MERRY CHRISTMAS!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Seven more days 'til the new year...

Well, I put my two-weeks in at my retail job. But I'm gonna stay on the payroll on some sort of contingent status. I'll have to work, like, two days a month. I started my new job at the consulting firm. It's a 3-month gig and I'm on a contractual basis. After that time is up, we can see what we wanna do from there. Perhaps I'll stay with the company, or maybe I'll get my "dream job" that I'm waiting on... We'll see. I actually went into work at the new job on Tuesday while I was off at my retail job. My new supervisor would much rather I start full-time right away, but I didn't wanna be cruddy to the other job and wanted to give notice. But my supervisor did make the point that I'll be losing money by staying there...

Last night I swung by Tara's place to drop off her gift. When I was leaving, I wanted to say "Merry Christmas," but for some reason, the word "happy" came out and I told them I was about to say "Happy Birthday." So I ended up saying "Happy Birthday, Jesus" and left it at that. :)

Then I went over to "homeboy's" place. We and another one of his friends were supposed to go to the movies. But that ended up not happening and we just chilled at his place. I left his spot shortly before 1AM, then headed over to Jeannie's to give her her gift. Got to her house around 1:30 and we sat and talked for about an hour and a half, then I went home.

Now here I am wondering what we're gonna do today. We'll have our family meal. But then I wonder if we're gonna head over to my grandparents' for a minute to drop off gifts. And I'm quite hungry right about now. Gonna go scavenge...

It's 5:30 in the morning. Time to go to sleep. :-P Friday night, Justin and I headed to Belinda's for some drinks and convo. That was cool. And then I got dropped off at a local spot to meet up Robert, where he had been gettin' his drink on with Dana and one of their friends. Had to be Bert's designated driver and actually ended up letting him crash at my place.

Then I had to freakin' work late Saturday evening. From 3 to 11 was my shift. And they only gave me a 30-minute lunch. You're posta get an full hour if you work at least 7 and a half hour. Them bitches. :-[ Anyhoos... Afterwards, me, Jeannie and a couple friends went to a bar in the city for drinks and atmosphere. Then we headed to IHOP for a late-night snack. I'm full. And tired. Time to sleep. And unfortunately I gotta work tomorrow afternoon. Bleh.

So I had my interview yesterday morning. Had it with 3 different people. First, the hiring manager, then the project manager, and then, the owner of the company. I'm not any good at interviews and I didn't feel really confident about it. But I also didn't feel really bad about it either. I just didn't feel I made the impression I could have. At the end of my interview with the owner was over, he told me they'd get back to me before Christmas. Boy, he wasn't lying! The first person I met with had called me a couple hours later. I wasn't able to answer her call at the time due to bad reception, but she left me a message asking for my thoughts and feelings about the interview and to see if I was indeed interested in the job. I didn't end up talking to her until a few hours after that. But basically, I was offered a position. I told her the job was ideal to me, but that I'd get back to her. Cuz I still need to figure out what salary I should ask for. My ex-prof who put me on to the job in the first place thinks I could ask for more. So, I'm trying to get in touch with her before I call this job back. But look at me - trying to get employed. And if I take this job, my azz will probably relocate... And I get to put my 2-weeks in (if I'm feeling kind) at my retail job. :)

While I was on my way to the interview, I got a call, but again, couldn't answer it cuz I had no service where I was. It was "homeboy" calling, wishing me luck and saying that yeah, we should get up together for lunch. So, we did. We met up and got some grub. Yay - free food! Just kidding. Even if he just got food and I had to sit and watch him eat it, I would do so gladly. :-P Sike, sike. So BaJiGGiTy!

Tonight, Tara, Belinda, and I went to PF Chang's for din-din, then walked around the mall. Saw a couple familiar faces at the mall. One of my friends works in the mall and hadn't seen him in quite some time. And then there was this other girl who recognized me from undergrad. Funny... Belinda thinks I know everybody when we go somewhere. Like, to her it seems I'm always bumping into people. I don't think so...

And right now it's late and I'm tired. I started watching "Finding Nemo," but I think I'll put it off 'til later to finish watching it cuz I gotta freakin' work in the morning. But wow. Didn't know Nemo was deformed. And I also didn't like him in the beginning for the way he was a brat and defied his father. Anyways...

I've got a job interview lined up for Thursday morning. Hope it goes well. Then maybe I can leave the damn mall once and for all. And maybe I'll get hired for enough hours that would make me eligible for some benefits, such as health care cuz I sure don't have any now. If something happens to me, I'm pretty much screwed, right?

Anyhoo... mentioned my interview to "homeboy" and perhaps we'll do lunch afterwards since I'll be closer to where he works. That'd be nice. Still bajiggity...

What a momentous occasion! My dog appears to finally be lifting up his leg to pee. Thank goodness. Wouldn't wanna have a gay dog... :)

Hmm... I think I may have bombed one job offer, but I'm pursuing another, while I wait for the job I "really" want to come through. It'd be cool if I could turn my back on the retail biz once and for all! It'll be a great day for me when that happens. :-P

I did some splurging today. There was a close-out sail and I bought some DVD's and CD's. Some of the DVD's were for friends, but all the CD's were for me. So much money, even if they were 40% off the ticket price.

Well, I'm in the middle of one of the movies I bought: "Punch-drunk Love." It's kinda weird. Not your "typical" romantic comedy. A bit on the dark side, if you ask me...

Let's see... it snowed again. And I had to work today. And the people still came out. What is wrong with you people? Don't ya'll have homes? J/k... It wasn't so bad today, I guess, since I had a relatively short workday. Although, it was still tool ong for me.

So I didn't end up doing anything Friday night. And I didn't hang with Patricia for her birthday Saturday night like I was thinking of doing. Instead, I hung out with "homeboy." Finally got to take him to "the" Vietnamese spot and to my fave Viet restaurant. Too bad we went kinda late cuz we didn't get to walk around to the other shops, since most everything was closed by the time we left out the restaurant. Then we ended up watching "Office Space."

And tonight, I hung out over at Tara's and we watched a couple flicks. I finally got to see "How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days." I really liked that movie. Then we watched "Breakfast at Tiffany's."

I'm feeling quite tired now... I may retire for the evening real soon...

Winter's finally here, I guess. It snowed a couple days last week. And I had to go to work. And the idiot customers still came! Why don't you people stay home! :-P Anyways, it's raining now and the snow has for the most part been washed away...

I told myself I was done with the tattoos. And it's been a few years since I last got inked. But recently, I've been toying with the idea again. Thought up some ideas for a couple more tats that I might like to get some day. One idea that I have would be a major piece and I'm in search for the perfect rendering of it.

Not a lot has gone on with me lately. Not much to tell... Last week, Tara, Justin, and I went to Panera Bread in the mall for dinner and then a game of Scrabble. I been working at the stupid mall. Reduced my hours cuz them fuckers wanted to give me 40 hours a week and I'm a part-timer! Sure, I need money, but I do not like that job enough that I'm willing to give them any more of my time. And before I got rid of some of my hours, there was a point where they had me down for 7 days in a row. I don't think so!!

Went out with Jeannie and a couple other friends Saturday night after I got off work at nearly 11pm. It was so-so. The snow may have kept some people from going out. Had a couple drinks, danced a little. Then we went to Double T for some grub. Got home at 5:30 in the morning, woke up at, like, 8:30am, took a brief nap a couple hours later, then had to go into work. It was a long day of work, but wasn't so bad. I was even kind enough to help a customr shop. She was so pleased she took my name down.

Then I called out of work Monday morning. Partly cuz I didn't wanna go, but also cuz my mom kinda wanted me to. That's cuz her car was messed up. The muffler broke, probably cuz of the snow/ice. My manager wasn't too pleased. Later in the afternoon I called the job up saying I had a ride if they wanted me to still come in. My manager was like, we don't need you now; we needed you in the morning. But then she asked me if I was working the next day, which I wasn't, and if I could come in for a few hours. I felt bad about skipping work so I volunteered to come in. And the power went out during the day. Had to kick the customers and shut the gate. Caused a little problem with the registers. Like the computers weren't putting the taxes on the transactions.

Saw an old friend at my job that day. Anybody remember Miesha from high school? Yeah, she was there with a couple friends. She's in the area for now; maybe we'll hang out some time...

Did anybody feel the earthquake? I sure didn't, but my sister did. That's, like, the second earthquake I've "been through" that I haven't felt. The other was when I was in Mexico back in '99.

Lemme fast-forward to the weekend. I wanna hang out with Patricia as she celebrates her birthday. Hopefully, I'll be able to get to wherever it is she decides to celebrate. And I also may hang out with these guys I met at my job a couple weeks ago. Maybe.

Thanksgiving was good. Went to Philly to visit fam and ate good food. Wish I had some leftovers... Thanksgiving should be everyday! :-) But then I'd be a fat-ass. hehe... Anyways, I arrived back home painfully full. And then I had to wake up freakin' early for my stupid-azz job. Our store opened at 6AM the next day.

It wasn't super busy when we first opened, but it got a little hectic after a few hours. One customer even spent, supposedly, 20 grand. This fob I work with, Mario, was ringing her up and was joking with her saying, "Can you adopt me?" And she, the customer, was like, "I don't have time!" Meaning, she wanted to get her stuff and check out ASAP. She was this Korean woman whom we suspect maybe has a business or whatever so she can resell the merchandise. Funny, she would bring stuff to the register, then go back on the floor to grab more stuff. She even grabbed me when I was walking by. She took me by the wrist and pulled me toward a certain area, pointed to a purse on a display shelf for me to get for her.

Anyways, I hate retail and I really dread going to work and my feet are killing me by the end of the day. And though in general the customers aren't that bad, there have been a few that just want me to get smart with 'em. And shiet - the customer's not always gonna be right in my book! :-P I just may get snippy with them, or remain calm and seemingly unresponsive and refuse to submit to their every desire.

So I had to work all freakin' weekend. Didn't do anything for leisure. Only yesterday after work, Belinda came and got me so we could go watch a documentary. It was called "Girlhood" and it followed the lives of two teenage girls from Baltimore as they were placed in a detention center. The film opens with words on the screen stating how violent crime among females in this country has doubled in the last decade. Check the Maryland Film Festival page or the Baltimore City Paper. It was a good documentary. I'd recommend it. Only an hour and a half long.

Sunday I went to the museum with Belinda. It was cool, but rather expensive ($9 admission, $6 w/ student ID). And we didn't even finish looking at all the art. So anyways, this museum has these changing exhibits every few months. The current one features artwork by elderly people; work done in their 60s and up... And there was some stuff created by young people; youth who had experienced a lotta harsh realities. There were some paintings by a Frank Bruno, I believe, that I really liked. Apocalyptic-type shit and what not... Neat-o stuff. Very vivid images and colors. Then after the museum closed, we walked around the harbor a bit.

Oh, yeah - how funny is it that I just found out that Belinda works with my old middle school Spanish teacher! What a "small" world. (Those who know who my junior high teacher was will be able to appreciate this pun, hehe).

I had to work today and my feet hurt. Damn the man for making me work a full 8-hour workday! :-P And I can't believe they've got me workin' 40-hour work weeks for the next month. I don't care if it is the holiday season! :) See, if it wasn't retail work, I wouldn't be complainin' like this. But things are kinda lookin' up on the job front. I do have some prospects. I'm a hot item. :) Oh, and I met some cool people at work today. An Indian guy and a Persian guy - both friends. Maybe we'll hang out some time. They seemed like cool peeps.

And tomorrow is Thanksgiving. Thanks-give these! Sike... I think I'm gonna try to eat some stuff now. I need to stretch my stomach cuz it was not cool last year when I got full after eating only one plate of food! I only get to eat like this once a year, so I wanna be able to enjoy this day! So... Happy Turkey Day, ya Turkeys!! =)

Another week has gone by... and not a very eventful one. I did absolutely nothing Saturday night. Sunday after work, Belinda came over and we hung out a while and listened to some songs we could sing duet at karaoke. We started out for our karaoke spot, listening to and practicing a song we would sing. But much to our dismay, when we got to the bar we discovered that they no longer hosted karaoke there. How disappointing. Now we must look for a new spot that will have a decent selection of Spanish-language songs to go along with their American collection...

And the next day I was supposed to have off of work. I was on the computer and hence tying up the phone line. So when I got off in the afternoon to check our voicemail, I hear a message from one of my co-workers saying that it was, like ten twenty-four and I was supposed to be in at 10 and that I was a no-show... I'm like, WTF? Those fuckers had changed my schedule without me knowing. Now, I took the schedule that one of my managers had written me when I went in for my orientation and accepted that one. I don't recall anyone saying that this was a tentative schedule that they were gonna change up on me. Bastids... So my days were changed and I even had to close one night. I had requested days! But it wasn't so bad when I had to close. The store was pretty slow. But afterwards when we had to clean up, I started to remember one of the reasons I hated that store. The manager on duty sent me to women's shoes to straighten up. Gosh, you people are filthy pigs! Why can't you put the damn things where you found them?! :-P
Oh, and on Sunday I remembered another reason when I had to relieve a co-worker for lunch and she works in the fitting room. That place can be a big pain. But it wasn't too, too bad that day.

Tuesday after work I met up with my special friend for dinner. We were supposed to go to this Korean place he likes, but it was closed. So we went to a Thai restaurant nearby. Then we went to the Barnes & Noble right there and looked around. We were trippin' off this one book in the humor section that I eventually got Tara for her birthday and he got it for his co-worker. It was so silly... It had a bunch of photos of these, like, toy chicks (as in baby chickens) and these crazy captions.

Anyways, I gotsta bounce cuz Jeannie is here and we're going to the mall...

Hmm... let's see if I can recount some of the events of the past week...

Justin and I went out Friday night. Was supposed to see one of my old friends who was celebrating her b-day at a bar/restaurant. We never did end up seeing her, but we did have a couple drinks and talked. I got twisted from two martinis. I was feelin' it before I even finished the second. Me and Justin then went to IHOP to feed our bellies before goin' home. We hadn't intended on staying out too late cuz we both had to work in the morning. I went to work Saturday morning still drunk.

That evening, went to Friday's with Tara to meet with some friends for someone's birthday. I usually like that restaurant, but it wasn't a good night. The service was subpar and we were there too long waitin' on stuff. Afterwards, Tara and I caught a showing of "Elf." It was alright. It had it's funny moments, but I wouldn't rush to go out and see it. There was a part of the movie where we were both laughing so hard that we couldn't stop or breathe. But we weren't sure how much of it were we laughing at the movie or at each other. Heh. :-P

Then on Sunday, Tara and I again went to the movies. This time we saw "Love Actually." I liked it. Cute film. I would recommend it before "Elf."

We were supposed to have gone to karaoke that night, but change of plans. Justin and called Tara up asking if she wanted to shoot pool and I ended up going, along with another friend. We were there several hours and got home at midnight.

Then it turned out my mom came back home from her vacation a lot earlier than expected. A week earlier, to be exact. She came home with no warning cuz, as it turns out, she got fed up with her daughter and grandkids. She just couldn't take it anymore and decided the very day of to change her return flight. So when my mom arrived at the airport, neither my sis or I was available to receive her car. I had gotten on the internet not long after I got back from the pool hall and so was tying up the line. And then my sis had already gone to bed and turned off her cell. Long story short, my mom ended up calling one of her friends and staying the night there.

On Tuesday, Justin, Tara, and another friend, and I went to Borders to get our read on. Justin was reading some book on becoming a manager, Tara "Crime & Punishment", and I "The Stranger." It was nice and we'll have to go again. And that very morning I finally went and got me a cell phone. Haven't had one of those in a minute and I didn't really like having one of my friends call me via Tara's or Justin's phone.

And Thursday night Tara, Taneka, and I went to a birthday bash sponsored by Tara's company. We all had some drinks and got intoxicated. I went to work with a hangover, ugh. It didn't last the entire workday, but it wasn't too pleasant. But tell me why - this morning my mom pages me (you know the page button on telephones) so that I would let my dog out. I wake up and feel that I'm laying on something. It's my purse. Turns out I went to bed fully clothed in my dress and tights with purse, jacket, contacts and all. I was asleep under my covers just as I had come home except I did have the sense to take off my boots. :-P

Then tonight (Friday night), I went to the movies with a co-worker. It's obvious he's interested, but I'm not. I wonder if I should have declined? Or maybe have just made sure to make clear that I am not interested in him in "that way." Anyways, we went to see "Commander and Master." It wasn't all that. Not a real attention grabber for me and the ending was like "Wha?" to me.

Okay... I think I should attempt sleep soon. Gotta work in the AM, as well as stop by the store beforehand since they're having a potlock thingamajig tomorrow.

Started my part-time job. Ugh - I so do not wanna work. Had orientation today. It's gonna start once it starts gettin' busy for the holiday season. How do I get on welfare? Anybody? :-P

Went to the gym with Tara tonight. That took a while to get me to workout. My sister and Jeannie have been asking. But that's normal for me - to be asked to go and I create excuses. Then after a thousand times I finally make it out.

I gotta work tomorrow and Saturday. I so do not want to! Hope I make it without quitting... :-P

Went to hula class with Jeannie last week. It was alright. Interesting... but since it was not a beginner's course, I was messin' up. I'm not really good with "organized dance", especially having to know hand and feet movements...

Got me a job. A part-time one. Really don't want it, but it's about time I start bringing in some sort of income. It's at a place I once worked at two and a half years ago. Being in that store made me feel like I didn't wanna be there. But I'll be in a different department and supposedly there have been many changes, so, hope I'll last.

So far, Jeannie's the only one who's met my new friend. We went to his part-time job last Thursday. She approves. :-P And I hung out with him today (or yesterday, rather), passing on doing the karaoke thing with Belinda. Blah - I'm gonna try to go to sleep. 'Night!

*Sigh* - what a single phone call can do. It was almost insatiable for it's brevity. Yet it also hit the spot. :) I had called at about 11:30pm, got the voicemail, left a numeric page, got a call back an hour later, and received some affirmations. Yes! Can we say, "bajiggity"? :-P

Robert's posta call in the morning. He still hasn't seen my puppy so he's just may stop through. (Paste this: http://depgai79.tripod.com/dog/rocpillow.jpg into your browsers. Isn't he the cutest thing?)

Attended my first car show Saturday with Jeannie, Shawn, and Ken. It was a'ight, I guess. Maybe if I was a lil more into cars it would've been different. This guy asked to take my photo... and one of the guys with a camera that was hooked up to the large screen started to focus on me several times and I tried to pretend I didn't notice. Then he when he came off the stage he told me I was so shy. heh...

The ride to the show, which was in Jersey, was not too bad. But the way back - blah! Took us about twice as long due to those in the front seat not knowing precisely where we were and going all the way down a parkway that we should have exited long before. So much for Daylight Savings... :-P

Earlier was a nice day. The average temp throughout the state was in the early 70's. I hung out with my new friend. Chilled at his place, ate (he had made bulgolgi; it was good), went to Ruby Tuesday's for some drinks, then went to see "Kill Bill," and then went back to his place to watch televison and what not. He explained some football basics to me cuz I'm clueless when it comes to sports. And we listened to some music. He played this one Outkast song for me. I don't know if it was actually directed at me or if it was just for my listening pleasure... Spent all the day with him, didn't even get to go to karaoke with Belinda. There's always next week. Unless I hang with "him" again. :)

Gosh, I don't how to weigh my job options. What to do, what to do? Anyhoo...

I had another outing with dude from Saturday night. :-D While I was waiting for him at the train station I bumped into a friend of mine who was also waiting for someone. It was Miguel and I got his info so he could possibly help me with what to do about jobs.

So me and this guy friend went for some Indian food and then to this one trendy coffeehouse for a drink. It was another pleasant visit with him. He's an intellectual and I like that! I don't seem to meet many of those that I'm actually interested in! And the feeling seems to be mutual. I wanna go to museums and watch foreign films with him. We'll just see what happens! :-P

Argh - I friggin' forgot to set my VCR to record 'Alias' tonight/last night! Dammit...

Anyways... Sunday, went to mass with my sis and mom, went to buy some items, then we hit up Friday's for lunch. Then not long after being home, Justin hit me up. We eventually went to Border's together where we played Scrabble and he won. Also saw an old friend of mine from undergrad there. Coincidentally, I had just seen that he was on Friendster the night before and added him as a friend. Next thing I know, I'm seeing him in person after not seeing him in a couple years...

Next, we met Belinda up at our Sunday-night spot for our karaoke session. I got back home around 11:30 and Justin and I indulged in another round of Scrabble, which I lost again! Damn that letter Q. Both times I got stuck with it! And Justin wanted to play again, but I called it a night cuz he had to wake up mad early and set out on the road and I wanted to check my e-mail cuz dude from Saturday night said he had sent me mail. It was a brief note, but nevertheless, cool that he wrote me.

Hmm... I think I'ma try to hit the sack. I need to try to sleep at a fairly normal time cuz I gotta take another test on Tuesday for the Army language thing that I been lookin' into...

And another run-in with someone... Yesterday, I was out with my pooch and someone was driving through my street. I saw him lookin' and I figured he was checkin' out my dog. When he pulls around, he asks if my dog is a puppy and if he's an American Bulldog (about the 3rd person to think so). Then he asks if he can pet him. He comes out and I'm chattin' with him about dogs. Then I tell him he looks familiar and ask if he's from around here. He tells me his name and immediately I say "Spanish class." I couldn't remember if I had a class with him in high school or college, but he confirms that it was high school and I name our teacher and he goes yeah, she didn't like me and so on. Funny. He was kinda cute. But then he had to go and mention "my wife." hehe...

Also yesterday, I hung out with Tara. We went to Rocky Run and then proceeded to the theatre to see "Mystic River." It was an alright movie. We didn't particularly care for the ending and pretty much felt the same way, but I ain't mad that I saw it.

Then today, I met with an old friend of mine, Patricia. Haven't seen her in maybe 2 years. We've kinda-sorta been in touch since then, though. We grabbed a quick bite to eat then went to some stores to look for apparell (sp?). I hung out with her a couple hours before we parted ways. And I hate it when I'm waiting for my ride to come and some idiot tries to talk to me. Why are some guys so dumb that when a female is OBVIOUSLY not tryna give him no play, they insist on making a fool of themselves or being pretty darn annoying? I just don't get it...

Anyways... I just got home maybe a half hour ago. I went to get some drinks with this guy I met from the internet. I had corresponded with him some months ago, but then we lost contact. Then I decided to hit him up with a note just to say what's up and we got back to talking and chatting. I had suggested to him that we hang out sometime and so, since he was gonna be closer to my neck of the woods this weekend, that's exactly what we did. He's a nice guy. I wouldn't mind seeing him again. I think we'll be in touch...

Small world...

Went out with Belinda last night. We went to this club - I'd call it more of a bar/lounge - that I've been to before on 3 separate occasions, but not on this particular night of the week. It was salsa night and we arrived early enough to go through the lessons. Belinda already knows how to dance salsa, but she wanted to learn how to lead. I have learned some basics before, but while I think I've got enough rhythm (hey - I am half black! ;)), I feel that I'm not coordinated enough. I don't know what it would take for me to really internalize it all. Anyways, so we went and we danced and it was alright. We'll see how much of this stuff I actually remember. Thing is, when I dance to something, I'll just do my own thing, feel the music in my way. But with salsa, there's a certain beat or measure. And everyone counts in a slightly different way and I just can't hear "it" in the music where I'm posta be counting! So, basically, I just have to have a really strong leader to guide me and for me to follow.

So, regarding the title of this blog - I met a few people at the club last night. One was this guy whom I took to be Arab. And he was - Egyptian. Well, he was with two other fellows, one of which later approached me talkin' about some "I thought that was you." Now, I had thought this guy looked vaguely familiar, but I didn't sweat it cuz I figured it was just one of those things, you know, where some people in this world just resemble other people, or that perhaps maybe I didn't really "recognize" him. So, he comes over to me and I'm all tellin' him how I thought he was familiar, etc., but part of me is thinkin' that this some guy I know, whom I've met, and I must've seen him before, but - I can't remember his name. I actually almost thought he was someone from my undergrad days, but somehow different!

Long story short - he's a guy from the internet. Second time I've bumped into someone unexpectedly off the 'net. He had "thought that that was me", but was unsure. And his other friend had recognized me as well, I guess. Funny, the friend, I never would respond to when he'd written me a couple times. I almost respond to the one dude whom I did correspond with, but in the end I decided to and we had exchanged several notes. Anyways, I gave him my number and who knows if I'll hang out with him some time. I'm not interested in him 'like that', but I defintely don't mind new friends. Plus, we do have something in common, which I had learned from our 'net contact - though he's Puerto Rican/Mexican, he studied Arabic in the military. I'm tryna do things with my Arabic now and I actually have a couple of good leads. Don't be surprised if one of these days I send you an e-mail from Iraq! :-)

I finally saw "Bend It Like Beckham" yesterday. I been wantin' to see it since I heard about it last semester. I thoroughly enjoyed the film and could empathize with the protagonist's being torn between two customs/cultures. It was also fun to see London in the backdrop and to recognize some of the scenery.

Also yesterday, Tara and I headed to the mall so she could get some grub and there we played a game of Scrabble. I won, of course. :-) Nah... I actually found out later that we both used illegal words. Heh. Oh, well...

Sunday, Belinda, Tara and I went karaoke again. That was okay. I hate feeling nervous and having my voice "shake" when I sing. But apparently Belinda and I did a nice rendition of "A Whole New World." We need to work on s'more duets since there's a karaoke machine at her mom's house...

Earlier that day, my mom, sister, and I went to Spanish mass. My sister and I thought that one of the guitarists playing with the choir was rather good-looking. Gonna hafta go back to that parish! :-P I just may. Ms. Ramos was saying I should be a lector there some time. Perhaps I will one of these days. She also said there's some bilingual service coming up soon.

After mass we went with Ms. Ramos to this Mexican restaurant nearby. It was alright. Very filling, too.

On Saturday, Tara and I met with Belinda, then headed to this place to paint ceramics. There are these pieces that are pre-fabricated and all you gotta do is paint them however you like. I helped Belinda by painting some Picasso imitiation on a coaster, while she recreated a Klimt piece. (We didn't do it from memory, but from a picture in a binder.) Then afterwards, we went to the Korean supermarket to pick up some grub so Belinda could cook for us. It was the 3 of us plus a friend of Belinda's for the evening. We helped her prepare the food, had a nice meal and conversation, then relaxed. Belinda and her friend played Scrabble, while Tara and I were trying to take care of Belinda's Sims. (You know the computer game? It's crazy. I need to get some!)

Last Thursday, Tara and I had gone to see Woody Allen's "Anything Else." I wasn't exactly interested in seeing it, but I didn't exactly object to seeing it. Anyhoo, it was a'ight, I guess. Nothing special. Nothing I'd care to see again. I actually busted out laughing on a part that wasn't really funny. Tara said it wasn't nice. But I couldn't help it. I won't even say what it was cuz I could be incriminated. :-P Got two quotes from the movie that I can remember: "Jews start all wars" and "Too much rejection causes cancer."

Then on Friday night we went to see "School of Rock" with Jack Black. That was actually more entertaining to me. It was fun. Somewhat corny, but what can you expect from silly movies?

Oh, yeah - my dog went to the vet for his follow-up on his mange and some booster shots last week. He weighed in at about 49 pounds, which was nearly a 20-pound weight gain in about a month. Justin asked me what do I feed him. Why, other dogs, of course. =)

Geez... the month is pretty much already over. Where did it (the time) all go?

Friday Tara, Justin and a couple others met Taneka, her boyfriend, and a friend in the city to hang out for Taneka's b-day this weekend. We ended up in a small club for the night. It was so-so. Not a bad place, but not so spectacular either that I'd care to go there again...

Then Saturday night Tara and a co-worker of hers headed again to the city for another promotional event - Russel Simmons & his bro, Reverend Run were at a nightclub following a meet&greet they did. We saw them, but did not meet them. And we pretty much didn't care for the place and so we left early - around 12 or something.

We headed to IHOP for some grub afterwards where I saw a cute Bulgarian waiter. I need to go back there or straight to Bulgaria! ;) But our food wasn't that great. It was cold. At least mines was. That didn't make me too happy. But our waiter was nice enough. Or maybe he was smiling cuz he thought it was funny that we were eating food that someone probably spit in. :-/ Ever wonder what really goes into the preparation of your food?

And last night, Tara and I met Belinda at this Mexican bar/restaurant for some karaoke. It was also Belinda's b-day this weekend as well. So Belinda and I finally got to do our Spanish karaoke. It was cool there. We plan to go back, maybe make it a regular thing. The guy who was hosting the karaoke, a Nuyorican, was wondering how or why it was that Belinda and I were so into the Spanish songs since neither of us were Hispanic. Heh...

When I first spoke to this guy, I said something in Spanish and then he said something to which I responded in English and then he got confused. Cuz I told him I didn't speak Spanish and then he was like, I thought I just heard you say something... And then I said something that made him ask if I was Puerto Rican. I told him no and to guess. He was like, you look Native American or First Nation (whatever the heck that is) or Filipino. And I was like, nope and he did end up saying Vietnamese so he got cool points for that. :)

Anyways, last night after I got home, I rewound my video because I made sure to set the timer to record "Alias" while I was out. And, boy, was it in interesting show. I think my sister will be getting me the first season DVD for Christmas. Yay!

Rest In Peace, Professor Edward Said (influential Palestinian intellectual)

Anybody watch the Miss America Pageant the other night? I didn't even know it was comin' on 'til I saw some internet news headline about it. So, I quickly turned it on so I could see the representative of our state. Remember - it's someone we went to high school with. She looked good - her hair looks better. She seems to be the same person as she always was. But I did not like her walk. Like she had a stick up in her butt. And she won the casual-wear round. What the hell kind of outfit was that? I thought it was ugly. But hey - I'm not hatin'. Just simply statin' the truth. Anyways, homegirl was a finalist. That's really good! The commentators seemed to be rootin' for her. Cool stuff.

Man, the army recruiter is comin to get me in about 4 hours. I'm gonna be takin' an Arabic test, so I'm here tryna go through my old notes and refresh my vocab and everything. I don't think I'm gonna cram a lot between now and then. But hopefully, I'll retain some things. And I hope the test won't be as hard as I'm dreading it's gonna be. I wanna make a good impression, but fear that I won't. Inshallah it will all go well...

My dog pooted... and he peed on my hand!!

I was in the kitchen yesterday and my doggy was sittin' on the floor watching me. Then I hear a little "rip." You know, the sound a zipper being zipped might make. Or when you stick your tongue out at someone and blow - that little "pbbblt/pbbft". LoL.

And then there was last night... Belinda and I had gone to the mall and then she bought me "Scrabble" and so we were playing it. We were playing in peace in my room when this little furry baby barges into my room! I caught him and was trying to hold him back, but he kept insisting that he had to enter further into the room and pounce on Belinda or something. Well, while I'm trying to subdue him to keep him from ruining our board of tiles on the floor, I feel a warm liquid on my hand. WTF?!

And then Belinda assists with getting the dog out cuz since I was sitting on the floor when he ran it, I was at a disadvantage. He had caught us off guard. But then... while my dog and I are outside of my room and I am washing my hands, my stupid mutt rushes back into my room, and destroying, once and for all, our Scrabble game in progress. That's okay. Belinda was winning that round. LoL.

The other night, Tara and I had gone to Friday's for a drink with one of her co-workers. Then the two of us proceeded to Damon's for dinner. It was my second time at that place and I didn't like my food the first time I went. But I am not one to write things off just because of one bad experience. But I'll write it off now - Damon's sucks. Once again, my food was not good!! I'm never going to that place again. The appetizers were actually so-so. But the entrees are booty. They should shut that place down and put something else in its place. :-P

Remembering Sabra and Shatila

(taken from an e-newsletter i receive from American Muslims for Jerusalem - and for those who don't know me who may have stumbled across my blog, no, I am not Muslim. the aim of this group is just as relevant to any other justice-seeking American out there)

"This week, the Bush Administration vetoed a Security Council resolution calling on Israel not to expel or kill President Arafat - the latest in a long line of vetoes that leave Palestinians with no protection from Israel's persecution and land theft. Over the past three decades, our government has used its veto power over forty times to shield Israel from international criticism of its illegal occupation and to block enforcement of resolutions calling on Israel to end the military occupation of Palestinian land.

"Palestinians have pleaded with the United Nations to provide on-site monitoring of the situation in the occupied territories, but the Bush Administration has vetoed even this request. As a result, Israel continues to severely violate Palestinian rights and force Palestinians into ghettos throughout the West Bank and Gaza with impunity.

"This latest veto by the Bush Administration is particularly dangerous. It can embolden Israel to kill a democratically-elected Palestinian leader, as many in Israel openly advocate.

"The veto of the UN Security Council resolution calling on Israel not to expel or kill Arafat fell on a tragic anniversary - the 21st anniversary of the massacre of the Sabra and Shatila refugees in Lebanon by an Israeli-allied militia from
September 16-18, 1982.

"While the Israeli military watched and supervised, the Israeli-allied militia slaughtered the refugees of Sabra and Shatila from 6:00 at night on 16 September 1982 until 8:00 in the morning on 18 September 1982. The victims during the 62-hour massacre included infants, children, women (including pregnant women) and the elderly, some of whom were mutilated before or after they were killed.

"The Israeli military, which was in full control of the area where the refugee camps were located, let a deadly Israeli-allied militia enter the refugee camps, decided to help the militia kill the refugees by lighting up the sky with flares so that innocent men, women and children could be found and killed, and forced refugees who were trying to escape go back to be killed.

"US journalist Thomas Friedman of the New York Times said after the massacre: "Mostly, I saw groups of young men in their twenties and thirties who had been lined up against walls, tied by their hands and feet, and then mowed down gangland-style with fusillades of machine-gun fire." While the world watched and did nothing, anywhere between hundreds to several thousand Palestinian and Lebanese refugees were massacred under direct Israeli supervision and assistance.

"Even an Israeli government inquiry found that Israel, and specifically Ariel Sharon, were responsible for the massacre. Sharon was forced to resign as Defense Minister and the Commission recommended that he never again hold senior office in Israel. He is now Prime Minister of Israel, threatening to kill or expel the democratically-elected leader of the Palestinian people."

"cuando se habla lo escrito, se pierde lo dicho"

That's from a movie I just saw on MPT tonight: The Blue Diner. I liked it. It's a nice little bilingual, independent film.

Remember how I said I took the practice ASVAB (Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery, i.e. the SAT's of the military)? Well, I took the real test on Monday and scored a 99 again. That just says I did better than 99% of other people who took the practice test. My recruiter said this means I have the possibility of getting any job in the military allowed to women. But like I said before - I'm just looking at all my options. I don't plan to sell out to Uncle Sam any time soon. I must say that when I was at the MEP station (Military Entrance Processing Station (MEPS)), I felt a little arrogant. I felt this superior feeling to the others who were about ready to sign their lives over to whatever branch of the military. I think it was cuz I thought they were mainly high school students and I'm not too fond of them. :-P It's just that as I got older, and then to see how some kids act, it annoys me. Mostly cuz I didn't act the way they did when I was their age.

And then the even younger kids, like the ones in my neighborhood. My goodness, they are too grown! A little anecdote - I was with my dog and talking to some of the little rugrats. Two of 'em had these jelly bracelets on and I was reminiscing how we (the children of the '80s) used to wear them and stuff. But I'll be damned if there isn't a sexual implication to the once innocent plastic jewelry. Something about depending on the color, this color designates certain sexual acts to be done with the person who breaks your bracelet. Yikes! What the hell is all that about?! And the things they mention about who did it with whom and who got a big this or that. The more I interact with the youth, the more I vow to send my children, should I be so lucky to have them some day, to private school. Better yet, I wouldn't want them raised in this country. The kids these days are too precocious in ways they shouldn't be. I think many of us knew things we shouldn't have as children, but did we all act upon this extra knowledge or speak of it so openly and extensively? I don't think so. It's ridiculous. *smh*

BUSH from a forward I received

MY ACCOMPLISHMENTS AS PRESIDENT:

• I attacked and took over two countries.
  
• I spent the U.S. surplus and bankrupted the Treasury.
  
• I shattered the record for biggest annual deficit in history.
  
• I set an economic record for most private bankruptcies filed in any 12-month period.
  
• I set all-time record for biggest drop in the history of the stock market.
  
• I am the first president in decades to execute a federal prisoner.
  
• I am the first president in US history to enter office with a criminal record.
  
• In my first year in office I set the all-time record for most days on vacation by any president in US history. After taking the entire month of August off for vacation, I resided over the worst security failure in US history.
  
• I set the record for most campaign fund raising trips by any president in US history.
  
• In my first two years in office I allowed over 2 million Americans to lose their jobs.
  
• I cut unemployment benefits for more out-of-work Americans than any other president in US history.
  
• I set the all-time record for most foreclosures in a 12-month period.
  
• I appointed more convicted criminals to administration positions than any president in US history.
  
• I set the record for the fewest press conferences of any president since the advent of TV.
  
• I signed more laws and executive orders amending the Constitution than any other president in US history.
  
• I presided over the biggest energy crises in US history and refused to intervene when corruption was revealed.
  
• I presided over the highest gasoline prices in US history and refused to use the national reserves as past presidents have.
  
• I cut health care benefits for war veterans.
  
• I set the all-time record for most people worldwide to simultaneously take to the streets to protest me (15 million people), shattering the record for protest against any person in the history of mankind
  
• I dissolved more international treaties than any president in US history.
  
• I've made my presidency the most secretive and unaccountable of any in US history.
  
• Members of my cabinet are the richest of any administration in US history. (The 'poorest' multimillionaire, Condoleeza Rice, has a Chevron oil tanker named after her).
  
• I am the first president in US history to have all 50 states of the Union simultaneously go bankrupt.
  
• I presided over the biggest corporate stock market fraud in any market in any country in the history of the world.
  
• I am the first president in US history to order a US attack and military occupation of a sovereign nation, and I did so against the will of the United Nations and the world community.
  
• I have created the largest government department bureaucracy in the history of the United States.
  
• I set the all-time record for biggest annual budget spending increases, more than any other president in US history.
  
• I am the first president in US history to have the United Nations remove the US from the Human Rights Commission.
  
• I am the first president in US history to have the United Nations remove the US from the Elections Monitoring Board.
  
• I removed more checks and balances, and have the least amount of congressional oversight than any presidential administration in US history.
  
• I rendered the entire United Nations irrelevant.
  
• I withdrew from the World Court of Law.
  
• I refused to allow inspectors access to US prisoners of war and by default no longer abide by the Geneva Conventions.
  
• I am the first president in US history to refuse United Nations election inspectors access during the 2002 US elections.
  
• I am the all-time US (and world) record holder for most corporate campaign donations. The biggest lifetime contributor to my campaign, who is also one of my best friends, presided over one of the largest corporate bankruptcy frauds in world history (Kenneth Lay, former CEO of Enron Corporation).
  
• I spent more money on polls and focus groups than any president in US history.
  
• I am the first president to run and hide when the US came under attack (and then lied, saying the enemy had the code to Air Force One)
  
• I am the first US president to establish a secret shadow government.
  
• I took the world's sympathy for the US after 911, and in less than a year made the US the most resented country in the world (possibly the biggest diplomatic failure in US and world history).
  
• I am the first US president in history to have a majority of the people of Europe (71%) view my presidency as the biggest threat to world peace and stability.
  
• I am the first US president in history to have the people of South Korea more threatened by the US than by their immediate neighbor, North Korea.
  
• I changed US policy to allow convicted criminals to be awarded government contracts.
  
• I set the all-time record for number of administration appointees who violated US law by not selling their huge investments in corporations bidding for government contracts.
  
• I have removed more freedoms and civil liberties for Americans than any other president in US history.
  
• In a little over two years I have created the most divided country in decades, possibly the most divided that the US has been since the civil war.
  
• I entered office with the strongest economy in US history and in less than two years turned every single economic category heading straight down.
  
  RECORDS AND REFERENCES:
  
• I have at least one conviction for drunk driving in Maine (Texas driving record has been erased and is not available).
  
• I was AWOL from the National Guard and deserted the military during a time of war.
  
• I refuse to take a drug test or even answer any questions about drug use.
  
• All records of my tenure as governor of Texas have been spirited away to my father's library, sealed in secrecy and unavailable for public view.
  
• All records of any SEC investigations into my insider trading or bankrupt companies are sealed in secrecy and unavailable for public view.
  
• All minutes of meetings of any public corporation for which I served on the board are sealed in secrecy and unavailable for public view.
  
• Any records or minutes from meetings I (or my VP) attended regarding public energy policy are sealed in secrecy and unavailable for public review.

Spread it far and wide, especially about one year from now when he's 're-applying for the job'...........

It's sad that John Ritter died the other day. I often watch Nick@Nite and see the old "Three's Comany" re-runs. :( And he was oh-so-young! I just saw him not long ago on one of the late night talk shows. *sigh* - the brevity of life...

I was at the zoo the other day with my sister. It sucked. Where the heck were all the animals in captivity at? There was scarcely anything to see. Booorr-iiingg...

I went to the club tonight. (Well, now it's morning.) Went with Jeannie, Jamar, and his cousin. I really didn't wanna go cuz I've not been in the mood for clubbing. We went to Dream. It turned out to be an alright night. I saw one person I knew, but dammit - I hate stuff on the DL. I was told "shhh" about seeing this particular individual. Man - I have no drama in my life, so I don't care for the drama or secrets of other people's lives. Anyways...

I danced in the little platform on the second floor. That was crazy of me. What was I thinking? :-P I had enough to drink. Didn't drink much, but enough to be feelin' it. Got my swerve on a bit... Met some peoples. Nobody I was TRULY feeling, but I gave my number out, nonetheless. One of the guys was someone who worked there and he turned out to be Boriqua. Silly him - he said he thought I was Boriqua. Cool.

Danced with this one Bolivian-American dude. Wasn't really feelin' him but gave him my number. I'm stupid. And he was gettin' kinda protective when I was talkin' to some other peeps outside the club afterwards... Not cool...

Met these other guys who rolled together - an Afghani, a Trini, and a Pakistani... I love international crowds. Wonder if I'll hear from them again.

When I went to the bathroom with Jeannie, I was talking to the ladies that worked there - one was from Brazil and the other from Honduras. I was practicing my Spanish on them. Why did the Honduran woman ask how old I was askin' if I was fourteen or fifteen. D'oh! And you gotta be, like, 21 to get in the damn club.

Last night Tara, Justin, and I ended up going to get something to eat. We were gonna go shoot some pool but it turned out that Justin didn't have his wallet on his person and then I discovered I didn't have my driver's license on me. Tara was clearly annoyed, but, ah, well - c'est la vie. So we went to this all-night diner place. There were these Arab men that worked there and I was tryna holla at our waiter. Hehe... He was Palestinian-American. Say word. :)

So, I went to see that Army recruiter just to see what's up. You know, explore some options. I don't have any plans to go into the military, but I did take the practice ASVAB test. Got a 99. Gonna take the real ones this Monday. Robert's goin' in, though. As an officer. Good for him, I guess.

Anyways, I'm tired. I need to sleep. I'm a little drunk. :-P

Isn't the weather just wonderful these days? I love the crisp, cool air in the late evening/early morning along with the clear skies allowing for a view of the constellations. This late summer weather is just lovely...

Anyways, went out tonight with Tara. It was another one of the promotions her company put on at a club in the city. (It's more like a bar/lounge.) Timbaland and Magoo were there. We didn't like Timbaland (or as Tara calls him, fatass, lol) too much. And that butthole said that me and Tara weren't black. He obviously wasn't talking about skin color cuz he's just as light as us. But I guess our features weren't African enough for him. Whatever. He sucks.

Met some cool peeps there. Copped a couple digits of two guys that worked there. Another guy who was part of this group that performed was tryna talk to me, but I wasn't really feelin' him. He wanted my number and I gave him some excuse, so he gave me his. And I gave my number to this young bwoy. (He was 20.) Anyways, it was alright, but the shit ended hella early. How you gonna stop a party at 12? So, we ended up shootin' the breeze wit' peeps outside for maybe an hour or so.

My stupid dog got into the mud yesterday. I have to give him a bath twice a week with this special shampoo for his skin condition, so, I got the mud off him that way. But then, the little butthole got all muddied up again later cuz when I came home that afternoon, my dad was drying him off and had the house running. And after all them damn baths, he still stinks! Sheesh. :-P And I hate giving him that bath with the shampoo cuz the vet's instructions are to let the solution sit for 20 minutes. I don't wanna make my dog wait that long. [If you're interested in what my baby looks like, copy and paste this link into your browser: http://depgai79.tripod.com/me/puppy.jpg. That's him after bath #1 yesterday. :-P]

Man, I gotta go see this Army recruiter later today. Thanks a lot, Robert. I had no intentions of ever gettin' involved wit' them, but Robert was telling me about some job with Arabic and I wanted to check it out. So I called the recruiter up and one job was for a native speaker and then there's another for those such as me as a linguist. We'll see wassup. Military for me is supposed to be my last resort option - like after hell freezes over. J/k. And of all the branches, I never considered Army. Anyhoo...

The other night (Wednesday evening), I got to chat with a guy from Mexico. I hadn't seen him since Spring Break 2001 and we hadn't been in touch. But I sent him an e-mail out of the blue recently and then he added me to his MSN. Ha - he wants. hehe... Well, I got another place to stay should I decide to head back south of the border for a visit.

I F'd up my sleep again. Been goin' to bed late and sleepin' all the live-long day. Ah, well...

I registered for a zero-credit course for this semester, $75. It's just so that I'll remain as a student in the system since I haven't yet graduated. Man, I cannot wait to be able to say I'm finished. I will never again go to school after that. I don't think. Unless it's just to study languages. I dunno. That's what I say, that I never wanna be a student again. Anyways...

Went to dinner with Justin this evening. We hit up Damon's. It was a'ight. We both ordered the same thing, but Justin thought it was really good. Different strokes for different folks. ;)

I made a pillow for my doggie. When I had gone to Target with Jeannie last Sunday, I purchased two cheap bath towels for about 3 bucks, which I later sewed together. Then while earlier today/yesterday when my dad was in PetSmart I ran over to Michael's to grab a couple bags of polyester filling. I took the towel and stuffed that bad boy, sealed it up and put it on the floor. My dog already likes it. :) You should see all the positions he sleeps in: hind quarters stretched back and front legs straight ahead of him, on his back, upper body on his side with his back legs up in the air, or whatever other crazy way he can think of.

Oh, shoot... I gotta find that number Robert gave me for a job. He's lookin' out for a kid. I really need to get into gear. Wish I had more connections!

Mangy Mutt!!

Guess what, guys? My dog has mange. EwWw! lol... He took his first trip to the vet today to get vaccinated and what not and I asked the vet to check out his skin. So, he's gotta be on meds for the skin mites. Luckily, they're not transferrable to humans. She (the vet) said mange is common in my dog's breed (both in APBT's & AmStaffs). She said same goes for Boxers and Boston Terriers. She also said it's a good thing we don't plan to breed him cuz the mange gets passed down to the children and that my dog probably got it from his mama.

So my dog was good with the car ride and at the the vet. Only thing was that it was a little struggle when they had to take him to the back room to be weighed and then again for some shots. He's about 30 pounds now. I wonder how big he'll get. He even got to go to PetSmart. That's cool how you get to bring your animals up in there. :)

Okay, all this talk about dog is making me hungry. Just kidding. But I didn't eat a thing today. Time to feed my belly.

It's already September... people are going back to school and I'm just vegetating. Time to get my butt into gear and handle this Master's degree!

Anyways... hung out with Jeannie yesterday. Went with her to run some errands. When I was in the mall I ran into someone from the past: Hugo. For those I went to high school with, Hugo is the father of the two children little Miss Vanessa had before we graduated. And he was with the two little rugrats who were strapped to his sides. Hehe... They were just clinging to him. They're so big now! Like 6 and 7 years-old. Can you believe? So I was talking to Hugo for a long time. He's a bit chubbier and his curly locks have intermingled with some gray strands. He's been living in NY and comes down every now and again. His brother (Bernardo) is still locked up. I gave him my number, for some reason. And he didn't waste no time in calling. Talked to him tonight for a little bit, although I didn't really want to. But whatever...

So, yesterday I was with Jeannie and then we went to her house cuz she was gonna cook something and I was hungry and we have no food at my house. Hehe. Had to get my grub on, ya know? Was there for some hours and didn't get home 'til about 1 in the morning.

Today I didn't really do anything. I slept a lot of the day away. Chilled mostly. When I went to take my dog out for a walk, met some neighborhood kids inquiring about my pup. Some kids talk a little too much. And what I mean is that they give away too much info. You know, like telling me about someone they know who fights their pits. What if I were to tell the authorities? Or that they use a faulty address so they can go to a school in a different district. Heh... It's whatever, really. The one girl was nice. She was telling me how her family had recently got a puppy - a Rottweiler. And she was saying how he don't like girls, but he likes her. That reminds me of how I was reading on some message board about dogs and someone was talking about how her pooch didn't like men - specifically, white men. hehe. This girl's brother had asked me how old I was and was like "30?" Then his sister goes, "Never ask a woman her age." LoL. Wow. "30." That's a new one. I never usually look a day over 16. :-P

I hate leaving my dog alone, for he whines and barks and cries... But he's gotta learn to be independent. He's gotta learn to be alone, like at night for bed or when we have to leave the house. I know he's still young and we just got him, so it's gonna take some time. But it rips me apart. I can't stand to hear his sad little voice. You should see the way he clings to me. Walks through my legs, just positions himself so that he's touching me. When walking him, he usually remains close to my side, but sometimes a little too close that I'm afraid I might step on his little toes. Well, they're not so little. I think he's gonna get pretty big... If we draw a black circle around his eye, he'll resemble Petey. You know, the pup from Our Gang/Little Rascals. You should see how happy he can get. He wags his tail and it creates a little thud when it hits the wall or something. I think he's gonna make a good watch dog. Sometimes his voice can be so high-pitched when he's crying. But when he thinks someone strange is approaching, he gets a little bass in his voice. hehe... But he was scared of Belinda today. Such that he peed on our doormat outside. Great. I walk barefoot outside the house a lot. :-P

So Belinda and I went to a little Mexican gathering. We went to the house Arturo stays at for dinner. I met Arturo when I studied in Cuernavaca, Mexico. Belinda met him there one year later. But she's been in constant touch with him since. So, we picked up this one Mexican girl who attends the school where Belinda teaches and we had a meal and some convo. Also there was this white kid who recently studied at our beloved school in Cuernavaca, this other Mexican chick who's also from that city, this other Mexican also from there, and - to my surprise - Carlos. Carlos was a teacher/adminstrative guy at the school. When I saw him I was like, hunh? He just arrived yesterday (Friday). He's gonna be teaching here a semester.

Then afterwards we dropped the high school girl off at her place, met her mother and talked there for a while. This girl was nice. We went her to let us know about the karaoke places that have Spanish songs. As much as me and Belinda like karaoke, we oftentimes want to sing Spanish songs but selections are limited...

That's what I did this evening. Now I should go clean my room. I started to rearrange it the day I got the dog. And then the dog has distracted me some. How do you teach a dog to play frisbee?

My dog snores...

So I got a puppy yesterday. He's 3 and a half months old and banned in some states. :-P Well, not in entire states, but within certain jurisdictions, such as cities. Or in my state, an entire county. That's cuz some assholes wanna fight their dogs and what not. My pup is part American Pit Bull Terrier and part American Staffordshire Terrier. Looking up the breed-specific legislation proposals goin' on in my state, some wanna put a ban on 'pit bulls.' Now, 'pit bull' is not a breed, but a type of dog. In the particular proposal I skimmed through, the two breeds that make up my dog, along with the Staffordshire Bull Terrier and the American Bulldog (another dog I wanted), are considered 'pit bulls' and would be seized had the law passed. Oh, and it said any dogs that bearing a physical resemblance to these dogs, too. Stupid, hunh? And I wonder why Shar Peis are banned in some places in Utah...

Anyways, I gotta get this dog an appointment with the vet to make sure he's healthy and to get his shots. It's gonna be a lotta work caring for this pup as he gets accustomed to living with us and since he's still an energetic puppy. He's been pissing all over the place (just ask my sister what he did to her, lol) and he's been stubborn for some reason about going up or down certain steps. I've had to carry him a few times. I need to get him used to being alone some times since he just left the nest. I need to train him to understand at least the basic commands. I gotta walk him so he can get used to our neighborhood, but I gotta pick up his poop. Or I can just run after he does it. J/k. I once had a dog over a decade ago and I was walking her and she pooped on the sidewalk. Whoops! I had to book outta that scene. lol. Eww - speaking of bodily functions, I think my dog just farted. :-P

So, it's Labor Day weekend or something. I got no plans. I'll just be pup-sitting, I guess, while everyone's in NY or at the beach or something. Z'all good. :)

I'm tired. I didn't sleep all last night and I only slept maybe an hour this evening. I through off my sleep by sleeping all day Monday, so that I wasn't tired Monday night. And by Tuesday morning, I just went to the store with my sis in the morning. Then I was gonna go try to get a nap when we got back home, which was around noon. But then I got on the 'net, which always prevents me from sleeping and then my sis was about to go get some lunch with an old friend and asked if I wanted to go along. And so I did. And then when we got back home from that, what do I do? Yes, back on the 'net. Then I encounter Tara on MSN who's talkin' about going to get something to eat and do I wanna come along. And I tell her no, that I had already eaten. But she insisted that I accompany her. But she had some things to do after work, so, we didn't go until 8:30 or 9 or so. We went to PF Chang's. It was so-so. I only ordered the dumpling appetizer. It actually wasn't so great. I'd prefer to buy a bag of frozen dumplings from the oriental markets. Our waiter... I didn't catch his name, but his accent sounded Vietnamese to me, so I finally asked him and, yup - he was my peoples. :) Anyhoos...

My sis and I watched "Head of State" (with Chris Rock) yesterday. It was entertaining. So why do real issues have to be talked about via jokes? Why don't our politicians deal with some of the shit mentioned in the movie? Here's a quote from the film that I'm sure the assholes in this country really believe: "God bless America and no place else!" :-|

I bought the Jessica Simpson CD today. Haven't listened to it yet. Oh, crap. I just realized I missed "Cupid" tonight. Dammit. Oh, well. No more rambling to be done. Later!

"Mama-spoiled black man, will you mature with me? Culture-bearing black woman, whose culture are you bearing?" Tar Baby by Toni Morrison (p. 269)

Like I was saying in my last entry - there's something I like about Philly. I think there's so much there for me. When I was passing through one part of town, I asked my cousin if it was an historic place because I noted the railroad tracks through the street and the cobblestone road. She affirmed that it was and mentioned how the underground railroad went through there. I feel like I could gain so much in terms of learning about Black history from my family and their friends. I learn about Black history in general and family history. I also want to learn how to cook soul food and stuff from my cousin. I come away from talking to people knowing, even if it's just a tad bit, a bit of knowledge, nevertheless - historical, social, musical... just something. There's so much to be learned from our elders. I was watching something on - I think it was Howard University Television - about how the oral tradition is being lost on the young people in the Black community. It's true. I need to start talking to my relatives and learning more about our heritage.

Here's some news - I think my cousin said something about my great-grandmother, that her mom or or grandmom may have been white. Yikes! I don't know if that's true or not, but I think that'd be pretty interesting. I always jokingly deny having any white blood in me, though I really don't know. I'm gonna ask my grandpa or great uncle if they know what's the deal. If this ancestor was white, I wonder if she had blonde hair. Maybe that explains why I have a couple blonde hairs on my head. For reals, I have one or two hairs that are golden in color. But they're not visible unless I actually point it out.

So, yeah... I wanna start learning from the older people, see what they had to go through, like segregation and what not. Get their views on some things. Oh, one thing I did learn, which confirmed by accusation that all men are dogs... I was talking to my one cousin by marriage how all men are inherently dogs. And instead of refuting my male-bashing statement, he only agreed by saying that any men will cheat if he thinks he can get away with it. And then I was reading an article in an Essence magazine by a player that kind of went along with this line of thinking. Not very encouraging... "'... He just gets confused when it comes to women. With most everything else he thinks with his heart. But when it comes to women he thinks with his dick...'"(Tar Baby, p. 255)

Getting in touch with my roots... it's something long overdue. But better late than never. There's so much to be learned.

"He thought he was rescuing her from... them, the aliens, the people who in a mere three hundred years had killed a world millions of years old. From Micronesia to Liverpool, from Kentucky to Dresden, they killed everything they touched inlcuding their own coastlines, their own hills and forests. And even when some of them built something nice and human, they grew vicious protecting it from their own predatory children, let alone an outsider." (p. 269)

I'm Baa-aack!

I got home not that long ago from a visit to the City of Brotherly Love. I was chillin' wit' family. I had a good time. Went to the Outback, the Cracker Barrel, Clementon Park (an amusement park in Jersey)... I was there since Tuesday. I rode up with Justin who had a business meeting outside of Philly. Hope he wasn't too late for his meeting since he took me right to my cousin's door. Well, we offered letting him drop me off somewhere close so that he wouldn't have to get way off his route. But I thank him for doing my the favor of letting me hitch a ride. I took the train back down and tell me why the one Amtrak employee tried to holla at me?? His ass was almost 38 and as young as I look... Ha. He even said he woulda thought I was in high school just by looking at me. But I guess I do have a slightly mature air about me. :-P Nah, let's just be serious - I'm just cute! Sike. He gave me his number and told me to call him when I got home. Yeah, right. :-P

Right now I'm catching up on last week's episode of Cupid. I had set my VCR for that and for the Jessica Simpson/Nick Lachey newlywed thing on MTV. Hmm...

I watched "Bringin' Down the House" while I was up at my cousin's house since she'd rented it. Uhh... the movie had it's funny moments, but it was basically dumb. Glad I didn't waste 8 bucks to see it in the theatre. "The cool points are out the window cuz you got me all twisted up in the game."

One of my cousin's next-door neighbors is this little 6-year-old girl. She is something else. I'd seen her on a couple other occasions before, but it wasn't until this trip that I got to know her a little. She's a little sassy thing. Very grown. She is too much. Anyways, she took a liking to me. Kids seem to gravitate towards me. Must be cuz I'm on their level. Heh. This little girl did not believe I was 24. She said I looked like a teenager. Then after she finally believed me, she always had to remind me that I was 24, but looked like I was 13. :-P My cousin (who's actually my dad's cuz) said she thinks I would make a good pediatrician. She must be out her mind. Even if I were good at science and whatever it takes to enter that profession, I would NEVER go for such a job. I'm not too keen on the potential of treating bad-ass little cretins. hehe... And then my other cousin says he thinks I'd make a good lawyer. WTF? Yeah, right...

Lemme get back to my recordings... D'oh - I didn't get the newlyweds show cuz my tape ran out. Dagnabit! Now I gotta catch it Tuesday...

In closing, I'd just like to say... there's something about Philly that I like and I would like to go back and explore more.

By the way - JP, I'm Crusty Applebrain, lol.

Looks like I'm heading out of town. Justin's comin' to pick me up in 4 hours. Yuck. That means I won't be getting much sleep. I still have to throw my shit together. I made a list and picked out some clothes already, though... Don't know when I'm coming back. I'm thinking the latest I'll be gone is 'til Sunday.

I accompanied Tara to Borders this evening. We put in applications to work there, too. Yesterday, we, along with my sister, ate at the Macaroni Grill. I've only been to that place once or twice before. But I really like it there. Maybe it's cuz you get to draw on the table. I'm easily pleased. :)

I had a pleasant surprise earlier. One of my internet friends who became a real life friend signed on earlier. I hadn't heard from him in quite some time. He rarely signs on. And since I first met him last winter, I only talked to him 4 months ago when I called him up. Anyways, we chatted for a good hour and a half. It was nice hearing from him again. I remember how I used to sweat him, like, all last year. lol. Oh, the memories. hehe... When I sign on with an older version of MSN, I get flashbacks to hear the sounds events from whatever MSN was out back then. :-P But whatevers...

I need to pack so I can try and get a little sleep. Payce!

"Say Yes"

"All you gotta do is say 'yes'..." How many o' ya'll out there listen to Floetry? They was at Dream Nightclub tonight. It was good, the concert. I like them and that's the only reason I wanted to hit up the club. Otherwise, I wouldn't have gone.

Went with some folks... saw some familiar faces here and there. It was fun. My feet hurt now. Wore these shoes I wasn't sure I'd be able to rock, but they were alright. For some reason, my feet don't hurt the same in the same pair of shoes depending on whether I'm dancing or doin' a lot of walking.

Well... I'm gonna attempt to sleep. I'm ready for it to be the next day. Night!

Wednesday night Justin, Tara, and I went to a Mexican restaurant around the way. It's only been opened a few months. It was alright. The decor's kinda nice. I'm still not a fan of Mex food, but I'd go there again.

The other day I saw this film called My First Mister. It starred Leelee Sobieski (or whatever her name is) along with this other actor. It was a good movie.

I'm watching "Sesame Street" right now. :) But that show is just not the way it used to be. I like the old ones better. I was watchin' some Leslie Nielsen flick earlier. I like those strange and humorous films.

I'm so freakin' bored... My sister will be home soon. She drove across the country from Cali and I guess she'll be here later on. I wonder if I'll be home when she gets here. I plan to go out, though I don't *really* feel like going "out-out," that's what I'ma do.

My trip out of town is a work in progress. I called my cousin up to see if I could come see her and she said it was fine. Now I gotta figure out some logistical details and I'll be set. I'm starting to feel nervous. :-P

Tonight I saw L'Auberge Espagnole with Tara. I liked the film - part in French, Spanish, English, and even Catalan. We were either gonna see that or Le Divorce. Anyways, I liked the movie. I wonder if they have a soundtrack...

Afterwards we looked for a place to eat. I wasn't really hungry, though. But we ended up at a Viet restaurant. Now, the Viet restaurants in this area, I never cared to go to in the first place. My instinct told me they wouldn't be "all that." I was right. My pho didn't taste all that great.

Anyways, now here I am at home, already feeling kinda sleepy since I must've slept only about 5 hrs last night. Hmm... I think I'll watch some TV 'til Mr. Sandman brings me a dream...

I'm just layin' hear chompin' on Kim Pop (yummm) and switchin' between Regis & Kelly and the Wayne Brady Show. Despite all my crazy sleep patterns of staying up all through the night and snoozing during the daylight hours, I am up right now - not because I have yet to sleep, but because I woke up early. Last night, Tara and I went to visit with a high school friend of ours. Elliott is in town on vacation. We haven't seen him in about 6 years since we graduated. We ended up going to Friday's for a few hours.

What to do... I'm gonna finish my Kim Pop, watch TV and... who knows? Maybe do some Arabic (the stuff that was due back in May :-X).

"An idle mind is the devil's workshop"

I'm so freakin' bored. Days are just passing by and I'm not making the most of them.

Well, it's after 1 in the afternoon and I've been up since about 10pm last night. (I went to sleep around 2 in the afternoon). I did nothing this weekend. I slept away Saturday. That is, after getting in close to 4 in the morning and then not sleeping until, I dunno, but it was after 11am. Then Sunday, I went to mass with Mom and to the PX and stuff.

Anybody witness or see the result of a car accident Friday evening around 6? Perhaps a banged up black Eclipse whose front license plate was stuck into the side of another car? Well, that was Robert. He was heading down the road with a green light and the right-of-way when a woman with a car full of children coming in the opposite direction decided she couldn't wait and wanted to make a turn into Robert's path. And, boom! Robert's ride was smashed, the airbags came out and burned him and he had to go to the hospital. Sucks. But at least he's alright. Supposedly the lady who caused the accident didn't have the kids in the proper seats or whatever.

Anyways... I'm recording videos off of Spanish MTV. We got rid of our Direct-TV and are trying out a Comcast deal. What I hated about the satellite was that during inclement weather, such as a storm somewhere, the picture would go out. And now what I hate about this stupid-ass cable is that it's digital and appears that it's not any better than that damned satellite. I wonder if it has anything to do with the storm system that's been in the region as of late.

So, I'm recording videos and sometimes I'll have to stop the tape because gets too fucked up, ruining the recording. How annoying. I saw a Julio video. Julio is the brother of Enrique Iglesias and, damn, he's looking pretty good. I don't remember him looking that nice. :)

I'm gonna have to get a nap in soon. Tara wants to do something after she gets off of work and I need to have enough energy to hang out. I'm also plotting. I'm trying to take a short trip. But I don't know if it'll all come together. To see if my plan has the potential of coming to fruition, I gotta make a contact and coordinate some small details. If it works out, I will be skipping town for a few days. If not, I think I'll be quite frustrated. Hey - totally unrelated - why do people pronounce that word "fuss-trate"? The first person I noticed do that was an ex-boss of mine. I don't get it. Is it that hard to say? Or is it some colloquial thing? I know that when I was little I used to say "lie-berry" instead of "lie-brairie" (library). And I know that I say "Feb-u-ary", leaving out that first 'r' sound. I think I really noticed that when I was in the Middle East 3 years ago and what of the ladies I had met there actually pronounced that one 'r.'

Anyhoo... The weather just tricked me. I've been looking outside thinking how nice it looks out. It was sunny and the branches were saying in the wind. But soon as I opened the back door, the humidity hit me. Ugh.

Last night, me, Tara, Belinda, Justin, and Damian went into the city for a night on the town. First we went to this Mexican restaurant for some grub. Then we headed to a Latin club. It was alright. I didn't dance as much as the first time I went there. I got back home after 3:30am. Three hours later I'm still up not wanting to do anything. I've got the TV on to the Spanish channel cuz I wanna get myself accustomed to listening to it. Wish we had al-Jazeera or something so I could practice my Arabic.

Wish I was tired enuff to just fall right asleep...

It's already Friday... where does the time go?

So last night Tara, Justin and I dined at La Madeleine. I had Chicken Pesto Pasta and it was alright. I had eaten there only once before with Tara some time ago. Tara and I had a funny experience there that one time. We ended up not paying - but I won't explain that. :-P So anyways, we had a nice meal (well, Justin didn't like his food) and some conversation. We all got Chardonnay and Tara ended up not wanting hers so she gave it to me. I arrived home with a full stomach and a little buzz. :)

I don't know what I'll do today. I still have to go to sleep, which means I'll be out for most of the daylight hours. But Tara did mention that she wanted to go salsa dancing. Hmm... maybe we'll do that.

Viets Rule!

hehe... I never watched that "Last Comic Standing" reality show, but I hear the Vietnamese guy won. Dat Phan was on "The Tonight Show" tonight. Now Conan's on. It's been funny how he's crackin' on the "success" of "Gigli." Tee-hee. I hate J-ho. :-P Conan said that Mike Tyson was one of the financers who had the misfortune of funding the film (you know how Tyson's been in the news for having blown a few million and filing bankruptcy). Colin Farrel (sp?) was on. He is a hot guy, but I don't like him. He's too vulgar and what not, but I won't deny his sex appeal.

Anyways... so Tara got me to go running today. What the heck is up with that? She ran over to my house and we sat inside for a while. We eventually ran back to her house, then headed to Giant. I hadn't exercised in quite some time. The distance between our houses isn't so great, but still...

I got my tetanus shot the other day. My arm still kinda hurts. I also got the doctor to give me a couple other prescriptions for my personal use. *wink wink* Nahh... I just got some prescriptions for in case I should head to a developing country any time soon. You know, like for typhoid and malaria.

Then afterwards I headed over to the counseling center. I'm gonna be setting up a date with a psychiatrist for an evaluation so it will be official that I'm nuts-o. Heh... Actually, we're gonna see if I have ADD or what. I've got problems with staying focused...

Yesterday or the day before - I don't remember - I had a raspberry & creme flavored Breyers Creme Savers yogurt and it was goood. You should try it.

I recently found out that my friend in London who let me stay with her when I went there won't be coming to the US as planned. :( I was kinda looking forward to seeing her again...

The other day when I was on Yahoo!, a guy I had met, Fernando, when I was studying in Mexico IM'd and was like, what a miracle that you should sign on... Then he proceeds to ask if I remembered Emmanuel. Are you kidding? OF COURSE I remember him! Hehe... I used to crush on Emmanuel big time back in '99. He was a hot boy, but a bit of a player. Anyways, Fernando ended up giving me E's MSN handle. Ha. Craziness. I can't wait to tell to of my good friends from down there. They can attest to how much I used to sweat Em's ass, lol. But it's ancient history and I ain't on his balls anymore. A-ha. I say the silliest things, hunh? I aim to shock. :)

So funny, when Tara was over here, I was showing her some old "Muppet" magazines I had. My sis and I had a subscription back in the day. The issues were from 1985-6. I was flipping through one and there was a section where readers could write in called "Ask Dr. Honeydew." You know the bald character with no eyes and glasses? His head was shaped like a melon and his sidekick was Beaker. Anyways, there was a letter from my sister in there. That was pretty amusing. I'm gonna call my sis when I sign off and ask her if she remembers sending in that letter.

I've been knitting here and there these past couple days. I wonder if I'll actually end up making anything. Probably not. Anybody know how to knit? I think I'd benefit greatly from some proper instruction...

Okay, Carson Daly's show just came on and he declared that he noticed there's a lot of crap on TV. Yeah, Carson - YOUR show! Then I changed the channel.

I'm all outta things to say, but I wanna close with something Dr. Phil said on his show today to a guest.
Mad funny: "Did you just fall out of the dumb tree? And hit every branch on your way down?" lmao

I was just watching a segment on "60 Minutes" and they had this pop artist, David Hockney on. He has this theory about the classic realist paintings, that something called optics was used to create much of this great body of works. I missed the beginning of the segment, so I'm not totally sure of what optics is, but it has something to do with lenses and mirrors and tracing, I think. This was interesting for me cuz realism is my favorite genre of paintings. Anyways...

I went out in the yard with my mom yesterday evening. She's always out there late gardening and what not. I helped trim the shrubbery out there. I did most of the bushes. But I was sweaty and didn't want the mosquitoes to eat me up. And the contraption I was using to cut the branches was hurting my hand. So I went inside. But I think I did a pretty good job out there.

Oh, yeah... the other day when I was talking to Tara on the phone, she was telling me how this girl who went to our high school was crowned Miss Maryland 2003 and she was in Jet magazine. So I go look through some of our recent copies of Jet and, sure enough, there's Marina in there. The last time I saw her was a couple years ago when I was interning at the State Department. She had some clerical job at the annex I was at.

Anyways... it's 8pm. Let's see what's on TV. And I'll probably be chattin' with my sister and whoever at the same time. Later, dudes.

Where does the time go??

It's already August 1st and I've spent much of this summer doing what I do best: absolutely nothing. I've had the opportunity to spend QT with some of my good friends, but some of the things I could have been or should have been doing didn't get done. That is, school- and work-related things.

Nothing to spectacular has been going on with me since the last time I blogged. Or at least, not that I can remember. :-P My memory is so shot. I need to go take my Gingko Biloba. But it makes your poop green. Sike. I can't remember what the side-effect was when I did take them. Maybe it did do that... haha.

I watched a Shirley Temple flick over the past two days. And I cried. Hehe.. I love Shirley Temple movies.

I was watching the Disney channel late one night. I saw half of a "Boy Meets World" (my favorite show when it was still on TGIF, especially with the original Morgan). Then "The Smart Guy" came on, followed by "Sister, Sister." I thought it was funny that Kobe Bryant had a cameo in the episode I happened to catch. Then the boy who plays Jordan on "The Bernie Mac Show" had a very minor part on it, too. So was Kid of the old hip-hop duo Kid 'n Play; he made a guest appearance as a fictious rapper called Chilly-T. Heh...

Still haven't gotten a dog. Last weekend, made a trip to the pound, this time with Tara. She got sad being there. It is sad cuz you just wanna adopt every single one of the puppies. I saw this American Bulldog there, but too bad it was already adopted. And there were 3 Pit Bulls and none were for adoption. I asked a guy that worked there why that was and he told me they don't release the Pits from their facilities due to the fact that there are some idiots in this country who like to fight these dogs. So, the animals are sent to Pit Bull rescue shelters.

Then after the pound, we stopped by Target then headed to G'town where we ate at this Mexican restaurant. We were there for an hour or two, then we found Borders and sat and read. Later that evening, we went to a party with Shawn and Jeannie. I've been friends with Shawn since undergrad. And Tara's probably known Shawn much longer, as he was a friend of her brother's. It was a house party that we went to. It was alright. Didn't meet everybody. And while some of the people seemed cool, some were extremely annoying. I can't stand dummies. My sis sent this funny forward. Looked like it was a scan of a newspaper article (though I wouldn't know if it was real or not), but anyways, it was talking about how idiots can kill you. It said something about how some people who suffer heart attacks who are otherwise healthy can attribute it to stress caused by dealing with idots in the workplace. I wouldn't doubt that it was true. That'll probably what kills me. It goes back to what my dear friend Ayanna once told me: you have no patience for stupid people. What can I do?

The elderly cousin I mentioned in my last post past away. Too bad I never really knew her.

Some of my cousins were down here this last weekend from Philadelphia. They went to visit some relatives in DC and they spent the night at our place. It's actually my dad's cousin and her husband. My cousin, she wants me and my sis to come visit her. We'll see. My sis will be home soon. Done with the Air Force. Let's see how long it takes for us to get into a fight. Verbal and physical. Not long, I'm sure. :-P Damn shame, too. Oh, well.

I went to IKEA for the first time last week. I wanted to get the Billy bookcase for $39 since the catalog said the prices were valid until July 31. I wonder if the prices have gone up or down now. Anyways, I went there just to get the bookshelf and be out. Didn't really look around. A nice young man helped me locate the item I was looking for. He was cute. I should go back there. :) I do really wanna go back. To me, it was like a nice, modern-day art museum. I'm gonna try to get my dad to take me. That way, maybe he'll buy me something. :-P

Oh, since I love to talk about how much I love America, let me mention this: my health care will be running out in a couple weeks. And who the hell knows when I'll ever have it again? Yeah, this country is great. The best health care in the world - for those who can afford it. I tell you, I spent $2,000 for health care (that I paid for with loans) for the past 2 years and it didn't even cover eyecare and dental. Ain't that some shit? Anyways, next February it will be 10 years since my last tetanus shot and you're supposed to get those every decade. Since I won't have any insurance that I know of at that time, I decided to make an appointment to get my shot before my insurance expires. I better hope I have no life-threatening or other serious issues while I'm uninsured.

Did I already complain about the increase in commuter fares? That soo sucks that all that shit went up. For example, I used to pay about seven and a quarter for a round-trip train ride to discover that that bad boy had jumped up to 10 bucks. Yo - that's a lot; a huge difference. Those fuckers. It sucks so much more for me considering I'm unemployed and owe over 80 grand in loans. Damn the man!

Enough about that BS... Some know about the disappearance of my doggie. He's been missing since the beginning of May and I have no idea as to his fate. I sometimes wonder what happened to him. Did he die? Did he get hit by a car? Did someone steal him? Wish I had closure, but I think I've already accepted that I probably won't find the answer seeing as how two months have already gone by.

I have been doing a little research into certain breeds of dogs because I would like to have another dog. I was interested in a Presa Canario, which is native of the Canary Islands. But after doing some reading, I discovered that that's probably not the best choice for me at this stage in my life. I just don't think I would be able to devote all the time that this dog requires. So, I've been looking into other dogs which are, as the Presa Canario, in the Mastiff family. I've been considering Pit Bulls, American Bulldogs, American Staffordshires, and the Dogo Argentino (Argentinian Mastiff). I really want a Dogo Argentinian. I was upset when I missed an opportunity to grab a free one I saw in the classifieds. I had called too late.

My father and I visited the Animal Control facility in our county on Friday afternoon. The trip made me happy and sad. Tears even came to my eyes to see all those homeless doggies. I just wanted to adopt them all. And I also got sad to see the caged dogs in a separate room with tags on their cages that said "Mandatory Impound" and most said they were "bite cases." I didn't know if that "mandatory impound" meant that they had to be euthanized or just that they had to be evaluated. But it made me sad. There were a couple Pits in there and German Shepherds. And even a medium-sized hound dog. Pit Bulls have such a bad rep, people thinking they (along with Presa Canarios) are dangerous animals. But the truth is, the dogs that many think are a threat only account for less than one percent of all bite cases in this country. I read that off some website.

Anyways... the other dogs at the pound... Many were purebreds. Some had been given up, others were strays. One that really made me upset was this Cocker Spaniel they had nicknamed "Granny." She was about 14 years-old and very fat. But it was an abnormal bloatedness to this pooch. She was kind of like a pillow or something and she looked so helpless. Blind or almost blind, and I wonder if she was hard of hearing. Poor thing. I hope she dies happy.

There were lots of Rotts and Labs and I liked a few. There were a couple a Pit mixes that were cute. And I'm not a fan of the smaller breeds of dogs, like toy dogs and terriers and what not. And there were two small breeds in a cage and I was feeling sorry cuz someone like me wouldn't want them, but good - on the cards on their cage it said that they were already adopted. :-P

There were two American Bulldogs there. One was a young female who had already been adopted. But the male was still available. Although he was maybe about only a month older than the female (10 months), he weighed about 15 pounds more - like 80 pounds. He had a huge head and he was just really sedate. He didn't do much moving and he was even falling asleep as he sat there staring at us. My dad later asked me what I thought of it. I think there's a possiblity that we may try to adopt it. All ya'll who want a dog or cat... or even rodents - go to the pound! Don't support those pet shops in the mall or whatever. So many nice animals already without homes, we don't need to support those businesses that just turn animals into breeding machines just for mere profit and then kill what they don't think is desirable. Ever heard of puppy mills?

Yesterday my dad and I headed to DC. I didn't even know where we were going. My dad is like that. Like before we went to the pound he just asked me if I wanted to go for a ride. But I somehow suspected that that's where we were going anyways. And yesterday he asked if I wanted to ride to DC. I later find out that we were going to visit a sick relative. As we were driving in the city, I noted that there were a lot of Latinos, for which I was not really aware of their presence in the District. Later, a relative at the house we ended up at commented to my dad on how there some white people and Hispanics in the 'hood. Then before we left a cousin wanted to go around the block in my dad's new ride and my dad had something about how there really were a lot of white people. I asked him about it and he said cuz before, there didn't used to be ANY there. Times sure have changed cuz there sure are a lot of white people there now. I'd be really interested to see if any historians/sociologists have written about this phenomenon in the particular section of the city. When the one cousin was talking about the Latinos that lived some houses down, I laughed when she said there were like 10 of 'em. I found it funny cuz I understood it as being there were ten in one household. You know the jokes. LoL.

So about my dad's car... He hasn't had it that long. But it's all high-tech. When he puts it in reverse, the side-view mirror automatically adjusts itself so the driver can see towards the level of his tires. My dad was parallel parking and the damn thing even beeps once you get a certain distance to the curb. Must be nice... Wish I had a car. :-P

Anyways... so we had gone to visit a relative of my dad's. A distant cousin. Turns out that Cousin Hattie has a brain tumor and she's too old to operate on so she'll probably die soon. It was her 83rd birthday (wonder how long I'll live) and we had cake and ice cream to celebrate. Cousin Hattie was in a bed with a nurse feeding her when my dad and I arrived. And there these other distant cousins there, some that hadn't seen me since I was "yay high" and I didn't really know who they all were. :-P But yeah... we were there a couple hours. The ladies were talking about the treatment of Cousin Hattie before her daughter (who my dad said Hattie adopted when she was 8-months) arrived. How some people were in and out the house and this and that... All these people wanted to visit with her and such-and-such. And how so-and-so was taking advantage of Hattie's poor condition.

My dad told me on the ride back home that Hattie has a lot of money so everybody (non-family) from her church or wherever wants a piece of it. Shame.