In true New York form, I found myself bumping into yet another star on the streets today (see previous posts on Kevin James, Mariska Hargitay, The Brand New Heavies etc.). Rihanna, known for her hit "Umbrella" (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SdPScXhaztg), was in her SUV surrounded by bodyguards and policemen, as a big crowd congregated in a semi-circle, as if gravitating slowly and collectively like an organism of some sort to the passenger seat where Rihanna was situated. I decided to join the amoeba of people and take a look. Starstruck yet again.
Speaking of Rihanna, Mandy Moore (one of my guilty pleasures now - and I will explain later so keep on reading) did a cover of "Umbrella". I must say, it was actually pretty cool. Check it out: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BMB6YOWzQMY
As for Mandy Moore, her music has gained my respect ever since she came out with remakes of old rock pop song classics, "Can we still be friends?" by Todd Rundgren (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Olc1PTyeCzM), and "Breaking Us in Two" by Joe Jackson (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6C-xazgqpPc). If you get a chance, listen to Mandy's versions (I know...I'm making it sound like she and I are close) and compare. The production quality is excellent, and Mandy's voice puts a good spin to these once soft tunes.
Thursday, January 31, 2008
Thursday, January 24, 2008
Long Distance Rituals
I never thought that it would be such a challenge to maintain an intense long-distance relationship. My girlfriend and I have had an online friendship for the past few years, grounded by high school memories, and continued intermittently through a 15-year period of platonic banter...yet even if we had built a solid foundation of uber comfort, the stakes have been raised, and now we're in a serious commitment. Instant messaging isn't the same as it used to be.We wondered what it would take to "be in a commitment" though physically separated. At the end of our brainstorming, we decided to get creative, and somewhat dedicate our little tasks and accomplishments in our respective cities to each other. Sounds vague, yes...but I believe an example is appropriate to illustrate this airyfairy mantra:
Since we are both foodies, we came up with the idea of giving each other simple recipes to try and cook.
She would give me a recipe, then cook that recipe herself, and then I would attempt to mimic what she did and cook it myself, and then vice versa. Recently, she decided to give me a new recipe of sole fillet with a honey dijon marinade. The challenge was on. For good measure, I decided to steam some garlic broccoli, and prepare a side of tri-colore fusilli pasta with a light parsley-butter sauce and baby bella mushrooms.
Well, I tried cooking it for dinner tonight, and here are the results. The only sole fillets available were very thinly cut, so due to overmarinading, the fillets broke up into little shreds, looking like poor excuses for pale chicken strips. The taste was very tangy and light. I liked it very much, although next time, I'm going to reduce the amount of honey I use for the marinade and perhaps increase the tabasco. Cooking needs its adjustments so that the end result is "just right" after a few attempts, and fittingly, it will be these little rituals and adjustments that will steadily help us to get better at this thing called a long-distance relationship.
Wednesday, January 16, 2008
Poise and Composure at the Doctor
Today, I went to the doctor for a check-up, but made the mistake of going to the bathroom ahead of the appointment, forgetting that I had to give a urine sample (no, I am not an athlete that has been selected for random testing). The personnel in the clinic needed a sample and suggested that I wait around until my body decides that it is time to go again.
So, in the waiting room, the youngest patient around - me - all dressed up in his little lawyer-suit and tie, decided to speed things up a bit, for work was beckoning. Next to me was a water dispenser and a pile of unused plastic cups. I took one of the cups and realized that it was quite a small container. As I bent down to reach the dispenser handle, I filled the cup with water, and started my "fast-track" mission to expedite the production of this oh so important urine sample. I took my first drink, and realized that it was like taking only a double-shot in quantity. So, I bent over again, to fill the cup once more. While the refreshing feeling of drinking the water affirmed to me that the enjoyability factor was working, the disappointing lack of "sensation" in my bladder started to tell me that a couple of double-shots were far from sufficient to get the job done.
So I kept on bending down, filling up my cup and drinking, bending down, filling up my cup and drinking. Eventually, there was just complete silence in the waiting room, except the sound of a plastic dispenser being moved, water pouring onto a cup and me gulping in the liquid. The older patients around just stared at me and maintained a smirk as if to say, "Hehehe. The kid has to pee..." I just looked at them and said with my eyes and fake smile, "how you doin' folks? Minding your own business?" The lab technician and receptionist also took notice of my attempt to drain this water dispenser of the supply that someone will surely need after me, but did not say anything presumably because they did not want to humiliate me, or they just didn't care.
There was a chair next to the dispenser, so I tried sitting down to be less inconspicuous with my mission of the hour. Alas, it was too far and cumbersome a reach for me to sit down with my legs crossed and reach over to fill my cup again between 10-second intervals (the time it takes me to finish my cup). So, I stood up every 15 seconds or so refill and then realized that people were staring in amusement. In a defensive reactionary move, I then picked up a Sports Illustrated to read on my lap to make it look like I was not the least bit embarassed about the situation, but realized that was stupid too, as I had to put the magazine down every 15 seconds to stand up, making me look even more idiotic as I fetched more water from the well. At the end of it all, I decided to go back to my standing-around-the-water-dispenser-and-bending-down-to-refill-my-cup routine like a dude in a bar alone drinking shots quickly and pretending that he had friends or a date showing up to keep him company.
It didn't help that a personnel member went up to me several cups later and handed me a sample cup saying in front of everyone, "sir, please fill this up when you are ready."
It finally took me maybe a gallon of water or 12 double-shots of H2O to get me going. That my friends is my urine story of the day.
So, in the waiting room, the youngest patient around - me - all dressed up in his little lawyer-suit and tie, decided to speed things up a bit, for work was beckoning. Next to me was a water dispenser and a pile of unused plastic cups. I took one of the cups and realized that it was quite a small container. As I bent down to reach the dispenser handle, I filled the cup with water, and started my "fast-track" mission to expedite the production of this oh so important urine sample. I took my first drink, and realized that it was like taking only a double-shot in quantity. So, I bent over again, to fill the cup once more. While the refreshing feeling of drinking the water affirmed to me that the enjoyability factor was working, the disappointing lack of "sensation" in my bladder started to tell me that a couple of double-shots were far from sufficient to get the job done.
So I kept on bending down, filling up my cup and drinking, bending down, filling up my cup and drinking. Eventually, there was just complete silence in the waiting room, except the sound of a plastic dispenser being moved, water pouring onto a cup and me gulping in the liquid. The older patients around just stared at me and maintained a smirk as if to say, "Hehehe. The kid has to pee..." I just looked at them and said with my eyes and fake smile, "how you doin' folks? Minding your own business?" The lab technician and receptionist also took notice of my attempt to drain this water dispenser of the supply that someone will surely need after me, but did not say anything presumably because they did not want to humiliate me, or they just didn't care.
There was a chair next to the dispenser, so I tried sitting down to be less inconspicuous with my mission of the hour. Alas, it was too far and cumbersome a reach for me to sit down with my legs crossed and reach over to fill my cup again between 10-second intervals (the time it takes me to finish my cup). So, I stood up every 15 seconds or so refill and then realized that people were staring in amusement. In a defensive reactionary move, I then picked up a Sports Illustrated to read on my lap to make it look like I was not the least bit embarassed about the situation, but realized that was stupid too, as I had to put the magazine down every 15 seconds to stand up, making me look even more idiotic as I fetched more water from the well. At the end of it all, I decided to go back to my standing-around-the-water-dispenser-and-bending-down-to-refill-my-cup routine like a dude in a bar alone drinking shots quickly and pretending that he had friends or a date showing up to keep him company.
It didn't help that a personnel member went up to me several cups later and handed me a sample cup saying in front of everyone, "sir, please fill this up when you are ready."
It finally took me maybe a gallon of water or 12 double-shots of H2O to get me going. That my friends is my urine story of the day.
Thursday, January 10, 2008
The Best Christmas and The Best Present
I'm in such good spirits notwithstanding this relentless cough and pinched nerve in my back that is keeping me from enjoying movement and comfort freely (not to mention the nasal congestion that is preventing me from tasting my food). I think people would guess that I just completed what I would consider to be the best holiday season ever, spending time at home with my family, friends, and of course my new girlfriend/old friend. Well, because the truth of the matter is simple, then there is no need to delve into detail and fully describe the events that constituted the most amazing two Christmas weeks ever.
There is, however, a need to blog about what I consider to be one of the best Christmas presents, if not, the best Christmas present I have ever received. Allow me first of all to briefly distinguish between Christmas presents and gifts before I describe the present I received. My take on gifts is something a bit more macro, intangible and experienced. Presents are tangible, wrapped and given. The best Christmas present I have received thus far was given to me by my girlfriend (big guess there).
She decided to dig deep into our past and construct an awesome reminder of our first few years as friends. Let me describe it. Within a rectangular frame is a picture of me and her on Christmas Eve 1993 - high school days - posing awkwardly as her mother memorialized a holiday image of us. I was much narrower in frame and had braces like any other geeky teen. I was wearing a big t-shirt and baggy jeans...and I had an undercut (give me a break, it was the in-thing back in the day). My arm was somewhat placed behind her, but not around her waist, although the picture makes it look like I have my arm around her. Sneaky. She was also wearing a big t-shirt and baggy jeans, and had her long long high school hair and a headband. There's a smirk on her face presumably shaped in reaction to the teasing that was going on behind the camera at the time. Body language? Her arms were crossed. Go figure.
The frame also included a Christmas card dated December 25, 1992, in which I greeted her Merry Christmas and thanked her for being a wonderful person even if I had just met her at the time (we met because I was supposed to be her senior prom date, but she decided not to take me). Notably, the message in the card was short compared to the novels of writing I would give to friends during my high school days. Accordingly, I wrote the following P.S. - "sorry so short...no time :)" What can I say? Things you do as a kid. But it didn't matter I guess. She admitted to me she had a crush on me back then (I had one on her too) so I got away with it.
To top it all off, my girlfriend, the artist, decided to draw her rendition of the streets of Tokyo around the card and picture, to symbolize how far we have gotten from being high school crushes up to Tokyo in November when things started anew.
That's it for the great Christmas present. How about greatest Christmas gift this year? Well, I think it's pretty obvious at this point.
There is, however, a need to blog about what I consider to be one of the best Christmas presents, if not, the best Christmas present I have ever received. Allow me first of all to briefly distinguish between Christmas presents and gifts before I describe the present I received. My take on gifts is something a bit more macro, intangible and experienced. Presents are tangible, wrapped and given. The best Christmas present I have received thus far was given to me by my girlfriend (big guess there).
She decided to dig deep into our past and construct an awesome reminder of our first few years as friends. Let me describe it. Within a rectangular frame is a picture of me and her on Christmas Eve 1993 - high school days - posing awkwardly as her mother memorialized a holiday image of us. I was much narrower in frame and had braces like any other geeky teen. I was wearing a big t-shirt and baggy jeans...and I had an undercut (give me a break, it was the in-thing back in the day). My arm was somewhat placed behind her, but not around her waist, although the picture makes it look like I have my arm around her. Sneaky. She was also wearing a big t-shirt and baggy jeans, and had her long long high school hair and a headband. There's a smirk on her face presumably shaped in reaction to the teasing that was going on behind the camera at the time. Body language? Her arms were crossed. Go figure.
The frame also included a Christmas card dated December 25, 1992, in which I greeted her Merry Christmas and thanked her for being a wonderful person even if I had just met her at the time (we met because I was supposed to be her senior prom date, but she decided not to take me). Notably, the message in the card was short compared to the novels of writing I would give to friends during my high school days. Accordingly, I wrote the following P.S. - "sorry so short...no time :)" What can I say? Things you do as a kid. But it didn't matter I guess. She admitted to me she had a crush on me back then (I had one on her too) so I got away with it.
To top it all off, my girlfriend, the artist, decided to draw her rendition of the streets of Tokyo around the card and picture, to symbolize how far we have gotten from being high school crushes up to Tokyo in November when things started anew.
That's it for the great Christmas present. How about greatest Christmas gift this year? Well, I think it's pretty obvious at this point.
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