Four Days Over

Our game. My highest scoring word was "toxic."

I'm spending my remaining hours of Christmas watching Elf on tv. How the four day weekend has flown by. My parents came up from the OC and stayed with us for a couple days. It was only the second time they stayed overnight. I felt pretty grown up having them here, even though my mom cooked all the meals. Funny how some things don't change. We showed them Disney Hall. We walked around the Farmers Market at The Grove. And we played a very good game of Scrabble with my dad. It was a complete game, with my dad and I getting rid of all our letters (Octopus couldn't get rid of his Q). Hope you all had a great Christmas.


Not quite what you want to see at the Farmers Market. Especially during the holidays.

Your Friday Afternoon Video #19: Little Drummer Boy

David Bowie and Bing Crosby Christmas duet.

Goodbye Time

I'm in the kind of mood where I put on The Carpenters and listen to Superstar over and over again. Only tonight I'm listening to Dusty Springfield do The Windmills of Your Mind over and over. I'm a late discoverer of Dusty Springfield (as in I bought Dusty in Memphis over the weekend and before that really only knew her from Son of a Preacher Man). It's the kind of night where I listen to melancholy music, mull over time passed, feel a sense of loss over another year gone by. The kind of night where it should be snowing.

"I've Been Channed!"

That's "channed" as in chanchow, thank you very much.

Apparently, this phrase has come into use in the DC area. At first I was aghast and embarrassed that this phrase existed, but now I'm amused, even flattered, and in my self-promoting effort to become part of pop culture (and possibly an entry in wiki or a superpoke on Facebook) I am sharing this story with my millions of readers.

The origins of being "channed":

Several years ago I was at magazine party in NYC and some guy started talking to me. At the end he asked me for my number and, for some reason, I gave him my business card. He seemed like a nice enough guy, but I wasn't looking to date him and I hoped that he wouldn't call. (I know, I should've just said No, but being a girl, I said "here's my card" when really I meant No.)

A few days later he called me at work. I was pretty surprised and secretly wished that the call had gone into voicemail. Here's the gist of the conversation:

Him: "Do you want to hang out this weekend?"

Me: "Uh, well, I don't think so... Cuz, um, I have to do my taxes."

Zing! He got the point.

Fast forward to last year when this guy started working in the same office as one of my good friends. This friend was at the same magazine party and he relayed this story about being turned down for taxes. Long story short, he now refers to this as being "channed."

So here's my definition:

to chan (also, to be channed): to reject or decline by giving a barely plausible or transparently made up explanation. For example, "I have to chan him" or "Bitch channed me."

Have you channed or been channed? Please do share. And please feel free to use this word in your normal, everyday life!

Anti-Mansionization

"...a homeowner in West Los Angeles tore down an 1,886-square-foot home and replaced it last year with a two-story, 13,874-square-foot residence -- on a 13,000-square-foot lot." - From the LA Times article.

LA is considering a law that would limit the square footage of new and rebuilt houses in certain parts of the city. I'm all for this. I don't like big houses. I don't want to live in one. I don't want to live near one. How big is too big? In my opinion, unless you have a huge family that lives with you, I don't think you need more than 3,000 sq ft.

One of my favorite things about Eagle Rock is that there is no tract housing. The area is full of houses built in the 20's and 30's. Every house is different and the size of the house is proportional to the size of the lot. Some houses are pretty big and grand, but for the most part they are old and have character and are situated on big lots.

The Wire is the Sh*t

Dominic West as McNulty (foreground).

I'm not big on crime dramas (other than SVU) or other macho stuff, but after hearing about The Wire I thought I'd put it on our Netflix queue. Man oh man, this show is good. It takes a few episodes to ease in-- there are a lot of characters and the accents are hard to understand (we've started watching with subtitles)-- but once you're in, you're hooked.

We just finished watching the first season. Season 2 is in the mail. Season 5 (the final season) begins on HBO in January. A friend says that the show has gotten better every season, so I'm looking forward to spending this winter with the cops and criminals of Baltimore.


From 300 (I hated this movie). That's him again in front, looking a little too hunkalicious for me.

Your Friday Afternoon Video #18: Michael Jackson at the '84 Grammys

Sorry, I couldn't resist posting this footage of MJ at the Grammys with his entourage- Brooke Shields, Webster, Janet and LaToya (looking like Wonder Woman).

This will be the last MJ post for a while, I promise.

Awards Show Season

'Tis the season that awards nominations get announced. The only awards show I ever make a point of watching is the Oscars. Last year I even won the Oscar pool in my office. I really love winning. It feels so good.


The Grammy nominations came out today. I've never really been a fan of the Grammys. The only Grammy memory I have is watching Michael Jackson win a boatload for Thriller. Which reminds me, can you believe that Thriller came out 25 years ago? What's your favorite song off that album?


Back in his heartthrob days...

I've Been on a Quiet Health Kick Lately

A few months ago I decided to cut back on alcohol. Now I have just a glass or two of wine a month. I also cut back on coffee, to about a cup a day. And most importantly, I'm eating less meat-- only four meat meals a week. The meat thing has been the hardest. I never thought I ate much meat, until I realized that cutting back required a conscious effort (as opposed to not drinking, which hasn't been that hard for me). Limiting to four meals (and not five or three) was pretty arbitrary. Four seemed like a challenging, but doable, number. It's like I'm on a meat budget.

I'm not making grand plans to cut out alcohol or meat completely, although the idea of becoming a teetotaller is appealing. I think I'm just trying to be healthier. So far it seems to be working. I sleep better, I feel better overall. I think I've even lost some weight. And of course not drinking saves a lot of money. So all in all it's good.

Alligator Spotting with the Family Octopus

We hoped that this gator would dive into the water and get all crazy violent, but all he did was open his mouth and move a leg.

Hope you all had a great Thanksgiving! We spent the holiday in Florida with the family Octopus. On Saturday we tried something new and took the cousins for a field trip to the Everglades. The Octopus and I were the oldest in the bunch, so we sorta felt like group leaders. The power was almost intoxicating.


Sunset over the glades.

These Are a Few of My Favorite Things ...

Where I like to go and where I like to take visiting friends and family:

• Huntington. My favorite place in LA. Skip the art exhibits and just walk around the grounds. The Desert Garden (esp the Succulent Greenhouse) is a must see. And the much anticipated Chinese Garden opens in February.


• Griffith Observatory. My second fave place.


• Norton Simon Museum


• Santa Monica Farmers Market


• Broadway in Downtown


• A movie at the Hollywood Forever Cemetery or at one of the historic theaters downtown

Your Friday Afternoon Video #17: It's the Holidays!!!

Cannot believe Thanksgiving and Christmas are just about here. If this doesn't make you smile, then you're a grinch!

Um, Uh, Hi ... I'm Boring

Sometimes I feel really boring. I hang out with friends and acquaintances and I feel like I don't have anything interesting to say. Sometimes I catch myself telling the same story twice to people, and I don't stop myself because I don't have anything else to say and I know they're too polite to tell me they've already heard it.

Strangely, I have the easiest time talking to people at work. Not because they're all my bestest friends, but because we can bitch and moan forever and ever. We understand, we suffer.

Is complaining the easiest way to bond? I suppose I could talk about movies, books and music, which I do, but I can only talk about that so much. I could talk about my family, but that's too personal for most people. Have I already blogged about this?

I Do, I Guess

I wonder what the average age at first marriage is these days. I haven't checked the stats, but I would guess that in the U.S. it's around 25 for women, 28 for men. I would guess a little older than that in Western Europe and younger in Asia and Latin America (significantly younger, in some places). When did your parents start bugging you about getting married (assuming they bugged you at all)? Do you feel there is a double standard with men and women?

Turning Back the Clock is Overrated

Today feels like the longest day ever. I can't believe it's only 9pm. I don't like that it gets dark so early. I need sun. I feel myself getting sad. LA life has made me really dependent on sunshine. I don't remember feeling this way in NY.


On a brighter note, I am really getting into succulents. I just got this great book called Designing with Succulents. Not only are they super cool looking, they require little water and are very good for fire prone areas like LA. Their leaves are filled with water and they don't act as fire ladders since they are usually low to the ground.


Chiricahua: "Wonderland of Rocks"
Last, but not least, I am making arrangements for our next trip: Arizona. The Octopus and I have been nostalgic for our 2005 road trip where we hit a bunch of national parks, so we decided that Arizona is the place for us. We'll be skipping the Grand Canyon and other Northern AZ sites in favor of the lesser traveled Montezuma's Castle, Saguaro and, what looks to be very interesting, Chiricahua. I'm looking forward to getting more national parks brochures.

My How They Grow

Remember this succulent arrangement that I did back in June (my post here)?



Well, I gave it to my mom and today, a little over four months later, it looks like this!

It's Like an Oven

I walked out for lunch just now and I felt like I was in Vegas. The air is bone dry. When you inhale, you feel like your nose is on fire.

Smoke from the Malibu and Inland Empire fires is collecting in the Valley. I wish I had my camera so I could take a picture. The colors are layered. You have the houses and the trees, then a thin strip of light blue sky, then a heavy layer of gray pink smoke.

My Priorities

When I was in sixth grade, my homeroom had a project where every student was given the same 30 things and had to list them in order of importance. I can't remember very many of them now, but I know that health, a long life, money, family and religion were among them. We were each given a big board (about 2' by 3') to write out the list and then the boards were hung from the ceiling.

Wonder where my list is now. It may be packed away in my parents' garage. I remember that at the top of my list was a long life (I was really afraid of death back then) and at the bottom was religion. I should make a new list now, file it away, then take it again every ten years.

Back Online at Home

We returned from a weekend in the Bay Area to a dead modem. No internet access at home. Fortunately, I didn't have to work from home or respond to urgent emails, so this didn't bother me much. I reminded myself that there was life before internet.

I'm back online now, but I realized during those two days just how much time I spend online at home. I usually turn on my computer within an hour of getting home from the office. Why I do this, considering I spend all day in front of a computer, I don't know. I probably spend a good hour+ on the computer at night. Checking email, facebooking, looking things up on wiki.

I really need to cut back. I don't remember what I used to do before I had internet access at home. Did I read more? Talk to friends? Now I just watch Dancing with the Stars on TV and then go online to wiki all the stars and their partners...

Your Friday Afternoon Video #16: Judy Garland and Barbra Streisand

I originally wanted to post Judy Garland singing San Francisco, but I like this duet almost as much. It's a melancholy rendition of Happy Days Are Here Again/Get Happy and I really like it.