Wednesday, January 31, 2007

kinkajous = healthy and other ways that tuesday was really dull

as promised, yesterday was a total wash and rated a 1.2 on the richter scale of thrillingness. (richter had many scales. seriously. the guy was *really* into rating stuff!)

that's not to say that i wasn't busy. i got a lot of things scratched off my to do list(s) but who wants to read about that?

anyway, i did notice something really obvious. the more the drawing on a kid's cereal box resembles a real animal, the healthier that cereal is.



case in point, my amazon frosted flakes with recognizable kinkajous on the box has three ingredients and ain't a one of 'em artificial coloring.

they're tasty but god, i really need some froot loops with a generous portion of cherry pop tarts sprinkled over the top. i crave red no. 5 today.

changing subjects here, i'd like to mention that one day, one fucking day, after i reopen my damn rakka account on flickr, the email stating that a yahoo login will be required on march 15 made the rounds. i am so fucking annoyed. it makes me wonder how much longer i'll be keeping the old account open.

anyway, i've got to go be boring. wednesday is another day that i need to fill with embroidery and other painful things.

Tuesday, January 30, 2007

eat your heart out in two ways, a pacakage from japan!, a trip to ballard

since valentine's day is only, what?, 16, 17 days away, i've been thinking about hearts. oh, who am i kidding? hearts figure prominently into a lot of things that i make. i'm not sure if i lurve love, if i'm just being sarcastic or if it's a mixture of the two.

if i was betting, i think i'd put my money on answer number three. maybe. don't trust me though, i can't really pick the ponies like i used to.

anyway, hearts. yesterday i carved one out of an apple so it'd looked like i'd eaten my heart out.



and then i lit it with an led. because i can.



and then i took a picture of this nice cow drawing that was on the side of our sour cream container.



that has nothing to do with hearts. but, you gotta' admit, it's a pretty nice cow drawing for store brand sour cream.

while i was taking the cow photo, there was a knock at my door. guess who it was! my favorite postal worker! hooray!! "it's a package from japan!!" he said. (i have a sneaking suspicion that he's just as excited about the intl mail that i get as i am. in fact, he still doesn't believe that i'm from the states or at least he pretends to believe that i'm not from the states. it makes us both laugh.)

so what was in my package, you ask? why, i'll tell you! MATCHA KIT KATS!!!!! AAAAAAAAAAH!!!



A CUP NOODLE MUG!!!



A KOMANEKO PLUSH!!!!! DOUBLE AAAAAAH!!!



check out the detail on his little paw!



and he has eyelids on his cute little eyes!



it's so close to the original komaneko that i gasped when i opened the box. i'm not embarrassed to admit that. (ok, maybe just a little embarrassed. but so what?!)

also included were these little lucky owls!



i'd ordered them with my gift certificate since i've got an owl thing as of late.

i also received a soybean plant with a message.



i think it's going to say "congratulations" when it sprouts in about four more days. right now though, it's only planting material.



what's truly awesome about the soybean is that i can repot it when it's finished sprouting. hooray for my very own soybean plant!!

right when i'd finished sorting through my jlist package, j called wanting to get lunch. since he's been on a phở kick lately (and he's caught yet another cold, poor guy!) we made the trip to ballard and than bros.

we met up with leff outside of verite/royale



where he was getting coffee with s and a. (hi, s and a! big tent!! big tent!!!)

across the street, i ate blurry veggie phở which was, as always, delicious.



um, it's not always blurry though.

after lunch, leff had to go back to work and j indulged me in a short trip to the library. it was there that i found a book about him.



ha ha! i'm kidding j! you're not contagious. ha ha!

seriously, just j/king, j.

and that was monday. komaneko and i enjoyed the trip back to lqa. well, at least until j punched him in the head after i took this shot.



today is a day for waiting on groceries so i'm not expecting anything exciting to happen. although there's a new "veronica mars" on tonight. so that could be fun.

Monday, January 29, 2007

omg! the wienermobile!

sunday was just as boring as saturday which is fine with me but is really dull for you. i read a lot of a laurie foos book, watched many episodes of "columbo" and then took a short walk after i got this call from leff:

me: "hello?"
leff: "the wienermobile!!! it's just parked on some street!! gah!!"
me: "i am *so* there!"

and i was.







and that was all the excitement that i could handle for the day. because, shortly after the thrill of a hot dog shaped car? i promptly returned to book and tv, this time with lemonade in hand.



i watched four hours of "law and order" and i enjoyed every damn minute of it.

this morning, peel has been dancing around the keyboard, glaring at this picture of stardust.




if she could speak, i'm sure she'd ask "how the hell did stardust get that white spot on her fur?!? that's MY white spot!!"

no, really. she'd say that. and then she'd mention something about bears before she trotted off to eat some of her breakfast. HAHA! (sorry, inside jokeland.)

so now i'm left facing monday. if i wasn't waiting on packages, i'd probably head to the sculpture park. but i AM waiting on packages, so how i'll fill the day remains to be seen.

Sunday, January 28, 2007

saturday=nothing

honestly, after my last day at el job de crap all that i did on saturday was read, nap and watch old movies. it was nice but it doesn't make for good blog fodder.

this morning has been just as eventful. which is to say, i've done nothing but watch a few episodes of "hare and guu" and think about eating breakfast.



that would be a photo of the breakfast that i've been thinking about eating.

i'm not sure what i'll be doing today but, hopefully, it'll be more interesting than what's happened in the last 24 hours.

Saturday, January 27, 2007

root bracelet update, catz and not too much else

i just realized yesterday afternoon that i never posted an update about the bunny carrot and potato bracelet a la amy sedaris that was hanging in my closet to dry. the finished result?



it shrunk in size by about 45%! and the bunnies not only turned a different color but they are now all twisty and distorted looking. wow!

friday also saw the arrival of catz. (warning: music!!)

i adopted a little calico that i named jigen.



ok, yeah, i know. calicoes are always female and jigen is a boy's name but shut up. it's only a game.

catz is cute and all but i think i'm almost finished with it. i mean, i already have felines in rl and they're more fun to play with than a sim kitty. no offense to little jigen or anything.

one last thing before i go! 826 seattle is hosting the edible book festival again this year and i've been asked to contribute something to the new silent auction! i've got until april 1st to finish whatever it is i that make so i'll be posting updates about it the closer i get to the deadline. i'll be uploading the step by step to my old rakka account on flickr if you'd like to follow along. (and i'll try to make it brief for those of you who find this sort of thing tedious.)

*fingers crossed that i can come up with something cool enough to not disappoint them!*

ok, time to go to my last day of employment at the suck job. ciao, chicken nuggets!

Friday, January 26, 2007

a dull thursday with a radiohead impersonation and a botched attempt at jeopardy tryouts

i don't feel bad about having a dull thursday. it was, apparently, a slow news day for everyone in the emerald city if this front page of the pi is to be believed.



a dog behind the wheel of a car. seeing that headline made me feel like i was living in the land of the timbertoes and, jesus, but i hate the freakin' timbertoes.

the highlight of yesterday (if you'll pardon the pun) was getting my hair dyed. see? i look like thom yorke in the "no surprises" video!



i should've spent that time more productively and read a trivia book instead of us weekly. but noOOOOoooo. it was brangelina and brittany for me. *major eyeroll at self*

you see, i bombed the jeopardy test last night.



for me, that blurb should read "thank you for taking the JEOPARDY! ONLINE CONTESTANT TEST! your test scores are currently being tabulated by the JEOPARDY!contestant department and being laughed at quite loudly, you ignorant freak."

seriously, last night it was all dynastic rulers, tall ships, mountain ranges and sports figures. i know about none of these things. ask me about ceasar chavez and the 37 different schools that he attended, the 53 churches of christopher wren or, hell, even crossword clue "elevator", 4 letters (otis) and i'm your girl. but i know nothing about golf champions. for reals, cochise.

a'right. time to blow this popsicle stand and get ready for a cheap ass quesadilla and rainier beer blowout tonight. i might even build a fort, hide out under it and read comics. although we don't have that ugly couch any more so i'll probably have to use the kitchen chairs....

Thursday, January 25, 2007

and i'm back

hey, kidlettes! i hope that you had a refreshing few days. i know that i did.

so what's new in rakkaland? well, i ate some tasty lettuce,



blueberries



and oranges.



and it was sunny for a while. so that was nice.



i also hung out with the cats. ms peel liked "strawberry marshmallow"



but clouseau didn't.



last night i waited in line



for the new siff space to open. (there wasn't a movie. i think we were bribed to stand in line just to see how well they could handle the influx of a capacity crowd.)

thankfully, i remembered my headphones because some incessantly chatty moron was behind me in line. he talked nonstop for an HOUR! sheer hell for the people around me. a bit chilly but otherwise not so bad for me and my jpop.

oh, here's the new interior if you're interested.



i was mainly there for the free tickets to the janus 50th anniversary film festival.



yes, my future self will thank me in march for standing in line for those tickets. hooray.

anyway, in short, the break away from the keyboard did me good. much decompressing, some studying and other assorted things varied and sundry. as for tonight, i have online jeopardy tryouts. wish me luck!

Monday, January 22, 2007

i'm takin' a break

from the internets for a few days. no, nothing's wrong. i just need to step away from the keyboard for a while.

see you regulars on thursday or friday!

the olympic sculpture park and the seattle aquarium

before i start writing about art and fish, here's a photo that j requested.



isn't it cool and crafty how he uses orange peels to keep his car smelling fresh and citrusy? yes! i agree! (hee hee!)

right, on sunday we FINALLY made it to the sculpture park. i was, like, OMG!



we're finally going! ok, i'm lying. i wasn't jumping around in excitement but i was looking forward to seeing the finished park.

sam had lots of fun activities on sun including ice sculpting



and an art camel.



i missed the free umbrella giveaway though. dammit.

but i did get to see the new serra!



it was pretty awesome but i can understand how disruptive his sculptures could be in a confined space. (read about the "tilted arc" controversy in nyc's federal plaza if you're interested.)

also at the park was a metal nevelson. it was the first free standing version of her work that i'd ever seen in person. i'm more familiar with her wooden works like this one.



i love that photo 'cause it kinda' looks like we know the kid in the blue coat. we don't.

ah! the iconic calder!



and michael mccafferty (?? i'm sorry if i got his name wrong!) wearing a joseph beuys inspired straw suit!! how awesome!



(mr. mccafferty was responsible for the placement of the sculpture in the park (at least i think that's what his role in the project was.) and i believe that he is now one of my favorite people in seattle!)

there was one blight on the park, however, and that is, of course, the copyright on the oldenburg.



remind anyone of the stink in chicago's millenium park with anish kapoor's cloud gate (a.k.a. "the bean")? yeah, copyright in public space is bullshit. so here's a photo.



oh, and fuck you, oldenburg.



ahem. moving on. there is a *lovely* bourgeois sculpture. here are two views.





it changes at the hour and the father and the son can never see each other eye to eye. when i'd first read about this work, i had the misconception that somehow hydraulic lifts would be used. i'm *so* glad that it's not the case.

mcmakin's "love and loss" is not yet completed



but it'll be great when spring arrives. as it is, it provides a fun iconic picture. you know, needle & eagle.



har to the freakin' har.

and that, chicken tenders, was the sculpture park. there's a lot more to see but it was capital crowded yesterday and leff and i wanted to visit the aquarium while we still had energy.

guess who was there? a sea otter!!



and a harbor seal!



the aquarium is a little smaller than i had expected but it was well designed and a large part of it was open air! plus it had a cool rotunda type tank.



that's where this fish



and the diver



were located.

aside from the tidal pool



my favorite part was, of course, the octopus section. they're so friendly that you can shake their tentacles!



ok, not really, that octopus is plastic, but you can see the real octopus' tentacles.



and they're FAST!!!



the jellies were also awesome. some kick ass photos of leff's. (actually, most of the photos today are leff's. he was carrying the camera yesterday.)





i've loved jellies since i lived in baltimore. i used to visit them at the pier in fell's point.

there was also a play area with squid.



i heart squid. and felt. felt and squid together was just...awesome.

ok, this post has gone on long enough and i need to see how leffstar is doing. he's got a flu type thing, poor guy. anyway, i'll leave you with a photo of sex changing fish.



dude! sex changing fish!!