entombed in the shrine of zeroes and ones

My mom just updated her Facebook status with, "Some people are alive only because it's illegal to kill them."

Love you, mom.

The next right-wing fucknut who whinges about Barack Obama being a "polarizing president" is going to get their nose rubbed deep in the shitpit that is the current political situation in Ecuador and Rafael Correa.  I just had to bitch out over email a whole bunch of family members on the pro- and anti-Correa sides for behaving like fuckheads at each other.

palecur and i determined yesterday over lunch that the current financial crisis could have been avoided if only the people responsible had been brained with hardbound copies of skzbrust's Orca and Terry Pratchett's Going Postal.  Because it's all right there, because, oddly enough, this isn't the first time that this has happened.

2wanda and i flew to Seattle on Friday to attend the nuptials of rimrunner and the darkly funny Mr. Darcy.  We caught up with her relatives Gary and Marguerite (who are friends of Bill Rieflin, and i just had to drop that name because i think it's pretty damn cool), who happened to feel unwell enough to skip the Mariners-Athletics game that night, so we went in their stead.  Not the best of games, but it was close until the end.

On Saturday, we spent the morning shopping.  I'd had an idle interest in a Utilikilt for some time, but i never wanted to spend that much money until recently.  The trip to Seattle came at a good time, because the kilts are made there, so we went to the store in Pioneer Square and were enthusiastically helped.  After that, we went to the John Fluevog store and Kimmy bought a pair of red shoes.  With my kilt instead of pants, and her sandals instead of boots, we managed to stay cool on a sunny afternoon where the ceremony was wonderful, the couple was beautiful, and the guests were all well dressed.  I was far from the only bekilted attendee (rwx also wore one), and it was, all in all, a wonderful event to wear a skirt in public for the first time.  The kilt really is everything they promised it would be. It's a hefty garment that is very comfortable and i was a little disappointed the next day when i put my jeans on.

At the reception, we shared a table with xythen and cor_tenebrarum, who were delightful people and a delightful couple.  In lieu of champagne for toasts, Tokaji Aszú was served, which idea i heartily endorsed (up to and including drinking the Tokaji left behind by the other guests at my table... whoo!).

I still feel quite at home in Seattle, despite not having lived there in over 14 years.  I realized that part of it is probably the sight of Mount Rainier to the south echoing the sight of Cotopaxi (see icon) to the south of Quito.  I wish drivers in Seattle used their turn signals, though.

I regret not being able to see more of my Seattle friends.  I hope to correct this soon.

On Thursday, many talk_bizarre members converged upon haineux's house due to the visit of justjenine and torkington and their two little Torklets.  Alas, 2wanda couldn't come because she was stuck at work.

On Friday, i took my wife out on a dinner date and enjoyed entirely too much German food, washed down with a liter of beer.

On Saturday, Kimmy and i split our time between two parties: racerxmachina's birthday party, and a gathering of Centavo (my Thursday soccer team) for BBQ at Dino's place.  Both events featured somewhat athletic activities; racerxmachina had piñatas and balloon batting, whereas Dino had a bocce court (Dino mentioned that his dad laid down the oystershell bocce courts at the Campo di Bocce in Los Gatos, which i've been meaning to patronize almost since i first noticed it about a dozen years ago).

On Sunday, after community garden duty, we had lunch with sandollar17, her mom, and her Spanish friend Ana, who's been visiting for the last three weeks.  Then we took Ana shopping at the mall... the goddamn mall.  After that harrowing experience, we had to go to Rock Bottom for some beer (BJ's is too damn full of yuppies and other pretty people).

All these damn friends and relatives making demands on our time... it's ridiculous and exhausting.  Life was easier when we were hermits.

Mom and Aunt Martha flew in last week to visit, and Kim and i brought them along on our 10th anniversary trip to the Santa Ynez Valley, which we've been wanting to visit ever since we saw Sideways.  It's absolutely beautiful down here, and so is Santa Barbara, which we visited today.  Today we also had tasty æbleskiver for breakfast (i also had medisterpølse and eggs).

Yesterday in Los Olivos, we went to taste at this one room that collects wine from vineyards that don't have their own tasting room.  It was run by a man whom i dubbed the Pinot Noir Nazi, perhaps like Sideways's Miles but gruffer and without the somehow charming dysfunction.  He declared that cabernet franc was a blending grape and was wasted when vinified on its own, and the same went for merlot, dolcetto, and tempranillo.  I just nodded and said, "I see."  He did pour us an absolutely fabulous pinot noir from Fiddlehead Cellars, and i passed his snob test by correctly pronouncing Meritage and Lompoc.

captain_nesky was in Germany during the `06 World Cup and brought back this World Cup edition jar of Nutella for me.  It is now sadly gone, but fortunately i have more Nutella.

Look, Rodrigo y Gabriela just fuckin' rock.  I will belabor this further, but that's really all you need to know, and if you're in San Diego, Tucson, Melbourne, Sydney, or Brisbane, buy a ticket now and go see them on their current tour.  If you're in Denver, Austin, or Tokyo, good luck finding a scalped ticket.

2wanda and i picked up elmuchacho and had dinner near his place at Yama Sushi (excellent prices, and they had mirugai sashimi... mmm, mirugai).  Afterwards, we headed to the show.  The openers were two random dudes, one on electric guitar, the other on harmonica, xylophone, and saw.  They were mediocre at best; not offensive, but clearly not very good musicians.  Afterwards, the sound guys played a Shakti track that was really good; it wasn't very long, so i'm guessing it was "Lotus Feet".  Right before R&G came out, they played Tool's "The Pot", which really warmed the crowd up; i've never seen intermission music used so effectively before. ( set list )

They're intensely engaging, stopping songs in the middle to incite applause and ripping right along after, urging clapping and yelling, and just displaying general showmanship.  They swear a lot.  They have a lot of fun on stage and it is quite contagious.  My only regret was that i wished that they'd played "Take Five".

After more than 20 years, i finally got to see Soda Stereo.  palecur and i flew to Los Angeles to see them at the Home Depot Center in Carson (we expected the airport to be a mess on the day before Thanksgiving and on Thanksgiving morning, but it was quite normal).  We brought along my college bud Ronnie, who kindly let us crash at his place and thus avoid a hotel.  Despite almost suffering a car crash when some idiot drove past the traffic cop that was guiding us into the parking lot, we managed to make it there safely and only barely late, but not as late as the band.

( set list )

I dropped over $250, including travel and food, to go see Soda Stereo.  I don't regret it, not one bit.

I never could relate to people who really got into the badness of certain forms of art, like Mystery Science Theater 3000 or the cult of Rocky Horror Picture Show.  But that changed once i watched a few episodes of the epically bad CSI: Miami.  The writing is sub-mediocre, even for Hollywood; the main characters not only have an extremely narrow set of behavior, but they are only allowed one or two facial expressions (David Caruso's two facial expressions are with and without sunglasses, if that counts as two); the non-recurring characters are acted with the care you'd see in your typical high school play.  And this lily is gilt with the choice of an H2 as the official crime lab vehicle.  I can't recommend this show to anyone; however, for those of you who revel in experiencing awful stuff, it might just be up your alley.

wacky_hijinx informed me some time ago that Kevin O'Neill would be signing yesterday, so i dropped by and picked up a copy of O'Neill's and Alan Moore's latest League of Extraordinary Gentlemen graphic novel, Black Dossier.  O'Neill was very kind and drew something on the first page for all comers.  He asked me what i wanted, and i said, "Surprise me," and i got a really nice Miss Murray.  I'm still reading BD; it is, well... it's mad.  It includes a set of 3-D glasses.  That's all i'll say for now.

Week 6: still not king employed.  Now that we're essentially in holiday season, it would be too optimistic to hope for a job before 2008.

palecur and i will be leaving tomorrow afternoon to go to Los Angeles to see Soda Stereo.  I believe that it's fair to say that they're the band i've been wanting to see play for the longest time.  We'll be back in time for Thanksgiving.