mixing is GOOD! come ON, korea

your kids'll be smarter and, more importantly, better looking! mix it up. bimbimbop-style.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/29/world/asia/29babies.html

"ko-sians"--never heard of this term.  why pejorative?

russell wong is kind of an extreme example, i know.  he makes me light-headed, hee hee

sounds like etsy! but real, live, real-life

http://www.rocknrollcraftshow.com/
this has more info.
tomorrow is the last day.  11-5 at third degree glass factory on delmar.  i hope to go cuz it looks real good. thank u jennifer nitchypoo, for the alert--
i just browsed quickly and wow look--

cute bowls

very amusing st. louis pics by Bill Michalski

elf slippers

moment that slayed me, then haunted me for last 2 wks

i know the internet doesn't need more about don draper (or jon hamm) or mad men.  i just want to share anyway!
please indulge me:

I have been watching my life.

It's right there.

I keep scratching at it,

trying to get into it.

I can't.

(second season, penultimate episode that is off-puttingly in california--"The Mountain King")

"The Future Distilled"--don draper eat ur heart out

wanna know what the FUTURE smells like?  i totally do! (i SO curious!!)
the liberal pinko-commie media approves:

"Nooka is one of the most delightful, perfectly complex, wearable woods I've ever smelled."

"This scent is a precision machine, smooth as glass, deep as time, startling in its functionality, captivating."

---Chandler Burr, new york times, **** (4 stars) means u will atract the hottest of the hot

EMI, if you read this, who writes this copy?  it is pure genius... beautiful, wonderful b.s.:

A synergy of scents, both familiar and foreign, instinctive and original, mental and physical, that come together as one. Japanese Yuzu sprinkled with pink pepper. Polished steel wrapped in vintage leather. This fusion of natural essences and synthetic accords creates the next generation of precious liquids, expressing each wearer's multi-faceted individuality.

a paradox in a bottle.  nooka's sub-title is MINDSTYLE®
you must agree that
this paragraph really brings it --without apology, fully confident of the velvety (DH) misterioso spells, the impact of its combo-pak undeniable allure (warm! seductive! yet cold! artificial!).  it loves you. it hates you. it wants you you hot thing.  it hates your stupid face. "I play the games with you" --it is The Scent that plays the games FOR you.  and WINS.  unlike your stupid ass.
"mental and physical"--a scent that's mental? oh maybe they mean..nostalgic, not the whiff of crushed prozac
"instinctive and original"--hey lysol and nutmeg smells like that hot guy at the gym, whoa dude
"next generation of precious liquids"--?  oh, maybe it's like, from japan.  or iceland.

ok, i really do need to go outside.  but quickly i must check where nooka is from---it better not be like,milwaukee...(no offense, i hear milwaukee is REALLy cool)...

       ------------------------------------------------------------

oh! did i call it or what?  "Based in New York City [but] has offices in Tokyo"
this is awesome, sincerely--the page describing the design concept, the fusion of fashion and science, the universality/individuality fusion---well, obviously i'm a sucker, i just scribbled this whole post about it. somebody buy this and tell me it smells terrible.
oh  it's actually a watch company !! (no, it's much much more..it's a philosophy, lifestyle, attitude)

snyggochsmart, or, copying from emi

"gorgeous and clever folder"  thank you. i wish you were my boss!
http://lftec.blogspot.com/2009/11/dear-readers.html

how how how

i must go back

get thee to a ...

sometime in the last blurry 5 yrs or so, i had another type of insomnia thing, where i'd go to sleep at a super-commendable normal hour, like midnight or even earlier. (who am i).. but then i'd get up at like 4:45, the perfect time not to be able to use my foggy mind to decide to get up or what... too early to have gotten enough sleep, but then also too late to safely launch into full-REM -quality sleep mode.
plus, i felt like i was already up.  sooo instead of getting up and doing something i envision morning people do (going to gym, trading stocks, yoga,), i remember laying around watching the catholic network (i'm not catholic at all.  i've been to mass once. no, twice--gigs don't count) in awe of the nun's daily schedule.  i thought it was so fascinating, so wonderful, so inflexible but in a comforting way-- calmly set in stone, no biggie.  i was of course thinking, i could apply..hmm-- and i could save/gain more time because i'd skip the vespers, bell-ringing, chanting, etc... sh*t, how productive would that be?  it sounded really good, even the prayer/meditation parts. 
this particular schedule i was entranced by had tasks, meals, rest, EVERYTHING designated in really small precise increments, no minute left out==  i can't remember, so, i'll make something up... [after prayer, breakfast prep, breakfast, clean-up let's say..] 9:00-9:20am Scrub Kitchen floor; 9:20-9:30 tea/rest; 9:30-10:00 work outside; 10:00-11:00 prayer/study, 11:00-11:15 wash up, 11:15-12:15 lunch preparation.... all the way til lights out. 
it's totally awesome, isn't it?  it's really like that magnet ("Jesus is Coming. Look Busy.")  (sorry, sacrilegious.)
anyway, i admire it andof course question it--the most extreme isolated-type religious life.  it's full life-commitment (especially in those closed-convents--total isolation from the world--not even leaving for good works, community activities) and full withdrawal. a life away from life.  or society. (and Mad Men).  God is stability, everything, all you need. one needs no other outer influence? nuns and monks are human, right?   in this blog,  a nun's life , sister julie (at vatican city, no less) describes the celebration of Pro Orantibus Day  (November 21)-- as a sort of THANKSGIVING  for those closed-institutions--well, her post is entitled In Praise of Cloistered Religious, so duh.. She writes that November 21 is the "occasion to thank the Lord for the gift of so many persons who, in monasteries and hermitages, are totally dedicated to God in prayer, silence and hiddenness." (italics, of course, my addiction, i mean addition)  i never thought hiddenness ( to hide, to run and hide, hide-away, in hiding) was the word to use, since there's sort of a wimpy pejorative undertone to it, or even a sneaky did-something-bad implication to the word.  oh well. in this context, it is a virtue.  and she totally addresses the questions about hiding out, "abandoning the 'real world'"-- i like how she writes about it, able to step out of her world (in figurative way, har of course) andinway that manages to avoid any defensive (psshht, such a HUMAN characteristic) tone--she answers the question WHY? why do people, regular people choose to leave their family, career, amatory obsessions (not me) "to shut themselves off forever behind the walls of a monastery and deprive others of the contribution of one’s talents and experiences?"  her answer:  "These [people]..witness that in the midst of daily vicissitudes, at times extremely convulsive, God is the only support that never falters, the unbreakable rock of fidelity and love."  and that is...All, Folks!  [ i'd like some certainty, i'd like a feeling--feel left out.]

i guess if you feel that, maybe you don't even ponder the question, "Am i blocking out the world..?"  or do a cost/benefit analysis, or even really think much at all.  cuz it's at the least a feeling. and at the most a vision ?when they are 'called' to God,  that's not literal..right?.  i always assumed it was a non-verbal-type  invitation, right? (seriously, i am not being glib; i want to know).
well, i guess who wouldn't cherish an unchanging, unfaltering support and love--- people who feel that stability...that would be the greatest.  if one feels this "unbreakable rock of fidelity and love" that one feels no need to defend or explain even--something transcendent, beyond words, i imagine--then there's no room for my doubts and suspicions about running away, hiding from multitude opportunities to sin and be bad, my evil question i don't deserve to ask, Can you really serve the community, the WORLD, HUMANITY, better through prayer?  i'm not being cynical; i really want to know.  i want the details.  i want to know the distinctions --being virtuous, feeling virtuous..but once again, it ain't a BRAINY thing, so i'm just frivolously chatting about it. like, what did i hear (dr. cameron on House)---
"Penguins might as well speculate about nuclear physics"---umm something like that.

 anyway, long tangent, back to my topic of schedule, my BEST FRIEND (i'm so drawn to you! ur like so organized and perfect!)  / WORST ENEMY  (quit reining me in and making me feel bad! i hate you!):


  
oh here's a buddhist nun's schedule  (tibetan, no.india) i found on the internets:  do you find it interesting ?  i'm never joining a convent or even going on a retreat (well, never say never right--e.g. eugene lim, librarian, buddhist) but i find my idle hands/mind drawn to a schedule ("through winter"!!) where rotation of rising, meditation, work, study, is pre-set--like, those decisions are removed for you.  so you can like...focus.  god, i really write like i'm from so-cal.  well, i am.  so like shut up.

        every monday through saturday in winter

5:00 – 5:30 am...............Prostrations (Dapel and Nangpel)
5:30 – 6:00 am...............Individual meditation or Tea
6:00 – 6:30 am..............Group Prayers
6:30 – 7:30 am...............Cook and eat breakfast, Set up for teachings
7:30 – 8:30 am...............Listen to Recordings of Teachings
9:00 – 12:00 pm[*]........Tibetan Language Class (Damcho and Dapel)
......................................Formal Practice Session (Nangpel and Drolma)
(11 – 12 pm)....................Cook lunch (Two people)
12:00 – 1:00 pm..............Lunch
1:00 – 2:30 pm...............Cleaning kitchen, Rest, Other chores
2:30 – 4:30 pm[†]..........Translation Work (Damcho)
......................................Tibetan language study, memorization (Dapel)
......................................Formal Practice or editing (Nangpel)
......................................Formal Practice (Drolma)
4:30 – 5:00 pm...............Yoga or other exercise (Optional)
5:00 – 5:30 pm...............Tea break
5:30 – 7:30 pm[‡]...........Translation Work (Damcho)
.......................................Tibetan language study (Dapel)
.......................................Formal Practice (Nangpel and Drolma)
7:30 – 8:00 pm...............Group shamatha Meditation (Optional)
8:00 – 9:00 pm...............Group Practice
9:00 pm..........................Individual Practice, Translation or Rest

check out these tibetan nangcheng nuns (not your usual drab nuns +they are magical)

they are rigorous:  The nuns’ daily routine captures a timeless scene from the past. A typical day starts around 3:30 a.m., as the nuns wake and immediately start their first three-hour practice session. After a short break for breakfast, they resume their second session, ending at lunch. The third session occupies the afternoon, and after a light evening meal, they complete their fourth practice session. They then continue sitting throughout the night, practicing dream yoga.

they are magical:  Many of the nuns are accomplished masters of difficult yogic practices such as tummo (the yoga of inner heat). They perform yearly rituals for the public that include a long procession around the center in the dead of winter in sub-zero temperatures, with only a sheet wrapped around their bodies. During the night, hundreds of the most adept nuns wet their sheets repeatedly in buckets of melted snow and continue their procession, drying the sheets again and again with the inner heat generated by their yogic practice. This very rare and awe-inspiring event, as well as the realization of the elder nuns, has gained them respect and renown throughout Tibet. In a culture where female practitioners have struggled to gain respect, these nuns have risen to a high level of status, with many monks and lamas seeking their teachings and instruction.

goodness and truth

personified, no dogified, no...  gonzified !

ABS sale at hautelook

50% OFF!! 50% OFF!!!  everything is half off-- really.

i was confused by above--+ the time limit makes me feel crazy and anxious, so i went with my gut, tore my eyes away, and clicked away to this little gold/mossy number--which is practically free--

in fashion world, isn't $63 for ABS 'party dress'  pure frugality ?

i looked at the marc jacobs sale on GILT (yes i first typed GUILT ) and 50% off $1500 isn't working on me today.  plus it seemed like a hoax.  dresses not meant for real-life people.

**the joe's jeans sale was really incredible on hautelook--and i was like a day late.  they had 4!! styles of the 31" inseam jeans for the "petite ladies" and they were all WAY less (more than 50% off) than when i see them in real life.  maybe one can really be this genius shopper online.  immediate gratification is sacrificed though, since it seems everything today is promised by like 1/14/10.

whoa. boots for panties-alone minimalist dressing.

ok, for the frugal consumer, here's some everyday boots that Agent Provocateur says you can wear for a mere $1290.  oh wait, $1590. 

more clothes "swap"

i have yet to give anything to emily cuz she's too stylish and skinny (she can effortlessly pull off those really long over-the-knee boots, no biggie--yes it's true) but once again i've scored big big big time.
oh you're gonna be jealous--i'll go take a picture!!!   high-end clothes swap, non?

costume national. 

 i know, who am i? oh and i didn't pose my cat (HA!, like that's possible) in the picture.  aggie just gravitates toward italian shoes.  i also got two pairs of perfect shorts too.  emily-theresa, you are AMAZING.

oh this pic too

photo, håkan ludwigson
stolen again from agentbauer

my brain is on fire, in a good way

i have so much new info zipping around in my head it feels like i had a triple-espresso, twice, through a funnel, while someone held me by my feet on top of a skyscraper. 
the thing is, do i have to act NOW while it's all exciting and new (love boat) cuz i don't want to forget it-- get all neurotic and try to write it all down like i usually do (not here don't worry) so as not to forget a-n-y-thing, or do i take a plunge and let it all simmer around and do something tomorrow?  i never re-read those things (lists of frantic scribbles that don't have the same magical effect as they did the first time) really anyway---but it does help to reinforce things (doesn't it?).  i think i talked davin's ear off about old stuff he probably already knew about but is only exciting to me.  his current work analyzing people's playing by category (like, listening to one element at a time, separately--just pitch, just volume (or variation of sound), vibrato, articulation..talk about active listening--i wonder, if i could do it?) is so ambitious, in that always-learning self-driven way that i admire so much.  it's so cool to expand one's notion of 'work'--  right when i label something "work" it becomes harder.  i'll avoid that word.  anyway, i have weird feeling of being young and hopeful and not closed-up and done-for (i'm so melodramatic)-- i want to hang on! but y;a can't i bet. well, you can't by trying to fermata there for as long as it lasts and then be all sad when real life kicks back in.  SHUT UP shut up--i am not going to drizzle on my parade.  big picture is the small picture is what i feel right now. and i am going to st-- ta--ing about it.

ATTN: ORIENTALS

a gift from above. (i hear angel choir--aaaaaaa)  now we asiaticals can quietly, politely, and submissively...(while bowing and taking off our shoes)...BE DEFIANT BAD-ASSES!  i found these completely by accident,  FATE;  i went to fomato then casually stumbled over to blacklava (baklava?) and then...

and now....(drum-roll )...

obviously made special for my friend/colleague, personal shopper, E.H. (not principal bass of saint louis symphony) (btw, excellllenttt initials--so blasé)) , and also... me, my mom,dad, aunt, uncle, wait, my whole extended family, most of my asian friends, oh and most of korea, japan, china.. ah not so special maybe...

like the song ("secret....a-sian-man") and like Davin (har)

and for kids:

(totally reminds me of my youth--iconic rice cooker image)

SO CUTE, LOOOOOK!!!!

UNBERIEBABLE!  GUESS WHAT ? THIS SITE/SHOP -- WWW.BLACKLAVA.NET-- IS FROM GARDENA, CA

YAY YAY YAY

WHERE I SPENT MANY HAPPY SUMMERS IN MY EARLY YOUTH

WHERE MY GRANDMA LIVES!!!

void void void, post party chasm

house suddenly empty---from 11 (cool people) to 1 (moi) in mere seconds.  me not good with suddden transition.  fiilled void with chocolate-seul.  (like drinking seul--feel bad after, but dulls pain quick)

perfect. black. blouse.

tis truly hard to find

oooh silk....luxury...thank u emily!!  (obviously cannot convey the perfection, hmm..  but it is from the sky, beautiful.  clothes-swap (like emi does) only works if you've friends with excellent taste (*mwah!*).  i'd like to truly swap, but everything in my closet too big for emily boo!

r e a l i ty

a small gathering at my house...

should feel like this...

[i lack so many things though..like chairs, culinary skills, wardrobe...(oh the drugs i'd need to procure)]

http://www.agentbauer.com/

this is cute.

alessi hal freddo from minimal, the store on hayes st. with the kitty in the window (a real kitty).  for people who do not live in SF (*sniff) they have a website that just says SCANDINAVIAN DETAILS and then gets on with it---cuz they know what you want it!  it's a scando-world and you can order it on-line

hey davin, I GOT A GLIMPSE!

davin looking cool somewhere, looks like europe ("you know, where the history comes from"- eddie izzard). look, i know youre in michigan or some such place but there are computers there.  i'm going to go visit your dog.  he's probably all cooped up cuz of the rain.  he's so cute.  you've gotta have a pic on fb...

 of course you do!! i love this creature SO MUCH!!  it feels like betrayal to all the others i love also, but gonz is special, we have a connection.  it was love at first sight.  i'm so glad you moved to st. louis.  atlanta is too hot. and emily was ronery... ok, back to bizness...

STEP 2 has FOUND ME IN THE NIGHT!

you wouldn't believe it!  right when i woke up this morning.  total surprise.  yesterday i was really beating my brains out thinking about this "next step", WHAT IS THE NEXT STEP, WHAT WHAT WHAT?...

as in, what do u do after the observation from deep passivity*? WHAT DO YOU DO WITH YOUR ICKY ICKY (yes that's judgmental) FINDINGS*?

[*PROGRESS REPORT ON STEP 1:   i've been doing this more than few days now (since my last krishnamurti post/ tuesday nov.11 and even more since reading thought-ful and thought-provoking comments  from eugene, davin-- their minds REALLY set my dendrites/axons afire (THAT'S HOT©Paris Hilton)--[ok, side-note:  you really do need other people; this proves it... it IS true.  throw out your sartre.  you know, two brains are better... ].    ok, this is what i do:  i consciously take a mental step away from myself, zero myself all out, and as passively as possible, all casual-like, i tip-toe to the mode where i can  passively and nonjudgmentally observe myself (neither criticizing nor commending)---- from a  "quiet-mind"  "higher mind above .. distance, from that place a bit apart (separate) from myself, then as neutrally as i can, note my reactions and patterns.  whoa, it's quick--auto-default patterns really kick in...  i try to remain dispassionate (observation mode), even while hearing the actual WORDS in my head (left-brain controls the words right--it wants to pummel me to the ground). it's very normal/usual-feeling, this left-brain barrage--basically it's something à la (believe me, this is the condensed and slowed version) "WHY TRY/IT'S ALL HOPELESS FOR YOU/YOU MUST BE UNDESERVING/YOU'LL NEVER FIGURE IT OUT SO GIVE UP/BE SMART AND GIVE IN--DON'T THEY CALL REPEATING THE SAME THING OVER AND OVER WITH THE SAME RESULT IDIOTIC? JUST GIVE UPAND SUBMIT TO YOUR SAD LONELY COLD DARK FEELING BECAUSE THAT IS YOU, YOUR LIFE.  YOUR LIFE IS SAD.  YOU CANNOT CHANGE IT.  SADNESS IS JUST GOING TO TAKE YOU OVER SO LET'S JUST GET IT ALL OVER WITH NOW/  YOUR PARENTS WILL BE SAD BUT THEY WON'T HAVE TO WORRY ANYMORE/THEIR INVESTMENT JUST DIDN'T PAN OUT/NOTHING YOU CAN DO/ YOU LOVE PEOPLE WHO WON'T LOVE YOU EVER/PEOPLE ARE POLITE BUT THEY CAN'T HELP BECAUSE NO ONE CAN HELP/SINCE YOU OBVIOUSLY CANNOT HELP YOURSELF IT'S YOUR DUTY, YOUR RESPONSIBIITY TO GIVE UP/NOTHING TO PRESERVE HERE"  ok, something like that, which is really not helpful.  especially since it's so swift to kick in and has SO much material (lots of years collecting). anyway, so ---then i thought, now what? i see this pattern recur many times a day.] 

what do i do now, mr. j. krishnamurti? huh huh huh?

STEP 2 ARRIVES OVERNIGHT
ok, this morning it suddenly occurred to me that since i could observe quite well, and stay out of it, let it run it's course let's say, then maybe i could also interfere (even tho' that's like the resistance that K talks about all confusingly)-- i spin stuff (define: help people with words)for other people all the time, like to...
-lessen their disappointment/shock
-to support someone's confidence in their opinion
-to not get busted
i even use dreaded clichés (in emergency situations when you run out of your own material), like--
-"Tomorrow is another Day!"
-"It's Never as Bad as it Seems!"
eww. or just resort to--
--"WHAT AN ASSHOLE!"
a n  y w a y , the point is i can use my left-brain to work for me instead of against me.  i can argue with it until i get it in a chokehold of reason and positivity.    here's an example that popped into my head right after this idea came to me:  ok, recently let's say the default feeling is "it's the same-as-it-ever-was...SUX," about... love,( let's say, specifically about two gentlemen who will remain nameless)..  well, there's tons of hard evidence for that, plus quotes from other people (e.g. my dad, xmas 2007, "You always pick the wrong guys"), self-image problems, general insecurity about intelligence, ugliness, fatness, etc. etc... WELL, i can tackle that with the same focused and determined part of my brain that can spin anything else for other people, open their minds, consider alternatives, cheer 'em up.  determination and quickie brainstorming, incorporating also creative skills--point that at myself,  to turn it around FOR ME.  it could work, right?  and in the end, even if not "spun' entirely around and i'm not beaming sunshine and rainbows, i'll have enough of an influx of new thoughts and ideas to at the least distract me, hopefully to expand my repertoire of default settings.  gradually, who knows? 

POSTSCRIPT:
actually, i wrote most of this earlier, and then for the first time ever (good job! tell me good job!) i LEFT it !!even tho' i had all this stuff i wanted to get down before i forgot-- because i had to go to the gym at 3 and i've been chronically late (as u know) and it's terrible, feel bad.  anyhow, later was in the grocery and i gave in again, didn't have the energy to come up with anything.  what a downer this is.  no one wants to hear about failed flashes of insight.  what a bummer.  maybe i'll try again later, but the dark side is strong (and has cookies!).