Flickr blues

I love Flickr, dont get me wrong, but there are just some things in it that are very Web 1.0. Here are a couple of examples.

First of all, when you're selecting photos to download, it's impossible to select a whole folder of photos. You have to go into the photos, then highlight the ones you want, then upload. When uploading photos it doesn't assume that you're probably uploading a set. You then have to go back and manually put the albums into a set. Perhaps that's too much to assume, and maybe they could first ask you if you're uploading a set or just a random collection of photos. Hearing myself talk now, I'm almost disappointed. This is a very Mac point of view and I find that Flickr is much more of a PC style website. You have more independence, but with the independence comes more responsibility and less TV-dinner type of convenient computer operation.

Oh and hey, I'm on Flickr! My friends tend to think that my photos are half-decent.

sushi

Over my weekend in LA I went out for sushi at [will ask name of restaurant] on [Beverly? I need to pay more attention...], and the experience made me realize that I'm slowly and surely on my way to sushi snobbery.  I am reading these gushy, wannabe restaurant critiques on Yelp and can't help but cock my eyebrow in confusion.  Did we go to the same restaurant?  I have to give it to them, the fish was fresh and obviously money is invested in this place (strip mall valet parking, for god's sake), but the preparation of the sushi was terrible.  The fish was mashed up into unrecognizable balls squished next to giant cuts of cucumber.  The nigiri was good and fresh tasting, but the fish still didn't slouch over the rice, lazy and glistening, the way it does at Kirala in Berkeley.

I know I might sound just like the above mentioned yelping wannabes, but I have no problem with flowery description of food.  I just feel that the food is what is really important.  Some of these reviews gave stars for the color choice of the walls.  I've eaten decent sushi at places with an enormous Betty Boop figure greeting you at the door and a blowup Budweiser Godzilla hanging from the ceiling.  And not in an ironic hipster way.  Tell me about the food, the texture, the smell.  I suppose I do have an obsession with nice silverware at restaurants, so maybe that I should give these yelpers a break.  What I'm trying to say is that I write about my personal experience at a restaurant, not how I would look dining at this restaurant on a magazine photo.  Perhaps it's not Yelp, but LA.

I don't have any good sushi photos, but I found this one on Flickr.  Check out this photographer's awesome macro skills!  Makes me feel like I need a better camera...

and for a grand total of $9...

On my way home from another delicious brunch at La Note in Berkeley, I stopped by a block sale in my neighborhood.   This is what I came away with!

framed print (gift for a friend who seldom reads this blog) $2
flask (!!! I've been wanting on for so long and this one is very ladylike) $5
books (like I need more...) .25 each
 - The Handmaid's Tale (Atwood)
 - The Closing of the American Mind (Bloom)
 - Odd Girls and Twilight Lovers (Faderman)
 - Writing with Style (Trimble)
 - The Subjection of Women (Mill)
 - Politics and the Arts (Rousseau)
 - All Quiet on the Western Front (Remarque)
 - A Streetcar Named Desire (Williams)

the Memorial Day weekend that wouldn't quit

 

Fri - graduation party,  Variety Show afterparty
Sat - The Lexington , then Tonic
Sun - one very artsy-fartsy house party, followed by getting lost in San Francisco. Fun!
Mon - BBQ at my place
Tue - Animal Collective at the Fox in Oakland
Wed - Werd at Project One , then psytrance at... a dive bar??? Yes, at Il Pirata .

I suppose I'll go to work now or something.

Friday night at the T-Sisters residence

IMG_1382
Originally uploaded by Rena1357

Late night planning sessions will be the bane of my existence. A new blog is in the works. As soon as it's all together and up, I'll start posting a lot more often.

Magic shows are now on par with spontaneous dance parties as far as foolproof party optimizers go.

self-discipline

A few moments ago I had yet another temporary freak out over my level of connectivity to the internet. I'm on vacation from school so this issue has become more prominent over the past few days. I blog here, I am on facebook constantly, I tweet and I'm addicted to my Google Reader. I do not yet use Digg or del.ic.ious (or wherever those commas go), but I do hear they're fun and even useful. I'm not that involved, but I do have an uneasy relationship with it all.

I grew up on the computer, so it is a very comfortable relationship in a way. I clearly remember my 1995 moment of awe over the powers of the internet. The internet is a beautiful thing, I do believe that. It isn't even that I feel like I'm wasting my time online. I just feel like I'm spending my time in all the wrong places.

Today I will read, I will write and I will learn.

ten kinds of soymilk that all taste the same

Friday, March 27th, 2009.  Approximately 4pm at TJ's Rockridge.

A young, very androgynous female stands in front of the meat section (sausages to be exact) looking utterly confused.

Me: Hey! Did you need any help?
Girl: ...
Me:  Just trying to decide?
Girl: ...I don't eat meat, like ever.  And now I need to buy meat for my friend's birthday and I have no idea what to get.  It just all looks so phallic to me.
Me: ...
Girl: You know?
Me: ...uh, yeah.  Well, you could also go with some marinated chicken.
Girl:  No.  I think pork.  Do you have any pork sausages?

I heart our customers sometimes.  Here's my workplace in a nutshell... or a youtube video.  How did they know I have a soft spot for Brazilian lounge music?




And here is the very beautiful original as sung by Antonio Carlos Jobim and Astrud Gilberto.  Who wants to take me to Brazil this summer?