work of art


"The Crackers" 2005

Kathy sent me this yesterday. I remembered seeing a interview of the artists before the gates opened. Jean-Claude said, "We are not sending any message. It has no meaning. It is a work of art, it's a beauty, and that's all." Then I think "The Crackers" would definitely qualify as an art. Snow is blowing heavily in 30 degrees angle to the ground. Everyone's saying how they're sick of this weather today. I still love it. Love the cold weather. Love the snow. It's great when it just stopped snowing, especially if it's in the middle of the night. I may go take a walk. Another picture opportunity in the park tomorrow morning.
on february 28, 2005 @ 05:55 pm [link]

Friday morning, I got up early and headed uptown to see the 'gates' in the snow. The art should and would make so much more sense against the white of snow. At 8 o'clock, the park wasn't yet so crowded and the snow was still undisturbed in many areas. The orange gates shined brightly, beautifully in the morning sun. I took two rolls of pictures. I enjoyed company of other curious people walking through the gates aimlessly, and most of them also taking pictures. Ducks were sitting on a thin ice at the lake. The gate keepers were busy shoveling miles and miles of pathways. It was a very special hour walk in the park.
on february 27, 2005 @ 12:08 am [link]

please turn down the radio

About seven o'clock this morning, someone's radio began blasting music outside my window and deprived precious last hour of my sleep. I tossed and turned, put earplugs, but couldn't really get back to sleep. I dragged myself out of bed and went out for my morning run. Felt pretty shitty. At the track, I thought it would be nice to run on the waterfront in the East River Park again. They don't seem to be doing much work to repair the promenade since they closed it off 4, 5 years ago. I also thought about the super baby, a little Chinese girl who used to run around the track for a half hour every morning. Did she get tired of running? Probably her parents and grandpa won't let her run in the cold. I came back home, and someone's radio was still going. When I went downstairs an hour later, I heard the radio get louder as I approached the door of SOY. I opened the door and confirmed it was my radio at the restaurant. I accidentally activated the timer yesterday. Silly me. Sorry neighbors. Flurries arrived around three o'clock in the afternoon, and turned into steady snow only an hour later. Looking forward to more shoveling tomorrow.
on february 24, 2005 @ 11:51 pm [link]

would love to see your pants off

Improv Everywhere Mission: No Pants 2k5: this is definitely one of the very reason I love New York. And this should be getting more attention than that 'gate' project.
on february 19, 2005 @ 02:12 am [link]

no, I wasn't gonna sing that munchkin song

A small person came to have lunch this afternoon. He was probably in his 40s. Pulled up in his big car right in front the restaurant. But then when he stepped out, I realized that he was a very small person. He wasn't even 4 feet. And he was on little crutches. When he walked in, I must say I was rather excited. My first small-person customer! But I thought it would be more polite not to show my excitement, so I behaved calmly. He had today's specials, pumpkin napa ginger soup and spicy tuna & seaweed salad. And two cups of soy coffee. He enjoyed the food, and said he'd come back. And left. I was wiping the table when he came back 30 seconds later. "I forgot to do something." Then left a nice tip on the table. "Don't let me leave without doing this." A nice small person.
on february 19, 2005 @ 12:31 am [link]

Tricked

This little older guy walked in this afternoon. Grey hair, mustache, a blue sport jacket. For some reason I was alarmed. He said he wanted a cup of coffee. I said I had to brew coffee. He said ok. I said it was soy coffee. Frankly, I didn't feel like making coffee. I wanted to discourage him. He said ok. He had a 20-dollar bill in his hand. I made coffee, and he said two sugar. I poured him a cup, and opened two sugar packets. I said one dollar. He gave me the bill, and I gave him change. Then I looked away or something, and he muttered something. He showed me the change in his hand, and he had a five-dollar bill and five singles. I said I was sorry, and thought somehow I gave him wrong change. I took the money from his hand and gave him 19 dollars (again). I thought it was strange, but didn't think too much of it. Later I counted the money in the register and of course I was 9 dollars short. When Akiko came in, I told her the story and she said it was one of common con trick in Japan she faced working in retail. She tipped me how they would deal with a situation like this in Japan. Next time I'd hell him I have to call police and then I'll count the money in register.
on february 15, 2005 @ 11:51 pm [link]

good and eventful

Web is a funny thing. Somehow Ganda found my blog and the fact that I mentioned her and sent me a comment. Last night I caught the late show for the benefit for Tonic, Chocolate Genius with Marc Ribot, also Thomas was playing with them. Great set. This afternoon I walked through the 'gates' in the Central Park. My running team had a run through them early this morning wearing our orange team jackets, but I really wasn't in the mood to get up at 6 o'clock in the morning. I also caught the last day of Aztec exhibit at Guggenheim. It was very crowded but I enjoyed viewing very interesting artifacts and reading about their bloody rituals. Then I got together with my friends Orly and Michelle, and laughed over Michelle's description of Spanish version of Jerry Springer show where they beat the hell out of little guys who sleep around. Then we poked around Orly's cat Scruffy, the fattest cat in the world as I know of. It was good to see Michelle in fairly good spirit; two weeks ago she was bleeding and running from someone who tried to rob her and punched her in the fact. We had our endulgence at Italian cafe on Bleecker on the way back to subway for pre-Valentine's celebration for single women. Life is good.
on february 13, 2005 @ 11:19 pm [link]

how to get there

Today's successful experiment: potato, pumpkin, & corn soup. I was thinking of making in soy chowder style, but it was already just perfect before soymilk, so I let it be. While I was seasoning the soup, I realized that this cooking business is just like designing a handbag that I used to do. It's basically imagination, and figuring out how to get there.

Thomas from Doveman said to me tonight, "I read in your blog that you came to one of our shows..!" Bloggers tend to get curious about other people's blogs. So here is his. From there I stumble into Ganda's blog and found what she wrote last summer:

"Soy -- Soy owner Etsuko is the hip oka-san you never had. When I'm dining alone, I love going to Soy and ordering the tofu salad, california tofu, meat gyoza, and if i'm still hungry, salmon nameshi, which I wash down with Etsuko's spicy ginger lemonade."

She's performing with Miho Hattori Saturday night at Tonic. I'm sorry to miss it. I'm trying to catch the tail end of this benefit for Tonic if I can get out at a decent hour. There's a bunch more 'benefits for Tonic' coming up this month. Let's attend them for our friends.
on february 12, 2005 @ 12:19 am [link]

Happy New Year - again

Last saturday after work I took my dive-loving friend Shawn to Boss Tweed's on Essex. When we walked in, something felt different. It wasn't because of 80's hip hop music. It almost looked just like a regular Saturday night crowd filling the space, conversing loudly, but here... in sign language. I'd say 95 percent of the people there were hearing-impared. Maybe because the girl at the bar speaks their language. It was kind of cool. There's a place for everybody in New York City.

I spoke to my friend Michelle over the weekend. She was still very shaken up about what happened the week before: she was punched in the face by a man who tried to rob her and broke her nose. But somehow I was able to make her laugh at one point she said, "Don't make me laugh. My nose hurts."

We're having a busy week. Selling lots of green tea shortbread. Lots of visiters. Yesterday when I got to the store my ex-homeless friend crazy Red was knocking on the door already. Toothless old Jewish lady, who brings me jars of gefilte fish occasionally, came by and sat down for a few minutes. Stan said this morning "Life is not complicated. We make it complicated." Well said. Happy Lunar New Year. Everything was closed in Chinatown today, and it was nice and quiet this morning.
on february 10, 2005 @ 01:17 am [link]

bad things and good things

Orly called me and told me that our friend Michelle was assaulted by the World Trade Center a week ago, on Friday evening. Someone tried to rob her. After the man punched her in the face, she was able to run away but her nose was broken. It feels like so much violence is going on, especially when it happened some place close, or to someone you know. On the good note, Kelly next door found a purse on the street, and brought it in. She took her time on the phone trying to locate the owner. We couldn't find the girl's phone number, so Kelly ended up calling the credit card company, and in about 30 minutes, I got a call from the girl who mysteriously dropped her purse on the street with her money and driver license and everything. She sounded very happy that we have the purse. It's nice to do good things - it will come back to you some day.
on february 4, 2005 @ 09:22 pm [link]