mash-up 1: MONIKERING practice-preview run

time to start writing/story-telling stuff. just stuff ... so thinking this through and passing some ideas by gadgetman over breakfast yester-morn, as well as the lunch chat on friday with hairy palms, this initial effort is a result of a mash-up of the following:

• a bit of a nutty, mid-40s single gal dating (errr ... a bit lean on the dating, actually - but working on it. a l'il help friends & family!!!) who is a scanner (over here) and jumps from one idea to another while tying up loose ends
  
• a talker that should/could write as much as she talks (or yaps) (as evidenced by "dude's response" over here toward bottom of post) and doesn't seem to come up for air too often (... that didn't sound right?)
  
• a penchant for l'il monikers (in order to avoid claims of mudslinging & slander but enough of a disguise for the occasional gossip) (see later in this blog post)
  
• a bit of nostalgia on the iceman-e/m-exchange day(ze) and more recent visits of breakfast with gadgetman and sushi with hairy palms
  
• stepping up to jengyee's b-day '07 sentiment (and a cutesy book) that i should write about dating stuff

this post is the initial practice-preview run of mash-up 1 ... the simple act of giving nicknames or monikers to those fellows (or gals) you are dating (or wanna date) - or maybe just monikers for friends (but let's focus on the dating theme - it's easier & entertaining, at least for me). i suggest there is a better way and a not-so-much way (... and for those who need more precision - a correct way and an incorrect way) for monikers. to that, i will speak of moniker-ing boys ('cuz we likes the boys!).

the genesis & 2004 monikering ... the following is what i believe may be the (my) genesis of monikering (back in the college days) and an actual documented monikering-moment.

my moniker-bestowing days started no later than when i was a freshman in college ... "mr. dwinelle"* was the moniker for this guy that walked down from the top of campus toward the building named . . . named . . . you guessed it . . . DWINELLE! i was in my freshman year, i had him in my chemistry class (with at least 300 other co-eds), and i just thought he was a cutie but had no idea who he (or his friends) was. i forced my guy friends to sit with me and watch mr. dwinelle come from wherever he was coming from. (well, forced isn't accurate. i got stuck hanging out on the benches with my guy buddies in front of dwinelle while their hormones raged & they stared at gals - and some stared at guys. so i had to pass my time somehow.)

what makes mr. dwinelle a good moniker? ... it's personal to me (and the 5 other gal pals of mine at the time), and it's NOT OBVIOUS!

moniker-naming made-up
RULE #1 ...

CHOOSE A MONIKER THAT IS NOT OBVIOUS
while one that also is
PERSONALLY (for you) DESCRIPTIVE.

the moniker should be somewhat discreet yet general ... descriptive yet personal ... this way, you (and someone else) can actually use the moniker.

• discreet ... WHEN YOU USE IT, you can do so when you are actually talking with or nearby the moniker'd person or his friends.
  
• general ... when someone else uses the same moniker for his/her purposes - for the same person or for his/her own purpose (another person), it's O.K.; NO TRADEMARK needed.
  
• descriptive ... a good moniker has an interesting back-story; that's the descriptive part - the back-story. it's all about the BACK-STORY! this way, you also can avoid mixing up your moniker'd boys.
  
• personal ... YOU picked it. don't let your buds derail you. if i did, i'd have ended up calling him tight pants, pencil moustache, or flat butt. tight pants & flat butt? geez! i'm sure i'd get my tight pants & flat butt boys mixed up. pencil moustache? obvious problem. what if he shaved it off? i'd have to call him unpencil moustache or pencil unmoustache? both monikers - boo.
  

needless to say, there was more than one cute boy walking toward dwinelle while my friends and i were obviously checking out the flock. HOWEVER, turns out, other than my chemistry class, that smidge of the dwinelle siting was THE ONLY OTHER PLACE i would see mr. dwinelle. (and again, tight pants, pencil moustache, and flat butt were no go names!).

fast-forward to my this decade l'il penchant for monikering ... it started when barista boy (now hairy palms) asked me how my SD dating was going many years ago. i memorialized the monikering in a november 2004 e-mail to (now) hairy palms in my "IJAM" tale. the monikers for IJAM dates OVER HERE. (excerpt reposted below)

(shameless self-promotion ... IJAM fiction short story over here)

and to be fair ... i even thought through monikers - or at least what they might tell their friends - each would have given to me - as if i was looking through their eyes (while they snuck peeks at their watch or nearby exits). their possible monikers for me? at the END of each - noted in "(moi? ... (pink-text))" (or read the original, somewhat confusing post over here.)

(REPOST)
source/excerpt: an e-mail (edited to maintain some anonymity & added comments) i sent on 11/21/04 to my friend the barista boy. below ... the monikers for each IJAM guy i met.

1. ARTIST: prior to becoming an "artist," ARTIST had worked at the same company for which my previous employers (let's call them THOSE GUYS) also had worked; THOSE GUYS quit that company and THOSE GUYS started their own firm. i had just (12-days prior to meeting the ARTIST) voluntarily left a position with THOSE GUYS. what a small-frakkin world. (moi? ... random conversation generator)


2. TEETHPICKER: had a really cool job. was sooooo not the height (read: shorter) they told me he would be; not that it mattered but for the fact i wore my oh-so-adorable-yet-painful kenneth cole make-me-taller shoes that were totally-painful-after-20-minutes. either the food make me sick, or the teethpicking made me sick. i excused myself from the table before the end of the meal and threw up. really.
   
   (i told the IJAM that bad hygiene was a deal-breaker, so put that in the database.) (moi? ... didn't finish her food)


3. DENTIST: (good one, IJAM; clever.). intelligent. good sarcasm. direct. had similar likes for activities. met again for dinner at the restaurant at which my friend todd worked. had to make sure DENTIST was gay-friendly. last i saw of or spoke with DENTIST. (moi? ... faghag)


4. BOURGEOIS: his favorite word, too often used, to describe his feeling about SD downtown, gaslamp district, urban setting, and people who go there. i go there. i guess i am bourgeois. and he is a pompous a**.
   
   (i was catching on ... IJAM did not check the database where i specifically noted ... i like to hang out in the hillcrest area of SD (read: gay area), little italy here or there, and downtown.) (moi? ... rice talk)


5. TMI GARDEN GNOME: western religious fellow gone eastern-ish spirituality. east coast fellow who moved to the west coast. penn state learned who learned later at san diego state. wayne dyer devotee. told me he was abused as a child. 1-step forward for honesty, i suppose. 5-steps backward for conversation topic.
   
   (just in case you don't know TMI. oh ... and once again, IJAM didn't do the math correctly. i wore my kenneth cole shoes again. yeah ... i towered. AND AT THIS POINT ... MY FIRST BREAKING POINT - i rattled off my polite rating of 'unsatisfactory' service - met with some chick at IJAM to let her know how sooooo off they have been and blah-blah-blah-blah) (moi? ... she is taller than i thought she'd be)
   
   
6. SWEET GUY: nice. great conversation. pleasant. walked me to my car in the cavernous fruits & veggie parking lot of horton plaza. gave me a peck on the cheek. met again for dessert (because he said he liked desserts!) ... & listened to him bemoan the prices of the dessert. (we were going dutch, even!) not a deal-breaker, but who bemoans the price of anything that is freshly-made and has CHOCOLATE!?
   
   (SIDE BAR: SWEET GUY gave me his e-Mail. i wrote him a 'thank you' e-Mail after the fab dessert place and let him know i totally looked forward to meeting up again. i got a call from him, while he was on a train to LA for work-stuff, which went something like, "i'd appreciate it if you would either be more vague in your e-Mails or call me. my secretary reads my e-Mail when i am out of the office. i don't bring my computer with me when i am out of the office." ... i was tempted to call him and ask him to check his e-Mail for my response, but i decided simply to call him - and in so many words said - i was not interested.) (moi? ... pricey date)
   
   
7. I-DONTMIN-TO-BRRRRAAAHHHG-BUT...: (translated ... i don't mean to brag, but) then don't.
   
   (SIDE BAR: possibly another miscommunication or database glitch or just sh***y service. i-dontmin-to-brrrraaahhhg-but... didn't like to watch movies. i love watching movies. AND THIS WOULD BE MY SECOND BREAK POINT with them. a small rant & rave over the phone...) (moi? ... filipina engineer)
   
   
8. DOT COM GUY (aka RINGER): tall. cute. universally cute. good conversation. lamented about similar IJAM experiences. extended our time spent talking with him because it was totally fun. I believe he was THE RINGER to appease me because I bitched at IJAM after i-dontmin-to-brrr... . haven't talked since. didn't expect to do so. we were each other's moment of therapy, i believe. did i mention he was cute. i was pacified.
   
   (SIDE BAR: IJAM told me he "rents" and that he works as a "computer-type" guy. i thought "so what about renting and computers?" i rent and think the world of my landlord. turns out, DOT COM GUY doesn't work. he's unemployed. he cashed out. he's totally set. he travels. an he owns several properties - which he rents.) (moi? ... jaded kindred spirit)


9. SALESGUY: cute. decent conversation. a little conservative and not a deal breaker. sort of defined by his status in corporate america. (eh?) i was interested in meeting up again. he didn't call back. (moi? ... another (!) asian gal !?)


10. TEACHER: fun. cheery. flaky. loves movies. elementary school teacher. did see a movie for 2nd meet up; cost-conscious so saw 1st showing of spider-man 2. (i heart willem dafoe.) on atkins diet. (don't get me started.) a few calls back/forth. flaky. nonresponsive.
    
    (SIDE BAR: both of us being filipino, never got to the point of discussion where we check if we are somehow loosely or directly related.) (moi? ... not-atkins-friendly)
    
    
11. RICH: (that would be his name ... not tax bracket. he is the only one i shall name) he and i are friends. we became friends after agreeing (on the 2nd meet-up) that there wasn't a "vibe" (aka chemistry) between us, but we had lots in common. he lives downtown, loves dessert, likes to hang-out, his respsectful, makes mean martinis, etc... for this friendship alone, i will not slam IJAM. (under other circumstances, i would not show calm restraint.) (moi? ... new friend)


12. EYE-CONTACT MAN: cute. a psychologist. no chemistry.
    
    (and i turned into a babbling fool about my limited knowledge about psychology. i likely was EYE-CONTACT MAN'S equivalent of my BOURGEOIS guy. EYE-CONTACT MAN loved (just loved!) to scuba dive. i don't even like the confined-space feeling of an airplane. .... i so, soooo, sooooooooooo, apologize for the 90-ish minutes i stole from EYE-CONTACT MAN'S life. i apologize deeply.) (moi? ... shoot me)


13. E-BAY MAN: cop. 2 kids. in process of going through a messy divorce. (i didn't realize in-process-of-being-single qualified one for IJAM.) o.k. conversation. i felt like i was E-BAY MAN's rudder ... IJAM threw us together so E-BAY MAN could gauge where i fell on his dating map.)
    
    (SIDE BAR: similar to the TEACHER, both of us being filipino, never got to the point of discussion where we check if we are somehow loosely or directly related. factoid - unlike the loch ness, yeti, or tooth fairy, 6'2" filipino guys exist.) (moi? ... short)
    
    
14. THE EXEC: took phone call ~ 10-minutes into the date. THE EXEC deserves a whole separate post. i MUST HAVE BEEN on some sort of candid-camera-reality-type show. for now, some key words - supervisor, alcoholic, asshole (in no special order)
    
    (SIDE BAR: a definite clue that IJAM didn't give a shit. did i type that? THIS WOULD BE MY THIRD BREAK POINT with them. a moderate rant & rave ... for which i disclosed i would meet-up with him again if i knew (and he knew) he would not be drunk as a skunk or headed that direction. i felt i needed to meet-up with him again - in a controlled & familiar space - to see if a camera crew was lurking!) (moi? ... she didn't hit me or throw a bottle at me!?)
    
    
15. DANCER: he was a biz owner. he was taking different social dance classes (which is cool). he was really nice. i liked him. i wanted to meet-up with him again. we scheduled to meet on a friday for din-din. i had a much, much longer work day than expected & was in a gnarly mood (totally crabby mood); it was horribly raining something fierce. i called him about 2 hours before we were going to meet and asked if we could resched for saturday brunch or dinner. he said "sure" and that he'd call me back on saturday morning. he did not. i called mid-afternoon to check-in. no call back or message or e-Mail. not sure if he is alive.
    
    (SIDE BAR: i had to google. he is still in business. i understand.) (moi? ... flake)
    
    
16. LAST GUY: (aka TURBINE GUY) i was his first IJAM date. he was my last IJAM date. (but at least i had my fav zocalo hand-shaken margarita!) (moi? ... who?)

next installment?
moniker-counseling for a girlfriend who's on a roll!

*(mr. dwinelle's real name? ed.)

scanner: week 1/2 results

[from mina lee studio]

so far, so good with the 1st entry - "trial run" ... i've managed to make it through two weeks after starting this. i did the "trial run" to get the journal stuff started. trial run in short ... to just sit and write about an idea - any idea. and then if there is a tangent, to go with the tangent for a little while and then u-turn back to the original idea, eventually.

scoring air agencies - in a zagat style approach? ... i found myself resurrecting a goofy spoof of an idea from some time in 2005 - a sort of know-what-to-expect of your air quality agencies zagat style resource. why the hell would it matter? i don't know. it probably doesn't matter, but i do remember this - i liked the fact that at the san diego agency, there is a decent lobby/waiting area, sufficient parking, two little meeting rooms in the lobby area, very convenient bathroom locations for visitors, a water fountain, and a clock ... all before i had to sign in. (i'm thinking it may have been - i really, REALLY had to go to the bathroom? or something? convenient parking + readily accessible bathroom = thumbs up!)

with 35 california air districts, i s'pose i could visit them and "zagat" them because ... other people may want to know about W B S E F (which would be the first letter for the scoring system) ... or i'd visit a few air districts and likely end up doing something else, which is just as random and dorky.

and the tangent i experienced? ... thinking about possible names for the work intranet. y'see - there is contest (which ended 07/11) for naming the intranet site. the prize? $100 for the winning entry, and runners-up get work-logo-gear. so i thought of several names, as well as one with various logo ideas. after work announced some samples of the other entries (none of which were mine), i'm thinking ... i may be lucky if i end up with work-logo-gear. there were 2 quite clever names - quite clever! (not to throw out a self-fulfilling prophecy, but i may vote for one of them over any of mine, which may make the cut.)

2nd entry - living quarters map ... sketch a floor plan of home, walk around home, mark areas in each room where intended projects are laying around, and name the project. for one person, relatively speaking, i have and live with lots of stuff, lots of little projects in areas throughout my home. some call it clutter; i call it lots of stuff in specific areas throughout my home. mission accomplished - map made, areas identified, some already being knocked of the list, while others have popped up since. (perhaps i can get out of the week 3/4 apartment therapy "rut" i've been milking and procrastinating since february!)

3rd entry - experiences & accomplishments with associated rewards & value ... go back in time, however far back, and just list stuff (exper & accomp) for 5 minutes. give it a bit of a rest, look back at the list, add anything else that hits, then figure out what rewards & values resulted from each. the objective is to answer "what reward(s) draws you to an activity?" several themes recurring: curiosity; bringing people together; seeing non-traditional and unconventional relationships among people, topics, ideas; creating and implementing a vision, goal setting; helping others evolve in their thought process; writing (creative, technical, investigative-ish); experiencing and creating humorous events/activities.

more insightful things to come, i presume

as if ... i'm a scanner [pt. 1]

aka how i'm passing my time ... for now

several months ago, i passed my time with a little bit of apartment therapy, and i've been "do-looping" between weeks 4 through 6. benefit? at least i have been ridding myself of stuff (and i have lots of stuff) and cooking (enough). however, i still have to do some of those repairs and improvements that i've listed ... bathroom caulking, dining room chairs, kitchen base board, kitchen nook area, etc. (and most recently, smoke alarm battery change-outs). so still chugging along ... chugging. along.

nevertheless, i've added yet another "... do stuff around the house" type thing in my life.

refuse to choose: ... (by b.sher)

came across this when i stalked spinning girl who is doing a meme summer, which included mentioning daydreaming on paper. ultimately, i came across the reference to sher's book.

i am hooked ... well, at least because part of the "program" is to get a fabu journal (aka scanner daybook). and i LOVES me my stationery stuff - journals and pens and paper and stuff!

buy a journal ... there is encouragement to get a mega-journal (lots of pages, big writing space, neato-bandito looking, etc.), something that is cool and all. i didn't get a too fancy-shmancy one but i did get something with which i'm sure to write.

let's see how long this
"hipmt ... fn" extravaganza lasts.

i'm very hopeful this will be fruitful because it combines several happy past-times of mine ... writing, reading, reflecting, notetaking, observing, remembering, nostalgia, reasons to drink coffee, plans to do stuff, creativity ... procrastination - in a good way.

(SIDE NOTE: i'm also pal-ing up to woo-woo with ydh: ... with a friend, but i intend to have both co-exist.)

first entry - trial run ... small, recent idea that hasn't been given much thought and totally just go off on it. and i did. and if y'come to a tangent, go off on that for 20-min. and i did. meanwhile, also get some metrics - time started, time ended, and what resulted in stopping the trial run stuff.

insightful sh** for me, already.