I am here: May 2007

Latest Acquisition!

Thursday, May 31, 2007

I got a bed! G's college bed (which is a full, not a queen). His dad dropped it off today. It's fricking high. Thick mattress, box frame, tall bed frame. It's really weird how much closer to the ceiling I am now. I've only had it for about...seven hours, but every time I walk into the bedroom, I have to roll around on the bed. I have a bed again! No more borrowed futon on the floor! It's very exciting. Soon I can start obsessing about sheets and duvets and how to hide the casters without getting a ruffly bedskirt.

Here's one more shot for you to fully appreciate the lovely late afternoon sun...at 8:12pm. So awesome!

Look, I actually cooked!

I finally made the curry! (A couple days ago.) Yes it was easy, yes I could've done this in Japan, but I was just that lazy. If you look closely, you'll notice that the kabocha is nothing but rinds. Oops. One time G and I made curry with kabocha but didn't put it in soon enough and it was hard. Guess I overcompensated.

It's no replacement for any curry house back in Japan, but it's good enough for at home in America cooking. I guess I should try to find a curry place up here.

I also made this pasta thing with bacon and fava beans. It was good, but definitely could've used more bacon and beans. Nice easy recipe, but it still took me way too long because of the bean prep. And the only grocery store that had fava beans was Whole Foods! Rargh. I went to Safeway, Trader Joe's, probably QFC too...nothing. Had to buy stupid organic hippie beans from the expensive store.

Poor presentation, I know. But it was good. And more importantly, one step closer to being able to eat carbonara again.

But gravy sounds delicious!

Tuesday, May 29, 2007

What's supposed to be on it? Wikipedia seems to think it's gravy!

All Muddied up again.

Sunday, May 27, 2007

Went geocaching, third time this week and probably the last trip for a very long time. Went stomping through ivy, slid down more than one muddy embankment. I found one in about 30 seconds that M couldn't find after two other trips. He's now found 103, 50 of which I was there for. 50! Pretty amazing. I finally signed up for an account so I can start logging them too. Well, next time, which probably won't happen until I get my own GPS thingy.

My poor neglected kabocha is growing fuzz. Sad.

Went geocaching again.

Saturday, May 26, 2007

His girlfriend is out of town this weekend, so I have a friend again. 4 hours today, but allll walking, even though we probably should've driven a lot of it. We found a nice hidden bench with a view of the lake, and didn't get stung by nettles this time.

Didn't cook, I'll sort through photos eventually.

I like it here #1

Friday, May 25, 2007

Well, official #1:

It's 11:20pm on a Friday night, and my nasty loud street is mostly silent. A few cars whisper by. No more big rigs, no motorcycles or revving engines. Just a reminder that I don't live in the sticks anymore (ohh--sad realization--I'll miss the crazy loud frogs. And the fireflies. Aw.).

I was going to say that if this were LA, it'd be just as loud (well, without the stupid big rigs) at night, but this isn't the same as Sunset Blvd or Santa Monica Blvd (my sister's place, not mine...). I live less than a mile from the grocery store, the bank, even a movie theater, but I live in a residential area. A neighborhood, with a well-recognized name. It's unlike anything I've ever experienced. It's wonderful.

Already scheming.

Once I start making money, I'm going to try poutine! On this side of the border! Aren't you proud of me D? (I know I know, I'll try it up there eventually. I'll drag G with me.)

Hmmm.

What exactly does one say to a friend of a friend of a friend who myspace bulletins her entire friend list (which includes me) to tell us she's getting divorced? Crazy. And a little sad. It's an amicable split, but I don't think I could just lay it out there like that. I guess that's how it works these days.

Dammit.

I don't know if I should be relieved that I just re-found a sizable stack of traveler's checks or if I should be very very ashamed that I've had a month's worth of rent kicking around in a box for the past handful--no wait--six months. Even longer if you note that one set was from my trip to Malaysia, in 2005.

Oh well, it's a happy ending either way. Now I don't have to live off $50 for the month of June.

And I put together a bench! Three for three!

(Pictures later, I deserve dinner now.)

No curry tonight.

Thursday, May 24, 2007

Today was a gorgeous day. California blue skies and warm. So I IMed M (the guy I stayed with) and we went geocaching. His hobby, not mine. Yet. (In a nutshell, geocaching is an outdoor treasure hunt using GPS coordinates.) How long? For about seven hours. Seven hours of wandering through parks and the city, looking for little boxes. It's a lot of fun, and I'm not nearly as tired as I thought I'd be. Well, we didn't walk for seven hours...lots of driving here and there. The longest hike was about two hours because we had to go down this winding path to the beach.

But it was so great to be outside with a purpose under blue skies! I don't think I'm homesick, but I kept pointing out places that reminded me of home (which could be either Japan or SD. There's a drive along the coast that reminds me of Aji and Yashima.). And now it's 8:20pm, and the sun is still out. Feels like 5pm. Kind of makes me want to go back out again, maybe go take a picture of this awesome view I didn't have my camera for this afternoon (the skyline, with the needle and Mt. Rainier!). But it's just the sunlight getting to me. If it were more evening-like, I'm sure I'd be settling in for the night. This weather is super great, but it also makes me fear the cold dark winters.

Time for dinner, pictures later, I promise!

(Right, and no curry because I'm definitely too tired to mess with it. Not sure if it'll be like real J-curry (highly doubtful), but I'll settle for recreating the curry I grew up with. And hey, the directions on the box are in Japanese (and English). That's got to count for something, right?

Total Accident, I swear.

Wednesday, May 23, 2007

I currently have five kinds of cheese in my refrigerator: cream cheese, ricotta, romano, swiss, and american. Other dairy includes milk, cream, and yogurt.

I knew I liked cheese, but I didn't I was that bad.

Another "accident": buying a ten pound bag of potatoes, because it cost the same as six pounds of the unbagged ones. Mmm potatoes. Guess I'll have to get some sour cream.

Goal for tomorrow: Japanese curry for dinner. With kabocha!

Picture this:

I'm hungry but I refuse to stand up because I got blisters from walking almost six miles in zori. I seriously intend to only eat food that I can reach without standing up.

Good thing I just made a trip to Uwajimaya (Japanese/Asian food superstore) and I haven't put everything away yet. Hooray Pocky!

It's raining.

Monday, May 21, 2007

I don't think I'll mind it, but ask me again in a couple months. The endless blue of back home can't be traded for all this green. I've got a great view of trees from half of my windows. I did make this realization: even though I live on the top floor, I can't hear the rain because of the attic above me. The landlady said that it's just crawlspace, but I seem to remember there being a window up there. Oh well. It's just weird seeing the rain and hearing the traffic but not the rain.

Oh, and there are two cars parked across the street. Funny, as that isn't parking. Also funny was a guy running by, and then another guy chasing after him. Hmm. I wonder what'll happen. I'll keep an eye out for 911 calls.

Target trip

Purchases: this pillow, hopefully for the green-black-white bedroom and super glue for one of my poor broken chawan. (Thankfully one from college, not a handmade Japan one.)

Salad for Dinner!

Saturday, May 19, 2007

Here's that salad I ate a few days ago on the new plates I bought. Gold star for color!

I'm proud of the plates mostly because the bowls are good for udon (once I find/make it) and the mugs feel good. I kinda wish it was a set of 6, not 4, but what can you do? Practically speaking, I don't need service for 8.

Color Ideas

Bedroom: light green (not sure if I want to lean towards yellow or blue), accented by black and white, maybe a little light blue. Like this, but no checkerboard. (Although I would totally do that in a kitchen or bathroom if I had the money and the burning desire to redo the floors):

Kitchen: As the carpet is industrial slate blue (a plus while I sit on the floor, quiet crappy once I start cooking and spilling), I think it'll have to be my blue room. What else can I do really? My plates are blue too. There's this awesome mirror I love, but I think it's only because it's reflecting the colors I want. Someday I'll have a room stylish enough for it (and the pocketbook to pay for it. Almost $200, F that.)

I'd love to sneak in some minimal red accents, like a red tea kettle or a photo of the HEP 5 roller coaster in Osaka (...the red one, with the red whales in the mall, seen it?), but I'd also settle for fitting this photo of my backyard in--just the photo, not necessarily the colors:

No clue about the living room yet. I feel like it should be warm tones, just because I'm going for blue and green in the other rooms. I wish I could furnish things with a bit more sophistication, but without a job, I suppose it's wisest to stick to ikea for now. And I'm not really a showroom sophistication sort of person anyway. Been spending too much time with the Crate and Barrel catalog. Bah.

Small wtf:

I'm on a roll.

There's a site where you can check real-time 911 incidents, and today, there's a handful of brush fires. Brush fires? So it doesn't rain here for a week and suddenly there's brush fires? No wait, it was raining early this morning.

It's probably just the hobos, or the hooligans or the college kids, and it's probably not in the scale of what I've grown up around, but still. Seattle gets brush fires? Crazy.

Hey Seattle Drivers:

Since the weather's been nice lately, a lot of you have been driving with your windows down and your sun roof open. I don't blame you. I've got all my apartment windows open, despite the loud rush of four-lane traffic.

But for those of you who play your music loud enough for me to hear in my non-street-side bathroom, know that I take a great deal of pleasure in judging your music. I've heard more country pop (SUVs) than I expected for the Northwest. And just now a mid-thirties yuppie in a nice car was blasting Hotel California. I didn't mind him so much, although his car suggested he was a douche bag.

PS: Thank you for patiently letting me out of my scary parking spot. Somehow I don't think that'd happen in LA without a great deal of aggressive malice on my part.

Olive Bars?

Olive bars.

Is this a Northwestern thing (I've only noticed them in Oregon and Seattle), a yuppie thing, or a new trend that I missed while I was away? Now, I like olives, and I'll probably break down and buy some for snacking, but it seems a bit pretentious to me. An entire section devoted to fresh olives, as long as the salad bar.

It's almost as strange as the full service gas stations in Oregon and parts of northern California. I'll post a mini rant about that later.

Ikea Trip: 90% successful.

Dresser and bathroom cart purchased. Extra purchases: plastic colander and utensil holder that will hopefully fit in my plastic magnetic bin that will go on the fridge. Refrained from buying floor cushions, because I'm not sure if I've got the floor space for them. They're frickin' huge! I even put together the bathroom cart within an hour of coming home. Piece of cake.

Minus 10%: The heavy dresser box is still in my trunk. Also, I opened the other dresser box, took out all the pieces, sorted all the brackets and doohickey things, and got thoroughly intimidated at the thought of putting everything together.

Too many damn things to consider. Bedroom first, I suppose.

Thursday, Day 6

Thursday, May 17, 2007

Researched storage containers (how the hell do you convert quart storage to pound storage? I found tips for flour and sugar, but what about brown sugar? Powdered sugar? Cream of Wheat? Do you see why this takes me so long), attempted to shower numerous times, finally succeeding around 3pm. Tried to determine if any Macy's stock the microwave I bought last week, because online Macy's got it on sale for 10 bucks cheaper (doesn't seem to exist in the Seattle area).

Finally forced myself to leave at 7pm for a stroll to the grocery store. (15 minutes, along an interesting street.) Trips to the grocery store are a lot more pleasant when it's no longer necessary to haul milk and juice home. I bought salad stuff, a little cheese, and a couple cans of tomato soup. I did not buy tuna, mayonnaise, or anything else heavy that I wanted. Go me.

I walked home, wondering where Dave Matthews lives.

I had a huge salad for dinner. No meat, and still full! Amazing. Wow, I think today was completely vegetarian. Whoops. I guess it helps that the only meat I have in here is lunch meat and a bit of beef jerky. I wonder what essential nutrients I missed out on.

Well, iodine for one. I accidentally bought un-iodized salt, and even though it was 67 cents, I can't bring myself to toss it. I'm sure there's enough iodized salt in the processed crap I eat...which I really don't eat that often. Oh well. I highly doubt I'll get a goiter.

Didn't get horribly sick from the taco-mobile. Hooray! Although I did pass out for a bit, but I think that's because the apt isn't clean enough, or my hair wasn't dry enough, or something mundane like that.

I think tomorrow will be Ikea day. Dresser, small cart for the bathroom, hopefully very few knickknacks. I'd like to get some floor pillows, although so far I've only seen picnicky ones. I didn't think I'd miss zabuton, but there ya go. I should probably just break down and buy that couch, although big purchases like that scare me. And I'm still not satisfied with the living room layout.

I hate that I'll probably make numerous trips to Ikea, just like Target (I already have a handful of things I want to return) and Fry's. But I just can't plan an entire apartment in one go. The current stumbling block is trying to accessorize everything in blue, because, well, I like blue. But even I've realized that a blue living room, kitchen, bathroom, and bedroom is overkill. The bathroom and kitchen are already blue by fate of stuff I already own. I'd love to get a sage green (like my mixer!) into the bedroom or living room, but right I'm so overwhelmed with everything else that I can't make up my mind.

So here's a new call for opinions (onegai!): colors for the living room and bedroom. I'm not sure I want to paint yet, but I know I'll need to buy sheets and a couch.

Dinners thus far

Wednesday, May 16, 2007

So far, dinner has been at most, a five-minute walk away. The closest grocery store is less than a mile away, and once I finish with the massive shopping trips, I'll probably walk over when I want light things like fruit and bread. How awesome is that?

But yes, here are my dinners. When you come to visit, there'll be plenty of fun places to go. I haven't tried the real restaurants yet, as I'm not quite ready to eat out on my own, and I've only gone south, so there's probably a million other fun places to discover.

Saturday night: Deluxe burger and fries from Dick's Drive-in
It totally still looks like a drive-in, complete with rotating sign.

Sunday night: Slice of chicken pesto pizza from Pudge Brothers
You can buy it by the giant slice, and they're open 'til 11.

Monday night: leftover pizza
I bought three slices of pizza. I was really hungry and I figured it'd be good to have leftovers. Somehow it didn't register that I could've just walked over for a fresh slice. It'll take me awhile to get over that.

Tuesday night: plain pasta and corn.
Nice to see you again Apathy. We can also blame that on a poorly stocked pantry and an overwhelming urge to try out my new pans.

Wednesday night: Bravo burrito and horchata from the taco-mobile.
Very disappointed that they only used one tortilla to wrap it, even though it definitely needed two. But they've got tamales, so I'll be going back soon. And it's a taco-mobile! I can't wait to get food poisoning again.

Time to help me furnish my apartment.

Help me! D, I know you've been waiting for this. Everyone else can play too.

So, here I have this lovely empty apartment, and I need to start filling it with crap. Well, not clutter-crap, I have plenty of that waiting to be unpacked--but real crap, like furniture. I think I'll be borrowing G's bed (a huge queen! I don't need that!), and I've got a coffee table, a small bookshelf, and a small bedstand/end table. That's it.

So you've seen the spaces, now I need some advice. Where do I put everything?

Here's my awesome bedroom thus far:

The lump on the right will be a dresser of some sort, and I might want to put a desk in front of the window. But it's a nice bright window, and it'd be great to have a bright place to sit and read. And yes, I need a nice wide dresser (up to the window), because the closet space is tiny.

Here's the living room:

The boxes on the bottom are where I think I want the couch to go. I've got enough space for a three-seater, right? So here's the problem: where to put a desk? I think there'll be two desks total, so I was thinking, maybe one in the left corner facing the wall, one on the left side of the windows? But I love the view, and was thinking about putting this bench there.

It's the perfect size. If I didn't have to worry about desks and a tv stand, I'd put two under the window, or maybe one with two end tables on the ends, but then you'd lose the wall to lean on. But yeah. I want to go out and buy things, but I also know I need to plan this out.

So what do you guys think? Two desks cluttering the living room, which doesn't have much natural light, or one in the bedroom, sacrificing the bright corner? And what about the bench idea?

Help meeee!

I HAVE INTERNET!!!!

Monday, May 14, 2007

That's the exciting part. Here's the more mundane stuff:

I drove up from SD a few days ago. I stopped in SJ and in Eugene, (Oregon). Some of it was unbearably boring, especially once I got desensitized to the endless green--quite a contrast to the dusty Central Valley. I got shamelessly excited when I saw Mount Shasta peek through the hills, and I was bummed that I couldn't see Mount St. Helens or Mount Rainier, although you can see Mt. Rainier when you drive south on the 5, and that's a bitchin' view.

Uhm, I've been to Fry's (Electronics) twice, and will probably go back for a vacuum cleaner even though it's a 30 minute drive. 30 minutes is nothing now compared to The Drive. Tonight I chatted with two employees about vacuum cleaners and a lot of other stuff. It's nice to find people as starved for attention as I am.

OOOh! I saw Rent on Sunday. My second time. I might do a long review later, I haven't decided.

So much other stuff, but I'm going to go play on the internet now. It's good to be back.

The Joy of Acquisition.

Sunday, May 06, 2007

I went to bed at two and woke up around 6 or 7 two days in a row. I was barely human on Saturday, when I went to the church (temple) used furniture sale at 7am. I'm still kind of out of it now (Sunday), but I got some good stuff--a shoe rack that I had seen at a real store, a collapsible bookcase painted an amusing shade of green, a small outdoor table (also collapsible), and a sweet coffee table.

The coffee table I'm especially proud of. It's sleek and solid and there's even a page on the web devoted to it. On the underside, the maker, design patent number, style number, and serial number are all branded on. My coffee table has a serial number. Kinda awesome if you ask me. It's probably too big, but it's at a great height for eating. If it's wide enough for a set up of Settlers of Catan, then I'm totally set.

Hmmm. Board games. If anyone sees Looping Louie for under 40USD (including shipping), let me know. It's become the next thing to lust after...

Yeah, Way Disorienting.

Wednesday, May 02, 2007

It's 8:50pm, and it's still quite dusk-like outside.

Summer's gonna mess with me. As is winter.

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