goodbye 2006

The catering prep is complete, and the MSG and I are all gussied up and ready to go throw a party! Have a wonderful night, however you celebrate it, and I’ll see you next year.

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Posted on 31 Dec 2006 | 2 comments

uncomfortably numb

Yesterday I was fairly blase about a quarter of my finger being numb. Today I see the scar and don’t think much of it, but the thought of permanent numbness is wigging me out. It’s not like I need feeling in it for it to work. Perhaps it is the finality of the injury: this will never work as it once did, and I will die with it not working as it once did. Shortly after we first met, Jonathan and I had a conversation about emotional experience that set my little brain-wheels a-turnin’. It seems I articulated something I hadn’t fully considered yet, which is rare for me — I usually only express opinions I’ve carefully thought through — but the more I think, the more I realize its validity. It’s not that we...

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Posted on 30 Dec 2006 | 4 comments

long live frankenfinger

Frankenfinger is dead! Long live Frankenfinger! I spent way too long at my HMO today, waiting to get the sutures removed. When I finally saw the doctor, it took him longer to open the sterile suture removal kit than it did to remove the sutures. He said it has healed well, and although I may never have feeling in part of my finger again, it will function like normal. Thus ends my first adventure in laceration. May it also be my last. To celebrate Frankenfinger’s newfound freedom, I share with you this darling Flickr photoset: Tiny Animals on...

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Posted on 29 Dec 2006 | Comments Off

no small thing

Why the mind needs detail in dreams – My car was broken into again. Jonathan and I went with the man from the Larkspur ferry to find it. It was in a small courtyard I remember stumbling upon in Seattle over the summertime. It felt like summertime, too, right after a heavy rain; the pavement was dark with thick green moss sticking up here and there. All the windows of my car were smashed out, all the doors and the trunk were open. The club I used for Urban Golf two years ago was still in the trunk. Is still in the real, non-dreamed trunk. The radio was gone, the hole filled in with glossy black plastic. Along one side of the courtyard was a large house with open sliding doors to its kitchen. I stepped inside and noticed that a child had placed a piece...

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Posted on 28 Dec 2006 | 1 comment

name meme

Too sick to write anything of substance, but you get a meme. YOUR SPY NAME (middle name and current street name) Mencotti Oak. YOUR MOVIE STAR NAME (grandfather/mother on your dad’s side and your favorite candy) Margaret Ferrero-Rocher. YOUR RAP NAME (first initial of first name and first three or four letters of your last name) H-Bern. Do you feel the H Burn?! YOUR GAMER TAG (a favorite color, a favorite animal) Black Swan. Duh. YOUR SOAP OPERA NAME (middle name, and city you were born in) Mencotti Erie. What? PORN STAR NAME (first pet’s name, the street you grew up on) Bianca McClellan. SUPERHERO NAME (“The”, a favorite color and the automobile your dad drives) The Aubergine Passat! YOUR ACTION HERO NAME (first name of the main...

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Posted on 27 Dec 2006 | 1 comment

TiVo saves

Ah, the healing properties of TiVo! Yesterday my throat started feeling scratchy, and it turned into a seriously sore throat by the time we got home from our revelry, so I stayed home from work to nap with Zen and watch recorded episodes of “Monk” and “Doctor Who”. I also took a lot of zinc and other vitamins, and ate hot and sour soup and drank Emergen-C and juice. Now I’m feeling a bit better. Zen doesn’t know what to do with me today. She tries to curl up on my laptop, and when I gently move her to sit beside me, she walks to the other end of the couch and yowls at me. Then when I finally let her curl up as close to my laptop as she can be without lying on it, she yowls at me. So I shrug and she jumps off the couch to...

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Posted on 26 Dec 2006 | 2 comments

wonder and magic

Merry Christmas, to those of you who celebrate it! The MSG and I are about to head out on our trek east and then north, so it’s likely I won’t be able to post anything else today for Holidailies, but I’m charging up my phone and camera for photographic goodness. As a child, I adored Christmas morning. My parents, together and later separately, always made it a very special day for me. They instilled in me a deep appreciation for wonder and magic. I admire people who do this for others, whether it be tied to a holiday or not. Here’s to wonder and magic, today and all year long.

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Posted on 25 Dec 2006 | Comments Off

into the abyss

Almost Christmas! Please share in the horror that is Celine Dion covering AC/DC’s “You Shook Me All Night Long” because that is what we do for the holidays, we share. And then we scream silently into the abyss. While shopping in the SFMoMA store for a grab-bag gift for tomorrow’s holiday party, I spotted a display of Moleskine City Notebooks. Since I had not yet seen them in the wild, I bought the London one for my upcoming work trip. As expected, it is thoughtfully designed and satisfying to touch and hold. I need to start filling it out soon, since my trip is less than a month away now. ...

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Posted on 24 Dec 2006 | 3 comments

nap drug

One of the stops on our many errands today was near a curiosity shop, so we stopped in and immediately met two great shop cats. One was a big orange tabby with six toes on each of his paws, and the other was a tortie much like Zen who drooled when I pet her. Frankenfinger is itch-tastic today. I picture a tiny electrician sorting through all the severed mess: every once in a while he plucks two nerves out of the bunch and slams them back into each other and I go through the roof. Zen is the nap drug. This evening I went home to check on her mental state through our last two little earthquakes and decided to watch a recorded episode of “Bones” and she curled up with me. Before I knew it, the better part of an hour had elapsed. Unreal. With all the...

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Posted on 23 Dec 2006 | 1 comment

eve eve eve

Happy Christmas Eve Eve Eve to all! This Holidailies thing is rough, folks. I have very little to write about here. My offline writing has picked up a bit, which feels good, but I am overwhelmingly aware of how boring this website has become. Today I realized something about myself: I really love giving gifts, but I really hate choosing them. Braving the mall last night reinforced this hatred. So many surly people tossing money at so many other surly people. Each year I think I’ll make gifts instead of buy them, and each year I end up running out of time and buying them and then fretting over my choices. Anyway, it is time to curl up with the MSG and watch a movie. I’ll figure it out next...

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Posted on 22 Dec 2006 | 2 comments