.um.

YOU MIGHT FIND YOURSELF: People simply empty out

Mon, 22 Oct 2012 02:33:08 -0400

YOU MIGHT FIND YOURSELF: People simply empty out:

lettersofnote:

In 1969, publisher John Martin offered to pay Charles Bukowski $100 each and every month for the rest of his life, on one condition: that he quit his job at the post office and become a writer. 49-year-old Bukowski did just that, and in 1971 his first novel, …

mom-update

Thu, 05 Apr 2012 11:22:30 -0400

Mom had a mass in her right brain which the doctors surgically removed. We don’t know yet if it’s related to her Lymphoma of the small intestines which we found only 2 months ago. So. My highly intelligent, highly capable mother went from unstoppable to 2 battle-scars on her skull and her belly, bones thin and unable to control/move her left side of the body. She was on a feeding tube for 2 weeks and just passed the swallow/speech test. This means when she begs for water with her deep brown eyes and furrowed brow, I can actually give her some.

When someone tell me their family member is sick and in the hospital, I offer my sympathies and words of encouragement. I never knew what it really meant until I saw my dad in the ICU 2 years ago. It’s.fucking.scary. You have absolutely no control over what’s going on and you hang on to every singe word nurses, aids, therapists, surgeons, doctors say to you. If someone tells you they’re improving, you rejoice with your loved ones. If they tell you they can’t rule out cancer, you worry, your heart hurts. As my dad would sigh and say, “It’s so difficult”.

My mom must be going through a forced, long silent meditation. She can’t communicate to others, is confined to one room, eats a super-restricted diet, and is essentially ALONE. I can’t imagine the sort of shit that comes up from that experience and it fills me with compassion for what she’s going through. No wonder when I look at her, she looks depressed and worried. Sometimes I ask her to smile for me and she obliges but that stems from my own selfish desire of wanting everything to be ok.

Nevertheless we are hopeful. I know she’s a strong woman and we will get through this together. Change is the only constant.

theatlanticvideo: Dreamlike Aerial Footage of San Francisco via...

Fri, 02 Mar 2012 02:59:58 -0500

theatlanticvideo:

Dreamlike Aerial Footage of San Francisco via Drone

Float through the hills, parks, and streets of San Francisco on the rotors of a remote-control helicopter in Robert McIntosh’s stunning video, Weekend in SF. From the Golden Gate Bridge to the buffalo in the park, the drone sees everything.

My new home.

nprfreshair: Some music for your listening pleasure: The...

Tue, 28 Feb 2012 03:44:42 -0500

nprfreshair:

Some music for your listening pleasure: The Magnetic Fields’ new album, Love at the Bottom of the Sea, in its entirety.

Photo

Mon, 27 Feb 2012 03:38:21 -0500

"You get your intuition back when you make space for it, when you stop the chattering of the rational..."

Wed, 11 Jan 2012 14:45:49 -0500

“You get your intuition back when you make space for it, when you stop the chattering of the rational mind. The rational mind doesn’t nourish you. You assume that it gives you the truth, because the rational mind is the golden calf that this culture worships, but this is not true. Rationality squeezes out much that is rich and juicy and fascinating.”

- Anne Lamott on intuition vs. rationality, alongside similar sentiments by Albert Einstein and Steve Jobs (via curiositycounts)

Prince in Jodpur

Sun, 01 Jan 2012 02:29:02 -0500

Prince in Jodpur

Remembering Thailand

Wed, 13 Jul 2011 15:50:52 -0400

Even as I didn’t speak the language, people were more than willing to communicate. Thailand smiles were for real.

The food was magnificent. I fell hard for the issan cuisine of song tam, fermented sausage, delicate fish preparations. In Bangkok it was seafood egg pancake, crab in curry sauce, and roast pork knuckles over rice and sautéed greens. A coconut everyday didn’t hurt either. My host Mim also got me hooked on Leo beers and yam salads made with mackerel fish.

The kids were spot on with trends; everybody looked like a copy of the IT gals of fashion blogs.. Mile high heels paired with shorty shorts and a polyester flowy tank.

I will never forget the image of clubber teens gnawing on chicken wings in their lipstick and heels outside of the clubs. Or 3 skinny girls sharing a motorbike going to a club, gossiping and laughing as the rider tried to kick the starter again and again…

tragos: laphamsquarterly: LQ editor Aidan Flax-Clark talks...

Sat, 25 Jun 2011 15:01:33 -0400

tragos:

laphamsquarterly:

LQ editor Aidan Flax-Clark talks with novelist Jason Goodwin about Turkish food, the delights of eating in the Ottoman empire, and his series of historical mystery novels, with their main character, the eunuch investigator Yashim, solving crimes and cooking his way through nineteenth-century Istanbul.

Read Goodwin’s essay on Turkish food, “The Imperial Kitchen,” in our Summer 2011 issue, “Food.”

Download the LQ Podcast from iTunes

On Turkish food and mysteries.

Starting my research on Turkey.

More ways to scare the vegetarians: sell blocks of blood next to...

Fri, 01 Apr 2011 03:12:25 -0400

More ways to scare the vegetarians: sell blocks of blood next to tofu… It’s the same consistency and texture?

Phnom Penh market: where they sell clothes above raw meat.

Fri, 01 Apr 2011 03:10:49 -0400

Phnom Penh market: where they sell clothes above raw meat.

World’s cutest bathroom.

Fri, 01 Apr 2011 03:09:46 -0400

World’s cutest bathroom.

Birthday meal: more fish, sour soup with veg, and sardines dip. ...

Fri, 01 Apr 2011 03:08:51 -0400

Birthday meal: more fish, sour soup with veg, and sardines dip. Freaking good!

Finished products of our 3 hour cooking class: Mango salad,...

Fri, 01 Apr 2011 03:07:20 -0400

Finished products of our 3 hour cooking class: Mango salad, seafood salad, fish amok and mango with sticky rice. Bon Appetit!

Spices for mango salad: red chili, stalks of coriander, garlic,...

Fri, 01 Apr 2011 03:05:41 -0400

Spices for mango salad: red chili, stalks of coriander, garlic, shallots. Chopped and pounded in a mortar pestle and heated in a pan with chicken stock. Add lime juice when cool.

Spices for fish amok: finger root, turmeric, shallots, garlic,...

Fri, 01 Apr 2011 03:03:48 -0400

Spices for fish amok: finger root, turmeric, shallots, garlic, lemongrass. Cooked in coconut milk. Divine!

A sample of the khmer cuisine.

Fri, 01 Apr 2011 03:02:09 -0400

A sample of the khmer cuisine.

Amazing.

Fri, 01 Apr 2011 03:00:40 -0400

Amazing.

Did you say 4 spices and ginger black sesame ice cream? Yes...

Fri, 01 Apr 2011 03:00:04 -0400

Did you say 4 spices and ginger black sesame ice cream? Yes please.

Angkor at sunrise.

Fri, 01 Apr 2011 02:59:07 -0400

Angkor at sunrise.