Massive Sci-Fi Geekery Underway

Star Trek? Check. Battlestar Galactica? Check. Lost? Check. Heroes? Working on it. Babylon 5? Check. Doctor Who? You BET! How could I not? Anyways, so I got this job community managing at 42blips, a Sci-Fi social news site, and not only am I fresh off finishing up Firefly with Josh, but we sort of meant to steer towards Battlestar Galactica, anyhow. I can't wait! Now it's like I have a professional excuse to be a total junkie. Just gotta make sure there is time for videogames as well...

My foot is still hurt, so not playing tennis should making finding time for all of this pretty easy, but then the trick will be finding time for tennis again.

Officially sick of the web boyfriend

Bored clicking on him hoping to get some interesting event and then being disappointing when he just says, "fufufu" or something. I think my favorite part of the site was the buddy icon type interest indicators. For example, the avocado one. I <3 avocado.

Last night I met my net friend Terje irl and we cooked pumpkin coconut soup and lemon green beans. Turned out pretty good. I didn't take pictures, though.

Oh yes...the web boyfriend.

To which I say, "hell yes"

This makes sense

Your result for The Best Thing About You Test...

Discipline

Discipline is the act of enduring that which you don't dig ("the shit"), even though you could be doing something else more fun, because the shit is better for you in the long run. And you? You are remarkable. You can endure a lot of the shit, sometimes self-imposed. All 7 virtues are a part of you, but your discipline runs deepest.

Discipline is the key to success. In the picture above, the climber is finally having fun and unwinding, after a life of preparation.

Disciplined famous people: Ghandi, Jesus, Hitler

Your raw relative scores follow. 0% is low, and 100% is perfect, nearly impossible. Note that I pitted the virtues against each other, so in some way these are relative scores. It's impossible to score high on all of them, and a low score on one is just relatively low compared to the other virtues.

YOUR VIRTUES

0% Compassion

56% Intelligence

38% Humility

56% Honesty

63% Discipline

29% Courage

33% Passion

Take The Best Thing About You Test at HelloQuizzy

My brother made it look so easy

Staying off a foot is hard to do. It's not really feasible to use full crutches around the house, but I don't think I'm adept enough to use one as Josh has suggested and hopping isn't really any good. Short of crawling around I'm not sure what to do, but resting a possible injury doesn't really seem like the sort of thing that can be half-assed...

Crutches--GET

Yes, they were free off CL and now I can "walk" to wherever the closest free clinic is that can take an x-ray of my foot. Whoooo hoo. I'm excited about the rest of this week. Good games to play, gonna grab lunch with Randy tomorrow (I got a check today! Groceries!), cooking with Josh at some point, starting a hopefully on-going (paid!) English conversation partner deal, having fun despite the hurt.

And then even next Tuesday I will still be having fun, since I am getting Xav back for the awesomeness that was Monday by taking him out to a concert (Outdoorsmen!)

We might play Warhammer together, too. Josh wants in as well, so that pretty much convinces me. We'll have such a blast. I love playing MMOs with friends.

An Unprecedented Monday

Most of yesterday sucked. Then Xav invited me out for dinner and drinks with him and his friend V. They wanted sausage and I had made up my mind to go with whatever the flow would be, because I was having a horrible day and just wanted to completely relax. The special at Rosamunde was lamb with sundried tomato and potato, so I had that with onions. Pretty tasty. V felt it was intensely lamby. Xav's brat was unconventional (I warned him!) but still delicious with sauerkraut and mustard. We split a ginormous pickle and I had a sip of his oranges and cream soda.

Then we headed to The Bar, in the Castro, where an 80s night with super cheap Cosmos was gearing up. Danced until 1 am, which, I mean, when have I ever gone dancing? I did ONCE in Milwaukee, also, oddly enough, at a gay bar. Go figure. Anyhow, it was actually really fun, and on a Monday! Who does that? Apparently everyone there. We had arrived early, but it got pretty crowded after a while as V predicted.

I'm really happy I went out. Xav has always been good at cheering me up :D

Now check out the ninja I made:

Thursday?? Really?

The weeks fly by...

I did a pretty good job not getting a cold, I think! So I played tennis for two hours today and then proceeded to eat everything in sight all afternoon while getting lost in Infinite Undiscovery/crashing out of Warhammer.

I'm sort of realizing that tomorrow is going to be an insanely busy day, but at least it will start once again with tennis. I think tennis will keep me pretty happy. Today I played more doubles with Russ, which is really fun. He's friendly and helpful--recommended a coach in case I want lessons (which I totally do, as soon as I'm not so damned poor). Then Anatoly showed up and we played a singles set in which he eventually schooled me. It's sort of like being back in high school JV though because of how many of the points still depend on whether we can serve/return/hit our groundstrokes for realz.

Wherein our hero refuses to get a cold

WHAT THE FREAK

Updating video drivers

and other drivers. And will defrag, hopefully. I wish I knew more about computers, but of course, the same can be said for a lot of things.

I'm just trying to get my work done, by which I mean, play lots of Warhammer.

M&Ms Premiums

I meant to blog about how awesome tennis with Anatoly was this week, since we played some actual games, and even doubles with this really friendly older couple.

BUT instead I'm going to point out this FABULOUS quiz (hurr) that you can take at the website of M&Ms Premiums (which come in flavors like mocha, triple chocolate, and mint). I'm not quite as outdoorsy as they think I am, but I like that they called me "clearheaded." It's pretty much completely offensive, as the whole thing is marketed towards girls--not just girls, but the girliest girl girl girls in the universe. Josh stumbled upon the official site by clicking a banner ad (Premium M&Ms? Are they made with Swiss chocolate or something?) at a recipe site... Anyways, if you take the quiz, you'll know what I mean. They don't even pretend a guy could possibly be taking it, even though I bet they wouldn't mind if a guy decided that Raspberry Almond M&Ms sounded pretty good. Poor Josh is still sucked into the website making an avatar (I told him I didn't even want to know, heh) but hopefully he'll escape soon.

"The Latest Rig"

For whatever reason, this became the in-joke among Andrew's friends from high school after one of them asked me if I had it. I was at Andrew and Heather's wedding reception today at the Lafayette Park Hotel. Pretty nice place. Had a classical quartet playing in the courtyard, sparkling apple cider, tasty beef and plenty of veggies for lunch with a chocolate fountain and assorted dippers for dessert rather than cake because the cakes they tried "didn't taste like anything." Plus chocolate fountains are just more fun.

It was nice to see them, as I hadn't in a while. I didn't know anyone else there, but was welcomed into the high school pals crowd and even given a ride back to the BART. (I cabbed it on the way.) There were some little kids running around, too, dancing a bit, which was funny because Andrew and Heather were very insistent there not be dancing at the party, but the kids were allowed because they were tiny.

Andrew's sister seems really interesting. She wrote a book but I can't remember the title. Has to do with Japanese night clubs, or something. I should read it...after I ask him to remind me what it's called.

The 18th Street Block Party

I went, but I did not take any pictures!!!!!!!!!!!!

Perhaps I should have, but sadly, you will not get your visual fill of this event from me.

Actually, I didn't last very long. My main objective was to buy a meal ticket for some "Fulton Valley chicken grilled under a brick with a Tuscan bread salad." What is bread salad, you may ask? It turns out to be this delicious greens, tomatos, onions affaire with, instead of croutons, soggy bread. I may sound like I'm being snarky, or something, but that soggy bread was actually quite delicious. You might instead call it "marinated" or "soaked" or something, but soggy just fits the texture so well.

Lots of people milling around. A pig being rotisseried before our very eyes. Dancing children. Free yerba mate soda and apple samples. Two police officers taking away a guy in a khaki vest that said, "CIA SWAT" on it.

The Psychotherapists were on stage, and turned out to actually be a bunch of young kids, like middle school? Oh, silly me, here is their myspace. They sang about giant robots, cannibalistic monkeys, and a nerd named Hector. It was a good backdrop for carving up my chicken with a compostible fork and knife. They wrapped up right as I wrapped up and then my options were either dessert or...

Well, see, that's the thing. I realized I could go home and play more Mother 3 while enjoying a rootbeer float (without spending more dollars) and the hot hot hot sunny sunny hot hot sunny outing came to an abrupt end :D Worth going, though. It's on until 4 if you're in the hood.

Melty Tennis Heat

Today at Dolores there was a really shouty fellow. I thought at first he was freaking out at the other guy, but it turns out he was just freaking out at himself. I guess that's a little better, but come on. I mean, everyone has their frustration moves, but they don't have to be quite so mean and violent. He would roar and swear. It was awkward.

My tennis pal didn't care, much. Lucky! I was constantly terrified of incurring this fellow's wrath. Actually, though, his outrage contrasted heavily with his decent manners. He's just wayyyy serious about tennis. He kinda looked us up and down when we came onto the courts. I'm serious about tennis, too, but what that means is that we're gonna start working on serves next week. Hahaha. This guy was way better than that.

After playing for nearly two hours (in the HOT HOT HOT HOT HOT HOT HOTNESS of this bizarre San Francisco heat wave), we did what anyone at Dolores Park should've done: eaten ice cream at Bi-Rite.

I always meant to blog about how much I love Bi-Rite, and why I liked them better than Mitchell's (where I went for the first time last weekend), but I'm not gonna do it now. Suffice it to say, a kid's scoop of toasted coconut (or ANY FLAVOR) is the perfect way to end...anything.

Tomorrow's fakey pizza plans, today

This pizza needs...something. It has: plain crust with olive oil, very small amount of leftover mozzarella, heirloom tomatoes, olives, parmesan, pepper, red pepper (the spice.) Tasty, but not quite mealish.
What I am thinking is that next time either do this with pesto or garlic. Tempted to bake garlic into the crust. Also, more mozzarella. There was not enough cheese happening on this pizza. Luckily, we do have more tomatoes, so I can make another one.

I also came up with this wacky cinnamon-raisin pizza bread thing, where you put cinnamon in the crust and press raisins into the top. Brush with button and sprinkle sugar. That sounds stupid tasty. I might do it one of these days.

Tomorrow's fakey pizza plans

I'm gonna make a pizza with all the cheese in the fridge (ok, not all of it) plus a ton of heirloom tomatoes and fresh basil. We'll see what happens.

Also, let me just say that this week officially fails at being awesome. I can only hope my luck turns around by Friday at 2:30, when I have my interview at IGN.

Pictures for Sad Children

makes fun of the book I am reading and my entire life, back to back.

Oh yeah-- pix from Puttanesca night!

Josh bought capers--the jar was so hard to open!!--and this cheese and bread! It was clearly time to make Puttanesca, finally.


We had fresh basil in the fridge (but no oregano, even dried : /) and Josh grated some fresh Parmesan to sprinkle.


In addition to black and green olives, we had some of these mixed ones chopped up and thrown in there. So it was almost just like when I went to Canada with dad.


For some reason it turned out a bit too salty--maybe too many anchovies? But it was still pretty delicious.


See?

A really great time at tennis today

despite the post work-out burrito being less than awesome. (I'm tempted to write my first yelp post so that others aren't tempted by the location of this taqueria. How can you go wrong with 18th and Valencia? Who knows? I wonder if that's how they stay in business. Not that it was BAD, but there are far better places.) Sorta wish I had sucked it up and walked another couple of blocks with the last of my useful silver change.

Anyways, we played at Dolores for a change and what a beautiful day. Labor Day, so everyone was out and about. The line at Bi-Rite was typically long and the park was packed full of picnickers. The wait for a court went surprisingly quick, though. We sat behind a couple of adorable little girls playing. I would guess maybe...7 year olds? 8? I dunno. I don't see enough kids.

When we got on the court the really cute one (shoulder length black hair in tight waves, fuchsia cargo shorts and a t-shirt) asked if it was our first time playing there. She was so precocious and adorable. When I said, "No, have you played here before?" She answered. "Yes. Are you a boy or a girl?"

Hahaha, I love kids. They can never tell! "I'm a girl."

"Oh, cuz you have short hair and look like a boy." To be fair, I wear my boy shorts to tennis because the deep pockets carry lots of balls (no...pun...intended...*snicker*)

"That's ok," I said.

I sort of hope I run into her again. I'd like to make friends with such a cute and outgoing kid.

It was very sunny and quite windy, but we played about an hour and a half. Or maybe just an hour. Not sure how long we were waiting. Got some good shots. I think we really are a pretty good match. I hope I'm not just saying that, but I guess he wouldn't want to keep playing with me if he didn't feel like he gets anything out of it.

I love San Francisco. Xav always says it sounds like I'm trying to convince myself, because I remark on the sentiment so often, but man, being out on days like today is just the greatest.