nairb codex

Looking down the barrel: ‘008

// January 13th, 2009 // No Comments » // friends, life

So it’s been awhile, but I am back. 2008 was a hard year for me, with only the very beginning of the year being truly happy times for me. The rest of the year I spent slowly spiraling down into a dark existence, hitting rock bottom right around the end of the year.

In the past year, I’ve lost most of my self confidence, been consciously depressed, including pissing off most of my friends who attempted to keep in contact with me, losing about 25 lbs, and finding out I’m anorexic. I spent the majority of my time trying to make someone love me the way I wanted, even though I realized a long time ago that that would never happen, and turned out to be a rather expensive endeavor, all for nothing. I kept turning to her out of complete and utter loneliness, only for her to turn a cold shoulder every time I needed her. (more…)

Waves

// September 11th, 2008 // No Comments » // life

I’ve been sitting on my stoop in the evenings the last couple nights to relax. What I’ve noticed is, if you ignore the crickets and the slight buzz from the ocean air hitting the nearby power lines, you can hear the waves crashing on the beach. Pretty nice, especially considering it’s about a 5-minute walk down to the beach and there are several rows of houses/buildings between my place and the beach, not to mention the cement fence separating the sand from the walking/bike path.

Perfection

// August 14th, 2008 // 2 Comments » // life

It was, in fact, my birthday yesterday. Normally I don’t really look forward to my birthday. It’s not that I don’t like birthdays, it’s just that I tend to have very unmemorable birthdays, so it’s just another day for me.

This year, however, was different. Although my day wasn’t all that great because of some work annoyances, my evening was perfect. About two weeks ago, my best friend Stoyan called and said he and Alex would be in LA over my birthday and were wondering if I’d like to have dinner with them. Since I often can’t think of good places to eat, I entrusted Reiko to help me decide. She chose Yuzu, which I’m pretty sure is her favorite restaurant, and for good reason.

After that, she took care of everything. Thank god for my wonderful girlfriend, because my birthday dinner was perfection at its best! The food was amazing, the atmosphere was cozy and romantic, and absolutely no complaints having spent the evening with 3 of my favorite people. (more…)

2nd Harvest

// August 12th, 2008 // No Comments » // cooking, gardening, life

Although I didn’t mention about the 1st harvest, this morning for breakfast Reiko collected a salad and some baby bok choy for breakfast. The salad is really light and really fresh. The salad was so fresh, that I think I can safely say I know the taste of freshness.

We are planning our second crop and I think we will try to make the lettuce more crisp and the baby bok choy more wide (ours are pretty skinny). We’ve been reading up on growing techniques and hopefully some of the things we’ve learned will help improve our future harvests.

Okonomiyakisoba

// August 11th, 2008 // No Comments » // cooking, life

Okonomiyakisoba

Over the past couple days, I’ve made okonomiyaki with yakisoba (technically Hiroshima style) 3 different times. I guess it’s safe to say that it tastes pretty good, otherwise Reiko wouldn’t keep asking me to make it. Since okonomi means “what you like” and yaki means “grilled” or “cooked” (put it all together and you get “cook what you like”), I’ve named my dish okonomiyakisoba. My recipe is based off one from Harumi Kurihara, the Martha Stewart of Japan. I completely admit that Harumi’s recipes are easy and taste great.

I’ve made a couple other dishes from her cookbooks as well, including baked cheesecake (tasted great!) and tempura (also tasted great!). To be honest, I didn’t know I was capable of making such a good cheesecake. Needless to say, I was pleasantly surprised. I’m already planning to make more of her recipes in the near future.

2007 Retrospect

// January 23rd, 2008 // No Comments » // dancing, life

So 2007 has come and gone. Looking back, 2007 has to be one of the more difficult years in my life. The first third of the year I spent sitting at home looking for a job. The second third I spent getting my new life in LA together. The last third of the year I spent mourning my mother, but also creating a new life with my new girlfriend. Of all the things that have happened in my life, losing my mother definitely trumps all the rest as the most profound event in my life.

I am really happy to have a new girlfriend as she’s really amazing. She has been key in helping me get through my recent tough times. I don’t know where I would be without her.

In late summer of last year I got back into salsa. I again made a switch in dancing styles, reverting back to on1, the style I originally learned when I first started dancing more than 3 years ago. I also trained hard for two months for a performance group I was in. We performed four times just before the holidays. There is video of the performances, however I have yet to receive the DVD containing the videos, so I’m unable to share with anyone who has interest. I burned out a little on salsa after my performance, only because I was dancing nearly every day, with the final stint equating to eleven straight days of practicing and performing. I have yet to fully get back into dancing regularly, but I know it’ll come.

Now that 2008 is here, I hope this year is a better year than last. So far the start of the year has been good with no complaints.