Top Ten Flowers I Can Identify on Sight

1. rose
2. chrysanthemum
3. California poppy
4. pansy
5. azalea
6. hibiscus
7. magnolia
8. lily
9. sunflower
10. star jasmine

Time Train - Chapter 16

I missed a chapter last week, so I'm thinking of making the story section a biweekly thing, or shorter chapters, or both.

This is a short chapter, but think of it more as an extension of the last, which is saying almost nothing at all since it's a serial.
___

That night, Rhubarb T. Porterhut, Fibulious, and Columbus dined on a feast of boiled fiddleheads and hard-boiled eggs. The fiddleheads were rather bitter, despite a rather lengthy boiling process. Still, they were tender and offered a sharp contrast to the eggs. As the eggs were rather large, each had an egg all to himself. They were unlike the eggs that Rhubarb had for breakfast; they were much bigger, as much as three or four times bigger. They turned out to be quite rubbery and somewhat unappetizing, but still Rhubarb recognized them as a valuable source of protein, and any well-rounded meal no matter how unappetizing would make the difference between their getting home or their remaining stranded in only heaven knew where.

Fibulious, surprisingly, had no issues in downing his food in a speedy fashion. While Rhubarb and Columbus struggled to eat, his younger companion seemed to relish the meal.

“Now, Columbus, you best not leave any leftovers,” admonished Rhubarb, who could barely hide the discomfort in his face. “You’ll need the sustenance for tomorrow’s endeavors.”

Columbus sighed and disinterestedly lapped at the peeled egg in front of him. It wasn’t simply that eggs were not one of his favorite foods, but it was also far from the steak of which he was dreaming and had been promised when embarking on this adventure. In his doggy mind he tried to imagine the egg was a juicy steak, which worked for a short while until he laid a tongue into it.

When Rhubarb could no longer take another bite of egg, he decided it was a good time to lay down a plan of action.

“For now, we will set up sleeping quarters within the relative safety of the engine cab. It may not roomy, but it will provide more coverage and protection than if we were to lay out here in the open.”

It was true, the clearing they were in offered absolutely no protection, and with darkness already upon them and few resources nearby, their best bet was to take refuge in the train. Rhubarb hoped the sight of the train would be intimidating enough to any passerby, and would perhaps ward them off.

After dinner, Rhubarb collected the remaining uncooked fiddleheads and eggs in Columbus’ sack, and gently placed them in the train. With Fibulious’ help, he gathered ferns to provide bedding for their makeshift beds. The weather was balmy, so there was no need for additional coverings.

Since there wasn’t enough room to lie down, both Rhubarb and Fibulious propped themselves up in opposite corners of the train cab, with Columbus taking up a spot by Fibulious. With all the excitement of the past day, they all fell fast asleep.

Celebrity Sightings - Rob Zombie & Sherry Moon

I've mentioned it before, but whenever a customer's mailbox gets full at Mail Boxes, Etc. we had to contact the customer. Occasionally I would have to call Rob Zombie's house about the mail. It always went to message, and boy did they have a good message. It would start out with spooky music and sound effects in the background, so at first you might be like "WTF," but then Sherry, Rob's wife, would come on along with him and explain they weren't home at the moment. Sherry was usually the one who came to pick up the mail. She's a tall blonde, and very sweet, and very pretty, which wasn't what I would have expected. Rob might have only come in once or twice when I worked there, and he would look pretty normal—not completely normal, but mostly normal.

Yokai of the Week - Betobeto-san

There's not much to see with Betobeto-san because, well, there's nothing to see, only hear. Betobeto-san is an invisible yokai that follows people at night, making the sound of footsteps.

As this is the case, I couldn't do a visual representation of Betobeto-san, but I have something better. For the best effect, turn up the volume on your computer speakers, then click on the play button and slowly walk away from your computer. That should offer a fairly accurate representation of Betobeto-san. Should something actually appear behind you though, don't hold me liable—that is not Betobeto-san.

Pho 2000 in K-Town

Since I don't live any where near Garden Grove, my choices for decent Vietnamese food are limited. However there is one restaurant nearby that has a better than average bowl of pho: Pho 2000. Pho 2000 is actually a chain of pho restaurants located throughout the southland which started with the Koreatown location. As such, their servers and clientele are primarily Korean, although their ownership and cooks may in fact be Vietnamese.

For the most part, they only serve one thing: pho. It comes in the usual variations found at many of the more authentic Vietnamese restaurants—that means sliced beef brisket, steak, tripe, tendon, fish balls, and the like. The one unusual and particularly tasty variation is their oxtail pho, which comes with plain noodles and a side bowl filled with tender shreds of oxtail meat. Aside from the pho, they offer two appetizers/sides: spring rolls or egg rolls. Today I had the special combo (brisket, steak, tripe, tendon) with a side of egg rolls.

The food came fast, as in the I'll-have-the-oh-it's-here variety. In fact the pho was so fast, it preceded the appetizer, egg rolls.

The egg rolls were pretty good. It looked as though they were filled with pork, carrots, cabbage, and noodles. The flavor was up front, and was complimented well with the sweet and sour dipping sauce.

One thing about pho, I like it like I like my women: hot, spicy, and unhealthily red. Here's a before:

and after:

I even eased back a little on the Sriracha.

The soup had a good flavor, even with the Sriracha, and the noodles weren't too hard or too soft, as long as they don't sit for a while in the soup. As for the meats, they were typical, although today's tendon was especially well-cooked. Unlike some pho places, they only have one serving size (excepting the super bowl) but it's a very filling portion.

I'm glad I'm lucky enough to have a Pho 2000 nearby, since Garden Grove and even Monterey Park are quite a ways away. It's cheap (about $8 per bowl), it's filling, and it's tasty. I couldn't ask for much more.

Some other notes about Pho 2000:
5 out of 5 on my ready-to-eat-o-meter, meaning the food magically appears on your table before you're even finished ordering.
0-10 out of 10 on my spice-o-meter. With no Sriracha = 0. With a level 10 Sriracha = sweating, tears, and moaning in a fetal position.

Pho 2000
215 N. Western Ave.
Los Angeles, CA 90004
(323)461-5845

Never Try to Catch Up on "Lost" By Reading Full Episode Recaps While Watching a David Lynch Movie

First of all, doing something like that is somewhat Lynchian in theory, and also illogical. Reading about "Lost" is similar to what I've heard about studying philosophy: it's like trying to scratch an itch on your foot through your shoe. And trying to follow any Lynch movie, let alone "Wild at Heart," is like trying to make heads or tails about a frog who can sing and fly, but who is really a rabbit that can neither sing nor fly, but instead can cook pancakes.

In the end, knowing "Lost" and not knowing "Lost" make only a slight bit of difference in understanding how all the characters end up together in the end. And a David Lynch movie will be a David Lynch movie regardless of whether you pay full attention or not. In both, you will have constant WTF moments.

So in that sense, reading about "Lost" while watching a David Lynch movie is simply to resign yourself to the understanding that you definitely will not get either. It's not the worst thing you can do in the world, but it is a lot like waisting time in a bar, staring into space trying to understand the inner workings of the Wurlitzer in the corner hidden behind the 7-foot tall goo goo monster that's just minding it's business. Oh, plus the bar is really a swap meet.