Friendship

My friend sent me this.  

Nanu & Isis from Octavi Royo on Vimeo.

She said it melts her black heart.  I can see why.  This is what our dog and cats are going to be like, as soon as we tackle a few "issues".

Happy holidays.

Mochi!

Sonia and I have wanted to adopt a dog for some time. In fact, when we were looking for new places to live one of my requirements was that the landlord be dog-friendly, and our new place meets that requirement. We figured that my holiday break from work and Sonia's break from school would be a perfect time, but we also thought that we should be thorough in our search. Well, this weekend we went to a pet rescue event at Lisa's Passion for Pets near Lake Merrit in Oakland. We told ourselves that we shouldn't be hasty and that this was just the beginning of the search. Of course, we didn't come home empty handed, no matter how hard we tried to fool ourselves. Meet Mochi:


Mochi was rescued by The California Underdog, a non-profit animal rescue group that takes dogs out of high-kill shelters. Mochi is half beagle, half Aussie shepherd (they seemed pretty sure), and 100% adorable. Here she is with Sonia:



Sonia is in the midst of finals, and Mochi does not make studying any easier. She doesn't make sleeping easy either. Good luck Sonia!

27b/6

An excerpt from one of my favorite new websites, 27b/6:

Girls that have said no #8

Around the time I was twelve, my sister had really hot friends staying over. I would dress in ninja gear and wriggle 'saving private ryan beach commando style' into her bedroom and listen to their conversations. Some were educational, most were inane. A few months ago, I was standing in a cd store and a girl came up to me and said "Are you David?" to which I replied "It depends" (and immediately regretted as I knew that if she asked me 'depends on what', I had nothing). The fear must have shown because she asked "Depends on what?" and I replied like a retard "On wether it is on or off the record, I have been misquoted by you people before." and she looked at me as if I was a retard before telling me that she had been a friend of my sisters and remembered me and then actually asked "Are you still annoying?" so I asked her if she still "squeezed her nipples while thinking about kissing Michael Wilson". After a pretty long pause I asked her out but she said no.

And another:

Cute Kitten

Writing rubbish on the internet amuses me a bit. There is a limit of 1000 characters per post so every story (including punctuation, spaces, introduction, proposal, argument and punch line) has to be within a small paragraph. I like trying to get as close to the 1000 character red line as possible and without 'plumping' out the stories with padding or adding words to previous sentences. Sometimes I just write about nonsense and other times I like to add something insensitive to laugh at the responses. When I was 14, I was given the task of drowning kittens by my girlfriend's mother. I filled a large laundry sink with room temperature water and held the eight kittens under. The strange thing is that as each one died and floated to the bottom, it turned and rested 'snuggled' to the previous. I put them in a garbage bag and was carrying it out when the bag moved and I heard a meow. I opened the bag and found one kitten had survived so I drowned it again. And that is an exact 1000.

For the record, I in no way condone drowning kittens or other cute things. In fact, I condemn it. But joking about it is ok.

Bored?

Do you get bored at work? Do you like cute things, such as puppies? If you answered yes to these two questions then what follows is for you. If you didn't answer yes then I have two more questions for you:
1. What do you do for work that's not boring, at least sometimes?
2. What the hell is wrong with you? How can you not like puppies????
Stream videos at Ustream
A live, streaming video of Shiba Inu puppies! 'Nuf said.

PS - I guess they don't do much, but believe it or not watching the little puppies breath is at times more exciting than my work. Plus, sometimes they do something really exciting, like roll over.

Could It Be?

Am I actually proud to be a part of this country? I really am shocked - and incredibly pleased.

Anyway, there is a downside to the election results (aside from Prop 8 - shame on us Californians!!!). This is from a very credible news source:


Obama Win Causes Obsessive Supporters To Realize How Empty Their Lives Are

For What It's Worth - Gaijin1717

This is a track I was working on in June. It's not complete, and I'm not sure why I haven't worked on it since then. I recorded a song from an old record my dad gave me, chopped it up and added some additional instruments:

For What It's Worth by Gaijin1717

Are you prepared????

San Francisco Quake Quiz. Good luck. Your life may depend on it (choose one):

Take the quiz!

No thanks. I'm too filled with fear.

Best Dorktronica Ever

Leslie and the Lys - Gold Pants. Enjoy.

Mac v. PC

It's no Roe v. Wade, but it's still pretty serious. Especially with all the firewire BS going on right now.

The Studio

Occasionally I try to make music. Since I've been here I've added on to my turntables and guitar and have created a small "bedroom" studio. When I move, I hope to put it in this room (the only carpeted room, which will be great for deadening the acoustics):






Not very telling pictures. Anyway, we still have to work out the details, because it would also be a great room for Sonia's office, and she is the student.

Here's the studio as it stands, or as it stood when I took the pictures:





I have since added a reel to reel tape deck, Ibanez Iceman bass and Chinese hulusi. Not to brag or anything.

Also, here's me drinking a beer on the Great Wall:




Super dope.

And maybe another picture:

Update: Catz

I just went and looked at my old blog from when I first moved to the Bay. The second to the last posting was introducing our cats, maybe a couple days after we got them. So cute. Anyway, this is what they look like now:



And fat is in the eye of the beholder. It's just an issue of perspective. Seriously.

From the City to the Town: Oakland, Here We Come

After months and months of looking at houses and apartments in both the East Bay and San Francisco, and even considering the possibility of purchasing real estate, Sonia and I signed a lease today. It's kind of surprising really, partially because I had never seen it before we went over to sign the paperwork and get the keys. Here's what the ad said on craigslist:

This gorgeous, spacious condo has been completely remodeled. It is elegance, classical and yet up-to-date style. Don't miss this one.
- 2+ Bedrooms / 1 Bath (possible 3rd bedroom)
- Formal Living & Dining Room
- Completely new kitchen with granite counters, designer glass-tile backsplash, custom cabinets and new stainless appliances.
- Beautiful new bathroom finished in marble and glass tile.
- Hardwood floors.
- All new electrical & plumbing systems and high efficiency heating systems.

Designer Fixtures & Spacious Rooms
- High Ceilings
- Beautiful Architectural Details
Washer/Dryer Hook-ups
4 Unit Building
Private Garage with storage space
Large, landscaped shared Yard
Cats and small dogs fine (with extra pet deposit)
Credit score of over 600 and references required.
Security Deposit 1 1/2 months rent + 1st month in advance
Bring $20 for credit check with application

The landlord is a nice guy from Australia, who changed his last name to Sandhill because his name was Hill and his wife's name was Sand. Here are some pictures of the apartment:









Of course, all those nice furnishings will be moved out in order to make enough room for all of our crap.

We're the upper right apartment when looking from the front. Less than two blocks from the BART station.


PS: Apparently, Oakland is not a suburb.

A little bit of Tibet

The Food:





And the entertainment:

Sa Dingding

One of my favorite discoveries while in Beijing. Sanskrit:



Mandarin:



Incredible.  I looked for her album in every music store I saw, but no one knew her.  Ok, the truth is probably that I was butchering her name and they just couldn't understand.  She has been called the Bjork of Asia..

The Urban Ninja

This is classic. That is all.

East Bound

Guess who's going to China. One of my clients has a biennial meeting in Beijing from September 24 - 29th. Sonia and I head out next Sunday, so we'll have just over a week to explore the city before "work" begins. Unfortunately, my vacation day cupboard is barren, so it will have to be a very frugal trip to make up for not being paid for a week. I think it's worth it.

While ordering gifts for some of the Local Organizing Committee members I learned something interesting about Chinese culture. Apparently, they don't give clocks as gifts (which is really too bad because the clocks they were going to receive were really quite cool). One of my co-workers who grew up...somewhere in China or in a territory, was kind enough to offer the following advice:

"Here are some interesting things that you may enjoy knowing:

Clocks are definite NO NO for birthdays and as gifts to the elderly. I would just avoid it.

Gifts should never be wrapped on white paper and cards should not be written in red ink on white paper.

In case we do go back to the 80’s fashion, a white head band worn on the forehead is only for funerals (close relatives).

If giving gift cards, try to pick a colored envelope instead of white.

No mention of any type of sad news during someone’s birthday.

The number 4, which is pronounced “si”, sounds like the word “death” and is perceived as not a good number.

#8 is a good number as it is pronounced “ba” which is close “fa” for “fortune”.

When people pour you tea, tap tap the table with two fingers next to the cup. It is a way to say “thank you” (does not really matter how many fingers, but most use two =).

When ordering a whole fish for dinner, don’t flip the fish to get to the other side. Remove the spine/bone from top to get to the bottom flesh.

Do not leave your chopstick standing (i.e. in your rice bowl) as it mimics an incense ritual (done in funerals and to worship Gods). [<-- Same in Japan]

Burping and spitting are acceptable.

Unless you want to try, know that “special meat”, “aromatic meat”, or anything described as such means dog meat. You can tell if you are standing next to a roasted pork or dog by looking at the toes (sorry, don’t mean to gross you out, but I thought I’d tell you).

Traditions and beliefs vary from region to region, but those above are applicable to most. I am sure that most Chinese know not to expect people outside the culture to know all the traditions, some of us, like my mom does not care about most of them. My in-laws have traditions we never heard of, so do not worry about it too much.

Something to try, fresh stretched noodles made on demand. It is an art and it tastes so good!


Hope you have fun!"

Thanks Dina. We'll try!

Drive By Staring

In 9th grade drive by shootings were big. I mean BIG. My high school - no longer in existence today, at least as I knew it - was the school that started the Students Against Violence (SAV) movement nation-wide. I'm not bragging. It sucked. A bunch of kids - regular kids - got shot down for no reason right in front of my school. Gang shit, territory stuff; really stupid, and yet somehow very "normal." American even. Every year on Students Against Violence day, the most outspoken of all the victim's mothers came to our school and cried in front of the entire student body in the big auditorium.

The following summer I went to summer camp. I loved summer camp and had been going for years. It was a dork camp, a camp for smart kids (Psst: It was where all the cool kids went!). It was a camp where we would take classes with soon-to-be movie stars, take "nature walks" with councilors (read: cigarette breaks), and become acquainted with intelligent discourse and independent thought. Where I learned that you could hide wild berry vodka in fruit punch and exhale smoke into a pillow to avoid detection. I loved it. It was also the place that my friends and I (more my friends than I) began to talk about the "Drive By Staring."

It was a period of, what I would categorize as community devolution. Everyone became a potential threat (am I talking about the mid-1990s or today?), and all contact was to be avoided at all costs, even eye contact. What power, we thought to ourselves. Let's harness that shit, we said. Thus, the Drive By Staring was born.

First Post

Phew! That's over. Pressure's off.