I had a rattlesnake, rabbit and white wine sausage.  Very tasty.  Rattlesnake is a fairly mild meat.  I highly recommend the place, it's a bit of a bear to find but it's worth going there before they turn the back room into a bar/lounge.  It's located on traction and 3rd and is called Wurstkuche.  (except there's an umlaut over the u).  I think you should go and try the alligator. i bet that's tasty too.

For funsies I thought it'd be fun to put up a list of goals I have online and to check back in every few months to see how I'm doing semi-publicly.

1. Take my mom sky diving.  (Over the holidays, I learned that this is something my mom has been wanting to do.  Will wonders never cease?)

2. Learn to make my mom's kimchi.  Complete with her secret ingredient.  (I realized that I know no one in my generation that makes their own kimchi.  Or even how to make it in theory.  One day I'd like to make kimchi for my mom when she gets too tired of making it herself, partly in thanks and partly out of abject fear that I'll have to suffer with the substandard stuff from the market.  Also I hope one day that I know someone whose last name is Chi and first name is Kimberly and I would give her KimChi every year because it would make me laugh and laugh and laugh.  I'm such a dork.)

3. Meet my financial goals. (I made a budget, complete with graphs! Is it embarrassing that I decided to do a budget because iwork's Numbers program makes such pretty graphs?  I mean also to meet my financial goals too but it's so much fun tracking now that I have a graph.  How much of a nerd does this make me?)

4. Get more involved in church. (I'm such a commitment phobe).

5. New Job. Please. (Although I suppose I should be grateful I still have a job.  (I hope)).

6. Meet my health goals. (I'm going to try to learn to get into running maybe I can get overmyself this year, or at least some physical activity to counteract my ridiculously sedantary nature.  I mean I like the idea of running a lot, just you and a pair of shoes.  So simple and elegant... and yet.... it's just .... so.... boring.)

7. SURPRISE!!!! (I will tell you if I actually meet this one.  But you will be able to guess I hope)

8. Go to South America (Heh. This one is a cheater goal cuz well I'm already planning on it and tickets have been purchased) CHECK!!!!

9. Memorize the lyrics of a song from beginning to end (Alphabet song, Happy Birthday, and other simple children's songs do not count.  For some reason this is a real challenge to me.  I seem incapable of this, in my 28.5 years on this earth I don't know if I can successfully sing a song from beginning to end by heart which I didn't learn as a child in either Sunday School or as a cultural requirement... I feel like it's like having a joke up your sleeve.  I feel like it's always good to have a joke and a song up your sleeve ready for action.  Apparently I like the philosophy of vaudeville performers.  strange.).

10. Play song on guitar or mandolin. 

11. SECRET!!!!!

Wish me luck!

after playing many many hours of rock band with my cousins, where they express preferences regarding classic rock songs, I realized that one of the best side effets of rock band was exposing them to a broader range of music.  nice.

from the brilliant xkcd.

< scene: kitchen table, in korean translated below  >

dad to mom:  what do you think if <gus> changed her hair? 

gus: {while eating her delicious daenjangjigae} it's a good thing you're not gus and she gets to make her own hair decisions!

dad to mom: because, you know, long hair on short people may make them look shorter (side note, my parents hate my long hair loose because they say it looks like the traditional korean ghosts)

mom to dad: yeah but she wears it up, so it's okay.  with short hair she'd have to spend time fixing her hair and you know she doesn't do that.

gus: {ignoring them}

dad to mom and me: {sigh} boys are fools, and they need to be distracted/attracted by pretty hair, and then you can teach them what matters.  so maybe you should cut your hair because long hair will make you look shorter.  also wear high heels.

gus: man dinner is tasty!

<end scene>

Okay, so we all know and say that they don't make em like they used to.  And generally we bemoan the fact that many things become obsolete or break down before we're ready to spend the money to replace stuff.  . . . but lately i've been bemoaning my ridiculously sturdy point and shoot digital camera.  I'm one of those people who doesn't like to buy replacement electronics unless there's a serious problem with the old model because I believe in keeping things till they are unrepairable. . . Sadly this attitude has resulted in my frustration over a sturdy camera.

 I've had this olympus camera for at least 5 years (i think maybe 6? at least since 2nd year of law school but I think I've had it since my first year), i basically took it from my parents and gave them a new one.  I clearly made a tactical error as this camera appears to be indestructible.  I've dropped it, traveled with it, exposed it to water, left in the heat, left it in the cold, forgotten about it, exposed it to snow, pretty much did everything to it except broken it.  Which is great except it's bulkier than the latest models and it's shutter lag time is sloooooow.  I've been wanting a new point and shoot for years but this camera won't break down.  great job olympus... but it appears i will never be able to ugrade.

I made latkes today!

happy hanukkah!

Protected post!

A while back I posted a clip from an exercise video from the 80s. 

Now, courtesy of the folks at everythingisterrible comes clips from a video on how to meet men. 

my favorite line so far, "what do i have to lose? another episode of dallas, and a pint of ice cream?" or maybe the stat "80% of men have been shy at one point in their lives"  or maybe the suggestion to find out about local sports team, but if you "can't get interested then find someone you at least find interesting or attractive and find out something about them" or maybe the guy at the end that says, "I suggest you let him know that it really turns you on when a man talks about his feelings."

Thanks 80s self help video! i will surely try! after all what have i got to lose? another episode of dallas, and a pint of ice cream? (to be fair, i'm sure stuff like this is basically stated on like yahoo's articles on dating or something. with less shoulder padding but probably still the same ridiculous advice.)

I am on a total music HIGH.  I think I'm a bit of a music junkie, and it was rather nice to hear Handel's Messiah tonight.  Oh, but not only hear, but also PARTICPATE. CAN YOU HANDLE THE HANDEL? (hahahaha) sorry, I couldn't resist.

The Los Angeles Master Chorale has a tradition of hosting a Handel's Messiah sing-a-long  where they have soloists performing the arias but the audience sings a long.  And when I say sing a long I mean the bass, tenor, alto, and soprano parts are sung but they're intermingled in the audience. it's pretty crazy.  I just found someone who sat near me who had their own score and was an alto and just followed along with her since I couldn't figure out the timing very well so I started when she started and stopped when she stopped.  Though occassionally she would switch to soprano and throw me a bit off.  But it was cool.   I'm flex like that, that's how I roll.

Anyway it's hosted at the Walt Disney Concert Hall which has excellent acoustics, so as you sit you hear the layers of sound surround and kind wash over you.  I love that.  Plus, the conductor was fun and encouraging, not to mention there were definite elements of whimsy (the bass player put little reindeer antlers on his instrument, and the first violinist came out with a santa hat on).  The soloists were amazing, and the music was inspiring.  There's something about hearing 2000 voices come together and actually singing the harmonious choral parts.  (it some concentration on my part, it's hard for me to sing one line when different people are singing different lines at the same time. but I manned up and stuck the landing. (how many bad cliches can I fit in this parenthetical? this many!))
The music is beautiful and it's such a wonderful thing to hear the Christmas story sung out by all these people.

I'm definitely going to make this part of my Christmas tradition going forward.  I think you should too, you don't have to sing, I would often stop, and just listen because it's pretty awesome (in the most earnest and reverential sense of the word - not the surfer dude sense) experience to hear these voices come together with no rehearsal and oftentimes no experience to create something truly beautiful...

Happy Christmas!

 
The inside of the hall, about 20 minutes before the start. The pic is bad but no photography allowed so I had to bust out a couple of shots while I could.  I was in the rear terrace and I was pretty happy, the acoustics are great!  I heard Neko Case here, and that was pretty cool, I love her voice, also she revealed through comments she watches BSG so I love her even more than I thought.
The crazy thing in the back is the organ.

The various landings and spaces within the Walt Disney Hall, this is a pic of the table selling copies of the score. It kinda had a fundraiser vibe to it, overall it was a relaxed and casual night.  Although, a little too casual for some.  I know we're in Cali, but please dress appropriately. I'm no snob, but no tshirts with glitter words about how hot you are, if you're 16ish (like the girl I saw today), you don't need to dress up, just wear a plain shirt.  That's all I ask.  And please, in a place that has such great acoustics, someone whispering will carry.  Manners, people!!!!
sigh. But, on the plus side, no cell phones went off. yay!

In reverse order:

3.  My ridiculously bad skills in gift wrapping.  Seriously, it's terrifically bad.  It's not like I'm trying to make it bad.  I do try to make it look nice, but it always turns out to be spectacularly bad.  Think 13 year old boy levels of bad, except that it would insult the 13 year old.  The problem is that I get a bit of sick pride in knowing that my gift wrapping is so awful.  I don't know why, I just do.   Anyone can wrap a gift nicely... it's a special skill set to make it look like someone wrapped the gift with one hand tied behind her back.

Yeah, that's right.  This first paragraph was all about how I am proud of failure.

2.  Staying up all night in order to finish a book or a dvd series.  Even though it's a totally irresponsible thing to do, not to mention pretty loserish.  I get a weird ego thrill when I finish a book straight through or watch a series all the way through, I love being able to get engrossed in something and completing it.  Basically, I don't have the discipline to stop.  :T.  Good thing I don't drink much, or play too many of those serious gamer games where they roll play and stuff.  I'd never sleep and probably die.

and... number 1 thing that I shouldn't be proud of but totally am ..... (imaginary drum roll! cymbal crash! kick drum brings the beat!) .....

1.  Going to the 99cent store a couple of days ago and buying the dvd of the  premier tv movie of Samurai Jack.  I was shopping at the 99 cent store for the annual 99 cent christmas party I go to, but this was my gift to myself.  woo!  I could only be prouder if it was the episode where he turns into a chicken.