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UPDATED 10/11/2008

The Wonder Wahine Strikes Again
  • I was born 26 January 1970
  • I live to read... I used to live to read, now I mostly don't have time. But that doesn't change the fact that when I do read...
    ...I read a lot of different kinds of stuff. But I have to admit, I've become something of a book snot-head. I used to like to read a lot of mainstream stuff. Never minded it, liked the entertainment value - Grisham, King, Auel - but something got buggered when I lived in Italy. I was a Lit major for a few years prior to living in Italy and mainstream hadn't bothered me, so majoring in English had less to do with my epiphany than my trek to Firenze. Having to read Dante in Italian and his big crush on Beatrice; figuring out what in the world Petrarca was trying to say in Il Canzioniere, impressing his crush on Laura into every landscape; Boccaccio's Decamerone with its weird party of 10 people galavanting in the Tuscan countryside for 10 days while the black plague's wiping out their world; Pirandello, Ariosto, Manzoni, Machiavelli, di Lampedusa, Levi, Svevo. GACK. I had to read them all. Most in English translation, some in Italian. I think it was having to read in Italian that did it to me. If I wanted to enjoy the story in the least little bit, I had to first wade through the meaning of every fifth word; I read with the text in one hand and an Italian/English dictionary in the other. Bella. I guess you could say it gave me an appreciation for words, for wanting to read words that actually had as much meaning as possible packed into each and every letter. It didn't dawn on me as I was reading for a class that I was translating the History of the Author blab in the begining of one book until I'd already done an entire page. One page in my 3-year old equvilancy Italian = 30 minutes. I could have been eating gelato instead. Woe is me.
        - Toni Morrison
        - Don DeLillo
        - Isabel Allende
        - William Trevor
        - Wallace Stegner
        - Barbara Kingsolver
        - Kurt Vonnegut
        - Michael Chabon
        - Frank McCourt
        - Gabriel Garcia-Marquez
        - Arundhati Roy
        - Michael Ondaatje
        - JM Coetzee
  • Then I love to write
  • Despite the fact that I've trudged across different parts of this world, I am right back where I started. I live in California, USA, about 45 miles north of San Francisco in the bucolic wine country.



  • There is no such thing as ONE favorite kind of ice cream. That'd be sacrilege.

    Ben & Jerry

        - Chunky Monkey
        - Phish Food
        - KaBerry BOOM (sadly, retired)

    Skinny Cow
        - Ice cream sandwiches

    Haagen-Dazs
        - Vanilla Swiss Almond

    Godiva
        - Chocolate Raspberry Truffle

    But the best ice cream ever is gelato. And the only place to eat REAL gelato is in Italy, but especially in Florence (no, I'm not biased or anything). My favorite gelateria of all time was Vivoli because it was right around the corner and across the piazza from my apartment. Major :::swoon:::

  • My Favorite Movies
        - Strictly Ballroom
        - The Piano
        - The Matrix
        - My Big Fat Greek Wedding
        - La Vita E' Bella (Life Is Beautiful)
        - Night on Earth
        - Roman Holiday
        - The Secretary
        - Chicken Run (chickens with Brit accents, I love it!)
        - Slam
        - Big
        - La Double Vie de Veronique (The Double Life of Veronique)
        - Bella Martha (Mostly Martha)
        - Il Postino (The Postman)
        - Babette's Feast
        - Star Wars (wookies rule)
        - Pumpkin
        - Left Luggage
        - Pane e Tulipani (Bread & Tulips)
        - To Kill A Mockingbird
        - Two Moon Junction (total & utter schlock; YAY!)
        - Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
        - The Miracle on 42nd Street
        - O Brother Where Art Thou
        - The Wizard of Oz
        - Birdy
        - The Full Monty
        - Edward Scissorhands
        - Amélie
        - Millions
        - Little Miss Sunshine
  • At the moment, my favorite chef is Thomas Keller. He owns two restaurants in Napa Valley. His most renowned eatery is the French Laundry. His second is the little dandy bistro, Bouchon. It's a good little spot for a tasty treat; watch out for the french fries, I'm warning you. But I also used to work with Charles Saunders. Amazing chef. Gotta say, he was much better dealing with food than people, but that's not a terribly big surprise; food doesn't cop an attitude (well, not USUALLY, anyway). Depsite himself, I still liked the guy.
  • I work in insurance in middle management (yawn, snore). as an insurance agent for a large company. However for a few years I did the chefly thing, working in local restaurants, burning my forearms and slicing off fingertips with regular & blissful abandon. Ultimately I'd like to write a novel that is wildly successful, become a recluse raising a family of genius children in the redwood wilderness of Northern CA, and ignore telemarketers who mispronounce my name. But I may have to save that pipedream until Aladdin's genie is in town.
  • I'm a hapa-haole wahine who's pappa-san is Hawaiian from the Big Island, Hilo side and whose muddah is a fair-skinned maiden who burns to a crisp when exposed to sun.

    101 Random Bits

    1. I like passion fruit juice
    2. I lived in Norway
    3. I lived in Italy
    4. I lived in Hawai'i
    5. I speak Norwegian (litt)
    6. I speak Italian (un po')
    7. I don't speak Hawaiian
    8. I do not know who my maternal grandfather is
    9. I was accepted to the San Francisco Art Institute after high school but I chickened out
    10. I grind my teeth
    11. I have an allergic reaction to honeydew melon
    12. I have curly hair
    13. I love mangos
    14. I love raw spinach
    15. I am a night owl by nature
    16. My first husband was an Albanian who looked like a Calvin Klein underwear model
    17. I am an ENFJ
    18. In Hawaiian, my first name means "the way the sun's rays come through the clouds after a storm over the ocean"
    19. In Hawaiian, my maiden name means "traveler"
    20. (1) I am not a mother but I would like to be CURRENT: I am a mama to Gretchen who was born 2/1/2007
    21. I secretly believe I'm supposed to be famous
    22. I karaoke a mean Alanis Morissette
    23. I pretend I don't like karaoke but I really do because it's the only place I can have an excuse to get a groove on
    24. I am the youngest of two girls
    25. I am right handed
    26. (1) I wear a size 8.5 shoe CURRENT: Since being pregnant, my shoe size will never be the same nor revealed...
    27. I have too many pairs of shoes [NOTE: and none of them fit since I had a baby...]
    28. (1) I alphabetize my CDs (2) Well, I used to; things are a little topsy turvy these days CURRENT: It's impossible, I've decided, with a husband who doesn't believe in the alphabet
    29. I've never been sky diving
    30. I have ridden in a bi-plane more than once
    31. I am always (1) at least 5 minutes late (2) prompt or before-time (3) making my way to work kind of when I feel like it every day (4) I am on maternity leave CURRENT: I get to make my own hours 'cause I'm the boss
    32. (1)To make up for it I average an hour of unpaid overtime per day (2) I am now committed to working only 8 hours per day so I don't drive myself nuts CURRENT: I work until the work is done, which doesn't always take 8 hours
    33. Watching TV bores me silly
    34. (1) I have had the same permanent address since I was born (2) I made the leap and changed my address on my driver's license. I must mean business... CURRENT: We bought a has in June 2006 which means the Tax Man has his clutches in me
    35. I once made a tunafish on wheat sandwich for Winona Ryder
    36. Butter will get pine sap off of your fingers
    37. The secret to amazing chili is cinnamon & cocoa
    38. I can not remember my driver's license number
    39. I wrote my grandma a good-bye letter before she died
    40. I wear a splint to protect my teeth from grinding when I sleep
    41. One of my thumbs is shorter than the other
    42. I prefer skirts to pants
    43. I wear contact lenses
    44. I want to travel Route 66 in a (1) Winnebago CURRENT: silver Airstream before I die
    45. (1) I don't drink enough water CURRENT: I drink 64oz+ of water per day
    46. I don't like soda pop very much
    47. The deep end of the pool scares me
    48. I have a tattoo that says "wahine"
    49. I wonder when I am old and wrinkled if it will look like "hine"
    50. My blogger code is: B1 d t- k s+ u f i o++ x- e+ l+ c+ (What's blogger code? Go find out!)
    51. I love garage sales, Goodwill, the Salvation Army, and 2nd hand stores in general
    52. I like to eat with chopsticks
    53. I make up random songs about the things I see or hear while I'm driving
    54. If I was a lesbian, I would have a huge crush on Salma Hayek
    55. (1) I try to go to church regularly even though (2) I'm still not sure about the whole Jesus thing CURRENT: I don't go to church, but I finally got clear on Jesus and now make my claim as "Believer."
    56. Bic Runga has the prettiest voice ever
    57. People who mispronounce my name drive me crazy but I never tell them
    58. I screen my phone calls (who doesn't, other than my mother?)
    59. I hate it when people talk so fast on a phone message that you can't write the phone number down without listening to it more than once
    60. I hate pop ups
    61. The name of my mom's father on her birth certificate is fiction
    62. I wish I was skinny
    63. I tell people more than I should
    64. I smile a lot when I talk
    65. My eyebrows are my great-grandma Winifred's
    66. (1) I'm not sure I will ever have children CURRENT: That one got answered on 2/1/2007 and her name if Gretchen Kaiulani Winifred Botton
    67. I fantasize about one day owning a Blc. Xanthette ‘Chartreuse’ orchid
    68. (1) My kitty looks just like the cat in the book Kat Kong. (2) My kitty Seuss stayed with my parents when I moved out and now weighs about 25 lbs. and will probably have a heart attack soon CURRENT: My kitty Seuss died early in 2008, but he lived life to its fullest! Gretchen likes all kitties so I'm betting we'll have to get her one of her one of these days
    69. I don't like fake nails
    70. But I do like to paint my toenails occassionally
    71. I want to have a 2-storey library in a house one day with shelves to the ceiling that require a brass-trimmed ladder for which to retrieve books
    72. I sing in the shower
    73. I can't stand call-waiting
    74. I get a natural high when my checkbook balances exactly
    75. (1)I collect antique hats & purses like other people collect stamps & baseball cards CURRENT: I sold most of my hats and purses on eBay last year, but I think Gretchen has a penchant for the same accessories
    76. I think Orlando Bloom as Legolas is *HOT*
    77. Pantyhose were created by the devil incarnate for the sole purpose of earthly misery
    78. (1) I have a $5000 in credit card debt that can be attributed to my teeth CURRENT: I am striving ferventy for a debt-free life
    79. (1) It is the only credit card I have with a balance (2)I transfer balances between cards to get the lowest interest rate until paid off CURRENT: I have all sorts of debt now that I own a business and a house
    80. (1) Yogurt raisins are (2) Popcorn (3)Trader Joe's Thai Chile Lime cashews CURRENT: Popcorn popped on the stove top and sprinkled with lemon chili salt is my favorite movie snack
    81. I am afraid I will die before I have said all the things I need to say
    82. I believe in life insurance
    83. When I was 13 I sewed a quilt for the birth of Prince William and sent it to Buckingham Palace
    84. I got a thank you note back from Princess Diana's Lady-In-Waiting
    85. When I lived in Italy, Eddie Vedder's voice in the song "Black" made wish I was a groupie with a backstage pass
    86. When I lived in Norway one winter, I fell on the ice while walking a total of 57 times
    87. One time I was so embarrassed, I faked a back injury and got a ride home in the ambulance
    88. (1) I will finish reading Proust before I die CURRENT: There's got to be more I can do with my time than read Proust.
    89. I wonder how many different strains of bacteria are found in one dredlock
    90. I want to write a letter to (1) Jonathon Franzen (2) my daughter Gretchen for her to read when she's grown <-- did it! CURRENT: everyone who will attend my funeral so they know what I thought about dying
    91. I don't like black licorice
    92. Angry chick rock makes me feel invincible
    93. Angry dude rock makes me want to lift weights
    94. If there is a hair in the food, I will be the one to get it
    95. I think "assisted suicide" for the elderly will be a fact within 30 years
    96. I love words
    97. I would like a greenhouse full of orchids
    98. If you want to impress me, give me a bouquet of peonies
    99. If you want to gross me out, make sure I get the hair in my food
    100. I volunteer myself for more than I should
    101. I am more resilient than I think I am

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