the calitexican

the wind...

2011-11-14T23:16:00.001-08:00

the wind is taking me to and fro...
where i will end up, i don't know.

and in other news:
am just feeling super over-extended. if it's not personal extra-curricular activities, it's professional. am just wishing had time to breathe.

and now...back to work.

what a strange year. :-/

happy dia de los muertos!

2011-11-02T12:51:00.001-07:00

i only miss you every day

catcallin' while strollin' on city sidewalks...

2011-08-03T00:30:00.000-07:00

as i grow older, the catcalls are not as obvious. i would like to think that is because of the more informed, aware and mature male folk. i am getting older, so i do think some of the catcalls are getting reserved for the younger generation. ugh. that is a burden i do not want to pass onto my younger sister-folk.

i noticed two types today as i was walking, rather fast, to meet up with a friend after saying goodbye to another friend:

1. three guys walking on the sidewalk as i am walking towards them. the three exchange glances as i power on through. the guys, being a bit older themselves, say, "hello," "hi, have a good night." i have to say, this is the more mature catcall, so when males say this to me, i do respond to try to have this positive reinforcement for all females who are walking about their business. i say, "thanks, have a good night." revolutionary? perhaps. i like to think that the guys may have had some talking to in the past as to what is and is not appropriate. i did hear them chatter about me as i walked past, but it wasn't derogatory.

2. there were another set of three guys hanging out together as i continued walking. (all of this catcalling was on the same block, i might add). i was still processing the relative politeness of the last "catcall" when one of these three said, "wow." they all looked at me up and down like i was a piece of meat when i passed. i walked by them without saying a word. the one that said "wow" presumably said, "did she hear me?" and they were like, "no, i don't think so." and he said, "but she looked at us out of the corner of her eye." and i did. cause grossssssssssss. and then the other two were assuring him as i shuffled away that i hadn't heard him and i wasn't looking at him.

why would they want to encourage that catcall other than he, perhaps saw me as a passive piece of meat that would not respond. and i didn't, but not because i'm passive. he was exercising his male power in our masculine society that puts me on the bottom, and i do not like being singled out for being female. (SPOILER ALERT TO HETERO MALES: no women do, mkay? so don't even try.)

this is why if you are going to catcall me for appreciating my curves, or me being lower on your perceived hierarchy of things to assert your power over....just be nice. say, "have a nice evening," and be on your merry fucking way. that way i can also wish that you "have a nice evening for not singling me out for being a piece of meat pathetic female" without wanting to rip your adams apple from your throat.

and on that note (hey, that rhymes....), good night.

thoughts between cups of tea

2011-02-27T09:15:00.001-08:00

today i pay the universe back. someone very dear to me once did something for me i cannot possibly repay. and today i have the chance to pay the universe back.

i can't say this will be easy or that i will not break down. i remember picking up aforementioned person after implied "thing (and/or) action," and he was sobbing. that memory sticks in my mind like toffee candy in my mouth. it's not a good thing, but it's not a bad thing either. it's certainly not neutral.

and now, on my way to doing what it is i'm going to do, i make a couple of cups of tea. the first one wakes me up. the second makes me pause. someone else very dear to me gave me those various blends of tea for my birthday. it's such a small gesture that means so much to me. tea nourishes my mind, my soul. and in these moments, even though i'm not around him, i feel his warmth, love and good nature through those cups of tea. and for that, i'm eternally grateful for the opportunity to tell him, very simply, "thank you."

and now, off to start my day. kthx. baiii.

happy new year!

2011-01-02T11:29:00.001-08:00

i cannot believe 2010 is gone. it has been fantastic.

a bunch of us decided to go to one of the most desolated areas on the planet for new years, death valley. as we drove in in the pitch black, i could not help but think of both tim burton and david lynch. i would not be surprised at all if they were both inspired by the strangeness of death valley. strange how? that needs to be figured out on your own, but here are a few pictures that perhaps illustrate the pleasant quirkiness of it all.

i cannot wait to see what is in store for 2011. happy new year to you all.

home sweet home

2010-12-22T11:54:00.000-08:00

oh yes i am. time to drink in the accents and holiday moods.

time for family.

time to contemplate and strategize.

new year. 2010 has been a good one. can't wait for 2011 to be even better. :)

and then...

2010-10-27T22:17:00.000-07:00

and then i could have kept walking up and up and up and up forever, never noticing the landing i was on, never noticing where i was, never caring, just going up and up and up and away, far away from wherever i am now.

dream show

2010-09-18T10:25:00.000-07:00

so, this show happened in el lay awhile back that was pretty much one of my dream shows: pilar diaz opening up for aterciopelados. while i was able to see both of them recently, if separately, the combo of these two within the span of a few hours might have just blown my mind.

pilar posted a video up on her website. i believe it is a newish song of hers, but i might be mistaken. i first heard it at the show in SF, and there were people singing along. oh, those megafans ;)

purikura adventures (SMFF)

2010-09-13T21:51:00.000-07:00

in a couple of posts down i hinted at hanging out w/ rio and meli. so here's a video that rio made while we were creating our purikura pics. upon seeing the results, someone told me, i needed to take my "photoshop" away. NEVER!! heehee.

and to see the rest of the pics, please look here. and read about our SMFF time here.

ok.....time for me to think about something else now. kthx.

9 years ago today

2010-09-10T16:56:00.000-07:00

right now (well, time change makes it not quite exact) i was getting ready to get off of work and go out w/ the ex, the roommates, the co-workers, the friends.

got my first cell phone. a red nokia. oh hai, why do i have a crappy area code?

drank ourselves silly until 2 to 4 in the morning. i don't remember. it was a monday. we were in our early 20s.

ended up saving our friend's life. he was late to work on tuesday. good thing too because about 100 of his coworkers died that day. 103rd floor of the WTC. he was one of two boys from birmingham, england that worked in that building. the other one didn't make it.

PTSD is starting to set in. i feel it in the forearms. i hate this feeling. and tomorrow, tomorrow will feel like it was yesterday. as it has for the past 8 years. what a godawful horrible horrible day that was.

and the day after that when the smell of death and old burnt computers and asbestos lingered in the air. i will never forget that smell and i hope to never smell it again.

bricks.blocks.brokes.

2010-08-27T00:06:00.000-07:00

well, not quite broken writer blocks, but i'm beginning to see the cracks in the foundation in the brick wall currently residing in my brain. phew.........

i realize a lot of my creativity is currently being usurped by developing different aspects of the (hopefully) ongoing anti-oppression series i've been involved with as of late. these epic marathon meetings remind me of stuff my mom used to drag me to when i was little and bored. always running to find a corner to hide in or a desk to crawl under and read a book. always reading a book. tonight's meeting? 4.5 hours. newaze....

this past week has been pretty jam packed full of bloggie 2.0 collisions. started with the mission icons in a time of change exhibit over at the levis workshop. ran into my buddy dean and made him my "plus one" cause his roommate, my original "plus one" was like whatevers, later.

so we stuck around and had a randomly fun evening. the kind that are best found in SF, but do exist, to a certain extent, in nyc.

which turned into

which eventually turned into

and DEN it lead to this:

photo by meli w/ rio's camera

and then we made plans to do this.

so... yah! super fun meeting you rio! finally the sanfranciverse collided in awesome ways. yet again.

the CTX + ms. grosa con a huge directing dash of rio coming soon to a bloggie flickr page near you.

and for now. that. is. all.
kthx.

c/s,
CTX

.....

2010-08-19T21:31:00.001-07:00

have had the absolute worst writer's block lately. i have a zillion things floating around in my brain, per usual, but nothing wants to escape. it kinda sucks. ok, it kinda really sucks.

see, there goes an example of it right there.

so yes, silted in the brain, hopefully not forever.

kthx.

c/s,

ctx.

summer suns

2010-06-29T23:45:00.001-07:00

as i've been spending a lot of time away from the introspection that i normally tend to delve into when left alone with my thoughts (a dangerous pastime...i know), i haven't been posting as much lately.

but apparently i've accumulated some time watching the sun set.

sometimes i'm alone.

sometimes i'm with a special someone.

sometimes i'm with lots of special someones.

and yes, it's cold in california here in the summertime. sometimes.

sometimes it's not cold and the sun is a blaze of fiery orange as it fades into the ocean, continuing to race its way across the globe in the way it has been for as long as the earth has been turning upon its axis.

the sun helps calm me down and put things into perspective. perhaps this is why i'm fascinated with it. and why not? constant and steady. these are things that i like right now, and will like for the foreseeable future.

that is all. for now. i hope all is well.

"dime si te causo una revolución"

2010-05-05T07:35:00.000-07:00

at work i listen to a variety of internet radio, with kcrw being a daily check in. last week julieta venegas showed up to do a performance, and i was all about it.

as i'm going to see her tonight in oakland, i thought i'd share the video of that performance.

also, it's adorable that she drank the califas water that has suddenly caused a lot of people to come down with a case of the behbehs. at least she's reading books like "my mother wears combat boots." QFC.

really really?

2010-05-03T21:41:00.000-07:00

seriously, this arizona stuff has gotten way out of hand. being from a state that everyone puts through the shitter, i do have some sympathy for the people of arizona, but my goodness...the change which you guys have tried to put into effect within the past two weeks has been pretty fucking amazing.

wow. just wow.

it's so ridiculous i don't even want to really comment on it. so i'll post some more uke love from my favorite chilean valley girl, pilar diaz, who has some thoughts on this subject matter.

this is her new video for "ilegal en estyle." the song is a probably a couple of years old by now, but definitely very timely for the silly (illegal) nonsense that is going on in arizona.

Ilegal En Estyle

Yo no cruzo la frontera con mis tenis marca brinca me llevan al norte
En avión sin bigotes en tur bus, no a pata
No correr
No correr

Ilegal En Estyle

Aunque sea una persona de ultima moda
La gente me persigue por otra cosa,
Nado en la piscina, no en el río
Es un frío y todo lo que es tuyo, es mío
Lo que es tuyo, es mío
Lo que es tuyo, es mío
Lo que es mío, es tuyo

Otra realidad, ser un ilegal

um, did yall see that calaca on the back of her ride? raaaaad! and yah, so is the song.

hearts y halos y todo y erreting.

BVPV

ukelele love

2010-04-29T20:31:00.000-07:00

y'all know i love the uke. here's a cute video with a red shaped ukulele. waaaaaat? so cute!

cross posted at neattastic

"i want to scratch you when you've got an itch..."

2010-04-22T23:58:00.000-07:00

Now playing: Girl In A Coma - I'll Ask Him
via FoxyTunes
----------------
Now playing: Girl In A Coma - El Monte
via FoxyTunes

i'm constantly surprised and utterly delighted.
you show me, "it could all be so simple."
the water was ready,
and the water was hot.
i guess i really am a simple girl, am i not?

i continue to melt, daily.
gathering into a sweet clear pool on the ground.
i move and i change,
the water inside unfailingly growing and swelling
in the slight humid breeze the day-to-day brings.

i remain lassoed in by that one look,
that one day months ago in the early morning sun.
those infamously adorable crinkles illuminated
not by its rays,
but by the light from yours.

you continue to challenge me in ways
i thought were forever closed.
and instead now i find myself
awake
and wanting
"to scratch you when you've got an itch."

mashin' it up!

2010-03-29T22:36:00.000-07:00

JV + B&F = radness.

a lil' rad quirky musical cacophony, all while keeping the thread of puro mexicano sound in the background? yes plz.

ssssheck it out. "el presente es el único que tenemos..."

did i mention i'm going to see JV - B&F = OAK? um, yah. it'll (still) be the radness.

down in the texas of my heart.../...wont you be an outlaw for my love?

2010-03-20T00:17:00.001-07:00

drivin' a really big truck
headed down a dirt road
my love is scrunchin' up its features
really big eyes
big lips
big nose

just show me a moment that is mine
its beauty blinding and unsurpassed
make me forget every moment that went by
and left me so half-hearted
cuz i felt it so half-assed

half-assed - Ani DiFranco

i think i've said before a few times how i sometimes cannot think in my own words if a lot of things are swimming around me like sharks. so sometimes i can better get to the bottom of them if some songs are around.

i had my headphones plugged in to meet up with a bikey chica tonight, and gaaaaaaadammn. things were clickin into place. and that was just cause of a few ani songs/alex chilton passing away.

now i feel its necessary to split my thoughts because i don't really know why i'm thinking of both of these songs at the same time. these feeling things don't always make a lot of sense, ya know?

ani:

ani reminds me of college, because that's when the CEBFF and i met and discovered her together. we followed her up and down the east coast & saw some really great shows together.

when life happened and an incident occurred where the CEBFF and i were abruptly no longer BFF [sad face], ani became like a horrible disgusting blistering sunburned wart that would bubble whenever heard. no thanks, i would say.

however, i knew i wasn't being true to myself because, for all the whatever memories, ani is still a fantastic songwriter, and i'm so glad to have seen her when i was 18-2x (x only cause i no memeber the last time i saw her. me thinks 23?)

in particular, i remember the first time i saw her in central park. and she brought tears to my eyes as the sun was fading around the horizon rushing to the west coast. i looked up, saw the stars start to sparkle on the perfectly degreed and clear summer evening while a tear fell down my cheek. this woman and her music moved me so much, i was hooked.

one day recently i revisited her newer songs. my thoughts were, "hmmmmmmmm, if i liked her back when i was younger, chances are strong i will still like ani for her songwriting again..." and yah, i was right.

and between ani the younger and ani the latter comes alex chilton.

alex chilton:

so...alex chiton passed away a couple of days ago. and ever since, this is what i've had in my head:

("how about a cover? how about a cover of a big star song? yah!" -- this is how the live version goes)

back nearly a decade, and certainly a lifetime, ago, the above version of elliott smith's cover of thirteen was our song.

"wont you tell yr dad, get off my back/
tell him what we said about paint it black/
rock & roll is here to stay/...
... wont you tell me what yr thinking of... would you be an outlaw for my love...?"

those last two lines have haunted me more than any other two lines in song lyrics that i have heard so far with my own ears. those two lines, for us, me and the redacted, meant so so so much.

the redacted told me once way in the beginning of all we would be facing, all that shit we would have to put up with from families and from other people. and were we sure we were going to do this? we held hands, swallowed hard and jumped off the cliff together. outlaws indeed.

and now the redacted is gone, and that is ok.
and now alex chilton is gone, and that is ok.

and i just needed to say this. and that is ok.

the connection between ani and alex? i guess just stringing together new memories from older painful times. and new memories are all i care to concentrate on at the moment. being around other positive people, creating more and new positive times.

R.I.P. alex chilton. thank you for bringing your music into the world. thank you for influencing a generation of indie rockers that have carried on your legacy.

and i suppose it's fitting to put those other memories to rest and have them reside in the past where they belong. may they too rest in peace.

birthdaze and things

2010-02-28T12:59:00.000-08:00

this past week was my birthday. i haven't celebrated my birthday in two years. these years are the lost years that i hope to never repeat (actions-wise), but they do hold a well of learning lessons to continually draw from.

as such, this year, now that i feel like more of a functioning member of society again, i decided it was ok to talk about it and mention that yah, i like birthdays. let's celebrate.

my family is full of february babies. i think there's nearly 10 people in the course of 8 days that have birthdays. the mama texican, her twin, my cousin, my aunt, three cousins and myself and another cousin, the co-bro. phew.

a cute aside, the mama texican's bday is 7 days before mine. every year she says i was her favorite birthday present. i will never tire of hearing that. :)

here are the co-bro and i acting our shoe size, not our ages... 364 days and 2000 miles can't separate the silliness that connects us no matter where we are in the world.

thanks to meli and the bikey blog girl crew, they surprised the hell out of me on thursday night. i was very touched. thanks guys! :)

one thing i appreciate getting easier with each notch on the odometer is that one anniversary i thought would be inextricably linked to that day is getting less and less so. i guess i'm still processing over that, and thus so a myriad of song lyrics flooded my head, as is wont to do when i have trouble articulating precise thoughts. which happens often since i think i tend to feel feelings and not apply logic to them because, really, there's no point. does not compute.

anyway, i'll share just a few of those lyrics that have been in the rainy day mix that describe what i was thinking this past week:

and all i find are souvenirs from better times
before the gleam
of your taillights heading east
to find yourself a better life.
...when i stumbled upon pictures i tried to forget
and that's how this idea was drilled into my head
cause it's too important to stay the way its been
there's no blame for how our love did slowly fade
and now that's it's gone
it's like it wasn't there at all
and here i rest where
disappointment and regret
collide.
lying awake at night."
-- title and registration, death cab for cutie

the "picture i stumbled upon" was a piece of writing as it were. i'll share just a bit:

i know i'm not alone in saying i'm so over this winter. i have to remind myself why i'm on this coast right now. i'm not sure if i can, but i close my eyes and admit i have one romantic winter antecdote.
...
so we just walk around (the village) holding hands cause we're cold and cause we can. then we stumble on many many an italian restaurant (and one southwestern joint) and decide on a little teeny italian place with a little gay boy couple in it. we order a mini bottle of spanish wine, eat amazing veggie italian and then leave quite a bit later. we make our way to magnolia bakery and get some birthday cupcakes. i was nicely surprised that they have candles there too! so we kiss in the bakery and [REDACTED] whispers, "happy birthday baby" in my ear. the bakery is a nice hideout from the cold; it's warmed by the ovens which fogs up the windows. so it's a little sexy being in there where it's warm, humid and surrounded by all the sweets. we bounce outside and kiss again, forgetting the temp is in the 20s. we catch a cab on a cobblestone street and snuggle while we race over the brooklyn bridge towards our apt. when a night like that happens, it's just magical to be in the city. corny? yes. but if you're in love, who's cares?

it's now more than 7 years later. those 5 years worth of anniversaries are on the east coast where they belong. i can look back and think about the good times and not have it necessarily be as emotionally taxing as it once was. thank god.

took a long time, but i'm glad it's here. it'll only get easier i suspect. as these things tend to turn out...

now on the west coast, there are no more snow filled februraries. instead, the sun is shining through my window, a natural alarm clock if i've ever had one. i'm wearing a tshirt waiting for friends to take a jog in one of the most beautiful city parks i've ever stepped foot in. life right now is good. and i'm so happy. if i could hug life, i think i would. since i can't, i'll just hug people instead cause it's fun being hugged back. ;)

the third musketeer!

2010-02-08T22:06:00.000-08:00

a few posts ago i told the love i have of my brother from another mutha, mr. tuna. well, this one, fernie flowers, is the third member in our musketeer crew.

he came to town not that long ago. we hung out in hayes valley and just watched the world go by as i sipped some cawfee. observed some african beats while an old man offered his coat to his female companion. saw little girls kicking a soccer ball around, saw dogsdogsdogs and lots of smiles.

we walked around, got a bike light for me and then we passed by the place that tuna, fernie and i first worked together during law school. i don't have that pic, but fernie does.

i miss those guys and am happy they can come to visit every now and then! (more nows please, kthx.)

so thanks for all the good times and memories you two baboons. can't wait to make some more :)

don't cry for me....bobertinahhhh

2010-01-30T11:53:00.000-08:00

awhile ago i fell hard and fast for someone who fell hard and fast for me. we were attached at the hip for a few months, and i knew it was going way too fast to have any chance of sustaining this furious pace. when we parted, it broke my heart in a zillion little pieces.

why do i talk about this now? well, bobertina, as he has been recently coined, was OBSESSED with pinball machines and 80s arcades. he had a few in his house and was constantly tinkering around with them trying to make them work.

the other day i went to a bar with punchy. i was, for some reason, mesmerized with this spiderman pinball machine.

it was pretty trippy.

i would have been able to stare at it for hours, but i felt i was being rude to punchy. so i didn't.

and the growing part for me, was that i didn't make the bobertina connection until after i got home. but i do think i wouldn't be true to myself had i not at least acknowledged the connection.

but seriously, those lights are trippppy and fascinating.

pizza making with lady bee

2010-01-24T10:37:00.000-08:00

on MLK day i went over to my friend, lady bee's house. we looked over some work stuff, social justice work is never done. talked about it a bit, then noticed rumblerumble in our tummies.

she had had a pizza making party i couldn't attend, but she had some leftover dough. i brought some garlic, spinach and mushrooms. she had carmelized onion, roasted red pepper and artichoke hearts. nomnommy.

pizzahhh. homemade.

dough re miiiiiiii

tortillas? not quite.

slapslapslap it out

almost nomnommy time

pizza flats

saucy

veggie pizzas

byebye. see you soon.

peel the pizza

it's ready. it's perfect.

it was pretty yummy. i also don't normally drink soda, but lady bee said that soda and pizza is a good new york thing (lady bee was born and raised in nyc). i like beer with my pizza, but it was way too early for such things.

to good food making times with friends. one of my favorite things to do. :)

my brother from another mother

2010-01-20T23:27:00.000-08:00

tuna looney tunes was in SF for a few hours and graced us with his rare presence.

i miss him. i've known him since 2004. we've been pretty good buddies ever since :)

we've both got boos, we both live in other places, and i guess these things take up a lot of our time. but every time we get together, we can get as serious and talk about racial politics in california or issues in the law or how to take the bar OR we can get as silly and ridiculous as we both possibly can in front of another person.

he's got quite a way with words, even if english escapes him sometimes and he pulls out a crowd favorite quote: oh, please excuse me, english is my second language.

so, here's to my lil' bro from anotha mutha. a sequence from our short evening together with lady b. one quote of the year so far was: "how many times have we gotten drunk together? a lot, huh?"

oh hai, we're looking at something in the distance.

oh hai, i'm looking at shadows. tuna says, huh?

lady b is like, enough already. gnight fooooos.

and with that, i must say good night. love you toones y lady bee! wheeee :)

3 years in 3 minutes

2010-01-18T23:31:00.000-08:00

through a friend and former classmate i've joined forces with a group of 4 (now 5) who are facilitating a series of workshops regarding anti-racist/anti-oppression. the group prior to me comprised of 4 guys. i'm the only female and the only latin@. i joined them because i thought that voice was missing and was needed for this group to have credibility. they agree, obviously, by asking me to be a part of it.

who is our audience? how did this group come about? the origins of this group stem from NLG, the national lawyer's guild. these few came together and devised this workshop for CLE credit for attorneys. given the success and positive feedback, they started thinking of tailoring this series for law students, namely students at boalt and at hastings for beginners.

today was our first meeting with just the 5 of us. the 2 times before i had met up with them, the first was to propose to boalt our outline for funding purposes. the 2nd time was to introduce ourselves to the boalt students and get familiar with the physical space we would be in for the 6 times we will meet.

tonight? well, it was pretty intense for all of us. we were modeling our first class, which is later this week, and we are starting off talking about our experiences in law school. giving our rather severe time constraint of less than one hour per session, we practiced timing ourselves. 3 minutes to talk about our experiences over three years.

yah, intense. i heard intense things from others. i, myself, cried in front of strangers, something i don't easily do. i said things in front of two white men i would never have said prior to this evening. while looking right at them too. i saw one of them get tears in his eyes, and lots of clearing throats and thanks for sharing.

what i had to say wasn't pretty, it wasn't comfortable, but i guess it was brimming right there and i blurted it out. i have no idea if i was coherent, but in a sense, i guess i was since i know i got my point (one of many) across.

and, i'm still thinking about it. i'm still emotional over it. but i have to just stop this here and say goodnight everyone. have a great night's sleep.

two renegades in a photo booth

2010-01-03T13:05:00.001-08:00

this was before christmas. sf regenade craft fair magnolia photo booth. fun with props. good thing the photos are in black and white. if it was in color, i think it would have exploded glitter and stickers.

happy new year!!

2010-01-02T10:52:00.000-08:00

i'm more than ready to put the last decade behind me. i cannot wait to see what this one holds. if the past few months are any indication, i think it's going to be full of rich positive things. thank goodness.

the times, they are a changin'

2009-12-29T17:16:00.000-08:00

on saturday night i went out to see my friends for a long awaited christmas dinner.

the places we went are not part of the austin i grew up with, but they are nice and welcome additions. gentrification, here we come!

justine's. waiting. outside in the cold. good thing we had wine to keep us warm.

fun sign times.

then we got more drinks at east side show room.

not enough time. must go back soon.

fonda san miguel. home away from home

2009-12-24T14:27:00.001-08:00

the mama texican, the co-bro and i have been to our favorite locale, our home away from home, fonda san miguel for the past 2 evenings. some may even say it's our "local."

let's just say, the wine is rad. the red is chilled jusss a LIL' bit, and boy, does it ever go down easier that way.

the conversation flows all night as the regulars come and go.

and the food? well ,the mole....the mole is so awesome, that i actually don't care (too) much that it has chicken stock. BAD vegetarian! but the enchiladas were veggies. oh my oh my. i am considering how to transport some mole home.

cafecito anyone?

and now, it's time to go home. good night everyone!

sigh. i love austin and getting quality time in with the mama texican and the co-bro

probably my favorite thing of the decade

2009-12-23T00:35:00.000-08:00

and you think i'm kidding?

i'm not. ;)

/scene

cross posted at neattastic

ukelele love

2009-12-20T10:44:00.000-08:00

there are few things more awesome than a ukelele. here are a few videos to share that show why:

the first was shared my by uke playing friend, the former iceskater.

these are two videos that my music friend crush, pilar diaz made. the first is demonstrating her love for her personal ukes (pink flying v anyone?!) along with a little bit of a history lesson. the second was made by texans for obama. (yes, i heard there were a few) for their campaign back a year and a presidency ago.

and meligrosa sent me this earlier this week. it's been making the rounds of the interwebs this week:

and to bring it back full circle to my uke playing iceskater friend, i was at her place one day when she was trying to learn "i'm yours" on the uke, and her roommate was on the guitar. FUN and cute.

cross posted at neattastic

a lady's guide to holiday parties...

2009-12-18T02:41:00.000-08:00

this is very important, and a tad late, as we are in full swing of the holiday season. and please, remember that "dash" of gin...

(and yes, i'm a HUGE mad men fan...)

i have no idea how long the video embed will last as nbc & hulu are one and the same and will take things offline at will, but enjoy while you can!!!

cross posted at neattastic

boy roommates are great reason #8950295

2009-12-18T01:34:00.000-08:00

ok, really it's reason #1 articulated thus far.

crouching tiger, drunken roommate as seen here is rad because...

1. i am washing dishes in a tank with my bra showing through very tacky like, but hey, i'm HOME and i'm doing dishes and i didn't expect him home after he made a big show of saying goodbye merely 2 hours earlier since he was going farfar away on a jet plane.

2. he stumbles home, clearly wasted. i've been in his place before (minus the dishes-washing, tank top & visible bra), so i'm ready to put in my karma points worth.

3. after an hour or so, and after he clearly cannot stop his mind from racing and racing and racing....i tell him to shut the hell up and go to his room.

have you ever even dared try to do that to a girl roommate no matter what gender you are? yah, good luck with that. then again, i'm not a big fan of confrontation. but will do so if need be, as the case was tonight.

4. he understood, apologized, ducked into his room after promises of genuine mexican tequila as a christmas present.

thanks. and good night. ;)

rain rain go away

2009-12-13T11:41:00.000-08:00

and come back, NEVER.

i did a teeny bit of california christmas shopping yesterday for my texas peeps. it was raining and that was NOT cool in that i wasn't counting on finding so many reasonably priced deals for my friends and family. as such, i had a little problem fitting everything in my [UPDATED: bike] basket and out of the rain.

but i did it and everything is fine and survived in tact.

now it's time to hang things up and do laundry, my absolute FAVORITE thing to do.

trend sitting

2009-12-08T07:57:00.000-08:00

apparently i'm into taking pictures of mannequins lately? i guess so.

first

second

third.

more to come? probably

espn

2009-12-05T02:06:00.000-08:00

so...yeah. my mom jokingly calls the sort of psychic ability that has appeared now and then throughout the time we've been together on earth "espn." yes, it makes me giggle.

i've had this type of connection before. i've talked about it here before with the indonesian earthquake. clearly, it has happened before since the mama texican has obviously known me longer than this blog has been around, and thus she has added the term to our family language lexicon.

background:
on friday i was going to hang out with my new favorite lady couple. but during the afternoon, i was requested to show up an hour later than i was expecting.

an hour to do what exactly? my mind was spinning. and i get antsy very easily. a leftover from nyc timing, i'm sure. why? well, because: 1. an hour is not that much time. 2. going home is out of the question cause my house is like quicksand and i get sucked in once through the door. 3. i don't really drink coffee that much. 4. i don't have the money to shop, but 5. shopping and cafes are sort of about the right amount of time to waste, and the neighborhood i was going into has many of these sorts of things to do.

stop one: tea &, gasp, a newspaper. what are those anymore?

stop two: a store that has clothes that i used to buy in nyc. i ended up trying on hats. i like a hat i tried on. if i still think about it in a few days or a week, i will return for said hat.

stop three: thrift store. where the ESPN happened.

more background:
rewind to san antonio, texas in the late 1990s. i am in an antique-ish shop with my family that does not sell clothes. i notice a blue jean jacket hanging way above door level. i'm drawn to the 70s collar. i ask to take it down. i learn it's a late 60s levi's jacket because of A, B & C. whether or not that is true, i have no idea. i purchase the jacket for probably around 2o bucks.

fast forward to 2007. last time i was in nyc (and that is waaaayyy too long, i might add). i am traveling to see the mama texican in brooklyn and i just took the red eye from SF. in my red-eyed blurriness, i left my beloved jean jacket on the subway since it is unexpectedly not the same weather in SF and NYC in september, the temperatures of both i know are rather comparable. i am very upset when i realize the jacket is gone, but i know things are just things, and if it was time to leave me, so be it.

in between the late 90s and 2007, precisely in 2004, i moved to california for "some reason." in order to gain residency to not pay those goddamn out of state fees, i took a picture at the dmv.

this picture was affectionately referred to as the "mexican farrah fawcett" califas drivers license.

the jean jacket made that outfit.

friday night, i found the jacket, or, rather, a facsimile thereof. it has the same color, the same feel and fit, the same tags, the same buttons, the same collar.

granted, this may not be the same jean jacket. i am fully aware of it. however i remain hopeful for a few reasons:

1. drawn into this store i've never been in before.

2. that was literally the first piece of clothing i saw on the womens' jackets rack.

3. the sanfrooklyn bridge has been in operation for quite some time, so it's not entirely inconceivable. if i found it in texas, i would have a harder time believing it.

4. smiles.

uyyy cucui...

brrr....

2009-12-03T23:04:00.000-08:00

the chill of fall has finally washed itself upon san francisco. i realized this with a slap in the face on tuesday when i didn't bring my trusty trench because it was at the dry cleaners.

i lived in nyc for 8 winters. each winter was cold. some colder than others.

if this is so, then why the hell am i cold these past few days in SF?

weather spoiled, me thinks.

so i'll just rest up in my doña slippers and my sweats and putter around the apartment. shivering.

thanks to the mama texican for my biking gloves last christmas. they are keeping my fingers warm on the bici. wheee :)

and now that i'm cozy and warm in bed, it's time to go to sleep. what a quick week this has been!

thanks.

2009-11-25T23:15:00.000-08:00

ever since i cracked open the 'puter (yes, i do call her that) this morning and read fat cyclist's thanksgiving post i've been thinking about what i've been grateful for this past year.

1. i am grateful i got my sanity back. i don't know where it went for a few years there, but i only recently re-obtained it. that, to me, means more than anything i could have done or received this year. that means i can finish things i need to do. thank you.

2. i am grateful to love others and be loved in return.

3. i am grateful that i have met so many new people this year and strengthened relationships with others i have known for awhile (see 1 above).

4. i am grateful for food and being able to eat it.

5. i am grateful for good beer and being able to drink it.

6. i am grateful for a place to lay my head every night.

7. i am grateful for the pleasant weather we've had this year that enables me to ride my bicis without too much fuss.

8. i am grateful to be alive.

9. i am grateful my computer still works.

10. i am grateful for healthy san francisco.

i miss my family in texas and i wish them a great holiday!

time to enjoy the quiet streets of san francisco. mwahahahahaha. ;-) (this means being in bed watching the matrix...)

"one minute you are on top of the world...

2009-11-25T06:47:00.000-08:00

the next minute some secretary is running over your foot with a lawnmower."
--joan to don in the hospital waiting room.

Mikael over at copenhagenize has this funny post about how dangerous lawnmowers are. (but seriously, they can be.) apparently the brilliant writers over at mad men are also aware of these things (perhaps they read copenhagenize in the future), and created my all time favorite mad men episode. ever. EVER.

if it is true, and in this season each episode was to take after a different movie genre, then this one was definitely horror (by the way, i am not sure that theory holds up towards the end of the season when the plot plopped itself down in the drivers seat and said, "if any one of you dare talk, i am going to pull this car right over and smack you with the chancla and wooden spoon i've so conveniently brought along for this exact purpose. we have a destination, and this is the way we are going.").

geez, plot, chill out already. maybe you should ride a bike instead ;)

anyway, so yah, if you haven't seen the screen shots from this episode, who am i to stop you now?

that last picture is so brilliant in so many ways...

screencaps by tom & lorenzo and madmenshow.com respectively.

cafe tacuba hits up oakland.

2009-11-23T16:41:00.000-08:00

yah, they did. and they kinda brought the house down. i think the fox theater is still intact though.

lights, camera, musica.

meli and omar singin' da tunes.

some lucky sunsofbeeches got to go up on stage and jump around and sing. i bet they were floating on air the rest of the night.

this pretty much sums up the evening. the whole theater hearts CT. thanks guys ♥

until next time. better not be 5 years from now!

king's crossing

2009-11-19T00:21:00.000-08:00

there's no need for that particular title, just listening to the elliott smith song of the same title at this moment. not exactly my choice, just on shuffle. and that's the way it is.

so what do you do when yr boo that you really need to talk to but he (and his whole office) is swine flu sick, so he's been sleeping since three in the afternoon so you can't talk; and a few hours later you get the news that you need to have your left boobie looked at again? but yr not worried cause she thought it was the right one initally and both you and her official second opinion did not feel anything abnormal. you are not worried because the left one you know has had a benign cyst there for 6 years, but then she says the magical words "asymmetrical" and then yr like. um, yah. sigh. there are no words when said left boob belongs to you.

so...

you go on a 20 mile bike ride with your friends. in the dark. in the chill. up the hill. with unknown others.

up the hillies, past the paprika colored bridge, past more hillies, look up at the stars wondering where the meteor shower was merely 18 hours earlier, through the woods, by the ocean and back again to where seeing cars and red lights and the maze of streets that seem so foreign to you even though you encounter each obstacle multiple times each and every day.

we go. drink beer. eat fried seitan (yummmmmmmmy). chat w/ the unknowns. run into girl who this one likes quite a bit from another time and place.

come home. take shower. listen to elliott smith, girl in a coma. yeah. that's i think what this one does.

and tomorrow is another day. and in 4 weeks i will have another procedure. and i do believe that is all for this muthafuckin' hump day. sleep is quite needed. for maybe a month.

hey-o!

2009-11-17T15:42:00.000-08:00

my partners in bici lady crime, aka adrienne and meli, asked me to contribute to their blog, change your life ride a bike instead of flooding their emails like waves of spam. ew....

so go on now. git. scoot on over yonder. i'll be right here when you come back. ;)

ye olde friendes and new good times

2009-11-15T01:05:00.000-08:00

today i hung out with some people i've known for, as the kids say, a minute. a minute in this case meaning 5 years.

today i hung out with someone that i've known for, as the kids say, a minute. a minute in this case meaning 2 years.

today i saw some people i've known for, as i dunno who says so will say in english, a couple of months.

what they all have in common is me, time and change. and change is on the horizon kiddos. ;)

so let's look at what happens with not change:

foto by meligrosa

looks like you have one sad calitexican:

let's see what happens with change:

foto by meligrosa

hmm. looking over new horizons. new waters, new winds, new rains. out with the old, in with the new. life is not static, unless you want it to be.

on a related note, the world, in case you didn't know or haven't heard, is beautiful. i saw the end of the san franciverse™ again as i rode along the golden gate bridge and the world was about to put another day in her pocket only to start a new one.

and with that, i bid you all adieu. until manana and with its sunrises all over the world, which have already begun, which will continue and will finish not long after i rise at dawn.

tmi thursdays. oh, hai...

2009-11-12T20:02:00.000-08:00

so, i rode around a lot doing theengs today...

when i got home, i wanted to make pastas con fake meat y beggies.

i cook mainly for myself cause i'm me... so tonight, i did the same. and i opened up the fridge and get out my fake meat stuff.

as i'm cutting my said meat product... my first thought was, "oh, mold grows on processed food?"

right on. so i've been asking around, and i've been asking for a tongue-in-cheek description of the "meat " in question....so this is what iiiiiisz got people:

santiago el gacho pacho or.... jaime, el ojete

so yeah, there ya go. unpuzzle it and i'll buy you 2 drinks of your choice, not over a certain amount i'll discuss in person. if you do not live in SF and do know the answer first (ahem, mama texican...) we can discuss other options. winkies.

and i'm listening to the hippie colombian musica de aterciopelados con el mr. diaz (not his real name). "thank god," he says, his head in his hands. but as such, he is now in el bloggie.

enways...........

and its a buenas nachos ladies and gentemen.

scenes from the bikey lane: tuesday og day.

2009-11-11T16:45:00.000-08:00

my afternoon ride takes me through a less than favorable part of town, but only for 2 blocks. this is the time people seem to want to talk to me.

1. a crazed looking tall thin meth head on the sidewalk throwing a football up in the air. it landed in the middle of the yellow lines and i slowed down thinking it would hit me on the head. it didn't, but i was not about to take chances that this guy was going to stop doing this anytime soon. i bolted out of there quickly.

2. two DRUNK OG cholos. (they must like that area, ey.) one says, "nice bike, ey. i liked the way you decorated it. don't sell it, ok?" i smile and say, "thanks," and scoot forward. the truck next to me suddenly decides he wants to take a right and nearly (yet very slowly) right hooks me. the other cholo says, "watch out for cars, senorita."

and that's about all i have to say about that. :)

dia de los muertos 2009 SF style

2009-11-03T21:35:00.000-08:00

i forgot about trying to make it out to oakland like i have in the past. here's a little diddy about a couple of years old. i collaborated on it with my friend mika. cameo by susa. we were/are interested in the military recruitment in minority neighborhoods, and had heard that this festival was heavily represented with recruiters in 2006. we didn't see them in 2007. doesn't mean they weren't there...

in 2007 a lot of crapola happened. namely the coinciding of two large events in my life. i have always celebrated dia de los muertos, but when one loses a parent, i do believe it does take on a larger role or significance in one's life. and i don't think i was really ready to do it for real in my heart for the past 2 years until this year.

so i knew i wanted to paint my face, do the altar on my bici, make paper flowers, etc. i already showed you one face that i used on friday for critical mass

photograph by Mikael Coleville-Anderson, a total badasss

so i had to make another one.

then we met up for the bike ride from the panhandle to the mission. *honeychild* took some good pics of meli, ade and myself. and some arms and hands which may or may not be hiding a certain person named declan.

photo by *honeychild*

then *honeychild* and meli entertained a bus stop for a little bit.

photo by random on *honeychild*'s camera

mother, faces and son's face.

photo by *honeychild*

heard lots of michael jackson, but as adrienne noted, we didn't see one farrah altar. since the procession was huge, i'm going to give it the benefit of the doubt. also, what about patrick swazye? and john hughes, and the rest of those lost in the summer of death (coined by micheal k of dlisted)...

to see lots and lots more pics, please go here. i can't keep up! i suspect there will be more tomorrow and the day after, etc.

there were lots of people. lots of cops behind us blowing their motorcycle exhaust on us. coughcough.

then pupusas, bikey home, and then beddy time. and that was the end of monday. phew. but in a good way.

lots of bikes, baskets, bikey friends, bikey good times, good memories from this weekend. it's officially going down as a winner. blue ribbon. gold star. heartheart.

sunday, what a day

2009-11-03T20:42:00.000-08:00

so, sunday happened. that was an eventful day. time change! extra hour to sleep in, right? wrong.

so i finally drag the boo to eat brunch. he wanted to go to this hipster diner that he thought would not be overrun with them. wrong.

so we go to a mexican place (yessss....chilaquiles are my weakness), and sit in the window. as we are sitting there, we see a latina mom and daughter combo roll up on bikes and park right in front of us. they then come inside.

here are their bikes.

seeing them made me happy. and made me think accessibility is only as difficult as we make it. more on that later.

then the boo and i walked to big box central to price some things. our ultimate destination was another corporate store for this soap the boo absolutely goes nuts over.

one, two, skip a few..., 99, 100!

now it's sunday night, can't sleep. oh look at that, it's 3am, that really means it's 4 in my head. i still haven't done my altar. shit. not gonna have enough time tomorrow. but hey, at least we got the super cute drawing of meli's to show around for our bike ride on monday. oh wait that's today.

and the sun shines brightly through my window like a technicolor 60s film at 6am.

flower power saturday

2009-11-03T19:41:00.000-08:00

so in anticipation of day of the dead, i knew i had to churn out some paper flowers for my bici. it was part of my altar.

i've made paper flowers at least once a year for as long as i can remember, and i totally make them en masse. i have tissue paper left over from years before, so it's kinda cool to mix up the colors & pipe cleaners.

so this is what i had on friday night:

a good beginning but not quite done yet.

i went over to punchy's at the dolores HQ for the sidewalk bbq halloween edition. i find the two rambunctious kiddos that belong to the neighborhood. the sentiment "it takes a village" definitely applies to these two.

so i walk in with a mission to make a bunch of flowers outside while at the bbq, but the kiddos were running around and saying city kid things, so i got them around me and asked them if they wanted to learn. the girl, who was dressed as a pretty ballerina princess with pretty incredible face paint, immediately got to work. her little first grade fingers kinda stumbled, but she liked it a lot.

then the boy, R, a 2nd grader with the mouth of a 7th grader, sat down and wanted to learn too. i told them he could either wear them (yaaah, riiiiight) or give them to his mom, grandma, aunt, etc. he said ok. score, i win!

(change your life, ride a trike...)

then the bbq happened. some things happened during it we'd rather forget, but chalk it up to another bbq in our pocket.

i still wasn't done with my bici basket, but i waited until later that night. the boo and i had a nice dinner, people watched, took pics.

then we went home (before i was ready to i think...), and i sat and made flowers for probably like 3 hours straight. i then came out with color saturated flowers that i could be ok with for my altar. phew, that was a few hours more of my weekend. and we're only at the end of saturday.

(soon after i parked my bike here, this bike messenger asked me, "are you normally this festive, or is it halloween leftovers?" i replied, "it's for day of the dead." the bike messenger nodded, "oh yeah!." cool monday morning interaction.)

lots of bicis and calacas = heavenly friday

2009-11-03T07:56:00.000-08:00

bicis and skulls are two of my favorite things. this past weekend was chock full of both.

friday was critical mass, SF halloween edition. i know critical mass is controversial, i completely see both sides of the argument. the high schooler in me is all, yah, let's fuck shit up!! we are traffic!! the adult (yes, i think there's one in there somewhere) in me thinks there are more productive things to do in order to increase awareness.

either way, i do believe dottie said it best, "but I love [critical mass] as a big ball of bikey happiness."

so i went, didn't have time to put together the costume i wanted. so, i had some face paint lying around in anticipation of dia de los muertos, so i put on my calaca face.

then i hopped on bici, paper flowers attached. along the way i tried to recruit some peeps who turned out to be out of town or just had their bike recently stolen (again....). so i just went thinking i might see people i know. and i did. and tons of people i didn't know.

like the bay bridge, complete with fallen cables:

mary poppins:

and wonder woman:

then i found some people i did know:

and then later adrienne and the rest of the clan chan minus the bday boy. and adrienne was showing mikael from copenhagen cycle chic and copenhagenize around the city. he was in san francisco to give a talk that i will discuss in a post soon.

we all agreed there was too many people, too many crazy things were going on around us, so we broke off early from the group and decided to go eat in the mission. meli and KT met up with us to eat. nomnomnom.

we went to go eat ethiopian

mikael passed out the i bike CPH (copenhagen) pins to all of us. isn't it adorable? cute marketing works.

then we went for a drink at this bar that has mariachis in the mission. yes, that ONE bar.

then we stayed out even later, then it was time to ride home.

and just thinking about friday has me exhausted...phew. but then there's saturday and sunday and monday. this weekend was like a 4 day weekend without the 2 days off of work.

Dos de November: dia de los muertos bike ride...

2009-11-02T00:46:00.001-08:00

Dos de November
Originally uploaded by meligrosa

reposted from meligrosa:

••• For Dia de Los Muertos (pre-procession) Ride. •••
♥ You are invited, amigos. Details:
Monday, November 2nd
Meet at panhandle (statue at Baker st. /fell&oak) Between 5-6.
Plan on riding towards the procession (at 24th-Bryant) starting from the statue at 6:00 PM

Bring your Mexican dresses, skulls, bike shrines, trinkets and happy calaca spirits and be ready to shake your skeleton to the sound of your bike wheels ;)

----------
We'll be there. We'll be a small ride, but definetly fun.
• Bikes And The City »
• Change Your Life. Ride a Bike! »
• Calitexican »
• ____add your name at the comments - we'd love to have you!!

scenes from the bikey lane: hump day edition, ey?

2009-10-29T09:52:00.000-07:00

1. while approaching 7th and market, an OG cholo with the ponytail and rubber bands all down the tail part said and nodded to me, "one less car, ey?" i was sort of stunned, that i just nodded with the hipster che hat and aviators, looking a lil CHiPs firme myself. he says, "thasss right," and crosses the street. i stare at his ponytail wondering if that just happened.

2. while still processing the above, an even older OG cholo steps out into the street while looking behind him. i almost ran right into him. watcha pendejo.

3. a jumper on 17th and valencia closed off valencia for 7 hours. i was like, wtf is going on here? what a mess. i believe the jumper was talked down.

4. at 19th and valencia, just two blocks and down the street: shooting for that new NBC show, trauma. did it get just a little meta in here guys, or is it just me?

5. my mind processing the cholo incidents, the real life trauma and the fake life trauma on the way to the boo's. i even said, "that was so fucking meta."

6. the cough of perpetual insistence TM is sort of subsiding. no extreme coughing fit due to riding bici. yay.

7. feeling the first slight SF chill of fall. brrrrr.

and life goes on. have a great ride everyone!

tandem with duby

2009-10-26T14:14:00.001-07:00

in thinking about whether or not to participate in the upcoming halloween edition of critical mass, i realized i forgot to post about last month!!

my bike riding buddy duby moved down south into the vortex of southern california, which seems to suck most of my friends into it with its alluring tractor beams of opportunity, space, and warm weather, among other things. before he did that though, we decided to ride one last critical mass. on a tandem bike.

we thought it was fitting since we had talked about renting one and riding it around before he left. neither of us had ridden one before, and we got a little taste of riding multi-person biking while riding around the fun cycle from the mission to fisherman's wharf after one of the sunday streets that happened in the mission.

picty by duby

so, here's the tandem we rented:

we were more than a little unsteady at the beginning of the ride, but we adjusted quickly. fast learning curve. we realized we just needed more momentum than just practing riding in circles in justin herman plaza.

once we found our footing, we were offfffff!

here we are on the tandem around fisherman's wharf. duby is in his pajama costume. i'm not cause i forgot we were supposed to dress up.

tandem!panda!

we counted 3 other tandems out there. we also got a lot of smiles and comments. this guy was particularly friendly, and man, look at that belt.

bad.ass.belt.

we had a good time, and ended the evening with some bad ass pizza in glen park. nomnom.

here's a couple of pics that meli took of both duby's and my first critical mass. that day was also the first time we met meli...while she was on a tandem. :)

duby:

foto by meligrosa

meli:

foto by meligrosa

here's to enjoying the sunshine, being outside and having bikes be the best medicine for happiness & a great way to make friends.

so, i miss riding bikes with you duby! hopefully we can do so again soon.

girl in a coma

2009-10-25T09:30:00.000-07:00

friday was a gorgeous day here in san francisco. the sun was shining, throwing prisms off the skyscrapers in soma. there were so many after work activities that i was getting really antsy waiting for the cattle call to be over so i could throw myself into the action. and that's just what i did.

i had a little too much on my plate as that i wanted to see a couple of friends and go to a pumpkin carving fiesta before seeing girl in a coma. i didn't get to do all that.

so punchy and i ended up going to cafe du nord to see the ladies. we, ok, I was more than a little buzzed when we got to the show. we found seats near the end of the bar. then i feel a tap on my shoulder. it's this fanboy and he asked me to take a picture of him and nina diaz. i was surprised at how leeeetle she is. she's so adorable i just want to fold her up and put her in my pocket. or bike basket.

then i conducted this extremly important and very long interview with her:
me: hey, i'm a fan, i'm from texas and i have lots of family in san antonio. where are you guys from?
nina: uh, hi. we're from the north side.
me: oh really? that's great. ok, bye!

and i turned back around and resume whatever important conversation i was having with punchy.

i took a few pics from the show. i was surprised the iphone got a few decent shots in there considering the lighting conditions.

what a doll

las seesters diaz.

get your rock on chicas!

a quiet moment.

those girls can put on a good show. punchy agreed, and he'd never heard them before. score!

peace out y'all.

saturday fun times

2009-10-24T15:33:00.000-07:00

heehee...

via club fonograma.

2009-10-21T23:40:00.000-07:00

so, as i clumsily described earlier, i was having a rather rough start to the day...

then i decided at lunch to call the docs and see what's upppppp with my cough cough/mocosa self.

turns out i have to go back to the pharmacy of 4 hours of my life wasted to get what i need. and then be grateful and outraged at the same time....that reference is for another day...

then i meet up with @elitegripes to go to an ivy league meeexter. along the way we think of this sentiment and proceed to post it to the twitterverse:

@elitegripes: going to ivy league alumni event, worried no other people of color will be there.

um, yah, it's funny, but that's no joke. so we go...and...we actually have a good time. imagine that. @elitegripes also runs into other west coasters that he knows, and it's all good. i also run into fellow calitexicans, well, he's actually a calitexan. a similar breed to myself, but still pretty different. i would liken the comparison to a golden retriever and a golden doodle.

moving on...

we then walk to "the" corner. wouldn't you like to know? where we proceeded to have a fantastic dinner. i say this as a veggie, and @elitegripes is a former veggie/vegan, so he is a strong sympathizer.

corner vino. empty. sad.

i have to say, this is the 2nd time i went and NOMNOMNOM...this time. FAR superior. we chowed down. and then betwix dinner and desssssert, EG proceeded to think of:

@elitegripes: not able to sign into yelp on palm pre to give glowing review of new american restaurant before everyone else.

honestly, and i say this as a 16 year vegetarian...that was one of the best meals i've had at a restaurant as a veggie. ever. top 5 for sure. it's so hard to say that at non veggie places. even at veggie places too cause the flavor is kinda non-existant or simply yummy in a comfort food kind of way. here... the flavors were so complex, just kept going and pleasing the palate after the mouthful was down the drain. and you just don't get that as a veggie usually. as a foodie, yes, but not as a veggie.

oh, and the wine was good. sangiovese. sigh.

i should probably mention @elitegripes liked his chicken because it was "cooked perfectly...and it's hard to do..."

so the rest of the night went like this:

corner still life

corner bici horsepower

i go outside and talk with the chef, not knowing he was the chef, and i blurt out my: thiswasagreatdinnerahmveggieandahdon'tsaythatlightlyandhey, why are you...looking...at me like that....

then he says, he's interested in what i have to say as a vegetarian because he's the chef, and the next time i go in to be sure & say oh, hai.
and i continue, andyoudoweirdfish/benderstoocause...admthefakefish&chipsaretodieforbuti'mstillnotabigfanofthe buffalogirls....and (take a deep mocosssssful breath here):

and i end with: ok, i will.

so...it was a nice night afterall. long day today, long day tomorrow. i know, i know... tiny violin playing............my favorite lil piece of classic. and yes, am listening to it now.

----------------
Now playing: Academy of St. Martin in the Fields, Henryk Szeryng & Sir Neville Marriner - Violin Concerto No. 1 in A Minor, BWV 1041: II. Andante
via FoxyTunes

then i text the boo to tell him i got home ok & this is what transpired:

buenas nachos peeps.

grumpy mcgrumperson

2009-10-21T09:17:00.000-07:00

someone/s kept this CT up way past her bedtime last night. i am less than thrilled. for someone who precariously tiptoes the line with insomnia nightly, sleep is rather precious to me cause i know the flip side of no sleep. it's hell and it really is no wonder they use it for torture purposes.

and since i also have control issues (but really, who doesn't?) that i'm trying to keep in check, i'm trying not to make this all about me and my sleep. but said persons definitely could be more respectful...so i'm trying to craft my bite to look like a bark, but still sting like a bite. i'm sure i will succeed. but should i?

the chola is being held off on her leash, but she's totally growling and snarling. i'll try to keep her in check. maybe all she needs is a bike ride. or fucking SLEEP.

< /end rant. >

one good thing about this morning...i heard the elliott smith song, "LA." it starts off just how i needed to hear things.
the gentleman steps out in the lane/
spinning his hat on a cane/
stepping' out/
out for a change/
good morning all/
it's a beautiful day.

i will repeat that as long as i need to this morning. and until tonight where i have a networking event and have to be "on."

it's a beautiful day.......

vegan-month-of-food

2009-10-20T22:32:00.000-07:00

i am very far from vegan even though i am a vegetarian. i can't help it, i just like dairy. more than too much, but that's another topic for another day.

so, i was browsing the latimes and who knew...it's vegan month of food!

enjoy!

coughing blows

2009-10-19T22:36:00.000-07:00

so i've had this dumb mysterious and grossly productive cough going on 5 weeks now. it's showing slight signs of dissipating, but it's starting to get me down. and that is not ok.

ok, that's all.

scenes from the bikey lane: healthy SF edition

2009-10-15T21:18:00.000-07:00

1. tornado weather. i don't think those things happen in these parts, but over yonder in tejas, if this weather was going on, that meant a storm was a brewin' and to get ready. but since the sky isn't green (i swear it does!), i'll just hope that this isn't earthquake weather.

2. a poser cholo (kinda cute actually), skate towards me on the street while singing, "yeah, girl, you got it goin' on."

3. the cough of perpetual insistence. let's just say i hope it goes away soon.

4. riding in the rain. new trench coat, hipster che hat (i know, i know), and fenders all seemed to work well. i do believe that will be my riding in the rain uniform this winter. maybe a different hat though. the trench worked wonders.

fleet week tweets: heehee edition...

2009-10-09T19:42:00.000-07:00

@calitexican: no more fleet week please!! blood pressure going up as we speak...about 4 hours ago from Brizzly

@alejandway: @calitexican I feel like I'm in TopGun up here in the FiDi. There's a bogey! There's a bogey at 2 o'clock! about 4 hours ago from web in reply to calitexican

@calitexican: @alejandway if only there was goose behind me to, well, goose me or iceman to stick it to me or maverick to...give me volleyball tips. about 4 hours ago from Brizzly in reply to alejandway

@alejandway: @calitexican Hahaha! Just hit the brakes, he'll fly right by. about 4 hours ago from web in reply to calitexican

el moz

2009-10-08T19:34:00.001-07:00

this texican never got the memo about how i needed to love morrisey when i came out of the haze. yes, i'm ok with it. and it's not a being in texas thing either. i had friends in high school who were all about him.

but, you do know my love of the mexican institute of sound. here's a morrisey remix he did a lil while back.

Someone is Squeezing My Skull (Mexican Institute Of Sound vs NSM PSM Mix) by MexicanInstituteofSound

to further the woe is me fun..here's a goth makeup tutorial that made me snort out loud.

heehee...

fleet week tweets

2009-10-08T14:35:00.000-07:00

@calitexican: am not a fan of the blue angels. i bet anyone who was in manhattan 8 yrs ago agrees with me. (21 minutes ago from TwitterGadget)

@StevilKinevil: @calitexican Or anybody who might be a veteran of war. What a fucking waste of resources. (11 minutes ago from web in reply to calitexican)

@StevilKinevil: I remember a homeless man who very obviously suffered from PTSD Most likely a vet, and fleet week would send him into a sheer panic. So sad. (8 minutes ago from web)

@StevilKinevil: END RANT HERE. Go America. We rule. (3 minutes ago from web)

@calitexican: @StevilKinevil that's so sad & such a total waste of fuel & time & money and... team america. fuck yeah. (1 second ago from TwitterGadget in reply to StevilKinevil)

yes, it's true ladies and gentlemen. i don't like fleet week. that is putting it mildly. i think it's leftover PTSD from being in manhattan on 9/11. the fighter jets kept circling the city like hungry sharks circling blood in the ocean. & now it sounds just like that day. once every year. no thanks.

punk live

2009-10-08T10:18:00.000-07:00

so the boo and i found out about a film showing called punk live at the main library (or, as i like to say, liberry). the films are about original san francisco punk rock bands in the late 70s to early 80s. we both like the music and learning about history, so that is what we decided to do on our usual wednesday date.

turns out, in our moment of punk rock-i-ness by deciding not to get there on time that we missed all the short films! oh well...there will be more in the coming weeks.

BUT we did get to see the exhibition of photos from these bands back in their heyday. there was also some music from the era playing to set the tone of the show.

it was cool to see that there were lots of all girl (grrl?) bands and latino groups too. in fact, alejandro escovedo, who is in an entirely different direction now, started off in one of these bands (the nuns). another one of the escovedo family members, javier, was in a group called los zeros.

it was a nice start to our typically great evenings. then we had little star deep dish pizza & wine and then rented adventureland. that movie is home of the best quote i've heard in quite sometime from a movie. it is delivered perfectly by former freaks & geeks actor, martin starr. here he is discussing his religious beliefs versus his cultural identity: i'm actually more of an atheist. well, more like a pragmatic nihilist or an existential pagan.

oh my god. we couldn't geeking out over that and rewinded it more than i care to admit and giggled each time. radness all around.

composting

2009-10-07T12:59:00.001-07:00

sf is going to have a mandatory composting law soon. i'm excited about it. i haven't lived in a place that has a green bin, but now that we have to, it's time to get ready to think about what can and can't be composted.

woohoo. i always thought dairy/eggshells weren't compostable because of some sort of bacteria, but i guess i'm wrong. i think my cousin told me that, but i didn't do the adequate follow up research on that.

what a crunchy crunchy city i live in. welcome!

"i didn't sign up for this"

2009-10-07T12:39:00.001-07:00

well, i didn't. so i left.

i'm not going to get into details, but i think now the paranoia of someone just might be based on some form of reality.

that's all i have to say about that. as little as i did say, i just needed to blurt it out.

thanks, and have a nice rest of your day.

scenes from the bikey lane: case of the mondays edition

2009-10-05T21:46:00.001-07:00

1. snot rockets. and no, not mine. ewwwwwww. :)

2. more wind. which brings on aforementioned snot rockets and my persistent cough.

3. beekeeper store! but closed. sad face. i want/need local honey! not sure if the farmer's market in the metreon has it. guess i have a walking expedition at work. the mama texican swears by the honey for allergies. i've seen it, i believe it. as i'm a savory person, this is not exactly a treat, but i could get some lemons to help take it down. i'm up for that.

4. hardly strictly bluegrass. turns out my prediction was sort of correct, but the timing was unfortunate for lyle & steve. i did see robert earl keen and got extremely homesick. and, true to form, i liked the "hardly strictly" part of the festival more than the bluegrass. just the way i was made people.

5. colma bart & serra bowl. as part of the bowlicious betties we (ok, I) bowled a horrendous first game, and we (I) got (way) better the second game. wooooo. we also didn't win for best costume, BUT we won for the group with the most money raised. as that was the goal of the bowlathon, we were very happy with that win. we helped to raise $15k total for POWER. go us!

6. home. i've missed you. which brings me to....

some mad men quotes [s3e8]:
pete:"why is it a man on his own is a man you should pity, when she's the one (pete's single secretary) you should feel sorry for?" interesting.

AND what about this gem:
(betty speaking) "when you don't have any power, you have to delay things." mind.is.blown.

AND geez, what about sally?... i predict we have a major mover shaker on our hands. dare i say even a little lezzie in the making? that would be so rad.

scenes from the bikey lane: TGIF edition

2009-10-02T15:24:00.001-07:00

1. a couple arguing on whether nor not they should live together. both parties sounded rather whiney. no thanks. you can have each other.

2. WIND! you are not my friend, homie.

3. SUN & HEAT! damn, you make me smell goooooood. like eau du bikeyrayofsunshine. ok, maybe not so good, but sweating is a little underrated.

4. little skillet! lunchtime soul food. today was for a good cause: % of profits going to flood relief. with a guest appearance from duby.

5. ANOTHER flat tire. time to take her to the doctors. wtf?

6. guanababies at el rio. what happens at el rio....stays between me and the boo.

7. (in the spirit of my apparent future telling abilities) maybe lyle lovett & steve martin at hardly strictly bluegrass.

8. the colma bart station: bowlicious betties are ON this weekend to raise money for POWER, a non-profit benefitting mission yewts and families.

have a great weekend! ride safe!

special shout out to meli & ade who are riding a lot of kilomiles to point reyes y back. i'll be thinking of ya while i'm bowling a strike...(i hope!)

freaky

2009-10-01T11:13:00.001-07:00

so the boo & i both had earthquake dreams on saturday night. both our dreams were very detailed. i was in LA for mine and there was a 7.6 and a 4.1 in my dream. the boo was in SF for his dream. i swear i'm not making this up, i told him all about it on sunday morning.

freaky, right? the one in indonesia yesterday was a 7.6. that's what sparked my memory of our dreams on saturday night.

uyyyy, cucui!

scenes from the bikey lane

2009-09-29T17:38:00.000-07:00

1. men on mixtes! three to be exact.

2. much fewer cars on market street (heading east only), so much so that it is now a damn pleasure to ride on!

3. tsunami warnings!

overheard in SF

2009-09-28T12:36:00.001-07:00

saturday night. en route to a super late dinner in the mission with the boo.

guy #1: the mission is like europe man. you can drink on the streets. (takes a swig from his brown bagged tallboy)

guy#2: so, where are you from?

guy #1: cow hollow.

(for those of you outside SF, cow hollow is a few neighborhoods north of the mission district.)

addendum: seen in SF
(just after above conversation)
4 girls, all with skirts ending right under their hooohas. sigh.

convo #2
(after hearing and seeing the above)
me: babe, this means your neighborhood is so over.

boo: well, what about your neighborhood babe?

me: it's where the cool kids go when they turn 30 cause they're sick of seeing that shit.

taxi driver take two

2009-09-24T19:43:00.001-07:00

taxi driver, scorsese, 1976

a funny aside, i told my coworker about this movie and she had NO IDEA what it is, who was in it, etc. it made me feel old. she was born in the 80s afterall, however i don't think that's a good enough reason not to know about it. all my humble opinion of course.

i guess i don't have a review really. this movie really has been discussed to death i'm sure. i'll just share some short observations:

1. phone call to betsy after horrible first "date." the camera pans away from him and looks out a long florescent hallway that looks out to an open door while he's still having his awkward conversation. brilliant. i think we were all uncomfortable with this conversation. this shot reminds me of the respective open window shots of ang lee that i've discussed before in seen first in sense and sensibility and second in brokeback mountain.

2. shooting range: camera keeps going back, as if to further show how far away from reality travis is. until he can be seen no longer, but the fire from his gun is still making a flash.

3. good shot: panning overhead from the crime scene, in particular seeing the three cops frozen in the doorframe. so unusual, so brilliant. the pan continues outside, where you can see people crowding around the crime scene.

3. food: the stranger the food, the quirkier the personality. besty eats rather benign fruit. iris eats jelly on white bread with sugar, then puts it in a sandwich. and then what the hell does travis eat? it looked like wonder bread (see below) with milk, peach schnapps and sugar. huh?

4. product placement...hellooo! coke and mcdonalds. it worked. i totally wanted you for breakfast today! just kidding.

5. lots of VPL in the 70s. must have been the polyester on ...whatever the fabric was for panties in the 70s was. i don't remember myself because i was wearing cotton...diapers.

6. robert deniro was still as hot as in mean streets, even if his character was extremely mentally unstable. nomnomnom. pre BICed mohawk of course.

7. a few bikes, but just in passing in the background.

what to do?!

2009-09-24T12:01:00.001-07:00

yet again, SF has many things going on this friday. i wish i could temporarily clone myself to experience all of them at once, then come back in one piece.

MEAN STREETS! as referenced in my earlier post, i saw taxi driver last night at the castro. well, one of my favorite movies is mean streets. i've only seen it once. and then it immediately shot up to top 10 for me. anyway, it's going to be on friday in the castro. how cool! i guess it must be a scorsese sort of thing this week. i like that.

cellspace is having a benefit for the bike kitchen. i like cellspace, i like the bike kitchen. enough said.

and last but definitely not least is critical mass. this is the last one i'll be able to do with duby for awhile. but i'm not counting out that we will be able to do it again in, say, march? its going to be a special one, and i plan on doing a more fleshed out post on it.

needless to say, more stuff to do the better. and all in the misty cold too. welcome to fall. summer in SF was way too short.

taxi driver

2009-09-24T11:56:00.001-07:00

saw taxi driver at the castro theater last night. i had never seen it all together in one piece, much less on film on a big screen, so that was great. i plan on writing about it in a post to come soon. complete with thoughts of where this fits on my ongoing, yet totes on hold, gangster movie marathon.

shortest recap ever: i thought it was great and can't stop thinking about it.

scenes from a saturday

2009-09-21T22:08:00.001-07:00

so as i may have mentioned on the interwebs, i'm a creature of habit. i tend to leave my apartment early-ish on saturday mornings and not return until monday morning. i spend time riding bikes and generally being outside with friends, then the rest of my time with the boo.

so keeping this in mind, the last time i heard a weather report was on either thursday or friday. there was talk of a heat wave, and the weather was gorrrrgeous. so, when i wake up on saturday, it's sort of misty, i thought it would burn off. there was no weather report on the radio because of the ongoing pledge drive, the iphone said 70s, so i thought i was set.

um, yeah. so i've been cold the past couple of days. it's ok, i'll be fine. really, i will. ;-)

so this is how i spent 1/2 of saturday in picture form.

off to ride bike with the ess bros. foggy and humid is on the weather for today. that's ok, we're off to the beach anyway!

panda, la di da la di daaaaah...biking by the ocean, on our way to some caffeine. la di daaaah.

i pledge allegiance...nice wacky funhouses thanks to the iphone and being on mi bici

ruhroh. wheel is too close to frame. we're at the edge of the franciverse™. what are we going to do?!

bikeman ben comes to the rescue for the lemond. phew.

home sweet home. wouldn't you love to come home to all these bikes and still have room to move around your apartment? oh, and to know there's room for more bikes too? as in a certain white one hanging on a wall?

time for scrabble, tamales and a beer!

happy park(ing) day

2009-09-18T07:50:00.000-07:00

today is friday, park(ing) day all around the globe. i will be on the lookout for them on my way downtown.

Originally created by Rebar, San Francisco art and design collective, PARK(ing) Day is an annual, one-day, global event where artists, activists, and citizens independently but simultaneously temporarily transform metered parking spots into “PARK(ing)” spaces: temporary public parks.

i saw this last year down in the financial district and the suits mainly looked confused.

and i'm totes back on bici, so i think i'll leave soon to go find some parks.

oh, and btw, listening to ira glass bust npr listeners for listening for years and not paying. it's funny listening to him reason with people. the person he busted this morning was this man who on an online dating site listed the top 5 things he couldn't live without. number one was npr. the woman who would become his wife and mother of their two children liked that list back in the day. then totally busted him for using npr to pick up chicks and never donate, even though apparently he can during this crapppppy economy. me thinks the combo of ira glass and his wife worked.

atmosphere

2009-09-17T23:15:00.000-07:00

sometimes i forget where i live. i mean i am fully aware i live in SF, but i don't really take advantage of living in a city along an OCEAN. it's probably because it's usually cold and windy and way before i make it to the beach, i have sand in my eyes and mouth. pftpftpft...

as i mentioned before, i've been coughing something gnasty this week, so i wasn't sure i would be able to meet up with the pushbike ladies ride tonight. but the minute i stepped outside at 4:15ish, i knew i HAD to go, cough or no cough.

so i did, and it was a great nice and mellow ride. part of the ride took us along the ocean. the smells of bonfires permeated all of our noses and we all smiled as the smell triggered different memories in all of us.

and as i rode along, i kept looking to my right. and i swear, i saw the edge of the earth, just before it curves around, 7 miles high where you can see the bright blue edge of atmosphere turning into the universe beyond. it kind of blew my mind.

then i spaced out, we rode back to the mission, felt my legs burn a bit, then went to benders and & had the fake fish and chips i've been wanting. it wasn't as good as i wanted it to be, but i have hope for it soon.

and then i came home. about 4 hours later. and all i can think of is that sliver of bright blue atmosphere.

cough, cough

2009-09-17T11:08:00.001-07:00

that has been my IM status for the past week. i have this little nasty cough that strikes at the seemingly most inopportune times. as such, i've been off my bikey. and have been carrying around a sad face inside. awwwwwww...jk.

ANYWAY, so i've been off the bike and been taking muni. while waiting for the bus i've been seeing people fly by me on their bikes and i've been looking at them wistfully. then i cough & (try to) take a deep breath and i realize it's for my own good.

i'm still hacking, but i want to FINALLY try the pushbike ladies ride tonight. i've missed it the past two times because i either forgot or thought it was on the wrong thursday. i've confirmed today that there will be one, so now i need to decide if i'll be ok to ride more than a few miles. since i miss riding so much, i want do it with the caveat that if i need to stop riding, i will.

ok ladies. i'm in this time.

KQED Radio: This is Your Brain on Asphalt

2009-09-16T07:40:00.001-07:00

i'm not about to contribute to the bike helmet war, but this woman did make me mad this morning. grrrr.

happy diez y seis everyone!

KQED Radio: This is Your Brain on Asphalt

Posted using ShareThis

y ahora, música...

2009-09-15T17:54:00.000-07:00

yoyoyo. just stumbled across the video for mexican institute of sound's "yo digo baila." so here it is below. and below that is the video for alocatel.

i like how "yo digo baila" looks like how the music sounds. what i mean by that is that it's in black and white & features dancers dressed in traditional mexican costumes, but the look and feel of it is utterly contemporary. similarly, lara's music incorporates old school banda beats, but he adds a lot of electronic aspects to transform it to make it more of an updated sound.

enjoy. and happy mexican independence day everyone!

two times two

2009-09-14T23:24:00.000-07:00

happy almost anniversary boo. love you.

9/11/01 about 8:58 am

2009-09-10T23:13:00.001-07:00

because i didn't go home to brooklyn, i was spared riding the manhattan bridge and seeing for myself a plane crash into one of the tallest buildings in the world. i know this because another coworker of mine lived 1/2 block away from me and we often took the same train into work. he told me they were stalled on the bridge and he saw it for himself.

i was about a 100 blocks north of him. i saw it happen on the morning news. the first plane had hit when i was in the shower and there was a weird static on the tv which made me get out of the room to look at it. i then saw the 2nd plane hit. the hairs went up the back of my neck in a way i never knew was possible. i knew that was the train i had to take to get into work.

9/10/01...about 6pm

2009-09-10T23:00:00.000-07:00

9/10/01 was the day i first got a cellphone. it was a red nokia. i got it right after work. i dragged a coworker with me before we went out with lots of friends. you know, a "typical" monday night for a few paralegals and a couple of teachers just out of college.

this was the night the roommate of my coworker (both of whom lived in new jersey) decided he wanted to stay out late because he like one of my roommates.

those two boys were english and kept calling me a "dirty bird." those two boys made me laugh.

if i recall correctly, we were in siberia (a bar, not the actual location) in midtown manhattan.

because i was in manhattan and we stayed out very late, as in 2am---ish..., i crashed in manhattan since work was in manhattan and i lived in brooklyn.

the boys made their way back to jersey.

one boy was late to work the next day. our night of drinking and flirting saved his life.

i will never forget those few days surrounding 9/11. i was in manhattan. and i was scared.

UPDATE: scenes from the bikey lane: hump day edition

2009-09-10T22:17:00.001-07:00

wouldn't you know it last night after i wrote the post below, i went to meet up with the boo and on my way i saw a good then scary bikey scene.

an aging hipster bikey father & tweenaged son were riding in front of me. they were going along talking about things, and i was looking around for more material for my scenes from the bikey lane. i noticed, for example, that it's already getting darker sooner, that the street lights on sanchez (where there has recently been crazy street construction) are nonexistent and wished that my headlight was brighter. you know, that sort of thing.

we were just minding our business, going south on sanchez. then the three of us turn east on to 17th.

those of you who live in SF probably know what's coming next.

for those of you who don't, i've seen tons of people (myself included) totally wipe out on muni tracks around the city. the turn from sanchez (heading south) and then east on to 17th street has tracks. see those lines down the middle of 17th? they are tracks. two sets of tracks = 4 slippery chances to fall into 8 tiny lines that like to grab at your thin road wheels:

View Larger Map and by the way, the red pin points are not relevant to this story.

last night we all successfully managed to turn east onto 17th from sanchez. yay, go us.

then you roll up to 17th & church, one block away, and they have a set of tracks that curves to the right, to the left, to all over the place. looks like a damn spider web.

View Larger Map and again, the red pin points are not relevant to this story

so....the tweenaged boy totally wipes out on the muni tracks just before he's completely in the middle of the DARK intersection & flew off his bike to the left and over the tracks. it was pretty chilling for me to see it right in front of me. i can just imagine what his dad must have felt like. he calmly turned around in all that mess of tracks and me. i kept going straight because there was a car in the intersection waiting to turn left. otherwise, i would have stopped right there. it all happened so fast.

i hope he is ok. i didn't hear any cries of pain or any bone crushing crunches. he's probably 12 or 13, so i'm thinking he's probably fine and bragging about it today. kind of akin to falling out of a tree or something. at least i hope it was like that. stay strong little man!

scenes from the bikey lane: hump day edition

2009-09-09T18:40:00.000-07:00

things i saw today from the bikey lane included (but not limited to) the following:

1. a spandexy guy on his way to a long ride and on his way back. he gave me a double take too, cause really, who would've guessed?

2. a bike trailer with apparently nothing in it. why?

3. a little latino boy standing on the seat of a bmx bike and his hands on the shoulders of his guardian. the guardian had his hands on the handlebars. they were right at a busy intersection (octavia and market) and i got nervous for them, then i chilled out. they were stopped and pointing a lot of stuff downtown. it was really cute because i love seeing little kids on bikes and this little kid was adorable and really excited at whatever they were looking at.

4. me huffing and puffing up market. some days it's just harder to go up hills. for me, today was one of those days.

fall down. go boom.

2009-09-04T17:23:00.000-07:00

if you were to know me in real life, you know i'm rather clumsy. two things happened in two days to confirm i should probably be walking and sleeping with a helmet.

1. yesterday morning i set my phone as my alarm. in my sleepy-eyed daze, i was fumbling with the touch screen when the phone fell out of my hands and hit me on my eyebrow. sana sana.

2. today i was bending down to sweep my floor and hit my forehead on the windowsill. ouuuuch. and i think i'm gonna have a bump. sana sana.

i'm surprised i can ride a bike at all. but i do! once i'm rolling, i'm usually pretty good to go. in fact, i've somehow balanced myself the two times i thought i was surely going wipeout in traffic. one was in the middle of van ness and market while trying to avoid aggressive (and i bet inexperienced) fixie riders. another time a friend of mine swerved to avoid glass in golden gate park and hit my front wheel. so that's good at least.

this weekend the bay bridge, the bridge that links the east bay to san francisco, is closed. let's see how fun it'll be being stuck inside sf (aka how i life my life pretty much every day)!! i bet bart will be a madhouse. maybe some of the alternative transportation options drivers must resort to will rub off and stick to them come tuesday morning.

and good news for all of us that live in SF. sunday streets is going to be permanent starting in 2010. i'm so glad. it's a fun and healthy way for people to get out, meet people, experience new things.

and we wont discuss the delayed hearing for lifting the bike injunction (siiiiigh) cause that's just not a good way to celebrate these fantastic first days of summer (yes, summer) here in SF. woooooohooo! our summers start in september and go until october. then it rains. a lot.

have a great labor day weekend! ride safe.

oh, and one last thing, shout out the doo-bee for surviving intact his first dooring. apparently it was a passenger in a car that was in traffic that was the culprit, not the typical dooring we hear of where driver's side door opens from a parked car. that knee will be better soon!

so again, ride safe and watch out for doors! happy friday.

scenes from the bike valet fence

2009-08-31T09:57:00.003-07:00

1. a really rad three person tandem belonging to a father and his two sons. he designed it and the kids were really adorable. i asked him, "is it going to grow up with everyone?" and he said, "that's the idea." cute!

2. lots of security patrolling around on horse. with horses comes...um, yeah, nice smells. :)

3. a SFPD guy come over and tell us how cool he thought the bike valet service is. that is so cool.

4. a gorgeous sunset through the trees.

5. lots of smiles and thanks.

good times at the park with gorgeous san francisco "summer" weather.

scenes from the bikey lane: friday night edition

2009-08-28T23:07:00.000-07:00

1. a cat climbing out of the front basket over on to the rider's lap, over her shoulders down her back to the panniers, then up on her shoulders again. all in the space of like 5 seconds.

2. while riding to park bikes for outside lands, i saw human hell. ok, that's a bit dramatic, but i saw a group of teens, one of whom yelled in a gentlemanly (kidding) manner, "show me your tits! i'll show you mine," as he raised his shirt to his chin. i usually ignore crapola like that, but the chola in me (who has been dormant for quite some time i might add), just wanted to run over him with my bike and punch him in the mouth for being so disrespectful. what an ass.

3. while riding to park bikes for outside lands, i saw bike heaven. all the lanes taken over by bikes. then i realized i caught up to critical mass. fine with me. it was pretty mellow.

4. while parking bikes i saw someone steal a bike from the self park area. not to be mean, but that's why bike valet is provided. it's a safe and free alternative to parking your bike in the woods of golden gate park. also, please do not use cable locks to lock up an $800 new mountain bike. it took the thief awhile, enough time for some of us to chase after him, but he got it in the end. so sad.

alls i want now is a nice cold beer. it's 80s at night. feels like a nice austin evening in the fall. like a light, yet warm, comfy blanket permanently surrounding you. this is my ideal night out of all the ones i can think of.

oh, and today was the first time i've ever used bug spray while in california. weird. and, again, brought me back to my summers/early falls in austin.

scenes from the bikey lane

2009-08-28T00:20:00.001-07:00

just from the past couple of days:

1. a meter maid on bike going slowly, then me passing him, then him catching up to me at a light on 9th street. i was nervous with no discernible reason to be so. he said, "it's a nice day for a ride." i smile at him, almost like i didn't understand what he said, then struck back with, "yes, it is. wasn't so sure it would be this morning," as my skirt flapped about in the wind.

2. aforementioned skirt flapping about in the wind alllll around town. hi everyone! no, nothing scandalous was shown. but must admit i was nervous it would be a couple of times. i'm looking at you intersection at fox plaza.

3. a man on a mountain bike not only running through a stop sign to get past me, but also running over a pigeon's wing at the same time. i saw this very clearly and am still disturbed by it. it was a hit and run. he kept going, while i saw the incident completely. i was pretty disgusted and i said, "REALLY?" very loudly. i looked over at a blonde pedestrian walking next to me. she and i talked about it briefly, then i crossed the street to meet up with my friend. she saw the whole thing too. ew.

4. a few steep blocks of liberty hill. i'm trying to get better at riding hills, so i was like, bring it on!! unfortunately, the last hill on that one street i was trying to cross over did get me in the end. next time my frienemy, next time.

Cali Girl

2009-08-25T19:40:00.001-07:00

Cali Girl
Originally uploaded by busbozo

hung out with ms. busbozo and la meligrosa on friday night. just moments after this pic was taken, i got tire chorro of my own. and it kept on going and going this weekend. finally got it resolved today, after three separate people attempted to get my tire back on the wheel. lame sauce.

upside: i can ride again! wooooo.

sf smells like dog doo. no really, it does

2009-08-22T09:58:00.000-07:00

seriously. last night i was riding around to meet up for ladies night and i couldn't help but be paranoid the whole way there. i kept checking my feet, my shirt, my jeans, my jacket. i couldn't find the dog poop smell that kept following me. and then i was going to be sitting inside, but not being able to find the offensive stain was driving me sort of insane. cause really, how embarassing, right? i kept putting my hands under my nose to smell the soap i had just used to wash my hands.

turns out, i was not the only one to smell it. and the ladies also confirmed that they smelled it too. so weird! and smell, smell go away please. i like being outside and not smelling dog poo everytime i take a breath. thank you.

that is all.

nesting...

2009-08-18T19:32:00.000-07:00

so the past couple of weeks have been pretty hectic. i've been trying to find a new roommate while at the same time applying to jobs and cat sitting. so i've been back and forth and back and forth. meeting new people, posting ads, screening people, etc. and now i've found the two quiet people i've been looking for. i've never lived with dudes before, but honestly, i'm kind of over living with girls. i've been doing that since i was 18, and except for one time with elle, it's been kind of rough, so i think it's time to change it up. as long as they are somewhat clean in the bathroom, i think it'll be fine. less drama, that's for sure.

meanwhile the old roomie is already gone to nyc and left behind her household. seriously a washington state house was stuffed into this apt, and she just left with the cats and what her car could fit. a friend came to pack up her stuff (nice...), and in the process stirred up a whirlwind of cat hair. ugh. i miss the kiddos, but man, that hair is driving me bananas.

so in the past couple of days since i made sure A's cat did not die under my watch in the mission, i've been a hermit up in the LH and i love it. just some downtime before she comes back from nyc to pack up and leave. then i get two new roommates. just enjoying being here, doing my thing, cleaning the bathroom, cleaning the kitchen (cause my roommate made this a hotel for a couple of weeks for some friends of hers and they didn't clean up after themselves..........), thinking of soundproofing and cleaning out my own room as if i were going to move.

i've also been off the bike for extended periods of time. boo. just been on mainly for transportation back and forth, which has been frequent, but not substantial. i think tomorrow i'll go for a longer ride, clean my head, and enjoy the quiet before the bigger changes happen.

tomorrow is a new day.

new video from plastinlina mosh

2009-08-18T09:49:00.000-07:00

yay! they are so silly and so fun. i definitely need to see them the next time around.

moon v. district 9 v. mad men v. lowriders

2009-08-17T17:40:00.000-07:00

the doobster sent me a cool link regarding the two recent science fiction movies the moon v. district 9.

super short attention span recap of the moon: i almost fell asleep in the first 1/3rd of the movie, then it got better and i loved the rest. would recommend, but possibly as a rental.

i had conflicting views of d-9. i didn't like major aspects of it (somewhat spoiler ahead): i didn't like the shaky camera on a big screen nor did i like the gore/violence. it was too much for me. the shaky camera is super nauseating to me on a big screen, so i had to avert my eyes sometimes.

on the flip side: i loved the fact they packed so much social commentary into this movie. the commentary might have been a little unfocused at times, but overall, geez. very good stuff. the boo and i couldn't stop talking about it, then we promised each other we would revisit discussing the movie later this week.

and then mad men returned!! oh my god. don draper has quite possibly the best lines with the best & appropriate delivery of any character i've ever seen on a movie or a tv show. for instance: "i keep going places and ending up somewhere i've already been." jeebus h...just let that one marinate for awhile. another one: "limit your exposure." i wont spoil the quotes/episode for you if you haven't seen it yet. but if you are a fan, please see it. the layers and layers of meaning are just perfect. yet again. i would love to write for a show like that!

this episode was a bit understated, kind of like stepping gently down into a pool. love. it. here's a good recap.

we also made more progress on our car this weekend. we did some more details on the inside. turns out i have a talent at painting & doing decals for really small details. it's called a toothpick, tweezers and a steady hand. we glued the inside together and it looks pretty right on. only had the iphone though, and it didn't get good pics cause the model is just so small. it's so nice, we can't stop looking at it. our baby's coming together.

crafting lowriders with the boo...aww, yeah

2009-08-10T18:36:00.000-07:00

so the boo and i have been doing a project we've both wanted to do since we were about 7-10 years old. i've always been a bit of a tomboy, and i used to go with my dad to craft stores. these craft stores had model cars. i knew my dad liked cars, so we both talked about getting a model and working on it since it involves some crafting things like painting, putting things together and customization.

i never knew why we didn't until now. i believe i expressed my interest in this about 8 or 9. on the model, it says not for under 10. that's probably reason one. 2nd reason is a mere offshoot of reason one. most likey at 8 or 9 i would have been so excited to make one, that i would have rushed through it.

which brings us to my boo. he was also about my age when he expressed an interest in making model cars. only, he got them. his interest included cars, but extended to the tanks and planes too. he entered competitions and was encouraged by his local craft store owner. cute right? so he has experience, but he also ran into the impatience problem that happens when you are a young person.

so the two of us have taken our time making this lowrider. we have saved working on it on sundays for a few reasons, but mainly because we find for the paint to truly dry properly, we have to wait a week. and so it's been about a month, give or take a week, for us to work on our first impala thus far. i'm used to doing crafty things with significant others, but this is our first crafty-ish thing to do together. and his first craft project with a significant other at all, which i like to hear cause we both think it's super fun. we have another model too just waiting for us to start it when we tire of this one. ;)

and i have to say, our little baby is turning out reallly nice. we did a lot of the detailing yesterday, and it is...well, esuper guau. the outside is white, inside white & turquoise, and the bottom is black. there are chrome parts in the engine and trunk, wheels are low, it's up in the front. it looks pretty firme man. maybe we'll start crusin' the pages of lowrider bicycle magazine... :)

now onto watch anthony bourdain hangout in the bar and japanese restaurant across the street. ummhmm. i hear he disses alice waters. cause he's a super contrary contrarian...

more MIS/IMS videos

2009-08-06T10:46:00.000-07:00

See full report...

cancer sucks

2009-08-05T19:51:00.000-07:00

as if you didn't know. i'm not going to go into too much personal detail here, except to say that our family has been affected by the evil nonsense that is cancer.

and our extended family in the bike blogosphere, fat cyclist, also announced today via twitter that at 7:25 pm (utah time), his wife and mother of four, passed away after a LONG battle with cancer. i started crying when i read that because i've been following his story for about 2 years now and unfortunately it does not have a happy ending.

fatty, aka elden, has been selfless enough to share his day-to-day experiences with the world. and the world responded in astoundingly large numbers. many people have reached out to fatty's family and created cycling teams in susan's honor raising hundreds of thousands of dollars for lance armstrong's livestrong foundation. it was amazing how the internet made this community of people all throughout the nation rooting for susan, someone whom they've never met, and the livestrong foundation. so in susan's, and manymanymany other people & their families' honor, we shall all continue to fight to make sure other families will never have to experience cancer.

stay strong fatty. you are an inspiration to us all. the work and outreach you have done has been an incredible feat. you, your children and the rest of your family are in our thoughts and prayers. RIP susan.

MIS/IMS: night two

2009-08-03T21:34:00.000-07:00

so, i went to the second night of mexican institute of sound in SF at the make out room. ta. ma. coo'. but instead of being all up front dancing & sticking my camera in peeps faces, i thought that others should have the chance to do just that themselves. so i sat way back in a booth with my boo. and we just had a great time people watching, MIS/IMS listening, and (ok, just me) dancing. wow, it was effin' coo'...again. and true to the name of the place, i made out with my boo (hi mom!!) 'cause PDA "is encouraged" at the make out room. go figure.

at the show my boo saw this dude and he got all friend crushy on him. (he's the one in the middle...)

to be honest, i was taken by his esssstyle too. check it out... he had full on marty mcfly style: checkered button down short sleeve, super tight (prob 29s) dickies khakis with full on floodies & high top black chucks. swooooooon. i was not able to take a full on frontal (hi mom!!) pic of his hair and glasses, but he had thick plastic glasses and slicked back hair. a. d. m.

oh, and so the reason the boo got the friend crush on this marty mcfly dood is cause my boo rocks a certain 1950s style himself. he has short military haircut, black plastic glasses, leather boots, black or white plain shirt, and jeans/khakis. and he doesn't deviate much from that. and i like the look a lot. he might as well have a pack of cigarettes rolled up in his sleeve and then he could be danny zucko/50s greaser. swooon. so basically my boo was saying (the next day too i might add) that he wished he had the huevos to wear what marty mcfly was wearing. heehee.

so the second MIS/IMS show was sort of short. afterwards we went to our favorite tequila place next door to the make out room that has mariachis and people about a generation older than us (hi mom!!). as usual, i made out with my boo, danced with 70 yr old men & my boo and then we went home where i tried to take "artsy" pics. here's one. it actually came out ok.

so on sunday we balanced out our saturday night with los jarritos, benders, dolores park and each other. i love my boo immensely. te quiero mucho mi amor...

MIS/IMS: night one

2009-08-01T00:51:00.000-07:00

it was great seeing MIS/IMS playing in sf at the yerba buena center for the arts. that homie knows how to put on a dance party...and he's so animated, so much fun to watch!

he's so cute that i want to just pinch his cheeks (on his face).

i kind of have a (big) crush on the bass player. i didn't get a good pic of the drummer in action. oh well. tomorrow is another chance. woooo...

and here i am playing with the blogger video thingy. let's see how it turns out.

MIS/IMS is ready to invade SF

2009-07-30T15:54:00.000-07:00

MIS: mexican institute of sound.
IMS: instituto mexicano del sonido.

and i'm ready to see him. finallyfinallyfinally after missing him the last time he was here. he's playing two shows this weekend. one is at an art opening at yerba buena center for the arts, then the next one is at the make out room.

the twitterverse has peeps talking about flying into SF to see him, so i believe the crowd will be diverse...i also see him in sf weekly. he's busting out all over the place.

i love me a good art party, so i'm ready...i'm excited to dance, i'm excited to hear some fun music, i'm excited to see new crowds, i'm excited to see new outfits, new hairstyles, i'm excited to maybe meet new brown peeps, and who knows what else. we'll see.

here's a lil sample of his music taken from his english blog:

and here's a couple of videos of him just being super cute in general.

life on the wiggle

2009-07-25T01:58:00.000-07:00

last night i had to say goodbye to a friend's boyfriend. he's going far away on a jet plane, and i don't think he's ever coming back. very sad. and lady bee, we're here for you! moving on...

he's vegan, so i could eat everything at the potluck. such a rarity! and it was mexican and pretty yummy. after that we put an old chair in the bbq pit to keep warm in the cool misty evening. and then we all had fun hitting the corona bottle piñata late at night. dale, dale, dale...

so who is the first person i see when i step out of my apartment this evening and walk the three bike lengths to the wiggle? yup. aforementioned boyfriend. we both waved a big hai and smile and he pushed his pedals FAST and went away down the wiggle. i could never catch that homie on a bike lane. adios my bike riding amigo!

a block after i saw him, i saw one of the dudes from the 7-person bike ride...which we'll call the UK adam. then 3 blocks after that, i saw the steer-er/"driver" of the 7-person bike.

san francisco felt very small, yet very comfortable in that two minutes out of my apartment. and i couldn't stop smiling thinking of the fresh homemade banana bread i was about to devour.

then i ended up having to choose between pho and indian for dinner, both options that today i wish i didn't have to turn down. "tough" choices i know ;) since you must know, i chose indian and chick flicks (and i normally DESPISE chick flicks with a passssssion) with a chica instead of pho with los bros ess. but tomorrow i believe los bros and i are going to ride around in the misty muck that is SF lately, so there's room for everyone and everything.

and now i will try to sleep, but i make no promises. oh! and happy national tequila day!