this is too much...

i was a nerd...

As a kid, all I ever wanted to do was read. I'm not kidding. I spent my summers either in my local library or in my room reading a couple different books at a time. I even got in trouble for running away from home to go to the library. Twice.

So now that it's official that I was a nerd, you will probably understand why I'm so sad to hear that my favorite show as a child, "Reading Rainbow," is calling it quits. Granted, I kinda thought it went off the air years ago, it's a bummer to think that other children, including possibly my own, will never have this little gem to inspire them.

finally...

I got a real job! I'm designing and writing content for a law firm web design company. It's weird because I don't really know anything about web design or law firms, but I'm doing my best and keeping my fingers crossed that they like me. Yay!!

why why why...

LC from the Hills is the New York Times #1 bestseller. I am done as a writer...

no way bk...

Burger King has gone the way of Carl's Jr. If you take a look at this advertisement you can see this it kinda looks like this girl is about to "blow" the sandwich. I am by no means a prude, but she looks weak, as if she has submitted to her man's every needs. She almost looks like a zombie. How can they get away with things like this? Oh yeah because Americans can't get enough of fast food. Yet another reason to eat at home or support your local restaurants.



Why can't it still be like this?

i've been cheating...

Go to www.chickswithguns.blogspot.com - I wrote the cap and trade article in the liberal bias section!! It's on the front page today!!! YESSSS!!

king of pop...

So despite the many other news-worthy things going on in the world everyone has decided to focus on Michael Jackson's death. I will be no different. What a surprise...

So of my most fond memories from growing up are from watching MTV with my little brother. Since our mom was always at work TV was our babysitter. I remember being so excited every time MJ had a new music video because they were always so epic. Of course, "Bad" and "Thriller" were amazing, but one not with less acclaim is "Remember The Time." It had some sort of Egyptian setting with tons of celebs.



While he's had tons of #1 hits, I recognize him more as an entertainer than a musician. As a child who loved to dance he inspired me. I probably tried to teach myself the moves in the dance scene starting at around 7 minutes.

And I have to say when I deejay if I'm feeling really desperate I know who to play.

blood phones...

Talk about totally bumming me out. Have you ever seen that movie Blood Diamond? Yuck, as in I'll never wear a diamond again (because I had so many before). Well, now I guess I have to get rid of my cell phone. Since my family, who live across the country, would probably be upset about me being phone-less, I did my part by texting this number/word.

health care...

I've spent the last week trying to take care of my very sick boyfriend. He had a high fever, terrible chills and an awful cough. We've concluded that he has bronchitis, but since he doesn't have health insurance, like many of my friends and myself, he can't go to the doctor to find out if it's something worse. It's frustrating to know that the only time we would take him to the doctor would be if he got way worse and then we'd have to take him to the ER. Like so many people, we'd rather chance him not getting worse so that we don't have to spend the money to figure out what's wrong.

Earlier this week the American Medical Association (AMA) announced that it did not support the president's national health care plan. No matter that the AMA represents merely a third of doctors and half of those are retired. President Obama spoke at their annual convention in Chicago urging them to reconsider. The problem is sometimes the president can't make everyone happy and I think the time has come when he needs to stop being nice.

Bill Mahr said it best in this segment:

Idiot...

When will the crazy lady understand she's only making it worse. Sarah Palin responded to some jokes made by David Letterman with a statement about how they were "pretty pathetic" and "disgusting." Letterman, of course, responded by explaining himself in an eight-minute statement, that included a repeat of most of the jokes. They were just as funny the second time as they were the first. Go away Sarah Palin...

peaches...

So last night I finally got to see Peaches. I had heard back in the day she was kind of boring, but this is most definitely not the case now. She's one of the few musician that has gotten better with fame, especially live. She had at least 5 costume changes and each one was as amazing as the previous. One of my favorite parts was seeing her not only crowd-surf, but also crowd-walk. Her energy was great and her voice sounded even stronger than on record.

I also liked that she worked in her bandmates, so it wasn't just Peaches and then some random people in the background. The badass guitar player had a solo that would make Van Halen jealous and the keyboard player did his best impression of Iggy Pop for the duet "Kick It." She also worked the crowd in by marrying three gay couples, a big middle finger to the California Supreme Court's recent decision to uphold Prop 8.

She played the classic old stuff like "Operate" and "Fuck The Pain Away," but her new stuff was the real highlight of the night. Her new album is much better than her last two, both disappointing record to many. "I Feel Cream" features production from Digitalism, Drums of Death and Soulwax, as well as Peaches herself. Here's the video for her newest single "Lose You," produced by Simian Mobile Disco.

baking...

I've decided to try my hand at baking this summer. So, I went over to Borders and checked out the new Martha Stewart cupcake book. Most of those cupcakes were a little too pro for me, but I found a recipe for peanut butter cookie cupcakes and thought I could handle it. The recipe was pretty simple and the end result was a bit rich, but really good. Kinda like a peanut butter cookie on top of a muffin.

something to do with your $$...

Today I spent most of my afternoon waiting in a Planned Parenthood office. Thankfully, I really have nothing else to do with myself these days and since my visit was free I wasn't about to complain. The reason for my visit was a refill in my bc, but as I looked around I realized how important this company is.

I saw many different types of people with many different backgrounds. Most came alone, but the younger ones had friends (who would NOT shut up). Some looked nervous, others, like me, were obviously veterans and there for a routine visit. The TV was turned up way too loud on some kind of MTV-soap opera show and I had wished that, like so many others, I had brought my ipod instead of the newspaper.

After two hours, I was finally called back. Most everyone is so pleasant there and they make you feel comfortable. After taking my blood pressure and talking to me about abusive relationships (something they apparently have to do to everyone now), I was asked to take a pregnancy test. I knew it would come out negative and was a little annoyed at having to do this, especially when I didn't need to pee. As I turned the corner to the restroom I saw a young girl bawling her eyes out. I was no longer bothered by the small task of peeing in a cup.

So many women (and girls) have been helped by Planned Parenthood and I feel happy to be able to take advantage of the company. Normally, I donate a little money each visit, but this year I had none. So if you have any spare cash (I know most of us don't) please take the time to donate to Planned Parenthood.

Two American heroes...

Over the weekend between work and sleep I read about a couple people who I think deserve to called heroes, one's recent struggles an inspirational story, the other's, no less inspirational, has ended in tragedy.

First, freelance journalist Roxana Saberi. She was in Iran working on a book that would give Iran a more favorable view of the much-criticized nation. She was arrested in January because the Iranian government claimed she had classified documents (which she says was not true) and forced to admit to being an American spy. She later recanted this admission, but was still found guilty of espionage.



Second, Dr. George Tiller. He was a doctor who performed abortions in all trimesters. He survived a previous assassination attempt in the 80s, but instead of giving up he kept on with what he knew was right. Today's Democracy Now had a great hour of coverage on his life and why he did what he did. A quote from his family sums up what a great man he was:

"George dedicated his life to providing women with high-quality health care despite frequent threats and violence. We ask that he be remembered as a good husband, father and grandfather and a dedicated servant on behalf of the rights of women everywhere."

XUXA!!

When I was young me and my brother spent a lot of time watching TV. Television was like our only parent. I remember getting ready for school and hoping that the old Tom and Jerry would be on cause the new one sucked. And being bummed when they stopped showing Pink Panther in the mornings. Something I had forgotten was this Brazilian lady who partied with cheetahs and pandas. I thank her for my love of Bonde Do Role and bright clothes.

brit-pop cover band

It's happening, even if it's just me singing over the tracks, karaoke-style.

Parklife, I wanna live you.



Jarvis Cocker, I will be as beautiful as you...

teabaggers

Hey stupid teabagger right-wing extremists, I have a message for you. Your team lost. Stop whining and organize a range of issues to get behind. Stop wasting your time alienating the moderate members of your party. If your only issue is that you don't like taxes or black people or abortions, that's not enough. I'm embarrassed for the GOP.

Also, for most of you protesting taxes (which was supposed to be the issue, not Obama-Hitler or Obama-bin Laden things), you may want to look up your tax bracket. Since I'm guessing most of you aren't rich, Obama and Congress just gave you all a tax CUT. So before you go out protesting, you may want to figure out the issues.

I will probably never agree with the GOP, but competition is what makes the Democrats or Greens or whatever liberal party better. When we have nothing to respond to, things will just stay the same. Give us something to work with here...

first published article!!

Hey everyone!

I have my first published article in the South Bay Woman magazine. The article is about CSUDH Presdient Mildred Garcia. I'm pretty excited!

OK back to finishing my last semester of school. Miss you internet-land.

Chris Brown...

My days have been full of political science class attending, thesis writing, and grad school applying, so I'm gonna try to keep this focused on some "lighter" news. I guess I really mean not related to politics.

So most of us are too col to admit that we know more about celebrities than we do about some family members, me included. I try to escape most of the celebrity gossip pages, but sometimes my mind needs a break from all things Kelly-related. And when there's nothing on TV and the music that I have begins to bore me, I catch some updates on my fav celebs.

Unfortunately even in the world of celebs not everything is rosey. Recently, Chris Brown was arrested on domestic violence charges, the victim apparently his girlfriend Rhianna. Now none of us know exactly what happened and how bad it was, but if even some of the rumors are true it's real bad. But the most shocking part of all this is that Rhianna does not want to press charges.

This is sad, but not all that uncommon. Most victims of domestic violence blame themselves in some way or another. I have been involved in an abusive relationship in the past and I still try to find a way to make it alright. Like if I would have done this or that or whatever, maybe I wouldn't have been in the situation I had been in. But really, none of that's true. Some men (or women) have problems and they need help. Maybe they developed this habit from watching their parents go at it when they were young. Or maybe they have anger issues.

Whatever it is, this public couple's situation can help many private citizens going through something like this. More victims of domestic violence need to know there are people who are there for them. If they have no one in their life to turn to, there are plenty of shelters all over the nation that will provide assistance.

With that said I hope Rhianna decides to charge her now ex(?) boyfriend. Not only will it help give victims courage, it will also show that domestic violence is unacceptable and abusers deserve to pay for it.

fair and balanced...

If you can find it, check out the new issue of The Rise And The Fall zine. I contributed a little political essay and my boyfriend did the political cartoon with it. A cute little collaboration, if you ask me. Over the weekend I was told the essay is good, but "very opinionated." This was supposed to be a critique. Here is my response:

Have an opinion. It is what makes everyone so different. If you go about your day feeling iffy on everything, your day is boring. You don't need a strong opinion on everything, but if you're going to put in your two cents about anything you should say more than, "Eh, it's alright." You should have no apologies for your own thoughts and you should try to respect others as well.

Don't be fooled by unbiased reporting. I can not think of the last time I've read a completely unbiased report, which is why I get my news from many different sources. Yes, I prefer MSNBC to Fox News or The New York Times to The Wall Street Journal, but I read and listen to as much as I have time for. Even if the piece is not an opinion piece, a reporter will find the resources they want, but very few will find the resources they don't want. Those they don't want are probably the most important part of the story. A good reporter will have it all, but with a limited time to report it's hard to get everything.

So, when you read an opinion piece, there should be a little balance, but if it was even, then it wouldn't be an opinion piece. The straight news stories are what really get you. Most people read one story and take that as the truth. It's up to you to find out more, so that you can form your own opinion.

My essay may not be perfect, but I am proud of the opinions expressed in it. I'd rather be strongly opinionated than lacking an opinion at all.

THE RISE AND FALL MYSPACE

Now's the time!

So this post was originally going to be about how fucked up my boss and her family is, but who wants to hear my whining? I'll save that for my boyfriend who has to listen.

Instead, I'll write about how my cut shifts have inspired me to do other things with my life. I have forever hated my bartending job and now I have the chance to do something else.

First, I plan to start volunteering at a women's shelter down the street. I have wanted to volunteer for awhile now and since the boys and girls club still haven't called me back, I'm going to stop being lazy and start helping people. This will also give me a chance to get to know more about my community.

Second, I want to start writing more. Blogging does count, but I want to try working at a local independent paper. I found an help wanted ad, so I'm going to throw together a resume and cover letter and see what happens.

Third, I need to finish my grad school application. Statement of purpose is the only thing left. I need to stop procrastinating and just do it.

Finally, I need to start working on my zine again. I half designed it, but then forgot about it for like six months. Oh and all the other crafty things I want to do.

So yeah, my boss sucks, but is there anyone out there who likes their boss? The best I can do is start working on myself, so that I'm my own sucky boss.

PS I have just taken two really amazing trips and I have some great pics to post. Maybe tomorrow (for all two of you who read this)?

Jan. 20, 2009

25 years from now, people will be asking, "Where were you on January 20, 2008?" What looks like a couple million will be able to say they were in DC, witnessing the 44th president's inauguration. Many more, including myself, will say they watched him swear in from the comfort of their own living room. This history-making moment is so exciting it's hard to imagine how anyone could miss it. Here's some who might have:

The civilians caught up in the current Israel-Palestine conflict.

The millions of Iraqis who still have yet to see normalcy come back to their region.

The Afghanis, who are struggling with a country torn apart 8 years ago and until recently no one did anything about it.

The millions of homeless children throughout the world trying to survive.

The thousands of humans trafficked inside and across borders and forced into slavery.

Now is a time to celebrate. Barack Obama's promise of change has inspired many, but are all of us too inspired to do anything to help?

www.USAservice.org