Electric Ladyland

slow but productive saturday

i must've been tired... didn't wake up until around noon today.  felt good, though.  got plenty of longstanding errands done while the weather was more or less nice -- mailed some packages, went to the bank, that sort of thing. 

sold some books at the strand, too.  the tattooed fellow gen Xer working there took note of all the japanese novels and asked to my astonishment "日本語できますか？" -- "can you speak japanese?" to which i happily replied that i can and added that i was surprised to be addressed in japanese.  i think he was surprised to have it coming back at him and so he switched back to english but i'm pretty sure he was fluent and testing me out.  not sure what the deal was with that but i always get a kick out of running into another stealth nihongo speaker. 

speaking of good ol' nihongo, when i checked my email i found notices from mixi saying i had messages waiting for me there.  gorgeous K (who i know in real life) had sent me a friend request and responded to my japanese blog posting.  neato!  there are definitely some interesting people on mixi and i think it's going to be just interesting from a social aspect to see who i run into there.  i've been taking advantage of mixi's itunes integration to share what music i'm playing, too.  that's a really neat feature.  i also like the  足跡 (footprint) feature that lets you see who's been stopping by to look at your profile. 

today i also stopped by bamn! for some snax.  that was fun.  i got the mac & cheese croquette (they spell it kroket... i don't know why) and the teri burger.  both were pretty tasty without being outstanding.  that's kind of how i'd felt about the pork bun i'd had the weekend before.  nice and definitely blessed with the novelty factor seeing as they're in little vending machines surrounded by peppy music, but otherwise not that much to write home about.  i do like the concept of the place, though, and i'm going to keep trying them out from time to time.

other than that, just taking it easy.  the weather's cooling down and it's a nice night to curl up under plush blankets with the window open.  i've got a good book to read -- hari kunzru's transmission -- and am enjoying the peace of the evening.

tgif...

woah, what a week.  i think this is the week it started to get crazy workwise.   we're now ramped up into high gear.  figures -- october is when this big project i've been working on for most of the year comes to fruition.  it's an exercise in gonzo multitasking.  there are definitely not enough minutes, enough seconds in the day.  somehow it's getting done, though, and it's all looking good right now.

i'm feeling better.  the cold seems to be going away bit by bit.  tonight i'll get a full night's sleep and then i expect to be in nearly normal shape tomorrow.  i'm going to spoil myself a little and just enjoy the day.  it'll be nice to have a little flex time -- i barely spent any time at home this week.  a lot of it was social (went to pravda with friends last night and that was a kick) but even with that factored in i'm glad to be curled up at the old abode right now.

kanji class started up again tonight.  lots more people in class than usual.  they're all freaking out that the JLPT is in 2 months, i think.  suckas!  (just kidding.)  we've been studying since june.  i feel pretty prepared.  rocked out on the first warmup exercise we had (kanji on/kun readings) but the other exercises got tougher.  vocab kinda slapped me around.  that's all right, though -- there's time.  don't think i'm going to be the model student in october given my work schedule but i'm going to keep up with it as best i can.  it's exciting just to be with other people who are really into studying japanese.  after being the worker bee nonstop and wearing that identity all week it's really good to put on another identity for a while, that of the avid student.  i thought i was tired when i got to class but the subject matter really revved me up and i was raring to go with all kinds of energy i didn't know i had by the time we left. 

spending a little time thinking about the vacation (oh, that...).  it's coming up, probably in november.  i'm beginning to think about where i might want to go, what i might want to do.  i'm hatching a tentative plan but not yet quite sure about how i'm going to put it all together.  more as that develops.  if it pans out as hoped it will be the perfect antidote to the work-work-work theme that has been dominating my life narrative for lo these many months.  you know what they say about all work and no play and i ain't having that!

mixing it up

yawn.  i am definitely out of it.  i shouldn't even be writing this since i'm still sick -- i should be counting sheep.

buuut... tonight's excuse is that my buddy invited me to mixi, pretty much the japanese version of myspace, and of course i had to check it out.  so now i'm all networked up a la japonaise.  between friendster, myspace, linkedin and now mixi i'm kind of wishing i had a social networking aggregator of some sort.  this is a lot of social networking.  you never know what'll turn up.  what i do know is that there can't be a lot of american women sashaying through mixi.  this english-language writeup on mixi says there are's a community for americans there and it numbers about 100 people or so.  not bad... yanks representin' more than i thought...

well hey now!  i've been registered no longer than an hour and here comes an email from a japanese university student working on her thesis concerning cross-cultural communication.  she wants to know what i think about the reasons japanese smile in uncomfortable situations.  that was fast... and it's just like being back in japan.  i feel at home already.  ;-)

whoa now there...

i have had to really slow down.  this past week got off to a great start but when i went out to celebrate some success at work on tuesday night things took a wrong turn and i haven't quite recovered.  the shift in mood can be summed up by the change of music i've been listening to:  tuesday it was the vines rocking out with abandon, now it's aimee mann being melancholy and philosophical. 

back to our story.  so yes, i was in the mood to celebrate on tuesday night and i met up with my friend for dinner at the brick cafe, one of my favorite restaurants in new york.  lucky for me they're right here in astoria.  i've been going there basically since i moved to the neighborhood and have had some downright transcendent meals that i still remember.  brick is where i first discovered both sancerre and armagnac.  tuna tartare was never on my radar before i luxuriated in it at brick.  i like all of the staff and have been bringing friends to this place for years, getting them hooked on the food and ambiance too.  dad and i have had many special family dinners there.  so you could say i'm a devoted customer! 

however, something went horribly wrong on tuesday night and i don't know exactly what it was.  i chose their gnocchi special and i wasn't feeling it.  neither was my friend when she tried it.  i thought "oh, well, no big deal.  everybody has an off day."  dessert came a little later -- a little chocolate-espresso mousse special -- and that tasted lovely but i started feeling ill as soon as i began to eat it.  my head was already hurting by the time i got home.  it developed into a nasty case of food poisoning that kept me up the next two nights and would have sent me home from work on wednesday had i not absolutely had to be there for something.  i was gingerly touching my stomach from time to time the rest of the week hoping i wasn't going to hurl.  my appetite vanished too.

friday we had a half day for rosh hashanah and i was hoping to go out and enjoy it.  the weather was even lovely...  but no dice.  i felt so awful that i could only go home and curl up, try to get some sleep.  the sleep wasn't coming either.  i plopped in a netflix DVD -- fist of legend.  that considerably lightened my spirits.  it's always inspiring to witness what someone can achieve at peak form, no matter what their art or profession of choice.  it was good prep for yesterday's trip to see fearless, which also stars jet li but this time as huo yuanjia, the founder of the chin woo school also central to fist of legend's plot. 

my condition turned into a cold yesterday morning.  woke up with a sore throat and a runny nose.  as i left the house i slowed down to about 10% of my usual pace.  it was like walking through a tub of glue.  a movie was about all i could handle.  although my friend from work had said fearless wasn't that great i still wanted to see it on the big screen since it's jet li's last martial arts film and i don't regret going.  i actually liked it quite a bit.  i liked following huo's personal journey from self-interested arrogance to a broader, more compassionate worldview.  i was surprised to see nakamura shidou playing the japanese martial artist tanaka.  i'd only seen him in ai ni yukimasu, a totally different film (ghostly love story, definitely a chick flick).  now the internet tells me he's from that nakamura family and is a well-established kabuki actor. that guy gets around.

after the movie got out i went to pick up some bottled green tea at m2m in the east village, thinking i should try to flush out my bug since it had morphed into something more usual that could be attacked with lots of fluids.  so i went.  green tea, mint tea, water, more green tea, more water... and i think it helped.  stopped by a japanese friend's house in the neighborhood and showed her how to set up her own blog.  it was a lot of fun!  she's using it to promote her writing and kodansha is publishing her book in just a few weeks so the timing could not be better.  i think we came up with something pretty good on the first shot and now she's off and running.   that was really neat.

now i'm munching on slices of ginger and back to the heavy liquid regimen here.  water to start with, then we'll move on to some other beverages during the day.  i think last night's sleep helped me make a little progress with the bug.  we'll see.  whatever the case i should just take it easy again today.  it really sucks when something stops you in your tracks but when your body speaks, you have to listen.

l'attaque

i really was planning on writing more last week.  in fact i did draft a pretty good post but typepad chewed it up (!).  pretty wiped out at the moment from having spent all yesterday afternoon rallying at the park so i'll just post one little ditty.

a couple of times during the past month i have innocently strolled through the frozen foods section of whole foods, minding my own business i'll have you know, when a pint of this leaped from one of the freezers and tackled me to the ground.  oh god.  i managed to dodge it the last time i was there but it was a near thing.  and it was just as well.  i think the foodies have discovered my naughty little secret because the shelf was noticeably empty all of a sudden.  i haven't tried all the flavors but i can recommend both the pandan and the red fire.  didn't know what pandan even was until i was accosted by it.  i did, on the other hand, know vosges haut chocolat rather well from previous trips to their soho store.  if you don't know about them, trust me -- you want to.  yum.

all our love is here

the sky is exactly the same, radiant blue with glorious sunshine, as it was that day.  it's the same and yet it's not.  i went into the city to do some writing about it.  kept looking out the window of the cafe and the sky was still the same.  uncanny.  i kept checking.  after i'd come to a good point in the writing i walked out of the cafe and went to buy two bouquets of pink roses.  went downtown, the first time i've been there on purpose in a very long time.  i've mostly avoided going there.  the memories are fresh and raw and very present.  i used to work there, you see.  as i got out of the subway and started walking around the familiar district i was struck again by the thought that it's the same and yet it's not.  that neighborhood has come back to life and i have moved on too.  i spent a certain amount of time at the gate looking at the spot where everything changed for me, my loved ones and the city that is my home.  remembering this day is both communal and personal.  i placed one of the bouquets there, leaving with them the memories and emotions of that place and time.  brought home the other bouquet to remind myself that although a part of me remains there, life is going on and there is beauty in the here and now.

limping to the finish line

ok.  us sox fans don't have much to laugh about these days.  the guys over at surviving grady have also finally decreed, after yesterday's horrific loss to the royals (tied into extra innings and then a 6-run 12th?  wtf?!) that the fork has been stuck in us and we are done.  they're comparing the afros of white baseball players now. 

i agree with the onion's take on our season:  "yankees-red sox rivalry running dangerously low on storylines."  but i do have this little piece of comic genius, also from the onion, to lift my spirits:  "alex rodriguez placed on emotionally disabled list."  other headlines include "a-rod also leading yankees in grammatical errors," "post-game comments reveal a-rod unsure whether yankees won or lost," and "a-rod has some creative input on baseball card photo."  oh, also "the media:  are they ganging up on a-rod?" and "a-rod:  i hate being a new york yankee." 

as i stare down the september calendar realizing the the leaves will soon fall and we will face an uncertain hot stove over the winter, i do at least have the memory of the mitt sandwich varitek fed to a-rod.  my dad tells me a-rod said something akin to the following at a press conference after that game:  "i could have taken him!  i'm a lot stronger than i look!"  i dunno, a-rod.  1:  you went head-to-head with a catcher.  2:  jason varitek's thighs are bigger than i am.  3:  the red sox had some serious pent-up anger to unleash on the yankees.  you do the math. 

what's fascinating me now: square word calligraphy

wow.  wow!  some days you just run across something that rewrites your understanding of what an art form could be.  that happened to me on friday night when i paid a visit to the brush and ink:  the art of chinese writing exhibition at the met museum.  the times had just published an excellent review of the exhibition and that was all the nudging i needed to make a pilgrimage.  i read the review that morning and was there viewing the works on paper myself that evening. 

i don't know much about chinese calligraphy.  so far what i know comes from my japanese calligraphy teacher.  i've heard about wang xizhi from him for starters and wang's revolutionary calligraphy is represented in this show.  the only other chinese calligraphy i would know anything about has a japanese connection:  the monks who fled china and founded the obaku sect of zen in japan turned out what still is my favorite calligraphy.  that's it, though -- i certainly didn't have any other knowledge of chinese calligraphy in the way i am beginning to have knowledge of japanese calligraphy and contemporary calligraphy, well, i had never seen much of that.

then comes xu bing and his square word calligraphy.  here is someone i would like to meet.  he's taken kanji radicals and adapted them into a roman alphabet form which he's used to create square word calligraphy, english words that look like chinese characters.  the artist's web site describes it this way: 

[Square word calligraphy] intends to fuse written English with written Chinese.  English letters are arranged in square word format to appear like Chinese characters, yet remain legible to the English speaker.  When people try to recognize and write these words, some of the thinking patterns that have been ingrained in them since they learned to read are attacked, challenged.  It is the artist's belief that people must have their routine thinking attacked in this way.  While undergoing this process of estrangement and re-familiarizing with one's written language, one can be reminded that the sensation of distance between other systems is self-induced."

here's what the primer looks like -- this is where you learn to associate radicals to roman letters...

and here is another section from the scroll where you're being instructed in how to hold the brush.  if you look closely you'll see that those three characters to the right of the drawing actually say "hold the brush."

and this is what some of his square word calligraphy, not from the primer but from a separate standalone work, looks like in runtime.

...

i'm still processing my initial reactions to this.  i did not expect to see anything this far from the norm of what i'm used to and i'm thrilled about it.  it speaks to me.  here is someone trying to bridge the gap from the other side, creating meaning out of the gap itself.  brilliant and bold.  i love it.  i'm going to try to get my calligraphy classmates to come see this show with me.  i know i will be going back several more times before it closes.

i'm channeling miranda

as if this were even a surprise... it turns out that if i were a character from sex and the city i'd be miranda.  yep, sounds about right although i think we all have shades of the others too (a little vampy samantha's a good thing from time to time as is a little fun-loving carrie... charlotte, well, she's a bit fastidious for my taste but you never know).

i got plum exhausted halfway through the day.  allergies are back too.  silly online quizzes are about all i've got juice for.

You Are Most Like Miranda!

While you've had your fair share of romance, men don't come first Guys are a distant third to your friends and career. And this independence *is* attractive to some men, in measured doses. Remember that if you imagine the best outcome, it might just happen. Romantic prediction: Someone from your past is waiting to reconnect... But you'll have to think of him differently, if you want things to work.

Which Sex and the City Vixen Are You?

system crashes i have known

while helping my mom work out her OSX bootup problem i came across this great apple support article.  an excerpt:  "you turn on your mac and you expect to hear that crisp chord macs are famous for. but instead of the usual startup sound, you hear a noise that sounds like glass breaking or a series of musical beeps. this is your mac's way of telling you that something's not right."  love it.  i have heard both the breaking glass and, back in the days of system 7 or 8 i think, i recall hearing a car crash.  i even heard the funeral dirge associated with the sad mac.  in more recent times with osx i've experienced a kernel panic.  oh, system crashes i have known...