was almost in hysterics.

at each stop the driver would slam on the brakes, we all sliiiiiid forward along the benches, midsong, and a mystified napa resident stepped on board. we would move guitar necks, songbooks, and legs to allow the new rider pass, all without missing a beat. the driver pulled the bell rope CLANG-CLANG, stamped on the gas, we all sliiiiiiiid back the other way on the benches, and off we went. we rode the whole circuit, finished "The Lakes of Pontchartrain", and stepped back off at the park where we began, despite encouragement from our fellow riders to complete the circuit once more.

did i mention...

...that my favorite exhibit at the budapest museum of fine arts was the hippo skull?

who knew?

Every invention has an official birth date. For the Cube this date is 1974 when the first working prototype came into being and a patent application was drafted. The place was Budapest, the capital of Hungary. The inventor's name is now a household word. At the time, Erno Rubik was a lecturer in the Department of Interior Design at the Academy of Applied Arts and Crafts in Budapest.*

The first Rubik's Cubes were exported from Hungary in May 1980.

--from http://www.rubiks.com/lvl3/index_lvl3.cfm?lan=eng&lvl1=inform&lvl2=medrel&lvl3=histry

*i've been there! a gorgeous building with a unique green-tiled roof and gold trim.

why do pregnant people still wear white wedding dresses?

"well, i'm back in california. yeah, i'm at the store, buying flip-flops."

-me, from a telephone conversation yesterday

everyone has their own revolution

just listened to jim page's tragic song about andres raya, which spurred me to do some research. it seems that both sides exaggerated their story, but this guy wrote a short story that helps civilians understand what he was thinking on january 11, 2005.
among the interesting tidbits i found during my research:

At a time when the military is hitting our high schools, malls and soda shops, looking for fresh recruits, talking tough about patriotism, honor and duty, who will tell the story of Andres Raya? Who will give testimony to the dark side of war? Who will talk about the Gulf War Syndrome, the soldiers who threw their medals away, or the veterans who could no longer endure? Who will tell them why daddy turned to drugs or ended his own life? Who will tell them about Hearts and Minds or Johnny Get Your Gun?

It is time to get the military out of our high schools or, if they will not, it is time to call on the veterans of war for the other side of truth. If we send our kids to war without giving them the full and unvarnished picture of what they will face, we are almost as guilty as the warlords themselves, who never served, who never risked their own lives or the lives of their loved ones, but who are perfectly willing to raise the flag for the Fourth of July parade.

--from www.dissidentvoice.org/Jan05/Random0114.htm

ps: just found jim page's blog, with it's 1000 word anti-starbucks rant.

would YOU make a recipe called "Squash Surprise"?

culture shock

the other day people stopped to let us cross the street. like, we were still on the curb when the cars both ways came to complete stops to let us cross. we really didn't know what to do. in budapest, drivers pay no attention whatsoever to pedestrians until the latter are actually IN the street; then they floor it just to watch you run.

we walked about 3 miles today, without stepping in a single doggy-surprise. either all the dogs around here are constipated, or people are actually picking up after their pets.

we can communicate with the people around us. we can buy bus tickets without difficulty. i keep thinking to myself, "wow, his accent was perfect!" then remembering where we are, and that their accent is perfect because ENGLISH IS HIS FIRST LANGUAGE.

i understood more than 3 words at mass tonight.

the money doesn't have 2 extra zeros at the end (i.e. coffees don't cost 400, just 4).

there are trees and green stuff, even in cities!

people park next to the curb, not up on the sidewalk.

i can keep my money and cards in my back pocket, rather than in a secret pouch in my pants.

veggies, veggies, and more veggies!

It's a grand ol' flag...

one day we were antique shopping in budapest; the next, we were driving across the golden gate bridge.

easyJet should be called sleazyJet. seriously. they come by with steaming cups of teas and tasty treats...that cost money! then they come by again with duty-free items that they are CONVINCED you want! THEN they come by and try to sell you lottery tickets!!! ON A PLANE RIDE!

but we survived. we made it to london, took a bus and two tube rides, then realized we still needed another tube ride. however, it was now 12:30am and the trains had all stopped running! we trudged off into the darkness in pursuit of our hostel, as a cold drizzle began to fall.

cut to 3 hours later: we are now in a hotel lobby, watching a show about slaughtering sheep, charging the laptop so we can look up the hostel again, before we head back into the rain. we got to bed at about 3:30am, then arose once again at 6:30am, to have some toast and head back to the airport.

at the airport, the British Airways folks were extra cheery, as usual, but all the large screens TVs were tuned to the morning's breaking news: a horrific plane crash in indonesia. luckily we are not bothered by that sort of thing, but i don't know how the other passengers handled it.

"Now boarding rows ONE through TWENTY-FIVE."
"It appears that the front wheel of the plane caught fire as the plane landed, causing it to burst into flames..."
"Now boarding rows TWENTY-FIVE through FIFTY."
"...killing 22 people."

we were so exhausted that we fell asleep before the plane took off. we woke up only for meals, and to watch an embarrassingly-high number of Family Guys. we felt so rested that, once in SF, we opted out of the direct-bus-to-marin option, and decided to take regular public transit. two trains, two buses, and one car ride later we arrived at g-ma t-tine's doorstep to surprise her! we hoped our unexpected arrival wouldn't bring on a heart attack, but luckily g-ma t-tine is a strong woman. her reaction was no stronger than mild surprise, followed by a hurried search for my favorite type of wine, then a flurry of dinner preparations.

we still are shocked that we were REALLY gone for 3 months. how is that possible? our return to SF has made the passage of time seem more real--it was the dead of winter when we left, but now every shrub and tree is in full bloom. the air is warm and fragrant, the sun is shining, and everything is that light, bright green color of new growth.

we did it. we returned to the country of our birth. i wouldn't call it our homeland; germany is the land of my fathers, and the land that feels like most like home. but, technicalities aside, we are here. in the States. "...where there's never a boast or brag."

we spent the past few days with 4 alabamans...

...i know, but they were cool once we got used to them.

they are all architecture students, so we had interesting discussions about sustainable buildings and home design. they all volunteered to come help us build our cob house, whenever and wherever that might be. walking around the city with them was a new experience--we had been becoming a bit blase about the gorgeous buildings, like the locals--but they helped us to see the city in a new light.

our hostel was great the whole 3 weeks we were there, but the last week was the best. we loved our little loft; it was like a tree house, looking down over the rest of the room. we could see our church out the window and the church bells woke us up every day at noon (yeah, yeah). all the guests/residents that last week really clicked, and rather then going out with one or two of them, as in the previous weeks, the ENTIRE hostel would go out en masse! there were the alabamans, the two of us, a hilarious german couple, and whatever hostel employee was on duty that night. there was also a couple from los angeles who only spent one night, but kept coming back to visit us at mandragora. we played music, played drinking games, walked out to margaret island, introduced everyone to our favorite little cafes and bars (Dz and i knew of some that even the hungarians hadn't been to!), bemoaned the doggy land mines in the streets, broke hostel rules, discussed ideal city planning, stayed up late and got up early, cooked for each other, learned each other's languages, laughed and laughed and laughed, and vowed to visit each other whenever we got the chance.

we compared the experience to summer camp (except coed & with alcohol), Real World Budapest, and a college dorm.

alternate reality

Q: so, what did YOU do this saturday?

A: oh, nothing much; just hung out with dirty joe and his male friend who owns 60 pairs of shoes*, at a greek restaurant in budapest, hungary, drinking beer and having a saccharine pills fight**, then hiked in the pouring rain for 5 hours. that's it.

*he has a girlfriend.
**i do not recommend drinking beer that has more than one saccharine pill in it.

some things that europeans do just make sense.

apparently the US leads the inventions and technology game, but there are some basic things that americans don't have, but should.

like, washing machines that actually spin the water out. here only the most inferior models spin at 1000rpm, but that is the normal spin speed of american washers. the better european ones do 1600rpm, and the best even hit 2000rpm. the clean clothes come out of the washer nearly dry, eliminating the need for a drying machine (the clothes air-dry in less than a day). also, european washers use only 4 or so gallons of water per load, but american washers use 4 times that much water per load. so the "high-tech" americans use much more water to wash their clothes, then leave much more of that water in the clothes so they can use far more electricity to dry them. hmm.

example #2: showers here have two knobs. one is for water temperature, the other is for water pressure. the water temperature knob has actual numbers on it, so you know what you're getting into (what the hell does a line that's half red and half blue mean, anyways? numbers are much better). so you can set the shower exactly how you like it, then turn the water on, and there are no surprises. no fiddling with knobs, while standing butt-naked outside the shower, alternately freezing and scalding your hand until it's a comfortable temperature. just put the knob to 40 degrees--Celsius, that is--and it's perfect every time.

also, the temp knob has a safety feature: in order to turn it hotter than 40 degrees, you hold in a small button on the knob. my husband had an interesting incident just before we left the states (sorry, honey) that involved catapulting bottles of shampoo which hit the temp dial, consequently scalding him. such unique events as this could be prevented by a safety feature on the water temperature adjustment knob. but seriously, kids scald themselves all the time. it just makes sense to have a small reminder that, ok, now i'm using really hot water.

example #3: small cars. why do people think that transportation vehicles must have all the accoutrements of their living room? all that is really necessary is a space slightly larger than one's body, in order to move the body to another location. if the distance travelled is great enough to necessitate more space than that, TAKE THE TRAIN!

example #4: small ovens. who really needs to bake eight trays of cookies at once? the wastefulness of maintaining a temp of 400 degrees (i'm back to Fahrenheit) in a space twice as large as will ever be used, is crazy. certainly we all have the special occasions on which we have 3 pies and a turkey in the oven, but how many times in the rest of the year do we heat a huge oven, just to warm one loaf of bread?

#5: 6-hour work days. oh, yeah.

#6: espresso and a pastry for breakfast. so civilized, so much more refined than platters of eggs&bacon&potatoes&sausages&gravy&toast with cups of coffee and tea and glasses of orange juice and milk and water and where's the bathroom?!

more craigslist fun

among the places we will NOT be living:

$450 pregnant and only 19 need room to rent asap!!
I am very resposible and trustworthy . i am 19 and single with a baby coming on the way soon . i need a place to stay very soon . cuz i dont wanna live in the streets with my new born baby so if anyone can help please e-mail me back.

right, honey. i think "very resposible" might be a slight exaggeration.

$575 Clean & Sober ? - Fun Household seeks Roomate in Recovery

fun, hunh?

$500 Beauty & Nail stations for rent

yeah...no.

$775 / 1br - UPDATED ONE BEDROOMS ON MENDOCINO AVE., NEAR J.C.

i'm a big JC fan. i even belong to a church he started.

$215 / 3br - Whales,Whales, Panoramic Oceanfront, Pet Friendly

cool, cuz i have this pet whale...

$600 Huge room above garage/ pull down ladder

that might be worth $600/mo. no, i've thought about it, and NO. it's not.