The Establishment of the Mom and Pop

Everyone stand up right now and give a shout-out for your favorite Mom & Pop Establishment.

Balboa Sushi House!!

It is so worth it to build up a relationship with your local Mom & Pop stores. I'm not hugely connected into a community but I recognize that Community is what America and many places is sorely missing and lacking.

Balboa Sushi House is a little Japanese restaurant near my house run by a woman (in her late 40's to early 50's) and her husband. She runs the front, he makes the food. The sushi is decent and fairly priced. The decor is fun, with a little "fish jar" on each of the five or six tables with a live fish and water plants. Plants all over the place.

I've only seen him once or twice since he's in the back but the woman is super nice. I try to eat my sushi there or order to go any time I'm going for my fix of raw fish or Japanese and have been doing so for the past two and a half years.

I hadn't been in a month or more and I walk in yesterday, which also happened to be Valentine's Day, to get some tastey raw fish for my dinner and she is receiving flowers from her husband who then disappears back into the kitchen. She was giggling and it was all very cute. She then says to me in her thick Japanese accent, brightening up as if I were their first and only customer of the day, "Hello, Heather, how are you?!" I think I was a little non-plussed. Not at her brightness but remembering my name.

One might say, "She's seen your credit card and probably has a good memory." And yes, that's likely true. But let me relay another story.

This was about a year ago. I had lost my credit card, couldn't find it for months, and I hadn't eaten at Balboa Sushi House for months either. I was sitting in Canvas Cafe, which is on the other side of Golden Gate park from where my house and this little sushi restaurant is, studying with a friend when she walks by the window. I immediately recognized her but couldn't place her. She was out of context so I couldn't get my associational memory to kick in. She comes into the cafe, saying, "Oh, you left your card! You should come by and get it!" I had left my credit card there, last time I had eaten, months and months previous.

And that's why, my friends, you support and build up relationships with your local shops, farmer's markets, little grocers, etc.

Sushi Rock (big sushi "chain"), eat your heart out because I ain't buying.

Brew of Eee-Vil

Well. I had a coffee today. On purpose. I'm so ashamed.

A vile concoction of "chocolate macadamia nut" flavor with my additions of some milk and a ton of sugar.

It's Monday. I'm gearing up for the longest day of my week. Actually I've already been into my longest day for about 23 hours so far. I was at work from 11:30am Sunday (yesterday) to 10:15am today. Class starts at 11:30am and pretty much goes until 6pm. Then I have a class at 7pm until 9pm.

I even went to bed early yesterday, 12:30am, which, trust me, is early for me. But I awoke feeling so draggy that I had to resort to such methods as the Brew of Eee-Vil. But it's my fault. I'll get to that in a moment.

The thing about coffee and I is we sometimes don't get along. Okay, let me translate: we never get along. Sometimes coffee (read here: any caffeine) makes me sleepy. Really. I don't know why. Sometimes coffee makes me crazy. And I mean Beavis crazy. For those of you who even remember Beavis & Butthead, there's an episode where Beavis eats a bunch of candy bars and drinks a dozen sodas and goes bonkers, running around with his shirt pulled up on his head, laughing his obnoxious little laugh, shouting, "I am Cornholio!! I need TP for my bunghole!!" and "Bungholio!!"

Okay, I'm not that bad.

And coffee is a complete crap shoot with me. Will I get sleepy or crazy? I also usually get diarhea and nausea as well. Fun, eh? Can you see why I don't drink the Brew of Eee-Vil on a regular basis. But I'm willing to take the risk today. And possibly every Monday hereafter.So, what was my fault, as previously mentioned? Eating a box of Krispie Kreme donuts (six), an entire jar of Pringles chips (we can't even really call them potato), a large glass of Nestle Quick chocolate milk and I think a RedVine or two (your basic Twizlers). That was a bender for sure. And I pay for every bite. Recently I found out that I have a mild to moderate sensitivity to wheat and probably have always been sensitive to sugar (which, really, all of us do). So, a donut is the ultimate evil for me. Although not Eee-Vil. Only coffee and coke (soda) hold that distinction for me. So needless to say, I didn't sleep well with all that crap in my system.

You know, why do we use that phrase "needless to say" if we're already saying it? English is strange. Humans are stranger.

In any case, I doubt I'll become an addict to the Brew of Eee-Vil since I'm already a sugar/carb addict.

Sigh, the things we must endure in this life......

Being a Student

Well, you're always a student, in life at least. Some of us go to school and don't finish. Some of us go to school and finish and go on with career, etc. Some of us go to school, finish, and for some crazy ass reason, go back again.

And this crazy girl is going back to school.

Partly it doesn't seem like such a big deal for me because I'm attending City College of San Francisco (CCSF, the local community college). I'm getting an Associate of Science degree in Photography. That seems basic, but really it's 46 units of core and elective classes, including 28 units for graduation credits which I fully intend not to fulfill, hoping all my credits will transfer over. I have a Master's Degree, fuck that.

The 46 units, however, wil be all new. That's about two years or... at my pace, who knows, maybe four! The AS Degree prepares you for commercial (and some fine art) work while an AA (Associate of Arts) sets you up to transfer to a full time university, or school of arts. CCSF doesn't have an AA available yet but they've said there might be one coming soon. I think it's half the units or so. You can check out the class listing if you like.

I'm only taking Phot 51, Beginning Photography this semester out of the four recommended for the first semester. Please. I work. Full time. And have other mini-classes. In looking at the number of units though, I do wonder how I'm going to complete these in any regular, sane amount of time.

Most classes I've been doing have been online or little four week "continuing education" types. Also this semester I'm taking a 10-week singing class at Blue Bear Music (I'm wanting to hone my voice a bit), a five week sewing course through CCSF continuing ed (want to learn how to use my sewing machine) and a four week knitting class through ImagiKnit (I'm a crocheter and want to learn a different technique).

So, being back on an actual campus doing actual semester long classes is very strange. A classroom! With a teacher teaching!! Whaaa..?? And most of my classmates.... so... young! I never thought I'd say that. Ever. But it seems to be more frequent these days.

So being back in the "student realm", it's familiar in an almost body memory way and somehow alien as well. I certainly know "how" to do this whole thing. Sit there (my gods, do I remember the seats being this hard??), take notes, listen up. Easy. But getting back into the swing of things, organizing notes, remembering your pen, keeping up with your readings. Harder.

So much of my school "stuff" is tied into getting good grades. And I can blame my father on that one. Maybe my mom too. Heh. Don't you just love having parents to blame things on. I joke.

Mostly.

I should have gone to one of those special schools like the Montesorri schools out here. No focus on grades, just learning and learning in a way tailored to your own personal style. That's the kind of school I should have been in. This grade stuff really bites. And I know I can audit the whole damn thing, from credit 1 to 46 but unfortunately degrees are important for later "show off" of competency in jobs. Bah.

So, off I go in the familiar, not so familiar, wild blue yonder.

What the hell does that mean wild blue yonder.

Hair Gone, Here Tomorrow

Well, February 1st has come and I have measured. I gained 1/2 inch of hair in 31 days.

Almost every day I was getting the comment, "Wow, it's really growing in fast!"

I think likely it seems that way because it's going bald to 60 in days rather than months. When it's longer, it's probably not as noticeable. Indeed, I was always lamenting that my hair was growing too slowly. So, I wonder if it grows the same amount each month, no matter what length it is already.

So does that mean at the end of the year my hair will be six inches long?