“I may not have gone where I intended to go, but I think I have ended up where I needed to be.”
--- Douglas Adams

Friday, May 8, 2015

Excessive Use of the Dot Dot Dot ..... An Open Letter to Steven Bochco

Dear Mr. Bochco

The Girl (my teenage daughter) and I have been watching Doogie Howser, MD on Hulu. We put in a few episodes a day. I'm enjoying watching it with her for a few reasons. I love the hair. I love the old technology. I love the clothes. Mostly I love the relationship Doogie has with his girlfriend Wanda. I love watching Vinnie and Janine. I love watching Vinnie and Doogie, and I especially love how Vinnie totally has the hots for Mrs. Howser.

What I really love about the show, above everything else is the opportunity that I get to tell The Girl stories about when I was growing up and the different situations I've been in; funny, sad, silly, stupid, learning experiences during my teenage and young adult life. Hopefully some of them are cautionary tales, hopefully some are funny. Mostly I just hope she finds that they show her that although I grew up in a different time, I still encountered a lot of the same or similar teenage problems and situations that she has, or will encounter.

There's the story about my first date where I spent hours figuring out how much blue eye shadow I should wear so I looked hot but not slutty.

There's the story about when I was 14 and my friends got busted for stealing stuff at the mall and about how I really really wanted to go with them but was too chicken.

There's the story about the time I scolded Danny Glover in public.

Whilst watching The Doog tonight I was reminded of the accidental date I once went on.

It was soon after I had moved to San Francisco. A Midsummer Night's Dream was playing at the Coronet or some such movie theater on Geary St. that doesn't exist anymore. I was too much of an insecure freakshow to go to a movie by myself. I wanted to see it and none of my roommates did. I didn't really know a lot of people. I knew one guy who was into film. I didn't know him very well but I gave him a call and asked him if he wanted to come with me. He said yes.

He showed up at my door. He was freshly showered, freshly shaved and had on a clean shirt. The moment I saw him I thought "oh shit, this is a date." I had not intended the night to be a date. I just wanted to see the movie and didn't want to go alone. The "oh shit, this is a date" was cemented in fact when we got to the movie theater and he bought the tickets, winked at me and said "you can get the popcorn."

While we were at the movies, my roommates and a few other friends were at Slim's watching some band. In my head it was Desmond Decker but it may have not been. I could be making that part up but I don't think I am. I think it was Desmond Decker. After the date the guy asked me what I wanted to do. I told him we should go to Slim's.We did. We saw Desmond Decker (or someone else, who knows).  I drove home with my roommates and he, as far as I know, went home alone.

The Girl found this story amusing, but I feel bad about this night to this day. I didn't want this night to be a date, but I should have at least been nicer to him. He was a nice guy  I assume he is still a nice guy even though I haven't spoken to him in at least a decade, and looking back, he was probably a pretty good catch.

Luckily this guy became friends with my roommates and me and even lived in our apartment for a few months. It's been a long time since I've seen him. When The Girl is ready I have another story about him that I find terribly amusing. When there's a Doogie Howser, MD episode that relates to it, I may tell her.

So to this guy, thank you for playing a part in life. I'm sorry for being kind of a jerk that night we saw that movie. If I had to do it over, I would have let you drive me home instead of abandoning you at Slim's. I probably wouldn't have wanted to go out on a 2nd date, but I would have been nicer.

I'm glad we became friends anyway.

To Steven Bochco, thank you for Doogie Howser, MD. I'm having fun watching it with my daughter.

Thanks,
Andrea

P.S. I am not a crack-pot.

Sunday, May 3, 2015

A Different Kind of Yummy - Dream and Food Review

It was a pretty good Sunday.

The Kiddies let me sleep until 10am. I was having weird dreams all night long and had to sleep until I had a dream that wasn't creepy. I ended up waking up to a dream where I was being held against my will at a book store because they thought I was shoplifting. They searched me and determined I was not shoplifting but they still needed to charge me $10 for taking time out of their day to search my bag. They wouldn't let me leave until I paid. I told them they were stupid and I wasn't going to pay, then The Boy's school principal handed the store owner a check for $10 so I berated the store owner for taking money from a nun. I figured at 10am that's the best I was going to get so I should just wake up. So I did.

I spent the next hour drinking a particularly yummy cup of coffee, in my Fonzie cup, of course, eating honeydew melon and watching Doogie Howser, MD on Hulu snuggled with my kiddies under a home-made quilt on the couch.

Turned into a pretty swell morning.

We finally got around to getting out of the house. We went to a yard sale and picked up a few books, a Walter the Farting Dog stuffie, some shoes and a skirt for $6 and a Starbucks gift card that may have had $25 on it or may have had only 7 cents.

My oldest Kiddie was craving a sandwich so we went to Cheese Plus. CP is located on the corner of Polk and Pacific in SF. I was stoked to find parking just a short block away. When I worked at a local business we used to order their cheese platters on a regular basis. They were always super yummy and a big hit.

I don't, however get to the actual store very often enough. I'm happy we made the trip today.

We got to the sandwich counter. The Girl ordered her sandwich. I ordered a Cubano sandwich for me and a Tuna sandwich for Bean. The Boy was mad that CP didn't have cheeseburgers and fries. He grabbed a bag of pop chips and I ordered a Crissy Field sandwich for him. He was mad that I ordered him the sandwich and told me he wasn't going to eat it and I was stupid.

We got our sandwiches and took a seat in the parklet. The Girl opened her Toasted Crissy Field sandwich. She said it was delicious and she ate the whole thing. The Boy opened his bag of pop chips and his odwalla juice, tucked his knees inside of his t-shirt and ate silently, giving me "you should have gotten me a Cheeseburger and Fries" attitude.

I handed Bean 1/2 of her tuna sandwich and opened up my Cubano sandwich and started to enjoy it. She took a bite of the Tuna sandwich and said "This isn't the kind of yummy I like," and gave it to me. I gave her a bite of my sandwich and she took it from me and didn't give it back. She put it on her lap and ate it layer by layer until it was gone. She loved it. Tuna sandwiches are the wrong sort of bees for her, I guess. Cubano sandwiches are right up her alley, though.

Meanwhile The Boy was finding his popchips and odwalla weren't enough. I opened his sandwich; a Crissy Field, untoasted and handed it to him, He reluctantly took it from me and sniffed it. He dared to take his first bite, then he decided he could suffer a second bite. With the third bite he figured that if the first two bites hadn't hurt him, the next one would be OK. By the fourth bite he was committed to the idea that the sandwich wasn't such a bad sandwich after all. By the time he had finished the first half he said that his sandwich was the best sandwich he had ever had and that all sandwiches should be made exactly the same way as the Crissy Field Sandwich, untoasted is.

So, if you want to feed a hungry teenager who really wants a sandwich, go to Cheese Plus and get her a Crissy Field Sandwich , toasted. She will eat all of it.

If you want to feed a hungry 2-1/2 year old, don't get her tuna. Get her a Cubano Sandwich. She may not eat it sandwich-style, but she'll eat the whole thing in a manner that makes sense only to her and make yummy eating noises while eating it until it's gone.

If you want to feed a hungry 7 year old who thinks that Cheeseburgers and Fries are more delicious than a stinky freshly made sandwich, get him a Crissy Field, untoasted. He'll be suspicious at first then decide it's the best darn sandwich he's ever had and wish for all future sandwiches to be so yummy.

Then we went home. The Girl did her homework. The Boy had some Minecraft time and Bean and I hung out and watched some Dragon Tales together. (Man, I hate Dragon Tales).

We had dinner, took baths, washed hair (the only sucky part of the day because my two youngest think washing hair is worse than bamboo under the finger nails) then went to bed.

I'm ending my day with some cashews and a nice glass of Petite Sirah.

I'll take a Sunday like today any day.

Welcome now my friends to the show that never ends

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Nice Pictures - Where'd you steal them from?

Some of the pictures in my blog were taken by a photographer called Julie Michele. Some of the pictures were either taken by me or someone I know. Some of the pictures were ripped right from the internet, mostly from google image searches from photographers to whom I may or may not give credit.

Rest assured I make no money from any of it.