seen + spotted

biggest remote control EVER, available at your local CVS for a cool $10:

and a bus stop sign that got a makeover:

lion lion lion

i caught a lunar new year celebration at abq's chinese cultural center, which also doubles as lin's martial arts school. the lion + dragon dancers were not at san francisco skill levels, but i appreciated the effort they put into the show (still better than anything i could do). i was also happy about the size of the crowd that showed up to watch- maybe 250-300 ppl. even though i spotted maybe 15 asians total (including the performers), i somehow felt less lonely as an asian in abq, knowing that a small chunk of the population was at least aware of, and interested in learning more about, lunar new year.

happy year of the water dragon!

look what i found at whole foods today!

and his friend:

and of course, no new year's dinner is complete without a whole fish.

before sauce (salad dressing cup for size comparison only):

and after sauce:

my elementary school students were not so lucky. today's menu: 2 fried egg rolls, teriyaki sauce, white rice, a quartered orange in a plastic bag, and one fortune cookie.


here's to a year of growth + change for us all.

420 characters

i can't remember the last time i read a book book, meaning any piece of writing that's over 15 pages long. i have short attention span, so all i can handle are magazines and short story collections. i recently discovered flash fiction, which are stories even shorter than short stories (typically 1-2 pages long). and they keep shrinking: today i read 420 Characters by Lou Beach, an illustrator in LA who built a fan following by writing ultra brief stories as facebook status updates. here are a couple from his book: 


"'Are you my mommy?' said the little blue egg. 'No, dear. You are a plastic trinket full of sweets,' said the brown hen. 'My baby is over there,' and she pointed to a pink marshmallow chick being torn apart and devoured by a toddler. The hen screamed and woke up, her pillow wet with sweat, the sheets twisted around her legs. 'Christ, I hate that dream.' She reached for a smoke."


"I live in the pocket of a bright paisley shirt- silk- and when the light is just so, I'm in my own private cathedral. I lie back and push out against the fabric with my feet, and the colored light falls in like kids' breakfast cereal. I lived in a canvas shirt once but the guy was always sweating so much it recalled that tent in Ireland near the sea where I first got this assignment."

sicklandia

time for another list! best movies for a sick day:
1. lilo + stitch- "ohana means family. family means no one is left behind. or forgotten." makes me cry every time
2. march of the penguins- morgan freeman narrates- what could be more soothing?
3. ocean's 11,13,14,15,16- any oceans except 12; too much julia roberts in that one
4. pirates of the caribbean 1- back when keira knightley + orlando bloom were mostly unknown
5. live penguin webcam at www.calacademy.org/webcams/penguins. not a movie but still good.

OOJ: Mosaics

i love how i keep finding compelling art in abq:

seen on Gold at 4th St SW

L@@K KITTEN GRAY NEW WITH TAGS SUPER CUTE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

last wednesday, i noticed several deep, long scratches scabbing on a student's arm. 

me: you're all scratched up!

kid: yeah, we got a new kitten.

me: oh wow. where'd you get it?

kid: ebay.

me: (beat) ...uh... ebay?

kid: yeah, it's this website where you can get stuff for really cheap.

me: i see.

so there you have it. you can buy live animals on ebay.

TOD: Counting Crows, "Colorblind"

Colorblind
a track from back in the day (1999). i selected a youtube video that appears to be someone's first attempts at cinematography (it's labeled as "Music Video Project for NY Film Academy"), which i found endearing b/c it seems angsty + lost in a very non-specific-yet-desperate way that reminds me of me + my friends when we were 17, so i like to imagine that the filmmaker was also at that age when he made it.

things that don't make sense (TTDMS)

i'm dying to walk in + ask "how's business?" without sounding like i'm mocking them. but maybe the joke's on me- maybe they don't sell scuba equipment at all, maybe it's a disguise storefront for a super-secret ultra-hip ironic dive lounge. pull a lever hidden behind the designer wetsuits, and a wall revolves to reveal candles, studded burgundy leather easy chairs, + a faint whiff of cinnamon. 

new year's rezzos

1. stop saying the word "amazing"
2. do more sit-ups (cuz i have a bad lower back + a stronger core is supposed to help w/that)
3. wear sequins more often
4. be grateful 


i found some resolutions from 2006 that amused me:
1. stop saying "really?" [still struggling w/this one]
2. don't be sarcastic 
3. don't overreact [this one stayed on the rezzo list for a few years; i took it off 2012 simply b/c i was tired of looking at it]
4. be gracious


i also used to pick quotes for each year. 2006 was: “Not everything that is faced can be changed.  but nothing can be changed until it is faced.” James Baldwin. 2012's quote comes courtesy of Lauryn Hill: "How you gonna win it if you ain't right within?"

the ny times is telling you to come visit abq

virgin galactic spaceport, las cruces, NM

ok, not exactly. the times is telling you to visit las cruces, NM, which is a 3.5 hr drive south of abq (#20 on "45 Places to Go in 2012"). for a mere $200,000 (is that before or after tax?), you can buy a seat on a 6-passenger rocketship to somewhere in space. i have so many questions: how long will the flight last? will i land somewhere different than where i took off (do i have to buy another plane ticket to get back to abq)? what kind of food will they serve- freeze-dried ice cream like the kind that's sold in science museum gift shops? will there be an in-flight movie? how many minutes before i get bored of looking at earth from a gajillion miles away? (i'm not proud of this last question, but it's honest. i know myself.) will i see the moon? will i be older or younger when i land? will they let us float outside, attached to the ship by long crinkly tubular tentacles? will my mp3 player work in space? what kind of soundtrack would i make for a spaceship trip- reflective acoustic guitar or "life is a highway"? what if everything looks blurry through my space helmet visor?

sick bed

my first week of 2012: 40% work, 60% bed.


i came back to abq after 2 weeks of planes, trains, + couch-surfing and immediately got sick. which means i'm in bed every possible moment that i don't have to be somewhere else. i made a nice little island on my bed- sleeping bag, electric blanket, 4 layers of down comforters (2 blankets folded in half), books (It Chooses You by Miranda July; Healing Mandalas by ?), mags (Elle UK Oct 2010 issue), kleenex, fruit gummies, cell phone (for playing online scrabble). 


"mi yow yow yow, mi yow yow yow yow," i sang into the phone to my PR.


"what is that?" he asked.


"just a song i made up," i said.


"i think you're going loopy," he told me.


when i'm sick in bed, time stops. my head feels full of oatmeal, which doesn't bother me as long as i'm lying down, so i spend a lot of time horizontal. i feel kinda guilty b/c i know it's a luxury to be able to stay in bed for hours, uninterrupted by kids/partners/etc. at the same time, it's weird to know that i can disappear into my bed for the entire weekend and no one will come looking for me. i make a little cave under my many layers, where i stare at the inside of my sleeping bag. it looks kind of like this, except a lot more shadowier + cavern-like:

when i was a kid, i rarely got sick. the few times that i did, i was proud of how i muscled thru life as usual: look i'm unstoppable, i'm so tough, nothing can slow me down. now when i get sick, my body kind of gives up + implodes into a multi-celled, jellified lump in a blanket cave. unfortunately, i'm still awake, which means my mind is still whirring + ticking. how do i calculate estimated state tax for new mexico when will they fix our leaky shower the kids need to make thank you cards for our donors i should write one too i need to tip my newspaper carrier did i pay my credit card bills yes you did that on monday i need to swiffer the floors this sleeping bag is getting stinky. clearly the solution is to install a tv in my bedroom ceiling.

OOJ: earth tones

flew back to ABQ today after lots of sweet times w/good friends, feeling lucky + blessed. and then i felt lucky + blessed to be on an airplane, a magical machine that lets you see the earth from a superhero's perspective. not a bad way to start the western new year. these photos were taken from DFW to ABQ + enhanced w/picasa auto contrast. 

check out that scar along the bottom of the big photo:

this looks like cave art to me.

omg- windmills!

and then right before our descent into abq: snow