Step 1: We admit that we are powerless over our flakiness -- that our blogs had become unmanageable

  I was going to write my thoughts about the Bridget Jones novels, but I was drawing up blank and when the things get hard, I hide. So much for blogging regularly. I'll be back on Sunday (which was just yesterday, but obviously I mean this coming Sunday).

Things I'd like to do when Visiting a New (N. American) City

  I found the cheap spiral notebook that I used as a diary, to-do list, and general repository of scribbles to be forgotten. Uploading them online doesn't help much either because which app should I use? I have accounts with Spring It, Kippt, Wunderlist and Evernote and documents on computers and Dropbox that I don't know where things are. I used to think how my high school classmates would tediously keep color code their assignment notebooks frivolous and flippant but it turns out that it's a transferable life skill.

  Anyway, long story short, since people are travelling this week and summer travel is generally upon us, here's a list I made of things I'd like to do when visiting a new (N. American) city:

1. look for an (old-fashion) soda jerk
2. try local candy, cake or baked treats [I guess I meant local confection in general]
3. lingerie, sunglass and hat shopping
4. go on easy hike
5. fabric shopping
6. listen to music/performance
7. bookstore!
8. perfume shopping
9. local spirits/beer
10. gardens
11. "heritage" apparel [to look, less likely to buy]
12. cemeteries/graves
13. Top Chef restaurant
14. get a haircut
15. speciality stores: Marimekko; clogs; Moomin; Tintin, etc
16. buy local traditional crafts
17. fashion-forward boutiques
18. Goodwill
19. Antiques/flea market
20. historic residential neighborhood
21. specialty stationery store
22. artists/craftsmen's workshop

Over half are shopping related (11), but not all of it is typical clothes, shoes, accessories shopping, and four are food related.

New additions:

23. architecture tour
24. coffee tea cocoa
25. alternative sports/recreation
26. parks
27. fishing
28. antiquarian books
29. usual museums
30. unusual niche museums
31. try out different (historical or unique) modes of transportation
32. swim in public pool, skate in skate park, etc
33. shoe shopping
34. try out boutique fitness classes (nyc!)
35. roller coaster
36. buy wall maps preferably in specialty map store
37. walk, bike or hangout by the town's riverwalk
38. buy seeds of plants that are endemic or indigenous or specially cultivated in that area
39. tour the local university (hopefully it has a beautiful campus)
40. go to farm, orchard or garden and pick fruit

  I wonder if there's anything to add..?

Moomin Haulin

My Moomin T-shirts

  I was supposed to buy one Moomin t-shirt, one Moomin tunic, and for my friend A one Snoopy t-shirt at Uniqlo, but ended up buying three Moomin t-shirts for myself. They were on sale and look, only one is gray.
  

You can't see them, but the style of the sleeves is "French" aka slouchy shoulder, shorter than cap sleeves, not set-in and not raglan either. The sleeves and the torso are one piece of fabric.

Moomin and Snorkmaiden on a Boat

  A bought me a present from Hong Kong. It's a Moomin diary. While she was there we messaged over Viber and said that she saw Moomin figurines in a character store. Mucho dinero. I wasn't expecting to receive a present so I'm very happy with it. Thank you A.

  On a side note, while at Uniqlo I asked the shop assistant to use my own reusable bag to pack my t-shirts which he did, but proceeded to put the pair of sunglasses that I bought along with the t-shirts in a plastic bag before putting it in my own bag. The three t-shirts and sunglasses fit in that bag.

Shows I Have Loved

Currently running:
The Good Wife
The Americans

One Season Wonders:

Emily Owens MD
Jack & Bobby

Coming of Age Nostalgia:
Everwood
Gilmore Girls
Veronica Mars


I like a lot of Greg Berlanti (aside from Jack & Bobby and Everwood, I liked Dirty Sexy Money and Brothers & Sisters,  though didn't really attentively follow). I generally like shows that aren't the hottest Neilsen #1 rated shows, like Glee and Mad Men nor the alternative cult TV shows like Orange is the New Black, Breaking Bad, House of Cards, Homeland. That's not to say I don't like those shows, it's that they don't initially appeal to me thus since I don't have an introduction to them, I don't watch them. I like shows that are a little bit on the mellow side, though I have dabbled in serious intense thrillers by way of Prison Break season 1. Story telling and character development are mostly what I'm after.

Things I Like: Liberal Arts Edition pt 1

Religion; religion as culture; religion as group identity; Quakerism; Shakers; Shaker furniture; the Reformation; Art History; MoMA; Suprematist Composition: White on White.

More to come once I build up the mental stamina and after I do laundry and return from shopping.

Listening is Feeling

  Because I've never had my heart broken, I've never loved and lost, and only imagined love from novels and movies and celebrity gossip, I've always fantasized heartbreak and its exquisite romantic pain.

If you metaphorically pierce my heart

it'll spurt a little blood but it and I am too tired to doing anything more.

Teddi Tag

I got this tag from Teddi, Set, Go! better known/formerly known as Jewish Girl in Wasp's Clothing. I've been having a hard time figuring out what this blog is about, because I don't know which side of me to show on it. I think this tag is a good blend of sincerity and levity and shows a balanced mix of my personality.

Just because I haven't touched this blog on months doesn't mean I constantly fret about it. I do... it's just that I quash every idea that I think of for this blog.

A to Z TAG

A. Attached or single?   Very single. Very, indeed.
B. Best friend?   Oh...?
C. Cake or pie? I eat more cake only because it's easier to find so I'll go with pie. Apple pie, buko or young coconut pie, shepherd's pie, buttermilk pie, even pumpkin pie! For cakes, I like caramel crunch cake. In general, I like cake with a lot of fruits and nuts and "stuff"...even fruitcake!

Makes me nostalgic for the 90s and that single magazine in our entire house growing up: Ladies' Home Journal

D. Day of choice? Thursdays and Sundays 
E. Essential item? Pen & paper.
F. Favorite color? Gray & pink to wear, forest green on walls for that old library look.
G. Gummy bears or worms? I like sour, sugary worms. (Teddi's answer, as is mine)
H. Hometown? San Juan is where I was raised, but I'm searching for my place in the sun.
I. Favorite indulgence? Whiling the entire day on the internet reading newspapers, blogs and magazines.
J. January or July? January: clear winter night skies, brisk and chilly nights, and after-Christmas sales!


K. Kids? I am mothering the child in me, as a therapist advised me.
L. Life isn't complete without? A certain level of abstraction.
M. Marriage date? Sometime in the future?
N. Number of brothers/sisters? 1 sister.
O. Oranges or apples? Heirloom apples. So far, my favorites are King David and green dragon.
P. Phobias? I don't have phobias but I have plenty of fears.

Late to the TS party, but converts make ardent believers, they say.

Q. Quotes? Nothing that pops in mind.
R. Reasons to smile? Life may be hard, but it's my choice. :)
S. Season of choice? Early winter or a gentle monsoon season. (Though I've never really lived in a place with proper 4 seasons.)
T. Tag 5 people. If you read this, please do this!
U. Unknown fact about me? The same as Teddi's: I think my voice is stupid... although when I read something aloud, or I'm conscious of how I inflect, it's not bad at all I think.
V. Vegetable? The hot "it" veg: kale. But I like bib lettuce and arugula and most leaf & cruciferous vegetables, especially since I don't think I eat enough of them. I also like taro and ube (which are not the same).

My BFF Gwyny taught me the word "cruciferous."

W. Worst habit? Similar to Teddi's: Being wishy washy and speaking before I think. Also, procrastinating. And being afraid.
X. X-Ray or ultrasound? Ultrasound. I like the gel. haha. But first, why?
Y. Your favorite food? Sugar. Salt. Fat. & Starch. (ADDICTED.)
Z. Zodiac sign? Taurus & Snake. Even though I don't consider myself superstitious, I identify a lot with those two, although I'd never wear a zodiac sign necklace. (But I appreciate it when people do!)


image sources: Wikipedia Commons; New York Public Library Digital Library; Wikipedia; Apartment Therapy; Neiman Marcus via Pinterest

Jhumpa Lahiri

Though he looked like any other Bengali, he felt an allegiance with the foreigners now. He shared with them a knowledge of elsewhere. Another life to go back to. The ability to leave.

-Jhumpa Lahiri, "Brotherly Love" in The New Yorker

In my case, the inability to leave, yet longing to go back to another life.

W of the D

mar·plot  (märplt)

n.

An officious meddler whose interference compromises the success of an undertaking.

---

[After Marplot, a character in The Busy Body, a play by Susannah Centlivre (1669-1723).]

 

from thefreedictionary.com

Quite a good natural sounding word isn't it? I wonder who Susannah Centlivre was. I stumbled on this word in Little Women as I'm rereading it now.

Word of the Day: Obloquy

ob·lo·quy 
/ˈäbləkwē/
Noun

    Strong public criticism or verbal abuse.
    Disgrace, esp. that brought about by public abuse.

Synonyms
slander - opprobrium - shame - dishonour - dishonor

from dictionary.com via google

Example:
"Rather than actually confront the difficulties of the region, he is deploying his considerable prestige to say that one country, among all the nations of the world, is uniquely deserving of obloquy."

From: "Viewpoint: Stephen Hawking's Israel Boycott is lost in Space" in Time magazine. 

(note: Not only are the views expressed solely the individual [source] writer's, I may actually disagree with them)

Nano Update

My reason for being for the next 2.5h is one of those giant cookies the size of a salad plate, a staple of mediocre coffee shop food along with stale croissants and muffins. Gotta get through this, gotta get through this chapter.

Shopping at Goodwill

  Came back from shopping at Goodwill today. I hoped to buy a crock pot, microwave, iron, electric kettle, oven toaster, plates and utensils. I wasn't expecting to buy all of them (since I can't lug them all on the bus anyway), but was very much hoping for the crock pot and microwave to be available. I knew Goodwill always has plates and utensils for sale, so that wasn't an issue.

  I did find crock pots at Goodwill, three in fact, and bought the cheapest one for $5. I'm satisfied with it, but I was thinking of not buying it at all for two reasons: it's really tiny, I would call it "personal size;" and it doesn't have settings. You just plug it in. The two other slow cookers were bigger and had high/low settings but their crocks weren't removable, which is really important to me for cleaning purposes. I was already there and didn't want to waste the trip so I did what was instinctual to me: buy the cheapest option.

 I also found an iron for $6. I have to scrape the iron's bottom plate and figure out how to pour water into the iron but those should be easy. 

  I also found an electric kettle but decided that I didn't really need one, that I should just save the $4 that I'd spend on one for the microwave. Ha. That $4 was spent on something else, very very quickly.

  Regretfully, I didn't find a microwave at all (though strangely there were lots of hair dryers and vegetable steamer contraptions). If I'd found a microwave, I probably had to lugged it, the crock pot, plates, utensils and iron directly to  my Cozy Little Hovel, but because my hands were free, I went shopping a bit more. Big Mistake.

 I spent an extra $14 on a large woven basket and a blouse. It's a really nice basket! It's large, but not rigid, the material is almost like a straw hat but thicker, and it was able to hold the plates, utensils, crock pot, iron and electric kettle with room to spare. And the handle is nicely covered in leather. I think Whole Food sells these baskets and they're from somewhere in Africa. 

  And the other half of the $14, I spent it on an ivory-colored blouse. I'm ambivalent about the soundness of this decision. On one hand, it was "too good to pass up." It was silk and Brooks Brothers. But then again, you can always say something is "too good to pass up," and because it's 100% silk, dry cleaning is mandatory, so in the long run, this shirt will probably be worth hundreds of dollars in maintenance. Also, I've been so good in not buying clothes at all for the past 6 months that breaking my record for a happenstance purchase feels like a defeat. But it's so silkyyyy. And it has covered buttons. And puff but not-too-puffy sleeves. And a mandarin collar. Sigh...

  

  I have two days to return the blouse, the basket or both. I'll probably return at least one of them.

  So the lesson in shopping at Goodwill is that you will end up buying a lot of lovely inexpensive crap if you're not careful. Write down a list. Leave no room for "oh, I really need X and I see they have it and for a good price." And eat before you shop! I was hungry while I was shopping. Not only does it make you impulsive but your mental functions will be cloudy and slow.

  PS. I would take pictures of my purchases esp the basket and the blouse but my camera's dead and I can't find my spare batteries.