Tuesday, February 28, 2006

Domino goes zombie hunting.

My friend Amber lives in a terrifying place. If you follow Patterson past recognizable signs of civilization and take several awkward twists and turns through some kind of bizarre nursery, you will eventually make it to a series of creepy abandoned green houses. And there, behind them, you will find the tiny house in which she lives.

Actually, to call it a house is a complete misnomer. It's somewhere between a trailer and a toolshed.

This is the fucking scariest place I have ever been. It would make an excellent setting for a horror movie in which the Hollywood Video and Game Crazy crews go zombie hunting in the rain.

What sweetens the deal is that this creepy nursery is allegedly built on an Indian burial ground.

Zombies for sure.

Domino goes zombie hunting.

My friend Amber lives in a terrifying place. If you follow Patterson past recognizable signs of civilization and take several awkward twists and turns through some kind of bizarre nursery, you will eventually make it to a series of creepy abandoned green houses. And there, behind them, you will find the tiny house in which she lives.

Actually, to call it a house is a complete misnomer. It's somewhere between a trailer and a toolshed.

This is the fucking scariest place I have ever been. It would make an excellent setting for a horror movie in which the Hollywood Video and Game Crazy crews go zombie hunting in the rain.

What sweetens the deal is that this creepy nursery is allegedly built on an Indian burial ground.

Zombies for sure.

Monday, February 27, 2006

Vui ne znaete, gde mogy kypitz . . .

Telephone midterms are by far the weirdest things I've ever experienced.

Situation: I am renting an apartment in Moscow and need furniture. So I call an ad left in the lobby of my building. I ask this person, who knows no English, played by my professor, if they are still selling stuff and where I can buy stuff if they don't have it.

Tre bizarre.

However, I have to give mad props to the Slavic department because I am actually learning and using Russian. Not that I can have conversations with Dima, his mother, Ivan or Anna in Russian yet, but if I ever need to purchase furniture from them. I am set. I could probably have conversations about UCSB with them, and their alcohol preferences (which better be vodka or congac). My speech is ochem limited. But I am actually learning.

This is more than I can say for the Italian department, where I have learned absolutely nothing that I didn't know in high school. Oh, except for the passoto remoto. Which is fucking useless.

Now if only I had Cyrillic fonts on this computer, the title of this entry would look right. (Though I realized just now that I was typing the letters to make them look like the Russian and not how they would be pronounced in English. I spelled "gde" as "rge"--which is how it is actually spelled in Cyrillic.)

Long live the Octoberists.

Tuesday, February 21, 2006

I am a bounty hunter.

With the impending release of Tony Scott's Domino, and the massive buzz about it around the video store. The boys have taken to calling me Domino. Josh explained that I reminded them of her because of "the hair" (which apparently resembles Ms. Knightley's cut in the film) and my "insatiable urge to kill."

I take this to mean my intense rage and propensity toward yelling.

Apparently, Knightley's Domino also has a propensity toward yelling. And she fancies tattoos. And throwing stuff.

I like projectiles.

And I've gotta say, I wish more people noticed that they really wouldn't like me when I am angry. Because there are a good handful of people who managed to piss me off today.

Let me tell you, kids, my new nametag at work doesn't just say "Bounty Hunter" because I like to make geeky movie jokes.

Oh, no. This is business.

Sunday, February 19, 2006

The Vaginas are Coming!

The Vagina Monologues are coming to the UCSB Hub on Feb 23, 24, and 25!

Tickets are available at AS for 8 dollars, or at the door for the same price.

Doors open at 8:00 PM, show starts at 8:30.

All profits from the show will go towards women in need, both locally and worldwide!

Friday, February 17, 2006

Whose angel are you anyway?

There is nothing more serene than the sound of Heather singing with an acoustic guitar.

She has such a deep, velvety voice. It's hypnotic.

I don't know why she doesn't do this more. Or play coffee shops.

Thursday, February 16, 2006

The Voodoo Club could be your Schwabs.

Kids, it's finally happened. I finally got an internship. I now work at the Pacific Coast Business Times.

This is life beginning. You all have no idea.

I start Feb 27.

I'm calling my Dad now.

Tuesday, February 14, 2006

Rejoice in the Ides

Best friend is coming to visit in March!!!!!!!!! It's only for two days, but it will be an awesometacular two days because he'll be here for or Jamacian night. (And you all know what that's going to entail.) And then we'll get tattoos . . . and and . . . then maybe he'll actually buy me a birthday present!

(God, that's far too much excitement for 9 AM.)

Monday, February 06, 2006

F is for France

(I know . . . there's a lot of letters missing between B and F, Stevi . . . I'll get back to them.)

France was supposed to be small because of the presence of an expensive green liqour imported from Czechoslovakia.

France was not small. But, somehow, I still have Absinthe. I wager that this is probably because no one enjoyed the Absinthe 35, which is a white absinthe that is supposed to have more wormwood and make you trip harder. It tastes like death. When we had a regular old run-of-the-mill green absinthe at my 20th last year, it tasted like death, too, but a welcome, licorice-y death. We have much less of that kind left over.

This dinner was the first one that we actually served exactly when we said we would. Usually "Dinner's at 8" in my house means "We'll be eating at exactly 8:30." But dnner was served promptly at 8.

I made fancy menus and decided that my true calling is to be a menu writer . . . a step down from editing for Food & Wine, I know. But someone has that job, and it may as well be me. Below, you may observe my craft at its finest.

Prosciutto Salade
mixed spring greens with thinly sliced Italian ham, candied walnuts,
and raspberry vinegarette


Tourin Perigourdin
a garlic and tomato soup served over gruyere cheese
and freshly baked French bread


Crepes
warm French-style pancakes served with your choice of
carmelized onions sauteed with white wine and herbs
or
gorgonzola, candied walnuts, and sliced apples


Provencal Vegetable Gratin
baked eggplant, zucchini, tomatoes, onions and garlic
topped with a layer of breadcrumbs and parmesan cheese


Ganache au Coulis de Framboises
a rich chocolate custard served with fresh raspberries

Charles Shaw Chardonnay
a crisp, sweet white wine from Northern California

Absinthe
a green liquor imported from Czechoslovakia that will make you trip balls

(I am especially proud of that last one.)