India on My Mind

For the past week or so, I've been jonesing for India like crazy. I think it all started when Judy and I were talking about signs and such, and I was driving behind a car that had a license plate that had the universal disabled symbol--stick figure in a wheelchair--and the rest of the plate was "2 KYM" and I was like, "Oh! It's a sign! GO TO KYM!" and then I thought, "Hm, where would this money come from?" and then I was sort of sad. Especially since there's a March course that starts in a few weeks and I'd love to be there.

Plus, I recently read Maura Moynihan's Yoga Hotel which was full of references to Fab India and Navaratri and I even thought of The Girl Who Loves Everything after reading a story called "Masterji." As if this wasn't all enough to send me into an India tailspin, I ate a cookie the other day that tasted just like one of the biscuits served at afternoon tea. Oh, India...I miss you. And daily yoga, I miss you too.

I Know How to Read

Swears. It's just that I just read two pretty great books: The Mammoth Cheese and The Time of Our Singing (actually, this is beyond great, it's amazing), and I feel a reading hangover. Like whatever I read next won't be as good, so why bother? (Actually, back when I drank, that never kept me from drinking again, so maybe this isn't a great metaphor).

I do have the newest Optic Nerve and somehow I haven't cracked it yet. I'm saving it. For what, I don't know. I was checking out the Drawn and Quarterly site, though, searching for info about a new Debbie Dreschler, and came across some ON love from Boris and Logan both in the "News" section of the site (I'd link to it, but the site is all framey and intricate (and totally gorgeous--def check out even if you're not a comic geek like me) where was I? Oh yes, hello New York!

Cultural Affairs

I went on a bit of an insound binge, and thus far, I can happily recommend the long-awaited Mascott album as well as The Wrens and Jason Collett.

Should you come into a large sum of money and decide that you'd like to take me on a wee trip, may I suggest that we follow my boyfriend Joe Pernice and local faves The Belles around Europe? Just a thought.

When Erica was here a few weekends ago, we were at Love Garden, and I found a copy of Matthew Sweet's Girlfriend, which may, along with the majority of my stuff, be residing in a storage unit in the Bronx, but I bought it again anyway, and I've been totally feeling the early '90s since. Not that I'm not feeling the early '90s all the freaking time. And hey, all this talk of Matthew Sweet reminded me of his Lum tattoo (sadly, what probably attracted me to manga in the first place. So here you go, Matthew's tat in all its glory.

And while we're talking about the early '90s, during my telly coma of a few weeks ago, I happened upon Lisa Loeb's cooking show. Okay, it's actually Lisa Loeb and her husband, Dweezil Zappa, with the creatively named Dweezil & Lisa but you know, it was sorta cute. The episode I saw was a "deception dinner" for Dweezil's sis's (who of course had some Zappa name like Astroglide) birthday, so all the food looked like another food item. I thought the cupcake lasagna was pretty rad. Plus, they've got a pink KitchenAid mixer so we love them!

Zach Braff from Scrubs was on Martha last week, and it was pretty great. They were building a "dog dining station" for Zach's new puppy, Roscoe (ooooh!) and during the segment, there would be these little Scrubs-style voiceovers which were hilarious, considering that one of them was Zach waiting for Martha to help him with something, so the voiceover was something to the effect of "She's Martha freaking Stewart and she can't help me with this?" Say what you will about Martha, but the woman does have a sense of humor. It's hidden deep down, but she has it.

I'll admit it, I was a little sad about the ending of Ed. Go ahead, roll your eyes. Ain't no shame in my game. Here's something more cogent about the great characters on the show.

I haven't caved in to many of the reality television shows (unless you count MTV's Rich Girls) but there's a disproportionate amount of KC ladies on the tube these days, which amuses local media outlets to no end. The Pitch weighs in with "Hurl Power" on this very topic.

I Still Love You

Don't be offended if you never got a Valentine's Day card from me; I, true to form, never got around to making any. Easter cards seem like an attainable goal these days, but what does a half-Jew have to say on Easter? Oh wait, I know! I'll send Happy Passover/Easter cards, so you can get a peek at what my childhood was like.

"Why is this night different from all other nights...Hey, where's my chocolate bunny?"

So, in the almost two months that have elapsed since my last post, I was snowed in for a few days that actually felt more like a few weeks, fell deep in a television-watching haze (more about that in a minute), the wireless connection chez moi was down, and, our totally awesome ancient cat died at the ripe age of 22. How our cat, Crystal (named for my favorite films, The Dark Crystal, yes, my geeking-out started at an early age) made it to 22 is a minor miracle, and not having her around has been weird and sad. But, going with the theory that deaths come in threes, maybe we're set here for a while.