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A few months ago, I had to have muscle and nerve conduction tests due to numbness and tingling in my arms. Fortunately, they didn’t find anything major wrong with me. I was sent to a physical therapist who helped me stretch and relax my tight neck and back muscles, and the unusual sensations have mostly gone away. (Thanks Elsa!)

The electromyogram test was fascinating. The neurologist sticks you with tiny needles that are connected to a computer wire and a speaker. When you move, the electrical pulses that are your nerves “firing” produce staticky pops over the speakers that sound quite similar to a needle being placed on a record. The computer monitor displays wavy lines, a bit like the pulsing lights that appear on some stereos, or on itunes, as the music swells. The doctor studies the sounds and curves to see if they seem normal. I do not recommend the situation that led to me being sent for these tests, but it was fascinating to find that I’ve got the music in me, so to speak. I vaguely knew that muscle and nerve activity was electrical, but I didn’t realize quite how much the elaborate communication systems we’ve devised for ourselves resemble the inner workings of our own bodies.

Fresh chai cake

When my friend Jeanne got back from two years in India, she taught me to make chai. This year, since Jeanne was back in LA for a vacation that coincided with her birthday, I got the idea to make a chai cake, which she ended up helping bake. I found this recipe for chai cake with honey ginger cream, which was apparently the cake of the month for an online baking club at one point, and is therefore well documented in various cooking blogs. I decided to make the cake according to the instructions, but instead of the suggested tea bags, use loose tea and fresh spices according to the proportions Jeanne had shown me for authentic Indian chai.

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I went to Costa Rica in the rainy season on purpose. It was green and lush, and I was glad I went ahead and bought suitable clothing to keep me warm and dry. I was willing to go ahead and buy some outdoorsy clothing, because much of Los Angeles social life revolves around exercise. It’s common to go straight from the beach, mountain hiking trails, or a yoga class straight to a nice lunch; I do so all the time. So I knew if I could find athletic apparel that was cute, well-priced, and fit properly, I would wear it regularly.

The “fit properly” part of the equation was the challenge. I’m petite: I’m fairly short, and very small-boned. I want to look like a stylish girl, not a fleece-covered blob. It took a lot of trying things on to figure out what brands would work for my narrow shoulders and short arms, and my low height when I wear flat shoes or sandals. I now have some idea what will fit, which makes shopping faster and means I might be able to take advantage of things like online outlets. I figured I’d share this information for others who find themselves in the same situation.

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A recent New York Times Magazine article discussed how some species of whales may recognize that humans are no longer actively hunting them in many areas, and may be trying to get to know us.

“I’d… challenge anybody to say that these whales are not actively soliciting and engaging in a form of communication with humans, both through eye contact and tactile interaction and perhaps acoustically in ways that we have not yet determined,” says a marine mammal behaviorist quoted in the article.

It’s not that I want to anthropomorphize animals, but I do think they think, and that whales are probably extremely intelligent. It would be fascinating to someday understand anything they could tell us about life in the majority of our world, the watery parts.

The picture here is of a gray whale spouting. We came upon a number of them frolicking in the surf near where we were horseback riding in Cabo San Lucas this past winter at a company event. I think this was fairly close to one of the areas discussed in the article.

This is the view from the hall of my building about 10 minutes ago. I love when the clouds form curves that direct your attention to a focused area of brilliance.

I love the smell of eucalyptus. It’s fresh like pine, and helps my lungs feel clear. In a red glass vase, it looks festive for a California Christmas.

“I will always be honest with you about the challenges we face. I will listen to you, especially when we disagree.”

I wake up to a clock radio. It works because it changes all the time; I get too accustomed to any particular alarm.

Over the past few years, I’ve become far too accustomed to waking up already furious with the news that’s begun seeping into my ears about the effects of policies that seem to have been based on ideas that someone wanted to believe were true, whether or not they were. The morning after that victory speech, I have no idea what was on the radio, but it certainly felt like I’d woken up to music.

The current fires in Southern California aren’t that close to where I live, but the air does smell like smoke.

Photo by P M M via flickr.

I often treat cooking as a mad science experiment. I find a food I haven’t tried much before, and see what I can do with it. This is how I sometimes end up with things like hot pink salad dressing.

I recently acquired some prickly pear cactus fruits. My previous experience with this fruit — known in Spanish as tuna — involved consuming a cactus fruit ice cream from a stall at Mercado la Paloma in downtown Los Angeles, and once trying to eat slices of the fruit raw, which I did not enjoy because of the hard little seeds. The flavor of the fruit is a bit like a mild mix of berry, melon, and cucumber.
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Organic. From the farmers’ market.