Bob the VIII is a rosemary plant the lives on my balcony. He is the replacement for Bob the VII, a basil plant that sadly left us after an unfortunate overzealous bruschetta incident (note to self and roommate: plants need leaves to photosynthesize).
Bobs, VI, V, IV, III, II and I all share a similar sordid history, victims of underwatering, overwatering, strange little bugs, overfertilizing, and other causes i haven't quite figured out yet.
All of my palm trees are named Marley. Marley the First narrowly escaped death when I moved and gave him to my dad, who planted him in the backyard where he is flourishing. Marley II is barely hanging by a thread, in Tim's backyard--some strange fungal infection.
I have tried naming them differently to see if it maybe it might help, but Ivy and Crazy Bob (a corkscrew rush that my friend Pamela rightly called "the pubic hair plant") expired at roughly the same rate. I thought it might be that the plants themselves were of poor quality, but I've bought no less than ten for Tim, and his pad is a veritable greenhouse of lovely, flourishing flora and fauna of all species. I asked him if he got me a plant for Valentine's day, and he said of course not, he would never be that cruel to the plant.
I guess you could say I'm not too good with plants.
Anyway, I hope Bob VIII lasts longer than his predecessors. Rosemary bushes are supposed to be hardy--but then again, Bob II was a Rosemary.
Friday, February 11, 2005
Wednesday, February 09, 2005
my sweatsuit
i bought this velour sweatsuit a month ago, and i wore it without washing it, and realized that it smelled gross, like dryer rot. i thought it might be due to some packing material or plastic it was stored in at the shop, or the fact that i had not washed it before wearing, so i washed it. twice. it still smells funny. you can't tell unless you bury your nose deep into a gathered bunch of it and inhale deeply, but it still grosses me out because i'm a real stickler about my clothes smelling stale or improperly dried. i don't really know how i got to be this way.
so as i sit here, taking periodic deep inhalations of my bunched up velour sweatsuit, i am filled with deep consternation at what can only be shoddy manufacturing.
no wonder it was on sale.
so as i sit here, taking periodic deep inhalations of my bunched up velour sweatsuit, i am filled with deep consternation at what can only be shoddy manufacturing.
no wonder it was on sale.
Sunday, January 30, 2005
my boyfriend has a bowl cut.
Sorry baby, I just can't drown in silence any longer....
yes, everyone, he has a big huge bowl cut. straight across the forehead. he's trying to grow his hair out. i'm sure it will look great in a few months, and personally i think it's adorable--my little cousin has the same haircut. but his friends seem to think it's HILARIOUS. so, the caring and wonderful girlfriend i am, i've jumped on the wagon and continue to tease him mercilessly.
yesterday when he was driving me home on his way to LA:
Me: "Honey, drive carefully, okay? Whatever you do, don't drink and drive tonight...because...that might look like a helmet on your head, but it really isn't. It won't protect you in an accident."
He: "Get out of my car!" *opens door*
I spilled out of the car laughing, while he drove off: "Hrmph, I'm going to use my hair to get myself a new girl tonight!"
i cracked up so hard i could barely unlock the gate to get into my place.
yes, everyone, he has a big huge bowl cut. straight across the forehead. he's trying to grow his hair out. i'm sure it will look great in a few months, and personally i think it's adorable--my little cousin has the same haircut. but his friends seem to think it's HILARIOUS. so, the caring and wonderful girlfriend i am, i've jumped on the wagon and continue to tease him mercilessly.
yesterday when he was driving me home on his way to LA:
Me: "Honey, drive carefully, okay? Whatever you do, don't drink and drive tonight...because...that might look like a helmet on your head, but it really isn't. It won't protect you in an accident."
He: "Get out of my car!" *opens door*
I spilled out of the car laughing, while he drove off: "Hrmph, I'm going to use my hair to get myself a new girl tonight!"
i cracked up so hard i could barely unlock the gate to get into my place.
Wednesday, January 26, 2005
disgusting
Last week, New York Hip Hop Station Hot 97FM broadcast the following song to millions, repeatedly:
(sung to the tune of "We are the World")
"..All at once you could hear the screaming chinks
and no one was safe from the wave
there were africans drowning, little chinamen swept away
you could hear god laughing, "swim you bitches swim"
So now you're screwed, it's the Tsunami
you better run or kiss your ass away, go find your mommy
I just saw her float by, a tree went through her head
and now the children will be sold to child slavery..."
What an unbelieveably sick thing to do. I hope they are fined by the FCC and the people responsible for this are fired. I can't believe they thought it was funny.
I don't even have the words.....
hiphopmusic.com is keeping very close tabs on the situation. Visit their site to sign the online petition and write to corporate sponsors of the radio program.
Links to the media stories on the incident:
New York Times(registration required)
Daily News
Newsday
Billboard
(sung to the tune of "We are the World")
"..All at once you could hear the screaming chinks
and no one was safe from the wave
there were africans drowning, little chinamen swept away
you could hear god laughing, "swim you bitches swim"
So now you're screwed, it's the Tsunami
you better run or kiss your ass away, go find your mommy
I just saw her float by, a tree went through her head
and now the children will be sold to child slavery..."
What an unbelieveably sick thing to do. I hope they are fined by the FCC and the people responsible for this are fired. I can't believe they thought it was funny.
I don't even have the words.....
hiphopmusic.com is keeping very close tabs on the situation. Visit their site to sign the online petition and write to corporate sponsors of the radio program.
Links to the media stories on the incident:
New York Times(registration required)
Daily News
Newsday
Billboard
Thursday, January 20, 2005
Family reunion
The holidays are all about family drama.
After much cajoling and grandmotherly intervention, my dad and the stepmonster (hereinafter SM) finally allowed my sister to come to visit me in SD and attend the family reunion (of relatives from my mother's side) last Saturday. This despite a sneaky last-minute coup staged by SM at the last minute to prevent my sister from attending, taken straight out of "Cinderella."
For weeks, she had smiled and said to my sister, "Of course you can go, IF you finish your chores and IF you complete all homework assignments." My sister worked her butt off to finish every chore and complete all assignments. BTW my sister's chores consist of cleaning, sweeping and mopping every inch of the entire house each week, doing all family laundry, all heavy lifting and all the dishes every day, as SM doesn't lift a precious finger to work.
Then, the afternoon of the day before the reunion, SM called each of my sister's six teachers directly, asking for a progress report of any assignments she had EVER missed. Since my sis had missed seven assignments EVER, SM staunchly refused to let her go, arguing that it would cause her to flout authority and become a bad student.
And I spent the afternoon crying my eyes out 100 miles away, shouting at the top of my lungs over the phone to my dad, as he parroted SM's whispered arguments.
Like any desperate person, I immediately called his mother. Grandma heard my sniffles and commandeered an army consisting of herself, my dad's brother and sister, and one of my mom's sisters, who spent the evening yelling at SM, eventually securing my sister's safe passage to San Diego.
I suspect we will have to go through this whenever she comes to visit me.
But, the family reunion was lots of fun, full of lobster, Peking duck, abalone, and drunken distant relatives crooning Chinese songs over a soundsystem turned so loud you had to shout to the person sitting next to you. A total of six relatives crammed into apartment to spend the night, including two little cousins, and now I've been finding strange things everywhere. There was a miniature hourglass on my desk, a collection of legos at the foot of the bed, and all the tissue boxes have had their contents removed, scrunched into tiny balls, and put back into the box.
It was a great weekend, even better because we had won a small victory against the forces of evil.
Stay tuned for the account, to be posted in approximately 30 years, of SM's sufferings at the slummy sweatshop disguised as an old folks home I shut her up in.
After much cajoling and grandmotherly intervention, my dad and the stepmonster (hereinafter SM) finally allowed my sister to come to visit me in SD and attend the family reunion (of relatives from my mother's side) last Saturday. This despite a sneaky last-minute coup staged by SM at the last minute to prevent my sister from attending, taken straight out of "Cinderella."
For weeks, she had smiled and said to my sister, "Of course you can go, IF you finish your chores and IF you complete all homework assignments." My sister worked her butt off to finish every chore and complete all assignments. BTW my sister's chores consist of cleaning, sweeping and mopping every inch of the entire house each week, doing all family laundry, all heavy lifting and all the dishes every day, as SM doesn't lift a precious finger to work.
Then, the afternoon of the day before the reunion, SM called each of my sister's six teachers directly, asking for a progress report of any assignments she had EVER missed. Since my sis had missed seven assignments EVER, SM staunchly refused to let her go, arguing that it would cause her to flout authority and become a bad student.
And I spent the afternoon crying my eyes out 100 miles away, shouting at the top of my lungs over the phone to my dad, as he parroted SM's whispered arguments.
Like any desperate person, I immediately called his mother. Grandma heard my sniffles and commandeered an army consisting of herself, my dad's brother and sister, and one of my mom's sisters, who spent the evening yelling at SM, eventually securing my sister's safe passage to San Diego.
I suspect we will have to go through this whenever she comes to visit me.
But, the family reunion was lots of fun, full of lobster, Peking duck, abalone, and drunken distant relatives crooning Chinese songs over a soundsystem turned so loud you had to shout to the person sitting next to you. A total of six relatives crammed into apartment to spend the night, including two little cousins, and now I've been finding strange things everywhere. There was a miniature hourglass on my desk, a collection of legos at the foot of the bed, and all the tissue boxes have had their contents removed, scrunched into tiny balls, and put back into the box.
It was a great weekend, even better because we had won a small victory against the forces of evil.
Stay tuned for the account, to be posted in approximately 30 years, of SM's sufferings at the slummy sweatshop disguised as an old folks home I shut her up in.
Saturday, January 15, 2005
Wednesday, January 05, 2005
New Year's Resolutions
1. Eat healthy. I improved a lot last year, since I was cooking a lot of my own food, and managed to lower my (previously extremely high) cholesterol by 30 points—yay me! This year I want to start including more fiber in my diet—less white rice, more brown rice. Less caffeine, more herbal tea.
2. Drink less. This year, I want to cut back on alcohol, since eating a healthy dinner is no good if I wash it down with four beers and two red bull-and-jagers. I also had an epiphany earlier this year that the point of drinking isn’t to drink as much as I possibly can without passing out, said epiphany possibly triggered by the detained-at-the-mexican-border-for-being-too-drunk-to-say-“USA” incident, which my friends are STILL laughing at me for.
3. Be nicer to other people, especially my parents. I still argue with my dad sometimes because, deep down inside, I still resent him for marrying my stepmother. But I realize that this resentment is poisoning our relationship—my dad is a great guy, and he loves me very much, and I love him very much, and letting her get in the way of it will only make things worse for everyone in the long run. I’ve also resolved to be nicer to my stepmother, because even though she is a money-grubbing psychotic bitch, I should not allow her to turn me into a hateful and disrepsectful human being. My grandmother said something when I visited her a few weeks ago, and I really take it to heart—she told me that I shouldn’t let my stepmother or people like her to cause me to compromise my own manners, because respectfulness and kindness are part of my personality, and if I’m not normally a mean, ugly person, I shouldn’t be one to her either. I’ll get her one day, but now is not the time, and every moment I spend hating her makes me more miserable and makes my dad angrier at me for being bitchy to his wife. It’s just not worth it. I’ll most likely live to see her helpless and old, and I will have plenty of time to take things out on her then, when she most needs my help. Plus, I do believe in karma, and if there is a just god out there, she’s going to get hers, and expending energy hating her will only cause me more stress.
4. Don't let law school crush my soul. The pressure of law school is causing me to rearrange my priorities, let friendships slip between the cracks, neglect my family, miss appointments…and this should not happen.
5. Exercise more. Tim and I just bought annual passes to the Zoo and Wild Animal Park, and we’ve resolved to go at least once a month. It’s a great way to get exercise (the parks are HUGE and lots of uphill terrain) and you get to ogle the pandas and make fun of the uglier animals while burning fat!
6. Form my own opinion on things, and become a more critical reader. Too often, I find myself adopting the viewpoint of the articles I read. I resolve to be more critical of things I read, especially if I don’t agree with it at the outset. This has been an ongoing personal goal of mine, and it’s why I linked The Right Coast on my “Recommended Blogs” section—they may be a bunch of right-wing zealots, but their posts are compelling and cause me to see both sides of the argument. I’ve always hated that some people run around parroting the viewpoint of the latest pundit/author/critic they’ve read as if they came up with these ideas themselves…but how often do I do this myself? It’s very easy to skip the analytical process and adopt other’s views as your own, but I think I’ll gain more by questioning the ideas of those whose ideas I most agree with, and trying to understand those whose ideas I dislike. Not that I’m not going to take a stand for what I believe is right…I just want to make sure it’s really what I believe, not what I’ve mindlessly adopted from someone else.
2. Drink less. This year, I want to cut back on alcohol, since eating a healthy dinner is no good if I wash it down with four beers and two red bull-and-jagers. I also had an epiphany earlier this year that the point of drinking isn’t to drink as much as I possibly can without passing out, said epiphany possibly triggered by the detained-at-the-mexican-border-for-being-too-drunk-to-say-“USA” incident, which my friends are STILL laughing at me for.
3. Be nicer to other people, especially my parents. I still argue with my dad sometimes because, deep down inside, I still resent him for marrying my stepmother. But I realize that this resentment is poisoning our relationship—my dad is a great guy, and he loves me very much, and I love him very much, and letting her get in the way of it will only make things worse for everyone in the long run. I’ve also resolved to be nicer to my stepmother, because even though she is a money-grubbing psychotic bitch, I should not allow her to turn me into a hateful and disrepsectful human being. My grandmother said something when I visited her a few weeks ago, and I really take it to heart—she told me that I shouldn’t let my stepmother or people like her to cause me to compromise my own manners, because respectfulness and kindness are part of my personality, and if I’m not normally a mean, ugly person, I shouldn’t be one to her either. I’ll get her one day, but now is not the time, and every moment I spend hating her makes me more miserable and makes my dad angrier at me for being bitchy to his wife. It’s just not worth it. I’ll most likely live to see her helpless and old, and I will have plenty of time to take things out on her then, when she most needs my help. Plus, I do believe in karma, and if there is a just god out there, she’s going to get hers, and expending energy hating her will only cause me more stress.
4. Don't let law school crush my soul. The pressure of law school is causing me to rearrange my priorities, let friendships slip between the cracks, neglect my family, miss appointments…and this should not happen.
5. Exercise more. Tim and I just bought annual passes to the Zoo and Wild Animal Park, and we’ve resolved to go at least once a month. It’s a great way to get exercise (the parks are HUGE and lots of uphill terrain) and you get to ogle the pandas and make fun of the uglier animals while burning fat!
6. Form my own opinion on things, and become a more critical reader. Too often, I find myself adopting the viewpoint of the articles I read. I resolve to be more critical of things I read, especially if I don’t agree with it at the outset. This has been an ongoing personal goal of mine, and it’s why I linked The Right Coast on my “Recommended Blogs” section—they may be a bunch of right-wing zealots, but their posts are compelling and cause me to see both sides of the argument. I’ve always hated that some people run around parroting the viewpoint of the latest pundit/author/critic they’ve read as if they came up with these ideas themselves…but how often do I do this myself? It’s very easy to skip the analytical process and adopt other’s views as your own, but I think I’ll gain more by questioning the ideas of those whose ideas I most agree with, and trying to understand those whose ideas I dislike. Not that I’m not going to take a stand for what I believe is right…I just want to make sure it’s really what I believe, not what I’ve mindlessly adopted from someone else.
Friday, December 31, 2004
another year
I'm still rather shocked about the tsunami disaster, having just returned from Phi Phi and Phuket not too long ago. Pictures of Phuket and Patong beach are encouraging, as the cleanup effort is well underway, but I have not found, and do not wish to see, what Phi Phi looks like now. It's hearbreaking to me because I still remember the faces of a few locals I met who lived and worked on the island...and I just hope they're still alive, but from what I've been reading, Phi Phi is pretty much levelled, having been hit on both sides by the tsunami.
So it feels so strange to be celebrating the beginning of a new year when halfway around the world, a place I just visited is filled with dead bodies and rubble.
Please be safe tonight.
So it feels so strange to be celebrating the beginning of a new year when halfway around the world, a place I just visited is filled with dead bodies and rubble.
Please be safe tonight.
Thursday, December 30, 2004
We accept the love we think we deserve.
My mother’s bracelet was made of tiny rich yellow gold dots connected on either side by delicate flat gold bands…imagine the bottom of a rope-bridge, except the planks are circles. I remember staring at it as a child, watching the light reflect off of it as I sat in the passenger seat of her 1985 Nissan. I’ve never seen another bracelet like it.
Until last Saturday, sitting in the back seat of my stepmother’s car. I watched her raise her right arm to do something, and gasped—she was wearing the bracelet.
The next day, I approached my father:
“Dad, did you give her mom’s gold bracelet?”
“What are you talking about?”
“She is wearing on her right wrist a bracelet that used to belong to mom.”
“What are you talking about? Why do you always have to watch her so carefully? It’s her own bracelet!”
I then told my father that it’s quite a coincidence that she happened to buy the exact same bracelet, and that there’s jewelry missing from my mother’s jewelry box.
Why he refuses to believe me, I have no idea. Shit, I have no idea why he even dated my stepmother, much less marry her and throw all of his money at her.
I mean, it’s pretty horrible to steal your dead friend’s husband, mistreat her children, and do it all while claiming to be a devout evangelical Christian.
But to steal your dead friend’s jewelry, and wear it? Especially when you probably have a suspicion that were she alive, she’s kick your ugly ass for doing all the things you’ve done to her daughters?
She must not have known how much my mother liked that bracelet. She couldn’t have known my mom wore it every day. She must have thought I wouldn’t remember what it looked like.
Sometimes I think I’m the only person who remembers my mother…my sister was so young, and my dad’s memories are tainted by his blindness to the things my stepmother does, in front of his face and behind his back.
But I remember a delicate gold bracelet, shining in the light while my mom moved her wrists to turn the steering wheel.
Until last Saturday, sitting in the back seat of my stepmother’s car. I watched her raise her right arm to do something, and gasped—she was wearing the bracelet.
The next day, I approached my father:
“Dad, did you give her mom’s gold bracelet?”
“What are you talking about?”
“She is wearing on her right wrist a bracelet that used to belong to mom.”
“What are you talking about? Why do you always have to watch her so carefully? It’s her own bracelet!”
I then told my father that it’s quite a coincidence that she happened to buy the exact same bracelet, and that there’s jewelry missing from my mother’s jewelry box.
Why he refuses to believe me, I have no idea. Shit, I have no idea why he even dated my stepmother, much less marry her and throw all of his money at her.
I mean, it’s pretty horrible to steal your dead friend’s husband, mistreat her children, and do it all while claiming to be a devout evangelical Christian.
But to steal your dead friend’s jewelry, and wear it? Especially when you probably have a suspicion that were she alive, she’s kick your ugly ass for doing all the things you’ve done to her daughters?
She must not have known how much my mother liked that bracelet. She couldn’t have known my mom wore it every day. She must have thought I wouldn’t remember what it looked like.
Sometimes I think I’m the only person who remembers my mother…my sister was so young, and my dad’s memories are tainted by his blindness to the things my stepmother does, in front of his face and behind his back.
But I remember a delicate gold bracelet, shining in the light while my mom moved her wrists to turn the steering wheel.
death toll hits 117,000
Please visit this site to donate to the Red Cross's International Response Fund for the Southeast Asian tsunami disaster.
Here's a list of lots of other charities that have been rated by the American Institute of Philanthropy.
Also, I'm looking into volunteering with the Red Cross in Thailand or Indonesia for a few days this coming summer, probably in late July or early August. Contact me if you'll be in asia around that time and are interested.
Here's a list of lots of other charities that have been rated by the American Institute of Philanthropy.
Also, I'm looking into volunteering with the Red Cross in Thailand or Indonesia for a few days this coming summer, probably in late July or early August. Contact me if you'll be in asia around that time and are interested.
Thursday, December 16, 2004
Tuesday, December 14, 2004
midway
finished my last final exam today.
very much looking forward to a return to normalcy. it's been a crazy week. now i'll finally have time to tackle the stack of literature i've been accumulating since the beginning of the semester. do i start with murakami or mitchell...or john irving? what a delicious problem.
i'm leaving for vegas this weekend with 8 of my girl cousins. everyone is 21 or over now, and it's our first trip where we can all (legally) drink together. can't wait to see which side of the family the immense tolerance for alcohol comes from.
very much looking forward to a return to normalcy. it's been a crazy week. now i'll finally have time to tackle the stack of literature i've been accumulating since the beginning of the semester. do i start with murakami or mitchell...or john irving? what a delicious problem.
i'm leaving for vegas this weekend with 8 of my girl cousins. everyone is 21 or over now, and it's our first trip where we can all (legally) drink together. can't wait to see which side of the family the immense tolerance for alcohol comes from.
Sunday, December 12, 2004
slightly drunk as i am trying to fall asleep before seven AM which is the time i've been regularly falling asleep lately due to horrid PFST (pre-finals stress syndrome). I have gained five pounds, my hair is a mess, roughly resembling the furry red martian character in looney tunes, i'm breaking out with the gross zits that come from deep underneath your skin, and am feeling an overarching, emcompassing sense of futility coupled with acute pangs of uselessness and guilt. am popping 3 melatonin pills to suplement my 2/3 bottle of shiraz i previously downed in order to relax enough to fall asleep. my sleeping, eating and living habits have not been so disturbed since last finals preiod and i noticed today that my patterns bear striking resemblance to the period during which i was regularly consuming ****, *******, ****, *******, *****, ********, and *******.
did i promise not to scare eveyone with nonsenical rantings? sorry.
did i promise not to scare eveyone with nonsenical rantings? sorry.
Saturday, December 11, 2004
Monday, December 06, 2004
finals
finals are upon me again. so as to not bore/scare/tire everyone with my nonsensical caffeine-induced ranting, i am abstaining from writing until my mind is more clear, which will most likely not occur until after december 14th.
i have really been trying not to let this blog focus on law school, because i feel i am so many things outside the definition of "law student." i don't want my life to revolve around this--there are so many other, much more interesting things to explore.
i started blogging because i wanted to keep writing, and i wanted a place where i could chronicle my thoughts and the happenings in my life. and i hoped that what i had to say would actually be interesting. when i look through my archives, it's sad to see that when i'm in school, the law exerts a gravitational pull on everything i write about--i'm inescapably in orbit. the things i love so much--literature, philosphy, art, travel--are replaced by statutes, rules, and their interpretations. this commitment takes over not only my free time, but creeps into my mind--it changes the way i think, the way i write, the way i perceive situations. i don't necessarily appreciate the kind of person this education has turned me into.
see? even after starting a post about how i don't want to write about law school, i still end up writing about it. sad, sad.
i have really been trying not to let this blog focus on law school, because i feel i am so many things outside the definition of "law student." i don't want my life to revolve around this--there are so many other, much more interesting things to explore.
i started blogging because i wanted to keep writing, and i wanted a place where i could chronicle my thoughts and the happenings in my life. and i hoped that what i had to say would actually be interesting. when i look through my archives, it's sad to see that when i'm in school, the law exerts a gravitational pull on everything i write about--i'm inescapably in orbit. the things i love so much--literature, philosphy, art, travel--are replaced by statutes, rules, and their interpretations. this commitment takes over not only my free time, but creeps into my mind--it changes the way i think, the way i write, the way i perceive situations. i don't necessarily appreciate the kind of person this education has turned me into.
see? even after starting a post about how i don't want to write about law school, i still end up writing about it. sad, sad.
Saturday, December 04, 2004
Friday, December 03, 2004
good idea, bad idea...
commerical for KY lubricant...OK
commercial promoting tolerance and encouraging people to attend church...Not OK.
I'm usually annoyed by religious commercials because they play on the viewers' sense of guilt. This one didn't bother me at all.
Even though I have no idea what I believe these days, I found this commercial heartwarming-not offensive.
It delivers a very important message--that you should never feel too inadequate to seek God. And given the barrage of horribly inane commercials we're faced with every day, it's a breath of fresh air to see one that isn't telling me to buy something.
I think it's ridiculous that the networks refused to air this commercial as too "controversial."
I see no controversy here--just the sad consequence of a paranoid sense of political correctness that ends up perpetuating the intolerance it seeks to assuage.
commercial promoting tolerance and encouraging people to attend church...Not OK.
I'm usually annoyed by religious commercials because they play on the viewers' sense of guilt. This one didn't bother me at all.
Even though I have no idea what I believe these days, I found this commercial heartwarming-not offensive.
It delivers a very important message--that you should never feel too inadequate to seek God. And given the barrage of horribly inane commercials we're faced with every day, it's a breath of fresh air to see one that isn't telling me to buy something.
I think it's ridiculous that the networks refused to air this commercial as too "controversial."
I see no controversy here--just the sad consequence of a paranoid sense of political correctness that ends up perpetuating the intolerance it seeks to assuage.
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