nina turns 40

my brilliant career

I was talking on the phone today to someone that I only know via this blog, and someone I haven't known very long at that.  He was trying to guess where I work, and thought it must be a design or architectural firm.  Oh, how it warmed my heart and pleased my ego to think that someone would get the impression that I love design just from reading bits of nt40.  Sadly, no, I told him.  Considering that I've been devouring Po Bronson's "What Should I Do With My Life?" perhaps I've found another clue.  I've already learned to look to the people you're attracted to for hints on where your passions lie.  If you love to hang out with musicians, maybe it's because you secretly want to be a musician.  I've been enjoying my time with a local architect quite a bit lately.  Hmmmmm...

gonna write a little letter, gonna mail it to my local dj

Is it mere random circumstance or lofty destiny when people get thrown into your path in the most implausible way?  Maybe it's just the power of blogs. 

sneaky mom tricks

I got the kidlet to eat swiss chard last night. He ate his entire serving, which he rarely does with anything.  He didn't even ask what it was, which is the usual query when faced with dark green things.  The secret?  I sauteed it in lots of olive oil and garlic, and then I mixed it with the magic vegetable that every kid will eat: corn.  And some garbanzo beans. And a little cayenne.  I served it with some Copper River Sockeye that I baked with soy sauce, sesame oil and garlic.  No, he didn't finish all of that.  But I did.

I consider myself a master at getting people to eat and like veggies that they thought they hated. Kale, lima beans, brussels sprouts, let me at 'em and I'll have you gobbling them happily and asking for more.  Oil and garlic are always your friends in these situations.  So is something sweet to pair with your bitter greens, like carrots with kale. 

Finally I must wax rhapsodic about the fabu salad I had yesterday from Dahlia Bakery:  arugula, grilled asparagus, hard boiled egg, cherry tomatoes, walla walla sweets and asagio cheese.  Perfect combination of smoky, sweet, tangy, and bitter flavors.

teachers keep on teachin'

I was in line at the Starbucks in our office building the other day waiting for my fix and grooving to Stevie Wonder singing "Higher Ground" on their PA system when a young lad who could not have been of legal drinking age tilted his head to the side, listened to the song playing, and requested of the barista which CD they had on.  Being a buttinski, know-it-all, pain-in-the ass kinda chick, I happily declared, "It's Stevie Wonder!" and expected him to nod his head in recognition.  Instead he said, "Oh, because it sounds like maybe a cover of the Chili Peppers."  I just about lost it. I slapped my hand against the counter.  "No! No! No!" I cried. "Stevie did it first!  It's Stevie's song! Stevie Wonder!"  He looked at me with a whatever, dude expression on his face, but I couldn't stop. "The Chili Peppers covered him! It's his song. Stevie Wonder. He wrote it!"  Other customers started to wonder what the ruckus was about. Young Blonde Boy gave the baristas a look and hightailed it on out of there. The baristas had to lead me gently away from the counter so less crazed folks could get their coffee.  I was still muttering "But it's Stevie!" to myself as the elevator rose to the 23rd floor.

how to get nina to cancel your date

When she writes a long, thoughtful reply to your seemingly thoughtful ad, make sure that when you respond back to her you hone in on the one small sentence that metions sex and ask her to elaborate on that.  Don't write or ask her about anything else that she said.

Repeatedly ask for more fotos of her without offerring any of yourself.

End every sentence in your emails, which are full of misspellings and/or typos, with one of these ;-)

Redeem yourself by asking her out dancing to a place that she has always wanted to go.

Start to mess it up again when you call her and become confused because the name that she tells you, the name she has signed every email with, is different from the screen name on the email, even though you have the same scenario and she manages to remember your name.

When she asks you how many women you are currently seeing/having playdates with, pull evasive moves and don't answer, even when there's no reason to think, based on your correspondence with her that she will be put off by the truth, whatever it may be.

After finally answering the above question with 'zero', call her during her work day, and ask for "Liz" . Then act surprised when she says it is nina, as if you've never heard this name before.  Come up with some sorry-ass excuse about a new phone and your klutzy thumbs and how you were trying to reach your boss, whose name is, yes, Liz.

Any one of these things might not have rendered it totally FUBAR, but all of them together means nina is home tonight enjoying the latest Almodovar flick and thinking incredibly nasty thoughts about its star after happily stopping by for a sunny musical party in celebration of this.

delicioso

Is there anyone yummier than Gael Garcia Bernal?  No, there is not.

the fish are jumpin'

It's Summer in Seattle, folks, and so you know what that means: rain.  Yes, rain.  And plenty of it.  It rains all the time in Seattle. Don't move here.  There, now that I've got my required "more-native-than-thou" announcement out of the way, let me say that I've been remiss in telling you some things (not to mention those pesky book memes that I still haven't finished).

First off, please take note that Music and Cats has moved into its own luxurious domain, and the banner fotos alone are enough to get Kimberly busted for kitty porn (I said kitty, not kiddie).  The wonderful writing is still there, but now it has a kick-ass new design to set it off beautifully.  I have no envy whatsoever over the fact that she got her own domain name before I got mine.  Nope, not one bit. 

School's out and the kidlet has gone to my folks' house for several days leaving me in that surreal state of giddy freedom tempered by disorientation and a wee bit of sadness that having all this time on my hands usually gives me.   It causes me to do weird things like go on dates.  With men.  Men are those creatures with facial hair and strange bits, you remember them, of course you do.  Some of you even consort with them regularly.  Some of you might even be them.  But for me, this is a strangely foreign thing.  Actually, it's only one date, and it's tonight.  We're going dancing.  On a weeknight!  See?  Totally surreal.  I haven't done that since...oh god, I'm not even going to tell you how long it's been.  Depending on how things go, I may or may not share the gory details.

Tomorrow night I am finally going to see Lucinda play live here with my friend Val, the published author of a real live book, who, under my evil influence, is going to start a blog.  If it rains all over us, I'll be pissed.  But, as I said, it is Summertime in Seattle.

it's baaaaaaack

My libido, which I thought had gone deeply into hibernation and resigned itself to my life of celibacy, has just woken back up with a venegence.  You have been warned.

mi papa

My dad and I have an odd sort of relationship.  We don't talk much,  and I wouldn't consider him a friend the way I do my mother.  But he and I share a close bond: we understand each other.  I take him for granted in the best sense of the word--I know he is going to be there, that I don't have to ask, he is just there, to love me, to support me, no matter what.  I don't think anyone believes in me more deeply, even when I don't really deserve that faith.  He loves me rather blindly at times, and that's not a bad thing from a father.  He took me to Santiago, Chile for my 30th birthday, and as I was getting ready to move to Mexico, he tucked an old two dollar bill that he used to carry around when he was in the Navy into the back of my wallet so that I'd never run out of cash.  Things that were his pet peeves when I was a child are my pet peeves now (quit snapping that gum!).

Happy Father's Day JLA, I love you.

books that are important to me #2: The Tao te Ching

There is a man that I love in the same way I love Adam Gopnik, I am completely and hopelessly smitten simply by virtue of the way he writes.  His name is Stephen Mitchell, and interestingly enough, almost everything I've read of his is translation.  His Tao te Ching means so much to me that I really can't write about it.  It's deeper than words.  When I am feeling lost, confused, in despair, this is where I turn.  Here is Chapter 23:

Express yourself completely,
then keep quiet.
Be like the forces of nature:
when it blows, there is only wind;
when it rains, there is only rain;
when the clouds pass, the sun shines through.

If you open yourself to the Tao,
you are at one with the Tao
and you can embody it completely.
If you open yourself to loss,
you are ot one with loss
and you can accept it comletely.

Open yourself to the Tao,
then trust your natural responses;
and everything will fall into place.