veiled exuberance

none shall pass.

i'm officially in more clubs now than ever before in my life - even high school, where i was often joining things just so i could get out of class to have my picture taken for the yearbook multiple times.  everyone was doing that.  of course, these are all clubs for teens.  and, of course, i am the official sponsor, or facilitator, or ring master, or that chick who occasionally inserts herself into the conversation to try and steer it back to whatever it is that we're supposed to be talking about. 

i now have 4 groups meeting regularly, and i'm going to be adding a 5th in august.  i'm not sure how many more i can handle...i may need to ask for some help.  here's the lineup: teen advisory board (TAB), teen book club, teen photography club, teen gaming club (board games only thus far), and coming soon to a library near you - teen writer's club!  that's a lot.  i'm hoping that the writer's club kids will want to take charge of their club and make it into whatever it is they want it to be.  i'm happy to oversee the final product, but i'd like for them to do the design and selection and editing.  that'd be ideal.  my photography club *almost* runs itself, but that's due almost entirely to the enthusiasm of one of the members.  actually...that's kind of how it is for most of the groups.  i get a lot of the same kids coming to everything i do, but usually it's just one of them that's *really* interested and the others are there for moral support.  :) 

i had a kickass book club meeting tonight.  the group has been going for about a year and i've got  three teens (my usual suspects) that come to every meeting.  we've just been reading whatever we want for each of the meetings and then sharing information about the books.  it's been a useful format for the group, as 2 of the 3 aren't big readers.  it's cool that they get excited about any books.  and i think that's ok.  at least they don't say that they *don't* read.  the format, though, is kind of loose, and i was thinking that maybe that's off-putting for other kids (maybe some of them actually want - gasp - structure) so i asked them about it tonight - could we maybe all pick a book or a genre to explore every other month?  and they were open to that.  we had a couple new kids, too, who jumped right into the discussion.  that's been another concern of mine.  the kids who come all the time are good friends, and they're already comfortable with each other and with me, so it might be difficult to include other people.  they don't *try* to be exclusive, but i think the experience can be overwhelming for a new person.  these kids had no qualms about interrupting them, however.  and they're younger!  everyone got a chance to talk about their books, and i had them write down their favorite titles, authors, and genres, so i'd know what kinds of stuff they like, and we made up a schedule for the next 10 months of what we'll be talking about/doing.  so, i'm feeling really good about how it went.  (oh, and one of the kids offered to bring snacks next time!  maybe we can continue to do that, so it's not always coming out of the library budget!)

posted by: juuitsu at June 26, 2008 22:39 | link | comments (3) |

i tried to leave work three times tonight and kept getting distracted by things i needed to do and/or forgetting things that couldn't be forgotten - like my lunch, which would have fermented into something horrible (and possibly alive) by the time i returned on saturday.  good thing i caught that.  i also thought i'd lost a check someone had given me for a class (turns out it was stuck to another one), so i set off a panic among other staff while i was looking for it.  and i forwarded a snarky email from a coworker (well, half-snarky, and half-inquiring) to the director, for clarification about a meeting time - without remembering how snarky it was (thus, i failed to remove said snark before passing the question along to the proper authority).  i don't *think* it will have any serious repercussions - it's only saying exactly what we've all been saying all along.  but still.  it was an oversight.  *sigh* and i thought i was getting more sleep!  can't get cocky about these things!

i just finished one of my reviewing projects.  i've got 6 story beginnings littering my dining room table at the moment - all teen romances.  this is to facilitate communication between authors and people who sell/purchase/recommend books.  the review process is pretty simple - basically you rate/score the stories on how enthusiastically you would promote them, whether there are people you know of who would like them, and whether you, personally want to read more of the particular story you're reviewing and/or the author's other books.  so, these are all published authors.  i did this last year, too, and the stories were...well, less than fantastic.  the offerings this year are MUCH better.  but there are still lots of awkward phrases, strange tense things going on, and other details that take you out of the narrative.  like this one i'm looking at right now, where the author writes that the "seagulls cooed overhead."  seagulls do not coo.  is this particularly useful feedback?  i don't know.  how many teen readers of love stories are going to notice something like that?  probably not many.  but i noticed.  and it irritated me like bad grammar and punctuation.  in another story, a hippy-esque grandmother is described in detail - down to her colored Crocs.  yeah.  Crocs don't strike me as particularly "hippy."  if they'd said "Birkenstocks," i'd have been fine.  anyway.  it's done!  yay!  now, i'm onto the book that must be reviewed by monday!  ack.  which is why i read all of these other things first.  i prefer to finish projects with later deadlines first.  plus?  the book is a professional resource on research.  i don't think it's going to be particularly scintillating (but, i'm totally willing to let myself be proved wrong on this account!).

posted by: juuitsu at June 26, 2008 22:02 | link | comments (1) |

i have just seen the coolest thing!  a glow worm!  i was walking home from the park in the dark and there's this brick wall that i pass on my way...and on it?  a worm all a-glow!  i wish i'd had my camera with me to document the moment.  i was on the phone with my mom and i "eek!"ed right in her ear upon espying it.

i found this picture, which looks like what i saw (don't know for sure):

and the site that came from has much to say about glow worms in general.

posted by: juuitsu at June 24, 2008 23:17 | link | comments (5) |

and one more recipe since i'm thinking of it...

i made some blueberry pancakes this morning that were quite nice.  i generally throw pancakes together from whatever ingredients i have on hand, and then hope for the best.  so, in the past they've contained bananas and yogurt and vanilla and nuts and oatmeal and other random things.  (and and and!)  for awhile i had some pancake mix that i'd use as a base, but i ran out last week.  i did have:

*wheat flour
*ground flaxseed
*eggs
*milk
*baking soda
*salt
*sugar
*pecans
*blueberries

mixed the dry ingredients together, then added milk and eggs and whisked (whisk whisk whisk!).  used a ladle to spoon the batter into the pan and added blueberries and pecans to each as it cooked.  made about 6-8 pancakes.  didn't measure anything except by eyeballing, so i can't tell you exactly what quantities i used.  topped with a dab of canola margarine (melty on the hot pancakes) and maple syrup.  you can probably eat the pancakes without either of those and they'd still be pretty tasty.  and feel free to substitute some applesauce or honey or molasses for the sugar.  i bet those would be good.  i think next time i may try peanut butter and something else.  :)

posted by: juuitsu at June 22, 2008 23:10 | link | comments (2) |

karaoke redux

spent a long time talking to o. instead of falling asleep because the karaoke was going strong and neither one of us could manage to ignore it.  it may have ended around 2 a.m., but there were still crazy people running around and screaming.  why do people need to scream?  is there something about the square that sets them off?  it was only slightly less annoying than the car alarm that went off for an hour the other day.  i like my sleepytime to be QUIET.  so, o. asked me if i'd complained to anyone about the karaoke bar situation, and i said, no, not yet, but that i was getting desperate.  i've been *really* angry about it when some revelers have awakened me out of a sound sleep.  also, i wasn't really sure who i should contact about it - do i approach the business and say something?  will they even care?  or do i call the police and report a disturbance of the peace?  or do i contact the city zoning people?  i poked around the city website earlier this evening and found the city code (online - yay!) and found a couple of ordinances that i think may apply:

3.3.14: PROHIBITED ACTS AND CONDITIONS:

E.Prohibition Of Disturbance Of The Peace: It shall be unlawful for any licensee, individually or through his or her agents or employees, to allow intoxicated persons to loiter on or about that part of the premises described in the license which part is in use by or in view of the general public, or permit any conduct which shall tend to disturb the people or quiet of the neighborhood or the premises.

G.Restrictions Upon Sound Amplification: It shall be unlawful for any licensee to permit or allow any noise or sound to be amplified outside the bounds of a structure on the premises if a residence is within five hundred feet (500') of the premises. (Ord. 98-0-52, 10-20-1998)

and then i found a place where you can submit code violations to the city directly through their online form.  excellent.  so i did.

Hi,

I live at blah blah blah which is just kitty-corner from the Blabbity-blah - a karaoke bar that opened last summer.  I'm writing because I can't get a decent night's sleep whenever Blabbity-blah (at blah blah blah) is open - due to the noise pollution.  I keep my windows open when it's warm, because I don't have air conditioning (and seriously, it shouldn't be so loud outside that I can't sleep at night, and I shouldn't have to pay extra to have some peace and quiet) and the noise just travels right inside.  But, even with the windows closed, I can often hear singing and shrieking and other noise.  Blabbity-blah customers often converge on a patio that's located outside of the bar, which is also behind and to the left of my apartment building (less than 500 feet away).  They are often drunk and disorderly - shouting their conversations, smoking, and making noise late into the night.  In addition to the customers outside the building, I can hear the customers inside - either because the bar isn't well sound-proofed, or because they keep doors and/or windows open, or because they're amplifying whatever music they're playing.  The noise goes on until 2am on weekends (Friday and Saturday).  Blabbity-blah is also open Thursdays, and, according to their website, will soon be open on Wednesdays.  I really would like to be able to sleep through the night without being awakened by loud people or music - especially since I get up early for work and exercise. 

I really hope that you can help me out and make the neighborhood a more peaceful place.  I was looking at the City Code, and I found a couple of ordinances that might be applicable: [you've already seen these above]

It would be nice if we could co-exist without the bar losing business and without *me* losing sleep. 

Thanks for your time and assistance.

Sincerely,

juuitsu watanabe

so, hopefully, this will help.

posted by: juuitsu at June 22, 2008 22:58 | link | comments |

very little sleep was had by me...and if i don't finish writing this soon, very little sleep will [again] be had by me.  why is there never enough time?  i spent a long time on saturday morning getting my CSA veggies prepped for use.  here's what was in my first week's stash:

*spinach
*radishes
*mei quing choi
*chives
*mars spring onions

the spinach is really good - it was excellent in the noodle dish i made the other night, and delicious in my green drink.  not sure what to do with the radishes - other than stick them in a salad or two (i've never eaten them before).  they aren't too hot, and they provide a nice sort of crispy counterpart (to whatever, i guess), so i don't think i'll bother trying to cook them.  the mei quing choi is completely new to me - it's a very smooth leafy plant, rather like the spinach, but more...precisely formed, with several grooved oblong leaves per plant - it was pretty bitter raw (well, ground up with parsley in the green drink i had this morning).  might be good steamed.  i have some more, so i'll try that.  the chives and onions i chopped up and threw in with some pasta.  they smelled great while i was chopping, so i'm hoping they *taste* great, too.  hope i get through all of it by wednesday when my next one's ready!

the farm is really close by.  it's on the edge of town and it's much smaller than i'd thought (though, i didn't have a chance to explore the whole farm).  what i saw just looked like a really big garden (maybe there's more farm back behind where i parked).  i was met by the farmer - a woman maybe about my age, or a bit younger or older (it was hard to tell).  she was tanned and earthy (literally and figuratively) and wearing overalls.  while she was explaining where to pick up my veggies each week, i kept thinking, "wow, this woman has such a cool job/life.  i would love to be outside all the time spring, summer, and fall doing this business of growing things.  not sure she needs my assistance, though.  :)  i'm probably romanticizing it in my head, and the reality is that it's a lot of work (which i'd be willing to do, for sure, but not *all* the time - and i think as a farmer, you don't really get a break from the tending of your plants).

after i'd cleaned and done something with all of my veggies, i cooked up some taco meat for dinner and prepped some other taco fixings (i have plenty of leftovers, so at least i won't have to do a lot of cooking at the beginning of this week).  and then i made sure the rabbits were clean and presentable.  well, their cages.  they don't really care how they look.  both bunnies are shedding like crazy.  i think pyong might almost be done (i pulled a lot of tufts out yestermorning), and powder just looks bad in general (i gave him a trim because he sat in some godawful mess he'd made - bleh). 

there was no time for the gauntlet of exercise i put my mom through last weekend when she came out to see me.  and also no time for walks or hikes or bikingses.  i'll have to fit them in after work this week.  hope i can stay awake. 

oh!  and the most exciting bit was the piña colada sorbet that i made from (get this) silken tofu and bacardi juice mix and coconut and water.  you just blend it all up together and freeze it in an ice cream maker and voíla - sorbet!  i gave some to oberon when he got here, and didn't tell him about the tofu until after he'd eaten it and pronounced it yummy.  then i said, "and healthy.  a bit."  really, you can't taste the tofu at all.  it's awesome.  :)  not that tofu has a really strong taste.  i'm not sure if it's any better for you than other sorbets/ice creams, but i'm excited nonetheless.  i have some other juices (and tofu) to try this with. 

posted by: juuitsu at June 22, 2008 22:48 | link | comments |

when i come to, i'm upside down, bouncing over the shoulder of a tall Asian guy.  he is, at least, familiar, though, i've only just met him.  memory of most recent events begins to return and i recall his particulars in more detail.  oh...  i glance down at his muscular thighs, pounding away underneath us, and blush - wherever we're going, there wasn't time for him to put on his pants.  oh, yes.  i remember this man.  blasters fire around us and he drops to the ground.  i tumble off his shoulder and we both lay there for a moment until the air clears.  he's panting, and i take his hand and squeeze it.  when no further shots are forthcoming, we jump up together and flee the scene. 

(placeholder - floaty-world/space station)

posted by: juuitsu at June 15, 2008 11:54 | link | comments (4) |

it's raining a lot.  i was going to take a bike ride this morning, but that's Right Out, now.  i suppose it might clear up by later (and to be honest, i'm not really up for a ride at the moment).  BOOM!  storms!  i love waking up to storms - even when they're in the middle of the night.  they're much less disturbing and annoying than the karaoke people (who have only one volume setting - Extremely Loud).  i wonder if they talk that loudly ALL the time, or if it's only after they've been singing really badly.  still trying to think of humane ways to eradicate them from my plane of existence.  oh, wait.  "eradicate" would indicate something rather permanent, wouldn't it?  well.  i'm ok with that, so long as the authorities don't mind.  i am probably, at least once in awhile, loud and obnoxious, too.  but at least i sing better.  sometimes.

posted by: juuitsu at June 15, 2008 09:19 | link | comments |

a few weeks ago i unintentionally started a "home improvement" project in my dining room.   there was a wee bit of wallpaper that was coming up behind the rabbits' cages, and despite having taped it down a number of times, it was determined to curl up.  so, i pulled on it.  yeah.  that was a mistake.  a huge sheet of paper came down and i thought, ok, i guess i'll just take it ALL down.  fast forward to today where i'm *still* working on the room.  not that i've been working on it every day or even regularly (i'm like that really bad contractor you hire that keeps you guessing as to whether your project will be finished anytime in the next decade).  when i started taking the wallpaper down, i knew that i wouldn't have a lot of time to work on it - it was right in the middle of school visits and i needed something to distract me - (as it turns out, stripping wallpaper is really distracting, and perfect if you're feeling a lot of anxiety.  you have to focus on the paper, focus on removing it all, and - if you're me - focus on the audiobook you're listening to while you're working.  i went through three)  so, i decided *not* to move everything out of the room and act like it was going to be over quickly.  instead, i'm doing a wall at a time, whenever i feel like working on it.  this is actually working out pretty well.  since i thought the wallpaper was atrocious anyway, the unfinished walls don't really bother me anymore than that did.  and, once they're prepped for painting, they look a lot better than the wallpaper!  still.  it's a big job.  the walls are in poor repair and have needed a lot of patching - it's this more than anything else that's keeping me from getting the job done.  it should be finished...eventually... :) 

so, here's a picture of what it looked like a couple weeks ago:

i've since stripped the remaining wallpaper off the walls on the center left and left, and washed them (and the ceiling) and patched a few areas.  some patching remains, and then i can prime and paint.  after that, there's just one corner left!  woo! 

posted by: juuitsu at June 13, 2008 09:18 | link | comments (8) |

inconvenienced robins

"inconvenienced robins" is/was a placeholder for something i was thinking about this morning as i was walking back home from the pool.  it could be a good band name...  i jotted it down while i was making breakfast and didn't have time to come back to it and flesh it out - until now.  it's fun sometimes to leave out the explanations and see what you get in response.  so, thanks to InMyLife, who went ahead and commented anyway on my Very Strange Post, Indeed.

awhile back i was on a walk with my mother, and i was describing how different birds move, and you can often tell what's what by its size and how it acts (vocalizations, obviously, are helpful, too).  i proceeded to mimic several different species for her benefit (and amusement).  i think i did American Robins, pigeons/doves, wrens, and kildeer.  there was a lot of bouncing, tail flicking, and head bobbing.  and, i'm pretty sure no bird is ever going to mistake me (by movement alone) for a member of its species. 

i passed a few robins on my way home, and they were all very industrious birds - cocking their heads to the side, which always looks to me like they're listening really hard for worms but, it's probably just so they can see better (since their eyes are located on the sides of their heads) - and then attacking the ground with great enthusiasm..  i usually feel kind of bad for interrupting them mid-listen or mid-eyeball.  i mean, what if they're really onto something good?  and i come along and ruin it all, because here i am, this HUGE carnivorous predator person, hunting them.  hardly.  there's no way to tell them that i'm not interested.  the ones that do become accustomed to people's comings and goings - and stop reacting to the imminent danger - probably die young.  so here i am inconveniencing robins left and right.  it starts irritating me, because when they first take flight at my approach, they only fly off a few feet, which isn't enough to escape my approach.  seconds later, the birds have to take off again.  and it STILL isn't far enough, so they have to do it AGAIN.  and this can go on for a whole block.  is it an energy-saving device to only fly short distances? and when does it become inefficient?  after taking off and landing 4 times?  10 times?  16?  the robins have no answers for me.  i'm tempted to chase them all away, just to get them to fly to a "safe" distance all in one go.  "jesus, would you look at that crazy person - she's screaming and flapping her arms and chasing after us...what do you suppose she wa...ACK!  FLY FLY AWAY!"

anyway.

was that worth the wait? ;)

posted by: juuitsu at June 12, 2008 07:39 | link | comments (7) |

so, karaoke bar.  right around the corner.  so, drunk people who think they can sing.  screaming.  lyrics, maybe, into the night.  so, headache.  so, fist of death.  so.  smite.  smite.  smite.  i think this guy is gargling a dead cat.  got to be.  no other way to achieve such...sounds.  i'm going to go knock myself out now.  with a hammer.

posted by: juuitsu at June 07, 2008 00:08 | link | comments (4) |

i've got this song by Caviar stuck in my head, thanks to the mix that o. made me.

The talk of the town
Mr. Tangerine Speedo
How you get around
In your tangerine la la la la la la la la

it makes me grin stupidly.

i hope at least one of you makes the mistake of clicking above and gets similarly hijacked by it.  i love viral music. :)

***

it's been awhile since i've talked about alien babies...and i realize that this is probably because i haven't talked to peloquin in forever.  these days i feel hungry all the time - like i'm feeding some kind of bizarre alien baby.  some kind of bizarre LONG-TERM alien baby.  when's it going to come shooting out of my chest already?  geez.  or it's possible that i'm just not eating anything that's filling.  more peanut butter, i guess, less broccoli.  tonight i had this cheesy mushroom noodle mix that i got a few months ago to accompany my tuna fish.  (but i ended up not using it then because i talked o. into coming out here and into making tuna noodle casserole from scratch.  that ended up being a lot of noodles and peas and not so much tuna.)  so, yeah, cheesy mushroom noodle mix with broccoli and tofu.  being brought up by my japanese mother in our somewhat japanese household, i was raised on rice and tofu and soy sauce (and cheese sandwiches cut into tiny pieces), and spam.  [i just read today that spam is also popular with koreans - and here i thought it was just a hawaiian oddity!]  as a result, i don't think it's weird at all to take a refrigerated block of tofu, slice it up into cubes, drizzle soy sauce on it, and eat it just like that.  i'll even eat it plain.  people tend to find that disgustingly strange. 

ramble ramble.

that was my *food related* lead-in to the following: i finally got back to the newspaper article that's been laying on my table for the last two months.  the local paper put out a special "green" issue that listed a bunch of things you could do in coming weeks to reduce your carbon footprint.  one of those things was participation in a CSA...and the acronym is escaping me at the moment.  community sponsored agriculture, maybe?  [edit - actually, it's community *supported* agriculture - i was close - /edit]  anyway.  the idea is that you pay a lump sum for the duration of the growing season and they put together a box of produce for you (may include veggies, greens, fruits, flowers, eggs, meat, etc.) to pick up locally.  there are several in the area.  the closest one only has 10 shares.  i'm not sure exactly how *big* a share is, but when my friend merisferis did this, she had way more produce than she and her roommate could finish.  so i think maybe i only need half a share.  i emailed them to see.  they appear to have a pick up in the square, so that would be convenient.  i would, however, be at the mercy of whatever they put together for me.  it's like...vegetable roulette.  but i think it's something i'd like to try.  some of these farms even let you volunteer your time working on the farm in order to pay for your share.  that is also appealing, though, i'm not sure when i'd do it.  thinking back to college...i paid for my horseback riding lessons by mucking out stalls - that worked out nicely.  i could handle a barter system.  i'd also like an elliptical trainer that can be hooked up to my computer here, so i can workout and type and do my online rambling all at the same time. 

posted by: juuitsu at June 03, 2008 00:00 | link | comments (2) |

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