bonsai tensai.

So I've come to the conclusion that, like many other things, I'm terrible with commitments. i.e. this blog. I don't even know what the last post was about.

Anyway, I'm working in Palo Alto for the summer, so I decided to get one of those desktop bonsai tree kits. Because when I think Palo Alto, goddammit, I think desktop bonsai tree kits.


I'm sure you've seen these around at places like Borders, and thought, "oh this is neat." Then saw that it was $5.95 and though, "eh... it's not $5.95 neat though," and put it back on that spinning rack with all the other $5.95 novelty desktop items, like the tiny zen garden kit.

Well "fuck it," I said, "I'm in Palo Alto, the city of champions!" and splurged and got the merry berry version.

I bought it a week ago, and as per the instructions, refrigerated the seeds in a damp paper towel for seven days. And alas, the planting begins:


That pellet in the middle is dried dirt, about the size of an Oreo. The instructions say, "Slowly pour 32.oz of warm water on the pellet, until it expands." To put it in perspective, 32oz. is a little under 3 Coke cans worth of warm water.

This is the pellet with a teaspoon of water on it.


Needless to say, it took a while to get it to look like this:

SEEDS.

And now it sits, basking in the sunlight of the only North facing window in my office.


I figure this is the only way I'll regularly update. I'll post new pictures of my tree at least once a week hopefully (read "once a month").

And this is what I made for dinner that day:


It's soy-marinated grilled chicken in vegetable curry.