we took highway 1, across rolling hills,
past davenport, bonny doon, half moon bay, etc
and went to san francisco.
school vans<3

beth got us into the mommoma for freeeee
with her membership. one of us pretended
we were annie sprinkle & got 4 more free tickets.

some calder.
some duchamp...!!!!

yerba buena:
an exhibit by a chinese artist. his mother
was depressed and acquired a hoarding habit
after the death of her husband. this is her collection.

afterwards, we went to a famous porn star's house
to cook a wondrous dinner after buying groceries.
a lovely cozy victorian house.

*~annie sprinkle is the first porn star with a phD.
she complimented my fish taco the first time i met her.
she is so sweet and nice. this is her study.

this is their kitchen & dog, bob.
(beth & annie are married)

beth had dinner with president obama last night

(she sang him a melody).
where's our change?

i cooked with quinoa for the first time!

"According to legend, Kunhã Patuguá is a woman who was discovered by a young Indian a thousand years ago, on the banks of the Black River in the Amazon. She appeared with a box instead of a head, lying on a moquentáua. This aroused the curiosity of the forest’s inhabitants who wanted to know who was the kunhã with a karamemuã instead of a head. They formed a line and, one by one, put their head inside the hole of the karamemuã. A monkey named Guariba said that the name of the Patuguá was “box”, and from then on she was called the Box Woman, the Kunhã Patuguá. Since that time, she has walked around the world deciphering enigmas for those who see her face and hear her voice. Her head is eternally covered and, to see her face and hear her voice, one should stick his head inside the box for no more than 50 seconds."

i wish they would stop destroying these places
to make room for "growth & development"

my grandma and i just invested in a duck in this picture.
there she is, in the front holding a red bag.

it was strangely cheap. (less than $2 US)
we went back home and made our own "beijing duck"
it was ...interesting. no one else wanted to try it.
my dad took a bite and asked
"what kind of...meat is this"
i thought it was good.

i went on a gondola ride with bill in dali, yunnan.
it was the 2nd sketchiest thing i've ever done.

when we got off, there were golden monkeys
and giant chinese chess board that you could walk on.

quality time.

BLAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH
HHHHHHHHHHHHH
HHHHH
at least i have this ginger tea to sip on
HHHHHH
HHHHHHHHHHHH
HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

so it is invisible?

-yes.

老家= "old home"

shen mu is our "old home"
along the yellow river.

"in time of daffodils(who know
the goal of living is to grow)
forgetting why,remember how...in time of lilacs who proclaim
the aim of waking is to dream,
remember so(forgetting seem)"

"agitate. agitate. agitate. but nevertheless in a

proper way and for a good cause only."
-mann.
i normally avoid putting any bumper stickers
on any personal belongings.
but this is one deserves a special place
in our hearts/minds (laptops/folders/windows too).

"fight apathy. or don't."

pic by d.j.

they always insist on wearing sunhats. (mothers).

they always insist on climbing up the blocked off/
original, crumbling, non-man reconstructed
portion of the great wall that tourists don't know about (fathers).

according to chinese proverb,
"a man is not a man until he has climbed the great wall"

another 10 hour day at the librar[ies]
i don't think i've ever read this much text in one day.
although it's sometimes too overwhelming for my own good,
being exposed to so many ideas is a good thing.

i tried making pork for the first time.

i think i overcooked it by 30 minutes.
but it tasted good with the rest of the vegetables & rice.
little bugs/dust particles are floating around
in circular patterns in the spring air. it is so so warm.
warm breezes. warm air. warm skin.

spring is the best thing that could
happen to anyone.

large chunks of white things hurled from the sky.

it hailed then snowed yesterday.

faun hands.

"another world is not only possible,
she is on her way. on a quiet day,
i can hear her breathing."

dusty hutongs, free tea & a dog who sits in a stroller.

"Once upon a time the animals decided they must do something heroic to meet the problems of a “new world” so they organized a school. They had adopted an activity curriculum consisting of running, climbing, swimming and flying. To make it easier to administer the curriculum, all the animals took all the subjects.

The duck was excellent in swimming. In fact, better than his instructor. But he made only passing grades in flying and was very poor in running. Since he was slow in running, he had to stay after school and also drop swimming in order to practice running. This was kept up until his webbed feet were badly worn and he was only average in swimming. But average was acceptable in school so nobody worried about that, except the duck.

The rabbit started at the top of the class in running but had a nervous breakdown because of so much makeup work in swimming.

The squirrel was excellent in climbing until he developed frustration in the flying class where his teacher made him start from the ground up instead of the treetop down. He also developed a “charlie horse” from overexertion and then got a C in climbing and D in running.

The eagle was a problem child and was disciplined severely. In the climbing class, he beat all the others to the top of the tree but insisted on using his own way to get there.

At the end of the year, an abnormal eel that could swim exceeding well and also run, climb and fly a little had the highest average and was valedictorian.

The prairie dogs stayed out of school and fought the tax levy because the administration would not add digging and burrowing to the curriculum. They apprenticed their children to a badger and later joined the groundhogs and gophers to start a successful private school."

leef it all.

in a field of blue ones, a pink one sprouted from the ground.

we were sitting in may's living room working on homework.

rachel turns to me and says "wait..you are on my friend's blog."
i look and all these pictures of me were on this stranger girl's blog!

she took a picture of my troll bridge garden!

we made thin mints from scratch.
obese turtles, giraffes, & hermaphrodite shaped ones.

i miss schmelly dog.
he waited at the top of the stairs
for me to come home. he also fell asleep
by my foot when i was eating dinner.

i used up leftover strawberries
and baked a pound cake. i want to mash up
berries and make ~preserves~

"to live" is my favorite chinese movie.
mrs. kang showed it to us in high school.

my grandma helped donate kitchen pots and pans.
she also hired someone to paint mao's mural on the living room wall.
too bad it is not there anymore. they painted over it in mint green.

she worked at the hospital. she thought hospital aesthetics
were very nice and remodeled parts of her house inspired
by the mint green walls and curtains the hospital had.

i realized i spend most of my time either:

looking at my plants, reading for my classes,
looking up recipes, cooking, walking around,
or dreaming (consciously & unconsciously).

i sometimes also scratch (really lightly!!) patterns on my skin
because it bubbles up whatever i draw, like an etch n sketch.

down by the banks.

i found out that ruth lives in the nice
red house i always eye going downtown on the bus.
she has the most lovely room with elephant motifs,
soft green curtains & pictures of her mother who lives in korea.

the violas got a bigger and better home today.

and the coleus seemed to be growing algae so
they got moved into the violas' old home.

mental archaeology.