you can't do that with a tiffany lamp!

this is so fucking cool.

(the story of David Chang (chef of Momofuku Ko in New York)'s signature dish, a soft-cooked egg with caviar. told in comic-book form and, seriously, so fucking cool. like, even if you don't care about this shit, it's really cool. really.)

sooooo...

i can't even reliably read the "about" on fall out toy works dot com (resolution issue or something, i don't know), but i am a) irrationally super-pumped and b) keeping the tab open because i'm hooked on this friggin' remix.

darn it!

firstly, a huge THANK YOU to everyone who gave recs at my podfic request posts (first link goes to dw and the second goes to lj). any other suggestions are still WAY SUPER WELCOME, keep it coming! you all rock a lot :D

IN OTHER NEWS, 13 things your waiter won't tell you, a post on yahoo.com excerpted from waiter rant: thanks for the tip -- confessions of a cynical waiter (amazon).

a few of my favorites (emphasis, formatting, and some commentary added):

1. Avoid eating out on holidays and Saturday nights. The sheer volume of customers guarantees that most kitchens will be pushed beyond their ability to produce a high-quality dish.

...

5. Treat others as you want to be treated. (Yes, people need to be reminded of this.)

6. Don't snap your fingers to get our attention. Remember, we have shears that cut through bone in the kitchen.

...

8. Splitting entrées is okay, but don't ask for water, lemon, and sugar so you can make your own lemonade. What's next, grapes so you can press your own wine? [i have SERIOUSLY gotten this, and i work at a pretty basic sit-down retaurant. WHERE WE SERVE LEMONADE.]

9. If you find a waiter you like, always ask to be seated in his or her section. Tell all your friends so they'll start asking for that server as well. You've just made that waiter look indispensable to the owner. The server will be grateful and take good care of you.

10. If you can't afford to leave a tip, you can't afford to eat in the restaurant. Servers could be giving 20 to 40 percent to the busboys, bartenders, maître d', or hostess. [i, personally, at this restaurant, tip out about 4 percent of my sales on the average night. if ALL my tips are 20 percent or above, this still leaves me tipping out at least a fifth (20 percent) of what i've made. if people tip 10 percent or less this number skyrockets; i tip out about half of what i made that night. this means if i walk into the office with $100 in tips, i walk out with $50-60. and it has happened.]

and last but not least ...


12. If you want to hang out, that's fine. But increase the tip to make up for money the server would have made if he or she had had another seating at that table. [FOR SERIOUS. this is kind of counterintuitive, because for the last two hours that you were sitting there i bet the server didn't do much more than refill your drinks every once in a while. but think of it as "renting" the table -- your server could have turned another table or two while you were sitting there chatting. we DON'T want to chase you out (okay, sometimes maybe we do), and god knows i tend to chat and linger when i go out to eat ... but just be mindful.]


aaaaaaand now it's time to get back to crazypants cleaning and packing for LOLLAPALOOZA! WOO!

interesting.

(how to discover your life purpose in about 20 minutes, steve pavlina)

haven't tried it yet myself; don't know if i will or if i need to -- i run through an excercise like this every morning plus whenever i get overly despondent. also, may be a little over-the-top, ymmv. but worth a look, if just for curiosity's sake.

\o/

BRB GRINNING LIKE A MANIAC ON MY WAY TO WORK. THX BOYS.

points of order, the first: tomorrow, wednesday, friday night as of 4 or 5 pm, and probably saturday i will be spending my time at summerfest. should you care to join me (tomorrow until 8 pm entry tickets are only $2! wednesday: the cab, friday: empires!), send me a text or something. i will see you there! woo!

the second: tonight i wandered over to my sister's apartment and we began the Epic Task of rewatching The L Word from s1e1 (fwiw, the last time i watched The L Word was three or four years ago. this time i hope to make it past season 3). six episodes in and this time around I am finding myself identifying most closely with Shane.* as far as levels of Concerning go, this would be considered:

a) mildly so,
b) wholly so,
c) not at all,
or
d) jesus, what?**

*again, this is season 1 Shane as of the end of episode six. also, i don't identify that strongly. just, you know, i see where she's coming from. a lot. and frequently.
**also possible:
e) other, further specified in comments


LJ/DW crosspost

I fucking love Alton Brown.

also YouTube, but mostly Alton Brown.

Chewing the Fat: Alton Brown on Race, Class, and Food


\o/ ♥ \o/

my mother found this in a book she's reading and directed my attention to it. I was certain there would be a handful of people on my flist/in my circle who might also find it worth exploring.

Generally speaking, we regard discomfort in any form as bad news. But for practitioners or spiritual warriors – people who have a certain hunger to know what is true – feelings like disappointment, embarrassment, irritation, resentment, anger, jealousy, and fear, instead of being bad news, are actually very clear moments that teach us where it is that we're holding back. They teach us to perk up and lean in when we feel we'd rather collapse and back away. They're like messengers that show us, with terrifying clarity, exactly where we're stuck. This very moment is the perfect teacher, and, lucky for us, it's with us wherever we are.
( pema chodron on 'this very moment as the perfect teacher' )

♥ all.

dyeing my hair after work today; pictures this evening, I imagine.


LJ/DW crosspost

no, self, I am NOT getting sick. this is not a good time. and I will do nothing but stay in bed tomorrow drinking airborne and orange juice and eating spinach and bananas and whole grains if I have to, EVEN THOUGH that will sabotage the clockwork cookies, because no. there is no way in hell that I am getting sick.

suck on that, um, germs.

going back to bed now; meletor out.


(ps - also, self? if you could stop waking up at random times in the middle of the night THIS SHIT ALSO MIGHT NOT HAPPEN. >:[ )

proper report on Believers Never Die Part Deux (which was tonight) later. maybe.

in the intervening time, please be aware that my cellphone is pretty broken. while I try to fix that, uh, you won't be able to reach me via text (or, obviously, via voicephone). hopefully I'll at least have an interim situation by Tuesday (the earliest opportunity I'll have to go to the US Cellular store).

me: trying not to be too frustrated, because life is life and it was an *awesome* night.

LJ/DW crosspost