Picture Post

Here's what I've got in the gallery today:

Pictures from the beach trip I wrote about the other day. I really like the way the dead pelican pictures came out. Apparently a lot of the coastal wildlife is dying right now due to an algae bloom.

From Beach

I went down to Pt. Loma yesterday for a BBQ with Garrett, Chad, and Cara at Garrett's friend Matt's house, who was totally cool. As we were sitting outside on his patio drinking beer and smoking and talking about parrots of all things, a giant flock of wild parrots flew in and landed in all the trees and power lines...they are some noisy beasts. The pictures didn't come out great because it was very overcast and I was zooming in at like 4x.

From Wild Parrots ...

Took this while we were out walking around on the mountain. No idea what kind of flower/succulent it is but it was really pretty and I like how the picture came out.

Inspired by this great picture I saw on Serious Eats I decided to make a Nicoise Salad this morning.

I left out the tuna, which I think is kind of the point of a Nicoise salad. Being all vegetarian most of the time and trying to eat as little fish as possible, however, it just ended up that way. So I threw some cucumber in there instead. For the beans I used some leftovers I had from making this (to which I added golden hominy) and the potato is a leftover from making these. I used very small russet potatoes when I made them. It was awesome and super filling and easy as hell to make though obviously the one I threw together would not appeal to the purists out there.

I also used a great deal of leftover white beans to make vegetarian refried beans this morning, though I haven't used them in anything yet, they turned out fucking tasty. I'm kind of bewildered how I've made it to almost 26 years having never made refried beans from scratch. The world is full of mysteries.

There's something in a Sunday, that makes a body feel alone...

So obviously the appropriate time for my body to decide to wake up on Sunday, after four hours of sleep, is 7:30 am...ha.
Late night television has had some gems lately....last night Cat Power was on Austin City Limits and a few nights ago Tom Morello was on Tavis Smiley, being interviewed and performing some of his solo stuff. Also, last night I fell asleep while watching Tommy after a few highballs and a night of boredom. I believe it led to some pretty wild dreams, from what I can recall of the 10 or so times I woke up in the night.
As I was lying in a haze this morning, not wanting to be awake, I think I finally realized why my sister keeps moving across the country. Cause man, I was much less crazy when I did the same thing. Of course, where I moved I was miserably bored, but at least I wasn't nearly as utterly unhappy and frustrated and desperate as I've been since I've been back in San Diego. Also, the whole "miserably bored" thing hasn't really changed...ha.

Forgetfulness is a form of Freedom.

What do I do when I'm drunk and alone? Why, I read Khalil Gibran...duh. (At least on random occasions)

BEYOND MY SOLITUDE

Beyond my solitude is another solitude, and to him who dwells therein my aloneness is a crowded market-place and my silence a confusion of sounds.
Too young am I and too restless to seek that above-solitude. The voices of yonder valley still hold my ears and its shadows bar my way and I cannot go. Beyond these hills is a grove of enchantment and to him who dwells therein my peace is but a whirlwind and my enchantment an illusion.
Too young am I and too riotous to seek that sacred grove. The taste of blood is clinging in my mouth, and the bow and the arrows of my fathers yet linger in my hand and I cannot go.
Beyond this burdened self lives my freer self; and to him my dreams are a battle fought in twilight and my desires the rattling of bones.
Too young am I and too outraged to be my freer self.
And how shall I become my freer self unless I slay my burdened selves, or unless all men become free?
How shall the eagle in me soar against the sun until my fledglings leave the nest which I with my own beak have built for them?

from SAND AND FOAM

Seven times have I despised my soul:
The first time when I saw her being meek that she might attain height.
The second time when I saw her limping before the crippled.
The third time when she was given to choose between the hard and the easy, and she chose the easy.
The fourth time when she committed a wrong, and comforted herself that others also commit wrong.
The fifth time when she forbore for weakness, and attributed her patience to strength.
The sixth time when she despised the ugliness of a face, and knew not that it was one of her own masks.
And the seventh time when she sang a song of praise, and deemed it a virtue.

THE SEVEN SELVES

In the silent hour of the night, as I lay half asleep, my seven selves sat together and thus conversed in whispers:
First Self: Here, in this madman, I have dwelt all these years, with naught to do but renew his pain by day and recreate his sorrow by night. I can bear my fate no longer, and now I must rebel.
Second Self: Yours is a better lot than mine, brother, for it is given me to be this madman's joyous self. I laugh his laughter and sing his happy hours, and with thrice winged feet I dance his brighter thoughts. It is I that would rebel against my weary existence.
Third Self: And what of me, the love-ridden self, the flaming brand of wild passion and fantastic desires? It is I the love-sick self who would rebel against this madman.
Fourth Self: I, amongst you all, am the most miserable, for naught was given me but the odious hatred and destructive loathing. It is I, the tempest-like self, the one born in the black caves of Hell, who would protest against serving this madman.
Fifth Self: Nay, it is I, the thinking self, the fanciful self, the self of hunger and thirst, the one doomed to wander without rest in search of unknown things and things not yet created; it is I, not you, who would rebel.
Sixth Self: And I, the working self, the pitiful labourer, who, with patient hands, and longing eyes, fashion the days into images and give the formless elements new and eternal forms--it is I, the solitary one, who would rebel against this restless madman.
Seventh Self: How strange that you all would rebel against this man, because each and every one of you has a preordained fate to fulfil. Ah! could I but be like one of you, a self with a determined lot! But I have none, I am the do-nothing self, the one who sits in the dumb, empty nowhere and nowhen, when you are busy re-creating life. Is it you or I, neighbours, who should rebel?
When the seventh self thus spake the other six selves looked with pity upon him but said nothing more; and as the night grew deeper one after the other went to sleep enfolded with a new and happy submission.
But the seventh self remained watching and gazing at nothingness, which is behind all things.

Links for 2007-04-28 [del.icio.us]

Links for 2007-04-28 [del.icio.us]

• For $82 a Day, Booking a Cell in a 5-Star Jail - New York Times
  Wait.....what???

Links for 2007-04-27 [del.icio.us]

Links for 2007-04-27 [del.icio.us]

• Life Style - Ho on the Go kit!
  Wow...I think I might need to stock up.

Food Party Fun Time!

I've been cooking A LOT lately, creating recipes and trying new things and such so I thought I might share them with the internets so that other people can enjoy some of the deliciousness I've been enjoying. I'm a very, very freeform cook and I never measure, I just taste things constantly while I'm cooking and it seems to work for me (though it makes me a HORRIBLE baker). Anyway, that's my way of warning you that all the measurements here are total approximations I made while I was trying to write down the recipe after I'd already finished. You may be way better off just tasting as you go...haha.



Yesterday we went to the beach pretty much all day. Packed a picnic lunch, grabbed a couple of Hi-C six-packs (they come in little twelve ounce plastic bottles with screw on caps) and a bottle of Jose Cuervo Tropina that we mixed in the bottles, and vegged out in the sun. The picnic lunch consisted of some leftover Pad Thai I'd made for dinner the night before (super good cold!), some frozen fruit, and a yumtastic Potato Salad I made that morning. Now you can make it too.





Potato Salad:

5 small russet potatoes, cubed, I leave the skins on but it's really up to your personal preference

3 cloves garlic, thiny sliced into "chips"

vegetable oil (whatever kind you want, I used canola)

1/4 cup roughly chopped black olives



Sauce:

2/3 cup mayo

1 tsp sesame oil

1 tsp dark soy sauce (I used shitake flavor)

1 1/2 tbsp regular soy sauce

1 tbsp hot sauce (I used a mild garlic flavored "asian style" hot sauce, Sri Racha would work well for more of a kick)

parsley to taste(I used dried, use fresh if you want just chop it up pretty finely)

pepper to taste





Boil water, add cubed potatoes, boil until soft. Standard potato salad beginnings! When they're done, drain them in a colander and let them cool.



While they are cooling add some oil to a large skillet and fry the garlic chips until they start getting crispy and slighty browned. Now add the boiled potatoes and pan-fry until they too start getting crispy and slightly browned. Pretty much like making home fries. Don't let the garlic burn. Throw some salt on there if you'd like.



While the potatoes are frying, mix all the sauce ingredients in a large bowl. Taste...taste good? If not, adjust the flavours until it does. Let it sit there while you finish the potatoes, then add the potatoes and garlic, and the olives as well. Use a large spoon and mix everything up until the potatoes are evenly coated with the sauce. Now stick the bowl in the fridge for an hour or two so everything cools down and the flavours blend. The garlic will also absorb a lot of the sauce and become soft and sweet and tasty. Ta-da! Super delicious potato salad.



This recipe was inspired by this one which I've made as well. I love the flavours he uses and they're very unexpected and an awesome twist for something as stale as potato salad. I think I over roasted the potatoes when I made his version though, but personally I think it tastes better the way I make it now.....ha.

Links for 2007-04-26 [del.icio.us]

Links for 2007-04-26 [del.icio.us]

• shut (my) eyes and wake up in another world | MetaFilter
  The links in this post are some of the saddest things I've read in my life.

Playing around with a tattoo idea

Links for 2007-04-24 [del.icio.us]

Links for 2007-04-24 [del.icio.us]

• Snipshot: Edit pictures online
  I have such a rudimentary photo-editing program on this laptop because the hd is tiny and i haven't updated anything in over a year....so this is cool

Links for 2007-04-23 [del.icio.us]

Links for 2007-04-23 [del.icio.us]

• Dark Horse Comics: Profile: Roman Dirge Coaster Set
  Goddamn I want these. Pirate Coasters are the scheisse.
• Food - Supermarkets - Obesity - Nutrition - Calories - Farmers - Agriculture - New York Times
  Very good, informative article about the "Farm Bill" and what it really means to the country, health, trade, etc...

Random Image Post

I just added some new pics to my Picasa Gallery and decided to mix things up a little and post some here.

From Free Museums/...

From Free Museums/...

From Free Museums/...

From Cupcakes

From Cupcakes

From Drunkeness

From Things I'm Se...

Links for 2007-04-22 [del.icio.us]

Links for 2007-04-22 [del.icio.us]

• whatthecraft?
  I'm a dork.
• Vidipedia - The web's first video enclyclopedia - Noam Chomsky Zach De La Rocha interview - pt.1 of 2
  Zach De La Rocha interviewing Noam Chomsky
• instructables : Make your own freezer paper.
  This is super.
• Stencil Punks

We would have a fine time living in the night, Left to blind destruction, Waiting for our sight.

I heard this song on my way home yesterday and though I've been a Joy Division fan for over 10 years, and this is by far their most well known and popular song, it hit me in a way it never has before. It seemed to completely switch meanings. Instead of linking to the Joy Division version though, I'm going to share what is pretty much the only cover of the song that I love and that I think captures something very true to the original.

UNIT-E - Love Will Tear Us Apart - (file is in Ogg Vorbis format)
While you're at it, check out the site for UNIT-E...they've done some really cool stuff and I like their philosophy.

Joy Division - Love Will Tear Us Apart
When routine bites hard, and ambitions are low
And resentment rides high, but emotions won't grow
And we're changing our ways, taking different roads
Then love, love will tear us apart again --

Why is the bedroom so cold? You've turned away on your side
Is my timing that flawed - our respect run so dry?
Yet there's still this appeal that we've kept through our lives
Love, love will tear us apart again --

You cry out in your sleep - all my failings expose
There's a taste in my mouth, as desperation takes hold
Just that something so good just can't function no more
When love, love will tear us apart again --

Links for 2007-04-21 [del.icio.us]

Links for 2007-04-21 [del.icio.us]

• Ex-Girlfriend Wins Custody Of Shared Friends | The Onion - America's Finest News Source
  HAHAHA...this article is just the thing for my cynical, bitter head right now.
• Mark Bittman's The Best Recipes In The World: Recipes
  Discovered this show today on PBS....pretty awesome.
• Beer Bread - Men's Health
  I'm a horrible baker but I think even I couldn't fuck this up....

Links for 2007-04-19 [del.icio.us]

Links for 2007-04-19 [del.icio.us]

• Fast Food: Ads vs. Reality
  Funny...though I have to say the Sausage McMuffin looks better in real life than in the ad.
• Paris Hilton Represents for Family Hotel Chain, Finally... -- Towleroad for modern gay men,
  OH SNAP.
• Play Diamond Mine | GameRival.com
  HELL YES! I've missed you so much Diamond Mine

You've gotta be fucking kidding....

Student arrested over Va. Tech remarks - Yahoo! News



"BOULDER, Colo. - A University of Colorado student pleaded not guilty
Wednesday to making comments that classmates deemed sympathetic toward
the gunman blamed for killing 32 students and himself at Virginia Tech,
authorities said.......



....Karson, of Denver, was arrested Tuesday on a misdemeanor charge of
interfering with staff, faculty or students of an education institution."



I seriously hope someone is making this shit up.

Links for 2007-04-18 [del.icio.us]

Links for 2007-04-18 [del.icio.us]

• Every Day with Rachael Ray - Poached Eggs with Mushroom Home Fries
  It pains me to link to anything Rachael Ray but man some of the recipes in her magazine sound awesome...
• Every Day with Rachael Ray - Egg, Goat Cheese and Tomato Toasts
• Every Day with Rachael Ray - Pomegranate Coolers
  I wanna drink these....with liquor in them obviously
• WiZeR » Blog Archive » How to make Newspaper Pots
  For starting seeds....pretty awesome.
• Drawings
  Found this off of MeFi Projects....I really like these.

Sidenote:

This is perhaps the best pre-made/instant Indian food I've ever eaten. Two bucks at Big Lots in Escondido. Awesome.

Yes, I totally buy food at Big Lots.

That brings us to who we need, a place where we can save a heart that beats as both siphon and reservoir

Yesterday we went down to Balboa Park for free museum day...pretty nice. Third Tuesday is the best free museum day because the Museum of Man (my fav) and all the art museums are free. The Museum of Man was kind of disappointing because the Body Ornamentation exhibit had just ended, which I'm bummed that I didn't get to see, and so they were short one exhibit and then a lot of other shit was closed or not working or something.

We also went to the Timkin (which is always free), the botanical gardens (also always free), and the SDMA. SDMA is doing their whole Annie Liebowitz exhibit right now and it was by far the most crowded. It's funny how people will crowd around and line up to look at pictures of celebrities and shit, or just because they've actually "heard of" the photographer. I'm not saying she doesn't take good photos, but it would've taken us probably an hour just to get a proper look at any of them given the crowds, so we just strolled through there pretty quickly behind all of the gawkers. I did find it funny that part of the exhibit was a table with a bunch of old, rather torn up copies of "Vanity Fair" magazines, I'm guessing so that you can sit there and look at them and go "Hey see that picture of Nicole Kidman on the wall? Here it is, RIGHT HERE IN THIS VERY MAGAZINE!" or something. I should've asked one of the 20 people that were crowded around it.....They also had an exhibit of kid's artwork, from little kids to high school age, which was cool. Kinda sad for those kids that their art has to compete with Annie Liebowitz though...there were maybe 5 other people walking around that exhibit.

The museums unfortunately close fairly early, around 4, so we headed back up and went to La Playa in restaurant row for Happy Hour/Taco Tuesday. They make really good drinks there, it's rather surprising. Also, they seem to use magical alcohol that you can't taste but that somehow gets your ass hammered. I have no idea how that works. At the bar I was sitting next to a girl who looked straight out of a "Skin Industries" photoshoot. She was talking to the bartender about the Virginia Tech school shooting (aka "VT MASSACRE!" as all the news channels seem to be calling it) and said, "I don't get it, if he wants to be popular that's not the way to do it!"

I shall leave you all to ponder that.

Awake entirely too early...

I got maybe 3 hours of sleep. This place is making me insane. I've been taking Tylenol PM to sleep but generally I can't take it often because I have to be up earlier than it takes for it to wear off. I'm really tired of things being difficult. I miss having fun and being spontaneous and having some sort of desire and drive. I miss having a life, in the sense that it was mine. I miss people.



I came home and all I've done is the one thing I absolutely didn't want to do. It's a really hard thing to face.



And so ends my morning emo-rant.

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