Good Night, And Good Luck.

I've been feeling the need to start something new, so I've started another blog instead of getting a boob job or becoming a hobo.

In all likelihood, I won't be posting around these parts much more, but you can still visit me by heading on over to Seven Vices. Same boring content, brand-new name. And it even has a picture of me!

It's been good times here over the past four and a half years; I hope you'll visit me at the new digs.

xoxo
The Blogger Formerly Known as City Elf

I Love You, Man

OMG, I want to see this movie so bad! Also I want to marry Paul Rudd AND be his best friend!

DUDE!

- After a night at Remedy -

Tita: *squints at me as we enter well-lighted area* Hey, are you wearing...blush?

Me: DUDE! Just because I act like I have a dick doesn't mean I actually grew one or anything.

Dream A Little Dream Of Me

So I re-watched my favorite movie ever – Waking Life – last week and decided that I am going to learn how to lucid dream and become an oneironaut.

I’ve actually been obsessed with the idea of lucid dreaming and being an oneironaut (even when I didn't know that word) for a long time. In college, when my then-boyfriend and I would go home for winter break and over the summer, we tried to astral project and have out-of-body experiences so we could see each other. It never worked, but we never stopped trying.

I’ve started doing some research and it seems the first step is to become aware of and remember your dreams. I’ve actually had some pretty spectacularly weird ones lately, including an awesome one last night with Henry Rollins, on whom I have had a HUGE crush for like a hundred years. Unfortunately, I didn’t realize it was a dream in time, otherwise I’d have been having some lucid fun with Henry. Damn.

Anyhow, another aspect of learning to lucid dream is knowing when you are dreaming (of course) and when you are awake. So I do reality tests pretty frequently, even when I’m sure I’m awake, mostly so I can engrain in my mind the act and then take it into the dream world with me. I figure if I make it a habit, then I’ll be able to continue doing it even when I’m asleep.

Anyhow, I'm only at the beginning stages, but I totally feel like I can get there if I focus. And I'm jealous of all of you who can do this without trying.

The Magic of Bacon

So over the holidays, the fabulous TMC of Return to Rural welcomed me and Kimba of Kimbaland, along with Kimba's husband J, to her ancestral home to eat turkey soup, watch football, and play Scrabble. Good times were had by all.

During the course of the afternoon, we started discussing bacon. (What, like you don't have a conversation about bacon during every gathering?) Kimba and J mentioned that they had recently eaten bacon cooked with flour, and that it was exceptionally good, extra crispy and very flat.

I was, of course, intrigued. Bacon? Cooked in a manner that would further enhance its natural goodness? I needed to try this. I finally had the opportunity to do so yesterday. AND NOW I AM A BELIEVER. Delicious!

The trick is to add just a little flour - don't dredge it like you're making chicken parmiagiana; just sprinkle some on each side and flip over to lightly coat the bacon strip. Put it in the pan, cook as you normally do, and presto! Extra tasty bacon.

Thank you, TMC, for introducing me to Kimba; and thank you Kimba, for introducing me to better bacon. Please click here to see the manifestation of my gratitude.

Humble Pie

I bought a sewing machine on Christmas Eve, and I was especially excited because not only did I have a 10% off coupon, it was on sale for $69.99!

Except when I looked at my receipt today, the price was listed as $89.99. WTF? I felt a surge of righteous indignation well up within me. I was screwed out of twenty bucks by Target!

I had to make a return anyways, so I drove to the Target by my house - which is not the Target at which I purchased the sewing machine - only to find out, OF COURSE, that I would need to go to the Pasadena East Target to get information on the sale price. (It was specific to the store, not in the flyer.)

Still seething, I drove to the other Target and went to the sewing machines to confirm that I had seen the sign. And I had! It was $69.99. FROM DECEMBER 21-24. Of course, the sign was up when I bought it, and California law requires merchants to sell the item at the lowest posted price, even if there's an expiration date listed. (God, how do I know these things?)

I was seriously considering standing in line and asking for my $20 refund until I overheard a woman and a man talking in the next aisle. It was clear to me I was listening to the middle of a conversation, but it shamed me nonetheless, because I heard the woman say, "You're at Target just looking for something to buy? I can't even imagine that. That must be like, like, some sort of HOLIDAY. Wow."

And I realized...I do that. I walk into Target with some minor thing I need, and walk out $200 lighter. I wander the music and books sections hoping that something will jump out at me. Sure, I tend to look for things on sale, but spending $12 just because I want to do so is a luxury - a small luxury for me, but it's not for a lot of people. Probably for most people.

I forget sometimes how lucky I am. I never want for anything, other than in the sense of lustful desire for things I don't actually need (a Wii, a bigger kitchen, a Vespa, Christian Bale). I never suffer from hunger; I never shiver from cold because I don't have heat or adequate clothing; I never want for a warm and comfortable bed in which to sleep.

In the grand scheme of things, I am a fortunate daughter of the gods. I'm going to work hard to remember that this year.

Merry (Belated) Christmas

Yes, I realize I've been bad about posting lately. The holidays are such a busy time, I'm sure all three of you who read my blog can forgive me.

Here's a repost from Facebook, and I promise not to use this crutch very often...but it's something I would have shared here anyways. Enjoy!

I am finally, officially, a fan of Christmas.

For many years, I hated the holiday, or at least I said I did. I had one very traumatic Christmas when I was 20 that turned my world upside down, and it happened to be the first I’d ever spent in Los Angeles away from my family. I would never spend another Christmas in Indiana again.

I won't say this hardened my heart against the holiday, but it came to be a time of year that I dreaded. It brought up painful memories and jumbled emotions that I preferred to avoid. However, they say that time heals all wounds, and eventually I realized that the sorrow and misery I once felt when December rolled around had evaporated.

Each year, I found friends, and at one point, even a family that was like my own, with whom to spend the holidays. I began buying Christmas gifts for my family during my annual Thanksgiving pilgrimage home, a tradition that still brings me as much joy as it does my numerous nieces and nephews. I started decorating my home and humming Christmas carols. After many years of saying - and believing - that I hated Christmas, I fell in love with the holiday once again.

There are still things that mute my experience of Christmas - the anniversary of the death of someone I loved dearly in early December; the powerful sense of longing for my family that I feel after spending time together at Thanksgiving; the knowledge that I lost something important on that Christmas more than a decade ago, something that I can never regain.

But I also feel a sense of renewal, of faith, of love, of joy. At last, after so many years of feeling sad and alone in December, I can finally see the Christ in Christmas.

You Don't Get To Taste The Honey Without The Sting Of The Bee

Despite this guy sounding a bit like the male version of Duffy, I loooooove this song.

It's "Nothing Ever Hurt Like You" by James Morrison. That's a damn sexy voice.

I Must Be Drunk

Not only did I willingly go into Starbucks (to buy a gift for the "Secret Santa" exchange at work tomorrow, no less) but I bought a CD. *hangs head in shame*

And it was a Christmas CD! *blushes in mortification*

And I'm listening to it RIGHT NOW. *dies of embarassment*

Mmmm....David Gregory

I was quite happy to read the news of the selection of David Gregory as the new host of Meet the Press. I think Tom Brokaw was a poor choice to serve as interim moderator of the show; as he's gotten older, his conservative bias and general crabbiness has gotten more pronounced. He's less a journalist than a commentator at this point. (I wanted to punch him in the face several times during the presidential campaign, particularly when he "moderated" the second debate.)

However, perhaps the LA Times could learn the difference between "predecessor" and "successor".

“Meet the Press,” the predominant political forum on television, entered a new era today as the network confirmed that David Gregory will take the helm of the NBC program, six months after the death of longtime moderator Tim Russert.

“We lost a legend this summer, and today we hand the program over to someone who has a true appreciation and respect for the 'Meet the Press' legacy, and a keen sense of what it needs to be in the future,” NBC News President Steve Capus said in a statement released this morning.

Interim moderator Tom Brokaw is expected to welcome his predecessor on today's program.

Guess all those cuts take their toll.

I Suck

Drink and Ride

For those lucky enough to live on the Red Line route, trains will be running until 3 a.m. on Fridays and Saturdays starting today through December 27th. The extra service is being sponsored by local businesses.

You have to give some love to Cedd Moses, whose Downtown businesses including Seven Grand, Broadway Bar, and Golden Gopher, as well as Cole's French Dip and Casey's Bar, are all on the list of sponsors. He's a smart man.

But shame on Hollywood and Highland for not having a single sponsor!

I'm excited about this while simultaneously being a little bitter, as I live just off the Gold Line, which stops running at midnight. Curses!