happy new year!

obviously i resolve to post more. sorry! it's been a crazy holiday season. i hope you've all enjoyed yourselves!

i was in minnesota for xmas. it snowed almost a foot. and then one night i took my dog out for a walk and it was 12 below zero. nice to have some real wintertime.

i also resolve to cook more. i made a parsnip base for homemade udon soup last night.

but this year i'm going to focus on cooking bread. and luckily my friend ameet found a source for cooking videos.



later, 2007!

happy holidays?

after fighting the flu all week, i am way behind on my xmas shopping. and by way behind, i mean i haven't started. i usually get super into the whole spirit of givng thing, but having just received my first paycheck at the non-profit, it looks like mix cds, used books and thrift store clothes for everyone!

maybe i should ask santa for help giving presents to other people.

and if he doesn't have time, i'll just ask this aggressive woman on crutches for a little help.

to whom it may concern:

i would like to express my distinct dissatisfaction with the management of the live music concert event at your venue ______ on saturday night this 15th of december. i myself participated in the event, in the band known as luff, and dear sir or madam, i regret to inform you that the music concert was poorly organized, executed and hosted.

firstly, your ceilings and walls made of tin make it quite difficult to play with the sort of fiery passion that makes music engaging and a live event successful without utterly destroying the sensitive eardrums of your concert-going audience. soundproof your venue post haste.

secondly, as a former mixologist, i may be particularly picky when it comes libational services, but i was quite put off by the attitude of your staff. as one of your performers, i expect no especial treatment, but to be treated with disrepect and a lack of caring by one of your bar-tenders i found quite offensive. after a long wait watching the young man lumber cluelessly from end to end, he asked if we would like anything, and when we responded in the positive, he simply walked away and ignored us. that is unacceptable and the young man should be terminated immediately.

thirdly, and most important, when you should happen to schedule a concert event, please confirm that there is indeed enough time for all the various acts to manage their melodious magic. for as the evening progressed, the acts became shorter and shorter until the very act with which i was performing had time for merely half of the music we had planned. i would hope that your lesson has been properly absorbed: four bands cannot fit into three hours. please discontinue this unfriendly habit of over-scheduling at once.

and in conclusion, suck it.

more amazing news

i still can't get over that karaoke story. i just keep thinking about the joy of screaming welcome to the jungle over an intercom system. and the absurdity of the teacher who thought "you're gonna die" was a death threat.

at least, i couldn't stop thinking about it until i saw this story.

Japan Scientists Develop Fearless Mouse

a slow, snowy day

i think i have the flu. i probably shouldn't be at work. but here i am. luckily it's a slow day. i'm watching the swirls of white spinning down broadway.

i wanted to point out this story about the power of karaoke. it is not a power to be wielded lightly.

ROXBURY, Conn. - Karaoke can be scary, but threatening? A school custodian's impromptu after-hours karaoke performance prompted a police response when a teacher thought she was being threatened over the loudspeaker.

State police say the teacher at Booth Free School barricaded herself inside a classroom Wednesday when she mistook someone singing a Guns N' Roses song over the public address system for a threat.

She was working after hours and thought no one else was in the building. Then she heard someone say over the loudspeaker that she was going to die.

Six troopers and three police dogs showed up and found three teenagers, one of them a custodian at the school, who had been playing with the public address system.

Police say one of them sang "Welcome to the Jungle" into the microphone. The song contains the lyrics "You're in the jungle baby; you're gonna die."

The teenagers were cuffed for about 15 minutes while police investigated. They didn't realize anyone else was in the school at the time. No charges will be filed, said state police Sgt. Brian Ness.

picture!

a while ago i mentioned the "blog" of "unnecessary" quotations -- a shot from my trip down to new orleans was highlighted today. take a look!

"some bunches"

santacon

last night a friend said, you don't blog any more and i miss you. sorry about that!

i'm finally settling in well enough that i have some extra time. not so much that i can tell the whole story, but saturday was santacon. if you saw santas running around in your city, there's a reason. i'll get my pictures up soon!

santas on the rampage: