sightseeing via db

while on our travels so far I haven't really made paddling a priority, but I have looked into it for each of the cities we've lived in (with most cities not having db, unsurprisingly). this is definitely something i want to keep doing if i keep traveling. i think it's a lot of fun. a great way to see the city from a different view, teammates are generally very cool and will give a tour / tips when paddling, i get to learn how others organize practices, clubs, etc.

I attended a couples practices in boston with boston1 and wolfpack. and i steered a double practice from j's chinese fraternity. in seattle tho, i went nearly every free weekend i had! i did five practices total with flying dragons (one at each practice site), tacoma, and sake.

seattle flying dragons: dock sponsorship by kenmore air seaplanes!, two practice locations: south lake union and kenmore, south lake union has a better view, but kenmore is prettier, semi structured practices, good pre-practice newbie coaching, less boat coaching. our boat (which did have newbies) didn't have a coach at all. we did have a newer steer, who did a lot of stroke counting, but no actual coaching. requires at least two steers on each boat, with the reserve steer sitting near the back.

tacoma: used to rent their boats out to cdba for treasure island race, very freeform, no stretching, no assigned seating, paddlers picked drills. we didn't have a lot of paddlers that day, maybe cause it had rained a lot the day before?, so practice was very very freeform. but i heard from sake that they are less structured than other teams and apparently there's never assigned seating.

club sake: biggest and oldest team in area, also has sup and oc teams, lake washington, by far the most administratively organized of the three and the most structured practices. tho the coach i was with for both practices founded wam, so should i paddle again in seattle, i'll have to check out wam. i wanted to paddle with them this time, but they coincidentally didn't have practice the day i had free. in addition to a steer, they also have a safety person on board who i guess handles capsize stuff in case it happens.

in general: all the teams were nearly all white, and mostly seniors. the seattle teams were a great majority women. they're mostly on buks, with a few champions (i think these boats were all newer too). mostly kialoa paddles, including their carbon "community" paddles. all on fresh water with docked boats. practices are two hours long, with long sets (all did at least 10min).

tacoma and club sake both paddle with extra weight on board if there are an uneven number of paddlers. tacoma has a cool wood bracket thing that sits on an empty bench with circular weights that can be adjusted. sake has a big sealed jug of kitty litter (so the extra weight is called "kitty"). 

teams own their own boats, and have to pay for moorage (unless they have sponsors) so maybe team fees are more expensive so only older people can afford it? no idea. what definitely makes long beach (and la) different is that we have high school and college teams, which feed into adult teams, which means that we skew much younger than the seattle area teams. 

bit of "gossip" i learned from the wam founder / sake coach. wam had combined with another (south?) washington team for a tourney so she reached out in advance to get weights and THEY DIDN'T KNOW. apparently they always just... kind of guessed? lol wtf.

very lastly, i did learn a few "fun" drills that i had in my notes app on my phone, but that died so who knows if i'll get those back. from what i remember tho:
7-up: rate increasing every seven strokes
20 seconds regular (reset), 20 seconds long, 20 seconds back kick, repeat 

impressions: seattle

george washington's profile for state freeway signs

blackberries EVERYWHERE!

lots of greenery 

non-linear streets

bus / carpool only lanes on surface streets

slower driving speed limits (that people don't super follow)

fast merges on freeways

not allowing mergers on freeways :( 

fog-tober! (fog in October) 

september 2026 donation

 

this month I gave to Algalita during their Long Beach Gives Giving Day. working in environmentalism has really shaped me and so many of my day to day choices. it has made me a more thoughtful and intentional person, in addition, to it make me far ore environmentally sound, lol. and I'm lucky to have had the opportunity!

impressions: vancouver, bc

flashing green lights (pedestrian controlled street lights)

large chinatown

so many people only doing drugs (especially crack in chinatown)

so many hunchbacks! (count: 7) (we were in vancouver for <3 days)

lots of bike lanes

so many / too many signs on mentally process when driving

well earned "city of glass" for its city skyline

neon signs

tiny orange traffic cones bolted onto tree stumps in sidewalk 

black sesame rice krispie treats

basically the nyt recipe, but slightly varied

2 tsp toasted sesame oil, plus more for greasing
4 or 5 tablespoons grams unsalted butter (1 stick plus another tablespoon)
1/4 (or 1/3) cup black sesame seeds
1 (12-ounce/340-gram) bag mini marshmallows, divided
3/4tsp coarse kosher salt or 1tsp flaky kosher salt
5 cups Rice Krispies cereal

grease 9"x9" baking pan with sesame oil

brown the butter

reduce heat to low and add sesame seeds

cook, stirring constantly, until the seeds smell toasty, 1 to 2 minutes

turn off heat, stir in mini marshmallows (minus a handful) and salt, about 5 minutes

stir in the 2 teaspoons sesame oil

add the cereal and remaining marshmallows, quickly stir until evenly coated

lightly press into greased pan

wait until completely cool to portion

cinamon rice krispie treats

rough recipe for socow fundraiser. note that this is easier if you make two batches of rice krispie treats, whatever the flavor. that way you can get a 10oz bag, plus a 16oz bag of mini marshmallows and use them across two batches. plus, a single box of rice krispies cereal yields at least two batches of treats anyway. (and everyone knows that this cereal sucks when eaten as intended, with milk)

1 stick (4 tablespoon, 1/4 cup) butter
3 cups cinnamon toast crunch
2 cups rice krispies
>10oz mini marshmallows
handful more mini marshmallows
1 tsp vanilla extract
3/4 tsp cinnamon
>1/4 tsp salt

grease 8"x8" dish

slightly crunch up 2 cups of the cinnamon toast crush to make smaller (otherwise they're too big compared to the rice krispies) 

brown the butter

add the >10oz mini marshmallows

add non cereal ingredients 

when marshmallows are melted, add cereals

start to stir and add in remaining mini marshmallows

press lightly into greased dish

wait until completely cool to portion 

 

reference recipes were from cookies & cups and also 365 days of baking and more

 

ex machina

i recently re-watched alex garland's 2014 ex machina.

something i thought interesting, but also super obvious, was that OF COURSE you can fuck the robots. of COURSE a man, especially that man, would make them sexy and fuckable. tho i guess i appreciate that he made them capable of "enjoying" the sex? but i think most men would prefer that even if many don't put in much more effort to make that happen.

so would a woman make a fuckable robot? i think probably not. and, actually, i think most women would make another woman robot, rather than making a man. i can't decide if that's because people tend to find women less threatening than men, of if we find it easier to order them around. (like how most digital personal assistants have women voices. [this may be because the west traditionally has women secretaries, nurses, assistants, etc.])

anyway, i'm glad ava got out. and while i did feel bad for caleb, like, what was he going to do with her anyway? 

Impressions: slc

much more liberal than I expected (tho, really, it is the biggest city in the state, so of course it's going to be more liberal?)

people are very friendly!! and seemingly genuinely so!

so many big letters in mountains (usually first letter of neighboring city)

actual spring weather lol (rain, big swings in temps)

few porch lights

half basement homes (i'm guessing to keep warm in the winter, and cool in the summer)

south of slc, it's new tract housing as far as the eye can see in the same four shades of gray, ugh

many headstones are trapezoid in shape

can wave at pedestrian crossings instead of pushing the button

many personalized license plates

flashing yellow for left turn yield lights

no glass recycling in residential collections, instead has dedicated drop off locations

not many people bring own reusable bags, etc.

lots of local artist sticker [gumball] machines 

 

lots of [city sponsored] murals

 

lots of free, local print publications: slug mag, utah voices, etc. 

 

great street naming system (as least in the center of SLC because of the church, which is the center of it all)

 

love how the state capitol building is situated in the city. it's on top of the hill, at the very top of state street. when driving up state street, for at least a couple miles, you can see the capitol building and it's such a lovely view.

 

also love the general view from the city. it's in a valley and when looking around, about 85% of the time you can see a backdrop of mountains

 

love the beehive iconography all over the place :) including it being used on their state higshway signs! (speaking of which, did you know that the california state highway shape represent the spades / shovels used by miners during the gold rush?)

loyalties

i've been wondering about this lately, because j and i are friends, and i've never had a boyfriend be friends with my best friend's boyfriend before. so the question i have is, who do you owe your loyalties to?

let's say the boys hang out. your boy comes back and tells you something you know your best friend would not like. could be serious, or maybe not. do you always keep that between you and your boyfriend, or do you at some point tell your girlfriend? 

the discovery

the discovery is a netflix movie from 2017. in it, a scientist discovers proof of an "afterlife." that is, some part of us goes somewhere after we die. he isn't sure what it is that goes, or where it goes to, but millions of people kill themselves anyway.

which i think is crazy. because even outside the "what" it is that goes, "where" is more important, no? lots of religious people believe that if you kill yourself, you don't go to heaven (or its equivalent), even if you would have if you'd just died. wouldn't that be the same in this the discovery world?

i feel like there may be a slight increase in suicides, but not that many more. the biggest change would be more religious people. and that the religious would be more religious.

another interesting idea is that murder may become more prevalent. because you're not ending their life, you're just... transferring them elsewhere. this makes a lot more sense to me. i think mercy killings would spike like a mofo. not sure about regular murder though, because it's not as if people who would but don't currently commit murder only don't do it because they're worried the victim has no afterlife. plus, there would still be legal consequences to murder. there would probably be more murder, but only a small increase. 

in case you cared: the movie plot summary

"chinese" clothing

the adidas tang jacket has gone viral: article with pictures

personally, I think it's super cute and would totally wear one. tho i recently saw this short tiktok video saying there is some controversy about the jacket among Chinese people.  

that led me to a much longer video deep diving into the history of this style.  

tl;dr: this style of jacket with a mandarin collar and frog closure is taken from the Manchu peoples, which some Han Chinese do not like since they blame the Manchu for the Century of Humiliation. Also, these Han Chinese also don't prefer this style to be representative of Chinese clothing since it has a much shorter history within the country.

 

lack of goodwill

people suck. they really do. i've been saying this for a long time but like, what are some people even doing?

few stories, mostly rants.

1. how are you living your life that you think all your coworkers and bosses are either incompetent or racist?
like, i don't care if everyone likes me, but i do try to be a likeable coworker because that shit's important. i may have a question, need help, need covering, whatever. and also cause i spend 40 hours a week with my coworkers, which is a lot of time, and i want to be able to enjoy that time. 

2. how are you living your life that you think your next door neighbors hold you (a frail 70 year old lady who rarely has guests over) responsible for their house robbery and installed cameras pointed at your house after the break-in?
either way, if you're right that your neighbors do think that, or if you're wrong and you neighbors don't actually think that, how are you living your life?
i generally try to get to know my neighbors and be kind (take their packages and trashcans in) because that shit is also important! i want them to want to call me if they see something/someone suspicious at my place. i also want to bring in my packages and trashcans if they get to them first. like... how can you not trust the people you directly live next to? i want my home, my safe space, to extend outside the actual physical walls of my home, you know?

3. how are you living your life that you can't be bothered to read or follow any instructions for things you want that are free?
i had some new medical stuff to give away on buy nothing. i'm only in town a few hours each week so in my post, i provide that time frame and ask that people comment with when they could come. many people did not comment with time of proposed pick-up. i ignored those comments, and someone actually dm-ed me without my asking them to first (which is against the buy nothing group rules). like UGH. you can't be bothered to read my post NOR follow group rules?

4. how are you living your life that you're such a fucking flake?
you didn't have to have a full on conversation with me about what you wanted and when and where we could meet then suddenly do a no call / no show. like... just let me know you changed your mind? 
for a few things, rather than have to match up schedules, i've literally just set them outside, provided my address, and told the person to come at their convenience. and STILL i've  had people flake! like.. what the fuck is the point of you?! is this a new way of trolling people? like... i'm giving things away for free, go troll someone selling something for way more than it ought to be?

3 and 4 are basically the same in that people are so fucking disrespectful of other people's time and energy. like. jesus, i wanted to give away the stuff for free since they can be necessary objects, can be expensive for some people, and i got them for free but like after so much fucking run around i really wanted to sell them just to make up for some of my lost time! (it's medical stuff [commodes, walkers, etc] so goodwill / savers won't take them, at least, not the ones i went to and talked to the workers about?)

january 2026 donation

this month's news has been taken over by all the bullshit going on in minnesota, but we should not forget that ICE is still here in la too. so this month i donated to the los angeles neighbor's support fund organized by the california community foundation. 

also want to help those in la affected by ice? here's a list of different orgs you can you donate to, or go find a different org that speaks to you!

speaking of, why did i donate specifically to this org rather than one of the many others doing similar work? because the california community foundation does a lot of really great work in la. it's sort of like a non-profit for non-profits. they provide resources and grants for la based non-profits. local cities also work with them, so i feel pretty good about my donation going towards whatever they say it's going to go to.

2025 donation list

my giving list for 2025 is like last year's, in that it reflects some of the places we've lived this year. i've skipped a couple because my finances aren't looking so great (nearly $2k hospital bill was not helpful, plus taxes, and so many flights!), but I may go back and donate regardless.

january - prisoners literature project
february - pbs
march -  soft paw vintage
april - various national parks in hawaii
may - npr
june - molokai heritage trust
july - 
august - 
september / october - algalita and moore institute thru long beach gives
november - ywca south florida
december - east jesus

2024 donation list

2023 donation list

2022 donation list

2021 donation list

2020 donation list

mini chocolate basque cheesecakes

basque cheesecake: Basque Cheesecake (with crust!)

chocolate versions - Chocolate Basque Cheesecake, Chocolate Basque Burnt Cheesecake, and Chocolate Basque Cheesecake

oreo crust - 18 regular oreos, scant 4 tsp butter

cheesecake (ingredients mostly from the first cbc link from Catherine Zhang)
16 oz (450 g or two bricks) cream cheese, room temperature
200g (7 oz) dark chocolate, 65-70%.
    if regular chocolate, can add bit sugar
    melt at 20 second intervals in microwave
1/2 cup (100 g) white sugar
1 tbsp (7 g) cocoa powder (can add 1/2 tsp extra if non dutch processed)
1 tsp instant coffee (pretty much 1 packet of the travel size ones)
1/4 tsp salt
3 large eggs, room temperature
240ml (1 cup) heavy cream

using a cupcake tin and liners, you'll make about 20 mini cheesecakes with the full cheesecake recipe.

like with the actual recipe, you don't need to pre-bake the crusts, just put into fridge while you prep the cheesecake. 

fill cupcake liners pretty near the top. they will rise a little, but not nearly as much as the full sized cake does. 

you can preheat the oven 25 degrees higher, then just before you put them in, drop it by 25 degrees.

december 2025 donation

j's current work contract is in la. we've been here for about two months now, but took our first trip away, to palm springs! j's brother was there for a work training and had a room, so we stayed with him for a night. palm springs was / is okay, but i was really excited for the "new" desert x art installations at the salton sea, and especially for east jesus!, which i've never actually been to. last time we tried, it was during the pandemic and the residents there weren't allowing visitors.

east jesus is actually a lot more... organized than i thought? i thought it was just a subsection of slab city, which it is? but it's actually quite a bit more than that. anyway. i'm not interested in explaining it, but if you're interested, you can read about it on their website. 

anyway, so i donated my usual $25 via venmo to their cause because weird desert art is one of my favorite things :)

pavlova recipe

the pot de creme uses only egg yolks, so what to do with the whites? make pavlovas with whipped cream and macerated berries! personal sized ones are especially fun :) 

recipes: pavlova and mini pavlovas

i had doubled the pot de creme recipes (and got 9 of those), so had 4 leftover egg whites. i made 12 pavlovas (on two baking sheets), but they were very fragile. maybe make them a little taller (so thicker) and less wide? it was a bit hard to make a little depression in each (to better hold the whipped cream and berries). also, possibly make 13, or one more than you want in total, in order to test the texture.

recipe: macerated fruit 

macerated berries "recipe": berries, lemon or lime juice, and sugar. marinate!, cover, and fridge. longer means more wet. can also use flavored liqueur and/or herbs.

these are quite a bit of fun, with nice presentation, but once you add the whipped cream, they get soft pretty so you'll want to serve pretty quickly. in other words, maybe not the best choice for potlucks. 

chocolate pot de creme

recipes: easy pot de creme, blender pot de creme, and pot de cremes

6oz dark chocolate
2 tbsp sugar
1/4 tsp salt
half packet of travel instant coffee packet (1/2 tsp?)
2 egg yolks
1 cup heavy cream
1 tsp vanilla extract 

be sure to not overcook the wet stuff in the pot of the whole thing will be more dense. if you add more chocolate, probably add more heavy cream. this will make about 4-5 of the costco tiramisu cups worth. since you refridge them before serving, they'll have little condensation drops on top, so def leave space on top for whipped cream and some berries.

you'll also want to serve these closer to room temp so they won't be too cold. plus a little warmer makes for a better texture too.

basque cheesecakes

i'm publishing these on my blog cause i tend combine recipes and forget how / what i did. and since i'm generally baking the same thing many many months (if not years) apart, i'm finally taking notes!

basque cheesecake: Basque Cheesecake (with crust!)

chocolate versions - Chocolate Basque Cheesecake, Chocolate Basque Burnt Cheesecake, and Chocolate Basque Cheesecake

oreo crust - 14 regular oreos, 3 tsp butter

cheesecake (ingredients mostly from the first cbc link from Catherine Zhang)
16 oz (450 g) cream cheese, room temperature
200g (7 oz) dark chocolate, 65-70%.
    if regular chocolate, can add bit less sugar
    melt at 20 second intervals in microwave
1/2 cup (100 g) white sugar
1 tbsp (7 g) cocoa powder (can add 1/2 tsp extra if non dutch processed)
1 tsp instant coffee (pretty much 1 packet of the travel size ones)
1/4 tsp salt
3 large eggs, room temperature
240ml (1 cup) heavy cream

no need to pre-bake crust. just make, cover, fridge while you make the cheesecake batter

depending on how high you fill the cake pan, you'll end up with 1 or 2 standard cupcake liners extra, can fill with cheesecake insides, put in little ramekin, and bake with cheesecake for <10 minutes

november 2025 donation

 

this month i gave to a bestie's non-profit: the ywca of south florida!