03.05.10
Posted in My TV Show, Off the cuff at 11:53 am by loretta
I’m running behind on my goal to deliver 1 complete show every Thursday to KMVT until I get caught up. Usually I would wait to run errands until after I finish, but we needed some things, like milk. I practiced not being a doormat by lying to panhandlers disguised as charities, and petition signature gatherers:
“Come sign petitions!”
“I think they only let you sign once.”
“You already signed?”
“Hmm-hmm”
“There’s some new ones.”
“Since yesterday?”
“You signed yesterday? Oh.”
(bwahaha)
Normally, I would look them over, but I wanted to finish editing before I went to the station. Sadly, even though I ate lunch at the desk, I didn’t finish in time.
Rusty’s show, “King’s Connections” was fun, but since it was my first time, I hung back directorally. Next time, I will crack the whip more, so that we can get it going faster. “Keith Explains!” went well – Keith was funny, and mostly moved quickly through the Cinequest film plots without getting bogged down overmuch.
After post “Keith Explains!” coffee at Coffee Society, I finished editing the episode, and left it to render overnight.
Permalink
03.04.10
Posted in My TV Show, Off the cuff at 12:01 pm by loretta
Yesterday was a U-turn. I forced myself to turn from the glamour and excitement of Cinequest to focus on things at home. Like laundry, and having a show to turn in Thursday.
That said, it was slightly circular, as I hopped ADD-style from one thing to another. The feeling at home was a mess of my own making, reassuring diversions that kept me busy and engaged in every corner. Even the earthquake (a tiny 3.2) was nothing more than a quick look up, and a resumption of activity.
I was at peace with my messy, pigtailed hair, as long as it stayed out of my way, and it did. I made sure to hit Amphigory to restock hair color and pick up some cute braided scrunchies.
I decline to comment on allegations of generosity.
with help from Keel’s Simple Diary
Permalink
03.03.10
Posted in Off the cuff at 12:25 pm by loretta
OK, it’s still just a personal blog, but I found something that may help me write more and more often, “Keel’s Simple Diary.” I found it in a bag of unsorted swag from ComicCon (although I’m not positive if it was ’09 or ’08…). I figured it was another blank book because it’s white, and it says “Simple Diary” on it. If so, I have way plenty of those, so I would give this one away.
Peeking through the shrink-wrap, though, I saw text. I thought maybe it was a too-cleverly titled novel. While I’ve been pleased to find so many free books among the swag at ComicCon the last couple of years, some are rather odd. I peeled off the shrink wrap, but no, it is a diary, but with a note and instructions. It was a portion of the instructions that caught my attention:
Why Simple Diary?
There are three reasons why most people, although they have tried, won’t keep a diary:
1. Not every day is very eventful.
2. It actually takes a lot of discipline to write.
3. In retrospect, many find what they have written embarrassing.
All three of those statements are dead on for me, especially #3. I keep old diaries, but I cringe whenever I look through them. Over the years I’ve gotten tired of cringing, so I stopped writing. Hopefully this book will help change that.
Permalink
08.30.09
Posted in Food at 6:02 pm by loretta
If I like a Japanese restaurant, eventually I will order the Omakase Set. Omakase is boss’ or chef’s choice. This gives the chef an opportunity to show off.
This one is different than I’ve experienced in that it is a full course meal, instead of only sushi & sashimi. Except for the edamame, everything was individual portions.
I’m very sad that my camera SD card flaked out so you can’t see the beautiful agadashi tofu.
Whew! It’s a lot of food. At under $40, I think quite reasonable, too.
Read the rest of this entry »
Permalink
08.19.09
Posted in Family, Off the cuff at 8:23 pm by loretta
My boyfriend’s sister in law was kind enough to give me their neglected worm bin when I started declaring an interested in having one. I made a little container to collect vegetable scraps and coffee grounds and have been feeding the worms regularly until they are fat and happy.
When I went to add in a full container of compost this weekend, there was a new tenant inside the bin – maggots!
They turn my stomach but I tried to think about it rationally. They are also eating the garbage. I figured they would be gone within a day or two but upon feeding the worms today, they are still there and in greater numbers.
So I needed to do some research. Why were they there? Would they hurt the worms? Are they good for my worm compost then? These and other questions I researched online.
They turn out to be the larvae of the Black Soldier fly. This type of fly has larvae that feed specifically on compost. The adults are not pests. They don’t bite, sting, or even eat. Their only job is to look pretty and breed. They die in 2 days.
They and the larvae will not hurt my worms. In fact, they will help feed them with their waste. The only concern is that they have a tendency to out-eat the worms. So there should be plenty of food.
Black soldier fly larvae prefer moist composting areas. This indicates my compost bin is too wet. I had thought the catch tray would take care of excess moisture but I guess the compost is too close together to let it all drain. The solution is to fluff up and dry the compost by adding more bedding.
I use shredded paper for bedding. We shred anything with our name or address on it to help prevent identity theft. I figure if a worm eats it, that’s even better prevention. So I mixed in some more shredded paper, spread it out, and fluffed it up. Hopefully, that will help discourage the black soldier fly larva from returning.
I’m okay with some soldier fly larvae composting. In fact, some people have bins with only soldier fly larvae, but I have a worm bin and I don’t want to starve them. If I can keep the maggot level down so they don’t starve the worms, that would be okay.
But they still turn my stomach a bit.
Permalink
05.13.09
Posted in Family, Food at 9:38 pm by loretta
So I’ve got a bit of the gardening bug this year. Our yard is dark and tiny, which usually puts me off. I found a lot of shade-friendly offerings this year, so I thought I’d give it a whirl. To me, a garden isn’t a garden without some veg. I used the internet to find shade-friendlier veg, to plant in the “sunny” area of the yard.
While picking out seeds at Whole Foods, I saw this package of Micro Greens.
They are quite trendy right now, and it seemed a fun and not bitter way to add variety to salads. I dislike arugula/rocket, endive, and the other bitter lettuces. Plus they’re super easy, just scatter the seeds, let grow for 25 days, and done! This one is 20% red cabbage, 20% pak choy cabbage, 20% beets, 20% swiss chard, and 20% kohlrabi.
I used one of the window-style planter boxes upstairs for the first batch. Even though I put 1″ fencing over the top, the squirrels happily devoured anything that popped above it. The soil is fairly close to the top of the planter. So I lost perhaps half the greens that way.
I’ve fixed it for the other planters, which are downstairs. They are much deeper, so I can have the soil level about 3″ below the lip to keep the greens for ourselves. I’m spacing my plantings, so I have one batch almost half done, one I will plant tomorrow or Friday, and the one I harvested today.
Not much, but enough to top two salads, garnish two plates, or eat as a snack. I mixed in some cress seed to the next batch for a little more zing.
Since I’m still trying them out, I’m going to wait until I’ve eaten a few batches before deciding to get another packet of seeds. I should get two or three more plantings out of this one.
Permalink
12.25.08
Posted in Family at 3:34 pm by loretta
I received a lot of great gifts this year. My favorite is usually the calendar my sister, Bridget, makes for us every year with family pictures.
This year I received something better.
My sisters and I sent “care” packages to our brother while he was stationed in Iraq. In thanks, he made us these. I’m all poignant.
Permalink
11.27.08
Posted in Family, Reviews at 8:54 pm by loretta
My friend Jim had his work posted on his yarn shop’s blog.
It’s TEH Awesome!!
Here is the post.
Permalink
08.03.08
Posted in Comics/Manga, Food, Fun at 2:43 pm by loretta
After years of experience, we’ve gotten a routine down for the procuring of food. Around lunch, we pass around a sheet of paper and everyone writes down what they want from the nearby Ralph’s supermarket. Often it’s sandwiches, but this year, Joe took us in a delicious alternative: chicken strips. Being deli food, though, it’s not very photo worthy.
Evenings vary. Thursday, we ended up at Masala, rated the best Indian restaurant by San Diego magazine. It’s tasty, but pricey. Primarily, it’s convenient. Located in the Gaslamp district, adjacent to the convention center, it’s close by. Fortunately for us, but regretfully for them, most Con attendees are more interested in American or Continental fare. When we eat with Peter, those are the restaurants we usually end up at. Those restaurants pack quickly, but we were able to sail into Masala with a party of 5 and no waiting. ^_^ Eventually, it filled up as the adventurous overflow “settled” for Indian food. Heh, they are “settling” for better food than most of those other places serve.
Indian bread is fabulous. Masala offers a bread basket, which comes with plain nan, garlic nan, onion kulcha, and spinach kulcha. We ordered two. Masala also paid attention to the amount of spice, or lack thereof, that we preferred for our dishes. Joe had a lovely chicken vindaloo, which normally I find too spicy to eat. Shiaw-Ling and David shared chicken tikka masala. Carl had a shrimp dish, which I think was Bangalore shrimp. I had a lamb dish from the Chef’s recommendations, which I can’t find on their online menu.
Yummy, yummy, yummy.
Read the rest of this entry »
Permalink
07.20.08
Posted in Fun at 12:47 am by loretta
It Opened a Couple of Weeks Ago Film Review: Hancock
I’ve been looking forward to seeing Hancock. This summer there are quite a few films I’d like to see, which isn’t always the case. The ads for Hancock put a very human, dysfunctional face on a super-being, so it seemed really interesting. The first half went, essentially, as expected. I’ve grown more interested in the journey of films because the ends have gotten predictable.
Suddenly, a curveball! I was not expecting that! That sort of thing out of left field makes the movie more fun. After the curveball happened, it followed a different, but still predictable path, with a satisfactorally expected ending.
Little things. Will Smith is an amazing actor. But he didn’t use as much nuanced emotional range in this film as I expected. He didn’t need to be super-expressive, but more than slightly moist eyes on occasion would be nice. Mary Embrey, while actually played by Charlize Theron, has a body type and hairstyle similar Niki Sanders in Heroes. Mary also had very similar mannerisms to Niki. So I kept expecting to see Ali Larter, but ending up with Charlize Theron. It was a bit jarring.
I did enjoy this movie, although I liked Iron Man better.
Permalink
« Previous Page — « Previous entries « Previous Page · Next Page » Next entries » — Next Page »
