OakMonster’s Den

Why, good morning to you too, David.

Well, San Francisco is THE place to be, really.

The four girls reunited for another girls dinner. This time, we feasted at Beachwood Barbecue.  Three of us did the appetizer-for-dinner with a skillet of the best Mac and Cheese on the planet, steamed clams, stuffed artichokes and a pot of cheese + beer fondue with lovely hush puppies, smoked meatballs, spicy sausages and some other fixings.  Aurora, who can’t even have a taste of dairy until she stops breastfeeding, nibbled on a few non-dairy items and enjoyed her plate of venison.

We had a fantastic time up until the very last bites when the Lakers took a turn for the worst, and until this dude interrupted us.

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Dresden says, “WTF…?”

Oh yeah. It so totally is. ;-D

(Thank you the firefighters at Hope for Firefighters event in Downtown LA yesterday.  You guys were awesome!)

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Originally uploaded by Oakmonster(TM).

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Originally uploaded by Oakmonster(TM).

NEVER pre-set a dessert because I WILL eat it before the main course arrives.

Art should happen everywhere. I couldn’t agree more.

[Ari] Kletzky’s aim is as multilayered and unconventional as the city it embroiders, drawing attention to islands of every shape, size and intention. “The signs are a way to start a conversation and an education,” says Kletzky, whose project is still in the exploratory stages. “They are a gesture. An appetizer that inspires an appetite. I’m looking to generate discussion to explore use of public space by turning islands into a work of art.” - LA Times

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Originally uploaded by Oakmonster(TM).

I took a wine appreciation class at the Wine Country in Signal Hill last night. I was going to drive myself there but Brandon insisted that he drop me off and pick me up after.

And I was glad he did!

16 different wine to taste in the lesson, kids. And I actually held my own quite well for 15 of them.

It ended with a port. Delicious, lovely ruby port. Nectar of the gods.

That was tipped me over.

Just what I needed got get over hump day.

I LOVE Ren Faire.

Much fun and debauchery on Saturday. I mean, how can you not have debauchery when Greg M. is involved! We drank even before we left the house…you know where this is going, right?

I’ll put up the SLIDE show here later, but in the meantime, check out my Ren Faire flickr set.

I had 2.5 cups of mead. Would’ve been three but I didn’t drink the last one fast enough before we had to exit the Faire. Everyone else in our group other than Brandon surely had a LOT more than me.

Oh and we went to dinner in Seal Beach in our costumes (minus my headpiece because it hurt my head). Brandon protested a bit at first, but Greg and I were very persuasive. LOL.

Sunday, I ditched Nora (sorry girl!) and didn’t go to Patchwork arts fair as planned. I was beat. All the drinking and the axe throwing and arrow shooting and the heat and the sun didn’t allow me to want to do much else.

Other than going to see Iron Man.

I LOVE Iron Man. It was AWESOME! First 2008 movie I love so far. I am looking forward to Indiana Jones, The Dark Knight, and Hellboy this summer. Oh, and the Happening too.

And in sadness.

I still got to play with Athena this morning. Possibly the last. The girls are supposed to take her to the shelter by the time I get home tonight. No taker for our little girl. We really hope someone adopts her.

ETA: It breaks my heart that the girls had to dump Athena at Cal State Long Beach.  Apparently they have an effort to feed the feral  and the stray cats outside of their campus newspapers.  At least she will be fed.  Hopefully someone would try to make contact with our girl and at least she would have a few human playmates.  I hope.  I wish.  I pray.

It was good while it lasted.

Saturday at the El Dorado Nature Walk with the boys, Brandon and Erik.

We also got into a little bit of a public art project.

As I was coming home the past week, I noticed there were these flat, wooden stakes duct-taped to a few lamp posts along the road. I wondered what they were for so I asked Brandon when we drove by. The most logical explanation is that these were parts of political campaign signs. Folks just removed the paper part and not taking off the rest.

Brandon said jokingly, “Maybe somebody needs to protect themselves against vampires or something.”

Naturally, an art project was born: “Use in case of vampire attack”.

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Today I went on with Nora to the Brewery Art Walk in Downtown LA. For those who are not familiar with the Brewery, it’s an art colony of over 500 artists, the largest live-work colony in the world. The Brewery is a 22-building complex on 23 acres, comprises a variety of structures, some dating back to 1888. This used to be the plant where they brewed Pabst. Twice a year, they open up their doors to the public, quite literally welcoming us to their homes.

And my god, how much I still would LOVE to live in a loft. And how much I would LOVE to really have space to CREATE without worrying about messing up my space. LOL.

Nora and I perused a lot of spaces with our main focus on photography. We didn’t have the energy to do them all, but we did what we can.

Afterward, since we parked right by it, Nora and I made a pit stop at the San Antonio Wineries. We walked out with some tasty sparkling white wine. Man, that place could totally be bad news for the wallets of a wayward alcoholic Asian and an adventurous wine drinking English-Irish. But we managed to escape with 2 and 1 bottle each respectively.

I put a little slide show for you here but I have all of my pictures over here.