How is it already December???

I suppose I really have been living in my little grad school application cave, but today I have made a brief escape into the real world in celebration of submitting my first application in the wee hours of the morning. There are at least seven more schools I want to apply to, possibly more, but things will be easier now that this first one is done, right?

I still have no idea how this whole application process will go. I can't tell if labs want me or not, but I'm feeling better and better about what I want to do. Getting a handle for things and all that. Enjoying the process, even.

Really, though, I owe a giant, giant thank you to my gentleman friend who has been all kinds of supportive even as I spout my sleep deprived crazy talk. To top it all off, he even woke up before dawn to drive down to Santa Cruz with me for my first lab visit.

And to everyone who read my essay! Muchas gracias! Mille fois merci!

Out with the relatively new, in with ???

Disappointed with the state of the CA ballot propositions this time around. Yeah we got Jerry Brown and kept Barbara Boxer and may even have snuck in Kamala Harris, but we've seriously eff'ed our legislature's ability to do anything but steal from education. We couldn't even cough up a piddly $18 per year/vehicle to save our state parks in perpetuity. The Giants' winning the World Series doesn't make up for our having rejected all sources of state income even if we did give Democrats the ability to pass a budget with a simple majority. Their hands were tied before and now my fellow voters have tied them tighter. All of this distrust and disgust with the concept of sharing and cooperation is... well, it's a huge bummer. We say we want to save education (which will bring us jobs down the line) but why must we kill anything that would actually help fund schools? Do we not care? Do we not understand the implications of the way we vote? Are corporate interests really just spoon-feeding us big business propaganda? Are things actually going to be better this way? I don't know. I just want us to take an interest and do something about it. Ok, and I want to fund education. That's really what I want. In the end, everything comes down to that.

...And now I need to get back to grad school apps.

At long last

Omg. Sierra Beauty apples -- still the best thing ever. Swoon.

I swear they show up at Berkeley Bowl later in the season every year. I guess we did have a pretty cold summer.

In any case, Mmmmiam!

70%

That graph of what a PhD is reminded me of why I've dodged graduate school for so long -- because I like the idea of keeping my sphere of knowledge relatively regularly shaped, without that awkward growth protruding from it. I would rather know a lot about everything than everything about one tiny fraction of the whole of knowledge. Or, that's how I've been feeling for the past 29 years or so. Recently, though I've succumbed to this craving to be an expert in something. Just last week I looked up from the table in Doe Library where I was working to watch mindlessly as someone on the other side of the stacks was rolling the book cases back and forth to find just the right volume, and I was reminded of the library in terms of its being a physical manifestation of the internet, which I had at my fingertips. I thought about my small book case at home and the amount of space it might take to house every book I've ever read and compared that mental shape to the vast expanse of Doe and its endless supply of books and my goal of learning 70% of everything felt an even more herculean task than ever. Even compared to absorbing the contents of 70% of just the volumes in Doe library, applying to graduate school and even pumping out a PhD seemed like simple things one can accomplish in due time. It has been a comforting thought.

Not overly brief recap.

I can't say I've been living under a rock the past few weeks. It's more like I've been spread out in an even film over a wide area, kind of like an electron cloud.

• I finally went to Yoshi's.


• I took in my banjo teacher's band's bluegrass / Irish trad show at the Starry Plough.


• I dressed up in a lengha, carried a lei and threw flower petals to help marry my cousin to his wife.


• There have been fully two Shakespeare plays at that glorious outdoor theatre in Orinda. Both Macbeth and Much Ado About Nothing.


• The Tallest Man on Earth was brilliant. Brilliant and fantastically Swedish.


• I counted birds at in a salt marsh.


• I toured a water treatment plant.


• There was a greywater forum at the East Bay Municipal Utilities District. (Speaking of greywater, I have been made to understand how to install certain simple greywater plumbings).


• There was the making of membrillo.


• Aida in AT&T Park.


• The Big Lebowski in that wonderful bastion of hipsterdom, Dolores Park.


• There has been regular salsa dancing.


• There have been and will continue to be house warming parties.


• Multiple trips to Botanical Gardens and various collections of trees are causing me to expound on the identifying characteristics of our arborescent brethren.


• I am having another go at a little garden upstairs, this time with three boxes and a couple more big pots.

Mostly though when I think about how great things are right now (including even the thought of grad school applications, amazingly) I am just taken aback by the magical appearance of Matt on that street corner as arranged by our friend Sarah. I am secretly and terrifyingly living almost precisely the life I would have wanted or that I thought about before I decided it was best not to think about such things.

Firebird

The phoenix in its embodiment of reinvention, reincarnation, recycling, re-creation, invincibility, wisdom and strength of will is my ultimate power animal. Even more than a lion, though I can't cast aspersions at lions. I'm not much of one to roar, but to fly around with a tail of flames, I could get into that.

A quick trip into space

Wrinkled roses

There was a line in the Tale of Genji somewhere about a particular flower in someone's fall or summer garden. The flowers, they thought, were nice, but those members of the medieval Japanese court really looked forward to the faded blooms and their particular shade of yellow, the way they hung just so on the stems crisp and delicate. I am thinking of that this morning with the odd-dozen wrinking pink roses hovering just above my computer screen faded in spots and seemingly a darker, more intense magenta in others, aging gracefully, perhaps more beautiful now, long after someone else might have tossed them away.

Were you aware of it? vol. 35: G is for Goldilocks

Professor Steven S. Vogt of the Lick Observatory at UC Santa Cruz is apparently 100% sure that life does or will exist on the planet he discovered late last month, affectionately known to the scientific community as Gliese 581 g.

Gliese 581 g (the planet) lies in the so-called 'habitable zone' of its parent star, the red dwarf Gliese 581, meaning that it's close enough for there to be liquid water -- not boiling, not frozen -- making it just right for life. The planet has a rocky atmosphere and enough gravity to hold onto its atmosphere.

But don't pack your bags yet, as far as science can tell, our little Goldilocks of a planet (or maybe it should be a Mama Bear of a planet??) appears to be tidally locked to its parent star, meaning that the same side of the planet always faces its sun. The border zones where it's eternally sunrise or sunset might be nice, though.

Gliese 581 (the star itself) is located 20 light years from Earth in the constellation Libra.


On All Things Considered.
On Talk of the Nation Science Friday.

Were you aware of it? vol. 34: Explosive Double Feature

"About 75 bystanders, most of them residents who had found the whale to be an object of curiosity before they tired of its smell, were moved back a quarter of a mile away. The sand dunes there were covered with spectators and land-lubber newsmen shortly to become land-blubber newsmen, for the blast blasted blubber beyond all believable bounds."

I admit I derive a childlike glee from the mental image of serious-minded city council men being smacked in the face by fast-moving slabs of rotting whale flesh despite their confidence that 20 cases of dynamite would disintegrate it mid-air. Similarly amusing is the though of filing an insurance claim for a car totaled by the impact of a rotting whale meat-eor.



"Barbara, I've never seen a uh haha a bomb scare quite like this. I mean it's literally a fully clothed bomb expert and a bomb robot with a stuffed animal."

Jezebel puts it best:
Police Save Kids From Stuffed Pony-Terrorist

Party tricks

I want to memorize a poem. Maybe three poems.

Smelling the roses

These beauties have been brightening up my apartment since Saturday. Definitely a steal at $3.49.

Birretes y calabazas

I need a vacation. Not even one in which I do things or go anywhere. One in which nothing is supposed to happen. A vacation in which I am not called upon to plan or organize or be in any way responsible for any kind of accomplishment or logistic. One day on which I could wake up to sunlight instead of an alarm without feeling the crush of all the things I am meant to be doing for my own academic and professional good.

Falling asleep on the bus on the way home from class today I felt the slightest hint of wistfulness for my days of employment, during which I could come home and not be working.

I am looking forward to the Friday evening on which I dare to skip my Salsa dancing class in the name of sanity, or the week mid-October when I'll be through with my water class, at least. Or when my Spanish class will slow to half its current frantic pace. Only to be replaced by the endurance test that is applying to graduate school.

It's all so good, and yet there is just too much of it.

Literary afternoon

Walking the block of Webster just north of Mosswood park often reminds me of the lazy southern streets of Carson McCullers' Member of the Wedding, especially when I hear the occasional twang of a stray banjo string, like I did today. I always liked her.

The tallest and smallest

It would seem that the Tallest Man on Earth is playing at the Fillmore tomorrow night, and I believe I will try to see him. Would that the stars might align to make it possible.

I am listening to Shallow Grave again in preparation and am struck by how strongly I react to those songs even now. As I sing along to The Gardner, I can feel the muscles in my face tighten and release through the series of memories that have come since the first time I heard this record in a dark room in Escondido, its windows papered and taped to keep the light out. It's as if each of the cells in the bit of stuff beneath my skin are retracing all the stretching and contracting they have done from then until now, like a three minute dance.

I was feeling hesitant to go -- lest my concert-mate catch a glimpse of what-all this is humming from my nerve endings -- but, having given in it a few hours' consideration, I would like to go. I would like finally to see this Tallest Man for my own.

Were you aware of it? vol. 33: The end of history

"It's the World's Strongest, Most Expensive Beer -- Inside a Squirrel"
Our old buddies BrewDog have done it again. Not content with winning back the "strongest beer in the world" title last February with its Sink the Bismarck!, they've now upped their game with a new brew that is 55 percent alcohol by volume and carries a $765 price tag. It's called The End of History.

Oh, and did we mention that the bottles come in stuffed animals-like stuffed animals that were once alive? The 12 bottles have been made featuring seven dead stoats (a kind of weasel), four squirrels and one rabbit. James Watt, one of the two guys behind BrewDog, put it better than we ever could: "The impact of The End of History is a perfect conceptual marriage between taxidermy, art and craft brewing." Just like we've all been waiting for!

For those interested in the actual beer, it's a blond Belgian ale with touches of nettles and juniper berries -- and in order to achieve the brain-blasting alcohol content, it had to be created using extreme freezing techniques.

**courtesy of Asylum



<3 Scots

Estudiando español

Ahora cuando me hablo en mi apartamiento, en el invernadero, o mientras de andar en bicicleta, me hablo español. Creo que es una buena señal. Quisiera hablar español como una latinaamericana un día. De verdad. Esto es el comienzo. Puedo entender y puedo escribir, pero hablar... Pienso que tengo un oído para los idiomas -- ¿es posible de decirlo en español? -- pero puedo sentir la diferencia entre aprender un idioma el la escuela secundaria y aprender un idioma cuando tiene casi treinte años. Que me gusta aprender lenguas todavía.

Même en français, je crois que je parle comme une americaine. La forme de mes phrases trahissent toujours un cerveau qui pense en anglais. Mon accent et mon intonation pas résister. Je n'ai pas assez lu pour être une vrai française -- même si des français me demandent si je suis française. Si j'avais dit plus qu'un mot ou deux, ils ne l'auraient pas dire.

Agus tá mo chuid Gaeilge an-beagán.

Caravan Palace

Gypsy jazz + swing. I like.

Garble

It's either the last day before the onslaught, or one of the last days of the onslaught, or I suppose it could be an ordinary day mid-onslaught. In any case, I am busy. School starts tomorrow, and I'm already thinking of dropping classes. I am still working on this summer research project. I still need to apply to graduate school, and, before that, to research graduate schools to apply to. Next week will be all experiment harvest, all the time, followed by a whirlwind trip to Los Angeles for a wedding.

Have been keeping to myself with a cold this last week and some. Reading, reading and reading. Getting some things done. Feeling the dwindling of the piggy bank creeping up. Not really having enough time to think anything fully through. Still hearing good things about my performance from the lab folks, for which I am grateful.

My sister moved here yesterday, which is highly exciting. I just wish I wasn't so tired so I could revel in the excitement. It's been oddly quiet lately, partly à cause de la grippe, partly because summer is such a good time for getting away, mais tout le monde reviendra cette semaine des vaccances que je n'ai pas pu faire cette année, et c'est bien ça. En même temps, I'm feeling a hint nervous about it all -- surtout la retour du Canada de ce mec à qui Sarah m'a présenté. Pas de raison, mais le voilà. J'ai appris comment ne pas avoir besoin de rien. I really need to learn to speak better French.

I do like being busy and being productive, and I feel I've been both most of this summer, but nothing takes the place of a good mental holiday. Def missing that right now.

Oh my god.

Two things:
1. This three year old badass recites poetry better than most adults. Is this what it will take to get into college in the future? Thank god he's not applying to grad school this fall.
2. I really need to read more Billy Collins.

Upon having discovered that I truly am a nerd

I am really, really enjoying reading this Primer of Ecological Statistics. There's no denying it now. Will I ever be invited to cocktail parties again? Wait, have I ever been invited to cocktail parties? Gasp.

Medium

I am sometimes confused about medium. It's not because of the colored synesthesia that words remind me of painting. This week, though, I feel like I'm dancing. Ballroom dancing with a good partner. With the right words, I can feel that perfect pressure on my back, and I don't step on any toes.

Writer's block

Further evidence that bicycles are sexy

A man in a black Volkswagon nearly hit me trying to hand this little slip of paper to me while driving yesterday. I wonder how often he tries this tactic and what his success rate is. Also, does he carry pre-written slips of paper with his phone number on them just in case? Or did he somehow manage to also tear off a bit paper and write his information out, also while driving? As Matt would correct me, there is at least one way to find out.

1906

Someone found these old glass negatives of the 1906 San Francisco shake down. Pretty crazy. It kind of makes me want to read history books.

Lydia the Tattooed Lady

I'm kind of in awe of these lyrics...

My life was wrapped around the circus.
Her name was Lydia.
I met her at the world's fair in 1900,
marked down from 1940.
Courtesy of YouTube, watch Groucho Marx singing 'Lydia the Tattooed Lady

Ah, Lydia.
She was the most glorious creature
Under the su-un.
Guiess. DuBarry. Garbo.
Rolled into one.

Oooooooh
Lydia oh Lydia, say have you met Lydia,
Lydia, the Tattooed Lady.
She has eyes that folks adore so,
And a torso even more so.

Lydia oh Lydia, that encyclopidia,
Oh Lydia the Queen of Tattoo.
On her back is the Battle of Waterloo.
Beside it the wreck of the Hesperus, too.
And proudly above waves the Red, White, and Blue,
You can learn a lot from Lydia.

La la la, la la la, la la la, la la la

When her robe is unfurled, she will show you the world,
If you step up and tell her where.
For a dime you can see Kankakee or Paris,
Or Washington crossing the Delaware.

La la la, la la la, la la la, la la la

Oh Lydia oh Lydia, say have you met Lydia,
Oh Lydia the Tattooed Lady
When her muscles start relaxin',
Up the hill comes Andrew Jackson

Lydia oh Lydia, that encyclopidia,
oh Lydia the queen of them all!
For two bits she will do a mazurka in jazz,
With a view of Niagara that nobody has.
And on a clear day you can see Alcatraz.
You can learn a lot from Lydia.

La la la, la la la, la la la, la la la

Come along and see Buff'lo Bill with his lasso.
Just a little classic by Mendel Picasso.
Here is Captain Spaulding exploring the Amazon.
Here's Godiva but with her pajamas on.

La la la, la la la, la la la, la la la

Here is Grover Whalen unveilin' the Trilon.
Over on the West Coast we have Treaure Island.
Here's Najinsky a-doin' the rhumba.
Here's her social security numba.

{whistles}La la la, la la la, la la la, la la la

Oh Lydia, oh Lydia that encyclopidia,
Oh Lydia the champ of them all.
She once swept an Admiral clear off his feet.
The ships on her hips made his heart skip a beat.
And now the old boy's in command of the fleet,
For he went and married Lydia.

I said Lydia
{He said Lydia}
They said Lydia
{We said Lydia}
La La!

The way everything is made that much better with a fleur de lys

I was terribly pleased with the quiche I made with Matthew when we had our tiny dinner party on Friday. Such a lovely evening.

Accept the mystery

It has been a crazy few weeks. Everything that could have been wrong has been right. And now, listening to discussion of the nuclear holocaust on the radio, the last connection between reality and my feet has been replaced by space. The next two weeks should be quieter, and I'm looking forward to just letting it all sink in.

Section quartet

So good. Black Hole Sun is even better than the original. Swoon. I love me some string section.

Were you aware of it? vol. 32: Sibs

It's still just a factor, obv, but I find the explanation of how birth order affects IQ fascinating. It really is important to expose kids to sophisticated conversation. So true for my family, in any case.

Indian wedding, heyo!

My cousin is getting married to a lovely Indian gal in a few weeks, and I'm so so flattered to get to be part of the girl side of the family. It also means I get to wear a lengha! I haven't seen mine yet, but Devi and her mom helped my mom pick it out today. So excited to get to see my cousin again and finally meet Devi. Yay for celebrations of love steeped in tradition!

Salsa!

I just claimed the last spot in the salsa dancing class at Laney for this fall! Unless I have a sudden change of heart, I'm going to be dancing my shoes off every Friday night this semester. This is for you, Nestor!

National Dance Day!

Imma learn me these moves.

I still have a fantasy of busting some synchronized moves with a little posse in a club some day. It can happen!

1920's Radio Network

I discovered a new radio station at the end of the iTunes eclectic stations yesterday, and it's really hitting the spot. Big bands. Ella Fitzgerald. Cole Porter. Duke Ellington. Doris Day. The 1920's Radio Network -- good stuff.

The nature of a good thing

After much debate (and much public consternation), the San Francisco Botanical Garden will begin charging a $7 admission fee to non-SF residents this coming Monday August 2nd. I'm still torn about the whole thing, but hopefully the new income will help us keep things going and maybe even make a few improvements.

All this means that this is the last free weekend for us out of town folks, so if you're free and anywhere near by, I highly recommend a stroll through the garden!

Jan & Kjeld

I want to re-start my bluegrass band just so we can cover this song.

The summer she was fifteen, Melanie discovered she was made of flesh and blood.

Finally reading fiction again! I took the stairs into the depths of Doe library on Friday and was overwhelmed by possibility. It's like seeing the internet all written out in books. I escaped with two slim volumes, the first of which I've nearly half finished. I hope graduate school might afford me the occasional weekend to slip into fictional bliss.

Further adventures in hideous clothing

This is essentially pleated shorts that come up to your armpits and are held in place by a string around your neck, and yet I am so into it. Plus I bet it has pockets.

Freeeeeeeeeedom

It turns out watching Lost and Glee instead of studying for the GRE was a good strategy. I haven't really looked into what kind of scores I need to wow grad programs, but I did a lot better this time around than my recollection of how I did the previous two times, so I think I'm calling it done.

Even with work on Monday, it finally feels like summer vacation!!!

Woo hoo!

Top o' the pops

I am feeling an insatiable appetite for pop culture lately. I am watching Lost. I am following sports. I am even considering listening to Harry Potter as an audiobook. Perhaps most importantly, I think I am going dancing Sunday night.

To warm up, I am watching this. Also because I thought I saw my celebrity crush in it.

Top ten World Cup hotties

These are the top ten hotties who actually played in the 2010 World Cup (and had decent photos available on the internet) alphabetically by country...

Medhi Lacen, midfielder, Algeria
Sergio Aguero, forward, Argentina
Nikita Rukavytsa, forward, Australia
Kakà, midfielder, Brazil
Alexandros Tzorvas, goalkeeper, Greece
Giovanni Van Bronckhorst, defender, Holland
Roque Santa Cruz, forward, Paraguay (center)
Cristiano Ronaldo, forward, Portugal
Milos Ninkovic, midfielder, Serbia
Diego Lugano, defender, Uruguay

Honorable Mention:
Alexis Sánchez, forward, Chile
Jermain Defoe, forward, England
Kevin-Prince Boateng, midfielder, Ghana
Arne Friedrich, defender, Germany
Thomas Müller, forward, Germany
Wesley Sneijder, midfielder, Holland

Notably Absent:
Anyone from Spain -- especially David Villa and his 'beard'. Though I might be willing to make an exception for Jesús Navas.

Sigh. What will I do for the next four years?

Science

This is what I am doing this summer:


This started out as a little ziplock of dirt.

I picked out and washed off the roots, cleared the root cells in potassium hydroxide, stained the fungi with blue ink, mounted them on a little slide and voilà -- science!

The blue squiggly stuff is where arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi has colonized the root cell. This pic is from a California native, purple needle grass (Nasella pulchra).

The rest of this summer, or at least most of July will be spent tallying up just how much of the root has been colonized by these bad boys. And also some kind of greenhouse experiment.

Playing house

First night at home since last Wednesday. It turns out living in a proper house on the back side of the Berkeley/Oakland hills with a round fluffy cat and what look like giant turkeys, blue jays, squirrels, deer and maybe pheasants? quail? I don't remember what I saw, but crazy magical wild life running through the backyard of my pretend house. I am LOVING it. My temporary house (courtesy of the prof who runs the ecology lab, for whom I am house/cat/car-sitting) also boasts TWO ovens, one of which can do convection, a fancy pants top of the line stove in an island in the middle of the giant sunny kitchen. Sigh. I should try to house sit more often.

And now also taking care of tomatoes and kittens while the newlyweds are off honeymooning. It's kind of like trying on lives, this coming home to different homes, sometimes multiple homes per day.

And I kind of like these different lives, in which the cupboards contain different colors of Fiesta-ware, depending on which key I used to get in the door. As time consuming as it is moving constantly from place to place, it has been a much needed change of pace.

I even sunbathed yesterday. Sunbathing. Me. It turns out the trick to not becoming bored to death after five minutes is working on GRE math problems while you sprawl out on your towel on your very own patch of grass. Under a dim incandescent bulb, I'm almost starting to look tan-ish.

...Which is also thanks to a lovely lovely lovely fourth spent in Danville with the most gracious Daniels. Sarah and I took in the parade, took a dip in the pool, dined at her grandparents (who are the most fabulous, fabulous, fabulous and adorable couple ever -- I want to invite them to all my tea parties from now on. I'll put her opa on tea sandwich making duty, lest he put me to shame), and practically watched fireworks from the comfort of a deliciously comfortable jacuzzi. Indeed, any day with fireworks is a good day.

Best

<3 Iceland
I want this to be my mayor.

Were you aware of it? vol. 31: Poisoning pigeons in the park

Tom Lehrer has been all over NPR (what with the release of his new DVD of live footage from a 1967 concert in Oslo), and I've got to say I'm a fan. I've been singing Poisoning Pigeons in the Park and dancing to the Vatican Rag all morning.

R + C

Sigh. Most gorgeous wedding ever this weekend. It makes me so happy that the two of you exist and found each other.

Would that all of life were that beautiful and life and love affirming.

I love you guys.

Gettin my groove on

I am so going to learn all these dance moves. Dance is exactly what I need in my life.

I have become a total jock. I'm watching four soccer matches a day now. All I need is to rustle up some fellow futbol enthusiasts to kick a ball around in the park.

Now I need to get some beauty rest before England v. Slovenia v. USA v. Algeria tomorrow! It kind of is true that we do have that ref from Mali who robbed us of our goal against Slovenia last week to thank for Americans starting to care a tiny bit about the World Cup. Even though I still think our team look like beauty queens with those ugly sash-like stripes across their chests -- seriously, can we write Miss USA on the stripe?? -- I am secretly rooting for the yanks to make it past the first round. Then, once I re-fill out my no-money betting pool, I will pick a new foe to trounce our boys.

The last two weeks in recap:
"That was ridiculous" referring to Portugal's 7-0 punishment of North Korea. Now that's what I call solidifying your goal differential. See also: Ronaldo's confused juggling turned goal. Def a highlight.
Richie Tenenbaum-core falling apart of the French team, though I was proud of them for pulling off a goal a man down in their last game. Way to end it on a high note, guys.
England have yet to show their stuff. Do they actually have any? The jury is out.
Ref robs the USA of a totally earned 3-2 victory over Slovenia. So not cool!
New Zealand hangs in there scoring an equalizer vs. Slovakia in the last thirty seconds of stoppage time. And even score first on Italy. Take that!
Spain look like fools in front of Switzerland, but manage to shape up vs. Honduras. You're going to have to do better than that if you want to win this, Spain.
Switzerland allows a goal, ending their record threatening streak. Only time will tell if their keeper can handle the devastation.
I totally called Group B: Argentina and South Korea advance!
Italy: nothing spectacular. Poor showing for the current world champs.
Brazil: so far topping their group, as expected.
The bafana bafana can't recover from their red card v. Uruguay and make South Africa the first host country not to make it past the Group stage. :(
The Nigerians can't live up to the name Supereagles, but then Supereagles is a pretty badass name...

Instead of studying flashcards

I pretty-fied my tree blog!

So tired these days. I'm kind of missing the summer vacation I didn't have and won't get this summer thanks to starting work straight after finals and overlapping the end of work with the next semester. I just keep telling myself Next month will be easier, though I've been saying that since March...

For serious though, I am taking a crazy vacation next summer. If I have to turn thirty, I'm doing it up proper.

Front page of ESPN.com

Tell me there's a footballer named Pysche in the World Cup.

Also, since when was I so familiar with ESPN.com?

All around lovely soccer and croquet-filled day today. My croquet game has improved from atrocious to passable in just one day!

Also, I discovered a handful of flowers at my doorstep when I went up to water the plants on the roof this morning. Maybe Olivia left them when she was here last night? Curioso. Thank you whoever you are! Twas a pleasant surprise.

After a successful shopping trip yesterday, I am the proud owner (finally) of three new pairs of socks, sea green tights, a snazzy red and leopard print strapless bra for the bridesmaid dress on super sale at Macy's. ow!

Other than that, I feel like I've just been running around and around working in the greenhouse, cooking, and watching soccer. I half crave a quiet evening to just practice for the GRE and research grad schools, but I suspect that whatever it is I'm doing now is more fun.

Pretty

World Cup!!

I love this time of year. Or, this time of the decade? World Cup! Soccer on tv! I caught the second half of both of today's games. Thankfully I have a soccer-friendly work place. This is how you know you're working with the right people. I think I'm even joining one of these betting pool things, which I have never done before, but there is no money prize -- just a barbecue for everyone at the end (paid for by the buy in) and the satisfaction of knowing you scored the best -- which vastly improves the fun to stress quotient.

I was all ready to shout allez les bleus! this afternoon, but whoever said France lost pretty much all their good players wasn't kidding. Great show by South Africa, though. The bafana bafana even had a fantastic synchronized dance for their goal. I highly approve!

I am feeling bummed that I have to miss England v. USA tomorrow, but there will be lots of good soccer to take in over the next month. And the times aren't tooooo bad given that the matches are all in the RSA. Bless ESPN 3 for broadcasting over the interwebs, though! And bless Henry's for showing all the games, even the ones at 4:30am PST!

ps. Word on the street is that the USA doesn't completely suck anymore. The Colombian in our lab predicted they could even take the World Cup in a few years. Shocking, I know. I may be obligated to root for them at some point in the future. For the time being, I think I have a soft spot for Spain and South Korea. And Brazil. And maybe Germany and Denmark or the Netherlands. Too bad Germany's best guy can't play.

The good, the bad, and the ugly

This internship thing is going well. The people are great and even the menial labor is still fun. I got to do a little field work last week up in the Sierra Foothills near Yuba City, which was great, v. hot, though. It was cool to see a proper oak woodland.

Then this week has been all root cleaning, all the time. I'm going to have really buff hands by the time this is done, which may not be for a long, long while.

I'm officially Not moving, though. Apparently the girls I thought I was living with want a 2 bedroom place instead, and even if they find a 3 bedroom place, they don't want me in the third bedroom. Double smack down on that front. Sting!

Mostly good things, though. Lots of busy-ness. Maybe one of these days I'll have fifteen minutes to myself to have a thought about it. For the time being, full speed ahead.

Also, my sister got into med school! There will be a doctor in the family in five years!! And another triple graduation in four! I do love my family <3

Or not

As is typical of each of my attempts to move, this one may well have already fallen through. Sigh. At least I'm feeling a little relieved not to be prematurely giving up my place to live without having a replacement.

Ch-ch-ch-ch-changes

So it looks like I'm officially moving. Eep! Scary and exciting at the same time!

Any housing situation will be worse in some ways, as I assume all things are, but better in lots of ways, I'm hoping.

The plan is to move in with one of my pals from school and one of her former coworkers, who I met tonight. Things sound good. I think we all want the same kind of place. We haven't found it yet, so it's a little scary to give notice at my current place, but I'm feeling pretty good about it. Roommates, a garden, sunshine! Laundry that doesn't require coins! Paying only 1/3 the cost of internet!

Lots of new and exciting things to be discussed soon!

Were you aware of it? vol. 30: Going back for seconds

In an age where creative marketing is king, even feces can be turned into gold!

Modern Toilet may well be the most bizarre restaurant ever created.

Supposedly inspired by manga, they started out selling piles of chocolate ice cream in containers shaped like squat toilets.

By some act of popular revolt beyond my comprehension, this wildly popular business was able to expand and now has multiple locations in Hong Kong, Taiwan and China offering a full range of drinks, hot pots, spaghetti, curry, and gratins -- all served in toilet, bath tub and sink-shaped dinnerware.

Note:
the toilet-shaped soup bowl
the toilet seating
the toilet light fixture

Done!

Bllllrrrrrgggghhhhh sums up nicely how my brain feels right now. With a month of finals and final projects, back to back weekend field trips and 48 hours in New Haven between exams, I'm just happy I can still form sentences. Mostly.

Such a good semester though! And a great year. It's crazy to me how much I managed to squeeze into my head in the past nine months. I know most of the trees I see walking around town, depending on the street, which I love. And by love I mean LOVE. I'm proud of myself getting in with the USDA peeps and making friends with the Ecology lab to suss out what-all they do exactly. I started a vegetable garden finally for the first time ever. I can make an educated guess about why my chard leaves are turning purplish. Now I'm looking forward to what will hopefully be a somewhat laid back summer to try to sort it all out.

I'm getting cold feet about grad school again. The thought of committing to any one discipline gives me a yucky feeling, but I still really want to go. I just wish I could see something beyond the school part of it. Something beyond wanting a terminal degree as an end in itself. I just like knowing things to know them. And I want to know Everything.

I think my ideal life pursuit is to learn everything and then explain to people why this is this and that is that and what we should or could do about it and how. And ideally there would be presentations and lectures and photographs and writing and traveling and people-meeting and hand shaking and smiling and challenge involved.

I told someone today that I want to be John McPhee. Which is true. I do want to be John McPhee. I want to be John McPhee and Barbara Kingsolver and Jad Abumrad. If I do research, I want the world to be better for it. I think what I'm most best at is being excited about everything. At trying every new thing and remembering it. Or telling stories.

Sorta kinda also toying with the idea of landscape architecture, though. I might see if I can meet up with my Trees prof to chitty chat about what that means exactly and how one makes a living doing it. Hmm hmm hmm.

Today's spark of excitement

A minute ago, the hallways of my building were rife with firemen toting ENORMOUS axes in their belts and firewomen with multiple fire extinguishers strapped to their backs. There were two fire trucks parked out front, and I dashed out to the fire escape just in time to see them pointing the hose up at me.

In fairness, it looks like the apartment enflammé was at the back of the building, and even so, they decided hoses were not necessary, so no actual water came out, but exciting nonetheless!

I took in the scene with a bowl of lemon pasta from the balcony at the front of the building, waiting until the hubub died down to determine who shan't be getting his or her security deposit back. Looks like one of the apt.s on the third floor has had its door pried open. And I thought I'd get a finger wagging for letting the dirty wheel of my bike kiss the newly painted wall today...

Curious seed

I've gone and done it. My affinity for all things botanical has spawned yet another blog. Not only have I succumbed to the societal pressure to specialize, or at least organize, I moved it on over to Tumblr to see what all the fuss is about.

It's still something of a mess, but I'm hoping to use it as gardening journal type thing wherein I wax philosophical about the industrial food system, track horticultural and agricultural experiments, and store what bits of knowledge I pick up.

You can come visit me if you like at Curious Seed.

I also still have my tree id blog, which I'm hoping to jazz up a little once the semester is over and I can make it less a class project and more my own.

Maybe with all this blogging and web-tinkering I'll even learn a little about web design and the good ol' internet.

Movin' and shakin'

So, I killed my camera the other week. It died a painful but instant death when I dropped it on a class field trip. Alas. But! I have seized this opportunity to finally gift myself the digital slr I've been lusting after for years. Man are those things expensive. I got a used one and even that cost a pretty penny. Super excited to try it out and get back into photography, though, so I'm focusing on that, rather than the gaping hole it put in my bank account! I still need to collect various odds n ends to get it up and running, but watch out for new pics!

In other fun, I got an fMRI this morning! I don't know about you, but I've probably wanted an MRI since the first time I saw someone floating through the magic scanning machine watching tv on the internet. The machine they used for the psych/neurology experiment I participated in wasn't as glamourous as what-all they have on tv, but very exciting nonetheless. I just wish they'd give me a picture of my brain as a participation prize.

There was a man handling the apricots at Berkeley Bowl today who started talking gibberish to me today, but the end of the semester has been turning the old grey matter to mush, so I couldn't say for sure. I'm almost done though! Insane as this week (and probably next week too) will be, there is light at the end of the tunnel!

Shutterbug

I am Pretty Sure the guy in the apartment across the little alley way from me was taking a photo pointed my direction out of the corner of his window when I looked up and he scurried away suddenly. If you're going to take stalker photos, I hope at least they're flattering stalker photos.

Spin off

I am tempted to start a new, separate gardening / agriculture / horticulture / food politics blog, but then what would i talk about here??? I am sure I could think of something. Except that this is specifically supposed to be a compendium of every possible interesting thing. Hmm hmm hmm. Would I really be giving in to the societal pressure to specialize at the expense of my campaign for a renascent generalism? I do already have about 14 posts written... Can I still be an ardent generalist by having multiple specialized blogs?

Were you aware of it? vol. 29: Snails & M

I am really loving Isabella Rosselini's Green Porno.

Good karma

Working will call at the annual SF Botanical Garden sale is definitely a far more athletic assignment than cashiering -- lifting full boxes of recently watered plants above your head, scurrying back and forth. I LOVED IT! Plant sitting, running around, and chatting with people is way more fun than counting tags and calculating change.

One woman even gave me the best compliment ever. She reads my name off my name tag and says I should be a writer. Or a philosopher. Made my day.

That and a little catching up with John this morning. I'm glad you could top off your April with a bit of sun time.

And! The rest of my seeds came in the mail today! I can't wait to try out some of these ground cherries and the stevia.

Not only that! The SFSU folks got back to me today finally. I guess by 'early April' they meant 'before May.' But they accepted me! I'm two for two on internships! I'm sad to have to turn them down, but I've decided I'm still happy to be doing grassland plant ecology stuff with a shorter (and bikeable!) commute and a little more money even though marine microbiology would have been cool. If the rainforest birds guy had said he needed me to come to Africa to do a little field work it would have been tough, but this will be good.

Canning your own strawberry rhubarb jam

Jam making always seemed to me like one of those old-time household sports like quilting and barn raising that is so much better with friends. I've been making jam for years now, but today was the first time I actually managed to get a little crowd together to help stir the pot. I'm so pleased to revive not just home made jam but the act of getting together and making practical household things fun. So, yay.


Canning supplies:
Canning jars. Ball and Mason make them, but you can use just about any glass jar with a standard sized rim. I like to use half pint jars for jam for a few reasons: 1. I usually have only one jar open at a time and like to cycle through different flavors, 2. Smaller jars are easier to fill all the way, which is important for getting a good seal. 3. Smaller jars means there are more jars to share! Check your recipe to see how many pints of jam it makes and plan to have at least that many jars handy (or twice that many, if you're using half pints).

Lids. Even if you still have the lids from other jars, it's good to use a new lid each time to ensure a good seal. There's a good chance old lids will seal, but you can't know for sure till you're done.








Rings. Rings are reusable. You can use single piece lids, but using two piece lids is great because the metal screw band doesn't need to be kept in boiling water during processing, so you can screw them on without burning your fingers. It's also nice to be able to reuse part of your lid, since once you have your rings, you can get additional lids separately.


A canner.You can get fancy canning equipment, but I like to use a big pot with a cake rack inside. The cake rack is important because you don't want your jars sitting on the bottom of the pot, in contact with the metal, which is in direct contact with the flame on gas stoves or burner on electric stoves. Make sure your pot is deep enough to be able to hold your jars and enough water to cover them. The deeper, the better. Bigger pots also allow you to process more jars at once. It's nice to save a little time during canning since the rest of the process can be time consuming, and I'm usually ready to be done already by the time canning is happening.



Another big pot. You'll use this one for actually making the jam. I like using a wok since the greater surface area helps the jam thicken up faster. The shallow sides also make scooping the jam into jars easier, but any old pot will do.



Wooden spoon. Something big to stir the jam while it's cooking. I like to use a bamboo spoon, but anything big will do the trick.










Tongs. These are for taking jars in and out of the boiling water bath in your canner and for fishing out lids from their boiling water bath. (I recommend sterilizing your lids in yet another small pot). The longer the tongs, the better.




Oven mitt. Or two or three or four. You'll need these for handling the sterilized jars, which will be HOT! It's good to have extra oven mitts because they get wet what with all the boiling water around and wet mitts make for burnt fingers.


A ladle. You'll need something to scoop the hot jam into the jars. I like to use a small measuring cup with a handle for this. The quarter cup size works great!




Strawberry Rhubarb Jam
A good jam for April and May when rhubarb is in season and strawberries are starting to ripen. Rhubarb ginger jam is another favorite. Yum. So many folks were able to make it to the party that we had to expand the jam recipe, but here's the original...

Ingredients:
2 pounds rhubarb (about 8 cups chopped fruit)
2 pounds strawberries (about 4 cups chopped fruit)
6 cups white granulated sugar
Optional: juice from a lemon or two.

Makes 5-10 half pints.

How to make jam:
Wash the rhubarb and remove the leaves. (Do not eat the leaves -- they are poisonous!). Chop stems into 1/2" chunks and measure how many cups of fruit you have. Add rhubarb to a big bowl with half the sugar and leave to mascerate for an hour.

While the sugar is breaking down the rhubarb, wash and chop the strawberries, removing any stems. You can leave the strawberry chunks pretty big. Strawberries don't need to mascerate, so these can just hang out for now.

Now is a good time to get started with the jars for canning. Take out all your jars, lids and rings and wash each piece thoroughly with soap and water.

Take out the big pot you'll be using as your canner and set your cake rack inside. Add as many empty jars (without lids) into the canner as will fit and cover the jars with water. Bring to a boil. Boiling that much water takes a long time, so I like to fill up my kettle (or hot water boiler) with water and add the boiling water to the pot to help speed things up.

Once the sugar on your rhubarb has turned to runny syrup, add the rhubarb mixture, strawberries, and the rest of the sugar (as well as any lemon juice, if you're using it) to your wok or other big pot and bring to a boil, stirring more or less constantly.

When to stop stirring and start filling up jars is up to you. The longer you wait, the thicker your jam will be as more water evaporates. Since your jam is boiling, it looks runnier than it will at room temperature once it cools, but you can get a good idea of how thick your jam will be by pouring a bit onto a frozen metal spoon to cool it down. If you want your jam to set (to be a solid gel at room temperature) this can take a few hours. Beware! Strawberry rhubarb jam can get pretty thick if you wait long enough, but I like to leave this one somewhat runny. Canning your jam sooner rather than later gives you bigger chunks and more jars of jam since your volume is higher (without the excess water evaporating with continued boiling).

As long as the jam is boiling, it's safe to start canning.

Canning:
While your jam is cooking, you'll need to sterilize your jars and lids in boiling water. Keep your jars at a rolling boil in the canner and sterilize the lids in another small pot with boiling water.

When you're ready to start canning your jam, fish out an empty jar from the canner, returning any water in the jar to the canner. Use your oven mitt to handle the jars -- they will be hot! Make sure your ladle / measuring cup is clean and use it to pour the hot jam into your jar. Fill jars until there is about 1/4" of space at the top. You want your jars to be full to make sure there is enough suction to seal the lid as the jam cools.

Once the jar is full of jam, carefully clean any jam from the mouth and sides of the jar. Use the tongs to get one of your lids out of its boiling bath and center it on the top of your jar, then take one of the screw rings and screw it on until just starts to get tight. No need to over do it -- you want to be able to get it off again later. Once the jar is sealed, set it in the canner, making sure there is still enough boiling water to cover the top of the jar.

Full jars of jam need to be processed at a rolling boil in the canner for (at least) 10 minutes. Fill up as many jars will fit in the canner at one time, then put the lid back on the pot you're using as the canner and start timing the ten minutes once the last jar is in.

After ten minutes, use the tongs to remove the jars from the canning bath and leave them to cool on the counter. I usually let them cool upside down. Supposedly this also helps test the seal. It is probably unnecessary, but I do it anyway just in case.

Once the jam is cool, you can have at it. Processing your jam this way should preserve it for up to a year without refridgeration, but make sure each jar has a good seal! If the lid pops up during cooling, your jar does not have a good seal. It's still edible, just keep it in the refrigerator and consume within a month. Always always take a look at your jam before digging in. If there is any mold or other sign of contamination, throw the jam out! Sad as it is to dump out your precious homemade jam, a bout of botulism is worse! (You can reuse the jar after sterilizing it).

And that's it!

Q and A
Can I use other jars I have around the house?
Yep. You can use any old jars, especially if the tops fit either the regular or wide-mouth lids and rings Ball makes. If the lids with rings don't fit your jars, you can use the original lids that came with them, just keep the lids in the boiling water bath to sterilize them and watch for a good seal. It's probably a good idea to store any jam made with a reused lid in the fridge.

What if I don't have enough jam left to fill the last jar to the top?
No worries. Fill up the last jar as high as you can. There isn't really any need to process this last jar in the canner since you'll want to eat this jar of jam right first. Store it in the refrigerator for up to a month.

I made a lot of jam and I couldn't finish it all in one year. Can I still eat it?
If you can't eat it all, home made jam makes awesome presents. If you still have more than you and yours can put on toast in a year, it's probably ok. Just between us, I have jars in my cupboard now that are more than a year old. It's probably just fine, but be extra careful checking that the seal is still good, make sure there's no sign of contamination, and eat at your own risk. In general, though, it's a good idea to label your jars of jam with the date when you make them so that you know how old it is. That way you can make and effort eat older jars first.

Bartery

I've been having this inkling for a while now about bringing back barter. It seems like such a great way to connect with people.

I've been fascinated for a long time with how things work and where things come from, especially food, and I feel like lots of folks have a lot to offer on that front. And wouldn't it be great if we could all share?

To start things off, I'm throwing a little jam making party. I've made jam most years for the past few years now, and I almost always let people know when I'm planning to do it, but no one has ever taken me up on joining in until now. I can't possibly eat all the jam I make. I still have tons of jam from previous years, but there is something therapeutic and good-feeling about making jam or bread or anything that was once a mystery.

I'm taking this bit of interest as a sign of what I hope will be a sea change, and this year I'm hoping to step it up a notch. I went on a little seed ordering spree -- Ok, a big seed ordering seed spree -- and I now have thirty some varieties of vegetables, herbs and flowers all waiting to get in the ground. I'm trying to sign up for a community plot near me, but if that doesn't pan out, there's no way I can plant all of these in the little planters on my roof I intend to claim. So, I'm hoping that maybe my seeds and I can make friends with folks with a bit of extra space in their yards. I would love to trade either seeds for some of the vegetables/herbs/flowers they produce or maybe I could offer vegetables/herbs/flowers to someone in exchange for a bit of earth. Or some of my seeds for some of your seeds. Or some of my seeds for some of your vegetables. Or some of my seeds for a smile and some good will. I've already got one taker!

Life just feels so good these days. Things feel so Right. I'm so ridiculously busy, with five classes, four volunteer gigs, and a propensity for throwing parties, but I'm reminded of The Alchemist, or Jack and the beanstalk, or a proverb that suggests keeping seeds in your pocket to expand your wealth. I love the way you can take one seed, set it in the earth, nurture it for a bit and get a hundred seeds back. How beautiful is that?

Happy Earth Day!

...and if anyone is interested in a little bartery, let me know!

Mini me

After a whirlwind Regents Scholar overnight and Cal Day tour, Tatiana is pretty much decided on coming to UC Berkeley in the fall! Woo hoo! Mission accomplished!

I have already planned out our life together many times over. She is going to move up early. We are going to watch Examined Life in Moffitt Library. We'll have a little sleep over and watch Dr. Strangelove. We'll have tea/coffee and study times at the I-House, which I have never been to. She is going to join GiANT (the film club) and make movies and invite me to screenings. She will play music, possibly in the Cal Band (which I just finally learned is the same thing as the (other) Cal Band - craaazy). She will tell me all the good books to read and invite me to her best lectures that are on Mondays or Fridays or at other times convenient for me. We will have dinner parties and tea parties and play music together.

My mother has also requested that she make friends with her grad student TA's and shop for manfriend material for Julianne and me. Ha.

In any case, life is going to be good!

Good news Thursday

Unless there is some last minute complication, I shall be working at UC Berkeley in my ecology lab for a solid 12 weeks full time this summer! With the potential to possibly maybe continue on in the fall! Woo Hoo!!

Paid internship! Or 'lab training position,' they are calling it. I shall make more in one week than I've made this entire school year! Granted that's not saying much, but still!

A year ago I knew zero about this stuff and had no idea how to get closer to where-ish I want to go, and now I'll be getting paid to do Science! How great is that??!?!

Today's ounce of inspiration

After catching up on my Sartorialist and Garance Doré (see: Blogs of Note <---), watching westerns with Nat, and dining with Amélie, I am really wanting to get sewing.

Here's one more bit of fuel in that fire:



I love when texture gives another dimension to monochrome. I'm kind of excited that neutral tones are in this season. Maybe I'll be able to actually buy some clothes I like.

Can I admit that I'm kind of into the idea of those one piece jumper things? I don't think I've ever even tried one on, but I secretly love them. I would also love whatever this girl is wearing as a fun little sun dress, but not so much as a shirt. Adding shape to a dress with a little elastic is one thing, but somehow I just can't do it in a shirt.

Also, I have discovered via lucky trials and lots of error that sleeve length can really affect the vernacular of a top. My brain, thanks probably to easy Simplicity patterns, used to see the world in two lengths -- three if you count sleeveless: 1. Long sleeves, which come to your wrist, 2. Short sleeves that stop half way between your elbow and your shoulder, (And 3. No sleeves at all). But since throwing ready made patterns to the wayside, I have become enamoured with sleeves that go to the bottom of your thumb, or maybe two inches above your wrist, or 3/4 length sleeves and 2/3 length sleeves, and cap sleeves or sleeves that come down maybe a third of the way from your shoulder to your elbow. One curious thing about sleeves, though, is that the possibilities do not seem to be endless. There seem to be a finite number of lengths that look good, and chancing upon them is kind of like using a stud finder -- no no no no no no no no YES no no YES no...

One more thing I love and then I'll stop - slubbed cotton! Slub is great because it adds texture and even some tonal interest, and not only that, it doesn't seem to pill or look as drab as other cotton knits. I am all for it! If only I knew where to find a decent bolt of it...

Old pals

I met up with an old friend from the co-ops here in Seattle who I haven't seen or really chatted with in probably five years. Last night we went to a lecture on the role of aerosols in climate change, which, in this case, is slowing the rise of global temperatures. Then today lunch and chats about Life and The Future. All of which is looking bright!

And then tonight waayyy too much Chinese food in the International District followed by a totally unnecessary dessert in Capitol Hill with Nat. It was so good to see him. Yay for reconnecting with old pals. I love keeping good people. I will also never need to eat again! Then again, we're meeting up at the Farmer's Market tomorrow morning...

Mesdames et messieurs!

Je vous présente le cirque Calder!
en deux parties...




So amazing and fantastical I sat in the SAM and watched it twice with wonder in my eyes. If I didn't love Alexander Calder before, I would love him now.

People should be doing this now. I want to go see this show.