quotations

the other day i was reading thru my posts tagged "quotations" and i was surprised at how many good ones i'd completely forgotten about! i also stopped posting them on this site and will start up again. :)

from alan richman - fork it over: the intrepid adventures of a professional eater

"you should not look for the spots of the sun but the light that it gives."

"nobody is more close-minded than me when it comes to vegetarian cuisine, regardless of whether it's vegan, macrobiotic, or vegetarian... i find vegetarian restaurants both smug and culinary unsuccessful. still, i have always been inclined to allow vegetarians to go about their business without interference from me. but i don't feel quite the same about vegans. what infuriates me about them is their self-righteousness, their insistence that we miscreants give up our enjoyment of food and eat what the eat."

omg, the last one. t keeps telling me i'm a picky eater. and yeah, i'm the first one to admit it. but isn't she also? she doesn't eat a few things she doesn't like (goat cheese, blue cheese, lamb) but she doesn't eat tons of things because they're "unhealthy", like cow milk, especially not whole milk. it's just so annoying because i'm not pretentious about my dietary habits but she totally is. ugh! you're not better than me just because you eat healthy. we just value different things. oh, right, and i'm not an ass.

potter's wheel

crossing "use a potter's wheel" off my bucket list!

earlier this year we got a groupon for a two hour class to clay on first, a pottery studio in long beach. i went on sat oct 26th with t and some of her friends. it was both harder and easier than i thought it would be. turns out using a potter's wheel takes a lot of arm strength to do correctly and quickly.

we each got four lumps of clay with which to make four things. the instructor walked us thru the first one and was there to help with the rest. i wish we had more time tho since we really only had enough time to make 2.5 correctly. we all ended up rushing the last two. i came away with one misshapen thing, one complete bust, a cup, and a squat little vase thing. you can buy your creations for $5 a piece and they'll fire and glaze them for you in the color you choose. i bought my vase thing and i'll update this post with pictures later. i do kind of wish i'd bought my cup as well, but it was pretty easy to make so i'd probably be able to recreate it next time (if there is a next time).

some of our creations. tallish cup in the upper left corner is mine

overall i had fun and i'm really glad that it lived up to my expectations. :) if i have the chance to do it again i probably will.

launch streak

 

september 11th's astronomy picture of the day!

u.s. and china

i'm reading a book right now about the great famine in china. and it got me to thinking about the differences between the american and chinese zeitgeist. the chinese govt (as it stands) could never shut down because the chinese are into collectivism whereas americans believe very strongly in individualism and therefore a govt shutdown is seen as a viable choice.

even outside of our political systems, our cultures tends towards these philosophies (and thus we "chose" our form of government).

lifestyle: independent vs dependent

there is no shame in lack of cooporation in america. if you know the other guy is wrong, you should stand your ground no matter what. forget that you may not have facts to back you up [creationism] or that this really isn't a right or wrong situation anyway [gay marriage], or none of your business [abortion], you shouldn't give in to the other side when you know you're right.

the boss

the chinese, on the other hand, don't really believe in that. they tend not to challenge the opposition [you have to respect your elders]. you shouldn't try to convince the other person that they're wrong. you should just agree with them and then do your own thing [probably why bribery, corruption, and cheating are bigger problems there than here].

problem solving

on a kind of separate topic. i never realized how much the chinese culture changed because of the great famine (and i assume the cultural revolution, etc). i know very little about chinese history. it's mostly what we learned in school (so, basically, nothing) and a few random things i picked up. this book, while not a total surprise, has certainly educated me about china and maybe why it is the way it is today. it's a good read, tho definitely hard to stomach at times (the author writes that 45million people died within the four years of the famine). i want to eventually read more about the cultural revolution and communist takeover in china. it's interesting to me, not only because i'm chinese and go to china every once in a while, but also because china seems like such a weird place sometimes. with the occasional news articles about the country, it's hard not to think of them as barbaric at times (milk scandal, smog, heartlessness, pollution...) [not to say that america is any better. we have really ridiculous and crazy shit going on here too], which is a bit hard for me to understand considering all the amazing wonderful civilized things from before.

infographics are by yang liu and in a series titled east vs west

andes ice forest

 

september 7th's astronomy picture of the day!

what's mine?

rip recently "confessed" to me something that he's been holding in for years: something happened to a friend of his. i'm not going to reveal it here, cause, well, it aint none of our business. i don't really care that he kept quiet about it for so long.* it happened to his friend and has nothing at all to do with him, and certainly not with me. but rip feels that his friend's stories are his. things that happen to your friends happen to you. and i definitely agree with him. but not completely. marriage, unmarriage, children, unchilden, cheating, jail, funny and scary stories generally become my stories once my friend tells me about them. but a few things, you probably shouldn't share with your significant other.

occasionally a friend will tell you something deeply personal. and it's because they trust you. they're trusting you with their shame or trauma or soul, not just their story. and it doesn't become your story. and even if it did, it's certainly not your story to share. it's just something you keep in your heart to help you understand your friend, and to maybe help them later if it somehow comes up.

at some point your friends understand, tho it's unspoken, that you will tell your significant other most of the things they tell you. but... everything? i'm uncomfortable with that. i'm telling my bestie something because i've known her for years and we love each other unconditionally and as much as she may be judging me, she will always have my back. her husband? not so much. not to say that i haven't told my married girlfriends things anyway. i would just hope she doesn't tell her significant other everything. but i also trust her judgement enough to not question what she does or does not disclose to him. so long as he doesn't throw things back in my face or tell other people my secrets. ..but i'm getting off topic a bit now.

anyway. what about you? do you tell your significant other everything? why or why not?

* the only reason it does kind of bother me he didn't tell me so many years ago is his reason for not telling me. cause i totally disagree. he thought it would make me feel differently about him. which i'm nearly positive it wouldn't have.