Haiku 23
10 Mar 2010 Leave a Comment
in Poetry Tags: blah, haiku, sick, sick as a dog, tea, throat coat
can’t breathe through my nose
ninety seven coughs today
thank God for Throat Coat
I am very glad, indeed I finally return home
05 Mar 2010 4 Comments
in Cinema, Music, Strange Tags: 70s, awesome, cheesy, corny, lip syncing, Russian, singing, TV, USSR, youtube
I’m sure this will be the next big thing to rock the interwebs, so it’s my pleasure to share it with you, gentle readers. The only clue I have as to its origins is the barely noticeable “1976″ printed in the bottom left corner, and the Russian title, which, according to Babelfish, translates to “I am very glad, indeed I finally return home.”
My mother once said that nothing good came out of the seventies. The fashions, the hair styles, the color schemes, the architecture, the cinema… This video is the culmination of all of the bad aspects of the seventies. Yet, somehow when they are all put together something truly corny and wonderful is created, which is greater than the sum of its parts.
I vaguely recall seeing reruns of variety shows from the seventies where the musical flavor of the month would come on and “sing” their latest hit. By “sing” I mean move their lips to a prerecorded tape. Why should the USSR be any different? To me, the lip syncing makes this video all the more awesome.
Not dead
20 Feb 2010 6 Comments
in Animals, Blogging, Photos Tags: cat, Flickr, kitteh, Mai
No, gentle readers, I am very much alive. I’ve just had nothing of interest or value to post for the last thirty nine days.
Until I get myself back into regular blogging mode (which will hopefully be sometime in the relatively near future), here is a photo of my kitteh. Her name is Mai. She likes to smack my face while I’m sleeping. She’s weird.
Sonic toothbrush
12 Jan 2010 2 Comments
in Material Tags: Arm & Hammer, Christmas, Crest, dental hygiene, Dr. Who, sonic, Spinbrush, toothbrush
I’m a big fan of the battery-operated toothbrush. I think that it does a much better job of cleaning my teeth than a manual, non-battery-operated toothbrush.
Every year for Christmas Santa leaves in my stocking a new toothbrush, toothpaste and (usually) some Crest White Strips. Santa is big on dental hygiene in my house. For the past few years he has left a Crest Spinbrush, a nifty little item that, at around $7, is right in my price range for above average tooth care.
As you may know, the Crest Spinbrush is no more. As of sometime last year it was purchased by Arm & Hammer. So, now it is the Arm & Hammer Spinbrush. As an informed consumer I can say with some certainty that besides the logo atop the packaging, I notice very little difference between the old and the new. Kudos to Arm & Hammer.
For whatever reason, I didn’t open my new toothbrush until today, almost a full month after Christmas. After ripping open the ultra-thick, somewhat dangerous plastic packaging I noticed that my new toothbrush looked a little different. Why? Because, gentle readers, my new toothbrush isn’t just any ordinary battery-operated toothbrush. It is a sonic toothbrush.
I had to laugh. The first thing I thought of was Dr. Who’s sonic screwdriver, and the argument that the Doctor got into with a guy about it: “Of all the things that you can make sonic, why a screwdriver?” Hilarious. But you probably had to be there.
What makes a toothbrush sonic? I’m honestly not sure. But I can tell you one thing: this new toothbrush buzzed so hard in my mouth that I’m still seeing double. It vibrated at a speed unattained by my previous toothbrushes. I have no idea if it’s because of the recent Arm & Hammer acquisition or because of the sonic qualities of this apparently super toothbrush. All I know is that my teeth feel dentist clean.
So, gentle readers, spill: what kind of toothbrush do you use, and does it live up to your standards of proper dental hygiene?
Mozart: Adagio in b minor, K. 540
08 Jan 2010 1 Comment
in Cinema, Music, Technology Tags: Adagio in b minor, home movies, Mozart, piano, recital, Richard Goode, Roxio Easy VHS to DVD, youtube
Since acquiring the Roxio Easy VHS to DVD hookup, I’ve been kind of obsessed with transferring home movies to digital format. I’ve taken all the home movies from my parents’ house with the intention of preserving my childhood memories on the computer and eventually YouTube. I’ve even taken to raiding my friends’ houses for their home movies. I may be going a bit overboard.
Among the videos I unearthed was my senior piano recital from college, almost seven years ago. While I’m the first to admit that it was not one of my best overall performances (read: there were several very noticeable mistakes), I did manage to pull a couple flawless gems from the relative muck. One of those is Mozart’s Adagio in b minor, K. 540.
While not the most technically difficult piece I’ve ever played, the emotional investment in this piece was great. There is a melancholy longing that is felt through almost painfully exquisite exposed simplicity.
Incidentally, I was incredibly fortunate to have the honor of being coached on this piece during a master class earlier in the year by the legendary Richard Goode, who is well known for his interpretation of Beethoven. While everyone else in my studio was prepared with a Beethoven sonata, Mr. Goode seemed delighted at the opportunity to work with me on the Mozart. Definitely one of the highlights of my musical career.
Please excuse the quality of the video; it was transferred from a quickly deteriorating VHS tape, and the person running the camera (which was supposedly set up on a tripod) didn’t have the steadiest hand at times. That said, I’m impressed that the sound quality is as good as it is.
Windowpane Scarf
07 Jan 2010 7 Comments
in Material, Photos Tags: knitting, scarf
I have a really bad habit of starting a knitting project and leaving it half finished. Scarves usually feel the brunt of my lack of follow-through. At least with a hat or a sock I know I can finish quickly, so I am more motivated to complete it. But scarves go on forever, especially if the pattern is small and intricate. However, I do actually manage to finish something on the rare occasion. This time around, after months of alternate excitement and near-death boredom, I finished the Windowpane Scarf.
This monolith of a scarf (as modeled by yours truly to the right) is about 12 inches wide and 80 inches long, including the fringe. I used about a skein and a half of Red Heart Super Saver worsted weight yarn (7 oz./198 g.) in Carrot, and a set of size 8 knitting needles.
The pattern, with a couple small tweaks (because I messed up early on and decided I liked it), is easily memorized, so it was the perfect project to work on while vegging in front of the television.
Of course, credit should be given where credit is due. This pattern was not my own. Heavens, no. It came from here.
Tales from the potty
06 Jan 2010 8 Comments
in Strange, WTF Wednesday Tags: cell phone, restaurant, restroom, strange people, toilet, WTF
The restaurant was full, but the three-stalled restroom was unoccupied, save for the woman about ten years my senior who had entered just seconds before me. We chose the stalls on opposite sides of the room, leaving the middle stall as a buffer between us. Standard restroom etiquette.
Just after I had gotten myself situated, I heard a voice, loud and resonant:
“Hi, Ruthie, it’s Mrs. Lasky. Is your mom or dad home?”
When you hear another person’s voice in a public restroom, the first thought is usually that someone is addressing you personally. It wasn’t until she finished her question and waited for Ruthie (whoever she was) to fetch the person to whom she wanted to speak that I realized she wasn’t actually talking to me. A minute later she continued:
“Hi Carol, it’s me. Yeah, I’m out with Allison and her friends after some Girl Scout thing…”
Why is this lady talking on the phone in a public restroom? It’s not as if she was standing in line by the sinks, killing time while waiting her turn. She was actually on the toilet. And it wasn’t as if she was making some urgent call about work or some personal emergency involving forgetting to turn off the stove. She was chatting. Just chewing the fat with a bud. While sitting on the toilet. In a public restroom.
After careful thought and the eventual realization that I wasn’t going to overhear the plotting of a mob hit (and the completion of my own personal business), I decided to go on my merry way. I got myself together and reached around to flush the toilet. Just then, the woman, who had until that moment completely ignored my presence, turned on me.
Now would probably be a good time to add that, being a restroom, the woman two stalls over who was carrying on an innocuous conversation with an apparent friend was making some noises that belonged in a men’s restroom in a bean eating factory. I have never before heard so much or such loud gas being passed within such a small timeframe, especially when the person knows of my presence. So, it’s not as if this woman wanted to conceal the fact that she was in the restroom from her friend. She wasn’t even trying, and she certainly didn’t apologize. Surely the person on the other end of the connection had heard the sounds of this woman’s terrifying flatulence long before the flushing of my toilet. Perhaps that is why I was so surprised at what came next.
“Do you MIND?? I am on the PHONE!!!“
She yelled at me. She actually yelled at me because the sound of a flushing toilet in a public restroom interrupted her phone conversation. Stunned, I rushed out of the stall and over to the sink, secretly hoping I could get out of there before she could raise her voice at me again.
As I left the restroom, I heard her say, “Sorry about that. Some people…”
Haiku 22
21 Dec 2009 1 Comment
in Poetry Tags: Christmas, Christmas gifts, haiku, Scotch tape
Christmas shopping done,
wrapping commencing today.
Where is my Scotch tape?
say what?