haha... um.

these are definitely not all true for me, maybe i'm too young... still, i 'get' the jokes so they're funny none-the-less.

You Know You're From San Antonio When...

• You lost your virginity at mission drive-in
• You know exactly how to get to the "Ghost Tracks" from anywhere in town.
• You think "pro-choice" means flour or corn tortillas.
• You've never been to the Alamo.
• You think a health drink is a Margarita without salt.
• You think being able to read the Taco Cabana menu makes you bilingual.
• You used to live in a neighborhood you wouldn't even drive through now.
• There has been a road crew on your street since before the Alamodome was built.
• You remember when Crossroads Mall used to be called Wonderland.
• You've been to Midget Mansion.
• You know all about the "Dancing Diablo" and the "Donkey Lady" bridge.
• You know that Wheatley and Brackenridge is the same school.
• You remember the Captain Gus show.
• Your subwoofer has twice the value of your car.
• You have three rodeo outfits but never have been on a horse
• You're an expert with the brake pedal, but you have no idea what a blinker is.
• Your idea of culture is wearing a Hard Rock T-shirt.
• You think the last supper was at Mi Tierra restaurant.
• You do your grocery shopping at a flea market.
• You think local politicians are crooks, but you still do not vote.
• You have a "Selena Lives" bumper sticker on your car.
• You care if San Antonio is in the "national spotlight".
• A formal occasion is getting a glass with your longneck.
• You believe Tacos, barbecue, tequilla, and beer are the four basic food groups.
• You rented Pulp Fiction to escape the everyday violence of the city.
• You think wearing bows in your hair will get you a husband.
• Your White mother learned how to make Tamales & Menudo from your neighbors.
• You know the "real" definition of FIESTA is "stay home if at all possible".
• You have ordered Mexican food at a Chinese restaurant.
• You had breakfast tacos at Taco Cabana on Christmas morning.
• You remember the Joske's Christmas display.
• You remember when JC Penney's had a restaurant.
• You remember hamburgers from Whopper Burger.
• You're elementary field trip was to the Butter Crust Bakery.
• You actually get these jokes and pass them on to other friends from San Antonio.

happy

easter.

went to church. missed the fam. played wii. took a nap. cut the cheese. HAHAHA!

went to catherine's. played boccie. prayed silently. pigged out. played more boccie. ate three kinds of pie. felt fat. played with cute puppies.

had a good time.

happy rising to one and all.

eastertide

tomorrow's easter. pretty much the most important holiday for christians. the resurrection is core to our faith and tomorrow's celebration of jesus rising from the dead his ascension into heaven makes our holy trinity complete.

(does it seem weird that i wander from talking about snow and concerts on previous posts into a sudden religious rant? trust me. this one's more important to who i am.)

tomorrow i plan on going to an early mass and then in the evening going over to a friend's house for easter dinner. at this easter there may be 2 or 3 or even 4 christians. then some jews, agnostics and atheists thrown in to the mix. kind of different from what i'm used to.

it's weird this year. it's the first time i haven't been able to go home for easter. and the first time i really feel 'out in the world' so to speak. at home in san antonio, a big percentage of people are christian. same for tams. and bc, obviously, a catholic school. even last year i had one catholic roommate. i've always sort of been surrounded by people with beliefs similar to my own.

now i live in a house where i'm the only christian. and it's not like i'm a catholic fanatic. i'm not even a very good, by-the-book type catholic. but i do have beliefs and faith and an allegiance to the catholic church. yet now i'm the odd man out it seems, at work and at home and with friends. kind of a different place for me. it's awkward having people make derogatory comments about things i believe in, my faith. and i know they aren't saying these things as personal attacks on me and they might not even see them as derogatory. they really just don't understand, don't believe, or don't agree with things i have strong faith in.

and it's uncomfortable cos i don't like to just listen to these things without arguing back, defending and explaining my position and faith. also i don't really believe 'defending' my faith should ever be neccessary. i think people believe or they don't, i shouldn't have to convince them to agree with something i find so definite and true, just hope that they find it on their own. and besides, i feel like most times they don't want to hear the other side and it can really turn a social situation awkward by talking about my belief in the resurrection and why easter is so important and so real and how the communion at church really is the body of christ, without sounding like a lunatic or a cannibal. so instead now i just keep quiet, roll my eyes, or leave the room. i don't want to 'convert' all these people to my side of things. and i don't want to live in a world where everyone believes the exact same thing. i appreciate the diversity of life and the people around me.

just sometimes, i like being in a place where i don't feel defensive about my faith. i know it's good to question things so as to learn more and grow. but sometimes i like to sit and be enveloped in common faith. at bc and home it was great because if i didn't feel like being questioned or pushed, there are always people who are more knowledgeable and more faithful right next to me, able to help out and 'show the way.' i feel like in my immediate life situation, locally more than emotionally, i am the person with the strongest faith. and it's a heavy burden. i guess that's what they're always talking about in the bible tho. bearing that mark of faith is a challenge and it/i will only come out stronger.

/end rant

so yes. tomorrow church and food and friends but no family which sucks.

BUT.

in two weeks i will be home in dear south texas. it's spring and fiesta in san antonio. i really hope the bluebonnets will still be out. i'm so excited to spend time with my parents and baby brother. i want to go to oysterbake, a parade or two, and niosa. i want to eat bean and cheese tacos and shrimp fajitas and all the paletas i can find. i plan on hiking and shopping and walking and just sitting with people i love in the sun or in the a/c. a late spring break to spend some time with the fam. SO excited, i can't wait. 13 more days. :)

why i need to move, reason #89734

it is april 4 and it is snowing in boston.

it's 80 at home in south texas.

just sayin'. there are differences. and who would actually pick to have soggy, slushy snow in april? after 6 years, its ENOUGH!

i thought of a new way to judge when it is finally decent weather - i won't have to wear sweatpants and a hoodie to bed anymore. yeah, that'd be great...

yizzooo

have a wii controller and a tennis racket. now i can play wii and real tennis. how exciting. if only i had the energy/sun. sometime soon.

ncaa championship tonight. i didn't even complete a pool and none of the teams i like are even in it. i pick florida. just cos. we'll seek.

working downtown has pluses and minuses. today the plus was yummy food and the minus was ouchy feet. we'll see what tomorrow brings...

the queens just a pawn with a bunch of fancy moves... yay! gym class heroes in may!! so excited.

easter on sunday. sad i won't be with the fam. sucks. hope we have a good one here...

south by sad west

ugh. i'm so sad i missed sxsw (as usual). it just seems like everything i read/listen to is a big flag saying, I WAS IN AUSTIN LAST WEEK-WHERE WERE U? poop. i am obsessed of late w/ paolo nutini, amy winehouse, mxpx, gym class heroes... and all of them were where. oh yeah. austin. poop.

bloggers and radiostations and my mean roomate all keep reminding me of what i missed. dang it.

big resolution for march 2008: I WILL BE AT SOUTH BY SOUTHWEST AND IT WILL BE AWESOME. ellen's coming too.

watch me hate every band there. wouldn't that just be my luck?!?
no
that's impossible. there's so many. i have to love a few. or all of them.

ugh.
anyways.
the spoon concert at mfa is sold out. dangit. and i even had rishabh willing to go with. how depressing. i need to find another show for us to go to. and i'm missing fountains of wayne where ellen and i would sing along to sink to the bottom and then i would glower with arms folded during stacy's mom. that song is whack. like ur mom. HAHAHA. i've been at work too long.

jenny, don't be hasty. no, don't treat me like a baby. i love this kid. jenny you are crazy. first i'm perfect now i'm lazy.

also i'm obsessed with 'mind the buzzcocks'. it was on the allfg top10 or something so i checked it out and now i'm addicted and watch like two eps everynight. not every episode is awesome, but on the whole they are v. entertaining and have made me laugh out loud more than once. and for some reason, addicting. i usually hate quiz shows and vh1style dumbness. but this is great.

by the way

i uploaded all my pictures from my trip.

you can find the abridged version in facebook.

a few more in flickr, where i've added ge0-tags and such: http://flickr.com/photos/florajasmine

and a full set is up on my picasa albums: http://picasaweb.google.com/florarj/UKSpringBreak2007

i spend too much time on the internet. yes.

also, music i found over there due to store soundtracks, museum lists and magazine reviews: klaxons, little man tate, and paolo nutini. recently discovered they're playing paolo on us mtv cos i just saw him the other morning before work. i downloaded all those guys and b/c i couldnt find my new teenyboppermusic, gym class heroes, anywhere i went out and bought a cd at the store! after a first listen, i decided, me gusta.

argh

annoyed.

i thought i finished up with this crap in college. ugh.

things i did/saw/ate while in UK

i walked around a TON and hit a million tube stations. tried to cover as much as possible in the week i had. did a lot i think.

check out my list:

edinburgh castle
palace of holyroodhouse
royal mile
sausage and mash at monster mash
calton hill w/ national monument and view of arthur's seat
princes st
george st
national portrait gallery
royal museum of scotland- leonardo, donatello, raphael (real life tmnt)
miniature livestock, highland cattle (on the internet)
scottish parliament
victoria & albert museum
kylie minogue exhibit
tate modern
jacket potato w/ chicken salad and cheese
walk across the millenium bridge
walk along the banks of the thames
boys in tight pants and keds
wicked in the west end
soho
portobello road
buckingham palace
changing of the guard parade
hyde park
green park
st.patty's day parade
westminster
big ben
st. paul's
v. cool punks with creative mohawks
dinner at epicurean lounge
house of parliament
london city hall
girls with flat, pointy 80s boots
walk across the tower bridge
tower of london
london bridge
guy that looked like hannibal
globe theatre
egyptian room at harrods
lunch at lazy daisy cafe
portobello market
cupcake from hummingbird bakery
shopping everywhere
oxford st
bond st
topshop
marks & spencer
harvey nichols
movie in leicester sq
cricket on tv at the bar ALL the time
picadilly
covent garden
kensal green
all of terminal 3 at heathrow

woohoo

i've got my wheels back. get excited. it looks like a brand new car except for the right side where i scratched up the door. yeah. the didn't fix that, understandably. otherwise. purty and shiny.

time to sell.

blip blip blip boom

so, my uk trip was totally awesome up until about 1130a this morning.

edinburgh was fun with anna/ wandering on my own. i saw all the highlights from the castle to the palace and everything in between. i took pics of ppl and graffiti (there wasn't much) and a pub called 'white horse'. aww.

then at and i made our way on the train down to london. it was a sleepy but pretty trip. our days in london were sunny and relatively warm. it was great. we saw buckingham palace, trafalgar square, westminster abbey, and big ben. more than a few times we had to 'step in to the map' just like joey did on their friends trip to london. we also got to catch 'wicked' in the west end though tix to history boys were way out of my vacay price range. the wicked witch had an amazing voice and the cute boy from coyote ugly was in it. so yeah, anna and i had a good time and have tons of pictures with our big heads and tiny landmarks in the background. i'll put them up when i get back to the states.

anna left me on saturday night but it wasn't as lonely as i'd expected it to be. after wandering around leicester sq, catching a movie (good german- eh) and watching the drunks in covent garden i went back to the good old london bridge tube station. i made friends with my new hostel roomates and we got drinks at the hostel bar which is constantly smoky and filled with cricket fans. so yeah, a good time. on sunday i went to mass in st. paul's and then caught a bit of the st. patty's parade along hyde park. i did more touristy wandering and then eventually made it back to the hostel to crash. after a chat w/ the roomates we all passed out into afternoon naps. one of my roomates said she always took them (v. cool obvs, like me) and called them 'granny naps'. thought that was funny. back to the bar again and had a sunday roast that was pretty ick (bar food, what did i expect) but still a good time and lots of magners.

i got up this morning with big plans to stow my luggage, hit london and tower bridges and then make my way back to the hostel to pick up luggage and run to the airport. only after walking past london bridge and across the tower bridge i got lost looking for a tube station. i shouldve gotten on at tower bridge station but i didnt. anyways, finally made it back to the hostel and then no one could find the key to where my luggage was locked up. great. that took up more time. i got my luggage down the tube escalators and ran to catch a waiting train on the platform. only this train ended up having some sort of 'medical emergency'- i think someone was having a heart attack, and the ambulance took more than 15 min to get there. by this time i had 2.5 hrs before my plane left so i went up the escalators to take a different train/route to the airport. of course 10 million other ppl had the same idea so that platform was crammed with people and i didn't get on til a second train came through. eventually i got on the right train headed to the airport but by that point i knew it was a lost cause, there was no way i could make it as there was less than 2 hrs before my plane left. i got to the virgin queue about 45 min before my plane actually took off which was at least 15 min too late. poop.

no other boston flights avail so i had to choose between flying to nyc and figuring something out there or waiting a day and taking the tues morning flight out. i went for tuesday. tres annoying but less annoying then trying to find a way out of nyc it seems.

when i left heathrow to return to the city it was snowing. i had to find an internet cafe to book a room so i did that and then wandered around oxford street for a while. then when i was ready to get a tube out to my hostel the entire station was blocked up for some reason. and it was snowing/raining. so i wandered around more shops, drank tea and read a book, and then made it out to the edge of london to this new hostel. its cheaper/older than the other one we stayed in. this one reminds me of the old wing of tams dorms. funny.

i was going to try and upload pictures now but my camera wont connect so instead i've done this long long post. i'm pooped and probably heading to bed soon. flight is tomorrow at 3p but i'll definitely leave SUPER early this time. no more close calls, unfortunate events, etc. i AM flying back to boston tomorrow. cos london's been great, up until today, but now it's just really really gross and cold and i want to sleep in my own bed. yes.

from the 'burgh

... edinburgh.

got in yesterday. after a overnight flight from boston to heathrow. then customs and a treck through heathrow. then a flight to edinburgh's airport. then a busride to at's place. a very long trip, but not the worst.

now i'm here. safely w/ all my baggage. good.

anna picked me up and we rode a double decker bus w/ plaid seats to her place in the city. after lunch at a little coffeeshop nearby we went up a little bluff to see some landmarks, climb walls, and almost get blown off the hill by the wind. scotland sure is windy! then we came to her place and i passed out to nap while she did a little school work.

last night we met anna's boy for dinner. then some of her friends for coffee a little later. one of her friends is from the same town as a one of my friends from tams. funny. everyone's been nice. :) anna knows cool kids. (obvs, she does like me, right.) walking around edinburgh is totally useful. the stuff is all pretty near and though street names change frequently its easy to tell direction by landmarks and such.

last night i passed out dead asleep (i was pooped) but this morning i was able to wander along the royal mile w/o getting lost or mugged and saw lots of cool/old/new things. and took pictures. anna worked on her paper. grad school, pshh. having to write papers again might be a bit annoying...

now anna's in class and i'm going to take another nap. just a short one! maybe wander around a bit... we'll see.

dish w/o deets

quick update.

• bought some silver t-strap shoes. and play-doh.
• sunset last night, love it. dirty ho's all around.
• ellen got a wii. i love wii tennis. and boxing. not golf.
• i like watching other ppl play on the wii. its almost as fun as playing yourself. we've spent most of the day in the living room trying the thing out. activity day at hotel columbia!
• sushi for din.
• acn prom tonight at top of the hub. i'm dressing up and brushing my hair. craziness.
• daylight savings update tonight. spring forward.
• i have to wake up at 7/8 am for work.
• i fly to london at 7:30p tomorrow night.
• arrive in edinburgh at noon on monday.
• annatudor and i get to play together for a week! fun. :) yay for vacay!

lyrics

i think its funny when you're in a certain mood and you hear a song you've heard 10,000 times before. but cos of your mood/situation some of the lyrics just jump out at you, like WHAM. and you're like dude, that's TOTALLY how i feel. even if the song has nothing to do with your situation. i'm projecting. in this case its a girl mark's singing about while i'm thinking about a work thing. hmm... anyways...

why am i still hanging around
when i know it brings me down,  
i'm hating everything

oh mark. this josie chick is important. blink182 always and forever. love it.

this made me laugh

a few of my favorites, taken from a facebook group... 'you know you're from texas when...":

• You measure distance in minutes.
• You say “Yes, ma’am” and “Yes, sir” to your own parents.
• Directions include "down yonder".
• There is a Dairy Queen in every town with a population of 1000 or more.
• You discover that you can get a sunburn through your car window.
• You listen to the weather forecast before picking out an outfit.
• School gets canceled for 1/2 an inch of snow, your "snowmen" are less than 2 feet tall, and a majority of it is sand and leaves
• You know that roadrunners don’t say Beep Beep.
• You know the best parking place is determined by shade instead of distance.
• Hot water comes out of both taps.
• You realize asphalt has a liquid state.
• You carry jumper cables in your car ... for your OWN car.
• You have known someone who has had one belt buckle bigger than your fist.
• You know what "cow tipping" and "snipe hunting" is – and you know better than to go “snipe hunting”.
• School is cancelled for Stock Show/Rodeo.
• You have 5 pairs of boots and they all serve different purposes.
1) Work boots
2) Rodeo boots
3) Dress boots
4) Casual boots
5) Huntin’ boots
• You attend a formal event in your best clothes, your finest jewelry and your cowboy boots.
• You shop at HEB.
• You can wear a T-Shirt one day and the temperature drop 50 degrees with ice on the ground by the next morning.
• You can drive all day and not leave the state.
• When it rains, everyone is smiling.
• The Pastor wears boots.
• Four generations of the same family sit together in worship.
• You see more Texan flags than American flags.
• You know someone who ate the 72 oz steak and got it for free.
• You prefer Whataburger to McDonalds.
• You're disappointed when a food doesn't come in spicy flavor.
• You can tell a rock from an armadillo at 300 yards.
• You know people with black cars and/or leather seats are just asking for it.
• You know what Lone Star Beer is.
• Your idea of the perfect summer involves floating along in the sweltering hot July sun while your butt freezes in the cold Guadalupe for 8 hours straight!
• 45 minutes to work is the average... on a good day.
• Texas has two political leanings: Conservative and Austin
• On any given day, there's something someone's allergic to somewhere in the air.
• You know that that plural of “y’all” is “all y’all”.
• Yes, it is possible for it to be 3 A.M., 85º and 95% humidity. And then there's Houston...
• There are days when your towels won't dry.
• We have four geographical regions; how many do you have?
• It's called a bluebonnet. Leave it alone.
• Let's get this straight; it's called a "gravel road." Your Lexus WILL get dirty.
• You drive a pickup truck because you want to.
• You know 4 seasons - summer, hot summer, scorching hot summer and Deer Season.
• You go to the gas station and there is a sign in the window that reads, “No Shoes, No Shirt, No Service!”
• You have used/heard the term “booze cruise” when bored on a Saturday night.
• So every person in every pickup waves. It's called being friendly. Try to understand the concept.
• A Mexican restaurant can be judged by its salsa.
• Yes, by "Mexican", we mean "Tex-Mex" -- the only version that counts.u
• you ask for ice tea, and they automatically bring sweet tea
• you remember the last time it snowed in texas right down to the day, hour, min etc
• People can name more Texas cities then capitals of other states
• you know your from Texas when you can dip, drink a beer, and eat bbq all at the same time
• by the time that you are 7 years old... you have most likely driven a tractor by yourself
• when you truly believe Texas could be its own country!
• you don't like people from oklahoma


JUST TO NOTE:
It's a common misconception that everything is twice as big in Texas, really, everything is 1.965 times bigger, but we round up.
It's a common misconception that we have killer bees, fire ants, gigantic roaches and mosquitoes and other awful insects, tornadoes, hurricanes, and damaging hailstorms. We tend to think of them as a few bitty bugs and a bad hair day.
It's a common misconception that everyone speaks with a Texas draw. Y'all just don't know what y'all are talkin' about.


Finally, you are 100% Texan if you have ever heard this conversation:
“You wanna coke?”
“Yeah.”
“What kind?”
“Dr. Pepper.”

up and at 'em

since i went to sleep at 7p last night, i was wide awake at 730am this morn. i always plan on getting up early on saturday to take pictures, so today i finally did it.

it was pretty mild out this morn and early enough that not too many people were out. i definitely got to see some cool stuff and take my time looking around.

while in an alley taking this awesome headshot, a guy stopped to watch me and then talk. he said he was friends with some artist and talked about a recent graffiti show called 'freight' at the store right around the corner. i had read about it somewhere, and now i'm mad i didn't check it out. it was a bunch of miniature trains painted up w/ graffiti. man. anyways, this guy was drunk (at 8am) and asked if i wanted to grab a drink w/ him at wonderbar right then. 'cos he owned the place.' sketch. it was a funny convo and i would legitimately like to talk to him, since he did know stuff/people, but not an 8am drink. no thanks.

so yeah. productive morning. then i got breakfast at mickey d's and came home to pick up the dog and take him for a walk. yosh. always entertaining.

next time i want to take a trip down to the train yards to take pictures. only i'm afraid of hobos and um, train-yard people. i might need to take someone along with me for that one...

oh the places I will go

countries i would like to visit in the next five years (listed in no particular order):

1. mexico
2. ireland
3. egypt
4. england
5. scotland
6. france
7. spain
8. italy
9. costa rica
10. argentina
11. brazil
12. japan
13. china
14. australia
15. new zealand
16. greece
17. turkey
18. south africa
19. kenya
20. switzerland

so that's twenty countries. and i'm pretty sure its not a complete list. but 20 countries and five years. four countries a year? totally do-able. knocking two of those out in a week. and two more *hopefully* come june.

mostly i want to live abroad somewhere for a year or two... for school or working, dont care. i just want to immerse myself in something else for a while...

ugh

i wish i knew what i wanted in life. that would make this whole 'life plan' thing a lot easier. help me narrow things down.

in option 2387907 where i live in san antonio forever and ever starting tomorrow, i would buy this house: http://kuperrealty.cybersunshine.com/633450

i love it. i want it. i am soooo coveting that house right now.

ok. acapulco's tonight. that was fun. embrace boston....

i should make a shirt.

my mom is crazy. obscene republican/right wing ideology. shes hardcore and i love it.
mom: i have no desire to go to greece.
me: WHAT?!?! how can u say that?
mom: i want to go to south dakota. and idaho. i want to tour america.
me: mom, thats ridiculous. how can u not want to see greece?!?!
mom: what do i need to see those old buildings for? how about idaho? when have you ever met anyone from idaho? i want to meet people
me: i cant believe you're saying this. you're so republican.
mom: i know. so what.
me: i love you.

doing tha dang thang

so i said i was going to change my m.o. and embrace boston.

it's been working. i can honestly say i'm putting forth the effort. while most of saturday i spent running errands and hanging out, i did take advantage of the mildly tolerable weather by running around outside.

diane invited me out on saturday night and since its been ages and i'm trying to do different stuff, i was definitely in. it wasn't that cold out and luckily we didn't have to wait in line. 33 wasn't really packed but still SO hot. humid/sweaty hot. but it was nice to get out and dance and meet new kids. i had fun even if i did have to worry about a kid puking on me for a while there. collegekids, pffft. haha. oh, such a recent memory. random observations: i love hearing ppl speak italian, even if i don't understand it all, and i didn't know albanians had their own language. i'm ignorant sometimes. eh. oh well. learn new things.


sunday morning the roomies, esteban and i ventured out to chinatown for dimsum. as soon as we entered the area we could here the drums and smell the firecrackers. apparently last weekends chinese new year festivities had been postponed a week cos of the ice. so while we had a heck of a time weaving our way over to china pearl, we did get to watch the lions dance and i was able to take a few pics of the parade and cute babies. then evan met up with us and we stuffed our faces. dumplings, porkbuns, meatballs. all sooo yummy, i love dim sum. then we did minor shoe shopping before heading home so i could nap and watch the oscars.


good boston weekend. i'm proud of myself. going out and doing stuff and enjoying myself.

now the countdown is on to my uk trip. yay! edinburgh, london and annatudor- oh my! 13 days! i'm working on making lists- what to pack, where to visit, what to buy, etc, etc. i'm excited for this adventure.

then hopefully a week in texas in april. maybe a trip out west in may. then... dunno. i'm basically going to be poor forever. basically.

also, ellen and i's new favorite song: cupid's chokehold by gym class heroes. first i made fun, but actually i love it. apparently they had a concert in cambridge like a week ago. only we didnt know the name of the band that sang that song we liked a week ago. dang it. they're a really fun band. i dig. getting heavy play on my radioblogclub playlist. man, i love that thing.

might see ataris this week. and ellen wants to see fountains of wayne next month. i only want to see them if they promise to play sink to the bottom and promise not to play stacey's mom. i hate that song and f.o.w. from that period. just saying.

modus operandi

i think i need to take a new outlook on life. for the next six months, new m.o.

i need to fully embrace boston and brookline and my place of work. completely give in to living in this place for now. i can handle 6 mo. then i can move. new city.

but for now, i think i need to stop wishing i was somewhere else and just rock this joint. rock this joint w/o injuring my car and spending too much money. :)

internetter

sites i'm currently obsessed with:

• ebay.com
• graffitiresearchlab.com
• tourfilter.com
• radioblogclub.com
• wikipedia.org
• digg.com

random:
we went to charlies kitchen the other night (again) and i kept staring at this kid at the bar. he wasn't even hot. he just kinda sorta looked like kevin rose. which makes me a complete dorky nerdy loser. who checks out guys who look like techy startup dorks. okkkk. i need to stop.

alright, still

saturday we (rach, ellen, me) went to the outlets. got some new sneaks and a purse that i dont need. my addiction is strong and my shopping-celiacy vow is broken. that didnt last long. pooper.

we ate at ruby tuesdays even tho that place always makes me sick, its so tasty. came home and laid around watching tele and chick flix. v. productive and exciting, i blame it on our ice-palace.

around 3am i woke up with stomach grumblings and severe nausea. i was sick every 3o min from then thru like 10am. during an 8am conference call i had to run to the bathroom. it was gross. and to think, there was no alcohol involved!

when i found out another girl from work also had issues this weekend, maybe i cant blame it all on food poisoning and maybe its a stomach flu. i finally ate around 2pm today. yay! food in my belly!

even tho i felt like shite, i dragged ellen to the lily allen concert last night at axis. it was a good time in spite of our slipping and sliding all around fenway. lily's a fun girl. she sang her album plus cheryl tweedy and a few covers. i love that kooks' naive one. i bopped around a bit and sang along. she said f.u. to the brit awards, tony blair, gw, bank managers and fashion mags. her band was good and having a full horns section made it bouncy and fun. and her keyboardist was hot. the crowd was a mix of college kids, indie hippies, and ellen and i. by the end i kind of felt like puking again, i think its cos it was so toasty in the club. anyways, lily was great live and i'd def be into seeing her again, hopefully when i'm feeling better and can really dance around.

anyways, came home and found a tourfilter announcement saying she's going to be back in the bean on april7 at the roxy. slightly larger/seedier venue, but anyone interested?

my car is finally getting worked on. i'll get it back in about two weeks. great. carless for a while. good, that means for those two weeks i can't scratch it on my dumb driveway or get it stuck in a pile of ice somewhere.

its almost time for me to go on my uk trip. yay! uk here i come. figuring out this whole transportation thing will be a big iffy, but it'll get done. then AT and i can hang and be merry and do whatever it is college kids do these days. :p

moving on...

dad just told me spurs are looking at pippen as a possibility for next season. he's 41 and retired! i dont care if he already has 6 rings! ugh. spurs. why cant it be 1999 again w/ a baby timmy and wise old david.

the long and short of the good and the bad

good

• lily allen concert in 2 days
• uk bound in 23 days
• i took some graffiti pics yesterday
  
• i have all the ingredients to make grilled cheese sandwiches, smoothies and mexican hot chocolate in my house
• it's friday

bad

• a piece of tooth fell out of my mouth this morning
• my car is frozen into a block of ice on my driveway
• i have to work this weekend
• my bumper is still falling off of my car

good

• my car is going in to the shop on monday so it can get fixed
• i have at least 3 good books waiting to be read at home
• i got my banksy pics in the mail this week
  
• hershey's kisses in 'truffles' flavor
• i got new business cards that say i work in the prudential tower
  

bad

• i don't actually work in the prudential tower
  
• my car is going in to the shop on monday so i'll be carless
• i have to work this weekend
• i'm getting lilyallen burnout, finally

good

• blink182 and gorillaz soundrack for work
• i don't have to drive myself home
• i'm writing this at work
  

i forgot it was valentines

today was one of the most annoying and tiring and non-productive days of my life. and i've been awake since 545 am.

i woke up first when someone on my street started shoveling and it was light out. i was semi-happy that i still had at least 45 minutes to sleep before i had to get up and shovel. v-day blizzard 2007. only while ellen and i spent an hr shoveling our way out, i totally didnt know it was v-day. that was a gross and very cold hour.

then i spent almost an hour and a half driving very slowly to work. like 30mph on the pike. skidding along. listening to my grammy 2k7 mix. it was weird when the carrie underwood 'jesus take the wheel' song came on. random. i was like, pls dont let me slide off into a pile of snow, or worse- like the woman i saw today who had somehow backed into a rock wall. that scared me.

i got to work and was semi-productive. my eyes hurt from being open too early and i was just... distracted. however, getting to work and checking my email did lead to me getting an v-day email from my mommy wishing me a happy day. that was pretty much my only v-day reminder all day. no big love fests at our office. :p

around 3 when the snow stopped i decided to head out to avoid massive traffic and get a start home. i got home by 430 where rach and i spent about an hour moving slush around. then after a quick trader joe's run, we came home to eat dinner and work on getting my car up the driveway. between 630 and 9pm was a lot of shoveling, icemelt-ing, cursing, digging, gunning of engines, and pushing. my car got stuck twice. a nice neighbor kid had to help us once. i felt so dumb. finally, around 9 we got it up the driveway. i hate my driveway.

so i spent about 4.5 hours outside to day shoveling and such. my body is sore and i am angry at this place that snows and sleets and makes roads and driving so difficult and makes valentines an almost non-issue.

yes, this was one of my worst days in quite a while. just cos its been physically draining. not even cos it was v-day. i forgot about that. so oh yeah, have a good one. or i hope everyone else had a good one... maybe next year there will be more candies and red hearts and xo's. cos i'll be in tx, right? everything seems like its better there. especially when i'm way up here...

i like music a bit much- grammy blog.

watching the grammy's alone cos none of my roomates are all that interested. kinda lame.

stereogum's liveblogging, so i've been dropping in with some of my own comments over there. cos i'm that lame/ loving this stuff. i think i'm going to liveblog the rest over here cos i'm commenting too much and its embarassing.
anyways, the police, mayer, and now chris brown.

been commenting here: http://www.stereogum.com/archives/004584.html

chris brown dancing with little kids. little hip hop dancers are the best. and chris brown has really stepped it up, usher needs to come back on the scene soon if he wants to defend his crown. cos this kid is all over that stuff.

christina popping out from below the stage. her hair is outta control but the girl's got some pipes. i like that she holds on to her red lipstick/white hair look. sticking to her fashion guns. props.

still ahead: ludacris and mary j. love it. love love love luda. hungry, ham sandwich time. i'm such a fatty. oh well.

oh, my head hurts. and target totally must have spent a billion dollars on grammy commercials. and tony bennet buyoffs.

president of the academy talking about music in schools. boring. stop talking stop talking. kid playing restaurant background piano. i wonder if he would rather be jamming. probably. i hope so.

hahaha, closeup in john mayer in a tux. he looks so uncomfortable.

now the sad 'ppl who died this year' part. its sad.

chris brown is back to do some james brown crazy dancing. that kid should do broadway i think, more than his pop/r&b/whatever thing hes got going on.

jamesbrowns cape is getting a standing ovation. good.

even the heineken commercial looks like a target add cos of the shape of the speakers in it. they dont even sell beer at target.

red balloon. what is it with those guys. why are the balloons always red?

finally, back to the show. rhianna looks pretty. sometimes shes not. david spade looks so old. mary j and luda! whoop. w/ some earth wind fire vibes. luda really is hot i think. and i dont even like this song. runaway girl... mary looks nice. and young. little girls holding candles. ok, i totally agree with the sentiment and the idea of this song. just not the actual song. is whats going on.

now james blunt. i liked this song for liek a week. a long time ago. and does anyone else think he looks like napoleon dynamite? hes awkward.

big commercial windows.

j.hud! yay. i like her. even if she can't read the teleprompter. a girl named robin gets to sing w/ justin. thats cool. her dress is short and i love justin. he must have read the nyt style article about white sneakers for men. she's kind of an awkward dancer. really. she does sing well. and now ti. hes hot. justin kinda looks like mike skinner. a bit.

bennet and tarantino. both quentin and i can't believe they let him present. he freaks me out. i just saw paris hilton in the audience. they let her in? seriously? thats funny.

danger mouse never looks happy and cee-lo is always busting out.

dixie chicks get album of the year. good music or political statement? or both? dont know.

chris rock! i love him. rhcp, not so much. they're ok. what's flea wearing?!? a soccer kit. and the other two stole their outfits fro brandon flower's samtown closet. ok.

ooh, i hope j.may trio wins. home. oh no. broken boy soldiers!! yes. best rock. its going to be rhcp. gross. yep. boo. thats annoying.

don henleys so old and has gross hair. scarlett is recording an album. eh. good thing shes pretty.

album of the year- dixie chicks. no big surprise after the whole show.

and done.

productivity in the eye of the producer

my weekend was productive cos i finished reading straight up and dirty and now i'm all caught up on heroes. oooeeeeowww. i also am continuing to control the shopping impulses as well as eating out. technically i only ate out once and it was anna's which barely even counts. and drinks at charlie's and hongkong? there was no food involved! eh. oh, and a vanilla chai at dunkins at 2am. which was technically part of a new week, so yeah.

now if only i could get the motivation to finish cleaning my room and do all my laundry. and my taxes. i need to fini those out soon as well.

also, i made chicken and dumpling soup and its delish. i've been craving this food for ages, but its definitely a southern thing and not found at restaurants around here. so i finally made some for myself. how resourceful! i know. i'm sure eating it 4 days in a row however, will not be fun. i think i need to freeze some.

grammys on the tele tonight. lily allen concert in a week. woohoo!

driving in

driving to work with ellen this morning, while through an intersection i heard a gigantic BOOM! sound. i thought, shite! something fell on me. or my car just got shot. or my bumper fell off. then ellen was like, 'dude, i think the water bottle in your trunk just exploded.' oh. yeah. that thing thats been rolling around like a giant bowling ball all week, throughout these below freezing temps. only my trunk is currently sewn shut to preserve the semi-attached state of my bumper. gee whiz. i need to get out these ice chunks before temps warm up... and i have a mildewy trunk... ugh.

i'm listening to my own little custom mix-list at work. and a sublime song came on. it's a live cut and the beginning is filled with people laughing and talking, you know, background noise at a bar. and it just is kinda depressing in a weird way. like the fact that the 100- 1000 people in the room were there for a sublime concert. during the relatively brief life of brad nowell sublime played live constantly. and here it seems like these people werent fully appreciating their reggae skater punk music, which i think is a great genre and should have more bands cos its something i like....

anyways. i dont know. obviously, people are always talking at concerts. but it just feels like lots of times we have these limited opportunities to experience something like a great concert or just quality time with people we love. and we can get distracted carrying on and doing 10 other things at the same time. when really we should be focusing wholly on one experience at a time, because you never know when or if a similar experience will present itself again. everything's finite. especially time and life.

also, last night instead of going to sleep at a decent hour, i watched a movie on ifc. cos that makes sense. it was last night. sandra oh was in it w/ some other random canadian actors i dont know. it was another 'end of the world' movie. this one follows 6 ppl's stories, as they live their final day. it was kinda random but interesting. how people come together and split apart, etc. and what people would do and say if they knew the world was coming to an end very soon. interesting.

it's friday. whoop, i suppose.

go on and work it out

so i went to the gym today. i know, i know. its once every ten years. such a good use of my money...

anyways, i saw a couple guys walk by in shorts. and their blindingly white legs made me think - oh, if i ever married a white guy, i'd totally make him go tanning in the summer cos that's gross. then i thought to myself, wow, flora- that was really racist. but actually, its just a matter of aesthetics. and then, i realized, duh flora, you dont have to worry about that blindingly white leg thing. cos duh, you'll live somewhere warm where everyone can be tan and pretty year round. no fake baking at the electric beach. duh! so yeah. duh. i will live a happily ever after nicely tanned married life, no matter what race my future husband is. cos we'll live somewhere warm, obvs. that's so affirming. :)

we're going all the way

ellen and i are always complaining that we're poor. right after we've bought our latest pair of shoes or pants or cute purse. we shop a bit too much.

at least we got to the first step, admitting we have a problem.

so now we're challenging each other. no shopping for 2 months! thats pretty extreme and we know we're addicts. so just like dieters get that allowance for a slice of chocolate cake every now and then, we're giving ourselves an allowance. $75 per month of fun money. that's it. that's all we can spend on funstuff. of course we can still buy groceries and necessities as needed w/o cutting into our fun money. and also, limiting our dining out to 3x week. for some people, that a lot already. but considering how lazy i am... 3x is not enough.

challenge starts today. thru april 7. this is going to be good. good for me. right?

ugh. i'm still looking at stuff on ebay... just looking! and besides, i have my $75 discretionary fund...

for boston, for boston

this city kills me. everytime i think the mayor cant sound any dumber w/ his hardcore accent. then he got in a big giant tizzy over this little guy.
a guerilla marketing campaign caused the city to freak out thinking it was a terrorist bomb scare an they spent $750,000 on this "hoax". only it wasnt a hoax, they weren't trying to scare people. it was just a marketing scheme. some graffiti.

there was one of these pieces just a couple blocks from my house. i must've driven past it at least 3 or 4 times. and i never saw it. boo.

i know the outrageousness reaction by massachusetts and boston police was ridic but partially understandable in light of 9/11 etc, i guess. and turner should have said something. sooner. in advance of the whole thing, gotten permits or something... both sides are at fault.

the two (or more) guys who actually did it and got hauled into jail over night, its not their fault. but they're making a good show of it. smiling during their court hearing and having a press conference about 70s hairstyles. great performance art. oh boston.

the smart kids selling shirts and stickers on ebay, saying up yours and 1-31-07, with a nice little mooninite flicking off the world. they're awesome. i was actually thinking about it on the way home when talking to my dad. but actually, what i want to make is a bit more... public and illegal. cannot disclose. obvs.

anyways. tried out soulfire for dinner and it was ok. grey's was great today and iska and i screamed a lot.

also, mini freakout. its february first. already 2nd month of 2007. gee whiz time is passing slowly. 5 more months and i'll be 24. officially out of my early 20s and into my mid 20s. thats disgusting.

but on a good note. i tried to get lily allen tix last week, but i was mad about ticketbastards surcharges, so i didnt buy them. then i finally decided- actually, i am willing to pay for my lily allen obsession- i go to buy tix and they're sold out. i was so mad at myself. and ppl were selling them on craigslist and ebay for $50. wtf. lame. but today i went on to ticketbastard.com just to check. and turns out they opened it up some more. yay. i bought two. ellen's going with me. yay. feb18 i can sing along and act like i'm 14. awesome.

what good roomates i have. grey's watchers and concert goers. whoop. and rachael is always willing to try out my baking and cooking experiments. :)

go.. spurs?

i just watched the end of the spurs/lakers game on abc. i happened upon this game while flipping thru the channels. i used to be obsessed with spurs basketball, and now i dont even know the starting lineup... sadness. timmy, manu, tony...?

obviously i am lost. i love basketball, i need to watch more. and now its already going to be february, games are getting to be more important, etc. less lame tv, more basketball.

i "wrecked" my car. the rear bumper is half off b/c it got caught on my porch when i was pulling into the driveway... and i kept driving. shite. i hate it. poop.

i'm going to try and get some body estimates on tuesday. sucks. i hate spending money on my own dumbness. poop.

um.

i hate seeing people i love being in such a bad place. confused and angsty and left out. and i think its even worse when i'm not able to actually see them.

i have cavities and an abscess. thats why i cant eat on my left side and it hurts all the time. my mom's annoyed i never complained to her about the pain. i was trying to handle things on my own and i ended up w/ a mouthful of cavities and an upset mom.

paragraph 2 is fact and also very relevant metaphorically to paragraph 1.

you know who: i love you a bunch and it hurts.

countdowns

3: days til we go snow tubing (anyone else interested?)
67: total days until the end of my project
47: days until i leave for uk
42: work days left on my project

157: days until i turn 24 and thereby enter my mid 20s
ugh. quarter life crisis here i come.

future countdowns if i make decisions, take action, etc.
- texas trip
- lily allen concert
- easter
- marathon monday
- coachella
- folklife festival
- start grad school

uh huh, uh huh

past weekend's festivities were fun. not the craziest party i've ever been to, by far. it was a work party, so yeah. good times w/ lobster, vodka tonics, magners and mike's. apparently i missed the guy who was wearing a suit and tie but no shirt. i did catch a girl dancing with the partner at the beirut table. that was funny and i took pictures.

coming home with evan we got lost and went to massachusetts, then back to RI, then back to MA. it was a funny winding trip but not too long.

now i'm back at the old project, sitting in my boss's desk while he's on vacay. doing some old stuff and trying to pick up new responsibilities. keep things interesting for myself.

i keep seeing graffiti i want to take pictures of. but its always when i'm driving in my car or without my camera. ugh. and its cold out so i dont feel like wandering around on foot much. so many pictures to take, so little time.

heroes tonight. it was fantastic. i love the petrelli bros. and hiro. he's excellent. tomorrow (or sometime shortly thereafter) i shall commence my 24 catchup. i know have three episodes i need to watch. eeek.

i don't know when i am going to texas next and that sort of really annoys me.

my left jaw has been hurting me for a while. i got all my wisdom teeth out a month ago. dec 21. now its jan 22. i get a shooting pain from my bottom teeth up. and it hurts to chew on that side. i think i need to go to a doctor. i'll work on finding one in boston tomorrow. having your teeth hurt really sucks.

abuelita hot chocolate is delicious.

grad school...

i've been planning on getting my mba at UT for ages. its relatively cheap and in austin. and a good school.

only today i was wondering around the internet and found this: http://www.sothebysinstitute.com/index.html and i think i'd really like to check out one of these things. a MA in Art Business? i never even considered such a thing. it just seems so much more interesting than the regular mba route i'd been planning on. hmm... i wonder if i could pull it off.

not out, just in

stayed in. with roommates and the puppy and ice cream from jp lick's. yum.

anyways.

john mayer's blog is pretty much one of my favorite places on the internet. http://johnmayer.com/blog i can't go there too often cos it's not like he updates daily. (he is like a rockstar-ish type with a life and like... albums to work on) but he does update frequently enough to make me excited every now and then and he's usually good for a few giggles. i keep telling people about the blog, but they never look. oh well.

anyways.

his latest entry is about grey's anatomy. just when i think JM is so cool, i find out he also watches grey's. geez. anyways, its about how they should make isaiah washington's charachter gay in return for him calling george the f word. a scissor sister loving dr. burke- i love it. JM even drafted a few scenes for the writers to work with. oh j.may, you crack me up.

also this month he 'invented' a pb spreading packet. for pb and honey sandwich making. there are sketches. awesome.

isn't it ironic

i have that alanis morisette song in my head. i feel a like i am living a life something like what she describes in a song. which is not exactly 'ironic' in the true sense of the word but more like a weird, awkward, neither lucky or unlucky, middle land where stuff happens that you dont agree with or prefer but must deal with none the less.

i'm going back to my project, aka iraq, on monday. i only hope that the next two months go by very smoothly and quickly even though i know they wont. i'm disappointed that i'm not going somewhere new. returning to the old. but i know in some respects its a good place to go back to. and hopefully it'll work out for the best. i'm stuck here for a reason or something, at least thats what my parents keep telling me as i call them to whine about my situation and beg them for answers they can't give me. argh. oh well.

its friday night and though i'm wearing my house uniform of sweats and a hoodie, i do plan on going out tonight. either a reunion of work folks in fenway or a masshole party somewhere in the 'burbs. rachael tried to coax me into her friends party by saying that danny from the real world might be there. i dont know if that makes me want to go more or less. and hiking in to fenway is not so arduous but its not a guarantee of fun just lots of drinking co-workers which might lead to fun or just a sick ride home. don't know.

tomorrow will be busy. i need to rest so that i can party the night away with... work people. of course. i'm sure it will be funny/fun with the slide show and gag awards. and i did spend most of oprah today adding songs to the playlist for the event. made sure that thriller and since u been gone made the cut. all the small things too. wow. i didnt notice til i typed it right now. thats like three of my most favorite songs from the '80s, '90s, and '00s right there. says a lot about me, my top 40 picks. i sure am weird, that's what it says. i also put in peggy sue, jail house rock and smack that. some for the oldies and something for the kids. :p. i hope they dont know what songs i pick cos i think some, like smack that, may be slightly inappropriate but awesome none the less. and i want to see work people dance to smack that, please.

i love my car cos it goes fast and drives nicely, especially around quick turns i decide to make at the last moment. only i also hate my car cos its all scratched and sometimes makes weird noises that embarrass me when driving down the street. i want a new car. only i dont know if i want new new or a used car. which would be a smarter investment/purchase. argh. i wish i didnt have to have a car at all. yeah. that! would be great. dangit. made myself mad about situation1 all over again. poop.

i like that my frequent use of 'poop' as a sentiment has now encouraged a number of my friends to also reference 'poop' in our IM conversations. its kinda great.

nyc weekend

i needed a break from boston, even though i'd really only been there for about two weeks since returning from texas.

i drove down to brooklyn yesterday morning, in between some little rain showers and mild traffic.

without firm plans or a time schedule its been good, kirstin and i have had some time to just hang out and dow whatever. we didnt really know what we wanted to do so checked local movie listings. my friend had recomended children of men and kirstin wanted to see it to so we checked it out.

that film is amazing. from the opening sequence with the death of baby diego and the cafe bombing all the way to the end with the woman, her baby and a slumped clive owen, it was fantastic. i didn't find it hard to have this 'suspension of disbelief'. all of the horrific scenes of an apocolyptic modern world seemed actually too realistic and believable. the random bombings, media permeating with repetetive footage, the flip flops.

all of the allusions to the nativity scene, a new beginning, the holy family. so good. the camera shots were fantastic, from all the framings to the use of handheld following theo as he runs throu the fugee camp, the blood spattered camera lense viewing scenes from his vantage point and jostling about over the debris. at times during this movie i wanted to throw up and other times cry. at the end it left me kind of scared and depressed, but satisfied that it was a great movie.

going to eat dinner was hard right after so we talked about other stuff. dorky life updates and anything else that wasnt quite so depressing. pad see ew was delish as was my thai ice tea. only they spelled it pad see U. which made me laugh. we came home, drank wine and watched clerks2 which is kinda good and kinda depressing seeing people get old and all.

sunday morn woke up for a yummy berry scone on the way to mass. then into manhattan for a tour of the moma which is great, followed by a ravenous sandwich dinner and cookie finish at some cafe on 5th ave. we were so hungry. then i made kirstin go w/ me to the american girl store. it was creepy and awesome. like, wow, all this consumerism being pushed at these spoiled girls all over the store. but still. i wanted to buy most of the stuff myself to satisfy my inner 8 year old. i LOVE my samantha doll even though i probably havent seen her in more than a few years. but looking at the little displays they had at the store, seeing the mini petit fours and school desks and day beds that i'd drooled over as a child- i wanted it all! that store is gross/sweet.

then back to BK to nap and watch 24. and the little miss sunshine which i totally do not love. i was so planning on being impressed after everyone had built it up so much... but eh. its ok i guess.

now its monday and i really must return to boston. go into the office tomorrow, earn a living.
i signed up for some training, its one of those sitchs with the hardest way to make an easy living. gross. there's supposed to be icky weather all across america and i'm so not looking forward to my drive back. hope there's some wicked tunes on the radio and i'll just take it slow and steady

24 day 6- 7:00 to 8:00 AM

looking for jack in some tunnels with water. not here to kill one american, here to kill thousands.
fayed stuck on looking for jack, others want to focus elsewhere. lights flashing on jacks face, oh crap they were so close!! but he's out. out of the tunnel and into daylight! morris looking at where they say assad is. not sure he's actually there. milo is skinny face. chloe mad that they sold out jack for nothing.
jack breaks into a car, his arm is still hurting like whoa. acid stains on his fingers. china must've sucked.
nadia and bill in mtg
jack calling on line 2- call off airstrike. assad not resposible for bombing. ready to explain to president that assad not it. jack hotwiring car. jack tells pres that assad is trying to stop fayed. flashing around presidents oval office people. hayes doesnt buy assad's change of heart. jack wants to stop strike. pres- switch to ground assault? bill believes jack. hayes thinks prison make jack weak and getting played. tom agrees w/ hayes. jack says capture assad first. history impact judgement? never! pres goes foward w/ airstrike against bauer? no.
bill ready to pick up jack. jack doesnt tell bill where he is. jack's going to save assad. gets direction to location and takes off. now jack has to prevent terrorist from getting killed by us govt.
white dad looking for kumar's dad. fayed calls, looking for pkgs. fayed wants kumar to retrieve package- father issues. white kid tells kumar whole world has gone crazy and he feels bad. kumar says worlds already been crazy. jack's sone offers kumar necklace for luck, kumar tells jack-son he might need luck himself one day.
plans cleared for attack on lat/long. karen hayes called bill w/ pres. 5 min to hit assad's location. confirmation of kill right after assault is complete. jack outdriving jets. parsk at location, running inside. shirt sweaty and bloody? who doesnt notice this?
sneaks in through backyard. man coming in, pile of wood and full trash cans. thumps can, man investigates, dude knocks down legswith wood stump. now he's armed and dangerous, ready to enter house. that was so mcgyver.
ppl in house on computers... doing stuff. planes locking in on target. guy comes out, jack takes back in. jack asks for assad. house full of computer stuff. showdown. jack tells assad that fayed has set him up. one of men working for fayed- which one is it? fox nmews on their television too. jack puts down gun, earns confidence. find transponder on one of their men- says assad betrayed ppl. make bauer leave his gun. 'secure the package'
make it out of the house right before strike begins. target has been destroyed, but men werent there! oh snap!
-- commercial --
assembling database of names. ray charles' girlf is here? fbi doesnt have warrant- no personnel records. nothing to hide. but something to protect. sacrifice privacy? sandra palmer, oh snap. sister of the president. curtis sending live feed to ctu showing bombing. pres wayne talks to sandra. tells him about how fbi came to get access to iaa records. invading privacy bassed on ppls religion. sandra tells wayne to check w/ tom lennox. treats constitution like list of suggestions. sandra and david dont like tom. hes a baddy. sandra kisses iaa dude.
4 bodies, none assad. how did they miss him? hayes says someone warned tom says he was never there. 10 block perimeter from bill. tom says more attacks to come.
fayed goes to meet up w/ suicide bomber. nassir dude is going to blow himself up? fayed gives death pep-talk. by overcoming fear you prove your worth. double kiss. bomb set up.
commercial - 7:26am-
bauer watching them drive uhaul away from paradyme realty house for sale. who's done packing and ready to go at 730 am?
dude is injured but knows where fayed is. american flag in window, nice touch. assad sees jacks back, gets scared. traitor boy passed out in chair. chloe sees jack and two dudes escaping. calls buchanan to tell him. makes sense for bill to jack. what does chloe do with info. bill says keep it on the DL. if jacks right then look for fayed. if wrong, tell on jack. uh oh, secrets secrets.
assad has car. jack now wearing tight cotton shirt. jack wants ctu, assad wants to do it on his terms- knows fayed. jack stabbing traitor in shoulder-dude, he doesnt know where fayed is? jack stops, can see in his eyes- not going to tell. assad takes knife into guy's knee- traitor gives up where men are- meeting after assad is killed. torturing in front of american flag. assad kills guy while telling him he understands. in front of flag. jack feels sympathy for tortured dude?
assad needs help. jack 'i dont know how to do this anymore' assad- 'you'll remember.'
- commercial-
fbi back for records w/ warrant. sandra's not happy. shes copying files - or blanking them out while hes pulling them up. oh snap! sandras a smarty hacker girl. HAHAHA. she shred up the files. fbi arresting for obstructing business and destroying evidence. they arrest the dude too. impounding all hardware in office.
kumar banging package out of wall while crazy white fuy is coming to the door. kicks down kumar. throws kumar around. oh geez. lots of throwing and beating up. breaking glass and stuff. kumar takes out gun and shoots the dude in the leg. kills white guy. kumar has piece of glass in his leg. jack-son comes in. sees dead guy and kumar w/ blood. call an ambulance? kumar pulls gun on jack-son (scott?).
-commericals-
jack and assad in car. assad id'ing suicide bombers. jack and assad jump out of toyota echo (?) to go and catch the dudes. dudes went into subway. ppl use subway in la?
bomber dude is kinda of hott. so is the briefcase- it's the shaved head. bauer sees them, doesnt follow- stays back to assess sitch. one gets on train one is handler. assad gets handler, bauer after bomber. assad following bald handler who calls fayed.
briefcase on the train, bauer too. jack talks to ticket agent, scares him. bomber notices ppl moving, about to ignite. super fight at the end of the train. jack versus dude, exposes bomb. jack kicks him off train before bomb goes off... he saves the day! second bomb averted, hour 2. bald calls fayed to tell him somethings off, fayed says no big cos other attacks were successful.
hayes tells pres palmer that fayed talked to bombers- jack was right. dont they all feel stupid now. 'this is gonna get much worse'.
jack and assad following handler looking for fayed.

24 day 6- 6:00 to 7:00 AM

middle eastern looking man not let on bus. 'i deserve it too!' bus drives away and then blows up.
internment camps already in place- everyone who prays toward mecca candidate for camps?!?
wayne palmer is pres, anti camps- thats good.
assad- who they are after, have no idea where he is.
new hot latina character working in ctu. of course. like his drug girlf from a few years back.
chloe annoyed that jack is back and no one told her. also akward with old flame sexually harrassing her in the office. weird.
very hairy jack comes off the chinese plane. chinese guy says jack hasnt spoken a word in two years- or shaved apparently.
update on current sitch: 11 weeks, 17 weeks- terrorist attacks. assad worth 25M plus jack bauer dead.
eeek! sacrifice jack? go at it alone. not used to talking. SPIT IT OUT. audrey. daughter. no one knows hes back. he wants it to stay that way.
jack can see behind him and tells curtis he doesnt need firearm. wants to clean up. reminicent of gi jane shaving scene as he looks into mirror.
battle wounds, skinny and scars. broken jack? oh no!
-commercial break- 6:13 PM
6:19 PM
security chick(hayes?) fingers ring while talking to bill ctu man. they miss eachother.
threat level is red after la bus bomb.
chloe talks to nadia. wants info on jack. threatens with blackmail to get info, jack is important to her. fayed contacted ctu to give info and had demands including jack. fayed's bro died while jack was interrogating. deliver jack to terrorists to be killed? chloe- why cant just rescue jack after. fayed has full access to ctu intelligence, cant save jack. chloe calling karen hayes, but hayes already knows, pres palmer authorized. jack bauer sacrifice for attacks to stop.
chloes depressed and british exboyf is stalking/worried. calls her. skinny face wants info. chloe tells morris about jack.
jack is shaved and clean in car w/ bill. pres calls. jack in lala land. pres palmer talks to jack- knows jack has already sacrificed so much for country. measure of desparation- ppl afraid to leave homes. buchanan already explained, jack knows whats expected. steel face- sacrifice not in vain. pres palmer2 isnt confident to be leader of country. irrelevant- already president, lead country if want to or not.
nat'l guard setting up detention centers across the country. hayes angry that allimcbeal boy (tom) is already setting up centers. aclu already filing complaints b/c bureau already has to much authority. 'security has its price.'
fayed watching, giving bauer over. bill is angry. handcuff jack to grate? jack- do it.
"do you understand the difference between dying for something and dying for nothing. i didnt want to die for nothing. today, i can die for something. my way, my choice. to be honest with you, it will be a relief." oh jack. dont cry bill! go! bill and curtis walk away.
-commerical. the blackjack commercials are so hot, shuffling cards and devices. cool.-
6:36 back
culver city bombing of mosque.
guy doesnt want his kid to go to school. 'nothing normal is happening here'
justjack's kid. his friends dad is getting arrested. kumar's dad. police are taking him away in car. people watching. run in after him. ahmed = kumar? white guys tell ahmed to get out of their neighborhood while banging on the door. kick door down. boy wants to help his friend. dad will go outside and talk. police are scared, arresting people. 'want him, coming thru me'. lame. guy backs off, this isnt over... ahmed should stay at their house til things blow over.
bill calls nadia. helicopters ready to attack anywhere w/in 20 minutes. waiting for location. nadia tells bill she told chloe. brit-morris hacking to get visual on jack. access to sattelite off gov't grid. afghanistan contract work. find out where bill left jack.
van coming at jack attached to grate. dudes jump out. unhook him from grate, fayed 'i've been waiting for this for a long time'. slap his face and throw jack in the van. fayed gets call from dude on phone. found camera pointing at his sector. they're calling ctu to say someones watching them no govt supposed to be watching fayed. uh-oh. redirect in 30 seconds. chloe's the one doing it. morris re-directed. deception - now fayed not definitely giving direction. nadia asks in arabic- why not? shes muslim not latina- what?
bill is so mad. chloe says fire me. bill says he needs manpower. doesnt want to look at bill. dont think you're the only one mourning jack. sacrifice jack for nothing.
comercial - 6:46pm
6:52
no news on assad. hayes mad at bill. who let chloe do renegade opp? all stressed. drama.
fayed's surveilance crew. dragging jack along. money being transfered, waiting to call ctu. carry jack into torture chamber. punch jack and put him in chair.
monitoring pulse. pulling out knives. 'feel what my brother felt. i know how he died. i know what you did to him.'
knife in shoulder. then pour acid, ow! this is so gross. jack tells them to give assad's location. fayed says assad has begun talking about compromise and negotiation. assad is a traitor. ctu is going to kill the wrong man. stab jack from the back with long stick?!?!
tells jack he will die for nothing. uh oh- wrong words. jack listening in to coordinates.
fayed calls ctu. has transponder at assads location. gives lat/long of assad. location in englewood. engle-woooood! chloe crying while watching. morris sneaks up. if stops attacks, for greater good. chloe hugs morris.
fayed about to cut off one of jacks fingers. call for fayed, not yet. kumar calls fayed to say fbi took his father. father innocent, but kumar is part of it. bauer's heart stops. guy comes to check on him. bauer kills guy w/ vampire attack to neck. gets keys and unlocks himself.
kumar boy on phone w/ fayed and jack's son asks if all is well.
fayed comes into room and finds dead guard on floor and jack missing. see jack in shadows while fayed yells at his men.

jack bauer is back.

aaarrrrghhhhh!

how bad is it when three people have individually compared the situation in iraq and bush's 'send more troops' idea to my current project. and compared bush to our head boss.

yeah. not encouraging.

i'm out tomorrow. last day. sad and all cos i totally dig the kids i work with. but an iraqi quagmire? dont know.

eek.

stencil to skin- i want.

i've wanted a tattoo for pretty much ever. i want the lone star. i wanted it on my wrist but thats not very pc. and ankles are whack. foot? professional?

dont know.

then, in mid december during one of my banksy photo searches i came across the girl with a heart balloon that is one of his wall stencils. most of his stuff is controversial and irreverent, which is why i like him so much. this one just seems so sweet. i love it. i've made it my desktop wall paper and i already told my brother that that's what i want tattooed on me.

tonight i'm watching miami ink on tlc (i love ami, as i love all bald men...) and this girl was getting tattooed on her side and i thought, hmm, that's a good spot. i like it. that's where i want to get my banksy balloon girl. then, i decided to do a google search, just to see who else out there has gotten a banksy tattoo. and wouldn't you know it, i found two of them. so i definitely wont be the first. (the girl on the bottom got hers sometime in 2005 and the guy in dec 2006) but i still like it. and now i've seen it proven on skin. hmmm...

sunny saturday

last night my roomate, iska, and i watched the last 5 or 6 episodes of season 5 of queer as folk. it was so dramatic. i was so tired, but we couldn't quit. some of the eps were lame, but the last ones had us on the edge of our seats, trying not to vom up our sushi dinners.

our house has been on quite the queer as folk- watching spree lately. it reminds me of freshman year at bc when we all crowded on natalie's bed to watch season 1 during finals week. only now daniel's not here to squeal and say, 'oh my!'. haha. qaf fun, where the dancing cowboys in the intros never get old and brian kinney is the hottest man not interested in the ladies.

it was toasty warm out in boston today. sunny too. got me all happy and motivated. i woke up at 830am. i did 5 (!) loads of laundry this morning while watching cartoons and then alfie. man, jude is SO cute. i know he's balding, whatever. then i went to they gym, and then target and then washed my car(!). so productive. then i came home, showered and slept. you can't expect too much out of me.

my productivity today was mostly centered around doing stuff in watertown, as that is where my gym is. (my gym that i have been to a total of 3 times in the last 3 months) at the gym today, lots of cute boys to watch work out and smile at. then i went to target (all sweaty and gross) hoping i would not run into anyone i know. most of the people in target on a saturday afternoon are in couples, but i managed to get hit on 2x, once by a very chatty fellow in the checkout line. then i went to get gas and had a convo w/ the guy gassing up his car next to mine. cute boys at the gym, cute boys at target, cute boys at the gas station. whoa! watertown is an untapped resource and apparently a great place to meet boys. more wholesome than my skinny indie boys of harvard ave. i should go to the gym and target more often i think. :p

friday! and warm out!

its weird how ppl are so excited about this whole global warming scene we've got going on. its 60 degrees out in boston at the start of january. weird. al gore and his powerpoint presentation are totally on everyone's mind. eek.

i'm excited. and freaked out. at the same time.

its friday afternoon and i still am not sure what my 2 week away future holds. signs are pointing towards san francisco. and talking about it so much with various people definitely pretty much has me convinced that this would be a great opportunity. i'm basically, totally sold on the prospect of trying out the west coast for a bit. now i'm just waiting for the other shoe to drop and for someone to tell me, JK- YOU'RE NOT GOING ANYWHERE... in which case i'll be sad again and basically back to square one. i really hope that doesnt happen.

argh.

i am currently obsessed w/ lily allen. i got over her for a while, but now i'm so back on. listen to lily at home and a british accented audio book in the car to and from work. i'm really on brit overload.

anyways. perhaps i'll feel more like writing about something more interesting that my quarterlife-semi-weekly-crises this weekend. perhaps, perhaps, perhaps.

the end is nigh...

today i found out for (almost) certain that my role on the project that i have been working on for almost a year and a half will be over. 17 months almost to the day. originally it was supposed to be right under 12 months.

those 5 extra months have been killer and are one of the huge reasons i am so excited/ready to leave. these last 4-5 months have been stressful and boring at the same time. working weird hours and doing route tasks for so long have an overwhelmingly draining effect. even though i've worked almost no overtime in this last phase, i still am 10x more drained now than i was when we were routinely working 12 hour days 8 months ago. funny how that works.

anyways, now i'm looking for something new which could or could not drastically change my living situation, my travel abilities, my overall happiness... right now its all opportunity for greatness and abyssmal failure... hopefully i can have something figured out by the end of this week. and definitely by the end of next...

i dont like having open holes in my life plan. i need to know what's next so i dont freak out or stress more than neccessary. so yeah... next few days will require some action. dang it. i much prefer days of inaction and laziness... ha. right. ok.

happy new year

and so it begins.

we (iska, rach and i) rang in the new year at a house party in somerville. we drank and danced and ate cookies.

it wasn't very dramatic or fancy. i didn't know most of the people in attendance. but it was fun and we made it home safely and that's what is important.

i may have moved a total of 40 feet today but no big. starting tomorrow- action!

resolutions:
1. spend more time with family
2. get involved
3. volunteer
4. move to texas
5. get ready for grad school
6. shop less
7. stay in better contact w/ my friends
8. read more books, papers and magazines
9. see more films
10. waste less time on the internet

eve of the new year

here it is, not just any sunday afternoon, but the last sunday afternoon of the year. it's new years eve. i feel like i should be making a list of some sort. my top 5 or top 10. albums, movies, moments, concerts, shoes? resolutions...?

everyone who knows me knows i like to attempt to be a non-conformist. and how i'm a complete procastinator. maybe i'll come up with something by the end of next week.

its time for me to start getting ready for whatever fun will turn up tonight.

bowl-a-rama

i didn't actually watch the bc-navy bowl game this afternoon. i was running errands all around coolidge corner and got updates from my dad via the cellie. first we were losing. then close but still losing. then i get a call- clenched it w/ 3 seconds left in the game. aponavicious pulls through again. what a killer season for the soccer player. yay bc, way to pull through against a team that's not even that good.

it's halftime in the UT/iowa alamo bowl. which i'm watching in my room happily. colt mccoy is SUCH a small baby quarterback. sweed is so money, walking off the field w/ his horns held hight. watching bowl games is more fun than regular season. that whole 'last chance' thing.

anyways. it's mofo cold here in boston. first snow (i've seen this season) today which was so nice and pretty and light. i didnt even mind having to drive around in it. pretty. and now its all melted and i just really hope it doesnt turn into black ice for my 5am drive out tomorrow morning cos that would suck.

now, time for some abuelita hot chocolate and a couple of advils.

back in the bean

i flew home last week. and by home i mean, i went to austin and then my dad picked me up and we ate at what-a-burger and then we drove home san antonio. whataburger is my most favorite fast food burger joint as of late. totally. i order a number 7 (whataburger jr) w/ dr. pepper everytime. just my size and my favorite drink. with a side of fries and fancy ketchup, obvs.

home was good. hanging with my momma and baby and daddy 99% of the time. saw grams and gramps and aunts and uncles and cousins galore. it was good to see people i hadn't seen in ages. i love my family cos they're so familiar and we all resemble each other physically and but also we're all so very different. family is awesome like that.

thursday i got my wisdom teeth pulled out. i was loopy and on drugs the rest of the day and the next. then saturday and sunday i was in pain. i cried a lot and my mom rubbed my back and my brother brought me salt water and daddy gave me jello.

feliz navidad
christmas eve was good. after a childrens mass w/o fr. francis, we visited jourdanton and saw all my mom's clan. there were so many yummies. turkey and 2 kinds of ham and pies and sweet potatoes and mashed potatoes and stuffing and gravy and everything. i could only eat the mushy stuff and even then my mouth hurt like whoa and i was drugged up.

christmas morning we visited grandpa and in the evening mommy daddy davey and i went to mass in san fernando cathedral.
i love that church. the fact that it was the 275th christmas mass celebrated in that building. and the archbishop of san anto was the celebrant. and the incense all around. and that i saw the burial place of bowie and other alamo heroes right before in the entry way. it was great and i'm glad we went there. i love christmas mass, even when its bilingual and i dont catch all the spanish parts. then leaving as we exited downtown we saw all the christmas lights on the church and all around- so pretty and so san antonio. i love it.

after mass, on our drive home, we noticed that sonic was open so we went and got grub. i got a chili dog. and cherry limeade. man i love those things too.

the rest of my time home was spent hanging out, sleeping, crying in pain, and then hanging out some more. it was not as great as most only because i couldn't eat all the delicious things i love but there was so much lovely family time and hugs and kisses that it was all fabulous anyways.

and then
i flew back to boston and it was cold and rachael picked me up from the airport. i worked from 6am to 2pm today and my mouth was sort of semi throbbing in pain the whole time. not so awesome. then i came home and watched oprah and got depressed over poverty in america. thanks oprah. I’ve been lounging around, chilling w/ rachael tonight in our cold living room. watching this texas high school football special on dateline. it brings back memories of my early childhood in jourdanton. Where our fridays were spent on the field and i wore red and white all the time. goooo indians!

anyways…
I have to go to work at 6 am again tomorrow. and then again on sunday. on new years eve i have to work. grrreat. at least i get monday off. thank goodness.

back to the future

i think i'm going to switch back to writing aqui. for now. we shall see...

christmas in less than a week.
texas by noon tomorrow.

new years in two weeks. dont know where i'll be yet. which is annoying/interesting... what's depressing is the fact that its almost 2007. so disgusting how time flies. disgustingly depressing.