ilumina

Wissam Style freestyle in "dinasty M.A.F.I.A." FREESTYLE part.1 !

2010-09-13T09:22:00.001-05:00

Friday fun (on a serious subject)

2008-07-25T12:56:00.015-05:00

A great vid from The Colbert Report about the delivery of a petition to Fox News telling them to stop their nonsensical racist blather that they call news.

If you're not familiar, here's the 411 about Fox...

...protesters cited incidents on Fox including an on-screen graphic calling Michelle Obama "Obama's baby mama" and a pundit who confused Obama with Osama bin Laden and joked they should both be assassinated. Another anchor called a televised fist bump between Obama and his wife a "terrorist fist jab," they said, and talk show host Bill O'Reilly discussed calling a "lynching party" to deal with Michelle Obama after criticizing her patriotism.

Lovely. Really great news there!

Anywhoo...take a few minutes to watch the vid - another great laugh-out-loud Colbert commentary and interview. Also, after Colbert's interview with Nas, he performs a great song called "Sly Fox". >> Check the lyrics

See these articles for more info about the protests ... Hip-hop artist Nas protests Fox coverage of Obama and Protesters denounce Fox News as racist

Get involved...

Barack the Vote!

2008-02-12T10:13:00.009-05:00

Obama gets rock-star welcome in Baltimore, at UM

I dont think i can explain in words how excited and hopped up I am about Barack Obama - how inspired, how energized, how hopeful I feel when I hear him speak. Obviously, I will be voting for Obama today and ask others to consider doing so as well. I believe his background and experience, not to mention his personality and passion, will help this country get back much of the respect it lost around the world and I think he will bring back some hope to the people of this country who have been told for the last 8 years that this is the way it is - that we must live in the fear of terrorism and that the only way to survive it is to bankrupt our country by sending our young to die in a war that was executed on false pretense; give up our right to speech by allowing the government to wiretap us when and how they want; and violating basic human rights by condoning and/or executing torture on prisoners of war. So many days over these last years I thought it couldn't get any worse and then the Bush crew proved that it could.

Now, with Obama, I see the possibility for significant changes - not just a change to someone less evil, but a change to someone who can inspire so many of us to work together to make the change happen - not just wait around for the "leaders" to do it.

anyways, i ramble. My point is... Obama! Obama! Obama! Yes, we can! :)

www.barackobama.com

Intro to Barack Obama video (Thanks Noam!)

Si Si Puede!

2008-02-07T20:25:00.001-05:00

It was a creed written into the founding documents that declared the destiny of a nation.

Yes we can.

It was whispered by slaves and abolitionists as they blazed a trail toward freedom.

Yes we can.

It was sung by immigrants as they struck out from distant shores and pioneers who pushed westward against an unforgiving wilderness.

Yes we can.

It was the call of workers who organized; women who reached for the ballots; a President who chose the moon as our new frontier; and a King who took us to the mountaintop and pointed the way to the Promised Land.

Yes we can to justice and equality.

Yes we can to opportunity and prosperity.

Yes we can heal this nation.

Yes we can repair this world.

Yes we can.

We know the battle ahead will be long, but always remember that no matter what obstacles stand in our way, nothing can stand in the way of the power of millions of voices calling for change.

We have been told we cannot do this by a chorus of cynics...they will only grow louder and more dissonant ........... We've been asked to pause for a reality check. We've been warned against offering the people of this nation false hope.

But in the unlikely story that is America, there has never been anything false about hope.

Now the hopes of the little girl who goes to a crumbling school in Dillon are the same as the dreams of the boy who learns on the streets of LA; we will remember that there is something happening in America; that we are not as divided as our politics suggests; that we are one people; we are one nation; and together, we will begin the next great chapter in the American story with three words that will ring from coast to coast; from sea to shining sea --

Yes. We. Can.

http://www.barackobama.com/

Song & video, featuring a star cast, by will.i.am of The Black Eyed Peas. Inspired by Barack Obama's 'Yes We Can' speech. http://www.yeswecansong.com/

gaga for google

2007-08-23T23:04:00.000-05:00

ack! i didn't think i could be any more in love with Google and then they did it again! this is SOOOOOO cool! :) The galaxies are my favorite. SO pretty!!!!!!

Google puts universe online: Imagine having millions of stars and planets at your fingertips, without spending thousands on a telescope or shivering all night under a cold, dark sky.The universe is online, available from the comfort of your computer chair.

It's a feature that Google developers, in collaboration with astronomers, have added to Google Earth, the Web site that provides millions of users with bird's-eye views of their home planet.Sky at Google Earth, which made its debut in cyberspace early yesterday, turns Googlers around and aims their eyes toward the heavens, with user-friendly tools for navigating and zooming deep into the skies of both the Northern and Southern hemispheres.

In the background there are 100 million individual stars and 200 million galaxies. They're not randomly generated dots, but real, digitized photos -- a million of them -- stitched seamlessly together from some of the world's most complete sky surveys.

More...

Google Earth given celestial view

In Google Earth, a Service for Scanning the Heavens

uh, what!??!?!

2007-08-21T21:17:00.000-05:00

Orlando Police Sgt. Barbara Jones holds a surface-to-air missile launcher that had been turned in to the Orlando Police Kicks for Guns program. The program allows citizens to turn in a gun, with no questions asked, for a pair of sneakers. (AP photo / August 17, 2007)

That religion thing...

2007-05-30T11:51:00.000-05:00

Last night I was flipping through channels and stopped on CNN to watch the wonks get their wonk on. When I tuned in some yutzes were babbling on about some new survey of college students that shockingly [harhar] reported that cheaters have higher GPA's and also that cheaters don't stop at just cheating on tests but go all out and cheat on their bf/gf's. Apparently, the survey also looked at other things, but I couldn't tell you what since the discussion was totally moronic. One part of the discussion literally went something like this...

Wanky Wonker 1 - "So, tell me about that religion thing..." what is the most surprising thing you learned from this survey?

Wanky Wonker 2 - "Ahh, yes...that religion thing really surprised me. I couldn't believe the results"

Wanky Wonker 1 - "Indeed, I too was really surprised about that religion thing".

uhh... what?!?! Morons. Oh well, I shouldn't be too surprised that the level of conversation was so ridiculous since the study was put out by collegehumor.com who's main set of links includes a tab called "girls" and other important links like "fun with bottles" and "virtual bar fight". uh... yeah - the true bastion of scientificity.

After that oh so enlightening conversation, there was a segment called "CNN Heroes". The piece I saw was about 2 young people who started an organization that helps people in the developing world get loans for their small or community businesses. I thought this was a good and easy way to directly help someone in need become self-sufficient. Perhaps after I get back from my vacation I can do my part and help a family in Azerbaijan or a woman in Kenya. Heres the description from CNN:

Matt and Jessica Flannery founded Kiva.org, a person-to-person microcredit Web site. Kiva -- which means "unity" in Swahili -- allows individuals to make loans as small as $25 to entrepreneurs in developing countries. Since Kiva.org was launched more than two years ago, it has brokered more than $6.5 million in collateral-free loans to more than 9,000 businesses.

[NY Times vid of a Kiva loan recipient and a woman in Afghanistan who was studying to be a doctor when the Taliban came into power and stopped women from going to school]

[PBS's Frontline article and video: Uganda - A Little Goes A Long Way]

[Wikipedia article - What is Microcredit]

Slacerkliciously slackin slackeroso

2007-05-24T18:10:00.000-05:00

So I've been slightly slacking... ok... hardcore slackin on my blog lately so now ive got the task of catchin up... here are some recent highlights of mi vida loca...

Ooogely Googeley Yum Yum Love Fest

At the end of April Wissam and I celebrated our first year together by going to we went back to where it all began... the DC International FilmFest. So Sunday April 29th we headed on down DC way to the closing night film and party and met up with Lasheema. The film, Paris, je t'aime, was really good - though very different style of filmmaking since it was a series of short films all rolled into one. The films featured many well-known actors from around the world and were made by prominent

Check out the trailers on YouTube. This one is my favorite.

filmmakers who were given creative license to do as they wish. All they had to do was go to Paris and make a film about love.

Some were really funny, some sad, some interesting, and some totally random, but all were great. I think my fave's were the ones with Fanny Ardant, Steve Buscemi (freakin hilarious!!!) and Natalie Portman. Anywhoo... I definitely recommend it, though I think its a good film to see in the theater rather than at home. Not sure why, there's just something about it that makes me feel that way.

Lasheema, Wissam, and Bart at FilmFest DC 2006		After the movie Lasheema, Wissam and I stopped by the party to see folks. W was so cute and sweet all smiling and telling everyone (even the lady behind us in the ticket line!) how we met and were back to celebrate. It was great to see the organizers of the event - especially Sharin. She was just absolutely tickled that W and I had met there and were together and had come back to celebrate. She said that we should come back every year to celebrate. We gladly accepted her suggestion. ;-) hehe
After that Lasheema, busy busy busy as usual, had a meeting so Wissam and I went to NoVa to our fave peruvian chicken joint - The Chicken Place (great name huh!? hehe) and got carry out.
Then we went and had ourselves a little evening picnic under a tree on the banks of the Potomac. It was really nice to just sit in such a relaxing place and talk and laugh and just be together. I forgot my camera but i snapped this shot of the moon - aint it perty! ;-)
Pa Que Lo Baile On May 12th Jancy had a show to release his new CD, Pa' Que Lo Bailes, and he invited Wissam to sing the song they have on the album as well as a few others they made together. The show was fun and it was great to see my baby back on stage... he really missed it. and it was fun to be a VIP for the night - getting free drinks, sitting upstairs on the comfy sofas, wearing one of those VIP tags, signing autographs. Ok well no autographs, but the rest was true! hehe. The other band that performed, Latin Soul Band (aka: Jancy's brother's band), was also good. We even had a little adventure when Jancy's manager Vivian and her girlfriend decided to take a "shortcut" to the club from the hotel that Vivian hooked us up with... a shortcut that added 45 minutes and took us on a scenic tour of Montgomery County. haha oh well.. it was a great time and we were both grateful for the opportunity. :) Here is a video of Jancy's - "Boricua Sin Miedo" featuring Fantasma, mixed by DJ MIguelito

The next day we did a little shopping. Our first stop was a flea market in DC near W's old house. We didn't find anything good, but we did see this crazy pimp daddy struttin around. We tried to go to the halal market there, but
they were closed. Across the street was a market selling fresh fruit and we got a wicked good watermelon. Really sweet and delish! Then we went to my fav co-op down in Mt. Rainer. I bought some yummy cheese, fresh and dried fruit, and some realllyyyyyyy good olive oil. Yum!

Pa' que lo Bailes

2007-04-10T13:17:00.000-05:00

Friday W and i went down to DC to the Moroccan Consulate so W could update his passport and national ID so we will be good to go for our trip to Morocco this summer (Insha'Allah إن شاء الله). We had already gone earlier in the week but didn't get there in time as they only accept applications during the morning. Anywhoo... we were worried it might be a problem to get everything done, but the man he spoke to said it should only take about a week for him to get the passport back and then not long after that to get the ID finished. Yay! :)

The rest of the day we wandered around VA at Target buying schtuff for the Easter basket i put together for W (ok, it was more for me since he doesn't celebrate Easter, tho he did love his white chocolate easter bunny! hehe), buying some delicioso food from the Lebanese Taverna Market and eating amazing food at this little hole-in-the-wall Pakistani joint. I dont miss living down DC way, but i do miss all the choices in restaurants! *sigh* if only we could get some more good places to eat fresh flavorful food in B'more! Anywhoo...i digress...

We also stopped by J + M's house to pick up Jancy's new CD - Pa' que lo Bailes - which includes a song featuring my sweetie honey cutie pie. The album is pretty darn good (and i'm not just sayin that cuz my boy's got a song on there and i kno Jancy!) it's a good mix of styles - Reggaeton, Salsa, hip hop, and of course, some hot Moroccan stylings thrown in for good measure ;-)

Wissam chillin with DJ Bill

Give the album a listen at cdbaby.com/cd/jancy. W's song is track #6 "Una Noche Arabe feat. Wissam-Style, Morroccan Hip Hop artist, produced by DJ Blaster with Stany, combining Reggaeton with sensual Arabic rhythms and multi-lingual lyrics." This is a new version of the song - different, but i like it!

To hear the other version of Una Noche Arabe or W's latest song, 21 Wssiya (21 Advices...To My Unborn Child), visit www.myspace.com/wissamstyle.

oh! and also mark your calendars for May 12th for Jancy's CD release party in DC. Wissam should be performing with him for at least one song. Should be a fun booty-shakin night out! :)

drumroll please

2007-04-04T12:17:00.000-05:00

The long awaited pics from V's bday fiesta extravaganza.

Check out all the pics...

Happy bday V! (sorry so blurry, i didn't think i had *that* much to drink!) :-p

Steve and Joy tearin it up

Belated Bday Girl with her curly curls

Happy Birthday Angie - we're only a *few* months late! ;)

Girls Gone Wild! Moni-luv and Candice

		Jimmi workin his mojo


... and finally, some words to live by... ...You may now return to your regularly scheduled blog.

Bug spray, cow poop, and battery acid - yum!

2007-03-14T11:45:00.001-05:00

Wow! Not only did Baltimore City pass a ban on smoking in most public places, but they also are now offering free nicotine patches to City residents. Cool! :)

The Baltimore City Health Department Nicotine Replacement Therapy Initiative Beginning March 1, Baltimore City Health Department will offer $100,000 in free nicotine patches and gum to qualified Baltimore City smokers who enroll in free telephone counseling through the Maryland Quitline, 1-800-QUIT-NOW. [Nicotine Replacement Therapy Fact Sheet] [Prevention Wednesday: Protect Your Health - Quit Smoking]

Related news...

R-rated movies lure white teens into smoking-study Media Impact on Teen Behavior Varies by Ethnicity - "White U.S. teenagers who watch a lot of R-rated movies or have unsupervised access to TV shows appear more likely than similar black youths to start smoking cigarettes, a study found on Monday."
Smoking alters brain 'like drugs' - Smoking cigarettes causes the same changes to the brain as using illicit drugs like cocaine, a study suggests.
'One puff' link to future smoking - Children who try just one cigarette are twice as likely to take up smoking as those who have never tried it, a study funded by Cancer Research UK suggests.

Now, if only they could find a way to protect kids in homes where the parents or other folks smoke. More...

Livin la vida delicioso!

2007-03-07T18:30:00.000-05:00

This weekend was fun, hanging out with friends and watching some good movies... and most of all eating some amazing food! yum! Saturday evening, me, V, Shurwee, and her kids met up at the mall with Aaron G. to grab a bite to eat at the Cheesecake Factory. Everyone seemed happy with their food choices - J with his cheese pizza, C with his 3 cheese pasta with the hook-up, and S with her ooey-gooey-messier-than-messy-lick-your-elbow-howl-at-the-moon-portabella-mushroom burger. V got a new dish - some Jamaican shrimp thing that looked delish. and me... i got the Thai peanut noodles with overpriced shrimp. it was good, but i had to fuss at the waiter for charging $5 bux for a few shrimp instead of chicken. he was cool tho and got the price reduced. Aaron G didn't eat, but i think he said his fancy schmancy drink was tasty hehe. Anywhoo... as always it was good to see him. hopefully next time he's in town I'll be able to have him over for dinner.

Sunday, Lasheema came over and we had an AMAZING meal. OMG sooooo good. To start we had some fresh roasted garlic bread with this amazing dish made with grilled eggplant and 2 kinds of grilled peppers.

i think its called Zaalouk. I first had it a few months ago when Fatima (who was staying with her husband with us for a little while before returning to Morocco) made it one evening. it was really good, but Sunday's version by W was outta this world. I couldn't stop hollerin and mmm mmm mmming about how good it was!

Then we had grilled lamb and grilled veggies - which my sweetie was awesome enough to go outside in the howling winds and deep freeze to cook for us! (thank you baby!) and i also made yummylicious mashed potatoes. SOO damn good!

After that, we watched the new documentary "The Lost Tomb of Jesus" which presents archiological evidence that may show that Jesus was married and had a child (read more...). It was an interesting documentary, but i think they did a few things wrong. First, we all thought that all of the number crunching they did was just too much. i mean i get why they did it - in anticipation of folks arguing that the names Jesus, Mary, Joseph, and Jonah were all just common names back then and therefore its not Jesus and his wife and child, but rather just a gaggle of folks that just happen to have the same conglomeration of names. Unfortunately, the numbers thing was overdone or something. It was good info I think, but just not presented in the right way maybe. Second, the journalist that put it together was waaaay too dramatic and in waaaaay too many scenes. By the middle of the documentary, we were all like who is this jackass!? I think his over-involvement and hyper-dramatizing took away some of the credibility.

We also watched part of the follow-up discussion special which was TOTALLY hilarious - the one guy on there that was against the idea that this could actually be the tomb of Jesus appeared to have a rather large stick up his butt and he was seriously all ready to go jerry springer on the journalist a few times. Then there was the woman who was arguing that the dramatizations included in the movie were distractions that were biased and prevented people from being able to critically think about the issue. Uh... what?!?!?! too funny - and sad. As is all the controversy over it - well not all of it, it definitely is a topic worth discussion and further research. But the reactions some folks are having are just too much. Yes the documentary is not the best out there, yes they might be off their rocker and totally off base. But what gets me is the lack of willingness of people of faith to deal with things. If they are 2000% positive that the story they know of Jesus is the truth, then don't worry about it! But too many are just in a big ol tizzy. My favorite blog I've seen so far: James Cameron Tries to Kill Jesus

Finally, on Monday we had a chill day. After sleeping in, i cooked a delicious omelet with smoked salmon, olives, artichoke hearts, roasted red peppers, and red onions. we had that with leftover roasted garlic bread and fresh grapes. YUM! Then, W spent most of the rest of the day playing with his new studio equipment - recording some new stuff and working on some new songs. I'm excited to see how his new stuff turns out! he tried to get me to sing something, but i told him that Hustle and Flow is just a movie and we ain't in it. hehe he swore to get me somehow someday to sing with him. i fear for the world that day cuz I am a horrible singer LOL

As for me, i watched La Science des rêves (The Science of Sleep) a film by Michel Gondry with my honey Gael Garcia Bernal. Gael, as usual, was amazing - acting in 3 languages - and being his usual cute self. and Gondry pulled off another insanely bizarre film. I really loved it, tho I think I'll have to watch it a few more times to really appreciate all of its wonderful weirdness.

We finished the weekend by watching Black Dahlia. This flick didn't get much theater time or the best of reviews, but i thought it was pretty good (though the story wasnt the easiest to follow - this was the main critique of the critics). i loved how they made it all old-school-film-noir-with-a-touch-of-graphic-novel-style. the film is a good flick to rent if only just to appreciate some good cinematography.

Snowy snow snow

2007-03-06T11:23:00.000-05:00

Unfortunately we haven't had much snow this winter here in B'more. However, on a recent snowy Sunday, after shoveling the sidewalks and clearing off the car, W and I went out and snapped these pics.


This house is around the corner from mi casa. I love how the light illuminates the snowy bushes and the rest is all blue..

W before the massive ledge of snow fell off of my car.	Typical me being a dorky dork W happily shoveling snow - not! haha

Beauty and the Beast, Part 2

2007-02-27T18:30:00.000-05:00

Thanks to amber for the tip on this nonsense about Tyra Banks being a fatty. See People Magazine article: Tyra Banks Speaks Out About Her Weight - "Tyra Banks has always stressed the importance of body confidence – but it still hurt when tabloids ran an unflattering photo of her in a bathing suit under headlines that screamed, "America's Next Top Waddle" and "Tyra Porkchop."

Ugh... If only people in this country would stop obsessing about food, weight, eating, calories, we might just be more healthy. Instead, we are never satisfied. We spend day after day chasing after some illusionary "ideal" or "normal" weight, fantasizing about how our lives would be if only we got rid of 10, 20, 30 pounds.

And our capitalist society gladly obliges in pulling us this way and that... low fat, high fat, no fats, right fats. low carb, high carb, no carb. buy our cardboard box of yum and your life will have meaning again! Take this pill and in just 15 days you will have a body like a supermodel! Thousands of ways to spend thousands of dollars...

The sad part of all of this is that we are constantly being manipulated by marketing and even worse... being experimented on with the latest fad diet, scientific discovery, or medical mutilation. The result... not only are the fat cats getting fatter on the billions (yes, billions! Over $40 billion a year in the US alone - and thats just a conservative estimate), but sadly, so are the dieters - instead of permanently dropping pounds, 95% of dieters end up finding not only what they lost, but a few others poundage too! (See BBC article: The diet business: Banking on failure)

Even more sad... so many of the messages and information we are being given daily just isn't true... Look at this study of nearly 50,000 women published in 2006 in the Journal of the American Medical Association which found that being fat does not necessarily indicate unhealthiness (In fact, many thin people who don't exercise or eat right are at greater risk for diseases than fat people). Low-Fat Diet Does Not Cut Health Risks, Study Finds

"We are growing sicker and more unhealthy as civilization produces more garbage and toxins in order to fabricate the machines that give us the leisure to grow fatter and sicker. And in the meantime, we are being sold an increasingly distant ideal of desireable weight." - Richard Klein, Author of Eat Fat.

Mixed Messages: Self-improvement or Self-destruction?
I am all for people taking care of themselves, eating right, exercising (not to mention engaging in outrageous luxuries like actually ENJOYING food!), it seems to me that instead of improving health, we are causing many many more problems. I mean really.... and how is it possible that with hundreds of alternatives, hundreds of options out there to choose from - foods, pills, gyms, support groups, surgeries, exercises - how is it that instead of growing thinner (and more importantly healthier!) we are doing just the opposite?

I'd say it is because this is exactly how the diet industry (including the pharmaceutical companies) want it. This constant pattern of yo-yo dieting is exactly what the industry wants. They want us constantly in fear, constantly frustrated, constantly looking for the next solution that will make our fantasy bodies come alive and save us from horrendously disgusting fatdom that is our future unless we consume their product. They want us Constantly trying, Constantly buying.

Fatties out of control? Society out of control!

Now, some may say (or think) ... "but obesity is such a problem in this country!"...or... "but fat people are putting their lives at risk"...or... "but if we don't diet then we will just be out of control!!!" I would argue that we already are out of control.

....There is no control in in a society that has 80% of its 4th grade girls (i.e. 9 year olds!) dieting.

....There is no sanity in a society that raises girls that are more afraid of becoming fat than they are of nuclear war, cancer, or losing their parents.

....There is no reasonableness in a society where kids as young as 3 already demonstrate negative attitudes and have stereotypes about fat people ingrained in their minds.

....There is no constraint in a society where 16% of adults would abort a child if they knew it had a genetic tendency to be fat (NY Times).

A valentine of a different kind

2007-02-14T14:14:00.000-05:00

Skeleton Couple Locked in Embrace for 5,000 Years

It could be humanity's oldest story of doomed love. Archaeologists have unearthed two skeletons from the Neolithic period locked in a tender embrace and buried outside Mantua, just 25 miles south of Verona, the romantic city where Shakespeare set the star-crossed tale of Romeo and Juliet.

meowww :)

2007-01-26T16:04:00.000-05:00

meeeoooow i am sooo gaga for my boy! :) just now, he called and i was like "how did u kno i was just thinking about you". Though i didn't tell him i was missing him and wishing i could go see him and have dinner together, he told me how he was missing me too and that he just wanted to call and say hi and tell me he can't wait til Sunday when we finally have some free time together. and then last nite after he went to Dulles to drop off Mohammed and Fatima, he stopped to get some dinner and called to ask me if i wanted him to bring me something. then last week he went to work 30 minutes late so that we could spend a little more time together, catching a quick bite to eat at Micky D's. As we were leaving it started to snow and he was sayin something like how he might get shit for being late but it was worth it to be able to be with me jumpin around during the first snow flakes of the season. so sweet! anyways, it may seem like small stuff, but it all adds up to me feeling so blessed and so happy to have such a sweet, wonderful, cutie in my life.

Beauty and the Beast

2007-01-26T10:36:00.000-05:00

Finally at least some folks around the world are coming to their senses about the push for models that weigh 30 pounds and look like someone who would be considered malnourished in other parts of the world. Others... well others are still promoting the same ol bs. :-/

Spain resizes clothes for women - "It is not reasonable for a modern and advanced society to establish stereotypes of beauty that are far removed from the social reality of a community," said Health Minister Elena Salgado.		This is beauty?
Model's anorexia comments spark debate - Supermodel Gisele Bundchen: "I never suffered from anorexia because I had a very strong family base. Parents are responsible, not the fashion industry."
	Sites encourage eating disorders - "...a good indicator of a pro-anorexia Web site is that eating disorders are glamorized and portrayed as a lifestyle choice and a diet, instead of a disease."

Chew your way to a thinner you ... While i'm not opposed to scientists doing whatever they can to help improve the health of folks and help those who need to lose weight, i take slight offense to this statement! "We hit on the idea of a chewing gum because obese people like chewing."
Same ol shit reinforcing the stereotype that all fatties are fat b/c they just sit around gorging themselves. and also what does that say about thin folks? they don't like to chew? oh, woops, sill me! i forgot that not eating or getting all ur nutrients out of a slimfast can is the way to a better body. ugh. Hope over 'obesity-busting gum' As a side FYI... Non-Dieters More Successful at Boosting Health Than Dieters, Study Finds

Concerned that the next protest you organize will be full of uglies? Worry no more! Now you can Rent a Protester! Germans put price on protesting - "It seems to confirm the increasingly common assumption," wrote one, "that democracy is for sale".

In Raw World of Sex Movies, High Definition Could Be a View Too Real - Jesse Jane plans to go under the knife next month to deal with one side effect of HD. The images are so clear that Ms. Jane’s breast implants, from an operation 6 years ago, can be seen bulging oddly on screen.

“You can see things you cannot see with the naked eye. You see skin blemishes; you see cottage cheese,” said Robby D." mmm cottage cheese

And now for the beast... Woman, 65, saves husband from mountain lion - "... I got the pen and tried to put it in his eye, but it didn't want to go in as easy as I thought it would."

Ready, set, discuss...

2007-01-22T11:12:00.000-05:00

Ok, so i thought i'd post a topic for discussion and see if that generates any comments from folks. (Yes, i have issues about not getting comments - working that out in therapy, but obviously not going so well as witnessed by my desperate attempt at generating discussion here) :-p

- + - + - + - + - + - + - + - + - + - + - + - + - + - + - + - + - + - + -

Story from last week on WYPR: Complaints By Some Over State's Sex Offenders Registry

The state of MD, like many other states, now has a registry for sex offenders.

This registry is publicly available via the web and allows the public to look up their address to see if there are any offenders in their neighborhood. It also allows employers to check the background of current or potential employees. Sounds good right?

I'd say yes, if you are referring to violent sex offenders, but maybe there is a little bit of a gray area when it comes to non-violent sex offenders as is mentioned in the story (though for the record the record, the guy mentioned in the story is listed as a sexually violent offender in the registry). I mean should a young person over the age of 18 who has consensual sex with a teenager under 16 be on this list? (for the record, I am not saying that is the right or ok thing to do - anyone who knows me knows that I don't really think that kinda thing is ok) What about a this guy who was convicted of sodomy. Should he be on the list?

Some may say, yes, they all broke the law and the law is the law so they should be on the registry. Others may say that the list should just be for the truly violent offenders - child molesters and rapists. That certainly is the image that most folks get when you say sex offender. How many people think about the 20 year old that dates the 15 year old and gets prosecuted? It seems to me that most people think about the 50 year old perv who molests children or the lunatic who rapes women in dark corners of the city.

Further, is the information listed on the website enough - or clear enough - for folks in the general public to make informed decisions? Or are we just inviting lynch mobs? I know that I've checked the registry before and found it frustrating because there isn't alot of information. In fact, i've got 2 people listed in my hood, but no clear idea what they really did. I mean what the hell is "Aggravated Felonious Sexual Assault" or a "Lewd/Lascivious Act U/16" How about "Perverted practices" - what in the heck does that mean? The mind could come up with a zillion things!

So what do you think? Should the registry be for ALL offenders? Should it be for some? If so, how do we decide who should be included and who shouldn't? Should it have more details about the crimes committeed or, at least, better definitions for what these things mean?

- + - + - + - + - + - + - + - + - + - + - + - + - + - + - + - + - + - + -

Image sources: WYPR (logo), www.indexjournal.com

oh happy days!

2007-01-18T10:12:00.000-05:00

Hooray!! Maryland again has a Democratic Governor! We've returned to normalcy after 4 years of republican ick. Yay! :)
Here are a few pics and stories about our new Governor - Martin O'Malley - and Lieutenant Governor - Anthony Brown. Governor Martin O'Malley jams with his former band, O'Malley's March, during his Inaugural Ball at the Baltimore Convention Center.




'New day' for Md. - "After Robert M. Bell, chief judge of the Maryland Court of Appeals, administered the oath inside the Senate chambers, O'Malley expressed gratitude for the trust placed in him and paraphrased abolitionist and Maryland native Frederick Douglass. "We are one, that our cause is one and we must help each other if we are to succeed," he said." O'Malley Begins With Call for Harmony - Governor Cites Work to Do on College Tuition, Health Care, Pollution Gov. O’Malley emphasizes ‘One Maryland’ in inaugural address - As he was sworn in as Maryland’s 61st governor Wednesday, Martin O’Malley emphasized the overarching theme of “One Maryland,” unity and cooperation, while he returned to familiar promises of his campaign, taking personal responsibility for their implementation. O'Malley gets down to business - After partying late, new governor marks 44th birthday with morning briefing, announcements

Photos: Baltimore Sun, Washington Post

Random musings...

2007-01-12T11:20:00.000-05:00

Ok, so obviously i haven't posted in a long time - but with good reason! i've been wicked swamped with work and haven't had to time to write much or post the zillions of pics i have (plus i am waiting on some pics from my mom - but i wont wait for that, i expect to get those next year LOL). Anyways, still swamped but for now will post this random collection of schtuff... Enjoy!

This week's example of why capitalism got issues - My fav...the ass from home depot. 2nd place in my book goes to William McGuire, Former CEO, UnitedHealth Group - perhaps this bs is one of the real reasons why healthcare costs are so high?!
For those of you who have been tracking the story about the UFO at O'hare Airport in Chicago ... finally there's undisputable evidence! Check it out... Not enough proof? This expert will definitely convince you.
New book of the week: Gospel of Food: Everything You Think You Know About Food Is Wrong. I heard about this book the other night on NPR's Marketplace (Listen to the story or read the transcript). It sounds like a really interesting book that looks at the messages (and lies) we are being fed (so to speak) about food, obesity, dieting, etc. His premise: "it's not "You are what you eat," it's "You eat what you think you are."

Here's an excerpt from a book review in the LA Times:

Yet never have we had so many competing voices weighing in on this culinary explosion, demonizing certain foods and glorifying others. All those who tell us what not to eat — scientists, nutritionists, health columnists, government agencies, industry conglomerates, activists — Glassner calls killjoys who subscribe to "the doctrine of naught." It's "culinary correctness gone awry," he says, a veritable cacophony of conflicting information. With dietary research often flawed in its methods and scientific findings often changing or "malleable," as Glassner notes, in the hands of self-interested parties with ties to the food industry, who's to say what's safe to eat? Chili peppers either cause stomach cancer or prevent it because they are loaded with antioxidants; potatoes are either a "pathway to heart disease and diabetes" or a fat/sodium/cholesterol-free super-food rich in potassium and vitamin C. Eggs, once the devil, are now undergoing a resurrection. "We would all do well to maintain a healthy skepticism," he says, "about the presumed sanctity and safety of one food or diet over another."
Spam message of the week: Man in hot pants struts in boots, cheers city

Speaking of a man in hot pants... Baton Bob Marches to the Beat of His Own Tune I wish we had a Baton Bob here in bmore! :) oh well... in the meantime, we do have another Bob - the B'more SpongeBob!

More cuddly cuteness

2006-12-21T10:00:00.000-05:00

Not sure why I keep posting pics of cuddley cuteness, but i've got the urge to do it again. This time, the oh so furry wuddly cuddly ooogly googly baby Lemur!

New Lemur Species Discovered

Sick of the cuteness? Check out this bad boy!! hahaha sike. even in it's madman einstein hair, that thing is kinda cute. err... or maybe i'm just high from all the cuteness hehe

Aint it perty, ma!

2006-12-20T14:52:00.000-05:00

Known in the weather world as a circumhorizontal arc, this rare sight was caught on film on June 3 as it hung over northern Idaho near the Washington State border

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2006/06/060619-rainbow-fire.html

See more... Top Ten News Photos of 2006 The year in photos treated us to some amazing sights, great and small, from giant jellyfish to a fly with glasses and a bear with a fear of house cats.

In other news...

Bush plans to increase size of U.S. military Bush is a crack smokin dick. I mean could the man do any more to create more debt and kill more people?
One in 20 Latinos 'goes hungry' - One in 20 Latinos in the US regularly goes hungry, says a report by a Hispanic civil rights group. :(
China to Tighten Adoption Rules, Ban Obese Parents - China will unveil new rules ... will ban the obese and unmarried from adopting. Prospective parents who take anti-depressants will also be barred, as will the disabled, according to the Web sites of foreign adoption agencies. Feckin Haters.

Happy Hannukah!

2006-12-18T10:57:00.000-05:00

I heard this song Friday night and loved it. I thought it was great, so i thought i'd share. as one person describes it... "Not your mama's Hanukkah music." hehe

I'm red hottttttttt!

2006-12-14T10:37:00.000-05:00

So after many many (too many) months of working on my dining room it is finally finished. well, ok, not finished finished, but finally presentable! Yay!

Thanks to shurwee for comin over to help me paint the first coat of red and for pushin me to get it done. and a huge thanks to my sweetie for staying up late last nite while i slept to clean out the room and set up the table and chairs. So sweet! xoxoxoxoxo mi amor!

Here are some pics of the dining room and also some holiday decorations.

Shurwee paintin away

My Paint Tray Picasso

The view from my gorgeous new front door... snowflakes over the entrance to the dining room and stockings hung and stars wrapped around the banister.

I'm finally red hotttttt baby. yay!

Let's play meet the familia

2006-12-09T22:27:00.000-05:00

A few weeks ago W and I went to visit my grandmother who fell and broke her arm recently, my mom who is up to take care of her, and other family in PA. Thankfully, both W and I survived the trip. :-p Actually, we had a good time going shopping at the farmers market, playing cards with my grandmother, playing with my 2 adorable cousins, and watching Ma and Pa Kettle movies, which cracked me up just watching W and hearin my grammy laughin at Ma and Pa's crazy hijinks. Here's a great vid clip from one of the movies we watched.

Also hilarious was when my mother went into an all out laugh fest - snortin as she does when something is too funny - when W was trying to get me to stop being weirded out by this creepy furry thing that randomly made weird noises and shook out of the blue. He came over to me and was all serious... he says "ok, just close your eyes... and think of... a cheese steak". I opened my eyes like "wat the heck!" and my mom just busts out laughin. sh*t was too funny - i mean how could i possibly imagine this wacko furry thing as a cheese steak!. i think he was a little embarrassed (which was even more adorable to me *gaga*) cuz he quickly said "it was the first thing that came to my mind that she likes". so cute. hahahahaha fortunately, he has an awesome sense of humor so we were all laughin about that for a while (and who can't help but laugh when my mom goes off!)

Anywhoo... here are some pics from the trip (the rest are here).

Alex puts the final piece into the man puzzle we did.

Eric gets in on the puzzle action, while Wissam jumps right in and tries to entertain the lil ones with a doll I used to play with as a kid!

			We also went to see my other grammy for a little while. She now stays with my aunt and uncle b/c of her worsening eyesight.
Wissam with my grammy h, aunt lorraine, and uncle butch. i was also in the picture but making a totally ridiculous face, so its cropville for me! haha

I also snapped this pic that my aunt and uncle have in their house. It is of my family (maternal side)

My great great grandmother Dietz (the big mamma on the right haha) with her husband (left) and kids.

My great grandmother Dietz (also a big mamma) is in the middle as a child and there's also a snapshot of her in the bottom right from back in the day when i was a lil munchkin.

Randomness

2006-12-08T11:26:00.000-05:00

This morning I heard this great story about how to mingle. Lord knows I need practice at this! I wish i could take a class to learn how to do this better. It would be really good for work. Check out the story at NPR: "Mingle All the Way Through Holiday Parties" - Jeanne Martinet, author of The Art of Mingling, offers insights for joining a conversation, making your way through the party -- and even extracting yourself from the clutches of someone talking your ear off.

Old world meets new on Google Earth The "Rumsey Historical Maps" sub-layer allows you to compare historical maps from as far back as 1680 to the new world.
** As a side note, you can actually overlay any historical map you find using the overlay feature... Learn more


		Condoms are too big for Indian men, scientists say Ouch! I love this quote at the end of the story: "It's not size, it's what you do with it that matters, From our population, the evidence is Indians are doing pretty well." :-p All joking aside, this is a huge problem for HIV prevention (about one in every five times a condom is used in India it either falls off or tears...And the country already has the highest number of HIV infections of any nation.

How embarrassing! eep! Flatulence forces emergency landing - An American Airlines flight was forced to make an emergency landing Monday morning after a passenger lit a match to disguise the scent of flatulence, authorities said.

Quote of the day (i think one person i know very well can relate to this one! haha) "There is not enough time to do all the nothing we want to do." Bill Watterson

Even cuter cuteness!!

2006-12-07T16:26:00.000-05:00

Last night me and Wissam watched Duma. While Duma the cheetah was definitely a gorgeous cutie, I have to say that I totally fell for the totally wicked cute bush baby Mashaka! SO damn cute!!!!!!!!!! Must have one!

Total cuteness for your Tuesday

2006-12-05T09:54:00.000-05:00

View National Geographic's live polar bear cam or check out these wicked cute videos.

Also, my friend K's father is a travel writer and photographer and he has some awesome photos of polar bears and other cute and fuzzy animals he snapped on his trip to the snowy Canadian tundra last year.

Here's the full story and

a link to more photos.

www.fostertravel.com

Catching up... lots of pics! :)

2006-12-01T14:05:00.001-05:00

Time to catch up on my blog and photo sharing... heres some fun stuff I've done this fall with my sweetie.

All Moroccan Weekend

Fun with W and his friends from Morocco. It was awesome to have folks over for the weekend, getting some much needed help getting stuff organized at the house, going out to the Baltimore Harbor, and eating what was probably the best chicken I've ever had!! The only tough thing was tryin to figure what everyone was talking about since I don't speak Arabic (except for a few silly words I've picked up on)! See all the pics here (more later when i get some more from Adil)

Ramadan 2006

More pics from this year's Ramadan... See the full set here.

mmmm delicious Harira (the national soup of Morocco!) and the traditional foods to break the fast... dates, hard boiled eggs, milk, juice, Moroccan tea, and beghrir (crepes with honey... soooo good!).

Me with Mohamed and Fatima and Adil at Taste of Morocco in Silver Spring, MD. We didn't eat a full meal here (the fatoor meal was plenty!), but I did get to taste a really good lamb dish and chicken with olives. GOOOOOD!

Delicious meals W and I made (well, mostly W made them hehe). The first is a red rockfish tagine. OMG soooooooooooo good!

He also made a delicious kofta, veggies, and my pitiful bland American cous cous (i was told that his mother would be ashamed of me for serving such a thing! haha).

and finally, just a shot of a pretty fatoor meal we put together. soooo yummy! :)

welcome to (violent) b'more, hon! :(

2006-11-16T18:08:00.000-05:00

So the other nite when i went to pick up W at the light rail station there was a sea of blue and red lights. after hearing about the horrible violence thats taken place at area transit stations recently, including mine at Woodberry! i was freakin out, as was W who got off the train to find all these lights and no monica and no way to get ahold of me b/c my cell phone died right before i was to pick him up! thankfully all the lights were from about 10 city and transit police cars lined up next to the station. they were out checking everyone's tickets and i guess asking if anyone saw anything the other nite when a kid was attacked and beaten there. W said the guy's father was there trying to get info about his son's beating. eep! so scary!

oy vey, and just when W moves up here. what a way to say welcome to bmore, hon! :(

happy happy happy!!!

2006-11-08T14:57:00.000-05:00

OMG if i am dreaming please dont wake me up! O'malley wins Governor of MD, Cardin wins over snoozeville Steele, Rumsfeld resigns, dems take over the house and not in some small way... *28* seats!...nearly 2x the number of seats we needed to win! Am i dreaming!!? The republicans lost 27 seats in the House, 6 governorships, and at least 5 senate seats! hahahahhahaa WOW!

WOWOOOWOOWOWOW weeehoOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!! :-D yay!!!!

The stakes are too high...VOTE!

2006-11-06T13:06:00.000-05:00

The stakes are too high for government to be a spectator sport. - Barbara Jordan, former U.S. Congresswoman.

A few thoughts to keep in mind as folks go out and vote tomorrow and a bit about why i'm voting democratic...

Do it because the war in Iraq is a disaster, and our brave men and women who are fighting and dying there need an honorable and speedy path home.
Do it because in the wealthiest nation in the world, there are millions of kids who can't go the doctor when they get sick because they don't have health care.
Do it because President Bush and this Congress have chipped away at our fundamental rights—rights guaranteed every citizen—that make our country a beacon of freedom. Do it because our government shouldn't be able to wire-tap innocent citizens without a warrant.
Do it because of Abu Ghraib. Do it to tell the world that America won't sanction torture—and we fire the politicians who do. That's the real no-brainer.
Do it because five years after September 11th, President Bush and the Republican Congress have made us all less safe.

GOP Corruption

http://www.youtube.com/v/S6yeUYB

Also, for you marylanders out there...

i thought this article provided good info on Erlich and O'Malley's views on transportation:

Transportation, Growth on the line

Cuteness

2006-11-02T12:54:00.000-05:00

Too cute! Though it does bring up some uncomfortable memories of the koala bear rape scene shirley and i witnessed during my 30th bday extravaganza in NYC. :-p

Test-Tube Koala Babies Debut

Putting to rest any fears of a cuteness shortage, Australian scientists announced today they had invented a new way to create koalas in a lab.

googley ga ga

2006-10-25T11:24:00.000-05:00

Time flys when your having fun, right? :) i think i'd have to agree with that cheezer statement. amazingly, today is 6 months since my sweetie and i met. of course sometimes, he and i both look at each other and say is that all? in some ways it seems like we've known each other alot longer. at one party (pics below), the one girl even said she was shocked it wasn't very long that we were dating and said she thought we had been together for a few years now (in the good way! not in the bitter and snapping at each other way that some couples get sucked into). anywhoo... i just wanted to post this pic of us taken a few months ago and some other pics that i haven't had a chance to post yet, as well as just to say to the world how much i dig my cutie and tell him how much i appreciate him and how blessed i feel for having him in my life. he makes me giggle, he makes me feel good, he cooks amazing food, he helps me with my bizarro-posessed-by-a-demon-goat house, he deals with my crazy ass and makes me realize when not to take things too seriously. he makes life more interesting and he's definitely made it alot more fun and filled with laughter and yummy oogly-googly feelings. *grin* ok, you can barf now. i'm done ranting about mi amor... hehe :-p now for some fun pics :)

Wissam's birthday. Me, W, and Lasheema went out for dinner to celebrate W's bday. After when we were dropping Lasheema off we took these silly pics. :-p



See all the pics from W's birthday...

These are pics from a concert that W performed at with Jancy and then the after party at Jancy's brother's house. It was a total blast!

This is Joey - OMG this guy is SO full of energy and hilarious (as is his sister)!! They are too damn funny and told us all kinda stories from their time growin up in NYC and Puerto Rico. This time Joey was describing these crazy spiders in Puerto Rico that jump off of trees and how one humongous one jumped on him. They also told this totally crazy story about being chased by a bull. Shit was toooooo damn funny. I felt like i was watching a crazy spanish tv show on univision or something!!

This guy was at the party (i'm totally blankin on his name) and was really jammin on the drums. i was mesmerized! he tried to show Melissa (Jancy's wife) how to play. She and i were both like "uhm..." I wish i knew how to play!



See all the pics from the concert and party...

ever feel trapped in a corner?

2006-10-24T16:14:00.000-05:00

Well... my list of the joys of home ownership just keeps growing and growing. what is it this time? My very own cats-gone-wild-nature-is-a-wild-and-amazing-thing-Discovery-channel-show! Yes, yes, yes, its true, my pussy pussy cats are really wild vixens with a voracious appetite for the mice that reside(d) in mi loca casa. and this is not the first mouse (or is it a rat - look at the size of that tail!!) they've caught and ran around the house with, just the biggest one and the only that i caught on camera.

Asha showing me her catch. I've never seen Asha look so crazed! eep!

Don't worry though, after being carried up and down the stairs a number of times this mouse met its fate elsewhere, as W caught it and put it outside.

happy happy homeowning? uh...

2006-10-20T13:31:00.000-05:00

ahhh the joys of home ownership. setting up a happy home. the freedom to decorate it however you want. uh. more like the freedom to spend alot of money and lose your mind! joy, my ass. shiiiiiiiiiiiiitttt. maybe its just me and mi vida loca or maybe its just the demons that haunt my hallowed walls, but it has been quite an *interesting* ride since buying my house in July. and VERY sloooooow going!

We have yet to finish painting a single room in the house and i still have more boxes packed than unpacked. part of it is that im a total slacker and find much greater enjoyment in snuggling in the sofa with my sweetie. and part of is that i've been sick twice since moving. but more so, i think i am just totally overwhelmed. things i think will be easy to do aren't easy at all. things i think will take a few hours to do take days or longer. and there are just so many decisions. where to put things. how to organize them. things to buy. things to fix. things to kill (tho thankfully this is much better now. not like the first days when i'd come home and find a cockroach disco going on in my kitchen sink. for real, it was weird to see all those roaches in bellbottoms and polyester). and last but not least, things to ask a priest or voodoo priestes to pray over to remove the evil spirits from.

ah well. life would be boring if it weren't for such headaches. ha. right. :p anyways, at least all the madness makes for some good picture taking. enjoy...


	*This is my plumber, from Len the Plumber (no thats not Len), who looks like Joey from Friends. He was really cool tho.*
Karin and Pramit help paint the living room. the one room that's pretty much done, though i still need to paint all the trim.

	W paintin away. once we got into a good rhythm, it went pretty smoothly. but i will say, me and that blue tape... enemies! haha
Adwahed fixes hole in ceiling. Underneath the drywall was some old wood that i kinda liked and thought to leave exposed, but i guess that woulda been kinda weird so i just covered it. it was kinda cool tho!
	Wissam sands where hole was repaired. Sanding sucks by the way. :p
Becky vacuums dust off of Wissam. he had so much dust in his hair it was so funny lookin. i kept jokin about how at least i know now what he will look like when hes old and grey. :p

	Becky writes a love note to her hubby in the gazillions of dust particles that resulted from sanding the ceiling.
Dust art.
	and...last but not least... the devil possessed walls. after painting the ceiling and hours spent taping the entire room, my walls decided to lash back. while applying primer to the walls, i noticed something weird, i touched a small spot and was like what is that? next thing i know, the newly painted primer and the layer of paint that was stuck to the wall decides to come off the wall in big sheets of oeey gooey. what is THAT?! so freakin weird!
i know not everyone likes the color red, but dangit those walls are going to be red, devil goat demon posesson or not!!!!!!!!!

Ramadan mubarak

2006-09-29T15:15:00.000-05:00

So... this will be my 2nd weekend of fasting for Ramadan (btw, as a side note, if you ever date a Muslim don't be a dork like me and mistakenly call it Radaman! ok, well i didnt actually SAY radaman, i was looking something up online and thats what i typed. must have been lack of brain power from the fasting and denial of kisses! hahaha)

Me and W with hummus, zataar, and lebanese pickles. YUM! :)

anywhooo... fasting is hard. for real. i mean its not just no food, but no drinks either - no water, juice nothing! and no kisses! ack!!!!!!! from sun up to sun down. i will say though... i kinda liked it. well i didnt like the headache i got and not being able to kiss my sweetie, but i loved going shopping with W to buy food for the Iftar (food you eat to break the fast) and Fatoor - the meal after breaking of the fast. We went to this great Halal grocery store (Halal is kinda like Kosher - its something thats permissable for Muslims) and bought some halal chicken, lebanese pickles, and these awesome seasoning mixes that were really inexpensive but made kick ass food. yum! Then, when we got home W and Adam and I spent time in the kitchen making food together, preparing for 7:03, the time when we could break the fast. There was a really good spirit in the air, W was all excited, and I was happy to be able to help by making some Zataar (which is a mix of spices that you mix with sesame seeds and olive oil and then spread over pita bread and bake and serve with tomatoes). and for real... food tastes SO GOOD when you can't have it for 12 hours! haha

i do also like some of the concepts behind Ramadan... W explained that in on sense Ramadan is a time when everyone is equal - rich or poor - and those with food reflect on and acknowledge how hard and painful it is to not have food and how poor people struggle with this every day, not just 1 month of the year.

I also read this on a website about Ramadan and thought it interesting...

Fasting is not only restraining oneself from food, drink and sex - that restrain only the mouth and the private parts. Every limb (Jawarih) must be restrained. The tongue must desist from slander and backbiting. The eyes must restrain themselves from any unlawful look. The hand must not touch or take what does not belong to it. The ears must not listen to idle talk, gossip, lyrics and notes that contain obscene and indecent things; the nose must fast also by not sniffing, smelling unlawful things. The feet must fast by not going to places where sinful acts are propagated. When you eat Sahuur and Iftaar, make sure the food on the table has been obtained lawfully.

Tho uhm... i'm not really sure what in the world an "unlawful smell" is. i'll have to ask him that. It is a good concept though - to try to spend some time to clear your mind and body of negative things. anywhoo... more updates later from my first Ramadan celebration (even though i'm not fully participating this year, i guess its better that i'm trying to participate even for a few days of the month!).

How bout dem O's hon!

2006-09-29T13:22:00.000-05:00

Last week i got a great treat at work by being offered the chance to leave work early on a beautiful Thursday afternoon and go to an O's game for free thanks to some consultants we work with! wehoooO!!

We had a great time watching the game in wicked cool seats - we were up one level from the ground but since it was a Thursday afternoon there were alot of empty seats so the ticket guy gave us seats 7 rows from the field! Soooooo cool!

Also fun was seeing a protest at the game (and meeting cool old ladies taking part in the protest while wearing fabulously fab orange feather hats) and actually seeing the O's win for once! haha I also got my pic taken with the O's bird and found out he doesn't talk, but makes a really weird tooty sound! It totally weirded me out! haha

Full set of pics can be seen here...

fun with spam

2006-09-14T11:24:00.000-05:00

a sampling of today's spammy spam spamilicious spam....

pleasantly speeding
Yet from embarrassment he still refrained from asking. Somehow it was a little funny to see a countenance completely theslave of feeling. The water overflowed and ransparkling in patches of moonlight over the floor. He had light-blue eyes and a firm chin under large,pink, sensual lips.

He would like another bath, too, more than before. You do not believe that now, but you will soonfind it true.

He satbored enough beside his frau through the rather short performancein French which came first. Then he suddenly remembered he had left his clothes in Faithsroom. There will be little or no dancing, signora.

off again, and the us into a separation between the manufacturers, the
officers are still possessed nuclear techniques of maintaining offered a wooden table, in the details at the

notice
I`crease Your S''exual Desire and S''perm volume by 500% L'onger o''`rgasms - The longest most intense o''rgasms of your life Multiple o''`rgasms -

was beneath the this I get it, took him and a place agreed to do, blow
was did we followed and blue eyes smoldered. Mallow, looked at the

The depressing and the inspiring

2006-09-12T10:38:00.000-05:00

I meant to post this a few weeks back...

The depressing...

U.S. Strategy and Tactics Fail to Mesh in Iraq

After saying that it appears that military leaders are looking for a way to stay in Iraq for the next 10-15 years AND that we are spending 1.5 billion dollars every week on this bullshit war, Thomas Ricks (a reporter for the Washington Post who recently wrote a book called Fiasco), says this...

Thomas Ricks: "When i was writing my book, i'd look out the window occassionaly at these kindegarteners... and i'd think that one of those kids is probably going to fight and die in Iraq... thats the optimistic strategy, by the way...

NPR: "Whats the pessemistic strategy?"

Thomas Ricks: "... That a full blown civil war emerges, that Iraqi's get so sick of us that they look for a new more violent version of Saddam to lead an anti-american jihad, or that we have a regional war that sends oil prices spiraling that causes world-wide economic depression."

The inspiring...

Willie's Deep Fried Fuel

Thankfully after that depressing story, NPR had a positive one (they usually close with something funny or inspiring). This one was about Carl's Corner - a truck stop outside of Dallas, Texas, that serves up only biodiesel fuel - BioWillie Diesel its called after Willie Nelson - my new hero.

The story is so entertaining with all its characters, especially the hilarious and zany Kinky Friedman - a self-described "compassionate redneck," guitar player, songwriter, mystery writer, entertainer and leader of the band Kinky Friedman and the Texas Jew Boys. I've heard about this guy before, but in this story he just makes me laugh out loud... something i definitely needed after that last story!

But beyond the characters, this story is inspiring - to think of the potential for making fuel out of donut grease!? I mean can u imagine?! All the grease that we use in this country at all the fast food joints alone! Not to mention all the fuel that can be made from soy, corn, etc. Plus, its inspiring to me to see another story that shows blasts away the stereotype about truckers all being don't give a shit rednecks who don't give a shit about the environment or the world. This story shows that there doesn't have to be such a big political divide - i.e. the truckers vs. the environmentalists. People can - and will - come together for the greater good.

Interesting product

2006-09-12T08:50:00.000-05:00

Who knows... maybe this can help it become hip to check yourself before driving after drinking.

iBreath, your iPod-powered breathalyzer
http://www.engadget.com/2006/09/12/ibreath-your-ipod-powered-breathalyzer/

A sound is worth...

2006-08-22T22:52:00.000-05:00

A few weeks back i heard this great story on NPR's Marketplace. In the segment, Ben Cohen of Ben and Jerry's Ice Cream talks about the federal budget as it relates to defense spending.

The cool thing about this story is that he didn't go on and on with facts or figures or opinions, he simply used sound to demonstrate the point. and it was powerful...

Listen to this story

Learn more at Business Leaders for Sensible Priorities

No audio? well, its not as moving, but if u must, you can read the transcript here.

San Francisco

2006-08-18T12:17:00.000-05:00

Earlier this month went to a conference on the topic of public participation, dialogue, deliberation, and other "touchy feely social worky" stuff as my coworkers would probably describe it. :-p It was really cool, although i crossed back and forth between getting inspired about all the possibilities and depressed about the challenges of actually implementing the techniques so that folks are involved in a meaningful way. i mean the reaility is that i can do all the coolest things and get people out and excited and involved, but if the powers that be don't do anything with the information and input, then wat is the point? anyways, it was good to meet people who face similar challenges, hear about things that are working, hear stories about things that didn't work out and other places that face similar challenges.

Te other great thing about the trip of course was being able to go with my sweetie. It was fun to run around the city together, riding the trolly's, eating good food, doing silly touristy stuff. yay!

Some highlights of the trip:

Eating at The Stinking Rose in North Beach - Thanks Karin for a great recommendation! This restaurant features garlic in all its dishes and it was amazing! yum! oh, and our waiter was named Francisco - which was too silly and convenient to me to be real! I am Francisco from San Francisco!?! haha anyways, the food was awesome! The restaurant was also cool too. We sat at a small table along the wall, but it was like a little booth surrounded by fabric and soft lighting. It was tres Moulin Rouge. haha

Sipping on a Cappucino and eating Tiramisu at a small cafe after eating at the Stinking Rose.

Shopping in Chinatown - I looooooooooove shopping in Chinatown in NYC and this might have even been better! I got some cool stuff for the new house. :)

We also spent forever trying to get our bearings straight so we could find the Chinatown gate. Here we are on our third visit to Chinatown when we finally found it! :-p

Ghirardelli Square - Bags and bags and bags of chocolate plus free samples. OMG there is no need to say more. SO GOOD! :)

Eating at Hunan Home's Chinese Restaurant on Jackson St. in Chinatown. We had the most hilarious time at this restaurant! The food was soooo good but the place was just too much. It's a small joint, basic in its appearance but the people there were hilarious and did i mention the food was sooo good!? :) We ordered a ton of food, including Mu Shoo, which they prepared using 2 spoons like chopsticks. I always loved how the servers did that so we spent half our dinner trying to figure out how they do it. When we finally figured it out W started picking up everything in sight using the damn spoons. I dunno if it was some kinda "special" mushrooms they put in the food, or something extra in the plum sauce, but we were on the damn floor laughing non-stop and uncontrollably at everything! haha oh well. it was a great time! oh and they had all these cool but crazy looking fish in their fish tank!

Riding the trolley's - We got 3 day passes but thankfully they didn't make us scratch off the numbers the first night we got em so we were able to use them for 4 days! :) We took the trolley's everywhere we went. Sometimes we also rode the buses, but why do that when you can get your rice-a-roni-san-francisco-treat-trolly-groove-on! :)

The bed at our hotel - OMG this damn bed was awesome! King size bed, super soft and comfy with a zillion pillows and a feather comforter! I practically fell asleep in 2 seconds every time my body touched the damn thing. :)

The crazy hotel with beds, telephones, and TVs hanging off the side of the building we saw in the SOMA/Yuerba Buena area of San Francisco. We were walking to a second hotel we were staying at for our final night after the conference ended. I had pricelined a hotel and when we saw this crazy building I joked it was our hotel. Sadly, the hotel we got was so sucky and they gave us 2 twin beds (and anyone who knows me knows that won't work for many a reason! haha). Fortunately, we were able to get a better room at the hotel next door which was part of the shitty ass hotel. It was weird. Anyways, it worked out though and this hotel/building we saw was too cool! :)

Seeing the sea lions at Pier 39 in Fisherman's Wharf - I love being by the water and it was fun to see these cute lil things. This is a pic i snapped through the telescope. Pier 39 also has a great view of Alcatraz and the Golden Gate Bridge.

Here are a few of my fav pics from the trip...

Check out all the photos from our trip...

Catching up... house stuff...

2006-08-08T16:23:00.000-05:00

Ok so somehow its been a month since I bought my first house! I can't believe its been that long already! and of course, as my friends so lovingly remind me, i haven't blogged since before buying / moving / losing my mind. anywhoo... so here's my best shot at journaling my house buying experience thus far...

I'm a homeowner, hon!
Me and my real estate agent, Anne Henslee

Week 1
Day 1, July 5 - Settlement day! So, since the owner didn't comply with the contract to fix a few things in the house and provide it clear of so we put in $2500 in escrow to pay for hauling all the nasty shit outta the house, fixing the plumbing in the bathroom, fixing the front door, and getting rid of the trillion gazillion disgusting bugs that i found out were also living here in addition to the 35 people.

Signed my name about 8,000 times. Got key to house (no, not keys, he conveniently said something like "Those are the keys to the front door, I'm not really sure where the keys to the other doors are." Eeep! Got a guy to come haul stuff, but in order to get him out to the house that day, we had to help him get some stuff out. Otherwise, we would have had to wait until he could find someone to help him, so we just decided to help so we could get the house emptied. That was fun... only found 3 or 4 razor blades. No crack pipes. darn! :-p

Went to home depot. Installed new locks, which unfortunately took a long ass time and was exhausting after all the other stuff we did that day. Sadly, W and i ended the day in a long, drawn-out fight about who know's what because we were both tired and sweaty and dirty and exhausted. Fortunately, he is awesome and we were able to make amends before going to sleep.

Asha checking out the new place

Day 2 - July 6 - Ran around in the morning taking care of stuff, worked in the afternoon, then went to Home Depot in the evening to buy paint in anticipation of painting 2 rooms in new house on Friday with my mom. uh... yeah... that didn't happen. :-p

Day 3 - July 7 - Cleaning new house - OMG can i just say that the people that lived there before really *loved* grease! i mean the cleaning guy spent like 4 hours just on the stove and walls and still didn't get it all cleaned. Yuck! Parents came to town and helped me at the house. First thing we did was tear out the build-out closet in my bedroom. Although it left me with less closet space, it took up too much space in the room, creeped me out, and blocked some of the sunlight from getting in. It took a while to finish, but after i was really happy with the results. Unfortunately, we spent the entire day on that and buying stuff at Home Depot/Lowes so we didn't get to painting. That night we spent time finishing packing up my apartment so it will be ready for folks when they come to help me move. The excitement of the day came when i came down the stairs, stepped over Kiah who was chillin mac daddy style on the stairs, slipped on some water on the kitchen floor, fell on my ass and had my right foot rammed straight into the wood cabinets. yeah, that was a great time. and it prompted only my 3rd breakdown of the week. or was it the 4th? oof! anywhich way, i was a mess! ack!

Day 4 - July 8 - Moving day! Thankfully I had a great crew of people come out to help me move. W and Ryan came up from DC to help. Then, Shirley, V, and Moh came as well (even though Moh got sickies from S who had it while in Israel! Ack!). After packing up as much as we could at the old apartment, we drove on over to the new house. V and Ryan took the kitties while I drove the big-ass U-Haul and W helped me make sure i didn't take out any cars, poles, sides of buildings, or small children.

When we got to the house my mom and dad were inside doing stuff. My mom kept smiling and taking pictures and, despite having looked right at the boxes, after about 10 minutes I realized that they had bought me the dining room set that i wanted. How cool is that! yay! :) I was so happy (as you can see in the pics)

Dinner was awesome pizza and subs from a place up the street that my neighbor Beth recommended.

After dinner, the crew left and my mom put together my bed while W and I ran around. First, we dropped off the Uhaul, got my car, ran to Circuit City because he had a gift certificate that expired that day of all days. Then back to Uhaul and then off to the old apartment to pick up a vanity we forgot - how is it possible that 8 people missed such a big thing! So we finished the night unloading that, returning the UHaul (again), chatting with parents, and collapsing on the bed.

Day 5 - July 9 - Said goodbye to the parents since they had to go back to South Carolina (and i am sure they were ready to get the heck outta there after helping me and working so hard on house stuff! haha thanks mom and dad! for real tho, they were a huge help and i couldn't have gotten through it without them!). Then W and i picked up the cleaning guy and we spent the morning and half of the afternoon cleaning the old apartment, taking stuff to Salvation Army all the way up in Towson (why are they all closed on Sunday!), and getting all the remaining shit out of the apartment. Yup, another day of big fun! haha

Week 2
Sick! ack! yup, i got a sinus infection. :( wahhh! nothing like the toxic fumes of bug spray when ur hacking up toxic green snot. mmmmm delish! Not much went on this week...

Week 3
Finally feeling better! W and i moved boxes from dining room, killed about 10,000 bugs, and spent a zillion hours cutting the hedges out front of the house. Apparently the former owner never cut them in the 9 years he owned the place. During the process, we excavated some crazy wood toys (fireman, milkman, and road signs) and talked to a few neighbors. Even though the work was wicked hard, a few neighbors come out and say thanks for cutting them down. They said that it had been years since they saw down the street and how good it looked!

We also met a cool couple and their baby who live a few houses down. W and the guy, Christian, hit it off right away, talking about immigration (the guy is from Germany and still working out his paperwork - no, getting married to a US Citizen doesn't make it all that easy to get a green card and citizenship!) and Indian movies (they both love Bollywood flicks, as does W!). The woman, Sara, and I talked about and walked through our houses, decorating, and renovating. It was really cool to see how they changed her house - especially the kitchen. Cool! It was great to see the space and get some inspiration - especially since I have so much work to do in mine!

I also found out that rats have taken up residence in my backyard after being evicted from a place down the street that's being renovated. Why *my yard* of all yards! Oy vey… so now that's another thing I've got to deal with. In the meantime until I can get to it, my n'bors are putting out rat poison and bought a bb gun (with a scope!) to shoot at them! Oh boy… this is definitely an interesting neighborhood! :-p

What's next? Working on caulking and spackling all the holes in the walls, cracks along the floorboards, and spaces in the kitchen where all the nasty bugs are hiding. Then, fixing the front door, getting all the plumbing fixed, and finally painting! Wehoo!

Kiah checks out the new house and looks for the food. :-p

Habibi

2006-06-28T10:30:00.000-05:00

i took this pic of W last week and i just love it, so i thought i'd share!

Also, W put some really cool arabic music on my ipod and i just love this one song - Habibi Ya Nour El Ain by Amr Diab. Wow. What a cool song - i mean first of all its got a great sound - beats that make you wanna just dance and sing along. Then, when you find out what the words mean... wow. so cool. Especially when W translates... he's got such a way of describing things and sharing it, it just makes me feel all gaga. ok, i'm a dork, but watever! its a great song!

Check out the lyrics or give it a listen (though the quality of the sound on the download isn't the best) or visit www.amrdiabworld.com to learn more about Amr Diab. Theres alot of cool music downloads, videos, and even the whole series of Pepsi commercials he's done (including one with J Lo).

Just another rainy monday...err sorta.

2006-06-28T10:08:00.000-05:00

Wow. Rain is a powerful thing. Sunday night, W and i watched the rain poor down. Before bed, he asked if flooding might be a problem and i was like uh, wat? no way, its just a big thunderstorm. hmm...guess i was wrong!

It turns out that this week is the Maryland Mini Monsoon Marathon. What in the world! I mean not only did it rain 7-10 inches around DC/Bmore on Sunday alone, but since then we've had more rain. and not just showers and sprinkles, but inches more! and more is expected now - Forecasters projecting we will get an additional 3 to 5 inches of rain last night and today - with downpours of up to 8 inches in especially unlucky locations.

Monday seemed to be the biggest day of chaos for the region. It took W nearly 4 hours to get from B'more to his job in DC, even though he got to the train station at 6:30am. Unfortunately, a big piece of the MARC train line was closed so they let folks off at New Carrollton, which of course was a zoo. Once he finally got on the metro, he had to wait for a while before moving, only to be taken to a metro station other than he needed to go where he was to catch a shuttle to the right metro station so he could get to work. eep! so wild. Lasheema also had problems getting to work - having got on the right metro, they got about 50 feet from the stop when they hit water and they all had to get out and walk in the subway tunnel! ack! as she would say "hell to the no" hahaha can you imagine!!!!!!!!!

In Hyattsville, where i used to live, authorities evacuated 15 homes and used boats to rescue 69 people who were trapped inside. More than 2,200 people were evacuated from their homes in an area surrounding a Maryland lake that was approaching 25 feet above its normal level today. On the Capital Beltway, a mud slide piled five feet of debris on the roadway near Alexandria, VA. The IRS, Dept of Justice, and National Archives all closed on Monday and i know Lasheema said that Tuesday folks at her work at the Smithsonian didn't have to work cuz things are so crazy.

of course, those are just minor problems considering that at least 6 people have already died and 3 others are missing because of the rain and flooding.

Anyways, i guess Shirley picked the right week to go to Israel and sip cocktails on the beach!

Image: From one of my favorite books, The Tao Speaks: Lao Tzu's Whispers of Wisdom

friday nite fun

2006-06-24T13:03:00.000-05:00

So last nite i came to DC to see my cutie and hang out with him since he has to work this weekend. we hung out for a little while at his place and he showed me that he posted the pic of me and him with the red bandana's on rapviste.net - a website for moroccan rap - and he was showing me that all these people posted sweet things to say about us and the pic. :) hehe He makes me blush. wat a sweet guy!

After hanging out at W's place for a little while, we met up with amber who is in town for a last visit before she moves to the west coast for a new job. she's staying in town with Thomas, a friend of hers from college in Auburn who i havent seen in a few years. We met up at a really good Indian place called Heritage India, in Dupont Circle. wow. the food was SO good. Also, since W has worked in a lot of Indian restaurants, he ordered us a few reallllyyyyyyyyy good appetizers - most of which i never would have thought to try myself. wow, they were so good! Then we each shared platters which had like 4 dishes each of different things. W and i got the meat one, which had a chicken and lamb dish as well as 2 veggie items (one with spinach with corn and the other black lentils). Amber and Thomas shared the veggie one which had 4 veggie dishes. i loved ours and it was so nice to share the dishes - kinda like having an Indian tapas. man, it was gooooooooood.

it was also nice to just hang out for a few hours, talking, laughing, and eating good food. did i mention it was good? lol it was also fun to watch W being his usual outgoing self. About 10 minutes after getting there, W realized that our waiter was Moroccan and they began carrying on like old friends. :) so cute.

After that, we came home to his place so he could crash before work, where it was like 900 degrees inside, even with the window open - in fact it was cooler outside than inside. crazy. W's roomate, Aziz was SO SWEET and knew that i was dying with the heat so he brought in the window AC unit for us to have for the nite. i was so surprised. wow, that was so nice! he's a very sweet guy. W is lucky to have him for a good friend and roomate. and i sure as heck feel blessed to have the AC! so nice!

anywhooo... today, W is working and i am being a lazy bum. later i will probably go see amber again and help her pick out some clothes at H&M. i turned her on to that place last time we met up in DC and she loves it. i do too, tho the one here in DC doesn't have any clothes for us big girls. ahh well, i spose since i'm buying a house, i shouldnt be buying any clothes.

oh, speaking of house... the latest update ... the settlement date has been moved back to July 5th because of something to do with the title company. not totally sure what's going on with that, but i guess i kinda feel ok with that since i am mildly wigging out about everything. so much to think about, so much to do! trying to figure out when to move, which rooms to paint, what colors to paint. what to finish before moving in, what can wait. One of my bosses, suggested that i get someone to wax/polish/watever the hardwood floors before moving in. i'd definitely like to do that, but just wasn't sure what all that entailed. he said he knew a guy tho and would be willing to talk to the guy, telling him i'm of limited funds and see what he could do for me. so, hopefully the guy will call this weekend and i can at least find out what it would cost to do that. also, trying to arrange for someone to clean the place. got a call into a woman about that. my mom and dad will be here next friday to help with some stuff, packing and we will also go to the house, get measurements, and go to home depot to try to get prices on things that need fixing and pick out paint, etc. that will be really helpful, just having my mom and dad to help me figure it all out - heck, just having SOMEONE to talk things through would help. so many decisions! ack! anywhoo, while i am stressed, i am also excited and looking forward to moving and having a place of my own. i also realize that as much stress as it is, i am blessed to have this opportunity! :)

ready to rumble

2006-06-21T10:42:00.000-05:00

Ugh. if one more person at work says something to me about a diet, ima beat someones ass.

i mean i understand that people "care" about me and feel like they are doing somethiing to help. and at first i was just like "well... ok, they just care and want to see me in better shape" ...but i'm sorry... walking up and saying to my face "there she is eating again" and "once you move into your house you should go on a diet"... uh. thats just fucking rude. and when it comes up several times a week no matter what i do, it gets fucking old. it gets insulting. and it hurts. i mean i know i'm fat. do you think i don't realize that? perhaps maybe i forgot? need to remind the fattie that shes fat! just in case all that fat is getting in the way of her being able to see correctly!

shit. i wonder if they ever actually thought about the reasons OTHER than what i eat that just might contribute to me being fat. i also wonder if they've ever thought about how it just might feel to have anyone and everyone think that they have the right to comment - out loud and to your face - about what i eat, how i eat, what i look like, and how i should look. can they imagine what its like to be walking down the street and have someone scream that you are a fat ass. do they know what its like to be out in a club having a good time with friends only to have someone scream out "jenny craig, bitch!" to you when you walk by. do they know what its like to spend half of your life believing that because you are fat u are worthless and no one will love you becaus fatties are gross, disgusting, out of control pigs who deserve to be treated like shit.

i dunno, maybe i'm getting too worked up about it, but i guess after 30+ years of people giving you shit for how you look and how much you weigh, it gets old. people here might be doing it because they care, but it isn't doing much to help motivate me. seems like its just bringing up alot of crappy feelings from when i was younger and just making me want to hide away. plus, is this really the kind of thing that should be being talked about at work? i mean its bad enough i have to come in here every day worrying about doing my best and achieving things, already thinking about how i look, but to then have to think about how others think about what i eat and how fat i am... ugh.

anyway. fuk it. i am who i am and if i want to lose weight, i will. til then, kiss my big white fat azzzzzzzzzzzzz! :-p

Mega-mania. the big W gave me a headache!

2006-06-19T13:51:00.000-05:00

After my class on Saturday i went to the infamous Wegmans that everyone is talking about. good ooogly moogly! if ever there was a place that breeds gluttony, sprawl, and capitalistic excess... the big W would be it. i mean good lord! i had such a headached after like 15 minutes just trying to take it all in and figure out what the heck they had there.

i mean imagine the biggest regular grocery store, then add the biggest Whole Foods Market you've seen, then add a kitchen store like Williams-Sonoma, then add an airport newsstand! i mean this place is nuts. one half of the store is devoted to a "marketplace" - with fresh fish, meats, bakery, deli - as well as fresh hot foods and a coffee place. then there is the fresh fruits and veggies, the cheeses , the olive bar, the regular bread not in the shishi section, the international foods not included in the regular grocery part. then you get to the health food section which is like 4 more aisles of tofu-granola stuff, then there is a huge section just for lawn furniture and housewares like pots, pans, dishes, cocktail sets, ceramics, kitchen utensils, etc. all this before you even get to the next 10 aisles, which are regular grocery things. i didnt even walk past like 2 of these aisles because my brain just couldn't handle it all! but from what i could see in the distance, there was a huge wall of magazines and the like. oy vey! soooooooooooooooo much crap!!!! it was crazy!

in the end tho, i did get some delish stuff! LOL and it wasn't as expensive as i thought. i mean some of it was def expensive, but alot was the same price as Safeway or Giant. so what did i get? some delish fresh tomatos on the vine, fresh mozzarella, a basil plant, brie, cheeses and meats from the deli, scrumptious black cherries, amazing red rasberries, mangos, roasted red pepper and eggplant spread, apple cider, fresh baked bread, etc etc etc etc... SO GOOD!

so while Wegman's is total information overload for me and i can basically get everything somewhere local, it was a little fun (albeit ridiculous and draining!) to see wat all the fuss was about and to get some good stuff, which W and i enjoyed over the last few days. especially good was a sandwich i made him Saturday nite - roast beef, brie, fresh tomatos, red onion and olives, with a pesto spread on fresh baked bread. dammmmmmmmmmmmmm soooo good (if i do say so myself LOL). Then, today for lunch i stopped home and we had a plate with a bunch of cheeses and veggies and even some Morningstar farms vegi "meat" stuff that i turned him on to! :) it was perfect for the hot weather. so yum. just like him ;) hehehe gaga

Bueller...

2006-06-17T13:21:00.000-05:00

Today i am at a class on Advanced HTML - to give me a refresher on HTML stuff and to learn some new stuff. while i am getting a refresher and learning a few things, it is sooooooooooooooo painful cuz the class is totally being taught by the teacher from Ferris Bueller. ack! sooooooooooooooooooooo slowwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww. the funniest part is that the guy is like, sometimes i go fast, so slow me down if u need it. oof! dude is about as fast as a turtle on qualludes.

and hes pretty old school... loves frames. eeech! i was like, arent frames kinda outdated or not recommended, why would u ever want to use them. hes like i looooooooooooveee frames :p so i dunno, the book is good and its good to walk thru this stuff, but at times i think i knew more than this guy. how i get me a job doin this!?

oh well, next class = Dreamweaver, which i am siked about since i've had the software but havent really known how to use it and haven't had to time to really fool around and learn it. plus, i'm gettin OT for today, so thats always worth givin up some weekend time. :-D

miscellaney miscelloooo

2006-06-13T15:03:00.000-05:00

oy! i am so far behind in posting blogs, so i'm just gonna start with the latest and hopefully get to the rest ...

Sunday nite W and i played Monopoly using the arabic/english set i got in Egypt. We had alot of fun, even tho he totally killed me and was a big poophead meanie! hahaha i don't think that i'm cut out to be a cutthroat capitalist, even if only during a game. who knows tho, it was the first time ive played in years, so maybe I was just a little rusty. hehe Just wait til i ask him to play Spit. i will destroy!!!!!!!!!! hahahhaha

anyways, i got my revenge by telling him that there was one rule that we forgot... the winner of Monopoly must clean out the litter box so that s/he remains at least somewhat humble. i'm bad. hehehe but since he is such a nice guy (and knows he was being evil during the game lol) he agreed. Here's W getting ready for the toxic clean up. :)

Saturday we went to HonFest, but got there kinda late, so things had kinda cleared up. But W got to see a few hons, learned how to say "goin downy oshun, hon", and see some crazy Hampdenites. Here are a few cute pics ...

Friday before last (June 2), W took the train up to bmore and on the way met up with a girl - Roxie - who had just arrived to the US from the Ukraine. i mean just arrived... fresh off the plane with only basic english skills and trying to get to Ocean City. Remembering his first days in the US speaking no english and with no one around to help him, he offered to help her. We agreed to take her to the bus station so she could get to OC, but there wasn't another bus leaving until the next day and the local hotels were overpriced b/c of the Yankees being in town for the weekend. crazy. so, she came home with us! first we went to McDonalds tho. LOL we wanted to get something to eat, but it was hard to figure out what she liked or wanted to eat. so in the end... we went wtih the international fav... McD's. of course tho, we went to one near my house and it was the most ghetto place ever. no ice, no milkshakes, no working debit machine and a server who walked away for like 8 minutes and came back and was like oh, u aint gotchur food yet?!? damnnnnnn! it was so ridiculous. anyways, we had fun hanging out with Roxie and helping her get where she needed on her first day in the US.

Kitty update: Kiah is doing much better know. As many of you know I had a big scare with him last weekend when i found him sitting in a pool of blood and pee. ack!!!! anyways, after rushing him frantically to the hospital and trying not to crash while i'm bawling my eyes out, the docs said they thought it was a UTI, but they were worried about it being kidney disease. they took blood and sent it out. we went home that nite, but the next day i had to take him back to be hospitalized because the lab results came back and his kidney #'s were off the charts. sux so bad :( fortunately, he responded well to the treatment and was able to come home after a few days. so far hes still on antibiotics and sometimes he still has some blood in his teetee, but overall he seems to be doing better.... he's getting his appetite back (tho hes on new prescription diet food) and hes moving around more. i'm still on high-alert kitty watch tho. i was soooooooo traumatized! i just pray that this was some crazy random infection and he is better and doesn't have to face serious ongoing kidney problems. so painful and sad!

House update: i'm moving in a few weeks! ack! looks like closing will be on the 26th or 28th then i gotta get that place cleaned, painted and ready to rock! ack! i get so overwhelmed thinking about it! i mean i am super excited, but man its also A LOT to think about!!! what colors to paint... what furniture to get... what to fix now, what to fix later... what my neighbors will be like... will i like it...will the kitties... can i afford everything... etc etc etc. oh well, each time i think that stuff tho, i just htink about the fun stuff like sitting on the porch, cooking out back, having folks over for dinner, decorating it however i want, and most of all paying big $ to ME every month instead of wasting it paying rent. :) yay! soo.... whos ready to help me move, paint, fix things?!?!?

inspired blessings

2006-06-01T10:23:00.000-05:00

Over the past few weeks i've had the chance to talk alot with W about Morocco (his experiences there and the things he's seen while growing up) and also his faith (Muslim). A few of the things we talked about stuck in my head and inspired me to go out for a short walk last nite and feed some ducks with some bread crusts i kept from lunch on Tuesday.
Specifically three things inspired me to keep the bread and put it to good use as a tasty treat for a cute little duck.

The first was when we were out for dinner with Lasheema last week. After ordering our food, we were talking about a number of things when he commented something to the effect of "man... this is just crazy... i just ordered a 16 dollar steak, but this is more than some people have each week to spend on just the basic things like feeding their family."

Also at that dinner, we got on the subject of food, homelessness, poverty, and religion. During that conversation, he was talking about the importance of food and how its a blessing that we must never forget to be thankful for. He talked about a time that he was walking in the city (DC) and saw some bread tossed around on the sidewalk. He said that he spent a few minutes picking it up and setting it aside so that it wouldn't get stepped on and destroyed. A man sitting nearby was like what the heck are you doing. W said, its food, its a blessing.

The third thing that inspired me was a convo we had on Monday night. I had fixed the tasty meal with shrimp quesadilla apps and then shrimp alfredo. Because we had so much food, I wasn't able to finish my pasta or the bread I was eating. Instead, i left some of the crusts (truth be told, i do sometimes have that little-kid-crusts-are-yucky kinda thing going on LOL). Anyways.... i didn't eat my crusts! bad girl! He noticed and was saying to me that we should never just trash it because it doesnt have the butter on it and isn't as good as the rest. Uhm, of course he said it in a much more beautiful poetic way! but thats the gist of it.

So, after work, i was off... on a mission to feed little duckies and make good use of the bread crusts that i was too much of a brat to eat. After walking for a few minutes I saw a little something in the water and I wasn't even sure if it was an animal or just some trash floating. low and behold it was the cutest lil duckie, all alone. i found the ugly duckling! haha ok, not really, but it was all alone and swimming its heart out lookin for some food. i threw it some, but it was such big piece for its tiny beak that it took him forever to eat it. a minute later a big duck came along and so i fed that too. here are the pics... it was gorgeous. sun setting, 2 cute little ducks, nice evening. blessings all around. :)

Also, on the way home, i was in the mood to listen to some kinda soulful song - the kind you can sing along to and just let go. Scrolling through my ipod i clicked on the Eagles and came along the song "Already Gone". It's one of those songs that reminds you how good life is, even if you've faced some shitty times in the past. it is, as they say in the lyrics, a victory song. My favorite lyrics:

Well I know it wasn't you who held me down
'Heaven knows it wasn't you who set me free
So often times it happens that we live our lives in chains
'And we never even know we have the key

That is so true. I mean i've heard the song before of course, i've even been in similar situation before - losing my way and realizing later that in so many ways i was keeping myself lost. but now, i'm back. i'm living life and i'm taking control of things. and most importantly, i'm happy. so incredibly happy. Alot because of W, but also alot because i'm no longer putting myself in that stupid victim role and beating myself up. I'm already gone... And I'm feelin' strong...I will sing this vict'ry song, woo, hoo,hoo,woo, hoo,hoo

*grin*

Sweetness

2006-05-30T15:37:00.000-05:00

Friday I left work early for the long holiday weekend and i met up with Shurwee and got my nails done in Columbia. We were hoping to get some ice cream with the kids after i was finished, but my nails thing went from a 40 minute ordeal to well over an hour b/c i apparently looked like ape-woman overgrown chia-pet from the lagoon and needed (yes, NEEDED, according to three people who told me like 15 times) to have my eyebrows waxed. oy vey. so a few rip rip rips and 10 minutes later i was de-aped and ready for the manicure. :-p anyways that took forever so we rescheduled on the ice cream (not to mention that i am a bad influence wanting to get them ice cream before dinner! but hey, isn't that wat i'm here for!?!? sledding on school nites and ice cream before dinner. sounds good to me! haha)

After all that cluckiness I picked up W, returned something at Best Buy and then went out to eat. I was so starving cuz i didn't eat lunch since i had a late breakfast and a short day at work. We had the worlds nicest waitress. she was a riot. i think W had a little crush on her. LOL here's the little salad man he made for the chef's for their good food. :-P

On the way home i talked to W's roomate, Aziz, who is less than thrilled that i have kidnapped him. He was like "you stole Wissam!" woops! i'm sowwy :(

Then we swung by Victors for what was to be a short visit and a mango drive-by drop-off. Instead, we hung out for a while playing with Kona, talkin about Indian food, and drinking delish mango lassies using some of the mango i brought and using my fancy mango cutter peeler thingy! YUM! :) Thanks V! (as a side note, mangos are so damn good. i think that they are proof that God exists! haha)

Saturday we got up and got ready for the wedding. I wanted to go get some pancakes at Wyman Park Diner, but W smartly suggested we get ready first - which of course took so long - deciding what to wear, fixing a pair of his pants, playing with the kitties, lotsa kisses, etc. haha

The wedding was nice - small group - mostly her family and friends. His sister and her husband were there, which was nice. Unfortunately most of his fam couldn't be there but the sister took alot of videos. She wore a traditional moroccan outfit and looked so beautiful. both of them were so nice.

The bride, Becky, was in a really pretty dress with all this ornate designs. it was really cute. the setting was so pretty - in her families backyard all full of trees and green grass and the day was so beautiful. when it got darker i lit candles in the pool (gave me a reason to stick my toes in the water haha) which floated along with roses, lillies, and gerber flowers.

There was also a woman there with the cutest chubby-cheek baby. I snapped this adorable pic of W with the boobaloo. SO cute! :)

After eating tons of good food and hanging out at the reception, we went home, chilled, watched some movies, and went to sleep at the crack of dawn. well, he went to sleep then. i'm sure i probably fell asleep again during the movie, bugging him with my snoring LOL oh well! no ones perfect. :p

Sunday we got up late, went to get something to eat and then went to blockbuster and to Giant to get some food to make dinner later. W wanted to check out the Harbor, so we did this after dropping off the groceries. It was nice to just chill at the water (wishing i had a boat!), watching people, listening to the musicians, and talking. It was such perfect weather and a great way to spend the nite.

Monday we finished the long weekend off with some really good food! For appetizer, i made shrimp quesedillas with red pepper and pepper jack cheese. Then we had shrimp alfredo with lotsa garlic and fresh veggies. delish! For desert i made a small fruit salad with fresh mango, banana, and grapes. yum!

After watching Memoirs of a Geisha we tried to fix up the hookah, but since i didn't have any aluminum foil the charcoal wouldnt stay hot enough. drat! so instead, we stayed up late talkin about all kinda stuff including our families, growing up, and morocco.

This morning, even though i was so tired, i got a special treat with cutie waking me up by saying "good morning pretty" and helping me get up and off to work with some toast w/peanut butter and a banana smoothie. yum!

Anywhoo... so now i'm at work and tired as heck! yucko! Oh well... only 4 days til the weekend right? haha

Broken pieces

2006-05-25T09:35:00.000-05:00

So the other week I was havin one of those sad nights and instead of just tryin to sleep it away like i used to, i decided to pick up the pen and see if i could get at what was bothering me. the following is what i came up with. bear in mind, its just a hastilfy scribbled first draft, so don't expect anything amazing. LOL

after sharing it with a friend the other day we got to talkin about my dad - which is really the subject of the piece, even tho he wasn't what prompted me to write. i guess in thinking about what was bothering me, i got to realizing that alot of my "issues" come from or are related to my realtionship (or lack thereof) with my dad. anyways, my friend was saying i should write a letter to my dad - even if i don't send it - but i dunno. i mean what would i say? how do u translate feelings as strong as these into a letter? especially when i can barely have a regular conversation with him, much less talk about such alien subjects as feelings and emotions! anyways, i dunno if i will write a letter or not - ive thought about it a long time, but havent done anything yet. i'm sure it would be cathartic even if i didn't send it, but its also one of those things that can open up all kinda shit inside ya. so yeah, i dunno. for now, i've got this....

Broken pieces
Can you be broken if you were never whole?

It hurts.
Please don't leave me.

Why isn't that good enough?
I mean... I love you... why isn't that enough?
Even when I am good...
I try, I help, I comfort, I love, I give...
All I want is to be told that
I am good enough...
I'm ok as I am...
I am loved just as I am.

But, it's never enough.
No matter how hard I try.
I am never good enough.
I'll never be loved just as I am.

Desperation.
Incomplete.
Constant searching...
Hoping...
If only I had ...
If only I did...
... then I'd be happy...

Empty wishes...
dreams fade into the void.
My glass is never full.
It will never be filled.

fun weekend :)

2006-05-22T22:01:00.000-05:00

This weekend was fun, tho too short. what is up with these 2-day weekends!?! yuck! Anywhoo, after a long day at work Friday (bike-to-work day, brunch at Blue Moon Cafe, and a long ass meeting in the afternoon), i dropped off Karin and went home to chill. Hooked up with W later that nite after his crazy few days of getting ready for his show and helping J deal with some crazyness with his wife.

Friday nite we watched Kung-Fu Hustle with the english audio overlay and english subtitles which is so freakin hilarious - i mean you see them say like 15 words in Chinese, then the english audio verision is like 8 words and the subtitles say like 3 words. shit is too much. i couldnt breathe at some points was laffin so damn hard. such a great movie. finally around sunrise and long after i was snoozin, W was sleepy enough to get to bed (someone who is actually more of a nite owl than me!). The next day we got up, i made some delish smoothies and we got ready to go to his show.

Sat nite we went to the show, which was a fundraiser at a school for some youth programs. the show was fun - tho crazy! i couldn't believe all the dirty dancin goin on haha (ack! i sound like such an adult! haha) but for real. i was like good lord! calm down people! The music was good (of course!) and W was hot. :) he looked great on stage and did a great job. Jancy did a great job of getting the crowd worked up (tho uh, maybe too much? hahha) DJ Bill (on the left with W) was there too. He was a trip. Great guy ... really talented. W is stoked about working with him on finishing up his album.

At the show i also got to meet Ws roomate, Aziz, and another friend, Hasan (pic on right). They were really nice. W was so sweet when he introduced me... sayin how nice and smart i was. such a sweet talker ;-) for real tho, it was so sweet! yay!

After the show we decided to go back to bmore, but stopped in Columbia on the way to say hi to Lasheema, who was up there at a friends bday party. after that we tried to find a chinese place that was open, to no avail (what is up with that! how is it possible that u can't get chinese at like 11:30 pm on a Saturday nite!? ridiculous!). So, instead, we made some stir-fry using some beef i got at the asian market. tasty!

Then we watched some more movies - well he did, i was crashed out! lol Sunday, after hours of trying to get Snoozy McSnooze up, he woke up and jumped all on me like a crazy little puppy. So damn cute. After gettin our azzes outta bed, we had some edameme and eel, while working on updating his MySpace profile. I added the bio i wrote and we played around with uploading a vid. Then we watched some of the BBC documentary Why We Fight. Damn that shit is so good. Justine had told me about it, so i got my hands on a copy and we watched some of it. i swear, i can't watch it all at once, it gets me so damn mad.

After that, we had the challenge of finding a place open to eat on a Sunday nite. We ended up at the cheesecake factory. it was yum! Then i took him home and we hung out at his place for a lil while with Aziz. After that, home for about 5 hours sleep and then off to work for another week of fun! :)

showin off a lil, but only cuz im stoked!

2006-05-17T22:47:00.000-05:00

So this weekend W asked me to help him write a bio that he can use online as he sets up pages to share his music (mp3.com, myspace, etc). Anyways, i had no idea what i was doing, but after a few hours (ok a few days haha) of reading some examples, talkin to him and readin up on how to write an artist bio, i created this... not too shabby, methinks! haha anyways, does it have a lil zizzle zazzle or am i just conceited?! haha oh well, any which way, i dunno, i dont think its too bad for a first try! ;)

From the alleys of Sale to the streets of Washington, DC

Born and raised in Sale, Morocco, currently living in Washington, DC, Wissam-Style's unique multi-cultural blend of beats and languages sets him apart from the crowd. Working with Jancy, Wissam-Style combines Arabic, Spanish and English to create a fresh lyrical flow that gets both the body moving and spirit lifted.

Since 1992, Wissam-Style has been a part of the growing hip-hop culture in Morocco. His older brother, Bosslham Benkheddah (a.k.a. B.B. Cool and Tag Cool B), led the way, becoming the first MC in Morocco.

Learning from his brother, influenced by the French and U.S. hip-hop of the early 90s, and finding inspiration in the streets of Morocco, Wissam-Style began casting rhymes, writing, and performing at the age of 15.

"I loved the subject of the songs - how they talked about suffering, about problems people have - especially the youth. But more so, I loved how they talked about how to fix things, how you can stand up and make the world listen to you. This inspired me to start to write about how I see things, what I think about, and how things can be better."

Wissam-Style's journey to where he is today was recently highlighted at 2006 DC International Film Festival, where the documentary Bellek was featured as part of the Hip Hop for Reel series. Bellek, a documentary featuring Wissam-Style, by Belgian director Bart Van Dijck, documents the lives of those involved in the Moroccan Hip-Hop scene in Sale and Rabbat.

Currently, Wissam-Style is working on his first album, Zilzal Slawi, is expected to be released in August 2006. The 11-song album, clearly reflects his love for family and country, his passion for life, and his constant focus on achieving his goals.

"For me, it wasn't until I crossed the sea from Morocco to the U.S. that I was able to see more clearly. It was like I wasn't able to understand certain things until I got some distance. For one, I realized that even though I didn't have a lot of things growing up, I had the love of my family. I know what it's like to be loved, no matter what. Unfortunately, many people I met - especially the young orphans in Morocco - don't have this.

I also realized how poor the conditions in Morocco are. There are rich people and poor people and nothing in between. This isn't right; it isn't fair. The people of Morocco are good people and they deserve more chances to show what they can do. Unfortunately, for too long the people in Morocco have lived in fear – of the police and others in power - and of the future. It is time for the people of Morocco to destroy those fears. To stop being scared about the future. . Too often, people think about their situation and limit their dreams to that. But, dreams are not meant to be limited. Dreams are so much bigger than the current situation.

Through my music, I hope that people in Morocco - especially the young people - realize that the future belongs to them."

Watch for more great things from this energetic and passionate Moroccan rapper. Join the email list to stay up-to-date on upcoming shows and to learn more about the new CD – Zilzal Slawi – coming summer of 2006.

what is this thing called happiness?

2006-05-10T21:32:00.000-05:00

so, I’m wondering how it is that I’ve been off my anti-depressants for a few weeks now (not intentionally, I just forgot to get it refilled before going to film fest and just haven’t gotten to it since being back) and yet I am happy. not that I thought that the meds were totally responsible for my happiness, but they sure as hell saved me from drowning many many many days.

Fear is the shadow of the desire for happiness
In all honesty, I guess I’m scared that this happiness I am experiencing now won't last. I was reading an article and talking about it in therapy this week… about how some people try to make other people unhappy in a way to control (i.e. if u keep someone else unstable or in the midst of chaos (like "frenchie the fuknut" at the film festival) then you have a greater ability to have control over them - or at least to keep them off balance). Others do it as a way to protect themselves - as if there’s only so much happiness to go around and so if someone else gets it, then they will have less.

The article also talked about the idea these days that happiness means safety, stability, and freedom from any harm. Of course we all want to avoid bad things, but beyond that being impossible, it’s also just silly. I mean how can u know what happiness is if you don’t know what sadness is? Not that we should seek out bad things (like I seem to do, but that’s a whole OTHER long ass blog haha), but to avoid bad shit is to avoid life. To be unwilling to risk getting hurt again in love or to try for something and not getting it is just a waste.

Life is change, growth is optional
So… why *am* I happy? I mean if I think about it I guess I can understand why I’m feelin better. I’ve been alot busier these days (and liking it!) - with the film festival, buying a house, working overtime, volunteering, etc. I definitely know that making plans for a new house is fun - deciding how to decorate, imagining nites on the front porch, bbq's out back, building a little city garden and growing tomatoes, etc. But more than that, it is a really big change - and a new start. A new start that I desperately need. A new place w/o a bunch of clutter. A new place with rooms that make me feel good. A new place with space for me to be creative in. A new place that is MINE. Plus, a new location that I really am looking forward to - not just b/c its more like a neighborhood and its close to fun stuff in Hampden - but more so because its away from my current place which has alot of memories. I mean every day coming home to see people out back at the Ottobar. It always makes me think about A and I just gotta put all that shit behind me and get to movin on. Not having that daily reminder will be good I think.

Let us be grateful to the people who make us happy; they are the charming gardeners who make our souls blossom. - Marcel Proust
Other reasons to be happy? Well, meeting W was a fun surprise - and I do mean surprise - came outta left field! from first glance I guess I don’t think he’s the kind of person I would have thought I’d be interested in (though I’m not sure why I do think that, cuz in many ways he is just the kinda person I tend to like). Anyways, who knows if he is or isn't the kinda guy I’d normally be interested in, who cares in fact. All I know is that he has a good spirit and he makes me smile and laugh all the damn time. and... well .... hes a good kisser! LOL ;)

Anyways, so yeah, happiness… what is this weird alien emotion? haha who knows. All I know is that I’m happy right now and that’s good enough.

PS - As a side note, the article mentioned that the concept that happiness means freedom from harm feeds tyranny – allowing those in power to establish oppressive systems in the name of controlling the uncontrollable.” Hmm… can you say “terror alert color code system”… can you say Gitmo… can you say all the evil shit Bush is doing!)

ooohh ooohhhh ohhhhhh yeah baby!

2006-05-10T08:18:00.000-05:00

damn, these last 2 weeks i have been beyond horny! i mean like out of control wanting to screw anything that moves horny! what in the world. so weird. i guess its cuz my body is going thru some weird changes. having gone off of birth control for over a month and screwing with my anti-depressants, i guess my bod is like who?! wha!? dammmnnnN! berrchikanawwwnawww! haha i have no idea what that means. makes me laugh tho. i'm sure its just the hormones all gone to my head ... or this huge ass coffee i'm drinking! ack! haha :-p

anyways, on the topic of the Big O... if you've wondered how the other sex experiences an orgasm... check out this Orgasmic Simulator!!

weird pics and other such nonsense

2006-05-08T15:55:00.000-05:00

Igor Vovkovinskiy, left, of Rochester, Minn., and German shoemaker Georg Wessels show off the size 26 shoes Wessels made for Vovkovinskiy.

ok, this pic just weirds me out! dude on the right looks like an oompaloopah in a carnival funhouse or something b/c of how big those shoes are. what in the world! this thing is just messin with my head! ack!

In other news... Not sure what to get mom for mothers day this year? How about a paycheck!! Study: US mothers deserve $134,121 in salary - A full-time stay-at-home mother would earn $134,121 a year if paid for all her work, an amount similar to a top U.S. ad executive, a marketing director or a judge... A mother who works outside the home would earn an extra $85,876 annually on top of her actual wages for the work she does at home.

Big brother alert... Why bother with silly nonsense such as due process when you can just buy illegal cell phone records.

Teaching the young what's important... performed and co-written by pop star Pink, at her elementary school talent show because her principal deemed the song inappropriate and too political. One portion of the song criticizes Bush for the war: "How do you sleep while the rest of us cry? How do you dream when a mother has no chance to say goodbye?" If the ban stands, Molly said she plans to select a new song for the show later this month with a message she thinks school officials won't object to: A hip-hop song about two girls fighting over a boy.

Yup, this is No Child Left Behind at its best! Don't dare talk about real issues, make sure the girls sing songs about boys! Teach these girls their rightful place in society as a brainless lump who's value lies only in what a boy thinks about her, how many babies she can make, and how many other girls she can fight to win the boy over.

And now... for this 2 more installments in the "You gotta be freaking kidding me, Is this sh*t for real?!" Bush Administration Moment:

Part 1: Bush is an idiot (in case you didn't already know): President Bush tells German newspaper Catching big fish was best moment in office, 9/11 the worst "I would say the best moment of all was when I caught a 7.5-pound perch in my lake," he told the newspaper in an interview published Sunday. Bush said the worst moment was Sept. 11, 2001, when hijacked planes crashed into the World Trade Center in New York and the Pentagon in Washington.

Part 2: Intelligence at its best in the Bush Administration. So last week Porter Goss resigned from his post at the head of the CIA... this video just might offer a few clues as to WHY he resigned. Watch the clip from the Daily Show at onegoodmove.

pimp daddies, super stars, and ginormous testes

2006-05-05T10:47:00.000-05:00

ahhhhhh, soooo tired after the film fest, but WOW! what a great time! :) well, except for the 2 pooheads i had to work with who had issues with me from day one. i made some mistakes, but sure as hell didn't deserve to be treated like them fools treated me. but oh well, what can you do. i did my best. and those haters just couldn't handle all the love i got from the peeps i met. hahaha anyways, enough about stupid men with anger management issues and frenchmen with elephantitus of the testicles... heres some highlights from my festival experience...

> Showin Trinh (Letter to the President) around DC and takin pics at the FDR memorial.

Check out the great pics!

> Talkin about Iraq, Iran, politics, and the media with James Longley (Iraq in Fragments). Wicked cool cat. and so talented.

> Eating at Meskerem Ethiopian restaurant with Trinh (Letter to the President) , Maori (Scene Not Heard), and her husband Simba. SO GOOD!

> Pimp daddy pimp in his Tazo Green Tea Latte half-caff with whip suit - Friday nite at the festival i was waiting around til the Martha Reeves movie ended b/c they were sold out when this crazy kat shows up all full of bitch-slappin attitude. he started goin off about havin bar codes and papers and why wont we just let him in. and then when the volunteer was all like, uhm, i need a name, i don't have a list of barcodes, he got all crazy pissed and goin off. all shades of massive attitude, starin down the volunteer all while tryin to pimp out in a mint green suit with bad hair, ridiculous white boots. that kat was fuckin wack!

> Gabriel Byrne (Wah Wah) - so hot! haha everyone i talked to who saw him at the opening nite film was like "OMG so hot!" hahaha too funny. oh, and his movie Wah Wah was great too! :)

> Seeing Charlize Theron (East of Havana) - ok, that woman is so beautiful! just off the plane lookin fierce. unfortunatley, i wasn't able to meet her cuz i wasn't VIP material according to the french fuknut who wore jeans and shitty ass sneakers to pick her up! uh, yeah. ok.

> Hangin out and takin pics with Darko (Bal Can Can), Georges (Maria Bethania: Music is Perfume), Bart (Bellek), Wissam (Bellek), Lasheema, and Valentin - I swear Georges was so undercover! He looked straight up proper and soft spoken but that man was just hilarious! he really got into Wissam's music and was all tryin to be "down". hahaha so cute. what a great group of peeps. Anywhoo.. here are some great pics with that crew - in Georgetown at the Exorcist stairs, in Chinatown, and at the Black Cat.

> Dancin at the Black Cat with Bart, Wissam, Lasheema, and Valentin - the DJ was doin it up old skool and we had a blast shakin our bootay.

> Falling on my ass at the after-party. ok, so while i did have some beers on top of no food and like 5 hours of sleep over the 10 days of the festival, that wax is soooooooooooooooooooo super slippery! one second i am throwing the ball, the next i am doing olympic flips down the lane and landing on my ass. hahahhaha oy vey. oh well, thank goodness i was too happy (and a wee bit tipsy) to care too much. even tho my best friends in the whole world didnt come to help me but rather grabbed anyone with a camera to take my picture! punk ass peeps! Pics from bowling (sans my ass fallin pic! haha)

In addition to the festival fun, i was able to reconnect with some other friends. First, I got to see Justine (friend from College) and her gorgeous kids! WOW! That was fun to see her and to catch up on things over some delicious sweets. I also got to talk to Kellie, who i've been a total poohead about keeping in touch with. That was good to be able to talk to her, but funny as hell b/c Justine put me on the phone and she was like who is this!? Then when i said its Monica, she nearly fell out! hahhaa Thats definitely a sign that its too long since you've talked to someone! Pics...

I also got a total surprise out of the blue call from John - a guy i used to see years and years ago back in my wild days. We went out to lunch, me, him, and his beautiful lil girl Julia, and caught up on all that we've been up to over the last 4 years. He's doing really well these days, getting his life together, lookin good, and enjoyin his time with his lil one. It was totally random and surprising to hear from him, but it was really nice to see him and know that he is doing well now. Plus, we ate at a really great Thai place down near GW - Thai Palace. Really good food! Yum! Pics...

And now for your viewing pleasure... Check out Wissam Style in this vid from the Director's Roundtable! :-D

from nothin to somethin

2006-04-26T14:25:00.000-05:00

wow. wow. wow. this year's FilmFest DC is freakin awesome! i am having such a blast. and if you haven't gotten ur butt down here to see some of these films, u are missin out! (and being a big dork!)

Heres my rundown on the festival so far....

One of my fav movies this year is Iraq in Fragments. wow. this is the most beautiful documentary i have ever seen. the colors, the music, the cinematography. unbelieveable. this film is a MUST SEE! and the director - james longley... wicked cool! so talented, smart, and just really good peoples. Check it... www.iraqinfragments.com

There is also a focus in this year's festival on Hip-Hop all over the world. Because I was driving around alot of the hip-hop folks last weekend I was able to catch alot of these films. Here are some i loved and i recommend seeing:

Letter to the President - Excellent film about hip-hop in the U.S. and how it has and still does relate to politics, racial profiling, police brutality and harrassment, etc. It also goes into good ol' Ollie North and his lovely dealings with crack cocain in the slums in order to finance his little illegal war and war crimes. Looking at so much of the hip-hop being produced today its easy to forget that its roots is in the struggle for justice, rather than the struggle for bling and bootaylicious babes. Narrated by Snoop Dogg with interviews with everyone from KRS-One to Russell Simmons to 50-Cent.

Hip Hop Colony - a look at hip-hop in Kenya and how it mixes all kinds of traditions - from western influences to swahili and benga. these kats can sing some good ass shit! www.hiphopcolony.com

Slingshot Hip Hop - i saw the trailer for this and i am totally stoked to see the full length when its released. This is about Palestinian rappers in Gaza, the West Bank and Israel - including two fierce muslim chicks that really tear things up! this looks like a really great film! watch for it later this year. www.slingshothiphop.com

Bling: Consequences and Repurcussions - this powerful film, narrated by Chuck D, looks at the illegal blood or "conflict diamond" market and its connection to hip-hop and rap music. I had heard of blood diamonds before, but i had no idea what that really meant and what was really going on. So you may know that rebel forces in Sierra Leone and other parts of African are using the sale of these diamonds to buy weapons and finance their war. But worse than that is their terrorist tactics of mulitation and killing: Over the course of the decade-long war, the rebels have mutilated some 20,000 people, hacking off their arms, legs, lips, and ears with machetes and axes. This campaign was the RUF's grotesquely ironic response to Sierra Leone President Ahmad Tejan Kabbah's 1996 plea for citizens to "join hands for peace." Another 50,000 to 75,000 have been killed. Learn more and see the trailer! wghfilms.com/bling.htm

Inventos - Inventos basically means to make something out of nothing - to make do with what you have. This movie is full of some tight beats and fierce performances as the director spends time with some of the top hip-hop performers in Cuba. excellent music and movie! www.clenchedfistproductions.com

I have also heard great things about the Brazilian film Favela Rising. Set in the slums of Rio (Favela means slums), the film also looks at music (in particular hip-hop, but in this movie also Afro-Brazilian) and its role in people standing up against injustice, violence, racism, poverty, etc.

Last night i was also able to see a hilarious dark comedy called Bal Can Can. Its my Darko Mitreveski and it was so freakin good. i loved it. the basic story line is that this guy is called for miltary service in Macedonia (where Darko the director is from) and he totally hates war and violence and all that. so he and his wife set out to run off so he doesnt have to do it, but they have to take her mother along who hates this guy. anyways, along the way the mother in law dies and they cant get her buried in another country so they end up rolling her up in a big carpet to try to smuggle her body back into Macedonia so they can bury her there, but along the way the carpet is stolen and so begins the crazy adventure to find "the granny in the carpet" hahha it was awesome!

These are just a few of the films I have been able to see. there are so many more that i have been unable to see or will see later this week. Hopefully tonight i will be seeing either Metal: A Headbanger's Journey or Bellek about hip-hop in Morrocco (i met the director and star of this film and they are a blast!).

Anyways, dont be a butt! Come to DC and see some movies! This is an exellent year to come see some flicks! Anywhoo... more later... I'm off to the airport again!

faith... not just a cheeser 80s song

2006-04-18T23:18:00.000-05:00

yup. so the bid on the house that i want was accepted last Friday (yay! and double yay!!) and i am super stoked about that. i mean how cool is that? ... me! buying a house! its like so grown up! haha

i'll tell ya tho, i am SO ready for it! to have a place thats my own and i can paint however i want and decorate however. and its super cool - a great area near Hampden and the light rail (can anyone say "happy hour before goin down to see dem o's hon!!" hehe), with hardwood floors throughout, cool clawfoot bathtub, little backyard, skylights, lotsa windows and light, and with really interesting and fun neighbors! :)

so... whats next... praying! praying! praying! lots of praying that the house passes inspection and the repairs needed aren't too horrendous. and wouldn't it be nice if the owner offers to fix a bunch of stuff, a strong man who knows how to fix things and paints comes into my life, and the ghetto people living in the house now get out soon without alotta drama or causin any more damage to the house. :-p yup... i'll just stick to the praying for the home inspection. the rest will fall into place if that works out. :)

yup. so tomorrow i start workin with the film festival, which i am stoked about, but know its gonna be busy and crazy. it will be nice to be out of the office, able to see friends, and hit all my fav DC spots again. not to mention seeing awesome films and meeting cool film peeps!

so ya... anywhooo... off to bed and get ready for the coming days of runnin around with the festival and getting home inspections and signing page after page of contracts and who knows what. i will say, it is nice to be busy and to have something to hope for and look forward to. not to mention, something to keeping my mind off of all those ewwy depressing things (and poohead people) that i've let keep me down.

and now for something completely different... happiness...new beginnings... reconnecting... creativity... coming soon to a life near you.

there doesn't seem a way to be redeemed

2006-04-12T18:07:00.000-05:00

Heaven bent to take my hand
And lead me through the fire
Be the long awaited answer
To a long and painful fight

Truth be told I've tried my best
But somewhere along the way
I got caught up in all there was to offer
And the cost was so much more than I could bear

Though I've tried, I've fallen...
I have sunk so low
I have messed up
Better I should know
So don't come round here
And tell me I told you so...

We all begin with good intent
Love was raw and young
We believed that we could change ourselves
The past could be undone
But we carry on our backs the burden
Time always reveals
The lonely light of morning
The wound that would not heal
It's the bitter taste of losing everything
That I have held so dear.

Though I've tried, I've fallen...
I have sunk so low
I have messed up
Better I should know
So don't come round here
And tell me I told you so...

-- Fallen - Sara McLachlan

"My Summer Vacation" by Monica H.

2006-04-11T11:35:00.000-05:00

ya, so since i'm po and thus can't afford to really go anywhere for vacation, i'm going to work during my vacation! haha ok, it's not like hard labor or anything and i'm actually really stoked about it... i've wanted to do it again for a few years.

what is it you say? why, the DC International Film Festival of course! :-D yay! yup, for 10 days I will be wining and dining with famous french superstars and brazilian hotties. haha ok, well its not all that, but it is wicked cool! i'll be driving again this year - i've done it 2 or 3 years back when i used to live down DC way. and it was SO MUCH FUN! basically, i pick up the film producers, stars, directors, writers, etc - whoever is coming to promote the movie - and take them to the screenings or other events. sometimes they want to do other things though - like go out and see DC or go shopping, etc. one time, i had coffee in Alexandria wtih these Mexican film directors. how cool is that! i mean sitting there talking about Vincente Fox and immigration and shit. i loved it! another time my friends joined me to go see a movie about Marley and at the last minute this wicked cool, super hot, French actress - Sophie Guillemin (pic on the left) decided she wanted to go to the movie. so we all hopped into the car! hahaha so crazy.

anyways, i am super stoked to have some time off and to spend it seeing great movies and meeting great actors and directors and other people who absolutely love film. Here are a few highlights of the festival, which runs from April 19-30. Check it out! there are some really great films and people coming this year!

April 19 - Opening Night Gala featuring the Washington premiere of Wah-Wah with special guest star Gabriel Byrne (you know, Keaton from the Usual Suspects!) and introduced by Sydney Pollack (eyes wide shut)

April 20 - An Evening With Sydney Pollack features an exclusive conversation with the award-winning actor/director at the National Gallery of Art. Includes film clips from Mr. Pollack's amazing body of work. FREE

April 26 + 27 - a must see! Metal: A Headbanger's Journey featuring in person - Directors Sam Dunn and Scott McFayden. I definitely have to see any movie that has a half nekked headbanger guy in leather panties in it!

April 27 - Award-winning actress Olympia Dukakis and director Thom Fitzgerald at the Embassy of Canada or in the theater for 3 Needles, also starring Lucy Liu, Sandra Oh and Chloe Sevigny.

April 28 - Motown legend Martha Reeves (of the Vandellas) will introduce the World Premiere of Dance Party: The Teenarama Story

Also, don't forget the closing nite film and party on April 30! wehooooo! such a great time!

Doh! I almost forgot! I should know for sure tomorrow, but since Lexus is one of the major sponsors for the event, I might be rollin pimp style in a Lexus! yeahhhhh baby :p

yay! i'm so cool

2006-04-10T12:49:00.000-05:00

hahaha ok, maybe not, but after a year or more of craziness and madness my company's new website is up! yay!! so, while i didnt design it, i did have the brilliant idea to redo the site. thus leading to the year of crazy making :-p ... and writing and editing like 200 pages! ack! i definitely like doing the other fun stuff like putting new stuff up and playing with pictures and making little buttons like i did for the bike to work day registration (right). i am so burnt on writing shit!

oh well, it took forever to do, but it looks so rockin and hopefully it will be easier for folks to use! :) and if not, fuk em! i like it hahaha

anyways, check it out! www.baltometro.org.

mmmmaaazzzinnng

2006-04-05T12:39:00.000-05:00

yay! so i've got wicked cool friends. yes! its true! i don't know how it happened but it is true, miracles do happen! Shurwee was actually able to plan MONTHS ahead with Vicious V-dizzle to score totally wicked seats for my bday present ... Ben Harper at Merriweather in September. wehooO! I cannot wait! how rockin is that!

Yay for friends! love you! *muah!*

OMG sooooooooo cute!!!!!

2006-03-29T12:57:00.000-05:00

ok, can i have a pet panda?!?! so freaking cute!

Watch this video - SO CUTE!: Wolong Breeding center officials display the panda cubs (CBS/APTN).

Also check out the Panda Cam - see the pandas live! :)

Learn more: www.pandasinternational.org

so much fun!

2006-03-29T09:54:00.000-05:00

so cool! can you imagine how much fun this must be?!

if you cant see, click here to view it on the Google Video web site.

"The guys at Top Gear really know how to show a small hatchback a good time... by using it to play soccer. Five a side "football" with Toyota Aygos pits red versus blue for the ultimate sporting experience."

there's more to life than what makes you cry

2006-03-27T15:40:00.000-05:00

so on the 17th i officially finished my 60-day "hetox". it was actually the 2nd one i did, since i screwed up in January and so i started it over again. so ya, over 120 days... 4 months. and still... crappy ass feelings about him and how things went down. :( blah.

in therapy on monday, i was talking about all this ... the hetox, getting over and moving on, dealing with all the continuous "why?" questions in my head and the wishes that he'd show up and things would "be all better" - or at least he'd answer some of my damn questions!, and processing all the back and forth emotions i have - one minute missing him, one hating him, the next sad, the next grateful, the next lost. i think one part of why its still so hard is cuz of the whole online world. its easy to see whats up in someones life in these days of blogs, myspace, email, etc. i think that kept me involved, even tho i haven't actually talked to him or seen him since the nite i spent with him just before thanksgiving. but b/c i visited his myspace page + blog, i found out he had a gf, who he started dating just after screwing me. lovely.

so wats the benefit? wat did i learn by being a virtual vouyer and finding this out? i mean its not like i didn't know that he wasn't all that into me or interested in being serious with me. i guess it just hurts to have confirmation that despite the words he said to me - we said to each other - that i didn't mean all that much to him since he dropped me and moved on within days. so... looking helped me how? by giving me more reason to feel shitty about myself? by inspiring more questions that continue to float round and round in my head? - questions that he's unable to answer or just plain isnt interested in answering. uhm, yeah. good times.

why do we do things that we know will just end up harming us?
i know better. and yet i kept on doing it! even tho i knew it was keeping in emotionally involved - attached - connected. even though i knew i was hurting myself by doing it! so, one of the things my therapist challenged me to do was to stop looking at his blog. at first i was like uh, no way! then i was like well, maybe. then i was like uh ack! no way! so, then she asked me 2 questions:

Therapist: tell me the first word that comes to your mind when i say.... "how will you feel if you don't look at his blog? if you aren't able to check in and see whats going on with him or what hes thinking."
Me: Lost or Loss
Therapist: "ok, well... how will you feel when you are able to effortlessly not even look at his blog? "
Me: Free

woah. i mean wat in the world! talk about a moment of clarity! jeez. i couldn't believe it. i mean what a powerful statement. i'm holding on to something that i know will hurt me b/c im afraid to lose it and afraid of what comes next. yet, if i stop holding on i'll be free!!! how can i choose pain and loss and feeling scared over feeling free!?!? i can't. well i can, but i won't. thats why i committed to start with 1 week of not looking. i did that. it was hard sometimes, easy other times. and now... 1 more week. i can do it. one day at a time. one minute at a time if thats what it comes down to.

and now for something completely different... the positive!
ok, i can think positive! ... sometimes. :-p hehe

the internet gives me a chance to realize that i'm not the only one feeling these exact same feelings and trying to get on with their life w/o someone they love(d). .............................................................
after talking to a friend the other day about her feelings and wondering if what her bf said meant this or that or what if it meant this, and how would she feel if he felt this way or that and what if the moon was full how would that change her perception of things and if her cat meows 3 times in a row does that mean he feels this or does that mean he doesnt feel it but is only acting like hes feeling like it because meaning it isnt as easy to do as feeling like you mean it so its better to act liek you mean it. maybe. sometimes. on thursdays. in spring. :-p and i thought... holy crap! i mean at least i dont have to worry about that crap! thank god im single and that my vibrator loves me no matter what! LOL

on fire

2006-03-24T15:36:00.000-05:00

my heads gonna explode from how much i love ben harper! ack! sooooooooooooo damn good! check out this live set he did this morning on KCRW.

holy crap. he's so sexy and talented and passionate! if we clone people, he should definitely be one to clone! so damn good! i think i'm about to burst in to flames. ack! i love him! i wanna have his baby. hump his leg. LOL ok, that might be a bit far. its other things i'd wanna hump anyways. haha sike. sorta. haha

anyways, hes brilliant! check it out! http://kcrw.com/smil/mb060324Ben_Harper.ram hes got a string quartet playin on the first song! turn it up and listen to how fierce it is! later in the vid, he plays slide guitar on a wicked cool performance of Better Way, which is getting alot of air time now. in between sets, he talks to the DJ and talks a little about his family, the songs, album, and touring. its a great interview! Then he goes into a phenomenal performance of Black Rain and then glides right into a fierce jam of Please Don’t Talk about murder. damnit i love this man! SO good!!!!!!!!!!! i wish i could see him in concert soon and meet him again. hes so wicked cool!

finger lickin goooooodddddd

2006-03-24T14:27:00.000-05:00

so, after a dreadfully boring, useless, and time wasting home-buying counseling session, the universe treated me to the delicious smells of one of my favorite things... peruvian chicken! and after leaving the peruvian chicken capital of the world - washington, dc - i have been desperate for a local place to get some good stuff! and i found it! OMG this chicken is SO darn good! and cheap! a half chicken box with 2 sides is only 6 bux! and of course thats too much for one meal, but can anyone say "now i don't have to cook dinner!" YUM! 3 of my favorite things... delish food, cheap, and leftovers so i don't have to cook! hehe

anyways, the place is Chicken Rico up on Eastern Ave. Here's a short review from the Baltimore City Paper... www.citypaper.com/eat/review.asp?rid=9534

Get it like you like it. I LOVE it! :)

2006-03-21T17:45:00.000-05:00

Another amazing and brilliant album by Ben Harper! Released today, Both Sides of the Gun, features 2 CDs full of some awesome new sounds.

Not a surprise for the hardcore fans (and uber BH geeks like me!), I love how his new albums always go further and do something new. This one doesn't disappoint.

The new album, in particular Disc 1, is at first glance little more mellow than his last few, but its got some fierce jams as well, especially on Disc 2. Because I got the pre-order special edition from his website, I got a 3rd CD that include some awesome live jams and a killer live jam with Charlie Musselwhite called Dressed In Black. WOW! Shit is really tight. Definitely one of my favs on the album.

Black Rain is also a great song - with a wicked funkalicious groove to it. and of course, Ben knows how to do it up right with the lyrics - Black Rain has somethin fierce to say about the whole hurricane Katrina fiasco in NOLA last year. Here's a taste:

"you left them swimming for their lives / down in new orleans / can't afford a gallon of gasoline / with your useless degrees / and your contrary statistics / this government business / is straight up sadistic ... it won't be long till the people flood the streets / and take you down / one and all"

Anyways, my first favorite song (I'll have more favorites by tomorrow I am sure haha) on the album is Picture in a Frame, from Disc 1.

Picture in a Frame

you can sell your soul
but you can't buy it back
i've spent my whole life
working to give you
everything you lack

i would gladly trade
all of my sympathy
for sorrow
if i could have you
here with me tomorrow

so many wasted days
the past is so hard to get out from under
so many words that i wish i could say
the future rattles my bones weak like thunder

i wish you were here
so we could walk and talk
in the soft rain
now all that's left of us
is a picture sitting in a frame

everything i wish for
is everything i see
i remember when your kisses were for me

-- Harper, Ward, Nelson, Yates, Charles, Mobley

So ya, Ben does a phenomenal job on this new album. Give it a listen! and ask your local radio to play it up! Also, check out the new video for Better Way or some other vids of killer live performances.

Album title: Both Sides of the Gun
Artist: Ben Harper
Release Date: March 21, 2006
Where to buy: www.benharper.biz
"Must listen" songs: Cryin Won't Help You Now, Dressed in Black, Gather Round the Stone, Get It Like You Like It, Picture in a Frame

idiots, fascists, and justice seekers...

2006-03-16T15:37:00.000-05:00

Sharon Stone: I'd kiss for peace - ugh. What an embarrassment. And we wonder why people in other countries think Americans are complete idiots!?!??! Look no further than this interview with Sharon Stone on her tour to Israel. what!??!? wat the hell is she doing there!?! and why is she being allowed to speak! what a blinkin idiot!

"Noting it was International Women's Day, Stone suggested that more women become involved in the male-dominated world of Mideast peace talks. Not bad, but THIS after saying "I would kiss just about anybody for peace in the Middle East...I think (men and women) need to be a team. We were meant to be a team"

... uh... o...k...? Wow, maybe she will start a new movement: "Fuck for Peace" Sign me up! :-p anyways, here's Jon Stewart's lovely commentary on Sharon Stone - the woman he describes as "an actress and noted vaginest" hahhahhaa and a funny story about it on The Defamer.

on the flip side, James Spader (destined to be my lover) did a rockin job on the last episode of Boston Legal. he was defending a woman who said she didn't pay her taxes b/c of all the fucked up shit thats going on in the country. i thought he did a great job and loved it. of course all of these so called "liberel watchdogs" and "offended conservatives" flipped out. here's a lovely quote from one of these sites "Jesus is God, and God started some of the bloodiest wars in the Bible, even slaughtering women and children...Jesus advocates truth - just like conservatives - and sometimes it leads to war..." fuckin fascists.

anywhoo... judge for yourself. the video is here and this site "newsbusters" has the text of his speech (along with alot of comments about how liberals suck and conservatives only tell the truth and fight for freedom. uh yeah. right).

In other news, just days til Ben Harper's new CD - Other Side of the Gun comes out (i so pre-ordered that shit like 3 months ago LOL). he is soooo my lover. i need to take out Laura Dern so he can be with me. LOL

anyways, he is so fucking rightous! brilliant! its also cool that the video includes his families music shop. so cool.

Support good music! Buy Ben's album now :) www.benharper.net

how to make a va-jay-jay 101

2006-03-14T00:32:00.000-05:00

wow, so on HBO there is a series of documentaries about hookers by this guy Brent Owens. and it is so interesting!

this last one i watched was about tranny hookers in Honolulu. WOW! it was crazy! the one woman - Barbie Q - had sexual reassignment surgery and now strips! (yes, that is her on the right!) they showed her dancing and a few close-ups of her brand new vagina! wow. it was so fascinating! i mean like how in the world did they do that?! i mean it looked so real and she was also talking about having sex and having an orgasn and i was like woah how do they do that!

so, of course, being totally addicted to google, i had to look it up! i found this site that describes the surgery (uhm, as a note, there is a big splash of va-jay-jay when you open the site... then there are drawings, but uh, you might be cautious if opening at work or with others around! tho it is quite a conversation piece! haha) ... anyways, even with all those pics i still cant quite figure it out!! LOL anyways, amazing what kinda shit they can do these days.

the other crazy thing about the series is that they show the hookers meeting up with their johns and well... hookin up. :-p I gotta say, its a bit weird to hear these folks having sex. i mean not the oohs and ahhs kinda sounds, but the conversation! its just crazy what the guys say, not to mention the hookers.. wow! the things they say are just straight up nasty. and the guys are all into it! but for real, i do NOT get when they all hock up some spit and spit it on the guys wanker. i mean the guys are all like oooh yeah! what?! so wack.

Anywhoo, here's the links to info about the shows if you're interested. These are just the 2 i've seen, hes got a few more.

Totem poles, donut holes, and homo hops

2006-03-06T00:05:00.000-05:00

OMG there is this new show called Campus Ladies and it is so freakin hilarious! its basically about 2 40 year old chicks - Joan and Barri - who go back to college, even going so far as to living in the dorms! the 2 chicks who do the show are the best, it wouldn't be the same with different actors. these chicks are so freakin hilarious and the things they do! hahhahhaha this weekend i watched the "lesbian lovers" episode, whey they realize they are gay, well at least for the day LOL OMG the shit they do is so freakin hilarious. anyways, heres a clip. also check out Night of the Condom when Barri hooks up with Anthony Anderson, who asks Barri "your cookie... is it more like an oatmeal raisen or smooth like a macademia nut" and Joan, in order to impress a man, does some insane open mic poetry to talkin about "Take your totem pole to my donut hole" hahhahahhahahaha

http://easylink.streamlogics.com/oxygen/online/campusladies/cl_webisode_lesbian_m.asf

Favorite line from this clip: "you want someone who just dives in and is just like 'i cant wait to get in you!'" hahhaha

See more clips: http://television.aol.com/feature/campus_ladies_tv

WMD found!

2006-02-28T14:35:00.000-05:00

yes, yes, its true... weapons of mass destruction have been found. no, not in iraq. in my NOSE! ack! I cannot believe the ewwey ick that is coming out of my head! so nast!! yuck!

so yeah, after a really fun week, i got the sickies and i've been all outta it for the last 4 days...doped up on nyquil and tylenol and robitussen and chicken noodle soup. all soundin like darth vader with a death rattle and lookin like jabba the hut on a good day ... and now... the nastiest of the nast has taken temporary residence in my nose. yuck!

anyways, ill post more later about my fun nite with lasheema on thursday and my rockin nite out with the gang on Friday at Sidells bowling. too funny! :)

my new favoritist band ever!

2006-02-22T16:47:00.000-05:00

OMG Scissor Sisters are like my newest favoritist bestest band ever! These cats are so wicked! i totally love them! every time i listen, i totally get up and dance around. in fact i just did just that in front of 2 coworkers and uhm, well they almost dialed 911, but watever, i digress! these kids are totally tight!

my fav song is Take Your Mama. OMG soooooooooooooooooo good! i cant stop moving and shakin my bootay! Check em out!