Hours of Entertainment

This is the cutest thing EVER. I just want to squish John-John's little face off.

Go on YouTube and type in "Classic Sesame Street."

You will not be disappointed.

Random Question

OK, why is it that on regular work days, even when I get up right when my alarm goes off, I am ALWAYS running late, but then on days like today, when I have a little leeway in my schedule, and I even let myself sleep in a bit, and take an extra long shower, I have plenty of extra time to do things like put on makeup, check my email, mess around with my iTunes, and write this blog post???

Not Celebrity Obsessed

Photo credit dlisted.com

Okay, I am, just a little bit. So what if I read Dlisted every day? It is a worthy news source. How else would I have found out that Jamie Lynn Spears is pregnant?

I guess it should come as no surprise that Brit-Brit's 16-year-old sister is knocked up, but it would be nice if someone in that family got an ounce of sense. I mean, how difficult is it to NOT get pregnant? She knows how to go to the drug store and buy a pregnancy test, but not how to get on birth control? Puh-leeze.

Part of my celeb obsession can be traced to my friends, but I think another part of it is that my job requires me to be patient, understanding, and mature at all times. I can't be mean to anyone, even if I think they deserve it. So watching celebs eff up their lives, and having the liberty to say snarky things about them, is a good outlet for my mean streak.

Bring it on, Spearses. Bring it on.

Chinese Ancestors

Just a shout out to the parking gods -- came home at 11:00 on a Saturday night and snagged a spot right in front of the house. I heard there are something like 500 fewer parking spots than there are cars in San Francisco, so this was a huge deal.

There have even been cases of people getting killed trying to save parking spots, or attacking meter maids (or men) for getting a parking ticket.

It's vicious out there. Anyone who has ever been to SF has a parking horror story. In all my years here, I've been extremely lucky. I'm super anal about driving and parking safely here, so I've only gotten one parking ticket (knock wood). I had one infamous former roommate who got at least two a month, and even somehow managed to get a ticket after she had sold her car and moved out of the country.

I have a secret weapon for finding parking that was passed on to me from a good friend. I share it sparingly and hold it in great reverence.

Speaking of Chinese Ancestors, take a look at this.

Thirty, Flirty, and Fabulous?

Thirty is looming on the horizon. I can see it not far up the road, sharpening its fangs. They say 30 is the new 20, but I'm not sure about that one. True, a lot of my friends are doing the things in their thirties that women of previous generations were doing in their twenties (figuring out their careers, buying homes, getting married, having kids, blah blah blah), but it's not exactly the same.

First of all, telling ourselves that "thirty is the new twenty" as we see actual twentysomethings roaming around us with their exuberant grins makes it even more depressing. Also, some of us aren't going to be doing the things that our friends are doing in their thirties until we're in our forties...or maybe not even then.

And so what? It's hard not too keep a tally of all our perceived imperfections, especially if we compare ourselves to people we know, but it rarely does us any favors. If anything, it just shows us how different we all are, even though we come from the same generation, hometown, college, or community.

Maybe I'm just trying to be optimistic as the beast waves menacingly at me, but who knows? Maybe it's hiding a red balloon behind its back for me, and all it needs is a nice massage and a cocktail to make it less monstrous.

I remember why...

This is a direct response to my last post, musing about why I don't spend enough time with my good friends here in the Bay. I remember why now. My wallet and my body can't handle it. Oof.

What would we do, baby, without us?

Fun fun fun! I just had the best time in New York with my crew. A lot of them are former SF-ites who have left the Bay, but, embarrassingly enough, some of them are good friends who live less than a mile a way from me, who I haven't seen in months.

How did this happen?! We used to hang out every weekend! I guess life gets in the way sometimes, but we all realized how lucky we are to have such a great posse. I'm hoping we will all see each other again soon (though I'm not sure my liver can handle it), but I hereby pledge that I will see my SF buddies a lot more often. Swear. Sha-na-na-na!

P.S. States of New York and/or New Jersey: we apologize for running that tollbooth.

Eat, Pray, Whatever

Photo credit Penguin Books

I finally succumbed to pressure and read Eat, Pray, Love. If you haven't heard of it, you're probably a man. This book is one of those Oprah-induced phenomena that every woman over the age of 25 seems to have read. I know several women who say this book "changed their life."

I have been hearing about it for a few years, and almost bought it on several occasions, but something held me back. I generally hate books that are "one woman's journey around the world to find her own path within her heart" type of things. I hated The Alchemist (I know, I know, that's like saying I hate baby bunnies).

But a good friend recommended it, and I was stuck in the airport for a few extra hours and decided to bite the bullet. I read it almost all in one sitting (at the airport, on the plane, on BART -- there was a lot of sitting to be done).

The good news is that I liked it more than I thought I would. The writer, Elizabeth Gilbert, is very likable and funny and a very good writer. My favorite parts were from the beginning through the section where she spent four months eating pizza in Italy. The praying part (in India) was kind of a snooze. I think she quoted one of her friends saying something like, "I so wish I wanted to do that" when she told them she was going to live in an ashram in India for four months. That's how I feel, except I don't even really wish I wanted to do that. By the time she got to Indonesia ("love"), you knew she was going to find love, so it was just a lot of skimming until she found it.

The title kind of gives the plot away, but I guess the plot is not so much the point. "It's the journey," or whatever.

Three stars, if I could Yelp it.

Of course Hollywood is turning it into a movie starring Julia Roberts. Lame. I also found out that an article Gilbert wrote for GQ was turned into the movie Coyote Ugly. Ouch.

Paused

Lately I feel like my life is stuck on pause. I see all kinds of interesting and tantalizing things in my future, but I can't access them. It's quite frustrating.

Isn't it the Buddhists who believe in living for the moment and turning a blind eye to both the past and future? That's a tall order, and I admire anyone who can do it successfully. As a capitalist society, we are taught that the more we work and gain now, the more enjoyable things will be for us in the future. We go to work so we can earn a vacation. We are nice to people so they will be nice to us later. We invest in the stock market with the hope of future profits.

It's difficult to imagine a purely existential life. The future is not always so far off. It's happening. Right now. And now. And now. And now.

New Niece!

This is my new niece, Reeya:
Possibly the cutest thing ever, with the exception of her brother (it's a tie). For a newborn, she's pretty darn adorable. Now my next statement may generate some controversy, and I hope I'm not cursing myself, but I stand by it: not all babies are cute.

I know it's not their own fault, and that doesn't mean that they won't grow up to become more attractive, and that they aren't already wonderful and amazing little people. But some of them are funny looking.

I don't have anything against ugly babies and scary children in public, but there seems to be a very high frequency of them in advertising. I can't understand it. Why would you want a scary kid to sell your product? It's not good for business.

Photo courtesy Fisher-Price website

Boo!

My Dick Cheney jack o'lantern.

Homey

San Francisco summer is in its last throes, I think. October is really when things heat up here, and last night was warm enough for Rrrr, TV, and I to head out to the beach! We even caught a glimpse of some bioluminescent creatures as we clawed through the sand at the water's edge.

One of our conversation topics was home. Things in my house have been somewhat "eh" this week (drama) and Rrr also shared some similar conundrums. It's so hard to feel really comfortable throughout the day if things are uncomfortable at home.

I left home last weekend and traveled to New York for the J.K. Rowling reading. I knew she dropped a bomb when she outed Dumbledore, but I didn't expect it to be such huge news. I mean, really, what difference does it make to the stories? It's funny how the whole thing has been blown out of proportion. It's not as if she came prepared with a slideshow featuring pictures of Dumbledore at the Folsom Street Fair. Her comments were in response to a very specific question from a teen in the audience. The media is making it seem like the purpose of her reading was to free Dumbledore from the closet.

Anyway, pics from the weekend are here:

pooey

Why are there certain streets that are full of dog poo? For example, Central Avenue between Hayes and Fell tends to be pretty bad. I guess because it's on the way to the park and the dogs can't hold it? It's gotten better lately, though.

The absolute worst I've seen is on Ashbury between Hayes and Grove. There are piles of crap every three feet. I just don't get it -- is there some unwritten code of dog ownership that says you only clean it up on certain blocks? Do dogs just automatically poo when they see poo on the ground? It's SO GROSS.

Signs that the Universe cares

I just two eye-opening experiences:

1) The higher-ups at Yelp must have seen my "Yelp Reject" post, because they invited me to join the Elite Squad. This is as close as I'll ever get to a sorority.

2) I figured out how to fix something on my computer all by myself (with the help of Uncle Internet) and came across the following phrase on a Mac nerd site:

"The last thing you want is a b0rk3d graphical server with no revert options."

I love that there are people who know what that means, even though I have absolutely no clue.

Big Crushes

I have a lot of crushes. Of course there's this guy:
But there's also this guy:
...and this guy:and probably a lot of others.

I can't help it. They're cute! But you wanna know my longest-standing crush?

SFWhere else (except a Björk video) would you see a mailbox that looks like this??
Too cute.

Yelp Reject

After my good friend Rrrr became an elite member on Yelp, I felt an immediate need to jump on the bandwagon. Invites to events with free drinks? Count me in.

But, sadly, I think I am a Yelp reject -- they sent no response to my witty message nominating myself as the coolest new member of the Elite Squad.

I feel like I'm doing the online dating thing, when you email somebody cute a funny/alluring introduction and get no response.

Your loss, Yelp...you'll be sorry...mark my words! (Cue sinister laughter)

La Canción del Paraguas

Why am I obsessed with "The Umbrella Song"?? Why did I translate the words into Spanish? Ay ay ay!!



La Canción Del Paraguas

Tenía mi corazón
y nunca seremos mundo aparte
Quizá en compartimientos
pero usted todavía será mi estrella
Bebe porque en la obscuridad
no puede ver los coches brillantes
y ése es cuando usted me necesita allí
con ti compartiré siempre
porque

Cuando los brillos del sol
que brillaremos juntos
le dije que esté aquí por siempre
dije que seré siempre su amigo
tomé un juramento
permaneceré hasta el extremo
Ahora que está lloviendo más que siempre
sepa que todavía nos tenemos
puede estar parado bajo mi paraguas
puede estar parado bajo mi paraguas
(aguas aguas aguas ay ay ay)
bajo mi paraguas
(aguas aguas aguas ay ay ay)
bajo mi paraguas
(aguas aguas aguas ay ay ay)
bajo mi paraguas
(aguas aguas ay ay ay ay ay ay)

Éstos desean cosas,
nunca vendrán entre nosotros
Usted es parte de mi entidad
Usted está aquí para el infinito
Cuando la guerra ha tomado su parte,
cuando el mundo ha repartido sus tarjetas,
si la mano es dura,
junto repararemos su corazón

porque...

Cuando los brillos del sol
que brillaremos juntos
le dije que esté aquí por siempre
dije que seré siempre su amigo
tomé un juramento
permaneceré hasta el extremo
Ahora que está lloviendo más que siempre
sepa que todavía nos tenemos
puede estar parado bajo mi paraguas
puede estar parado bajo mi paraguas
(aguas aguas aguas ay ay ay)
bajo mi paraguas
(aguas aguas aguas ay ay ay)
bajo mi paraguas
(aguas aguas aguas ay ay ay)
bajo mi paraguas
(aguas aguas ay ay ay ay ay ay)

Usted puede ejecutarse en mis brazos,
es aceptable no se alarma,
(venido en mí)
(no hay distancia entre nuestro amor)
Dejaré la lluvia verter,
seré todo lo que usted necesita y más

porque...

Cuando los brillos del sol
que brillaremos juntos
le dije que esté aquí por siempre
dije que seré siempre su amigo
tomé un juramento
permaneceré hasta el extremo
Ahora que está lloviendo más que siempre
sepa que todavía nos tenemos
puede estar parado bajo mi paraguas
puede estar parado bajo mi paraguas
(aguas aguas aguas ay ay ay)
bajo mi paraguas
(aguas aguas aguas ay ay ay)
bajo mi paraguas
(aguas aguas aguas ay ay ay)
bajo mi paraguas
(aguas aguas ay ay ay ay ay ay)

Está lloviendo
Ay bebe, está lloviendo
Bebe, venido en mi
venido en mi
Está lloviendo
Ay bebe, está lloviendo
Bebe, venido en mi
Usted puede venir siempre en mí
venido en mi...

Why are weekends so short?

This has been one of those weekends where I need an extra weekend to recover.

I went to:

1) Tracy, to sign papers related to the upcoming J.K. Rowling fest.
2) A book club meeting in Oakland.
3) A book fair at Fort Mason.
4) Lunch with friends.
5) A birthday bash that was way too much fun.
6) A wedding expo (and also happened upon a gamers' convention)
7) Back home to SF to meet up with relatives, to sign more Rowling-related paperwork. You'd think we were meeting the President (I'd be way less excited about that).

Now it's 7:30 and I'm ready to pass out. Can't I just take another day off?

Yelp!

Recent reviews by Vandana M.

What's this?

Leftover Lady

I try to limit my TV intake by allowing myself only one show per season. Unfortunately, it appears that "Ugly Betty," "America's Next Top Model," and "Project Runway" will all be on in the coming months. Looks like I've got my work cut out for me.

Did anyone catch tonight's episode of ANTM? These contestants keep getting crazier. My vote for the winner (though definitely not the craziest) this time around goes to the girl with Asperger's syndrome (or Ah-SPER-ger's, as she pronounces it). Although who can forget Jade, a.k.a. "Leftover Lady" from a few "cycles" ago?

Let's enjoy and reminisce, shall we?



Dang, that shit never gets old.

A Gold Star Day!

Today has been a most exciting day. I woke up with a phone call from my aunt, who told me that my cousin M, a huuuuuuuuuuge Harry Potter fan, had won a sweepstakes to meet J.K. Rowling in New York.

I thought this was exciting enough (she cried when she heard the great news), but THEN, I discovered that she was asking me to go along!!! I am so so so excited!!

After a haircut and lunch in Hayes Valley, Rrrr and I discovered the latest art installation on Hayes Green -- The Hayes Valley Historic Miniature Golf Extravaganza. It was completely random and completely fun. Today was the last day, so we lucked out. Rrrr won the game, but it was close.

Next on our list was the beach (it is a gloriously sunny day), but sadly, the sun didn't extend to the beach. So we hit up Golden Gate Park instead and lounged by the Conservatory of Flowers. The Dahlia Garden is currently in full bloom, so check it out if you can. We saw three wedding photo sessions and one for a Quinceañera.

A plus perfect day so far. I'm meeting Ocho and the Bobster in a few to see Across the Universe. So far the reviews have been less than stellar, so I'm hoping my streak of luck won't come to a screeching halt in the movie theatre tonight.

This is amazing

Rubbish and the City

As we all know, I love "Sex and the City." A lot. I watch the entire series, episode by episode, over and over and over again. I can honestly say I've probably seen certain episodes over 50 times.

Lately there's been talk of a "Sex and the City" movie. Here's a news tidbit about Jennifer Hudson possibly playing a role. People seemed shocked that I am absolutely, unequivocally against this plan. Not the Jennifer Hudson part (though as my friend Anne aptly puts it, "Since when has Carrie known any Black people?") -- the whole thing.

Why are you surprised, my friends? Isn't a major component of the show the concept of style and individuality? What is unique about a studio trying to squeeze out every last cent from any decent entertainment franchise (Scooby-Doo, Spiderman, Harry Potter...)? The madness must stop!

Give me my DVDs and leave my memories of the show intact (except for the last two-and-a-half seasons -- those you can have). And don't even THINK about making a Family Ties movie.

Cleaning out the closet

I finally cleaned out the hall closet and, lo and behold, the majority of the stuff in there was...mine. Oops. Guess I was too quick to blame the ghosts of roommates past.

The rest of the weekend was spent catching up with friends and sitting around the house. I also attempted to phone the parents of all my students. I like to call on Sunday afternoons when it's less likely that anyone will be home. That way I can just leave messages.

Most importantly, I managed to go to Tango Gelato two nights in a row. Did you know gelato has half the fat of ice cream?

Did anyone else see Britney on the VMAs and think she looked like she'd been shot with a tranquilizer dart?

Here are some pictures I've taken recently:

It's hard to believe...

So perhaps you've heard about this little piece of celebrity drama.

I do adore High School Musical, so I suppose it's moderately upsetting that the little innocent starlet is posing in the buff (though it's also upsetting that Zac Efron pretends she's his girlfriend. Give me a break.).

But what really gets me is all the comments about how she needs to shave her hoo-ha. Really? Why? I can't pretend I don't fall prey to the obsession with grooming and hair removal to a certain extent, but...really? She needs to? Why? I actually think it's kind of refreshing to see a
celeb with natural anything.

I hope I can watch High School Musical 2 without flashing back to that photo.

Why so slow?

The Bay Bridge was closed all weekend so they could do some retrofitting or whatever so it doesn't collapse again. The job was completed by C.C. Myers Inc., who also fixed the nearby 580/880/80 interchange when it collapsed last May.

In both cases, the work was finished (safely) ahead of schedule.

Also in both cases, the "traffic nightmare" that the news media were eagerly awaiting and predicting never really happened.

This proves a few things: one, that things CAN get completed in a timely manner (Bay Bridge construction companies, are you listening?) and two, that people aren't always as stupid as we look. At least not in San Francisco.

I wonder if C.C. Myers could get hired to do other things quickly and expertly, like reform health care and immigration, plan weddings, or install cable. I'd hire them for sure.

Summer of Love

Yesterday, Anj and I stopped by the 40th anniversary Summer of Love concert in Golden Gate Park. It was kind of a madhouse, but I think we learned several important things from the 50,000 hippies who were there:

1) Driving a Prius brings good parking karma. We (along with a huge line of others) were searching for parking for at least 30 minutes. Out of nowhere, a guy said, "You looking for parking? Take my spot." We flipped a quick U-turn (which was pretty tough, because the street through the park was narrow and there were tons of cars) and snagged a great spot. And instead of being mad at us, the people in the car behind us yelled, "Hot car!" It added to my Prius lust for sure.

2) The older they are, the more fun they seemed to be having. Not counting the babies, who are always having fun, those aging hippies were sure re-living the good times. We saw old hippies doing all manner of things, including turning on, tuning in, and dropping out.

3) Be sure to wear some flowers in your hair. True to form, there were some friendly old folks handing out yellow daisies dipped in glitter to all who wanted them. Everyone was in a friendly and generous mood. I love it when San Francisco is at its stereotypical best. Positive energy, man.

Back in 2007, I'm going to use my energy today to hit the gym and re-organize the hall closet (we'll see if that second one actually happens -- I've been saying I'd do it every weekend).

The Muffin Room

Why is this blog called The Muffin Room? It all comes from my high school days. There was a class of students who I believe were Special Ed kids or maybe they had some types of developmental disabilities. These students had a classroom in which they baked muffins to sell to the rest of the student body. There were blueberry muffins, chocolate chip muffins, and (I think) banana nut muffins.

We called those kids The Muffin Kids, and their classroom was The Muffin Room.

One day, The Muffin Room caught fire. I think one of the ovens overheated or something. Everyone was concerned, but then an announcement came over the loudspeakers: "SRHS students -- do not worry. The fire has been put out and the muffins will still be sold."

No mention of the students. Never fear. The muffins will still be sold.

On the cover of the next issue of the school newspaper was a muffin with smoke curling from the top.

That has always stuck with me as one of the most ridiculous things I've ever experienced.

BTW, if you like to read, some of my friends have turned me on to GoodReads, which is a social networking site where you can write book reviews and read reviews that your friends have written. Here's mine:

Shoes

I hope everyone in the world has seen this YouTube clip.



Like Kelly, I looooooove shoes. When I was in China, all my (clothing) shopping experiences were marred by the phrase, "For yooooou? No, you size too biiiiiiiig. We no have clothes for yooooou."

Dejected, I turned to shoes.

Today I was doing a little back-to-school shopping, and, once again, found solace in shoes. They have been a constant in my life. I have at least two pairs that I've owned since high school. This is not to say that I keep all my old shoes. I love cleaning out my closet, and I'm pretty good about eliminating shoes that just don't work -- even if they're expensive ones I haven't worn much.

But having size 6 feet ensures that, in most parts of the world, at least my feet won't be criticized for their size. If only my stomach would comply, we'd be in business.

Speaking of YouTube, I've posted some of the video clips we took in Mongolia and China. Here's one, of the Naadam horse race we caught in Arkhangai:

Celebrity Obsession

I go back and forth about celebrity obsession. On the one hand, I love juicy gossip, and it's a lot more guilt-free when it's not about someone I personally know. On the other hand, I hate using any mind power on people who shouldn't even be celebrities in the first place (Nicole Richie, Paris Hilton, the Olsen twins, stylists-to-the-stars...).

This one in particular is extremely tough because Wino's actually talented (unlike those listed above) and I am a huge fan of her voice. But she just makes it waaaaaay too easy to stare in disturbed awe at the mess she continues to make of her life. Same story with Blohan, in a way, because she was actually good in Mean Girls, and now she's a total disaster. It's fun to watch, but it's really just sad.

I'd rather watch people who don't deserve to be famous take the hits.

A Different World

I thought it would feel really weird to be back home. I expected to have all kinds of culture shock (driving! diversity! George Bush!) but it hasn't been as strange as I'd expected. It seems like I never left, actually, especially since I came right back to work.

This isn't a bad thing necessarily. I do feel rested from my trip and it isn't like I don't know I've just spent two months in Mongolia. It's just a lot more anticlimactic than I'd anticipated.

Hopefully I won't have a panic attack on Monday morning when the kiddos arrive.

Back Home

After hours of flying, I made it back home to San Francisco. At first I was overwhelmed, especially because my room was not left in tip-top shape by the subleaser. But once I got everything in its place, it started to feel like home again.

Now it's back to work. I've already gone in to school two days this week and it's starting to feel routine. The kiddos come on Monday, and then there's no turning back.

I'm sure I'll have some crazy stories once I meet this year's batch of lovely youngsters.

BTW, Mongolia pictures are here.