http://current.com/topics/32967339_burning_man

for those left behind, I guess.

Let's begin with the easy stuff.
I recently ordered a skirt and a sweater. The sweater was a bust. It was way too big and had a funny cut. Apparently I don't know what size I am anymore. It was also itchy. Itchy is never good. I am returning the disappointing sweater. The skirt though is fantastic. It is the right cut for my body and it is very comfortable. It is also attractive and on sale. My favorite combination. I just need to find a new black cardigan to replace the one I own that is slowly going home to Jesus. It has served me well. My Mom is knitting me a pink cardigan but a girl needs variety.
I am just waiting on some other things I ordered.
I was looking at things on the Nordstrom website and I found this. It is nice to know they are still making things for Joan Collins. But does it come with a turban?
This is obviously an homage to the long lost steno pool and window treatments at Grandmas.
And finally Marc Jacobs wants to remind you that he remembers the 80s after all. Thank you Marc, we were worried there. But apparently instead of remembering the heady days of downtown New York in a drug-induced haze, he is remembering his alternate life as a 11 year old girl in Sheboygan, Wisconsin. He was really excited about roller-skating on Friday and wore this cardigan especially in hopes of being asked to do a snowball skate with Justin Moody who was like rilly rilly cute.
But whatevs. His memory not mine.

Under the heading of being brave (mockduck that one brave icon of yours would be most suitable in this situation) I finally broke down and went to the dentist. I have made excuses for the longest time of why I couldn't go just then and it has been waaaaaaaaaaaaay too long. (we don't discuss the details of that just now) Yesterday I told myself, "You have to call before 4pm and make an appointment." The dread of knowing this deadline made me sick to my stomach so I finally called about 1pm. They said, "come on in tomorrow."
I should mention I have a crazy super fear of the dentist. (long story about scary trauma with the dentist could be inserted here) But this dentist which is "in network" specializes in scaredy cat patients. Let me help you get a good idea of my fear. Think of a cat who hates going to the vet and might try and climb the walls. While I won't spit and hiss, if I was let out of my cage it would be difficult to catch me. I promise I won't piss on your shoes though. Okay so that metaphor went to a scary scary place. Let's go back to the happy place.
Sunshine, dandelions, free drinks.
Ah....
yeah, so they wanted me in quickly before I could run off. Things were not as bad as I had anticipated on many fronts. They were incredibly gentle and kind and patient. Sweet people. My teeth aren't as bad as I thought. They took care of a few things and then next week I get to come back since they need to put in a crown on one tooth. They did say my teeth were good and solid. A thanks goes to my Mother for making me take calcium all those formative years. (this is where she doesn't say out loud, "see I was right" but she thinks it. Very loudly. Her thoughts are loud sometimes. "Quit thinking so loud MOM.") My dentist was quite nice, she just has a slightly unfortunate name. (You want to know don't you. Her name is Dr. Bang.)
I was soooooo nervous this morning that I couldn't even eat breakfast. I didn't sleep well either. But hey, the pain of them doing certain things didn't hurt as much as labor contractions. So party all around. Plus I feel so much better having this taken care of. It has been weighing on my mind for a million years. I kept thinking of all these awful things they would have to do. By the way do not ever look at the pictures on wiki regarding various dental procedures. Just don't. *shudders*

I think we will have hot dogs and potato salad for dinner.

So my birthday was Thursday. Not much really happened and I wasn't really able to go out and do anything because it was the middle of the week and I hadn't planned ahead enough to schedule something for the weekend yet. Went out for dinner with friends, bought some fudge. Nothing really interesting or worth going into detail over.

I did, however, get a PS3 for my birthday. Or rather, that is to say, I was given the funds with which to purchase one. While I was initially thinking about the 80 GB Metal Gear bundle it looks like it's gone almost totally out of stock everywhere because of the new 80 GB bundle without backwards compatibility that just came out. Instead, however, I was able to find a fully backwards compatible 60 GB PS3 (which is fully backwards compatible in hardware, not software like the MGS4 bundle) on Craigslist. It came with a Sixaxis (ugh... damn you pricey, pricey DS3!), two Frontman guitars (meh... I think I might sell at least one when Rock Band 2 comes out the guitar is looking very nice for it this go aroun andth ese are kinda flaky and cheap-feeling... still, better than when I was just gonna get a converter for my PS2 guitars), 1 Rock Band mic, a copy of Rock Band, a copy of Karaoke Revolution: American Idol: Encore (brain-melting terror... Belgand loathes karaoke, the karaoke games, and has boundless hatred for not just the execution, but the very concept of American Idol). Oh yeah, and both RB and KR have pretty much all of their DLC. I got a pretty good deal considering I would never have spent as much money on DLC, but I probably would have lusted after a bunch of it before deciding it wasn't worth the money. On Saturday I was also able to go out and pick up Uncharted and Assassin's Creed (even though the reviews were mixed I got a decent price on it).

I'm on PSN now as, what else, Belgand.

Even though I was up all night Friday (and then up until pretty late still on Saturday) I'm still trying to make plans for an actual birthday celebration sometime this week or so. It'll also be nice to have a little mini-party before Holly leaves for Canada. I've been thinking about Lasertag ever since I found a place down in Mountain View that still runs a pretty active center.

Oh, and if anyone is even possibly considering otherwise New Super Mario Brothers is completely made of win. It combines the best aspects of SMB, SMB 3, and a slight occasional dash of Super Mario World into what is, in my mind, the only true Mario game to come out since World. It's a shame that all the great 2D games are only coming out on the DS and as downloads, but at least we're getting them.

Yesterday I attempted to shop for some clothes. Yes. Attempted. I felt thwarted at every turn. Great land of consumerism are you trying to disappoint me? Do you not want me to hand over money so that I might buy into the idea of defining one's self through some vague idea of lifestyle branding? Apparently not.
Normally if I end up at Macy's or The Gap to buy le basics (again...look at that foreign language use!!) like jeans, underthings and so on, I shop at the downtown stores. They are big and have things in stock. I ended up on the Eastside because I had two other errands to run and it made sense at the time. I had also looked at some things on line prior to going to various stores so I knew what I was looking for.
Well.
Irritation city is more like it.
I was bra shopping at Macy's and they had NOTHING. They had like a quarter of the stuff they offer on line or at their downtown store. It seemed like they had two or three styles of bras and hardly any in my size. I am not even a particular weird or obscure size. And the sales people were not helpful in the slightest. I think they took too much valium. And when I was trying something on, a stupid woman walked in on me. She did this to like two people. She wouldn't knock on doors to see if the dressing room was engaged. I almost stabbed her with a hanger. I gave up. Nothing was right. So I went to The Gap. This was a stupid Gap. It was like... an Airport outlet version of the Gap. It was the size of my living room, they had nothing and so I gave up. I went to a few other places and didn't find anything and decided that I didn't want to burn things down in a blaze of female ire, so I left.
It is good to know your limits.
I went grocery shopping, managed to not kill anyone in any of the aisles despite the fact that people kept stopping in the middle of the aisles to set up a homestead. Get out of my way. I just want to buy some effin' almond flour. STOP STARING AT THE BAKING POWDER.
I did a bit more shopping and finished up the disappointment tour and ended with some exhausted ennui. Best way to go.
I came home in a slightly grumpy mood.
I ended up finding things on line that I wanted. And they were on sale. And there was free shipping.
Now I can have pretty happy goodness.
Or something.

...

We were supposed to have friends over for a BBQ today. We had the friends over. But instead of a BBQ; we had rain. I mean LOTS of rain. So much rain. So instead we ate a lot of pie and some cheesecake bars. There was some cheese and crackers in there. But mostly pie. And wine and beverages. And children going crazy with lego. I met some new people, got to catch up with some old friends and play with an incredibly cute little baby girl. Oh my lord the face on this kid. So cute. thiscantbesoy makes hilarious babies. Nuff said. I think everyone left in a haze of a sugar high. People tend to leave my house in a state of pain or digestive stupor. I don't mean to do it. But things happen.
Now to think about taking a hot bath and relaxing with a book.

day 5: disneyland, disney's california adventure, downtown disney, espnzone (for dinner), back to disneyland. this day was so crazy full of things. at the end, i think we may have fallen over. our ride circuit was really efficient and we got a ton of rides in despite the fact that i was lagging a bit 2/3rds of the way through because of my knee pain.

day 6: slept in a bit. went to the valley of the dolls (refrained from buying dolls, but bought doll accessories). guy gave me a complete set of postcards for the upcoming show of a pullip artist i'm in love with. drove back to little osaka and hit giant robot, gr2, and peeked in at gr/eats. ate at the curry house (japanese curry, nyom!). went back to the purikura store and took more pictures. (the james declined to be in any, and instead sat on the couch and watched christina aguilera). after i was purikura'd out, we made a quick visit to venice beach before heading out to rowland heights to visit arcade infinity, where i was able to play para para paradise for the first time in, i think, years. turns out i still know a majority of the dances. it was all kinds of fun. next to arcade infinity is a huge store that was full of purikura machines, too! didn't take any because it was late and i was in disarray from playing ppp. headed back to hotel to stare at all the crap i have to pack soon. not sure it's going to fit.

( another purikura )

Okay... here's the short of it:

I'm new to Vegas. Never heard of the Burning Man until now. It looks like my cup of tea, from what I can tell. But what I can tell is not much. I've tried looking at websites about the event, but none of them have helped me out so far. I want to go, but how good of an idea is it to go to a BM first time all by yourself? I have no idea what I'm really in for.

Also, kind of a side question... but I looked at a timeline of BMs... and I noticed it didn't cost anything until the mid 90s, and then the prices skyrocketed. Does anyone know why?

Today I will bake cookies with Senor Onion -seriously he will be the most awesome sous-chef one day.
I also need to finish grocery shopping. I think I will do that sans my little he'per. Which is always privately novel. I don't have to hand nearly every item over to him to hold/inspect. I also need to do a wee bit of clothes shopping as some items in the famous Gennie wardrobe are shredding/going home to Jesus. So that means time to go bra shopping. I need something that will put the girls on a platter. I find myself singing, my own version of "Do your ears hang low" when I look at my breasts. Is that too much information? Possibly. But this is LJ, where else do you get such gems?

I need to finish tidying up the house as well. We are having guests tomorrow and I don't want them to shriek in terror when they go into the bathroom. It is just good manners. One of those lesser known rules from Miss Manners. Do not traumatize the guests. So no angry badgers or unclean bathrooms.

Time to inspect the garden and see how it is attempting to disappoint me today.

Some of the lettuce is beginning to bolt. So away it went. I am quite pleased that I managed to make the lettuce last from June to the end of August despite an attack from the bastard cabbage moths. There is just a bit of lettuce left which should last for a couple more weeks.... I think. We shall see. I have begun drying rosemary. I am thinking of buying a bunch of olive oil and doing some infused oils with the herbs I grew this year. I could bottle it and label it, "smug foodie oil" and give it out to people as gifts.
It would be a hit.

Under the heading of pleasant things it seems that Stephen Fry has a new show on Radio 4 called Fry's English Delight. It begins on Monday. It sounds rather pleasing. I told Mr. Jenner that I wish I could have Stephen Fry read me a bedtime story every night before I went to sleep. Sort of like the clock with his voice.
I know he does audio books as well, but I like the idea of dictating what he reads. Mostly I would have him read essays.

I went to an out door massive 4 years ago and they demanded to have everyone exit the car and go through the car and the trunk. They also inisted on opening our bags and rummaging through, looking for weapons and drugs.

What kind of policy do they have at the gates of BRC. Will they want to mess up my nice and neatly packed stuff? Will they be trying to sniff out any illegal substances people might try to bring? I hate having my stuff messed up, it takes me forever to pack it!

On that note, any special policies on bringing a small bottle of vodka with me?

The tomato that remains is starting to turn orange!  There are more flowers, so I may have a few more before the year is out.  To think that it takes so many months just to make a single tomato is almost disheartening, but that 1 tomato is a treasure.  It might as well be gold, if I 'd been relying on those plants as my only source of tomatoes. 

The cucumber plants have tiny 1 inch, pickle-looking things just behind the flowers!  How exciting! 
I didn't plan very well for staking-up the vines.  Next time, I'll be sure to have a substantial framework ready. 

The radishes have developed giant, 3 ft high flower stalks with little green pods.  The stalks have tipped over, but it doesn't seem to make a difference - they're still flowering. 

Peas have nice fat pods on them!  Are they ready?  I need to plant several more plants, since they are listed as 56 days to maturity.  I hope the compost is ready, because I don't want to have to buy any more potting soil! 

The apples are starting to turn pink. 

OK, after all I've decided that a one-month-old daughter is a s good/tough/artistic project as it gets and so I have one ticket for sale. $221. Pick up in San Fran.
Write to zheleznyak74@yahoo.com, if interested.

Cheers, have a blast, and visit Phoenix Circle Russian Village Theme Camp to say Hi to my friends :)))
/z

So, I'm not at home right now. I'm on (really needed) short vacation in California. Specifically, Anaheim/Los Angeles. We arrived on Monday. So far, our days have been pretty packed. Here's a quick recap to make up for not having posted lately!

day 1: Went to the Block at Orange. Had lunch at this sushi place I like. Did some shopping (mostly just window shopping), watched The Dark Knight. Went back to the hotel and checked in. May have done other things, but I can't remember anymore.

day 2: Disneyland + downtown Disney. Too. Much. Fun. (Thanks again for the tix, dotgirl and collisons!)

day 3: Santa Monica. Walked the Promenade. Tommy Chong had a reading/signing at the Barnes and Noble there. Random. Went down the beach, hung out on the pier. Watched the sun set. Drove/wandered back up the Pac Coast Highway.

day 4: Melrose. Shopping. Went to JapanLA, Kid Robot, Shrine, MunkyKing and a bunch of other random places. Headed to little Osaka, checked out Happy Six (full of the tokidoki!) and a little shop full of Japanese photo booths. That's where I got the pictures up below (click for a larger version). I love those machines so much. They had approximately 9 different types inside the store. Plus, they'd laminate and scan a sheet for $1 and send you the scans in email. I want to go back. I even made the James do a set with me.

We went to JapanLA twice. The girl there was glad we came back because she'd been describing my skirt to the other woman there. She also went to her car to get her Polaroid camera so she could take a picture. She took an extra one for me to take with me. It was really cool.

All in all, the trip has been wonderful so far. De-stressing, which is what I've really, really needed. Going back out to Disneyland tomorrow. Really should be asleep by now. Been plurking/twittering as I can, so if you want up to the minute updates, that's where you should go. (Then you'd know I passed Rhianna on the street today!)

Hope to post more/more regularly now that I'm a. bit less of a stressball. Hi.

Luck Baldwins in Pasadena... goes till Sunday

We have been experiencing quite a bit of wind and rain as of late. Last night it was especially windy and it blew over my tomato plants. They had been held up with bamboo sticks, twine and these little garden clips but apparently the plants are too big and strong. As was the wind. This was deeply worrying and I didn't want to kill any of the tomatoes. So I rushed out this morning to the garden nursery and bought a bunch of cedar spikes. (I also found a good book of day hikes for the Olympic Peninsula for our up-coming hike. But that is a whole other conversation)
With Senor Onion's "help". (we are pretty liberal with that word at the moment) or as he says, "He'p". I hammered the spikes in, gently pulled the tomato plants up (some of which are almost as tall as me -I am 5'6 in case you wanted to keep track) and tied them in several places with some nylon. I even had to create little nets to hold some tomatoes in place so that they didn't fall over as they are becoming too heavy for the stalks that hold them. A low/hilarious moment came when I was trying to fix something and it wasn't going quite right and I quietly uttered the word, 'shit' and Senor Onion decided to repeat that word over and over -even when I said, "no say shoot."
I hope and pray he forgets that word -especially around his assorted grandparents.
It was a battle of all kinds out there in the garden. Eventually everything has been righted, all the fruit is safe and well and I really really need to do something about all the strawberry plants as their vines are going all over the place.
Again, I have all the fun problems.

Now how about some pictures of Senor Onion.
Yes. Of course.
Here he is wearing the new jumper his Nana made for him.
(we won't discuss what a battle it was to get him to wear the damn thing)
( Only because you begged me )

I'm so bored with the video game selection that's out right now. I've either played it or I don't want to play it. My all time favorite games are Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, Silent Hill , Kingdom Hearts, Final Fantasy, MassEffect (wallpaper), Morrowind and The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion...etc.

Basically think of any good fantasy-based, role-playing adventure game and I've played it. Has anyone played Dark Sector yet? I'm just curious if it's any good..I haven't heard much about it yet but it's one of the last games at Blockbuster for PS3 that I haven't rented yet..they have a crappy selection but their actually getting a tad better lately. Lame thing is they got rid of all their older games so if I wanted to rent Silent Hill 2 or SSX Tricky..I couldn't..Blockbuster won't carry older games anymore. 
Anyway, there are a few games that are coming out soon that I'm excited about..

Upcoming Games

Star Wars: The Force Unleashed Publisher: LucasArts Developer: Krome Studios Release: Sept. 16, 2008 Genre: Action Platform: PS3, PS2, Xbox 360, Wii, DS, PSP, iPod, iPhone Graphics: HQ Wallpaper Trailers @ Gametrailers.com Photo Gallery</font>

Silent Hill: Homecoming Publisher: Konami Developer: The Collective Release: Sept. 30, 2008 Genre: Adventure Platform: PS3, Xbox 360, PC  Trailers @ Gametrailers.com (more videos) Graphics: Screenshots  Photo Gallery

Final Fantasy Versus XIII (OH YEAH)!!  Published by: Square Enix Developed by: Square Enix Release Date: Dec. 31, 2009 Genre: Action RPG Platform: PS3 Trailer: Trailer - gametrailers.com Graphics: HQ screenshots page (beautiful) Final Fantasy Versus XIII Screenshots Final Fantasy VII PS3 techdemo

More - Trailers    Fable 2 Trailer       BioShock 2 HQ Images

I'm so bummed that I have to wait until the end of 2009 to play the new Final Fantasy game. I feel like I've been waiting for the next good one since FFX! I just haven't liked any of the recent sequels. FFX2 Sucked. Dancing? Pop Star? Changing clothes for battle? Give me a break. I wish they'd hurry up and release Final Fantasy Versus XIII already. Damn. :)

I'm playing Silent Hill: Orgins right now and it's very similiar to Silent Hill 2 as far as graphics and controls. It's ok but not super amazing or anything, wah I need super amazing.

Sorry for the long post. I just have one more thing to say..What are your all time favorite games? I'm curious to hear what other people like.

How disappointing: The Ivar's brand of cocktail sauce has less gross crap in it than the local, in-house made stuff.  Same with the in-house made breads, sourdough English muffins in particular, - full of yuck.  I have to wonder if they are trying to poison the community with all that HFC nonsense. 

So, we've set off to make our own cocktail sauce - without stupid things like sugar & HFC!  Trying to find horseradish without any crap in it was another challenge in itself.  Fortunately, the kosher stuff usually is free of nasty ingredients, so we did manage to find a small bottle of good ol' horseradish.  In a glass bottle, no less!  One that I will be sure to put to further uses once it's empty. 

The strawberries were a complete failure, but then so were the ones grown on the professional farms.  I think my plants are just too old, so I'm making an effort to pot up the little starts hanging from the runners. 
The Pear tree has a small collection of pears, about the size of 1/4 oz. nail-polish bottles.  (I'd say a little bigger than a thumb, but whose thumb to use for reference would make too much difference.) 
Seems to be a good year for fruit trees, but not so good for ground-level crops.  Many folks have had poor success with their tomatoes, too. 
The Apple tree has an abundance of potential apples, but many are falling off once they reach olive-size. 

MIDNIGHT RIDAZZ -
RIDE ON!