Sunday, July 31

The Adrenaline Continues

I followed up my very eventful Friday morning with an afternoon at the races. It was awesomely amazing. They transformed our downtown into a grand prix race track. Check out the race route. From my bleacher seats in the park I had an ideal view of what proved to be one of the trickiest turns of the route. Time after time cars would spin out or lose control and crash into the tire wall just 30' from where I sat. Very very exciting. The roar of the engines... unbelievable. My mom and I found a young guy sitting alone to narrate through the ins and outs of the races. My mom was given free tickets for all 3 days from the organizers because of the inconvenience she would endure living only one street over from the track. I wish I would have taken advantage and found the time and energy to rally for the other 2 days. Well, San Jose has a 5 year contract to host this event so I will be sure to block off the entire weekend for next year.

Radar On Race Cars
I couldn't help but snap this picture. The cops put away their ticket writing instincts to line up with pit crew at the end of one of the straightaways and bust out the radar guns to clock top speeds. I'm curious to know their speeds as well.

Then I pulled myself away to join my church homegroup at a beach bonfire. It was great to see my members of my church family for the first time since my long absence. I brought my roommate Karis along with me. It was the first time we've seen each other in the entire month that we've been sharing a residence. I taught perfect chocolate melting smore techniques to the kids with parental blessings as it requires playing a bit closely with fire. And Jon put together an awesome little video clip of the night. The picture below is compliments of Rob and his new photoblog.

Later that night Karis and I washed the sand off and headed out to the bars to meet Scotty and Jeff. KAK house had an idea that they needed to approve of any roommates prior to them moving in because they consider the Foxworthy House their sister house. Being denied the priveledge of picking my roommates, I think they were quiet pleased with Karis and her all for it attitude. We sat in the hot tub sipping cocktails and talking God until 5 in the morning.

Friday, July 29

Watch Your Back Side

I'm on such an adrenaline rush right now. First it was being fueled by rage and now by the satisfaction that can only come with vindication. I started the morning with an awesome workout. I was doing my usual run around my neighborhood. I had just stopped at the gym and was continuing my run home. I ran down Kelly's street to see if she was home, but she wasn't so I turned around. This is when I first noticed this young guy on his bicycle. It was a green low rider bicycle with the long handlebars. Well, this guy starts following pretty close behind me. I switch to the other side of the street. He switches too. He passes me on the sidewalk and then slows down so now he's in his way and of course I'm ticked at him because his stupid little game is very apparent and extremely annoying. And I'd love to just cuss him out but I was trying to come up with a Christ-like way of handling this and I could only think cuss words so I stayed silent. I got off the side walk and continued to run in the street. He turned off for a second and then reappeared behind me. Now my next stop was to be the bank on the corner so when I reach that little shopping center I slow to walk across the parking lot. Well he comes up from behind and grabs my ass, at which point the curse words fly and he jets off. I wish I was fast enough to knock him off his bike, but I wasn't. So I go into the grocery store right there and use their phone to call the police. I give a description and they send a cop out to take a report. The cop goes off to look for him. I go home and get my cell and car and start driving around the neighborhood looking for him. I run into the cop who tells me that he called another cop who lives in my area and that cop saw this guy just last night in front of Target and he watched as he grabbed some lady's ass. He was off duty but he told her that she should file a report (but she didn't). But Target will most likely have surviellance video of it. So now he's a serial butt grabber. I drove around a bit more before I gave up and stopped at Kelly's for a while and then I ran to the fabric store and when I pull out of the fabric store I see that on the corner are two cop cars lights flashing with my perp in handcuffs! I was thrilled! The high of vindication! What a rush! I identified the guy for the cops and he's off to jail charged with Sexual Battery. Ends up that he was only sixteen; so young to already be registered as a sexual offender. But the way it was a game to this guy was the making of a much worse kind of game in the future. He's been arrested before. I don't know what for. And he admitted to grabbing 4 different women. Nobody called in or reported it but me. I didn't call the cops because I was scared or felt violated. I could care less that it happened to me. I called them because it bothered me that he was doing this type of thing at all. Because the other 3 women he made cower with this little power game of his. And it's horrible that women have these experiences and then feel fearful and paranoid and powerless. But this punk messed with the wrong woman when he grabbed at me. Because I'm the kind of girl who isn't scared by his tactics and will fight back hard. And when you win that fight... ahh... the adrenaline rush. It couldn't have been better if I had gone toe to toe with him in a boxing ring. No idiot jerk is going to victimize me. I run this neighborhood. San Jose PD rocks!

The Lizard Returns

It's completely surreal to be back. I really was feeling like I was a nomad with no home and frankly I preferred it. But home has found me along with a long list of chores to fix what has gone wrong while I was gone. And I've got plenty of time to handle it, because I don't really have a job anymore. I kinda accidentally left my job. I gave notice two months ago thinking I was going to be moving to Newport Beach and I kinda never rescinded that when my SoCal plans fell through. So my hours for August have been given to some girl who is home from college. I can get my hours back, but maybe it's better this way for now. I think this will create some good pressure on me to get the creperie up. Back to the real world...

Sunday, July 24

HOT CHILD IN THE CITY


summer deux
Originally uploaded by R.bean.

Have I mentioned how scorching hot it has been here? It's "strip off your clothes the second you walk in" hot! The hot smog filled humid air mixed with sweat and the general city filth fills me with a greater desire than normal to take long cool showers. So let me give you a break down of what I've been doing when not organizing...
*CENTRAL LAUGH We met up Jigga and Dre for a free show in Central Park. Who's on stage? The Upright Citizens Brigade - an improv troupe sprinkled with some quite popular SNL folk. It was fairly hilarious. We ended the evening with a stop at a bar that had amazingly tall urinals that were raved about and proved a must see.
*BEDSTUY BBQ BLOCK PARTY Around this small hood in brooklyn Lloyd and his wife Hillary are local celebrities. They've done worlds in initiating community betterment projects which have paid off with multiple years of having their street named "Greenest Street In NYC". They are imfamous owners of Bread Stuy, the trendy bakery cafe that serves as a neighborhood hangout. Our invite came way of my cousin being the designer for the cafe. So when a legend like Lloyd celebrates his 35th birthday it quickly escalates into block party proportions. Especially when there's buzz that one of Hillary's magnificent cakes will be present (with passion fruit filling). The street is blocked off and children ride their bikes while young men toss the football across the block. The open and friendly gathering has Lloyd's brand all over it. Ting for all.
*KARAOKE KINGDOM The participating audience consisted of Jigga, Nicole, Ez, Ray, Theo, and Me. My cousin's jam: Oh So Quiet by Bjork (Go figure). Fairly amusing moment when my cousin-in-law Ez dedicated to me his performance of Only the Good Die Young. My jam was probably Holding Out For A Hero. I thought it was a suitable comeback. I rocked so many songs but my other favorite that I am adding to my set list is La Isla Bonita and You Can Call Me Al. And I was really digging the whole private room setup. It is so much more condusive to new song experimentation without the whole "being on stage in front of a room full of strangers" experience. I would love to find a private room set up back home. It's a must repeat soon experience.
*QUAKER QUIET Across from the park is a Quaker church that I popped into to see how these "Friends" (as they call themselves) do worship... An hour of silence spent dwelling in the presence of the Lord seeking the promptings of the Holy Spirit. Throughout the hour just 3 gentlemen stood and spoke short spirit led messages. One is a vision that I didn't necessarily follow. But the others had to do with comfort... how we follow a God of comfort, but not all comforts that we cling to are from God and that some of these false comforts keep us from seeing dangers in our lives. The other comfort message focused on comfort versus challenge and how sometimes you get challenge when you are seeking comfort or vis versa. Both seemed like pertinent messages that were beneficial for me to hear. Then when the silence was over their congregation tried something new. For the first time they had a time at the end where they could tell the rest of their "friends" about anything good or bad going on in their life... basically prayer requests and praise reports. Their congregation so strongly embraced this new opportunity to speak openly for the first time without the pressure of it having to be spirit led to do so. They spoke of concern over the London bombings, and shared of deaths they are mourning, and thankfulness over a variety of things. To me it proved that this time was something they certainly were craving, and when you crave like that it is a sign of an area of lacking. I am not at all against waiting on the Lord. A friend once told me that if prayer is talking to God, then meditation is like listening to God. There are so many ways to worship and not everybody worhips in the same style so I think a congregation that limits their methods of worship isolates alot of believers. But it was interesting.
*WHITNEY WONDERS Finally made it out to the museums. The Whitney was great. They had this great exhibits with mirrors and piles of shells and rocks that I thought was great. And they had this collection of hellicopter paintings that were fascinating. But of course, my favorite part was the gift shop where I picked up an awesome glasses case and an origami wishing star kit. I've got the stars mastered and have sub out origami paper for strips of magazine paper. Art=Inspiration. Ok... later.

Friday, July 22

First off I just wanted to mention that my friend Emilie gave birth to the most gorgeous baby boy, Parker "Spiderman" Jacob Sampson. I had hoped that she would hold in until I returned, but I realized the unliklihood when she was dialated 2 cm when I departed for this trip over 3 weeks ago. The fact that she was able to keep the baby in that long is impressive and I'm happy for her knowing that she is done with the misery of pregnancy (for now).

Ok, well today was maybe one of the most fun days of my trip so far. And I know by saying this it is a clear indicator of one of my carefully hidden neurosis... I spent all day guiding my cousin through an all day purgefest as I organized all her closet and storage space. I really enjoy doing stuff like that for some reason. I love turning chaos into order and creating efficient systems of organization. And as if the joy of the task at hand wasn't enough, I also got a good laugh at the many eccentric articles of clothing that compile her one of a kind wardrobe. Everything she owns is very odd. She has no normal like clothing. Or furniture. There's nothing wrong with that it all, it just is funny. But I am perhaps rubbing off on her as she had starbucks and bought something from the Gap yesterday. Muahaha! My evil plan to infiltrate and make her conform to social norms is working! Tomorrow I will introduce McDonalds! Just kidding, Ray!

And after all that slave driving I escaped to catch up with a Miss Regan Love, a dear friend from our old high school days. The first thing to catch my eye is not how much we've changed, but how alike we are. After years of not seeing each other, there we meet on a busy NY street corner dressed to match... both sporting the same popular shade of lime green on the top. Regan in a black skirt and myself in black pants. As we walk through Union Square Park, there are comments about us looking like M&M's. And the chatty banter picked up so naturally you'd think we were walking down the hall to homeroom. After dinner at the Republic, we spent a little time shopping where we continuously picked out the same clothes to show each other. An experience much less likely to happen if I were shopping with my cousin. Just goes to show that opposites attract, but so does sameness.

Wednesday, July 20

Mmmm... Avocado Soup. Delish! I skip the onions and throw a dollop of salsa in at the end. Kelly, this one's for you! Today cuzzy and I kicked butt. We slept in but made up for it by reaching a productivity mecca. We solved problems, created and implemented more efficient spacial designs, and worked on overcoming fears of completion. All good stuff. Surprise for Ez coming home to a new house. I could see making this a monthly habit... us flying across the coast to aid each other in busting through those cumbersome and feared tasks in our lives that daunt us in our wakeful nightmares of overwhelming hopelessness. Cousins=Hope.

Cape Cod was almost more boring than Nantucket. Is that possible? The redeeming factor- stopping for a quick jump at the local trampoline park. Lizards love bouncing just as much as tiggers do. Then I was saved by Boston. I found nightlife despite it being a Monday night. I called TiTi for a narration as I walked through her hometown. And I would have loved to have spent more time there, but I had to move on to New York. Into my cousin's apartment. Last night we went to dinner at her local creperie and then walked around the village plotting a dream to open a karoake bar and start taking over the neighboorhood. We walked through the park to see fireflies and came home crying with laughter.

Tuesday, July 12

OK, my official stance on Nantucket... the way I see it is like this. You know how they say Valentine's Day is a hallmark holiday? Well, Nantucket is like a hallmark island. It's in that the whole purpose of coming to Nantucket is to come buy Nantucket junk so that everybody knows that you've been to Nantucket. But that's it really. The beaches are ok, but nothing spectacular. I think the only valid reason you would go there is if you passionately love either fishing, sailing or expensive boutique shopping. Or if you enjoy collecting Nantucket junk so that everybody knows you've been there. So for a while I was having a bit of island fever. But there are some things that have been very redeeming. I have been having some great runs. It's a very flat island and I hate running hills, so I've been getting along very well with that. I run down to the airport and watch the private jets land and take off. And all along the sidewalks I find it interesting that instead of having litter in their gutters, you find loads of sand... even in the most residential areas. Also, this house they've rented is really nice and has loads of books filling the shelves in my bedroom. I'm enjoying reading 'Tis by Frank McCourt. I read Angela's Ashes years ago and always meant to get around to this. I've managed to get really tan again. I could make a life revolving around not losing my tan. It makes me want to run out and get my hair done in cornrows like when I was in the Caribbean, but I doubt there is anyplace on the island that does that. It's not that kind of island. Perhaps, when I get to NYC. Maybe me and Raelene can both get braided and take pics to send to the family. They'd get a kick out of that. And maybe we pull out the fur coats despite it being a hot city summer. We visited one beach here that was just full of seashells and there were these really beautiful shiny irredescent ones that I kept collecting and can fully imagine making them into a necklace or a pair of earrings. And I need earrings because I've currently lost all of mine. I could see this being another project for me and the cousin. Along with Gorum cookies and butternut squash gnocci. Although she may not have as much time as she use to. I think she kind of works now. I've also been surprisingly liking the selection of music on my boss' iPod. I generally don't like their CD selection or their radio stations, so the great iPod playlist was a pleasant surprise. My main highlight of Nantucket was stumbling across a street performance of Nantucket's acapella group called The CobbleTones. If you don't know, these east coast acapella groups are my favorite kind of music and I've collected random college group cd's forever. Their corner performance was great. One of the guys works at the ice cream joint and I got the scoop on the group from him a few days later. They will maybe be recording an album later this summer of which I will definately have to purchase. Ok, that's all really. I'm still board here though, so feel free to email or call.

Saturday, July 9

Overheard:
Cooper (age 5): I don't want a grill cheese sandwich!!
Ryan (age 3): So have a boy cheese sandwich!!

Otherwise Nantucket's lame. Tell you more about the lameness later.

Monday, July 4

Tonight we went downtown and walked around the wharf. But the big highlight was that we stopped at this field and it was full of fireflies! And I caught one! And it lit up in my hands! And I put it in a jar and it was really neat... that was my east coast experience of the day.

Patriotic Liz

Happy 4th of July! Interesting thing that goes on back east... they celebrate independence day whenever. So yesterday was the big deal back here in Newport, RI. I started of the day by ditching the family I work for to join some others in checking out Breakers Mansion (built by the Vanderbilts). Then we met up with them at the beach. The big thing was to dig huge holes until you hit water. After coming back to the house to change and relax, we headed back to a big huge neighborhood party that the boss' cousin was throwing. It was great how all the kids in the neighborhood just gather together and play in the street. They are so wonderful at entertaining themselves out here. Later we walked down to the waterfront to watch the fireworks. The Queen Elizabeth 2 was in town and looked beautiful lit up as a glorious backdrop for the firework display. (But overall the show back home in San Jose is way superior). Today while the adults went sailing, I stayed home with the kids and all their cousins and taught them how to play Sardines. Then we had a huge water gun fight. I overheard the kids say how everything was great until the adults came home and then everything somehow went lame. I feel that way all the time.