read: the oracles: my filipino grandparents in america

The Oracles: My Filipino Grandparents in America by Pati Navalta Poblete
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

although i enjoyed the book and related to the story (being a fil-am who also lived in a multi-generational home), i didn't love it. and i really wanted to love it...

but i've read other coming of age books with a similar immigrant theme, and i didn't find this one very original. there wasn't enough there - language, characters, dialogue, the pacing - to compel me to read or feel empathy for the narrator or her grandparents. sadly, i almost felt the urge to read it just to get it over with... :(

i'm always glad to read & support the works of fil-am authors. although this wasn't a hit for me, i think this would make a good intro into the genre for my daughter when she's a little older.

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read: stories: all new tales

Stories: All-New Tales by Neil Gaiman
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

All in all, I thought this was a solid anthology of short scifi/fantasy stories. I was really looking for something to read that didn't require too much thought or commitment, but was still entertaining and compelling. This definitely fit the bill. I didn't LOVE every story, but there were definitely stories that I enjoyed and others that are sure to haunt me. Also, I always like being introduced to authors I haven't read yet.

My favorite stories:

The Truth is a Cave in the Black Mountains by Neil Gaiman - It's Gaiman. That is all.

The Stars are Falling by Joe R Lansdale - Loved the dark atmosphere of this story.

Weights and Measures by Jodi Picoult - I'm not a fan of Picoult's work, but I loved this story.

Catch and Release by Lawrence Block - By far the most unnerving story in the collection for me..... *shivers*

Samantha's Diary by Dianna Wynne Jones - Considering what time of year it is, this story was timely, funny and slightly frightening.

I highly recommend this book if you enjoy scifi/fantasy and are inbetween novels. :)





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happy birthday, andra

i  miss you...  :')

that is all.

The Secret Town by Ogden Nash

"There is a town within a town,

Where my true love walks alone,

And green, oh, meadow green, is her gown,

And daffodil gold her shoon.

Unto that silent secret place,

No street, no alley, leads.

A town without a market place,

No huckster crowd it feeds.

The wagon wheels without the wall,

They are not heard within.

The angry bells that clash and call,

They may not enter in.

And thunderheads their thunder lose;

Such is stillness there,

That in the grassy avenues

The deer feeds, and the hare.

And there the hot sun softlier sifts,

And the harsh wind softlier blows,

And the frost melts, and the fog lifts,  

And earlier springs the rose.

Within that town a lady walks

In dear serenity,

And lilies on their slender stalks

Less stately are than she.

Less delicate the violets are,

Less light of foot of deer,

Less lovely is the evening star,

Than she who walketh here.

I built that greedy outer town,

And she the town within.

When my own creature howls me down,

She bids me enter in.

Oh meadow, meadow green is her gown,

And daffodil gold her shoon.

God keep the town within the town,

Where my true love walks alone."

Thinking of you, Andra and Erika.

friday dance - shake your body

i saw this:



and said "1:11 minutes?! hell naw..."  and found this:



happy friday.  shake your body.  that is all.

Lindy Hop Challenge - Day 4

your favorite live band...

ok...  NOW, i'm getting frustrated with the narrow focus of these questions....  can my favorite live band be a band that doesn't focus on swing music?  can my favorite live band be a band that is now defunct?  can i have favorite bands in different cities?  can my favorite live band be a band i've never seen live?

yaaaar...

i'm just going to post videos of some of my favorite bands, who i have seen live, in alphabetical order...  so. there.  :p

bill elliot



george gee



indigo swing




lavay smith and her red hot skillet lickers

Lindy hop Challenge - Day 3

"...a description of your favorite partner (and why they're your favorite)...."

i don't think  i have an actual favorite partner although usually the people i most enjoy dancing with have a few things in common - in no particular order:

*  they're teachers who have heavily inspired groove era dancers (hey, what can i say - i'm a creature of groove habit), they are groove era dancers or they have learned from and elaborate on their roots from groove era dance teachers.



*  they are avid interpreters of music - one of the things i love most about partner dancing is the conversation you have with your partner.  i'm always curious about creative process and fascinated by what a lead hears in music and am instantly inspired to respond creatively - hoping to reciprocate the spark...



*  they ask me to dance because they genuinely want to dance with me - not as a test to see if i can keep up with them.  i'm always humbled and excited when i'm asked to dance - but there's nothing that deflates my outlook more than that realization...  and it's so easy to tell the difference between a genuine dance request and a fake one within the first few bars/swingouts, etc...  so take note, leads & follows - you're only with your partner for 4 minutesish - make. it. count.



*  they're f*cking hilarious.  they're the butt of their own jokes.  they go above and beyond the call of duty to encourage you to forget your troubles... and smile.  :)

Lindy hop Challenge - Day 2

my favorite place to dance....

i'm not sure how to answer this question - my favorite place to dance now? or like EVAR!?  i hate to sound wishy washy but i really do have many favorite places to dance.

currently, i have two favorite places to dance in chicago -

1) swing dancing at fizz (full disclosure, i work there part time) - i feel the most at home here...  almost too homey though...  i often find i chatty face here more than dance sometimes.  :)



2)  black rock -  i enjoy going to black rock because it's a lovely space, very comfortable and very familiar in that old chicago bar sense...  the crew of staff & regulars are really laid back and casual.  i feel a certain amount of duty/responsibility at swing at fizz because i'm also staff.  so, it's nice to have black rock to run to if i didn't get my dance on at fizz....

in san francisco,  my favorite place to dance has always been -

1) lindy in the park - it's moved from it's original location at the bandshell (see below), but it's still hella fun.  :)



however, when they were still open - The Doghouse - where i also taught with chad kubo and jason christodoulou.



and spencer's joint at dna lounge - we're also considered my homes away from home.

last but certainly not least...  the casino ballroom on catalina island....  where all kinds of magic happen...  not to mention - OLAFS!!!








which reminds me...  have you pinned your "best spot to lindy hop in the US" yet?

30 Day Lindy Hop Challenge

I saw this 30 day blog challenge on the vernacular jazz dance blog - it's 30 days of lindy hop blogging.  I'm going to *try* this challenge even though i've failed miserably at so many challenges...  it may not seem like it, but i do enjoy blogging so this is my meager effort to keep trying to blog...  :)  I like the questions on this challenge and  I think it can be edited to fit other hobbies...  ok, wish me luck, here goes nothing...  :)

1)  What got you started in lindy hop?

The desire to meet new people in a new city.

When I moved to San Francisco in 1995, I only knew three people - a dear friend and former fashion dept classmate of mine - Steven, his roomate - Sam and a close friend (of my former boyfriend) - Christian.  I was so lucky to have those three yahoos in my life - they were my family away from family...

Most of my daily life was spent with my roomates, Steven & Sam and their three cats - Monster, Buttons & Frisbee.  Christian and I bonded early on by our love of vintage clothing, music, furnishings, ephemera, etc...  We often walked over to Club Deluxe in the upper haight to drink, listen to music, drink more and street swing:



at one point, I was in between garment industry jobs and met another temp who was a student of paul and sharon's at the metronome ballroom. we decided to meet after work at a new club that opened called the hi-ball:

 

 when i watched my co-worker endlessly lindy hop with many leads, i was equal amounts jealous and inspired - and i wanted to take classes from paul and sharon too.

 so thanks, angela for leading me to paul and sharon... and thanks, paul & sharon for teaching and guiding me all those many years ago.... :)

adventures with tessa at vintage bazaar!

over the weekend, i hung with my homie, tessa, at the vintage bazaar's new home & chicago landmark - the aragon ballroom.

i ain't gonna lie.  the first thing we did at the vintage clothing, furniture & ephemera bazaar was STUFF. OUR. MUGS.

i was hongry... borderline hangry...

luckily, brown bag lunch truck, meatloaf a gogo, duck and roll truck, bridgeport pasty and beavers donuts.  and being the (un)conscientious health fanatics that we are, we started with half a dozen nutella dream (strawberry sauce + nutella) donuts:

seriously peoples, that stuff was so good, i'm sure it was also biblically wrong...  that's the stuff you go to confession for...  if you're catholic....  if you're a GOOD catholic.  tessa introduced me to amy le of duck and roll truck who made these insanely delicious bao tacos. i had the pork and tessa had the tofu:

*not pictured. see: inhaled. 

then, we meandered over to brown bag lunch truck, where we met joaquin, the angel (or apocalyptic horseman) who bringeth forth "The Meat"...  not that tessa had any because she is being very good & joining Nora's challenge of not eating meat this June...  (liar, liar, pants on fire...haha!)  we had the kim jong mmmm, some beer soaked chicken (someone dub this the drunken master!!!) and elotes w/ spicy mayo:

*not pictured.  see: inhaled.

ok, so.... we spent the rest of our food induced haze strolling the overflowing and overwhelming booths of the outdoor and indoor vintage bazaar...  although i used to be an avid vintage hunter, i've mellowed with age (and my moth eaten pocketbook) and only hunt for vintage sewing & crafting stuff, namely - vintage sewing patterns.

i gotta say i was a little disappointed in the pricing at the bazaar....  there weren't that many vendors with the stuff i was looking for, but it when i did see machines, books or patterns they were all kinda pricey.  i was especially disappointed that the vendors couldn't tell me for certain if their patterns were cut or complete, were asking $5-$10 per pattern. FTW?! one of the vendors had some modern - still in print - patterns in her stash and was selling them for $7.  SEVEN DOLLARS for a pattern i can get on sale - NEW - for $1.

i did find (overpaid, prolly) a handful that i liked.  i haven't had a chance to look them over yet though....  O_o

there were some really great booths, overflowing with vintage eye candy...  i loved the recycled bottle lights at vintage edison.  we also scored some coupons & gift certificates from AKIRA.  there was also an AWESOME popup barbershop from joe's barbershop. 

at one point, tessa and i took a break upstairs in the aragon's balcony seats....  & it occurred to me that i hadn't really taken any pictures at the bazaar...  :(  then, as we were making our way out of the bazaar, we found the smilebooth photo booth and took some silly pics:

i'm really looking forward to attending the next vintage bazaar, July 8th.

i also picked up a postcards for another local vintage event - vintage garage, july 15th, august 19th, sept 16th & oct 21st.

ennyhoo...  thanks for coming by and reading!

friday dance - love me or leave me

it's still may, so it's still APAHM... :)

i give you probably my favorite lindy hop team routine of all time by the california rolls (whose members look to be all asian american):

 

 and a short choreographed by anthony lee... josie say mentioned to me that she used to be in a dance crew with one of these dancers.... not surprised. :)

 

 happy friday y'all!!!

happy mother's day!

i'm heading out to las 'burbs to hang with my mom & extended family, celebrate the day and the arrival of the newest member of our family, a new niece, olivia, born very early today!!!  but before i leave, i just wanted to wish all the moms a HAPPY MAMA'S DAY!  i lurves youse, laydees...

...and coz you know i gotta get my laugh fix...

 

lastly, if you haven't already checked out jonathan yi's East of Main series on HBO... do EEEEET!!!

new day, new laptop sleeve

today, i start my new job working with a local designer of custom made shoes...  i will need to bring my laptop with me, so i made a new sleeve...  i used this tutorial & pattern from sew mama sew.  it was very easy to make, only took a couple of hours.  i really like how it turned out.  i especially like the fabric designed by tim coffey.

thanks for coming by & reading! hope you have a productive tuesday! :)

pablo!!!

check out this interview with paul overton (of dudecraft & everyday is awesome)  re: dancing & relationships over on swungover!  as i mentioned earlier, paul and sharon were my first and bestest lindy hop teachers... :)  paul as per usual has some great advice to impart...  :)

me & paul on the ferry to long beach from catalina 1999 :)

apahm friday dance -

so... i think imma try to highlight some apa folks for upcoming friday dances since it's APAHM...  :)

first up, fil am drummer, danny barcelona...

 

lastly, the funniest crew i've ever seen on abdc just exited this week...  BOO!  :(

Stepboys - they're amazian! i will miss them the rest of the season....  :(



whatever you do today, i hope you take some time out to dance! :)

perception

so...  i bit the bullet and went to one of those not so expensive chain haircut places....

i was hoping to look like this when i came out:

...am slowly realizing that i may or may not look more like this:

ooooooh yeeeeaaaaah....

hope

if there was any story i desperately needed to see/hear last night...  it was this one:

 

God bless you and your family Steelo!  Whenever I lose patience with my slow healing, I will watch you!  Best wishes for a complete recovery!

Flounce Skirt in Action!

soooo happy to find that lindyfest FINALLY posted the instructor jam - where virginie is wearing the gored flounce skirt i made!

when i was in san francisco in march, i saw her try it on, and she swiveled a bit in it, but i didn't see it like in the video below!

BESTEST MATCH UP OF SWIVEL & SKIRT - LIKE EVAAAAAARRR!!!  :) (if you don't have time to watch the entire video, you can fwd to the 6:03 mark...  but, really?  you can't watch the entire video??!! what are you doing??!!)

 

hope your tuesday is progressing quickly and without incident...  :)

conversations with paloma

saturday -

paloma (& porkchop) - PLEeeeEEEEeeeeeEEeeASE PLAY THE SONG ABOUT CRAZINESS AND PEPSI!!!!!  I JUST WANT A PEPSI!!!!



today -

paloma: mom, do you know what ewoks are?

me: animals that live on the forest moon of endor (*geekhighfive*)

paloma: no.  they're reanimated teddy bears.

me:  do you even know what reanimated means?

paloma:  yes.  yes i do.

me:  O_o

*mental note: buy that surveillance camera...

friday dance - jumpin at the woodside

thinking of you frankie!  :') 

Catalina 1999 - the night after the thin man proposed... :')