#48: I'm a hippie, but not a smelly hippie

Here's the dialog that I imagine having with you, Constant Reader. (I don't know why I just called you that, but it's how Stephen King addresses his readers in the afterwords of the Dark Tower series. And I like how it sounds "Constant Reader". Kinda rolls off the tongue page computer screen)


Me: I haven't shampooed my hair since January 1st.
You: Ew. Gross.
Me: I said "haven't shampooed" not "haven't washed".
You: Shut up hippie. Get the hell out of here, and take your greasy, smelly hair with you.
Me: But my hair is clean; I swear!
You: ....... (That's the sound of you ignoring me)
Me: No...seriously. Here, this is what I've been washing my hair with:

You: Garnier Fructis is shampoo, dummy!
Me: No, the stuff in the ketchup and mustard bottles.
You: You put ketchup and mustard on your head? What are you, a hamburger?
Me: Nevermind.


Me: ........... (That's the sound of me ignoring you)
You: So, what's in the bottles? 


(Let's just pretend you were going to ask this... otherwise this would have been the most random blog post ever.... actually, scratch that. I've seen some way stranger blogs. Have you ever clicked the "Next Blog" link at the top of the page?)


Me: Red
Ingredients: 2 Tbsp baking soda, water.
Directions: Wet hair. Apply a little baking soda mixture to your roots and massage your scalp to spread it around. Let it sit a minute or two. Rinse

Yellow
Ingredients: 2 Tbsp apple cider vinegar, water, a little bit of lemon lime juice (Lemon juice supposedly lightens your hair; I only added it because I don't like how vinegar smells. You: That's weird. Me: I know. Sorry.)
Directions: Apply vinegar mixture to the ends of your hair. Let it sit a minute or two. Rinse

Green
Ingredients: Agua/water/eau, Sodium Laureth Sulfate, Dimethicone..... and a lot more sh!t that I couldn't pronounce if I tried.
Directions: Lather, Rinse, Repeat.

You: Why did you stop using shampoo again?

Me: Well to start with, I'm a cheap ass and I ran out of shampoo... so why spend money on shampoo when I can wash my hair with stuff I have lying around my parents' roommates' house? There are also a lot of other reasons to stop using shampoo here, or you could read about shampoo on Wikipedia. At any rate, here's the way I see things: if I'm not going to eat things that have a million ingredients that I can't pronounce, why would I want absorb them through my skin every time I shower. Especially when there are potentially viable alternatives (Like this, or this, or the recipe in that first link the said "here" that you probably didn't even click on). Hell, shampoo didn't even exist a few generations ago, consider it retro. Besides, I'm a guy.... it's not like I need some fancy product to "repair damaged hair" or "reduce frizz" or "insert clever marketing slogan that makes people think they can't live without you product" anyway. And last time I checked, shampooing with Herbal Essence did not give me an orgasm. Now that would be a reason to use shampoo.

You: I'm sorry, I lost focus for a second. What were you saying? Wait...never mind... don't repeat yourself, I'll just space out again. Just tell me how not shampooing is working out for you?
Me: Well, I really can't tell the difference between shampoo and the alternative. So, I'm going to say good*. You should look into it, or not. Want to smell my hair?
You: No. You're weird. Now get out of here before I poke you with a stick.




Thanks again for reading,
-N


*I should probably note that there is supposedly a transition period where your hair gets really greasy while you wean it off shampoo. I was apparently already doing this before the New Year (I was only shampooing about once a week because the shampoo I had was drying out my scalp and giving me dandruff). At any rate, I have not yet had to deal with the greasy hair phase.... but if I do, I'm just going to go with it, buy myself a leather jacket, and start banging jukeboxes with my fist to play the songs I want. (Snaps fingers, Gives thumbs up. "Ayyyyy")

#17: Four Down Ninety-Six to Go

I can't decide if number 17 on the list is going to be hard or easy. The AFI 100 Years 100 Movies selections are certainly a varied bunch, and while are some true classics (Dr. Strangelove), there are also some dubious selections (How the F@*K  did Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring make number 50 on the list?), and there are clearly some blaring omissions (Young Frankenstein? Monty Python and the Holy Grail? The Big Lebowski?).

T and I have decided that even though some of the things on the list are not mutual list items (the odds of my donating my hair to Locks for Love seems pretty slim), we are both required to see all of these movies in the 1001 days, even if we've already seen them. Once we see a movie from the list, we'll put it up here with a brief description/review/rant (depending on our mood at the time). At any rate, here is our progress so far.

Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid
-If you don't like this movie, I will personally punch you in the face! (Whew.... I feel better now that I've got that off my chest.) But, seriously, it's got everything you could ever ask for in a movie: Paul Newman (check), Robert Redford (check), Katherine Ross (check), cowboys, prostitutes, "colorful" ex-pats riding donkeys in Bolivia, shit... even the soundtrack is amazing (In case you didn't know: Burt Bacharach wrote the music, including the song "Raindrops Keep Fallin' On My Head" for the movie, and won Oscars for Best Original Song and Best Original Score in the process. Don't believe me, just ask Wikipedia). To top it all off T had never seen it... which was a travesty, that I felt needed to be rectified post haste. All in all, I don't think there could have been a better film to kick things off.

On the Waterfront
-Ok, to be perfectly honest, I had never seen On the Waterfront. I know, I know... "I coulda been a contender, I coulda been somebody" what can I say I have been remiss in my duties as a movie fan. But to tell you the truth, one of the only things I could think of whilst watching was, "HOLY SHIT! Is that a skinny Marlon Brando". So if you didn't realize that he wasn't always the size of a VW bug, you should see this picture. Or, I suppose, if you are a fan of classic American cinema. But mostly the first thing.

Jaws
-I haven't actually watched Jaws yet since 1/1/11, but Theresa did and I will, I promise. Still, I think I can write up a quick plot synopsis from memory. Jaws, as I recall, is the heartwarming story about a mongoloid James Bond villian who overcomes his severe orthodontic disabilities and goes on to.......... oh. wait. I'm thinking of Jaws. Nevermind. Speaking of movie soundtracks, though, apparently John Williams saved Spielberg's ass with that duh nuh.... duh nuh..... duh nuh. because the animatronic shark, "Bruce", didn't work for shit. The shark theme lets the audience know the shark is there without having to actually show it on screen. Next time you watch Jaws pay attention and you'll notice that the shark doesn't even appear on screen until more than halfway through the film (this may be a gross over-exaggeration on my part, seeing how as I just told you that I haven't seen the movie recently, but as they say, "It aint a lie if you believe it").

2001: A Space Odyssey
-I love Arthur C. Clark, which is probably why I enjoyed every part of 2001 where there was actually something happening. But most of the movie is just shots of spaceships, astronauts and planets with some kind of epic soundtrack. I understand that the movie is from 1968, back in the time before cgi, but seriously.... the movie is almost 2 1/2 hours long and at least half of it is slow-mo spacecraft shots. Of course, if you can get past that, the movie is pretty amazing. And HAL is definitely one of the best movie villains of all time.


Well, there it is. The first four of our one hundred movies. And we're only 19 days in... way ahead of schedule. Until next time--N

#43 Go Wine Tasting

(T)

Anyone from a beach town knows, that when the sun is out it's time to head to the shore. So naturally, when the sun decided to shine in the middle of January here in the Bay Area, I had to find my way to the closest beach. Dragging one of my closest friends along, I made the drive from Moraga to Santa Cruz with a simple plan- to enjoy the beautiful weather and get our minds off of the stress that has come along with our senior year of college.

Everyone and their grandfathers were out surfing, a bunch of kids, along with a few kids at heart, were running around their neighborhood having a water gun fight, everyone seemed to be a good mood... this is what I love the most about a sunny day. After devouring the most delectable acai bowls we have ever eaten at Cafe Brasil, we drove about 5 minutes south to the charming little town of Capitola where we wandered around antique shops, boutiques, and the beach until we stumbled upon a tiny little shop that read, "WINE TASTING." We had to go in- I could check it off the list! A strange, plastic, halloween like figure standing next to the entrance, and giant wine bottles in the window labeled "POIZIN" greeted us as we approached. I wondered what we were getting ourselves into.

The tiny Armida Winery tasting room smelled like a combination of my top favorite scents... the sea breeze and red wine. For a reasonable price, we tasted six wines and had a fabulous evening. Each wine was distinctly different than the rest, full of flavor and very impressive. While tasting, we learned about wine crystals (below) and the benefit of 100 year old vines. Since older vines produce a smaller amount of grapes, a stronger amount of flavor is given to each grape, whereas a younger vine that produces a much larger amount of grapes can only create a certain amount of flavor within each grape because of the high grape count.

At the end of our tasting I purchased Armida's "Surf-zin", a special 2008 zinfandel for their Santa Cruz/ Capitola location and a phenomenal wine, I will definitely be going back for more. My mental tasting notes began to disappear after a few glasses, so Sebastian from Armida has kindly shared his tasting notes of their tasting flight below.

Armida's Capitola tasting room is just a few steps away from the beach, so we were able to enjoy Capitola's view of the sunset, one of the most beautiful ones I have ever seen. It was a perfect way to spend such a gorgeous day and wine tasting was definitely the "cherry on top". Cheers! - T

1. Pinot Noir- 2008 Durell Vineyard, Sonoma Valley

"From the acclaimed Durell Vineyard in Sonoma, this beautiful wine shows great complexity and concentration. Dried cranberry, cooked chantrelle, and cola in the nose, hints of cinnamon and vanilla mingle with delicate sweet oak flavors giving this wine a lush velvety mouthfeel with an amazingly long finish." (armida.com)

2. 2008 Maple Vineyard Zinfandel

"The Maple Vineyard sits up on a bench above Dry Creek Valley on the east side. The vines are all head pruned and dry farmed, making for an intense Dry Creek Valley Zinfandel. This wine is signature Maple Vineyards with tons of ripe fruit, cranberry, blackberries, and black cherry. 10% Maple Petite Sirah adds tons of dark color and structure to this blend. Sweet vanilla oak, cola, and cinnamon finish out this well balanced wine." (armida.com)

3. Zinfandel- 2007 Tina's Block, Maple Vineyard, Dry Creek Valley Tina’s Block is the oldest block on the "Maple Vineyard. The vines are 80 to 100 years old, head pruned, and dry farmed. Just a few acres in size, this is a true Italian field blend, meaning there is much more than just Zinfandel planted in Tina’s block. There is some Petite Sirah, Carignane, Mouvedre, and even a couple of Mission vines. These varietals add color, structure, depth, and make this wine truly unique. The nose is bursting with black plum, dark cherry, and dark maple syrup and has a structured, lucious mouth with tastes of vanilla, sweet oak, and amareno cherries. The finish is amazingly long, with hints of molasses and chocolate covered cherries." (armida.com)

4. 2006 Stuhlmuller Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon

"A classic Alexander Valley Cab the Stuhlmuller Vineyard offers a structured, complex, and elegant addition to anyones wine collection. This noise is full of cassis, cedar, sweet tobacco, and coco powder. The mouth is rich with sweet oak, dark chocolate, and black olive. The finish is long and lingering on this beautifully integrated wine." (armida.com)

5. 2008 Flora Ranch Syrah

"This is a Syrah for Syrah lovers! The color is intensely dark, the nose is smoky, meaty, with hints of black olive, and sausage. The mouth reveals a brighter side of this Syrah, showing violets and cherries." (armida.com)

"Wine crystals..."

Two Wheeled Daydreams and #6

#6. Read 20 Books. So technically I cheated... The first book was a Christmas gift from my parents roommates and I think I was already 100 pages in by Christmas dinner. Yes, I jumped the gun on the January 1st start date. Sue me, it was too good to wait for. 1 down, 19 to go.


Into Thick Air by Jim Malusa


Despite my aversion to exercise, I have found myself daydreaming about riding my bike some serious distances. I blame Jim Malusa. Into Thick Air chronicles Malusa's efforts to ride his bicycle to the lowest points on the six continents that are not covered entirely by ice. His trips take him to many exotic locales: Egypt, Russia, Jordan, Chile, Argentina, and even Djibouti, riding his bike through hundreds of miles of desert in the process.

I can see your surprise...Yes, Djibouti is not only a real country (Africa's smallest), but also contains the lowest point on the continent, Lac Assal. I can also see what you're thinking: "Riding a bike into the depths of the desert sounds like the way a masochist spends a vacation." And you might be right. But the bike is what makes Malusa's tale truly special, allowing him to connect with the places and people he visits in a way that other forms of travel can't hope to compare to. Malusa is also the perfect man for the job. As naturalist, he can describe the deserts he travels through with a keen understanding. He also has an unabashed love of hot coffee and cold beer (if that's not enough to endear him to you I don't know what is). And his writing style? In a word: hilarious. But don't just take my word for it; here's just one of the many gems scattered throughout his writing:

"Most of Australia is desert and most of the desert is without Australians. They cling to the southeastern coast and the island of Tasmania, where the climate is agreeable to rose gardens and tea cozies and the long tern survival of very white people."  - Into Thick Air (pg. 13)

Malusa's tale not only fanned the flame of my wanderlust, but it re-instilled some of my faith in humanity. The people he meets on the road treat him with a hospitality and kindness reminiscent of bygone eras. And it's not because the locals are unaccustomed to spandex (in fact, Malusa eschews spandex; preferring attire more appropriate to the expeditionary nature of his trips.) 

If you're not already jealous of Malusa, check out the flickr album of his adventures. His photos are amazing.

I highly recommend this book to anyone. Period. In fact, I think I am going to force everyone I know to read it. Ok, maybe if you suffer from cyclophobia you can be excused... maybe.

Until next time, let me leave you with a little motivation from the man himself.

"Everybody has a plan, something that may or may not happen -- but that's really not the point. It's the plan that counts, the pleasure of possibility."

Introductions and #91

Well, here it is. Theresa and I are attempting to complete 101 Things in 1001 Days. And you, as luck may have it (let's assume bad luck), have happened upon the place that we are going to be keeping track of our progress over the next 991 days. If you haven't already checked out "the list", the link is at the top of the page. The idea is from Day Zero Project and even though our list is not quite perfect, we figured it was time to get started and finalize the list in the next few weeks.

Now, I know what you're thinking:
"101 things seems like a whole lot of shit to do. I don't know if I could even think of that many things, and I know I don't have the time. What are you to doing to yourselves?"
or more likely
"Are you f-ing insane?"

So let me answer your question thusly:
1) We are about to be done with college and have nothing better to do with our time than set unrealistic goals for ourselves and try to achieve them. Besides, we're something of idealists and physically making a list of things that you want to do makes doing them feel more tangible. Yes, naivety is a part of being young. Yes, we are hippies. No, we do not smell.... well, at least T doesn't.
a) Yes, 101 things is a lot. That's why we tried to pick a nice variety of goals. Some are easy (#78 check out a library book), some are harder (#79 make home-made orange juice). The beauty of doing the list in 1001 days is that it will give us more time to procrastinate plan and hopefully make it easier for us to succeed.

We've got big plans for the blog. But, for know, I think that its time that we crossed something off.

#91 Inspire someone else to make a list.
I freely admit it; my dad is better than me. Just look at his list, it's everything that my list hopes to be some day. Let's just hope we can both stay motivated to finish.


In truth, T and I have made progress on a few more Things, we'll get those up soon.

Are you still reading? Wow... Thanks.
-N