yet another endeavor

A Facebook Story

2011-09-05T20:18:00.000-07:00

Hey! Remember the time that Facebook showed you that your childhood 'nemesis' (aka the girl that made fun of you and tortured you in elementary school) turned into complete White Trash (capitals necessary) and became a single mother of two before she turned 24??!!!

OH WAIT. That's what happened to me. (Not you, too?!)

Seriously. I cannot tell you how much I hate Facebook.

(Real Updates: coming soon...)

I will be SEWING this summer!

2011-05-25T13:11:00.000-07:00

I've decided to sew this summer. I'm going to make some clothes for myself that I like and that actually fit me properly. Skirts. Dresses. YES.

I feel confident. Much like my venture into knitting, I fortunately have a basic foundation of knowledge to build from. My mom taught me how to use and thread (essential!) a sewing machine. She sewed all my Halloween costumes as a kid. I watched, I learned, I helped some. I've hemmed my own pants and patched a few things over the years. I also learned how to hand-sew in Girl Scouts. Like riding a bike, these are things that I've learned and will never forgot how to do. I'm out of practice, sure. But...OH, I'm gonna SEW!

AND FYI: I got a FREE sewing machine back in September. (That's a funny story for another time.)

Sew...

Last week I began to search (read: scour the internet for hours) for free patterns, ideas, and inspirations. I also pulled a few things from my closet that I intend to alter or patch or transform into a whole new garment. I'm learning some of the "lingo" from sewing-blogs also - and debating whether or not I want to start a whole new blog for this.

At the moment tho, a new/second blog seems like too much work. I'm not kidding myself. I hardly blog at all.

Case in point: I've already sewn a few things, but...it will be a few days/weeks before I get around to posting.

Favorite sites thus far:

Burda Style, Downloadable Patterns

Thanks to CandyApples, a burlesque dancer I met on the bus a few months ago. She was admiring my freshly knitted cowl, and we started talking about crafts. She recommended I check out the site - which has both FREE patterns and cheap ($5.40) downloadable patterns.

Colette Patterns

Based in Portland! Very cute. New vintage. I found these dresses discussed on a number of sewing and crafting blogs. On the more expensive side ($16-$18) but worth it, assuming that they are really geared towards someone my age and size. Their blog is a hidden treasure trove of sewing tips!

The Sew Weekly

This lady made 7 Colette dresses in 7 days! The challenge spurned this cute site.

Craftster

Want to learn about the crazy online craft world that you never knew existed. This is where you start. I'm still overwhelmed by it at this point.

NEXT UP:

- The Pj pants I finally finished
- The skirt I shortened
- The food I've cooked over the last few months: Rhubarb pie, Nettles, Fiddlehead ferns, and more.

Eating Endeavor: The Code Blue!

2011-04-28T12:55:00.000-07:00

According to Wikipedia, "CODE BLUE" is the hospital emergency code "used indicate a patient requiring immediate resuscitation, most often as the result of a cardiac arrest."

Now LOOK at this burger from Blue Moon Burgers (click on the photo for larger view):

"Two Beef patties topped with 4 slices of bacon, 2 slices of cheddar cheese, peanut butter, sweet red onions and our special Blue Moon sauce on Brioche."

Could there be a more appropriate name for this? I think not. It's crazy, it's delicious, it's heavy, it's heart attack inducing. It has PEANUT BUTTER - which is absolutely the most fabulous part of the whole deal, believe it or not. And yes, I did eat the whole thing. And the onion rings. With the tub of sauce.

"And did you almost go into cardiac arrest?" you ask.

"Yes," I reply, eyes wide.

"And did you love it?"

"YES!"

"But would you eat one again?" you ask.

"Wow....I don't know," I reply - my eyes repeatedly wandering back to the photo, my stomach growling, my mouth watering. "I think I have to."

There's too much to say...

2011-04-13T22:55:00.001-07:00

...about a man who makes you french toast and buys you caviar and fancy cheese on a random afternoon.

Love love.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Ridiculous and completely functionless:

2011-04-05T16:34:00.000-07:00

http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/gnorman-egg-cozy

Reading and smitten with:

2011-03-28T19:39:00.000-07:00

And...

Only in Seattle...

2011-03-28T19:16:00.000-07:00

...would someone order a toasted bagel "with EarthBalance" at an espresso cafe.

Unutterances of the week

2011-03-25T14:09:00.001-07:00

It's worrisome, how much I care about you.

You are such a huge bitch; I just smile and nod because putting you in your place would make a scene.

If you don't stop using the flash to take a bazillion photos of your baby, she will be blind by the time she's talking.

I'm not sorry I let you down.

I know I look young, but I am 25 - and I heard what you said.

Friendly is not flirting!

Ugly is not ironic!

The birds have told me: it is spring.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Knitting! Knitting! Knitting! Knitted a Cowl! Knitted a Hat!

2011-02-20T18:30:00.000-08:00

I have done it! I have become...A KNITTER!

I knit. I purl. And in the last week or so I learned how to increase stitches (3 ways!), decrease stitches (3 ways!), cable cast-on, and knit a buttonhole...

And then I knit a seed-stitch cowl-neck scarf! With buttons!

And then I knit my first hat! A waffle hat!

And then - CAN YOU FEEL HOW EXCITED I AM ABOUT MYSELF RIGHT NOW? - I took some semi-fabulous photographs of my works with my new Nikon D90 & 50mm lens:

Welcome to Mugwump the Grump's Treasury of Knitted Fineries. Accepting custom orders...because I'm awesome.

Portlandia: Bike Rider

2011-02-16T21:47:00.001-08:00

You've gotta love this. Spot. On.

Happy Valentine's Day to You

2011-02-14T19:56:00.000-08:00

Love,
Macbeth and Lady Macbeth

A Knitter, not a Quitter!

2011-02-13T19:28:00.000-08:00

...

When faced with adversity, I remember...

MORTICIA!

Knitting...constantly!

Knitting...PERFECT sweaters (for unusually-shaped uncles)!

Knitting! Knitting! Knitting! I'm a Knitter, not a Quitter!

(Um...and I've become obsessed...?)

Dance Party Claymation

2011-02-10T12:33:00.000-08:00

An awesome little claymation project by my friends Lis Bartlett, Ann Malloy, and crew!

Every day is a dance party.

7:23 am. Espresso Express. A light went on that has never gone on before.

2011-01-30T07:37:00.001-08:00

Misfit Love Stories

2011-01-29T15:35:00.000-08:00

Currently reading:

Let the Right One In by John Ajvide Lindqvist

The 2008 Swedish film by the same name is a must-see. If you love misfit love stories. And great cinematography. And/or horror/vampires. (Real vampires. Not that sparkly Twilight stuff.)

My favorite misfit love story:

Harold and Maude (1971 film)

I cry every time. Every scene is perfect, memorable, touching.

"I should like to change into a sunflower most of all. They're so tall and simple."

Last year I found a 1975 paperback copy of the book. It's my favorite book cover. The pride of my bookshelf...well, the paperbacks at least. I haven't read it - for fear of breaking the spine and possibly altering my perception of the beloved film. But maybe it's time.

It's almost time. Maybe in the spring.

When the daisies come up.

It's everywhere!

2011-01-17T19:48:00.000-08:00

Helvetica.

"...I wanna see movies of my dreams"

2011-01-17T19:08:00.000-08:00

When you blog, do you blog like they do in the movies too?

Breakfastess...hmm, yes (in Golem voice)

2011-01-12T11:53:00.001-08:00

Irish steel cut oatmeal with honey, banana, and whole milk.

(Click for full-sized photos. I am not impressed by the photo-posting abilities of this "BlogPress" app!)

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Green Porno

2010-12-30T13:00:00.000-08:00

OH great...the end of another year.

2010-12-30T11:57:00.000-08:00

"I will be a vegetarian this year."

That was 2008. And that's the only New Year's Resolution I've ever fulfilled. That I can remember.

Oh...and I cheated. (At least once, but no more than twice.)

So for what it's worth (a shrug and a sigh), here are my 2011 New Year's Resolutions:

1) I'm quitting smoking. I don't want to, and I know I'll slip from time to time (just let me), but I'm done with the crippling routine.

2) I'm quitting Facebook. I quit for a while, but my iPhone brought me back to semi-obsessed-internet-stalker-status. No more.

3) I will stop "composing" and "thinking about but then not composing" blog entries. I will stop thinking about this blog as if it were a composition; an essay for the world. I will post whatever the fuck I want here. That includes the word FUCK and other foul language that I use but pretend I don't. That also includes anything that I find interesting, albeit disturbing or sexual or offensive or weird, that I often refrain from sharing out of fear that someone will think ill of me.

This is part of a larger resolution of mine that's been a long time coming. I'm trying to close the gap between who I am and who I project. I quietly belittle others who talk about this, (mostly because they wave the "high and mighty" flag) but it's always been a problem for me. And it's true for most people, I think. It's not always a "problem" but the constructed self is always there. There is a rift between who we are at home alone and who we are out in the real world. And the internet adds a whole 'nother fucked up layer to that.

So. Anyway. I'm gonna do my best to be one whole. I'm not composed, and neither my blog shall be.

Love books. Fear the Kindle.

2010-12-07T20:44:00.000-08:00

Thank you Daniel Handler. And thank you Green Apple Books. (I miss you!)

I like bugs!

2010-08-06T14:27:00.000-07:00

Here are a few macro photos from my new(ish) digital camera - a Canon Powershot SD1400. (Originals and close-ups)

A fly at Gasworks:

A dragonfly in Ballard:

Ladybugs at Cowen Park:

(And yes, it was actually pink!)

First Harvest: Basil

2010-08-06T13:14:00.000-07:00

My little urban herb garden is growing big and strong! Basil! Oregano! Sage! Rosemary!

Last week, Siobhan and I harvested some basil and made bruschetta:

So delicious and so simple!

Thanks again to Carlyle for the whiskey barrel planter(s), to my Consulate neighbors for leaving my little garden undisturbed, and to Siobhan for sharing the feast.

The beet is the most intense of vegetables.

2010-07-23T12:46:00.001-07:00

Currently (re)reading:

Jitterbug Perfume.

COLD BREW COFFEE

2010-07-15T10:46:00.000-07:00

This is the ONLY way to drink iced coffee, and possibly the easiest, most delicious way to brew coffee PERIOD. The slower brewing process makes the coffee stronger and bolder in taste, but lower in acidity.

I found a basic, small-batch recipe at The New York Times and adapted it. Their recipe makes a "concentrate" that you dilute after brewing: when converted to one gallon, it calls for 4 cups of coffee. I used less coffee to create a strong "straight" recipe.

My Recipe:

1 gallon glass jug, with lid
+
3 c. coarsely ground fresh coffee (about a 1/2 lb)
+
filtered water to fill

Leave jar at room temperature for 12 hours. Use a sieve lined with cheese cloth to strain out coffee grounds, preferably straight into a glass pitcher. If you don't mind some extra sediment, and presumably a bit more caffeine, squeeze excess liquid out of the coffee grounds using the cheese cloth. Serve on ice or heat up for hot-coffee. Makes approximately 14 cups (8 oz.) or 7-8 decently sized iced-coffees.

It's magic! It starts to brew right away - which surprised me - and it's supposedly decent enough to drink after 4 hours if you just can't wait. The longer you let it brew, the stronger the coffee obviously...but I would be afraid to let it brew much longer than 12 hours, assuming that's the optimum "life span" of the brewing grounds. Anyway, unlike hot-brewed coffee which goes sour pretty quickly, the coffee will keep for at least 3 days in the fridge without going bad. My gallon didn't stay around any longer than that...

It is. just. too. delicious.

I used Stumptown's "Holler Mountain" blend coffee for my first two batches. Adding a bit of cream and sugar resulted in a wonderful chocolate-milky taste...

Lack of Synergy (Kombucha)

2010-07-11T10:47:00.000-07:00

GT Synergy brand Kombucha has been pulled from store shelves...because the bottles contain too much alcohol! Will they change the recipe - and taste (oh no!) - or will they re-label and sell as an "alcoholic beverage"?

Either way, it's about time I start making my own...

Anyone know if you can get a "mother" out of a Synergy brand Kombucha? I have one with a big chunk and lots of sediment...hoping that might work as a starter and I won't have to buy one.

Homemade Ginger Ale, Take 2

2010-07-09T13:02:00.000-07:00

(No posts in over a year, but I'm picking it back up right HERE, right NOW! Yes! Endeavors!)

Brief review of Homemade Ginger Ale, Take 1 (March 2010): FAILURE

After looking up a number of recipes online, I concocted my own brew. Basically I made a simple syrup with ginger, lemongrass, and hot red pepper flakes. The final glass of ale was about 1/2 c syrup with club soda and ice.

It tasted like lemon grass soda. Therefore...FAILED.

Conclusions:
No lemongrass.
No raw sugar (or at least not that much).
More ginger.
More ginger.
More ginger.

HOMEMADE GINGER ALE, TAKE 2 (July 4, 2010): FAILURE

Again, every recipe I perused seemed too "light." So I concocted my own brew again. This time I used almost 4 cups of ginger and just enough water to cover. I simmered this for 1 hour, and added a bit of cayenne (thinking this would up the spice ante) about half way through. After an hour, pour the brew into a jar, straining out most of the ginger. I added 1 c of sugar, swirled to melt, and let the brew cool in the window. It looked dark, strong, and promising...

The resulting soda, however, was a disappointment. It was spicy from the pepper more than from the ginger, and could have used more sugar. And there was something funny about the soda...too bicarbonate-tasting. Overall not un-drinkable, just not what I wanted.

Therefore...FAILURE.

Conclusions:
No more cayenne or pepper of any kind.
Simple syrup is the way to go.
Try tonic water or sparkling water instead of club soda.
More ginger.
More ginger.
More ginger.

OVERALL CONCLUSIONS:
A combination of Take 1 and Take 2 is what I will try next. Simple syrup with lots and lots of ginger. Perhaps raw, finely grated ginger, or ginger pulp in the final product would add spice.

I want zing and spice! I want an after-burn of pure ginger enlightenment!

Stay tuned for Take 3.

thinking of you:

2009-03-26T21:44:00.000-07:00

Howard.

12 mysterious onions full of tears

2009-03-03T19:18:00.000-08:00

Well, the weather seems to be broken...but I sure am loving it!

After work this afternoon, I grabbed a bagel at Roxy's, an americano at Fremont Coffeeshop, and headed to Gasworks. Along the way, I found this mysterious onion right alongside the Burke-Gilman, just west of the Fremont Bridge. The little tag read: "The Onion Years" by artist A.K. "Mimi" Allin. It instructed me to write about something that made me cry this year. Something joyful or sorrowful...or both. I was to place it inside this delicate ceramic onion--careful to mind the other joys and sorrows of this year--and if I broke the onion, I would assume the burden of all it contained. In the spring, all 12 ceramic onions (which are hidden all over Seattle) will be collected and broken--setting the joys and sorrows of this onion year free.

And so I tore length of orange paper from the tangle, wrote just three words, and carefully placed them inside the onion.

Upon returning home, I looked up A.K. Allin and discovered that she is a local poet who regularly installs visual/poetic public art in North Seattle. Apparently, a few years ago she set up her writing desk at Greenlake every Sunday for one year (July 2006 - July 2007) in order to show that "there is a poet within reach, commited to you."

I couldn't find any info online regarding this onion business...but I can only assume that Allin might make those bits of joy and sorrow into poems. Then again, maybe the poem is just the onions being out there...or just my act of writing and letting go...

Anyway, if you see an onion, I encourage you to engage in this poetic act. Let me know where you find them, too.

Perhaps poetry--and onions--in odd, public places brighten my day even more than the sunny weather does.

Happiness

2009-02-28T00:32:00.000-08:00

Happiness is all about perspective.

(This is a question.)

"yes: but the color of the heavy hemlocks"

2009-02-26T12:41:00.000-08:00

For the hemlocks (above me), the continuity of poetry, and just because:

DOMINATION OF BLACK
by Wallace Stevens

At night, by the fire,
The colors of the bushes
And the fallen leaves,
Repeating themselves,
Turned in the room,
Like the leaves themselves
Turning in the wind.
Yes: but the color of the heavy hemlocks
Came striding.
And I remembered the cry of the peacocks.

The colors of their tails
Were like the leaves themselves
Turning in the wind, In the twilight wind.
They swept over the room,
Just as they flew from the boughs of the hemlocks
Down to the ground. I heard them cry--the peacocks.
Was it a cry against the twilight
Or against the leaves themselves
Turning in the wind,
Turning as the flames
Turned in the fire,
Turning as the tails of the peacocks
Turned in the loud fire,
Loud as the hemlocks
Full of the cry of the peacocks?
Or was it a cry against the hemlocks?

Out of the window,
I saw how the planets gathered
Like the leaves themselves
Turning in the wind.
I saw how the night came,
Came striding like the color of the heavy hemlocks
I felt afraid.
And I remembered the cry of the peacocks.

The interconnectivity of this poem, the turning, the imagery: I keep coming back to it. It may not be very deep, but it's beautiful...and haunting, those hemlocks. They're haunting.

unkissed, suite 4

2009-02-23T22:31:00.000-08:00

I spent some quality time sitting in the loft at Joe Bar today. Melted into those gorgeous green walls and read this week's Stranger cover-to-cover. Sherman Alexie's exclusive new poem, Unkissed: A Fibonacci Sequence Poem, on page 17 was, perhaps, the highlight of my day:

4.

I
Sighed
When she
Passed by my
Desk. I wanted her;
She wanted me. We never kissed.
Twenty years later, I still dream about what I missed.

(She loves her husband and sons; I love my wife and daughters. Neither of us wants to change our lives. I don't want to kiss her now, except, I suppose, in my fantasies. But I am still curious about all the reasons why we never acted on our passions. Why didn't we ever take that first step toward removing our clothes? Were we afraid? Were we in denial? Perhaps we just didn't want it enough. Or is there a larger question? Do all of us become liars when we don't kiss those people who make us tremble and who tremble for us?)

MUST: Read the full poem here.

P.S. -- My ginger Yogi Tea says: "Happiness comes from contentment." I think Sherman Alexie would disagree...

And I'm with him.

for ryan in kansas

2009-02-21T15:56:00.000-08:00

"The answer is never the answer. What's really interesting is the mystery. If you seek the mystery instead of the answer, you'll always be seeking. I've never seen anybody really find the answer -- they think they have, so they stop thinking. But the job is to seek mystery, evoke mystery, plant a garden in which strange plants grow and mysteries bloom. The need for mystery is greater than the need for an answer." -Ken Kesey

golden gardens: like ocean beach, but in seattle

2009-02-21T14:18:00.000-08:00

Yesterday felt like San Francisco--it was sunny and warm!

That is, it was 54 degrees. But exciting!

I had called in sick to work, feeling very sick. After lying in bed all morning, I didn't feel sick so much as simply depressed and pathetic. Sunbeams were streaming through my window--a rare occurrence--and I felt sweaty (later, I realized this might have been a lingering fever, but whatever). And so, I was determined to lie in the sun somewhere...and what better place than the beach?

My trek to Golden Gardens was eerily similar to any number to treks I took to Ocean Beach or Baker Beach in San Francisco. It felt warped, strange. All the elements were the same, but the details slightly different. I met a friend--Carlos (Tony's doppelganger!)--who happened to be in the area. We took our books, and took a bus ride through Sunset Hill (sooo much like The Sunset!). After grabbing coffee at the only cafe around, Fiore (like Java Beach!), we descended treacherous steps down the cliff-side (like Sutro Baths!), underpassed railroad tracks, and found ourselves in the cold sand.

People, dogs, children...they romped in the sun. I took my shoes off. I got sandy. It was glorious.

And as the sun began to set on the sailboats, the Sound, the Olympics I realized that I really will never leave the West Coast. I must live by the beach, and a relatively cold one, at that. I must dip by toes in that freezing water, even in February.

Of this, I am certain.

there is no love in this world anymore

2009-02-18T16:03:00.001-08:00

A few days ago, Tony sent me an email with a couple of MP3s attached. Apparently, he took a hellish bus ride to and from Reno last weekend, and while he was stuck on that smelly Greyhound he listened to music and thought of his friends. When he got home, he emailed each friend a few songs that reminded him of them.

He sent me The Buzzcocks, "I Believe" which...I have to say...reminds me of me, too.

Anyway, what a wonderful, thoughtful way to show your friends how much you care about them. I suppose there is still love in this world, after all :)

Thanks, Tony!

Everything is Flickring

2009-02-11T10:57:00.000-08:00

I recently discovered the Seattle Municipal Archives Flickr page! There, I found this amazingly bearded man, as well as these lovely ladies. Check it out. The photos are organized via 'sets', but I really liked swimming through the photostream where tourism slogans, picture-perfect 1950s highschoolers, Pike Place hippies, old timey police squads, construction workers, and this man peacefully exist alongside newer photos of Summer Solstice and random neon signs.

Also, these hipsters.

Megan also just pointed out the Library of Congress Flickr page, which makes me wonder: how many amazing organizations/people own amazing Flickr pages that I don't know about?!

Anyway, I just love old photos. I often find myself leafing through huge boxes of old forgotten snapshots at flea markets and antique shops, and subsequently end up buying the ones that I can't let go. It's like you're peering at people, places, moments that no longer exist...and yet there they are, right there in your hand.

"Dude, tha'd be an awesome blog title."

2009-02-05T13:16:00.000-08:00

I had IDEAS for my blog title. "And Yet" being one, "I Am The Sea" being another. But you know, its like making up cool bands names...It's kinda pointless, and I forget the best ones anyway.

"Yet Another Endeavor" stuck because it's all encompassing. This blog will be a record of my endeavors, and yet another endeavor in itself.

Awwww.