Extended Vacation

I guess now that I've been unemployed for a couple weeks I should write something interesting about what I've been doing. I've kind of done some interesting things but the best part is getting up at 10, watching TV for a few hours and snacking on my leftover halloween junk. I swear tomorrow I'm gonna go rollerblading again! Anyway, here's some of the fun stuff I get to do now:

I went to lunch at a fancy place downtown that serves the most delicious homemade ice cream.

I had breakfast at a place downtown that has a line around the block on weekends. I ordered the "bacon waffle." good but bad. Glad I didn't have to wait two hours for it.

I went to New York City, walked around a lot, saw friends and family, saw a movie that won't be out here for a little while, ate some bad NYC food, played the allusive "Beatles Rock Band," rode the JZ line where JayZ got his name kinda, slept in the same building as Chase Crawford, finally stayed out until 4am like young New Yorkers do, got directions from my iPhone for a cab driver who kept falling asleep at the traffic lights, saw the New York stock exchange from the outside, got (accidentally) smacked waiting for a subway train, got sassed waiting in line for a movie, ordered breakfast delivery (does that even exist here?), finally saw Let the Right One In (not scary like I thought it'd be), got pushed into a hidden back room of a purse "store" on Canal St., ordered and ate a "shawafel" (shawarma + falafel) (not as good as a "quesanacharrito") (omg a quesanachurrito would have churro in it somehow and would be so amazing!), and forgot to take pictures.

I went to Costco in the middle of the day - got free samples with no lines!

I went to Ikea in the middle of the day and got meatballs with lingonberry sauce for lunch.

I saw An Education on a Wednesday night. It was pretty good. A little weird. Turns out I like movies with Spiderman villain actors in them, except for that sand guy.

I considered signing up for Jdate. It's way more money than I thought it would be. I thought I could drop $15 and get a bunch of free dinners, but for what it costs and with my picky taste I probably wouldn't break even. I made a profile for fun. I don't like the format.

I worked on powerpoint notes for my students so that one guy will stop complaining. He hasn't.

I finished one book and started two more. It's hard to read when my eyes are so tired from watching too much TV.

I washed the toilet. And my handkerchiefs.

I applied to some craigslist jobs (got an offer to be a personal assistant - no thanks!), and researched some publishing jobs and some linguistics jobs (PhD required).

I went to extraordinary dessert with C, then ate the leftovers for breakfast with B.

Have I mentioned that this has all cost me maybe $100? People have been really generous. Wonder how long that'll last. I shouldn't push it! My future agenda: house/dogsit next week, Thanksgiving at the beach, lunch with former coworkers I can stand, J visit (I hope), trip to Florida, dinner with A at a place I've been wanting to try to a few years, see New Moon for free opening weekend, maybe surfing? maybe.

Fired

I guess this is the kind of thing I'm supposed to blog about. Wednesday morning I got fired. They were mad that I told someone (no secretly) about something they did so they told me they'd been building a file against me and that this was the last straw. I asked for specific examples of previous misconduct and they wouldn't say. I told them I didn't respect them and when they wouldn't shutup explaining in nonsense terms I told them to just stop talking. I regret not saying more about how horrible they are but now that I'm gone I realize it doesn't make a difference. I get to never see them again and they will probably wind up in jail for fraud and such.

At first I was scared of having no money but then I got home and remembered that this is what I've been dreaming of since I started at that place 2 years ago. I applied for unemployment, then I got my rollerblades and went to the beach. When I got home I bought a ticket to NYC for a long weekend, and then I had some drinks with friends that night. The next day I walked to the zoo. Today I had lunch with a friend and then we went shopping (for her, not me). Tomorrow I'm volunteering with the ACLU (with part time job prospect), and then might see a play. I could last until at least January like this. I've been so jealous of people who've lost their jobs this year and now I know it was the correct emotion. I just hope they were all as good savers as I am.

The best thing is that when this semester is over, I have no attachments to San Diego and could go anywhere in the world. The worst part is, I finally have to make a decision about my life.

This job has really ruined me for other jobs. I feel like I'm seriously scarred from it. This is the same feeling I had when I finally got rid of my last roommate: now that that's over, don't make the same mistake again! How can I get another job when I know how awful it can be? It's not even the work that's bad - it's the people and the horribleness and the greed. My mom says I can spend some time at her house. When I told her I just might she asked, "what will you do?" I responded, "you still have cable don't you?" How can I pass up the opportunity to take an extended vacation with no rent? Maybe I'll be reminded why that's a bad idea when I see her in December.

Lazy again

After that cough inducing workout last week I had to take two sick days from work. Therefore, I didn't go back to bootcamp last week and now it's over. Saturday I went for a walk around the park and then trick-or-treating with C and her kids. Doesn't sound like much of a workout but I did end up passing out from exhaustion at 10pm. I had forgotten about daylight savings giving me an extra hour of sleep so I ended up awake far too early the next morning. Sunday I walked downtown to a going away party for some friends I haven't seen in two years. It was at a bar that I'm glad I know about now. Cool place with good specials. The best part about the bar is that the actual bar is a circle that wraps around outside so half the patrons can sit outside at the bar. Anyway, I got there at noon and left at 6 way too drunk for a Sunday afternoon. The walk back home was uphill so I distracted myself by imaging what people's houses looked like from the inside. It got me home. I tried to pass out but was too sick and had to ralph. Then I couldn't lie down because I felt sick so I had to sip gingerale while attempting to read my book club book. Finally feel asleep in a half sitting position. Think it was a good workout weekend? Me too.

Hypochondriac

So I went to bootcamp today even though I would've rather been home watching Buffy because I know I should (and I have no Netflix at home). Today I kept pace with the other girls for hte most part and didn't lie down at all. We focused more on arms tonight than before, which is what I really want and by the last arm thing I couldn't do 2 when they asked for 20. It was those pushups where you're in standard pushup position at the top but instead of pushing down you go onto your elbows one arm at a time and then backup to your hands. They were so easy before. I've sworn to myself that I'll do them tomorrow night when I can't go to bootcamp because of class.

Now I've always been a bit of a hypochondriac due to laziness and a low threshold for pain but this time I'm pretty sure I have asthma. After/during a workout it hurts to breath deep to the point of being impossible. When I try I end up in a it of coughing that makes my head throb. Also, I start to taste blood during the warmup jog. When I got home, I immediately brought my neighbors some baked good that I'd made previously and then hopped in the hot shower to release my lungs. I had to close my shower window because I was coughing so horribly and didn't want to gross them out. When I got out of the shower the doorbell rang. To my surprise it was my neighbor with some freshly made zucchini soup! Omg is it delicious. I'm eating it now. Whether they gave it to me because I give them baked goods or because they heard my awful fits in the shower no longer worries me at the bottom of the bowl.

Boot Camp

So I finally went to the boot camp I signed up for months ago. It's a two week unlimited deal. I went Wednesday and almost died. We started off with a run and then did some weird things up and down a hill and then did some weird pushups and situps and then some more weird things up and down a hill. I lied down for probably half of it in the middle so I wouldn't faint. I thought I'd been preparing with situps and pushups but it was the cardio that really killed me. After I showered, my face was still red for about another half hour. That night and all the next day I was pretty sore. But then on Friday it got worse. I was walking with a limp. My right knee forgot how to work and so every once in a while it wouldn't lock and I'd tip over and have to grab a wall or something. Pretty embarrassing at work. I had to use the handicap stall in the bathroom because I needed the railings to ease my way onto the seat. And they wanted me to go back Saturday morning. They said it would make me feel better! I was scared but hopeful. On Saturday morning they set up an obstacle course up two hills and in between. I stayed at the back with another girl who couldn't do much. We went slow together and got through it. WHen they said to do 30 of something, I did ten. I paused for breath a few times but I didn't have to lie down at all. I was so not dead that I even went rollerblading after. This time I'm stretching more and trying not to sit still too long.

My legs work fine now but my shoulders are a bit sore - maybe from the bear crawls up and down the hills? I'll have to go back Monday and see how it goes. The best part is I've learned new weird situps and pushups that I can do on my own.

Walk to Work Adventure

So tonight I finally did what I've been wanting to do for about a year now: walk to my night job. It's only about one mile from my house but there are a few reasons I've never done it before:

a. it's at night, hence dark and sometimes cold (rarely)

b. it's down a steep hill; therefore, up a steep hill on the way back

c. it requires walking under a highway, past/through a tent city

d. I work in heels 8 hours before going and have tired feet

Tonight was different though; I was almost out of gas. Also, I have office hours before class on Thursdays and needed to create a powerpoint for the lesson, which my new Mac doesn't support and had time to get there early.

The walk there took just under 15 minutes, because of the steep decline. The walk back took about 15 minutes, because of the steep fear. It turns out it's a shorter walk than I thought. I got there in plenty of time to create my powerpoint, which was a hefty one, with lots of fly-in bullet points. I saved it to the desktop with every intention of attaching it to my email before leaving. You know where this story is going. Turns out the walk is pretty short, but just long enough to be too far to go back when I realize I'd forgotten to save the powerpoint that took me 45 minutes to create and that I need for class again next week. The rest of the walk was stressful - should I drive back and get it when I get home? What if the maintenance has turned of the compute already? Should I just make the PP again? Am I too tired to deal with this? No, it was good work and I want to use it again and It's still early.

So when I got back, I took the car, filled it with gas, and drove back to the school. Then I ran up the stairs and saved the powerpoint to my email. aaaaah (that was a sigh of relief, not a scream). Totes worth it.

I didn't really save any gas (it wasn't about gas, though, was it? for 2 miles?) but I did get an extra workout - the walk plus the hurry and running. AND, I woke up early this morning for a 20 minute walk around the park before work. I only did 40 girly pushups and 20 crunches because it was foggy out and a bit humid so I needed to save time for a very fast shower. The clammy look isn't hott these days.

AM Workout

Last night I set my alarm to a half hour earlier than normal with the hopes that I would get up and exersize. My chances were slim - usually when I set my alarm earlier to shower, I end up sleeping in and going to work dirty anyway. But this morning I actually did it! I got up, went for a 20 minute walk around the park, and then did 3 reps of 20 crunches, and then 10 crunches on each side, and 6 reps of 10 girly pushups. I washed my face after but I can't say I'm exactly clean for work.

Bronner Party

Tonight I got to go to my first Bronner party, which is the second closest I've been to a rave (both being with B). As soon as I got there I knew it would be something to Blog about. Approaching the house from my car we could see the strobe lights flashing and the house music pumping. We also got a glimpse of some costumes. I was scared. Upon entry we saw that everyone was in full dance mode and dressed as fairies. There was no way of knowing who was male or female. I didn't know most of the people there but that only lasted as long as it took for everyone to introduce themselves and hug my tight for several seconds longer that expected. I didn't know if the hugs were because that's what you do at a rave or if people's E had already kicked in. Did I mention we got there at 8:30pm? Anyway, I was into the music so I decided to let loose and dance with the fairies. Someone gave me her boa right away so I would fit in more. I hoped that was as much as I'd need to fit in. Every once in a while the lights would hit the glitter flaked in the air and I'd get worried about having glitter on me for days. I danced for a long time (especially for me), with random fairies coming and going and with changing costumes, which got thinner and more see-through. The fairies had slowly become Madames dressed in lingerie. A few even changed on the dance floor with only me there.

I took a break from the dancing to go outside and chat with a few people by the fire (also there were cookies) and sat by a plate filled with pills. I looked around and saw that the lingerie was slowly coming off, and decided against the pills. The main reason was that I had changed out of my cool looking red-striped underoos before going to the party and had put on my raggedy old white Jockies. Embarrassing! I tried to engage Dave in some Buffy talk and then danced some more. People randomly came up to me for more hugs and some kisses on my head. B didn't seem to be getting the same treatment. I was also getting my back rubbed by passersby and was worried that they were trying to send me some message that only ravers know about. They probably just wanted to hug me though. Sometimes the Madames would come in and dance but then they'd look outside and say, "fire!" and go sit by it. This happened several times.

While most people were slowly getting naked, one guy stayed in his original costume the entire time. He wore black pants, a t-shirt, a black sparkly vest, and a black cape. Every time he came onto the dance floor he had to pause to grab each side of his cape to dance with. He had no moves without it. I was glad he wasn't a hugger.

By the time B wanted to go, most people were nude. Raf asked if we enjoyed watching the "cuddle puddles" of people lying around the fire. What a creepy term! When we announced we were leaving everyone wanted to get up to hug us. That when I noticed the full on nudity. Not sure if I'd ever hugged a nude stranger before tonight. Cross that off my to-do list! These hugs were pretty intense too, like the hug of an old friend arriving at the airport. Maybe one day I'll have to partake in the fun... as long as no one says "cuddle puddles."

Cruise Control

Have I mentioned how much I love to abuse my cruise control? Previously I enjoyed using it really late at night when there aren't too many cars around. I'd cruise at 65 in the middle lane while angry drives rushed passed me on both sides. It's a nifty experience when you're not in a hurry.

Recently, however, I discovered that if I slouch over my steering wheel it feels like that car racing game in the bowling alley. You know the one where you can switch POVs - you can be watching your car from behind (full car view), from the drivers seat (partial car), or from the hood (no car at all). The most realistic one is the second one of course but when I hunch over the steering wheel it feels like the last one. It's pretty cool and feels dangerous but I got home safely tonight. Also it hurts my back. Totally worth it - give it a try.

Jai Ho!

I haven't been working out much but I have been dancing every day at work for an hour. We're practicing for our Diwali/Dusshera festival, which will be this Friday. It'll be a pretty funny dance - a mix of a song I don't know and "Jai Ho." I've got the dace down pretty well but the best part will be watching my tiny boyish boss dance. I have to close my eyes whenever he's in my vision during practice because his moves creep me out but every once in a while I catch a glimpse and have to pause to crack up. I'm quite certain there will be a video after the fact so I'll be sure to post it here. Oh and the practices get my heart rate up for an hour during work every day so that's gotta be good for me, right?

Phoenix

Obviously I've been pretty lazy with the whole working out thing. I haven't been completely dormant though. Last weekend I went to Phoenix to visit my gramma on my dad's side, along with two of my uncles and my brother+wife. Phoenix was nice and hot. The 100+ degrees weren't so bad becuase it was dry to the extreme. My boogers told me so. I ate a lot of food too. We did an a fancy breakfast buffet at one of our hotels and I think I ate the most. My sister-in-law kept up too. We went to a farm to table restaurant (maybe the only hipster spot in Phoenix) and I got an appetizer and an entre. I thought people would share mine but they all got appetizers too. My appetizer was basically a large meatball sub but then my entre was one large raviolo. After that the meals weren't too exciting. One of the days I swam in the hotel pool. I did some laps and a bit of treading water. Not sure if it's possible but it felt like I was sweating under water. Fun! I was planning on doing some crunches and such after that but then we had to rush to the airport. Oh yeah, seeing my gramma was no big whoop. She barely talked to me and still didn't give me my birthday card or mention it.



This week was pretty lazy. I've got more Buffy borrowed from the library and lots of new TV shows on Hulu. Last night I got with the program - hula hooped for 20 min while watching Glee, then did 80 crunches, and 20 on each side, and 80 girly push ups. Then I finished off the show with 20 more minutes of hula hooping. The hula hooping got easier every time the characters would break into song. It was pretty fun actually. I wasn't going to work out last night but when I went to put on my shirt to go teach, it clung to my belly like I was preggers or something. The crunches didn't help instantly so I tugged on my shirt to stretch it. That helped more. After I got out of the shower and had ten minutes to get to class, I remembered that I was supposed to grade their presentations and had to think of an excuse for why I hadn't. Would they understand if I told them I felt fat? Probably, but I decided against it. I just told them that I'd have their grades next week and they could enjoy their weekend not knowing if they did bad or not. That's reassuring!

Hula Hoop

So I have been pretty slackery this week with the exersize. I finally got up to something mild last night. While watching an episode of Buffy I hula hooped for 30 minutes, then did 100 crunches, and 20 side crunches on each side (this time laying my knees to one side like I saw in GQ) and 80 girly push ups. The whole thing lasted 45 minutes, just like the episode. Pretty convenient. Not sure if the Hula hopping got my heart rate up much. I got a bit sweaty towards then end but it could've just been hot in my house. The toning (ha!) gets easier when my heart rate is up (learned that from my abs of steal video I did once in middle school) so it could be that the hula hooping worked. It's hard to tell because I don't feel like I'm working out but Wii claims that the motion works something. Your core? Whatever that is. The problem with working out after teaching is that I want to eat when I'm done and by then it's 10:30. I had a handful of almonds with a fun size bag of M&Ms. Resisted a bagel.

This weekend I'm off to Phoenix to stay at a hotel with a pool. Maybe I'll do laps. Most likely it'll be too hot to go anywhere near the outdoor pool, though.

Funeral

This is not as sad of a post as the title may make you think. I was reading a book that includes a Jewish funeral last night and a blocked memory surfaced. Yes, it involves my dad. On one of his weekends when I was a child (can't say how young, but def elementary school aged) my dad had a funeral to officiate, or preside over, or whatever clergy do at funerals. He couldn't leave me home alone I guess so he took me along. During the Temple ceremony he had me stay in his office, but for the graveyard part I had to go along. If memory serves, he told me to wait in the car but possibly he told me to wait at the far gravestones. Either way, I wandered around the far end of the graveyard for a little while until I got too scared and made my way towards the funeral. I vividly remember peering at the funeral from behind a nearby gravestone. I also remember that when the funeral ended my dad yelled at me for not obeying him and me explaining that I got scared and him still being mad because it was someone's funeral and people didn't need the Rabbi's baggage hanging around (not his words of course). I felt bad that I'd interrupted (did I?) a sad moment for people but looking back, was there really no better alternative to taking me to a graveyard? Surely he had helpful neighbors, or Hebrew School kids who wouldn't mind making an extra buck one afternoon. Maybe he wants me to learn about death, from the car? It just seems so weird. I'll ask him if he remembers.

Scattered weekend exersize

I already posted my Saturday work out but after I posted I went to a bar and did a bit of dancing and not much drinking. The dance was pretty sparse because there was a guy there who must've been dropping acid - at 10pm he was already sweating in his wife-beater and harassing all women who tried to dance on the floor. once he hit the bathroom I attempted to dance a bit and then I think he came down from his high and I could dance more. The DJ started to suck so my friend and I decided to take the party back to my living room. We danced for about an hour, maybe less to some Justin, My Morning Jacket, Scissor Sisters, R.Kelly, etc bad mix.

Sunday I watched TV online all morning, took a nap then finally walked to B's house through the woods/golf course. On the way I thought about all the ways I could get sent to the emergency room (I think because our insurance cards haven't come in yet and I'm a little nervous. Also, there was a sign that said "no hunting"). The ways I could get injured were, knocked out by a rogue golf ball, mauled by a cougar (B thought I was referring to a randy mom), mauled by a coyote, bitten by a rattle snake, passed out from sunstroke (it was hotter than I expected). I got there safely although sweating profusely. We then went to a diner that has not changed since 1950 and serves food with little to no nutritional value. The vegetables were a mix of peas, green beans, and unknown like we used to get in school hot lunches. Yum! I told myself I'd do some crunches and black bean curls when I got home. Didn't. Stopped watching TV shows online after only and hour and a half so I could read. Improvement.

Today at work I looked at the public library site to see if they had any Buffy DVDs. I'm sorry to report that they did. I borrowed the maximum 5 allowed. Not promising for my elbows.

Mexico

I finally decided to check out the bad part of my neighborhood. Yelp has been telling me to check it out for a while but I've been too scared to go alone. It's only a mile away so I felt silly driving but too scared to walk. Then I thought of a good driving excuse: a quick way to scope out what it has to offer.

Now as I've said a few times already - I was scared. Not sure exactly why, but I think it had to do with poor people and more likely, homeless people. Also, fear of the unknown. I was so naive! It was way scarier than I thought, and way cooler. I live next to the famous Balboa Park, on a golf course. These people live next to the largest cemetery I've seen in California. The plus side is that they have a view of green grass? The shacks on the side of the cemetery are awful looking - like the inhabitants have accepted poltergeist.

Besides the cemetery, there are shack-y looking Mexican restaurants on every block. They all look like they're probably cheap and delicious and have a side of rat feces. Yelp tells me the best places are a Salvadorean spot, a Soul Food spot, and Jamaican spot. The thought of food from each of those scares me - lard, cow feet, pork, things called "jerk"... you get the point. But it still looks really good. I'll ned a partner in crime to try any of them, and maybe start with take-out.

After driving past a modern looking market a couple times I finally decided to pull in and check it out. The sign said Farmer's Market so I assumed fresh/cheap vegetables and probably some flies. I walked in and saw that there were a few fruits and vegetables (and flies) but that was just the beginning. It was an enormous warehouse with different shops inside - exactly like you'd find in Tijuana. There were several Mexican food shops, a fish market, a few jewelry shops, a cowboy boot shop, a CD shop (?), a nail salon, a hair salon, a cheap gifts shop and a ton of people who may or may not have been looking at me like I was in the wrong place. The food looked great and the gifts/boots looked fun. If it were a camp field trip I would've bought a fake gold ring for every finger. I can't wait to bring my next tourist visitor there and pretend like this is what I do every day. I got out fast, though, because I had no idea what I was doing. My neighborhood always seemed a bit Mexico-like but now I realize it's Minnesota compared to the rest of the area.

Danielle?

So today my cardio consisted of sweeping the floors in every room, shaking out the rugs, then using my swiffer wet to clean the floors. Near the end I broke the swiffer from trying too hard. At least I have about a year until I'll want to do that again, so I have time to buy a new one. While sweeping I thought about one of the books I want to write about my family. I think if I want it to be Poisonwood Bible style I'll have to make my brother a girl. He's going to prove a tricky girl though. Maybe I'll write it from his (her) journalist husband's POV. While watching Bones on Hulu I did 60 crunches and 20 side crunches each side. I also did 60 black bean curls, which consist of me holding a can of black beans in each hand with my arms straight in the air and then lowering them back to my shoulder blades. Elbows still fat. Bones growing on me.

Workout Routine

After seeing Titanic for the first time when I was in high school, I got nervous that if I were ever on a sinking ship I'd never be able to hold on because I am so weak. Ten+ years later, I've decided to finally do something about it. My new workout routine, starting tonight, consists of the following:

30 minutes of cardio via living room dance party to a Pandora radio station of my choosing

60 crunches

20 left crunches

20 right crunches

80 girly pushups until I can do regular ones again

I will motivate myself by blogging it so the Internets can hold me accountable.

Tonight I danced to Beyonce + Shakira Radio. It's easier to keep up the fast dance moves when I know the song, so when something new came on, I grabbed the hula-hoop to keep me going.

While sweating more than I have in a decade, I did the crunch reps and girly push up reps on a blanket on the floor. Then i grabbed some baby powder, sat in front of my little fan, put on some dirty clothes and went to teach class. One student astutely said, you look wet.

Fall Semester

My class this semester is going to be rad. This is my 4th semester teaching speaking and listening and I previously taught it as a speech class like I had in college. I realize that English learners don't yet need to learn how to give a traditional speech - they first need to learn to speak. So this is what I have in store for fall:

1. Mandatory public library cards - student will have to prove by week 2 that they each have their own public library card. I will put them in groups of five and each week one of them will have to get a children's book from the library to bring to class and read aloud to their group. They will each read twice during the semester. I will instruct them to practice at home by reading to kids, relatives or roommates. I'm most excited about this and think it has the most potential to fail.

2. Write and perform a skit - we will probably do this during our "heroes in literature" unit. They will get into different groups and write a skit, details to be provided later. Then they will have to practice and memorize to perform for the whole class. I got the idea from Mitch Hedberg: "Put it in a play."

3. Sales pitch - this is carried over from previous semesters because I like it so much. With a group they will have to create a company in a 3rd world country and make a pitch for microcredit. This is nice because they have to think about their audience and the needs of the world to be persuasive.

4. Debate - no idea how I'll do this yet. It will be the hardest part. I think we'll do it during our environmental unit. I don't really know much about debating so I'll have to do some research. Suggestions welcome. I've only ever done it through writing with a class before and it was really successful then so we'll see.

500 Days of Summer

Let me start here: I learned in grad school that with numbers, one can write the numerical symbol only in the middle of a sentence, but not at the beginning. This movie title is therefore ungrammatical.

Don't you just hate going to see a movie with a friend and during the movie you think, oh that character is so me! and then at the end of the movie your friend, who is so not the same, says, that character was so me! That's the worst. You think you're special and unique and then your friend tries to pretend she's the same way. It turns out movies are written to do just that - relate to a lot of people and make them feel unique. This movie is no exception. While I watched it, instead of thinking - I'm similar to that, I decided to think - these are the ways I'm not like that. Not sure how it worked out.

One guy I dated, who I thought was pretty compatible with me, told me I was completely not unique and that everyone thinks they are special so no one is. At first I was mad - how could he not see how awesome I was? But then I realized that it's so true. People are so not special. Everyone has their quirks and their favorite bands and their weird t-shirts. Just because you find someone who has a similar weird t-shirt doesn't mean you're soul mates. It just means you're both pretentious. It makes me feel good to know that in the end I'm not unique at all and that I actually fit in to society because I am under the illusion that I'm unique.

Did anyone else go on this train of thought after seeing this movie? BTW, Best Part: when Tom sees his "reflection" in the car window.

Me and Myself

I've always talked to myself. I know it's a common trait for thinking people to talk to themselves - it helps to work out difficult problems (carry the one), or remember directions (turn left at the light) or keep lists (remember to get bread, milk, paper towels), but I feel like I've always had a much different way of talking to myself, so much so that "myself" has almost become a separate entity from "me."

When I was a child I would talk to myself as a friend. I would tell myself about my day or role-play with myself. For example I would pretend to be Barbie and myself would be Barbie's stern mother. I would look at myself in the mirror and chat like a friend was listening and responding.

Now that I live alone I feel like it's developing in a new way. I ask myself for advice (should I go to the movies today or should I ride my bike?). I'll ask myself for an opinion (which do you like better, the blue or the yellow?). I'll even watch TV with myself (did you know Jennifer Aniston was in this?). But I think what keeps me sane is that myself will answer me in the same way that I would answer anyone with a dumb question (of course I didn't know, we're the same person!) As soon as I lose that grip on reality I will stop functioning in society.

It is nice to have someone I can talk to who appreciates my jokes and likes the same things as me, but every once in awhile myself will tell me a joke wasn't funny or the skirt I want to wear isn't as cute as I think it is.

Super Powers

I've been meaning to write about the top three super powers that I want ever since I started watching Heroes again.  Here goes.

1. Teleportation

I believe this to be the ultimate super power for one reason: traveling sucks.  Don't get me wrong - there are some positive aspects of traveling such as catching up on a book while flying, seeing the sights through a train window, taking a road trip with friends, but these things can still be accomplished without the hassle of travel.  I could teleport to a field in some European country and take in the beauty without the hassle of fitting my luggage on the train.  I could teleport to a rocking chair in the south to read a book without going through security.  I could teleport to visit 6 friends in one weekend and see where they live, their families, and their favorite restaurant in town.  I could be closer to everyone I love and be further from everyone I don't.  I could cut out road rage, travel anxiety, and the pain in my ears from the plane landing.  I could teleport to the gym during my lunch break instead of taking the entire time to get there and back.  The possibilities are endless.  I would visit every continent, every country!  I could donate my gas money to charity (I do feel guilty that my top super power is selfish).

2. Human lie detector

At first this was going to be Mind Reader, but then I saw the girl on Heroes who could tell when someone is lying and decided it would be much better.  Knowing everyone's thoughts seems like hell most of the time - it seems the only time i ever really think cohesively is when I'm being judgmental.  Oh man, maybe that's just all I ever think.  Anyway, moving on.  I want to know when people are lying because then I can make intelligent decisions for myself and others.  See, sometimes people lie to me because they don't understand what I'm asking - like if I say to a roommate, "are you staying the night?" she may think I want her to leave when really I just want to know if I should move my car out of the driveway.  So she may say yes just to make me think she's staying to try to ruin my night, but really she's stuck in the driveway now.  I don't really care what she thinks; I just want to know if I have to move the car now or if she's gonna wake me up to move it.  See?  I'm helping us both.  Or if I ask my boss if I can have a day off and he says, "no, we're busy that day" but I can tell he's lying, then I can change my argument; I'll know to come up with a doctor's appointment.  But if he's not lying, I would come to work that day and change my day off - or prove that I'm not busy.  Or if someone says, "I just entered your number wrong on my phone" I will know whether to keep trying to get together with that person or just let them be.  No hard feelings, no one looks foolish.  I'm not trying to call people out on their white lies - I just want to know when I'm being lied to so I don't do the wrong thing.  P.S. if, like on Heroes, I got a tingle whenever someone was lying, I'd have to wear loose fitting pants at work.

3.  Controlling Cars on the Road

This is not a very common super power but it is one that I have truly wished for ever since I started using cruise control regularly.  I enjoy my safety pocket on the highway and I cannot stand when I'm cruising at 70 and the driver next to me keeps going from 65 to 80 and back again.  I want to be able to send this guy ahead of me far enough that his 65 bouts won't affect me.  Also, merging.  Omigod I cannot stand when we're all merging and the driver in front of me won't move into the lane even though there's plenty of space for him.  He's just gotta stay straight even if it means half his car is in the shoulder.  I would be able to squeeze him in right in front of me, in the lane.  Or I'm trying to get onto the highway and the driver on the road won't change to the next lane even though it's free and clear.  I could move him over just until I pass.  Or I'm trying to exit while someone is trying to enter and he slows down even though he's trying to get on the highway, but I slow down because I'm trying to exit and then we're stuck next to each other so neither can move to the desired lane.  I'd sped him up to pass me and enter safely onto the highway.  This super power gives me the ability to make other cars do the right thing - stay at one speed in your own pocket, merge into the lane when it's your clear chance, speed up when getting on the highway, etc.  Not only am I helping myself curb the rage, I'm also helping everyone else get better gas mileage.  Not entirely selfish.  I should give credit where credit is due, though - when I was 15 my mother was dating H.  H was a man who drove a lot.  He was a smoker and not allowed to smoke in our house so he would go for drives, or volunteer to drive me places when I needed.  He had this thing where he would take one hand off the steering wheel and pretend to push the cars in front of him out of the way, like parting the red sea.  Every once in a while a car would move as he did it and would say, "Look!  I did it!"  As a non-driver I thought he was nuts and didn't understand why he was always doing that; I thought he was bored.  But now I realize it was to curb the rage.

Just a little more about HP/country music

I've returned home from HP6 the second time.  On the drive to the theater I caught the end of Brad Paisley's new single "Welcome to the Future."  The part I heard was about how far we've come with racism, I guess.  I was pretty excited about it because a. it's a country song, b. I love shit about racism (positive shit) and c. have the two ever before come together?  In the song he sings about how people burned a cross on the lawn of one his friends in high school.  We know the friend is supposed to be black because he's on the football team and he gets a cross burned on his lawn for asking out the homecoming.  Okay, we're halfway there.  Anyway, then he goes on to sing that we've gone from Rosa Parks to "a man with a dream."  I thought he was going to reference a man in an oval office or something along those lines, and maybe he is in a way?  But then to segue into the chorus he sings, "wake up, Martin Luther: welcome to the future."  Now, if there's anything I like more than positive racist shit, it's Martin Luther King Jr.  But what happened in the song here?  Are we singing about Christianity and the road Lutheranism has taken?  Are we singing about how the Christian KKK has gone from burning crosses to voting for black people?  Or are we honestly supposed to allow poetic license and just know he's singing about MLK Jr?  Also, we went from Rosa Parks to MLKJ?  That 40 years ago!  Does he think that was the end of racism?  We finally get a progress country song and it's only progressed to the 1960's.  Well, after the movie I needed to hear the whole song so I listened on youtube.  It's not mainly about racism at all; it's about progress - cell phones, video chat, and fusing electronic music with country style.  Oh well, I wonder if Lutherans will like it.  Do they still exist even?

Here's my segue to Harry Potter:  The 6th book includes a lot about splitting the soul and the evil that entails.  Somehow I always connected that to a passage from Martin Luther King Jr's "Letter from a Birmingham Jail": 

" ... segregation distorts the soul and damages the personality... Hence segregation is not only politically, economically and sociologically unsound, it is morally wrong and sinful. Paul Tillich has said that sin is separation. Is not segregation an existential expression of man's tragic separation, his awful estrangement, his terrible sinfulness?" 

People must be whole together so that they can be whole within themselves.  Voldemort was always alone; he was without parental love, friendship or companionship.  Therefore, he did not see that splitting his soul was evil because he was in essence already a split soul.  Now it may seem like a stretch but if you know who V'mort is, you know that he not only splits his soul, but also splits the community.  His goal is to weed out the mudbloods and the muggles from the purebloods.  Is this not the same as segregating black and white, Jewish and goy, gay and straight?

Furthermore, in the movie, and now that I think of it, previous movies, there is a strong theme of light and dark.  Slughorn tells Harry that there is light and dark and he tries to stay towards the lighter magic.  Dumbledore fights off death with light and heat.  In the 3rd movie Dumbledore says that in times of darkness one can always turn on the light. etc.  Does this not directly come from MLK saying we must fight darkness with light?  

Have we come a long way from the 1960's?  We still find the need to teach our children about the evils of segregation.  Martin Luther King Jr.'s words are still news to us.  Is it because we only ever read the first half of his "Letter" in school?  Is it because we think we're done and therefore cannot move forward?  Is it because we compare real humans who are different, like gay people, foreigners, and people of color, to vampires , werewolves and wizards?

Harry Potter Review (SPOILER)

I finally saw HP6 and don't really know what to think.  

I'll start with the good:

The three leads' acting was much improved.  I guess after 5 movies you're bound to get a little better.  The crying wasn't laughable like in previous films.  It helped that Harry didn't cry - Radcliffe is pretty bad at it. 

The cinematography was great.  It was shot by the same guy who did Amelie and I read that they had to undo a lot of the editing because the colors, like in Amelie, were "surreal."  I wish I could see that first version.  The shots were almost as nice as HP3, and the magic looked pretty magical.

Michael Gambon, who will never be as good as the late Richard Harris, as Dumbledore, was a bit improved.  He at least got a funny line or two: "Ah, to be young again and feel the sweet sting of love."  I wonder if we will ever find out why they made Dumbledore suck.

The story that Slughorn told Harry about his fish, which was not in the book, was great.  I thought it was sweet and really helped the plotline of Harry's mother being so special.

Weasley's Wizard Wheezes was pretty cool too.  It was shot well and looked neat.  I could probably watch a half hour of just people looking through the shop, but that's not really useful.

I liked that we got to see Neville a little.  I didn't realize how little a role he plays in the 6th book.  We read about his classes in the beginning and then he's in the fight at the end (that was cut due to hatin' on Bill?) but that's it, isn't it?

Loved the scene with Harry and Ron lying in bed talking about girls' skin.  Where to boys jerk off at a boarding school?  Must be rough.

Slughorn was good.  Maybe I just enjoyed pretending Bridget Jones' dad is secretly a wizard.

I think I liked that Snape shushed Harry just before offing Dumby.  It helped strengthen the "betrayal."

Aragorn was nicely gross and scary even in death.

Harry was great on Felix.  Loved the cocky know-it-all, slightly drunk act, even though it wasn't what I expected.  Also liked Hermione drunk.

Luna's wrackspurts exist, if not the way she imagines them.  They looked like "Dust."  I was worried for a second that Harry's Daemon would show up too.

Blaise Zabini was hott.

Things I didn't like:

McLagen was hott.  How are we supposed to be against him when he licks his lips at Hermione and is super seductive?

Dumbledore doesn't know what's going on?  He sees Slughorn's true memory and is shocked? Why have they ruined Dumbledore?  Also, is he hitting on Harry?  Is this to set up the post-mortem controversy?  Harry, are you making out with Hermione?  Harry, you need to shave [giggle].  wtf?

Fleur is a great character - why cut her out?  Especially when the movie is all about hormones and she basically represents sexual desire.  Also, Trewlaney must be fun to shoot.  Weird that they would cut such visually exciting characters.

The best part about a crush is the anticipation.  Harry and Ginny don't do it well in the movie.  It's too easy, and when it does happen, it's not special enough.  The most prominent theme in the book is Love, with a capital L and it wasn't payed out well.  I guess it was obvious that they were in love but I think they introduced her too strong, too soon in the movie.

Rowling does a pretty good job of diversifying the student population in the books, and the previous movies have been okay about it.  This movie was awful - why are the Patil twins no longer Indian?  Where are the dred locks? 

Didn't realize how much I liked the Dursleys until they were gone.  I think I just feel bad for the actors.

Snape revealing that he is the HBP was so anti-climactic.  Oh by the way, remember that book you barely talked about this year?  It was mine.  You know the book - the one that helped you in potions?  The one you kinda remember hiding with Ginny?  Oh, did her kiss downplay that part?  You know what I'm talking about; It's the title of the movie.  I guess you don't care, but I am the HBP, just so you know.  Move on, Snape; we don't know what you're referring to.  

Things to Ponder:

Obviously: the Horcruxes.  It was cool that we got to see Dumbledore realize that Harry is one.  That was somehow obvious and subtle at the same time.  Liked it.  BUT, no cup? no snake? no something of Ravenclaw's?  Will it just be the locket and Harry?  Will Harry really figure it all out on his own?  Maybe Dumby will help through Snape more than originally.

Will we get to see the Fleur/Bill wedding even though they were absent?  I guess it's disposable but would be cool to see.  I think they'll do it - they already made Shell Cottage, so we know the couple will be in there somehow.

Will Kreacher be totally out?  My guess it most likely.  Maybe he'll be in the Black house to serve but not help figure out the secret of Regalus.  I hope they still go to the Black house even though we didn't find out in the movie that Harry owns it. I love the scene where Ron and Hermione fall asleep holding hands and Harry feels all alone.

The invisibility cloak was super played down, but the ring was there, as was Dumbledore's wand.  Maybe the invisibility cloak just isn't fun to film?  The stone will def be in the last movie cuz Radcliffe, in an interview, talked about filming the scene with Harry's loved ones walking into the woods.

What will Harry do about Ginny?  Hermione talks in the end about her like she'll be around.  She better not be.  EW's HP6 spread included her in all the shots, so there's a chance she'll have a bigger role than she should.  Maybe they'll play up the female power.

Will they out Dumby?  I think I hope so.  It would be nice to have a little pro-gay/anti-gay theme in the finale, especially if they get the Love theme right. 

If they cut out Xenophilia, I will be so mad.  I still remember how excited I was when I saw that he had his own chapter in the book.  Here's hoping everyone else felt the same.  Luna had a strong presence, and the Quibbler was there, so there's hope.

The Order was almost non-existent.  Will we get to see George's ear cut off?  Seven Harrys?

Will they move the "Other Minister" scene to the 7th movie or cut it completely and introduce him another way.  We know Scrimgeour will be there because he's been cast already, but I do hope to see the muggle minister meet him.  If they're cutting the book into two, they might as well keep all the fun, right?

Exciting stuff!  Can't wait to see it again.

Father's Day

With father's day upon us I thought I'd share my favorite father's day memory:

A few years ago, maybe a decade or more, my father decided to take us to a Red Sox game at Fenway park. For years he got season tickets in the form of a "clergy pass." This pass allowed him, as a Rabbi, to enter the stadium with one guest and sit anywhere there were free seats. Back in the day the Red Sox were not the super team they are now and the games were rarely sold out, which meant they were more lenient and allowed my father to bring in more than one guest. So on this particular father's day we all got in the car, my sister, my step-mother, my father, and me, and drove down to Fenway to get into a Red Sox game for free.
My father used all of the clergy benefits to his advantage. It turns out clergy get these car decals for funeral processions and such, and my father would use his to park at various churches and synagogues for free. Of course Boston is one of those cities that has difficult parking so we used his clergy parking pass (not really what it is). We all get out of the car, dad pops the trunk to get his picnic basket or something silly like that, and we close the doors. Oops, the keys are still in the car. My father makes me climb through the trunk, push down the seats, and slither through them to the front to get the keys. Great start!
When we get to Fenway, the game is sold out - it is father's day after all. We try to get all 4 people in but they say only two are allowed. Oh, wasn't there a guy on the way who was selling 4 tickets? We go back to the scalper and my dad tries to cut a deal. The scalper wants too much for 4 - oh wait, we only need 2 and we know that if the other two tickets are sold, they'll be from this scalper and we can accuse the buyers of getting their tickets illegally! So we buy the two tickets, get in with those and the clergy pass and sit in the 4 empty seats - right behind the home team dugout. Not bad.
When we get to the seats we see another Rabbi and his family that we know from summer camp sitting in the row behind us. Awesome, we're not the only ones abusing the system - oh wait, they bought their tickets and took the T in.
A few innings in, a young couple accuses us of being in their seats - someone finally bought those other two scalped tickets. My dad tries the, you bought those illegally bit, for a minutes but maybe feels bad so he points out two seats a few rows in front of us that haven't been occupied yet for them to sit in. It worked out for all.
What do I remember about the actual baseball game? Johnny Damon on deck and little kids nagging him for his autograph. No clue who they played or who won. I wonder if I was ever actually a Red Sox fan.
BTW, the Red Sox don't give out clergy passes now that all their games sell out. The Padres would never turn their back on their devout fans like that, paying or not paying. Although we'll never really know because the Padres may not ever have sell out seasons - and that's why I'm such a big fan.
Happy father's day, everyone!

My Tourist Weekend in San Diego

I had a pretty busy weekend in my own town doing a few tourist things. What a great city it is!

At work on Friday we got free passes to Sea World for that same night. I purposefully did not tell my immediate coworkers about the passes so I wouldn't bump into them there. I invited a friend of mine but she was sick and I was going to spend time with most of my other friends the rest of the weekend so I decided to call a guy who sometimes calls to hang out with me but I'm not interested in. He got home from work late and told me to just meet him at his house so he'd have a little time to get ready. I walked over (about 15 min walk) and when I got there he needed a beer, so I waited for him to have a beer. Then his client called and he made me wait in the other room while he answered the call. Then he wanted a burrito before we went to Seaworld wo I waited for him to get a burrito. Then we got to Seaworld and he ate his burrito in the car while I sat there. When we finally got to Seaworld it was pretty cool. he was still a total douche but it was really nice going to a theme park where there are zero tourists. Everyone there was invited by their work so it was all San Diegans and their families. The weather was a nice 65 and the lines were short. It was late at night so the animals were pretty rowdy and the view from the rollercoaster was great. We alos got to see the fireworks that I've only ever heard from various apartments around San Diego. When the park closed we went back to his car where I sat and waited for him to finish off the rest of his burrito. Then he drove to his house without asking me if I wanted to go home. Then we got out of the car, he didn't invite me in, and I walked home. Needless to say, I will not be hanging out with that guy any more.

Saturday I decided to walk to the zoo because it's a good fitness walk and I wanted to tell the membership desk that I have not been receiving my ZooNooz magazine, which is very important to my bathroom experience. When I got there I decided I might as well walk in and see a few favorites. This was a very different experience from the previous night. Tourism season is in full affect as the summer has started. I'm not used to the zoo being to crowded because I rarely go on a weekend day after Memorial day. I did enjoy the people watching and I tried to walk slowly with the crowd. I went over to where the giraffes are, expecting to just watch them and the elephants for a few minutes then go home (and maybe get some softserve). Turns out the elephants are no longer there. So I looked at a map to see where they were moved to and find out there's a new section of the zoo that must've recently been opened called "Elephant Odyssey." So that's what all those hats and t-shirts are about! OK, I decide to check it out since it doesn't look too far. It's far. They opened up a whole new area of the zoo that I don't think existed before. it felt like they doubled the size of the zoo. It was pretty cool I guess but the elephants seemed a lot further away than they used to be. It does have more of a "paleolithic age" feel to it though. When I finally got through the odyssey I had to walk home. it was a bit tough, I have to admit, but it felt goot to go on such a long walk and I didn't even stop for softserve!

Saturday afternoon B called to hang out with him and our mutual friend who was in town. He suggested we go for an easy hike. I nixed that right away. I could barely stand. Instead, they each decided to play their new record in it's entirety. Nice and relaxing, except that the listening enhancers made it so I had to get up to dance a little. Finally we went to an Ethiopian restaurant - totally for tourists, but enjoyable. It was surprisingly crowded too.

After dinner I made it home just in time to throw on a fancy dress and some heels and head to a downtown hotel for a friend's ballroom dance competition. This involved lots of standing around and $10 drinks. The competition wasn't too bad - it's always fun to gawk at the outfits, this time it was the men's outfits that were all jazzed up with glitter and sheer material. It's impossible to tell the straight men frm teh gay men. My friend won some cash, which is great because he owes me money. It was alos a nice excuse to wear that New Year's eve dress that gets so little action (wearing action, not sexual action).

Aaah bed time!

Woke up early Sunday to meet B and friend to go to the farmer's market. Another packed place in town. Have I forgotten how many people are here over the summer? We got the usual breakfast gyros that are not at all meant for breakfast, and coconut Thai pancakes that are also not meant for breakfast, and some fruit samples then headed over to the used bookstore. I bought The Hitchiker's Guide to the Gallaxy partly because I've always wanted to read it, but mostly because the actor who just starred as Scotty is the main character in the modern movie adaptation. We then chilled in the grass at B's house for a bit. I forgot how great June gloom is. It's basically 65 all day and night with warm sunshine when you want it and cool shade when you want it. Perfect. Went home to esape the B and friend while they fought over mixing music.

Sunday night B and I went out for sushi so he could get his last non-Mexican food for two months. Then we went up north to see Nikka Costa. We ran into two friends of his/mine at the show, which was nice but scary on my music-listening enhancers. I never like concert goers, no matter who they are. I always find an excuse to hate them - they stand to close, they're too tall (where are all these 7 ft tall ppl coming from and why do they love live music?), or the touch me when dancing, or they're making out in front of me, or they're wearing baseball hats that prove they are out of town hicks. Anyway, this guy came through the crowd to stand next to his 7 foot tall friend, and I, out of habit gave him a derisive look. 30 minutes later, the guy is on stage playing a mean sax with his band-member sister, who is apparently from San Diego. Oops. He looked like such a nice guy on stage too. Whenever he took a breath from playing the sax he had a smile on his face. Oh well, he was still too tall to be standing in front of me and I was happy when he didn't come back out tot he audience after his song.

So I finally went home and got to sleep, promising myself that I'd rollerblade after work on Monday adn wouldn't need to shower until after that workout. Then the alarm goes off this morning and I remember the mandatory happy hour we have scheduled today. I've already surpassed my June budget for money and food! At least we might get our of work early today!

UPDATE: I forgot to mention that B and I watched scenes from Hairspray to get us in the dancing mood for the show. It totes worked.

Through the Generations

I visited my gramma this past weekend in Florida, with my mom. The two of them act just like me and my mom. It's horrible to watch. They are both bossy and sarcastic and bad cooks with bad taste in food - and neither of them see it in the other one. Gramma kept complaining to me about how bossy my mom is and laughed at her inability to cook. My mom was very good at ignoring the mean remarks, and even better at not caring to the point of making it worse. I hate seeing my own flaws in other people because it makes me realize how other people see me - not pretty. I even have the added bonus of loving these obnoxious people. The people around me must be in hell.
But the fact the neither my mom nor gramma realized that they are the same as each other gave me hope. At least I can see now that I act this way, and maybe it will help me not be like that forever.
Other intersting things about my visit:
My mom got a Blackberry and is always on it. It's common for someone to be on there new PDA a lot but those people are usually doing lots of different things, like texting, surfing the web, using cool apps, etc. My mom just takes a long time to do the simple things. She wants to text someone back - there goes five minutes. She wants us to pose for a picture and then save it - there goes ten minutes. We were getting in the car, with her in the driver's seat, and people were waiting for our parking spot while she stood there and did who knows what with her phone. I had to keep gramma talking at dinner while mom played with her phone. V. annoying.
Shopping with gramma was a trip too. She wanted to buy me something for my birthday so she took me to the old lady version of Marshall's. She went through each isle picking out different muumuus and matching colored denim suits for me and then got hurt when I said they were my style. Meanwhile, my mom shopped in the juniors section for herself. I finally picked out some boat shoes for her to buy me while mom got some tacky silver flip flops with mirrored bangles. Gramma took one look at them and said, JEANNE NO! Mom just laughed and took them to the register.
My mother has picked up some awful habits living alone all these years. She coughs without covering her mouth, she chews with her mouth open, she lets rip some awful farts, and she is sarcastic and judgmental. I love living alone but don't want to end up chewing with my mouth open. How can I avoid this?

Wuss

I went to a coffee shop tonight to finish a book and listen to my friend's band. Near the end of my book and the set my really ex boyfriend walks in with his friend and sits right next to me. I look up and see that unmistakable douchey chin beard thing and say hi. I get up any hug them both and then say I'm almost done with this book. I say it to let him off the hook from chatting with me. I finish the book even sooner than expected but luckily the band is on their last song so I sit motionlessly enthralled in watching them. When they are done I get up to talk to the band and I see the ex's friend looking at me to say goodbye. He looked like he really wanted to talk to me but I couldn't even remember his name. So as I'm walking away I turn around and wave goodbye without even saying anything. I talk to the band for a few minutes and then leave without looking back.
I feel like a total asshole for not talking to them but I don't actually care what they are up to and don't really want them to know about my life.
I come home and start putting away my dishes. There's a dish that the ex ate off. And there's a dish that the next douche ate off of and so on. Do I really want to start dating douches again? I was just starting to think that it would be nice to start dating a cool guy again but now I realize I don't date cool guys and I'm def not ready to start dating douches again.

Next Episode

This morning on the way to work I heard Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg's "Next Episode" on the radio. Two amazing things happened while I listened and I will explain them here.

1. I heard them say they were going to drink "Yac" which I can only assume is short for Cognac. Is that not the most amazing thing of all time? Next time I eat caviar i'm going to call it "yar." e.g. "Dr. Hawking and I are were just about to enjoy some yar. Would you care to join us?"
Also, is this where Reddizog got the inspiration for "yatch" in reference to "beauty" aka "bi-atch"? I'm going to assume that Dr. Dre/Snoop Dogg and Reddizog both came to this "ending of word abbreviation" on their own and they are all/both so effing awesome.

2. When my favorite (ok one of my favorite as this song is so great) line was aired they bleeped out the n word i.e. "woopdiwoop bleep what?" This absolutley made my day. The n word has only ever been bleeped in senior English class. This can only mean one thing: PROGRESS, and I'm happy to be alive to witness it. Do you think it's because of you know who (no not Voldemort, the president!)? Who cares? I'm so excited that the word is finally being bleeped and is getting the same treatment as other, even far less offensive words. Woopdiwoop indeed!

Bank statement

I was just catching up on some "Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban" when I saw that I had an ex's bank statement as my bookmark from the last time I read it. Since I'm currently angry with him I decided to exact my revenge by perusing the statement. Upon review I wondered if my bank statements are as boring and predictable as his. See if you can guess which ex:
Gas
Cheap grocery store
Netflix charge
Korean restaurant
Padres tix/consessions
British style pub
Used book store
Start at beginning, repeat almost exactly in order

This ex was v private about his bank info (smart) so I have no clue how it came to be in my book. My only guess is that I was at his apt early in the relationship and (now realize prob reading it aloud to him with a british accent) grabbed whatever was close to mark the page and dozed off. But it seems weird that he'd have this lying around for me to grab. I think he must've been trying to read it to me (I remember a horrible fake cockney accent) and grabbed it himself.

The absolute strangest part of this whole thing is that the statement is 3 years old and we must have used it when it was fresh (as he had a good filing system) and I haven't noticed until now, which means I haven't opened the book in three years. My fave book in my fave series and I haven't read it in 3 years? I feel shameful. I feel like I should read it over and over for a month. It just makes no sense. I can recall reading the other 6 in the past 3 years but why not this one? Maybe I felt it needed a break? I feel sick thinking about the neglect. Don't look at me.

Wolverine (prob spoiler)

I feel it is my duty to review this movie because it has received horrible reviews that I don't believe are justified.
First of all, this is a comic book movie and ppl don't seem to realize that this genre is allowed an extra amount of cheese than other genres. In Marvel comic adaptations especially I think the directors have done a good job in capturing that one frame scene you'd get in a comic.
Secondly, the previous X-Men movies have focused heavily on important themes (if not for everyone than for their target audience - teens) such as intolerance, fitting in, self esteem, and bigotry. They have included a fair amount of action but it was divied up among powers and no one's fave superhero (not that everyome has the same fave) got flushed out to anyone's satisfaction. Since Wolverine is a very popular ass kicker and has powers that are made for fighting, it seems natural that his origins movie would be first and only skim the X-Men themes to get right to the fighting.
This is a movie for all of the complainers who think Wolverine is awesome and want to see him in action. And it does an awesome job at that. You have to want this action to enjoy the movie and frankly, how could you not want it - Wolverine is hot, quiet, and badass. I think the critics should shut up and go back to watching their DVDs of Slumdog Millionaire.
Lastly, the next origins movie is going to be Magneto, which will have to be a 180 from Wolverine. Magneto's movie will include the holocaust (how will it escape a Holocaust genre?) and will be heavily theme based with minimal action, mostly from him collecting a team. If I'm wrong and it's the same as Wolverine, then the critics will have been right.

Handwriting

The photo pictured above captures the amazing handwriting of one of college students. This is a quiz the had to complete this week. Notice, please, the undercipherable words, which are somewhat due to spelling but mostly to symbols that do not represent letters. The overlapping words at the top lend to the overall essence of the quiz. There is also a sense of dizziness where the student does not pay atention to the horizon and kind of slips of to one side or the other. In his other work he likes to start each line further to the right than the line before.

What can I say about this? First, I guess, is that this is not uncommon from a certain type of student. I'm not quite sure what that type is - it's not all of my male students; it's not all of my Muslim students; it's not all of my African students, but it is a combination of the these elements plus something else I can't put my finger on - possibly parental education, or experience in a job that does not require writing? It's amazing that someone of college age, in college, can write this way. It seems like a simple basic skill to be able to separate letters appropriately, then separate words, then get everything going in the same direction. The older women from Mexico who were not previously educated have at least these skills down.

The most difficult part of dealing with this type of problem is that the students in question do not seem to grasp that it is a problem. They don't see that their writing is different from their average classmate. They often choose to handwrite assignments instead of type (and even their typed assignments reflect these errors somehow - their spacing makes no sense, their capitolization is random, and their spelling is not even phonetic. I want to go to one of their childhood schools and learn the completely different knowledge that they have. It must be good.

17 Again (tiny SPOILER)

I saw High School Musical when it was on the Disney channel and I did not think Zac Efron was hot. He was younger then, and blonder, but for christ's sake! he is effing hot in 17 Again. Every time he came on camera he had this effect on me like "phwoar!" and I'm not even British! I have a feeling they used CGI on him or something. For reals.
Also, the audience for this movie was a little unclear - at first I'd think young girls who like Zac Efron, then maybe dads because of the message - but no dad would go on his own; he'd have to take his duaghter. But then the CGIed Zac Efron kinda hinted towards a cougar audience and there was a theme like in Benjamin Button where the older woman (not old) gets to see her lover young and hot again and that made me think it was a total mom audience.
ALSO, the music was not normal. First of all - yes that "Bust a Move" song is awesome, but it's awesome NOW; was it actually that awesome in the 80s? I thought it was more 90s awesome. AND, the tough guy/hot shot listens to LIMP BIZKIT! It's supposed to be 2009! I was all about Limp Bizkit in 1999, but who even knows them now? Wait, the whole timeline of this makes no sense - she gets preggers in 1989 and then in 2009 she has two kids in high school? Where's the 20 year old? Did they get rid of her? No, she's magically 17 or 18, but there's no way she's 19/20 in her senior year, right? Soooo, the audience of this movie is single girls in their late 20s, who don't want to get married because their husband will get old and no longer be hot, and who fondly remember Limp Bizkit? Are there more like me out there?
One more thing. SPOILER. The first scene takes place in 1989 at a basketball game. We see the cheerleaders at halftime doing their thing (hence the "Bust a Move") and we learn the Zac Efron's character is hot shit because a. he can get the ball in the hoop b. he is hot shit c. he has a hot gf and D. HE BUSTS OUT ONTO THE FLOOR AND DANCES WITH THE CHEERLEADERS! Honestly, I wanted to boo the movie at that point. I would've killed a guy who was already cool on the bball team if he tried to steal my thunder at halftime, And, no one cool in high school at that time would've danced with the cheerleaders like that, And Jesus Christ, Zac Efron, can't you keep your dance moves to yourself for ONE movie? it was still hot, though
Update: I saw the soundtrack on iTunes. I had forgotten that "Danger Zone" from Top Gun and a "Push it" remix was in the movie. I'm so right about the audience. Sadly, Limp Bizkit did not make the soundtrack cut.
Update!!! Just found this link through Vulture. They thought her article was awful. I think it's got good points and she saw the movie for the same reason as me and, get this, she wrote "G-d"!!!! I'm not over it!

Kids' eating habits

A few days ago I was, for some reason, thinking about how I would manipulate my own nonexistent kids into having good eating habits. I would make them understand that mcdonalds was a treat, not a norm. Or maybe only take them there on sad occasions so they'd have bad associations. When they started their sweet faze I would give them quality chocolate instead of teeth rotting candy, etc.
Today at a 5 year old's birthday party I stood next to a mother while the kids hit the piñata. Her son grabbed a box of nerds and she fretted. She wasn't pretentious when she said it but she said he wasn't allowed that stuff at home. Another mother asked what he was allowed and the first said chocolate but nothing like this hard candy that sticks in their teeth. I thought, this woman is nuts! Then I remembered that is exactly what I would do and realized I sound nuts too. Now I don't know what to do. Thank g dash I don't have to worry about that.

My Type

So I've been looking on google images lately for a new phone wallpaper and I just realized after 3 nights in a row of doing this that I so have a type. It's not just hot actors, it's also real life guys. I'm obv not the only one with this type because the hot actors I like are extremely popular. No wonder blonde dudes freak me out - they're not my type. I mean, I can admire the beauty of some blonde dudes but am never attracted to them. Furtunately, my type is neither my dad nor my brother. Shit maybe it is my dad when he was my age. Ew

Divertido

Dear Spanish textbook editors:

Thank you all for voting on the translation of "divertido". It looks like we will go with "fun loving," which got the most votes. Followed closely in second was "outgoing" and in third was "nice".
Please prepare your votes for our upcoming poll on "obra"

Sincerely,
Señor Lingua

Candy

I just opened my drawer expecting to find mini cadbury eggs and found a slew of treats. As I was sifting through, deciding what to eat, I heard myself say "fuck" really angrily. I realized I was actually frustrated because I had too much junk to eat and didn't know where to start. It was probably the most honest anger I'd had all day. Not a bad life I guess. If you're wondering - I went with the normal size cadbury creme egg.

New Girl

Thinking about Twilight reminded me of this girl who transferred to my high school. I don't remember her name or what happened to her after that first year, but I remember her instant popularity. She embraced it immediatley and acted as if she deserved it - this bothered me because not only is popularity not something ppl deserve or don't deserve, but also because she didn't deserve it. She wasn't very pretty or interesting or nice. I felt like I was the only one who could see through her.
She was on my cheerleading squad and we didn't get along because I didn't treat her like avqueen the way everyone else did. Then, at the cheer competition her old school's squad was there and as we passed them I saw her give the girls (her supposed old friends) a tentative smile. I lingered at the back of our passing group (or was in the back because I wasn't cool?) but heard them say something like, "she's tricked them into liking her." I knew it! She wasn't cool at all! What did that mean? I think I tried to tell my teammates about it and they didn't believe me, or maybe I kept it to myself for my own enjoyment. Either way, I had been right.
But did it matter? She'd gotten a second chance and was having a nice time with her new friends. And her new squad prob kicked her old squad's ass cuz we were good.
I always wondered why they didn't like her though. Was it just cuz she sucked (which was first impression of her), or had she done something unforgivable like wear the wrong clothes or have a crush on a boy out of her league or pretend to be anorexic for attention.

Finishing a Book

Y'all know how it is when you read a book and are so eager to find out what happens that you finally do and wish you didn't know because now it's over.
I propose we make a book finishing ritual to cheer us up when we're depressed because that wonderful world we were engulfed in is now gone forever. My ritual suggestions are: eat some junkfood (mcdonalds or cookies or soda), toast the book with some alcohol, um I think that's all I got.
The trick is, the ritual has to be able to be done immediately upon completion of the book and alone - in the sense that you can't count on anyone else but could be in the company of others. Any other suggestions?

New Moon Soundtrack

I remember the first time I heard 98 Degrees' "Hardest Thing." I was so confused - why does he have to tell her he doesn't love her when he really does? It made no sense to me. Then I saw the movie Cruel Intentions and there's a scene where Ryan Phillippe's character tells Jake Gyllenhaal's girlfriend's character that he doesn't love her but it's to protect her or something. I forget but I remember that it related and I finally understood the song. I still think it's totally unrelatable to the mass public. How many people are in such danger that they need to lie to their love to keep him/her alive? Harry Potter, Spiderman, Edward Cullen - not only are these ppl fictional, they all have supernatural powers. Why is it such a common theme then?
I think I'm getting sidetracked. The point it, it IS such a common theme and I'm hoping when New Moon is made they don't write NEW songs for it when there are soooo many already. Here are just a few that I can think of that completey relate to the story but not to real life whatsoever: Ben Harper, "Walk Away;" 98 Degrees, "Hardest Thing;" Kelly Clarkson, "Since U Been Gone," "I Hate Myself for Losing You," "My Life Would Suck Without You," probably anything by her. More to come.

Subtitles

This weekend I saw 12, which is apparently a remake of the American movie Twelve Angry Men, which I guess I've heard of but knew nothing about. The movie was really good but the subtitles were shit. Well, I don't know Russian so I can't say if the subtitles were bad translations, but they were white, on a very lightly shot movie. This made it so reading the subtitles was almost imposible at times. I missed an entire punchline because of it. It pissed me off. I left the theater with a headache from strained eyes.
For a girl who has every Spice Girls album and most of the N'Sync albums, I think I watch a lot of subtitled movies and have some knowledge of what can be done. The simplest way to fix the problem is to make the subtitles yellow instead of white. Easy, right? How can it not be? I have a feeling that certain countries or movie producers or whoever make the subtitles hard to read on purpose. Like, learn Russian you American spoiled jerks! For movies that also have a dubbed option the subtitles are easy to read (Miyazaki movies), which surprises me because the dubbing is an artform in itself so I would think they'd want to encourage viewers to use that option.
Ever since I saw Night Watch, where the Subtitles are artistically done and move with the action and are blood red in places, I thought subtitles had finally advanced to the next level and we would no longer feel like our language differences were a barrier. But no, I have yet to see a movie that uses subtitles the way they did. And new movies are still using horrible white subtitles, which proves that they are being mean on purpose.
Furthermore, I read about how Let the Right One In came out on DVD with subtitles, and even though the theater subtitles were perfect, they made the DVD subtitles all wrong. They used a different translator or something? How does that even work? Did they have to pay the original translator royalites and he asked too much so they used someone else? wtf? but enough people complained about the watery/wrong subtitles that they agreed to stop selling those DVDs and fix it for the new ones sold. Thank g dash someone knows Swedish and alerted us to this because I want to see that movie!

Naa Na Na Nanananaaaa

Hey Jude is such a good song. The problem is, when I visited Yad VaShem, the Holocaust museum in Israel, my friend came up to me and said, "I feel awfule but I have 'Hey Jude' stuck in my head." Ya know, cuz there are all these signs that say JUDE and shit. So no, whenever I hear that song, I think of Yad VaShem, but not in a sad way, in a funny way. It's bad. Also, I love that the song is basically about getting a new step-parent. I think it should be a requirement to play this song at all second+ marriage weddings where kids are involved. I will suggest it to the DJ at my mother's upcoming wedding. I wonder if she'll have a DJ. I'll bring my iPod speakers just in case.

My Sister

I could tell from all y'all's responses whenever I spoke of my sister that you thought I should swallow my pride and talk to her again or at least apologize for the kids' sake (sorry I caused our parents divorce) so I did the least I could do after doing nothing: I asked her to be my facebook friend (again) and this time sent a message saying, I don't think your kids are assholes and I love them so please be my facebook friend so I can show off pics of them. Boy do I know my audience! She befriended me! I honestly almost cried when I saw it on my phone while stopped at a red light. Then I thought about how I was gonna blog about it. Then I mentally slapped myself to stop thinking about the blog and stay in the emotional moment. Then I thought of the "Fight Club" scene with the chemical burn. I love that scene.
Anyway, my sister posted on my wall "we have a new dad". It took me a min to realize she was referring to my mom's engagement and then I laughed so hard. Dad is both of our facebook friends so I guess that solves the problem of how he'll find out.
She also wrote about her son telling a black family that he doesn't like black ppl, and how weird it was cuz she luuuurves them.

What a Thrill!

Just realized that Troop Beverly Hills is part of my canon but I don't yet own it. I will get on that immediately!

Fat Times!

My Girl Scout Cookies just came! This is very exciting news. Tonight i'm watching the new Twilight DVD with Rhoda and we're going to have caprese salad, and then make adult mac and cheese (my dad's recipe, which calls for 5 cups of cheddar cheese and heavy cream). Rhoda says she has baked brie available in case we need more food. I keep telling myself I will work out when it gets warmer out. The cool air hurts my ears too much when the weather is only in the 60s. Maybe next week it will be nicer out. I calculated my student loans and the payback period. I still have about 45 years left to pay them back, which means my increasing cholesterol will get me before I have to pay them back. Take that!

Phone Lady

So as many of my friends have unfortunately discovered, Verizon reused my old phone number far too soon and the new owner has a beligerant mother. I finally decided it was time to call the mother to let her know that my friends are just calling for me and not sexual predators calling to take advantage of her daughter. The woman and I ended up in a screeching fight. She says that one of my friends has ben calling constantly to invite me to a sex party. She went on to say that my friends were making me seem like a whore and then said she wasn't calling me a whore, but that's what my friends were making me out as. That was nice of her! I told her that I've tried to tell my friends about my new number and this sex party person is not my friend and that she needs to complain to Verizon about reusing the number too soon. She said she called Verizon and they won't do anything. She also said her husband is in the state police and she's gonna report me and my friends. I told her to please report the sex party person and she can report me as well. What the hell would they do? This did not satisfy her as she continued to screech at me. When I had enough silliness I told her there was nothing more to do and that I was hanging up.
So I guess it's just some crazy woman and my friends who still don't know my number willbjust have to deal with being called perverts. It was kinda fun. My fave part was when she was scared of calling me a whore. Maybe she was recording the call. She's like one of those 911 calls where the woman is complaining that mcdonalds didn't make her big mac correctly.

Important Lesson

Don't call people after eating pot. Akward giggles on the phone are even stranger than in person. I don't know how many times I've ignored this lesson but I need to stop high dialing. On my most recent flub I passed it off as "multitasking" when the person on the other end said I was weird on the phone.

Hypothesis

I wish there were a word that meant "educated racism" the way hypothesis means "educational guess". Hyporacism doesn't work. It's got to mean more than generalization because I want it to be negative the way racism is. I'm sure ESL teachers all over the world know what I'm talking about. We know not ALL of a group is the same but many of them share negative (to us) characteristics that are simply undeniable. It's not the same as racism, which often happens because of ignorance and limited exposure. This is educated racism, which happens in learning environments through concentrated exposure. Let's try to think of a good word

The best part of working with Indians

Using that Office Space line "Naga- Naga- Naganna work here anymore" over and over. Like for real there's a lot of people with long first names that begin with "Naga." Usually they are mutliple first names like, Naga Venkata Anil. Fun times.

Damn!

The only reason I read all of those horribly awful Maxiumum Ride books was becasue I thought Alfonso Cuaron was directing the upcoming movie. Now I read that Catherine Hardwicke, the Twilight director might be doing it. No mention of Cuaron at all. What was the point? At least the awfulness of the books leaves a good chance that the movie(s) will be better. It could be cool to watch bird-kids flying around, but more likely just gross. I wonder if Jasper will be playing Fang. I just hope it's not Zach Ephron!

Engaged!

Yeah, I'm talking about my mom. Surprised? I am. Here's the story: Mom calls me today and says she went out last night with "he's not my boyfriend," and some of her close (in relation and proximity) friends, to celebrate her birthday. They had a nice dinner and then when the cake came it said "Will you marry me? Happy 40th birthday!" Yes, it's her 60th birthday. Apparently her "not-boyfriend"/fiance thought it would be weird or something to put 60th. Also, when she told people it was her 60th they thought she was joking. People assume she's in her 40s or early 50s. That's nice I guess. Anyway, that was quite out of the blue for me considering she's never even referred to him as her boyfriend. I'm excited for her though - also it might take a lot of the pressure of me and my siblings in terms of being her date to things and taking care of her in old age. I think he looks like James Cromwell (whom my mother admitted is handsome, but she doesn't agree with the comparison). She says the wedding will either be January 2010 or June 2010. This will be the 3rd wedding of one of my parents that I've been in attendance for. I asked if she'll be moving and she said no, he's moving in with her. That's great news because her last engagement ended when the fiance wanted her move and wouldn't compromise on anything. She said she's going to expand the upstairs bathroom and put a standing shower in the downstairs bathroom, as well as hardwood floors on the ground floor. I was quite excited about that because it will increase the worth of the house considerably and therefore my inheritance. hehe. BTW, that is a pic of James Cromwell, not the fiance (Ray).

Pretentious

Here's why I'm not pretentious: I can look back at the pretentious things I've liked for the past ten years and I still like them. If I were pretentious I would look back and say, I can't believe I pretended to like that!

Here are some of the honest things that I have been annoying about loving in my past but it was never fake because I still feel the same way: Cat Steven's "Father and Son," Weird Al's "UHF," Rushmore, The Periodic Table of Elements, orange, Shia LaBeouf, A Little Princess, brussel sprouts, Arrested Development, eating healthier than the average American, folk music, Justin Timberlake, the Spice Girls, the semi-colon, Friendly's garden salads and the "wata-mellon roll," nachos, Dire Straights' "Romeo & Juliet," 112's "Peaches & Cream," rollerblading, two buck chuck, Fiona Apple, Emilie, Stella Artois, Bolga Zodoomah, "El Scorcho," the Gap, See's, bread and butter, bagels, Bombay Sapphire gin, Ketel One vodka, Tim McGraw's "Everywhere," PSU random sports t-shirts, Sex and the City season 2, You've Got Mail, the big dipper, french fries, requesting ridiculous music (or just Beyonce's "Irreplaceable")from the DJ at a club, Guster, silly shoes in horrid colors (orange), No Doubt's "Tragic Kingdom," Sigur Ros "Tak," the Violent Femmes, "The Saga Begins," eating drugs, not smoking cigarettes, teenage friends, crying at the same un-sad country songs, raw carrots, Ramen, granny panties, Magnum, P.I., children's furnishings from Ikea, movie ticket stubs, pictures of people I don't really like, natural fabric, time travel, my teddy bear Slider 2360, having a default pair of pants that I wear until a crotch hole becomes offensive, dictionary.com, friends that think I'm funny, hot guys, utilizing each piece of notebook paper to it's fullest, my black tank-top with the velvet tiger.

Some things I no longer feel the need for in my life (but still like at the right time): DVD extras (especially watching with commentary), Bright Eyes, lyrics, going make-up-less, pajama pants in public, boxers instead of girlie(er) undies, Black Heritage Month playlists, H&M, NYC, Massachussetts, dinner, Floyd laser shows, Ska, some comedic music, dressing down at clubs, enemies, listening to my music on random, guitar players, swearing at people when I'm mad.

Tired

I woke up in a coughing fit at 6am today. I couldn't stop coughing so I had to get up and get some water and the water didn't help much. I probably coughed for 5-10 minutes. The whole time I was thinking: thank G-d I don't live with anyone cuz they would be pissed, and: I hope my neighbors can't hear me. Can you believe that? On my verge of death I'm have crack addiction Bella Swan reaction! Anyway, I had a really hard getting back to sleep after and now I'm exhausted.

Spider Roommate

A week or more ago I noticed a Spider in the corner of my bathroom, on the floor in the outer corner of the tub and wall. I debated whether or not to kill him the next few times I saw him and didn't kill him because I told myself I wasn't wearing the right shoes for the job. Then I decided that I just wouldn't kill him until he became a problem, or sprouted babies. Now I feel like he's my roommate. He and I are sharing the place together and we're both pretty happy. I feel the same way about him that I do about most past roommates anyway - He's invading my space and if he crosses the line, I will "take care of the situation." I realized last night that if he leaves or if I do have to kill him, I will most likely cry at least a bit. And if G-d forbid it happens while I'm PMSing, I will cry all night. When I was in 9th grade I had a Tamagochi and it needed care all the time. I obv couldn't be there for it all the time because I had to be in school. So I would change the time so it thought it was supposed to be sleeping all the time. When it FINALLY died of neglect I cried so hard I scared myself. I had to go to my mother because I was so sad, or maybe because I was so confused at my sadness. Her advice was, just bring another one to life. I was like, but I wanted it to die. She was confused too. I never brought another one to life again, though. In conclusion, when I get married I will wish for my husband to die and then when he does I will cry for a day and get over it. That's the conclusion, right?

Foreign Language Requirement

Our undergraduate programs require basic gen eds and one of those categories is foreign languages. Since I deal entirely with international students, it is extremely rare that one of my applicants will need this requirement. Nonetheless, every once in a while I will overhear Fanny discussing with a student ambassador how to schedule a Spanish class for a prospective student. I heard this today and asked Fanny if our students are required to take Spanish. She replied that usually the immigration manager, Rhoda, reprimands her for scheduling a foreign language but this student had taken Spanish 101 at another school and therefore could benefit from Spanish 102 and that the evaluator said it was required. I then called Rhoda to ask if this was necessary and she confirmed that students do not need to fulfill this requirement and the evaluator had made a mistake. I then relayed the message to Fanny, who turned to her ambassadors and told them she had been right and the evaluators were wrong. I understand the need to not look dumb in front of the ambassadors, but they are grad students and not that dumb. I guess I don't have a closing remark because I'm still baffled by the situation that should not be happening in Fanny's 2nd year doing the same thing day after day.

Restaurants

I'm all for smaller portions at restaurants. I do not mind paying as much for the service and quality even if there is less food. But making french fries extra is an evil thing to do. I can understand giving the option of fries and say a .25 fee for them. That way dieters don't have an excuse (e.g. they came with the meal and I didnt' want to waste them), but anything over a $1 is just criminal. Yesterday I had lunch at a place that charge $2 for fries even though I ordered a chicken sandwich (same with burgers). The cafeteria at work charges about the same for them too. What has the world come to?