let's ride this wave
I was finally able to catch up on my beauty sleep sunday morning, which means I'm pretty again! I spent wonderfully uneventful day; staying at home and doing the endless cleaning job around the house. It was still almost 90 degrees when I finally left the house for a long run, but it felt much cooler than I thought it would. I run through Battery Park at dusk, to catch the glimpse of fireflies. Everytime it never fails to fascinate me. We are in the midst of another heat wave, and Brazilian music feels quite appropriate. I went though 'jazz' phaze for two weeks, and I think it will be Brazilian and Latin week. Happy summer! We have just a few more weeks left.
on july 31, 2006 @ 01:58 pm [link]
| July 2006 | ||||||||
| S | M | T | W | T | F | S | ||
| 1 | ||||||||
| 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | ||
| 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | ||
| 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | ||
| 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 26 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 |
| 30 | 31 | |||||||
soy diary
peace offering
On my way back from laundry, I saw my neighbor Kate around the corner with a large bouquet of flowers. I said, that's for me. Minutes later, she was at my door. She was sorry about the intruder, her drunk sub tenant. I said I'm laughing about it now. I thanked for the flowers. Only girls know that a bouquet of flowers is a must in peace offering.
SOY cooking class this afternoon: we survived hot and crowded kitchen and feasted on tofu dishes. It was another rough week in the midst of heat wave. And the finishing blow came when my number one help Yukiko told me she have to leave me in September. But the show must go on. When I came home I found a hair ball art my cat created on a note I scribbled. It actually looks cool with smeared blue ink with hair stuck in the middle. I think I'm going to frame it. In a SOY memorabilia auction at Chrysties sometime in the future, this piece may be sold for $50.
on july 30, 2006 @ 02:54 am [link]
On my way back from laundry, I saw my neighbor Kate around the corner with a large bouquet of flowers. I said, that's for me. Minutes later, she was at my door. She was sorry about the intruder, her drunk sub tenant. I said I'm laughing about it now. I thanked for the flowers. Only girls know that a bouquet of flowers is a must in peace offering.
SOY cooking class this afternoon: we survived hot and crowded kitchen and feasted on tofu dishes. It was another rough week in the midst of heat wave. And the finishing blow came when my number one help Yukiko told me she have to leave me in September. But the show must go on. When I came home I found a hair ball art my cat created on a note I scribbled. It actually looks cool with smeared blue ink with hair stuck in the middle. I think I'm going to frame it. In a SOY memorabilia auction at Chrysties sometime in the future, this piece may be sold for $50.
on july 30, 2006 @ 02:54 am [link]
edamame on the beach
Past two weeks, my website was being transferred to a new server, and yesterday the site was up and running at somewhere in a new location. As it turned out, the files they transferred was from three weeks ago and I had to find my way to collect some important blog items from the old server. Plus I spent a few hours trying to figure out why my blog script didn't work any more. The problem is always rather minuscule when you find out what it is. It seems to be in order now, and I'm back to happy blogging.
Saturday morning, four-mile race in the central park in 93% humidity. After I jogged the lower park for ten minutes, I was already too warmed up. I was sweating profusely while waiting for the start. My shoe lace came undone (I still forget to double-knot!) already before the cat hill. I ran steady conservative pace and came home with fourth place award in my age group.
On sunday Erin and I were planning to go to the beach, but it was too cloudy at noon. I decided to go to my favorite stores in brooklyn: restaurant depot and home depot, next to each other! When I came out from shopping spree, sun was out. I said I could still make it to the beach. I came back to Suffolk street and Erin was walking out of her door, pointing at the beautiful sunny sky. "Now it's gorgeous!" I said let's go. We can still make use of a few more hours of good weather. It was almost 6 o'clock when we finally got to the beach, but the wind was calm, sun was gentle, and water was warm. Did you know that edamame is extra yummy on the beach?
on july 26, 2006 @ 02:33 pm [link]
Past two weeks, my website was being transferred to a new server, and yesterday the site was up and running at somewhere in a new location. As it turned out, the files they transferred was from three weeks ago and I had to find my way to collect some important blog items from the old server. Plus I spent a few hours trying to figure out why my blog script didn't work any more. The problem is always rather minuscule when you find out what it is. It seems to be in order now, and I'm back to happy blogging.
Saturday morning, four-mile race in the central park in 93% humidity. After I jogged the lower park for ten minutes, I was already too warmed up. I was sweating profusely while waiting for the start. My shoe lace came undone (I still forget to double-knot!) already before the cat hill. I ran steady conservative pace and came home with fourth place award in my age group.
On sunday Erin and I were planning to go to the beach, but it was too cloudy at noon. I decided to go to my favorite stores in brooklyn: restaurant depot and home depot, next to each other! When I came out from shopping spree, sun was out. I said I could still make it to the beach. I came back to Suffolk street and Erin was walking out of her door, pointing at the beautiful sunny sky. "Now it's gorgeous!" I said let's go. We can still make use of a few more hours of good weather. It was almost 6 o'clock when we finally got to the beach, but the wind was calm, sun was gentle, and water was warm. Did you know that edamame is extra yummy on the beach?
on july 26, 2006 @ 02:33 pm [link]
not a big fan of those hairy things
The refrigerator broke down for the second time in three days yesterday. This morning Wada san arrived very quickly and performed a major repair to revive our life line. Hot and humid all day, which gave us a busy night with lots of deliveries. It's a perfect spicy tuna bowl weather!
Luis brought me beautiful big green shiso plant growing in a big bucket last week, with which we've been enjoying shiso-tuna bowl. The other day I noticed a couple of very hairy catapillers feasting on it. I literally jumped, for I am very much scared of these hairy things. I carefully trimmed the leaves with those nasty things and picked them with the largest foot-long chopsticks we have in the kitchen. Sorry guys, they're not for you. It's my lunch!
on july 26, 2006 @ 02:13 pm [link]
The refrigerator broke down for the second time in three days yesterday. This morning Wada san arrived very quickly and performed a major repair to revive our life line. Hot and humid all day, which gave us a busy night with lots of deliveries. It's a perfect spicy tuna bowl weather!
Luis brought me beautiful big green shiso plant growing in a big bucket last week, with which we've been enjoying shiso-tuna bowl. The other day I noticed a couple of very hairy catapillers feasting on it. I literally jumped, for I am very much scared of these hairy things. I carefully trimmed the leaves with those nasty things and picked them with the largest foot-long chopsticks we have in the kitchen. Sorry guys, they're not for you. It's my lunch!
on july 26, 2006 @ 02:13 pm [link]
mystery solved
The intruder from the other night turned out to be a subletter from the fourth floor, although he was too drunk to remember what he did. After leaving out the window from my apartment, he must've walked through someone else's apartment, and ended up in the hallway, where he was eventually found by his girlfriend who left her stinking-drunk boyfriend locked in the apartment. Fortunately no one got hurt, I've been sleeping better although still a bit freaked out, and the couple got kicked out this weekend. The case closed.
Another event to add to my stress week was another refrigerator break-down. This time something burned out in the kitchen refrigerator. It was before a dinner rush thursday evening, and the next morning I woke up with a stiff neck. I was able to get a mechanic for repair that morning, but it was such a nightmare especially right before my saturday cooking class. And I had another great class this afternoon and so looking forward to sleeping in tomorrow... No racing this weekend.
on july 26, 2006 @ 02:12 pm [link]
The intruder from the other night turned out to be a subletter from the fourth floor, although he was too drunk to remember what he did. After leaving out the window from my apartment, he must've walked through someone else's apartment, and ended up in the hallway, where he was eventually found by his girlfriend who left her stinking-drunk boyfriend locked in the apartment. Fortunately no one got hurt, I've been sleeping better although still a bit freaked out, and the couple got kicked out this weekend. The case closed.
Another event to add to my stress week was another refrigerator break-down. This time something burned out in the kitchen refrigerator. It was before a dinner rush thursday evening, and the next morning I woke up with a stiff neck. I was able to get a mechanic for repair that morning, but it was such a nightmare especially right before my saturday cooking class. And I had another great class this afternoon and so looking forward to sleeping in tomorrow... No racing this weekend.
on july 26, 2006 @ 02:12 pm [link]
midsummer night's nightmare
Bronx half-marathon on sunday. This is always one of the hottest race of the year. Again this year, under blazing sun I ran drenched in sweat and water I poured over my head at every water station. I couldn't wait to come home and soak in ice bath after the race!
Then the craziest thing happened to me last night. I was woken by some sound. When I realized that it was coming from my window on the fire escape, I jumped up from my bed and turned on the light. There's someone at my window at 3 am in the morning! I screamed, but didn't discourage the intruder from opening the window and coming in. There he was, without my contact lens, he was a naked white blob, wearing only boxer shorts. I screamed and yelled, and the guy I've never seen said he came in from the window like she told him to. Who?!?! He mentioned the name of my upstairs neighbor, who's been subletting her apartment. I backed up to my front door, and he kept walking into my room. Lucky for him that I wasn't a gun-owning red neck, otherwise I would've shot him in the face reciting my constitutional right to bear arms. After a few minutes of my screaming and yelling, he went back out on the fire escape. I closed the window tight and promised myself never to open it again. I told my landlord about it and he said he'd ask my neighbor. The mystery hasn't been solved.
on july 12, 2006 @ 12:54 am [link]
Bronx half-marathon on sunday. This is always one of the hottest race of the year. Again this year, under blazing sun I ran drenched in sweat and water I poured over my head at every water station. I couldn't wait to come home and soak in ice bath after the race!
Then the craziest thing happened to me last night. I was woken by some sound. When I realized that it was coming from my window on the fire escape, I jumped up from my bed and turned on the light. There's someone at my window at 3 am in the morning! I screamed, but didn't discourage the intruder from opening the window and coming in. There he was, without my contact lens, he was a naked white blob, wearing only boxer shorts. I screamed and yelled, and the guy I've never seen said he came in from the window like she told him to. Who?!?! He mentioned the name of my upstairs neighbor, who's been subletting her apartment. I backed up to my front door, and he kept walking into my room. Lucky for him that I wasn't a gun-owning red neck, otherwise I would've shot him in the face reciting my constitutional right to bear arms. After a few minutes of my screaming and yelling, he went back out on the fire escape. I closed the window tight and promised myself never to open it again. I told my landlord about it and he said he'd ask my neighbor. The mystery hasn't been solved.
on july 12, 2006 @ 12:54 am [link]
vacation report
It took me so long to take off on sunday afternoon, like I have fear of leaving. I was going to pack in one hour, but it required two more hours for mysterious reasons. Then I spent three minutes trying to open the back of the pumpkin-colored SUV I rented. Inside the car I spent five minutes figuring out the cd player and finding out that I can load 6 cds, which validated next seven minutes going through my 300 cd holder to pick the 6 cds for the road trip. I was driving up FDR when I remembered I forgot to bring the map Kathy gave me with directions to her cottage. I turned around, which wasn't necessary because I could've just called her for the direction, but felt like returning and saying good-bye to my kitty once more. There was little congestion in Bronx, but the rest of the way was fairly smooth. Five hours later at dusk I found a sign Kathy posted on a tree in front her cottage. The sign just said "Etsuko" with a big arrow pointing my way. As I approached her enchanted little summer cottage, I was first greeted by an army of mosquitoes. Inside, Kathy and her enormous kitty Cleo were waiting for me all day. I brought her with me little SOY dinner; ganmo, kiriboshi, and treasure sacks. Provincetown was such a pretty gay town! Ocean was clear, calm, and warm, and on the beach we were surrounded by pretty gay boys and oversized lesbians. I enjoyed running through dunes and more mosquito infested forests. I had great fun although I came back with serious mosquito bites still itchy. The country mosquitoes are so much bigger and more vicious! They got me even the top of my head. City mosquitoes we rarely see here are such wimps! I love the city life. I love not having so many spiders and all kinds of other creatures inside my house.
on july 8, 2006 @ 12:17 am [link]
It took me so long to take off on sunday afternoon, like I have fear of leaving. I was going to pack in one hour, but it required two more hours for mysterious reasons. Then I spent three minutes trying to open the back of the pumpkin-colored SUV I rented. Inside the car I spent five minutes figuring out the cd player and finding out that I can load 6 cds, which validated next seven minutes going through my 300 cd holder to pick the 6 cds for the road trip. I was driving up FDR when I remembered I forgot to bring the map Kathy gave me with directions to her cottage. I turned around, which wasn't necessary because I could've just called her for the direction, but felt like returning and saying good-bye to my kitty once more. There was little congestion in Bronx, but the rest of the way was fairly smooth. Five hours later at dusk I found a sign Kathy posted on a tree in front her cottage. The sign just said "Etsuko" with a big arrow pointing my way. As I approached her enchanted little summer cottage, I was first greeted by an army of mosquitoes. Inside, Kathy and her enormous kitty Cleo were waiting for me all day. I brought her with me little SOY dinner; ganmo, kiriboshi, and treasure sacks. Provincetown was such a pretty gay town! Ocean was clear, calm, and warm, and on the beach we were surrounded by pretty gay boys and oversized lesbians. I enjoyed running through dunes and more mosquito infested forests. I had great fun although I came back with serious mosquito bites still itchy. The country mosquitoes are so much bigger and more vicious! They got me even the top of my head. City mosquitoes we rarely see here are such wimps! I love the city life. I love not having so many spiders and all kinds of other creatures inside my house.
on july 8, 2006 @ 12:17 am [link]
My musician friends
It was a slow night since many people were probably gone for the holiday weekend. But at the end of very night, we were raided (again!) by Miho Hatori's gang after their show at Tonic. She always brings her troop after her set, and I always love to see all these wonderful musicians return. On Thursday I was able to catch Marc Ribot's band Ceramic Dog at Tonic. It was a truly amazing show. Shazad was so excited after the show, telling me it was the best set they've had. "I was singing and I never sing!" Got to pack up for my road trip tomorrow, visiting my friend Kathy in Cape Cod. Happy Fourth of July, you all have to go without Niku Jaga and Spicy Tuna for a few days.... We'll be back on Thursday!
on july 2, 2006 @ 02:54 am [link]
It was a slow night since many people were probably gone for the holiday weekend. But at the end of very night, we were raided (again!) by Miho Hatori's gang after their show at Tonic. She always brings her troop after her set, and I always love to see all these wonderful musicians return. On Thursday I was able to catch Marc Ribot's band Ceramic Dog at Tonic. It was a truly amazing show. Shazad was so excited after the show, telling me it was the best set they've had. "I was singing and I never sing!" Got to pack up for my road trip tomorrow, visiting my friend Kathy in Cape Cod. Happy Fourth of July, you all have to go without Niku Jaga and Spicy Tuna for a few days.... We'll be back on Thursday!
on july 2, 2006 @ 02:54 am [link]