lights will guide you home

today is delicious: the sun streaks brightly into the apartment, the air is warm but won't settle heavily against my skin. i wander through mission, rediscovering old paths. a 99 cents store, an aged movie theater locked and shuttered. the little vietnamese corner store packed to the ceiling with dried noodles, canned vegetables, japanese candies. the butchers ask me if i am vietnamese as i buy two pounds of ground pork.

this evening we will take the bikes down to the beach, bury our feet in the sand to keep warm, watch the sun sink below the horizon line. we will understand, almost, how so many before us thought they stood at the edge of the earth.

mmm...wontons!

i was searching for a good wonton recipes (one without shrimp because i'm eating on a budget but evidently "authentic" wontons all have shrimp in 'em. no wonder i love them so much!) and i found this blog: http://steamykitchen.com/blog/

anyways, i kinda liked the recipes even though i'm not sure how i feel about the blog name...hopefully the wonton recipe is good.

she's got electric boots, a mohair suit, you know i read it in a magazine

my most recent obsession in the blog world:

fashiontoast.com

i'm sort of in love with the way she pulls off this california grunge high fashion thing. but not so into her shoes. and also a bit fascinated by the ability of the blog world to hurtle people into the spotlight (the article i read on sfbg.com about the blog notes that she's now got a contract with rvca and had features in teen vogue and vogue, france).

also, she's hapa. woot.

on a side note, after you've glanced at the page, i've always been tempted to bleach my hair blonde (and then immediately discouraged by 1. upkeep 2. damage to hair 3. $$$)

adventures in math, art, and construction work

the day before the new year i visited the arizona science center - a very cool, though elementary-student oriented, interactive science museum that convinced me to (a) try to use the left side of my brain more, and to (b) try to pursue a ph.d. in quantum physics upon completing my ph.d. in literature. (haha, kidding. maybe.)

well, but really, this is a resolution that snuck up on me all december: to use my underutilized skills and knowledge (and this includes math and science as well as more embodied skills like art and music. so let's scratch the left brain/right brain thing).

anyways, first task: build a bookshelf for the new apartment.

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let me preface the rest of the post by saying: manual labor is not my strong point. in fact, today's pre-move-in apartment remodeling has consists of my boyfriend ripping apart walls while i sit happily studying japanese and reading about the pastoral. oh, and in a horrible enactment of typical gender roles, baking cookies.

so the bookshelf is proving somewhat of a challenge. not only am i currently terrified of powertools, but i'm not even sure where to begin in design. i mean, i wikipedia'd the golden ratio today! and then i second-guessed how tall it should be! and i'm thinking all this indecisiveness will ultimately lead to my books staying in boxes piled against the wall...

next task: artwork for the walls?

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incidentally i just took a quiz on whether i use my left or right brain more: i use both equally...