Ultramundane.com -- It's Just Not Natural.

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United States, California, San Francisco, The Mission, English, Spanish, Casey, Male, 31-35.

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Friday, June 21, 2002

Whatever Makes You Happy, Whatever Gives You Hope.

Ok, so maybe it's been kind of a rough week. Besides everything that happened like doctors telling me I'm fat, tragic events happening to coworkers, crazy movie schedules and not enough sleep, now I'm feeling a little under the weather too. So maybe, yes, I was caught watching driving tips cartoons at work. So? Maybe I just needed to relax a little.
(Link via Memepool.)

I was a little upset when Chris pointed out that Internet Radio Stations (and some great ones, too) have already started to shut off their streams because of the new fees for Webcasting (Link via Chuck.) I'm appalled and dissapointed in myself for not getting involved earlier. It's well past time to demonstrate the difference between broadcasting music and pirating songs. Oooh, I can feel my blood pressure rising again thinking about it.

I've just got to let go. I'm extremely glad it's the weekend, and I can finally indulge in some small pleasures, like my favorite herb tea, and sleeping in. Because after all, don't we all deserve a little pick-me-up (Link via Jonno.) now and then, to keep us smiling?

11:11 PM PST (link)

Thursday, June 20, 2002

There's Blood in My Cheese Stream!

OK, who's the wise guy who's been slipping lard into my food?

Tuesday I went to my doctor's office (where he was tolerably less condescending than the first time I saw him) for the results of my blood tests. My cholesterol levels were high like I had been drinking shots of Wesson. My "good" cholesterol levels were cowering in fear. Basically, I gave them gravy in a test tube.

But I'm a vegetarian! How is this possible? Was there a mix-up at the lab or something? Like, between my blood and the drippings from someone's McDLT?

Well duh. What do restaurants always offer for the vegetarian option? Cheese dishes. Cheese sandwiches. Deep-fried Cheese. Where else is a vegetarian going to get those kinds of oils and fats? I'm going to have to be more conscious both eating out and at home. I'm aware now that it isn't going to be enough that I scour the ingredients list for hidden surprise meat products; Now I'm supposed to keep another eye on the Nutrition Facts in case the numbers start creeping up on their own, right there on the side of the box; to see who's hiding arterial wax in my food. Now I have to do math just to eat? if I'd have known, I would have studied harder. How do you skinny people manage to keep track of all this?

Oh yeah, and he said something about aerobic exercise or something, but I was too busy responding to an email message on my Blackberry to pay attention. Exercise, right. That's next, I swear.

12:50 AM PST (link)

Tuesday, June 18, 2002

Extending My Social Polygon.

It must be my week for meeting bloggers on the street. Today outside of the doctor's office I ran into Jessie and Chris. It was cool chatting with them for a little bit on the corner. Send any spare job- or apartment-hunting karma their way.

(See? I'm saying hello when I see people in public now. One small step forward in this "being social" thing. Soon I'll graduate up to non-random encounters with other people!)

06:09 PM PST (link)

(Solo and) Double Feature.

You know, before yesterday I had never seen a movie by myself before. I powered over to the Herbst theater, sat down, and realized that I had 30 minutes that I could have spent eating (which I forgot to do) or walking leisurely here. So I had time to sit and contemplate how odd it is to be alone in a theater.

Which is to say, not odd at all.

This first movie was É Minha Cara (That's my face), an interesting documentary on one man's quest to find himself in the orisha of Brazil, and along the way seeing what it means to be black in Brazil and here in the US. The motif he uses—that everything can be two things (or more) at once—was both universal and particularly relevant for a gay audience. Surface appearances can hide deeper (or at least unexposed) meanings. I liked that the narrator's "revelation" of his gayness was just something that happened organically, without fanfare—suddenly, he's with a handsome male companion, and it's clear (though sometimes only subtly so) that they're not merely friends. And I've long had an affinity for Vodou/Santería/Candomblé (which I admit I still don't quite understand why.)

Anyway. The extra time I allotted was unfortunately on the wrong side of the movie; I kept one eye on the time so I could run out to catch MUNI and see the other movie on the agenda that evening. The Boyfriend and I made extended contingency plans on meeting inside the theater if need be. And aside from the schedule miscalculation and the forgetting-to-eat parts, I was prepared for the worst.

I ran from the theater and saw a familiar face racing across the yellow light towards me, hotfooting it over to get in line early for the next show. So, how was your movie, Gino?

Well, it turned out I didn't even need to run. Got there and met the Boyfriend in line with plenty of time to even eat a bran muffin beforehand. AKA was really interesting; the projection on three screens was a lot less distracting than expected; in many ways it was useful to be able to look left or right to see someone's reaction, or to see something crucial happen multiple times. (As an aside, I need to see Timecode one of these days.) The story is excellent; we walked out talking about class society. Are English society people really that conceited and superior? Is there an American equivalent, and if so can the Nouveau Riche buy their way in to ours in a way they can't?

That's the one thing that's different about seeing a movie on your own: the discussion about it afterwards just isn't as lively.

Well, not usually.

05:11 PM PST (link)

Sunday, June 16, 2002

My Recipe Also Omits The Bread.

—What's in the Gazpacho?
—Tomato, cucumber, bell pepper, onion, one garlic clove...[The detectives pass out on the couch]...oil, salt, vinegar, some day-old bread, and water. The secret is in mixing it right.

Suddenly I'm possessed to make my yearly attempt at preparing gazpacho. However, in this instance I will omit the sleeping pills.

While you wait for it to chill, you can see the varied history of soup in the movies. I love the Internet.

mujeres al borde de un ataque de nervios

08:59 PM PST (link)