Is it about time for me to know more about the surrounding area where I have resided for more than 5 years? For a very good while, my resistance of enjoying where I live had became very ridiculous; I have never tried a cup of coffee at the Bulldog Café across the street and never figured out what band occasionally performing over there on some holidays and Sundays. What is with me? Maybe, living oversea has already made me a distant, isolated and careless person.
The Broadway of downtown Oakland in California actually has its own charm. I remember there were some production crew filming around the corner of 19th Street and Broadway including Will Smith's film; my husband and I saw Will Smith was in our neighborhood filming probably three years ago but had no clue which film it could be. Despite of my fears of walking around by myself after sundown, there must be a lot to be learned about downtown Oakland. Why don’t I start with appreciating live Jazz music from Bulldog Café? I videotaped a live performance at our block on July 4th Wednesday afternoon and uploaded on YouTube. Unfortunately, I don’t know the band's name.
The following is a brief introduction of Bulldog Café:
Bulldog Cafe: Coffee and heavy metal never went so well together as they do at Bulldog Cafe. Occasionally, it's heavy opera. Originally a mainstay of what was known as Oaksterdam (a cluster of spots where medicinal marijuana could be obtained), now it's just fine for a hot cup of espresso or a nice cool Italian soda to rev you up for your tour of downtown Oakland. Sidewalk tables make it easy to watch this corner of the world go by. 1739 Broadway.
This is my first birthday on Opera and I would like to celebrate it with the above birthday song in hillbilly style.(Oh, no, did I just mention hillbilly? Someone is shutting: It is not funny!! You should not use that word. It's my birthday, man.)
I am already 37 years old and have all of things a regular human being needs to survive with. No desire for 37 candles on a cake or any material stuff. Not too fat; no need to wish getting skinner. My unrealistic wishes for my birthday are the following:
1. No dirty laundry and dumping garbage chore for a week or so.
2. Having a nice and clean working environment at home without me cleaning up for an entire week.
3. No dish washing business going on for an entire week.
Have I asked too much?
Happy birthday to me no matter my wishes will come true or not.
07.24.07 2:00 P.M. It's the LAUNDRY day of week AGAIN; I hate repeating my frustration of cleaning dirty clothes in a public laundry room, but it is not just some work you could quit and say "never see you again". Please do kindly pay a little respect to your spouse (could be husbands but not wives, lucky you, ladies!) who actually doesn't enjoy all chores of housekeeping but have no options to refuse doing so. I have no dreams in my life at all except being healthy, having a set of washer & dryer and a dishwasher. Well, I am done with my complaints and have to do "our" laundry now.
Oh, my lord. I don't know what is with me. Finally, I am back and changed the banner I have always planned. As you can tell, I am supposed to be a fan of South Park. This popular cartoon is irritating enough to be loved. The most irritating character is Eric Cartman, a fat kid who is so far away from being cute but only interested in adults' realities. The more Cartman pisses people off, the more I like his character. He reflects those sour, evil, stingy, selfish and jealous nature of all people surrounding us, including ourselves. That is the reason I am worshiping him with my banner. No, just kidding.
Below picture is from South Park, and I didn't ask for a permission to put on my blog. Should I ask for a permission? Where should I ask from? The cartoon production company or Comedy Central? In April 2007, a poor Taiwanese college student was sentenced 5 months or fine NT$150,000 (about US$4,500) for uploading lots of popular songs on his blog. I don't think the sentence is fair; there are many people acting the same but got away with it. This scares me. Think about it. A lot of people just want to share or simply put what we are listening and viewing onto our web journals but not for any commercial use at all. Maybe, we just have to record our own songs, write our own lyrics, illustrate our own pictures, and videotape our lives for our own blogs... Yes, we shouldn't share some things that don't belong to us. Protect Copyrights!? I don't know how much I can control myself from sharing things don't belong to me... I just don't know... how to live in this extreme capitalist world.
The side2a I am recording now is a speech. I will keep transfer another 2 tracks, unless you don't want me to. I will go to Chinatown around 4:00 pm or so and check the mail box on my way home. Anything particular?
He replied:
nice…since we have basil, get some tomatoes, limes, and brown sugar, pad kee maowowowow style. love you.
This is what I learn from my love. He is showing me it is important to appreciate each other whenever we can. Simple but important.
Yesterday, it took me a 40 minutes walk to a nearest Saveway in Piedmont and another 45 minutes back home (heavy grocery got me slower). Working at home and being a housewife give me time to do this sort of things. Actually, I don’t like to walk around in the neighborhood. There is a good chance to encounter my ex-ex-ex-coworkers near by. My obsession with Saveway yogurt always beats the fear of meeting those co-workers I don’t like much, so I went.
After arranging 16 cups of yogurt, two bags of tortillas, veggie meats… other stuff in my back bag, I was exhausted. “It is already past 1:00 pm. No ex-coworkers would be around.” There were four ladies smiling at me across the street while I thought out loud “not possible” to myself. Of course, the necessary and awkward greetings bounced back and forth. “Don’t you have to go back to work?” I finished it quickly and run. Run, yep. Literally, run regardless those heavy cups of yogurt on my back.
After this incident, I decide to re-schedule my yogurt hunting time. Not around 11:00 am to 2:00 pm. Anyway, for full refrigerator of healthy and 50-cent-a-cup yogurt, it is worth to take a risk.
I have been silly since a lot “technical” blogs impress me too much. After participating groups and forums a little, there are also a bunch of blogs being personal and fun to read.
Well, I am still going to keep myself educated in many technical ways. However, the idea of writing what I feel like sets me free.
Here, it is a small corner of our bathroom. Do you see a pinkish flower? I don’t know what kind of plant this is though. They were picked from my parents-in-law’s plant in soil two months ago. I thought it would grow in the water because of those tinny nodes on stalks. Apparently, it does! This kind of joy would keep me happy a whole day long. Simple, isn’t it?
Gosh!! This is a kind of surreal mistake I have made. After viewing several blogs in Opera Community, I am not surprised how many IT and computer experts out there but completely shocked why I end up here mumbling nonsense. Maybe, I should use my housewife time to learn how to become a computer person. Maybe, I will if I stay with this blog long enough.
More or less, we all have bias on different issues. Better people have less; arrogant ones have more. It is very understandable to be judged by my English accent. I am not happy with my accent but seem to have no way to drop it. Sometimes, my English accent becomes a very convenient excuse of stopping me from improving my English. Listen to myself: “People don’t listen to me because I have an accent.” I know. It is not true. The true is I have nothing important to say; the true is I cannot convey what I would like to express with appropriate grammar and pronunciations. The greatest obstacle is my mind but not my accent.
Jacky Chen , Jet Li and Chow Yun Fat speak English with heavy accents. Yoko Ono, John Lennon’s wife, she has a heavy Japanese accent too. Even Ang Lee’s English is with a little accent. Not to mention, a lot of US scientists speak all sort of different accents. Why doesn’t any one pick on their accents? The reason cannot be more precise. They have remarkable talents and outstanding professions. Since I don’t have any particular professions to offer in English speaking world, of course my accent is a forever problem.
It is about time to stop being petty. In this life, I might not be able to gain any talents and skills to let people ignore my accent, but I certainly can improve my way to speak English. At least, using better grammar and tenses could be arranged.
(0%)
WIDGETIZE