I am soooo White

One nice thing about Spring Break is a little bit of leisure time. No matter how busy I am, I check my friend PJ's blog every day.  It's just that good.  But when I have extra time, I like to check out a couple of the blogs that he links to.  One that I've particularly enjoyed is The Standing Room, which featured a touching remembrance of the blogger's twenty year old cat. While I was reading it, I noticed a funny quote on the side of the page, and went to find out more about that link. I ended up on a very funny and wildly popular blog called Stuff White People Like, which reads like an anthropological study of White People in their natural habitats, complete with hints about how to talk to them. As you will see, an embarrassing amount of the descriptions hit a bit too close to home.

Today, when I woke up, I listened to NPR (#44 on the list of things white people like) like I do every morning. I had one of my two daily cups of tea (#13) and made my son Cameron (#16) an angel food cake using my favorite kitchen gadget (#54). The cake was a housewarming gift because Cameron has purchased his own home, an Oakland Bungalow that needs a lot of work, but will be beautiful if he sticks to his six year plan for renovating it (#37). I then checked (#40) to see if my daughter Marin (#16, #78) who lives in Russia had added to her blog. After taking the dogs (#53) for a walk, it was time to go out for the day.

I first went to see Cameron's house. I'm very excited for him. He has a lot of exciting plans for the house, but right now, there is just the overwhelming task of moving in. Here are some photos:


Then, I went to San Francisco (#91), where I was going to meet PJ for a Wednesday dinner in a different venue. I walked from the Embarcadero Bart Station all the way to Pacific Heights. It was a beautiful day and I walked slowly, noticing all the different ways that architects (#34) worked steep hills into their designs. I had never really walked around Nob Hill before. It just so happened that John McCain was speaking at the Ritz-Carlton, so I saw some protesters, who were outnumbered by reporters.

I took a little break from my walk to stop in at Whole Foods (#48) and check out their beautiful seafood counter and produce (#6).

When I finally met up with PJ, we had a lovely dinner (#45). I had a noodle dish and he had Kung Pao chicken. We shared Spring Rolls as appetizers. I went home and watched a little television before going to sleep (#35).

Sublime to Ridiculous

Happy 70th birthday to my mother, whose energy would lead you to believe that she is much younger. When talking about older people, we all run the risk of sounding as if we are talking about circus freaks, but i feel that I must mention that my mother is a good and helpful friend to many people, she's generous, and she still does all her own yardwork. In her free time, she glides across the internet like a kid; she plays games and buys things from ebay. Hitting a milestone birthday put her in a retrospective type of mood, and she found her life to be satisfying with few regrets. I found myself wondering if any of us could ask for more than that, and I was happy for her.

Now for the ridiculous. Yesterday, while waiting to meet Cameron at his house, I walked along Piedmont Avenue. Realizing I was very hungry, I stepped into one of those little pizza places that sells slices to lunch crowds. Even though it was almost 2 p.m., the place was still full of working people, which seemed like a good sign. I ordered a slice of spinach/mushroom pizza, paid for it, and sat down to wait. After about 30 minutes of waiting, it dawned on me that everyone who was in there when I entered had eaten and left and the next wave of people were happily eating. I walked up to the counter and the following conversation took place:
Me: I have been waiting a really long time for my pizza and I just want to check if something went wrong.
Counter person: Let me see. (She starts checking everywhere. There are two slices that have been cooling on top of oven that haven't been claimed, but neither is mine. She asks the owner, who starts looking for the paper on which he wrote down my order). No. We can't find it. One of these unclaimed ones is sausage/mushroom/spinach. Would you like that?
Me: Actually, I'm really, really hungry and I will take it.
Counter Person: Okay. No charge for the extra topping.

Strudel and Sauerkraut

I wanted to write about two great experiences with arts and literature that I've had recently and I realize that, totally coincidentally (I assume) they both take place in Germany, a place I've never visited and know very little about. Unfortunately, my knowledge pretty much extends to two wars and a wall and some really hefty female swimmers and a few foods. Neither film really extended my knowledge, but now that I think about it, I don't think that either was really about Germany so much as what happens to people when they are pushed to extremes: bravery and cowardice, murderous cruelty and suicidal generosity.

The first is a novel, The Book Thief, by Markus Zusak, which is marketed in the US as a young adult novel. I am far from the first person to say this, but it really is a shame that books and other art forms get put into categories. The Book Thief is appropriate for teens and adults, and can be approached from different levels. The writing style is really interesting and poetic. It is written by Death, who is just as haunted by us as we are by him. It takes place in a poor neighborhood in Germany during WWII, and follows the story of an adolescent girl and the people around her. It is far from sentimental, but that didn't stop it from making me sob on BART not once, but two times. It took me months to read it, even though I could have read it all in one weekend, because you just know that a book that takes place among poor people in Nazi Germany is not going to be about happy times, and it was wrenching at times, and stunningly beautiful at others.

The second is a movie, The Lives of Others. The funny thing about this movie is that I tried to watch it with a cold heart because I loved Pan's Labyrinth so much that I couldn't imagine Academy Award voters giving this movie the Oscar for Best Foreign Film over that one. Not only was I won over, but I would have had to join the majority of voters on this one. This time the setting is East Germany in the 1980s. The Lives of Others is about a man who so believes that what his government does is right, when to the viewer it is so clearly wrong, that it is easy to see him as evil at first. He is sent to spy on a playwright who lives a pretty satisfying life in a place where few people do. Both men have to face their own beliefs head-on as the story continues. It brings up so many questions, like what does it mean to be a good man? My favorite scene in the movie is about the transformative power of art, which manages to move a man who was unable to be moved at the start of the film.

I'm not sure I'd see the movie or read the book based on my recommendations, so let me add this: the book has a great story that moves the reader along and is most definitely not without humor and the movie is actually a really good cold war thriller that keeps you on the edge of your seat at times.

I Believe in the Church of MyHeritage.com

On the way home from work Friday, one of my fellow carpoolers mentioned a site called My Heritage, which is mostly involved with genealogy, but has added a face recognition program that matches you up with celebrities who are supposedly your look-a-likes. This sounded like too much fun to pass up on (but only when done in the privacy of one's own home).

The site said that you get best results with a full-on, face-front, non-smiling photo. It just so happened that the one picture of me that I have in my vast iphoto library is just that (except for a slight smile). And, since it was not an attractive photo, I thought all the better because I could blame the celebrities that I got on the bad photo I submitted. Also, scientifically speaking, you really can't find your look-alike from one view. Profiles are important, too.

So, I went to the site, which is easy to use if you can upload a photo, and in seconds I had my results. Hello, have you met my twin, Susan Sarandon? What an intelligent program with unbelievable accuracy. They even have this feature where you can watch your face morph into your celebrity look-alike's face, so I watched my face morph into Susan Sarandon's. This, of course, took very little morphing because...have I mentioned...she is my look-alike.

In case you're wondering, if I have a photo of you, I went ahead and gave it a try, but many of the photos were not good enough to get decent results. I also began to notice that hair style has something to do with who it picks, which doesn't seem right. I would like to try another photo of me, but I'm afraid I'll get more realistic results and who wants that?