Cultural Differences About Sex

I watched Koutara-san, a Japanese anime series, but I almost couldn't finish it because it was so creepy. Like a whole lotta anime, the characters were high school students. The main guy keeps having fantasies about the main girl. Nothing creepy there really. Guys think about sex all the time. He does it because he's a guy, and he does it because she's psychic and is embarrassed when she reads his mind and "sees" his fantasies. Funny. Everyone calls him a pervert, but really, like most teenage guys (and guys in general), he's just a horn dog. Okay. Nothing really strange there.

Main girl goes home. Grandpa makes her sit in his lap. Then he fantasizes about her. Okay. Crossed the line. Creepy. Gross. Disgusting. What's with the dirty old men in Japanime? They chase high school girls around peeking up their skirts and snapping photos and it's supposed to be funny. But this was a cut above. A whole-notha-level. That's his GRANDDAUGHTER! Ew! Grandpa goes on to tell the main male character how he got to feel her thighs! Then he fantasizes about his granddaughter's female classmates. I almost quit watching. The girl called him a pervert, but that's about it. It seemed "normal." I'm so disturbed.

Grandpa even chastised the main male character for only fantasizing and not making any moves on his granddaughter!

Japan has a problem with men groping women and girls. It's so bad that they have female-only cars on trains. That seems like just avoiding the problem rather than dealing with it. I'm not saying we don't have our own messed up attitudes about sex here in the US. I know we do. It's just crazy how ogling young girls is so mainstream.

I just had to rant about that.

Texas State Fair 2014

I had so much fun this weekend there were times I thought I was going to burst with excitement. We spent about 4 hours walking around at the fair. I'm so glad we go every year. There were old favorites, new things, and changes.

A big part of the State Fair is food. Our first stop when we arrived was to buy some fried guacamole. The guac part is spiced and mixed with finely shredded cheese. The batter is spicy and crispy. I could eat two orders all by myself, but we shared one.

I wanted something sweet, but not too sweet, so we got a belgian waffle with whipped cream, strawberries, and powdered sugar. We asked them to go light on the sugar and it was perfect. The fried guac and waffle was our lunch.

We went to see the arts and crafts exhibits. Every year they have a butter sculpture made with hundreds of pounds of butter. This year the butter sculpture was horses. We didn't see the decorated shoe exhibit in the crafts area. That is usually one of my favorites. After arts and crafts we saw a milking demonstration.

The baby animal barn is my favorite part of the fair. This year I got to pet a baby zebu, a kangaroo, a zonkey, a baby buffalo, a porcupine, and even more animals.

We saw a lot of sheep in one of the barns. We even saw some tiny lambs. One was only four days old!

Ross's favorite part of the fair was the pig races. The piglets ran so fast!

I wanted to ride the ferris wheel, but the line was pretty long. I didn't have the energy or patience to stand around and wait. Next year we will have to hit it up as soon as we get there.

We rode a shuttle back to the parking area. The young girl that sat with us told us that they didn't eat anything in Dallas because of ebola. The hysteria and ignorance about ebola is insane. These people didn't have any trouble going to the fair with a bunch of strangers, but they wouldn't eat the food. Great.

Germophile?

So something I've been getting riled up about lately is germs--specifically germaphobes. I've already ranted about how toilet hoverers are one of my pet peeves. It seems I've met a lot of folks lately who are scared of germs. Well, I think I'm in the opposite camp. I eat bacteria on a daily basis. I love my yoghurt. Most bacteria is good for us.

Studies are coming out saying that overuse of antibiotics plays a role in obesity and food allergies. If we don't kill all our good bacteria, we do better. Fecal transplants (which are basically bacterial transplants) are going to be commonplace soon. They seem to cure problems caused by eradication of all our normal gut bacteria.

Now, I'm not saying we shouldn't use antibiotics, nor am I recommending you go lick a toilet. What I'm saying is that people are paranoid. Antibacterial gels and soaps aren't really necessary. Just wash with soap and water. I'm not sure what people think they are going to catch from toilet seats or other random things. I actually had a couple of ladies tell me they won't buy spices in bulk because what if someone touched them, or breathed on them, or cross-contaminated them. What? So they go to some specialty shop and pay extra because only the employees--not the general public--touch and breathe on the spices. Whatever.

The Mentalist: Losing Interest

So, The Mentalist has started a new chapter. Patrick Jane now works for the FBI, based in Austin. Why Austin? For us here in Texas, at least for me and Ross, setting the show in Texas makes the show ridiculous. Why? Because for the show to happen as shown, it would require time travel. On the last episode we watched a guy declare "I'll have a chopper there in an hour."  He was talking about some place near Santa Fe. An hour from where? Anywhere in Texas? No. Not even the New Mexico/Texas Border. So to say an hour from Austin is just silly.

Unlike Llanview, Pennsylvania, Austin, Texas is a real place. In the MIDDLE of Texas--and Texas is Big, in case you didn't know. Watching a show where the characters go back and forth between Austin and Corpus Christie like it's the next town over is enough to make me stop watching the show.

Simon Baker as Jane is sexier than ever, but the writers need to get a clue.

What does that feel like?

I've got some big thighs (thanks, Dad.) Not quite thunder thighs, but I definitely have the chub rub.  I have rubbed holes into the inner thighs of my pants. So when I see girls like the ones pictured above I wonder: What's that like? What does that feel like to walk around without your thighs touching? Drafty? Free? I'm just mesmerized when I see skinny legs like that. Wow.

The Negatives

I'm going to bitch and whine about all the annoying, irritating, bothersome, irksome things about our trip.

1. Cigarette Smoke: Athens was the worst.  At one point we opened the window in our hotel room to get some fresh air only to have smoke drift in from the cafes below. Sitting outside is a surefire way to have smoke with your meal.

2. Ugly Americans: I encountered them right away, and all the time. It started in Piazzale Michelangelo where some young (college age) Americans were carrying around wine bottles and drinking out of plastic cups. Classy.  They were arguing about who the statue in the center of the Piazzale was.  Ignorant. Stupid. Americans. It seemed like there were more of them in Italy than Greece. I'm delighted when people think we are English or Canadian. I don't want to be associated with all these stupid, rude Americans who think that the world revolves around them.

3. Smells: It seems that Italians and Greeks don't understand proper venting in bathrooms, so sewage gases come up through the pipes. Lovely. There are also some pretty nasty smells on the streets. Oh, and Europeans don't feel that deodorant or regular baths are necessary, so we got hit with a lot of body odor smells too. It seemed like when we were out and about it was either B.O. or cigarette smoke. One or the other. We couldn't get around without either.

4. Disrespect: Some churches and museums don't allow photos. My attitude: buy a postcard, it will probably be better than the photo you were trying to take anyway. If a church doesn't allow photos, then I respect that. It is, after all, a place of worship, and many times people were actually there praying. I felt bad enough walking around while people were praying, but to also take photos? No way. We met an American lady who was upset that some churches charge entrance fees and many don't allow photos. She was really angry about it and said she took photos anyway. Shameful. The worst was at St. Francis's Basilica. When we got to St. Francis's tomb there were people praying.  It was weird to walk by them and around his tomb. Photos were not allowed, but everyone seemed to be trying to sneak them in. It was awful, and the same way at the Sistine Chapel.

5. Relics: I don't like relics. We saw reliquaries in many churches. They bother me. I'm bothered because here you have some piece of a guy you see as holy, which means you desecrated and destroyed his body in order to put a tiny piece of it in a fancy jar. Ross is bothered by the fact that people worship that bit of bone or tooth. It is creepy and wrong. I always skip past them in the churches and museums. People fight over these bits of bone. Boggles my mind.

6. Poop: There was dog poop everywhere. Most people don't clean up after their dogs. Ross started calling them Italian biscuits. You always have to watch where you are stepping. Gross.

7. Rain: We had lots of rain in Florence, one rainy day in Athens, and it did rain some in Rome. We even had a rain shower at the State Fair. I'm glad I packed my umbrella and tall boots.

8. Restoration: Seems like everything we visited was under restoration: the Duomo in Florence, The Acropolis, parts of the Vatican museum, St. Peter's Basilica. Annoying, but necessary, and next time things will be brighter and cleaner.  It just sucks when you can't see things at all or they are covered by scaffolding. Cranes kept getting in the way when I wanted to take photos.

Okay, I'm done bitching.  The good way outweighed the bad.

Randalls 'Rithmetic

So we recently went to Randalls so that Ross could stock up on sodas--he was completely out!  At the back of the store they have a display of clearance items.  Kraft macaroni & cheese was marked 50% off original price of 1.39.  I picked up a couple of boxes.  When we checked out the computer took off 45c.  That's not 50% of 1.39.  Well, we hadn't scanned our Randall's card.  With the card it took off 50c.  Uh, that's not 50% off either, but I wasn't going to complain.

When we put the cokes in the car and stared at the receipt we realized we had paid 44c for the macaroni and cheese, and that's a good deal.  So we went back inside and got 10 more boxes.  We went through the same line--same checker--and she rang one up--our total was 44c.  She was shocked and said she was going to buy some herself.  She continued to ring up the rest of the boxes--for some reason she couldn't just enter x10 on the register.  She suddenly stopped at 8 boxes. I guess she didn't realize that 44 x 10 = 440.  Our education system is failing us.  We paid and dropped all but one of the boxes in the donation barrel at the front of the store on our way out.

 Mmmmm.  Kraft mac n cheese.  Brings back memories of my babysitter Bonnie.  I don't think I ever had it at home as a kid.

I Wish...

Borrowing from Nicole here.
I wish....

1. People wouldn't text/talk and drive.  It makes me nervous.  It makes me angry.  On Tuesday I saw a near wreck, afterward the driver was still staring at his phone. Grr.  And despite what some ya-hoo said on The Daily Show a while back--it isn't legal in Texas.
2. I could be paid to play Bejeweled.
3. Matzoh tasted better.  At least matzoh balls are yummy.
4. We could find a house.
5. Shoes never caused blisters.
6. We could take a 2 week+ vacation to Greece/Italy this year.
7. My shoulders--everyone's shoulders--were magically healed.
8. I was really, really good at something.
9. People wouldn't litter.
10. Teleportation was real.

Lamenting My Laziness

I'm feeling particularly lame today.  I suck.  I waste so much time on shopping on ebay.  Not really buying much, but just scanning through hundreds of cashmere sweaters and other random nonsense that I don't need. Oop.  I just thought of another thing that I could search for that I haven't looked for in a while.  I'm resisting the urge to go to the ebay tab I always have open and search right now.

Exercising 3 times a week has been a real struggle.  I'm blaming my screwed up sleep cycle. We went to bed at a decent hour last night--before 10:30, and I laid there for an hour, unable to fall asleep.  My left shoulder was aching and my right deltoid was twitching--it had been since the afternoon. Frustrated, I got up, reheated my cherry pillow, and took half a muscle relaxer.  I sat up searching the web for pictures of saps/blackjacks/slapjacks---I have no idea why.  After about 30 minutes I went back to bed.  I started to feel relaxed, but then my brain turned on and I couldn't sleep.  Ack!  I probably fell asleep around 1am.  This morning----I slept till almost 11.  Although last night was a bit extreme, sleeping in till 10 has become the norm for me.  I have to get out of this rut.  The plan: get up very early tomorrow and not nap at all.  We have plans tomorrow night, so I'm sure we will be up late.  Going to yoga tomorrow will also help wear me out so that I don't have trouble falling asleep.  Damn I miss having a Queen sized bed.

There are plenty of things for me to do besides waste time on ebay.  I mean, I used to fancy myself a writer, but the crap I write on this blog about movies and books is so lame!  I didn't even mention the acting in Mama---which was great.  I used to paint, I used to play the cello.  It's like the creative side of me has just shriveled up and now all I do is observe/consume.  I don't have anything that I'm really passionate about or put all my effort into--not even ebay.

In an attempt to get out of my funk today I pulled out my cello.  It hadn't seen the light of day in years.  I managed to tune it and then set it out on its stand.  It has been so long I'm going to have to start over.  I've printed out some things from the internets to try and teach myself how to play again.  I think I need to actually write up a list of things that I can do besides watch TV or sit on the laptop.  I have a week to finish knitting my mom's scarf and that is completely doable.  I have a library book to finish.  I just have to force myself out of bed and then resist the urge to sit in front of the tv/laptop.

Uh, What?

When we got home yesterday we found a set of appliances in our living room.  Uh, what the hell?!?
Bottom line:  The apartment peoples gave the appliance delivery guy a key and he delivered it to the wrong apartment--it was supposed to go to a vacant apartment.  Now I'm really shaken.  I'm wondering if they gave him the key to our place, or a master key.  And they didn't even escort him.  So if I was home he could have come in and murdered me.  If he had a master key he could have gone in anyone's apartment and raided it.  He could have let Bailey out.  The apartment people had no idea that the appliances were in our living room.  We could have just sold them on Craigs List.  Ross was really mad.  I'm disturbed.

Yiddish with Dick and Jane and a Rant

So I read Yiddish with Dick and Jane.  It is a modern Dick and Jane with Yiddish words thrown in---and a glossary in the back. I'm Sephardic--which is associated with the endangered language Ladino, which I don't know at all.  My dad speaks German, but not Yiddish. I don't know Yiddish, except for the normal words that everyone knows like tuchas, putz, and nosh.  Yiddish has always fascinated me--there is some movie where Eddie Murphy speaks Yiddish to an old lady and that just blew my mind.  I've just always wanted to speak a dozen languages, and I can barely speak 2.

Anyway, the book is modern and funny, covering topics such as adultery, homosexuals, and pot.  The glossary has funny explanations, not just definitions.  There seem to be a lot of words that describe various states of confusion and sickness.  My two favorite words are nu and shtupping.   Nu means well? so? or are you surprised?  Shtupping means fornicating.  I'll try throwing those two words around more in the future.

Okay, now for my rant.  Pot.  Sally smokes a doobie in the book.  I don't understand why everyone has to or wants to smoke pot.  In so many blockbuster movies there is a scene (or many scenes) where they sit around getting high.  Why does pot have to be everywhere?  I don't know why this irks me so much.  I really don't.  The idea of feeling super hungry but too lazy to get up and eat something is a nightmare.  Speaking of nightmares, I've heard so many nightmare stories about pot brownies.  Nope.  Crossed that off my list.  And I hate the smell of the smoke.  Maybe I'll smoke it when I'm 80 to ease my pain and help me gain weight, and it will be a revelation and I'll regret not spending my whole life as a pot head.  Maybe, but I don't think so.

Fear v Security

Here in Austin we have the Dell Jewish Campus. A bunch of synagogues, Hebrew school, Jewish Community Center.  Big fence around it--a ghetto.  I have strong feelings about this.  There is a security guard/shack at the front gate.  I hate it.  It makes me feel unwelcome.  Why do we need a guard?  What do we have to fear?  Some people say it makes them feel more secure.  Secure about what?  Being stopped at the front gate to ask me what I'm doing and where I'm going just makes me angry.  Apparently just a sticker on the car is pass enough not to stop you.  So how is that secure?

If someone wants to bomb me, shoot me, or otherwise terrorize me because I'm a Jew they will find a way to do it.  A guard at the front gate won't stop them, it just angers and insults me.  I refuse to live in fear of some unknown threat.  And I refuse to believe some guard at the front gate is actually protecting me.

Groped!

Yesterday I went to lunch with my dad and his friend Raul at the local burrito place.  My parents' neighbor has worked there since the place opened.  When she saw me she came over to say hello.  We hugged, and then she grabbed at my stomach and said something like "Where's the baby?"!!!!!   I said "No babies" and amazingly didn't get angry.

Granted I've put on a few pounds and was wearing a kangaroo hoodie, but I still can't figure out what possessed her to paw at me. I was shocked, but not too much.  A lot of people seem to think that the whole point of life is having kids, but you know I disagree.  Just because you can have kids doesn't mean you should.

Facebook Holdout

I have no desire to be on or use facebook. If I want to talk to someone I'll email them or call them. I have no desire to find random people from my past. And I sure as hell don't want some girl who was a bitch to me in Jr. High asking me to friend her. Well, the Trapeze School emailed me saying that students use facebook to communicate. Really? Is that the only way I'll be able to find out about what's going on in my classes and find someone to swap classes with if necessary? I'm miffed. I want to have fun, be part of the group, participate in any weekly themes, and be able to help somebody out with a class swap. I just don't want to have to join facebook to do it.

Aha! Maybe Bailey can join and keep me updated about trapeze class! Hmmmm.

The Joys of Travel

Our flights to California went off without a hitch, in fact I think we landed early in both DFW and SNA. Our flight back was a different story. We had a layover in DFW that was extended due to weather in the Washington, DC area. The 2:30 flight to DC was cancelled, and the 4:30 and 5:30 flights were delayed for hours. Our 7:30 flight was only delayed 50 minutes. Before we boarded we were warned that we might be diverted to Dulles because the runways at Reagan were closed or something.

I sat on the plane, bored, uncomfortable (I ate way to much in California and my digestive system was suffering for it), and a little annoyed. The pilot came on over the PA system and announced that Reagan was keeping the  runway open until midnight, so we would be able to land there. Yay! Well, 100 feet from the runway (per the pilot) we were waived off. I noticed we were doing a fly over and was very confused. It was probably 11:55. At 12:02 (am) the pilot informed us that the tower had waved us off because there was still a plane on the runway (translation: near miss) and they had closed the runway and diverted us to Dulles.

Diverted? Oh, Ross and I were mad. I had figured we'd be home by about 1 am, but now we had no idea what time we'd get home. You see, our car was at Reagan, so we would have to get a cab over there and then drive home.

We landed at about 12:25 and then sat on the runway. There wasn't much crew left, so we had to wait in line for a terminal. Well, we ended up in a remote area, so we had to wait for a people mover to take us to the main terminal. The people on our flight did not know how to cram in together. Seriously, they thought they were as crammed as they could get, but I've seen subways much tighter than that.

Ross had voluntarily checked his back (for free at the gate) so we had to wait for it at baggage claim. But again, they didn't have much crew at 1am, so we waited quite a while. At some point an AA rep came out and said that he would be handing out taxi cab vouchers to Reagan airport and we had to pack in 4 to a cab. Once Ross got his bag we found another couple to share a cab with. They were quite nice. The thing is we ended up standing in line for a cab until 2:30 am. (We had to top off our trip with more waiting in line.)  I was so tired, I couldn't be cranky anymore. It was bad, but the line extended way far behind us--at least another hour, if not two. I thought about taking a photo, but I was really tired, and didn't really want to remember standing in line for so long.

The ride to Reagan was a lot shorter than I thought it was going to be. We got to our car, and started the long drive home. I unfortunately sent us on a roundabout way and I'm 99.9% sure that Ross got hit by a speed camera. Oops. We arrived home at 4:30 am! I hadn't slept at all on the plane. I called my boss and let her know I'd be in by noon. I'm still recovering from that mess. Ross is beyond pissed with the tower at Reagan. At least we got home safely....

Waiting in Lines

We ended up waiting in a lot of lines in California. We did not enjoy that.
1. We waited in line for half an hour before the all-you-can-eat restaurant, Makino, opened.
2. Since we got into the restaurant the same time as everyone else we had to wait in line inside to go through the sushi part of the buffet line. We were not impressed.
3. We waited at least 30 minutes for a table in a small Taiwanese restaurant. Again, not impressed.
4. During the wait for the small Taiwanese place we walked over to Wholesome Choice, an international food store where we saw people waiting in line for up to 40 minutes for Persian Sangak bread. Really? People in California seem to like waiting in lines.
5. We had to wait in line to take the sloooow hover tram up to Getty Center. Not bad, but just another line to wait in. I really didn't want to wait in line for the ride down, so despite my desperately sore feet we walked down the hill.
6. We also waited in line for 30 minutes for boba at Half and Half Tea House. Now, I'll admit that the boba was pretty good, but a 30 minute wait? Our friends actually said to never go to a place unless there is a line out the door. Talk about hype. Reminds me of when Sprinkles opened in Dallas. You stand in line forever for a cupcake so it has to be good, right? Most of their cupcakes were oily and never worth a wait.
7. We also saw a huge line (out the door) at 85C Bakery. I was looking in the window and a guy walked up and said "It's just bread, right?" I nodded. He obviously didn't want to stand in line, but his mother was caught up in the hype and insisting.
8. Memorial day we were pretty much spared lines. We only waited 2 minutes to be seated for our brunch with Dishi and Josh in Oceanside (best pancakes ever!) And we managed to talk Robert and Tiffany out of waiting in line to ride the big orange balloon at Great Park in Irvine. We were tired....no more lines!
9. We waited in line for a taxi for 1.5 hours? I think I'll do another post for that one....

People are Lazy

People are lazy. I don't know why that's so hard for me to accept.

You see, I pay lots of money to park in a garage at work. For a few reasons--mainly because I love my car and I don't want it sitting outside on the street. Every morning I see people parking in the garage, but in the uncovered spaces, or going up to the uncovered roof of the garage when there are still plenty of parking spaces available in the covered areas. "Why?" I always ask myself. Well, because they are lazy. The covered spots aren't right next to the elevators, so they don't want them. It boggles my mind that they pay so much money to park in a garage, but then park in uncovered spots.

I don't know why this bothers me. I just need to accept that people are lazy. They take the elevator to go up or down one floor--when the stairs are right next to the elevator. I beat the elevator every time. And if people park in the uncovered spots, that leaves more covered spots for me. So there. I should be happy they are lazy!

Locks of Love .... Grrrr

I don't like Locks of Love. I just saw a guy on a makeover show try to convince a girl to cut her hair because it would go to Locks of Love. Her hair is dyed. It can't be used by Locks of Love to make a wig. He said two wigs will be made from her hair. No. It takes a lot more hair than from one hair cut to make a wig. He also said that the wigs would go to kids with cancer. No. Locks of Love makes wigs for children with alopecia areata and other medical reasons for hair loss. Most children who have lost their hair due to cancer treatment are not eligible for a wig through Locks of Love. According to one website the organization received enough hair to make 10,000 wigs in one year, yet made less than 200.

Pantene Beautiful Lengths has distributed 2,000 wigs since 2006. Just as many as Locks of Love has made since 1996.

It makes me angry that everyone encourages donations to such a poorly run organization. Part of the problem is that people do not understand the requirements for hair donation. But I think another problem is that Locks of Love does not make the requirements clear, nor does it make clear who is eligible for the wigs. Still, celebrities chop off their hair and encourage others to do so so that they can feel good about themselves. In the end -- if you cut your hair and send it to locks of love -- it will most likely be sold to a wig making company or thrown out.

If you are going to cut your hair and want to donate it please do some research. Make sure your hair meets the requirements and will be used to make a wig.

I've ranted about this before. I'll go back to doing laundry now.

On My Nerves

I'm going to rant a bit about things that have been getting on my nerves.

1. The way people drive here.

It doesn't matter how fast you go, or if the next lane is open, people have to be all up in your trunk. Sometimes they are so close I can't see their license plates or headlights. The tailgating is bad. Scary bad.

2. When people say two thousand and seven.

And means there is a decimal point. The more educated the person, the more it gets on my nerves. This is a thing that has only recently started to annoy me, but man it makes my skin crawl.

3. Sucky websites.

Man, sometimes I really want to buy something, but the vendor's website sucks so much that I give up. Buy it on ebay. Sometimes the pages are just really really old and they no longer even sell what I'm seeing on the page. Jerks.

4. People using Coach as a title.

I was at a meeting recently and a man was introduced as Dr. Brown. He got up and said, "Actually, I'm Coach Brian." What the hell? And he introduced someone else as Coach Jim. Even though Jim had introduced himself without using the Coach title. We weren't talking about anything sports related. I was confused. Coach is not a title, and using a title with a first name is just dumb. Ross refuses to answer to Mr. Ross, and hates being introduced that way.

I know there are more things that have been annoying me, but that is all I can think of at the moment.

Another Pet Peeve

So the other day I was watching CoolTV and their Dance and Tonic hour came on. No dance music, and the tonic was diet. You see, I watched for at least half an hour and every song had the same characteristic--the artist mentioned his/her own name. That really bugs the crap out of me. I want to hear you sing a song, not hear you sing who you are. It was really lame and annoying.