:: Pe-KHOO-liar Things ::
What's in this section?
Things that I finds strange and noteworthy. And possibly disgusting.
Christmas hates single 20-somethings
Thursday, December 07, 2006
I mean, do i really have to wait until i have kids before christmas means anything again?
It seems that as soon as you turn 20, suddenly (or maybe gradually), parents feel less obligation to do anything for Christmas. The tree goes up later and later in the month of December until finally it just doesn’t go up at all. Decorations are few and far between, unless you count the plethora of Christmas cards received from friends and family as “decorations.” Though my family has been pretty good about not falling prey to this trend, i’ve heard of many a family that has resorted to exchanging gift cards on Christmas day instead of buying actual gifts.
I think part of it stems from the fact that, as you become “adult-ish,” you earn money enough to buy the things you want yourself. The only things you don’t buy are things so superfluous that you never thought about it at all OR things so expensive that your income just can’t handle it.
So this year I’m broke. I’ll have to make do with what i’ve got to either make gifts or do actions instead of giving objects. For example, I’m doing a photoshoot for Kimi (getting some mileage out of the new camera). Despite my financial situation, I still want at least a *little* Christmas spirit in my apartment. Luckily for Susan and me, our apartment is primarily red anyway, so decorating didn’t take all that much effort. The couch, the microwave, the futon on the kotatsu (table with a heater underneath) and even my roomba (bday gift from my parents) are all RED!
So one night, Suz and I took a trip to the grocery store and stumbled upon a garland for $11! It was perfect! Big enough that you recognize its existence but not as expensive as a tree. We even got some garland for it. Yes it was a splurge, but it makes the living room feel so much more homey and warm.
I say if you want Christmas spirit and you’re a single 20-something, you gotta make it happen for yourself. What are all of you doing to make Christmas real for YOU this year? And does anyone have ideas for low-labor-intensity gifts that you can make?
My first pedicure EVER
Tuesday, September 12, 2006
Thanks to Slim, I now have pretty pretty toes!
I have been advised over and over again (mostly by my guy friends) to give a manicure/pedicure a try. But I was far too proud a tomboy to ever get such a thing. Now, the last bastion of tomboyishness within me has be overtaken!
Yesterday, Slim treated me to a mani/pedi at a lovely nail salon called Polish. It included massage chairs and leg/arm massages. Mmmmmm...I nearly fell asleep during the process.
While my toes were being soaked and cleaned, my mind wandered to a wedding i recently gone to where the best man admitted in his wedding toast that he and the groom (both macho types) had gone to get a pedicure that morning. Yes! I finally caught up with those guys!
Here’s a picture of my foot! Oooooooh. 
And here’s the cherry on top. I went to watch Slim play a game of corporate softball right after my pedicure. As I was sitting in the bleachers, I suddenly realized that I had become *that* girl--you know, the one that comes to watch her boyfriend play sports while she sits on the sidelines, in her high-heeled shoes, pedicured toes, manicured nails and cheers on her man. Oh boy. I’ve gone and crossed the line! I’ve got to go play some sports QUICK! But i really like my toes. Oh...so torn…
Who’d have thunk. 
They lied to us in physics class
Tuesday, August 15, 2006
While wiring two light bulbs to one line, we created an impossible, unexplainable physical anomaly.
It began when Kimi wanted to create an electrical line from which she could hang two bulbs, put them in paper stars, and thus prettify her apartment. Sounds simple, yes? So she went to Home Depot, where she was helped by a deaf man. They wrote back and forth furiously on his pad of paper (his main mode of communication) as she tried to explain her situation. It became very complicated when she mentioned she wanted TWO bulbs on the same line. That took another couple pages and about another hour. Needless to say, by the time she got back home with the raw electrical cord, to bulb sockets and a plug, she had only a vague idea of what she had to do.
Here’s the basic idea
That’s where the rest of us come in. We (Daryl, Yuko, Lori, Merv, Susan and I) were there as moral support and Subject Matter Experts (but really, we were just pretending). So she wired it up, stuck both bulbs onto the cord in order to create a series circuit, and plugged the whole thing in. The result: only the first bulb on the line lit up. Oh. We figured it was just because one of the contacts was loose or something...until she switched the bulbs and the second bulb lit up.
From that point on, it became a matter of plugging it in again and again, trying combinations of bulbs to see which one would turn on. It was CRAZY. There was no logic whatsoever to which one turned on. We even made bets on which one would light: both, first one, second one, neither. We caught this strange phenomenon on video.
Conclusion 1: Energy is a liquid, much like the energy found Energon Cubes in the Transformers’ universe.
Conclusion 2: Bulbs head the call of Kimi when she commands them to light.
Conclusion 3: Physics sure is a screwy thing.
Pirates Can't Parallel Park
Sunday, August 06, 2006
My scientific research confirms that this baffling statement is TRUE!
I first happened upon this strange event whlie in the park earlier today. Susan and I were enjoying the summer sun and reading when we noticed a peculiar sight: a pirate putting up decorations in the park. Yes, decorations. I had no idea that pirates had any inclination for design, but here he was, striped pants and all, hanging up flowers and foliage.
Soon after, other pirates began to appear on the scene. Despite popular notion, they did *not* arrive in ships. In fact, many of them arrives in Toyota Corollas. One by one, we watched as each pirate struggled to maneuver his/her vehicle into a parallel park position. Some took several tries. Some just parked badly. Some even got back into their already parked car to have one more go at it.
We watched in amusement at their parking antics, all the while trying to surmise the reason for their gathering. Could it be a pirate wedding? Were they trying to pillage and plunder the library next to the park? And is scurvy contagious? After congregating for a bit, the piratey feathered-hat wearing group BURST in to song! Lusty pirate voices and lusty pirate songs! Well, not that lusty, but how else do you describe it? How about, “Trying-to-be-lusty-but-not-drunk-enough-yet-because-it’s-only-2:30-in-the-afternoon Pirate Voices?”
We tried not to point and stare, but we failed miserably at that. We straight up ogled, like men entranced by a large-breasted woman’s low v-neck blouse. I mean, there were PIRATES! Small children in the park pointed and asked their parents, “Daddy, are those pirates?” and “Why are they here?”
At some point, one of the pirates approached us. “Come to our showing of Shakespeare’s Tempest in the park today at 5:30!” He continued to rattle on about the performance the other events, such as the children’s swordplay workshop and the lusty pirate singers under the tent.
Booo. It was so much more interesting when we thought that we were going to be able to encroach upon a pirate wedding. At least it made the afternoon very interesting! Maybe we’ll catch Shakespeare in the park next week when they do Taming of the Shrew.
Maybe by then, the pirates will have learned to parallel park.
Global Warming is REAL!
Tuesday, August 01, 2006
I don’t know about you, but after this past week, i’m a real believer that *something* is going wrong with the earth!
So before i get into this post, i just have to say, I’M BACK! My carpal tunnel syndrome (or whatever it is) is doing a bit better. I now have a brace on my right hand to make sure i can’t strain things, and i’m learning to do things with my left hand. Definitely a challenge. Aside from that, I’ve been teaching and prepping like a madwoman for the past week or so. Hence i come to you now, head bowed low in apology for not posting and keeping my rather weak committment to post more often.
So enough simpering, ON WITH THE POST!
Last last weekend (that’s my way of saying, “the weekend before last"), Slim and I went to the Bay Area for a wedding. I had packed some summery clothing but i brought some wamer things because last time I went up during summer, i was FREEZING! There IS no summer up there! Boy was i wrong in my packing strat.
When we got there we were totally shocked. The weather was awful. Hideous. Terrible. It was in the hundreds, humid and muggy, and to top it off, no one up there has heard of air conditioning! We were sweating and becoming giant puddles all weekend! I remember getting out of the wedding at around 4:30 pm and getting in my car where the thermometer read 120. 120!! That’s insane! I know that the reading was not completely accurate because the car had been sitting in the sun, but even after we drove around a bit, it only came down to 112. Ick. I kept thinking the world was going to end any minute. I mean, “hot day in SF” sounds a lot like “cold day in hell.”
And so this past weeks have gone on--hot, muggy (even in SoCal0, unbearable.
And then out of nowhere, yesterday and today are really really nice! Low 80s with a nice cool breeze. It’s unbelievable. I’m so grateful.
I’m telling you, this weather is all screwy because of global warming! Soon i’m going to have beach front property or be sumberged 20 feet below water from the melting polar icecaps. I think i prefer the former. All i can say is we gotta do something about this warming business, or we’re gonna die of heat stroke before we ever get a chance to be submerged!
Back in Black, er, I mean in the Back
Sunday, July 09, 2006
The mullet is making a comeback in a HOT way this summer!
On Saturday night, Susan, Slim and I were lined up outside the movie theater, anxiously awaiting the moment when we would be allowed to enter the theater to watch Pirates of the Caribbean 2. This theater was near a downtown pedestrian area with lots of cute shops and lots of people milling about. As we sat, we couldn’t help but people watch.
We noticed fashion choices, interesting couples, tried to guess the associations between people (i.e. “they’re on their first date but the boys parents are with them"), and made snarky remarks about innocent bystanders. It was great. Then, out of the corner of my eye, i saw HIM. He was dressed in the world’s tightest and skin-clinging jeans with a red ribbed cotton tank top. He was about 6’ tall and probably about 110 lbs. He was a skinny beanpole, yet he somehow managed to have some kind of curve to his legs, giving him a slightly feminine figure.
And to top it off, his fiery red hair was cropped into a decided and resolute MULLET.
I think i made an audible gasp. I held my breath as long as i could so i wouldn’t actually let out a guffaw while he was in ear shot. He looked like a poor man’s Spiderman. I couldn’t tell if he just didn’t realize that he was unfashionable or if he was trying to go for the whole concept of wearing fashion so bad that it looped around and became good. Whatever it was, it wasn’t working. You could see the whole line sort of break from conversation and stare as he passed.
And not a minute went by before we saw another guy with a mullet! He was an asian kid of about 16. It was just too freaky a coincidence. Is someone telling kids that it’s cool to have a mullet again? Or have they really all just given up on ever attracting females and given in to hair mediocrity? It boggles the mind.
So here’s my public service announcement: Kids, don’t wear mullets. It’ll get you killed. Thank you.