The Sonia Show Goes To Washington

Yeah, so, I went to Washington, D.C., to see two of my favorite people, Katie and Nathan.

Sadly, the second I walked off the plane I lost my voice, because of course I did. I fly across the country to visit one of my best friends so we can catch up, and I lose my voice. Figures.

I think being that close to Predator Trump; that much evil; my body just couldn’t deal with it. Maybe my body was trying to save me. “Oh no! She’s in the same city as that piece of shit. She’s going to say something and get us all killed, so let’s shut it down. Shut the whole thing down!”

Of course, we didn’t let my lack of voice stop us from catching up, and Katie and Nathan are awesome hosts. If you’re ever in DC, I highly recommend you stay with them. They are way better than some hotel or Air BnB.

We went to a Nationals vs. Reds game on Friday night, which was my first-ever visit to a ballpark that wasn’t A’s or Giants. I wore my Giants hat and booed Bryce Harper the best I could considering I had no voice. I also ran into some other Giants fans there, which – once again – was just me pointing at my hat and their hats and giving the thumbs up, because no voice.

On Saturday, Katie and I spent the entire day at the Newseum, because it’s my favorite. I could have spent an entire second day in the Newseum. There is so much to read, watch and listen to. There’s a really terrific exhibit now called “Louder Than Words,” which is about music, activism and politics. The Newseum doesn’t appear to be a big fan of Predator Fake News. There are a lot of stories and photos about President Obama. I think that Newseum is preaching to the choir, though. I seriously doubt Predator Trump voters are going to the Newseum anyway. Yeah. I said it.

Also, while in DC, we had lunch at a yummy vegan restaurant, Fare Well. I got the vegan Reuben and a cookie dough milkshake, and it was heaven.

We also got some beer, because – duh – of course we did. These are MY FRIENDS we’re talking about. We went to Brookland Pint, which had a great selection of local beer on tap, so I could taste them all.

It was so great to see Katie and Nathan. They are such awesome, smart people. I wish we at least lived in the same state. That would be awesome.

By the way, it’s hot as fuck in DC, and humid. Here’s actual footage of me in DC.

 

So, at the end of my trip, I filmed a little video so you guys could hear how awful my voice was.

 

BUT, here’s the thing: It actually got worse. I got sicker and sicker on the flight home. By the time I got home I had no voice at all (it was just a whisper). I was coughing and congested, and I had a fever. Wheeee. I’ve been sick for three days! I’ve been so sick that I haven’t even been back to work yet. I wasn’t even well enough to work from home, because that would have involved sitting up. Writing this blog post is the longest I’ve sat up in a while, and as you can tell by how well it is written, that wasn’t very long.

So yeah, I had a really great trip. This was my first big trip away from my mighty, mighty good man David and my mighty, mighty good boy Calvin. I’ve had an overnight trip once or twice away from both of them, and David and I have gone on trips together while Calvin stays with my mom. But, this was the first trip in which David and Calvin were on their own for four days. Unsurprisingly, they had a great time, but Calvin did come into our bedroom in the middle of the night and cry, and ask to sleep with David. He missed me.

Calvin was already asleep when I got home Sunday night, but the next morning I went into his room to say, “Good morning,” and he immediately shot up in his bed. “You’re back! You’re here! I missed you!” I almost cried. It’s nice to be missed.

 

 

Dorking Out Episode 52: ‘Cars 3’ and ‘Rough Night’ Reviews

Yeah, so, in this week’s Dorking Out with Chris & Sonia we review “Cars 3” with Juan Uriarte from the Instant Ramen podcast.

I’ve got a soft spot for the movie “Cars,” which many people consider a lesser Pixar movie. My mighty, mighty good boy Calvin has watched it countless times, which means I’ve watched it countless times, and it’s really grown on me. It’s no “Toy Story” trilogy, and it’s certainly not as imaginative as “Wall-E” or “Inside Out,” but it’s a nice, enjoyable movie.

“Cars 3” is more of a direct sequel to “Cars” than “Cars 2,” which is apparently more of a spy movie. I say “apparently” because I’ve never seen it. Whenever we’ve started “Cars 2,” Calvin says, “No, thank you,” and I say, “You’re right. This looks like a piece of shit. Let’s watch ‘Cars.’”

“Cars 3” isn’t as good as “Cars,” but it’s a good movie, and it’s got a few things to say about racism and sexism, which I wasn’t expecting.

In our second segment, Smith and I review “Rough Night.” Spoiler alert! We were disappointed, but it leads to an interesting discussion about the audience this movie was hoping to attract and then not giving that audience what it wants.

One more thing, this is our one-year anniversary. Let’s dance!

In honor of our anniversary, we will have a very special show next week, so definitely check it out.

You can listen to Dorking Out here, or you can find us on iTunes and Stitcher. If you listen to the show, I’d love to hear what you think. You can comment here, or on our website or Facebook page.

What’s Calvin Watching

Yeah, so, my mighty, mighty good boy Calvin caught a nasty cold.

The cold got progressively worse as the week went on, so by Thursday and Friday he had to stay home from school. He’s in good spirits, but I feel bad for him. He’s feeling cooped up, and in between playing and lining up his cars and buses, he’s been watching some uninspiring movies and TV shows.

Every once in a while Google Play offers a free movie. Earlier this year it was a movie called “Bunyan & Babe,” an animated movie about Paul Bunyan and his big blue ox. It’s not very good. It’s boring with very video-gamey animation.

“Bunyan & Babe” is one of those kids movies where the bad guy wants to destroy a farm or a town to pave the way for some big project that will make him a lot of money. I suspect most kids cannot relate to that and don’t give a shit. Although I bet Trump’s kids would watch it and think the property developer is the good guy who’s just misunderstood.

So anyway, now Google Play has kicked us “A Stork’s Journey,” which is about a sparrow raised by storks. It’s also got a gay parakeet that sings “I’m Coming Out” over and over, and a goth owl voiced by Jane Lynch.

The animation looks better than “Bunyan & Babe,” but it’s not a very good movie either. A stork family adopts this orphaned sparrow, but then ditches him, and he spends the entire movie trying to find them. WTF?! The storks are terrible people.

Oh, and in order to be accepted by the father stork who raised him the sparrow has to save another stork’s life. It’s kinda like “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer.” It’s not about people acknowledging how prejudice their way of thinking is and making it right. It’s more about the outcast proving to be useful in some way, so he/she is worthy of being accepted.

I’m pretty sure I know why these movies are free from Google Play.

Calvin has also been watching a TV show on Netflix titled “Tayo the Little Bus,” which is basically a South Korean “Chuggington,” but with buses instead of trains. Of course, “Chugginton” is just a ripoff of “Thomas the Tank Engine.” It’s the same shit. Here’s the plot of every episode: Bus or train character doesn’t listen to instructions, which results in confusion and delay. Oh sorry. Spoiler alert!

I really love it when Calvin watches “Pee-Wee’s Playhouse,” because I like watching it, too.

In other news, we have ditched overpriced Xfinity-Comcast and got a Roku. We love it so far. We can watch our local baseball teams through Sony Vue. Plus, we got the FilmStruck app, which has a TON of old movies and the Criterion Collection, so we’re stoked.

And speaking of old movies, we have a new episode of Old Movies, New Beer up for your listening pleasure. Inspired by “The Mummy,” starring Tom Cruise, we decided to watch the originals from 1932 and 1959.

We’re drinking Bravo, an aged imperial brown ale with a really high alcohol content, so you can listening to me get drunk and bash the Tom Cruise movie when I should be talking about the old movies.

Dorking Out Episode 51: The Mummy and Universal’s Dark Universe

Yeah, so, in this week’s episode of Dorking Out we review “The Mummy,” starring Tom Cruise. It’s supposed to kick off Universal’s new Dark Universe featuring the Universal monsters, including the Invisible Man, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, The Creature From The Black Lagoon, Dracula and The Wolfman.

Instead of a Dark Universe movie, can we get a theatrical screening of “Mad Monster Party?”

I don’t want to spoil the review, but I’ll just say that the Dark Universe isn’t off to a very good start.

In our second segment, Peter Brown from Assignment X joins us for a fun discussion about the Dark Universe, the Marvel Universe, the DC Universe, and, well, all the cinematic universes.

You can listen to Dorking Out here, or you can find us on iTunes, Stitcher and YouTube. If you listen to the show, I’d love to hear what you think. You can comment here, or on our website or Facebook page.

Backyard Buddies

Yeah, so, I’ve got a few random stories this week.

We don’t have a backyard at our house in San Francisco, because – duh – of course we don’t.

Whenever we go to my parents’ place in Concord, Calvin and Toby run around like crazy in their backyard. Last week, Calvin was riding his bike, and Toby decided to lay down right in front of him. I’m not sure what Toby was thinking. Maybe it was so form of protest about the current political climate or maybe he just thought it was the perfect sunny spot. I started to worry that it was going to turn into a game of chicken, and Calvin was going to run him over. Instead, Calvin got off his bike and laid down on the ground with him.

If you can’t beat ’em, join ’em, I guess.

So anyway, one of my favorite places to eat and drink is Cato’s in Oakland. It’s got a great beer menu and a wide variety of food options, including a few vegan dishes. I love it there. Plus, it’s kid friendly. I’ve been looking for the San Francisco equivalent of Cato’s, and I think I’ve finally found it. It’s been right in front of me all along. It’s Rosamunde on Mission Street.

It’s only one BART stop away from us. It’s got a great beer list. Of course, they mainly serve sausages there, including a few delicious vegan sausages, but they are slowly expanding their menu to include burgers, veggie burgers and pretzels. It’s all good.

What’s funny is David and I have been going there since Calvin was first born. We would roll in with our strollers at 10 a.m. on Saturdays or Sundays, and have a big ol’ beer with our breakfast.

Calvin coveting my beer in June 2012 at Rosamunde.

I’ve been saying for years, “I wish we had a Cato’s in San Francisco,” but Rosamunde is already our Cato’s. I’ve been so blind.

Oh, yeah, so, our cat friend returned this week. She hadn’t been around for several weeks, and once again I assumed the worst. She was looking so skinny and limping a little, but now David tells me that she’s filled out a little and the limping has stopped. Maybe she’s on the road to recovery.

“I always feel like someone is watching me.”

And I’ll end this blog post with a photo of me and good buddy Corso at the A’s game for Pride Night, because it’s a really cute photo of us.

Miss You Much

Yeah, so, working in a new office with new people is a big change for me. But I kinda forgot that this is a big change for my mighty, mighty good kid Calvin, too.

For five years I’ve been driving him to nannyshare or preschool and picking him up, because I’m the one that drives to work. Mighty, mighty good man David takes him to school and picks him up sometimes, too — once a week, at least. But, it’s mainly been me.

Well, last week I was taking BART to work, so David did the dropping off and the picking up. On Thursday, David picked up Calvin, and he seemed a little sad. When they got home, Calvin saw I wasn’t there and started crying. And when I came through the door, he ran to me and we hugged, and he cried and cried.

He missed me.

All week long I was feeling like I was getting less time with Calvin because I wasn’t driving him. We have a nice, little routine. We listen to songs on his playlist that I made for him, and we talk about all the buses, police cars and trucks we see. I was missing that time, too, but I’m such a clueless dope that it didn’t occur to me that maybe – just maybe – my son was missing me, too.

What a dum-dum I am.

So anyway, one of my mom’s best friends, Jeanne (they’ve been best friends since kindergarten), lives just a few minutes from us, and guess what? She got goats! GOATS, you guys! GOATS! Look!

They are so goddamn cute. They are totally sweet and friendly. I want a goat so bad. But until that day, I will be visiting Jeanne more often.

 

 

Dorking Out Episode 50: Wonder Woman!

Yeah, so, in this week’s episode of Dorking Out we review “Wonder Woman.” We brought in some reinforcements for this review; a couple of wonder women, if you will: Laura, Smith’s better half, and Margo D. from Book vs. Movie podcast.

We had a really fun discussion about the movie. Spoiler alert! We loved it, and it’s a total lovefest. I was surprisingly moved by the movie. I guess I needed a female superhero movie more than I knew.

In our second segment, Smith and I talk about the recent controversies surrounding comedians Bill Maher and Kathy Griffin. And then we end our show with what we’re dorking out about this week, which turned into shameless self promotion as Smith talked about his most recent Emmy win, and I announced that my other podcast, Old Movies, New Beer, has returned.

You read that right. Old Movies, New Beer is back, you guys! You should listen!

You can listen to Dorking Out here, or you can find us on iTunes, Stitcher and YouTube. If you listen to the show, I’d love to hear what you think. You can comment here, or on our website or Facebook page.

Dorking Out Episode 49: War Machine, Pirates Of The Caribbean 5 and Baywatch

Yeah, so, in this week’s Dorking Out with Sonia & Chris we review “War Machine,” starring Brad Pitt, which is Netflix’s first big attempt at blockbuster filmmaking. We had mixed feelings about it.

In our second segment, we chat about “Pirates Of The Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales” and “Baywatch.” And then we end our show with me offering my thoughts and prayers to the men who are upset about a women-only screening of “Wonder Woman.”

You can listen to Dorking Out here, or you can find us on iTunes, Stitcher and YouTube. If you listen to the show, I’d love to hear what you think. You can comment here, or on our website or Facebook page.

Same company. Same job. New office. New people. Eeek!

Yeah, so, there have been a lot of changes my job recently. A pair of big bosses were fired laid off right after the new year, and for a while the team was working on a million projects to show the other big bosses that we were worth keeping.

It was stressful … for other people. Well, I mean, I didn’t want anyone to lose their job, but I try not to stress out about work. Work is just work. It’s not life. Losing your job isn’t as bad as say – oh I don’t know – getting cancer. I figure if I can deal with that, I can deal with it if my company decided to give me the boot.

They didn’t, of course, because I’m super awesome and amazing to work with. Instead, there was a ton of restructuring and now I report to the corporate overload’s director of content who works in — wait for it — San Francisco. You see, the corporate overload owns another company that is based in SF, and a several members of the content team work out of that office. I had no idea!

Even though the company I work for is based in Oakland, my boss said it would be a good idea if I worked at least a couple of days in the SF office. Obviously, I agree. This means I can walk down the hill from my house, get on BART, and be in the office in like 15 minutes. It was taking about an hour to get to the office every morning. It sucked.

So anyway, you guys … That means, for the first time since college, I am living and working in the same city! I am downright giddy about it.

I’ve worked at the same place for 8 years. I’m still doing the same job for the same company, but at a different location. I might even get some content support like – dare to dream – some copy editing. As good buddy Kate said, “It’s like getting a new job without getting a new job.”

I went into the office on Wednesday, and I made it very clear that I was super happy to be there. I practically did cartwheels and a happy dance. The next day I found a cube that would make a good home for me, and set up shop. I introduced myself to all the neighbors. “I’m moving in. Tell me to shut up if I get too loud.” Loud = eating all the free salt and vinegar potato chips from the kitchen, because this place provides snacks. Whaaaat?

You guys! I can even see out the window over my cubicle wall.

But wait, there’s more.

This place has a sparkling water dispenser. And, AND, there are bagels on Monday, fresh fruit on Wednesday, and there’s a full stocked refrigerator of drinks, including BEER AND WINE! I can’t comprehend that this company is owned by the same company that owns us. We don’t have a fully stocked refrigerator. In fact, last year they threatened to stop providing complimentary coffee and tea.

I will still be working in my old office once or twice a week, which is great because I’d miss my Oakland peeps. But it is really nice in the SF office. I feel at any minute the big bosses are going to say, “Send Sonia back to her old office full time.”

Dorking Out Episode 48: Twin Peaks and Alien Covenant

Yeah, so, in this week’s episode of Dorking Out Smith and I talk the return of “Twin Peaks” on Showtime.

And just in case you are wondering why everyone is freaking out about “Twin Peaks,” I explain in the podcast that pretty much every good show right now has Twin Peaks’ DNA all over it. We have a really fun discussion about the first two new episodes, mainly about how we don’t know how to review it.

In our second segment, Peter Brown joins us from Assignment X, and we review “Alien Covenant,” which I really, really didn’t like. Smith actually liked it, so it’s an entertaining segment. I think our listeners like it when we disagree and fight.

The “Alien” prequels are not for me, because ultimately I don’t care how the aliens were created and I don’t care why they were created. “Prometheus” and “Alien Covenant” are basically movies about midichlorians. Pass! The only “Alien” origin story I’m interested in is a Vasquez origin story. Get on it, Hollywood.

And finally, we end our show discussing the “Star Trek Discovery” trailer. Peter sticks around for the discussion, and my mighty, mighty good man David drops by, too.

You can listen to Dorking Out here, or you can find us on iTunes, Stitcher and YouTube. If you listen to the show, I’d love to hear what you think. You can comment here, or on our website or Facebook page.