Happy Year of the Dog! I am so glad to see that damned Chicken go, I can't even tell you. I was wondering, have chickens always disagreed with me so? I don't remember having a particularly tough year 12 years ago. 24 years ago did pretty much suck, but that can be blamed on the ever-angsty adolescent years. Let's just say this last year was the Chicken From Hell & let it go at that.

The Dog has brought this very exciting piece of progress: you know how you use your thumb as a guide to peel a piece of fruit? That was me this morning, doing that totally thumb-oriented process on an Asian pear! I couldn't believe myself, but it was real! I couldn't do the whole pear, only a couple slices' worth, but that was thrill enough for me.

In preparation for the Dog I also attempted to vaccuum my studio. I managed to get about 75% of the way through before my hand pooped out. Pretty good, huh?

I can almost dare to imagine that soon I'll be blogging about something besides my hand problems.... Chinese restaurants??! Knitting?!

Seems we are in the midst of an explosion in cupcake consciousness, or at least cupcake obsession. There's even a cupcake blog. The first inkling I had of the cupcake comeback (did they ever go away?) was Stephanie Brooks' very excellent conceptual cupcake installation in 2002.

A large part of cupcakes' appeal lies in the pleasing word "cupcake" itself. Would we be nearly so obsessed if they were called mini-cakes, personal cakes, individual cakes, or frosted muffins? I seriously doubt it.

The thumb likes cupcakes. The thumb has progressed quite remarkably & can now turn on the car ignition (I'd been reaching around with my left hand in an awkward contortion), cut chard, & lift a bottle of olive oil. Impressive, no?

Nail clipping victory!!! I went & bought a new nailclipper, realizing that the one I had must be dull since I literally can't remember ever having any other one. I mean this thing had to be at least 25 years old. Duh! The new one was $1.99, made in Korea, & noticeably easier to use when I tried it out with my left hand. Thus encouraged, I carefully, cautiously took it between right thumb & fingers, breathed deeply, gave it a few experimental squeezes, & then, oh glory! I clipped one nail on my left hand! This was a bit scary & produced a small twinge in the infamous thumb joint, so I stopped there for the time being. A couple days letter my hand felt much better & I tried it again. This time I cut all 5 nails on my left hand! Wheee! Cowabunga! Look out world!

Bay folks know that the size of San Francisco Bay has shrunk considerably over the years, but nobody ever seems to know where the original edge of the bay was, especially when discussing topics near & dear to our hearts, such as earthquakes, liquefaction, foundation & drainage problems, or just real estate in general. Recently the question arose, yet again, as it periodically does: when the Big One comes & all the landfill falls back into the bay, will our house fall with it, or will we be teetering on the edge, or will we be sitting snug as a bug, a convenient couple of blocks from the new beach? This cool 1899 map probably does not exactly answer the question, but it sure is fun to look at.

If you know where to find a map of the original bay, please do let me know. Best would be a comparitive illustration with, say, the new bay-as-we-know-it superimposed or something. So we can know once & for all, where is landfill & where is not?

Thumb update: sometimes eating with my right hand now! Able to write semi-legibly with skinnier pens! (I had been totally dependent on the lifesaving retractable Sharpie.) Used an Xacto to cut a piece of paper the other day! Still can't use that nailclipper though.