Hiromi_X

I was on the bike again today, and it was really uncomfortable even at 9 pm. The people in cars around me -- or at least the ones in the newer models -- were coasting in air conditioned comfort. The road was crowded with vehicles with one passenger only.

This kind of lifestyle isn't sustainable, people driving around everywhere by themselves in a car. I opted out of this, but in that process, I'm subjecting myself to some discomfort. I could've taken the bus instead of riding my bike, but not all the bus stops are shaded, and the buses vary in frequency. I could be out in the sun for hours if I took the bus.

I am committed to viral change, but sometimes I wonder how this can be possible. How can I sell people on a carless existence? It's very uncomfortable to live this way in south central Texas. I was downright miserable today. I can't say that I'm glad to be in this mental state, but I can't bring myself to own a car anymore. But who's going to be on board with me?

An obvious solution is improved public transportation and the cessation of this fucking insane overbuilding of roadways combined with better city planning. Ahahahahaha! I'm not asking much at all, am I? Frankly, I don't see the gubmint helping me and my kind on this issue any time soon.

In the meantime, how the hell can I keep up my hope?

Maybe I can convince people to give up their cars from October to April at least?

Just to be clear, I don't mean to scold any of you readers who ride around in a car by yourself. But this is an issue that I think needs to be talked about, regardless of people's feelings. It seems to me that our political leaders avoid this very conversation because they don't want voters to feel bad about themselves and their consumption and lifestyle habits.

Anyway, I'm going to be taking a short blogging vacation for Memorial Day. Y'all enjoy your weekends!

Posted by Hiromi at 1:54 AM | Permalink | Comments (13)

Yesterday, the temperature went up to 101 degrees with a humidity of around 20%. In the shade, it didn't feel too bad because of the wind. Although I tried to avoid it, I got stuck in rush hour traffic in the afternoon. The heat, amplified by the asphalt and the heat generated by the cars around me, was immense. I was in full gear, too. While I can't imagine riding around in intense sun without being fully covered, heavy leather boots, a nylon jacket, and a full-face helmet doesn't quite have the heat protection dynamics of, say, Bedouin clothes. I was absolutely baking, but because of the low humidity and wind, I arrived at home without having sweated much.

I had been drinking water all day, and felt okay when I got home, so I didn't hydrate. I ate dinner and went about business as usual, but around 9:00, a weird torpor set in. And then after 10:00, my head started pounding and the pain intensified over the next several hours. I figured I was dehydrated and kept drinking water until my urine ran clear, but the pounding in my head kept waking me up during the night. Right now, it's almost 3:00 pm the next day, and the pain *still* hasn't fully gone away. I still get occasional stabs of dizzying pain in my head.

I remain committed to living a car-free life. But I'm still used to the complete freedom of owning a car, and haven't yet learned to fully compensate for the consequences of not having one. So, I have learned that:

1) I need to carry a water bottle with me, like bicyclists do.
2) Since I don't have to commute to work during the rest of my stay in Texas, I should avoid riding during rush hour if at all possible.
3) I need to think of different ways to dress that combine safety and heat protection.

I'm also surprised at my inability to bounce back quickly. I mean, I drank water last night, but the headache and weakness remained. Of course, I realize that people get weaker as they get older; I just didn't expect it to happen so soon. I'm still in my thirties for chrissake! The other night, I got really tired swimming laps, whereas in previous summers, I adapted to the exercise very quickly. Being ill right now, I'm going to indulge in some self-pity. I am struggling to learn to age gracefully in terms of my appearance, but this other stuff really sucks.

Posted by Hiromi at 3:07 PM | Permalink | Comments (7)

Right now, it's 88° and 40% humidity. The sun is glaring. If I were wearing sandals, shorts, and a tank top, it'd be fine, but I was wearing motorcycle boots to the knee, knee socks, long pants, a mesh jacket, and a helmet while stuck in rush hour traffic on the way home. While I don't mind sweating in certain circumstances, I hate sweating in work clothes.And this is April. It's only going to get hotter.

Right now where I'm moving, it's 61°. The forecast for the rest of the week is:

Apr 9: high 57°, low 34°

Apr 10: high 52°, low 41°

Apr 11: high 65°, low 42°

There, the average high in July is 83° and 81° in August. In Austin, the average high in July is 95° and 96° in August.

I'm not going to miss Austin summers, and riding the bike up north during the summer will be absolutely lovely. I'll worry about winters later.

Posted by Hiromi at 5:36 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)

It is OFFICIAL: The inhabitants of the People's Republic of Hiromistan, who at long last are enjoying a period of stability and economic recovery, will now relocate from central Texas to...the Midwest, where they will have no shortage of cheese and snow.

Revolutionary Leader Hiromi X had hoped to go to the Bay Area so that she could enjoy year-round motorcycling and surfing, but alas, lifestyle considerations alone do not serve as justification for relocating an entire republic, and so fate has decreed a sojourn in what Ms. X has been wont to term "The Void."

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Seriously, I never, ever thought I'd live in the Midwest for any length of time. In June, I'm moving to the heart of the Great Lakes region to a city known to be fairly cosmopolitan.*** The weird thing is, I'm more familiar with Asian geography than midwestern geography! On the plus side, Canada will be nearby, but I don't think I'll need to flee there any longer since Dubya is getting the boot soon. Also, I'll be within striking distance of culture; e.g., Chicago and New York. On the minus side, the probability of finding good Tex-Mex and BBQ outside of Texas is effectively nil, and I won't be able to ride my bike for like 2/3 of the year. And I'll be in the Rust Belt, the denizens of which have historically (in the 80s) not looked favorably upon we of Nipponese extraction.

I feel weird. I'm having trouble adjusting to the whole idea of moving to The Void.

***ain't gonna disclose the exact place in order to preserve a level of anonymity.

Posted by Hiromi at 6:48 PM | Permalink | Comments (14)

MAN this is GORGEOUS riding weather. Just got back from a ride, lunch, more riding, and am now cafe-sitting with some hot herbal tea, tasty carrot bread, and my laptop.

1) Ran into serious traffic congestion near UT today. Was given directions by traffic cop who called me sir! Granted, I was wearing full-face helmet, sunglasses, and my jacket, but my gear isn't that lumpy!

2) I love the indie coffee shops here, but each and every one has the same problem -- inferior smoke control. These places tend to have great outdoor patio seating, where the smokers congregate, and on nice days like the days this week, all the doors are flung open and the smoke comes in. I don't object merely because I'm grouchy; smoke is a serious respiratory irritant to me, so I might have to hang out in some damn soulless corporate cafe. Also, because indie cafes tend to be in old houses, whenever someone walks by on the wood floor, your table will shake.

3) To all Austin readers: for chrissake don't go to Zen or Firebowl or other such disgusting examples of Asian fast food. If you must have a "bowl" or some kind of bento box, go to Wiki Wiki Teriyaki. The quality there kicks those chains' asses. They cook their salmon properly, and any place that does a good job with fish deserves more business. Their tempura is crunchy rather than crispy, but again, they never overcook the shrimp. And if you go to the one in the Arboretum, Amy's is right next door.

On days like this, I don't miss drinking at all.

Posted by Hiromi at 2:50 PM | Permalink | Comments (5)

It's getting beautiful here. The grocery stores have had these great big pumpkin and gourd displays that completely clashed with the toasty weather we've been having. But FINALLY a cold front is blowing through, making those displays look less like wishful thinking and bringing great riding weather at last. I'm going to have to sneak away from work to ride around in it.

There's one weirdly convenient thing about hot weather though: when your head gets all sweaty underneath your helmet, you can use the sweat to re-style your hair after taking your helmet off. Now I'm gonna have to buy a little spray bottle of styling spritzer and mess with my hair like a dork after I get off my bike. My set of riding accessories keeps growing: in addition to gear, I had to buy a special backpack that fulfilled all my nitpicky criteria (took an hour in REI to find one), and eventually I'm going to buy rain gear.

I also want some motorcycle pants to wear over my regular pants in cold weather, since I might do roadtrips this winter. I'm excited at the prospect of my first long distance rides for Thanksgiving and Christmas. I think riding to San Antonio won't be too big a deal, but we tend to gather at my sister's house in Houston 'cause it's the largest and it's a pain for her to travel with my little nephews. And maybe I'll do the Toy Run! Deliver Christmas presents to underprivileged kids on my bike. Hey, Tina, if you're reading this, and if your wrist is better by that time, maybe we can all do that. That'd be awesome.

I feel such a badass these days. Whenever I feel intimidated, I think "I ride a motorcycle," and the feeling goes away.

Posted by Hiromi at 12:08 AM | Permalink | Comments (16)

AAAAUUUUUUUUUGH...

:::::anguished cry of torment:::::

Right now, I am imprisoned in my own home watching a fucking video defensive driving course that cost $40, money earned by the honest sweat of my brow, money that I could have spent on chocolate covered cherries, not money to be given to The Gubmint, in whatever pissant form it takes.

Fuck you, Elgin PD........What? Not making any breakthroughs on the cow tipping ring, so you have to persecute people trying to get the fuck away from your horrid little town? And why make me jump through so many hoops, photocopy this, get money order, notorize that, get this form from the DMV, collate, rub with bat fat, mail on a full moon?

Jesus Christ. Having a Pixar-looking animated narrator does NOT somehow turn this into a Disneyesque Laff Riot. The live-action moronic bad actor narrator is simply replaced by animated moronic bad voice-actor narrator. Other characters include a male (blue)/female (pink) fuzzy dice couple, a bearded pine scented car freshener, an antenna ball, so why is there a jiggly hula babe? Most irritating of all, there is no information anywhere as to how long this torment will last. Not on the DVD case, not on the DVD, not in the DVD, not on the website.

So this is the system: if you can't afford to pay the ticket, you must pay in lifeblood.

Final note: I didn't even watch the thing and passed with a 95. Ahahahahahahahaha, Da Man, wherever you are, fuck you, I have subverted the system!!!

Update: I get the jiggly Hula Babe now. Dashboard thingy, duh. A bit before my time, I guess.

Posted by Hiromi at 7:10 PM | Permalink | Comments (12)

What do you do after a healthful morning of yoga and organic cereal with soy milk? Drive to San Antonio for cabrito (goat) and flour tortillas made as God intended: with lard! Even if I didn't have family there, I'd probably still drive down there for the food. I haven't been there in a while. Each drive down there -- San Antonio is about 90 miles south of Austin on IH35 -- is like a snapshot of the ever-increasing sprawl that will soon connect the two cities. And the place where my parents live used to be in the sticks; the area used to be just outside the official city limits. There were even cows and horses there, but now, it's completely developed.

Back to the food. From what my sister tells me, you can get goat at two places in SA: Los Barrios and Pico de Gallo. Both places do Tex-Mex as well as continental Mexican cuisine. I didn't want to mess with downtown, so we went to the former. I'm not telling you guys this because I expect anyone to go to SA and try these places out, but because I like to take every opportunity to talk about my Tex-Mex philosophy.

Los Barrios is, on the whole, worth going to. On the plus side, the free bowls of chips were hand-made corn tortillas cut into quarters and fried to a crisp. On the minus side, their salsa is cooked (I prefer fresh), and does not rank among the best cooked salsas I've had. On the plus side, our waitress was a tough old bird who had probably been working there since it opened. My sister got fajitas, which were tender and with just the right amount of char and accompanying grilled veggies (the usual onions and bell peppers with some surprising tomatoes), but we couldn't figure out why they tasted different. I tasted some kind of herb rub (generally fajitas are marinaded in some form of lime juice mixture). At the end of the meal, I realized that it tasted like the lamb rub from Whole Foods, and my sister said they tasted gyro-like. Fajitas with hint of gyro are a real departure; I'm not sure what I think of that.

On the menu, the cabrito was described as "mild and flavorful," which set off alarms, but I couldn't pass up an opportunity to have goat. It's hard to find goat here; you have to search through ethnic restaurants to find it. But this goat was milder than lamb! My dad, who grew up in Hawaii, said that Filipinos cooked goat all the time, and it had a strong, distinct smell. The barbecued goat I had in Vietnam was gamy. This cabrito smelled like beef, and resembled prime rib somewhat. I guess it's safe to say that gamy goat doesn't appeal to your average American, hence the "mild" disclaimer on the menu. Next time we'll try the special marinated beef and pork dish, I suppose.

In any case, the restaurant was completely redeemed by the quality of their tortillas. People don't seem to be aware that tortillas are to Tex-Mex what bread is to a French or Italian meal. You should be able to eat them by themselves, with or without butter. Corn tortillas tend to be dry, but these were moist and tender. Good flour tortillas should be thick and fluffy, and being made with fat, should be sort of layered, with an elastic quality somewhat like the inside of a good baguette.

The drive back was an utter nightmare, thanks to yet more highway construction. It continues to amaze me that people haven't come to the realization that building more and more highways never solves the problem.

Posted by Hiromi at 12:01 PM | Permalink | Comments (10)

There are some happy kids in central Texas tonight. Check this out:

Low tonight: 31°F, freezing rain
High and low temp, Monday: 32°F, 29°F, freezing rain
High and low temp, Tuesday: 32°F, 31°F, "wintry mix"

Since I'm not fond of werk, I've made sacrifices to the weather gods entreating them to create a paper-thin layer of ice on the streets. This is sufficient to shut Austin down. Shaddap, cold climate-dwelling motherfuckers. Designating the above as snow days might seem ridiculous, but this happens maybe once a year for a day or two, so why invest in snow tires and snow plows and whatnot?

Aside from the benefits of making commuting dangerous, however, the ice might cut me off from food and entertainment. I just got back from foraging for both -- fixins for challah brulee and various permutations of spaghetti, and the entire sixth season of the Sopranos. Holing up with french toast and the Sopranos and my 'lectric blankie for the next two days sounds so good to me.

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Click, eef weesh: 25peeps.com.

Posted by Hiromi at 10:44 PM | Permalink | Comments (15)

After I got really upset the other day, I went for a long jog, even though it was night. I figured I'd stay in busy areas. These long jogs without a destination can be dangerous, because you could get fatigued and find yourself stuck out in the middle of nowhere. That's happened to me before: I jogged four miles out on a trail in a wooded area before I did the math -- I had jogged four miles out in a straight line with no water. A jog to clear the mind turned into a death march.

Anyway, the other night, I saw something quite unexpected -- a giant aluminum foil tyrannosaur on the corner of a street filled with crazy hippie incarnations of Christmas lights. That cheered me right up, and I was drawn to the bright happy shiny lights. In addition to the giant tyrannosaur, there were robots made from vacuum cleaners and spare auto parts. Fishes made from aluminum cans hanging from a tree. Ovens converted into aquariums. Peace signs and balls of tangled lights. Pink flamingos and foil-covered motorcycles.

Happy!

Posted by Hiromi at 1:44 PM | Permalink | Comments (10)

This is an affectionate "fucken Texas" post.

I was walking near Central Market today when suddenly there was this sudden aural "vrooom vrooooooooom" onslaught. Then, there was this huge convergence of bikers. The area where I was is full of college students, hipsters, hippies, and yuppie doctors. In that milieu, the bikers seemed pretty surreal. Even more surreally, Santa appeared, riding a Harley.

Intrigued, I followed them to their point of convergence. They were parking along neighborhood streets and in the parking lot of apartments. They were removing their helmets and putting on Santa hats. They lifted presents off the back of their bikes and headed toward a children's foster home and hospital in their leather chaps and jackets emblazoned with things like "Leathernecks" and "Bandidos." It was the 2nd Annual Central Texas Harley Toy Run.

Heh heh. And I've always been afraid of bikers.

Still, I noticed that there was little or no interaction between the usual neighborhood denizens and these bikers. Students scurried by wearing backpacks, not looking at the bikers. The bikers likewise did not look at the students. Cars slowed, then sped on by. I was kind of sad when they rode off. It seems like people always retreat back into their own enclaves.

But still...it was a nice holiday twist. With leather, no saccharine.

Posted by Hiromi at 9:20 PM | Permalink | Comments (21)

The sweating begins. Summer in Texas begins in March. All throughout February I'm dreading the day it starts to get haht. I don't mind the first sweat of the day, the sweat on a clean body, but having *layers* of sweat is just gross. You sweat walking to and getting into your oven-like car, it dries, you sweat again walking to your destination, it dries, you sweat walking back to your car and getting in... All the nasty sensations: sweating in work clothes, that tickling between the boobs from trickles of sweat you can't politely wipe, the sweat that collects behind your knees if your legs are folded. If you're wearing glasses, they slip down your face. Strands of hair stick to your neck.

Oh, and I tan instantaneously - every freaking summer I get weird patterns on my feet from my sandals. When I had my Berkies, I got two perfect horizontal stripes and brown toes. When I wear the Eccos, I get a perfect square right in the middle of the top of each foot and brown toes. We're talking nut brown patterns standing out starkly on a white foot.

Then there's other people. I have *never* understood the hordes of people eating outdoors on patios in the summer here, particularly if they're eating heavy or greasy food. What's really funny is that the view from the patio is usually a parking lot. And how can you smoke in the heat? It's like cooking yourself inside and out. What's the appeal of dehydrating your ass by running around in the heat drinking alcohol?

Fucken relentless central Texas summer, a painful narsty sticky slog through late October.

In other news: It turns out that giving stuff up for Lent hasn't been an exercise in self-discipline and goal-formation; instead, it's confirmed every single cliche about deprivation and sin. My first bite of popcorn, knowing it was forbidden and having gone without, was sublime - crisp, light, ever so slightly oily. And having a system of penance made it that much easier to cheat - I just have to do my pushups and bye bye sin. What a great system. Except for the guilt.

Posted by Hiromi at 8:08 AM | Permalink | Comments (14)

Is it rage that I feel, or is it just the cheap Korean food I had for lunch?

I made another feeble gesture today, the same sort of feeble gesture I made in November 2004.

The Texas Constitution is up for amendment! Not that it doesn't need fixin' up, being a cumbersome joke filled with minutiae outlining things like legislative authority over bingo games. But it's not changing so much as metastasizing. On the ballot -- Proposition 2:

The constitutional amendment providing that marriage in this state consists only of the union of one man and one woman and prohibiting this state or a political subdivision of this state from creating or recognizing any legal status identical or similar to marriage.

What's the point? Ignoring the whole issue of civil rights for now, this is just redundant. There're already laws in effect that do the same thing, but there's no reasoning with the paranoid. Gotta draw up every barricade and circle the pickups...

Oh fuck it, it's the Korean food. I have no energy for rage. I'm just tired of living in a place where stuff like this happens all the time. Austin is no longer any kind of escape from it. If I see another motherfucker holding up a "Honk if you oppose gay marriage" banner on an I35 overpass, I may reconsider my views on firearms. The other night, the phone rang: it was Reverend Something-or-Other exhorting me to vote "yes" to Prop 2 and ranting about threats to traditional marriage. My marriage is far more threatened by mushroom ottomans than men with good fashion sense, asshole.

These days, I view Texas as 250,000+ square miles of shit from which Shiner Bock, Dairy Queens, and vile species of intolerant thought hatch like flies. Hey "fellow" Texans: can't y'all let me enjoy my BBQ brisket without all this yeeeee-haaaaaaa bullshit?

Early voting starts this week.

On a brighter note, I got carded at the grocery store today. But I'm not sure whether the clerk thought I looked young, or was just being combative.

Posted by Hiromi at 2:14 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

What Happened on the Way

I was early for lunch with Goose this morning, so on the way, I checked out UT and its environs. When I first got back from Japan, I noticed a disturbing new addition to the UT landscape, something I've been meaning to post about for a while. It's a particularly nasty architectural miscarriage:

Who the fuck designed this thing, and why? It looks like a giant larva! Long, white, and segmented. Jesus. I can't think of many aesthetically pleasing athletic facilities, but doesn't UT have shitloads of oil money? Surely they could have afforded something better than this? Incidentally, if you look to the right of The Larva, you'll see UT's (in)famous Tower in the background.

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Original Sound Exchange frog mural. Now it decorates Baja Fresh.

Also, the Drag sucks. For non-Austinites, the Drag is the part of Guadalupe Street that runs right next to campus. Four years ago, it was already fast losing its original Bohemian appeal, but now why give it any special nomenclature at all? It's just another city street. Yes, there's still little food stalls, vintage clothing shops, and a cluster of booths with jewelry sellers, but these just punctuate the endless flow of franchises, both on campus and on the Drag: Jamba Juice, Einstein Bros, Chipotle, Baja Fresh.

Some Austin trivia: Baja Fresh replaced the Sound Exchange music store some years ago, destroying a wall of murals and graffiti. Well, not the whole wall - the one thing that was saved was Jeremiah the Frog, created in 1993 by Daniel Johnston, a local singer-songwriter. Before and after photos are shown at right, from Rejected Unknown, a site with info on the Save the Mural campaign. I can't find any photos of the rest of the original wall, unfortunately.

To me, the commercialization in and around campus reflects the slow creep of consumerism into higher education, something Carlton has touched upon recently in several posts. It's enough to make me want to run off and join a monastery...er, naan-nery, haha! (Shout out to Ray, who ain't been blogging much lately).

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Lunch with Goose

These gloomy observations ended, thankfully, on a cheerful note. Finally, I was able to meet Goose! We squeezed in a brief lunch at a place near UT. Funny thing - we've only seen each other in risque pictures from the neck down. My first impression of her dressed (conservatively, with jacket) was "Hey, she's the cool, kinda funky, hot teacher the boys had a crush on in school." It was great to have another female sex blogger to compare notes with. Amusing note: I'd taken the above yoga photo last night, and arm bondage came up in our conversation today. Anyway, it was a short meeting, so there's still bunches more I'd like to talk about (including mundane, non-sex things, too), so hopefully we can get together again.

Posted by Hiromi at 11:56 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)