not all those who wander are lost...

Nation, You Make Me Tired

2010-10-07T19:42:00.001-04:00

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I Haven't Been This Angry in a Very Long Time

2010-08-04T12:53:00.001-04:00

Islamic Center to be Built Near Ground Zero.

So?????????

According to CNN people are protesting a new Islamic Center and mosque that is in the works to be built about two blocks away from Ground Zero. There has been a slew of protestors claiming it is inappropriate to put the center in this location.
Are you freaking kidding me?!?

Number one: the horrors that occured on September 11, 2001 had nothing to do with the Islam faith. The misguided attempts by a radical group can never be linked to a religion as a whole -- do people think the actions of the KKK represent all of Christianity???
Number two: shame on CNN for making the story seem like a real debate. The constitution clearly states we are entitled to the freedom of religion. If a group needs a facility to come together and celebrate, why not occupy an adandoned building? I'm willing to bet it will increase property value in the neighborhood and reduce crime because there will be less places to loiter. I wonder why CNN isn't realizing how racisit they are sounding calling the issue a "sensitive subject?" So because an Islamic center is being built in a big city with a large Muslim community we should all riot in the streets. Once more, regardless of the tragedy that took place on that day the rest of the Islamic community should not be held responsible or punished because the attempts of the ignorant few -- does anyone blame every single German for the rise of the Nazi party?

And no one's falling for the opposing side's argument that the adandoned building should be registered as a historic monument. Hell, that's the most logical argument they have and even CNN didn't play it up. It's a very thin mask to hide the racism underneath that everyone can see through.

(CNN) – A New York City preservation commission has cleared the way for an Islamic center and mosque to be built just blocks from Ground Zero. That's after the panel voted against protecting an abandoned building that's standing in the way of the project.

The commissioners voted unanimously against landmark status for 45-47 Park Place. It and an adjoining building already connected on the inside, 49-51 Park Place, are owned by real estate developer Soho Properties, which intends to build the Islamic center two blocks north of the former site of the World Trade Center.

Backers of the center say they plan to use it to promote interfaith understanding, but critics don't buy it and have vowed to sue the city.

Way to make America seem like a bunch of ignorant hicks. "Oh scarey unknown religion. They cannot be here! They will kill us! Brown people are bad!" I am sincerely considering never watching CNN again for this racist bullshit they are trying to pull.

Way to prove Family Guy right...

Pop-Tarts to Open First Ever Shop and Cafe in Times Sqaure

2010-08-03T12:12:00.003-04:00

I have mixed emotions.

On the one hand, as I have always said, if I could live off pop-tarts I would so offering me a cafe where I can eat to my heart's content sounds awesome.

On the other hand, if you're gonna charge me $5 for a pastry goodness that costs be a fraction of that at home (and tastes EXACTLY the same), then forget it.

I will have to follow this. If they come up with new recipes or offer different flavors then it may be worth the pilgrimage. But with big real estate comes big prices and I will never condone spending double digits on a pop-tart. That's just sacrilegious.

Pop-Tarts to Open First Ever Shop and Cafe in Times Sq.

One the one hand: who cares what gimmicky corporate restaurant/"experience" is opening in Times Square? On the other: check out what just hit the Eater inbox:

Please join us at this exclusive “behind-the-foil” opportunity the evening before doors open to the public. Help us celebrate the opening of Pop-Tarts’ first-ever retail store and experience its one-of-a-kind interactive elements, including:
- samplings from the Pop-Tarts World Café;
-the Varietizer, which creates customized boxes of Pop-Tarts that feature your favorite flavors
-the Customization Station, which helps you design your very own Pop-Tarts T-shirt.

If there's one thing that could make Pop-Tarts better, it's having them served to you in a restaurant? Maybe there will be toasters within the tables, shabu-shabu style.

It opens to the public on August 10.

2010-07-31T22:44:00.002-04:00

I'm still trying to decide if this growing up is all it's cracked up to be...

Obama Has the One Ring?

2010-06-16T19:19:00.000-04:00

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart

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Dear President Obama,
I have been your biggest supporter. I campaigned for you, I voted for you, I stuck with you. But I'm starting to see some similarities in your presidency and some predecessors that really begins to make me question you.
But I am willing to give you the benefit of the doubt. If Jon Stewart is correct, you have just been seduced by the power of the One Ring.
So come on Mr. Obama, be Frodo. At the end have the power to let the ring go into Mount Doom. Destroy it once and for all so you can become a leader worth remembering.
Maybe that's what Joe Bidden's role is in all of this. He has to be the Gollum to chew off Frodo's finger to make sure the Ring goes into the fire?

Marrying Edward Cullen: A How-To For the Mega-Obsessed

2010-04-27T16:50:00.002-04:00

I found this site while exploring my frequent blog reads. Now, I will admit I have read the Twilight series. And I will admit I use to LOVE it... at first. Then the series progressed and the horror that is Breaking Dawn hit bookshelves. And I was over it.

I am one of the few to feel this way, however. And Stephanie Meyer is making the big bucks marketing the crap out of her creation. So I guess it only makes sense that she would create, and then replicate and sell the engagement ring Edward gives Bella in Eclipse. (More ahead...)

So there you go, you can now wear Bella's engagement ring and pretend Edward proposed to YOU.

In the Eclipse book from the Twilight series, Bella gets engaged to Edward (so I'm told, I've never cracked open a tome!), and in the trailer for the movie, we get a glimpse of the vampire bling.

Of course, someone smelled potential to suck the money out of teen girls' wallets, and now Stephanie Meyer and Infinite Jewelers have designed a replica of the ring that you can soon purchase.

The design is based on a passage from the book: "The face was a long oval, set with slanting rows of glittering round stones. The band was gold — delicate and narrow. The gold made a fragile web around the diamonds.”

You can buy the diamond ring on Infinite's website for $1,979, or, you can buy the CZ version for $35.

Would you buy this ring? Do you like the style? Will the Twilight merch juggernaut ever stop??

My Summer Projects!

2010-04-26T19:52:00.000-04:00

This summer I'll be super busy. Between working, my internship, and preparing for my Master's program and thesis I have a lot on my plate. However, summer is the season for projects. Therefore there are three things I want to complete by the end of the summer:

Painting My Kitchen

I only moved into this apartment a few months ago. My landlord was nice enough to put in new carpets, add a fresh coat of paint, and redo the kitchen's cabinets. The place looks great. However, there is some unattractive wallpaper hanging in my kitchen. I would love to take it down, and repaint the entire room. I've been browsing the Sherwin-Williams website and I like the color on these walls the best. It's called Knockout Orange. The bottom half of my kitchen is an off-white wood paneling so I think the bright orange will really pop. I think that'll be a nice weekend project sometime when I can recruit the boy and get some work done!

Growing an Herb Garden

Like I said, I live in an apartment and don't have a garden. However, I would love to grow a small pot of herbs to use in cooking and just to smell nice. Something like the picture wouldn't be too hard to maintain. I'm still in the researching phase of this little project but I feel like it wouldn't be too hard and ultimately would be quite rewarding. Of course, there are those wonderful As Seen On TV marvels that claim to grow an herb garden in a tiny little micro-greenhouse. ALL FOR ONLY $19.99! Not sure the success of those but since I'm interested in the basic basil, parsley, oregano, and rosemary it may be a worthwhile investment.

Learn to Drive Stick

Someday I would LOVE to own this car. The new Camaros are just too sexy to resist. Granted this does have much to do with god-awful Transformers movie (the second one, the first wasn't too bad) but I'm willing to forgive Michael Bay when that car looks like that! Anyways, if I'm going to drive a car like I'm going to do it right. And knowing how to drive stick is a big part of that. Now don't get me wrong, I'm actually a good driver. But I've never learned stick. Sad, but true. So, my final summer project will be to have my boyfriend teach me to drive stick. Luckily, since his car is stick I have a perfect opportunity to learn. I've been promising myself I'd learn for years and this is finally the time!

Are there any summer projects you've established for yourself? What are they?

A Little Chivalry Never Killed Anyone...

2010-04-02T11:18:00.000-04:00

I found this post on one of the blogs I read. I have mixed emotions. On the one hand I believe it's important to teach respect, especially in high school where now a days teachers are afraid to even give a student detention because they may be sued. On the other hand the over-the-top enforcement of these rules implies that, women deserve special (aka inferior) treatment. That was the implication when these types of rules first were implemented. I'm not sure. I feel a basic repertoire of respect to all would be more appropriate than "men! don't step on women's toes... they may cry!"

A high school Latin teacher in Arizona has created mandatory chivalry rules for his students in order to force the male students to behave like "gentlemen" with the young women.

Here's the rulebook:

• Boys would hold doors for girls.

• They would ask girls if they would like to be seated, and offer to take their backpacks before they sit down.

• Boys would stand if a girl leaves the room.

• They would allow girls to be served first if food is in the classroom.

• And, girls always had the right of refusal.

Why did he do it? As the teacher, Cord Ivanyi, told ABC News: "This year after watching a mass of boys literally push through a line of girls who were waiting to get food for a class party, I was bothered by the lack of respect either sex seemed to have for the other. The next day, I sat down with them at the beginning of the class and asked them if they considered what decency was."

Some might say Ivanyi's forced chivalry is sexist, because instead of encouraging good manners for all, he's teaching the young men that women deserve special treatment because of their special (inferior?) status. But others would say that there's nothing bad about teaching men to be courteous and respectful and that chivalry is just an expression of good manners.

Is it bad to FORCE men to be chivalrous?

Kick Ass Article of the Week

2010-02-28T17:28:00.001-05:00

Parma High School Teens Make a Request for Real Sexual Education

By Connie Schultz
February 24, 2010, 6:00AM
On Monday night, two teenagers stood before Parma's school board and essentially pleaded that the grown-ups in charge change how sex education is taught in their district.
Their courage was a timely reminder that we ignore our children at their peril.
The first student to speak in the room of 150 or so in attendance was 17-year-old Daniel Sparks.
Teenage boys don't come any cleaner-cut or more poised than Daniel. In a strong, steady voice, the junior at Parma Senior High School attacked the district's abstinence-only-until-marriage sex education program, taught by Operation Keepsake.
The program sounds like a military exercise, but it sends kids virtually unarmed into a sexually complex and potentially dangerous world.
This, Daniel told the school board, is poor public health.
"Operation Keepsake has made me question education as a whole, for while they scared us into understanding what could go wrong, they afforded us no information on how things could go right," he said. "On how to protect ourselves, on the effectiveness of contraception, and empowering us with knowledge to make the right decisions before making the wrong ones."
Daniel told the board that, for 19 months, he has been unable to meet or even speak with those responsible for making decisions about how he and his classmates learn about sex, despite his dozens of letters, phone calls and e-mails.
"As a gay student," he asked, "how can I be expected to uphold a standard of abstinence until marriage when I live in a state where I cannot marry?"
Daniel's classmate, 16-year-old Jelena Loncar, borrowed from Operation Keepsake's own language to blast the curriculum for promoting gender stereotypes.
"I personally don't view men as predators or protectors," she said. "And I certainly don't view myself as a treasure or a target. I found it insulting and undermining that Operation Keepsake reduced me to a social stereotype."
Daniel and Jelena added that they were abstinent, but only because access to comprehensive sex education elsewhere helped them make informed and confident choices for their young lives.
The audience was respectful during the students' speeches. There were audible gasps only after Jelena pointed out that, in her high school's sophomore class alone, eight girls were pregnant.
Several parents came up afterward to congratulate the teenagers for their courage and to voice support. Superintendent Sarah Zatik, who earlier in the meeting announced that she was resigning in July, assured Daniel that she would meet with him. She told me later she favored comprehensive sex education, and would form a committee to "start the conversation."
Most parents -- liberal, conservative and somewhere in between -- want their children to abstain from sex, but they also want them to be safe if they choose otherwise. The overwhelming majority of studies have shown, time and again, that abstinence-plus education is more effective than programs like Operation Keepsake.
Abstinence-only proponents are heralding a small study published this month in the Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine that showed, for the first time, that their brand of sex education reduced sexual activity by nearly a third in 12- and 13-year-olds. The study involved 662 African-American middle-school students in four low-income schools in the northeastern United States.
An editorial accompanying the report cautioned against reading too much into this, and the study's lead author, psychologist John B. Jemmott III, agreed.
"Policy should not be based on just one study, but an accumulation of empirical findings from several well-designed, well-executed studies," Jemmott wrote.
Meanwhile, let's keep this in mind: The Centers for Disease Control reported only three months ago that chlamydia, gonorrhea and syphilis continue to spread in the United States, and that almost half of the 19 million new sexually transmitted infections each year affect 15- to 24-year-olds.
"We have among the highest rates of STDs of any developed country in the world," John Douglas, director of the division of sexually transmitted diseases at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, told Reuters.
"We haven't been promoting the full battery of messages," Douglas said. "We have been sending people out with one seatbelt in the whole car."
When it comes to protecting our kids, perhaps we need more teenagers like Daniel Sparks and Jelena Loncar in the driver's seat.

This is Truly a Tragedy But...

2009-11-06T18:06:00.001-05:00

~~~~ Tired

I'm tired of hearing that the shooter was Muslim. That has nothing to do with anything. The gunman in Orlando was not Muslim... is his crime any less horrible?

Washington (CNN) -- Ibrahim Hooper knows the drill.
When news first broke Thursday that a shooting at Fort Hood, Texas, killed and injured U.S. soldiers, the national communications director for the Council on American-Islamic Relations wrote a statement of condemnation.
He only sent it out later, when reports emerged that the alleged shooter's name was Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan.
"As soon as we saw what appeared to be a Muslim name, we issued our statement," Hooper said. "Until that time, we were praying that no Muslim would be involved."
That's the reality of crisis management for the Muslim-American community, said Hooper, who handles communications for the nation's largest Muslim civil rights and advocacy group.
Even without confirmation that the alleged gunman was Muslim -- there was no immediate determination of any religious affiliation for Hasan -- the mere reporting of a possible Muslim name required an immediate comment, he said.
"That's unfortunately the world we live in nowadays," Hooper said. "So often, Muslims are accused of not condemning these kind of acts."
The CAIR statement said: "No political or religious ideology could ever justify or excuse such wanton and indiscriminate violence. The attack was particularly heinous in that it targeted the all-volunteer Army that protects our nation. American Muslims stand with our fellow citizens in offering both prayers for the victims and sincere condolences to the families of those killed or injured."
In a separate statement, the Muslim Public Affairs Council, based in Los Angeles, California, condemned what it called the "heinous incident."
"We are in contact with law enforcement and U.S. federal government officials to gain more facts from this tragic incident and work together in dealing with its aftermath," the group said.
Its statement called on "all members of American Muslim communities to be in contact with local law enforcement for the safety and security of their communities and their institutions."
The Islamic Information Center also issued a statement "in conjunction with all the major Muslim organizations nationwide" that condemned the attack.
"While several news reports have cited one of the gunmen to be Army Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, IIC strongly emphasizes that this attack and its perpetrator are in no way representative of the Muslim people or the peace-loving religion of Islam," the statement said.
"The individuals who perpetrated this attack blatantly acted against the teachings of Islam and humanity," it added.
After the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the United States, Muslim-Americans reported increased attacks and threats by revenge-minded non-Muslims.
"We've seen this before," Hooper said of a possible backlash. "Whenever there's an incident of this type, there's always the possibility this will happen."
Even non-Muslims could be targeted, he said, noting that Sikhs who wear turbans or Hispanic-Americans can be mistaken as being of Middle Eastern descent.
On Thursday night, CAIR Executive Director Nihad Awad told a news conference the alleged Fort Hood attacker's motive remained unknown.
"We urge all Americans to remain calm in reaction to this tragic event and to demonstrate once again what is best about America -- our nation's ability to remain unified even in times of crisis," Awad said. "We urge national political and religious leaders and media professionals to set a tone of calm and unity.
"Unfortunately, based on past experience, we also urge American Muslims, and those who may be perceived to be Muslim, to take appropriate precautions to protect themselves, their families and their religious institutions from possible backlash."

Come on CNN let it go.

Yaaay for steps in the right direction!

2009-10-28T20:58:00.000-04:00

~~~~ Tired

President Obama Signs Inclusive Hate Crimes Legislation

By Cloe Axelson - Oct 28th, 2009 at 3:45 pm EDT

Comments | Mail to a Friend | Report Objectionable Content

Today President Obama signed into law the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act, legislation that will extend new federal protections to people who are victims of violent crime because of their sex or sexual orientation. It is an update to the federal hate crimes statute that Congress first passed in 1968. For the first time, the law that previously protected people from attacks motivated by race, religion or ethnicity will also protect gay, lesbian, transgender and disabled people.

The President will host a reception commemorating the enactment of the Hate Crimes Prevention Act in the East Room of the White House this evening. This afternoon, before signing the bill, he said:

"...After more than a decade of opposition and delay, we've passed inclusive hate crimes legislation to help protect our citizens from violence based on what they look like, who they love, how they pray, or who they are.
"I promised Judy Shepard, when she saw me in the Oval Office, that this day would come, and I'm glad that she and her husband Dennis could join us for this event. I'm also honored to have the family of the late Senator Ted Kennedy, who fought so hard for this legislation. And Vicki and Patrick, Kara, everybody who's here, I just want you all to know how proud we are of the work that Ted did to help this day -- make this day possible..."

Here’s an excerpt from an editorial in the Washington Post this morning:

PRESIDENT OBAMA is scheduled to sign Wednesday what is being described as the nation's first significant pro-gay rights legislation. Attached to the defense authorization act, the measure would add sexual orientation, gender, gender identity and disability to the list of protected classes under the 1969 federal hate-crimes law…
The law doesn't outlaw bigotry or "thought crimes." It applies only to "violent acts motivated by" the characteristics of the victim -- acts, not thoughts or speech. But crimes that target someone because of race or sexual orientation are more than offenses against that individual. They can terrorize whole communities.

Barack Obama Tries Be A Role Model and People Complain?

2009-09-08T20:03:00.003-04:00

~~~~ Weird

Barack Obama via Twitter: It should never be controversial to ask our students to stay in school. Watch today's speech.

I'm sadly amused by the entire controversy that is Obama's address to students. Amused because, well, the president isn't allowed to address his constituents... even if they are of the future? Sad because of quotes like this: "Thinking about my kids in school having to listen to

that just really upsets me." Why is this sad? Because this Colorado suburban mother commented on Obama's speech last week, well before the text of the speech had been released. All that was known was Obama wanted to address the school children directly on what they could do to help ensure the future of this country. And she was upset? Ummm.... And it's not like this move is unprecedented. Reagan, Bush Sr. and Bush Jr. have all addressed students regarding their own educations. They just didn't experience the media scrutiny for some reason. A Teacher from Baltimore commented that it's terrible that our country has: "become so polarized that we believe that our president is an enemy and not our leader."

Now I've read the Full Speech and found nothing wrong with what he had to say. Yes, I'm liberal. Yes, I'm a democrat. So everything he had to say I pretty much agreed with. But the only thing I could find throughout the entire speech that might disturb right-wing conservatives is a few mentions of curing AIDS, fighting poverty, and all his examples of hard-working students are minorities. *Gasp* Oh, and he uses J.K. Rowling as an example of someone who wouldn't give up even after the first Harry Potter was rejected 12 times. Harry Potter! Witches! Satan! THE BRITISH!!!

I just don't get it. What's the big deal?

Obama urges students to work hard, stay in school.

I Thought This Day Would Never Come!

2009-09-02T16:53:00.000-04:00

~~~~ Excited

Boondock Saints II: All Saints Day at IGN.com

Currently Listening To: The Blood of Cu Chulainn - The Boondock Saints

One Word. Pig.

2009-09-02T16:15:00.001-04:00

~~~~ Accomplished

I have one word for you. Pig.

Chris Brown's CNN Interview

Pop star Chris Brown has admitted guilt and apologized for assaulting his then-girlfriend Rihanna in February, but he does not remember hitting the singer, he told CNN's Larry King. Looking at police reports about the incident makes him feel like he's reading about a stranger, Brown said in his first television interview since the arrest. "I'm in shock, because, first of all, that's not who I am as a person, and that's not who I promise I want to be," he said in an exclusive interview that airs Wednesday night. "I just don't know what to think. I'm just like, wow," Brown said. "It's crazy to me." Brown, 20, said he still loves singer Rihanna, whose full name is Robyn Rihanna Fenty. But, he added, it is tough for him to look at the photo showing Rihanna's battered face, the one image that might haunt and define him forever. "When I look at it now, it's just like, wow, like, I can't believe that that actually happened,"
He now has to keep his distance from Rihanna, because of a judge's restraining order.
"We have to be like 10 yards away from each other," Brown said.
The February argument began over an incident at a Beverly Hills party, according to Brown's probation report.
An earlier, sworn statement by Los Angeles Police detective DeShon Andrews said the incident began when Rihanna found a text message on Brown's cell phone from "a woman who Brown had a previous sexual relationship with."
The pair argued while in a sports car driven by Brown, the police statement said.
It went on to describe the assault in great detail, saying Brown punched Rihanna -- identified in the statement as Robyn F. -- numerous times and put her in a head lock, restricting her breathing and causing her to start to lose consciousness. Brown sentenced for assault; other incidents surface. He threatened to beat her and kill her, according to the statement, and he bit her ear and her fingers.
Rihanna's injuries included cuts and bruises inflicted by a large ring on Brown's right hand, which he used to punch her, the probation report said.
Brown pleaded guilty to felony assault on June 22. A plea deal kept him out of jail. A second felony charge, making criminal threats, was dropped. He was sentenced to five years probation and six months of community labor.
"It means he walks the straight and narrow for five years," said Mark Geragos, Brown's attorney.
"I've grown to love this kid like a son or a nephew. I have a high degree of confidence -- I'll say it now so that you can play it back if he ever does anything -- but a high degree of confidence that he's not going to do anything like this in the future."
Brown called the sentence fair and agreed that everything comes with consequences.
"They want me to pick up trash, remove graffiti," he said. "I'm a hard worker, it's something I'm willing to do."
Why did it happen? How did it happen?
Those are questions Brown and his mother, Joyce Hawkins, have been asking.
"Chris has never, ever been a violent person, ever," Hawkins said.
However, CNN obtained a probation report for Brown last week that said he and Rihanna were involved in at least two other domestic violence incidents before the February attack for which Brown was sentenced.
"The first incident occurred in Europe about three months before the present offense," the report said.
"The victim [Rihanna] and the defendant [Brown] were involved in a verbal dispute and the victim [Rihanna] slapped the defendant [Brown]. He responded by shoving her into a wall."
Another incident happened in January, three weeks before the Hollywood incident, when Brown and Rihanna were visiting her home country of Barbados, the report said.
"The defendant [Brown] and the victim [Rihanna] were visiting Barbados and were driving a Range Rover loaned to them by a local dealership," the investigator wrote. "They had an argument inside the car. The defendant [Brown] exited and broke the front driver and passenger side windows of the car."
Brown's mother remembers being shocked and upset when he came to her after the attack in February and told her about it.
She said her husband was abusive -- and Brown knew it. "I used to be scared to go to bed," the pop star said.
Brown said he is not blaming that history for the attack on Rihanna. But, he added, nobody taught him how to control his emotions and anger.
Rihanna calls Brown's mother "Mom." The two have spoken and seen each other periodically since the incident. The court order that prevents her son from seeing Rihanna does not extend to Hawkins.
"I let her know that I was very, very baffled, what had happened and apologized for my son, along with I'm so sorry what happened to you," Hawkins said.
"And I didn't know what -- I didn't know what else to say, and I gave her a hug and she hugged me as well." Hawkins started sobbing at this point in the interview.
The singer has not seen Rihanna for a couple of months, and said the separation has been difficult, especially when it comes to her dating others. But they will always be friends, Brown said.

You don't remember it? Bullshit. You're just sorry you're in a career where everyone notices when you get caught. There's no defense for this. No excuses. Chris Brown is a pig. He'll always be a pig. This is disgusting.

Currently Listening To: Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds - The Beatles

Relax

2009-08-21T17:44:00.002-04:00

~~~~ Good

Today's been a good day. And that's saying a lot considering the stress of a life I've been having lately. I took a second job at PNC Bank as a teller.

It's a good job. It's an even better second job because it's minimum hours for maximum moo-la. But anywhoo.... We'll see how long the Panera thing lasts. It all depends on if PNC's too good to be true. If I can keep up with two classes and two jobs more power to me. But right now, I'm not sure if that's even humanly conceivable. Since Wednesday I've been working... not saying much at the moment but when do I forsee a day in the future when I will not be working? Ummm... never? I work all next week at the downtown office of PNC. I work this weekend at Panera. I imagine I'll be working next weekend at Panera as well. And then I'll be working at the branch at PNC and Panera... I'm beginning to think between Panera and PNC I'll never be scheduled for a day off. Which means I'll be kissing Panera good-bye. Because I cannot not have at least one day off for school work. And let's face it. No matter how happy I was to have that job when I was in serious financial destitute. I hate it. And I can make just as much money at Panera with considerably less hours. Score! But here I am. At the crossroads of my life just trying to figure it all out. I want to be able to start paying off school. I need to buy textbooks. A parking pass. A new printer. Al expenses that are not budgeted for in my average month. Here we go... But I'm happy. This is all working out as well as it could and at least I'm staying too busy to feel lonely... or any other real emotions except for exhaustion for that matter. But it's good. And I see Matt a lot more than I could have ever dreamed for so that's doubly good. I'm sure I'll be singing a different tune after my 9 and a half hour shift tomorrow and my 13 hour 15 minute shift Sunday but for now I feel like I can do it... until I have to go back to school!

And I've started reading again. I don't know why... maybe it's because of my serious financial issues but I've become very drawn to stories of the elite. I found Anna Godbersen's series entitled The Luxe. I'm about 3/4 of the way through the first book and I'm totally engaged. The characters are dynamic, the setting, nineteenth century Manhattan, makes it just relatable enough but still give it a slight fantastical edge, and I'm not entirely sure how the book, or the series will end for that matter. In this age of Gossip Girl and NYC Prep I feel like the Luxe is a story following the trend but with a refreshing twist. I'd totally recommend it for anyone interested in the genre!

Wow...

2009-08-06T23:12:00.002-04:00

~~~~ Contemplative

I was on the phone with Matt today and we were just kinda talking about life in general and I mentioned I don't leave the house when I'm not working because a.) with the exception of Laura I have no friends to visit down here and b.) I have no money to spend to go anywhere. And it hit me. This is the roughest time in my life. Not only financially speaking with the economy, a low-paying job, and every mounting bills now that I am out of undergrad. But socially. I have no friends here. It's nice to live with Christina and Natalia but we aren't close. It's not like living in the apartment at school. Or being able to call Brian, or Stephanie, or Laura whenever I want. There's really no one here. I've never felt so lonely so often as I have lately. The only shining moments I have are when Matt visits at most once a week for a few hours... and if I'm super lucky over night. It's weird. I'm not necessarily unhappy. I do have the feeling however that if Matt wasn't in my life right now I'd be down-right miserable. But it's rough. Really, really rough.

Comfortable

2009-07-22T18:21:00.002-04:00

~~~~ Content

I've moved. I know live in a lovely three bedroom house with two fantastic girls. I have my own room, direct tv, and super secret parking spot in the back. I love the house, the location, and the privacy and comfort. I bought a new dresser from Ikea that, without Matt, would still be sitting in pieces on the floor, a new nightstand, a new lamp, and a new bed. And p.s. I love my bed! It's all come together quite nicely and I feel like I finally have a home.

I've registered. I finally took the initiative and called UC, got my username set up, registered for my classes, and became an official UC student. I'm all good to go. I went ahead and took UC's health insurance plan so I have that. I'm still struggling a little with the whole FAFSA aide junk since, well, I was spoiled as an undergraduate and never had to deal with that but I think in a week I should have it all figured out and hopefully have most of my bills paid.

I've settled. Work's going fine now. I haven't made close out-of-work friends but there are people I can be happily social with. However, I no longer feel like I need a network here. I'm not connected. I don't think I'll ever get "homey" in Cincy. That's fine. I'm only doing this for a year. Then I'm moving on to bigger and better things... I have Matt. I have Laura. I have Michele and Brian not too far away in Oxford. That's all I really need. I'm happy. Surprisingly happy considering the way I felt a few short weeks ago.

Money's still tight. I really wouldn't expect it to be any other way at the moment though. I did splurge on a haircut. When I say splurge, I mean chop off a foot of hair to have donated to Locks of Love. Which I guess isn't really splurging anyway because they give you a discount at the salon when you donate your hair. But I did drive back to Oxford to have it done. I'm happy with the outcome. It's a little shorter than I wanted but it's manageable and drives so very quickly :)

Next week is Alex's wedding. I'm actually looking forward to going back home with Matt. He'll be a wonderful anchor in the crazy world that is my family. And he should be here tomorrow... provided his flu doesn't come back! Boo for getting sick in July!

All-in-all I'm happier than I expected to be at this point in my life. I still have this anxiety of the unknown future I may or may not hold. I really really want to achieve all my dreams and ambitions but I'm a little worried that the world we're heading to will prevent me from doing so. But I'm staying open minded and hoping beyond all hope that this may all work out and that I truly do have a chance at happiness.

Settling In

2009-07-03T11:52:00.002-04:00

~~~~ Anxious

Things are sorta beginning to calm down. I've been at Panera for over two weeks and while I still have no idea how I'll ever remember everything that needs to be known for that job I feel a sense of routine settling in. I've gotten my first paycheck but I am still sincerely strapped for cash. Pizza rolls are only $1 a box at Biggs and that is essentially what I've been living off of. I may have to switch to something even less appealing like ramen or pb&j (which believe it or not i hate with a firey passion) but hard times man... hard times. I guess that's one of the things I should appreciate about my job... and take full advantage of... free food on days that I work. I'll need to milk that for all it's worth until I reach a level of financial stability. I know I'll hit my 20 hour mark this week so that's encouraging. 20 hours a week is the minimum I need to work to be able to pay the bills. I won't have much leftover from that but it's something.

I have all my furniture now. My night stand's in my trunk. My dresser's sitting in Matt's garage and I'm picking my bed up on Tuesday. Tuesday. Moving day. When I get my own space and a renewed sense of normalcy in my life. I can't wait. As long as I can really pay the bills like I think I can... even if it is paycheck to paycheck I hope to feel empowered. I hope to feel independent. I hope to feel like I have a life.

I Know I'm Probably Way Behind...

2009-06-20T19:36:00.002-04:00

~~~~ Full

But seeing this gives me hope for humanity. Hilarious!

A Collective Sigh of Relief

2009-06-16T18:55:00.002-04:00

~~~~ Happy

I have a job. That's right you're looking at a happy, employee of Panera Bread... complete with cheesy pastel polo and apron. I couldn't be more relieved. This is a job. This is money. This is something to do and occupy my time until September. I don't know yet if it's enough to get an apartment on my own but if it is. I'm self-sufficient... sorta. I'm doing it on my own. It's an amazing feeling. Just having the support network as... well... support and not a lifeline. I can do this. I know now I can. Fuck you economy. I'll show you what I can do. I can be a fucking independent woman and be good at it too... all because I'm selling coffee and baked goods... hmm. It's the little things in my life, isn't it?

That being said my first day of WORK is Thursday. So I came home for what may be the last time in a while. That's just fine. Wooster's gained back it's quaint nostalgia for me instead of the fear of doomed failure and permanence it once held. It's nice to be back for a few days. I enjoy that. Relaxing... quiet... CLEAN. But I'll head back to Cincy Thursday. With a brand-spanking new perspective. Tomorrow's agenda includes and oil change, laundry, and garage sale shopping... I know stand back from my wild Wednesday. Then I'll be leaving here Thursday morning to be back in time for WORK and then I WORK again Saturday. I'm so happy. I'm doing something. Next up on my major goals for my life... bugging UC until I get some info on GRAD SCHOOL. Man. I am so ready to grow up. This is actually exciting!

Detroit Muslim Examiner: A Palestinian's joke on Israeli soldiers

2009-05-31T14:14:00.002-04:00

~~~~ Aggravated

An old Palestinian man lived alone in Palestine. He wanted to dig his potato garden, but it was very hard work for him. His only son, who would have helped him, was in an Israeli prison. The old man wrote a letter to his son and mentioned his predicament.
Shortly, he received a letter from his son: "For God's SAKE, Dad, don't dig up that garden, that's where I buried the GUNS!"
At 4 A.M. the next morning, a dozen Israeli soldiers showed up and dug up the entire garden, without finding any guns.
Confused, the old man wrote another note to his son telling him what happened, and asking him what to do next.
His son's reply was: "Now plant your potatoes, Dad! This is the best I can do for you at this time!"
This story doesn't have a moral. It is just funny
Detroit Muslim Examiner: A Palestinian's joke on Israeli soldiers

Posted using ShareThis

Currently Listening To: What I've Done - Linkin Park

I. Am. A. Fan.

2009-05-30T20:38:00.003-04:00

~~~~ Gloomy

Still No Job

2009-05-28T21:10:00.002-04:00

~~~~ Drained

"I think it's a question which particularly arises over women writers: whether it's better to have a happy life or a good supply of tragic plots" - Wendy Cope.

Currently Listening To: Before the Lobotomy - Green Day

I Need a Job

2009-05-23T14:49:00.003-04:00

~~~~ Anxious

Yep. Basically that's about it. I really really really need a job. Cincinnati's great. I could easily make this my home and living with Sue and Laura is more than I could ask for. But I really really really need a job. Fuck you economy. There are so many postings online. I can't believe I've applied for over 15 jobs and have only heard back from one. Granted, most of those have been in the past few days and I completely forgot this was a long weekend. But still. SOMEONE CALL ME BACK!!! The Museum Center's still an option apparently. I need to call them Tuesday. I still have hope but this transitional period sucks and I just want some action. My funds are not hurting yet but if it time and they will.

We went to look at the house today. It was perfect. I would love to live there, even if it was temporary. The basement is totally livable if I stay away from the door and invest in a space heater... which I could possibly steal from my parents. It would be nice to have my own space, especially for Matt, and the area is just so... homey. I hope she gets it.

After a little miscommunication we are definitely going to the Indians game tomorrow and then up to Dayton that night. It'll be nice to get away for a little bit and I love spending time with Matt's family and love love love spending time with Matt (of course). I know I probably shouldn't spend the money but we'll be stingy and I need the relaxation. I know everything will work out for the best but I hate this inbetween time when I have no idea what's going on. Answers are my friend.

A New Chapter

2009-05-14T21:25:00.003-04:00

~~~~ Hopeful

I can't believe school is over. I will never be an undergraduate at Miami again. My grades even came in so now I KNOW it's over. I passed. My diploma's in the mail. I don't know how to process this. Four years ago I thought this day would never come. College seemed like a lifetime, not a stepping stone. But it's over. I'm off to Cincinnati for school. I will excel in this program. Hopefully I have a job at the Museum Center. It would be wonderful to work at a place that I a) am passionate about the environment, b) would be good at, and c) would help me further the career of my dreams. This would be it. The brink that starts a whole new life. And on top of that I have a fantastic boyfriend who I love. I thought this feeling would never be mine. I have a home, opportunities, and maybe even a future. Miami was great. The life I lived there I will never forget and has made me the person I am today. But this next chapter may be even greater.

Love and Honor.

Stone For Art's Sake?

2009-04-23T22:16:00.002-04:00

~~~~ Restless

For my Anthropology of Religion class I'm writing a paper on the "religion" of early Homo populations. Mostly I'm looking at Neanderthal and early Homo sapiens because they are the only two species to have more extensive archaeological evidence for cognitive understanding of symbolism and a recognition of life and death. Neanderthals were the first hominids to bury their dead, for example. When doing my research I found this article on the BBC. It talks about how the flint knapping is an example of Neanderthal art because it's an artistic representation of a face...

Sorry, I just don't see it. They say the eyes have been carved out and the V is the prominant brow ridge of the Neanderthal arching down into a nose. I mean, maybe... but I kinda feel like there's a bit of a stretch here just so scientists can be like "lookit! Neanderthals had art!" I mean, that's all well and good and in fact in my paper I argue that perhaps the cave paintings found in such places as Lascaoux and Altimera may just be early Homo sapiens being like "I like to paint deer." But still BBC, I think this might be a big stretch...

Currently Listening To: Call Me - Shinedown

If That's How It Has To Be

2009-04-20T21:29:00.002-04:00

~~~~ Distressed

I guess that's how it is. I deserve it. At least it's something. A future. Maybe more. There could be some comfort in this. Maybe it'll get better. Everything happens for a reason. And I have a silver lining. A silver lining that supports me and cares for me and makes me feel like I'm worth something. This could be my future. And it might just be ok.

Of Course

2009-04-13T11:03:00.002-04:00

~~~~ Upset

I keep getting my hopes up... things aren't going my way. Even the little things. I just wanted to see him. Just one night. Now it's been reduced to one meal and even now I'm not really keeping my fingers crossed. He'll have to cancel. It'll never work out. Even if he does come Friday I'll be working and won't be able to see much of him then. He probably won't even be able to come anyways. Things go right just in time to go crashing down down down. I don't have a future. I don't have a present. This is just the icing on the last few weeks of terrible. Nothing seems to be going right lately. I'm tired and upset and just want to cry. I can't catch a break. If karma's a bitch what the hell did I do? I know he doesn't care like I do. I should be caring the way he does. He just seems to be the only one who understands at the moment. And I keep losing it. Wonder what's wrong with me...

Shocked

2009-04-08T12:19:00.003-04:00

~~~~ Aggravated
omg I just articulated and intelligently answered a question in 403. I was fairly certain that could never happen. He even wrote it down in his notebook. I have hope for my IQ!

The Week of March 30

2009-04-03T12:43:00.002-04:00

~~~~ Enthralled

What a crazy busy week. I have gotten so much done and hopefully done well. I feel accomplished, productive, and so very happy. Here's to hoping tonight will just be the cherry on top of this week.

Happy Birthday ♥

4 Things

2009-04-01T22:03:00.002-04:00

~~~~Exhausted

Four jobs I have had in my life:
1. PAC Student Manager
2. Paintbrush Production Assembly Line
3. Hostess
4. Student Assistant at Miami University Athletic Ticket Office

Four movies I've watched more than once:
1. Boondock Saints
2. The Lord of the Rings
3. Who Framed Roger Rabit
4. Pirates of the Caribbean

Four places I have lived:
1. Wooster
2. Oxford
3. Cairo
4. Cincinnati

Four places I have been:
1. Italy
2. Jordan
3. Greece
4. Germany

Four Favorite drinks
1. Coffee
2. Pepsi Max
3. Sex on the Beach
4. Pinot Noir

People who email me regularly:
1. Mom
2. Anthro Department
3. MU Democrats
4. Dad

Four of your favorite foods:
1. Koshari
2. Veggie Sushi
3. Ice Cream
4. Chipotle

Four places I would rather be right now:
1. Cairo
2. Disney World
3. Florence
4. NYC

Four things I am looking forward to this year:
1. Graduating
2. Grad School
3. Seeing what lies ahead with Matt and I
4. Disney World?

Four TV shows that I watch:
1. How I Met Your Mother
2. Smallville
3. Dead Like Me
4. MythBusters

للفتيات فقط: إذاعة مصرية عبر الإنترنت

2009-03-23T14:37:00.002-04:00

الغريب~~~~

للفتيات فقط: إذاعة مصرية عبر الإنترنت

خوض مجموعة من الفتيات المصريات تجربة فريدة في العالم العربي بتأسيس إذاعة خاصة بالنساء على شبكة الإنترنت، يقمن
بإدارتها ويناقشن عبرها المشاكل التي تواجهها المرأة.
وقد أطلقت هذه الإذاعة التي تحمل اسم "إذاعة بنات وبس" فتيات من أعمار وشرائح اجتماعية وتخصصات متنوعة.
وتندرج اذاعة "بنات وبس" ضمن قائمة من المحطات التي تبث عبر الإنترنت مثل إذاعة "حريتنا" وإذاعة "تيت".
وتهتم الإذاعة بالمشاكل الاجتماعية كما تعبر عن ذلك أماني التونسي التي جاء تاسيس هذه الإذاعة بمبادرة منها.
وتقول التونسي المتخصصة بعلوم الكومبيوتر، في حديث لـ بي بي سي، إن ما دفعها لتأسيس الإذاعة إحساسها بالظروف الاجتماعية الصعبة التي تعيشها المرأة.
وترى أن النساء لا يعشن حياة طبيعية "وإذا كنت معرضا دائم. فأية حياة تعيشها المرأة إذا كانت معرضة على الدوام للتحرش؟".
تقدم إذاعة بنات وبس مجموعة من البرامج تذاع على مدى ثماني ساعات يوميا، وتناقش خلالها مشاكل الفتيات في الأسرة والمجتمع.
هروبا من الرقابة
وتقول التونسي إن أبرز التحديات التي تواجهها الإذاعة هي الاتهامات بأن مهمتها "مهاجمة الرجال" .
وترى أن "الأمر ليس كذلك. لكن الفتاة التي تطرحها مشكلتها عبر الإذاعة لا بد أن يكون أحد أطراف تلك المشكلة رجل".
وكانت إذاعتا "حريتنا" و"تيت" قد بدأتا البث عام 2007 من قبل مجموعات من الشبان للتعبير عن آرائهم بحرية.
وتشكل تلك الإذاعات بداية جيل جديد من محطات البث عبر الإنترنت لتفادي رقابة السلطات على موادها.

Ooops

2009-03-20T15:40:00.003-04:00

~~~~ Content

I just realized I haven't picked up a book in a couple weeks... I fail. This is something I've never done before. Has senioritis not only sucked up my will for education, it's also now drained my love of reading in general? College has officially begun to scare me.

This Could Be The Start...

2009-03-19T13:12:00.005-04:00

~~~~ Hopeful

16 March 2009. Who would have thought. I've been trying not to get my hopes up, to be too happy too soon, but now this just seems so different. Maybe, just maybe, life's throwing me a bone in the romance department. Maybe I've found someone who cares about me. Maybe I've found someone I could have a deep and meaningful relationship with. Maybe I've found someone I could...

There's still a part of me that expects to have this all come crashing down on me. To have my heart torn out again and stomped on. But that part is getting smaller. I know it may easily not work out. There are a lot of obstacles ahead, and we may not make it through. But right now I know this could be so good. Good in a way I've never experienced before. Maybe I'll be happy. And even if it doesn't work out as I hope this is still something... big. I'm actually excited to see what the new day brings.

You're Gonna Go Far Kid

2009-02-28T16:46:00.002-05:00

~~~~ Confused

Show me how to lie
You're getting better all the time
And turning all against one
is an art thats hard to teach

Another clever word
sets off an unsuspecting herd
And as you step back into line
a mob jumps to their feet

Now dance, fucker, dance
man, he never had a chance
And no one even knew
It was really only you

And now you steal away
Take him out today
nice work you did
You’re gonna go far, kid

With a thousand lies
And a good disguise
Hit em' right between the eyes
Hit em' right between the eyes

when you walk away,
nothing more to say.
see the lightning in your eyes
see em' running for their lives

slowly out of line
and drifting closer in your sights
So play it all, I’m wide awake
It’s a scene about me

There’s something in your way
And now someone is gonna pay
And if you can’t get what you want
Well, it’s all because of me

Now dance, fucker, dance
man he never ever had a chance
And no one even knew
It was really only you

And now you lead the way
show the light of day
nice work you did
You’re gonna go far, kid

Trust deceived!

With a thousand lies
And a good disguise
Hit em' right between the eyes
Hit em' right between the eyes

when you walk away
Nothing more to say
See the lightning in your eyes
See them running for their lives

Now dance, fucker, dance
He never had a chance
And no one even knew
It was really only you

So dance, fucker, dance
I never had a chance
It was really only you

With a thousand lies
And a good disguise
Hit em' right between the eyes
Hit em' right between the eyes

when you walk away
Nothing more to say
See the lightning in your eyes
see them running for their lives

clever alibis
lord of the flies
Hit em' right between the eyes
Hit em' right between the eyes

when you walk away
Nothing more to say
See the lightning in your eyes
See em' running for their lives

-- Offspring

Anthropology Museum

2009-02-23T13:36:00.002-05:00

Name Game

2009-02-23T09:23:00.002-05:00

~~~~ Sleepy

YOUR REAL NAME: Megan Noël Dice
2.WITNESS PROTECTION NAME:(mother and fathers middle names) Kay Scott
3.NASCAR NAME:(first name of your mother's dad, father's dad) Herald Donald
4.STAR WARS NAME:(the first 3 letters of your last name, first 2 letters of your first name) Dicme
5.DETECTIVE NAME:(favorite color, favorite animal) Orange Eagle
6.SOAP OPERA NAME:(middle name, town where you were born) Noël Wooster
7.SUPERHERO NAME: (2nd fav color, fav drink, add "THE" to the beginning) The Green Coffee
8.FLY NAME:(first 2 letters of 1st name, last 2 letters of your last name) Mece
9.STREET NAME:(fav ice cream flavor, fav cookie) Magic Brownie Samoa
10.SKANK NAME: (1st pet's name, street you grew up on) Whiskers Cannon
11.GANGSTA NAME:(first 3 letters of first name plus 'izzle') Megizzle
12.YOUR GOTH NAME:(black, and the name of one of your pets) Black Boo

Happy Birthday Darwin!

2009-02-12T13:27:00.003-05:00

~~~~ Restless

In 200 years I'd like to see your theories look this good!
Happy Birthday Chuck. You were one awesome dude.

This Story Makes Me Smile

2009-02-10T07:38:00.003-05:00

~~~~ Awake

Quiet Revolution on the Playground

By Madeleine Morris
BBC World Service, Jerusalem

Tucked discreetly at the end of a car park, in between a Jewish and an Arab neighbourhood, Jerusalem's Hand in Hand school is effecting a quiet revolution in Arab-Jewish relations.
In Israel, nearly all educational institutions are segregated - Arabs in one school, Jews in another.
But at the Max Rayne Hand in Hand school in Jerusalem, each group makes up exactly half of the student population.
The school has recently grown in size, and now has 460 pupils attending its largest campus in the neighbourhood of Patt in southern Jerusalem. The Jewish and Israeli Arab children study side by side in both Hebrew and Arabic.

The school's philosophy is clearly producing a genuine affection and understanding.
"Kids need to meet the other side more," says Jamie Bregman, a Jewish Israeli who, now aged 15 and in ninth grade, was one of the school's original class intake.
"If you ask a kid from a regular neighbourhood "What's an Arab?", he'd say a worker or a suicide bomber, and that's not right at all. They're like us, they're human beings. They just need to meet each other."
The general election on Tuesday 10 February is clearly weighing on the children's minds.
Jamie's friend, 14-year-old Aboud Ayyad is particularly worried about what the outcome will mean for him and his Arab friends and family.
"The elections won't do a lot for either side," he says.
"If Tzipi [Livni] or Bibi [Binyamin Netanyahu] get in, they'll just do exactly the same and it will be bad for Arabs."
Difficult choices
Aboud predicts that in the next 10 to 15 years many Arabs will leave Israel and the Palestinian territories because it will become harder to move and work, especially in the West Bank and Gaza.

"They'll just go to Canada or America and Israel will become more Jewish," he says.
Avery Burrows, aged 12, is already fed up with politicians.
She says she doesn't talk about politics much with her parents who immigrated to Israel from America.
But as she sits playing with the hair of her Arab friend Areen Nasheef she is adamant about the quality of the country's politicians.
"No-one's really good enough to run this country," she says defiantly.
On the subject of Avigdor Lieberman, the leader of the ultra-nationalist Yisrael Beiteinu party, Jamie, Aboud, Avery and Areen are all agreed.
Avigdor Lieberman's hardline policies on security and the country's Israeli-Arab minority have grown in popularity amid a general swing to the right among an electorate strongly supportive of Israel's recent military operation in Gaza.
His policies include the proposed introduction of a law demanding Israeli-Arabs pledge allegiance to Israel as a Jewish state.
"Avigdor Lieberman shouldn't even be in this country. He's really racist and no-one should vote for him," says Jamie, shaking his head.
Areen is visibly upset by the subject.
"It makes me feel bad, what he says about Arabs. He says we're not connected to Israel, and they want to take us off this land which belonged to us before. So how can they take one of the most important parts of this country and make it into only a Jewish state?"
At the age of 12, Areen is already articulating the frustrations felt by Arab-Israelis, who make up 20% of the population, but are underrepresented in all public spheres, including the Knesset, the country's parliament.
Genuine friendships
"I don't blame my Jewish friends for what happened in 1948, but I do feel that this was mine before," Areen says.
"I was born here and grew up here and I am a citizen. But every time I feel like I'm enjoying the country the other side of me feels as though I shouldn't because they took my grandparents' land and they killed people."
Mustafa Hssean has been in the same class as Jamie for the past nine years and the two clearly share a genuine affection and friendship.

But Mustafa's views on the recent conflict in Gaza are just as clear.
"I think both sides are stupid. Every time Hamas sends rockets to Sderot the Jews hate more Arabs, and every time the Jews bomb Gaza, the Arabs hate more Jews," he says with resignation.
His greatest fear is that in 15 years from now the state will throw him and the rest of the Arab community out of the Israel, declaring that it is not their land.
His smile belies the weight of the words coming from his 14-year-old mouth.
"This is my home. I have to be here. I love this place."

Let's See How Bad It Really Is...

2009-02-08T21:29:00.002-05:00

~~~~ Hopeful

This looked like fun. If you wish to play, copy and paste the list and x what you've seen and keep a running total.

Movies > 83 = No Life

(x) Rocky Horror Picture Show
(x) Grease
(x) Pirates of the Caribbean
(x) Pirates of the Caribbean 2: Dead Man's Chest
(x) Boondock Saints
( ) Fight Club
(x) Starsky and Hutch
( ) Neverending Story
(x) Blazing Saddles
( ) Airplane
Total so far: 7

(x) The Princess Bride
(x) Anchorman
(x) Napoleon Dynamite
(x) Labyrinth
( ) Saw
( ) Saw II
( ) White Noise
( ) White Oleander
( ) Anger Management
( ) 50 First Dates
(x) The Princess Diaries
( ) The Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement
Total so far: 11

(x) Scream
( ) Scream 2
( ) Scream 3
(x) Scary Movie
( ) Scary Movie 2
( ) Scary Movie 3
( ) Scary Movie 4
( ) American Pie
( ) American Pie 2
( ) American Wedding
( ) American Pie Band Camp
Total so far: 13

(x) Harry Potter 1
(x) Harry Potter 2
(x) Harry Potter 3
(x) Harry Potter 4
( ) Resident Evil 1
( ) Resident Evil 2
(x) The Wedding Singer
( ) Little Black Book
( ) The Village
(x) Lilo & Stitch
Total so far: 19

(x) Finding Nemo
(x) Finding Neverland
( ) Signs
(x) The Grinch
( ) Texas Chainsaw Massacre
( ) Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning
(x) White Chicks
( ) Butterfly Effect
(x) 13 Going on 30
( ) I, Robot
(x) Robots
Total so far: 25

( ) Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story
( ) Universal Soldier
( ) Lemony Snicket: A Series Of Unfortunate Events
( ) Along Came Polly
( ) Deep Impact
( ) KingPin
(x) Never Been Kissed
( ) Meet The Parents
( ) Meet the Fockers
( ) Eight Crazy Nights
( ) Joe Dirt
(x) KING KONG
Total so far: 27

( ) A Cinderella Story
( ) The Terminal
( ) The Lizzie McGuire Movie
( ) Passport to Paris
(x) Dumb & Dumber
( ) Dumber & Dumberer
( ) Final Destination
( ) Final Destination 2
( ) Final Destination 3
( ) Halloween
( ) The Ring
( ) The Ring 2
( ) Surviving X-MAS
(x) Flubber
Total so far: 29

(x) Harold & Kumar Go To White Castle
(x) Practical Magic
(x) Chicago
( ) Ghost Ship
( ) From Hell
(x) Hellboy
( ) Secret Window
( ) I Am Sam
( ) The Whole Nine Yards
( ) The Whole Ten Yards
Total so far: 33

(x) The Day After Tomorrow
( ) Child's Play
( ) Seed of Chucky
( ) Bride of Chucky
(x) Ten Things I Hate About You
( ) Just Married
( ) Gothika
( ) Nightmare on Elm Street
( ) Sixteen Candles
(x) Remember the Titans
( ) Coach Carter
( ) The Grudge
( ) The Grudge 2
(x) The Mask
( ) Son Of The Mask
Total so far: 37

( ) Bad Boys
( ) Bad Boys 2
(x) Joy Ride
( ) Lucky Number Slevin
(x) Ocean's Eleven
(x) Ocean's Twelve
( ) Bourne Identity
( ) Bourne Supremecy
( ) Lone Star
(x) Bedazzled
( ) Predator I
( ) Predator II
( ) The Fog
(x) Ice Age
(x) Ice Age 2: The Meltdown
( ) Curious George
Total so far: 43

(x) Independence Day
( ) Cujo
( ) A Bronx Tale
( ) Darkness Falls
( ) Christine
(x) ET
( ) Children of the Corn
( ) My Bosses Daughter
( ) Maid in Manhattan
( ) War of the Worlds
(x) Rush Hour
Total so far: 46

( ) Best Bet
(x) How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days
(x) She's All That
( ) Calendar Girls
( ) Sideways
( ) Mars Attacks
( ) Event Horizon
(x) Ever After
(x) Wizard of Oz
(x) Forrest Gump
( ) Big Trouble in Little China
( ) The Terminator 2
( ) The Terminator 3
Total so far: 51

(x) X-Men
(x) X-2
(x) X-3
(x) Spider-Man
(x) Spider-Man 2
(x) Sky High
( ) Jeepers Creepers
( ) Jeepers Creepers 2
( ) Catch Me If You Can
(x) The Little Mermaid
( ) Freaky Friday
( ) Reign of Fire
(x) The Skulls
(x) Cruel Intentions
( ) Cruel Intentions 2
( ) The Hot Chick
(x) Shrek
(x) Shrek 2
Total so far: 62

( ) Swimfan
( ) Miracle on 34th street
( ) Old School
( ) The Notebook
( ) K-Pax
( ) Krippendorf's Tribe
(x) A Walk to Remember
( ) Ice Castles
( ) Boogeyman
(x) The 40-year-old Virgin
Total so far: 64

(x) Lord of the Rings Fellowship of the Ring
(x) Lord of the Rings The Two Towers
(x) Lord of the Rings Return Of the King
(x) Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark
(x) Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom
(x) Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade
Total so far: 70

( ) Baseketball
( ) Hostel
( ) Waiting for Guffman
( ) House of 1000 Corpses
( ) Devils Rejects
(x) Elf
( ) Highlander
( ) Mothman Prophecies
( ) American History X
( ) Three
Total so Far: 71

( ) The Jacket
( ) Kung Fu Hustle
( ) Shaolin Soccer
( ) Night Watch
(x) Monsters Inc.
(x) Titanic
(x) Monty Python and the Holy Grail
( ) Shaun Of the Dead
( ) Willard
Total so far: 74

( ) High Tension
( ) Club Dread
( ) Hulk
( ) Dawn Of the Dead
(x) Hook
(x) Chronicles Of Narnia: The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe
( ) 28 days later
( ) Orgazmo
( ) Phantasm
( ) Waterworld
Total so far: 76

(x) Kill Bill vol 1
(x) Kill Bill vol 2
( ) Mortal Kombat
( ) Wolf Creek
(x) Kingdom of Heaven
( ) the Hills Have Eyes (the original!)
( ) I Spit on Your Grave aka the Day of the Woman
( ) The Last House on the Left
( ) Re-Animator
( ) Army of Darkness
Total so far: 79

(x) Star Wars Ep. I The Phantom Menace
(x) Star Wars Ep. II Attack of the Clones
(x) Star Wars Ep. III Revenge of the Sith
(x) Star Wars Ep. IV A New Hope
(x) Star Wars Ep. V The Empire Strikes Back
(x) Star Wars Ep. VI Return of the Jedi
(x) Ewoks Caravan Of Courage
(x) Ewoks The Battle For Endor
Total so far: 87

( ) The Matrix
( ) The Matrix Reloaded
( ) The Matrix Revolutions
( ) Animatrix
( ) Evil Dead
( ) Evil Dead 2
(x) Team America: World Police
( ) Red Dragon
( ) Silence of the Lambs
( ) Hannibal
Total: 88

Even I have no life! And I really don't watch that many movies!

Currently Listening To: Real Love - Regina Spektor

Persepolis

2009-02-08T15:16:00.003-05:00

~~~~ Indescribable

"In life you'll meet a lot of jerks. If they hurt you, tell yourself that it's because they're stupid. That will help keep you from reacting to their cruelty. Because there is nothing worse than bitterness and vangeance... always keep your dignity and be true to yourself."

- Marjane Satrapi. Persepolis.

Tag Meme

2009-02-06T13:40:00.004-05:00

~~~~ Thoughtful

The blurb: "How this memetic works is that you leave a comment on this post, and I’ll assign you a letter. Then you write about ten things you love that begin with your assigned letter, and post it at your place. When people comment on your list, you give them a letter, and the chain continues on and on."

I harassed Bebbet and he gave me P! Okay... I think I can do this...

1. Peace
Call me a hippie but this is the most important thing in the world to me. Looking around the world and seeing all the violence, hate, and unrest I wish everyone could just take a step back and see what's going on. Palestine, Tibet, Mexico, Darfur, I don't care where you go there needs to be a way to stop the hate and live in peace. Call it pace, salaam, shalom, whatever. I just want peace.

2. Postsecret
This blog is my newest addiction. I anxiously anticipate Sundays when the new posts will become available. I've always wanted to send in a secret but not one of emo ones that are just depressing to read. I wanna send in one of the funny ones that everyone gets a kick out of.
Here's my favorite from last week:

3. Pirates
Maybe it's just the particular adventures of a certain Captain Jack Sparrow, but pirates are undoubtably sexy. I think I'll probably stick to the romanticized, glamorized hollywood pirates because reading hitorical documents on real pirates leaves out many of the ideals that make pirates so appealing. But when it comes down to the whole pirates vs ninjas debate pirates win. Period.

4. Popcorn
Can you say yummy? Maybe it's just the associations with popcorn that makes it so wonderful... I mean I rarely am known to eat popcorn alone. Eatting popcorn normally means curling up with some friends either watching a movie, playing a game, or just generally hanging out. The first time we ever used JiffyPop (you know, the kind you cook on the stove in the little aluminum bag that puffs out?) was an experience that I will always remember. So blame it on the kerneley, buttery, goodness if you'd like but popcorn will always hold a special place in my heart.

5. PETA
Can't say I agree with everything PETA does... i.e. I believe animal testing is important for such medicines that will make a massive differences for humanity, such as one created to cure or help previously incurable diseases, such as AZT. But the big picture that PETA looks at is in my opinion very important. First of all, I am a vegetarian so PETA's stand that humanity is capable of living full and healthy lives without mass-producing and mass-slaughtering animals is something I hold near and dear to myself. We are running this planet into the ground and considering the land area that it takes to feed one cow could feed 18 vegetarians, I believe this world, especially first world countries who can afford to be a little more shrewd in what they consume, should be more aware about how they use this world and what they do with it.

6. Poetry
This is something I wish I could be better at writing. Poetry can be seen in many different forms. It can be written, sung, spoken, performed, seen, and experienced on so many levels. I love all forms of poetry and while I can't say I have enjoyed every single poem I have every read or heard, I can't say I've loved all forms of language, or writing that I have ever read or heard. Poetry is something that can be straight-forward or complex, beautiful or ugly. I love poetry and I love that it plays such an important role in my life.

7. Procrastination
I use to be so good at not procrastinating. I got things done well before they were due and had everything within my life organized. Then I went to Egypt. After living in a society that upholds the sentiment "I'll think about it tomorrow, god willing" I've found my organizational skills slipping and my procrastination skills being refined. I also blame being a senior. Senioritis is creeping up and I think I can now procrastinate with the best of them!

8. Punk
It's not necessarily the lifestyle I live by but there are aspects of Punk culture that I adore. Such bands as Flogging Molly, Linkin Park, and Evanescence appeal to me to no end. Paint my nails black, let me wear a pair of Chucks, and give me black eyeliner and you'll find me in my element. I think if you stuck me in a room of "pure blooded punks" I'd probably be slightly out of sorts. But the parts of punk culture I've made a part of my life I would be hard pressed to give up... and hey, at least it's not emo!

9. Puppies
Puppies are some of the cutest things ever! I still have yet to make up mind if I'll ever have children, but I will have puppies. Hopefully a West Highland Terrier, or a Huskie, or a Border Terrier. The idea of having a puppy that I can train, and bond with, and grow up with will make me feel like maybe I'm accomplishing something in my life. My first puppy, is still alive but she's getting older. The idea of losing her is heart-breaking but I know that she lived a good life and I played a big part in that. I can't wait to give another puppy the same opportunity.

10. Portman, Natalie
One of the women I would happily go gay for.

Soooo sexy.

All I Want...

2009-02-03T18:14:00.004-05:00

~~~~ Relaxed

All I want is for ONE GUY to prove to me that they're not all the same.

Please?

Currently Watching: Family Guy (and hiding from the snow)

Stolen from Bebbet

2009-02-01T13:24:00.002-05:00

~~~~ Gloomy

001. Real name – Megan Noël Dice
002. Nickname(s) - elentari
003. Status – emotionally unavailable?
004. Zodiac sign – Sagittarius
005. Male or female – female
006. Religion - or lack there of...
007. Elementary – 7 lifetimes ago?
008. Middle School - 5 lifetimes ago?
009. High School – 3 liftimes ago?
010. Hair color – Brown
011. Eye color – blue
012. Loud or Quiet - depends on who i'm with...
013. Sweats or Jeans - Jeans
014. Phone or Camera - phone
015. Health freak - or lack thereof...
016. Favorite Physical Quality – Eyes
017. Do you have a crush on someone? - really don't want to say yes but... yessss
019. Piercing – 5
020. Tattoos - None
021. Water or Fire – excuse me?
022. Love of your life or 4 Billion Dollars - sigh... will this scenerio find said love of my life for me?
023. First fear – ummm...
024. First best friend – Nicole
025. First award – uh....
026. First crush – I got a rose from a boy named tommy in preschool...
027. First pet – a hamster named Whiskers
028. Car trip - We're driving to Florida in a few months?
029. First big birthday – um the first one?
030. Siblings - n.a.
033. Favorite Dessert - ice cream cake.
034. Favorite toy in your house – Barney my macbook
035. Ring? - um finger?
036. Favorite Season - Spring
037. Favorite Flower(s) – Orange Orchids
038. Favorite Spice - Baby?
039. Pancakes or Waffles – Mickey Waffles!
040. Left or Right-handed - Right
041. Virgin? - No... but I'm beginning to think that life route would have been the way to go...
042. How many relationships have you been in? - Fourish?
043. Silver or Gold? - Silver
044. Checkers or Chess? - Checkers
045. Desktop or laptop? - Laptop
046. Ever been Out of the country? - Yes
047. Where? - too many to name
048. Big City or Small town? - Big cities for the most part
049. Favorite Food type - Sushi
050. Favorite Drink – Coffee
051. Dogs or Cats – Dogs
052. I'm about to – sit in bed all day? get some reading done? NOT watch the super bowl?
053. Listening to – Third season of Buffy
054. Plans for today – see those things i'm "about" to do
055. Waiting for - the clean break
056. Your Height - 5'1"
057. Contacts or Glasses - Shades
058. Want kids? - perhaps i'll adopt...
059. Want to get married? - not a necessity but if the right guy asked...
060. Careers in mind – something in a museum
061. Rain or Snow - Snow!
062. Gloves or Mittens - Gloves
063. Favorite Girl's Name – Lessa
064. Favorite Boy's Name – Jude
065. Believe in Magic? - Not for the most part
066. Soda, Pop, or Coke? - Soda
067. Brain or Brawn? - Brain
068. Prefer Lips or eyes – Eyes
069. Great body or great Personality? - Personality
070. Do you want to be Shorter or taller? - i wouldn't mind a touch taller...
071. Do you want to initiate the relationship or him/her? - i've been the initiater for too long... i need a little bit of initiation
072. Romantic or spontaneous - You can't be spontaneously romantic?
073. Nice stomach or nice arms – arms... all the better to hold me with
074. Sensitive or loud – Sensitive
075. Hook-up or relationship – relationship!!!
076. Should you be friends first or date first? - this is a case-by-case situation
077. Troublemaker or hesitant – hesitant
078. Chivalry or not? - Chivalry!!!
079. Favorite Board Game – Monopoly or Disney Scene It
080. Lost glasses/contacts – No
081. Ran away from home – No
082. Held a gun/knife for defense? - No
083. Killed someone? - As of today?
084. Heartbroken – Yes
085. Been arrested – No
086. Done anything illegal - Yes
087. Cried when someone died – yes
088. Cried by yourself – yes
089. Laughed till you cried? - yes
090. Believe in Miracles? – no
091. Believe in Love at first sight? - no
092. Heaven – It'd be nice I guess...
093. Santa Claus - Didn't he die like 400 years ago?
094. Say 'I Love you' on the first date – sorry i'm not Ted...
095. Sex on the first date - it's known to happen
096. Hold hands on the first date – umm... i'm not sure if the church elders would uphold such tomfoolery
097. Is there one person you want to be with right now – Yes
098. Are you seriously happy with where you are in life – ask me in a few months
099. Do you believe in God? - No
100. Is anybody going to take this from you? - probably not

And People Wonder Why I Don't Support Israel...

2009-01-29T11:32:00.002-05:00

~~~~ Distressed

The Grandchildren of Holocaust Survivors from World War II are doing to the Palestinians Exactly what was Done to them by Nazi Germany.

Warning. Some of these images are extrememly graphic and disturbing. They need to be seen. The next time you think that what Israel is doing is right without any thought for those on the other side remember these children and their families. Do they deserve to die?

That's Right Folks! I Voted for Him!

2009-01-25T23:36:00.002-05:00

~~~~ Okay

Obama Acts to Reverse Bush Climate Moves

By Jeff Mason

WASHINGTON, Jan 25 (Reuters) - U.S. President Barack Obama will start reversing former President George W. Bush's climate change policies on Monday by taking steps to allow states to limit greenhouse gas emissions from cars and by ordering 2011 vehicle fuel efficiency standards to be set by March.

An administration official said late on Sunday that Obama, who took office last week, would direct the Environmental Protection Agency to reconsider a request by California to impose its own strict limits on car emissions.

The request was denied under the Bush administration. The official said a final decision by the EPA would likely take several months.

Another official familiar with the policy shift said Obama would instruct the EPA to approve the waiver allowing California to impose the rules.

California last week asked the new administration to reconsider the state's request.

California and other states sued the EPA after Stephen Johnson, the agency's chief under the Bush administration, denied California's request for federal permission to impose new limits on carbon dioxide emissions from cars.

In a letter to Obama, California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger asked the president to "direct the U.S. EPA to act promptly and favorably on California's reconsideration request.

The White House official said Obama would also direct the Department of Transportation to move forward with setting 2011 vehicle fuel efficiency standards by March.

Obama's memorandum would also instruct the agency to reconsider how such standards are set for later years in a separate process.

Obama promised on the campaign trail to take aggressive action to fight global warming and reduce emissions blamed on heating the earth.

Shortly after his victory in the Nov. 4 election Obama reiterated his commitment to bringing the United States firmly back into the fold of nations trying to reach a global agreement to limit emissions once the first phase of the Kyoto Protocol runs out at the end of 2012.

(Additional reporting by JoAnne Allen; Editing by Eric Walsh)

Il Pazzo Mondo

2009-01-24T23:14:00.001-05:00

~~~~ Disappointed

Trovo un po 'buffo. Trovo un po 'triste. I sogni che mi morire sono i migliori che io abbia mai avuto.

2009-01-22T20:52:00.000-05:00

~~~~ Numb

Stop confusing me.

Can We Change the Name?

2009-01-21T07:25:00.002-05:00

~~~~ Tired

World Hails "United States of Obama."

(CNN) -- Newspaper front pages around the world were unanimous Wednesday in celebrating the momentousness of Barack Obama's inauguration as U.S. President.

"Let's rebuild America," said the front page of France's Le Figaro, over a photograph of a smiling Obama swearing the oath of office. "The Promise," said Liberation, hailing the "United States of Obama."
"Remaking America," said the Daily Telegraph in the UK -- a theme carried by many other newspapers worldwide -- while the Daily Mirror preferred: "Reborn in the USA."
The Sun showed a picture of Obama's seven-year-old daughter Sasha giving her father the thumbs-up with the headline: "You're the Daddy."
"At last it was the day, the hour, even the second that millions of Americans, "and not just Americans, have waited for impatiently ever since November, and in many cases for much longer than that. The crowds in Washington were extraordinary evidence of the momentous public potency of the moment," the Guardian gushed in its editorial.
Many international newspapers focused on the powerful symbolism and unifying power of the arrival of an African-American U.S. president on the world stage.
"We're a nation of Christians and Muslims, Jews and Hindus -- and non-believers," said the headline on the front of the Times of India, taking a line from Obama's inaugural address.
Japan's Asahi Shimbun said: "He is expected to play the leading role in changing the world in which racial and religious confrontations continue to rage in defiance of the ideal expressed in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights."

"He is as much symbol as substance, an icon for the youth and a sign of deliverance for an older generation that never believed a man with his skin color would ascend those steps," said the International Herald Tribune.
But many papers urged Obama to get to work immediately to address the urgent problems already piled up up in his intray.
"This wasn't the occasion for his most soaring of speeches. It was instead an oration rooted in the immediate challenges. It was directed at two audiences: a hopeful but anxious one at home, and an uncertain but hopeful one overseas, the UK's Times said.
Speaking of the economic problems on a scale not seen since the Great Depression, China's Xinhua said: "Like Franklin Delano Roosevelt and Ronald Reagan, Obama, the new president, will get a rare opportunity to leave a sweeping and long-lasting imprint on the U.S. economy."
The Times of India called on Obama to continue the so-called "war on terror" by pursuing Pakistani-based militant groups, such as Lashkar-e-Taiba which New Delhi blames for last year's terror attacks in Mumbai.
"For the sake of the world's security, Obama must press Islamabad to clamp down on these groups and close down their bases, something that the Bush administration failed to do for most of its run."
Meanwhile, Germany's Der Spiegel sounded a note of caution about the weight of expectation now resting on Obama's shoulders: "The catchword of the election campaign was 'change.'The new message to his followers is: 'Be patient.'"
And there was little lament for the passing of the presidency of Obama's controversial predecessor, President George W. Bush.
"He entered the White House promising to heal division by being a 'uniter, not a divider.' He leaves it today as one of the most divisive and least popular presidents in US history," the South China Morning Post said.
For Obama, according to the UK's Independent, the challenge in office will be to strike a balance between the "poetry" of his campaign for election and the tough "prose" of government.

"Beautiful rhetoric alone cannot change the world. So perhaps the most encouraging aspect of the address was the new President's willingness to spell out the scale of the problems facing America and the "hard choices" that lie ahead for him and the country," the paper said.
"An old American aphorism has it that politicians campaign in poetry, but govern in prose. We can be sure that the poetry will continue to flow from an orator as gifted as President Obama. But now begins the difficult task of getting the prose right too."

A New Turn

2009-01-20T13:33:00.002-05:00

~~~~ Determined

Time to shut down. I crave numbness.

And if I'm flying solo at least I'm flying free...

Shit

2009-01-17T13:53:00.000-05:00

~~~~ Sore

shit shit shit

Maybe...

2009-01-15T22:23:00.001-05:00

~~~~ Cynical

Maybe the only way to truly walk away is to get burned...

Bring on the fire.

Just Another Reason for Jordan to Love its Queen

2009-01-12T08:39:00.002-05:00

~~~~ Tired

Queen Rania Al-Abdullah '91 receives first YouTube award for using the site
to induce positive change.

Her Majesty Queen Rania Al-Abdullah '91 recently won YouTube’s first ever
Visionary Award.

The award, presented as part of the official
launch of YouTube Live, celebrates active users of YouTube who aim to use the
service as an open platform for constructive dialogue to highlight social and
cultural issues and work for positive change in their communities and around the
world. Her YouTube channel, which is dedicated to breaking down stereotypes
about the Arab and Muslim worlds and bridging the East-West divide, has more
than 15,000 subscribers and has been viewed more than half a million times since
its launch in March.

“YouTube encourages us to be active
participants in a global conversation, making our voices heard, giving us the
power to broadcast ourselves, increasing knowledge of each other, breaking down
the barriers between us clip by clip,” said Queen Rania.

Chad
Hurley, co-founder of the popular Internet video-sharing Web site, honored her
efforts with the award during a 90-minute live event on the site. “Queen
Rania sets the standard for breaking down stereotypes, and her YouTube videos
are nothing short of inspirational,” said Hurley. “It is both a pleasure and an
honor to present her with this much-deserved tribute.”

In accepting
the award, the queen spoofed late night talk show host David Letterman’s “Top
Ten” list, beginning with humorous reasons for her starting the channel,
including not having enough friends on Facebook, but ending with her actual
reason: “Because suspicion, intolerance, and mistrust are driving us apart. …
That’s why I wanted to kick-start a conversation in the world’s largest
community,” she said

Work is quiet this early in the morning.

Pick Me. Choose Me. Love Me.

2009-01-08T18:10:00.002-05:00

~~~~ Content

Intimacy is a four syllable word for, "Here's my heart and soul, please grind them into hamburger, and enjoy." It's both desired, and feared. Difficult to live with, and impossible to live without. Intimacy also comes attached to the three R's... relatives, romance, and roommates. There are some things you can't escape. And other things you just don't want to know.

- Grey's Anatomy.

I don't even like the show but oh god... do they get somet things right.

Currently Watching - Friends.

The Last Break

2009-01-05T17:37:00.002-05:00

~~~~ Okay

When this break started I thought it would never end. Every day was like a lifetime and I seriously thought I was back in this town for the rest of my life. But all of a sudden tomorrow is my last day and I get to go back to school. I mean, granted I'm still going back a full four days before most everyone else but still wow. And I just had an epiphany that this was basically my last break. There is still spring break but I'm not spending it at home and spring break is a completely different form of break then winter. And this was it. No more breaks no more relaxing extended periods of time. Welcome real world. Bring. It. On. Going back early has the opportunity to be really excellant or really terrible. One way or another Thursday on will be great. Picking up Michele then just relaxing for the rest of the weekend with just a little bit of work will be so much better then being here. But Wednesday. Wednesday may either royaly suck or be totally fantastic. We'll see how it's handeled by... well... by people in general. It'll just be so satisfying to be back.

Currently Listening to: White Wedding - Billy Idol

Seriously...

2009-01-03T18:32:00.001-05:00

~~~~ Angry

It was so much easier when boys had cooties.

Currently Listening to: Miniature Disasters - KT Tunstall

Boredom... But I Can't Put Down my New Computer!

2008-12-30T19:19:00.002-05:00

~~~~ Bored

2008 IS ALMOST OVER, WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?

Stayed single the whole year?
Pretty much

Kissed someone new?
Three someones

Done something you've regretted?
yessss

Lost someone?
metaphorically or physically?

Cut class?
More than I should have

Were involved in something you'll never forget?
hmmm.... oh probably... ask me in 50 years if I forget them.

Visited a different country?
Not this year :(

Cooked a gross meal?
all of my cooking is tasty!

Lost something important to you?
yes

Got a gift you adore?
Barney... the pretty new macbook I'm playing with at the moment!

Tripped over a coffee table?
hahah. i'm sure i tripped over our coffee table at some point.

Dyed your hair?
yessum. Red and then back to brown.

Came close to losing your life?
Not to my knowledge but I'm sure.

Went to a party?
yessum

Read a great book?
more then one!

Saw one of your favorite bands/artists live?
No... :(

Did you meet any new friends this year?
oh yes yes.... the lovely Michele! and Sue :)

Did you dislike anyone?
I grew to dislike a few people...

Did you grow apart from anyone?
I'm beginning to think so.

Do you have any regrets when it comes to your friendships?
I don't think so.

2008: Your BIRTHDAY!

Did you have a cake?
A surprise coldstone cake :)

Did you have a party?
just a general celebration

Did you get any presents?
a couple

Name some and who'd you get them from?
handcuffs from Lindsay :)
gas card from aunt
and Barney for my birthday / christmas / graduation present from the parentals.

2008: All about YOU

Did you change at all this year?
I believe so

Did you change your style?
I got bangs? Does that count?

Were you in school?
the vast majority of 2008

Did you get good grades?
grades are relative anyways... but yeah. they weren't baaad.

Did you drive?
a lot

Did you own a car?
Tre!

Did anyone close to you give birth?
ummm no?

Did you move at all?
moved from home to college to home. then to Cincinnati. then home. then back to college. then back home. phew!

Did you go on any vacations?
NYC!

Would you change anything about yourself now?
there are certain goals i'm trying to set...

2008 WRAP UP:

Was 2008 a good year?
can't complain thaaat much.

Do you think 2009 will be better then 2008?
considering i have no idea what to expect from 2009 i haven't a clue.

I confess that in 2008 I...

() kissed in the snow
(x) celebrated Halloween
(x) had your heart broken
(x) went over the minutes on your cell phone
() someone questioned your sexual orientation
() came out of the closet
() gotten pregnant
() had an abortion
(x) done something you've regretted

OTHER
(x) painted a picture
(x) wrote a poem
() ran a mile
() shopped at Hollister or Abercrombie and Fitch
() posted a blog on MySpace
() visited a foreign country
(x) cut in a line of waiting people
(x) told someone you were busy when you weren't
(x) partied to celebrate the new year
() cooked a disastrous meal
(x) lied about how old you were
(x) prank called someone

In 2008 I...
[x] broke a promise
[] fell out of love
[x] told a little white lie
[x] lied
[x] cried over a broken heart
[x] disappointed someone close
[x] hid a secret
[x] pretended to be happy
[] slept under the stars
[] kept your new years resolution
[] forgot your new years resolution
[x] met someone who changed your life
[] met one of your idols
[] changed your outlook on life
[x] sat home all day doing nothing
[x] pretended to be sick
[] left the country
[] almost died
[x] given up on something/someone important to you
[] lost something expensive
[x] learned something new about yourself
[x] tried something you normally wouldn't try and liked it
[x] made a change in your life
[x] found out who your true friends were
[x] met great people
[x] stayed up til sunrise
[x] cried over the silliest thing
[x] had friends who were drifting away from you
[x] had a high cell phone bill
[x] spent most of your money on food
[] had a fist fight
[] went to the beach with your best friend(s)
[x] gotten sick
[x] liked more than 5 people at the same time
[x] became closer with a lot of people

Currently Listening to: Homecoming / The Death of St. Jimmy / East 12th St. / Nobody Likes You / Rock and Roll Girlfriend / We're Coming Home Again - Green Day

I'm Developing a Quoting Problem

2008-12-30T11:27:00.002-05:00

~~~~ Anxious

"Never say goodbye. Because goodbye means going away, and going away means forgetting." - Peter Pan

"Sometimes the hardest thing and the right thing are the same." - The Fray

"I think I'm afraid to be happy because whenever I get too happy, something bad always happens." - Charlie Brown

Currently Listening to: All the Stars and Boulevards - Augustana

Quotastic

2008-12-23T21:00:00.002-05:00

~~~~ Discontent

"You ever think that the world is a giant game of musical chairs, and the music's stopped and we're the only ones who don't have a chair?"
- Xander. Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

"Imperfection is beauty; madness is genious; and it's better to be absolutely ridiculous than absolutely boring."
- Marilyn Monroe

PC Woes

2008-12-23T18:46:00.003-05:00

~~~~ Bored

So as a little Merry Christmas to me I bought the Sims2 Double Deluxe edition. Hey it was $20 and I love the original Sims so I thought "what the heck." Well the first two seconds I got into the game were pretty fun... Then I kept getting a blue screen of death with an ati2davg infinite loop problem. I went ahead and googled it and I think I got a fix... a lot of pages told me to update my drives... or something. I dunno, there were step by step directions and I followed the steps. Now I should be good to go but needless to say I'm nervous to start over so I'm taking a little break. If worst comes to worst I'll just sell the game on ebay! It's not like I was planning to play it for very long either... if my parentals agree to fork over half the cost like they said they would for my birthday / christmas / graduation present, I should be getting a pretty new macbook this break. There's a part of me that's actually kinda nervous... I've never owned a mac before and what if something goes wrong? But pretty much I'm just looking forward to owning a computer with minimum problems. And since my computer knowledge starts with iTunes and ends with an extrememly limited knowledge of html, I have a feeling that the fool-proofness of a mac is just what I need. The problems I've been experienced with my beloved IBM over the past year have made choose to go over to the dark-side of the PC world. So good-bye Sims (if I can get it to work on good-ol Clark hopefully I'll be spending my break playing however) and hello Barney (because the MacBook's so pretty it's suited up... How I Met Your Mother, anyone?).

Love at First Bite?

2008-12-17T15:39:00.003-05:00

~~~~ Relieved

While I will be the first to admit I hold special place in my heart for the Twilight series, there are certain aspects of the saga that disturb me to my core. This article by a student at Bryn Mawr University highlights some of the finer points. While it neglects to mention the clear anti-feminist tones in the book, it certainly points out the extrememly unhealthy relationship the main characters have. Don't get me wrong, I love me some Jasper, Alice, Emmet, and Jacob, but I'm old enough to realize the stories Stephanie Meyer produce are just that, stories. The age genre that Twilight is written for, is not. So here you go, all the things that disturb me most about Twilight:

Love at First Bite?
Posted December 15th, 2008 by alexandra.stratyner
By Hannah Slavitt

I recently read the Twilight series because I wanted to see what all
the buzz was about. Many of my friends had read it, and my younger sister
couldn’t put it down.
Stephanie Meyer has done an admirable job riding the wave of success that the Harry Potter books have enjoyed. She followed the trend of midnight book release parties and big-budget blockbuster movies featuring dreamy British lead actors. She stands to make a fortune. And, despite the fact the she is a bad writer with stunted style who is in desperate need of a thesaurus, the plot is somewhat engaging and it doesn’t take huge commitment or any brain power to breeze through the books.
Many have said that Stephanie Meyer’s series advocates, at times subtly and others explicitly, abstinence. While this may be true, the series still manages to present the most over-sexualized, unhealthy teenage relationship imaginable. The central
relationship between Bella, a mere mortal, and Edward, a vampire, is presented
as a tragic romance akin to that of Romeo and Juliet. Their relationship, however, is no model for a healthy high school courtship
— and neither is Romeo and Juliet’s, for that matter.
Before Bella and Edward even start a relationship, Edward uses his vampire super powers to sneak into Bella’s room and watch her sleep. That is creepy stalker behavior, more sinister than romantic. When they do start a relationship, it displays classic signs of an abusive relationship. Edward is controlling, needing to know where Bella is at every moment. Bella has no normal friends or social life for most of the series, and spends all of her time with Edward. When Bella makes one friend outside of her relationship, Edward doesn’t approve; he forcefully demands she end that
friendship, once again using his vampire powers to thwart any attempt she might dare make to see her friend. Any sensible person would be alarmed of this sort of behavior took place outside of the pages of a fictional book. Another disturbing element of their relationship is the constant undercurrent of references to suicide. Bella and Edward both declare in every book that they refuse to live without the other. Is it really healthy to present some twisted, overwrought suicide pact a la Romeo and Juliet as the romantic ideal? Finally, Bella and Edward act like that annoying high school couple who are convinced they are going to get married; but usually, in the real world at least, that couple breaks up and they date other people. And yes, I think dating more than one person is an important part of growing up and
getting to know yourself. But no, Bella gets married and pregnant–with a vampire
child, of course–at the ripe old age of eighteen.
I think that it is really problematic and irresponsible to present a relationship like Bella and Edward’s in an extremely romanticized way, especially considering the audience to which these books and movies are being marketed. It’s hard enough for young people to form healthy relationships, without them being presented with unrealistic, unhealthy models of love and sex.
If my little sister brought home Edward, there would be drama.

Slavitt, a sophomore English major, can be reached at hslavitt@brynmawr.edu.

Numb

2008-12-14T20:53:00.003-05:00

~~~~ Groggy

I'm tired of being what you want me to be
Feeling so faithless lost under the surface
Don't know what you're expecting of me
Put under the pressure of walking in your shoes
(Caught in the undertow just caught in the undertow)
Every step that I take is another mistake to you
(Caught in the undertow just caught in the undertow)

I've become so numb I can't feel you there
Become so tired so much more aware
I'm becoming this all I want to do
Is be more like me and be less like you

Can't you see that you're smothering me
Holding too tightly afraid to lose control
Cause everything that you thought I would be
Has fallen apart right in front of you
(Caught in the undertow just caught in the undertow)
Every step that I take is another mistake to you
(Caught in the undertow just caught in the undertow)
And every second I waste is more than I can take

I've become so numb I can't feel you there
Become so tired so much more aware
I'm becoming this all I want to do
Is be more like me and be less like you

And I know
I may end up failing too
But I know
You were just like me with someone disappointed in you

I've become so numb I can't feel you there
Become so tired so much more aware
I'm becoming this all I want to do
Is be more like me and be less like you

I've become so numb I can't feel you there
I'm tired of being what you want me to be
I've become so numb I can't feel you there
I'm tired of being what you want me to be

It's True

2008-12-09T22:56:00.002-05:00

~~~~ Happy

I have the craziest roommates ever...

I wouldn't change them for the world.

Currently Listening To: Bleeding Love - Leona Lewis

Ick

2008-12-07T14:16:00.002-05:00

~~~~ Sick

I tried so hard to keep from getting sick. Okay, maybe not as hard as I originally intended but I seriously didn't want to get sick this year. Major suck.

There are potentially four reasons that I got sick. #1. Friday night for my birthday we went out to Balcony for the drag show. During the night I used the restroom. #2. That same night we went to Alexander House for dinner and Laura came with. Laura was sick. #3 Last night Austin and I went out to play in the snow. #4 I spent the night with someone who was sick. Combination of the four? All-in-all poor life decisions? You be the judge. And yes. I would define most of the choices as poor life decisions.

On the bright side being sick means sitting around all day watching movies with Austin. Did you know? Obama will be a good president because he won't go after the mutants? Yeah... we're watching X-Men 3. Despite my throat hurting it's days like this that I truly enjoy.

Yeah...

2008-12-04T12:53:00.002-05:00

~~~~ Pessimistic

أنا كاملة معتوه

Bruised

2008-12-03T00:03:00.000-05:00

~~~~ Confused

Currently Listening To: Dark Blue - Jack's Mannequin

Egyptian Boys Held for Flirting

2008-11-22T10:14:00.002-05:00

~~~~ Sleepy

I know the headline of this article makes it sound really mundane. But trust me, the alleged "flirting" is more like sexual harassment. Once I was followed three blocks by a guy who kept trying to put his arm around me and muttering sexual innuendos. The article says almost 83% of native Egyptian and 98% of foriegn women have experienced sexual harassment in Egypt. It's about time someone has done something about it. For once I applaud the Mubarak administration.

Egyptian Boys Held for Flirting

Cairo - Egyptian police rounded up hundreds of teenage boys in Cairo in a day-long crackdown on sexual harassment, a police official said on Thursday.
"We have arrested a large number of boys who were flirting with girls," Cairo's police director Faruq Lashin said.
About 400 teenagers, aged between 15 and 17, were arrested on Wednesday and will be brought before a judge, he said.
Police targeted teenagers in front of schools, universities and along the Nile's banks, he said.
The teenagers are expected to get off with fines, a police official said.
Women's rights groups in Egypt have long campaigned against sexual harassment and assault in Cairo, accusing police of ignoring the phenomenon.
On Monday, a Cairo court sentenced a teenager to one year in jail for sexually assaulting two women. Another teenager, a 17-year-old, is facing trial on the same charge.
At least 34 men were arrested after they allegedly assaulted women in an affluent Cairo neighbourhood during a Muslim holiday in January.
Such convictions were relatively rare in Egypt, which does not have a law defining sexual harassment, but a court in October sentenced a man to three years in jail for groping a woman.
Women's rights activists welcomed that ruling and said it was unprecedented in Egypt.
The Egyptian Centre for Women's Rights (ECWR) issued a survey this summer saying 83% of Egyptian women and 98% of foreign women in Egypt had experienced sexual harassment.
The study said only 12% of the 2 500 women who reported cases of sexual harassment to ECWR went to the police with their complaint.
- AFP

Currently Listening To: Noots - Sum 41

I Knew It

2008-11-21T17:40:00.003-05:00

~~~~ Rejected

Please don't do this to me...
I think I quit. It just isn't worth getting my hopes all up for disappointment... again.

I Don't Know

2008-11-19T22:47:00.002-05:00

~~~~ Blank

I haven't felt this way in a while. The last time I put my heart out I got it stomped on. Is trying even worth it? Am I getting ahead of myself?

Probably the latter...

Currently Watching: Smallville

2008-11-17T18:31:00.001-05:00

i'm trying so hard not to break down right now. please just let me get through this class...

I Miss You

2008-11-16T19:44:00.003-05:00

~~~~ Sad

(I miss you, I miss you)
Hello there, the angel from my nightmare
The shadow in the background of the morgue
The unsuspecting victim of darkness in the valley
We can live like Jack and Sally if we want
Where you can always find me
We'll have Halloween on Christmas
And in the night we'll wish this never ends
We'll wish this never ends

(I miss you, I miss you)
(I miss you, I miss you)

Where are you and I'm so sorry
I cannot sleep I cannot dream tonight
I need somebody and always
This sick strange darkness
Comes creeping on so haunting every time
And as I stared I counted
Webs from all the spiders
Catching things and eating their insides
Like indecision to call you
and hear your voice of treason
Will you come home and stop this pain tonight
Stop this pain tonight

Don't waste your time on me you're already
The voice inside my head (I miss you, I miss you)
Don't waste your time on me you're already
The voice inside my head (I miss you, I miss you)

I miss you, I miss you...

10 years and it hasn't gotten easier. I miss you Brandon.
09/27/86 - 11/17/98

Obama 08

2008-11-05T10:38:00.004-05:00

~~~~ Pleased

I officially have hope for this country.

Here's hoping he doesn't let us down... and no one shoots him.

Was McCain Doomed to Lose?

Me

2008-11-02T00:53:00.003-04:00

~~~~ Okay

I just placed a order on amazon.com and after I finished my transaction I got a recommendation page. On it, amazon suggested I would like Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, Green Day's American Idiot, and The Cambridge Companion to Archaic Greece.

Wow, amazon knows me strangely well.

Currently Listening To: I Want it All - HSM3

A Walk in the Woods

2008-10-27T16:23:00.002-04:00

~~~~ Hyper

Bill Bryson is a genious. Go read his books, do it!

In America, alas, beauty has become something you drive to, and nature an either / or proposition - either you ruthlessly subjugate it, as at Tocks Dam and a million other places, or you defy it, treat it as something holy and remote, a thing apart, as along the Appalachian Trail. Seldom would it occur to anyone on eithe rside that people and nature could coexist to their mutual benefit - that, says, a more graceful bridge across the Delaware River might actually set off the grandeur around it, or that the AT might be more interesting and rewarding if it wasn't all wilderness, if from time to time it pruposely took you past grazing cows and tilled fields.

Currently Listening to: Whatever Happened to the Heroes - Joss Stone

Thank God for their Piggy Banks

2008-10-22T15:13:00.002-04:00

~~~~ Stressed

Overheard in New York has to be my most favorite website ever. It gets me through the workdays...

Here's a special gem:

Slacker on a smoke break: Yeah, McCain said he is going to suspend his campaign so that he can work on the economy. I mean, really. It would be like me saying I'm suspending my pot distribution so that I can work on quantum physics.

--Forest Ave., Staten Island

Overheard by: political listener

Currently Listening to: The Silence of Work

Lookybook

2008-10-20T17:29:00.002-04:00

~~~~ Exhausted

I don't even care that I'm almost 22, about to be applying for grad school and the real world, and the most stressed out / exhausted I've ever been, this website makes me happy and the books are the coolest thing ever!

Dark Blue

2008-10-17T22:49:00.003-04:00

~~~~ Mellow

2008-10-14T19:03:00.000-04:00

~~~~ Gloomy

And I was doing so well too...

Maybe There's Hope...

2008-10-11T16:53:00.002-04:00

~~~~ Happy

Gay Marriage is Ruled Legal in Connecticut

My favorite part? When Garret and John said they can't wait to register at Home Depot! I don't know why, but that personal little note in the article really lets you know that this is really happening.

My little splurge for the week was buying myself the Nightmare Revisited Soundtrack. While some of the songs are absolutley spectacular, like Korn's Kidnap the Sandy Claws, The All-American Reject's Jack's Lament, and Amy Lee's Sally's Song (really? Are you that surprised I like a song done by the lead singer of Evanescence?). Some of the songs are just plain weird. All the instrumental songs are also included so such bands as DeVotchKa, Amiina, and Vitamin String Quartet are also included. And while Amiina's Doctor Finkelstein / In the Forest is pretty inventive and enjoyable. Vitamin String Quartet's Jack and Sally Montage is pretty stereotypical and DeVotchKa's Overture is alittle melodically uncomfortable. The Polymorphic Spree's Town Meeting Song just plain sucks and Flyleaf's What's This? Is not as good as Fall Out Boy's version. Overall if you had to pick between the original soundtrack and this new one, go with the original. Better yet, go with the Special Edition Soundtrack so you can get the songs by Fall Out Boy, Panic! At the Disco, and Fiona Apple. But at least buy the Amy Lee single off the revisited soundtrack. Because, you know, she's the best!

Currently Listening To: Jack's Obsession - Sparklehouse

Everytime I See This I Die A Little More Inside...

2008-10-11T01:26:00.002-04:00

~~~~ Sleepy

Let's hear it for the land of the free and the home of the brave.

My favorite part? "You know you spelled Muslim wrong, right?" "Oh? Well how do you spell it?"

The way it's suppose to be spelled... jackass.

Currently Listening To: Sally's Song - Amy Lee

Sometimes...

2008-10-03T01:11:00.001-04:00

~~~~ Restless

Sometimes I just wish someone would touch me.

Currently Listening To: the silence of 1 am.

Very Funny!

2008-09-22T13:18:00.003-04:00

~~~~ Blank

In a sad, but true sort of way...

What About Now

2008-09-20T20:44:00.002-04:00

~~~~ Content

While I do not consider myself a Daughtry fan, catching this video on VH1 makes me want to give up my selfish desire to go to grad school and make Teach For America my number one choice of post-college options. Maybe I'll check out other AmeriCorp programs...

On a less humanitarian note, I bought Brisingr today. Don't ask why. Mr. Paolini has disappointed so far with his mutant Lord of the Rings / Star Wars / Dragonriders of Pern series but I still have to know how it ends. Damn.

Currently Listening to: But It's Better If You Do - Panic! At the Disco

Sometimes It Just Doesn't Matter

2008-09-17T16:26:00.004-04:00

~~~~ Sleepy

It's amazing when however hard you try your best is never enough. You can't mess up ever. Mistakes can never be made. And no matter how much effort is put in it will never do. Apologies are words, actions, and expressions, but they're never reciprocated. Never. I can try and try and try and it's never appropriate. Maybe I'm just not a people person... good thing I work the job that I do and such.

This has been a crazy week. First there are huricane force winds on Sunday. Then these winds knock out power in most of Ohio. Then the power stays off down here for so long that classes are canceled for Monday. Then the university is running on generators but most of the town is still power-less. Then they decide to open the university for classes on Tuesday. Then 4,000 people gather outside of the president's house to protest the opening of the university... that we pay a lot of money to go to... whatever. Then my computer starts freaking out and showing a blue screen of death. Then the cute IT guy who may or may not be named Jenny cannot fix it but I think I've found a way around the problem... I got rid of the lame-ass virus protection the university makes you get and downloaded my own. Now there's work. Yeah, work.

Currently Listening to: Absolutley Nothing. It is work afterall...

I Almost Wish I Hadn't Found This Blog...

2008-09-12T11:27:00.003-04:00

~~~~ Restless

It Makes Me Want a Tattoo!

Plus I'm getting dangerous ideas. Here are some of my favorites:

Currently Listening: Hate Me - Blue October

Censorship

2008-09-09T18:34:00.002-04:00

~~~~ Lazy

September 27 - October 4 is banned books week. I think everyone should pick up a banned book that week to appreciate what could happen if we allowe censorship to run our lives.
Here's a list of 25 Banned Books That You Should Read... Personally I have a long way to go.

Currently Watching: Drake and Josh ;)

September is the Season for TV Shows!

2008-09-07T22:24:00.004-04:00

~~~~ Nervous

P.S. I'm taking the GRE tomorrow. SOMEDAY SAAAAAVE ME!

Currently Listening To: Consolation Prizes - Phoenix

Hanging Out Down the Street

2008-09-02T19:32:00.002-04:00

~~~~ Content

I feel like I'm sitting in the calm before the storm. I'm all moved in to my fabulous apartment and the first week of classes have come and gone. I've done the most class swapping I've ever done this semester. I lost Peoples and Cultures of the Middle East so I signed up for the History of Africa (I know, the history of an entire continent in one semester? But anyways...) only to findout that it required NINE textbooks. I can't afford nine textbooks so I dropped the class and looked at Ancient Jewish History but it had six textbooks so, guess what? I dropped it and signed up for the history of Italy from Machiavelli to Mussolini. Three textbooks. Muuuch better. Plus I really do like that class now. Yaaay! Then I was in Caribbean Archaeology but I ended up not liking the prof that much and I am determined not to have another semester where I hate the professor so I dropped it and signed up Evidence of Human Fossil Evolution. Yaaay two classes with Dr. Marchant! I love that woman! So classes are finally good. I'm signed up to take the GRE for the first time next week but thankfully I found a grad program that doesn't require the GRE so there's hope for me yet! I can't believe I'm almost all grown up and stuff. Work has the potential of being stressful but I'm just there for ten hours out of the week so it could be worse.

But on the bright side this is year that will mean the world. Savoring every moment and enjoying it while it lasts. First step? Running through the fountain behind Shriver. I'm hoping for awesome moments like that up until we graduate which will culminate in dancing on the seal.

Just make it last...

Currently Watching: That 70s' Show

Free Ayman Nour

2008-08-23T20:23:00.002-04:00

~~~~ Exhausted

Ayman Nour to Obama

Former Ghad Party President Dr. Ayman Nour sent a message to Barack Obama, the democratic nominee to the American presidential elections.
Nour started his message by introducing himself from the oldest prison in Egypt and the Middle East. He was sentenced to five years in prison for forging powers of attorney required to establish Al-Ghad Party; a charge that he described as 'naïve'.
He said that the real charge is that he was a competitor to President Mubarak in last year's presidential elections. He threatened his dream to bequeath the presidential post to his son.
Nour indicated that a number of US officials have pressurized the Egyptian regime to release him yet to no avail. He stressed that the regime in Egypt is accustomed to such moral pressures and proved its ability to swap them with the regional interests, utilizing the seasonal nature of such pressures.
Nour expressed his support to Obama's stance as regards the situation in Iraq and the necessity to withdraw the American forces from there.
He added that Obama's references during his election tours about the risks of depending on dictator regimes do not correspond with the aspirations of Arab liberals.
He expressed his wish, being one of the generation of Obama, that January 20, 2009 be the date that the new American President will assume his post and that it would be a celebration for freedom and democracy in the whole world, repairing what was spoiled by supporting despotic rulers under the claim of preserving interests

I Thought This Day Would Never Come.

2008-08-12T14:39:00.002-04:00

~~~~ Accomplised

Going to the pyramids in Giza was always a challenge. Now that Zahi has taken this step I wonder how it will impact the area. Especially for tourists who don't come in on the massive tour buses. You might get hounded like it's no ones business before and after you get onto the plateau. This could get interesting.

Egypt pyramids to lose the peddlers, get fenced in.

CAIRO, Egypt - Tourists have long been awed by Egypt's famed Giza Pyramids and irritated by having to fend off peddlers relentlessly offering camel rides and trinkets.
But the hustlers were gone Monday as Egypt started an elaborate project to modernize the area and make it friendlier to tourists. Security is also improving, with a 12-mile chain-link fence featuring cameras, alarms and motion detectors.

"It was a zoo," said Zahi Hawass, Egypt's chief archaeologist, recalling the past free-for-all. "Now we are protecting both the tourists and the ancient monuments."

The three Giza Pyramids have been unusually open for a 5,000-year-old Wonder of the World.

The desert plateau on which they stand was once isolated. But as the capital has expanded, slums have been built right to the edge of the site, separated in places by only a low stone wall. The rest of the area has been wide open to the desert.

Tourists undergo a constant barrage from peddlers selling souvenir statues, T-shirts and other trinkets. Visitors are sometimes followed by men on camels selling rides or photos — and rarely taking no for an answer.

Young men even try to force their way into taxi cabs carrying foreigners toward the pyramids, looking to steer them to nearby horse stables for a ride around the site.

But tourists have taken their own liberties. Climbing the Pyramid of Khufu, the biggest of the three monuments, was a favorite challenge for visitors beginning in the 19th century and continuing into the 1970s, despite the occasional fatal fall of an inebriated tourist.

Since then, authorities have cracked down on climbing the giant 2.5-ton blocks, though visitors can still ramble freely around the pyramid grounds, where many tombs and other archaeological sites remain only partially excavated and vulnerable to damage.

Security concerns were highlighted in 1997, when Islamic militant gunmen attacked tourists at a desert temple in the southern city of Luxor, killing more than 60. Most attacks ended in the late 1990s, but bombings in Sinai beach resorts in the past four years have kept officials wary.

The new technology aims to curb shenanigans by both tourists and peddlers.

The long chain-link fence around the plateau reaches a height of 13 feet at some points, and it is dotted with infrared sensors and motion detectors that set off alarms at a control room on the plateau.

"Intruders can't jump over this," said Kamal Wahid, the site's general director.

Tourists enter through a new brick entrance building, with half a dozen gates equipped with metal detectors and X-ray machines. Once inside, their every step is closely watched by 199 closed-circuit cameras covering every corner of the sprawling plateau. The footage goes back to the control room, where guards monitor a bank of 24 screens around the clock.

"It looks clean and beautiful," said Michael Schmidt, 43, a real estate agent from New York City, as he visited the site Monday. "They did a good job."

As Hawass and antiquity authorities showed off the changes Monday, trinket sellers were nowhere to be seen, apparently ordered off the plateau. Three lone camel riders in male Arab headscarf and the traditional galabeyah robes were standing at the edge of the plateau. Instead of chasing customers, they waited for the tourists to come to them for a photo opportunity.

As a reporter walked up, one of them said: "Go away, the police told us not to talk to you."

"I've been working here for 25 years," said a second one who would not give his name for fear he could lose his permit. "Now I don't know if I will be here tomorrow. I have five children, a wife. What will happen to us?"
It was not clear whether the trinket dealers were pushed out just for the day or whether they would return in a more controlled fashion. Wahid said phasing out the hawkers will not be sudden or "unkind."
"Two years from now, you won't see them inside the site," he said, adding that an area nearby will be designated for horse and camel rides — with the pyramids serving as a dramatic backdrop for photos.
The changes are part of a $26 million improvement project that began seven years ago, Hawass said. Still to come are a new lighting system, a cafeteria, and a visitors center and book shop that will give better information on the pyramids, where tourist guidance is sparse.
Once the project is complete, golf carts will drive tourists around the site, similar to systems in Luxor and other ancient sites in Egypt.
Exactly how much a future visitor will be able to roam around freely is unclear, but on Monday, Ramish Bissoon, a 59-year-old teacher from Trinidad, felt unrestricted as he explored the plateau with his wife, Molly.
"I don't know what it was like before, but I feel very comfortable and secure," he said. "There are a lot of policemen around."
Hawass insisted none of the innovations will diminish the experience of the visit.
"We are giving back the magic of the pyramids," Hawass said.

My Review: Breaking Dawn

2008-08-04T21:26:00.004-04:00

~~~~ Groggy

So I have officially finished Breaking Dawn and here's what I think. Like Twilight? Read New Moon. Like New Moon? Read Eclipse. Like Eclipse? Stop right there and pretend they lived happily ever after. Breaking Dawn was a pretty substantial disappointment. The book is divided into three separate sections and the first and second books broke my heart. I was confused, frustrated, and so irate the entire time I could barely read. Ever fifteen minutes or so I had to set the book down and walk away. It just hurt so much. The third section was harking back to the original Twilight and I was pleasantly surprised compared to the other two but the foul taste of the rest of the book still lingered. I won't give away any spoilers just in case but I have to say, I'm gonna be pretending the "saga" is a trilogy from now on. Some of my friends are contemplating returning the book in protest and while I can't say I'm willing to go that far, I'm tempted to pretend those 756 pages didn't exist.
? Not so much...

Currently Listening: The Last Song I'm Wasting on You - Evanescence

Time to get excited!

2008-07-31T21:19:00.004-04:00

~~~~ Hungry

P.S. The Birth of Venus? Excellent book. Little bit of romance, little bit of history, little bit of mystery, all rolled up in one excellent package. The ending could break your heart but I looked at it from a hopeful perspective. Highly recommended.

Currently Listening: Mad World - Gary Jules

Older Song New Fan

2008-07-30T00:00:00.002-04:00

~~~~ Hopeful

I thought Linkin Park was getting old and I lost interest after their first album. But I recently acquired the Transformers soundtrack and am pleasantly surprised by this song:

Enjoy and such.

Currently Listening: What I've Done - Linkin Park

That's So Retrograde

2008-07-25T12:22:00.002-04:00

~~~~ Okay

I can't believe there's only 31 days left until my senior year classes begin. I also can't believe that I'm counting down the seconds until I'm back.

This summer had so much promise. A great internship. An opportunity to make some cash. Even the chance to participate in a dig and work on all those archaeological skills I've been learning about in the classroom.

Instead it turned into one big disappointment after another. The internship blew. My boss was the most awkward man in the world with no idea how to handle an intern. He neglected to teach me anything and instead just set me about mindless tasks in his lab. Sure I got exposure to artifacts and a museum's cataloging system but I felt like there was something lacking in the experience. Then if I thought the museum was bad we moved out into the field. Basically Bob did all the work and me and a couple other volunteers were given the glorious task of screening dirt. I know it's an important part of digging but it sure would have been nice if I could have gotten to ANYTHING else in addition to screening. He let me dig one feature once but I told him several times that I had never been on a site before and have no idea what I'm doing. That being said, he just handed me a trough and didn't understand when I didn't know exactly what I was doing. I'm a student, instruct me! So with two weeks left before I go back home I think I'm officially done with Bob and the museum center. I told him I'm not coming back. The idea of going back to that field with its artifacts and the potential to learn so much without actually learning it makes me want to cry. On top of all this the internship doesn't pay so I was hoping to make a little extra cash this summer working as a child care provider with Sue's agency. Now I don't get me wrong, I did manage about $700 in two weekends but I haven't been contacted since and I was hoping to make a little more. This whole summer has just been filled with disappointments. I do like living with Laura and Sue though. They're both really nice and funny and Sue has some great pets. I adore her cat Ruby and her dog Ramsay is quite a sweetie too. The only good thing about this summer was the fact that I didn't have to spend it at home with the parentals. In two weeks I'll be home for two weeks and then it's back to Miami.

I can't wait.

Currently Listening: Bang the Doldrums - Fall Out Boy

I Forgot How Much I Love This Song

2008-07-17T18:20:00.001-04:00

~~~~ Accomplished

FUCK!

2008-07-13T19:04:00.001-04:00

~~~~ Bored

It might be vulgar but oh god is it funny!

Stolen from Bebbet

2008-06-24T14:58:00.003-04:00

~~~~ Discontent

Rules:
1. Use no more, or less, than two words to answer each question.
2. Try not to copy any answers from the person you stole this meme from.

1. Where is your cell phone? .................. my purse

2. Your significant other?......................... I wish

3. Your hair? ........................................... messy bun

4. Your mother? ...................................... big pain

5. Your father?......................................... at work

6. Your favorite thing?.............................. day dreaming

7. Your dream last night?......................... really funny

8. Your favorite drink? ............................. GreenTea Mango

9. Your dream/goal?................................. Museum Curator

10. The room you're in?............................ Our Bedroom

11. Your ex?.............................................. Total Jackass

12. Your fear?........................................... Being Alone

13. Where do you want to be in 6 years?.... Living Happily

14. Where were you last night?................. At Home

15. What you're not?................................. Completely Honest

16. Muffins?............................................... Oh Yummy

17. One of your wish list items?................. New Wardrobe

18. Where you grew up?........................... Northeastern Ohio

19. The last thing you did?........................ Did Laundry

20. What are you wearing?....................... Blue Cords

21. Your TV?............................................ in Livingroom

22. Your pet(s)?........................................ with Lindsay

23. Your computer? ................................. named Clark

24. Your life?............................................ Work inProgress

25. Your mood?........................................ See above

26. Missing someone?.............................. Actually No

27. Your car?............................................ Ford Focus

28. Something you're not wearing?........... my bracelet

29. Favorite Store?................................... Urban Outfitters

30. Your summer?.................................... Currently Lacking

31. Like someone?................................... Not Really

32. Your favorite color?............................ Orange Orange

33. Last time you laughed........................ Last Night

34. Last time you cried?........................... Not Sure

Currently Listening: Real Love - Regina Spektor

Daily Literary Quote

2008-06-16T14:48:00.002-04:00

~~~~ Lazy

"If you know what you are going to write when you're writing a poem, it's going to be average." - Derek Walcott

Currently Listening: Set the Fire to the Third Bar - Snow Patrol

Just Curious...

2008-06-11T19:16:00.002-04:00

~~~~ Annoyed

Hmph...

2008-06-09T16:36:00.002-04:00

~~~~ Gloomy

I have a headache. I drank my daily coffee but it still won't go away. Sigh. Didn't go to the museum today. Couldn't tell you why. I guess the idea of spending five hours with those people today was just too much to bear. At least they won't be there tomorrow. Maybe I should go Tuesday - Friday instead of Monday - Thursday. Avoidence is my drug of choice. At least I was slightly productive today. Getting my laundry done. Walked Ramsay. Need to get more active. I wonder if there are any kickboxing or self defense classes nearby. I would love to take some of those. That would be a real moral booster. I'll look into it. This summer has not turned out to be the non-stop, constant-work summer I was expecting but at least it's going by. I was home this weekend. Brian and I had coffee and then he asked me to lunch but I couldn't make it... hmmm.

I was hoping for so much more this summer.

Currently Listening: Sorcery and Sudden Vengeance - Harry Greggson-Williams