I doth affect a liking for this Shakespeare fellow

The guy vlogging is John Green, he and his brother did a vlog project last year that was pretty fabulous.

Emeryville Grafitti

You may recall "Berkeley grafitti" from where I work. Here's some graffiti from my neighborhood. Does anyone know what "nie srag tutag" means?

Cheese; It's what's Not for dinner

Think about all of the yummiest and quickest meals you love. There are grilled cheese sandwiches, Mac and Cheese, Enchiladas, quesadillas, cheesy mashed potatoes, cheddar perogies, nachos, fettucini alfredo and how about cream of broccoli soup. It's an easy list to make.
I can't eat any of them. Since I read about how dairy intolerance can cause acne, depression, lethargy and insomnia (all problems I've had) I've decided to try living "dairy free". So far my "before" and "after" photos aren't exactly a miraculous transformation, but I do have more energy and have been sleeping better, so those are good signs.
Going without milk and butter was a surprisingly easy transition because of good soy substitutes. Unfortunately there is no good non-dairy cheese (Vegans claim that there is but that's only because they have forgotten what cheese is supposed to taste like).
Even if this dairy experiment proves to be inconclusive I have at least learned how dependent on cheese my snacks and dinners have been. I am guaranteed to cut calories from my lack of cheese and butter. Breakfast has been fine. I've used soy milk and soy butter and even found an Amazing vegan pancake recipe. Lunch is ok, mostly I have sandwiches,or soups or rice with vegetables anyway, so that wasn't a big adjustment. Dinner is the hard part of the day. I have to think really hard to avoid the entire list from the start of this post, plus a rather shocking amount of other dairy filled foods. I am fortunate to live in Berkeley where we have at least seventeen restaurants (that I counted) that are vegetarian and four of those are exclusively vegan. Since I cannot afford to dine out every night, I find myself staring at my veggie bin thinking "these would all taste great covered with cheddar cheese." Despite the cheesy longing in my heart, I must admit this is much easier than trying to give up bread. When the Low-carb craze hit I tried to cut out pasta and bread for three miserable days. Every single day I thought about bread all day. By the third day I could smell it everywhere, that was torture. This lack of cheese is sad but really only distressing when I have no idea of what I should eat. The no bread thing was a diet (which I haven't done before or since) if this no dairy thing works out it will be a lifestyle change which I think will be much better for me.

Still, right now cheese would be the Easy thing to make for dinner. I need to add more recipes to my repertoire.

cheese and crackers... quiche... cheesecake... baked brie... Limburger on Rye... cheddarwurst... patty melts... ranch dressing... Oh sigh.

Reason #416

Why Shaggy is my best friend:

After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea,during the time of King Herod, Magi from the east came to Jerusalem and asked "where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw his star in the east and have come to worship him" (Matthew 2:1-2)

They arrived with Darth Vader but low the Darth did not see him for he was stuck in a great black helmet and was deep in ponderance of the tragic disapointment Episodes 1 through 3 had been...(Hammel 12:5-6)

All we like sheep have gone astray... even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death I will fear no At-At (Lucas 4:16)

ok, not yet

no new news today but look here's a pic of my "sleeping" sister... te he he

I haven't quit...

Hi all, don't give up on me. I've been on vacation. I have made a couple attempts to blog over the past couple weeks but for some reason I can't load my photos from here. So I am planning on making a "best of my vacation" post when I return and get a little rest. Mostly however this vacation has been about rest. I haven't even been bored, so I suppose I needed to just hang out and watch the clouds roll by. When I actually attempted to "do something" world events seemed to conspire against anything happening... on the plus side I have been ignoring my phone and my email and love it. Tomorrow is the final day of 2007 so I wanted to wish you all a happy New Year! Look for future posts by Thursday-ish.

Ah Winter in California

Here is the view outside my front window. It is a windy 55 degrees fahrenheit and it has been raining for a couple of days now. I love this weather. The beauty of living here is that although it gets grey in the winter, it's never truly grey. I still have green plants everywhere, I even have a few excessively sturdy blooms in the yard. The wild roses and the unknown vine that has taken over the fence are still flowering. The rain continues to pound down on my roof and although I would love to just sit by the window and enjoy the gloom I have to pull on my boots and head on down to the theater. But there it is, my postcard for the day. Wish you were here.

vacation mind

I have a strike to do, a strike to prep and a cleaning of my house to do in the next four days and then I am scott free for two weeks. I shall be "Out of Town" to the world at large. However... my brain has already mostly checked out. I start cleaning and get distracted by the things I find. Today I managed to clean my car but forgot to pay my bills or truly make any progress at home or at work on the "Great Cleaning" that must be done. I started to purge my wardrobe and found old projects that I had to pick up and work on right there... I started to reshelve my books and wound up reading for an hour and a half before I finally decided to put it down and make some dinner. I thought about going to yoga but in the search for my yoga clothes I got distracted by the dogs and decided to play fetch instead... I can't remember why I opened up my laptop just now, but I just got done watching some youTube and then decided to check email and blogs... and here I am now. Ah... what was I saying? Ooh look, a butterfly...

Guess that Era (Round 2)

Ok there are some really Ugly beasts today;

I want to know Why oh Why this pant and jacket set was created at all. It was made "exclusively for Macy's" Oh the humanity! Can you imagine this coming down the street at you? And what shoes and make up would go with? Ooh...
70's? 80's? The lack of shoulder pads make me lean towards 70's.

60's maternity?

It's hard to tell from this photo, but this is a three piece set. Because of the polyester that the top is made of I'm pretty sure that this is 1970's but I had to share. My quick google "research" indicates that this was probably an expensive outfit to begin with. It was designed by Ken Scott. The jacket and britches feel like upholstry fabric although the lable says that they are 100% linin. It's bad.

This last one isn't so bad, it has a pretty drape, is possibly a silk velvet. I'm guessing 1940's because it looks like something Ginger Rogers would have worn,anyone have a second opinion?


Thanks again. I am nearing the end of my reorganization and hopefully I've done alright with most of it. When my winter break gets here I'll hopefully be able to post blogs involving more insight and better writing...
:)

Day off?

The biggest problem with having a single day off only once every few weeks is that you put so much pressure on that one day. You wake up thinking "I AM GOING TO RELAX AND HAVE A GOOD TIME TODAY DAMN-IT!" and frankly I get so wound up with needing to relax that it spoils the whole day. I turn into my father on vacation (sorry Dad) where I've tried to schedule my relaxation and my fun and then when it doesn't go as planned I get so frustrated. Today I slept past yoga partially because of the drizzly grey weather. I decided to go to the city and see the Marie Antionette exhibit at the Legion of Honor. There had been a big traffic accident on the bay bridge and I wound up getting stuck going 0 to 6 miles an hour for three miles (yes that ate up about 40 minutes of my "fun" time. In my frustration I decided to take the BART to the city because I'M GOING TO THE MUSEUM TO HAVE FUN. By the time I got off the freeway, onto the train and actually into the city I finally took a moment to breathe and realize that to get to the Legion I would need to take the 38 Geary bus all the way across town. To do that takes around an hour (thus the original impulse to drive in). By the time I got to the museum I would have about fifteen minutes before they closed, and that is assuming that traffic is good and the bus is running on schedule. For a moment I thought about going to the MOMA instead but I've seen their collection several times before and I'm not in the mood for modern art, so I turned around and took the train back to Oakland where I had left the car unsure if I had remembered to lock it or not. This all could have been karmic punishment for blowing off my responsibilities and not taking my car in to get smogged, or something... but really I think I'm just so busy and wound up that I shouldn't even try to take a day off until I can take several days off.

ODC Dance

I found this video on youTube. It's a promo for the dance company and the dance I'm working on right now. I really love this troop. Artistically they are fantastic. They have a precision that is top notch and the choreogaphy is beautiful. This promo seems to have been recorded for the younger crowd but does show a few good samples of the show. The Rabbit costume is amazing. I'm really a bit tired so I'm not going to ramble but enjoy the video and when they get to the "narrator" grammaphone keep in mind that the thing is 20 years old, is worn by 2 to 4 different sweaty dancers per show and only has a velcro-on hood that can be washed--- it's disgusting. The Rabbit head is also old (although this one was actually rebuilt a few years ago) but at least has a lot of ventalation available so it's not so bad.

Have you given up on me?

If not, thank you. Let's see, right now I am in the midst of the Holiday season. I'm running a crazy-busy dance show and still maintaining things at the Aurora... I went in and volunteered for Revels for a couple hours (Merry X-mas Callie), I'm building a chiffon dress that is making me crazy but hopefully will be done by Tuesday... and that's about all. I'm planning on writing a few Christmas/New Year/End of Year/Whatever cards and finishing up some shopping... I'm as always hustling up work (but trying to fit it into the available time slots) and generally running around busy busy busy... hopefully in the midst of all that I'll manage to post a proper blog entry or two but really I may just be about stretched as far as I can go at the moment.

Also I am thinking about making Christmas cookies/baking for friends for the holidays... anybody have suggestions beyond chocolate chip? What's your favorite? One of my favorite holiday cookies are pfeffernusse, they're a lovely German spice cookie that melts in your mouth because they're mostly butter and spices with a little sugar and flour to hold them together... yum!

Ok hope to post soon. Keep checking in. Even if I don't know you, tell me your favorite holiday baked good. :)