The Big Country

I'm getting very excited to go back to Portland. Living on Vashon is definitely fun, but also a very mellow, and I feel like I'm at a retreat every day. I'm excited to drive down to Portland with my mom and sister. And I'm excited to return to my normal level of over-stimulation. And as soon I get there, I'm sure I'll miss the peace, quite, and carefree island life.

Here are a list of my favorite names (taken from my sticky notes):

Ida/ Ioda       Titus

Diderot          Xerxes

Appoline

Agamemnon    Tempelton

Pascal            Pluto

Lolita             Cosmo

Quentin          Hidlegard   

Basil              

Desmond

Fanny/ Ernest

My parents would have named me Cosmo if I'd been born a boy.

I've still been dreaming a lot. But the images are less exciting visually. Like, the other night it was just a dream where I was serving beer at the Red Bike to D Ku and Jensen, and I'd just had a baby and I was carrying it around but dropping stuff all the time... very weird.

Or I had one where I went to Santi's Bar Mitzvah.
Or where William and I were in a dance concert together. I might paint that one though, so I'll save it.

I love Vashon, but I'm excited to get back to the land of irritating college students.

Spreading Malcontent

I've been having at least one vivid dream a night recently, which I've been recording in a long email draft to myself. I'm also trying to work on an insert for Rebecca's zine. So, I decided to combine those two projects. Here's the first attempt:

The other night, coming out of a series of dreams which took place in the dirty streets of a cobble-stoned city, I became a conspiracy theorist. I was a haggard young man, staking out a popular passageway of the marketplace.
"Soon, it'll all go to hell," I warned! "There won't be democracies, or capitalism. Ha! No, you want representation? You want food? You want medicine or education?! Well, everything will be black market! Thats right!! Ha! The black market will supersede all other powers, governments, and institutions. It won't be pretty, no, it won't be pretty!" Leaning over, hoisting a huge basket of rice onto my back, I waved one hand wildly and trudged back and forth, demonstrating the weight, the burden we would all carry for powers that be in the black market.

I was also the the little boy that watched the fool spewing nonsense about the black market. I just rolled my eyes.

In other news:
I've continued to cook a lot. I've made:
-Fennel Ice Cream; recipe courtesy of Jen's fabulous food blog! I think I would cut the sugar just a tad so my mom would want to eat it (she's sensitive to sugar), but my dad and I have serious sweet teeth, so we were happy as clams!
-Rustic Deep Dish Apple Pie-- not my best pie, but I was trying a weird Joy of Cooking recipe
-Fetta Herb Stuffed Homemade Pasta with a fried tomato topping. I've made this twice now. The first time the stuffing was too salty, so I cut the feta with more cream cheese and sour cream the second time. My sister agreed with me and said it was much improved. I also learned the first time that it's important to seed tomatoes if you want to cook them so they keep their shape and not have them turn into a sauce.
-Onion Mushroom Garlic Hamburgers for Maia and Dad
-Cheesy Rice with Egg whites and Greens (AKA everything we have laying around...)
-Baked Salmon Four Ways
     -Black bean, mushroom, and green onion topping
     -Orange, lemon, rosemary, and white onion topping (w/ salt, pepper, and butter)
     -Lemon, green onion, and white onion topping (w/ salt, pepper, and butter)
     -White onions, green onions, oregano, and mushrooms topping (w/ salt, pepper, and butter)

Home Sweet Home

I've left the Giant Peach for good.

I'm bored at home.

I've gone on some runs. (Two, to be precise.)
Both of them for 2.5 miles. The first one took 30minutes. The next day I went for the second run, but half way through I got a terrible stomach ache and I walked the rest of the way home. That said, the first half of the run went really quickly and I think it would have been an improvement from the previous day, so in total I only took 45minutes. Now, to some this may seem like a long time for a 2.5 mile walk/run. I was extremely proud. Here is selection of my post-run photos after my first run:

update: My physical therapist has told me not to run again. Otherwise I'll throw out my back again.

Please note my squirt t-shirt. My dad saw it and went, "Did you steal that from me? Because, Squirt is my favorite soda. I want a Squirt t-shirt!" I laughed. I felt kind of self conscious wearing it around Vashon. Anyway, I hope you can sense my pride and intense feeling of accomplishment. I celebrated by eating a bowl of creme brulee with Maia that we'd made the day before. Speaking of which, I've become a master chef:

Chicken Sausage Noodle casserole
Cilantro Pesto Feta Pasta Fry
Fresh Garden Salad
Udon Noodles with Spicy Curry and Black Bean Broth (I actually hated this, but my dad liked it... so, at your own risk, really)
Creme Brulee
Mago Lime Sorbet
Crepes with Jam (I actually haven't made the crepe batter or the jam recently, but my dad makes the batter, I fry it and put jam in it. I recommend it, but I can't really give any more instruction than that.)
Garden Burrito with Tofu (this is a fancy name I've given to a burrito with no bean and whatever is in the fridge and some lettuce from the garden...)
Simple Bruschetta
Simone's Famous French Toast!!! (haha)

Maybe future blog posts will hold more exciting news (like pictures from dance concerts!) but these days my life has been filled with contemplative cleaning and song writing about feelings towards lemon creme pies and my incredible twerking skills.



So, that's a fun vid i found of myself. I was showing off my sick outfit.

My Day

I'll keep it "brief." I'm bored out of my mind but I don't actually have anything to say. Unlike my other blog posts?

 I've been in bed most of the day. I woke up at 7, thrilled to be going to down to portland, only to see 2 inches of snow outside, tree's blowing wildly in the wind, and my sister singing a song about how school was delayed two hours. Going to Portland has been delayed until tomorrow. My mom's in L.A. right now. She'll be visiting me in Portland on Friday. The only reason I didn't go with her to LA was that I originally thought I was going back to Portland last Sunday.  Now I wish I'd taken the opportunity to soak up the sun while I had the chance. Plus, a drive from L.A. to Portland = lots of good food and chit chat time with my mom (AKA bliss.)  I was in a bad mood this morning, but I've softened up with half a dozen episodes of "The IT Crowd."



I've spent all day in bed. Right now I'm eating pretzels dipped in cream cheese and drinking a beer (Full Sail Pale Ale- which makes me feel sooooo mature.) I've eaten tasty food today. A breakfast of apple crisp, a lunch of a delicious grilled sandwich, now this. I've decided to use my blog to talk about food a lot- which I'll start more when I get back to Portland and can upload all the pictures of food from my camera.

meanwhile.... Maia and I have been having daily photobooth photo shoots.  It's really fun and we laugh constantly.