Archive for the 'Uncategorized' Category

new york-centric

Published on June 3, 2010 in Uncategorized. 1 Comment

I don’t know why, but this blog is becoming all about my interactions with New York. I’ve decided I should be blogging more, just before I leave to do a show in New York for a week and a half. Be prepared, ladies and gentlemen. I’m going to be so hopped up on vegan pastries I’m going to write multiple blogs a day.

Also, I’d like to make an online tribute to my time in LA. Later.
Until then,
Kirsten

Vegan Brunch Review, New York Part 2

Published on May 12, 2010 in Uncategorized. 1 Comment

I spent the weekend before last in New York. One night I stayed with my friend and old roommate Julie in the Lower East Side and the other night I stayed with Becca and Wahima, two friends from California, in Astoria. As always, eating at delicious vegan-friendly restaurants was top priority. Reviews:

(Brunch – Lower East Side)
Okay, everyone. This was amazing. First of all, for the low price of $11 dollars, you get:
coffee, a morning alcoholic beverage, and a brunch special. I would pay $1100/month just to live in Manhattan and eat there everyday. Well, maybe not. Anyway, I got the vegan banana walnut pancakes, coffee, and a greyhound. The pancakes were great. Three plain-looking pancakes on the outside, but full of banana and nuts when you cut into them. Delicious, filling, and cheap. We didn’t have to wait for a table, our service was great, and I think I was wearing the exact same outfit as our waiter. Good fucking eats. If you can find it (I’ve tried and failed on previous trips to find this place), you will love it.
(Brunch – East Village)
This is an old favorite of mine. I like going here because it’s small, it’s cute, and it’s close to Washington Square Park which is easy to find and get to. They didn’t have my favorite pancakes in the world, so I got a vegan waffle and a half pitcher of sangria instead. The sangria was delicious and adorably garnished with pineapple slices. The waffle was delicious, but not as good as my pancakes I’ve had from them before OR the pancakes at Kate’s. Sacred Chow is a little pricey, but the quaintness, location, and sangria make it worth it. Or at least, that’s what I think.
This has been another installment of Kirsten Thinks She’s a Food Critic. Thanks for eating!
Love,
Kirsten

Endless summer

Published on February 11, 2010 in Uncategorized. 0 Comments

Lately, I’ve had a lot of down time. This is both a great and terrible thing. The benefits are great: I am playing and writing music more, I’m recording, I’m reading more, I’m going to the gym again, I’m listening to more music, and generally enriching myself more. The downsides: I have way too much time to (over)think, I look for work I don’t need, I’m cold (in my house), and I drink way too much coffee. I feel like a kid during summer time.

The first summer I really felt the boredom sink in, I was just getting out of 4th grade. During that year, we moved to a new house in Claremont. I hadn’t made my neighborhood friends yet and I was bored out of my mind. I cleaned out the closet my little sister Rebecca and I shared in our room, labeling every shoebox with marker and scotch tape. I became obsessed with this little beanie baby knock-off dog that I named “Ben.” I made him a little house in a shoe box (with furniture) and carried him wherever I went. Looking back, I was probably way too old for this behavior. But Rebecca was reaching the age where she didn’t think I was cool anymore, she had a neighborhood friend already, and I was left to fend for myself. The Ben Phase only lasted a week or so, but it was an intense week. Like those early high school relationships that only last a week or two but everyone remembers, because you’re young and it’s new and important a little way.
Anyway, I’m living my own endless summer right now. The work I do have feels like play and I couldn’t be happier about that fact. I’d like to live this way until I can’t stand it.

List of positive things

Published on January 31, 2010 in Uncategorized. 2 Comments
  1. My house slippers.
  2. Lists
  3. Forcing myself to do enriching things. Like reading and writing.
  4. Breakfast
  5. Financial independence
  6. Spending quality time with quality people
  7. Routines

Robin Williams in Hook

Published on October 11, 2009 in Uncategorized. 2 Comments

This blog makes me feel like a deadbeat dad. It hit the game-winning homer at the bottom of the ninth at the last game of the little league world series and I show up as the team is packing up and emptying the dugout. It’s been practicing clarinet for weeks on end and I can’t make the recital because I’ve got a business meeting. It’s my blog’s birthday and I forgot.

I’d love to stay and talk, but I’ve got a thing at 11:30.
Rain check?
You’re the best, champ. Love ya. Bye.

I’m covered by Mike Skinner!

Published on August 26, 2009 in Uncategorized. 0 Comments

Watch this really sweet cover of “Stayed Home” by Mike Skinner. It has an adorable intro, if I do say so myself.


Love,
Kirsten

Cover Up

Published on August 3, 2009 in Uncategorized. 4 Comments

Speaking of the mysteries and delightful surprises that come from YouTube, check this out:

http://www.myspace.com/balboa515
It’s a cover of my song!
Weould.
Love,
Kirsten

Keep it Separate, Keep it Safe

Published on July 3, 2009 in Uncategorized. 2 Comments

Food that touches other food is disgusting. Or at least, that’s what I believed for most of my young life. Mashed potatoes that are tinted purple and taste oddly like the cranberry sauce next to them on the plate, nasty. As a kid, the taste of unintentionally mixed together foods made me gag. To this day the thought of Jello salad on a real lettuce salad makes me a little queasy. Sweet should not touch savory, dry should not touch wet, and by no means should the main course ever touch dessert.

When my family lived in Orange County, we had these Tupperware plates that had convenient partitions for different parts of the meal. Like frozen dinners, they had a larger area for the meat, and three smaller areas for fruit, vegetables and dessert. I couldn’t have been more grateful for my mom’s obsession with plastic flatware. Meals weren’t stressful when they were served both simultaneously and separately. That is how dinner should be.
Sometimes I think that I am the same person I was when I was a toddler, the only difference being that instead of throwing tantrums and kicking my legs on the ground, I internalize the stress, have a neurotic overload, and occasionally unleash it in the form of anger and resentment toward the closet person who knows me well enough to forgive me for it later. Instead of stressing out about foods touching each other, I get anxious about introducing music friends to improv friends, work friends to gay friends, old friends to new.
First, to any friend of mine who reads this: I have categorized you. Before you get mad, it’s not a judgement thing, it’s a thing to keep me sane. For the last few years I’ve partitioning my life into several different areas: music and songwriting, lighting design for theatre, improv comedy, the person I’m currently in love with, family, and miscellaneous friends. Usually friends are connected to one of the main sections of my life: improv friends, music friends, old friends, my sisters, girlfriends, etc. Most of the time, I keep them strategically separated. That way I can be improv Kirsten around improv friends and singer-songwriter Kirsten at open mics and concerts. The worlds don’t mix, it’s simple, it’s easy.
Lately, my worlds have been colliding. Regular friends are appearing at shows, I’m writing music with improv friends, coworkers are referencing my life outside the office. How am I supposed to fight crime without my mask? What does Bruce Wayne do when he accidentally forgets to suit up before kicking the shit out of some petty thieves? (I know, mixing metaphors is almost as bad as mixing food and friends.) But really, at any given point in the day, I don’t know which version of myself I’m supposed to be. And it’s making me neurotic.
To face this fear of mine, I’m writing on the internet again. I’m giving everyone permission to read this, pretend like you needed it. (I would want permission to read yours, it’s just part of who I am.) I need to level the illusive partitions in my life. Everybody, let’s all get brunch together. I’ll even let the syrup get on the tofu scramble.