Nothing's gonna change my world

Nudibranch at night
(A from-the-car-shot of Sam's Chowder House signage, Half Moon Bay, CA)

Images of broken light which
dance before me like a million eyes
That call me on and on across the universe
Thoughts meander like a
restless wind inside a letter box
they tumble blindly as
they make their way across the universe
- excerpted from the song Across The Universe,
lyrics written by John Lennon

I've started 3 blog notes and I can't seem to develop any of them. Then Across The Universe came up on Eric's playlist and the above verse struck a chord. He's playing DJ while we both wander through the Web this evening.

Images of broken light dance before me like a million eyes

I am wandering aimlessly across the Internet - jumping from blog to blog, looking up unfamiliar terms and following interesting links only to forget how or why I got there in the first place. Entertaining, mind-numbing, awe-inspiring, repulsing. I leave electronic footprints with every link I follow - someone/something out there is looking back or documenting my virtual journey.

Thoughts meander like a restless wind inside a letter box

So many ideas going around my head:

• something one of my interns said about Section 8 and public housing: "You make it sound like only poor people live in the projects." Yes, she said that to me.
  
• digging up old love letters to be possibly published anonymously on a friend's blog
  
• taking photos of the layoff letter I received earlier in the month
  
• listening to music at work (to drown out)
  
• another work group in the clinic argue and cuss during their staff meeting
• office walls should not be so thin
  
• what it means to be a pedestrian on the Internet superhighway, with the proper shoes, of course
  
• dyeing Easter eggs

It's 11:51PM and writing about thinking about writing about these things is about as far as I'm going to get tonight.

Pet peeve

I hate seeing temporary stitches on coats and jackets still holding the vents and flaps closed. They just bug. 

I noticed a cute little swingy gray coat on this young woman who was waiting for her Golden Gate Transit bus while I was waiting for my MUNI #5 after work. Her bus arrived and as she walked up the stairs into the bus, I noticed that the little flap on the back of the coat was still closed with that temporary stitch. Everything else about her seemed put together, but why did she not cut that stuff loose? The cute, flirtatious effect obvious from the front was undone but the awkward bunching in the back. Terrible.

I don't see these kinds of things very often, but when I do, I just want to run up with scissors and cut those stitches open. Other things I can't stand along the same lines are wool labels on scarves and wool labels still stitched onto the sleeves, near the wrist, of wool coats. UGH.

Don't be lazy, people. Cut those stitches, and wear your clothes, coats and scarves as they were meant to be worn.

Into the Wild - the movie?

I forgot how I read about this, but I saw on imdb.com that the book Into the Wild has been made into a movie, with a screening at the Mill Valley Film Festival. I was excited at the chance to see it, but I hadn't learned about till now and I don't have the time or money ($150!) to attend the screening on 9/13.

I don't read much in terms of books. Magazines, cookbooks, myspace profiles, no problem! That crap, I can read forever. Books, and I'm not sure why, not so much. But Into the Wild is one book I actually own, having read it many years ago. I don't remember what exactly attracted me to the story but I do remember being upset through most of my reading, with Chris McCandless, so young, full of potential, and very privileged. At the time, I was at crossroads, struggling to get through college and start my life, thinking wow, what a waste.

Or was it? Bits and pieces of his story, written by Jon Krakauer, still stay with me to this day and that's why I was a little excited to know that the movie version was coming soon to a theater near me. I think I need to dig it out of the closet again and/or see the movie to revisit my feelings about Chris' experience and what he was really trying to discover out there in the wild. I get the feeling I'll be more sympathetic this second time around.

Wake up now so you can go to sleep

My mom always says the television watches my dad, not the other way around.

My sister and I spent the night at my parents' house this past Friday. Guests usually sleep in the living room. My dad fell asleep on the couch and we had to wake him up so we could go to bed when the movie was over. It didn't matter that we were all howling through "Blades of Glory" and plain ole chit-chatting. I think the noise lulls him to sleep. He was awake for the beginning of the movie, but he gradually fell asleep.

He's been doing this for quite some time. I was still in high school and he'd come home around 11PM from his second job. I'd be doing homework (procrastinating) and we'd watch some TV together - Twilight Zone, news, Benny Hill, whatever, and talk about what was on or I would listen to him talk about stories he had related to what was on - and he'd eventually fall asleep. He'd sense things were done when the program was finished or when I'd start wrapping things up with my papers and he'd wake up.

On Friday however, a little nudging of his arm wasn't enough going to be enough. When we realized this was going to take a little more effort than normal, I blurted out, "Daddy, wake up now so you can go to sleep." We were laughing so hard, I think that really got his attention. So he said his goodnights and made his way up to the bedroom.

Pig Milk

It's an odd topic, but a familiar one. I haven't thought about this in ages!

I was about to post a photo on flickr of crab for sale at Fisherman's Wharf. I wanted to verify the sex of the crab. They appeared to be all male, as they should be, but I'm always getting the description of the male and female abdomens confused so I just had to make sure.
In my search for crabbing issues and processes, I ended up at iheartbacon.com. I noticed a link off to the side titled Pig Milk, and clicked on it.

Eric & I had been wondering about pig milk (and cheese!) for quite some time before we ended up sharing our thoughts with some friends a few years ago. Pigs can get big, but not big like cows, and they have have a lot more teets. So it's harder to milk them and the yield just doesn't seem to be worth the work is what we all came up with but we never really got confirmation. The link at iheartbacon offered up some answers along similar lines.

But we'd gotten a different answer about 2 years ago from a friend of a friend. He sent us the translation, as the original answer was in French. Apparently, man has only milked and produced milk by-products from herbivorous animals, including yaks, water buffalo, camels, horses, goats, sheep and of course, cows. The pig is omnivorous, as are most people.
Could you imagine human milk or cheese for sale?

Anyway, we've since lost the original email and have forgotten the reasoning behind the 'omnivore factor'. I think it may stem from old dietary laws? But I can't be sure. Eric just searched his old emails and did not find it. Perhaps, we'll have to send a follow-up email to our friend to refresh our memories.

New music round-up

I was sorry to hear Lily Allen cancelled many of her tour dates in the US. I had the fabulous opportunity to see her at The Fillmore (my first time at The Fillmore!) a few weeks back with my sister, brother-in-law and Eric. She put on a great show and her band kicked butt. She was drinking on stage, and smoking too, but I thought that was just part of her 'rude girl' schtick. The highlight of the evening for me was her cover of Keane's Everybody's Changing. I love Keane, I like that song and she took it into an unexpected direction, up-tempo and cutesy-sweet. I'd like to see it become a single. Other tunes I like from her album include Ldn, Alfie & Cheryl Tweedy.

the bird and the bee was the opening act and they were great! So refined and polished. I'd never heard of them, although, their song Again and Again sounded really familiar. I would have bought their CD that night but they ran out of stuff to sell, I think from their previous show in Sacramento. I ended up getting it down in Santa Barbara while on vacation. They did a cover of Do You Know The Way to San Jose and that was cute. While I really dig the whole CD, the track that's gotten the most plays so far is Birds and the Bees. It's simply dreamy.

The Slip was in town this past Friday and Saturday, playing at The Independent. (I hadn't been there since it was the Justice League and my sister remembers it as a Club Q, a lesbian club. Apparently my brother was a cage dancer there too. Who knew?!) Anyways, I had to see them perform Even Rats. I instantly loved the song when I first heard it on Guitar Hero. I can't play it well beyond the easy level but it just kicks ass. I'm not sure why, but I find it... pretty. So my sister, my brother-in-law, Eric and I walked on over after dinner on Friday.

The opening act, Holy F*ck, was wildly cool. I'd never seen or heard anything like that and I mean that in a good way. I've already incorporated some of their tracks to my workout playlist, they're so high energy - they played with such intensity, definitely something to be experienced live. I don't know any of the titles of their songs from their performance. It's like they were just performing as background music, not because they were an act to be watched. But you had to watch. The drummer was an animal (again, in a good way), the guitarist was going to rip his arms off the way he was playing and the two guys messing around with their pedals and knobs and who knows what else, they seemed so engrossed in what they were doing, like they were in a trance.

OK, back to The Slip. Unfortunately, we're not the spring chickens we once were, so we didn't stick around for their second set. We were all yawning, not because the show was sucking or anything, we were just tired. Thank goodness they played Even Rats early on. I also really like If One Of Us Should Fall and Children of December. Too bad we couldn't come back Saturday night to see the second set!

Bad junk mail titles, pt. 2

They seem to be getting worse.

I'm also getting more Las Vegas/casino/gambling subject lines, telling me I've won something or can win something and I can also get a variety of medication (aside from those that can help my non-existent penis get bigger) for deep discounts.

There's also a smattering of loan offers and religious garble that go straight into the junk folder. But the number of penis-related titles still outnumber the others. Here's the latest batch:

It will be so big she gags on it
Feel better about yourself
Boost your johnson
Biggest cock on the block
My wife says I'm huge
Have control over your manhood
Stronger longer hard ons
Penetrate her deeper
Does it hang long?
No more faking
Turbocock
Improve endurance in the bedroom
It will be so big she gags on it
Supercharge your dick
Stop your ED
Expand..Lengthen..Enlarge
How do you feel about your manhood?
Disappointed with your sexual health?
Have you ever felt small?
Be as big as you can be
9 inches in your pants
Can you hit her g-spot?
Does your dick resemble a shrimp?
Is your dick like a scared turtle?
Feed your dick
Fatten up your trousersnake
SuperDick
Fix your bedroom problems with us
Have the biggest dick at the bar
Take your dick to the next level
Get a visit from the big dick fairy
Your ex said you had a small dick
She'll hurt so good with MegaDik
Make your manhood strong
Give her a reason to stick around
Let the big dick fairy bless you

"Said I love you, but I lied"

My new cube mate Andrew has XM satellite radio streaming through his computer at work. It's pretty cool. Hardly any commercials, just XM commercials. He usually has it on the easy- listening station for the 'over 30's' and for the most part the tunes are familiar and helps me humming along with my work. Andrew likes to sing along and he's funny that way. His sometimes goofy attitude reminds me of my brother Joe.

I never really liked Michael Bolton, just never really liked that sound or his voice and I'm jealous that his long mane was prettier than mine. I'm still not a fan or anything but after listening to "Said I love you, but I lied" all the way through for the first time (and then googling for the lyrics) it's not at all the song I thought it was. I assumed it was some kind of harsh break-up song.

Take for example the chorus:

Said I loved you but I lied
cause this is more than love I feel inside
Said I loved you but I was wrong
cause love could never ever feel so strong
Said I loved you but I lied

The lyrics are actually really sweet. But the melody and voice still suck.

On another note:

Prince at the SuperBowl XLI's halftime show was awesome. I can't say I'm the biggest fan but with my new found appreciation of guitar players, I really liked what he did with "The Best Of Me" by the Foo Fighters. I recognized that he started that groove with "All Along the Watchtower" but it wasn't obvious that he'd switched over to the Foo Fighters song until the chorus (Outside of the songs that get lots of airplay, I'm not very familiar with Foo Fighters music). I was in awe.

I haven't been this excited about Prince since the 5th grade, when my brother, cousin and I were staging a Prince vigil at my house the night he played the Cow Palace in 1985. He played a couple of shows, but we were all too young to go - I was 10, my cousin Jennifer, 11 & my brother Paolo, 12. Instead, we played my sister's Prince albums and watched Purple Rain all night.

I spoke with enthusiasm for this performance at a "Quarterly Director's Coffee" get-together this morning. Though one co-worker called the guitar-playing 'noise,' I was not affected. And for those who opted out, they're now planning to find it on YouTube and see His Purple-Highness for themselves. Maybe I'll do that too... like, right now!

Bad junk mail titles

Junk mail subject titles directed at those who feel they aren't substantial enough.

I do get other junk mail, but these are some of the standouts that are fairly coherent compared to the "9hoodia h';iph'pidf'hkd lidhst[-45uihn'fsgp9sr 7[ihrt;oriwfhndf" kind that also flood my junk mail box.

I'm sure everyone gets these... don't you?!

Hows your little man
Demand more from your dick
Add inches to your package
Thicken up your manhood
Gain Up To 3+ Full Inches In Length
Increase Your Penis Size 3
Biggest dick in town
Greatly improve your stamina
Want to be a hero in a bed?
Hang fat
Pencil dick?
Six months and you'll be a changed man
Please your partner
Make your manhood extra large
Get more chicks
Enlargement patch
Stop being a small guy
Women are unhappy with small dicks
Big gains on your manhood
Enlarge your johnson
Be a big man where it counts
Ashamed of your size
Keep it strong and firm
Make your manhood massive
Every man should read this
Increase your girth
Expand and enlarge
Are you big where it counts
Gain length and width on your dick
Large and in charge
Bigger manhood in months
Turn her on with a larger manhood

I think this one's the best though:
Beef up your tubesteak

TUBESTEAK!?!

Why does Tim Allen make movies?

I think I'm going to ask Mick LaSalle. Not because I think he'll know but he might have a funny answer. So I emailed:

"Why does Tim Allen make movies? Out of fairness, I haven't seen any of them. I've only seen about 2 episodes of Home Improvement. He was great as Buzz Lightyear and I hear Galaxy Quest is funny.
But I just don't get why anyone would see, say, Jungle 2 Jungle or The Santa Clause.
If I were to rent one of his movies, what should I start with?"

I can't believe there's a Santa Clause Part 3 movie coming out. I didn't even know there was a Part 2! I just don't get the appeal and the trailers for his movies are just lost on me.

Fall music collection

New (to me) music of the moment - Zero 7 & the vocal stylings of Jose Gonzalez. Zero 7 just played the Fillmore and were also on Jay Leno and I totally shrugged off the performances. I'm not really sure why, but I didn't really pay attention to when they were going to be on because I just started listening to them.

Eric downloaded some songs he thought I might like and well, I do like them! I've also been listening to Keane's new album and after listening to the up-tempo songs over and over again, I've finally found the beauty of the slower songs like "Atlantic" and "A Bad Dream," along with one of their older songs, "Bedshaped."

So, now I'm learning about Zero 7 and that lead to more songs from Jose Gonzalez as well as other vocalists Zero 7 has collaborated with. I'm stuck on Jose. His website has a nice sampling of songs. I thought I could listen to "Today" over and over again, but the flavor of the month just might be "Heartbeats". His voice is dreamy and the music is so clean, not fussy and just easy to enjoy.

This time of year, when school starts, when the days are getting shorter and the weather begins to turn cooler, is when I want to listen to stuff like this. An old staple is Amplified Heart from Everything But the Girl, but this season, I'll be adding Jose Gonzalez, with or without Zero 7, to my 'fall collection'. To keep me from becoming completely pensive and melancholic, I've been interspersing some Gnarls Barkley and Paul Weller/Jam songs to my current playlist. I could have gone in for the overkill by adding some Cristina Branco but I think that would just bring me to tears, partly because of the nature of Fado, but mostly because, I don't understand Portuguese, so it gets frustrating to feel sad about a song and not know why.

Pelicans

Pelicans are neat, especially when they fly in a big group. I'm not sure about this but it seems like they have a 'pattern' of flapping their wings while they're in formation, using a domino effect. The bird in front flaps while the others behind glide, then just as soon as it stops, the next bird flaps and as it's about to stop, the bird behind him begins to flap and so on and so on.

We went out to visit family at my parent's house in Pacifica. Eric usually drives out along the Great Highway and there was a group of pelicans, about 4 or 5, flying along the beach. As it turns out, my nieces and nephew were out eating dinner with my brother and a family friend out in Japantown. So no one was home, but I got to see pelicans! After eating Mexican food in South City, we made our way back towards Hwy 35 and saw a large group of pelicans flying, about 20-25 of them. They looked like a string of black origami birds in the sky. I kept watching until I couldn't see them anymore.

I like watching them fly. I've seen a bunch of them up and down the coast but I haven't been able to get any good photos of them. This past Saturday, we took the kiddies down to Fisherman's Wharf & Pier 39 and oook! A bunch of pelicans were flying low and near the piers. I finally got a shot, not the best, but at least it was a lot of them and they were flying. The photo is missing about half the group in front. They flew by so fast and I was using the zoom feature, I couldn't quite locate them through the viewfinder fast enough.

Music I like in commercials

Band - Song - Company

Badly Drawn Boy - All Possibilities - Target

I put myself on his record label's email list a while back. Not sure why, since I can't just hop on a bus and take in a show in Manchester at the drop of a hat. But some interesting sounds are coming from other bands under the Twisted Nerve label that are worth a listen.

The Postal Service - Such Great Heights - Kaiser Permanente (and others)

I'm a new Death Cab for Cutie fan so I just had to eat up The Postal Service stuff too. Fun! Helps me pick up the pace when I walk from the bus terminal to my building in the morning.

Someone asked me a few weeks back what kind of music I like and I named these two bands as being in my most recent favorites. I don't listen to the radio much and am not sure if they get a lot of airplay but I can now refer them to some commercials on TV.

What I'm sick of ...

Oasis - All Around the World - AT&T/SBC

Puke - partly because it's just been played out way too much, throughout the Olympics and now as the AT&T brand is being hammered into everyone's heads. Which kinda helps me out with work - I'm tired of saying "formerly known as SBC" to make sure people don't hang up in my face thinking I'm soliciting new business from existing customers. Oasis = Oa-sucks: an old on-line buddy once called them. They were a big fave of mine when they started out but the brotherly hate between the Gallagher brothers was just too much for me and their new solo stuff just didn't hold my interest.