James Taylor Madness

Cool, calm, smooth. That's James Taylor, right?

According to the guards at the gate, who didn't bother doing a serious check of our companions' carry-in items, "This is a pretty low-key crowd. We're not too worried."

Jess and I didn't receive a pat-down at all. They didn't search our stuff. I think it's safe to say they weren't worried about riots at the James Taylor concert. Would you be? I wouldn't. In fact, I wasn't.

Well!

If you've never been to the Greek Theatre in Berkeley, it's important to point out that it's fundamentally different from run-of-the-mill Amphitheaters in terms of seating: assigned seats are on big stone steps, as opposed to those stadium-style flip-open seats. So when you sit down, the person behind you has their feet right next to your back.

The people behind us were evidently getting sloshed early on. Sometime at the end of the concert -- I believe it was either the last song (before encores) or the first encore -- the woman sitting next to me (my mom's friend) suddenly jerked forward, as though she was supporting a huge weight. Sure enough, a person had toppled onto her, and a split second later, I was also being pushed forward.

In a setting like this, that's probably the only thing you worry about: "I hope no one loses their balance, cuz this could get ugly!" (it's just a giant set of stairs)

I thought someone had passed out, or was trying to pass in front of people and lost their balance. Nope. Just as I'm turning around to see if everyone was ok, people around us started yelling "STOP! STOP IT! GET OFF OF HIM! STOP!"

Seriously, folks, it was a James Taylor concert.

Jess and I jumped to our feet and stood in the aisle, trying to get away from flying fists. The fight would go on for another minute or so before two cops came down toward us. Of course, remembering that we're on a giant set of stairs, and this guy is drunk and throwing punches, it was hard for the cops to approach him. So they didn't. They just let him continue to fight as they called for back-up.

They got a third cop involved, and they all still stood far away from him until he calmed down (stopped punching and swearing at people). Then he sat down and started examining his leg, which was apparently bleeding.

Eventually, the whole group decided to get up and leave (including the fighty guy), and things calmed back down. My mom said someone stepped on her hand in the mayhem (the tip of her thumb was black with trapped blood -- it's amazing more people didn't get hurt, in the cramped conditions).

Seriously, folks, it was a James Taylor concert.

Other than the fight and minor injuries, it was an excellent concert. A beautiful night to be outside, listening to a soothing singer-songwriter. Sorry you missed it, everyone who wasn't there.

I try to like butterflies.

It's still Summer. Jess and I live in a somewhat foggy area (it's no San Francisco, but it's cool and moist many evenings/mornings), so it doesn't always feel like Summer at home. But I'm reminded that it's Summer when I think of my schedule...

Seriously, I'm an introvert. I like to stay home and do quiet things (read, sit, think) to recharge/refuel. But ever since someone turned the sun on back in May/June, I've been busy trying to act like a social butterfly. Two of my friends are taking the marriage plunge this year (one already did in June, the other will in September) and because they're female, that means three party dates each: bridal shower, bachelorette party, wedding ceremony and/or reception. In addition, my mom is renovating two houses. Jesse and I moved, we did some renovation in our new place, and August brings both Jesse's and my birthday.

So, my quiet time has been cut back, due to everyone's need to take advantage of the Summer sun. Jesse and I tried to get away from our hectic pace last weekend by driving up to Yosemite and picnicking by a lake. It was really nice. Unfortunately, we did have to come back home. And now I'm at work, accepting and denying meetings, answering questions, and planning parties and gifts for other people's parties.

In fact, our intern had his last day yesterday (it's the end of Summer), so we took him out to lunch. My team at work is raucus and upbeat, so it was fun. Because of my recent trip to Yosemite, I was reminded of something I told my mom a few months ago: In the Summer, when you drive across Central California, you kill multiple specimens of California's bug species with your car's front end. I mentioned to her that she might not ever drive to her vacation home in eastern California if, before she left, she was given a tray of bugs and butterflies and a baseball bat, and told she had to beat them all to a pulp before she would be allowed to leave for vacation.

Is that mean? The lunch crowd recoiled and laughed uncomfortably at the story. Oh well. Sometimes it's hard for me to know if I'm funny or just inappropriate.

My book

Well, it's not really my book, because he wrote it, but it is for me, which sort of makes it mine. My book!

Jesse's writing me a novel. It's called The Amber Lantern, a bedtime story by Jesse Harlin. For those of you who don't already know, Jesse has made a habit of reading to me before bed. It's so relaxing, and it's so sweet -- I recommend that all boyfriends do this for their girlfriends. Yes, ladies, I read to him, too, but he's so much better at it, and he has the patience for it -- it's so great!

So, of course he's incredibly creative. Visual artist, musician (duh) and writer. He tells one great bedtime story after another -- but he's writing this one down! And it's chock full of inside jokes and references to us (you'll have to get these out of me one-by-one.. I don't want to post a list of inside jokes, because, you know.. then they'd be outside jokes).

So the copy I got for my birthday is an official, bound version, containing the first three chapters. So far, Jess has read the first chapter to me -- I wish I could tell you what the whole book's about, but he won't let me read the back cover, and the whole book's not done yet anyway. ;) I can tell you that the first chapter sets the story on Kipiki Luni Island, with a dragon who's learning to fly, and a decorative tin monkey with a colorful past, who've just met a shipwrecked duck. It's all very exciting to me -- I'll tell you how it turns out. ;)

Thank you, Bug! I know it's not my birthday yet, but I love my present, and I think you're the sweetest and the best! Tippit, Bug!!

This is how I pulled it off...

Jesse said he'd let me tell you all how I pulled it off. I was super busy, and this is the first chance I've had to write. So, here goes...

I figured out what I wanted to do, then I told Ry (Jesse's brother) that I was thinking about it. He showed me some other Chicago-style pizzeria that shipped complete pizzas. I called Italian Delite. Anthony said, "Uh, not sure.. but I know it would be a bad idea to ship the complete pizza. The sauce would ruin the dough." Anthony also said to "Call back tomorrow. Frank will be here. Joe's here today, and I can tell you right now, Joe would say 'no.'"

Okay, so I called Frank. Sweet, helpful Frank. He said Italian Delite was thinking about doing this as part of their normal business, but it hadn't been fully explored yet. Long story short, he really wanted to help. He offered to freeze the pizza dough, sauce and cheese for me. He wanted to ship it himself, but his suppliers weren't calling him back, so we resolved that Jesse's mom (Karen) would have to do the legwork. Luckily, she was willing and available!

I called dry ice retailers (for obvious reasons), shipping companies (price estimates, ability to ship dry ice), Acme and Wawa and hardware stores (trying to find a styrofoam cooler). I also needed to get directions to all of these places, in the correct order, because Karen's internet connection was on the fritz.

SO! That's the prep. Lots of phone calls, taking notes, organization. Then I called Karen mom and explained the whole plan -- she was game! Sweet. Frank, at Italian Delite, said he didn't want me to pay for the pizza until he heard whether it worked out for us. I'd say it did!

Poor Karen got lost once or twice, because places weren't where they said they'd be, and the whole thing took a few hours, all told. But with the cooler, the pizza ingredients, and the dry ice, packaged up, she made it to FedEx by the Overnight-shipping cut-off time, and it made it to California without a scratch!

I needed a lot of time, after work, to get the pizza ready. The sauce was still frozen, and the dough was way too cold to rise. So I asked Jesse to go to Radio Shack to buy a memory card for my digital camera, because I needed to take pictures. It worked perfectly! He bought the excuse, and it bought me more time.

It's really, really hard to press pizza dough super thin. Really hard. I gave up on using my fingers (my arms were hurting), and I can't spin dough, so I used my rolling pin to finish it(Sorry to all the pizza snob foodies reading this).

I set the oven to 450F a good 45 minutes before I put the pizza in, so it was really hot. I put the dough on a thin metal pizza pan with holes in it, dressed it with a healthy amount of sauce and cheese, then put it in on the bottom rack.

It wasn't but 2 minutes later that Jesse got home. Then I started panicking -- I didn't know what else to say to him to keep him from knowing what was going on. I was hiding it the best I could. (Cook, dammit, cook!) Then it was done (I hoped), and I showed it to him -- the rest is history.

Happy Birthday (last thursday), Bug!

After all this anticipation...

...I won't even get to fill my readers in on what the "big deal" is about my plan(s) for Jesse's birthday! I'm going to have to let him fill everyone in...

Doh.

I've been waiting so long to be able to tell everyone.. =D

Oh wait, no I haven't.. Everyone I come into contact with on a daily basis pretty much knows. (Except Jesse--heehee!)

Anyway, it IS his birthday, but if you know the plan(s), please still keep mum! HE doesn't know yet.

...at least, I don't think he does...

Tomorrow, tomorrow.. I love ya!

I WISH I COULD TELL YOU ABOUT JESSE'S BIRTHDAY.

I'm starting to think I can't wait.. I have a lot of nervous anticipation. I hope he likes it.

I know he'll like it.

And I'm doing a lot of baking tonight.. I'm making cupcakes and banana bread. And I also have some coffee cake mix I might throw together for a birthday breakfast... we'll see if I have enough time or energy.

I'm babbling.

I'm excited! I wish I could tell everyone BUT Jesse, but he's probably my blog's most consistent reader. =P (Hi Jesse -- it's only a day away!)

I don't bring you flowers anymore...

Yeah, so I hardly ever write. While some may not appreciate my neglect, I'm sure that Jesse will, eventually.

His birthday is Thursday. Thursday! It's Monday already. I'm obsessed with preparation. We'll see if he enjoys the effort I'm putting into it.. If so, he'll tell you all about it. If not, he'll probably tell you all about it. =)

Unfortunately, since that's all I think about (other than Jesse and tiling), and I can't talk about it -- because you-know-who reads this blog -- I don't have much to say here for the time being.

T-shirts galore!

You should check out Threadless.com .. they have quite the unique t-shirt collection for sale.

All are different.
Some are...tasteless and funny, cute in a disturbing way, sweet, creepy yet artistic, blasphemous, disaffected, attempting to make a point, or otherwise awesome in general.

I know some of you will enjoy poking through these new t-shirt options. I know that I will definitely enjoy seeing them around. Have fun! =)

YAY! I figured it out!

So it's still early, technically, but I have decided on what to do for Jesse's birthday. Watch for more details in his blog, as I'm sure he'll update people as more is revealed to him.. =D =D

keep livin' your vidas loca

Phew, this is a good little afternoon laugh... do read up, enjoy, and comment away.

"Sometimes it feels like nobody understands your rebellious, genre-defying crew of goth-rocker pals—am I right?"

Look no further.

It's Birthday Month again...

...and as always, Jesse's up first.

All you people in relationships where your birthdays are far apart from each other: rejoice. Jesse and I both have August birthdays, two weeks apart. And they're fast approaching.

I almost always wish my birthday would come first (in fact, we swapped birthdays last year, but it didn't work out so well). He's so creative, and I feel pressured to make his birthday great. Not that I don't *want* to anyway, but the fact that my birthday is looming shortly after his makes it intimidating -- "What's he going to do for mine? Will he think his birthday is lame in comparison with his plan for mine?"

Doh.

Oh well.. I have eight days left, and counting. I hope it goes well -- wish me luck! I have lots of ideas, but as a procrastinator, I'm not allowed to decide on a final plan yet.

And now I'm listening to Techno Squirrels

You know, it might seem bizarre to switch from Vaz Hoil to Techno Squirrels, but they're actually closely related and strangely good together. =) Do check them out, and enjoy!

Yeah, yeah, yeah, I'm listening to Vaz Hoil

Luv Spackle, to be precise. It's music like this that puts a smile on my face and helps me to get through the work day. ;)

Thanks, Vaz Hoil!

I'm old.

I just got home from a business trip. I was upset at the lack of organization and planning for our arrival -- they didn't even really know why we were there. And I was really thirsty, but they didn't provide free drinking water to anyone, so I had to buy it for 55 cents. I thought that was an outrage. Not even drinking fountains for their workers. Unheard of.

Let's get back to that first sentence.. business trip. Wha? Am I old? Shouldn't I be running around Europe with a backpack and no permanent address at this stage of my life?

On top of that, while in Sacramento on said trip, I met up with an old friend from High School. We haven't spoken in five years. FIVE YEARS. Where does time go? This means that, while Travis and I were very good friends from sixth grade through high school, Jesse has never even met him. That's just weird.

My life is beginning to get segmented into eras. But, with any luck, the Era of Poop will be drawing to a close soon...

Illness, business, entertainment and #2

I've been sick for the past several days. It started in my throat on Saturday, then became general congestion/coughing/sneezing. Today it's basically congestion. I worked from home Monday-Wednesday, and I'm making an appearance at work today, though I'm probably just passing my germs around. =( Sorry, work people.

Anyway, life's good. Jess and I are trying to spend time together, but it sometimes feels like we're still long-distance. He went on a business trip last week, and I'm going on a business trip next week -- weekends are too short as it is, and I'm leaving Sunday night for Sacramento. Yay, work. =( ...it's like we have careers or something.

On another work-related note, Jess bought me Tetris last week (while he was down in LA on business), which was awesome. I have to get better at that game, so that when people play it at work, I have a chance of playing for more than 5 minutes without getting my butt kicked.

On a non-work-related note, I've begun to read The Da Vinci Code, which is probably the most entertaining book I've read since my junior year of High School (I essentially stopped reading for pleasure after my senior year, because they gave me so much to read that I cracked!). I'm not a particularly fast reader (I sort of have to absorb every word on the page -- I can't just skim. I have to hear all the dialogue in my head), but on the first day, I read 50 pages or so. Then yesterday, I read another 200. I only have another 250 pages to go or so, so I might just finish it tonight. Totally addictive.

While we're not talking about work, I should bring up that Jess and I watched the new reality show premier of Brat Camp last night. These "brat" teenagers are dropped off at a survival camp aimed at teaching them about routine, respect and resposibility. All the kids look like my friends from high school. It was entertaining, and I want to see what happens in later episodes -- I guess that means it's good TV. And who doesn't like a good story about campers being confronted by the fact that someone anonymously went number two out by a bush (and was dubbed the "phantom dooker" until they confessed)?

Anyway, talk amongst yourselves. I'll give you a topic: Jess and I seem to be surrounded by random poop right now in our lives. What's that all about?

Flaming passionate love.

Some guy set himself on fire before proposing to his girlfriend.

Wow. I'm not really impressed -- I'm mostly just disturbed by this. I hope they're really just nice, normal people (is it possible to label them as normal at this point?) who will have a long life together, complete with interesting stories to tell their grandchildren... Good luck, guys!

Weekend Ketchup

If you're one of those weird Americans who pronounces that word [k a tS * p], then you get it. If you're like me, pronouncing it [k E tS * p], you're probably slightly confused, and maybe the post won't even help much.. but here goes:

It was a long weekend for me. I notified my manager long ago that I'd be taking Friday off, because it was the day I was due to be out of my old apartment, etc.. so I knew I'd need it for unpacking at the very least. Turns out, my work gives two days off for the Fourth, so I had Friday, Monday and Tuesday.. that's a five-day weekend. Sort of like a work week, when you consider that we mostly unpacked and coaxed our new kitty out from under the sofabed in the office. In any case, there was no romantic camping or picnicking for the five-day weekend. Just hanging out at home and erranding out occasionally.

So, aside from getting the cat, my only news is that Jesse is gone for the next few days, and I'll be "mostly hanging out at home and erranding out occasionally" for the rest of the week. =P

Oh, and here's a "shout out": my friend from college (and work now, too), Chelsea, got married on June 25th (she just got back to work today, so that's why it's coming up now -- you don't want to post about these things before it has been confirmed!). ;) (I'm kidding -- sheesh!) But the best part is that she got married on the beach in Jamaica. Congratulations, Chelsea and Shaun!

...ahh, NOW it makes sense why my weekend wasn't all that notable.

Let's help the guy out...

If not for the science, then at least do it because MIT houses the famous Professor Emeritus of Linguistics, Noam Chomsky.

Show some love for Linguistics (or MIT...and blogging). =D

Sooner rather than later...

We're going to get Phillip early! Since Jesse and I have decided to dedicate our long weekend to rest and relaxation instead of camping (which is a form of R&R, but not when you've already been packing and unpacking living supplies from your car for weeks), we're going to bring Phillip home on Friday instead of Tuesday.

Since Phillip is generally unpredictable, but usually in the garage at night, we're actually going to go over to my mom's house tomorrow night, and wait for the cat. My mom said she'd lock Phip in the garage, if she saw her around tonight.. otherwise, we're just going to have to hope she's there Thursday night.

We're pretty much ready.. we went to a pet store last night and bought various scratchable things (a carpeted post, a hanging thing for a door, a box of cardboard strips) and other supplies, like cushy pads we can insert-under-cat wherever she decides she likes to sleep, a few toys, and a litter pan & scoop. Oh, and I ended up getting that sliding glass door cat flap (from Craigslist), so... Bring on the pet guardianship!

While we're talking pets, you should check out BadRap.

Music and Philli-Prep

Bonjour mes amis.. =D

I'm excited about welcoming Phillip the cat into a beautiful retirement. She's due to join us as a member of the house on July 5th. (For those who didn't already know: Pip was an indoor cat until my mom got a dog. The cat promptly moved out to the garage because the dog wanted to eat her .. now, we're going to give her a dog-free environment for the rest of her days!)

I found a nice cat door on Craigslist that won't drain the bank, so I hope that works out.. and I want to go on a shopping spree for pet supplies as soon as we get two minutes of spare time (we're still big into the unpacking thing).

Aaaand Jesse got me a present yesterday -- the new Black Eyed Peas album, Monkey Business. Very nice. So, here's my shortquick review: it's great. It's a well-produced variety of high energy, club-style tracks with some great guest talent. I especially like the Jack Johnson-assisted track, Gone Going. Good stuff. It's definitely keeping me awake today. =) Thanks, Bug!