Maureen and I started making our annual special Christmas cookies on Saturday.
This year we are making:
Peanut butter bon-bons
Swedish Thumbprints
Pizzelles
Rum Balls
Coconut Macaroons
Incredible Fudge
On another note, I reminded myself that winning a race doesn’t mean a won race.
While we were at lunch, my friend Shiaw-Ling was talking about her writing group. She explained that it was difficult for people to learn to give constructive criticism. It’s very easy to say something sucks; it’s harder to explain why it sucks.
Last night at dinner, I told my friend John that he is a dumbass because of his latest blog post. Go look. See? Keith, Stacie, and I made fun of John during the remainder of dinner.
Unfortunately that’s not constructive criticism. Not even the part where we pretended to forgive him because of his “Canadian ignorance.” There isn’t really such a thing.
It would be better to say that John’s post about Ed Bradley was perhaps too succinct to properly convey his points without seeming ignorant. He might want to consider that there are a wide variety of lovely shades of brown for African-American skin.
John would also do well to research his topic a little before making random comments. He mention’s Bradley’s Lifetime Achievement Award, but fails to mention any of Bradley’s other awards, which include, but are not limited to, nineteen Emmys and a Peabody.
Bradley has done some wonderful work in journalism, and deserves better treatment.
Today I feel: Slightly nauseous. It’s associated with the headache I’ve been harboring all day (despite the application of caffeine, Excedrin, and ibuprofen at appropriate intervals).
Today I did: Bid farewell to Keith’s parents until Christmas. Went back to bed. Woke with the headache. Read some info for being a poll worker on Tuesday, and contacted my field inspector for set-up time.
I did a little editing on What’s Up Wit’ That? I hope to take over the editing duties from Keith, so he has more time for Keith Explains!
John invited us to watch Borat with him and his friends, so we carpooled with him up to San Mateo. Keith gave Orla the swag she’d won at the Keith Explains! marathon party, which included an autographed picture of them together. Borat was pretty funny. Sometimes it was funny for being silly; and sometimes it was funny for being outrageous. Sometimes it was uncomfortable. There were definite inconsistencies with the plot.
TV I’m watching: Right now I’ve been watching Bento TV, which is a web program that was recommended by Girl Genius co-creator, Kaja Foglio, on her blog. Kaja gets her son to eat home-packed lunches by making bento for him.
What I’m reading: My voter’s guide for the ballot initiatives. My election officer manual. Craft magazine. Throne room reading is still Shojo Beat.
What I’m looking forward to: Being an active citizen by being a poll worker. Yay!
Current pet peeve: Not paying attention to the deadline for the Craft/Make Halloween contest, so that this guy‘s costume gets internet recognition instead of Keith’s. >_<
Today I feel: Tired after being so busy. Not as blue today.
Today I did: All sorts of preparations for Maureen and George’s Halloween party tomorrow.
I made ham party dip shaped like a brain. See it after the cut.
I made sugar skulls according to this recipe. Now I know why the Mexican Sugar Skull website recommends using meringue powder. The second egg white I used had a much higher moisture content than the first, so I needed to add a lot more sugar to get the right texture.
I’m currently working on Jello shots. I decided that if Maureen and George are making grog, I would make non-rum shots. So far I’ve made Margarita and Bluebeard shots. The cute sugar skull molds of the men and women with hats are hard to unmold. The brims want to tear. I’m trying to keep the done ones in a single layer so they don’t deform the way the eggs have. Hopefully I’ll have time to make a few more kinds.
I spray painted my helmet and Keith’s crown, then I decorated the helmet. Now I have bits of hot glue all over my fingers and gold spray paint under my fingernail.
I still need to put edging on Keith’s cape, if I have time and put in elastic. I have to buy veggies for the ham dip and order Josh’s birthday cake at Costco. I have to figure out logistics for getting to the WAVE awards and back, so our driver can pick us up.
TV I’m watching: Mostly just stuff I don’t have to pay attention to, like Iron Chef America, Cops, That’s Clever. I’ve been listening the the Wait, Wait, Don’t Tell Me podcasts that have been queueing up in my iTunes.
What I’m reading: I don’t have time for anything besides throne room reading right now. I’ve been trying to catch up on my Shojo Beat magazines. I need to do Shonen Jump as well, but I’ve discovered that I didn’t receive the January issue this year. This is bad for continuity. It may have been stolen, since in my internet perusals, there seems to have been a rare Yugi-Oh! card in it.
What I’m looking forward to: The Halloween Party! Woot!!!
Current pet peeve: Not finding a decently priced complete copy of Shonen Jump Volume 4, Issue 1. Jeez, twice cover price for a copy without the card?!? That’s outrageous, people.
The 10 things (apparently) Loretta needs:
1. Loretta needs to have a mother and father with no other children.
2. Loretta needs to get copies of her credit reports directly from the credit reporting bureaus themselves.
3. Loretta needs to return to ’04′.
4. Loretta needs to team up with Jack White again!
5. Loretta needs a back up!
6. Loretta needs to play with his ‘little ball of yarn’ more often.
7. Loretta needs to make up her mind.
8. Loretta needs to add some of her website items and do auto-ship please.
9. Loretta needs a full day off.
10. Loretta needs and deserves a better box set than this one.
I’m sure most of us have wished for a sign atop our car to help let other drivers know when their blinker is on, or other things that they may need brought to their attention. I have also thought about what might end up on those signs directed at myself or others.It could get pretty ugly.
I have a solution. The signs would have a default setting that would start every phrase with the word “kindly” and end with the word “please.” I’ve tested it, and a lot of the sting of nastiness is taken away with those words added.
For example:
@$$hole, stop tailgating me!
becomes
Kindly, @$$hole, stop tailgating me, please.
Stay in your own lane, you jerk!
becomes
Kindly stay in your own lane, you jerk, please.
Turn off your turn signal, you dumb@$$!
becomes
Kindly turn off your turn signal, you dumb@$$, please.
See? It’s a little awkward with the extra words and the epithets, but the words really help calm down the vitriol. Of course, there will be some people who take advantage of it, but putting “Kindly” and “please” on the ends still make annoyances such as “Suck my…” or “F me” at least polite sounding.
I think it could work.
This weekend, I travelled to Nebraska for my Mother’s 69th birthday party. Usually I don’t bother to see her on her birthday, because it’s several hours in an airplane AND several more hours in a car. A card and a call are generally enough.
This birthday was different. It’s probably her last one.
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Family pictures with young children is a little like herding cats. I also had the dubious honor of yanking on my Mother’s hair to pull her head up, since she can’t do it anymore. *sigh*
In the afternoon, Keith and I took Bridget and her boys to see Wallace and Gromit: Curse of the Were-Rabbit at the Lied IMAX theater. Kevin’s family couldn’t go because they wanted to go visit Brandee’s family for a holiday visit. We had fun anyway.
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I’d intended to go to Harajuku earlier, but something always seemed to come up. Indeed, I was not here really to look, but headed for one of several flea markets in the area for interesting souvenirs.
Harajuku is famous for being a weekend gathering place for people who like cosplay, or playing with costumes. I saw quite a few.
I’d convinced Hye Young, Ji Yoon, Ang, and Lenka to come with me. Lenka was unhappy to ride what she considers the expensive train and subway system, but I knew I wouldn’t last all the way to Shinjuku and back. The others didn’t care one way or another.
Unfortunately, the Hanazono shrine was having a matsuri instead of a flea market. I like matsuri, but I knew Lenka wanted to buy specific things at the flea market. So we didn’t linger, but headed to Harajuku. We didn’t find much there either, so I felt bad that Lenka paid for transportation for nothing. She decided to walk back to the dorm, and on the way found a street vendor selling what she wanted. So it worked out after all.
The cosplayers hang out very close to Harajuku station, near the front of the Meiji temple grounds. There were so many people in costume, but most were some flavor of Gothic or Gothic Lolita. Interestingly, even though they gather to show off their costumes, many did not want their photos taken. Why not just dress up at home then?
When I signed up for activities at the beginning of the term, I signed up for everything available. I figured I would expand my horizons. Some things weren’t so interesting to sign up for, but I figured, why not? Naginata was one of those give-or-take things. But it was fun.
I only knew about naginata from an international tournament my De Anza College teacher, Scearce-sensei was involved in arranging. I was given to understand that it was the ancient art of Japanese halbards, primarily practiced by women. But after looking at the internet, I’m not so sure about the “primarily women” part.
Roughly speaking (George will surely correct me if I’m wrong), a halbard is essentially a big blade on the end of a long stick. Not a spear, but kind of like a sword with an extra long handle, or maybe an axe with an extra long blade and extra long handle. Look it up yourself.
Ironically, given my give-or-take attitude, I was the person “in charge” for this activity. Essentially that means herding the cats into the pen on time, and writing a thank you letter afterwards. Whatever.
I’m not athletic, or overly coordinated, or even graceful, so I wasn’t expecting much. Moreover, there were only two of us, Ang and myself, because everyone else was sick. Ang’s Japanese still pretty bad, but she does a lot with charm and slowly spoken English. The club captain and several members gently coached us through handling and simple maneuvers. By the end, I had learned a basic 2-person kata (or mock-fight routine), although they called it something else. I felt fairly pleased with myself. Then we did cool poses for pictures.
After we learned the kata, things got kind of slow, because most of the members wanted to actually practice and not host guests. Ang drifted off to play badmitton, and I ended up chatting, mostly in English, with two students who were very interested in America. One will study abroad this fall at the University of Nebraska-Omaha.
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