my eyebrows hurt (the sandwiches and vermouth edition)

yes!
i know it sounds idiotic
but my eyebrows hurt!
not the hair itself
but more the bones that go
right behind the line of the eyebrow

a strange pain, like a muscular pain
not itchy, the skin not sore, and not a headache
really... but
just... pain?

oh my eyebrows!
ach meine Augenbrauen!
¡ay ay mis cejas!
[this translation made me laugh
i am such an idiot translating this
but i laugh, hope you too!]

mmm? i've been working a lot with
Photoshop and dealing with a
detailed image today, and i squint my eyes
sometimes a lot...
and i read a good load of Deutsch last night
'cause i had der Kapitel 9 Test

and it's April's Fool
April! April!
[...in Deutschleid heh heh]

so anyway, this day did fool me
and end up being... the day!
the day...
of the fool-me eyebrow pain

still hurts!

and i wrote something about this day
on a piece of paper at school
a sentimental note and then i couldn't find it
some kid at school might be laughing over me now
or worse, just on the floor, so...

so i will drink a vermouth
i don't think people drink vermouth straight anymore
i drink it straight, but with ice
my mother says it's an old's people drink
but i have a vermouth once or twice a week

my favorite one is Cinzano
but this one Di Torino Rosso that i found
at Trader Joe's is pretty decent, not the best
but not like there is a lot to judge over a vermouth
or is there?
...
Il Vermouth è un vino aromatizzato vecchio di...6000 anni...



and yes... technically my mother called me old
yes, i might behave stubbornly old-er sometimes
manchmal manchmal...
a veces, a veces...

so that's why i cure myself with these
sandwiches
oh sand-wi-ches, like that, slow... and soft
thank you John!, Earl of Sandwich
for this rather international mouthwatering word
with no translation required word...

barely California

just yesterday
was this sunny...
the Friday-driving back home
finally-was-the-weekend drive



atmosphere smelled like palm trees
burned to a golden sunset, pavement
and freedom, yes it was this golden

today is gray-er, gloomier
there is even a menace of rain...
barely California

look who's back again! (or Part II)

these photos are from this March
a lovely and now becoming traditional
visitor, arrived again to the little yard
outside my home

this coming-along tradition of
grasshopper friends
[click on it for the whole grasshopper-saga]



above ▲ this as 1st seen this early March, through my window
and below ▼ ... so i came outside to say hello and...


...
for the photo, he posed

i must smile everytime they make it back

good to see you again!

brothers Quay

amazing stop-motion animation
by the Quay brothers
identical twins that create these
rather interesting animation pieces

they are poetic, they are dark
they are non-sense but make all the sense
at the same time
dunkel, beautiful, like a deep strange dream

here the dark, sehr sehr dunkel
"Stille Nacht I: Dramolet"



[and to think it's just an old doll,
some magnets and powdered metal...]
and another little sample



if you come across their dark art
do not miss them!

and thanks to mister atom
for introducing me to the Quay brothers
i have a DVD with
The Brothers Quay Collection:
Ten Astonishing Short Films 1984-1993 (1984)
creatures to crawl into my
mexican-californian mind
and then not so sunny will be this Sunday

Ostern/Easter/Pascua

Frohe Ostern!
Happy Easter!
un buen Domingo de Pascua



if you notice i didn't say
Feliz Pascua or Feliz Semana Santa
in Spanish is not used to say "Happy"
about these days, since it is more
of a quiet Holiday
the resurrection of Jesus Christ is today

but now this more pagan yet fun
way to celebrate Easter with bunnies and eggs
a lovely Rabbit made by my
co-worker's 6 year-old daughter
[check out the little tail, heh heh...]

and have a good Sunday
no matter what or how you celebrate

my little: Frühling/Spring/Primavera, make your choice

Man spürt das Herannahen des Frühlings.
You can sense the coming of Spring.
El inicio de la Primavera.

[and this is how it looks... my little private Spring]


[portraits of the little flowers i planted last year blooming
right in time for Spring, and my tired leg still with shoe after
a long day at work and a light dinner, now gone... ]

and as for the in-3-different-languages vocables
for this season, i stick to the one in Español

i think is the most-adequate sounding one for
what this season represents

surely, and at least to my mexican ears
Primavera, sound much accurate
than Frühling or Spring

yet a matter of taste, of course
i hope if you read here
you submit your vote...

Kiyo's 1st birthday

Kiyo hat heute Geburtstag
today's is Kiyo's birthday
Hoy es el cumpleaños de Kiyo



I found this old post from March 20 2007
it was March 19 when I got my
fishy-friend Kiyo!
so today is his 'official' 1st birthday!

if you see this old photo of him
you can see he was smaller
and of a lighter peach color
and even a little 'transparent'
he has grown at least 1/2 inch
and his color has turned deep dark
also his fins are longer

here as he looks lately



in just 1 year we have been through a lot together
we survived his Popeye and fin rot infection

his has a newer and improved home these days
he started with a 1 gallon tank with a natural plant
and used to eat just pellets
but now he lives in a 2 gallon tank
with a heather, an artificial plant to keep away infections
and his diet is way richer!
he still eats pellets but also flakes
brine shrimp and blood worms
he really like the blood worms

and i am happy to have this lovely red friend
for a whole year now!
Betta fishes life span varies from 2 up to 5 years!
being a regular span life 3 years

so i hope my friend Kiyo stays with me for a while still
he's been a neat little companion...
and!

Alles Gute zum Geburtstag, herr Kiyo!
Happy Birthday, mister Kiyo!
¡Feliz Cumpleaños, señor Kiyo!

st. patrick's day and nat king cole

March 17 was
St. Patrick's Day
half of the people at my office
wore something green
and we eat shamrock cookies
this year i missed the soda bread
and a cold Guinness beer but all the bars
around my house, that happen to be Irish
were full!



and it is also
Nat "King" Cole birthday

on Sunday
i saw The Blue Gardenia
a thriller from 1953 with Anne Baxter
and... one of the first appearances
in the big screen of Nat King Cole
singing the theme song



the film is directed by Fritz Lang
and it is a pretty decent Film noir

rain, wine, and an afternoon with open-air organ

it rained all night
traces of rain on the
now-sunny morning



at it is 49°F (9°C) here!
too cold for a March in San Diego
still, meister Sun shows its face this morning

and to see meister Jackson Borges
playing the Organ at Spreckles Theater this afternoon

Jackson is my friend from die Deutschstunde!
he told us last class about this event
where he's the main organist
and the 3 Bach pieces on an open-air venue
at 2pm sound rather delightful!

last night found a red wine, that promises no headaches
Red Well 2006, a Californian table red wine
from Heartswork Winery
since reads sulfites-free
i don't believe any red wine can be
sulfite free a 100% but at least less sulfatoide i guess it is
i had a glass last night, and clear headed today
the flavor is cheerful and very light bodied
so it's easy to drink a little too much of it



oh strange days around here
some things are really slow
but time seems to be flowing so fast
i feel like staring at the world
from the sidewalk sometimes
without jumping into the rushing traffic hour
myself
things on-hold, yet feelings and movement
are not

elvis

[singing]
We're caught in a trap
I can't walk out
Because I love you too much baby
[singing]



Suspicious Minds is
the best Elvis song ever!

'cause even if you are a 'darketo'
a punk-electronic-rocketo,
a country man, a jazzy fellow
or a classic old chap...

we have to admit that he was the King!
and i am not an Elvis fan
but this song, ah! and...
his ala king-of-rock life, death
and legacy
just cannot be denied

as i can't deny when i listen to it
i silly-smile
with gray sweater and messy bathroom



i am mostly a silly woman
i smile a lot and i am simple-natured
nothing sophisticated to see here...
i am almost 40 years old
and i am still lost on my own little world
the same one that i had in my head when i was 12 years

i still get excited with Sherlock Holmes stories
even if Saramago stole my innocence once

and yes, i have traveled, i have loved,
i have lost, and i have won
and those precious trophies are mostly smiles and hugs
(the only important things to really care about, as i think...)
i always arrive late and i am rather informal
but apart from being always late
i do not usually tell lies

yet, the core in my spirit is the same
and for that simpleness of mind
i guess i am thankful
as a Steppenwolf song (The Pusher) said:

"You know I smoked a lot of grass and I've popped a lot of pills
But I've never done nothing that my spirit couldn't kill"

and as everybody
i have my bad and my good days
i am temperamental and simple-minded at the same time
i trust to death but then i grow suspicious of even
a fly too close to my head

but then i have my fixes
those precious cures that we all look for
sometimes is a cold beer in the middle of the night
while playing an old record

sometimes is the phone call to a loved one

and all these marvels i find and i
find them around the corner too!
on the smile of an unknown child
or the salute of a warm face crossing the side walk
with me at the same time
or on more expected places as in
art, literature, all that cult stuff
but then pop-art, i do can cry to pop-ness as well as to
profoundness, and sometimes these old songs...