The Joyous Malingerer

Who is the happy husband? Why, indeed,
'Tis he who's useless in the time of need;
Who, asked to unclasp a bracelet or a necklace,
Contrives to be utterly futile, fumbling, feckless,
Or when a zipper nips his loved one's back
Cannot restore the zipper to its track.
Another time, not wishing to be flayed,
She will not use him as a lady's maid.
Stove-wise he's the perpetual backward learner
Who can't turn on or off the proper burner.
If faced with washing up he never gripes,
But simply drops more dishes than he wipes.
She finds his absence preferable to his aid,
And thus all mealtime chores doth he evade.
He can, attempting to replace a fuse,
Black out the coast from Boston to Newport News,
Or, hanging pictures, be the rookie wizard
Who fills the parlor with a plaster blizzard.
He'll not again be called to competition
With decorator or with electrician.
At last it dawns upon his patient spouse
He's better at his desk than round the house.

-Ogden Nash

It's not my version of malingering. Actually, I may be the exact opposite, doing all the chores and things (and blogging) rather than sitting at my desk. We all do it in our own ways, I suppose. Malinger on, all ye malingerers, whatever be your bent.

CLARA!

No offense to any other pets, but Clara may be the best cat ever. She's pretends to be independent, but she's not. She talks a lot. Everything she does seems to be full of hidden intention. Just look at her!



I love Clara.

Also, I love David Bowie. I'm listening to Space Oddity right now. It's not his best album, but it's still great. Also, I've been listening to Regina Spektor a lot too. I don't know if I love her or if I just like singing along. I try to only sing along when I'm alone, because it's hard. But she's definitely a smart piano playing girl. She's got more of a sense of humor than your average piano-girl. Someone should tell me if she's actually is good or not.

David Bowie wants to live.

Dim Sum: a restaurant review

The Chinese (at least Rolando's family) actually call it Nyim Cha, which means "Drink Tea." I don't know what Dim Sum means, but in high school, my friend wrote an review of local chinese restaurants for the school paper called "Dim Sum and Then Some." That's the kind of girl she was.

Anyway, the best dim sum (based on what Rolando's family says and on my experience of 3 restaurants) in LA is actually in Monterey Park at Ocean Star Restaurant (Bak Hoi in Chinese). My favorite thing to eat there is Nai Vong Bao (yellow milk bun is the literal translation, I think) which is a steamed bun filled with custard. It's a pretty white ball with a nipply-looking pink dot on the top. This is what it looks like once you've taken a bite:



Mmmmmm....
Ocean Star is at 145 N Atlantic Blvd. in Monterey Park. If you go on a weekday, it's super-duper cheap, and it's cheap anyway. Get shrimp balls and pork balls and scallop dumplings and the little deep fried sesame pastries and chicken feet if you're feeling like going native. I meant to organize an outing there the whole time I was at Irvine and never did and I apologize.

Downtown LA

I left LA. Here's what it looked like.

So hazy and gray. Beautiful! I'll miss it. On the way out, I was cheesily appropriate and listened to the X song "Los Angeles" which starts, "Sheeeeeee had to leave . . . LOS ANGELES!" and then it rocks. Everyone should listen to X.

Also, I have an account on Flickr, where I'll be posting lots more photos than I will on the blog. Here's the address for my page: http://www.flickr.com/photos/themalingerer/ You can also get there by clicking on any of the photos on the blog.