Wednesday, August 16, 2023

Yuki Cat, 2007–2023

Work-in-progress as we collect memories

Born: April, 2007

Died: August 13, 2023 (aged 16 years, 3 months; approximately 84 cat years) 

Characteristics:

  • Favorite toys: ring ball track (would mostly nuzzle), tennis ball--would extend legs and kick at it against a pillow, three-inch ring hair ties, wand toys, ribbon, 
  • Eyes: Blueish-green, looked like a cool green (teal), but one vet thought they were blueish
  • Parents:
    • Unknown
    • Was very socialized, not feral
    • Possibly abandoned/lost, and search was unsuccessful 
  • Personality:
    • Gentle spirit
    • Snuggler
  • Liked: meats (chicken, ham, turkey), cat treats, his cat arch, fleece blankets, 
  • Disliked: fruits
  • Memories:
    • Splashing his paws in bath water (with or without bubbles) as though digging 
    • Mur'ing repeatedly as he ran upstairs (and may down the stairs too?) Mur mur mur mur, in sort of a sing-song ascending tone
    • Slightly splayed arms to the sides and straight when we carried him, as though he was trying to stabilize himself (when he was younger, maybe when older)
    • Sometimes, after jumping up to a perch, he chirped as he completed the jump
    • Sitting in laundry basket fort
    • Making the bed: He would duck under sheets as we casted/spread them across the bed, staying under or burrowing around until we coaxed him out
    • Ciabatta roll: as a kitten, he got a Costco ciabatta roll out of its package on a shelf and trotted around with it in his mouth
    • His focused attention and energy when something of interest (usually a treat) came into view
    • Rolling on concrete to scritch his back
    • Chomping on grasses
    • Clambering six feet up trunk of tree, then stopping in a splayed position, assessing, and coming back down
    • Loved certain things with strong odors or textures: sweat-stained straw hat, used blood donation bandage, wool sweaters, sweaty hiking boots
    • Work interruptions: sat on notebooks, laptops, desk mats, etc., to get attention from his humans
    • Sitting in the interior of our IKEA MALM storage bed when we would open it
    • Stretching out fully into long cat
    • Nuzzling things
    • Nestling under the curtain of Dawn's long hair
    • Resting his chin on things 
    • Sitting in a sunbeam on the stairs
    • Eating cat kibble directly from the storage tub after climbing inside
    • Covering him with a large blue IKEA bag, then tossing a crinkle toy on top, which he would bat from within the bag; repeated this many times which was very fun
  • Nicknames: Buddy, panda bear, cow, Yukminster Fuller, Boookmonster Fuller, sweetie bean, vanilla bean, little lamb-y, chirpy bird, snuggle bug, Yuki-boook/Yuki book-y, Yucatan peninsula, overlord, Crouts (when he reminds us of Crouton the cow at the SquirrelWood Equine Sanctuary), long cat

Tuesday, July 18, 2023

Radio Songs

Via KALX, 90.7 FM, out of Berkeley, California:

  • Douala, French Cameroon-born saxophonist and songwriter Manu Dibango's "New Bell", from his 1972 album Soul Makossa on the Atlantic Records (US) label. Audio πŸŽΆ 🎷

Monday, June 12, 2023

Makers Market at Santana Row (2023-06-10)

Got coffees at Blue Bottle at Santana Row in San Jose.

Wandered through the outdoor Makers Market and noted these vendors:
  • Malisa Suchanya (Oakland, California)
  • Kindred Caramels (purchased Espresso caramels; multiple locations though our bag indicates based out of Campbell, California)
  • CutiePop! (Met Sam Imholte and purchased bubble with slip of original artwork--got the llama in party mode with sunglasses πŸ™‚)
  • Crochet From J (Met Justine; purchased a crotched, heart-shaped succulent)
  • Krafttee (Sunnyvale, California)

Wednesday, June 07, 2023

Dipsea Trail part two

On Thursday June 1 we hiked the Dipsea Trail. We started in Mill Valley. We last hiked it in June 2010. Things that went better this time: hiking gear, weekday (less traffic), weather was cooler. Overall a lovely time. Calf muscles took a few days to recover. We stopped several times along the way to rest. California Conservation Corps personnel were maintaining vegetation and replacing steps. We stopped at Muir Woods for lunch of hummus sandwiches, fruit, and a brownie. A pair of chipmunks scampered about looking for crumbs. Dawn purchased a lightweight, light green, long sleeved shirt. Visited the Cathedral Grove. They returned to a natural state the trail where I proposed ❤️ At Stinson Beach we got ice cream and a smoothie, then relaxed on the beach. A man left a bundle of roses in the surf. One boy asked me if I knew how to do the rainbow soccer ball trick after I helped return their ball, but regrettably I didn't (turns out it's something of a trick maneuver to gain a positional advantage). We caught the shuttle back at about 4 p.m. The driver groaned when we mentioned the Dipsea Race coming up the next weekend, but was super helpful in letting us off at the top of the Dipsea stairs above Mill Valley, saving us a lot of time in returning to Old Mill Park. He also didn't charge the $2/person fee for any passengers ☺️ Counting the 1+ mile descent, we really ended up doing slightly more than a "single Dipsea" (1.15x Dip?), but far short of a double Dip, or even a Quad Dip reported by one ultra runner (28+ miles). This trail is ranked Difficult, mostly due to ~2,000 feet elevation gains. The SF Bay was a bit foggy so not as clear as last time, but the cool air was welcomed. We retired to the Mountain Home Inn afterward for the first time to clean up and celebrate. 

Saturday, April 29, 2023

39th Annual Cupertino Cherry Blossom Festival (2023-04-29)

bao by andrea - Cupertino Cherry Blossom Festival, Memorial Park, 4/29-4/30 2023


Arrived around noon. Parked at De Anza lot for free. Petted a few Shiba Inu dogs and admired a number of Akita dogs.

Purchased a few food items:

  • 1 x Combo 5 pieces regular takoyaki and 5 pieces kimchi takoyaki (Takoyaki Yamachan)
  • 1 x Spam musubi (Boy Scouts Troop 87)
  • 1 x Coffee Milk Tea w/honey boba, and 1 x Amor Classic Milk Tea with honey boba and Strawberry Popping Boba (Amor Cafe and Tea)
Vendors:

Sunday, April 16, 2023

56th Northern California Cherry Blossom Festival (2023-04-16, San Francisco)

Parked near Larkin & Sutter. Crostini & Java for breakfast: French Lavender Latte, 16-ounce black House coffee, and avocado toast (whole wheat, avocado, honey vinaigrette). Wind was a bit brisk and cool enough I decided to bring my wool gloves, but it warmed up enough to not need them. Mostly clear blue skies--a beautiful day.

Watched the Grand Parade of the 56th annual Northern California Cherry Blossom Festival in San Francisco from in front of The Carlisle at 1450 Post Street. 

Young students from the Rosa Parks Elementary School Japanese Bilingual Bicultural Program (JBBP) played and waited with chaperones. Later, they joined the parade when the older students passed.

The Daihatsu HiJet Fire Engine (also known as Kiri the Japanese Fire Truck, aka teenytinyfiretruck) played music and drove past us. We heard the "San Francisco Godzilla Alert" The alert: "This is San Francisco self-defense fire brigade. There have been confirmed Godzilla sightings in the city. For your safey and the safety of others, please leave Godzilla alone. Thank you πŸ¦–" (note: it is preceded by electronic tones and the same message in Japanese).

Other notable parade participants:

  • Scouts carrying large and small Daruma doll floats (looked like papier-mΓ’chΓ©)--they spun and tilted them successfully
  • Shiba Inu Fanciers of Northern California (SFNC)
  • Cosplay
  • Musicians (varied)
  • Swordsmanship demonstrations
After what looked like the final float, we walked to Webster Street for event food. A few vendors had sold out, so we failed to get another bag of Sakura popcorn from the Rosa Parks Elementary School vendor stall. It was very crowded. While waiting by the beer tent, San Francisco Taru Mikoshi Ren carried their Mikoshi, or portable Shinto shrine, past us. 🌟 

The parade ended, event staff hastily re-opened the streets and attendees thronged the vendors. Unlike the previous weekend, it was very competitive to find food options. We managed to get a complimentary Pocari Sweat. 

Escaped the crush of people onto Sutter Avenue and re-entered the festival on Buchanan Street. Unlike previous years, no vendor stalls in place (same as last weekend). 

Finding food options on Buchanan Street and the Japan Center mall no less crowded, we decided to make an early exit and head home.  

Saturday, April 15, 2023

Japantown San Jose Walk 2023-04-15

Walked through and around Japantown San Jose. 

Dropped off carload of electronic waste at the San Jose Buddhist Church Education Building parking lot. Drove up, opened car doors and Boy Scouts from Troop 611 San Jose Betsuin unloaded the boxes and carried them to the nearby A&J Electronics Recycling E-Waste collection area, where staff palletized, wrapped, and loaded it onto a panel truck.

Japantown San Jose:

  • Roy's Station Coffee & Teas: Iced latte and hot drip coffee, fruit galette, mushroom empanada, and two spam musubi
  • Kogura Company: Two boxes of Girl Scout cookies (1 x Thin Mints, 1 x Adventurefuls)
  • Moment Japantown: Bought Super Fluffy Red Panda Large plush
  • Zonkey Toys: Looked around for the first time; great selection of plants and curated toys
  • Nikkei Traditions: Looked around and admired the spam musubi time savers, movies, etc.
  • Classic Loot: Looked around only

Ended our adventure over at Strawberry Park Shopping Center: 

  • Clover Bakery & Cafe: Deep-fried yakisoba pan, deep-fried piroshki with ground beef, and two onigiri (1 x bonito flakes, 1 x kimchi)
  • Mochi-ya Ren: Matcha Soft Serve cup, Strawberry Panna Cotta
  • Mitsuwa Marketplace grocery store: Walked around

Sunday, April 09, 2023

56th Northern California Cherry Blossom Festival (2023, San Francisco)

We arrived a bit past noon. Watched taiko drumming on the main stage. Bought a purple 2023 festival tee shirt. Ate street vendor fare: "soko"-yaki (takoyaki style balls but with beef instead of octopus); imagawayaki pastry; spam musubi; Sakura popcorn; and Sapporo sake.

Purchased a few bags of goods:
  • Nippon-Ya: Harajuku mochi chocolate, seasonal strawberry Ichigo mochi, cherry flavored mochi Sakura dango, and green tea sponge cake
  • Daikoku by Shiki: Replacement bowl and plate
  • Misaky Tokyo vendor table: Sakura flower crystal sweet treat Japanese delicacy (seaweed but tastes like chewy rock candy 🀩)
  • Kinokuniya San Francisco: book "The Art of the Wind Rises" by Hayao Miyazaki, and a GUND Pusheen Breakfast Surprise Plush Series #19, 3” (we got "Cereal")
Also bought Injeolmi Croissant, iced matcha latte, and iced yuja tea from Jina Bakes Bakery Cafe. While eating the injeolmi croissant, I laughed and blew roasted soy bean powder all over us πŸ™ƒ Thankfully Dawn was relatively nonplussed.

Walked upstairs to NEW PEOPLE 2nd floor late in the day. The 1st floor was still a tea shop but the store at the landing was shuttered. 


This weekend, the vendor stalls we usually saw next to Soko Hardware were missing. This was the first year we visited on the first weekend of festivities, so maybe next weekend more will appear (?) 

While transitioning, we watched the 2023 Queen and Court procession as they posed for a photo with a sponsor of the event. 

The Daihatsu HiJet Fire Engine (also known as Kiri the Japanese Fire Truck, aka teenytinyfiretruck) played music and drove past us while we ate our spam musubi and imagawayaki. 😎 πŸš’ 🎡

Overall a pleasant event day!

Vendors we liked:

Friday, January 13, 2023

Books List - 2023

 Ordered by most recently listened to, first.


Audiobooks 

  1. Queued:
    1. All Systems Red (The Murderbot Diaries) (2017) - Martha Wells
    2. Bittersweet: How Sorrow and Longing Make Us Whole (2022) - Susan Cain
    3. Conundrum (1974) - Jan Morris
    4. Atomic Habits (2018) - James Clear
    5. Come As You Are - Emily Nagasaki
    6. Sure, I'll Join Your Cult: A Memoir of Mental Illness and the Quest to Belong Anywhere (2023) - Maria Bamford
    7. Angela Davis: An Autobiography (1974) - Angela Davis
    8. Making It So: A Memoir (2023) - Patrick Stewart
  2. Finding Me (2022) - Viola Davis
  3. The Light We Carry: Overcoming in Uncertain Times (2022) - Michelle Obama
  4. The Princess Diarist (2016) - Carrie Fisher
    1. This was the 2nd time listening (first listen was in 2017)
    2. We still miss you Carrie
  5. Cry of the Kalihari (2019) - Delia & Mark Owens
  6. Bad Feminist (2014) - Roxane Gay
  7. Meaty (2018) - Samantha Irby
  8. Wow, No Thank You.: Essays (2020) - Samantha Irby
  9. Quietly Hostile (2023) - Samantha Irby
  10. We Are Never Meeting in Real Life (2017)  - Samantha Irby
  11. The Late Americans (2023) - Brandon Taylor
  12. The Menopause Manifesto: Own Your Health with Facts and Feminism (2021) - Dr. Jen Gunter
    1. DASH Diet
    2. High fiber cereals: Kashi Go Original cereal, Kellogg's All Bran, and Post Foods Uncle Sam
  13. The Mimicking of Known Successes (2023) - Malka Older
  14. This Is All Your Fault (2020) - Aminah Mae Safi, with narration by Kyla Garcia
    1. Light summer fare
    2. Jo pockets a gun to later return, but we never hear about it again πŸ€” Violation (intentional?) of Chekhov's gun?
    3. Someone mentioned this seems similar to movie Empire Records
  15. Africatown: America's Last Slave Ship and the Community It Created (2023) - Nick Tabor
    1. "Promises are like pie crust...made to be broken"
  16. Resistance: A Songwriter's Story of Hope, Change, and Courage (2020) - Tori Amos
  17. Calypso (2018) - David Sedaris
    1. KAPITAL clothing (Japan)
  18. Happy-Go-Lucky (2022) - David Sedaris
    1. Two candles worth buying: 1) Cire Trudon, and 2) Diptyque 
  19. From Cradle to Stage: Stories from the Mothers Who Rocked and Raised Rock Stars (2017) - Virginia Hanlon Grohl
  20. Victory City (2023) - Salman Rushdie
    1. Deeply impressed by its breadth and depth
    2. Pampa Kampana
  21. The World's Worst Assistant (2022) - Sona Movsesian
    1. Pochacco (ポチャッコ, Pochakko) represents Sona's favorite Sanrio character
  22. Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret (1970) - Judy Blume
  23. Crying in H Mart: A Memoir (2021) - Michelle Zauner
    1. The "H" in "H Mart" stands for Han Ah Reum (ν•œμ•„λ¦„), a Korean phrase meaning "one arm full of groceries". This phrase translates more literally to "spreading both arms to cover" or "armful". (via: Wikipedia)
    2. Grandmother's last words to her: "You used to be such a chickenshit," she said. "You never let me wipe your asshole." (note, previously in the text: "But I was chiefly afraid of one particular weapon she proudly brandished--the ddongchim. Ddongchim literally means poop needle. It involves clasping your hands in the shape of a gun, index fingers pressed together to create a needle used to penetrate an unsuspecting anus. As horrifying as it sounds, it's a common cultural thing, something akin to a Korean wedgie and not some unique form of sexual assault. Nevertheless, it scared the shit out of me.")
    3. Mother's last word: "Pain"'
    4. Korean beauty standards: Double eyelid, small face
    5. Pronunciation of Willamette (wil-AM-it)
    6. Descriptions of food and reference to Maangchi)
  24. Spare (2023) - Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex
    1. "Wales" nickname
  25. Room to Dream (2018) - David Lynch and Kristine McKenna 
    1. "David likes dead plants"
    2. "And Dave...I am blessed with good reception" - Paul, an elderly cashier Lynch loved at a drugstore coffee shop on Cherry Street
    3. Ate lots of grilled cheese or egg salad sandwich or tuna salad sandwiches
    4. Wore three neckties
    5. Favorite wine: Chateau Lynch-Bages
    6. Sparky the dog
    7. Called Kyle MacLachlan "Kale"
    8. Jenny Lynch: "...the thing he does with his lip when he's talking out loud...."
    9. Three subjects triggered him to speak uncharacteristically passionately: 1) Tree deforestation (angry, swearing); 2) High School (angry, swearing); Transcendental Meditation (proselytizing, earnest). First two: jarring; snaps from mellow reminiscing to intense. Third was fine, just awkward.
  26. The Storyteller: Tales of Life and Music (2021) - Dave Grohl
    1. Champagne & KFC post-show 
    2. "...[Y]ou are only as happy as your unhappiest child"
    3. "To really see America...drive it mile by mile"
    4. Coincidences chained together to give Grohl an arc into rock and roll stardom...he was willing and able to take all of them as they happened (to be fair, living in strangers houses on a $10/day per diem) 
  27. Filthy Animals (2022) - Brandon Taylor
    1. Madison, Wisconsin stories
    2. Well crafted interactions
Using the Libby app (via Overdrive).

E-Books

  1. Gender Queer: A Memoir (2019) - Maia Kobabe
  2. A Fish Has No Word For Water: A punk homeless San Francisco memoir (2022) - Violet Blue
    1. "I came to learn that people show you who they really are when they believe they can behave without consequence"
    2. Blue Front Cafe
    3. "At that moment, I thought that trauma only exposes who you have always been"
    4. "... religion radically decentered him from the necessary human mechanisms of accountability and empathy. Those who are hated are always more human than those who hate them."
    5. "My mother abandoned me because I was a witness."
    6. "I felt lighter, but also more in my own skin. I had made a marker for the night's trauma, planted a flag to show I'd been there and conquered it, and stepped through. Goodbye old me. Goodbye scared little girl: I was sending her away to live in her new home; the stories of the past."
    7. "I looked at the carrot in my hand. I admonished it, 'No more!'"
    8. "People occasionally checked in on my carrot, and I appreciated that. We were both well, thank you."
    9. "We were all homeless. Walking the ruins of San Francisco's dreams."
    10. "A fish has no word for water, I guess." - Rogue
    11. "Like, with my mom, I think she's so wrapped up in how ashamed she is about drugs and sex, and stuff she's done, and how trapped she is in all these lies, she's always in these relationships where guys beat on her and yell at her. I think she thinks she deserves it."
    12. "Ashley didn't judge me, and I thought that we all try so hard to make family what we wish it could be, and it wasn't fair that we only got what we could steal from life in moments like this."
    13. "Ashley was actually telling me that inflicting pain was about powerlessness."
    14. "I had recently been reading about navigation by triangulation. How do you know where to go when you don't know where you are?"
    15. "I was in a very familiar place called trauma...."
    16. "I could ask, and ask, and ask why trauma happens to me. Or I could use it as information to help me decide how to get through all of this, better. I chose the latter."
    17. Typo: "Youth's meagre clinic"
    18. "If callers encounter silence, they'll always tell you who they are first in one way or another."
    19. "Privacy is better than pornography when you're homeless."
    20. "I had come to understand that in moments of insanity there are really only two things: Survival, and who we become during these moments."
    21. Stray Toasters
    22. "When people die, they really take a piece of you with them. It would be several years and many more ...."
    23. "For my generation, an AIDS test was like the San Francisco version of patriotism."
    24. "I figured out that you can't heal in the same environment that made you sick."
    25. "I was learning to get used to the fact that out here in the wasteland of homeless kids, sometimes people just disappeared. But I'd never be able to accept it. You never knew if it was the last time you'd see someone."
    26. "...surrounded by people we joked were only moving toward death a bit more comfortably and slower than we were."
    27. "I'm good at running from cops, telling frilly stories, making loud Kung Fu noises during serious fist fights, palming black eyeliner, falling on my face when I run up stairs, and insulting people in Spanish."
    28. "Bitch, this is a palace! I'm gonna wash my twat in your sink!" - Jess
    29. San Francisco's art collective Survival Research Laboratories

Print

  1. Slouching Towards Neverland: 20 years of Writing About San Francisco (2022) - Stuart Schuffman, better known as Broke-Ass Stuart

Suggestions

Previously


    Previously (2022), Note: No books list 2021, Previously (2020), Previously (2019), Previously (2018), Previously (2017)