bah!

i want to blog so bad, but i'm running out time at this cafe!!! one thing... french people seem to know i'm korean.

An observation and an update

Why is it that Koreans put all the hot stuff in metal containers, and then give you metal chopsticks... ?  On the flip side, you can reuse metal chopsticks and they're easier to handle than those giant plastic ones. 

...

A week or so ago I was invited to join my friend Noah for a night of Jericho in the city.  Jericho is an urban street game where you run around shooting dart guns at each other and is sort of like capture the flag...but then it's not really anything like capture the flag...  Sooo fun though!!  I highly recommend it.

In between Jericho and my vacation, I've gotten to spend some nice time with Michael, go to an outdoor theatre production in Lodi with the lovely Kara, celebrate the high school graduation of my friend Jennifer, enjoy a great hike with Sky, and share a perfect Irish coffee with Gabriella.  Josh and I have also spent some time together since his return from Taiwan (yes, we're friends). 

...and then there's the webisodes... so, I thought I was cast as a comedy/action star in what would be an attempt at a youtube series modeled after some of the work by Freddie Wong.  It sounded like it'd be really fun stuff, but when we got "on set", it seemed more like a simple take on a cop series, and quickly evolved into something similar to "The Office".  But with cops.  And really low production quality.  And no action.  We did manage to pull off some alright comedy though because, as things evolved, the cast abandoned the script which turned out to be the best decision ever.  I did direct a push that I think is funny, but I'm not really proud to know that these videos are out there for the world to view.  I met some great people working on the project though.

... and off to Europe i go ... :)

I can't sleep.

Work has been extremely stressful the last couple weeks and I'm feeling a bit overwhelmed by my upcoming trip.  I've also been working on some amateur webisodes that have been time consuming and also stressful... not to mention attempting to maintain my crazy social life that seems to be growing exponentially these days.  Life has definitely been exciting, but ... I just want to sleep. 

Some highlights in the last couple weeks that weren't stressful include the Soul House party, Seussical the Musical (FANTASTIC SHOW!!), Stern Grove, soccer :), Nik's burlesque show, and I got to catch up with Maureen and Dave and meet their beautiful daughter Lily.  :)  Yay! 

...it's weird because (weird?) part of me feels like I can't sleep right now due to feelings of anxiety about not being able to sleep in Europe... (is that ridiculous?) 

Okay, off to count more sheep...

The story of Lewis

*photo of Matt, taken by me in West Oakland.

I pulled into the gate surrounding our house as the spotlight from the ghetto bird went right through our yard... They must be close, I thought and went inside to find a young, black man standing in our living room seeming frantic. 

I had moved to Oakland a month prior into an old victorian house in a rough part of town. The house had been rented out by the room, so I lived with my friend Matt, who had also just moved there, 2 other white guys, and a slightly older Brazilian man. The frantic guy didn't live there. 

"Just listen to me! Just listen to me for like 5 minutes...!!!" he was saying to someone in the room. I thought we were being robbed. And, I tend to think I'm much bigger than I am, so I was about to tell him to get the f*** out of my house when I heard Matt say, "...okay."   

Oh, he's with Matt, I thought, which meant he's okay. So, I went upstairs to put my stuff away. 

A few minutes later, I came downstairs with a bunch of key chains from my temp job. I walked into the living room and Matt introduced me to Lewis.

"Kristen, this is Lewis." he said, but with no further explanation -- which was strange because Matt would always explain people. "This is Lewis from work", or "This is Lewis who knows so and so" -- but, this was just "Lewis". 

Matt was eating spaghetti and he and Lewis were both sitting on the couch. I said, "Hello," to Lewis and offered him a key chain. He took one and so did Matt, and then Matt started telling me about his day. Matt said something like, "I was riding down California Street, and... oh, (to Lewis) I'm a bike messenger... and then, you know how in Colorado... oh, (to Lewis) we just moved here from Colorado... " It became clear to me, fast, that Lewis didn't know much about Matt, because if you knew anything about Matt, you'd know he was a bike messenger and that he was from Colorado. 

A few minutes later our roommate, Aaron, came home.  Matt introduced Aaron to Lewis and Aaron offered Lewis and all of us a beer.  We all said we were good, so Aaron grabbed himself a beer and sat down. 

There was an older Chinese man named Calvin who was always there working on our house. He would bring us snacks that his wife made, and I was told that he would always say, "Make sure the girl gets some." That night, he was somewhere upstairs repeatedly yelling for Andy (Andy was the Brazilian guy who lived with us, who also did a lot of work on the house.). "[heavy Chinese accent] Andy! Andyyyy!" 

At some point in the conversation, I finally asked, "Does Calvin know that Andy isn't home...?" "Heh, obviously not!" Matt said, and went into the kitchen. 

"So, how do you know Matt?" I asked Lewis. "Oh, my brother lives in this neighborhood," he said, "and I was hanging out outside waiting for him to get home when Matt pulled up on his bike. We were talking for a while...and then Matt said I could come in and hang out until my brother gets home."

Matt would totally do that.  

Lewis said he was from Sacramento and was just down visiting for a couple of days. He seemed like a nice guy. He said he worked for UPS and he showed us his badge. 

Finally, Calvin stopped yelling and came downstairs. "Andy not here. We have no power. I call for Andy, but Andy not here..." Calvin spoke broken English on repeat and I had a hard time understanding him most of the time, but I really liked him. He wanted me to click him out of the gate so he could go home, so I walked him to the door and I waited to click him and his van out of the gate. 

While I was standing there, Lewis came to the door and said he needed to leave too. So soon? He walked into the yard toward the door in the gate and wanted me to lock it behind him. I told him I thought it would be okay, but Lewis seemed to disagree and grabbed Calvin and asked him to lock the gate behind him. Calvin locked the gate behind Lewis and then got into his van. I clicked Calvin out of the gate and went back inside.

When I sat down, Matt looked at me and said, "So, Lewis came running in through the backdoor..."

*blink*

Apparently, Lewis had robbed a store nearby, and then ran into our neighborhood and was jumping fences to get away from the police. Calvin left the backdoor open while working on the house, so Lewis just ran right in. When he saw Matt sitting on the couch eating spaghetti, he said, "Do you want to make $50?" Matt said, "What...?" Lewis said, "Just listen to me! Just listen to me for like 5 minutes...!!" Matt said, "...okay." That's when I came in and went upstairs. Lewis said, "What's with the girl, is she cool?" Matt said, "Yeah, she's cool." Lewis told Matt that he had robbed a store and the cops were after him. There were police all over our neighborhood and the helicopter spotlight had just gone over our house. He had a bag of money he had thrown into a yard nearby, but the yard had a dog in it, so he couldn't get to it...but if Matt would let him hang out for like 20 minutes, he would bring him $50 when he could get to his money. Matt said Lewis didn't pull a gun, and seemed desperate but not threatening, so he told him it was okay... and offered him some spaghetti. 

It took me a minute to register what I had just heard and then I was like, "Whaaaat-the-hell-are-you-serious!?! !!! We-were-harboring-a-criminal-and-need-to-lock-all-of-the-doors-RIIIIGHT-NOWWW !!!!" 

!!!!!!

We locked the doors. 

Matt went upstairs to take a shower and Aaron went up to his room... I was sitting in the living room trying to soak it all in when someone started beating on the side of the house.

Most of the houses in our neighborhood had giant fences around them, with the exception of the house next door. Since there's no space between houses in the ghetto, you could reach the side of our house from our neighbor's driveway.   

I went to the door and Lewis came around to the front of the gate. "Come to the gate," he said, "but don't open it." When he left, he was wearing jeans and a sweater, but now he had changed clothes and was wearing all black. 

I went to the gate and Lewis hoisted up a case of Coronas. "Let's just say this is for generosity." he said. I took the Coronas and Lewis disappeared. 

...

I was still freaking out about this an hour later, when Matt said, " Okay, let's think about this from Lewis's perspective...

Dude robs a store and runs into the ghetto looking for a place to hide. He happens to run into the only non-black house in the neighborhood (three white guys, a Brazilian guy named Andy, and a little Asian girl). I offered him spaghetti, you gave him a key chain, and Aaron offered him a beer, while a Chinese man yelled, "ANDY!!" every couple minutes, and by the time he left we were all best friends... "

Yeah, that is pretty cool... 

And, no, we never got the $50. 

...

A little while later, the locked backdoor opened. 

"Jon, is that you?". 

Jon said, "Yeah...it's ME!" 

:D  ...white guy number three. 

I've decided to go to Europe.  Finally.  For 10 days.  By myself.  (...well, so far anyway.  Wanna come?) 

I decided this on Tuesday, and bought my tickets today.  I'll be flying into France, out of Edinburgh, and I will stop through New York for a of couple days on my way home.  I really really want to go to Italy, but I don't think it will make sense for this trip... but, I'll likely head through England on my way to Scotland. 

I feel like I have no idea what I'm doing... but, I feel like this is something that I have to do right now.  Wish me luck!

The 4th

On a holiday weekend with little to no plans, I found myself:

Laughing and crying at brunch with an old friend...reconnecting in the most wonderful ways.

At the jazz festival with a bunch of new friends, filling me with laughter and music.

Enjoying the company of one of my favorite couples. Meeting their friends and having an amazing all-day adventure with stops at the grove, the beach, and a cozy apartment in the city.

Walking my flower-filled neighborhood, skipping BBQs for a completely indulgent nap, and at dinner with another one of my favorite people.

Perfect... :)

Stacey

:) 

Stacey, I love.

My cat swallowed a sewing needle!

On Thursday night at 10:30pm The Luscious Frankie J swallowed a sewing needle.... 

A torn up pair of jeans...
Holes around belt loops and pocket corners. 
I finished patching, and left the needle on the coffee table - still threaded.

Frankie J loves thread, string, hair - anything long and thin and apparently...edible.  I went to the computer and thought, "I need to put that thread away before Frankie eats it." ...turned around and it was gone.  Needle and all.

About two and a half hours later, after a visit to Berkeley Dog and Cat, I walked through my door, exhausted, with Frankie in tow.  I had a disk with an x-ray showing the needle in her stomach, and a head full of all of the possibilities of what could happen next.  The vet thought maybe I should leave her at the hospital on an IV overnight... that we should x-ray again tomorrow to see where it was, and then decide if we should do an endoscopy to get it out (if it was still in her stomach) or cut her open.  He said the needle could poke things, pass through things, or get stuck and cause problems - maybe death.  He said it would be very expensive (thousands of dollars), so it would be better to wait until morning when (it would still be thousands of dollars, but) we would no longer be under emergency rates...  but at that point the needle might no longer be in the stomach so our options would change.  Mixed into all of this, he said he had just seen a kitten who swallowed a needle and, a few days later, pooed that sucker right out with no problem... He didn't think the kitten would be able to pass it because the kitten was so small, but it did. 

His advice was dizzying and felt endless, money based, and non-conclusive.  When I asked him what I should do, he ran through the possibilities again... and, when I asked what he would do, I was bombarded with all of the things I could do or that could happen AGAIN. 

Finally, I asked what would happen if I took Frankie home to see if she would pass it - would it cause a lot of damage if I brought her back a couple days later if it hadn't come out?  He said, he couldn't be sure - but he didn't think it'd cause too much damage.... 

I went home and found this on the internet:  http://www.petlovers.com/vb//showthread.php?t=29981

I fed Frankie extra food, cried a little out of frustration, exhaustion, and uncertainty, and went to bed.  I was kind of a mess...but Frankie seemed fine.  

When I woke up the next day, Frankie still seemed fine.  I fed her again and went to work.  I checked on her at lunch... she was fine.  After work, fine.  I fed her extra again. 

On Friday, I went to work and didn't make it home at lunch. 

When I got home that night, Frankie seemed strange... she didn't greet me at the door, and seemed really sluggish.  I tried to play with her with a shoestring, but she just laid there letting it hit her in the face.  It'd almost been two days and the needle hadn't shown up in her poo. 

I didn't want to go back to Dog and Cat, so I called The Broadway Pet Hospital to see if I could talk to someone.  They were closed, so I left a message on their after hours hotline. 

After checking some veterinary clinic reviews, I decided to call the Pets Referral Center as well.  The woman I spoke with there listened to the situation and said that I had done the right thing by feeding Frankie extra, and that maybe Frankie was sluggish because I fed her too much... but if she was acting strange or in pain, maybe I should bring her in.  Frankie didn't seem like she was in pain, and had definitely acted similar in the past when she'd gotten into extra food so... I decided to wait another day. 

Later, I got a call back from the Broadway Pet Hospital.  The doctor left a message saying that Frankie could pass the needle, that she might be acting weird because she was about to pass it, and that I could probably wait...unless she was vomiting or acting really depressed. 

On Saturday, Frankie was back to her normal self.  A little fatter, but energetic, and fine.  I finally found the needle and thread early Sunday morning. *whew*

Focus

It's 1:30am.

I'm feeling ... a little broken, yet strangely full of love. Funny how a little bit of focus changes everything.

This weekend was exactly what I expected, while being nothing like I thought it'd be. :)

(Forgive me for being cryptic, this is for me...)

Moments

In the last week, I saw the Care of Trees, Kronos Quartet and Wu Man, attended a close friend's baby shower, and joined a soccer team.  :) 

Care of Trees was beautiful...!! 

I wanted to take my friend Liz to see a show to celebrate her birthday. I skimmed the description of this play and was pretty sure it was going to be a comedy about relationships.  ...geez, was I wrong.  I guess that's what I get for skimming descriptions and avoiding reviews... It was an emotionally charged performance about the grieving process and letting go - and it was absolutely beautiful. Only two shows have instantly brought me to my feet, and this was one of them. 

A couple days later I got to see the Kronos Quartet and Wu Man perform...!  A visual and musical journey through the history and evolution of China by some of the most talented musicians I think I've ever seen.  Incredible!

The baby shower was for my lovely friend Maureen.  A celebration of an exciting time and an opportunity to send her and her husband off with blessings and support into this new and exciting phase of their life.  :) 

...and then, the soccer team.  I was soo tired, and we lost like 8 to 2...but it was completely energizing to just run around with a bunch of new friends. 

:)

This picture is from the hallway of a director/friend I know who invited me over to study Shakespeare.

Moments. :)

Iron and Wine

 "...please remember me, happily... by the rosebush laughing with bruises on my chin, the time when... we counted every black car passing... your house beneath the hill, and up until... someone caught us in the kitchen with maps, and mountain range, a piggy bank... a vision too removed to mention...."

I wanted to hear Trapeze Swinger sooooo bad.... but what a beautiful show.

(Wednesday, June 1, 2011 at the Warfield w/ Jen)

Colorado

How is it that everything in Colorado is so freaking clean?!  ...or, is it just the track housing suburban wonderland where my parents now live.... ? 

...no - it's everything...

I drug my family to an annual Memorial Day street fair while I was home.  Territory Days in Old Colorado City.  It contained everything I wanted to see in Colorado Springs... arts, crafts, bbq, cowboys, tattooed diversity, fantastic rock and roll cover bands, an actual little trackless train driving little kids around, and free panning for gold. 

*love* 

A day off

At this point in my... "career", I accrue four weeks of vacation a year...which is awesome if you can take a vacation.  :)  If you can't, the days pile up until you have to start taking days in order to keep accruing.  This results in a lot of daydreams of hopeful vacations, and random days off. 

My daydream vacations include: 

Europe.  I want to visit my friend Stephanie in France, but I also want to just travel around Europe and soak up as much as possible...

Hawaii.  My best friend, Stacey, lives in Hawaii and I really want to spend some time with her -- and, I just love Hawaii.  

Colorado.  I need to go home to see my wonderful family.  (I'm headed there tomorrow, actually, but I can't seem to get myself to pack.)

New York.  I love New York.  Love it.  Seriously consider moving there about every 3 months...and then I find myself unable to imagine leaving the Bay Area... it's a constant battle.  

Asia.  I feel like I need to go to Korea at some point... you know, just to put myself through "returning to my homeland" and experience whatever comes up for me as a result.  I also think about visiting Taiwan before Josh leaves... but I'm not sure if I can make that happen. 

Rapture

Nothing like intimidating waves and an earthquake to make you reconsider the prediction of the Rapture. 

Today, I was on the beach with Sky and her friends celebrating her birthday. The wind was crazy and the waves were violent against the shore. A ranger told us he hadn't seen waves that big since the tsunami!

I fought all morning (broadsword), so after the beach I was beat... I had planned to hang out at the campsite where the group was staying, but decided to head home to relax and recover instead. I passed out on the couch when I got home, only to be woken up a few minutes later by my shaking apartment and, in my dozing delirium, thoughts that this was really it. !

I read somewhere that the group who predicted the Rapture was prepared to offer post rapture counseling... I guess they didn't all expect to make the cut. ;)

I wonder if they were also prepared to offer we-are-idiots-because-we-are-all-still-here counseling.