Book Repository Cooties

Most my friends know me to be a bibliophile. Lacking the funds and erudition to build a library of leather bound first editions, I'm a bibliophile in the way of a happy hog at a trough. I love consuming books, and more is good. Forget those ancient hand bound tomes with exquisitely illustrated plates - give me my mass produced, pulpy fiction for a quick escape, please. Unfortunately, with ever diminishing bookspace, a desire to be "green," as well as diminishing funds, I've recently decided to attempt to use the public library.

As a child, the public library was where I loved to spend my summers - peacefully quiet, cool AC, racks upon racks of undiscovered stories and people. I'd stumble home with a pile 8 or 10 books every few days. Over the years, I've slowly grown disused to utilizing the library for pleasure. I think college and grad school stained the library with stressful memories of long nights, lots of hard work, very little pleasure. (I probably needed a better, hotter, study partner). Additionally, the thought of reading a publically owned item in my bed (and I admit, worse places) gave me the creeps. How many other people have read this book in who knows where? What if the previous patrons had children in the house who sneezed or slobbered on the books?

I am proud to say, that after going to the library this Monday - I've come to peace with the cooties aspect. The cooties I get from just going to the library, and the cooties from actually bringing home and reading the books. And so far, it's made my habits of reading a book a day much much more affordable.

Now, Your Moment of Zen

It's interesting, for the last almost 2 years, I've felt like there have been lots of little events leading me towards a Buddhist way of life and philosophy. I've always been curious about it, but most unexpectedly found someone who gave me a wonderful introduction to it in all places, Lumberton, NC. For those who don't know, Lumberton is a small town in NC that seems to survive because of it's proximity to I95. There is also a population of Lumbee Indians living there. It was a bit of a culture shock for the residents and myself, a fast talking Asian American from the Northeast. Here, I had the good fortune to work with a physician there named Mack - a white man in his 70's, raised in Oklahoma, who had practiced for most of his career in West Virginia. Some could draw all kinds of stereotypical ideas about his character from that description, and I admit that initially, I did. Just goes to show you right? Mack's been a great teacher to me in the short time we worked together. He's gifted me with with his insight, experiences, as well as some great introductory books to Buddhism.

Since working with him, almost 2 years ago, I've found that just the attempt to approach my life and to view my life in this vein of philosophy has helped me immeasurably through some pretty tough times. Recently I've been through probably the toughest time of my life thus far. So though we haven't kep in touch, I just feel moved to say, Thanks Mack.


If you light a lamp for somebody, it will also brighten your own path.

The HORROR

Having my mother visit in times of need can be a double edged sword. "Mommy" (as she likes to refer to herself) is wonderful at feeding, cleaning, and general errands. Invaluable. Especially when I needed her most this summer when my significant other was seriously ill. However, Mommy is also a crazy Asian lady. Whilst filling my freezer and myself full of delicious foods, she required the back door and kitchen pantry doors and drawers open at all times. Despite the 80-90 degree weather.

So the other side of the coin would be the seriously disgusting moth infestation that resulted from cavalierly flinging open all doors. An infestation that we finally (please GOD) rid ourselves of last night. Cleaning a bug infested pantry was something I had put off for a month - especially after cleaning out the similarly infested beloved chocolate drawer. I probably threw out $100 worth of chocolate. And worse, it was chocolate covered with webs, baby moth worms and the like. Finally, the boyfriend made me face the issue of the pantry. Thankfully, he took care of most of it. After the worst of it, I offered to take over and finish up the job. Unfortunately, after one too many squeals and screams, he banished me from the kitchen. The last scream resulted from my imagining the feeling of a worm crawling on my leg. I still have the creeps thinking about it.

ZOMG!!!

I admit it. I am drunk blogging. Coming back from an evening of libations with the Democratic Party of Pasadena and my girl City Elf, I am celebrating our new President!!! Over a year ago, I remember having a conversation with a dear friend where I made the case that in this day and age, Americans were STILL NOT ready for an African American prez. How elated and overwhelmingly happy to find myself proven false!! After spending a day poll checking for the Obama campaign, I was thrilled to see how many people motivated to vote, knowing that their voices were important. Latinos, African Americans, Asians - I saw so many minorities going out to the polls, making sure their voices are heard! This is truly a new era for our country - I know that Obama will inherit many difficult issues, but I have faith in his ability to lead our nation on a new, better path. For the first time in 8 years, I truly believe in the American Dream. WHOOOOHOOOOOOOO!

P.S. For all y'all who voted "yes" for Prop 8 - You suck big time!

Argh. Aaarrghh. AAAARRRGHHH.

My boss is a douchebag. In a way, his douchebaggery of the week only reaffirms the decision I made to quit. Unfortunately though, I have to give 120 days notice (!!!) and have to endure approximately 93 more days of potential moments of ARRRGHHH!!!

To add to insult, the new member of the group is a complete idiot. The guy has finished a residency at a supposed teaching institution as well as additional fellowship training. Here we are at one of the LEAST demanding, LOW volume, community based practices known to man, and he's barely treading water. He lacks the confidence to do basic procedures that a second year resident has mastery of. Furthermore, every other word out of his mouth is "what do you think of this?", "I don't feel comfortable with that," "what should I do with this?", blah blah blah blah. The only satisfaction I get is that my douchebag boss likes him even less than I do. And soon (well, soon-ish), they get to be left behind to deal with each other as I get the hell outta here.

Sausalicious!

So I know I recently posted about eating less meat, but I can't hold back on my recent, incredible, sausalicious experience.



Oyama Sausage Co. in Granville Market. We walked through the entrance and saw this:



Charcuterie heaven!! (that's right, they make their own serrano ham!). This picture doesn't even include their vast array of refrigerated products...

They make (among many other things) prosciutto (many, many kinds - including duck and wild boar), pates, and sausages. We tried a Portuguese salami, finocchiona (fennel salami), and a prosciutto salami. Incredibly good. And very reasonably priced. My favorite, the finocchiona, was very thinly sliced, unctuous yet with a slight meaty chewiness, and with the fragrance of fennel. Can you tell that I want to eat some more right now? If food porn does it for you, you must check out the product list on their website.

Other samplings from Granville Market:


The bright yellow berries in the foreground are gooseberries - we had to pay $0.25 for a taste of these tangy berries with just a little touch of sweetness.



They called this barbecued salmon - which turned out to be the best hot smoked salmon I've ever had. Just the right amount of salty smokiness without overwhelming the salmon flavor. And very tender, perfectly cooked pieces that retained the fattyness of salmon without turning into a brick of protein.


A perfectly good slice of pepperoni pizza









Followed by a delicious Blueberry Colada - a combination of blueberries, coconut, and raspberry juice. Take that Jamba Juice!


I'm going to devote an entire day to meandering through and snacking at Granville Market the next time I'm in Vancouver. Hopefully soon!

OMG! A truck just smashed into the building!

That was my first thought this morning as I heard the rumbling and felt some serious shaking whilst sitting at my desk at work. Then I came to the realization that this is Southern California, and that this is lasting a little too long to be a semi crashing into the hospital (why would a semi drive into a the hospital anyways? derr!). Belatedly I stumbled to the doorway (an old wives' tale?) and when the shaking stopped, I looked around the corner to see my boss on all fours crouching underneath the flimsy plywood counter. Bwahaha!

Anyways, it was a mere 5.4, I can't imagine how crazy it must have been for my brother who was in Chengdu when that big 7.8 hit in May. According to USGS, there's a 99% chance for a 6.7 or greater in the next 30 years. Yikes!