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Dim Sum
It does not matter what the whip is; it is none the less a whip, because you have cut thongs for it out of your own souls.
-- John Ruskin
Wednesday, May 31, 2000
One year ago: Driving Home
Two years ago: Gods and Monsters
Three years ago: No Latin Word for Tea
In honor of my birthday, I got to pick where we went for lunch today at work. I was at a loss, until I remembered East Ocean, where I ate with my former manager Val last year. This is a big place that serves dim sum every day, in the Overlake neighborhood near the Microsoft main campus. Chip remembered a business lunch that he couldn't get out of (no, really! he wasn't ducking the dim sum), but said he'd try to meet us there.
It was the first time eating dim sum for Kellie and Pete, although Kellie is very fond of egg rolls. The most unusual item was a tofu-based custard with a sweetish sauce. Our main server's English was limited enough that I'm only seventy five percent sure that there was tofu in it. I liked it, though! A vegetable described as Chinese Broccoli was tough. But the dumplings were good, of course. Chip arrived in time for the fortune cookies.
* * * * * * * *
- Passion
(IMDB page for this film) Biopic about composer Percy Grainger and his mother. This really surprised me! To start, I didn't know that Grainger was Australian. The movie focussed on Grainger's intense relationship with his mother, but there was lots about his interest in English folk tunes, too. The most curious thing in the movie was the depiction of Grainger's practice of self-flagellation, with some whipping of others thrown in. He seemed to have terrible aim! The movie was worth seeing, I think.
- Peppermint
(IMDB page for this film) Greek. A man looks back at his childhood. Fairly standard, but not bad. I liked how they indicated the passage of years by showing, for example, the hall with traditional furniture, then fading to the modern sixties furniture the family bought when times were better. The sequence with the seaside vacation was entertaining. Overall this has been done before.
Tonight, instead of going home after two movies, I went to the Century Ballroom to dance. It's a tradition in the swing dance community -- if it's someone's birthday (and the person wants to do this) there's a birthday dance! What that means is that the birthday person is in the center of the circle, and all who wish to come out and dance with him or her for a few measures. I didn't do this last year, but this year I wanted to. I'd alerted Cat Daddy Chris, who was DJing, and asked him to pick a song, not too fast, not too slow, and not too long. I figured it was better if some folks didn't get the chance to dance with me, than to have the last person hanging there and wishing someone would jump in to relieve him or her.
I had a great time! Mostly it was friends that I knew who partnered me, but one guy was a stranger. I started the dance with Dan Davis, a longtime partner that I knew I'd be comfortable dancing with.
In a celebratory spirit, I stayed late and danced with almost everyone I wanted to. It was great seeing everyone!
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