Cogito, Ergo Sumana for 2004 August

# 04 Aug 2004, 10:49AM: Lately: I took Caltrain from Millbrae to Mountain View and then back north to 22nd street. How very comfortable and cheap (about $3 one-way), even if there aren't enough maps and schedules posted at some stations.

I ate a cheap and quite palatable plate of rice and beans at Radio Habana, on Valencia near 23rd street. Very intimate, with outstanding and eclectic decor.

I visited the Odeon Bar at Mission and Valencia and caught the last half of Outfoxed (relatively fun), watched Will Franken perform (still funny, if not as supernaturally funny as when I saw him first), and participated in the Ask Dr. Hal question-and-answer show. You should do Ask Dr. Hal at least once.

I discussed housing with a cabdriver. He asked me what I thought of his moving to Reno. I said it depended on what he wanted to do with his life. He said he wanted to own a home. I suggested that lots of people have the same idea as he does, so perhaps if he is going to move and buy a house there, he should do it soon.

I vegged out at Leonard's place and we watched around ten episodes of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. Such awesome stuff. Two separate minor characters present critiques of the Federation. One Maquis member tells us that the Federation can't accept that anyone would want to secede; like the Borg, the Federation exists to assimilate. A protestor tells vacationers that they cannot afford their complacence and decadence, since the Federation is under attack. Interesting stuff in both cases. (Yes, Nandini, I know it is just a TV show.)

Last night Leonard and I played along to College Jeopardy! on the teevee. You know, I can't recall any time that I have actually enjoyed watching Jeopardy! with someone else more. I actually don't mind when I get something wrong and he gets it right, and I hardly gloat when the reverse happens. I'm just proud of him for knowing so much. This must be what it is like to have "friendly competition."

# 05 Aug 2004, 11:07AM: Reasoned Persuasion: The other day I conversed, very politely, with a Nader supporter and did my tiny bit to persuade someone who did not wish to be persuaded. I'm an idealist and a pragmatist both, as is Sepoy. He's taking two weeks off to go register voters in Ohio, a swing state.

Lately it seems my address proves a handicap in actually working towards my political goals. And I'm not just talking about my letters to soldiers overseas, where I gloomily predict that the recipients will laugh at and reject any subtle or hesitant political statements I make because I'm "just another San Francisco liberal."

I live in California, which is not a swing state, so my vote won't make a difference in the presidential election. I live in San Francisco, so I can trust that on the local and federal levels my neighborhood's representatives will properly represent my desires. State referenda are basically the only way my vote will count this November.

So I have begun to fantasize about quitting my job, or taking a leave of absence, to go to Oregon or Pennsylvania or Nevada to live and work in the heart of Bush country, having conversations, persuading Republicans and centrists and wavering voters with Socratic questioning and my sheer goodness of will that Kerry is the better choice. It's grandiose, which has "grand" in it, and if there was a time this would be it....

# 06 Aug 2004, 02:11PM: Awesome: KSCU is playing an unreleased Moxy Fruvous tune from a 1990s demo tape.

# 11 Aug 2004, 05:43PM: Learning By Mistakes: Salon offers various benefits for its subscribers, including free magazines. People who write to us about these magazines (usually "I never got it") sometimes forget the name of the periodical. A list of some magazines we have offered and some misnomers subscribers have given them (if I recall correctly):

Mother Jones: Mother Earth

Wired: Wire

National Geographic Adventure: National Geographic, National Geographic Explorer (a popular misnomer)

US News and World Report: US Report, Newsweek, Time

New York Review of Books: New York Times Book Review (a VERY popular misnomer)

Granta: surprisingly, no one has misspelled or mistitled Granta in my virtual presence.

At least one person believed that we had offered Lingua Franca, which we never have. Sorry, ma'am.

In other office comedy: the bathrooms on our floor stay locked, and all of us get keys. (Since I sold my car and don't have a locker of any sort, this significantly increases the number of keys on my keyring.) I've realized that a person walking towards the office exit with her keys already jingling in her hand makes for only one possible interpretation in the eyes of her colleagues, a rather overinformative one, so I have to remember to keep my keys in my pocket till I get out the door.

Filed under: Comedy

# 13 Aug 2004, 09:56AM: Airport: My sister's in town! Last night Leonard made yummy mango stir-fry for us and we watched two episodes of The Daily Show (Nandini had been in Jon Stewart withdrawal).

I arrived early at SFO to pick her up and spent twenty minutes helping tourists use the BART ticket machines and figure out where to go. That was nice. Sadly, I did not have time to go to the West Field Road post office (open 6am-midnight EVERY DAY). I love that post office.

# 16 Aug 2004, 07:09PM: Bailey, Wavy Intonation, and Churches That Face Mecca: Via Body and Soul, I found a wow wow wow article in the SF Chronicle about the possible Muslim roots of the American blues. Slavers captured African Muslims and brought them to North America, where they influenced our music. Sidebar: listen to the Muslim call to prayer and a snippet from some blues side-by-side and check out the similarities.

Lots of neat details, e.g., the melisma connection. Maybe now I know whom to blame for all those overly melismatic R&B singers -- the Muslims!

# 17 Aug 2004, 07:32PM: Happenings: My sister visited me. I went to Steve and Alice's commitment ceremony. I saw Will Franken's show. I bought a new tank cover for my goldfish. I ate Leonard's chowder. I worked. It's all a little fuzzy.

# 18 Aug 2004, 06:22PM GMT+5:30: Recurring: Just finished Douglas Coupland's Miss Wyoming. Yes, he writes the same book over and over, but it is a very good book.

Filed under: Reading

# 19 Aug 2004, 10:42AM: Leonard: "Man, Jesus is so picky": Via Body And Soul, "Church Denies 8-Year-Old's Non-Wheat Communion". "An 8-year-old girl who has a rare digestive disorder and cannot consume wheat has had her first Communion declared invalid because the wafer contained none." Next up: the withering of the Fig Newton.

Filed under: Comedy

# 20 Aug 2004, 10:09AM: Alton Brown in SF: Well, not quite. He's in Palo Alto tomorrow and Santa Rosa tomorrow. Still, "Simon Super Chefs Live! Is a free, all-day culinary event featuring live cooking demonstrations and book signings by Alton Brown, as well as local chefs, wine seminars, and merchandise." Just so you know.

# 20 Aug 2004, 02:01PM: Week of Analogies: Re: store membership/discount/loyalty cards: "I remember when going to the store was not like choosing a telephone company."

Re: "infatuation/falling in love" vs. "loving": "Falling in love is like the induction phase of Atkins."

# 20 Aug 2004, 05:25PM: I Am More Angry About This Than I Should Be: I just met Zephyr Teachout, Internet director for Howard Dean's campaign and ACT muckety-muck. Evidently she is wow. I just wish people had told me that she was wow while she was around instead of after she left.

# 21 Aug 2004, 08:46AM: Remnants: Leonard is in Bakersfield visiting his family. Today I help a friend of a friend move, and possibly see Not A Genuine Black Man at The Marsh. Next week I leave for a two-week vacation in Tokyo. I'm reading Blameless in Abaddon by James Morrow. Sometimes I have to remind myself forcefully that my life is okay.

# 23 Aug 2004, 05:58PM: Ack, Nervous: I am not through my backlog of work, not by a long shot. I have to get done with it. I have to figure out whether to buy a Japan Rail tourist pass very soon. I hate the nervousness that eats my chest and stomach.

# 23 Aug 2004, 06:16PM: Doesn't Help: My colleague asks, "what do you have to be nervous about? I'm the one who's getting married!"

# 24 Aug 2004, 12:09PM: Sumanazilla Prepares: Much better. Mostly packed. Almost all the prep is done. Leonard will make me his awesome, addictive cheese puffs for the journey. I feel voracious just thinking of it. OK, I also need lunch.

# 24 Aug 2004, 04:40PM: Heck, I Worked On The Yearbook: I got a compromise Japan Rail pass from JTB on Kearny at Market. Working downtown: your ticket to convenience!

Made copies of my passport's first page. I associate head-and-shoulders shots, especially grainy photocopied versions, with danger: reports of kidnapping, wanted/missing signs, obituaries, etc. Maybe if I'd had a more enjoyable school experience I'd associate mug shots with happy yearbook memories.

Coffee, Puzzlefighter, Spamusement!, and the general good customer service I've encountered recently (not mine, of course) cheer me. Leonard calms me down. Soon: cheese puffs. Everything will be okay once I get on the plane.

# 26 Aug 2004, 05:24PM: Public Transit Heaven: In Tokyo. At Steve's apartment. I simply cannot and will not chronicle weird English here - there is too much.

# 28 Aug 2004, 03:20AM: They Actually Do Say 'Arigato': Surprisingly, I now know about twenty words of Japanese. Two or three "excuse me"s and "please"s each, "me," "one," "ticket," "you go ahead," and so on. Steve pushes me, gently, to do the polite meeting/parting rituals, and I feel awful when I can't do it right. These strangers are laughing at me! No, no, they are laughing politely to cover the awkwardness of the moment and to indicate friendliness. No, they are laughing at me because I am a fool.

It has been years since I went to a foreign country on my own and gibbered in a foreign language. I had forgotten that this particular embarrassment can bring me to tears. But things are getting better. I'm sure I'll be over it by the time i leave.

# 29 Aug 2004, 05:06AM: Life Lessons: "Kawaii" is "cute." "Kowaii" is "scary." Take care!

If you are afraid of heights, don't go on the world's largest Ferris wheel. Just in general, "oh no, this action had this totally foreseeable consequence" feels very stupid.

You can try as hard as you like to not resemble the main characters in Lost In Translation, but a non-Japanese speaker will always have a hard time in Tokyo and feel angsty and alone.