feeling:
email me
bring it
check out
the archive:
summer '00 & earlier
sept & oct '00
nov & dec '00
jan & feb '01
march '01
april '01
miles run this month: 79
listening to a lot lately:
the beatles' help!
the essential bob dylan
reading:
motherless brooklyn by jonathan lethem
recent reads:
me talk pretty one day by david sedaris
rating: 7.5: amusing, easily digested, interesting; still, gets docked .5 because "everyone" is reading it and saying how fabulous it is when it's just good
geek love by katherine dunn
rating: 8.5: very bizarre and intriguing book with a crappy final 40 pages; great characters; want more
stuff i kinda want:
at amazon
at cdnow
me: heh.
stuff i've written
bar reviews
betty lennox
celeb hair
chris bohjalian interview
cosmetic surgery
diet do's & don'ts
fall makeup
fit & fabulous guinea pigs
foreign service?
gay parents
holiday gifts
letter to christina
missing kids
mother's day book selector
myths about africa
oscar beauty & fashion
sleeping kids
newish:spa chefs
taj mcwilliams
past polls
entertainment trivia (5.16.01)
offensive writer? (11.28.00)
does heart rock? (8.16.00)
orgasmic experience? (8.11.00)
joe + al? (8.9.00)
Thursday, May 31, 2001
5:08 pm so, here we are. It's the one-year anniversary of the pita. What a big day, huh? Even bigger than the newly dubbed yet much anticipated national blonde day on july 9th, no doubt. (mark your calendars for that one, kids.)
but anyway, let's take some time for a bit of a retrospective, okay? Just in case you missed any of it. not that I'm going to review the whole year point by point, but there are some highs and lows I would like to consider. To start, let's ponder my first entry:
Wednesday, May 31, 2000
CNN reports that the kooky - oh yes, and violent - war vets in Zimbabwe are actually going to be resettled by some "government" organization. We'll see about that.
All I can say, really, is that this is so apt. I mean, no one was reading this but me. and still I had nothing to say but to post an article about zimbabwe. Of course. I didn't even tell anyone about the pita until like late july or something. I really needed some warming up, clearly, and some confidence.
After just 8 short posts, I stepped away from the pita for a bit. But then, when I came back on july 26th, it was with a vengeance, posting 4 (!) times on july 26th. And then, suddenly, entries became longer and I started posting more and more frequently. Some trauma on august 1st (boy, bugs, etc.) only make me laugh now, fortunately. And then, as my job got shittier, my entries became more in-depth. The boy hiatus of august was raised repeatedly (and, as a result, so were the issues of sex, stupid boys, boys who show their ass cracks in public, boys in bars that don't talk to me, orgasms, past new year's eves and the boys I did or didn't spend them with, my "boys suck" mixed tape), praise was dished irritatingly frequently for then-ironminds writer jami attenberg, I dissed "making the band" without ever having seen it and without knowing how I'd come to eat my words once I did, incessant dream analyses, and then, as the political scene heated up, concerns about bush & cheney and cheers for big al & joe (and even a poll that doesn't seem to exist anymore).
In september, you find a posting that's quite amusing due to more recent events. Let's reminisce:
Tuesday, September 12, 2000
6:20 pm so the ex pays a visit to the office of his friend who works with my friend. of course i got a half-full report. immediately i get all flushed and anxious.
why does this upset me? i can only think that it's because up until his email last week, i had actually convinced myself that he had stopped existing. you know, not out of sight, out of mind, but rather, out of sight, out of this fucking world. and the thought of possibly running in to him scares me to death. why why why? it's not as though i couldn't handle the situation just fine if i did indeed see him. i mean, i have it all planned out. this is how it would go:
(i picture it taking place on a subway.)
colin: hi.
me: huh? oh, hi...(squinting eyes, looking closer, as if trying to remember name) colin....hey, how's it going?
colin: good, good. things are good.
me: oh yeah? that's great.
colin: and how are things with you?
me: oh, super. yeah, you wouldn't believe it. i'm moving to california where i've been offered a column with the san francisco chronicle. And my boyfriend's coming with me. and we just bought a house -- it's right on the beach, you'd love it. yeah, so things are super. ya know, thank god you were such a dick and broke up with me. god, how much my life sucked then. woo! oops, this is my stop, gotta run. take care!
ha ha. yeah right. reality check, folks: the only things i would get out would be "hey" and a whole lot of nervous, evil looks. or, at best, spiteful comments. terrible stuff, man.
oh, how I chuckle at that. The bitterness! The emotional scarring! The angst! It's good to know, though, that things always work out for the best, even when you're silly enough to get back together with a guy who cheated on you and who you both knew was so just not right for you, but whatever.
moving on, lots of german bashing, bush bashing, olympic coverage/ranting, a giving up of my maureen dowd fandom, random search requests, too many emode test reviews, drunken song writing, descriptions of random new york moments, including being grabbed by a junkie.
in november and december there was an inordinate amount of bitching about being sick, lots of election outrage, an unnecessary list of reasons why I'm not so impressed by tobey maguire, ridiculous comparisons between the matrix and real life, quotes from tom green and john stewart, the first signs of searches for "lita nude," an unusually happy birthday, the controversial poll, drunken blogging, silly new york moments, and grandiose new year's resolution claims.
in january and february came lots of upheaval. For one, it was obvious from the increase in the roommate complaints that the living situation had to come to a head. It did. And it was, like so many other things this past year, so for the best. Funny that I kind of knew what was coming. On Friday, january 5th -- the day before i met mike -- I actually wrote the following:
so, colin's left for panama and my boss is back from italia. damn them both for getting to take vacations to far away places!!!! Speaking of excessive punctuation, like I told a friend the other day, my life is just packed with punctuation. Here's how: christmas to new year's was the big wind down to the period and now i'm like ellipsis-ing and then moving on to the next sentence. Starting anew. A new stage. A new period to look back on and think, "that was during the time right after colin left, and my boss returned, and I started my new resolutions, and such." Let me explain why: I'm often living in vastly different schedules. So like last year at this time I was floating around (ellipsis) looking for a job, dwelling in the hell of jersey city (well, bolded ellipsis). Then that ended (period) and I went on to a new job (beginning of sentence) and was in there by 9 and out by 6 and not doing a whole lot on the side (period), save for the occasional tryst (exclamation). Then I left there and came to work here (new sentence), started later and stayed later but began going out pretty seriously (no real periods there, just continuous craziness). Then I moved (new sentence), met colin, and started a whole new schedule in a whole new locale. That ended with a big, fat, shitty period and I dwelled on the ellipsis for quite a while, hating everything. But then (new sentence) work got better, friends got better, life got better. Now it's the new year, and things have changed again, and I want them to change more (see dec. 27th) and then I'll be in yet another whole schedule. Can't wait!!!!!
ha. Then you have to skip to reading the final entry for that page just to see how right on it all was:
Tuesday, February 27, 2001
11:15 am have you ever had the experience of meeting someone and knowing instantly that your life was going to change? For the better, for the worse - it's really all for the better in my mind because, really, any impact is good. Anyone who can reach into my insulated little world, put their finger on my forehead, and send me spinning - however they do it - is amazing. Because with everyone else it's just waves. It's like I'm floating in the ocean and sometimes people swim by, kind of try to reach at me or I move to reach out to them, and the water moves and things go up and down, and then we float apart, not really ever connecting. But that person who can grab onto me, and pull me up or pull me down with them, join me as the waves are crashing around, under, or over us, that person, wow. Where ever we go, you bring me up just because you're there, too, and I'm not alone for the ride.
So few people have really ever done this for me. but you all know who you are, I think. And that's part of why you hit me so hard.
Those months were also filled with random and wonderful encounters, strange psychic readings, sad goodbyes for bill, plenty of zim news, a move to park slope with so much info I still haven't made use of, tarot card explorations, political piss & vinegar, some problems living in the now, omar checking in from europe, some rehashing of issues with exes (so fun), vaginal exclamations from the vagina monologues, dan checking in from japan, and grammy bashing.
In march I argued with christina hoff summers and camille paglia and began watching "popstars." Why not? I revealed some indications that my former roommate had cursed me, and music began making more of an appearance throughout the pita.
In april, my 1-year work anniversary came and went, oddly enough. bush bashing got big. I left for l.a. and never made it to san fran. Goofy personal trainers and crunch gym experiences. Knicks babble. Wnba hype. And well, for may, just look below.
in a nutshell (insert quote from mike myers), the past year on the pita has been quite enjoyable. i write in it frequently (maybe too frequently), i definitely don't ponder it enough, and i expect no one to read it (i've learned not to). and while it tracks my random thoughts and days of my life, it fails to tackle a lot of the bigger moments, memories, and emotions that i'm experiencing. this i find odd, but i also know that those are the things i'll never forget, so i guess it's okay.
Wednesday, May 30, 2001
12:18 pm the thing that sucks about going away and having such an amazing time is returning. i mean, i would have been fine with coming back to new york and being forced to recall just how annoying this city can be -- with jfk as slow and idiotic as it is, the people just being obnoxious and cut-throat, the traffic being so bad, whatever -- but it's the returning to work that really takes the cake. why must everyone instantly start to harass and demand? have they absolutely no sympathy? have they never gone on vacation and returned completely annoyed to find a trillion emails demanding immediate delivery of items 1 through 256? don't they know how much this sucks? yes, of course they do. yet, they feel compelled to do it to other people. it's really, truly amazing. people = annoying. more later when i can escape the oh-so-pressing needs of an inconsequential web site....
Thursday, May 24, 2001
1:13 pm mike speedily informed me that my age is showing, and that the article i mentioned is obviously by peter coyote, the actor, who has appeared on several cheesy lifetime movies, but was once very cool nonetheless.
11:08 am happy birthday, bob!
yeah, tweedy:
"Dylan is, I think, the only artist of the rock era who is truly timeless. Even the Beatles, great as they are, sometimes sound dated. In Dylan's music, the studio is always transparent, as if the only thing that mattered in the studio was that it documented his furious intellect. If there is something like a rock canon, Dylan is the obvious center of it."
how does it feel to be on your own? I ask.
this article about hearing dylan for the first time, kind of, is by one peter coyote. I was hoping it was the peter coyote of lifetime original movie fame, but I don't think it is. Now that would have been odd. But it would also have made me give the man a lot more respect.
also in birthday news: just one week til the one-year anniversary of linnea's pita. Can you believe it? I can't. maybe I'll do a bit of a retrospective….
tomorrow mike and I are going to san francisco. I really cannot wait. We're staying at this cool-looking b&b in the mission district and we're gonna have so much fun, i know it, whatever we do, as our weekend is totally free and unplanned other than a tour of alcatraz on saturday. Woo hoo.
Wednesday, May 23, 2001
12:39 pm okay, you want to talk dream apartments? Here we go: this ridiculously huge loft in soho…for just $5500 a month. this funky union square area loft…for a piddly $4500 a month. And this a little too over the top soho loft…for a mere $7000 per month. yeah. ha.
this piece about how the disabled are discriminated against for college entrance in china is crazy. The girl had a limp! What's the deal? Beyond that, ads for "young, tall and thin" workers? For a communist society, that seems a little less than equalizing, no?
Tuesday, May 22, 2001
6:23 pm So as it turns out, that entertainment trivia quiz was a trick question - not by my purposeful doing or anything, but by the poor reporting skills of certain members of the media. See, brad pitt has now said that he never claimed he was going to start his own fashion line. so, sorry about that. But had you been reading the news as you should have been, you would have known what I was talking about and that that was the word on the street.
Also, I forgot to mention this exciting entertainment-related bit'o'news that I learned this weekend: my mom went to high school with robert blake's deceased wife bonny lee bakley! she claims that bonny was infamous for dying her hair when it wasn't cool to do so openly (and she'd bleach it and then dye it black in the span of a week, apparently) and that one day, her grandmother called the school and told the secretary that bonny wouldn't be in because she had dyed her hair again and it had all fallen out. The next day, says mom, bonny came to school wearing a dirty blonde wig. Huh. also, mom was thrilled to tell me that bonny was in hustler magazine before she was even legal and that she actually wore hot pants. in public. and she wasn't cute. or shapely in a pleasing way. gross.
not that i like to speak ill of the dead...i'm just reporting the facts, er, one woman's recollections, kids.
6:03 pm it is definitely odd when someone you're very intimate with says your actual name out loud, as opposed to a pet name or just not referring to you with any name whatsoever. But is it really the formality of it that makes it weird? Maybe. But how is calling someone by their name, even a nickname, formal? I think it goes beyond that. I think it has more to do with getting someone's attention. And when you're that close to someone, and you're that tuned in to each other, then you don't usually need to get their attention. And when you do, using their name is not the sweetest way to approach them, I guess. But it's weird. I find myself doing it and feel that it's weird. He speaks my name and it's like it belongs to someone else. I'm like, "who are you talking about?" oh, right, that's my name. And when I hear myself say his name, it's just as odd. After the word comes out of my mouth, I think, "why did I just say his name? That was uncalled for." And I don't even mean that I've ever said it in an annoyed way, you know, in that maternal way.
Monday, May 21, 2001
5:00 pm woo hoo, sixers! And I love that iverson had 16 assists yesterday because some snot-nosed teenaged knicks fan was whining about how allen never passes the other day on the subway and I tried to set him straight. But his latest game speaks for itself.
this is a cool story about these amazingly talented twin runners who have done really well in track & field at their different ivy league schools (brown and harvard). Ah, to run the 400 meter hurdles again. And to do it in 56 seconds. Ha!
speaking of running, I ran in a road race yesterday out in jersey. I just checked out the results, and I must say I did pretty okay. Which only assures me that I could do the marathon if I actually trained for it. but that all depends on whether they'll let me in, now doesn't it?
I didn't see the final sopranos of the season last night because someone doesn't have hbo, but I knew what would happen anyway (at least one thing). Not that I still wouldn't like to see it, but, you know.
For those of you who think that red meat is so much worse for you than chicken, read this. hmmm.
Friday, May 18, 2001
1:01 pm Okay, so, even though most of you never even voted (thanks a lot, losers), the answer to the entertainment trivia quiz is B, since no, HBO is not planning a special for dylan's 60th on may 24th. but the others are true. 1) yes, oddly, brad pitt is starting his own clothing line and 3) indeed, billy bob thornton and angelina jolie have given each other vials of blood to hang around their necks, apparently to show their soulmate status (TL4E!). Gross or romantic? You decide.
I want to know what the deal is with the bush administration's obsession with burning any and all fossil fuels as quickly as possible. I quite clearly remember learning, say back in sixth grade with mrs. miller, that there is only a limited amount of fossil fuels on this earth and at our disposal. Thus, alternative methods of creating energy are needed. I want to know, where the heck was dubya in the '80s when this was all coming to light? Oh, he was owning his own oil business, right, right.
Is anyone else tired of hearing all the buzz around moulin rouge? Ugh. I'm not going to see it simply out of annoyance. I really, really don't care. and it's a musical, people, so come on.
Also something I'm not going to see: angel eyes. what is this movie about? Though I've undoubtedly seen the trailer at least 57 times, I still have no idea. No, for me, jennifer lopez's face does not a movie sell, thanks.
…wow, listen to me today! I sound all bitter. but the funny thing is I'm not. I'm actually the opposite of bitter. I'm happy. Almost giddy. ecstatic even. and not even news that my poor, 13 1/2-year-old dog is dying can change that, really. Just because stupid things induce me to make snide comments doesn't mean a) I am pissed off or b) I am filled with hatred. some might call it humor; i call it fun. So much for that hatelog theory. Next!
Thursday, May 17, 2001
12:58 pm okay, yes, i'm just being upset. i'm trying to work on that.
12:48 pm Chris, who was getting pissy because he actually first pointed the gender differences in email article to me, just introduced me to the wonders of the onion's horoscopes. I love mine, because, hell, could it be more fitting? I don't think so.
Though you may never actually find your soulmate in this lifetime, any decent supermarket will provide you with a lifetime supply of Coffee-Mate.
I just bought coffee mate on Sunday, damn it! I'm not touching the rest of it. not today anyway.
10:55 am I'm so not telling the answer to the entertainment trivia yet because I know that most of you have not even voted. So do it. or I'll just keep you in suspense forever.
I think tonight I might actually go to a movie by myself. I haven't seen one in a while and I kind of just feel like going alone. I don't know. We'll see.
Africa may not be a "priority" to bush but he sure likes to kiss up to the leaders of african countries like it is, particularly when it comes to trying to win over blacks in the U.S. Dumb ass.
allen iverson is a golden god. and he's only 25.
ha: nytimes article about the gender differences in email correspondence. "Even if I don't have a lot of time, I will respond right away and be, write a longer e-mail later,' " she said. "If I e-mail a guy, I have to wait a few days to get a response. Guy friends are horrible that way, but guys who are interested in you are better." Yeah. sure.
Wednesday, May 16, 2001
4:40 pm okay, we're gonna play a little game. There have been some strange entertainment news headlines today that I'm just astounded by, so why not?
I'll tell you what the answer is tomorrow. And sadly I have no time for anything else today.
Tuesday, May 15, 2001
5:45 pm So tom green is a polygamist. Not that one, silly. this one. 30 children by 10 women???!!! That even beats most nba players…. But no, no, no: "In a separate case, he is scheduled to face a charge of child rape, stemming from sexual relations he had with his fourth wife, Linda Kunz, who was 13 when he married her in 1986 and remains one of his wives." Where were her parents? My god. And what? "Twice over the years, he has been married to two sisters at the same time. At one time, his wives included two sisters and a daughter by each of them from previous relationships." Also notable: "A Salt Lake City prosecutor said she knew of one man in the city who the authorities believe has fathered 200 children by an assortment of women." Yeah, you'd better hope that was quite an assortment of women. And wow, here's to population control…. Utah is one strange, strange place.
4:40 pm Have you read the san francisco bay guardian's sex column? Quite good and sassy in my opinion.
Yay for mr. Beller's neighborhood. I mean, I mentioned the site way back (august 17th) but I didn't realize until today that they were getting lots of interesting people, including the super cool jeanette winterson, to write interesting articles circumspectly about spots in nyc all the time. so exciting.
11:28 am Used levi's anyone?
11:18 am I really dig this fashion photography spread/criticism from slate. And I agreed with most of what the writer karen lehrman had to say until I got to the 22nd window: "Today, 30 years into feminism, we have models who look not just weak and unsophisticated, but also dumb and victimized. Academic feminists haven't complained because the models are supposedly playing a subversive role and subversion is inherently politically correct." What are you talking about, not complaining? Now that's just funny that someone would assert that feminists have been mum when it comes to fashion photography. Ha, I say, ha!
Friday, May 11, 2001
3:42 pm i think i need to give up blog reading for a few weeks. don't take it personally; i'm just tired of it all. it's getting too incestuous and cliquey. if it has to do with your pictures of yourself or how you hung out with other bloggers, i don't want to hear it. thus, a hiatus begins.
so don't get mad at me if i'm ill-informed of some other blogger's antics. i'm just not reading them. take no offense. i just need some purifying.
3:30 pm The reason behind the "seeking a tall, dark, handsome man" cliché: according to new scientist's newsletter (which I love because it tries to make science sexy and scandalous with teasers like "Genetically engineered children: they're already with us"), "tall men are more likely than their shorter friends to get divorced, remarry and have more children. There is also a good chance that their second wife will be younger than the first. The researchers go so far as to alert us to a possible evolutionary trend towards ever taller men." Ha: "The more attractive a man is, the more chance he gets to destroy his first marriage," says one researcher.
even though nyc is really nice right now because of the beautiful weather and the super green park, I'm so ready for a real vacation. Finally. But I also fear that if I land anywhere completely mellow, I just might never want to leave. For instance, I could see myself donning my cowboy boots and heading to montana in an effort to help create a poker renaissance there, since the game is apparently sliding in popularity. I could totally see myself just hanging out there, playing poker, living on a ranch, and selling homemade bread and leather and feather dream catchers to random tourists for some cash.
hmmm. Even though it is quite funny that the old 97s would play a show with def leppard (both bands that I can appreciate - though for very different reasons - but at least I'll admit it publicly), I wonder about this statement from this article: "Putting the Old 97's on the same bill as Def Leppard is like asking Bob Dylan to play a set with Ozzy Osborne." I'd love to see a set combining bob dylan and ozzy! That would probably really rock, man. I think that a certain one of those "obsessed music fans - the ones who critically scan magazines, go see bands on Tuesday nights and spend every weekend in a record shop that still sells vinyl --" that I know might have an opinion on that. Although after his 3 uncharacteristically lengthy emails earlier today, including an amusing explanation that "fight songs" was as necessary as a salad fork, I don't know if I can realistically expect anything more out of him via email. But maybe he'll surprise me yet.
This mother's day, make no mistake, the most powerful country in the world is definitely not the best place for mothers and children. Rather, it ranks 11th, behind (1) Sweden, (2) Norway, (3) Denmark, (4) Finland, (5) Netherlands, (6) Switzerland, (7) Canada, (8) Austria, (9) Australia, and (10) the United Kingdom. There is no excuse.
Wednesday, May 9, 2001
1:00 pm apparently, in malaysia, it doesn't take two to tango. I do wonder how an affair could cost someone $6.50 per day and how you would even come to decide upon that figure. Huh. (thanks, chris.)
I think it's kind of cool that the wnba's l.a. sparks are actually acknowledging their lesbian fan base. after all, the league as a whole has done quite the opposite in the past, going so far as to hand out lists of all the married and engaged players at games, something which is so ridiculous, disrespectful, sexist, and irrelevant. Also ridiculous: "Already in Los Angeles, the talk show lines have heated up, and the conservatives are fired up, wondering how parents can take their children to a place where lesbians are engaged in promiscuity during timeouts." What? Who are these people saying such things? "promiscuity during timeouts"? it's not like there are friggin orgies in the middle of the court whenever the game goes to commercial. Having been to both liberty and knick games, I can attest that there are more straight people grossly making out at knick games than there are lesbians even holding hands at liberty games. Still, I've heard that l.a. sparks games are much less diverse in their crowd make-up than liberty games, meaning there are many more dykes and many fewer little girls with pony tails and their dads.
I wonder though why lisa leslie didn't go to the event with the lesbian group, as reported in the article. I really wouldn't doubt that there's some clause in at least one of her sponsorship contracts that says she must act and appear like the all-american girl (read: feminine and straight) at all times. Which would explain that stupid sports illustrated for women swimsuit cover from last summer.
A battery-powered vacuum bra? Puh-lease. Can we just get over our whole breast fixation one of these days? so stupid. I'm just dying for the first rainy day short circuit fatality.
this article from slate quoting bush spokesman ari fleischer is mostly for mike, as he attempts to support our government by running his air conditioner 24-7. My favorite excerpt:
Q: Is one of the problems with this, and the entire energy field, American lifestyles? Does the president believe that, given the amount of energy Americans consume per capita, how much it exceeds any other citizen in any other country in the world, does the president believe we need to correct our lifestyles to address the energy problem?
Fleischer: That's a big no. The president believes that it's an American way of life, and that it should be the goal of policy-makers to protect the American way of life. The American way of life is a blessed one. And we have a bounty of resources in this country.
translation: we're americans, god damn it, and we have the right to thoughtlessly burn any and all natural resources to our hearts content because we are a piggish nation and people and we should remain so forever and ever, amen.
stupid.
and here, a funny and dead-on bit from david sedaris's "me talk pretty one day" regarding nyc:
"Visiting Americans will find more warmth in Tehran than they will in New York, a city founded on the principle of Us versus Them. I don't speak Latin but have always assumed that the city motto translates to either Go Home or We Don't Like You, Either. Like me, most of the people I knew had moved to New York with the express purpose of escaping Americans such as Bonnie. Fear had worked in our favor until a new mayor began promoting the city as a family theme park. His campaign had worked, and now the Bonnies were arriving in droves, demanding the same hospitality they'd received last month in Orlando."
i don't think i'd mind tourists so much if they'd just follow some simple rules.
1) stay to the right on the sidewalks and don't walk 3-, 4-, or 5-across. EVER.
2) just watch where you're going, okay?
3) stop smiling so damn much. your teeth are blinding us.
4) don't crowd places like h&m and macy's, because we actually like to go there sometimes.
5) don't talk so damn loudly on the subways. you're really annoying when you do that.
6) i may be a sweet country-bred girl who looks knowledgeable and nice enough to give you directions, but i really would rather not. so don't ask me, okay?
actually, i only believe those when i'm cranky, like today. i honestly don't mind giving directions to nice people. it's the idiotic ones who ask me at 11 pm that i'd rather not deal with. do they not realize that a woman is naturally freaked out by this? some people just don't think.
man, I hate being sick more than anything. It's really the worst. I'm about ready to hack up a lung and call it a day.
Monday, May 7, 2001
4:10 pm wow, plenty of turmoil in zimbabwe. eeek. but right on, anthony lewis: "Why should U.S. policy makers care about Zimbabwe, a medium- sized country in the middle of south- central Africa? The answer, I believe, is that what happens in Zimbabwe is a key to stability in the whole region." (thanks, liz.)
3:41 pm ya know, it's funny: reading through my archives is like listening to another person altogether. is that me? did i really say that stuff just 5, 8, 10 months ago? yes, yes i did. the drama...the highs and lows...the unlimited political opinions...the so inappropriate remarks about my workplace in a public forum...the bitter references to exes...the fond memories of shitty people...just so much stuff that i don't think about at all today. life is funny like that. you get all worked up about shit and then it passes. and it's almost like it never happened. but, no, this i will remember, this moment in time when i just know. and that probably has a lot to do with me not writing about it here.
2:04 pm bob dole sells chaste britney's teen sexuality. it's all gross.
can i go home now?
10:10 am today is going to be a tough one, I can feel it already. A) I feel like shit. A cold is coming over me: my head hurts, my throat hurts, the right side of my nosed is stuffy, my whole body aches. Plus, I barely slept at all last night. First of all, the above symptoms kept me waking up, plus back-to-back bad dreams had me sleeping fitfully when I did drift off. B) I woke up with nirvana playing in my head. It's not happy music. It may be respectable and thought-provoking, but soothing it is not. "I killed you, I'm not gonna cry." Think about it. C) everyone is so annoying. Just the crumpling of breakfast bags is pissing me off right now. Not to mention the hysterical laughter over the antics of "deuce bigalo: male gigolo" a few feet from my desk.
anyway, maid's room - what? Who are these people?
more proof that dick and bush know nothing. Good thing that they're consulting the people who know stuff about conservation and the environment before making these sweeping statements and bullshit orders regarding the pillaging of our national forests and other protected lands.
the researchers of a study showing that we're living in an ever-increasingly segregated society noted that "forced racial integration, like college dormitories, did not include children." Right.
if I got laid off right now, I would totally go on a vacation. Seriously, though, this writer fails to focus enough on the fact that these 25-year-olds were making more than most of their parents with fewer bills to pay. If they don't have savings after working for 3 years with silicon valley salaries then damn. It's no wonder they look at it all like a windfall and an opportunity to do what they wanted to when they first got out of school - travel. now i'm wondering why it was that i didn't I sell my soul to a tech company.
I find it very funny that this article says that america is now being considered arrogant and ugly by other nations, particularly those in europe. Are we that ethnocentric and blind to the rest of the world's opinion of us that this long-held opinion would come as such a shock today? ridiculous. And, man, the french have always hated us. Just like they hate everyone else.
This whole flashback-as-our-future story on roe v. wade scares the hell out of me. is it time to move yet? Maybe.
Friday, May 4, 2001
4:45 pm yeah: i found an apple in my desk drawer! woo hoo!
4:35 pm people in this city are going crazy with the heat. It's amazing how as soon as it hits 90 degrees, everyone gets pissy and even more awful than usual. Hagar and I witnessed some crazy stuff while grabbing lunch at the local subway deli, including a man who pushed past the 20-person line to get to the counter and ask, "meatball?" only to be told to go to the end of the line - after which he looked around, shocked and angry, and stormed out talking to himself. Everyone's just shorter tempered than usual in this heat so there's more pushing and running into people and not moving out of the way and stuff. Sometimes I just laugh it off, but the hotter it gets, the less able I'm am to do so. So just leave me alone, okay?
and our atmosphere is killing itself, which doesn't make me feel any better about living in nyc, one of the most polluted and polluting cities in the country. (and shut up with your wisecracks about me being from jersey - I'm from the clean part, damn it. my country-bred lungs can't take this shitty air.)
nor does this piece about dirty supermarkets, from catherine. I've been to that gristedes on 86th st. so many times! The horror.
tim reynolds is playing the wetlands on Monday and I hope to go. He's a pretty amazing guitar player and it should be interesting to see him on his own.
as for survivor, I think the love affair is over. Honestly, the only thing that would get me to watch it next time around is if it does take place in africa. But even then, I might just have to look away because, I can see it now, all the idiots ooohing and aaahing over the safari and then being shocked to never see anything more than a warthog or a little rodential monkey on a daily basis. Or maybe I would have a reaction similar to that of bruce, my friend tricia's husband who served two years in the peace corps somewhere tropical and difficult, though i'm forgetting exactly where right now. He was like, "they're whining this way and it's only been 6 weeks?" yes, yes they are.
why is it that office vending machines have to be so shitty? i mean, what i want right now is dried fruit, but i know that what i'll end up with is probably a twix, or, at best, snackwells cookies. that sucks.
Thursday, May 3, 2001
2:30 pm attention everyone (but especially chris): go now to ironminds and read this piece about high school horror stories. it's good and funny. and addressed to that stupid rodale pub MH-18, which makes it all the better.
1:00 pm sorry about that game on your birthday, jen. And that you now have to work tomorrow night. Yeah, come on, knicks. What is this garbage? Stupid vince carter. Stupid.
is this not so that stupid movie speed? I think so. "It was like they were filming a movie," said one of the highly insightful witnesses. Right. But someone actually died. And, hello, dumbass hijacker, ya don't shoot someone outside a branch of the police department. My god. This is basically why I never take busses in nyc. There are just too many variables going on there. Not that I don't think that someone could just walk into the subway and shoot me. I actually think that quite frequently, even to the point where I wonder why more people don't do it. it's not like there are metal detectors in the subway. I mean, we ride it in good faith that no one will attack us. But I want to know a crazy man's reasoning for not doing it anyway. I mean, is he thinking, "it's tough to get out of there - I'll definitely get caught" or "shooting in a train would result in the bullets ricocheting off the metal and maybe killing me" or "too many kids" or "all sheep - not worth my time"? I want to know. but that whole bus thing, yeah, I'm gonna continue to stay away.
anti-vegetarian conspiracy at mcdonald's!
gimme!
huh: what a bizarre story out of burkina faso about a person born with both male and female genital organs and raised a boy. When "he" began menstruating, "he" was already going through the male initiation rites of his tribe. "he" performed male tasks and wore men's clothes. But then "he" wound up pregnant and asserted her desire to be female despite knowing nothing about the role of being a woman in her society. It's really interesting though because it shows how the sexes are so divided in traditional african villages. And also how secrets are so pervasive.
this is ridiculous: "You can rob a bank, you can commit murder, just about any other crime and not be denied student aid, but a drug charge would deny you student aid." Gotta love that war on drugs.
you know what, I believe and I have always believed, if you want to kill yourself, then fine, go ahead. That is not to say that I want anyone around me to or that it's not sad that people feel so hopeless that they'd off themselves despite any hints of goodness in this life, but it should not be illegal, nor should you be held on criminal charges if you fail. After all, you're not harming anyone else physically so what's the difference? And if you've failed, than you haven't really broken the law anyway.
I love rabble-rousers. that's me in another life. Or maybe in this one yet. We'll see.
See, there are college kids out there with a conscious for class-based issues. About 30 of them.
gore's j-class at columbia ends. What next? Maybe he'll hang around nyc so he and bill can finally do some partying. Or maybe not.
Wednesday, May 2, 2001
4:35 pm happy birthday to my roommate jen! Woo hoo! Here we go knicks. Win one for your girl j. mac!
other basketball notage: people names kobe bryant one of the 50 most beautiful people. maybe that would explain why he has like 26 different commercials out right now. ugh.
in other important birth news: dave matthews is gonna be a daddy.
on the political front: I loved the '80s and all but the leaders of our government are way out of touch. Do dick and bush not know that it's 2001? First of all, I thought this whole "stars wars" thing was behind us? Apparently not. Meanwhile, cheney's logic is severely lacking. Despite his admittance that "America's reliance on energy, and fossil fuels in particular, has lately taken on an urgency not felt since the late 1970's," he's not for conservation. What? Wake up and smell how burning fossil fuels nonstop and driving around gas-guzzling SUVs are powering us into extinction, man. his argument - and the fact that people agree with him - proves that americans are stupid.
(we're not even going to get into the fact that they're fat too. but a great quote: "Georgia is the home state of cornbread, barbecue, peach pie, and a whole lot of really fat people-21.1 percent of the state's population, to be exact, is obese." Wow.)
I want to know how the american people can let this bullshit go on? This administration is throwing this country back an entire decade - if not two - in social, environmental, and international policy.
related rant: did you read yesterday about how chinese immigrants are severely grilled when leaving or returning to the u.s. these days? this is so the same country that put japanese americans in internment camps after pearl harbor - and I really wonder if that wouldn't happen to chinese americans were we to go to war with china today.
my point is: this administration is reason enough not to have children today.
still, to be honest, this actually improves my opinion of at least one member of the bush family a smidgent. [via betsy] sad but true.
Tuesday, May 1, 2001
2:35 pm how fun would it be if people did give a little background information about why they picked the song they did when plugging quarters into a bar jukebox? I would definitely enjoy that. But, as this writer kind of figures out - kind of - most people would just say, "woo hoo! The song from that car scene in wayne's world! Rock out with your cocks out! Excellent!" and yeah, that would just be annoying. Alternately, if they just like a song, say by moby, they'd be forced to explain some deeper meaning behind their enjoyment of that particular combination of notes, becoming a quasi-spokesperson for an artist they may only like when they're in the mood. Or maybe each tune they put on by the wallflowers will simply strike a memory about the time they were in a bar with their brother and someone put this song on and it was, like, cool. Which would just be reminiscent of that chris farley skit from snl ("remember when you were with the beatles?….that was awesome!").
on a related note, I've been telling myself for a while now that I am going to sit down and figure out the soundtrack to the movie about my life. But it hasn't happened because, in part, it's kind of intimidating. sure, i could list a whole bunch of songs that might play, but the explanations behind them would have to be really real, ya know? I mean, you could have those songs in there that you just like or that just reflect a certain mood, but this is the story of your life, man. This is serious. and this is no epic tale. This is a roughly two-hour film encompassing your entire life, all the meanings and events and deeper realizations and people and causes and effects. You must be selective. Moreover, each song must reflect you, must be in line with the image you want to project, must really help tell the tale. And so I haven't gotten around to it yet.
But maybe you have? Email me if so. I'll even post it here. For inspiration for others. And just because I find it so damn interesting.
yeah, so some changes for the pita. I was thinking about how it's been so long since I've done a poll. Those were good times, huh? Except for when people whose names were used in them freaked out. Although I have to say that my traffic really spiked as a result, so I guess that's a good thing. Yeah, lesson learned: scandal is positive. I need to work on that some. Get some kind of daytime drama going on in my life, or just in my fantasy life, so I can get lots of page views. Because you know that's why I do this stuff….
despite my endless bitching, the one cool thing about my office is the view. [okay, the other cool thing is that I can somehow get away with doing this stuff for a portion of the day, right? Note: count down to the pita's 1-year anniversary: 30 days! Oh yeah, I'm having a big party.] working on the 32nd floor just south west of central park has been key to my happiness while I toil. I just turn around and can see all the trees stretching from 59th on up to 110th, with little dips for the reservoir and lakes. At some point this past winter, catherine actually paid holly and me a visit and took a picture of our view. It was really beautiful, even though it was gray and snowy, so holly and I both made it our desktop image on our computers. But now the park is amazingly lush and green. I just want to run out of here and go frolic in the fields. But that's just the chained up country girl in me. soon soon soon. Not soon enough.
12:47 pm in the meantime, why not go read the archives (to the left)? or see what all's playing at irving plaza this month (to the right)? i know it looks really neckid and all but there's still a lot here!
12:07 pm sorry, guys, just archiving and stuff....
daily check
angela
betsy
bookme
brooklyn kid
catherine
chris
deletia
erasing
girl boy
jejune
kempa
leanne
loobylu
ljc
lmg
lonestar
media nugget
metafilter
obscure store
ribbit
rule 4080
smartertimes
unknown news
wisdom
daily click
child survival site
clear landmines
hunger site
kids aids site
rainforest site
artsy friend
music
beatles lyrics machine
bowery ballroom
cbgb
city search music
hothouse flowers
irving plaza
jersey radio
knitting factory
launch
new york radio
no depression
old 97s
100 most intense records
pennsy radio
sonicnet
sun volt
WFUV
news
media news
new york times
reuters
washington post
zim independent
zim standard
diversions
affirmatron
bond girl names
dream decoder
emode
freewill
jibjab
martina & ross
mr. orbit
pulp phantom
trib horoscopes