Winter in Berkeley

the minutiae

Chilly Berkeley afternoon. Spent the day recovering from a busy week.  I've had coffee beans that needed ground taunting me, finally I can have coffee tomorrow morning... NPR, laundry, researched projects, had tea with friends... took a walk as the sun skirted away... not a bad Sunday. 

Goodbye Hostess

In grade school Twinkies were the trading gold of the school yard.  Everyone would pull out the lunches lovingly packed by parents and then the elementary version of the stock exchange would begin. A Twinkie could get you anything from just about any school lunch.  Chocolate puddings, followed by other flavor puddings and then chips were usually next in line.  If you wanted a Twinkie for a Chocolate pudding usually there would need to be a sticker or a "best friendmanship" thrown in to sweeten the deal.  Peanut butter and jelly sandwiches were sometimes good items to trade although in grade school I had an aversion to peanut butter and found that my cream cheese and jelly sandwiches held little trading value.  It was okay with me since they were also usually made with my Dad's amazing homemade sourdough and to me that was worth way more than a Twinkie (but shh, don't tell those other kids with their Wonderbread (also made by Hostess) PB&J's).  Most of my lunches held almost zero trade-ability.  I begged my Mom for Lunchables to no avail but instead got carrots and celery, and cheese wrapped in ham.  I actually liked the foods my Mom packed but it was a matter of status if you arrived with junk food in a cool lunch pail you were clearly superior to the kids with healthy things in paper bags.  You could trade for fickle friends and ice cream bars how can that be unappealing to a kid?  I don't recall eating a Twinkie or a Ho-Ho as a child but the allure was amazing. I probably managed to get one or two at summer camp but the having is not nearly as memorable as the wanting.

Last year I had a friend doing a performance piece that involved eating Twinkies on stage and once it was done he handed out the extras backstage.  The smell of the yellow cake was intoxicating and somehow my grade school brain was activated to expect something spectacular.  I opened the crinkled plastic and took a bite.  I immediately had the most visceral response to the acridly sweet bite of sugar cake I think I've ever had.  Grateful that I opened the package without anyone else in the room, I spit it out.
 "Oh God!  Why was this ever so popular?!"  Clearly my tastes are still uncool...

Now Hostess sputters out of existence we will find just how long a Twinkie's shelf life is... shelves are being emptied and ebay is suddenly the coolest kid on the playground.

Adieu!

food is good.

Skinny girl (while not enjoying her dinner); "Don't you ever feel like eating is just a chore, it's just something tedious you have to do?"
Me: "Never."

--hmm perhaps being on the saftig side isn't so bad sometimes.

Baruch is Thin

This is one of my good friends. (some bad words ahead but this piece is so funny)

Objects of Desire.

Is it okay that sometimes I pull out my passport and make wishes?

Passive aggressive "quotations"

The sidewalk on Addison Street in Berkeley is covered in art and quotes and things. There are a couple of patches of significant events in Berkeley history... this one kills me every time.

Politics

So I took a political spectrum test and this was my result;

Here's where the major world leaders currently land on the same chart;

It does explain why I'm never very happy with my choices, but I guess there could be worse company to keep than the Dali Lama.  Anyways... time to start reviewing all of the ballot issues this year.

Daily Affirmations from Tilden Park

Point Lobos 2012

I just opened a show in Carmel... I'm still busy... but before I left I went walking at Point Lobos Nature Preserve... It is one of my favorite places on the planet. The first time I went here it was because on my day off I couldn't afford the $35 ticket to go to the Monterey Aquarium... but this is so much better! Yes Better than walking under sharks and through glowing jellyfish.

Everywhere you look there is just more beauty...

I mean just look at this and BAM there's a freakin' sea lion right in the middle of it!

Hello!

Got to keep this short due to the need to wake up sooner than I care to admit, but there you go some pretty pictures, hopefully they will tide you over for a bit. Ta!

The wrong bin.

Bear looked to his dog and asked, "Do you think we're the only prizes for this game?" Dog licked his friend's large pink head and pondered the strange new bin. "I'm not sure why, but I suspect we missed the fair this year."

"Oh dear." Bear sighed.

Mid-Yawn.

No good reason... just a funny pic of the dog.  Deal.