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.

Eggspectation

That's the name of the restaurant Tara and I dined at last night. I just had the chicken nugget appetizer. They were actually tenders and not nuggets. And the honey mustard sauce was crappy. Tasted like almost nothing and it was kinda gross. And it came with fries. And I had dessert - some red velvet fudge cake. It was okay. I coulda done without it. Belinda met us up there while we were already starting our cakes. We talked for a bit. They chided me some. Why? Cuz I was on the verge of leaving town to meet a certain someone.

This "certain someone" is an individual whom I don't actually know in person. And that's the reason I wanted to make this journey. I wanted to go visit this cat for the day, but due to the public transportation gods being against me, I think this adventure will just have to be put on hold. Jeannie really wants me to meet him. Nadine didn't see why not. Tara even wanted me to get to see him. But then, Belinda had her reservations and Tara began to have doubts...

They think I am really naive (which I am) and they don't want me givin' up my goods (hehe) or anything like that. They don't want to find me in a "situation." But I seriously doubt anything un-kosher would happen. Belinda was talkin' 'bout she comin' with me and she's gonna make sure nothing can happen. She was like, I will be right with you and if you move into the next room, I will go in there right after you. LoL. Silly ho. And Nadine thought I should take Tara with me. But yeah, right. I will not have any of my girlfriends accompanying me as I meet a guy because I am rather insecure and I don't trust their good looks. :-P

But either way... Doesn't matter cuz I couldn't find a suitable, economical and efficient way to get to where "he" is. But maybe next week. Or perhaps he will be able to come out this way. I am so anxious to meet this dude. Not wanting to set my self up for disappointment, as I am prone to do, my highest expectation is that I will have gained a new friend. You can never have too many of those. Though, good ones are hard to come by. So are men. But that's to be determined what Mr. Man will be like. But hey, gotta try to remember not exceed the "eggspectations." :-P Okay, so that was corny. So what. Go suck an egg. :-D

I watched "Late Night with Conan O'Brien" tonight. That show trips me out. There are some segments that are kinda cheesy, but other than that, it's laugh-out-loud funny. It's just what I need cuz I usually don't laugh that hard. Isn't laughter supposed to be the best medicine? And Rowan Atkinson AKA Mr. Bean was on Leno. I wanna see his film "Johnny English." Anyways...

I watched "Arabian Nights" last night. It was about 3-hours long. Wanted to watch it since I had been exposed to the actual stories from class last semester. It was an alright movie. At first I had trouble getting into it cuz I was distracted by the casting and what not. First, British accents. Then, the racial diversity of the characters was throwing me off. They obviously weren't worried too much about historical accuracy. But I guess ethically, it was about art and who could do the job. Yeah, right. Whatever. John Leguizamo played the genies (there were two). And Oded Fehr had a small part. He's the Israeli guy who was in "Deuce Bigalow" and "The Mummy."

Yesterday... err, on Sunday, I went with Jeannie and Shawn and Shawn's co-worker. First we went to a mini carshow in the parking lot of a shopping center for about 5 minutes. Then we headed over to the mall, walked around and got some grub. Good to get out the house every now and again, "this lime-tree bower my prison." Oh, son - you like that Coleridge allusion, don't you? Heh - I know that most who read this won't get it. Whatever. :-P

It appeared to be a really nice night last night. It was cool, clear sky, bright moon. Too bad I was inside. I think I need to experience more of nature. Anyways...

Belinda came over last night and we watched this Chinese movie called "Quitting." It was in Mandarin, but with subtitles. It was alright. And in terms of cinematography, a little different. It was the cross between a movie, a documentary, and a stage play. Every one in the film played themselves. It was a true story based on the life of a former actor, turned drug-addict about what he and his family went through up to his recovery.

Hmm... no plans for today. Belinda was talkin' about hangin' out. I don't know what I feel like doing. It'll be fine if I end up just staying in the house, but I seriously need to do my Arabic assignment. When I was on campus the other day for my appointment at the career center, I bumped into Kelly, my old classmate. She's been askin' me what's the deal, when we gonna meet and what she should tell our old Arabic prof. I'm like - tell him you never saw me! I'm so embarrassed and don't wanna face him while I still have yet to hand in my paper to him. The day I finally do that, I am going to dabble in the fine art of "brownnosery" and also give him a gift. Hehe.

But I wish I had some Arab friends around my way to assist me in this arduous task of writing a 500-word essay in reaction to some ancient story. ayna intum, ya sha3ab?

Cupid doesn't lie... (from that 112 song)

I watched "Cupid" the other night. Looks like I've got another reality show to be hooked on. Well done, Simon Cowell! Too bad it was on at the same times as "The Dating Experiment." I hadn't seen that show and was trying to watch it in between commercials. Anyways, I thought it was pretty amusing the way the bachelorette on "Cupid" had some pretty ruthless friends. But the one short, sassy Paula Abdul-lookin' one seemed to be sometimes too extreme. No wonder she's divorced. :-P

Anyways, I went to the career center at school for the first time after spending two years at the damn university. I met with Sylvan so he could help me with my resume. Dammit. I had to do some major editing. And my lack of job and leadership experience doesn't make for the most competitive resume. So he's talkin' 'bout finding me an internship. Maaan... I don't wanna! Unless it's paid... :-P

Went out with Tara last night to a bar-lounge in the city. Some promotional event goin' on with the company she works with. It was alright. My feet hurt when I got back home. Did some dancin', had some fun. Drank some, but didn't even get a buzz. Woody, ex-Dru Hill member was there. He asked me if my one tat on my back hurt to get. And he showed me the tat he has inside his lip, says "DRU." Asked him if that hurt and he nodded his head fast. Heh... He asked me how many tats I had, told him four. When I asked him how many he had, he was like, 'bout 20. Whoa.

Anyways... this summer is going by rather fast. I need to get off my butt and get some things in my life in order.

I gotta get ready in a minute. Tara's comin' over so we can go to the mall together. She wants to hit up the mall and get something to wear for tonight. You see, we're goin' to a concert. And the truth is, neither of us really wants to even go anymore. In fact, I wasn't too keen on going in the first place because of the artists who are headlining. But, I kind of wanted to get out the house and hang out. We purchased the tickets a over a month ago, so, neither of us knew how we were gonna feel as the date approached. Kinda suck, but that's life. :-P

Last night, Belinda came and picked me up and we went to a Korean-owned karaoke bar in the city. It was alright. Kinda empty. We sang some songs. I hate the way I sound! I felt my voice sounded different through the speakers and Belinda said so, too. I hate when I first start singing and I'm so freakin' nervous the I can hear my voice quiver and my heart's all pounding. Anyways...

Ugh - what took my dad so long to turn on the A/C? He didn't turn it on until yesterday afternoon/evening. I spent the entire day and night all hot and bothered. Hehe... Well, it was just not too comfortable. I felt like I was in the ghetto or something. LoL. I had my windows open and the ceiling fan in high gear, but it was so warm that all I wanted to do was just lay there and not move. I guess I should have gone to another part of the house cuz my room is just wack like that when it comes to climate control. Anyhoo...

I really like MPT (Maryland Public Television). I've been telling my self that when I'm financially stable, I'm gonna pledge money to that station. I've pledged money once before. You know when they have those telethons and they focus on a certain program and offer different things depending on how much you donate? Well, once they were showing something on the famous glassblower, Dale Chihuly. I saw one of his major displays at the Tower of David when I was in Jerusalem three years ago. So, one of the gifts for one of the smaller donations was a video entitled something like "Chihuly in the Light of Jerusalem." So, had to get that cuz I could watch and be like, "I was there!"

Anyways, I just love the programming on that channel. So educational. And wholesome. I was watching some of "This Old House" yesterday, hehe. Who needs cable when you've got MPT? :)

Well, I should get dressed cuz Tara should be over soon. Later, dudes...

Went to the Caribbean festival with Tara Sunday afternoon. It was alright. We walked around a couple hours. Maybe next year we'll go on Saturday so we can see the parade.

I finally saw "Amélie." Tara let me borrow her DVD. I liked it. It has the same girl in it that was in this other movie I saw: "Happenstance." Tara's tryna catch me up on various films cuz I'm so behind on all kinds of cinema.

Oh, I've got another ethnicity to add to my list. When we went dancing Saturday night, this guy told me that me and Belinda looked Nicaraguan. And he was Nicaraguan his self. (Hey - should it be "his self" or "himself"? :-/)

There's thunder goin' on this evening. Earlier, it shook the house and sort of frightened me. I don't like that.

I'm bored. Some one should throw a party so I can go. :-P