Elena Existing
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elenaexisting.bsky.social
Elena Existing
@elenaexisting.bsky.social
1.9K followers 2.3K following 5.6K posts
Gen X spinster aunt. Idaho to Louisville. Corporate drone from 8-5; devastatingly quiet from 5-8. Learning Mandarin. Going for a hike.

Let's take better care of each other, okay?
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elenaexisting.bsky.social
I ate the petals. This was a terrific idea.
A scoop of jello salad in a small white bowl.
November 27, 2025 at 6:17 PM
elenaexisting.bsky.social
Tada!

Please admire the most beautiful Thanksgiving jello salad I have ever made.
A bowl of lemon Jello with red rasperries and yellow chrysanthemum petals in a glass bowl with one finger caught in the photo.
November 27, 2025 at 4:22 PM
elenaexisting.bsky.social
But wait, it gets better!
A luminous red and yellow bowl of lemon Jello, rasberries, and chrysanthemum petals.
November 27, 2025 at 4:22 PM
elenaexisting.bsky.social
First I attempted to glaze cubed sweet potatoes with basil melon jam.

This was an excellent idea, but my technique is poor.

(My technique involves leaving potatoes on a gas stove on low flame while I watch Ang Lee's The Wedding Banquet on Tubi, only checking them during commercial breaks.)
A small jar of Korean melon and basil jam (more preserves than jam, actually) next to a bag of frozen cubed sweet potatoes and a small skillet. Some sautéed (sort of) sweet potatoes with melon preserves more sticky than glazed but oh well.
November 27, 2025 at 4:22 PM
elenaexisting.bsky.social
Kicked off Thanksgiving vacation watching some, erm, clearly classic holiday movies with a friend. A great way to start the long weekend!
Movie posters for Painted Skin (2008) and Painted Skin: The Resurrection (2012) both starring Zhou Xun, Chen Kun, and Zhao Wei in a classic demonic love triangle historic tragic action fantasy with small sides of body horror and buddy comedy.
November 27, 2025 at 3:25 AM
elenaexisting.bsky.social
Guatemalan grocery store restaurant for the win!
La Chapinlandia. Not pictured: giant mugs of horchata. #EatingPrestonHighway
A plate with white beans, rice, salad and pork. Two views of a Guatemalan paches (tamales de papa) made of potatoes and stuffed with beef.
November 26, 2025 at 12:15 AM
elenaexisting.bsky.social
This pleases me:
A cosmic orange Whataburger salad tray cashing in on my late 1970s to early 1980s Tupperware nostalgia. It is filled with a layer of white chrysanthemum flowers with yellowish centers.
November 25, 2025 at 5:21 PM
elenaexisting.bsky.social
Paint me like one of your French girls.
A plump black and white cat in glorious repose on floral sheets. One arm and one foot are outstretched. One paw rests on her hip.
November 25, 2025 at 12:14 PM
elenaexisting.bsky.social
Holy shit. I might believe in Santa Claus now.
If Bluesky made this happen: Thank you, Bluesky! 🙏
A facebook post from St. John Center with pictures of a team of volunteers helping out in the laundry room. The post reads: Huge Shoutout to Our Partners at GE! We are so grateful to Susan and Ed from GE for their incredible service project at St. John Center. They truly felt our pain when it came to our washers and dryers and took action! After identifying the issues, they returned and spent over 4 hours updating and reprogramming the machines so that they can run more efficiently and better serve our clients. Thank you, Susan, Ed, and the entire GE team for your dedication, generosity, and continued support...
November 25, 2025 at 4:40 AM
elenaexisting.bsky.social
There's a website
Where you can get your local kite-flying weather forecast
Because of course there is

If you also impulsively bought a kite in San Francisco
And flew it home in your hand
You too can check the forecast every day
And be disappointed
Five days of the kiteflyingweather.com 14-Day forecast for Louisville, KY, noting that it is Too Wet, Too Wet, Too Cold, Too Cold, Too Wet to fly a kite. Not shown is today's hourly forecast: Not Enough Light, Not Enough Light, Not Enough Lite, etc....
November 25, 2025 at 1:55 AM
elenaexisting.bsky.social
Still feeding bees!
A bee grabbing pollen from a drooping stand of white chrysanthemums.
November 24, 2025 at 7:50 PM
elenaexisting.bsky.social
With the caveats that:

* I barely remember the novel
* I'm not sure "French action movie" is even a genre in my brain
* It took me an annoyingly long time to track down a French audio version on streaming services (YT)

The Three Musketeers: D'Artagnan was a fun, fast-paced romp of a movie.
A French language movie poster for the 2023 French movie Les Trois Mousquetaires: D'Artagnan or The Three Musketeers: D'Argagnan directed by Martin Bourboulon. The poster shows the four musketeers and M'lady in the background, wearing a dark hooded cape.
November 24, 2025 at 2:38 AM
elenaexisting.bsky.social
Eat hot dogs, feed the houseless! Today 5pm to close at Awry.

I just started writing my paper, but... procrastinating for a good cause? Who could resist?
A Bun Bois poster of two cartoon hot dogs in Rainbow glasses with the tagline "Eat a Dog, Feed a Neighbor" A Bun Bois Menu with a selection of meaty and meatless hot dogs, tator tots, balogna, and chili. Prices range from $4 to $12.
November 22, 2025 at 9:50 PM
elenaexisting.bsky.social
2025 Book #52

The Humanity Archive: Recovering the Soul of Black History from a Whitewashed American Myth

By Jermaine Fowler

I didn't realize Jermaine was from Louisville when I picked this up but that is very cool. What a great book! You should read it!
THE HUMANITY ARCHIVE Recovering the Soul of Black History from a Whitewashed American Myth JERMAINE FOWLER A thick paperback book sitting on a square of floral cotton cloth.
November 22, 2025 at 3:48 PM
elenaexisting.bsky.social
In addition to attending the premiere of San Francisco Opera's The Monkey King last weekend, I used my long flights to watch nothing but excellent movies. #LetterboxdFriday #LastFourWatched

I especially loved watching I'm No Longer Here and Farewell My Concubine back to back. ¡Viva la música!
Recent Activity from Letterboxd showing movie posters for: Hill of No Return, 1992 Farewell My Concubine, 1993 I'm No Longer Here, 2019 Eastern Condors, 1987
November 21, 2025 at 8:11 PM
elenaexisting.bsky.social
Hopefully you will never need this very specific cleaning tip, but:

If you ever get eaten by an escalator and find yourself covered in industrial-strength machine grease and manage to stain the floor of a hotel shower with it...

If an hour of hard scrubbing with dish soap fails you...
Many shop-grease black footprints on a textured white hotel shower floor. A tube of Crest + Scope Whitening toothpaste. A shower flow painted with toothpaste. A clean shower floor.
November 16, 2025 at 4:14 AM
elenaexisting.bsky.social
San Francisco, small delights.
A Journey to the West mural featuring Tang Sanzang, Sun Wukong, and Zhu Bajie/Pigsy/Notorious P.I.G. by Luke Dragon. A miniature Chinese orchestra comprised of small carved stone instruments. Empty spoons and sauce splasheson a white plate at House of Nanking.
November 15, 2025 at 6:12 PM
elenaexisting.bsky.social
The Muni escalators ate my glitter dress on the way to the opera house which is actually quite on brand for The Journey to the West.
Program for SFO's The Monkey King by Huang Ruo and David Henry Hwang; interior of War Memorial Opera House in the background.
November 15, 2025 at 3:13 AM
elenaexisting.bsky.social
Oakland sightseeing.
"Eat More American Cheese" sign 运气快乐 in neon lights Close up of a stylized face wearing theatrical make-up from a mural. "You are the Boba to my Tea" sign
November 15, 2025 at 12:17 AM
elenaexisting.bsky.social
Oakland.
Claws of creamy light against a dark and cloudy sky.
November 14, 2025 at 3:39 AM
elenaexisting.bsky.social
San Francisco rolls out the welcome mat.
Wet grey on wetter gray, airport version.
November 13, 2025 at 8:44 PM
elenaexisting.bsky.social
‬I've been watching Sammo Hung's Eastern Condors at 6am on the flight to Chicago and I'm really going to need an oral history of this movie.
A bifurcated sky before sunrise. The Chicago skyline. The Criterion Collection movie poster for Sammo Hung's Eastern Condos.
November 13, 2025 at 1:39 PM
elenaexisting.bsky.social
Out of context Tinder
The techniques are speed control, dime stops, ticking, strobing, vibrating, and glitching Now for the context
November 12, 2025 at 11:34 PM
elenaexisting.bsky.social
How excited am I?

I already bought the poster. (It arrived yesterday.)
The top half of a poster, unrolled, and being held up with one hand. The Monkey King《猴王悟空》San Francisco Opera World Premiere poster, illustrated by Brian Stauffer, showing a human-like monkey bursting from a round stone egg. There are colorful rays radiating outward from the monkey, resembling a sunrise. Composer: Huang Ruo Libretto: David Henry Hwang
November 12, 2025 at 2:11 AM
elenaexisting.bsky.social
You could draw a snowman!
A snowman and pine tree drawn in the shallow snow on a downtown city sidewalk, from the perspective of a viewer several stories up in the opposite building.
November 11, 2025 at 1:01 AM