We loved walking through the street fair. So many colors, textures, and tastes.

The art was quite interesting:

The street food was greasy and fragrant:

The cold beer went perfectly with the spicy pizza

The ice cream was rich and decadent

And this little girl carrying a balloon was the symbol of innocence.

Then, at the GameStop store, this:

And I was reminded of the recent outrage over EA’s decision to release a war game where players can assume the role of Taliban terrorists and kill American soldiers.

In our local news, the young boys interviewed by the reporter said that they can’t wait to play the game. “It’s fun killing people,” they said, adding, “It’s just a game. You’re not really hurting anyone.”

The mother of a soldier who was killed in Iraq in 2004 felt differently, of course. You could see the pain in her face. “War is not a game,” she said. “There are no restarts, and no do-overs.” And my heart went out to her.

War games scare me. Young boys who see war and violence as a game scare me even more. War is pain, blood, injury and death. It is young men and women losing limbs, their eye sight, their lives. It is young women and men who come back home broken, shattered, physically and emotionally. Many of them are never able to resume their normal lives. War is fear. War is ugly and brutal and gruesome.

War is like your worst nightmare, magnified. But unlike a nightmare, it is very real.

I’ve never been to war, but close family members have, and I’ve heard their stories. At least the stories they are willing to tell.

I have two daughters, so I don’t really have to face the dilemma of what to allow my kids to play and where to draw the line. I wish more parents to young boys were firmer in placing limits, but perhaps I’m being naive. After all, even if they’re not allowed to buy or play war games, they can still play at friends’ homes and parents need to pick their battles very wisely, especially with pre-teens and teens.

What do you think? How do you feel about violent video games in general, and about this one in particular?

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“It’s Fun Killing People”

I know, I know, bananas last longer when you hang them. This still seems like the kind of product that would hardly qualify as a “pantry essential,” but maybe that’s just me.

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And The “Most Unnecessary Product Award” Goes To…

Waiting in line at the UPS store, I couldn’t help but notice the promotional posters on the walls, all featuring smiling, happy people in some type of an office setting. You know – the same setting that in real life sucks the life out of you and makes you want to die, but in the world of stock photography, people are always relaxed, happy and smiling. Which I find incredibly plasticky and annoying.

They smile during one of the most annoying occasions known to mankind – a business meeting (note the token woman of color):

They smile in other phony work-related settings:

They sweetly smile at they shop at the supermarket:

My own UPS guy is nice enough, but I’ve never seen him smile as broadly as this guy (which quite frankly freaks me out with his robotic smile):

Of course, you could say that this little rant of mine is pointless and stupid – stock photography is essentially marketing material, and marketing needs to create a warm fuzzy feeling around a situation or a product. Perhaps, and I will be the first to admit that I’ve been using stock photography in this blog and in clients’ blogs.

But somehow, standing in line at the UPS store, frowning, I couldn’t help but become annoyed at the impossible, terribly artificial world that stock photography creates and presents to us, especially becuase those images are everywhere – at the UPS, at the post office, at the supermarket, in shopping malls, and of course in magazines and in online publications.

So in the interest of balancing things out, here’s a lovely photo from Flickr that shows how most of us truly feel during a business meeting:

PS. This is my personal blog so I generally don’t talk business here, but companies that fill their site pages with stock photography of Corporate America are hurting their brand, in my opinion. A website like this tells me that there’s nothing unique or exciting about the company – it simply tells me that “We are generic Corporate America.” What’s exciting about that and why would I choose them over the competition?

–
Loved this Comment: “The UPS guy looks like he will put those phony boxes down and start dancing and stripping at a woman’s party.” Carla, Green and Chic.

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Shiny Happy People (Stock Photography Rant)

As I stood there in the kitchen, next to the sink, washing dishes, I glanced outside to the backyard. I was frowning, becuase a stray cat has been using our backyard as its litter box lately, and I find the need to clean after it extremely annoying.

And then I saw it: a rose in full bloom, white and pristine and beautiful. And I smiled, becuase after a dreary winter, how can you not smile when you see something finally blooming in what is otherwise a rather grayish yard, still not fully recovered from the winter.

Of course, as I grabbed my camera and ran outside to share this miracle with you, I found another rose, a pink rose, also in full bloom and so very pretty:

The yellow roses, my favorites, are still sleepy… they are taking their time. I think I will get to enjoy them in May.

Then, a disturbing thought: could this be my THIRD “my roses are blooming” blog post on this blog? Why yes it is. Maybe I should stop harassing you with these posts, but how could I? Year after year, as my roses start to bloom, it feels like a miracle, all over again.

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I Saw The Rose. And I Smiled.

The concept of staycation – staying home and relaxing instead of going on an expensive, stressful vacation, makes more sense than ever during a global recession.

We still want to break away from our routine and recharge, but most of us are looking for frugal vacations rather than costly ones.

Staycations are easy and inexpensive. Vacations, on the other hand, tend to be complicated and costly. They often involve a lot of advance planning and many expenses, such as air travel, hotel, and car rental.

When it comes to air travel, it’s not just the expense I object to. I don’t know about you, but I hate to fly. I always hated flying. Being locked up in a small, pressurized cabin with no hopes of getting out until the plane lands has always made me more than a little nervous.

The added security measures and the gradual deterioration in customer service over the past decade are making the entire experience even worse. Of course, flying is also extremely unhealthy.

If it were up to me, I would never fly again.

Obviously, I sometimes have to fly. But when it comes to planning a vacation, in recent years the desire to avoid flights has certainly had an impact on my travel plans. Even if in our case, a staycation is not necessarily about actually staying home, I much prefer going someplace close to home over picking a far away destination that would force me to fly.

Recently, my husband and I spent a lovely long weekend staycationing in Half Moon Bay and in Carmel, California. Both locations are a mere 2-3 hours drive from our home in the San Francisco Bay Area. Instead of the elaborate vacations of years past (such as our visit to Barcelona and to Mercat de la Boqueria), which involved several flights and hotels, we picked a nearby destination that enabled us to really take it easy.

We spent one night in Half Moon Bay, where we enjoyed a gourmet dinner, followed by a lovely breakfast and a stroll along the beach the next morning. Yes, the Northern California beach is cold – you definitely need a jacket there, even in July:

But it’s also pristine and magnificent:

After breakfast, we drove along the beautiful, picturesque California Highway 1 to the Carmel area. On our way, we stopped at Ano Nuevo State Park. Hiking in the fresh air was pleasant, and watching the local elephant seals pick a fight with each other was hilarious:

Taking in the views from the gorgeous highway was one of this road trip’s main attractions. We saw several historic bridges that were built during the Great Depression. The magnificent Bixby Bridge was one of them:

We did indulge in fine dining – this is important to us. But we completely avoided shopping, which we hate (you just add more clutter to your house when you buy stuff. I hate clutter.)

By the end of the weekend, we were happy, relaxed, and ready to face the new week.

Air travel is usually pricey and stressful. A staycation is the perfect solution for me.

Have you been traveling this summer?

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Staycation or Vacation?

Every year in May, around the same time, our garden fills with colorful roses.

There’s something comforting and reassuring about things that happen, predictably and without fail, every year. Just like traditions, they have a way of anchoring our lives, of being a constant in an ever-changing, fast-paced reality.

There’s also something unsettling, maybe even a little upsetting, in realizing that another year has already gone by, especially since the older you get, the faster time seems to go by.

For a blogger, it’s always interesting to write about the same topic year after year, then compare old posts to new ones. My rose post from last year is quite similar to this one, except that I got myself a better camera a few months ago.

Other old posts, such as this post for International Women’s Day 2008, which is very different than my post for International Women’s Day 2009, make me cringe and think I have come a long way as a blogger.

Cringing when reading old posts is actually a good thing. It means you’re growing and developing as a blogger and as a writer.

Yellow roses are still my favorite flower.

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A Rose Garden

The first rose of the season suddenly bloomed in our garden today. I saw it this morning when I went out to the back yard. It was tiny and red and very well hidden:

I was feeling cold and grumpy as I hurried down the path to the trash cans, and then I saw it and my face lit up with a smile: the very first rose of the season.

We recently found out that our little one (she’s seven. Can I still call her little? I think I can) has severe seasonal allergies. Nothing we can’t manage or handle, but it does make me look at spring through very different eyes. Whereas before I was happy and excited about all the colors and scents, I now feel suspicious and weary of them.

Still, it’s difficult not to love spring, even if flowering plants releasing tiny pollens are suddenly the enemy. And the thing I love most about spring is to watch my garden fill with beautiful, colorful, fragrant roses.

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First Rose of the Season

Seen during a recent visit to the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art:

“’Fountain’ was what Duchamp called a readymade, an object elevated to the status of art not because he had created it, but because he had chosen it.”

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Modern Art: Sometimes I Just Don’t Get It

California is facing the most significant water crisis in its history. Winter 2008-2009 is the third dry year for the State. Water reserves are extremely low. There’s even talk about the State imposing water rationing on farmers, homes and businesses. In addition, drought conditions have created a situation of extreme fire danger, already the worst fire season in the State’s history.

It’s been raining almost the entire week and should continue raining well into the weekend and next week. I’m not sure if these rains are going to help with water levels in reservoirs (the dry land will probably soak at least some of the water), or save us from water rationing, but having breakfast in the kitchen this morning while watching our backyard being drenched in water made us very, very happy.

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Rain In California

I was picking my kids up from school today, as I do every day. Today however was a tad more exciting than usual when I saw THIS in the car in front of me:

At first I thought it was someone in the back seat, but I’m pretty sure it’s the driver herself.

Impressive, don’t you think?

(This is a rhetoric question as comments are closed. Of course it’s impressive).

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A REALLY Bad Driver