New Years' Post
Jan. 1st, 2010 11:37 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
tanarillSo, I suppose I should post, shouldn't I? But I will start at the beginning, which is the end of the last post.
1. Sherlock Holmes. It does not focus on Holmes as a detective as much as Holmes as beating the crap out of people an also Watson's really jealous boyfriend. This does not matter, however, because a) shirtless scene and b) VR in the wall in bullets. Granted, I did not like the mysticism. But I'm reading Holmes again, so that was worth it.
2. Shul. At the Chabad house. A Chabad house is actually a place where crazy Orthodox Jews gather to study the Torah. Here's an example of the latest crazy: they have this thing where they study Torah, which is fine and dandy. They believe that all important Jews, all the way back, have also studied Torah, which is only fine up until Moses, who grabbed the Torah from the top of Mount Sinai after yoinking the Jews from Egypt. The sermon was about how Josef in Egypt sent a hidden message to Jacob in Israel about the last lesson of Torah they'd been studying before he got dropped in a pit and then sold into slavery, which convinced dear old dad that he was alive in Egypt and that he should bring the whole family down, so Moses could rescue everybody some years later.
Think about the chronology involved.
Yeah.
Then we went and ate lunch with the saner of the rabbis, in a house previously owned by some relative of Michael Jackson. But they'd thoroughly Jew'd it up. Also, as I should not have to tell you by now, there was more food.
3. Whaling. Or rather, whale-watching. On a boat. We went out to the Channel Island. Although we did not see any Grey Whales, but we did see hundreds of dolphins and a dozen or so Risso's Whales, which flapped their tails at us. There were also seals, sea lions, and a gajillion seabirds. I got cold, though, which should not happen in warm, sunny SoCal. Ah well.
4. Brazilian food. We went out with a coworker of the Panda and his Brazilian wife, and their bilingual small daughter. I was not bilingual at that age, I can tell you. Brazilian food is fantastic, and it does not much seem to rely on combinations of meat and dairy. I shall be Investigating cooking ease.
5. House hunting. One, houses are way too expensive and and two, I don't want to move to SoCal. Because the people there are crazy. I think the whole state is, too. Sorry, those of you who live there, but any state where chain restaurants are required by law to post the caloric contents of their foods so you can feel even more guilty about buying it . . . is a little whacked. Just sayin'.
6. Japanese garden. It came out the tail end of a huge water treatment plant, so the water was full of nutrients for the fishies. Lots of fishies. They didn't do as well a job selling the natural this-is-not-a-garden feel, mainly because a nearby airfield kept interfering with the illusion. Also, of course, having rock beaches which cannot move due to being cemented in place kind of hurt it. But there was a rock garden, and a teahouse, and it was nice and peaceful*. Then, of course, we went and ate at a kosher Chinese restaurant. Mmm, orange chikkin.
7. Shopping. Or, as the Panda pointed out, buying. This family, with the exception of MW, fails at the shopping thing, and only goes with extreme reluctance into a store to buy the item or items of interest before leaving again as soon as possible. In my case, this was new shoes, to replace to broken old ones.
8. The Baron Herzog Winery, where we went for a faboo sendoff meal. We round-robin'd with the foods, which were beef, veal, duck, and venison. Yes, kosher venison. Yes, you read correctly. I ate Bambi. And he was delicious. I wanna venison stew now, because I think it would be amazing. This was followed by a dessert consisting of stuff that may have, in the past, been apples, a lava cake, and a torte. We rolled out of there very, very happy.
9. Flight home. On December 31. Then I made New Year's Cheesecake. The Boy came over, and we watched Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann, then the ball drop, then more Gurren Lagann. While eating the New Year's Cheesecake, drinking Bartenura, and cuddling.
10. Raaaaaags! She let me play PoP:2T! And watch Miyazaki with people I did not know! It was great!
*Except for when MW thought it would be okay to talk on her cell phone. That's not why we go to the garden, and she could have just stayed home if she was going to do that.
So, in conclusion: Thank goodness that decade is over, let's hope this next one is somewhat better. And Happy 2010!
1. Sherlock Holmes. It does not focus on Holmes as a detective as much as Holmes as beating the crap out of people an also Watson's really jealous boyfriend. This does not matter, however, because a) shirtless scene and b) VR in the wall in bullets. Granted, I did not like the mysticism. But I'm reading Holmes again, so that was worth it.
2. Shul. At the Chabad house. A Chabad house is actually a place where crazy Orthodox Jews gather to study the Torah. Here's an example of the latest crazy: they have this thing where they study Torah, which is fine and dandy. They believe that all important Jews, all the way back, have also studied Torah, which is only fine up until Moses, who grabbed the Torah from the top of Mount Sinai after yoinking the Jews from Egypt. The sermon was about how Josef in Egypt sent a hidden message to Jacob in Israel about the last lesson of Torah they'd been studying before he got dropped in a pit and then sold into slavery, which convinced dear old dad that he was alive in Egypt and that he should bring the whole family down, so Moses could rescue everybody some years later.
Think about the chronology involved.
Yeah.
Then we went and ate lunch with the saner of the rabbis, in a house previously owned by some relative of Michael Jackson. But they'd thoroughly Jew'd it up. Also, as I should not have to tell you by now, there was more food.
3. Whaling. Or rather, whale-watching. On a boat. We went out to the Channel Island. Although we did not see any Grey Whales, but we did see hundreds of dolphins and a dozen or so Risso's Whales, which flapped their tails at us. There were also seals, sea lions, and a gajillion seabirds. I got cold, though, which should not happen in warm, sunny SoCal. Ah well.
4. Brazilian food. We went out with a coworker of the Panda and his Brazilian wife, and their bilingual small daughter. I was not bilingual at that age, I can tell you. Brazilian food is fantastic, and it does not much seem to rely on combinations of meat and dairy. I shall be Investigating cooking ease.
5. House hunting. One, houses are way too expensive and and two, I don't want to move to SoCal. Because the people there are crazy. I think the whole state is, too. Sorry, those of you who live there, but any state where chain restaurants are required by law to post the caloric contents of their foods so you can feel even more guilty about buying it . . . is a little whacked. Just sayin'.
6. Japanese garden. It came out the tail end of a huge water treatment plant, so the water was full of nutrients for the fishies. Lots of fishies. They didn't do as well a job selling the natural this-is-not-a-garden feel, mainly because a nearby airfield kept interfering with the illusion. Also, of course, having rock beaches which cannot move due to being cemented in place kind of hurt it. But there was a rock garden, and a teahouse, and it was nice and peaceful*. Then, of course, we went and ate at a kosher Chinese restaurant. Mmm, orange chikkin.
7. Shopping. Or, as the Panda pointed out, buying. This family, with the exception of MW, fails at the shopping thing, and only goes with extreme reluctance into a store to buy the item or items of interest before leaving again as soon as possible. In my case, this was new shoes, to replace to broken old ones.
8. The Baron Herzog Winery, where we went for a faboo sendoff meal. We round-robin'd with the foods, which were beef, veal, duck, and venison. Yes, kosher venison. Yes, you read correctly. I ate Bambi. And he was delicious. I wanna venison stew now, because I think it would be amazing. This was followed by a dessert consisting of stuff that may have, in the past, been apples, a lava cake, and a torte. We rolled out of there very, very happy.
9. Flight home. On December 31. Then I made New Year's Cheesecake. The Boy came over, and we watched Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann, then the ball drop, then more Gurren Lagann. While eating the New Year's Cheesecake, drinking Bartenura, and cuddling.
10. Raaaaaags! She let me play PoP:2T! And watch Miyazaki with people I did not know! It was great!
*Except for when MW thought it would be okay to talk on her cell phone. That's not why we go to the garden, and she could have just stayed home if she was going to do that.
So, in conclusion: Thank goodness that decade is over, let's hope this next one is somewhat better. And Happy 2010!
