A Perfect Moment

I've long held the belief that our memories are the most precious things we have in our lives. As I get older I try to live consciously in the moment, and this allows me to recognize the moments that future memories are being forged. The cognizance of living-in-the-moment applies to both good and bad times, happy and stressful times, moments of great fortune and of terrible luck -- indeed, my point is that my effort to live-in-the-moment applies all of the time!

On very rare occasions, I encounter what I like to call "a perfect moment." These perfect moments can be triggered by different things. Sometimes it's a defining moment in my life. Sometimes it's an epiphany of self-awareness that leads to a better understanding of myself and my life. And sometimes, it's just one of those moments of perfect happiness when it all comes together.

My birthday was this past Wednesday, and for dinner, Taylor took me to La Toque. The great service and exceptional food and wine makes La Toque one of our favorite places for our dinner dates. But equally important is the quiet and subdued experience that allows us to create a private and romantic cocoon for a few hours.

I had brought a bottle of 1996 Dom Perignon Rose as a back-up bottle of Champagne, but luckily there was Krug "Grande Cuvee" available on the wine list. Grande Cuvee is the Champagne that, in many ways, is a symbol of my relationship with Taylor -- and when I put my nose to this wine, it reminds me of her. Luxuriously, we took our time, and we finished most of the bottle of Champagne before we eventually ordered three courses each.

And then, while enjoying my second course... it happened. A perfect moment.

Yes, I was sitting at La Toque on my birthday, eating seared foie gras, drinking Krug "Grande Cuvee," and holding hands with Taylor -- but it was more than that. It was a moment in the shadow of the fact that I had overworked myself for six-weeks, helping to open a restaurant. It was the luxury and ritual of fine-dining that contrasted working at Brick and Bottle. It was the fact that I had previously worked at La Toque and felt comfortable and at home. It was the dim lighting that helped form that romantic cocoon. It was the soothing sound of Miles Davis in the background. It was the softness of Taylor's skin, the sound of her voice, and the smell of her hair. And it was the love that I felt for this woman.

Perfect, indeed.

When the First Sip Is the Sommelier’s, Not Yours

A recent article in the New York Times discusses the practice of sommeliers tasting the bottle of wine that the guest has ordered before the guest tastes it.

Inevitably, it's reposted on Facebook and everyone registers their hate for the practice. But based on the comments and the discussion, it's obvious that no one actually reads the article. Everyone has the reactionary stance that somms are pretentious and are trying to steal some of their wine. Here's what I posted in response:

"I'm coming to the conversation a little late, but I'd like to weigh in and agree with Steve. The somm tasting the wine is a QUALITY CHECK of the wine and the specific bottle. It's not much different from cooks/chefs tasting the food before it's plated and sent to the guest.

"For whatever reason, there seems to be a distrust of sommeliers and an assumption that the tasting is done for selfish reasons. Just like the chef is tasting the food as a quality check and not because he's hungry, the somm is just looking out for the best interest of the guest and not trying to steal some of your wine. (More often than not, the last thing he wants to do is have to taste yet another bottle of $12 Sonoma Cutrer chardonnay.)

"It really doesn't have anything to do with "already knowing the wine" -- that is already assumed if it's on their wine list. Indeed, if it's a rare, very old, or an expensive bottle of wine, the somm is better qualified (ie experienced) to judge if the bottle is off or flawed. There can be a lot of bottle variation within the same wine/vintage, and there are a host of flaws that may exist in the bottle -- and this becomes more important to judge if the bottle is rare or very expensive.

"Some people might feel that it's presumptuous for the somm to feel that he's more qualified to judge the wine than the guest. But he IS, and that's why he's the somm. Just as the properly trained chef is more qualified when it comes to food, and your properly trained doctor is more qualified when it comes to your health and your body, the properly trained somm is more knowledgeable about wine and has more experience detecting flaws/variation in bottles of wine.

"When it comes to educating the public about the job and role of the sommelier, I know that there's still a lot of work to be done. I read the article a few days ago, and I really wish that it would have explained the reasons for the practice, and not just raised an inflammatory question."

Another Sleepless Night

it's 6:20 am and i have not been able to sleep all night. i hate this. i've been lynig in bed for hours trying to fall asleep and i finally got to the point where i felt like screaming so i got up and gave up on sleeping. usually, i'd just stay up if i'm not sleepy or can fall asleep. but i have a double to work in a few hours so i've been trying to get some rest.

i hate this.

i was feeling so frustrated that i just wanted to talk to somebody about it -- i just needed a shoulder to cry on -- but everyone's asleep and it not right for me to wake someone up just to whine, and in the process deprive them of sleep.

these hours in the middle of the night when i can't sleep are the loneliest part on my life. even when i have lived with someone, and she's lying asleep next to me, i can't wake her just to keep me company. i'm always alone at during these hours, and i hate it.

and the other thing that sucks is that no one understands -- especially at work. if i'm late a few minutes because i've overslept, or if i have to call in "sick" because i haven't slept in two days, everyone just thinks i'm slacking off, or that i'm lazy. they don't understand that i'd sacrifice a lot of things to have a normal life, but it just ain't in the cards.

instead of 32 hours of sleep in the last four nights, i've gotten a total of about 13 hours. and in a couple of hours, i've got to get ready for work and then start a 14 hour shift on my feet.

ever fantasize about what you would ask for if you had three wishes and you could wish for anything? well, if i had just ONE wish... this would be it. "I wish I could have a normal sleep schedule, where I would get sleepy at night and then sleep for 8 hours and then get up in the morning, feeling refreshed." it sounds like a simple wish, but i'd want that more than a million dollars, and i'd want that more than the perfect woman.

i just want to sleep.

To All Those Offended by The Mohammed Cartoon

My new MySpace picture displayed is the Mohammed cartoon that is causing the riots and embassy attacks. I put it up on my page in defiance of all religious fundamentalists and extremists. Come and wage jihad on me, you zealot motherfuckers.

What is sacred to you is not sacred to me. Don't try to impose your will, your religion, or your backward misogynistic culture on me.

You burn the American flag (a sacred symbol to me) in violent demonstrations all over the world, but you don't see me throwing rocks at your embassy. A cartoonist makes a political statement by drawing a cartoon, and all of a sudden you become part of a mindless mob. Get a grip.

But you want to know the craziest thing about all of this? The “deeply offended” Muslim reaction is largely a sham.

People have been whipped up into a frenzy about something that generally would engender very little strife. The Danish cartoons were originally printed in September 2005, and then re-printed in a popular Egyptian newspaper, “al Fagr,” in October 2005. Tens of thousands of Egyptian Muslims saw them and went about their business. Were some people offended? Maybe. But they attacked neither the newspaper nor its staff. This part of the event provoked NO comment in the Islamic world at all. To repeat, an Egyptian newspaper published these “offensive” pictures of Mohammed and no one reacted.

The reaction was deliberately stoked by radical Danish Islamic imams - Abu Laban and Akkari, who toured the Middle East and included along with the fairly mild Jyllands Posten cartoons several other extremely offensive images, supposedly “hate mail” they had received. At least one of their extra images, supposedly of Mohammed as a pig, was in fact, nothing of the sort. It was a humorous picture of a Frenchman at a pig-calling contest. The point here is that the Danish imams, on their “let’s make a big stink” mission, included extraordinarily offensive pictures that had nothing to do with the Danish newspaper’s cartoons. It’s clear that these gratuitous and dishonest additions contributed to the outrage that developed.

The largest, most violent riots have occurred in Syria, Lebanon, Iran, and Afghanistan. The first three countries are under the control of strongly anti-Western regimes. (Syria remains an influence in Lebanon, to say nothing of Hezbollah.) In Afghanistan, the Taliban remains an influence in the out-lying cities where the riots occurred. All these governments and parties have an interest in whipping up anti-Western hysteria. No crowds of any sort assemble in Damascus and Teheran without explicit instigation, direction, and organization by the governments.


Support and defend free speech! Censorship is un-American! End all violence perpetrated in the name of religion!

Judge for yourself, you can find the cartoons here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muhammad_Drawings

Unapologetically,
Me
p.s. Feel free to repost or pass this along.

An Annual Tradition

OK, so it's that time of year when I repost my Holiday Rant. This was originally written about a week before Thanksgiving 2003... I just re-read it and I still feel the same way. So without further ado...

THE HOLIDAY RANT
so, i've sit down at the screen to vent and to share, once again. i just want to tell you how much i hate christmas. it basically all boils down to this...

1) i am not religious. at all. not one fucking bit. yep, in case you didn't already know this about me -- i'm an atheist, and i don't believe in god. at all. none of them, in any form. and i certainly don't believe in some anarchist named jesus. thus, the "true meaning of christmas" constantly being referred to by the mass media and the ever-effective advertising machine is a load of bullshit to me. honestly, i have as much business celebrating christmas as i do celebrating ramadan.

2) even if i did believe that the birth of jesus (which, by the way, was NOT december 25th, or ANY day in december for that matter) was worth celebrating, i fucking HATE the idea/tradition that spending hundreds (if not thousands) of dollars on presents for others has anything to do with it. the whole thing is a giant gift-giving chain reaction on the order of a nuclear explosion. and it's such BULLSHIT that anyone should feel guilty if they get a gift from someone they didn't get a gift for.

3) i never get anything good. and i'm not saying this because it's about the presents. no, i'm saying this because i hate opening shitty gifts that i don't want or need. be honest -- most of the gifts we get are shit. we all get junk most of the time. and you know why? because people just buy you a gift because they have to, and they secretly hate christmas, too, and can't afford to buy wonderful gifts for everyone. so you end up getting the 10-in-1 handy screwdriver/hammer/radio/emergency beacon/umbrella packaged in the elegant leather case with the brass clasp from macy's (???). and then when you open said present, you're supposed to act a) all fucking surprised, b) as if it's exactly the thing you absolutely NEEDED, and c) how in FUCKSSAKE did they read your mind, beacuse it's EXACTLY want you wanted!

3) in addition to the pressured giving of presents, there's all the FUCKING ACCOUTERMENTS you need to make christmas FEEL like the picture in the goddamn pottery barn catalog -- ESPECIALLY if you live in california, since there's no snow OR reindeer this side of the rockies.

i have absoFUCKINGloutely NO need for brass stocking holders for the mantle, wreaths, tree ornaments, SCARVES, mittens, beanies with dingleballs HANGING (for shitssake) from them, cable knit sweaters with pictures of skiers on them, pinecones/wreathes/mistletoe/poinsettia/PINE TREES/holly (unless she's blonde), spice scented ANYTHING, strands of twinkling/non-twinkling multicolored/white lights, or anything with green AND red (i mean, think about it! those colors don't go together in anything else at any other time of the year! they DON'T fucking match!).

4) i HATE all the parties and get-togethers that are meant to "celebrate" christmas. let's face it: all these events we are pressured to attend only add stress to our lives and consume the precious little free time we have for ourselves.

and for what? if it's a work/business related event, then we have to spend time with all these assholes we ALREADY spend all day with, just so we can pretend to have a laughingly great time with -- when the truth is that we wouldn't socialize with most of them outside of work EVER.

if it's a friends and/or family gathering, shouldn't we be getting together with them ANYWAY? why the fuck do we need christmas to get together?

and the bottom line is that we don't celebrate the birth of christ IN ANY WAY at these parties. most of the time, we're all engaged in hedonistic and gluttonous behavior that would send you straight to HELL (if you even believe in that crap), like getting drunk, hitting on your (married) coworkers, showing off our new holiday outfits, and throwing out hard earned income in the form of UNNEEDED and UNNECESSARY gifts. SINNERS!!!

5) christmas cards.
a. a waste of money.
b. a waste of time.
c. a waste of stamps.
d. writer's cramp.
e. and most of all... SOMEONE ELSE'S WORDS WE TRY OT PASS OFF AS OUR OWN SINCERITY.

6) every "christmas" tradition is rooted in PAGAN ritual!!! can you fucking believe that? santa claus, christmas trees, and even the fact that it's in december. (and don't even get me started on easter traditions.) the ONLY tradition related to the birth of christ is going to church -- and we KNOW how many of us do that.

7) I HATE CHRISTMAS MUSIC. I HATE EVERY FUCKING SONG, AND MY HATRED GROWS EVERY TIME I AM FORCED TO LISTEN TO THE SAME SONGS OVER AND OVER AND OVER AND OVER AND OVER AND OVER AND OVER AND OVER AND OVER AND OVER AND OVER AND OVER AND OVER AGAIN (i actually typed that --i didn't copy and paste). which is to say that MY HATRED GROWS EXPONENTIALLY every hour.


ok, so what got me started on this one? well, i was forced by lisa to go christmas shopping today... oh WAIT! that's another one!

8) i hate that the christmas season starts earlier and earlier each fucking year!! i know that everyone points it out, but it's still mind blowing! we haven't even had thanksgiving, and already the stores have gone completely APESHIT into christmas mode. if you can believe it, my local long's drugs had displays of christmas tree ornaments the day after halloween! at this rate, i predict that by the year 2010, the official start of christmas season will the day after the last day of summer. FURTHERMORE, i predict that by 2030, christmas will be a year-round event. (it sickens me to think that there are actually people out there that can't wait for the year 2030.)


so as i was saying... i was DRAGGED out to go christmas shopping on MY DAY OFF...

as i walked around in shorts and a t-shirt (it was 68 degrees -- fahrenheit, not kelvin), i was surrounded be MORONS in raincoats (it was not raining) cable knit sweaters, mittens, scarves, and knit caps. "this is california," i wanted to scream! instead they all looked at ME as if iiiiiii were the crazy one.

i was trying to find presents for other people, but i found that i "couldn't find anything." you hear that phrase a lot this time of year, right? you know why? it's because we're all running around trying to buy UNNEEDED and UNNECESSARY crap for other people. no wonder it's hard to find "gift inspiration." it's because there's no real need for the gifts we're trying to buy.

instead, i find oodles and oodles of shit i want to buy for MYSELF! it's downright INSIDIOUS, i tell you! it's all part of capitalism's master plan. the irony is that most of us are on limited incomes, and therefore, i really can't afford to buy all this great shit for myself. instead, i have to save my pennies to buy UNNEEDED and UNNECESSARY crap of other people! DOUBLE STUFFED FUCK!

over the last couple of christmas seasons, i've averaged spending about $5 on every $1 i spend on someone else. and guess what? today was no exception. i bought myself three CDs, a scanner, and a nickel plated wine bottle coaster whilst i was "christmas shopping for others." not bad! considering that i was very tempted to buy myself about $1500 worth of other shit i stumbled across.

goddammit, i as SO fed up with this shit. EVERY YEAR! i'm drained, i tell you. and it's seven days 'til thanksgiving.

I knew it...

Karl Rove is a greasy, unethical slime ball and he should hang for treason.