Before:
After:
Lulu is already for tomorrow's hike!
After:
Lulu is already for tomorrow's hike!
16 years ago
Who are you, Jeremy?
Over a year ago I started receiving a steady stream of e-mails offering me products to enlarge a certain bodily appendage that I don't have. This confused me a little as I thought most spam e-mails were at least gender-targeted and I wasn't sure why I was listed on these lists as a male.
And then came an onslaught of pharmaceutical offers for a magic pill that aids the functionality of said appendage. I dismissed it all as regular spam and didn't think much about it. I spent a good few months opening up all of the marketing e-mails to officially unsubscribe and mark as spam in efforts to clean up my inbox. I did a pretty good job, I've had my Yahoo! account since my first year of college and I get relatively little spam delivered to my inbox though my spam folder gets pretty ridiculous.
So today as I was waiting for a confirmation e-mail, I took a gander through my spam folder in search of it and found a TON of e-mails addressed to Jeremy L or Jeremy L Ortega. Someone must have opted me in to some sort of spam list as Jeremy L, inadequate male, which apparently is the root of over 60% of my spam. I am extremely annoyed that I am sharing my primary inbox with this unknown Jeremy, and will continue to curse him under my breath whenever as I unsubscribe myself off as many lists as I can.
A note on the origin of spam:
It is widely believed that the term spam is derived from a sketch of the BBC TV series Monty Python's Flying Circus. The sketch is set in a cafe where nearly every item on the menu includes spam luncheon meat. (A reference to British rationing during WWII where spam was one of the few meat products that was widely available) A waiter recites the spam-filled menu and a chorus of Vikings drowns out all conversations with a song repeating "SPAM, SPAM, SPAM, SPAM, SPAM...", hence spamming the dialog.
Then in the 1980's, the term was adopted to describe abusive users who frequented BBSs who would repeat "SPAM" a huge number of times to scroll other users' text off the screen. Coupled with the slow phone-modem connections of the early internet days, this large, scrolling, irritating, meaningless block of text started to be called spamming. And that is how spam came to be known as excessive multiple posting of the same message.
And then came an onslaught of pharmaceutical offers for a magic pill that aids the functionality of said appendage. I dismissed it all as regular spam and didn't think much about it. I spent a good few months opening up all of the marketing e-mails to officially unsubscribe and mark as spam in efforts to clean up my inbox. I did a pretty good job, I've had my Yahoo! account since my first year of college and I get relatively little spam delivered to my inbox though my spam folder gets pretty ridiculous.
So today as I was waiting for a confirmation e-mail, I took a gander through my spam folder in search of it and found a TON of e-mails addressed to Jeremy L or Jeremy L Ortega. Someone must have opted me in to some sort of spam list as Jeremy L, inadequate male, which apparently is the root of over 60% of my spam. I am extremely annoyed that I am sharing my primary inbox with this unknown Jeremy, and will continue to curse him under my breath whenever as I unsubscribe myself off as many lists as I can.
A note on the origin of spam:
It is widely believed that the term spam is derived from a sketch of the BBC TV series Monty Python's Flying Circus. The sketch is set in a cafe where nearly every item on the menu includes spam luncheon meat. (A reference to British rationing during WWII where spam was one of the few meat products that was widely available) A waiter recites the spam-filled menu and a chorus of Vikings drowns out all conversations with a song repeating "SPAM, SPAM, SPAM, SPAM, SPAM...", hence spamming the dialog.
Then in the 1980's, the term was adopted to describe abusive users who frequented BBSs who would repeat "SPAM" a huge number of times to scroll other users' text off the screen. Coupled with the slow phone-modem connections of the early internet days, this large, scrolling, irritating, meaningless block of text started to be called spamming. And that is how spam came to be known as excessive multiple posting of the same message.
Roscoe's!
Before:
After:
Today I had a major, random craving for Soul Food. Not sure what it was (might've been some random tweets) but I had fried chicken on my mind and it would not leave me alone!
Max and I headed out to Roscoe's after work. He had the SCOE'S combo drenched in gravy and I had the Country Boy. We added some biscuits and mac&cheese on the side.
It was heaven for all 5 minutes it took me to inhale my entire plate. I paid for it with indigestion for the rest of the night.
After:
Today I had a major, random craving for Soul Food. Not sure what it was (might've been some random tweets) but I had fried chicken on my mind and it would not leave me alone!
Max and I headed out to Roscoe's after work. He had the SCOE'S combo drenched in gravy and I had the Country Boy. We added some biscuits and mac&cheese on the side.
It was heaven for all 5 minutes it took me to inhale my entire plate. I paid for it with indigestion for the rest of the night.
Lenka @ UCSD
So we finally all drove down to visit Vina (not my first time, like others) to spend the day at the San Diego Wild Animal Park and watch a Lenka concert at the UCSD campus.
We started at Sushi Ki where Vina treated us to a very yummy lunch. She had always mentioned how the restaurant she worked at was Korean owned and ran so we weren't expecting much in the taste department -- I've had my share of pretty bad Korean-ized sushi with pickled stuff inside the rolls. But I have to say -- this was pretty yummy! I had some yellowtail collar (my favorite!) and the chef made us a salmon skin salad which was so good. I've never had salmon skin before!
The sushi chef got a kick out of the fact that we were all sisters ("ALL sisters?") and her friend/other waiter kept trying to get us to drink sake with our lunch. Hello! A little early?
After a long day outdoors at the Wild Animal Park (more on that later), we grabbed some hot dogs and headed to UCSD for the concert. Vina made a stink about not realizing that she could have gotten in for free because she was a student (duh!) but was able to secure tickets for the rest of us at $10 a head.
We spent the 20 minutes standing in line taking pictures of the venue and each other on our iPhones.
And then in the Loft we went, waiting for the first band to take the stage. I was kind of excited but the buzz was instantly killed when Army Navy took the stage and started playing way too loudly and whining into the microphone. Max, Yona and I couldn't take the noise and opted to stand near the back for their set. It was a good call too, otherwise we would have been deaf like Vina and Aai who stayed in their spots about 10 ft from the stage.
After about 25 minutes of noise, Lenka finally took the stage with her celeb look-a-like band. She played some new and old songs in addition to the favorites from her album. It was a lot of fun and she's such a great performer! It was nice to see her fully in her element, something she didn't get to do when performing with the other girls at Hotel Cafe.
It was cool to be in such a small and intimate venue although I have to say I was completely irked by the audience in front of me at times. There were a handful of girls that kept taking repeated pictures with their digital cameras (flash on) that were very distracting. They literally snapped a pic every 10 seconds, reviewed it in failure, and kept trying again. If you keep the camera on the same setting, no matter how many times you take the picture you'll get the same result! Augh. So annoying.
We started at Sushi Ki where Vina treated us to a very yummy lunch. She had always mentioned how the restaurant she worked at was Korean owned and ran so we weren't expecting much in the taste department -- I've had my share of pretty bad Korean-ized sushi with pickled stuff inside the rolls. But I have to say -- this was pretty yummy! I had some yellowtail collar (my favorite!) and the chef made us a salmon skin salad which was so good. I've never had salmon skin before!
The sushi chef got a kick out of the fact that we were all sisters ("ALL sisters?") and her friend/other waiter kept trying to get us to drink sake with our lunch. Hello! A little early?
After a long day outdoors at the Wild Animal Park (more on that later), we grabbed some hot dogs and headed to UCSD for the concert. Vina made a stink about not realizing that she could have gotten in for free because she was a student (duh!) but was able to secure tickets for the rest of us at $10 a head.
We spent the 20 minutes standing in line taking pictures of the venue and each other on our iPhones.
And then in the Loft we went, waiting for the first band to take the stage. I was kind of excited but the buzz was instantly killed when Army Navy took the stage and started playing way too loudly and whining into the microphone. Max, Yona and I couldn't take the noise and opted to stand near the back for their set. It was a good call too, otherwise we would have been deaf like Vina and Aai who stayed in their spots about 10 ft from the stage.
After about 25 minutes of noise, Lenka finally took the stage with her celeb look-a-like band. She played some new and old songs in addition to the favorites from her album. It was a lot of fun and she's such a great performer! It was nice to see her fully in her element, something she didn't get to do when performing with the other girls at Hotel Cafe.
It was cool to be in such a small and intimate venue although I have to say I was completely irked by the audience in front of me at times. There were a handful of girls that kept taking repeated pictures with their digital cameras (flash on) that were very distracting. They literally snapped a pic every 10 seconds, reviewed it in failure, and kept trying again. If you keep the camera on the same setting, no matter how many times you take the picture you'll get the same result! Augh. So annoying.
Fresh Guacamole
One of the first things we tested with our new blender was some fresh guac in a kit from Trader Joe's. The package comes with one of everything you need: tomato, avocado, lime, jalapeno, shallot and some peeled garlic. All you have to do is chop and dice, and then put it in the blender for about 30 seconds and we had us some fresh guacamole. Mmm.
Last Session
My body is all types of sore I've never been. I have a pulling tightness in the shoulders, a stiffness in the neck and a sore back. Last night was my last free session with my trainer and it seems she went easy on me. (Until I woke up today)
I was pretty exhausted after the routine and opted to drive home for an hour of rest rather than doing cardio while waiting for Max's session to finish. Overall I feel like these free training sessions helped me get back into routine and realize I can push my body a lot more than I have on my own. I'm starting to feel a difference in my core (especially at night) so even though there is no "lb" difference yet, I am starting to feel/see my body fighting the fat. :)
Now that I'm all done with these sessions, I'm going to focus the next 4 weeks to doing Linda's program (6x a week!) and hopefully start seeing more likeable results.
Last night's routine:
Raised Rows 37.5lb, 3x15
Incline Push-Ups, 3x10
Knee raises on raised platform, 3x15
Tricpep Pull-down, 15lb on each arm, 3x12
Hammer Curls 8lb, 3x15
Leg Extension (Quads), 3x12
Abs:
Legs @ 90' Touch Toes, extend left, reach up/crunch, extend right, reach up/crunch, Regular Crunch, 3x20
Left-Right Knee Touches, 3x12
Bridges, 3x12
I was pretty exhausted after the routine and opted to drive home for an hour of rest rather than doing cardio while waiting for Max's session to finish. Overall I feel like these free training sessions helped me get back into routine and realize I can push my body a lot more than I have on my own. I'm starting to feel a difference in my core (especially at night) so even though there is no "lb" difference yet, I am starting to feel/see my body fighting the fat. :)
Now that I'm all done with these sessions, I'm going to focus the next 4 weeks to doing Linda's program (6x a week!) and hopefully start seeing more likeable results.
Some Random Memories
On Monday night my paternal grandmother passed away. She was lovingly called "Meme" by her children and grandchildren, but my sisters and I called her Popo. (Not sure why we were the only grandchildren to do so.) She was my last living grandparent and passed away at 83, I was surprised to learn she is barely 10 years younger than Athai, my maternal great-grandmother.
I was reading a message on Gerry's blog that said "She has been part of my life for as long as I lived.." and it really got me thinking about my earliest or even most recent memories of her. I wanted to record some of those memories before my brain fails me and forgets them all. It's funny but most of my memories of my grandparents come straight from my childhood -- I don't have very many pictures that record my time with them.
So here we go, in random order:
I was reading a message on Gerry's blog that said "She has been part of my life for as long as I lived.." and it really got me thinking about my earliest or even most recent memories of her. I wanted to record some of those memories before my brain fails me and forgets them all. It's funny but most of my memories of my grandparents come straight from my childhood -- I don't have very many pictures that record my time with them.
So here we go, in random order:
- Playing on her rooftop, trying to chase all of the chickens off and getting in trouble for it. I did manage to send 2-3 chickens to a 3-story fall to the ground below. My punishment: no eggs for dinner.
- Sitting through a 2-hour lecture at the Elgers house when I was in college, listening to her describe what type of husband I should be looking for.
- Swimming for hours in the backyard with Yona when I was 8, to be greeted by a piping hot bowl of noodle soup. Amazing how hungry you get after you swim!
- Walking around the fish market in Hong Kong trying really hard to tiptoe over puddles of dirty water and blood, getting yelled at for dragging behind.
- Waking up at 6am in Indonesia to go to the bazaar for bakmie ayam (dry chicken noodles), eating it in the tiny dark space hoping I don't see a rat scurry across the floor, going home to sleep in until 10, then waking up to a second serving of the noodles. :)
- Shopping the streets of Hong Kong and watching her get frustrated as I ignore her pleas to dress more like my older cousin, offering to buy me Versace jeans, and showing interest in Giordano basics instead.
- Enjoying beef noodle soup in an alleyway in Hong Kong with her and Steven until I saw how the street food vendor washed our bowls: simply dipped in a bucket of dirty water.
- Helping her in and out of the car whenever she visited the states. Cars here are much bigger than in Indonesia.
- Our huge dimsum family reunions in Monterey Park -- the rare occasions all of the aunts, uncles and cousins would come out together for a meal. (With minimal bickering)
- Sitting for hours and hours at the "gold store" with my grandma and grandpa, sweating my sanity away as I played silly games in my head to pass time. (How many bracelets can I count in a minute?)
- The bumpy bajai rides together up the street to the store which graduated to an Indonesian language lesson as she tried to get me to ride the bajai alone on days I woke up late.
- The look of pride and love masked by an irritated grunt whenever we tried to hug her.
Getting There
It's been over a month since I've joined the gym and already my workouts are whittling down to once or twice a week. The original plan was 2x with a trainer, 1x boxing class, 1x basic cardio and 1x yoga per week... but things like dinner and weekend outings got in the way!
Anyways, last night was my second-to-last session with my trainer and I feel like my body is finally turning around and benefiting from the strength training. My energy level is still volatile, but I don't get as sore after workouts anymore and I think I'm starting to feel a difference.
I was too tired afterwards to do cardio while I waited for Max so I just sat in the lobby for 15 minutes. I never realized it before but people give you a funny look when you are sedentary at a gym.
Anyways, last night was my second-to-last session with my trainer and I feel like my body is finally turning around and benefiting from the strength training. My energy level is still volatile, but I don't get as sore after workouts anymore and I think I'm starting to feel a difference.
Last night's routine: (3 sets of 15 each)
Incline Chest Press 10lbx2
Walking Lunges 10lb
Incling Facing Down, Open "T" 5lbx2
Hamstring Machine (?lb)
Medicine Ball (Yellow, 10lb) Left, Middle, Right
Tricep 12.5
Lower Back
Sides (5lb)
Abs:
Medicine Ball Twist
V-20 seconds
I was too tired afterwards to do cardio while I waited for Max so I just sat in the lobby for 15 minutes. I never realized it before but people give you a funny look when you are sedentary at a gym.
A Farmer's Market Meal
This is the second-to-last post about food, I swear. Tonight for dinner I made a meal almost entirely bought from the farmer's market. In fact, the only thing that wasn't was the lemon I bought at Trader Joe's.
Pictured here is flounder sole baked in a pouch with a compound butter. The blanched asparagus were "shocked" with ice water and served with a lemon herb dressing. To the top left is some fresh-squeezed OJ made from some tasty navel oranges. And on the bottom left is some freshly baked mac n cheese from Paddy Mac, a mac n cheese vendor from the Brentwood Farmer's Market. It was the "super mac" version made with carrot and cauliflower puree.
I actually impressed myself with the fish -- never realized it would be so easy (and tasty!) to bake fish. Definitely going to try out new fish recipes and use the oven more instead of my usual panfry solution. The more amazing thing? This meal cost about $9 a person and we were stuffed.
Dog Day for Lulu
Today was a complete dog day for Lulu -- and she loved every minute of it! We started at Sugar Shack, a little breakfast joint in Huntington Beach. Unfortunately they didn't have a pet-friendly patio so we had to tie Lulu outside while we ate. We got the table right by the entrance though, so she stretched her leash as far as she could to get close to us.
It would have been a nice, peaceful brunch if it weren't for the amount of pigeons and other small birds flying around the patio. Lulu broke into a barking frenzy whenever she caught sight of a bird and I'm sure it started to annoy the other diners about the 3rd time around. We rushed to finish our breakfasts and went off to the park. (I should mention the OC is awesome -- my breakfast plate was only $5.50)
So we got to the dog beach just a little after noon and there were quite a few dogs running around. Lulu was so happy to be loose she started running off on her own. We coaxed her into the water by walking in the waves and she actually followed! She was good at keeping an eye out for incoming waves but hopped around when the water was low enough. Max brought her out to the deeper waves to force her to swim back to shore.
Afterwards we headed to Cerritos for Max to get a haircut. I don't remember any of this because I had to take a muscle relaxant to avoid a headache and I was knocked out almost the entire time. Apparently we went to his house, he got a hair cut, made some keys and we ended the afternoon with some Chick-Fil-A. I remember bits and pieces of consciousness but pretty much slept through and between the whole thing.
We headed to crowded Santa Monica for the Three Dog Bakery ice cream social. For $2 Lulu got a Lickety Spit ice cream in a waffle cone with all-you-can-eat toppings.
Max added some cookie crumbs, carob chips and crushed peanuts and Lulu ate the whole thing in 30 seconds.
We were so exhausted at the end of the day that we just decided to pick up some food to go to eat at home. Max was in the mood for some Korean BBQ but I didn't feel like Gushi's so we had some New Japan instead. And thus my realization that we ate Japanese food for dinner again.
It would have been a nice, peaceful brunch if it weren't for the amount of pigeons and other small birds flying around the patio. Lulu broke into a barking frenzy whenever she caught sight of a bird and I'm sure it started to annoy the other diners about the 3rd time around. We rushed to finish our breakfasts and went off to the park. (I should mention the OC is awesome -- my breakfast plate was only $5.50)
So we got to the dog beach just a little after noon and there were quite a few dogs running around. Lulu was so happy to be loose she started running off on her own. We coaxed her into the water by walking in the waves and she actually followed! She was good at keeping an eye out for incoming waves but hopped around when the water was low enough. Max brought her out to the deeper waves to force her to swim back to shore.
Afterwards we headed to Cerritos for Max to get a haircut. I don't remember any of this because I had to take a muscle relaxant to avoid a headache and I was knocked out almost the entire time. Apparently we went to his house, he got a hair cut, made some keys and we ended the afternoon with some Chick-Fil-A. I remember bits and pieces of consciousness but pretty much slept through and between the whole thing.
We headed to crowded Santa Monica for the Three Dog Bakery ice cream social. For $2 Lulu got a Lickety Spit ice cream in a waffle cone with all-you-can-eat toppings.
Max added some cookie crumbs, carob chips and crushed peanuts and Lulu ate the whole thing in 30 seconds.
We were so exhausted at the end of the day that we just decided to pick up some food to go to eat at home. Max was in the mood for some Korean BBQ but I didn't feel like Gushi's so we had some New Japan instead. And thus my realization that we ate Japanese food for dinner again.
Week in Review
Wow this week went by pretty fast! All in all it was a pretty productive week, interspersed with some very unhealthy eats.
Monday went by like usual -- I have a lot more going on at work this week so that's kept my workday pretty busy. After work I went to Jamba for a quick snack and then off to Westwood for my UX class. I'm actually enjoying going to class and look forward to the sessions. I can't get over how particular the other UX students are... I'm starting to not like the other people in my field. :P
On Tuesdays I normally have personal training at Equinox but Max convinced me to cancel by bribing me with Sasabune and dessert. Instead of the usual omakase, we decided to go a la carte to double up on the sushi we like the most. That night the bluefin tuna and blue crab roll were particularly good. We had double helpings of butterfish and at the end asked the chef to recommend a couple of pieces.
He had us try Kohada, Gizzard Shad Fish, which is uniquely fishy with the skin on. We were both very hesitant to try it (especially after the look on the waiter's face as he tried to describe the taste) but I didn't think it was too bad. It's not fishy in the way that bad sushi can be fishy but tastes more "cured".
We also had chilled toro for the first time which is half-frozen toro served with their sweet sauce on rice. It was so good -- like a toro sorbet. As promised, after dinner, we went to Sweet Lady Jane and picked up the sisters on the way. We split 3 desserts 4 ways and had lots and lots of tea.
On Wednesday we ate dinner at Sawtelle Kitchen with Max's friend Stephen. I contemplated going light and just ordering the chicken entree but went with my usual steak salad, chicken wings appetizer with a bowl of rice and fried yams. It was a lot of food.
Thursday nights is gym night so off to Santa Monica Equinox we went. About halfway through my training session I started to feel lightheaded and had to sit down a couple of times to avoid fainting. We ended our session early and I hung around the stretching mats to wait for Max to finish his session. We were done at about 9:15 and were both starving so we decided to eat a quick dinner at Blue Marlin. Stephen had mentioned the uni spaghetti the night before and I had to try it.
It was a modest serving but the heaviness of the cream made up for it. It was a bunch of creamy goodness packed with little pieces of uni.
It was right about here when I realized that we had been eating Japanese food nonstop all week. On Friday evening we tried to think of a non-Japanese place to eat dinner... that was until my sister called to meet up at Sushi Mac. Here we go again.
So there you go, an entire week's food in review and it was almost entirely Japanese.
Monday went by like usual -- I have a lot more going on at work this week so that's kept my workday pretty busy. After work I went to Jamba for a quick snack and then off to Westwood for my UX class. I'm actually enjoying going to class and look forward to the sessions. I can't get over how particular the other UX students are... I'm starting to not like the other people in my field. :P
On Tuesdays I normally have personal training at Equinox but Max convinced me to cancel by bribing me with Sasabune and dessert. Instead of the usual omakase, we decided to go a la carte to double up on the sushi we like the most. That night the bluefin tuna and blue crab roll were particularly good. We had double helpings of butterfish and at the end asked the chef to recommend a couple of pieces.
He had us try Kohada, Gizzard Shad Fish, which is uniquely fishy with the skin on. We were both very hesitant to try it (especially after the look on the waiter's face as he tried to describe the taste) but I didn't think it was too bad. It's not fishy in the way that bad sushi can be fishy but tastes more "cured".
We also had chilled toro for the first time which is half-frozen toro served with their sweet sauce on rice. It was so good -- like a toro sorbet. As promised, after dinner, we went to Sweet Lady Jane and picked up the sisters on the way. We split 3 desserts 4 ways and had lots and lots of tea.
On Wednesday we ate dinner at Sawtelle Kitchen with Max's friend Stephen. I contemplated going light and just ordering the chicken entree but went with my usual steak salad, chicken wings appetizer with a bowl of rice and fried yams. It was a lot of food.
Thursday nights is gym night so off to Santa Monica Equinox we went. About halfway through my training session I started to feel lightheaded and had to sit down a couple of times to avoid fainting. We ended our session early and I hung around the stretching mats to wait for Max to finish his session. We were done at about 9:15 and were both starving so we decided to eat a quick dinner at Blue Marlin. Stephen had mentioned the uni spaghetti the night before and I had to try it.
It was a modest serving but the heaviness of the cream made up for it. It was a bunch of creamy goodness packed with little pieces of uni.
It was right about here when I realized that we had been eating Japanese food nonstop all week. On Friday evening we tried to think of a non-Japanese place to eat dinner... that was until my sister called to meet up at Sushi Mac. Here we go again.
So there you go, an entire week's food in review and it was almost entirely Japanese.
Food with Thought
The answer came to me in a flurry of warm memories of savory flavor: Kim Tar. My earliest childhood memories in Cerritos involve family lunches and dinners at Kim Tar. I always ordered the same dish: rice noodle soup. I remember my mom would order the same thing but load hers with so much chili that the soup base would turn red while I liked mine perfectly plain.
I couldn't remember if I used to order the house or seafood white noodle so I went with the house version to be safe. It didn't have the criss-cut pieces of calamari and thick slices of fish cake I was looking forward to so I guess I ordered the wrong one. But it was just as delicious, if not more flavorful!
It was so nostalgic sitting in the empty restaurant slurping my noodles while debating whether or not to ask for a glass of ice water. As a kid I wasn't allowed to drink ice water from a restaurant with less than a B rating. By the way -- I noticed Kim Tar has a B rating now instead of the back-and-forth C & D ratings I saw as a kid!
Anyways, it was good stuff.
Avenue Q
On Sunday Max and I caught the last show for Avenue Q playing at the OC Performing Arts Center. I was reading some reviews on Facebook by some friends who went the weekend before and I thought it might be fun to catch it before the end of the run. I found some great tickets on eBay ($110 for a pair of Orchestra seats, 5 rows from the stage, smack in the middle) and after a back-and-forth debacle and a long drive to Huntington Beach Max was able to secure them.
The show was definitely not what I expected. I'd heard reviews that it would be a hilariously "adult" show but didn't realize how vulgar the jokes would be. Pretty uncomfortable when you're sitting amongst Orange County's stuffiest "older, theater-going" folk. =) I guess my first cue should have been the announcement before the show that the character of "Lucy the Slut" would be played by the understudy. Here she is below in her revealing show get-up:
So as it turns out, the creator and one of the puppet designers for the show actually worked for Sesame Street. In fact, some of the characters are loosely based on Sesame Street characters. The porn-loving Trekkie Monster is based on the cookie-loving Cookie Monster and the roommates Rod and Nicky are based on Bert & Ernie.
Unlike Sesame Street though, the musical openly touched on adult topics like racism, pornography, homosexuality and promiscuity (complete with a puppet sex scene).
All in all it was a fun show and amazing to see both vocal and puppeteer talent on the stage. Definitely a show I won't forget, and definitely one I wouldn't take my mom or sisters to. :)
Oh, I do have to mention the Asian character with her stereotypical accent was extremely annoying as we could not understand a word she was saying. She was supposed to be Japanese working in a Chinese restaurant but had more of a Vietnamese accent and kept bowing with her hands together like a Thai person would. Great.
The show was definitely not what I expected. I'd heard reviews that it would be a hilariously "adult" show but didn't realize how vulgar the jokes would be. Pretty uncomfortable when you're sitting amongst Orange County's stuffiest "older, theater-going" folk. =) I guess my first cue should have been the announcement before the show that the character of "Lucy the Slut" would be played by the understudy. Here she is below in her revealing show get-up:
So as it turns out, the creator and one of the puppet designers for the show actually worked for Sesame Street. In fact, some of the characters are loosely based on Sesame Street characters. The porn-loving Trekkie Monster is based on the cookie-loving Cookie Monster and the roommates Rod and Nicky are based on Bert & Ernie.
Unlike Sesame Street though, the musical openly touched on adult topics like racism, pornography, homosexuality and promiscuity (complete with a puppet sex scene).
All in all it was a fun show and amazing to see both vocal and puppeteer talent on the stage. Definitely a show I won't forget, and definitely one I wouldn't take my mom or sisters to. :)
Oh, I do have to mention the Asian character with her stereotypical accent was extremely annoying as we could not understand a word she was saying. She was supposed to be Japanese working in a Chinese restaurant but had more of a Vietnamese accent and kept bowing with her hands together like a Thai person would. Great.
Pioneer Kuro Plasma Unboxing
Indulge with me in my inner geek as I celebrate Max and my's most recent purchase: a 50" Pioneer KURO plasma TV. I ordered the TV on Monday through my company's employee purchase plan for 58% off [great deal!] and was surprised at how quick and easy the process was... the TV shipped on Tuesday, I scheduled the delivery on Wednesday and it came on Thursday. Talk about making it easy!
So I worked from home today to wait for the TV delivery and when it came I absolutely couldn't wait for Max to get home to set it up. So I went ahead and got started with Aai's help, and took pictures along the way so Max could experience the unpacking and setting up vicariously through my iPhone pictures. And I decided, what the heck, why not be a super nerd and post my unboxing pictures on my blog. :)
The box was not as big as I expected, but it was still pretty huge. About the size of my bookcase! The delivery service didn't have a dolly so I had to help him carry the box upstairs. That's right. 170 lbs.
Slid the top off pretty easily, now it's time to start unpacking.
What is this? The speakers are packed separately? That means the actual TV will be longer than we thought...
With some effort, Aai and I were able to get it on the TV stand.
And then the unveiling... the size looks pretty good... without the speakers.
Unboxed the speakers... so soft and fragile.
Pretty simple... get the brackets on and mount on the TV sides. Everything is built so smoothly and fits so well.
Start plugging in... Xbox, PS3 and AppleTV take up all of the HDMI inputs. Didn't realize my HD DVR used component cables and Wii is still on regular A/V cables.
Additional side inputs could serve to be useful.
And finally the finished product... testing the only Blu-Ray DVD I have... John Mayer. =)
I'm super impressed with the remote control. It's a decent weight and has a nice brushed finish on the faceplate. Especially like the shiny metal navigation buttons in the middle.
So I worked from home today to wait for the TV delivery and when it came I absolutely couldn't wait for Max to get home to set it up. So I went ahead and got started with Aai's help, and took pictures along the way so Max could experience the unpacking and setting up vicariously through my iPhone pictures. And I decided, what the heck, why not be a super nerd and post my unboxing pictures on my blog. :)
The box was not as big as I expected, but it was still pretty huge. About the size of my bookcase! The delivery service didn't have a dolly so I had to help him carry the box upstairs. That's right. 170 lbs.
Slid the top off pretty easily, now it's time to start unpacking.
What is this? The speakers are packed separately? That means the actual TV will be longer than we thought...
With some effort, Aai and I were able to get it on the TV stand.
And then the unveiling... the size looks pretty good... without the speakers.
Unboxed the speakers... so soft and fragile.
Pretty simple... get the brackets on and mount on the TV sides. Everything is built so smoothly and fits so well.
Start plugging in... Xbox, PS3 and AppleTV take up all of the HDMI inputs. Didn't realize my HD DVR used component cables and Wii is still on regular A/V cables.
Additional side inputs could serve to be useful.
And finally the finished product... testing the only Blu-Ray DVD I have... John Mayer. =)
I'm super impressed with the remote control. It's a decent weight and has a nice brushed finish on the faceplate. Especially like the shiny metal navigation buttons in the middle.