Oh Little Venus, Dressed Up To Tease Us!

ECHOBELLY
"Venus wheel"

When the city comes alive,When the debonaire are like fire-flies,
See the social satire lives,
See them dance on their beauty at the wheel,
Wonder how it feels,
Wonder how it feels to be you.

Oh little venus,
Dressed up to tease us,
Locked in the room upstairs,
She's combing her hair,
Oh little venus,
Smells of the sweetest,
Dreams of his thunder thighs coming around,
Oh, oh.

In the honey-coated atmosphere,
Now it's new thighs, glam rides latest to gold,
With your hair and the sherbet dip that you taste,
Makes her lost in space,Beauty at the wheel,
Wonder how it feels,Wonder how it feels to be you.

Oh little venus,
Dressed up to tease us,
Locked in the room upstairs,
She's combing her hair,
Oh little venus,
Smells of the sweetest,
Dreams of his thunder thighs coming around.

Oh little venus,
Little little little little little venus,
Don't you know little venus,
Don't you know,Don't you know.

Oh little venus,
Dressed up to tease us,
Locked in the room upstairs,
She's combing her hair,
Oh little venus,
Smells of the sweetest,
Dreams of his thunder thighs coming around.

Oh little venus,
Sweet little venus,
Dreams of his thunder thighs coming around.

Echobelly was my most favourite band in highschool, and I'm just now rediscovering them. Check 'em out!

FREEDOM!! I am FREE! Tragic has finished her classes (actually finished them Friday afternoon, but needed time to decompress before even venturing near her arch enemy, the Sony Vaio computer.)

**Jumps Up And Down**

It’s almost Christmas! The Christmas spirit is finally upon me. I haven’t been excited like this, in, well, ever. It must be the nearness of graduation making me all giddy.

Here is the (academic) highlight of the Fall ‘04 semester, as far as I’m concerned. This is what my professor had to say about my presentation on good ol’ Vladimir Lenin:

CONTENT: (possible 20 points) 19
"Excellent presentation of Lenin, his life, influences and legacy. You were able to cover an amazing amount of relevant, well selected facts to present a very full picture of the man and his motivations. You demonstrated a very thorough knowledge of your subject. Excellent primary source material as well."

ORGANIZATION: (possible 20 points) 19
"Very well organized, comprehensive outline, and good use of time."

PRESENTATION: (possible 10 points) 10
"You did a great job. You seemed very comfortable and confident in front of the class, spoke clearly and articulately, and although you sped through a considerable amount of information, you didn’t convey a sense of being rushed. Excellent job."

Total: 48

I’m seriously considering framing this piece of paper. It’s a bit wrinkled because it got squished between my binder and "Documents In World History."

I’ve been dying to tell you all about what I had for lunch on Friday. My dad and I went to Sonny’s Vietnamese Restaurant for lunch. After the earlier exuberance of the day (no mas finals) I decided to be adventurous, and ordered the Barbecued quail for lunch. The quail comes to the table soaked in bacardi rum. Then the waiter lights the alcohol on fire, holds the quail between two spoons, and precedes to cook it at the table!!! I’m pleased to report that my adventurous spirit was rewarded on that day, as I enjoyed my quail very, very much.

I keep hearing from a certain politician that we are in an economic recovery. Really, are you sure about that? My neighborhood is beginning to look a lot like East Berlin after the Wall came down. Quite a few of the businesses near here have gone under.

When I was little, there was a restaurant called Niko’s almost right around the corner from my house. From the beginning of (my) time, Niko’s was there. He made the best pancakes in the history of pancake making. These pancakes were better than the ones at International House of Pancakes. They were better than the pancakes at Bill’s. They were even better than my mom’s!! (sorry mom) My dad would take me there on weekends before garage sales or trips to electronics stores. I’d always get the short stack and hot cocoa. Always.

Right around 6th grade though, Niko announced that he was closing up shop. He was getting old and tired, and his children did not want to inherit his business. So he sold it. The new owners were also Greek, and were going to keep the same menu with a few Greek items thrown in for good measure.

But it wasn’t the same. The pancakes just weren’t as good. Two, maybe three years later, they went out of business.

The next incarnation of the late, great Niko’s was a Clark’s Burger. It was sort of like a gourmet burger joint, and you really paid through the nose. A cheeseburger, fries, and shake could run you $15. This nice Asian family had bought this particular franchise and made a pretty successful go at it, especially considering that there was a McDonald’s right across the street. (A place where you could probably get the same lunch for under $5.) But sure enough, disaster struck. The Clark’s Burger franchise hit hard times, and closed several locations. The owners were given an option, they could close or keep going– but without the "Clark’s Burger" in their name. Never wanting to say die, that family kept going. Prices went up. Everytime we went there after they lost the franchise, the burgers always had a red middle. Every. Single. Time.

After they went out of business, the building sat empty. We began to wonder if anything would ever open in it’s place. It’s current incarnation is a coffee shop called Leo’s, specializing in all sorts of bland, over cooked foods that my grandmother likes. Around last Christmas, it closed for two months. ‘Another one bites the dust’, all we observers in the neighborhood thought. Strangely, however, it reopened in February. Then again, around Cinco de Mayo, it closed. The sign still says "Leo’s", yet not a soul has entered since then. It is a mystery.

Across the street, in another shopping center, it’s a similar story. Although there is a very successful Columbian restaurant in that plaza, others have not been so fortunate. At first, there was a Denny’s there. Denny’s lasted for awhile. It was there before my time, and lasted until I was 7 or so. You know if Denny’s can’t make it, anyone else is going to face a serious uphill battle.

Following the Denny’s, that location became home to a establishment known as the Honeycomb. The menu was Chinese and American (whatever that means nowadays.) That lasted for perhaps 4 or 5 years.
I don’t even remember what was there after the Honeycomb.

For the past 7 years the old Denny’s became home to Tina’s. Another one of those so- bland- you could- just die places. They had good hot cocoa and that was about it. The only thing I can figure is that all the inhabitants from the Old Folks home on the nearby hill patronised it often. Tina’s went out of business about months ago. My dad and have been very curious about what would be the next resident of a so far, doomed location.

We watched.

We waited.

A few weeks ago I saw a banner appear on the expressway side of the plaza, advertising the coming of "The Original Pancake House." I was intrigued, although I’d never heard of the chain. Today my dad and I went there, for lunch. It was the first day the place was open for business.

I decided on the Dutch Baby, my dad got the Apple Pancake. The Dutch Baby is a cake like pancake (I’m not kidding, very thick, like cake, and baked in the oven.) It comes with 3 lemon wedges, a saucer of butter, and a saucer of powdered sugar on the side. I’m not much of a butter girl, so I only used maybe a tablespoon. (I know that sounds like a lot but you have to see this pancake! It was bigger than my head!) Of course, remember who you’re reading here, I did use all of the powdered sugar. Also, I used two of the lemon wedges.

You know how some advertisements promise that a particular food will "melt in your mouth"? This is the heaven of the Dutch Baby, for it actually melted in my mouth! ‘Twas a wonderful dining meal: such yumminess is rarely had by Tragic!

Dutch Baby: Five Stars

Hope you all have full tummies!

~Tragic Tuyen