that's jg enjoying the live music we discovered completely by chance last saturday. we had just seen the beasley exhibit and decided to get a drink in the cafeteria. we heard jazz playing as we wandered down a long corridor. when we finally reached the open seating area, there they were!
sign reads: tips for the musicians
that's me flirting with the band. the older gentleman has been playing the bass for forty years. the pianist, 25 years. they sounded incredible together. i have a short clip of them in action except it does not do the jazz justice.
they play at van cleef in berkeley first friday of every month. that would be today, everyone. i am unable to google this venture but if i recall the conversation correctly, it's located where shattuck+telegraph intersect. if you happen to have any information on the location, please help me.
if you'd like to experience the music the way we did, catch them in the cafeteria (free entry) of the oakland museum of california. they play there four days a week. i know for a fact they'd be there tomorrow.
i actually saw the sun today. the past few days the fog never quite lifted over 838. this morning i got the brilliant idea that i would take a picture from the same spot on the hour and show you what it feels like around here. i didn't succeed completely because at around 11, i decided to go shopping. for two hours. blame it on the sun.
top row, taken at: 7 am, 8, 9
bottom: 10, 11, 1 pm
after the extended lunch break i got back to work and completely lost track of time. it doesn't matter because i think that composite is a pretty decent synopses of the day. around 2 pm the fog came rolling back in so you can run the images backward and get the same effect. i have proof should you think i'm exaggerating. i shot this clip at a different angle than the pictures so you can see the fog move.
that's orion peeping at me. i've forgotten how tall he is. that partition wall is six feet high. anyway, it's been over a year since i last saw him. he looks even skinnier than his usual self but sounds to be the same good humored kid i remember.
i saw him shortly after i moved back at the beginning of july. he greeted me, "happy birthday, thuy! hey, guess what? i met someone with our birthday, uh, i mean your birthday."
we do have the same birthday, june 25th. but as i am seven years older than he is, i've always insisted that he merely borrows mine.
mariko took that picture of me and deedles. we all had just scrambled up the giant sandstone on all four. normally i just sit there in the saddle and take in the panoramic view of the coast. this time i was content to just sit there and pet the best basenji in the whole wide world.
i went to lunch with one of jg's old classmates today. we got great sandwiches and did three months worth of catching up. i got this neat picture of her.
susanne at cantwell's market
that's a bottle of voss she's holding. i have never heard of this brand of water before. straight from norway, everybody!
i bought one of each
i didn't know what to make of it when susanne said, "it tastes like nothing, absolutely nothing." i was sold on the packaging. f--king scandinavians!
nice nose shot 30 july 2005 golden gate bridge overlook
one of these days when you come to schmeebot and find this, you'll know that i've gone off the deep end. either that or the little brown blog is being moved to a new server. i hope it won't get that bad because i made my webmaster promise me a seamless move. i'm also hoping the pages would load a bit faster after the move but who knows. seeing how he got bored way back when and ditched schmeebot at 75%, i would be lucky if i still have a blog in september.
we rented a tandem kayak down by the bayside cafe. the old gentleman who used to run the kayak hut has been replaced by a young man who unwittingly referred to us as school girls. mariko kept him straight, "i probably finished college before you were born." well, may be grade school.
afterward, we went directly to panolivo in paso robles for treats. paso robles, by the way, is spanish for "the oven." here is mariko with her fancy dark chocolate mousse cake.
mine is the white chocolate counterpart, seen in the foreground. don't they look like art sculptures? perfect end to our salty excursion.
i'll end today's post with a shot of me and the best basenji in the whole world.
schmeebles loves deedles
ps: other pictures taken today are shown on my flickr.
she got it at ben lee's concert last week. i am waiting for the appropriate occasion to wear it. perhaps a wedding.
anyway, g and i went on a day trip last saturday. we had wanted to go to ikea for some time so we planned for an entire day around los angeles. g even borrowed her papa's tahoe for this grand excursion. unfortunately, i only got a handful of pictures.
standard must-have ikea lunch
mmmm, princess cake
the cake was thoroughly disappointing. i couldn't even finish that small slice. g complained that ikea has gone downhill; they let their lingonberry juice tap run dry!
ikea has always been zoo-like in my experience. this past saturday was no exception. we had to compete with half the los angeles population for a parking/loading space. doing that in in 104 degree heat was borderline hell.
we escaped little sweden with $665 less. g decided to take me to a theater to get shelter from the temperatures. it cost us $11 each to sit around in the well conditioned arclight. sadly, i enjoyed the stadium seating more than i did the movie, the brothers grimm.
then we went to a korean bbq joint for dinner!
the highlight of the day
g demonstrating her bbq skills
it was my first kbbq experience and, boy, was it good! i was exposed to korean tofu not long ago but it just doesn't compare. korean bbq is fun and a whole lot more tasty!
on our way home the tahoe ran out of juice. i had never seen a car taking in over $60 of gas. we averaged 10 miles per gallon for the day. proof that it's not a good idea to drive (heavy ikea crap around all day in) an suv.
while g was swearing at the gas pump, i watched a man pack his trailer with bags upon bags of ice.
heading for burning man, i bet
as much as i dread los angeles, i had a great time. we hit relatively no traffic and, thanks to g's excellent driving skills, we had no problem finding our destinations. i highly recommend korean bbq. try it if you get the chance. but try not to hang around los angeles for too long. it could turn your boogers black in less than 9 hours.
