so wrong

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7RXmNRr8x7I&feature=player_embedded

st. louis and all my beautiful friends

i've been back in st. louis now for a few days, staying with my friend zach. i met him at webster university 5 years ago. we've remained friends ever since. i got to watch him knock out 125 t-shirt prints in his basement with a bunch of friends. he's a great artist, doing mostly design work, some freelance on the side of his regular design job.

zach is a smart, funny and honest person with a work ethic like you would never imagine. he's got a delicious sense of style. our day begins at 6:15 a.m. and i lie in bed trying to fall back to sleep after hearing his alarm. he leaves for work at 7:00 and i eventually fall back in and out of sleep until around 8:30. i get up, let the dog out. mojo is his huge black lab. a total sweetheart who will jump all over you and put his head, then his entire body in your lap if you let him. he likes to snuggle. i went on a long bike ride through tower grove park and beyond. i recall living right next to the park but don't venture over to where me and my ex husband lived. i guess i am over it. i made enchiladas and they were devoured.

then, i get on the computer and mess around for a while... see what all my facebook friends are doing. there is an extra bike for me to ride here, so i call up lambert, another friend i met about 5 years ago here in st. louis. he's at a construction site building pools and landscaping and such. i ride zach's extra bike over and we have lunch. i meet him again later after work and we go to his house and shoot the shit after grabbing some great pork rib bbq. i'm back to eating meat. i had a bad stabbing stomach ache one night after eating pork ribs, so i stopped. but now that i'm in st. louis, and there is bbq everywhere, i have to have it! san francisco has every type of food you can imagine, but in the bbq dept., slim pickings. i guess i'm biased since i'm from santa maria, the mecca of west coast bbq. and st. louis is also known for it's awesome bbq. they're rivals with kansas city.

anyway, so we shoot the shit at his apt. let me talk about this apt. and zach's apt. for that matter. they are old brownstones with hardwood floors, a deck, a foyer, two bedrooms, an extra office space, a living room and full kitchen and bathroom. they pay $550 a month. split two ways, you can do the math. i mean, it IS in st. louis, but that's what drew me here in the first place. it's hard to complain about that.

lambert is named after lambert international airport. i think his grandfather owns(ed) it. we don't really talk about it. adorned at his mom's house are old aviation photos. pretty cool. lambert is a man with a huge heart. he's absolutely gorgeous, self-deprecating but honest as can be, hard working, and sober. he's someone you want to protect, and someone you want to have protect you. he's still a boy in his personal growth process, but he's wise beyond years in self realization, if that's not an oxy-moron.

today is friday and i have nothing to do until this evening. tonight, i am going to some fancy shmancy restaurant with lana, my hilarious russian friend who will never tell anyone how old she is. we met here while i was going to art school and taking a sabbatical from doing hair, and decided to work as a gift wrapper at a family-run gift shop. we were instant chums, always making each other laugh our asses off. lana was an air traffic controller in russia until she moved here 19 years ago. now, she has a radiology degree, and is a single mother. she's an amazing woman, a very strong and independent woman with a sense of humor and a smile and laugh that lights up my spirit! her accent itself cracks me up. she makes up her own "sayings". one of my favorites is "i am on cloud 69". i say, "you mean cloud nine?" she laughs so hard. another good one: "i feel like i been hit wiv bag of flour". this is what she says when she's hung over. and when she has bad breath, she says, "i have mouf full wiv kitty litter". she's hilarious!!!

tomorrow i will go to visit my old gift wrapping people. i love them! there's an old crotchety lady named wanda who everyone thinks is the devil. she's a 75 yr old chain-smoking little black woman. she's totally unapproachable at first, stand-offish, arrogant, and cold. but i broke her. she is one of the loveliest, most honest, experienced and practically funny women i've met in my life. she still talks about getting laid. i can't wait to see her. then, there's helen. oh helen, this angel. she's a big old black lady who sings that humming sing when she works. she's very quiet and so so so so sweet. she's about wanda's age and is still working. i'm afraid she may pass away soon and i want to see her and hug her before she goes. these two women are polar opposites, yet they have been working side by side for over 25 years and they get along swimmingly. when i hug helen, she's going to almost cry and laugh. when i hug wanda, she's going to say, "get away from me girl!" and then hug me and laugh anyway.

sat. night, it's a pot luck hay ride drinking extravaganza with lana the russian out in some far away county. why did i agree to this??? i'll make enchiladas again. that should do the trick.

one awesome pair of pant-shoes

http://very-bored.com/pics3/weirdshoes/weird-shoes-10.jpg

haven't posted in a while and this is a nothing post

sitting in the apt. doing nothing but this. totally blanked on what to write next in my book. really stoked about going to st. louis in two days, san antonio two days later and taipei over the new year for a month. all i've been doing is working. i gave a friend $100 because he was stuck in portland with a dead aunt and a dying sister, and no money. i got a new netbook. it's only a 10 inch screen, so it's like a barbie computer. i can hear the crazy people downstairs at the bars yelling. not the bar people, but people on the street. like, crackheads. i also hear the bottle collectors. i have begun to appreciate that sound. it happens every morning and it reminds me i'm in san francisco.

the giants lost. oh well. i'm glad that's finally over. who cares about baseball? the most boring sport outside of golf.... i'm not sorry to offend. but whatever, to each his own. no! i'm not finished! in baseball, you wait around for the ball to come to you, wait around to bat. there are 9 innings and fat guys running around in circles. tell me this is a sport! now soccer is a sport.

speaking of which, too bad spain won the world cup instead of brazil.

in other news, i'm going to taipei for a month over the new year. nothing special. just me alone in another country.... sense the sarcasm? i'm scared as hell but i do have one distant friend who will show me around. i am new to the language (meaning, i know nothing). i wouldn't even know how to get from the airport to wherever i'm staying. it's all one big adventure. so is life!

speaking of adventures, i had the pleasure of eating veal tongue and pig face yesterday. andrew zimmern from the bizarre foods show, showed up near my neighborhood and served weird food out of a school bus, of all places.
i met him and he's a stand up guy.


well that's my rant for the night.

all is well that ends well.

VT rank 1,342!!

http://members.virtualtourist.com/m/77102/

ultimate laugh

men and women. do they work together or don't they?

i suppose it has to be the right man and the right woman.

upon researching fountains...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rcYXEfWIiSQ&feature=player_embedded

taipei

well it looks like i'm going to be in taipei all alone for a month over the new year. my friend kind of got pissed at me for something and now doesn't want to hang out. BUT i do have another new friend who lives there and is willing to show me around. he's from there, which is better because he speaks the language. this is him.

i'm looking forward to snake alley, where they have snake cooked in all different ways. i'm looking forward to grabbing things from the local markets, whether it be food or unique trinkets. i want to see museums and sacred spaces, whether it be a building or an outdoor space. i want to see their lively night life, their culture close up. i want to converse with the people, do what they do.

i would be so lucky to be invited to someone's house for dinner. a really authentic taiwanese dinner. i would do quirky things too, things people in the u.s. don't do. i would go to some crazy show or shoot someone with a water gun. i imagine all the things that are different. i want to eat the crazy food i may find repulsive. everything is new. that's why i love travel. it's an exploration into my own potential and my boundaries.

so taipei it is. ticket purchased. me in taipei for the first time! what a rush!