the bastards.

just when i had finally achieved my dream, the apple bastards kick me when i'm down.

while my baby is sick and shipped off to the ipod doctors in california, apple reveals this.

yes, there are more important things in the world like world hunger and war, etc. but it's nice to have gadgets that make dealing with all that important stuff a little bit easier. and it's infuriating when i'm finally able to afford a little bit of that joy and they roll out something even cooler.

bastards.

and it *is* just as good as the other ipods, just ask the new york times.

onto other stuff:
works been kinda slow the past day or so (and today, since i'm writing this at 1 in the afternoon at work (shh! don't tell anyone!), so i've been exploring the folks on the various blog rings as well as around the 'net.
two cool places i've found so far:

• sid has great taste (coldplay, amelie and the royal tennenbaums are all favs of hers, as are mine!)and a pretty good sense of humor.


• crankcrunk is a music blog with a pretty good mix of ..erm, music.

more later.

tuesday night special

i decided to take a break on the news updates and just riff on randomness.

1. i want a pretty new blog. i keep talking about how i'm gonna redo my blog, but i'm too lazy to figure out how to build my own blog, and i can't find any prefab blog that really fits me. if you've seen my blog since the beginning, you know i've changed my template a good 3, 4 times since i started.

2. i heart tv. it's been a minute since i've planned my evenings on my shows... now i'm enamored with gilmore girls, veronica mars, scrubs, southpark, lost, er, will and grace, america's next top model, life as we know it... dude, i'm becoming a couch potato. god help me in february when the l word and alias are back on ... oooh. can't wait until alias...

3. i'm homesick. i don't know what i am. i'm not quite homesick b/c homesick doesn't quite strike how i feel -- i miss my friends, my mom, my girlfriend, the general familiarity that comes with being in ...well, familiar places. the people here are cool, and i don't feel homesick all the time; it's just sometimes when i wish that all my friends and family lived on the same block as me so that we could all visit each other when we wanted and it wouldn't be that much trouble.
...actually, scratch that. not everybody. just a select few. like urs. and my mom. and naeemah. maybe keysha, if she keeps acting chill like she has. and emerald, kerry and sheryl(gotta keep the ku's aunt around. :D). everybody else, case by case basis.
thaaat's it. i'm about to open up my own gated community. maryann estates. and all new residents are by invitation only.

news roundup: sunday women's edition

i had recently been thinking about how i had not focused much on feminist discourse lately, which made me sad. last semester, i was sooo fasicnated, devouring books like betty friedan's the feminine mystique and bell hooks'feminism is for everybody. and now, inundated with the tasks of going to work and figuring out how to be an adult, my passion for women's studies had kinda fell to the wayside.
and then, i come across this commentary in the new york times that talks about how such a seemingly innocuous campaign like the miss subways campaign that ran in new york's subways from 1941 to 1977 was really a subversively feminist campaign. a lovely little piece of writing that shows that feminism isn't what it has been subverted to represent in mainstream america. ask any woman on the street what their view of feminism is and they're sure to relay some picture of a butch lesbian yelling that women don't need men because women are better than men. instead, feminism is more about empowering women and making them feel that they could be more than just a housewife, or, as ani difranco says, a "pretty girl."

my other entry in the news roundup vault is a story that gave me hope. the story of a family made up of two daughters and two mommies. the girls, fathered through sperm donors, were raised in a loving two-parent home and seem pretty well adjusted. a beautiful story that makes me want to send a copy to all those bastards who say that homosexuality and same-sex marriages will ruin the fabric of the american family.

news roundup for friday

hey folks. some more stories from the newsworld:
and hey -- i'm aware that many of these news sites require registration to see their articles. i know it's annoying, but it's fast and easy and free. and you don't have to get any of their newsletters and stuff if you don't want to. :)

now onto the news:
a new york times magazinearticle that gives some creepy insight into the workings within the bush white house. it's long, but it's worth it.

the column by bob herbert that directed me to the previous article, that talks about how out of touch bush is with real reality.

another column, this time by the lovely maureen o'dowd, which talks about how bush seriously sometimes thinks he's a mouthpiece for god.

do you see a pattern here? i realize that of the people who read this blog, i'm probably preaching to the choir, but given that election day is almost a week away, i'm getting more and more anxious. i must admit i've had a glimmer of hope that it all may not end up a disaster (after seeing that the kids voted for kerry), but it's nice sometimes to see well written, solidly backed-up evidence that the man that's sitting in the oval office (i will not say he's my president, because he's not) is not the best choice and is not doing good for this country.

::steps down from my soapbox::

onto other stuff:

i ran into this article about how young folks aren't the only ones detailing their cars -- some suburban folks are doing it to their minivans too.
the best quote in the article:

IN Atlanta, Pam Gould's 1996 Honda Odyssey also sports a hippie-chic look, with butterflies and a daisy chain down the sides, and the words "Feelin' Groovy" on the back. Reaction to the car has varied widely, she said. "The scariest was a 9-year-old child, who said, `Why did you do that? It's going to hurt the resale value.' "

dude, that's alternately funny and scary. how's some 9-year-old gonna walk up to your car and lecture you on resale value?
again, fuuuuny yet scarrry as hell.

a washington post article about some parents making a whole lotta mess about nothing. the principal at this high school in northern virginia has made the students sign a pledge. on the pledge's list: no drugs, no alcohol and no "freak dancing"
dude, apart from the hilarity of reading a post article that breaks down exactly what "freak dancing" is, i was disturbed by how the principal and parents were focusing on such a ridiculous aspect.
of course the students were upset and were circulating petitions about an affront to their "freedom of expression" (reminds me of my high school days -- we were always ready to circulate a petition about school policies we didn't like), but on a broader note, shouldn't parents be worried about more important things than "freak dancing"? i mean, i'm not a big fan of it myself, and kids can go crazy, but at the end of the day, it's just a dance.
instead of worrying about whether suzie's freaking johnny on the dance floor, perhaps they should be worried about what's going on behind the bleachers or wherever kids makeout, etc. these days. they need to worry about whether these kids quantify oral sex as sex or are using protection or a myriad of other issues.
"freak dancing" does not equal sex and not "freak dancing" doesn't mean that sex isn't going on. stupid parents barking up the wrong tree.
and you know it had to be a predominately white school district.

lastly, a story that mixes the issues of the previous article (teens and sex and the focus of the first three links: a newsday story about how abstinence-only sex ed groups have recieved a boost of support since bush took office, thanks to his support of such policies.
reading stuff like this pissed me off too, as anyone who accepts abstinence-only sex ed as a viable too is either (a)smoking that good shit or, more likely, (b)living in denial. one of the certainties of life is that many teenagers are going to be curious about sex/sexuality as they go through puberty, and many are gonna end up having sex in some shape or form. so to teach them that abstinence is the only way is not only stupid, it's dangerous.

news roundup

alright. that's it kids. we can stop stresssing. according to the ap, the kids of america have picked john kerry for their new president. don't scoff -- for the past four presidential elections, the kids have correctly picked the next president.
read the article. it's actually quite interesting. including a quote from linda ellerbee, the host for nick news:

"Kids aren't dumb, they're just younger and shorter," she said. "In fact, last election, a boy came up to me and said, `We picked George Bush to win, and he didn't really win. Al Gore won the popular vote, so we were kinda wrong.' Quite an observation."

oh, if only adults could be as open-minded as kids...

in the same vein of politics, a story from the new york times on the clash between scientists and the current administration. the idea for the story was sparked by the 48 nobel laureates who actively supported kerry for president, something most never do. i already dispise the bush administration, but it's nice to see a balanced, well-written article that ends up still showing what a crock this current admistration is. the dems not to publicize well written articles like this and drag the republicans through the mud on some worthy shit instead of the nickel-and-diming that the republicans win on so often.
i mean, come on. almost every other industrialized nation has signed the kyoto treaty, there's tons of research that points to humans' contributions to global warming, but the united states refuses to?!

sigh. but i ramble and digress.

onto less fiery topics:

• newsday reports that some young american muslims are trying to start a reformist progressive islamic movement....


• according to the kansas city star, it seems that rosa parks may not be the person who was all fired up about her being mentioned/referred to in the outkast song. (i thought the suit was ridiculous anyway.)....


• and the new york times says that the key west is getting just a little less gayer and a little less raunchy, thanks to conservative rich folks moving in.

funny stuff -- a cartoon and an essay

This Modern World: Channel surfing
where's mary?

our national eating disorder

interesting article with the hypothesis that americans worry to much about food, which makes us unhealthy.

he compared americans, who are always obsessed with calories and carbs, etc. and yet are still mostly overweight and unhealthy, with the french, who are healthier but also don't obsess over food and instead enjoy food. it also mentions a study that was done about food attitudes amongst the french, american, belgian and japanese. in the study, when shown a picture of chocolate cake, americans were more likely to say that "guilt" was the word that came to mind. for the french, it was "celebration."

hmm. i've always been for enjoying food, but i must say that since my horrible dressing room accident, i've noticed that i've started to fall into the american food guilt trap ... i just need to relax, and realize that it's ok to enjoy food. only then will i not be tempted to gorge on any food, which is what is really the culprit.

fridays

i've got tgif syndrome. it's almost 2 here and after looking over all the stories i've been assigned at least once, i've realized that i don't want to edit anymore, or think of nice headlines. so what do i do?

retreat to my blog. :)

anyhoo, in the life of me:
i got paid today, and not a minute too soon. i'm failing horribly at operation: you better get yourself together(status: suckage) as well as my whole plan to stem the tide of hereditary fat on my body (yeah, yeah, i'm not fat, blah blah blah ...).

after being excited yet scared about my new yoga dvd last thursday(the instructor is a lot more inspiring and less stupid than the vapid yogalates instructor, but moves hella fast), i have yet to try it again. i've also been ordering outside food (burger king last night, starbucks and cafeteria food all week), which is not good for the body or the pocketbook. and now, i'm about to splurge this weekend on girlfriend and friends.

whatever. i only live once.

on the bright side, i have been good about an extension of operation: you better get yourself together, operation: enjoy what you have, which means digging out old movies and cds that i have and truly enjoying them, rather than buying more cds and dvds. i've been rocking to mr. def and old school jill and my beloved coldplay. i think i'll be ok. the first week is always the hardest.

i've decided to not regale the adventures with my dear haiku, as this entry is already hella long, but i will leave you with this lovely topic of coversation: public bathroom etiquette.

i was at work the other day, talking to a colleague as i walked to the bathroom. it turned out we were both going to the bathroom, so we kept talking as we entere the ladies' room, which is cool, even tho i'm not one for small talk. what bothered me was that as we entered our respective stalls, she kept talking to me!

maybe i'm being anal, but i have to know someone fairly well to carry on a convo while i'm using the facilities. i mean c'mon -- bathroom time is a private time.

things to talk about
1. status update on operation: you better get yourself together
2. operation: enjoy what you have (an extension of operation: you better get yourself together)
3. matchmaker?
4. the haiku traveling adventures
5. bathroom etiquette
6. my growing caffeine dependency

dead woman walking

i'm sooo tired. i think i'm becoming dependent on caffeine. after my lovely weekend at home, i was so tired monday morning, i treated myself to a toffee nut latte. ditto for tuesday.

by yesterday, i felt i should cool it, so i got hot tea at work instead.

and today, i figured i'd next the coffee/tea thing altogether and have water with my breakfast. i need to drink more water.

however, an hour and a half into work, my brain has regressed to a jelly state and all i want to do is sleep. the beatles' song i'm so tired was running through my head as i struggled to think of just a word to put in this headline i was (unsuccessfully) trying to write.

so ... i compromised. instead of jumping in my car and getting a toffee nut latte, i went to the caf and got hot tea. i don't know if tea has less caffeine than coffee, but i like to think it does.
and besides, it's $2 cheaper. :)

there's been so much i've wanted to talk about, but i've been horribly busy at work this week and by the time i get home, i really don't feel like being on the computer at home after being on the computer all day at work.

at any rate, as a way of forcing myself to get all this stuff out, i'll make a list:
1. status update on operation: you better get yourself together
2. operation: enjoy what you have (an extension of operation: you better get yourself together)
3. matchmaker?
4. the haiku traveling adventures
5. bathroom etiquette
6. my growing caffeine dependency