The Dollhouse Finale

New thing of the day, saw the end of the show and season 2 of The Dollhouse.

Awesome with awesome sauce :) Loved it and may re-watch it to learn more, and may even check out the supposed comic book series? Who knows. Loved it! Go watch it and I hope it has enough of a fan base that maybe it'll come back? Probably not, but - LOVED IT!

Watching TV on the treadmill

New thing of the day, watched an episode of Dollhouse Season 2 while on the treadmill at the gym.

I have an iphone and it gets Netflix. Bless Netflix. Anyway I took an easy walk on the treadmill, put on headphones and hooked up to Netflix. It was awesome. The only bad thing was my eyes sorta were over focused on the tiny screen and I couldn't refocus them after awhile. Overall though fun! I think that'll be my new motivation for the gym. Plus I saw a great mind-blowing episode of the DollHouse season 2.

So new thing, doing two normal things at once :)

From Threadless.com - Runnin Rhino - Awesome shirt! 

Christmas Hiatus

New thing of the day, I think I'm quitting.

Well, I'm quitting the daily blog anyway. Christmas was tons of fun! Lots of presents, family, driving and cool stuff. I have lots of new things I could blog about, but I think it's not worth it to do it every day. Life is for living, not for blogging about it. So I think I'll change the tone of this blog to be more about the quality of the new thing I've tried, rather than the quantity. The daily blog has become rather burdensome rather than inspiring. So I will now blog when I have something interesting or new I've tried. Goal will be to do more creative things, rather than just finding something to blog about every day.

On the long drive home I got to thinking. I spent way too much money on gifts this year. I have an artist cousin who inspired me. She gave me a photo print of one of her drawings. I love a lot of gifts my aunts make because they're home made blankets, ornaments, cards or paintings. My favorite gifts are always the creative self-made ones. So I'd like to start planning and trying for next year, to be more creative and make all my gifts.

In addition to saving money, I get to do something creative with myself in anticipation of gifts. I have a lot of creativity and undiscovered talents that I believe in - so I'd like to explore those. Not sure if this blog helped me break out of the "afraid to try new things" thing, but maybe it did. I saw my aunt cook Filipino food and it made it feel easy and accessible. I've seen relatives give home-made gifts and I want to do that too. I'm tired of thinking about new things to try, and I just want to do it. Take chances. As my Oatmeal Cake disaster showed me, I mess up, but all the more motivation to do it well.

We got a blender and a crock pot for Christmas and I can't wait to try them and to try new recipes. It seems like scarves and socks were a cozy hit at Christmas so I want to learn to crochet and make them for next year's gifts. Also, we finally put up some bookshelves and I have my own corner for creative cards, paintings and such. I think I'll start painting/drawing again and posting them here. I can finally start scrap booking and printing out the many photos I store up but never really share or do much with. So many fun creative and non-TV projects I want to try. I want to do more essential important things.

Plus with my Master's degree and school - time will most likely be more strained. Eating out is costing too so gotta start doing stuff at home. Anyway - it's a New Year's resolution I suppose even though I don't believe in New Year's Resolutions, only once a year. I think you should always seeking to improve yourself.

So New thing of the day - today, I got crocheting hook, yarn and booklet on my own. Last time I tried crocheting, my grandma was around to help me learn. I was much younger then and forgot most of it. Then I tried learning with a friend long ago. We did a bit in the car on a road trip but I didn't stick with it. Now I am self-inspired after Christmas but also to make beautiful pieces like my grandmother does. I think I want to learn crocheting, then sewing, then making clothes and quilting - a passion I've always had. Not sure how long I can stick to crocheting, but if I know their end goal - Christmas 2011, it'll be easier to make.

So anyway, first steps. Went to Joann's after work. My is it intimidating. All those yarns and hooks to choose from. I chose a small pretty book for patterns I like and could follow. I chose a variety of plastic crochet hook sizes. I also chose a nice yarn color that I wouldn't mind making into something. Project is to make a scarf for husband and/or friends/family. Socks and scarves for now. One step at a time. I've got to remember that.

Anyway - did a few practice runs and was able to make something semi-descent start to a scarf. I kept doing a few rows then taking them out again. Trying to get good practice before actually starting a scarf. A single stitch crochet for now. I'll start at the beginning and not try to be overambitious or zealous about getting good fast. That's the trouble I think. We always seek to be great fast. I'm taking the Japanese approach. Always working to perfection and seeking to improve. I've also been reading some eastern buddhist religion texts so that's inspiring as well.

OK so, new goal. Do new things, but not every day, and do more creative new things. I thought about quitting the whole blog altogether, but I think it's been a good exercise. It's just one I can't keep up daily, and that's ok. Will keep trucking.

Well, happy holidays y'all!

2 eggs shy of an Oatmeal Cake

New thing of the day, forgetting the eggs in my oatmeal cake.

With Christmas around the corner, I was determined to make something yummy for the hubby. I have a signature delicious oatmeal cake recipe that I'm rather good at. Trouble is, ever since we moved into our new place in April I haven't been cooking very well in our kitchen. Per past post, I believe this is due to our gas oven, and me being far more familiar with electric. I haven't made anything good in our kitchen since we moved in. Everything mostly tastes "eh" rather than "yum". That's unusual since it's usually 50/50 "eh" and "yum", rather than 100% "eh" which it's felt like lately. 

Anyway I was determined! I even bought a new baking pan in hopes that would help. So as usual I prepped all the ingredients, mixed and baked. As I was mixing the cake I thought the texture was a bit different but didn't think anything of it. Then in the oven it went. Since my last oatmeal cake turned out dry and overcooked, I reset my timer to 10 minutes less, and also put a pan of water in the oven with the cake for moisture. I watched our oven temperature as well to make sure it cooked evenly. 

After about 20 minutes I started the topping and made a perfect peanut butter and walnut topping to the cake. So good! Then I took out the cake and tested with a knife - went straight through so we were good. Then spread the topping on perfectly even, and put it under the broiler for 5 more minutes. 

As I'm cleaning up, I see 2 eggs sitting there. DAMMIT!!!!! I forgot the eggs. No wonder the cake texture was different and it wasn't binding properly. No wonder it didn't really rise or have the same texture when I put the knife through. OMG!

So after all that perfection, it's missing something pretty vital. It's not like I forgot to sprinkle the cinnamon or anything. UGH! So we let the cake cool, and after we try it. It's rather mushy, but at least it's moist :) The texture is all off. But husband likes the flavor and he was very sweet and supportive and still likes it.

ARGH!!!! My coworker says I need to "cleanse" the kitchen by burning some sage throughout and releasing the bad mojo. I think I still need to get the oven checked out by a company because the temperature thing was acting up. I am so mad at myself for forgetting the eggs! Boooo me! Ugh. No salvaging it, but at least, the husband still likes it and I made it for him. In place of eggs, love and a few pitiful drops of tears, into the cake it goes.

Thermal Pants

New thing of the day, tried some new Women's Fruit of the Loom Thermal Pants.

Got them at Walmart a few weeks back. The weather warmed up so I didn't need it. Then this week it got cold and rainy. Today I tried on a pair of small women's thermal pants underneath my pants.

They are a bit big, but comfy. Keeps you warm. I'll have to try them with tighter pants to see if they bunch or are uncomfortable but overall they work. They're overall a lot comfier than I thought they'd be. I might get a size smaller, but, overall they're good.

That's all.

Parol

New thing of the day, we put up a parol.

Parols are Filipino Christmas Star Lanterns - that we put up at Christmas. Most are pretty gaudy colored and have various twinkling combinations to them. There are a great variety of types and colors and they're mostly found in the Philippines. 

I bought a simple pretty white parol a few years ago and brought it back to the US. We haven't used it since I brought it back because, well, no real room and we never had a place of our own to decorate. This year though, our own place, our own decor. We found the parol and put it up! Oh how exciting and wonderful. It's a great piece of home that I absolutely love and makes it feel all the more Christmassy! 

Maligayang Pasko! It means Merry Christmas in Tagalog! :) 

Crock-Pot

New thing of the day, got an original Crock Pot for Christmas.

We did Christmas a little early this year with certain family members, due to the hectic holiday schedule coming up. In the gift exchange, we got a crock pot. It was on our list of wants, and with little/no experience with a crock pot - I've heard wonderful things so wanted to try it out.

Love this as it's red like our rice cooker. Set it and forget it - I hope. We may try cooking with it at first over the weekend so we can get comfortable with the timing of the food and be present and be around when it's cooking. Maybe do some mass meals ahead of time and have leftovers over the week. I'm a fan of easy cooking and maybe we might find some great ways to make yummy food with this. 

Got a 4 qt ceramic - which I think will fit all our general needs. Should be interesting to try out. I'll let you know when we try our first recipe with it :) 

Pirate Radio

New thing of the day, watched the movie Pirate Radio.

To continue the rock out theme and musical whirlwind that has been this weekend, we watched Pirate Radio. Apparently it was written and directed by the guy who did Love Actually. It was a husband pick on Netflix - and surprisingly pretty good!

It's about a ship of Radio Rock DJs and a boy who joins them and their crazy antics. It had good comedy, good story, good characters and you really unexpectedly get into the whole thing. I wasn't expecting to like this because I didn't know how you could tell this story without it being boring, but it wasn't. It was interesting and fun.

We put on subtitles after awhile because everyone was speaking English - as in British English, so the accent and the softer tones were harder to hear. Subtitles really helped with the movie :) Anyway, at the end, well I'm not giving anything away, but you get sucked in and really feel for the characters and are rooting for them. It's a fun tale, and not sure if it's worth owning, but I'm considering it. I liked it that much. I think I will get the soundtrack.

Oh and another surprise. Usually Philip Seymour Hoffman freaks me out, but in this movie, he does really well and you feel like he could be your buddy.

Anyway if you get a chance, check out the movie :) Long Live Rock & Roll!

PS - OMG I forgot to post one of my favorite lines from the movie - It's this :)

The Count: You know, a few months ago, I made a terrible mistake. I realized something, and instead of crushing the thought the moment it came I... I let it hang on, and now I know it to be true. And I'm afraid it's stuck in my head forever. These are the best days of our lives. It's a terrible thing to know, but I know it.

Young Carl: I don’t know about that.

The Count: Well, yeah. Yeah. Maybe you’ll be lucky. Maybe you’ll have better days, but I doubt it.

Camp Freddy Billy Idol

New thing of the day, saw a new Camp Freddy show.

The one cool thing about Camp Freddy is that they always have new guest singers and musicians, and it will always be a new show and a new thing. Per my previous post, we had signed up to see 2 shows. The previous one had the finale guest star as Steven Tyler of Aerosmith. No doubt we were impressed and very excited.

Second time around, we decided to go to the Roxy around 10pm, since the show doesn't actually start until about 11. We saw the 2nd opening band - a girl group with alternative musical talent and who said they got a record deal. Not sure the name of that band, but they did really well and rocked out! Go Girls!

Then the Camp Freddy show started. Their second song was Ballroom Blitz - awesome. Below is the set-list and the guest musicians. Overall I thought the whole show had a better energy and better performances and songs overall. The highlights were that Cypress Hill showed up and rocked out the crowd to Rock Superstar. So awesome. I also enjoyed Franky Perez's performances. He rocked out War Pigs once again, and also sang Baba O’Reilly Teenage Wasteland ever so awesome. The coolest part was where Cypress Hill, Franky Perez and Sebastian Bach rocked out to Paradise City. They were so excited to perform that song and you could tell they just loved singing it, as we all did. That was an amazing song and fun performance and everyone really enjoyed it.

Low points were that Juliette Lewis did the same songs - Proud Mary and Dirty Deeds. She did them well, but I was a bit disappointed to know she did the same ones. Also - she stripped off her shirt in the middle of Proud Mary and showed off a purple glitter bra underneath. Not really a fan of that but whatever. Jonny Lang made weird O faces while playing Black Magic Woman. Also Mark McGrath was there again. He sang some crowd pumping music, but eh I still don't jive with his performances.

Sebastain Bach was there - from Skidrow. The husband was very excited but I have no idea who he is. He has a lot of hair and sings ok. He did Cat Scratch Fever and Ain't Talkin About Love. Eh? He jumped in on Paradise City which was impromptu and you could tell they weren't expecting it but he couldn't help himself because he loved that song. He did well and he kept the crowd pumped up during his time on stage.

Guest star was Billy Idol and his band. I actually liked his performance of Dancing with Myself and Rebel Yell. Overall I'm not a Billy Idol fan so I wasn't star struck like I was with Steven Tyler. Although I think he did a great job and performed rockingly! I may rethink his music and try it out.

So that was our evening. We really enjoyed the show but were slightly disappointed another one of our favorites didn't magically appear as the guest star. We joked maybe Dave Grohl, Bon Jovi or Alanis might show up at the end. It's a bit tough to beat Steven Tyler for me.

Rocking show though. They may be one of my new favorite bands. :)

Friday Dec 17, 2010
The Roxy

SET LIST: We Will Rock You, Ballroom Blitz , She Sells Sanctuary, War Pigs, Baba O’Reilly, Paradise City, Rock Superstar, Dirty Deeds, Proud Mary, Round And Round, Fight For Your Right, Black Magic Woman, Cat Scratch Fever, Ain’t Talkin’ ‘Bout Love, Ready Steady Go, Dancing With Myself, Rebel Yell

GUESTS: Steve Isaacs, Franky Perez, Cypress Hill, Juliette Lewis, Jonny Lang, Mark McGrath, Sebastian Bach, ROB, Billy Idol, Steve Stevens. Jeremy Colson, Steve Jones.

Pookie Thai Curry Chicken

New thing of the day, tried Pookie Thai Curry Chicken.

We had lunch out here with coworkers. Not the first time we've eaten here, but the first time I've had their Thai Curry Chicken lunch special. AMAZING AND DELISH! It was very creamy, peanutty, mild not too spicy and just a great great combination of flavors. It's not uber curry-ish. It's very creamy and almost thick delicious sauce-ish. Anyone who's wary of curry will enjoy this. Anyone who does like curry will enjoy this.

Amazing - and like the description says for the dish "Famous throughout the world. You know...."

Awesome with awesome sauce. Try it next time you're in the Westlake Village Thousand Oaks area :) It's in a little plaza and can be a bit hard to find, but totally worth it!

Whip It

New thing of the day, saw the movie Whip It.

This is a terrible movie! I ordered it on Netflix because I heard good things about it. Then it was just painful to sit through and overall I didn't like it.

It's too indy and quirky, something very trite and annoying at this point. The main character is indy and quirky and is out of place in her current situation, so she finds herself and learns to stand up in the sport of roller derby. It has some neat actors like Eve, Drew Barrymore, Marcia Gay Harden and Juliette Lewis. It's just annoying because we've seen this quirky adorable fish out of water story before.

UGHHH!

The only parts I did like, were the way they approached some of the issues. The main character is rebelling against her mother, but the friend says something along the lines of - you're being selfish, your mother loves and and although she's wrong about this she's not wrong about everything and you should still find a way to listen and respect her. It's a cool nice twist on a broken record.

I actually fast forwarded through this and when it looked like it might be interesting dialogue I played the scene. It's a lot of cliche crap and it's so Fing annoying. I know some people love this movie. Maybe we weren't in the mood when we saw it? The only new thing was the sport of roller derby. Overall it felt like a cliche overdone broken record Disney movie with hipster clothes, music and actors. So sad I wasted my life on this.

POWER!

New thing of the day, being in charge of my department at work.

It felt like a life test. For some weird reason, my boss has been turning to me a lot lately to be his second. He thinks highly of me and trusts me to take care of things when he's not around. I'm being "groomed". It's good, but also scary, because I am not the most senior person in the department and there are a lot of office politics to deal with.

Anyway, my boss was out today and specifically put me in charge of the place while he was gone. We had another senior member of the department out, so short staffed and in charge, I think I managed rather well. Better actually because I didn't have to call rank with someone more senior. Luckily I have a good/great relationship with the remaining members of my department, so things went pretty smoothly.

One thing came up in the afternoon needing some leadership and a decision. It's something that sort of affects the company at many levels. I think I handled it well, and will continue to handle it tomorrow and as the "project" rolls out. I'm a little nervous because I have to talk to everyone in the company tomorrow about this new plan, in place of my boss. I talked to him and he's cool with it but nervous about the roll-out just like I am. Our styles differ, but we appreciate the differences and aren't in conflict. I know my place and I try to play my hands evenly.

Anyway, it was overall I think a successful day. Tomorrow and other days will probably be harder, as I'll probably have to manage and eventually pull rank and decisions over people more senior than me in the department. We'll have to roll out this project with my leadership. I'll be the person people ask for the decision after awhile. It's awkward at times, and well, I dread being a bad leader, which perhaps is why I would be a good one? I think I have a level head and a cooperative attitude, which is probably my biggest advantage.

It's just surprising, but a nice surprise, that a boss thinks I'm good enough to take over after him. It's amazing and a nice confidence builder, even though I'm not confident. It's an interesting test, with him being gone. I'm truly honored but also afraid of disappointing or acting like an ass. I don't want to make any mistakes. I guess the best way to make sure is to cover bases, ask lots of questions and talk to lots of departments to make sure that we're getting it right. Communicate when need be.

Anyway it's not always the easiest thing being in charge and having the decisions of the department in your hands. I may be over dramatizing, but it's how it feels. Everything is new from this vantage point. Here's to crossing my fingers and hope I step carefully. Gotta be smart and lucky to make this work. Eeek!

Fame (2009)

New thing of the day, watched the 2009 remake of the movie Fame.

Eh. I had it on while studying. It wasn't that interesting or original. The music and dancing wasn't that interesting either. It wasn't great. I find other tv shows and movies way more interesting. It's good it wasn't good, because I had to study anyway.

2 out of 5 stars, possibly will downgrade to just 1 star. Have it on while cleaning the house or maybe doing chores? Eh. I'm glad I was doing something else while this movie was on. That's all?

Dollhouse Season 2

New thing of the day, watched the first few episodes of Dollhouse season 2.

I am a huge fan of the Dollhouse season 1. We watched season 1 on Netflix instant and I absolutely loved this show. I saw that Dollhouse season 2 was on instant finally so decided to watch the first episode.

Oddly enough, I don't remember very much of the first season, especially the cliff-hanging finale, so I was very confused at the first episode. They didn't really do a recap of the first season, and so I was stuck. Decided to watch a 2nd episode and it was good but I still don't remember the longer plot line which they base half the story on, so I'm going back to season 1 to re-watch some episodes, or at least read up on what happened on Wikipedia.

I'm really surprised I don't remember what happened. There are a few main points that escape me that are bothering me. Also, well, I was confused because on Netflix instant, the last episode of season 1 never actually aired - it was a weird pilot episode or a weird "alternate reality" episode, and when I saw it I thought it was the finale, but it actually had nothing to do with the whole series. Anyway, I am slightly confused, but am very excited the season 2 is online.

I highly recommend this series! It's great sci-fi, action, alias type espionage and overall an interesting show. I'm sad it ended, but seeing what's been going on the past 2 episodes of season 2 and the last "lost" episode of season 1, I can see where it might have lost some if its appeal or audience.

Here's also a new first that hasn't happened in awhile. We slept in today until noon - NOON?! Can you believe it? It's been an exciting and tiring weekend, and looking forward to more sleep, but not to Monday.

Larsen's Grill in Simi Valley

New thing of the day, tried Larsen's Grill in Simi Valley.

We were all dressed up and ready to go out to a party but also to celebrate an anniversary, so we decided to have a fancy dinner out. At first we wanted to try Sutter's Mill, but when we got to the restaurant and got a seat, it just felt weird. The menu and service looked great, but the restaurant and the people in it were too casual. People were in casual shorts and t-shirts, the decor was more of a dressed down lodge, and I didn't want to stay there because well, I wanted something more formal and fitting for a nice evening out.

So we left and decided to try Larsen's at the Simi mall. This was an excellent change and we were very happy with it. The decor and service was a higher class and fit with our evening out. I ordered a glass of white wine - forget which one, but it was amazing and excellent and yummy! The husband had a beer. They had really good garlic bread as a starter, and both our meals were very very good.

I ordered sole with crab and creamed spinach - delish! The fish was cooked to perfection and the sauce, flavoring and everything was good. The creamed spinach was a lot of spinach and not a lot of cream. Good, but not super tasty. 

Husband got the slow cooked tri-tip with mac and cheese and french fries. His whole meal was very good, and the tri-tip tasted amazing with their bbq sauce. 

It was a delicious evening, and we will plan to go back for their filet minion sandwich and some of the other specials that looked pretty good. Not too pricey but felt like a nice night out. I'll be back for the wine as well :) 

Camp Freddy Steven Tyler

New thing of the day, saw the band Camp Freddy.

Very very cool show. Like their bio says, it's a bunch of musicians getting together for the love of Rock and Roll, and playing cover songs with guest musicians. It's the spirit of the show, but also a great way to see some people perform outside their songs and some of their favorites. 

There were two opening bands. The first one, Sabrosa Purr - well I liked their first song and was a bit bored by the rest of it. They had a girl drummer and guitar player and did some funky new hipster stuff where they all played drums at the end of one of their songs, but overall they rocked it out the first song and it was downhill after that for me. I liked the second opening band - Darling Stillettos, just for the fact that they were female and rocking out, a little sex appeal but some fun moves and working it. A good show and some catchy beats. Overall just more fun, sexy and rock.

Highlights for Camp Freddy. Well I'm not familiar with all the guest musicians and the songs, but I loved loved loved the following performances. Franky Perez really caught my ear and I thought his rendition of War Pigs and Surrender were excellent. Surprisingly I also LOVED Juliette Lewis. The eclectic indy actress who I'm used to seeing in movies, has an amazing voice and great showmanship! She went up there, sang like a badass and said something along the lines of "God I forgot how much fun this is - Rock and Roll!". She sang Proud Mary and Dirty Deeds - incredibly well and did both songs a grand tribute. You can tell she loves to sing, she's good at it, and she loved the songs and loves to rock. I am now a fan of her! 

Some low points. The set list started out with "We will rock you" and "Song Two". Although those are fun get you pumped up songs, it felt a little inauthentic, like cheerleaders at a football game. We are pumped to hear rock and roll, you don't need to pump up the crowd. That's what the opening band is for. Just rock it out. The performance wasn't rock out stellar in the beginning so I was like, uh oh this could be a lame show. Later in the show, I was a little horrified when Mark McGrath was the guest singer and sang not just "Fight for your right to party" but also THE KISS song "Rock N Roll all night". More pump up songs, and he did well for them, but I think Mark McGrath is overall sort of a tool especially since he hosts entertainment shows, so it didn't seem right for him to sing a KISS song.

The best part: The best part is that they don't announce who their guest singers/players will be until they come on stage. So the last guest on stage was... wait for it... Steven Tyler of Aerosmith! I am an Aerosmith fan much to the teasing of my coworkers. So this was an extra special delicious dessert of a finale! At first he came up and said he needed to "warm up" so he played the drums for a song. SO COOL. I love how in the show, performers play outside their typical element. Then he went up and sang. I especially liked Sweet Emotion. One of my favorite parts was when he started crooning "I could stay awake, just to hear you breathing" and then said "Nah, let's not that do that fucking shit" and I was like OMG YES!!!! WOOO!!! "Don't wanna miss a thing" is not one of my favorite songs and I'm uber glad they stuck to the rock and roll music that was the show. 

Steven Tyler though, sang well, but you can tell he's an older seasoned and "earned it" rock musician. He played a lot of percussion and maraca things, and sorta showed off here and there, but he didn't rock out with the energy or heart like some of the other performers. It wasn't the best performance ever, but it was amazing to see such a grand rock star fairly up close in a little club called Roxy in Hollywood. He was a real legend though and it was a star-struck end to a very cool concert.

That was the show. We stuck around afterwards to see if we could get photos or glimpses of the musicians, but no luck. The bouncers and security guarded Mr. Tyler like he was the President, but we saw his hair as they rushed him to his car. It was a great great night :) Lots of fun!

We're going to their 3rd show again next Friday night. The husband has been wanting to see this band for a few years now, so got two tickets to two of their shows, one last Friday and one next Friday. Should be interesting to see how they compare, to see who shows up and what they sing. I love the mystery and the spirit in which this band plays. Surprise guest musicians for every show, and a love of rock and roll. You can tell when they get up there - that they're all just having a blast and they're all just doing it for the love of the music. No pretenses, no fluff, just music.

CAMP FREDDY, headed up by Billy Morrison (Billy Idol/The Cult), Dave Navarro (Janes Addiction/The Panic Channel), Matt Sorum (Guns N Roses/Velvet Revolver), Donovan Leitch (son of legendary folk singer Donovan), and Chris Chaney (Janes Addiction/Alanis Morrisette) was created for the sole purpose have having a good time. 

XMAS RESIDENCY #2

December 10, 2010: The Roxy, Los Angeles, CA

SET LIST: We Will Rock You, Song Two, Rock This Town, War Pigs, Helter Skelter, Surrender, Proud Mary, Dirty Deeds, Fight For Your Right, Rock N Roll All Nite, Anarchy in the Uk, Ain't Talkin' 'Bout Love, Sex Type Thing, Wipeout, Rattlesnake Shake, Sweet Emotion, Whole Lotta Love 

GUESTS: Slim Jim Phantom , Billy Duffy, Franky Perez, Steve Stevens, Juliette Lewis, Nick Maybury, Mark McGrath, Steve Jones, Corey Taylor, Steven Tyler, Johnny Lang, Mick Fleetwood

Steven Tyler on drums

Steven Tyler at the Camp Freddy show at the Roxy Los Angeles.

The Roxy

Fune sushi

New thing of the day, tried Fune Sushi.

Was craving Asian/Japanese food, so stopped in a plaza and decided to check out the options. 

The plaza has a Courtyard Marriott with a Garlic Jim's Pizza, a Chinese Wok and Panda Express, a Subway and Fune Sushi. Just behind the Marriott is a Walmart and across the street is a Costco, Chilli's and Marie Calendars. Just one exit away is the Simi Town Center Promenade. This is an excellent hotel area and lots of restaurants and shopping diversions for relatives if they stay here. 

Anyway, I think despite all our options, the kicker was the floating boats surrounding the sushi bar - SOOOO COOOOOOL! The boats have pictures of the different sushi on them. Oh so neat. 

Anyway service was excellent. Sushi was ok, not great. They had really cheap rolls so I got those - which might be why they were just ok. The actual cuts of fish were excellent. I had a salmon roll, tuna sushi and an eel/cucumber roll. The tuna and salmon were amazing/excellent, just small portions - the value rolls. The eel/cucumber was ok and I wouldn't order it again. Husband ordered the Tonkatusu and it just wasn't that good. 

I will probably try some different rolls next time, perhaps the higher quality more expensive rolls, as those will probably end up being tastier. I think perhaps that their overall quality is ok, but they have cheap options and very good slices of fish if you can get some. Overall I would go again and take friends/family to see the little boats. Great location as it's on the way home and in a neat little plaza. I wonder if they do a Happy Hour.

Eel/Cucumber Roll

Tuna and Salmon Roll

100th post - Review

The money shot! This will be the 100th day since I started this project!

It's been interesting. In the beginning I was all motivated to write. As time goes on, I find it to be more of a chore and annoyance. I don't always want to write. I suppose that's the point - the journey of it. Some days I don't have time to write so I wait until a few days later to post about the event or the thing, so memory must remain. I also find I don't write better, just more. Maybe I'm getting better at just spitting it out?

Some days though, I'm completely inspired and jazzed to write about something. It fuels me, and I love writing those pieces. I wonder if anyone reads this stuff besides a few friends and family. I wonder if I should market myself and make money off this blog, and try to become a semi-full time writer on this. I wonder if I should keep it private or tell everyone. I wonder if I should say my name on this.

Anyway lots of things to think about. It's not the little things to write about that bother me. It's actually writing about it that's a bit of an annoying exercise. I find most days I can easily find one new thing I've done or tried. In fact, it's usually more than one. Some days, at the end of the day, there's nothing so I come up with someone at the last minute. No planning, no backup, just - ok here we go.

Living on the spur of the moment. Finding that not liking things is just as revealing as liking things.

Just some thoughts on the process. I've often thought about giving up and quitting this thing, especially with finals and the holidays coming up. Although, thinking now, maybe I should try a little longer and see if/where I develop.

So far, the journey, has its hills and rough spots, but overall, am very proud of my progress this far. Plus this is another new thing. I've never - posted 100 blogs in a row. Boo-ya baby!

Photo Timer

New thing of the day, used the timed shot feature on my new camera.

I recently got a Canon PowerShot SX210 IS at Best Buy during the holiday sales, because I was going on a trip to New Orleans and wanted a better camera, and my other one is about 5 years old and starting to glitch on me. The reviews were excellent, and I did some homework playing with it in the store and hunting online before buying it. It's pocket size, has 14x optical zoom, and a few fancy manual features that I may use if I learn and become more of a photography person. Just enough room to grow but not too big to handle. I had a Canon and like the brand. I especially like the color accent feature and the overall reliability it's given me over years.

Anyway, I still am not completely comfortable using all the buttons and features. It's snazzy, but I'm not as quick or automatic with it as I am with my old one. It's not intuitive, yet. Anyway today was a birthday dinner and I wanted in on a group photo, so decided to try out the timer option.

Never done that before on my camera, and in general I never really used it. So we tried it, and it worked beautifully. The only thing was I couldn't get a good angle for the camera to sit on, so the shot isn't ideal. But the timing, the ease of setting it up and all that was very easy and good. Just still unfamiliar with a lot of the buttons and need to learn them. The only thing that really bugs me is that, the flash pops up where I naturally place my hand, so it doesn't always pop up when I go to take a photo so I need to shut it down and restart it a lot.

My plan is to play with the camera and read the manual in-depth after finals. Can't be sitting there for 2 hours playing with it when I need to be writing papers (BOOOOO!) or studying (BOOOOO!). Ugh.

So that's all. Trying new things and so far, the camera has performed ok. Not loving it, but I think it takes getting used to.

First Draft

New thing of the day, got a first draft done for my first graduate paper.

I started typing letter to word document about a week ago. I finally started putting some ideas, thoughts and quotes up in an organized fashion. 7 pages later, I have a first rough, very rough draft. It needs a serious grammar check, an MLA formatting review/update, and a lot of work, but it feels really good to get some progress done on this awful awful project.

I think the thing that bothers me most is the inability to find pertinent articles on my topic. It's a bit obscure and I've had trouble searching for evidence pro and con for the topic. I like to be thorough, so not finding criticisms on my paper thesis is well, dumb. I need more evidence!

Anyway overall it's a good first draft, but missing a lot of pieces. Still a lot of work to be done, but at least, a big chunk of clay got some molding today.

Dogs Decoded

New thing of the day, watched Dogs Decoded.

The documentary is by Nova - don't you just love Nova? Anyway this is a great documentary. Was recommended by a coworker so decided to try it out. It was really really cool, very interesting and brought about some new insights on dogs.

Plus - there was one really really cute scene with puppies.

Anyway basically the documentary goes over how dogs and humans can read each other through language, barks and expressions, and scientifically proves what owners have always felt. That dogs are in-tune with a human's emotions and can read us. They also had humans listen to various dog barks with the surprising result that dog owners can tell between "playful" and "threatening" and "sad" barks of different dogs.

Apparently it seems we have grown-up with dogs and found a way to communicate with them. There's a scene where a woman can point with her finger or eyes, and dogs and even puppies (the adorable scene) will pay attention to the human and go towards their pointing. Whereas chimps and intelligent primates don't pay any attention and don't follow human social cues.

One neat feature was they bred for tameness and aggressiveness in foxes - and found that after a few generations, the genetically tame foxes became like modern domesticated dogs, trainable, sociable and livable with humans.

Another neat scene is where they show how wild wolves were raised in homes with humans, to see if nurturing would tame them. Unfortunately the "wild" came out in the wolf after a certain point and no amount of training would work.

So it was interesting to see that some dogs/animals are just genetically too wild, and the modern dog is different through generations of tameness and sociability with humans.

They even think that dogs were essential to the beginnings of civilization with herding and survival. They believe the cooperation between dogs and humans has lasted much longer than previously believed.

Lots of great stuff in here. If you haven't seen it - I recommend! It's worth even just listening to if you're doing chores, but you may be hooked to watch some of it.

Fantastic! Catch it on Netflix streaming :)

Mad Men

New thing of the day, saw the first 3 episodes of the show Mad Men.

We heard good things about this and so wanted to give it a shot. It's sorta cool watching 60s era stuff like the sexism, racism, lack of technology and fashion style. I love how women in this show have curves. Kudos to a woman's self image!

It's a bit hypnotic to watch, but overall we're not really thrilled or get why everyone loves it so much. I know it's the first 3 episodes so it might take some time to get good. Although the main character is so brooding and serious it's a bit annoying. I think I like it, but I need to see more. I will probably see where it goes. I didn't like the first episodes of Family Guy but as the season and shows progressed it just got better and better. I'm willing to give this show a shot.

Least to say I love the style of the era. Blast to Americana past this weekend. I like the fashion. I think I like all the gimmicks more then I like the story so far. The husband isn't on board for this one, but maybe this will be one of my shows? Who knows, verdict still out but so far it's slightly intriguing.

The Edison Downtown LA

New thing of the day, made our way to The Edison in downtown LA.

It's a very cool place - and not in that obnoxious pretentious way. It's a semi-historical place with original Edison generators and 20s style decor and themes.

I absolutely LOVED how the place was decorated. We came in at about 9:20 before a line started outside, and you have to walk downstairs to get to the club. The smoking room is very cool and the downstairs club/bars are amazing as well. Dress code is more formal and even the bouncers and security look very classy. When we came in there was a fairy selling absinthe. There were a few couples dressed all 20s style and swing dancing in the middle all place. They had old silent movies playing in the background and there was a stage where a burlesque dancer danced every 45 minutes or so. We went to the bar and got good fast service. I tried a Mistress Nouveaux - a champagne twist for vodka martini lovers. It was pretty tasty. Overall, the place was a lot of fun and had an amazing atmosphere!

This is one of my favorite LA spots now. It's not super loud so you can talk with your friends. If you want to sit down you have to spend $25 a person at various reserved sections. Drinks average $9-15. They also offer food - also pricey. Overall it's pricier for our taste, but not bad for a hip LA club. I would happily and easily go back again, maybe dressed a little better :)

Christmas Shopping

New thing of the day, attempted to do all Christmas shopping Friday afternoon after work.

As school finals and papers are due, and the past shopping excursions have been a lot of browsing and not very productive, plus with the family's Christmas lists, I thought we might try doing ALL our Christmas shopping in one action packed driven evening.

Overall it started out well. I pre-planned our stops by looking up specific items' prices to see which stores were the cheapest. We knew online buying was an option, but for the most part we hit the stores. Then after work we had a game plan and stuck to it pretty well.

There weren't any crowds, as it's still early in the season and we went on a Friday night. First Walmart, then Best Buy, then Lowe's, then the mall at a few shops, then we ended our evening at Target. I have to say having a specific list really helps with cutting down the browsing and time wasting. We only browsed and wasted time on people we didn't have specific gifts for. That was the hard part in my opinion.

So it was not a complete success. We had quite a few people we didn't have a specific item in mind for, so we weren't able to find them something on our trip that evening. Although we were able to get everything for who we had lists for, except one book that was out of stock. We did a bit of shopping for ourselves as well. Not a bad first. We'll do it again probably. I really liked having a plan and a set goal when we shop.

Snapfish

New thing of the day, ordered a gift off of SnapFish.com.

Not too many details on this one, but I selected and uploaded photos onto a gift for someone on SnapFish :) It was surprisingly not that stressful or bad, more fun. I've uploaded photos, but I've never ordered a gift through them. They updated their photo upload site since the last time I uploaded anything, so it's much faster now and more convenient. Only bad thing is we were out of internet connection earlier this evening, and the checkout page is taking a long time to load so I'm not sure if the problem re-surfaced again. At least if I don't order/buy the item tonight, it's already prepped and ready to go. Also will use a coupon code!

Let the Christmas buying begin! We're going to try getting all the shopping done tomorrow evening after work. SnapFish - very awesome site and services :)

Torn

New thing of the day, I tore my right calf muscle, yeay!

So lately I haven't used my 24 hour gym membership. With everything plus holidays, going to the gym after work was becoming more difficult and I had other priorities in the evenings. So last Sunday I weighed myself after the Thanksgiving weekend and I weighed more that day then I have the past 2 years. We didn't even eat that much over the weekend. I've just been slowly gaining.

Anyway decided to start back up at the gym and mornings were the best times with my schedule. Monday I did a short 15 minute walk then a 10 minute light jog and felt nauseous and light headed after that. Decided to take it easy with the workouts, so decided on Wednesday morning I would just do a walk on the treadmill. 

The workout was going well. I didn't stretch, but I was walking on the treadmill like I had a million times before. The only difference was that my right calf had been tight the past week or two. Not sure how or why, but it was. I decided that walking would help stretch it out. To increase my workout exertion without running, I kept increasing the incline at 5 minute intervals. At minute 25, I increased another notch. Uh oh, spaghettio - felt a tear in the back of my right calf.

I immediately stopped even though I wanted to "walk out the pain". I knew from past knee injuries not to push my body. Went to stretch out and sit awhile, then limping, went back home, got ready for work and had husband drive our carpool.

I didn't know what happened to me until I looked it up online. People ask if it's "just a strain or a pulled muscle", but I looked up the injuries and I've had pulled muscles before. This was definitely a tear. Luckily I'm pretty sure it's a grade 1 - small tears. I only felt a few or a little bit of my muscle tear, so it wasn't too bad. If I limp and walk around a certain way it doesn't bother me as much.

As the day progressed, my calf started to swell and feel funny. I elevated it, kept off it most of the day and was conscious to rest it and stretch it slowly whenever I had an opportunity. Wasn't too painful. Anyway the afternoon it felt almost walkable and I was like, maybe I overreacted, but then after limping/walking for about a minute, I felt it again and was like, nope, it's there. 

So that was a first - torn muscle. Apparently the tightness was probably a combination of cold and strain from the weekend, and the tear was a result of overexertion or changing incline too quickly on my treadmill. I think I'll stick to upper body exercises at home until my leg heals - approximately two weeks :( We'll see how it goes, but man, do I feel old.

Important lesson learned - I am out of shape so I must now stretch before any kind of exercise. I should pay attention to tight muscles. And must be unambitious in my workout routines - BOOOOOO!