Pesto Tortellini
Serves 2
1 12 oz package of meat tortellini
6-7 mushrooms
3/4 cup frozen peas
Handful of grape tomatoes
3 tablespoons of pesto
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 teaspoons water
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon sugar
Cook homemade pesto if desired. Refrigerate. In pot, make meat tortellini as directed. Add salt. Drain over colander. In small saucepan, heat olive oil. Add chopped mushrooms and peas. Add water. Saute mushrooms and peas for approximately 5 minutes. In bowl, toss tortellini. Add in pesto and toss. Add sauteed mushrooms and pease. Add sugar. Toss in tomatoes, and serve warm.
Yesterday was our ROM anniversary... Time flies... it has been 2 years since we are legally married... we didn't really have much celebration, cause we are both tired.... it was a working day.... i'm still thinking of whether to post-celebrate this weekend... not an excuse, but I think we both need to really spend time alone without "life" catching up on us....
but with our tight budget, i'm still wondering what we can do...
I realised that if there was ever a time for me to update the shop, just before Christmas would be it.
I have new prints in a range of sizes and prices. Soon I will have Christmas cards and copies of Meow Magazine for sale as well. Watch this space. :)
Can you tell I'm a Londoner?
These are for the new issue of the zine the students on my course produce (Meow Magazine). This month's theme is I Love London so this was what I did. I'm also on the editing team this year and we have big plans for it.
I was 18 years old and walking home to my apartment on Franklin Avenue in Boise from work as a waiter at Plush Pippin on State Street. As I zipped along the street, Eric, who was Wendy Belcher's boyfriend (my first boyfriend Jerry and I lived with her), was playing football in the field at Boise High and he saw me passing at shouted out: "The Wall fell down, maaaaaan! Those Germans are freeeeee!"
The Proust Questionnaire
Tiffany introduced it to me, via Jason via Anna. (And Sam begat William and William begat..)
I like these types of exercises, especially when I'm foggy and panicked generally unclear (as this Monday morning finds me). The Proust questionnaire is named for the French writer Marcel Proust, serving as the inspiration for more introspective interviews, an exercise in self exploration and a peak into the true motivations of the people providing the answers.
1. What is your idea of perfect happiness?
Emotional health and physical health, the ability to cover my expenses without any great anxiety, knowing without hesitation that I am loved, supported and valued by the people I love, support and value...and the freedom to create things with my own two hands.
2. What is your greatest fear?
That the things currently causing me grief, will never pass. That this, right now, is all there is to life.
3. What is the trait you most deplore in yourself?
My fear of inadequacy.
4. What is the trait you most deplore in others?
Cowardice.
5. Which living person do you most admire?
My aunt Elizabeth. She finds the growth in every challenge. She does amazing things but remains incredibly humble. She can hug you and reduce you to tears just from the love coming from her pores. She sees the best in you and never lets you deny that it is there. She finds joy and beauty in the things many take for granted. She's faced incredible adversity with the courage of a lion and never reduces herself to bitterness. She loves hard, thinks unselfishly, fights for what she believes in and...she's just a wonder.
6. What is your greatest extravagance?
Art supplies.
7. What is your current state of mind?
Afraid. Confused. Scattered. Isolated.
8. What do you consider the most overrated virtue?
Chastity. But only because of the other recognized virtues, it is the one least inclined to impede your ability to be a healthy, happy, productive individual. I know lots of people that ain't "chaste" but live life with fulfillment and purpose.
9. On what occasion do you lie?
When I'm afraid that the truth is going to really hurt someone with no positive consequence, self included.
10. What do you most dislike about your appearance?
My stomach.
11. Which living person do you most despise?
Well, there are a lot of people I don't like. The world is chock full of regrettable people. Though I find it more often to be a curse more than a blessing, I can sympathy or empathy for most. The living person I most despise right now might be Rush Limbaugh. He's dangerous and stirs unscrupulous passions for his own amusement. That sort of small minded deviance works on my ability to think kind thoughts.
12. What is the quality you most like in a man?
Integrity. Not just one's ability to speak truthfully, but to do so at the cost of your own comfort and ease. Someone that is willing to be seen for who they are. To stand in their truth and not the shadow of what they want others to believe they are.
13. What is the quality you most like in a woman?
Grace. The ability to consider feelings and actions with wisdom and well being and to act gracefully even when it might be difficult to do so.
14. Which words or phrases do you most overuse?
I can't.
15. What or who is the greatest love of your life?
My dog. I can always count on her to love me, tend to my wounded feelings and remind me that there's a being out here that will always give as much as or more than she takes. My childhood best friend, Jameel. Over thirty years and going strong. He's been the only one to always be there, to protect me on those occasions I couldn't protect myself and to keep all of my truest thoughts, fears and feelings safe and secure. He's probably the only person I've known that closely or long who has never snatched the rug out from under me.
16. When and where were you happiest?
The day I graduated from college and saw absolute blissful joy and delight on my father's face, knowing I had everything to do with it. A time long ago when I thought I was in love with someone just as in love with me. While everything else is in that story is but a work of fiction, that feeling I had was truer than most anything I've ever experienced. And I try to remain grateful for it.
17. Which talent would you most like to have?
The ability to read minds.
18. If you could change one thing about yourself, what would it be?
My tendency toward self-preoccupation.
19. What do you consider your greatest achievement?
I think that's yet to be discovered.
20. If you were to die and come back as a person or a thing, what would it be?
An eagle. (feathers, not helmets)
21. Where would you most like to live?
Sometimes I think New Mexico. Loads of pottery there, lots of ceramic inspiration, still away from the hustle and bustle of life in a city. Places I would spend a year or two? London. Toronto. New Zealand. Portugal.
22. What is your most treasured possession?
My laptop.
23. What do you regard as the lowest depth of misery?
A life with no other passion but material gain or personal recognition.
24. What is your favorite occupation?
Potter. Followed by writer.
25. What is your most marked characteristic?
I honestly don't know. I don't trust that I've ever had a clear lens for how others see/observe me.
26. What do you most value in your friends?
Their sincerity.
27. Who are your favorite writers?
Neil Gaiman, Octavia Butler, Pearl Cleage, Paulo Coehlo, C.S. Lewis, Anchee Min, Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Maya Angelou
28. Who is your hero of fiction?
Ellen Ripley from the Alien series.
29. Which historical figure do you most identify with?
I don't think I know enough about the inner workings of any historical figure to say who that person would be.
30. Who are your heroes in real life?
The people who are driven each and every day to the commitment of human services, community service and charitable efforts.
2009-09-25/ 27 ~ Bintan Trip - Mayang Sari (Day 1)
mc darling n i went to Bintan wif one of his couple frens, Roy n Charissa on e following weekend after our JB trip. We booked e earliest ferry ride at 8.10am as per Roy's request n i was swearing to mc darling e nite b4 y must we go so early as we need to wake up at 5am which is ridiculously early lor.
On tat day, we managed to wake up n reached e terminal at 6.30am n e gd thing was we had time to haf breakfast. Then we waited for our frens to come n guess wat, e person who requested to go early overslept but fortunately, they reached in time. When he arrived, he asked, "Who book e ferry ride so early ah?". And i answered, "We booked it early becos of u lor!". He mistook that e earliest ferry ride is at 12pm, hai.....
So we reached e resort before e check-in time but luckily they haf 1 available room for us to check-in 1st.
After putting our luggages in e room, Roy n Charissa were hungry but 1st day didn't come wif breakfast so they paid for it n e breakfast was served at their outdoor restaurant.
mc darling n i only ate e breakfast e next day n it was a good spread n tasty, much better than Fullerton Hotel breakfast. I realised i didn't take pics of e food probably i was too busy eating, hahaha.
After they had their breakfast, we went back to e room n Roy set up his mini movie theatre for us n we surprised them wif e junk food n games we brought, hahaha.
When e sun sets a little, both guys went out to play in e beach n we ladies stayed indoor to watch movies n surf net. So sad e internet connection there is so slow or else we could haf watch more movies online.
E guys came back to chill out at e balcony n drank almost all e beers they bought. Then we played taboo at e balcony which helped us to pass some time which was ticking slowly, hahaha.
Eventually, e evening came n Roy, e bintan kid, brought us to this chinese restaurant called The Kelong, which is situated in another resort, to have our dinner.
E food was pretty good but not quite worth e price.
It was time to head back to our resort.
And we all turned in early tat nite cos.... u shld know e reason, hahaha. To be continued.....
At the far end of the enormous Turbine Hall in the Tate Modern is a correspondingly huge metal box: thirty metres long, thirteen metres high and sitting on two-metre stilts. One end of the box is open with a metal ramp leading up to the pitch-black interior. The artwork entitled How It Is by Miroslaw Balka is said to allude to the Holocaust, whereby the huge metal container is akin to the trucks that took the Jews away to the camps of Treblinka or Auschwitz.
Walking up the steel ramp towards the vast dark opening of the box is certainly unsettling. Even the sound and vibrations of footsteps on the metal ramp feels cold. Once you are inside the structure it gets progressively darker as your move further in. People beside you become less discernable and those at more than an arms length away cannot be seen at all. Were it not for the cheerful and exited chatter of most of the visitors the experience would have been decidedly eerie.
I went in with my sister while her boyfriend remained outside taking pictures. Once we had gone in some way and I could no longer make out or hear any people in front of us I stopped so that my sister’s boyfriend could catch up with us. While we waited for him we simply appreciated the odd sensation of being in a dark box. Before long my sister’s boyfriend appeared beside us. I was surprised that he managed to find us so quickly but also glad because I was eager to step into the absolute darkness that lay ahead. As I took a step forward though I came smack up against the back end of the structure. The wall was lined in soft black velvet, which felt nice to touch and was as unexpected as the wall itself. Turning around I was surprised to see how much more brightly lit the box now seemed and how close the entrance actually was. I had expected it to be further away.
For me the experience of walking into the box was comparable to ones journey through life: as you move forward you don’t actually know what is coming next or whom you will bump into. You might link arms with someone and walk beside others but most of the people you see or hear you’ll never know. When you reach the end it comes as a surprise, it’s disappointing, although you knew it was coming all along. Like the unexpected touch of velvet on the box however death is probably comforting. Our lives will also most likely seem like a much quicker journey than we imagined when we look back on them. Even at this point my life seems to have passed by ever so quickly. Lastly, I imagine that our lives in retrospect will seem far simpler than we experienced them to be, just as the box was much brighter looking back towards the entrance where we started out.
Since the box is supported on stilts you can walk underneath it and hear the footsteps of those inside. If the box is symbolic of life then the space under the box could be likened to the netherworld of ghosts perhaps, or the life one leads after we have left this box that we are now in. I don’t believe in life after death mind you, but if there were such a thing I would imagine that it would eclipse life as the Turbine Hall eclipses the box. Perhaps the after-afterlife would be the world outside of the Tate Modern and so on, until such a point that we live a space that is infinite.
A few weeks ago PS posted on her FB status that she has a bad experience talking to the customer service officer from Citibank... and I can only agree with her... I always hated calling them... anyway today I just make a call to them to cancel all my card with them, since I realise that I have stopped using them for a while...
anyway, I was quite happy when my phone was picked up at the 1st ring.. cos in the past when I called them, I probably will be put on listening to their music for a good 15 minutes before a customer service officer is available to talk to me... so I'm kinda of happy that I have got luck today... but my happiness was short lived..
as I have 2 cards to cancel, I called and state the number of the first card... and problem one happened... they need all the verification which i gladly told them... until it come to the part of the credit limit.... i can't remember and i had to login to my internet banking to check... and to my horror, after i state the amount to the CSO, he told me it was wrong... and he even told me that the credit limit for each card is the same.. i mean WTF, you think i'm some idiot or something? i can't read what is on the screen.... and I'm stupid not to know what is credit limit?? and I told him off that I'm looking at my electronic bill right now and this is the amount stated.. does he need me to print it out and fax it to him to verify that is what is showing on my screen? i think that pisses him off a little and he tries to cut in to what i was saying... *rude* of him...
anyway he asked for my mum maiden name for another verification... which i told him and he told me the amount reflected on his screen... and i gave him another round of "lecture" saying that there is some problem with their system.. it clearly stated on my screen that its not the amount he mention... so he blah blah blah and went on to "process" my cancellation... and told me it has been done...
and the 2nd problem came.. i told him to cancel off my Citibank SMRT card too... and apparently i think he is unable to find that card under my name... and he asked me what card is it? hello, i just told you its the SMRT visa platinum card right? do you have that much SMRT card??? then he asked me is it under my name? o.m.g.... does he really think that i'm some blur f**k.....
i volunteered the number of my SMRT card... and i think he manage to "find" it in his system... and best part? he asked for the number of the first card again!!!! and he repeated the cycle of all the verification again!!! i tot for the SMRT card, but no! it was for the 1st card and also the SMRT card... *o.m.g*.....
my guess? i think there were two "accounts" of my card in their system.. one is the old old one which he first found... and later when I provided my SMRT card number, he manage to trace to the latest "account"... how did that happen in the 1st place I'm not too sure... but i'm sure their system sucks... i'm just glad i have already cancel all my card with them and I do not have a savings account with them... i wonder will their system mix up the money inside too...
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