Ottopia

Posts are categorized as follows,

0. Disliking things.

1. Glasses.

2. The kitchen and what comes out of it.

3. Los Angeles.

4. Tokyo.

5. Dogs.

6. Plans, Meetings, Adventures.

Enjoy!
July 6
A new category of posts has been created, Category 6: Plans, meetings, adventures. Enjoy! Category 6 Posting: On the Horizon. To look forward to something, to make plans, to entertain thoughts regarding my future, this new category is about all of these things.  More importantly this category is meant to allow me to write more without feeling as though all of my posts are influenced by my almost-done-with-college, young adult angst. Instead of masking or trying to work past what is on my mind, it seems easier to own the fact that I have limited direction, if any at all, at this point in time. That being said, I do feel like there is a cornucopia of wonderful things on the horizon, where the arrow touches the sea. This picture made me smile and want to make something similar for an adventurous friend. However,  I ultimately concluded that it was tactless to thoughtlift something so simple and beautiful, even if mine would have been different in context and marginally more interesting. I’m pretty sure the aforementioned partner in crime knows who they are… Hopefully we’ll meet each other there.

A new category of posts has been created, Category 6: Plans, meetings, adventures. Enjoy!

Category 6 Posting: On the Horizon.

To look forward to something, to make plans, to entertain thoughts regarding my future, this new category is about all of these things.  More importantly this category is meant to allow me to write more without feeling as though all of my posts are influenced by my almost-done-with-college, young adult angst. Instead of masking or trying to work past what is on my mind, it seems easier to own the fact that I have limited direction, if any at all, at this point in time.

That being said, I do feel like there is a cornucopia of wonderful things on the horizon, where the arrow touches the sea. This picture made me smile and want to make something similar for an adventurous friend. However,  I ultimately concluded that it was tactless to thoughtlift something so simple and beautiful, even if mine would have been different in context and marginally more interesting.

I’m pretty sure the aforementioned partner in crime knows who they are… Hopefully we’ll meet each other there.

June 23
Category 3 Posting: Legos from LA. While in LA this past week I picked up the entirety of my childhood Lego collection. With this in mind. The @ sign was a bit tricky but I’m quite content with the job that Ali did. Kudos. Hopefully people remember to wear shoes… Sign credits: Alexandra Eve Kirby, Otto Gustav Zoell

Category 3 Posting: Legos from LA.

While in LA this past week I picked up the entirety of my childhood Lego collection. With this in mind. The @ sign was a bit tricky but I’m quite content with the job that Ali did. Kudos.

Hopefully people remember to wear shoes…

Sign credits: Alexandra Eve Kirby, Otto Gustav Zoell

June 10
Category 3 Posting: A Possible Return to Los Angeles. The formal school year is winding down and I am staring down the barrel of summer school. Almost done, but not quite there, Saturday marks a commencement to celebrate a degree that I have yet to earn. All that is immediately ahead of me leads to what once would have been, without question, a triumphant return to the City of Angels. The promise of healthcare and a decent wage makes the move feel like the right thing to do, but the somewhat rapid dissipation of my social network has complicated things. Two days ago, one of my closest friends (I would say best, but choosing favorites is passé and there are multiple people tied for first) told me that she was moving to San Francisco ahead of schedule. This, the first time that someone important to me has not been intrinsically linked to Los Angeles, forced me to consider other options regarding the time between now and 2010. Over the last year I have been toying with the idea of moving to the Bay Area. Recent events have helped me turn this dream into a viable option.  The dinner parties, the dressing up and the adventures make my once inevitable return to LA, save for a few souls, seem as lonely as the room above. While a couple of friends may not have seemed like a strong enough network to be happy with, the promise of at least three in the immediate area, and several others a little over an hour away makes the Bay feel more like home than home does. At the moment everything is up in the air, but I would like to thank all of the people that have encouraged me to consider leaving the nest through their amazing company. These past few month have been among the best of my life.

Category 3 Posting: A Possible Return to Los Angeles.

The formal school year is winding down and I am staring down the barrel of summer school. Almost done, but not quite there, Saturday marks a commencement to celebrate a degree that I have yet to earn. All that is immediately ahead of me leads to what once would have been, without question, a triumphant return to the City of Angels.

The promise of healthcare and a decent wage makes the move feel like the right thing to do, but the somewhat rapid dissipation of my social network has complicated things. Two days ago, one of my closest friends (I would say best, but choosing favorites is passé and there are multiple people tied for first) told me that she was moving to San Francisco ahead of schedule. This, the first time that someone important to me has not been intrinsically linked to Los Angeles, forced me to consider other options regarding the time between now and 2010.

Over the last year I have been toying with the idea of moving to the Bay Area. Recent events have helped me turn this dream into a viable option.  The dinner parties, the dressing up and the adventures make my once inevitable return to LA, save for a few souls, seem as lonely as the room above. While a couple of friends may not have seemed like a strong enough network to be happy with, the promise of at least three in the immediate area, and several others a little over an hour away makes the Bay feel more like home than home does.

At the moment everything is up in the air, but I would like to thank all of the people that have encouraged me to consider leaving the nest through their amazing company. These past few month have been among the best of my life.

June 1
Catergory 0 Posting: Unicorn Love. So this isn’t a true Category 0 Posting since being Missed Connectioned is flattering, even if it was in jest.  The only thing that would make it better would be to have been wearing a unicorn costume at the time the connection was missed, which happened to be the case. Despite the flattery, there are a few things I dislike that are brought to the front of my mind given the situation. 1) Technology’s penchant to appease my need for instant gratification : I replied to the missed connection for two reasons. First off, I was geniunely interested in knowing if it was someone I know who is shy, someone who doesn’t know me at all, or a joke.  And secondly, I feel like a craigslist post about me from an anonymous person requires me to respond. It is a social obligation.  Because I chose to respond to this post I am playing The Waiting Game, which living in the simpler 1990’s wouldn’t have been so bad.  But now that I can text someone and get a response back in (hopefully) a couple minutes email has become the new snail mail, and snail mail is a novelty to be exchanged between two close friends as a means of sharing amazing things that are not too heavy to affordably ship. I usually wouldn’t notice how slow email feels but big things are poppin’ on Craigslist. 2) People who don’t follow Missed Connections etiquette: Normally when posting, the poster will include a section that has to do with them (what they were wearing, initials, a brief description of an interaction, the list goes on)  to give the posted about individual some sort of clue as to who they might be.  Otherwise the post seems likely to be a joke. Not posting a clue gives me nothing to search my memory for, leaving me to play… 3) The Waiting Game: Waiting for busses sucks. Waiting for one of my 8 housemates to get out of the shower sucks. Waiting to order because your friend is late to lunch sucks. Waiting sucks, plain and simple.  It makes me wish I were somewhere else doing something else. More that anything it makes me doubt the sincerity of said Missed Connection.  The worst thing about waiting is that the other undesireable factors become more prominent and add to the agony of waiting inducing a downward spiral towards anxiety. Despite this being classified as a Category 0 Posting I would like to thank the person who posted about me. This mystery added some excitement to an otherwise slow moving day at the library. I hope to find out who you are soon.

Catergory 0 Posting: Unicorn Love.

So this isn’t a true Category 0 Posting since being Missed Connectioned is flattering, even if it was in jest.  The only thing that would make it better would be to have been wearing a unicorn costume at the time the connection was missed, which happened to be the case. Despite the flattery, there are a few things I dislike that are brought to the front of my mind given the situation.

1) Technology’s penchant to appease my need for instant gratification : I replied to the missed connection for two reasons. First off, I was geniunely interested in knowing if it was someone I know who is shy, someone who doesn’t know me at all, or a joke.  And secondly, I feel like a craigslist post about me from an anonymous person requires me to respond. It is a social obligation.  Because I chose to respond to this post I am playing The Waiting Game, which living in the simpler 1990’s wouldn’t have been so bad.  But now that I can text someone and get a response back in (hopefully) a couple minutes email has become the new snail mail, and snail mail is a novelty to be exchanged between two close friends as a means of sharing amazing things that are not too heavy to affordably ship. I usually wouldn’t notice how slow email feels but big things are poppin’ on Craigslist.

2) People who don’t follow Missed Connections etiquette: Normally when posting, the poster will include a section that has to do with them (what they were wearing, initials, a brief description of an interaction, the list goes on)  to give the posted about individual some sort of clue as to who they might be.  Otherwise the post seems likely to be a joke. Not posting a clue gives me nothing to search my memory for, leaving me to play…

3) The Waiting Game: Waiting for busses sucks. Waiting for one of my 8 housemates to get out of the shower sucks. Waiting to order because your friend is late to lunch sucks. Waiting sucks, plain and simple.  It makes me wish I were somewhere else doing something else. More that anything it makes me doubt the sincerity of said Missed Connection.  The worst thing about waiting is that the other undesireable factors become more prominent and add to the agony of waiting inducing a downward spiral towards anxiety.

Despite this being classified as a Category 0 Posting I would like to thank the person who posted about me. This mystery added some excitement to an otherwise slow moving day at the library. I hope to find out who you are soon.

May 31
Category 1 Posting: Score of the Decade(?) While digging through things this week I came across this pair of vintage tortoise shell Wayfarers. Seeing as I left my club masters in LA over a month ago, this score is much more than a score. It’s the score of the decade; a life saver, if you will. Sorry about the shitty iPhone picture.

Category 1 Posting: Score of the Decade(?)

While digging through things this week I came across this pair of vintage tortoise shell Wayfarers. Seeing as I left my club masters in LA over a month ago, this score is much more than a score. It’s the score of the decade; a life saver, if you will.

Sorry about the shitty iPhone picture.

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Category 2 Posting: Chicken Marbella. This recipe was emailed to me by my mother.  It is from the Silver Palate Cook Book and is to die for.  Not the “wow, I wish I could eat this everyday for the rest of my life” type of to die for, not even “I know what my last meal is” type of to die for.  It is the “OH MY FUCKING GOD WHY HAVE I NEVER EATEN THIS GOOD IN MY LIFE” type of to die for. I’d suggest serving it with mashed potatoes that are light on the salt and a chilled beet salad with balsamic. Enjoy!

Category 2 Posting: Chicken Marbella.

This recipe was emailed to me by my mother.  It is from the Silver Palate Cook Book and is to die for.  Not the “wow, I wish I could eat this everyday for the rest of my life” type of to die for, not even “I know what my last meal is” type of to die for.  It is the “OH MY FUCKING GOD WHY HAVE I NEVER EATEN THIS GOOD IN MY LIFE” type of to die for.

I’d suggest serving it with mashed potatoes that are light on the salt and a chilled beet salad with balsamic.

Enjoy!

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Category 5 Posting: Day Makers. About a week ago these two adorable monsters were sitting outside of Gabriella’s Cafe.  There is nothing better than seeing my two favorite breeds of dog, Shiba Inu and French Bulldog, hanging out on the street together.  The best part was that they had more or less-matching coats. This made my otherwise unremarkable day.

Category 5 Posting: Day Makers.

About a week ago these two adorable monsters were sitting outside of Gabriella’s Cafe.  There is nothing better than seeing my two favorite breeds of dog, Shiba Inu and French Bulldog, hanging out on the street together.  The best part was that they had more or less-matching coats. This made my otherwise unremarkable day.

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Category 0 Posting: Dyslexia, Spoonerisms and Contagion. I’ve been making a lot of spoonerism and other errors when speaking recently.  While word-vomit is something that happens to me often, I have a feeling this recent outbreak is contagious.  After spending enough time around me, others have started adding unexpected sounds to words.  Point in case, my friend and I went to get ice cream the other day and while I managed to order mine without cause for concern she was busy inquiring about the “frudge” - a combination of fridge and fudge - only minutes after I acknowledged running a “sop stign.”

Category 0 Posting: Dyslexia, Spoonerisms and Contagion.

I’ve been making a lot of spoonerism and other errors when speaking recently.  While word-vomit is something that happens to me often, I have a feeling this recent outbreak is contagious.  After spending enough time around me, others have started adding unexpected sounds to words.  Point in case, my friend and I went to get ice cream the other day and while I managed to order mine without cause for concern she was busy inquiring about the “frudge” - a combination of fridge and fudge - only minutes after I acknowledged running a “sop stign.”

May 7
Category 0 Posting: Tumblr? Somehow I got pneumonia, then I got a Tumblr… Coincidence?

Category 0 Posting: Tumblr?

Somehow I got pneumonia, then I got a Tumblr… Coincidence?

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Category 4 Posting: Gilded Fish. Osaka Castle is close enough to Tokyo, right?

Category 4 Posting: Gilded Fish.

Osaka Castle is close enough to Tokyo, right?