La Joie

It's been a while since I've written here. It feels like revisiting your childhood home as an adult long after your parents moved away. The trees in the neighborhood are bigger but everything else feels smaller. The streets are narrower than you remember; driveways sport more oil stains; and the boogers you left everywhere are placed so low to the ground.

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As I'm kicking the blog's binary walls , I feel as though it needs a renovation. Maybe I've been watching too much "Kitchen Nightmares with Gordon Ramsay" on hulu. It's because of this show that I'm weaning myself from mid-range mexican restaurants and vietnamese with unexposed kitchens. Too many corners are cut behind closed doors. Even taco bell allows you to see how your burrito supreme is put together. If I can catch the artisan's eye, I always give an encouraging lift of chin acknowledgment. It tells him or her that there is no third wall. The third wall has been penetrated and please don't skimp on the beef, amigo. Ahh, I digress.

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So everything here feels a bit awkward. Too much white space along the margins, shouts Ramsay. He threatens to walk out. The name is totally misplaced. You don't even serve fried chicken and there's nothing french on the menu. And the sidebar is too cluttered. I'll get to those things later, I yell back. "I'm going to finish my coffee, bug MJ and get her to laugh by popping and locking in a suprisingly smooth way, then suddenly feel tired, contemplate a nap, nap, and then surf . . . the internet, and then get to your list of things to do, Senor Ramsay."

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But he's right. It's time for an overhaul. And actually I've been prepping for one while I've been away. This blog is about to become more distilled, more about my core passions - literature, art, food, everyday "la joie de vivre" things. The other blog I've prepped is more for the leftovers. It will become the leftover repository of the inspirational and aspirational ideas and facts that I come across along the way.