OOJ: Puppets, Bradley International Airport, CT

i'm seeing lots of cool stuff in airports these days. BDL has an exhibit on puppets. these are from bali, thailand + UCONN (but i don't remember which ones are which):

UCONN's puppetry program

from bali?

and this is a concourse in O'Hare, where i found the best airport food i've ever tasted: Frontera. 

i recommend the yucatan pulled pork torta w/roasted jabanero sauce.

OOJ: layaway santas

no photo can capture today's OOJ, b/c the layaway santas are anonymous. apparently some ppl are walking into kmarts and offering to pay off other ppl's layaway accounts. 


i love the idea that ppl are stepping up to help strangers. in abq, i've noticed that many families seem to think along the lines of "i don't have much, but someone else has less than me, so i'm gonna give what i can." one of my kindergartners, who lives in a 2 room trailer w/3 other ppl, told me he was giving away some of his toys to "kids who don't have any toys." i can't imagine what toys he's giving away b/c i know he doesn't have much, but he told me this in such a matter-of-fact way, as if: of course that's what you do with your toys. when i was a kid, i clearly remember being super jealous of other kids who had more toys, + i fiercely clung to my toys. even as an adult, i admit i'm still possessive of my "toys"- i don't know that i would freely give away my laptop, my car, or my kurzweil without knowing that a replacement was coming. i do happen to know that this kindergartner has more toys coming his way (his family is on a couple of "adopt-a-family" holiday lists at local nonprofits), but i am still in awe of his attitude.

OOJ: ABQ Sunport Airport Employee Gingerbread House Contest

passed this display at the airport on my flight out to hartford + couldn't resist snapping some pics. 

 

i like the more is more aesthetic- no minimalism here.

this one reminds me of Kamekona's beach-side shrimp shack (any Hawaii Five-O fans?)

tip of the day: packing

my favorite part about packing is figuring out how to do it so i come home with less stuff than i left with. it's part of my eternal quest to GET RID OF STUFF. here's how i do it:

• pack lots of gifts! most likely you won't get as many gifts as you give out.
• bring all the magazines you don't have time to read. read them at airport or on the plane and then leave them on a seat for someone else. this is especially satisfying b/c mags are so heavy. on my trip back to CT today i brought ESPN, Essence, and several weeks worth of NYT mags.
• pack almost-empty bottles of toiletries- toothpaste, shampoo, etc. use them up on your trip (incentive to have good hygiene, which is something i need b/c washing my face + brushing my teeth is SO BORING) then toss them before you go home.
• bring books that you own (NOT library books!) + give them to someone else when you're done reading them. 
• pack lots of snacks- then eat them!

notes from the field: Sunport Airport Mail Facility, ABQ, NM

4:42 PM
the line to the counter stretches out through the double doors. i count 12 ppl in front of me, 4 more join the line during the time i shoulder my way in to get customs forms for my package (smoked salmon + piñon nuts to taiwan). i carry only one package, which is not the norm for this line. one man has a dolly stacked to the top w/priority mail boxes. another woman pushes a mail cart someone lent her, also full w/boxes. the woman behind me looks like she came straight from the mall, shopping bags surrounding her as she stuffs priority mail boxes. the post office music is mercifully barely audible- i say mercifully b/c i suspect it's holiday music. the soundtrack in my head is playing gym class heroes "back home". 


one might expect the mood at a post office the weekend before xmasto be tense, terse + taut, but this is abq- ppl still make eye contact + smile. there's not as much chitchat between strangers as usual- maybe that's a sign of holiday stress setting in, but customers still offer to hold another's place in line so that person can go seal up their package on a nearby table (have you ever tried to tape up a medium-sized cardboard box while standing in line? it's not easy). i fill out my customs forms as the line shuffles forward. i don't mind the wait; i've brought the arts + leisure section of the times from last sunday. plus i like seeing so many ppl mailing packages. i'd like to think that mailing holiday gifts is not a tedious obligation (like family dinners), but something ppl do w/love + anticipation for the recipient's reaction. at least that's how it is for me, but i don't have many packages to mail. 


32 minutes later, i'm out the door. even though this post office officially closes at 5pm, they've left the doors unlocked + ppl are still joining the line. i make eye contact + smile at the guy who's entering as i'm leaving. he smiles back. 

a holiday tradition i actually don't hate

i'm a pretty big scrooge this time of year (inescapable holiday music- hate. xmas-dominated episodes of my fave TV shows- hate. family obligations- don't get me started.) but one thing that still manages to fascinate me is lights. in abq, stores + homes decorate their front walkways with luminarias- lit candles in sand in paper bags. it's a cool effect, especially when you see hundreds of bags lining the sidewalks of old town or perched on top of church steeples. if you're ambitious, you can even punch out designs in the paper bags. 

i also look forward to going back to new england every december, where ppl put electric candles in their windows. something so simple + un-colorful, but somehow reassuring + welcoming, even though i'll never meet the ppl in those homes.

eye candy: harry shum jr.

so i don't usually drool over bare chests, but this is a big deal to me for other reasons... and yeah, he's pretty easy on the eyes. my friends, i give you: harry shum, jr.

on one level, i'm happy to see an asian american male being highlighted as a sex symbol. i'm tired of seeing asian guys portrayed as asexual/non-threatening/quirky/laughable characters (exceptions that come to mind: bruce lee + any asian guy that shows up in the never-ending fast and furious franchise). current asian guys on TV, off the top of my head: aziz ansari, parks + rec; ken jeong + danny pudi, community; daniel dae kim + masi oka, hawaii five-o;  john cho + b.d. wong, various cameos; the neighbor on king of the hill. these guys rarely get laid in TVland, even though many of them are fine. instead, they're often the funny, off-beat goofballs who crack jokes + act crazy while their white male counterparts act rugged + tough + end up with hot women in their beds.


on a more emotional level, i remember how hard it was for my brother + many of my asian guy friends when we were growing up + trying to figure out how to be cool in a world where there were so few cool asians in mainstream media to imitate. top gun came out when my brother was 5; we wore out our VHS copy, which was in heavy rotation until he was 10, maybe even after that (at that point i stopped spending time at home). i believe he would have given anything to be Maverick- to be rugged + tough, but most of all, to be universally admired by men + women. he developed an insecurity that i think i've noticed in other asian guys too, even long after they've left the torturous teenage years.


and then, decades later: harry shum, jr! someone anyone would love to hang out with- funny, an amazing dancer, good-looking, and cool. in TVland, he also plays a nonthreatening/quirky character, but that description applies to most of the guys on glee. in real life land, he's getting a lot of attention for his abs (seems like every magazine photo of him has him shirtless, as if his torso is allergic to fabric). i emailed people magazine to ask how many asian men have been selected for sexy man honors, but i doubt i'll get a reply. at any rate, i'm pretty sure the answer is a number under 10. which is why i'm adding harry shum, jr. to my "things that i'm thankful for" list.

we have too much time on our hands

the following is a transcript of a convo between me + my PR this morning:

me: i heard someone rap about top ramen on the radio yesterday (B.o.B. ft. Lil Wayne "Strange Clouds")


PR: at least they're not rapping about a G6. i hate when they do that. [side note: PR gets irritated by all the commercial rappers who sit around rapping about how rich they are + all the luxury items they own, like a G6 (which is a fancy fast plane i think)]


me: what if someone raps about eating ramen on their G6?


PR: yeah! like if they spent all their money on their G6 so all they can afford to eat is top ramen.


me + PR (together): i'm eating ramen in my G6/cuz all i can afford is this pair of chopsticks




i love sunday mornings at home.

OOJ: snow!

baby, it's windy outside

yesterday + all night, we were hit w/winds of over 50 mph. it was pretty unreal + unlike anything i'd been in before- i learned to stop talking when outside otherwise i'd end up w/a mouthful of sand. i also tried to keep my eyes shut, but it's hard to walk like that, so i settled for a good squint. parts of the city lost power; the worst that happened to us was that the wind blew some roof off our garage. small potatoes, i know, but as i lay in bed last night listening to the dragon wind, i wondered what i'd do if the roof got ripped completely off my room. have you ever thought about that? it's not like a flood or fire that instantly destroys whatever it touches, but at the same time how do i put weights on all my stuff to keep it from blowing away? i could throw a tarp over as much stuff as possible + put weights on that, but have you ever tried to control a tarp by yourself when it's windy? the tarp always wins. it's a humbling experience, to be beaten by something that doesn't even have a brain. in the end, i decided i'd follow my basic fall-back emergency plan- grab my document envelope + my laptop + my stuffed polar bear + run to the car. the car seems like the safest place to be in so many disaster scenarios. thank you, car.

OOJ: leaf lust

while the trees aren't bare yet, i've been more fascinated by the leaves on the ground. i can't name any of them, but they come in so many shapes + shades, even within a single leaf. so now i subject you to my obssession:

notes from the field: larry h. miller toyota dealership

2:04 PM
camped out in the only sunny seat i could see in the showroom. it also happens to be right next to the coffee table (no donuts! budget cuts or they already got eaten?). surprised by how full the place is. i picked the day after tgiving to bring in my car (got a recall notice in the mail) b/c i have the day off + my parents are in town + i wanted an excuse to escape for a couple hours. there's an older gentleman in a faded blue jacket + tweed hat pushing his feet forward in slow, steady laps around the showroom- makes me feel like i'm in a kind of purgatory, except that i'm pretty content here in my sunny chair w/a full pack of green apple hi-chews + free wi-fi. there's a college football game in the background and once in a while someone bangs a gong, which i'm guessing means someone just bought a car. what else would be gong-worthy at a car dealership?


guilty pleasure of the week: katy perry's "the one that got away". it's pure cotton candy, refined sugar, everything that rots out your brain, but at the same time oh so satisfying. "in another life/I would make you stay/then I wouldn't say you were/the one that got away". 

running to stand still

this is my sleeping bag after 5 years of sleeping in it every night. apparently i tread water in my sleep or something because these holes are at the bottom of the bag, where my feet go. i flipped over the sleeping bag so now the holes are on the top side- good to go for another 5 years.

the sleepless night continues...

time for another list! this year i am thankful for:

• color
• scrambled egg sandwiches
• amy poehler- damn, i love that woman! 
• living 15 min. away from the smatters
• being able to move my body- dance is my AA + it saves me over and over again
• utilities! indoor heating, running water- amazing
• my scarf + fingerless gloves
• friends who make time to keep in touch w/me
• living in a place w/such big sky
• homemade jam from the farmer's market
• raspberry scones from java joe's
• being able to eat when i am hungry
• my PR
• my car

another sleepless night

woke up around 3 am thanks to someone re-enacting the fast and the furious on a nearby street- relentlessly assaultive engines revving, tires squealing, the works. either that or it was someone who was rushing someone to the hospital in a souped up car, following a route with lots of turns. here's what i think about these days when i can't sleep:

• parent teacher conferences next week (in abq public schools, conferences are scheduled all day for 2 days + the kids don't come to school on those days. weird, huh?)
• what am i gonna get my parents for xmas? (prolly furry boots for my mom- i seem to gravitate towards giving her some form of footwear every year: down booties, fleece slippers, non-slip clogs)
• did i pay rent? oh wait, it's only the 18th (now technically the 19th), i still have time
• i can't believe thanksgiving is next week. this year i get choose the food! i think we'll go out to a brazilian churrascuria. yay no white ppl thanksgiving food!
• do ppl take vacations anymore? i can only think of a couple of friends who've traveled for non-holiday/non-family reasons this year. (family-mandated travel doesn't count as a vacation to me). i keep checking last minute airfare sales + fantasizing about flying somewhere for the wkend (nothing fancy, i'd settle for austin or denver), but all the sale priced tickets require you to fly back on a mon or tues, which is a no-go for me. 
• i miss amtrak- some decembers i ride the northeast regional amtrak route, which lets me visit friends in philly + maryland. i like trains.
• i should start making books again
• i need to find some fences for my sand tray
• has every possible thought already been thought of?
• did i pay rent? oh wait...
• somewhere in the world, someone is having really hot sex right now
• i miss sleeping on my stomach- chiro says it's bad for my neck :(
• i have too much stuff

modern art

i thought my brita was dishwasher safe...

some days i love my job

silver surfer squinky

this, my friends, is a squinky wearing lego girl hair.

squinkies are squishy, shrunken incarnations of beloved characters (marvel heros, disney princesses, hello kitty, etc.). this fine squinky specimen is none other than marvel comics superhero silver surfer. wearing lego "girl hair"- a significant improvement, imo. 

this morning, one of my kids brought me lego "girl hair" because one of my girl lego figures (defined by this kid as a girl b/c it has red lipsticked lips) has no hair. for those of you who haven't played with legos in decades: there are female lego figures now. in addition to pink lego bricks, lego harry potter, and glow-in-the-dark legos. see below for a pic of a lego girl.

this gift of lego girl hair made my day. the fact that a 9-year-old boy noticed i had a bald girl and gave me his own girl hair to fix the situation makes me feel all kinds of sparkly glowy hopeful. 

later, i was working with another kid. the topic: things that annoy us. for her, it's when her little brother won't quit talking.

me: so what's an ok way to ask him to stop talking?

kid: "please can you stop talking? i'm getting a headache."

me: and what's a not-ok way to ask him to stop talking?

kid: "stop talking before i hit you!"

it was a good day.

let me count the ways

things i love about abq:

• crisp mountain air
• smell of burning piñon firewood drifting through the crisp mountain air
• strangers make eye contact and say hi (took me a while to get used to this)
• snow on the sandia mountains
• thick clusters of bright orange + yellow trees (cottonwoods?) lining the rio grande (i get to drive by it every day)
• univ. of new mexico's continuing education course selection, which includes: playing the didgeridoo; pet behavior issues: cats ("If you feel that you've 'tried everything', this class is for you."); black madonna sites in europe; and resin... for the fun of it
• airport parking for $4.98 a day- and that's the expensive company
• no traffic! there's not even that much honking, though one long-time resident told me, "I can tell more outsiders are moving in to abq because I'm hearing more honking now." i admit i'm one of these honking outsiders: i'll tap my horn if the light turns green and the car in front of me hasn't moved after 10 seconds... or 5 seconds...

OOJ: first frost!

loving this weather: crisp air, clear skies- this is how fall is supposed to be.

this next pic is not frost, but it looks kinda like it. i cooked pasta + didn't wash the pot for a couple of days + then i looked at it one morning and found this:

cool, huh? kids, try this at home!

dia de los muertos

dia de los muertos is a holiday even better than halloween b/c the kids aren't all wired up on sugar + everyone just hangs out in the cemetery all day w/lots of food (well, in mexico they do). it's like thanksgiving in a graveyard. families set up temporary "altars" to deceased relatives + decorate it w/the dead person's favorite things. then that person's spirit comes back + enjoys the stuff you put out. it's like leaving milk + cookies for santa. except santa's not real.


i like that it's a very public + accepted communal celebration of ppl you love and miss. in the U.S., grief is painfully private; most ppl don't like to hear about death. they don't know what to say + then they are uncomfortable. if you ever want to end a conversation quickly, try mentioning someone who was dear to you who's now dead. 

"so do you have any siblings?"

"i have a brother, but he's dead."

"oh." [cue crickets: cheep cheep cheep]

to celebrate, i went to the south broadway community center to check out their dia de los muertos art exhibit. skeletons galore! my next tattoo will be of a grinning dia de los muertos calavera.

some of this art is for sale, so if you desperately need to own it, i can try to connect you w/the artist.

pumpkinpalooza!

ABQ's got some dope pumpkin artists. Having never carved a pumpkin myself, i'm in awe of what ppl create. maybe it's just the wonder of my first halloween in abq, but i don't remember seeing this many interesting carvings before. though as a kid, i only had eyes for candy + hitting up as many homes as possible. 

i'm especially fascinated by how the pumpkin's aging process improves its expression, at times adding to the horror, but also possibly adding a certain kindness to its features:

what to wear part 2

wore my mechanic suit to baby ballet yesterday but no one really noticed b/c all of the attention was (as it should be) on the babies, who yes, were supercute + all, but i was sad that they were all princesses of some kind (damn you, disney! damn you to HECK!). except one girl, who was "a cat named stripey". i love that she named her cat costume, which did indeed have stripes. of the boys, my fave was a smurf (in full blue-face + removable foam nose that didn't have a chance of staying on).

i've decided the best halloween costume of all time would be pittsburgh steeler troy polamalu. although this photo shows his face (kind of), when you watch him on TV you mostly see him from behind as he hurls himself at opposing players. troy is very good at his job.


all i'd need is a steelers helmut attached to a whole lotta hair, a #43 jersey + some pads. if i start prepping now, i might be ready for next year's baby ballet. 

what to wear

i love dressing up any day of the year except for halloween, which requires a *costume* that others can easily recognize. i don't do costumes so well- i just pile on my favorite shiny + fluffy clothes. i'll wear my cape out to dinner, just cuz. but the pressure of coming up with a costume that's clever + non-gendered AND that makes sense to ppl besides me can be overwhelming.


this year i need possibly three costumes for halloween. 1 for the baby ballet class that i play piano at; 2 for the school day; and 3 for trick-or-treating w/my friend's kids later that night. each occasion has it's own challenges. last year i was a zombie mechanic, which i really liked, but i don't want to freak out the the babies at ballet. (last week we went around the circle + everyone said what they were going to be: princess, mermaid, katy perry, cheerleader, and then me: "mechanic"). for the school day, i need something that's not too distracting. and then when i go out later that night, i'll be w/a 2-year-old dressed as red riding hood + her little brother as a wolf, so i'm gonna be upstaged no matter what. 


halloween brings up a lot of gender issues for me (i cringe at all the adult costumes that have the word "sexy" in the title). i know a lot of girls will be wearing costumes involving skirts or dresses (see above baby ballet discussion), so i feel like i should make an extra effort to dress up as something not conventionally "girly" (and here i have issues w/costumes involving skirts being considered girly). hence the mechanic (plus the jumpsuit is super comfortable). on the other hand, there's no shame in wearing skirts, no matter your gender, right? witches are a great example of strong female characters. so is carmen sandiego, but i don't think any of the kids would get it, plus i don't have a red trench.


anyways, this is what's keeping me up at night this week. i'll probably be a non-zombie mechanic for baby ballet; a strong female witch for school; and an oakland A's fan for t-or-treating (green/yellow wig, A's jacket, glove). i'll take suggestions. meanwhile, here's a link to the best costume EVER:


bumblebee transforming costume

OOJ: volcano tart

burro alley cafe in santa fe calls it a volcano tart, but i call it the best life has to offer: a cone of chocolate mousse, topped w/chocolate shavings, hiding strawberries, dark chocolate, + almond paste in a pastry tart. here's a helpful cross-section photo:

OOJ: SNOW!! and aspens

on sunday we found snow in the sangre de cristo mountains east of santa fe. it's been so long since i've felt that crunchy-slushy texture under my feet; all i could do was spin + spin + spin for sheer joy.

and oh yeah, there were aspens too, which is what we'd gone to the mountains for in the first place. i am aspen-ignorant, but i liked how they smelled like birches + were turning color. i miss the reds + oranges of new england maples this time of year, but these guys weren't too shabby. 

i quickly stopped taking pics, b/c after all, how many times can you appreciate a photo of yellow trees? here's an aspen love collage:

TOD: Adele, "One and Only"

this song slays me, more by the gospel-styled blues piano + vocal melody than the lyrics (too optimistic for my taste). 


Adele, "One and Only"

i am so not in san francisco anymore

i live near downtown abq, but i work in schools located in "south valley", an area of abq which, according to wikipedia, has 1,323.3 ppl per square mile (the rest of abq has 3,010.7 ppl/sq. mi.; west hartford, CT has 2892.6 ppl/sq. mi.; sf has 17,160 ppl/sq. mi.). when i leave my urban neighborhood and cross into south valley, i feel like i'm entering a foreign country. my drive to work is lined with fenced fields holding in grazing horses. once i swore i saw a brown llama sitting serenely by himself in a sea of grass. i keep the windows rolled up when i'm driving to keep out all the dust that the trucks kick up. in other words, south valley feels like deep country to me.


here is the view from the end of the driveway of one of my schools. the school itself is the building in the distance.

on my way to work, i pass hand-lettered signs advertising ammo. i pass a trailer park. i pass a road called "gun club road". the other day i noticed this cluster of signs:

the signs on the ground are kinda hard to read, but they say (from front to back): alfalfa, straw, FEED, chicks, ice crushed block, frogs, crickets, pond turtles, baby turkeys, ducks, chicks, chukars (apparently it's a kind of bird- i had to google it), pheasants, guineas, rabbits, grass, hay, pigeon sale.

here's a goat i saw in the school parking lot:

i gotta say it was a good day

it's fall! my fave season. it's dropped down to the 60s during the day here in abq- feels just like san francisco, except not damp + foggy. in other words, everything fall is supposed to be: crisp, energizing... i'll stop before i start sounding like an ad for aftershave. found this (or it found me) in the post office parking lot just after the first official day of fall. surely it's a sign of good things to come.

this morning there was snow on the sandia mountains! seeing snow so close by makes me want to do a happy dance (which i did, to her majesty lady gaga's "born this way"). 

thanks, google images!

when i think about it, i don't know why i love fall so much. fall is the season of plants getting ready to die, animals prepping to hide out for months- it's a time for hunkering down + going underground. as much as i love running around in tank top + shorts all day, there's something soothing about wrapping myself in layers of cotton + wool + down: shirt, another shirt, sweater, hoodie, vest, scarf, hat. it's like nature telling me to put my head down on my desk  in a darkened classroom+ close my eyes to calm down after a wild + crazy recess. so i guess i'm looking forward to tucking my blankets in tight around me after a hard year + taking time to gather strength, to like myself again, to recognize the joy + beauty in what's around me + inside of me.

TOD: Method Man- World Gone Sour

check it out- method man (of wu tang clan and The Wire fame) raps about sour patch kids. that's it. fun for the whole family.


world gone sour

TOD: Afro Blue's cover of "American Boy"

NBC's "The Sing-Off" is crack for a music geek like me. i still can't believe a reality show about a cappella groups made it into a second season- a cappella can be so hard to relate to (think of the fictional Dalton Academy Warblers on Glee- God bless you, Criss Dalton/Blaine). i have to watch this show in private b/c to have anyone hear me scream "you call that a modulation?" and "is that all you could do with that chord!?!" is just terrible- terrible!- for my street cred.


but this week's version of Estelle's "American Boy" by Afro Blue of Howard University is so sick i'm willing to go public w/my addiction so you can hear this. if you can't listen to something w/o analyzing its harmonies, this'll keep you busy for a while.


Afro Blue's cover of "American Boy"

"it's like all the holidays rolled into one."

that's what the NM state fair promises, which sounds horrific b/c i can't stand most holidays (excepting food holidays, like international day of the taco/pancake/pasta- those are all separate days, btw). but i went to the state fair b/c i've never been to a state fair anywhere before + i wanted to see if they really had deep-fried twinkies.





if you've never been to a state fair, don't go, unless you adore deep-fried sweets. otherwise it's kind of like going to the mall- too big, overwhelming, + exhausting. i saw two roosters at the petting zoo wrestling over a plastic straw wrapper. i felt sad: here are these animals fighting over a piece of something that has no value at all. it's not food, nor does it taste good (no one's even trying to deep fry it, a process that makes anything taste better). 

the best part of the fair was an exhibition of K-12 kids art from all over NM. so many impressive works, but i was especially drawn to kinder + 1st grade artists. their work was brilliant: spontaneous, original, vibrant, hopeful, playful, unconforming. one kid glued pretzels onto a piece of paper- genius! below is a gallery of my faves:

these next pieces are done by slightly older kids, third grade, i think. apparently Giants fever is alive in abq. the level of detail is humbling.