counting down...

In four weeks and one day I will be leaving for Japan. I am so incredibly terrified at the thought. But I've started putting together a separate blog to chronicle my experiences while I'm over there. I don't know what the future of this blog will end up looking like, …

camping with friends and hiking alone

I remember going camping with my family as a kid and having those few experiences where we were situated within close proximity of a group of young adult campers who spent their time laughing loudly, getting boozed up, and shouting at one another like they were the only …

heavenish

Another successful recipe out of my favorite cookbook: "Ginger-Macadamia-Coconut-Carrot Cake." It was incredible. And, with the weather having cooled down so much this week, it wasn't a terrible sacrifice to have the oven going, either.

the birds, the bees, and the Australian flame trees

With the weather being so pleasant lately, I've found a good deal of pleasure and relaxation in spending the afternoons lounging in my parents' back yard with an interesting book in hand. As I read, I am often startled back into my surrounding by the whir of a curious …

Das Bunker, das Gute

Okay, you got me: I don't speak German. But that doesn't stop me from believing that there are few things in life more enjoyable than taking a good turn on the dance floor to some dirty German techno hit whose only lyric I can confidently say I comprehend is its …

hey, this is kind of fun!

Yesterday was a nice day. I read, wrote in my journal, played the piano, made art, listened to music, played games, spent relatively little time on the internet, and felt overall rather good. But, in spite of all the niceness going on around me, I couldn't shake off …

??!

Tonight I did something I had imagined I wouldn't be able to do until ten years from now: I finished paying off my student loans. Entirely thanks to a wholly unanticipated and incredibly generous gift, the burden of debt was prematurely lifted from my shoulders and I …

the pushover

This morning the vice principle at the San Diego Academy called to ask if I could sub for the same second grade class I subbed for on Friday. I told her I didn't feel well.

Tonight she called me again, explaining that their second grade teacher was very ill and out with …

a tale of 22 2nd-graders and a 22-year-old substitute teacher without the capacity to control them

A little girl named Cielo sits on a chair in the front of a classroom, explaining to twenty-one of her peers that the little stuffed teddy bear on her lap is her fourteenth favorite toy. Though my mind is fettered with the anxiety of a long, miserable day in the …

peanut butter pie and the pursuit of paid work

It quickly closes in on three months since I packed up my life in Azusa and moved down to my city of origin--San Diego--and the search for secure employment has begun to look, admittedly, rather bleak. Each week I send out perhaps five or so r

el D. F.

more like home

Slowly--amid studying frantically for the GRE subject test on Literature in English, planning an irresponsible seven-day escape to Mexico City, and trying haphazardly to get hired as a substitute in the local school district--the elements are coming together.

Mostly, I …

regressa

Indulgent? Indubitably. For the unbeatable price of $176USD I've just booked a return flight to Mexico City with the budget airline AVIACSA.

I visited D.F. for the first time this last August, with the lovely and intrepid Marie Hafeman. The capital city had been a …

Frankie

I've been trying to come up with a reasonable excuse to post gratuitous photos of my cat on the internet, but I'm just going to haul off and do it. She is after all, precious.


Update: as I was lying on my bed, writing this, she hopped up on my bed, curled up by my feet, …

Shakespeare to the rescue!

Lately I've been reading a lot about William Shakespeare. I recently finished Anthony Burgess' imaginative biography and I'm now well into Stephen Greenblatt's own award-nominated study on the life of The Bard. It's been fascinating. Throughout my formal education, I've …

adventures in baking with bananas

Yesterday I obeyed an inkling to whip up a batch of vegan chocolate-chip cookies. I wanted them to be a tad healthier than the recipe I had on hand, plus, I didn't have the sufficient ingredients to make the cookie dough as described, so I put my knowledge of vegan …

smooth...

Today felt like a very long day at work. Which was especially odd, considering I got off early. Anyhow, when I got home, I definitely needed a smoothie. So I put some orange juice concentrate, frozen mangoes, frozen strawberries, strawberry soy yogurt, and a bit of …

I love

whow the spot of red wine
mellows in the bottom of the glass
while I finish my book;
then I sip those last few drops --
so tart!

growing up

means I went a whole day without wearing a unitard. It means that I felt like exercising today, so I went for a walk around the neighborhood because I knew my joints wouldn't want to handle the strain of a run or a jog. It means I spent several hours researching …

a new twist on dad's classic recipe

banana nut bread

need i say more?

probably not, but i will anyway:

i used my dad's basic recipe for banana nut bread and "veganized" it. it's still not "healthy," but it's safe to say it's at least "healthier."

3 ripe bananas
1 tbsp ground flaxseeds
3 tbsp water
2 tbsp …