putting the knit in shizknit

pretties!

Look! Gracie picked up our finished pretties today! The left two are mine, the middle two are Gracie's and the right two are N's. It's amazing to see how the different layers turned out which we couldn't have guessed at the time we were putting them together. They're so shiny and smooth, they're like candy! Now that I get a better feel for what certain glass turns out like, I want to try it again and use a new idea recipe. Similar to Life as explained by Forrest Gump, "Life is like a box of chocolates, you never know what you're going to get."

Life is Short

I spent another weekend helping our longtime family friend, June-san move out of her long time home. She's lived in the same apartment for the last 27 years, and after her husband passed away a few years ago, she's moving her life back to Japan. I helped over the weeks sell her things on craigslist which was difficult - there is so much sentiment and memories engulfed in so many of her belongings, that she didn't want to part with them for just any price. In the same token, I was in the difficult situation of having to sell them for a price that someone would be willing to pay for.

My parents and my boyfriend were there to help move more of her heavy items, but the most difficult to lift was the emotional memories that sat in stacks and stacks of her photos. Each photo contained parties, holidays with friends and family (though they never had kids of their own), of clothes from the 60's, pictures of the moon landing on their old fashioned TV. There's the old saying "you can't take it with you", and it really rings true. She's taking with her most of her belongings, but the most important ones she has are her memories, of times long past, and of future ones to come.

Donut Article

I got some great responses to my Krispy Kreme pic entry - but here's something to explain it further.

** Credits go to H! :)

Patterns and Such

This was one of my first projects I completed that came from a pattern. My first reaction was, "its ugly"! These are flower washcloths made from Crystal Palace Cotton Chenille, and the pink one was made first. I purchased the blue yarn to see if perhaps practice makes perfect, but I don't see too much of an improvement. Unfortunately, I got ahead of myself and I have a whole doo doo ball of green as well, but I'm scared I'm going to end up with another ugly washcloth. In fact, the washcloth I made at Joann's during my intermediate class turned out better than these.

On another frustrated note, I got a few rows into my Rowan Silk Haze top, and something happened. I was "off" by a stitch or so, and now am not sure how to fix it. I have restarted this project a few times already (and its hard to frog this yarn, because it keeps getting knotted and tangled into itself!) and am afraid I am short on yarn. ARGHHHH!!!! What do you do when you end up in a situation like this? Feedback, please!

1000 Year Old Eggs

A few years ago, I actually tried this Chinese food item, called 1000 year old eggs. What my feeble Japanese mind didn't know was actually how old these eggs were. I mean, why name them "1000 year old" when in fact they are only a few months old? This may relate to the asian philosophies of making simple things more complicated, but that's a whole separate discussion altogether.

Yesterday, I went with my dad to visit his old Japanese friend down in San Pedro. He's known her for years - from the days he first arrived in Los Angeles and took ESL classes at the adult school. I've known her and her late husband as long as I have conscious memory, and think of them like aunts and uncles (although they are about my grandparents age). Her husband (who was a tall caucasian man and supposidly the last living ancester of Buffalo Bill Cody) passed away a few years ago and she has now decided to move back to Japan.

As most people know, moving is not a simple task, and moving out of the country and figuring out the logistics at age 82 is even more difficult. My parents and I have been trying to help her with mundane stuff (like selling her furniture) to help take some burden off - but really has not been as easy. She's extremely strong willed, independent and is quite naive to the world (which is due to years of her late husband taking very good care of her) and doesn't understand certain things (and doesn't want to understand) that come as common sense to my parents and I.

Anyhow, yesterday my dad and I visited her, and another one of her older friends came to visit so she quickly got to the task of serving tea, and other munchies while we all chatted. Typical appetizers include: dried squied, arare and other Japanese crackers as well as yokan and random sweets. She started heating something up in the kitchen, commenting about it was her mother's special recipe..... she brought back a plate full of small, freshly deep fried mochi. And OH! they were good! Then came the shocking revelation while I'm shoveling these little pieces of deep fried heaven into my mouth:

The Friend: Wow, these are good! Your mom's recipe?
My Aunt: Yes, there's mochiko and some other stuff in here, I'm not sure. But look how fine these are! (she produces a bag full of small squares) This was one of my mom's last creations.
The Friend: Well they are certainly delicious.
My Aunt: And it kept well too, she's the only one I know who can cut these into small pieces.
Me: (thinking) wait, auntie is 82.... I don't ever remember her mom being alive..
The Friend: Oh, your MOM made these?
My Aunt: (Proudly) Yes! This is the last of her handywork!
The Friend: When did she pass away?
My Aunt: Oh, back in....(thinks) '68 I think...
Me: (choking)
The Friend: But she was sick for awhile, she wasn't able to cook for a few years before her death.
My Aunt: Right. So these were probably made in.... 1964?
Me: That's waaaay before I was born.... (puts down the last handful)
My Dad: Wow, these kept quite well ... what kind of oil do you use?

There is a study that shows that deep frying can kill germs, right?? Forty year old deep fried mochi.
Literally.

Hellloooooo Kitty!

As a fourth grader spending summers in Japan, I used to go crazy over anything Sanrio. I had a huge collection of Keroppi goods (that I still have now) that started being purchased in the summer of 1988, the year it came out (and yes, this makes me feel quite old). People have gotten quite creative over the years, as we've seen Hello Kitty massagers (er, vibrators) but this is my first time seeing a Sanrio bong.

Very, very creative.

Back in the groove of things

I knew it wouldn't take me too long to get back into the groove of things. Day 2 of work and I'm back to frazzle dazzle. My fortune cookie tonight said something about a possible career change coming my way, so I took my first step in looking for a new job. I'll be sure to tape my fortune on my monitor tomorrow at the office. :)

"She doesn't speak English"

So I'm at Trader Joe's, and as usual was pretty crowded. Three tall blonde girls buying random stuff were at the front towards where I was walking. One says "Hey, I like your purse" and I briefly looked up, having gotten some comments on my new purse lately. It seemed like she was talking to the other blonde girl, so I kept walking. Then I hear the other blonde say to the girl, "she doesn't speak English". I guess I look fobbier than I thought.

The irony is that Japanese people typically think I don't speak Japanese, Korean people think I speak Korean, and now, caucasians don't think I speak English.

As far as the purse goes its absolutely gorgeous. Its my first "trendy" purse where the style and color go with the season (and a great V day gift), but I do have a few issues with it that are probably universal to other purses rather than to just Cole Haan. 1) The light colored leather is sensitive to wetness, so be careful on sprinkly days, and 2) the magnetic flap in the front and the slot on the back are so neat, but I think have been demagnetizing my ATM card - I'm on my third one in 6 weeks!

3 hours ahead, er, behind

I'm typically a morning person. I love the feeling of being up before everyone else, and getting random things and chores done ahead of time - ahh, the feeling of efficiency. I was already 2 hours off thanks to Hawaii time - which is not enough to screw you up, but definitely enough to throw you off. Now I wake up this morning at 11 AM (gasp!) thanks to our extra hour taken away (Hawaii doesn't spring forward an hour like the mainland). Tomorrow morning will definitely be a challenge!

Epilogue - The Day After

The strangest thing about vacations is that the better they are, the more it feels like it was all a dream when you return. Even now, if it weren't for the hundreds of photos I'm downloading from my bf's computer (yes, we are on the same home network and it is currently scheduled to take FOUR bloody hours for the transfer to finish), it feels like it was all a nice, long dream. I went to the eye doctor this morning and he asked "How are you doing today?" and for the first time in many, many months, I honestly replied "I'm doing well!" It felt good, not having to lie.

Vacations are times of adventure, and times of introspection. I think I was able to accomplish some of both. I needed this time away, to think about things, to think about my own path and where I'm headed - and how I need to get there. I think of it as "tare-ing", like you do on an electric scale - press the button to return you to equilibrium.

Krispy Kremes, you can't leave home without it! (Actually, there isn't one on Oahu) This pic was upon our arrival, note our white arms. Wait until you see the after pics!

More pics and stories to come!

Day 8 - Slow down, brah!

"Waant anothah spam musubi, yah?"

Just when I get down the local (kama'aina) lingo, its time to go :( In about 24 hours we'll be touching down in smog-ridden LAX in temperatures about 10 degrees cooler.

I am currently about 3 shades (er, flavas) of tan - red, brown, and dark chocolate. We had a wonderful, relaxing day today - slept in, lounged around and visited Tanioka's Fish Market for 5 varieties of poke, special spam musubi and the famous Tanioka's cookies. We headed out to Shark's Cove and drove around North Shore, made famous by the huge waves which attracts surfers from around the world. We sat on the beach and feasted.... yummm.... we finished off the afternoon with some late afternoon snorkeling. I saw some more black and white spotted puffers, the Humu, and a snowflake eel - that's when I got out of the water.

*Sigh* Our last supper here tonight, more updates later!