« August 2005 | Main | October 2005 »
September 30, 2005
R.I. 7462
i saw a bag of tortilla chips hanging by a wall in front of a house in piedmont.
admc, you were very correct...i did want one!
Posted by Meagen at 05:07 AM | Comments (1)
September 29, 2005
my kinda short bus
i think i gotta make some kinda thing so's my camera is much more accessible. i realize i miss so many pictures just cuz it's in my bag, and, still being the newbie that i am, i forget documentation shots. the past couple of posts i've even gone into the archives just to get SOMEthing representational of what transpired, or of who was involved. this entry's version of that has us starting backwords at the evening, though.
so, before i watched LOST last night(this is pretty much the only show i'm following at the moment. in a way, i don't know why, cuz it does freak me out on some level, and i find it very difficult to get to sleep after watching it; like i'm all amped up cuz what-if-the-shark-was-gonna-chomp-the-legs-dude?!?!?!?!!), i was at the 500 club visiting
RACHEL! this shot was originally taken to document new glasses(although i don't remember whenever that was). this is almost exactly where i saw her last night, but she wasn't wearing those clothes. ah, you wish. she was wearing other clothes. anyway, i'd stopped by to discuss sox-making techniques with her. can i tell you how friggin' happy it makes me to talk knitting with someone who isn't just being nice by nodding in response to my seemingly unintelligible ranting?!?!! although i do appreciate that gesture immensely in itself! and, rachel, can i tell YOU thank you again for the ride home!!! totally had time to set up the morning coffee before the show even started!!!!
before i went to the 500 club, i was over at 14th street visiting with lisa. i was gonna finish up isaac's sox to leave them as a suprise, only i realized that i made the second sock a half inch too long, which means i gotta tear back, and if'n i gotta tear back you KNOW i gotta tear back to that wierd hole that's not a hole thing. i know i shouldn't care, cuz i wicked love the act of knitting in-and-of itself, but tearing back that much means that all the work i put in at the "all staff" meeting was for naught. friggin' staff meeting sucked anyway. i guess the sock is really just demonstrating in physical form what a complete waste of time it all was...well, except for dean szeri. dude, he's new, and i think he could be a really good thing...but i don't wanna think about work, cuz i gotta be there in about an hour and a half...bleh...
hmmm....where was i? oh yeah! so while all this knitting hoopla was going on for me, lisa was drawing. now i don't have an archive for lisa, and she did specifically request that i not use that picture of her....well, apparently i needed that picuture, so i removed lisa. you know what she looks like, and i've indicated where to mentally insert those images.
i also found myself watching part of
and somma
although, those paled in comparison to receiving THIS!!!
which i had mentioned wanting a gazillion years ago on the fecalface forum. DUDE IT'S ALL OF THEM!!! you so know i'm all about watching these ASAP!!!! and how rad is it that they're housed in that little bus box?!?!?!?! FRIGGIN' RAD!!!
all of which was great recompense for having gone to 15th street to find that the front of the building was empty. at least, that's what the back of the building told me. and i'm not one to question the back of the building....
Posted by Meagen at 05:41 AM | Comments (0)
September 28, 2005
stale bread suprise
on sunday i went over and hung out at neil's house all day. i had a great time cuz i hardly ever hang out there, since he's way over in noe valley. i didn't really get any pictures, cuz aside from knitting and watching merlin(which i need to finish watching; slow to get into, but now i'm down), we watched a buncha food tv. i have a few favorite hostesses/s, but my top three are dave lieberman, giada de laurentis and rachel ray. "on demand" seemed to only have rachel ray, so we watched a few of her shows. in particular, we were taken with the stale bread soup(i don't really know how to make "linked" words, but if'n you put this http://www.foodnetwork.com/food/show_tm in the address field of your browser, it'll take you to all the rachel ray recipes you could ever friggin want...well, that I could want, anyway. i love rachel ray, don't get me wrong, it's just that i can't eat about 75% of what she makes...the way she makes it anyway, cuz there's only so much fake meat i'm willing to consume, especially in one sitting, and now i'm wicked off-topic...)
since i don't have pictures from this past sunday, lemme give you this from i-don't-remember-when(i look like i'm in excrutiating pain, don't i? or dropping one).
and yes, it IS neil of the duck booties
well, last night, seemingly out-of-the-blue, i got this call from neil asking if i'd eaten dinner yet, and if not, don't start now, he was on his way over. stokedness. it's a special occaission FOR SURE when someone else makes dinner for me. this is like three times in two weeks* (good memories to keep in mind when i'm feeling blue.), and i'm loving every minute of it!!!!! he made the stale bread stoup(thicker than a soup, thinner than a stew; oh that rachel ray, always making up new terms for things!), only with spinach instead of white beans.
LOOK AT THAT!!!! so friggin-outta-this-wurld good!!! he even brought all the "toppers" for the soup; rachel made a point of telling us it "isn't the same without it!", and man-o-man it sure made for a mouth full of flavor. fresh basil, little shredded parm, some raw chopped onion, and a drizzle of olive oil. phfewwwfffft. the consistency of the bread in the stoup was kinda weird, but in a good way, and i was feeling all the onions. yum-yum! honestly, it was just what i needed in my iron-reduced, f-tom state. it totally made it less sucky that i wasn't visiting last night. dude, i consumed TWO BOWLS, and i think i have about that much left.
i said PHFEWWWFFFFT!, and i mean it....
*neil baked us a butternut squash stuffed with mushroom risotto on sunday
FTR(for the record): my squash is super brown on top because i asked for it to be left in until it was that brown. i like baked things to be super well done.....yeah.
Posted by Meagen at 05:24 AM | Comments (4)
September 26, 2005
weekend is really just another way to say "SATURDAY" isn't it?
i mean, friday night i'm not good for much, even if i can sleep in because i've been up since at least 5AM. sundays, well, sundays i might feel rested, but i know i gotta get up the next morning at 5AM so i can't really go balls-out. actually, this is debatable; for a while now i've been having mostly anxious sleep on sunday night, so i'm not really getting a full night's rest anyway(i accidentally got up at 2:15 this morning; i forgot to re-set my alarm from the nap i took saturday afternoon; alotta friggin' good going to bed at 9:30 did me). my point being that the real weekend happens on saturday; i've slept in(well, 6:30AM IS sleeping in from 5!) so i can actually stay awake until midnight, plus i know i can sleep in the following day. if'n you're gonna see me out-n-about these days, it's either a saturday night or i'm on vacation(STARTING OCTOBER 7TH!!!).
did you see that the moon was out all DAY saturday?!?!! kinda weirded me out, like it was a sign or something, but i couldn't figure out if it was a good or bad sign.....
saturday night had a friggin TON of stuff going on in the city. i think there were like 5 art shows, 2 bands, and at least half a dozen parties going on(speaking of which; i was supposed to be up at a sweet-16 at the garden house; my bad. i didn't realize the times on this boat thing, and had thought i could do both.) i wound up on THE BOAT SHOW. we toured around the bay from 8-11 on a blue and gold ferry, with some interesting art, and at least one great band(explanatory notes to follow), and proceeds going to the victims of katrina(which i put in italics, cuz i don't know how much goes to those folks). i must say that if there was a night to tour the bay, it was definately this past saturday night.
nathalie(here again i capture the individual with the closed eyes; apparently i frighten people) had some great work in the show. being that the show was on a ferry, there were some issues with lighting. check how our ingenious friend trumped that challenge:
here's with the flash, and YEA i did choose this one b/c it had both tony and the monster i have a print of...
and i liked these too, but i only got the lcd action
there was also this tree that had metal washers on wires hooked up to it. it had speakers imbedded in the papermache branches(at least i thi/unk it was made of paper mache), and you could control the sounds made from the washers hitting one another(captured by the wires) from a mixer inside the cabin. fun idea!!! interesting sounds... this also seems to be the only picture in which i captured damon, ariel, and rob. not to mention i spent an entire evening with clinton and rachel(scarfing rachel's popcorn and nachos, i might add) and somehow i NEVER GOT A PICT OF THEM?!?!?!
but i got a pict of all these people on the cruise?...the three hour cruise...
ok, i was distracted. distracted by what you ask? oh, you know, THE NIGHT SIGHTS OF THE BAY!
the bay bridge
port of san francisco, in case you mighta been confused about where we were and all
this is my favorite shot that i took: the golden gate bridge(at least, i'm pretty sure it's the ggbridge) with the city in the background. stokedness. can't you possibly understand why in my vaped condition i would be so distracted by these sights?
OH YEAH! i DID say there were bands!
this is the only shot i got of the band, and i didnt' even take it(thanks clinton!). i wasn't feeling too well when i was inside, and where the bands were playing was in the bottom of the ship that was entirely inside. sheesh, even thinking about it right now while sitting at my very motionless desk is making me mildly nautious...anyway, i couldn't watch the bands, i had to stay outside where i felt really good with the cool night air on my face. also-also, for whatever reasons i only saw adam for about 2 minutes when i got there, and this is the only shot i got of lilah(accross the room with the fabulous fibre hat!). and i guess i did get another shot of nathalie....well, clinton got another shot of nathalie and lilah of the fabulous fibre hat.
and just when i was thinking, how lovely this all is, the fireworks started!!!! man-oh-man were they outta hand!!!! dude, they had everything BUT gandalf's dragon, knowwhattumsayin?!?!
(check the photo album to the right for the rest of the show)
word on the boat was that the fireworks were the result of a pyrotechninc convention being in the city. they seemed to go on forever, and they had some amazing configurations! i had to put away the camera and just watch, which is why i don't have a shot of the friggin CUBES!!!! there were fireworks that erupted into CUBES!!!! damn.
speaking of the boat....
ok, so, eventually it did get cold, and all the picts i took really demonstrated that i was having difficulty holding the camera still, the boat above being the least of'em
i kinda like how the second one looks like a buncha neon squirrels...LOL!
Posted by Meagen at 04:42 AM | Comments (2)
September 23, 2005
i go a-visitin'
when i was a child i really enjoyed the whole we're gonna go visit.... thing that used to happen with the family. sundays were a given that we would be spending the day with at least a couple other families my parents were friends with. i actually mean when it was a couple-of-hours-we-gotta-go-home-for-dinner kinda visit. when i was a student at UMASS amherst one of my favorite afternoon activities(aside from finding the couch with the most advantageous people watching position in either the student center concourse or in the cape cod lounge) was to go a-visitin' friends in the various dorms/crash houses around campus. in fact, i even had little routes that i would take, that consisted of like 5 different people, so that i'd get to hang out with at least a couple people(not everyone's in their room when you stop by, cuz most people did not arrange their classes so they were all in the morning the way i did; i used to die in any class after 3pm). i'm sorta back to doing this, now that i'm getting off at either the 16th or 24th st BART stations after work. it's kinda comforting in a way that i haven't fully analyzed yet.
last night i went a-visitin' over to gigi's at her new digs...(which begs the question; when do i stop using the term "new"? is there a certain period of time after which you simply have to just say "digs"? or is it when it all stops being new to me? geez, where's emily post when you friggin' need her?*)
when i got there, the lady gi was in the kitchen
we had some beer in wine glasses, and went into the living room and listened to music while we vaped
i was completely taken with the his and hers dumbells and medicine balls
after a bit, i started to become consumed with the smells wafting in from the kitchen
damn it smelled good. there's one thing you may, or may not, know about lygia; girl makes a mad, mad sauce!!!! let's face it; SAUCE = FLAVOR!!! makes me excited when i get served up a plate
(aside; this is not the actual dinner i was served. amidst the ecstacy of consumption, i space taking a picture. this is a meal i made for myself at the beginning of the week. gigi made tofu sausage stir fry with a sauce that was simultaneously sweet and spicey. i said YUM motherfriggers!!!)
while we were in the kitchen, craig came home. i guess he'd been in a golf tournament of some sort? and won a new windbreaker(didn't take a picture of that either, but i was impressed that the thing wasn't covered in advertising. i looked like a solid windbreaker!) craig, i apologize that in the interest of a candid shot you look like you're tired here.
i wanna assure everyone that when craig got home, he had plenty of energy, and sat with us and told us his golfing adventure. i'd like to take up golf myself(when i go back eastside), b/c i think it would be a good way to bond with my brother. i'm not wicked athletic(i don't wanna hear supporter jokes, dude(s)), and my brother pretty much kicks ass at whatever he tries. i think golf and tennis are good middle ground...but i digress...
before i knew it, it was 9:30pm. i was like: where did the time go? i felt like i'd just gotten there? i guess it was all the music and dancing and vaping in the living room where i lost track of time...big suprise, huh?!?!?!
well, good-night lygia and craig!!!! thanks for a great evening!!!
*a flash of conceptualization: someone should write a book called LET'S ALL PLAY TOGETHER; decency for the 21st century. whadday thunk? i mean emily post's just a little too out of it at this point when we deal with so many anamatronic things in our day-to-day existence....
Posted by Meagen at 05:20 AM | Comments (2)
September 21, 2005
elusive addams pinball
as you may, or may not, have read(http://www.fecalface.com/cgi-bin/forums/ikonboard.cgi?s=3ef7261eff784f63866234d20b3c2cbe&act=ST&f=3&t=4449&st=30&&#entry38799) joel has been talking a lot about available pinball machines in the city. we set out on a quest, with the elusive addams family pinball our most sought after prize. ok...OK, i'm not very good with names, and that was really the only one i remembered we were looking for. not to mention that i'm now wishing i'd brought a notebook to take notes on things like flippers and tricky shots; the ol'short term memory just isn't what it once was, knowwhattumsayin?
our first stop was gonna be the uptown, but when we walked by zeitgeist there was no line. taking this as a sign, we went in. and you know what? it WAS a sign. check it: this dude's last name is McColgan too!!! (and can i tell you how this is so not a common irish name!!! we're not talking o'connor, yo.) i was very excited b/c i don't think i've ever met any of my clan who weren't direct relatives...
the pinball; just ok. it felt like kind of an afterthought, or maybe the pinball was a hold-over from when there wasn't a pool table (was there ever such a time?), b/c the placement of these machines felt awkward. as joel mentions in his review(you should go and read/he's much more to the point than i am), the machines were next to pool tables in a lot of the places we went. all i know is that the video game at my dad's bar was on the other side of the room from the pool table....'course that was back in 1974 and the video game was PONG, but that's beside the point. the point is planning. an architect knows these things... we played the indy 500 game anyway
you can see that as player number one, i lost miserably....
of course, that machine treated me worlds better than
this was deflating. now, i don't mind losing at pinball...in fact, i don't mind losing HORRIBLY at pinball, but when you've seen a movie 43 times, and then the machine simply discards you
(can you see the measley 6 digit score?!?!?!), well, that's the very definition of disappointment...well, maybe it's not THE definition, but it's onna them.
we moved on to the lucky 13 where they hold their pinball(and foosball) players in high esteem, and demonstrate this with a seperate balcony for them to call their very own.
although the flippers were kinda weak, i wicked loved the head that would pop up
it made me laugh!
next to cabaret voltaire was world cup, which also had some weak flippers
however, there was a third flipper(which cabaret voltaire was totally missing), so at least you had a shot at getting the ball to the top of the game. i didn't do too badly with this machine, although i don't know that i won a game...
finally, FINALLY, it was joel's last suggestion of the expansion (never heard of it before) that brought us the golden egg
there was a lot of confusion by the time we got to this machine(as if the fuzziness of the picture didn't tell all), and i don't totally remember what happened score-wise. i do know it was wicked fun, and it was the only machine in there that made any sense to me.
Posted by Meagen at 05:28 AM | Comments (3)
September 19, 2005
at some point we'll return to our regularly programed schedule
green beans are a glorious food. i remember when i was a kid, the fleurys grew green beans in their garden, and i would eat'em right off the stalk. fortunately for me, it was never to "the blueberry incident" or "the sliced salami incident" proportions.
now i cook'em up in TOFU PROVINCAL (sorry, can't figure out how to make the cidilla happen!)
man-o-man!!! this was soooooo what the doctor ordered!!! tofu, green beans, red pepper, and tomatoes, with a buncha garlic, basil, terragon, and a friggin bay leaf! the moment i ate my first bite i could feel my body reacting at a cellular level to all the nutritional goodness. the recipe is from the cookbook i got a few weeks ago.
so far i've made the curried zucchini soup and the tofu provincal, and both dishes were fantabulous!!!! i really recommend this book if you're in the market for such a thing. all of the recipes are supposed to take roughly half an hour to make, which has basically been my experience. i mean, we can't hold the book accountable for my distraction now can we?
and because nutrition is so important to me, you know i whipped up an apple cherry crumble...
i was supposed to have made this a few days ago, but i was just too tired. i was able to whip it up when i had some more daylight hours available to me though! at anthony skirvin's suggestion, i chopped up some dried ranier cherries, and put them in too. SO. TOTALLY. IT.
i did work on some stuff this weekend, but i was working slowly, so there's not necessarily a lot to show. let's get started with
NEW SOCK MONDAY
yup-yup, that's right, sock as in singular. THIS IS HOW SLOWLY I'M MOVING THESE DAYS PEOPLE. this is still on the needles cuz i gotta add more length....about an inch and a half in length, i believe... this is one of isaac's silly pink bunny sox. it's the wonderful dalegarn "baby ull" yarn, which is the most pleasant combination of soft and washer friendly!!!!
i finished the sleeves on that vintage sweater jacket i'm "re-knitting".
i've run into a bit of a problem however....ok, so i got the 6 skeins of candy blue cotton ease yarn off ebay, and when i did the math to find out if i had enough to switch from the rebecca cable sweater project to this vintage sweater jacket project, i had enough. now, having finished the arms, which should of taken one skein each, but in all reality took one plus some-but-not-a-lot skeins, which means that i am not starting out with a new skein for each front, and let's not forget the collar and button bands...so, basically, i don't have enough, and i don't think i can get more, exactly how the yarn harlot predicts in her yarn availability formula. gotta improvise, right? my first thought was the lion brand suede yarn i have. it's a really good color match, not to mention it was a popular thing at one point(vintage-wise) to have the front panels of a sweater jacket be actual suede. unfortunately, the guage of the yarn didn't work. instead i'm going to be using wool-ease sportweight in the blueberry twist colorway. i'm still gonna do the bottom ribbing, collar, and button bands in the cotton-ease, just with the blueberry twist front panels...
i think it'll look pretty good, especially with the fancy buttons i got at britex a while ago.
i also made this necklace, which i love the colors of. i wicked wanted to do something in photoshop to make the colors more vivid, kinda like how they are in real life, but i couldn't figure it out. i may just take this outside at somepoint and try to get a better picture to replace with this one.
i finished this bracelet as well. i took a good long time(a week) to size all the headpins with the beads.
of all the stretch band bracelet findings i bought, this is the only one i'm planning on keeping for myself...that's is why i tried to make sure it would go with everything, as it were...
well, that's all she wrote...
Posted by Meagen at 05:44 AM | Comments (4)
September 15, 2005
the day nes of wed
am i wrong in thinking that wednesday has something to do with the god of war? i'm just wondering, as it would kinda fit into the equation. knowing me, it's prolly more in the margaret-chang-manipulated kinda way....
yesterday i went out of the house exactly 2 times. once was to get some milk and sugar at nabilas
i saw they were shooting some kinda something at that nida clothing boutique. you know the one! the one you go to to get your prada and mui mui on! you know...
looks all so very official. i don't know what it was really about, but the door on the store said "ONE YEAR ANNIVERSARY", but who knows...
then, when i was getting sugar at nabila's(which happens to be on the bottom shelf of bulk bins) minxie decided to climb up on my shoulders
i have been shopping at nabila's for about 8 years now, and this cat has never given me the time of day. what the hell was this about?!? maybe it's because the cat could sense what would happen later on in the evening. i've heard animals can be in tune like that....
which brings us to the second time i left my house yesterday; to go to chess club. again held at momi tobys, which is at the end of my block, and i'm so happy people are agreeable to.
my game with dave b. ended in about 4 minutes
and although my game with mr.potes went on a while longer, i was uncomfortably distracted by existential angst. at least that's what i'm claiming in response to the very obvious opening i left...
i have said from the very beginning that i suck at this game, and the whole point of joining the club was to learn more... and last night i learned a whole lot more. skoold, i believe, would be the correct nomenclature, no?
Posted by Meagen at 05:58 AM | Comments (4)
September 13, 2005
the new way home
i've started walking home from the 24th street BART, mostly cuz i feel like i really need to mix it up in my life right now. you know, small stones make big ripples-turn-tidal-waves or something like that... last night i stopped by to see how anthony's space was shaping up. he got out ALL of that other recording studio-room-structure stuff, and got a buncha his stuff in. i liked these cabinets in the back that had cutlery handles, but apparently they're not long for this space. but i digress...i was shown the exact two tools most necessary to complete the demolition job at hand
a sledgehammer and a hard-core saw whose name i've forgotten.
anthony took a break and we got a coffee and an alfarofa(sp?) cookie in this place where this dude was belting out the tunes...
on the way out i saw a sign with this same dude's picture on it, only he was decked out in mariache gear, and i think it said his name was javier fernandez...i may need to get back to you on that... but it got me thinking; what would it be like to totally target one little space like that, and really get your groove on with it? regardless if it was music or art, or pastry cheffing?
a little aside here: i was sitting at the table by myself at one point, and i took a couple of picts of myself, trying to get the giant coffee bean roaster in the background. then, all of a sudden, this cute little tranny comes up to me and asks if i'd like for her to take my picture for me. of course i handed over the camera, cuz i just had this image of her seeing me taking pictures of myself and thinking to herself, what a cute little tourist that is, taking pictures of herself...why don't i just help her? and who would want to spoil a true san francisco moment like that?
and i do wicked look like a tourist in this pict, with my backpack and all...LOL!!!
i headed home via valencia, but cut up by the uhaul to get to market. i saw that the new freeway off ramp is open
and over the hill to octavia boulevard they go!
one of the things i think that's neat on octavia boulevard are all the prism viewers. enjoy them now while you can, before some little peon decides to ruin them somehow for their own anticlimatic amusement...geez, that almost sounds jaded....ooooohhhh, not good.
Posted by Meagen at 05:03 AM | Comments (6)
September 12, 2005
week-end lite
that's how it feels after having had 5 days off in a row; weekend lite. and can i just say that it is a total testiment to me and my friggin work ethic that i am going in to that hell-hole of psychological warfare that is known as my job. ok. i don't wanna go to work, but i'm going and i'm still trying to psych myself out here....
the weekend was not what i thought it would be. i was supposed to go to fairfax for a party on saturday, and it just didn't happen. that's how it can be sometimes; the best laid plans of mice and whatnot....friday night was kinda what i expected. i went down to slims to catch the mall. lygia came with too, which was rad. we got there when hightower was just taking the stage
as you might be able to discern, i'm no rock star photographer. i've tried to highlight the musicians on the stage for your viewing pleasure.
speaking of viewing pleasure thanks to nathalie and her crue for hooking us up with the great seats in the balcony.
i think this was the best slim's experience i've ever had!
isaac came and hung out a bit. it was his birthday yesterday!!!! go over to retard randozzi (link on right) to wish him a good one!
i don't know why i don't have a pict of damon and chris who were also sitting with us.
THE MALL FRIGGIN ROCK! (here, again, highlighted for your know-what-the-hell-i'm-putting-this-picture-up-here viewing pleasure. i really enjoyed their set alot, especially the coupla songs i hadn't heard yet, as well as my favorite. there was a false start on onna the songs, but hey, isn't this what let's us know it's not a record?
we all took a cab home when it was over, and man-o-man, even with the nap i took after work, i was out before my head even hit the pillow. you know, i really gotta be careful with alla that, cuz if'n i fall asleep before i'm in bed, and somehow miss, i could really hurt myself.
i noticed on saturday that my hair is now long enough for "real" braids! HOW EXCITING!
saturday also turned out to be the day i made the trek over the hill to get sox yarn.
i hate to admit i went here, but i did. i couldn't handle going downtown to art fibres(where i've actually never been), and my beloved lys just doesn't have squat for sox yarn. sorry. i did buy a skein for myself there the other day, but i have projects and presents to fulfill, and well, imagiknit has the yarn i NEED.
i was super stoked that sean
and neil came over and took a walk to 18th and sanchez with me!
i was able to get them to point out sox yarn they like(future presents), and neil looked for the suede bottoms for the slipper sox i'm gonna make him. they only had one pair in his size (11"). i'm gonna have to order them, which is fine now that i know for sure what size to get.
what i wound up getting what this pile of goodness, which i kinda wanted to dance around and whatnot
the rainbow colors up at the top are for the sox i'm making for porous walker, the pink and brown are for sox i'm making isaac for his birthday (at his request, so i'm not providing spoiler information here), and the lanna grossa is present yarn for a couple of pairs of sox. the natural color cascade fixation and the jaal wool are for me. however, i should state, that new sox monday is gonna run a little different for the next coupla weeks. i'm gonna be working on isaac's then porous's sox, so although there will be sox action, they won't be my sox. while we're on the subject, we might as well do
NEW SOX MONDAY
they're lion brand magic stripes in the lumberjack colorway. i made a pair of these, much longer though, for my co-worker last christmas, and haven't seen another skein of it since. wicked stoked to have found this.
pretty much as soon as that was over, i went and hung with isaac for a few hours. bad blogger, i didn't get any picts. it was a lot of good conversation, and i don't know how that woulda translated image-wise anyway...
and then, just cuz i'm insane like this, i went to watch the steve mcqueen movie BULLITT in dolores park with
rachel, whose clapotis i covet
jessica
clinton and aussie. we sat on a blanket with a big bag of popcorn i made, and watched the movie on a giant inflatable screen. the stars were out. there were tons of folks, and it was just the nicest night!
there was even a sing-a-long movie-ette
before our main man
there was something kinda neat about watching this movie while knowing i was within the city limits. i mean, i know this movie is like 30 years old and all, but it's still somewhat surreal to see images on the "big screen" and to have personal ways that you "know" those images in your day-to-day life.
sunday morning i made yet one more step in the direction of being better about cooking better for myself, and went to the farmer's market with sean.
the place wasn't really as hoppin' as it usually is on a sunday morning...we weren't there until almost 11 though...
this is one of my favorite stalls to get garlic, onions, peppers, squash and potatoes
and this is a good one for seasonal veggies and sometimes they have good fruit too
afterwards there was an impromptu gathering at my house
we watched a documentary on KQED about john o'neil and his obsession with osama and how the fbi blew him off when he was "right"
then neil came over
and we all watched the last season of AB-FAB, where sapphie is preggers
everyone went home, i cleaned up, and did some creative stuff....
CREATIVE STUFF
i HAVE been plugging away at that vintage cardigan i'm knitting again, this time using lion brand cotton ease in candy blue that i got off ebay. i have completed the back
and i'm about half-way done on the sleeves
i'm hoping to complete it in time to wear on my trip back east, which is in october. i don't think this will be a huge issue, but we'll see.
i also made a ring for lygia at her request (cuz i do requests)
and a little ladybug set for myself
i've been even more stoked on ladybugs since sean told me they are the most voracious killers, for their size, in the insect kingdom. heh-heh
Posted by Meagen at 05:42 AM | Comments (2)
September 09, 2005
thuh gahdens
on tuesday, i took an extra day off work, and i went to check out the rose and dahlia gardens.
golden gate park is friggin gorgeous, and sometimes i forget. i make it to the panhandle enough
but it's none too often i'm in the actual park itself.
the light was amazing, as it often is on sunny days at this time
i had a chill time taking it all in
not that there weren't some suprises...as i said, i don't go into the actual park all that regularly...i went to the half shell area(whatever that's called), and lo and behold, the sands have shifted
sheesh, turn into a hermit for a few months, and who the hell knows what can change!!! fortunately, that was just a stop-by destination, so there wasn't that heart-wrenching disappointment thing happening. sooooooo much easier to move on without that heart-wrenching disappointment thing happening. i went off to the rose garden first off
maybe i shoulda eaten before my outing, or maybe i just have chocolate on the brain, but there was a whole bed of what looked like chocolate kisses on stems. damn, did willy wonka have somma them?
i thought this was an awesome anniversary present!!! it took me a moment to get with the program(being a romantic-of-sorts at heart), but pete verdone got me into those "different" kinds of gifts. they can really work with a cerebral person, cuz we all know how long thoughts can stay with us. sheesh, i've been carrying somma them around for 'bout 30 years now!
the flowers themselves were gorgeous
now, i really like flowers, and when i was seeing them all up-close and personal, i felt like i was basking in their glorious radiance. most unfortunately, my photographic skillz are not such that i can highlight these floral attributes at will, and most attempts feel somewhat akin to a crap-shoot. hell, even with a grand photographer possessed of mad skillz, the copied image is hard pressed to compare to the image in "real life". i decided i liked the flowers presented more like this
SERIOUSLY, which would you rather look at tons of picts of:
the "real" dahlia?
or my altered vision?
yeah, thought so. i'm no fool....well, actually i am, but i'm a fool in touch with her inner aesthetic. there should be a whole photo album with my version of both the rose garden and the dahlia garden, which was off the hook! if it's not there, or it's only partial(ie-there aren't like 20 picts in there) it means i ran outta time before work, and i'll be filling it in before i head over to marin tomorrow.
THE CREATIVE STUFF
well, as i've been alluding to over the past coupla weeks, i did a linolium block print for the cover of WORD, which was on sale at the 5 1/2 year party. i was really excited about the process of it all
considering it was the very first one i've ever done, i think it came out pretty good
most people couldn't tell what the image was; it's a close-up on a jacket collar, that's got those "little pins" on it(which is where i put the title). of course i thought it was quite clever, but i should know by now that when i'm thinking something's clever, it's really just an inside joke with myself. i'm looking forward to doing some more of these in the future, but i think i wanna try some little ones.
NEW SOX MONDAYon friday
these are the lion brand magic stripes self-striping yarn in the regata colorway. so far i've found that magic stripe sox hold up really well to wash and wear....
and i finally finished those pajamas from the summer '05 interweave knits
after knitting all the decorative bits, i decided i didn't want them, or maybe i was too lazy, or maybe i just wanted to check this project off my list...whatever the reason, it's not happening at the moment. these suckers are super comfy!
i also made this rad friggin crystal stretch-band bracelet. i got these bracelet findings (i guess they're considered findings, cuz you attach the beads to them...although, they are pretty much the bracelet themselves) as they were kinda popular in the 50's, and i've never been able to buy one i like. to hell with buying it if i can make it!!! anywho, i have promised myself that i will not sit down and work 138 crystals in one sitting again. it is only yesterday morning that i felt my fingertips were feeling "normal" again. much alternating pain and numbness for the preceeding few dayz. sheesh!!! i was just so excited about the whole thing that i couldn't help myself!
which of course makes me think of the store, and how "i promised" about dealing with the store. well, "smeagol lied"...well, really more like i still haven't gotten to that, and have no excuses since i had extra days off work, except that perhaps i just handle some things in this unprofessional manner...yup-yup
Posted by Meagen at 05:03 AM | Comments (0)
September 08, 2005
sabatical
sheesh...i took a few days off of work, and i just couldn't deal with being on the computer. who knew? next time, i suppose i will, at the very least, surmise, and notify, how's that?!?!
in the interim, i did take blog pix, although sporadically.
to begin with, i went to a show over at a new cafe at florida and mariposa, who's name i can't seem to recall. en route, i stopped off to see what kinda shenanagans mr.skirvin was up to
i wish i'da gotten an action shot, but i started talking before i was thinking, and, well, i suppose we all know how that goes! you could tell from the street he'd gotten a whole lot done, but then i think he still has a little way to go. no doubt it'll be done and then some. KUDOS TO ANT for kicking ass with his project!
i walked all the way down to the cafe, and lemme tell ya, it's a helluva lot less intimidating on a bike. once i got to south van ness, i started to think that walking down there alone post dark prolly wasn't a good idea. i'm definately getting old. i find i'm thinking more and more about if i'm "safe". i don't like the idea of that kinda thinking(which i will elaborate on at another point in time).
two of my chess club buddies were involved in the art show at the-cafe-whose-name-i-can't-remember-so-i-hope-someone-will-tell-me-so-i-can-put-the-name-in-here-instead-of-this-regamaroll, so regardless of how poop-di-dooped i was, i went over. it was all worth it once i saw dave and dave! such sweet guys, i'm tellin' ya! and i have to say that dave p. has been sporting this look lately(aside from the tie-thing) that is beyond flattering! go-dave-go!
dave p. had organized three artists to show: aiyana udesen, reggie sparks, and david benzler. i liked pieces by all three
i really liked the middle mouse, but whatshername to the left scares me(mariah)... i liked how detailed the lines were, and that there wasn't a lot of shading. i find shading intimidating, so i like it when other folks don't necessarily shade...
i guess this is called the resurection of christ or something very close to that (i should be taking notes, and not trusting those oh-i'll-remember transient thoughts...) anywho, i really liked the use of black here. the form made me think of an inverted medusa, which is an interesting concept juxtaposed with christ, and all the thought baggage that come along with both...i mean, i like images to conjure thoughts. i don't think they HAVE TO, but i like it more when then do.
i wish this had been closer to the ground so i coulda gotten a "better" look at it. i really liked the figures and the color. i also thought the work of all three artists went well together. aiyana was all lines, and david was all color, and then reggie tied it up/tied it down with lines AND color. hey, they don't call me master of the obvious for nothing! well, actually, they don't call me master of the obvious, but ever since jerry lang, i've just wicked loved that phrase...
i had some quality conversation with mr.b, and then
ADM-THE MAN-C offered me a ride home!!! good looking, intelligent, creative beyond all get-out, AND compassionate to my plight; fortunate to have this kinda friend for sure!!!
actually, it's been in the forefront of my mind, especially lately, that i am fortunate to call a few of these types of folks my friends. i am grateful for that, lemme tell ya! although, i should really be telling them...well, unless you are some of them, then i am telling you, but then that leaves a lot of room for misunderstanding...like what if you don't know you're one of them? hmmmm.....
i did breakfast with rachel and clinton at one point(speaking of those types of friends)
while we were there, there was a rucus. no, seriously a full-on rucus. the table behind us didn't get one of their breakfasts, and the server didn't like what they had to say about it. friggin' before you knew it, they had gone outside and slurs were flying. it was all i could do not to start chanting "fight. fight. fight." i mean, in reality i did't wanna see them fight, cuz there are no doubts in my mind that the waitress woulda got her ass kicked in HARD, and i'm not a blood-n-gutz kinda gal. the waitress had chutzpa, even if she flitted about the restaurant like she was drunk, providing horribly inept service. dude, she tried to give away part of clinton's breakfast!!!!
jessica met up with us after a bit, and then we all went for a walk to decompress and hang out with ms. aussie bojangles
we saw somma these weird faces while we were out-n-about...i wonder what the material is...
then we went to cole valley, which is a super cute neighborhood i could never afford to live in...although i DO live in hayes valley...however THAT happened i'm still not too sure. did you know i still live in the very first building i moved into when i first got here from boston? anyway, i guess weirder things have happened than me finding a place i could afford in cute-cute-cole valley
i walked down to lower haight with jess, and then we each went our own way. she mentioned something about a nap(which always sounds so glorious and tempting, but which i can never seem to manage), and i went to general bead to get some.....stuff. yeah, we ALL KNOW i have a minor glass problem, WHATEVER!
it's interesting to me how people need to express themselves on walls, artist or not... the woman below was wicked cranked up while creating her manic piece
oh, and for all you vegans out there, WE KNOW YOUR DIRTY SECRET!!!
speaking of dirty secrets, that night i watched a documentary on CHAVEZ REVENE which existed down in LA-LA-LAND back in the 50's. it was a mexican-american dirt road community that was originally demolished to make room for an ambitious low-income housing project. the inhabitants of chavez revene were supposed to be given first dibs at the new housing. only they build dodger stadium there instead. the american way....
so, if you can stick with me here over the next coupla days, i'm gonna show you what i've been crafting over the past week(including the new sox i had for monday), as well as the trip i took to golden gate park to peep the rose and dahlia gardens. good stuff to come, and then we'll be back to our regularly scheduled publishing program....
Posted by Meagen at 05:00 AM | Comments (5)
September 02, 2005
5 1/2 years
fecalface had it's anniversary party at 111 minna last night. i went down with nathalie and damon. nathalie kicked ass cuz she carried the recent issue of WORD that i put together the whole way. when we were passing isatrope, en route to the BART, and we saw this japanese band playing there...
how stoked am i that a comic shop is now right next door practically to my lys (that's local yarn store for all you non-knitters out there...)
we got there, and john had me bring the zine to the merch table. then i sat there for a bit while brad dealt some art.
then i got to hang out with my compadres
and check out the crowd
until it got "frightening"ly close. we went outside to claim some space and non-recently recycled air. while doing so, we peeped this bikini shoot someone told us about. i've tried to photoshop the hell outta this picture, but this is the best it gets...still, it was parta the adventure, and i thought some form of documentation was better than none.
then i went back inside for a "moment" to try and find mr.skirvin. it was a lost cause, as he was not there, but i did wind up seeing many people whose picture i did not take, cuz well...mr.jameson distracted me. i am pretty stoked cuz i saw some of the ladies from the stitch-n-bitch who i haven't seen forever, and they said they were down for a craft club. i miss that kind of hanging out. i mean, i love the chess club guys, but it's nice to hang out with crafty ladies too. i suppose it's the balance of the thing.
i also saw the mashers. i feel like i'm on a roll here, cuz this has been two weekends in a row.
and then it was pretty much time to go home. i was super tired from not having slept well, and having gotten up around 4:30am. we walked adam to the civic center BART, and then nathalie and damon walked me home. man-o-man! it wasn't super late when we got back, maybe like 11, but my eyes were shut before my head hit the pillow. i think my favorite part of the evening was the walk home b/c it was all real conversation. (i'm realizing that the older i get, the more difficult it seems to be to have any kind of real conversation in a crowded environment. i get both overwhelmed and distracted, and i find it difficult to expound on any one particular topic.)
Posted by Meagen at 10:57 PM | Comments (2)