Kokochi

Just for Dav

Cuz I know he's missing these guys.

And we miss him too!

Batman Birthday Cake

Met up with Eric the Bird and Eme to celebrate Eric's birthday. Eme brought along a gigantic cake with a nifty little personal touch. We sang Happy Birthday and made him blow out a candle.

Eme, by the way, is a fantastic designer. The last time I wore one her concoctions, at the Love Parade, I couldn't keep count how many people wanted to take a picture of me. Well, not me but of the wonderful outfit I had on. Once Eme settles in to her new boutique on 101 Pierce Street opening on lower Haight Street, I want to begin working on an even more outrageous outfit. Can't wait!!

Good food, good friends

When I was in Tokyo, I had bought very special salty umeboshi plums for Manisha and hadn't got around to giving them to her. So although Dav would miss out, I decided to cook a full-blown Japanese meal for Manisha, Sion, and Elaine to create an occasion for the plum transfer. I absolutely love such intimate dinners. I love spending my afternoon planning and cooking, and I love welcoming friends over to sit at the table. As much as I enjoy large parties, I actually prefer being able to focus on a few friends and have deeper conversations. We started a little past 8pm and finished past 2am! I wish I had recorded our conversations to share with you, but I was too engrossed (we even got the laptop out at one point). Needless to say, I'm energized. But so sorry we all missed Dav!

This morning I cleaned up, and had my version of a bacon n' eggs breakfast using leftovers: rice (cooked with carrots, aburaage, dashi soup base, and soysauce) mixed in with nikujyaga (potato/beef/snap pea stew), fermented soybeans prepared with dashi/soysauce, and an egg swirled in. It looks too gross to take a picture of, but mmmmmm. I'm ready for a very active Sunday!

Cool bandaid

My brother Ian came to the office with the cutest bandaid - Pikachu! My phone cam can't focus very closely but I just had to show this. I'm *so* going to get such bandaids and make Dav wear them!

Cool car repair place

The car is fixed. I went to pick it up since Dav is in NC and found the shop to be very friendly and so colorful!

Dinner at Ezra's

Transcription by Ms. Jen:
Ezra, from work, invited me over for dinner with his friends. The evening started with a chuckle because the 'wine' glasses were uniquely varied. We love it - I'm drinking from the beer jug. Amazing salad and Ezra's homemade calzone.

Coversations: languages we want to learn, how the draft works, May Day holiday in the Basque country, no eating lunch at our desks, blogging labels (which I don't like), gender diffs. in kids

Second Life

Dav recently found out about Second Life and we both signed up. At first it just seemed too interesting not to try out, but the more we do this, we're discovering this can be an excellent tool to "hang out" together when Dav and I have to be apart.

It's basically an alternative world, but it's not a game. You just go in and do what you want: build stuff, meet people, learn things, dress up ... experience another world that members continue to create everyday.

Dav helped set me up and then had to leave for biz to NC. Last night, I poked around by myself a bit and worked on my character to look more like me. Interestingly, although I could look like anyone I want, I prefer to try and resemble myself. Otherwise I'd somehow feel fake. I just want to be me and not some character.

Then, in anticipation of meeting online with Dav, I decided to go shopping at the mall for some cool clothes. When you join, you get some spending money and of course the first thing I want to do is go shopping! I'll spare you the difficulties I had in learning how to move and find stuff, but I finally got a pair of jeans. However, I didn't know how to take off my shorts so I ended up wearing the jeans AND my shorts on top. What a dork!

Next I found the cutest bunny slippers and couldn't resist so I purchased them too. But before I knew what button I pressed, I found the bunny slippers in a box on my head like a helmet. Dork x 2!! I left for the night in frustration.

Tonight, I met up with Dav. He's the guy wearing black in the first pic. We're hanging out on some land he just bought where we wanna build a nice little house. He already learned how to make a table (that huge black table in the pic) Anyway, I don't know how, but I got my shorts to disappear, yet still had my bunny slipper problem (you can see what I looked like in the first pic). Luckily a kind neighbor walked by and explained how to get them on my feet. How lovely.

In celebration, Dav and I went dancing in a pretty hip club, a sorta online date. I wore a t-shirt Dav made and although it's hard to see against the black floor, I'm wearing my bunny slippers. The club was so hip that it gave us dance moves and boy, we were good!

Looking forward to more adventures. I hope to eventually moblog from this world directly to kokochi. Now *that* would be really cool.

Video Riot

	Click to see video.

This is too hard to capture by my phone. Basically we're in a parking lot in downtown SF and a bunch of really cool VJs are showing their stuff on the sides of two buildings with great music flowing from a specified radio station. There was a nominal fee per person to cover the permit. I can't explain how empowering it feels that us citizens can gather in this parking lot and celebrate art, music and communinty. Right smack in this business district.

Moblog

Small world - I happened to sit next to Jeff Ervin whom I met in Tokyo at the First International Moblog Conference. I love bumping into people like this. Afternoon session on mobloging. Kokochi was showcased...although it's hard to tell from the pic. Mena joined with her colorful laptop.

Coffee and the Overload session

Glad I'm not the only one overwhelmed...