Today, after stuffing myself silly at Wicked Spoon, we exited the buffet and happened upon what I initially thought were a couple artsy cigarette machines. Upon closer inspection, we discovered they dispensed not cigarettes, but… art!
Robots and monsters were sold out, so I decided to go with a clay sculpture.
I would have been happy with sheep, but I was super duper stoked when it dispensed a PANDA!!
And it wasn’t just a panda… it was a panda complete with bamboo, rocks, and its very of patch of grass. ^_^
11 months ago, I bought a couple Yelp deals for classes at the Bay Area Glass Institute. A week or so ago, I realized they were about to expire. OmigoshIhavetosignupforaclassnow!! So I did. Last Friday, April, Aaron, and I took the Blow A Float! class… and we blew floats. We used giant metal straws dipped into a 2000 degree cauldron of liquid glass. There was a lot of rolling and blowing and pinching with giant tools. Wow, that makes glass blowing sound super fun. I mean, it is fun, but, um, right.
Anyway, pictures! I lit this with a Maglite, but what I’d like to do is drill a hole in the base and install an LED to light the ball up from the inside.
Lucinda and I have been stealthily attacking each other with plastic army guys for the last year. Earlier this month, she diversified and dropped a platoon of gummy army guys on me. I let them duke it out with the single plastic army guy currently in my possession.
After my ride at Arastradero last week, I returned to my car, dropped my hydration pack in the front seat, changed, loaded the bike, got in, started the engine, noticed something in the center console cup holder, took a closer look, and o_O.
At the bottom of the cup holder was a newt.
Crap! What do I do? Newts move fast, and I didn’t want to scare it into a crevice, or, worse yet, deep underneath the center console where it would likely starve, and then stink. I stared at it for a while. I turned off the engine. I stared a while longer. I Googled, “Do newts bite?” After I was satisfied that the little guy wouldn’t try to eat me, I grabbed a twig and a large blade of grass and offered them to the newt, ladder style. It wasn’t interested. I tried to coax it onto the twig. It darted out of the cup holder and onto the edge of my seat. Double crap! Now what? Its choice of in-car crevices had just increased many fold. It clearly didn’t care for either the grass or the twig, so I offered it my hand. It climbed on.
I carried it out of the car, marveled at how gently grippy it felt, took about 5 minutes of pictures, thanked it for its patience, and set it free.
Check out those pointy toenails.
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Thanks to Aaron, April, that picture, and this guide, I would now like to say “Lizard!” not “Newt!”
A few weeks ago, while talking with Hanh, she mentioned that she goes to trapeze class on Sundays. “That sounds really cool,” I said. “You should come,” she replied. The next day, I received an email with details about trapeze class.
That email sat in my inbox for days. I opened the link, looked at the site, looked at the site again. I’m not usually this indecisive about things. Why was I hesitating?
On the 6th day, I realized I was scared. Upon realizing this, I decided to do it. Besides, this was an opportunity to learn in the company of my friend. If not now, when? I signed up.
I wasn’t sure what to expect. I thought I’d do some swinging, learn to drop on the net, and come back another day for more. Instead, they taught me to do a knee hang on the practice bar, taught me how to leave the platform, and sent me up. Already?!
People have asked whether the experience was scary. Quite honestly, there was enough to remember that I didn’t have enough spare brain cycles to be scared. My first go at it was “Whoa!” followed by a few swings back and forth before I could process what the instructor on the ground was yelling for me to do. I managed a sloppy knee hang and came back down to learn that she had been yelling, “Can you hear me?” Hah, no! That’s why I didn’t respond.
Swing #2 went a lot better. Then the instructors rotated. Swing #3 was a mess again, mostly because I couldn’t tune in to the new instructor’s voice. Fortunately, he then explained to me what I needed to do in each part of the swing. Having that in place, instead of just following directions when I heard them without understanding why, helped a lot. Swing #4 went just fine.
On swing #5, I learned why they had been teaching me to knee hang, arch my back, and reach for the empty swing on the far side of the net. This time, one of the instructors was up there to grab my arms and catch me. Cool! We did this twice, and then it was time to go. Here I am on my final swing of the day:
Fun! But wow, the back of my calves hurt from hanging on the bar. I have bruises to prove it! So while I didn’t injure myself, I did need bubble wrap. ImaginaryWarehouseOfBubbleWrapRolls–
Will I do this again? I think yes! Come join me if you’re interested. And thanks Hanh for the invite and video!
Spent a couple hours learning to play racquetball yesterday. It felt a little like unlearning how to play tennis. Why is this racquet so short? What do you mean I’m not supposed to extend my arm? Topspin is bad? So is underspin? I get to use the walls?? And the ceiling?!
There was whiffing. There was a lot of unnecessary spin. There was even more wasted energy. But in the end, I had a blast. It’s hard not to have a blast at a sport that involves hitting stuff.
As much as I want to compare it to tennis, I know I shouldn’t. I’ll just say that I really enjoy the variety of shots you can create by playing angles and spin off the walls. You certainly have to think differently to play it. Is it a sport I would want to pick up? Yes because it’s fun, no because I’d rather play tennis instead. I loved tennis in high school as much as I love hockey and mountain biking now. If I’m going to pick up a racquet again, it’ll be my tennis racquet.
As we were driving through San Rafael today we saw a guy with a red bike, megaphone, and large sign that read “FREE LEONARD”. He megaphoned something about a website. I couldn’t hear the address because the windows were up. The light turned green and we continued on.
Later, as we waited for our Sol Food a few blocks down, the guy rode by. “He’s giving out free leonard!” I said, “I’ll take some!” I had no idea what leonard was but I figured it wouldn’t hurt to try.
“I think he wants someone freed from jail,” Aaron replied. Oh.
Because I don’t have enough hobbies, I’ve started learning how to pick locks. I’ve got a set of picks, and I’m looking to buy a deadbolt to practice on. This one looks good. It’s cheap and it has exactly one five star review that reads, “I purchased these for my sister and she is very happy with them. My niece helped to install them and they feel much safer now.”
My goal is to learn to pick on this lock so I can give it another five star review that reads, “I purchased this to learn how to lockpick and I am very happy with it. This model is great for beginners!”
Stopped by Whole Foods to pick up lunch and found them laying out a champagne and chocolate display. Oh, right, it’s Valentine’s Day. The most meaningful holiday of the year… if you’re a florist or chocolatier.
It did remind me of this conversation from earlier in the month though:
Aaron: Are we doing anything for Valentine’s Day? Viv: *checks calendar* No, I have pickup. Aaron: Good, because it’s SF Beer Week.
Blasted through my gym workout today and had about 10 minutes left to shoot some hoops. First time in over a year, quite possibly two. After throwing a couple airballs I got a feel for things again and played my best ever game of solo Around the Key. Wrapped things up with a few 3s. Nothing but net. Still got it!
I was a little disturbed by the fact that my mechanics have changed a bit. My control hand now crosses behind my power hand when I shoot, à la Reggie Miller. This is disturbing because (1) I used to think he looked like an alien and (2) I was a huge John Starks fan. Enemy! And now I shoot like the guy. Great.
This is odd: I’ve somehow learned to dribble the ball between my legs without practicing. I think it’s super cool when people do it so I study carefully when I see it, but I haven’t actually tried to do this in years. Today, I succeeded on most of my tries. Is it because I’m bending my knees more due to repetition from hockey and downhilling? I definitely felt lower to the ground today. Better control and more room to get my feet wide.
Also, I’ve missed the sound of dribbling a basketball on a hardwood court. Not just the initial sound, but the echo in the gym.
Speaking of sports sounds I miss, how about this awesome tennis weather we’re having? I should go play.
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