family reunion!
Last night, my roommates and I hosted our very first supper club, the brainchild of Kristin and I. Rules: 1) Only home-cooked meals. No imitations! 2) One dinner per month, with a different theme each time, rotating apartments 3) No boys allowed. They have cooties.
The inaugural supper’s theme was Family Reunion. Everyone was to bring a family recipe, and we’re assembling a “family cookbook.” See below photos for more details.
Do you like our welcome poster?? I drew it, family crest and all!:
Name tags for all the family members:
Kid’s table! With…the only pictures I know how to draw, little horse on the island and the little octopuses. Katie drew the cute fishie. I modeled the lettering after that of this autistic kid I used to work with in HS. haha.
And of course, the food. But actually this is missing 3 dishes including my favorite, Kristin’s linguine with flank steak, asparagus and red peppers. Other food included an orzo salad, chicken tangine w/cous cous, cheesy potatoes, my napa cabbage/vermicelli stir fry, Greek cookies, homemade white cake, broccoli salad, and crepes. We had a lovely assortment of sparkling juices too but I forgot to take a photo of them.
I was about to burst at the end, but um, burst in a good way? Channeling our inner Martha = good times.
new favorite song
At least until I overplay it, which will be very soon.
Band of Horses – Funeral.
Yes yes…another Serena-Loves-Depressed-Sounding-Music song. But to my credit, a friend recently said that my glass is not half full, it’s 3/4 full. So there.
YouTube has a video here, check it.
plain white canvas = masterpiece…maybe?
I learned something really interesting in my new art class that I think, will help push me – and perhaps you – to a greater appreciation of modern and contemporary art, regardless of how pointless or strange it may appear.
Vassily Kandinsky observed that when we listen to music, we don’t expect to hear representational sound. Music is organized and mathematical, typically structured around a theme. It is, therefore, unexpected sound. We know we won’t be hearing raindrops falling on a roof, or the chatter of people in a room. We are instead presented with a new creation, revealed in an unfamiliar schema.
Now think about modern/contemporary art. Why do so many, myself included, struggle to enjoy it? Classical art, which most people understand, is merely a representation of what existed, or already exists. Raphael’s Madonnas. John Singleton Copley’s portraits of American colonists. Boudin’s quiet beach scenes. Everyone can follow those.
Really though, we should approach art the way we approach music. Reject the obvious. We already get that by opening our eyes every morning. We should, instead, embrace the unexpected. Revel in the pure joy of seeing something absolutely distinct, something that someone bothered to create for your visual stimulation.
Taking this viewpoint improves the palatability of modern/contemporary art don’t you think?
guessing game
Time to play! What do these three men have in common?
.
.
.
They are all Russian heartthrobs! In some sense.
Ok that wasn’t the most fun game, but this Russian shrine was spurred by last week’s photos of a shirtless, frolicking Russian President Vladimir Putin that have been causing quite the stir in Russian media. I’m sorry, but if your bare chest is newsworthy, you should have firm pecs. None of this creases under your boobies nonsense. Nor should you be…fishing? Do something manly, like climbing up a fire pole with just one arm. One muscular arm of goodness.
Second picture is Hotty McHotty Alexei Nemov, this Russian gymnast I had a crush on in middle school.
Third picture is Carrie’s love, the Russian…but goodness he looks pretty skeletal to me.
******
By the way, I ultimately wasn’t selected for jury duty. Wasn’t even selected to be questioned. 
I REALLY wanted to serve!!!
mercury poisoning!
I’ve indulged in copious amounts of fish over the past three days, and being the faux hypochondriac that I am, am afraid I may have self-induced mercury poisoning. I met someone once who said he really did get it from eating fish 4 times a week, and would always wake up foggy-brained, as if he were hungover.
Just in case you wanted to know.
serena goes to court. and then rides the bus.
I was called in for jury service this morning. I think I may be one of the few enthusiastic citizens of this fine nation that actually wants to serve on a jury. Perhaps it’s residual interest from my mock trial days in HS.
A group of 100 of us sat in a courtroom and…waited. And waited. And waited. I was sitting in a row of chairs right in front of the jury box and fell asleep, head resting back on the jury box, arms crossed, legs stretched out. Mouth probably wide open, but thankfully, drool-less. Attractive.
Anyway, all that waiting culminated in filling out a 15 minute juror questionnaire on our viewpoints. I think it took me five, as I was the first to turn it in. The bailiff said I should get a prize. I asked for a cookie. He told me I could pick my prize up downstairs in the cafeteria, with $2. Hehe.
So the experience wasn’t bad at all – I was in by 8:30am, out by 11am. I do have to go back tomorrow for the actual jury interviews (pick me! pick me!).
Riding the bus back home, I eavesdropped on a conversation among three high schoolers, who spoke about the typical issues today’s youth face. You know. Filing police reports against harassing classmates. Not being able to leave home because of the fear of being harassed. Receiving death threats from one guy, for hooking up with another guy. Getting letters from your friend in jail. Their tone was apathetic and hardened rather than upset, which makes me think they’ve been experiencing this for years.
Oh, I was so appalled. And saddened that some kids live life full of such distrust and animosity.
i’m so proud of myself!!
Not only do I appreciate art, I too can draw it… 
Drew them for friends on FB. Good times on a Wednesday night.
…
Monday.
My head is spinning with a sudden influx of activities. Wedding coordination for craiggers bride. Asst. producer/location scout for short 5 min film. Research the feasibility of starting a business w/3 friends. French class begins this week. Class for work. Need to actually read my book over consecutive days bc I keep on forgetting the details. Starting a dinner club with roommate. Brother and gf visiting Labor Day wkend. Going to LA in a few weeks.
And to top it off, I actually have a significant project at work right now.
Friday?
the trials of controlling your eyeballs and mouth
Believe it or not, the below is what initially shows up in your results when you do a general Google web search of Hillary Clinton:
I nearly spit my water out when I saw it – it’s so funny!! It’s also amazing and slightly ludicrous that these would be the first three images that pop up for her search. Thinking that there must’ve been a mistake, I closed the browser and replicated my search, to the same results. I then googled Obama and Edwards and they actually don’t have any image results, just general web URL links.
Someone at Google must hate Hillary.
Btw, I don’t google Hillary Clinton at random for fun. Evidently presidential campaigns are targeting voters at the grassroots level – ie those who can’t afford expensive fundraisers – through cheapy events that cost ~$20 or so. And evidently she’s coming to SF via her Club 44, tentatively slated for Sept 30. I want to go but am still looking for more info.
And as one article leads to another, I found this related piece about Club 44. I hate to bore any of you with political stuff but I’m amused:
- Barack Obama’s targeted youth event was “the unfortunately named ‘Generation B.O.’ ” And to add unfortunates on unfortunates, it was held at a DC club, which was shut down because someone was shot and killed. Good one.
- Clinton’s event featured comedian Caroline Rhea, host of a show called “The Biggest Loser,” and singer Kenny “Babyface” Edmonds who recorded the 2005 single “Sorry for the Stupid Things.”
God bless the Post. They take the funniest journalistic angles sometimes. I love it.
