happy birthday, tony. love you harder.
JESUS, GOD….

man, i forgot how good this sparklehorse album is.

after hearing one of its songs online, i’m jonesin’ to get home, dig up the album, and get reacquainted with it as i crawl under the covers.

also, for some amusing (and somewhat disturbing) reading, check out the comments (49 and going on strong) on this article about the china airlines debacle earlier this week.

saw casino royale last night, FINALLY. the opening song – a piece of anti-harmonious crap by chris cornell (WHY?!) – threw me for a loop and turned me off. however, the movie redeemed itself. also, it made me realize how wrong i was about eva green. there is an indisputable hotness there…one that wasn’t evident in the dreamers.

i’m hella tired today, and my teeth hurt.

this girl is sorta my hero.

i spent the past wknd with the hos — the girls with whom i grew up and have known for at least a decade — for our yearly vacation getaway. it was suhhhhweeeeeeeeeeet.

this year we managed a wickedly smart trip, thanks in part to mich, who booked us at the wildly popular costanoa coastal lodge and camp, a place i’ve had my eye on for years. i can’t sing enough praises about pescadero, the charming little town in which costanoa resides. nestled between half moon bay and santa cruz, this is a breathtaking area…one of my favorite places in the world. all it takes is one drive on highway one to ask myself why i’d ever want to live anywhere else but here.

the trip was positively DREAMY! we couldn’t have asked for more glorious weather or a more fabulous time, except 1) i wish our stay could’ve been longer (“one more night…gimme just one. more. night…”) and 2) we were incomplete and sad that jenelle couldn’t join us.

i could go on and on about how delightful it all was, but it would be a futile attempt.

please treat your peepers to my photos, if you’d like. they make a persuasive case for exploring pescadero.
here are highlights:

can you tell how giddy we are? this is when our caravan pulled into the parking lot.

this image reveals just the tip of the iceberg that was our junk food smorgabord. smoked oysters, plum wine, pocky sticks, choco covered pretzels, kettle chips…what WHAT?!

i love this photo. i’m like the six-year-old kid high on life, obnoxious and hyphy, all shouting “hey mom, look what i got!” horse tranquilizers couldn’t have quelled the fire of joy inside my heart.

costanoa’s general store. you can’t see it, but i’m holding a great bat hand puppet. check out michelle’s praying mantis – pretty cool.

nature is purdy.

this was our version of “psycho.” we showered the next morning and it was fantastic – steaming hot water, clear blue skies, and sunny, crisp weather.

like the double-spearing action? that is how we roll!

bed time.

we managed to drag the bunk bed mattresses from the other tent bungalow into our love bungalow, so we could all sleep together. we called this set-up the “taco.”

on highway one.

“if you like pina coladas…and getting caught in the rain…”

standing tall and proud, even though we’ve got granular particules in every nook and cranny of our sand-battered bodies.

staying at costanoa the same weekend as the pescadero art and fun festival was truly serendipitous. here we are after 20 stimulating minutes of perusing the wares, sampling creamed honey, getting put down by the local falconeer, and witnessing hippies getting down.

breaking steaming, divine bread at duarte’s, a pescadero tradition. it’s known for its famed olallieberry pie and in my books, for its heavenly crab melt.

i’ve always wanted to hot tub under the stars. there was a wedding going on, so not only did we luxuriate in the generously steamy jet streams, we were also treated to the musical stylings of the wedding dj: “the jambulance.” (i kid you not)

the sign that points you to harley goat cheese farms, a quaint must-see of pescadero. and yes, their cheese is tasty.

meet “fred” – the lovable, goofy, and slightly suspicious llama in dire need of braces. i couldn’t tell if he was hungry for affection, or just hungry for biting our hands off with his severely ugly chompers.

and this is on our last day, waiting for the infamous arcangeli bakery to open up.

so yeah. twas awesome!
we laughed, we s’mored, we snacked, we drank, we saw, we conquered.

that’s the song that’s been on rotation in my head.

the san hos and i are now in costanoa, a “serenity now” campsite / resort nestled between half moon bay and santa cruz. we checked in yesterday afternoon, high on giddiness. we dined, we munched, we s’mored. and we also watched the cebu prisoners thrillers video on youtube. this morning, we showered in their outside stalls. it was great! hot hot hot water and bright blue sky and healthy sunlight.

wish i could post pictures!

we have two tent bungalows – one we’ve designated as our “storage” / snack station. you should see the insane amounts of food we brought. the other bungalos is the “love shack” – we’ve all managed to squeeze in and make it our home. love it!

pix later…

i am a late bloomer. paul recently turned me on to conceptual artist jenny holzer with this, a truism from her the living series. i really love it for its startling truth and eloquence:

“Some days you wake and immediately start to worry. Nothing in particular is wrong, it’s just the suspicion that forces are aligning quietly and there will be trouble.”

thanks to MAN, i just discovered that she (or an imposter) is on twitter! wow, what a perfect tool for her art. the two go hand in hand.

meet cao fei, a 27-year-old chinese artist. i am fond of her series, “room 807.” perhaps it’s too “obvious” and heavyhanded, but oh well, i love it nonetheless. it resonates with the macabre and morbid in me.
here’s her “statement” for room 807. it’s a bit nebulous, but it’ll do. take a look.

please tell me what you think. i’m curious.

p.s. – she also made this series, “cosplayers.”
these two photos illustrate, for me, the two ostensibly contrasting qualities pervasive in the series: an enjoyable whimsy juxtaposed with a disturbing, sinister undercurrent of sadness.

i hate how stupid, impatient, and compulsive i can be. i’m a fucking IDIOT!

out of desperation and deep longing for a working camera, i basically broke down and tried to fix my camera myself. in a semi-rage. i was taunted by all the photographable things coming up in the near future, how much i missed having it on me, the countless moments i whined “i wish i had my camera,” and of course, my impending trip to the motherland.

not only did i exacerbate an already bleak problem…i basically put it on its death bed. it’s a hopeless prognosis.

is there a gregory house of cameras in the house?…

…hello?

Ron Mueck Installation – "Wild Man"
Originally uploaded by The Modern.

check out the pics in this album, which belongs to the modern art museum of fort worth.

more here.

as “art,” who knows, but as a demonstration of staggering talent, skill, and execution, it blows my mind. one day, i will see a ron mueck installation. one day…oh yes…one day…anybody up for an impromptu trip to texas?

on a side note, i’m impressed by the museum’s web savvy and sophistication. they’re locked and loaded with a flickr account, a substantive blog, and from the looks of their clean (if not semi-stylish) website, some cool programming. specifically, a janus films series.

okay, i haven’t delved too deeply into this story. all i know is that it’s somehow related to the moonies, so you know it’s gonna be weird.

according to this, a LEOPARD SHARK was straight chillin’ on a sidewalk (third street, to be exact). why can’t i ever see this sort of thing?!! sigh. poor guy.

interesting news on the art front: the founder of GAP is intent on building a museum in the presidio to house his contemporary art collection. it’s gotten people in the art world all atwitter, kinda…

anyway, it’s been awhile!

even though a couple of weeks have passed us by, i feel like so much has happened.

right now, i have a headache, which is odd. it’s the kind that feels like your eyeball’s about to explode. ever get those?

wow, this post is the perfect example of a terrible blog. sorry!

quick recap:

* sleepover with the san hos in oakland, gorged on huge mexican feast. first encounter with mi pueblo. salsa bar, fresh chicharrones, tamales, pan dulce, etc…glorious! by the time we hit the sack i wanted to die. too much food in the system.

* readjustment of bangs

* adventurous night exploration with anthony. walked through some of the toniest neighborhoods in san francisco en route to the presidio, on the hunt for the national cemetery. it was scary at first, but the lively traffic zipping through the presidio alleviated any fears. we stopped for chili cheese fries and onion rings at the bowling alley in the presidio, and continued till we found the cemetary (locked…i was secretly relieved). down to crissy field, where we saw a skunk and a few cars here and there (“anthony, do you think couples are having sex in those cars?!”). palace of fine arts, where i discovered anthony’d never been to the exploratorium. there was loud music near the pond, to which anthony responded: “what is this, some yelp fecal face bullshit party?” from there we stumbled on home. lots of laughs induced partly by exhaustion, delirium, and aching feet, and partly by anthony. it was fun!
i tortured anthony with an endless barrage of ridiculously inane “what if” questions. poor guy.

we should all go for a night walk. something i’ve been wanting to organize for a long time now is a moonlight hike.

* binged on 10″ cheesesteaks and large curly “twister” fries. YUM.

* house of prime rib. ungh. to my dismay though, they changed their creamed spinach recipe! not feeling it.

* MATCHA. avant garde modern contemporary dance is too sophisticated for me. dancers have nice bodies. the make-your-own-lantern activity was pretty neat. i liked seeing all our visitors walking around with them slung across their shoulders.

* branwyn’s bday festivities in the east bay. happy birthday, biggletron! finally tried rudy’s can’t fail. it didn’t disappoint. then we all saw the ten. WATCH IT. zany hilarity.
it’s random senseless violence, sex, whimsy, and stupidity at its best. “was it a goof?”
“i’m juicing my pecs!”

* thanks to derek, anthony, fran, and hao, i finally got to fulfill my years-long silly ambition of going to a shooting range. after 100 rounds, i, uh, definitely got my fill. initially, i was terrified while we were in the class. as the instructor was going over the basics, i wondered if i could be trusted with something so dangerous. cold feet.

what’s truly scary though, is how quickly i became desensitized after an hour in the shooting lane. as i was loading real bullets into a real .22 semi-automatic, i was quite nervous and began sweating like a hog! after shooting my first “magazine,” the fear and apprehension soon subsided.

firing a .44 magnum revolver was a real thrill. it was explosive, powerful, and LOUD. i don’t know how derek could fire that thing with one hand. (well, i think i know why his right hand might be so strong)

in case you ever need to be reminded of how extremely dangerous and nefarious these things are (if the obvious fact that they kill doesn’t suffice), go to a shooting range! firing one really puts things in perspective.

* had a lovely meal at ristorante ideale. ugly blue/orange decor aside, this place is the real deal. i’m talking the pure definition of al dente. delicious.

* rode caltrain for the first time. two fatalities that day – human on the train tracks, and kitten on 101 northbound.

* at lunch, i had an epiphany that e-fu noodles are one of my all-time favorite things EVER.

* saw 300. HOLY SHIT. a fat grab bag of inside joke references into which i can dip my hand for the next few weeks.

* made lion’s head meatballs, which apparently exude a non-too-pleasant odor that offends people at work. but they taste great, i swear!