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

Latin craze...

Okay, I've been so lazy to blog lately. I still am, but I wanted to see what JP was talkin' about in his blog about the new Blogger interface for posting. :-P

Let's see what I wanna blog about... Well, last night, me, Tara, and Belinda hit up a Latin club and had a good time. I met this dude from the internet there and his friend. It's weird cuz rarely do I care to meet people offline, and especially in such short time. I scarcely knew a thing about this guy. Barely could tell what he looked like from the pic he sent me. But in one of the pics, he had a nice chest. :) Anyways, luckily, he was attractive in person. And so was his friend. Dude is Panamanian from Panama. And his father is actually Indian/Malaysian. I was sweatin' like crazy. But I guess I also just sweat easily anyways. Yuck. It was fun overall. But tell me why dude tried to kiss me when we were all sayin' good-bye. Had to turn my head. Sheesh. Movin' kinda quick there, don'tcha think? :-P

And why can't some guys not take a hint? Or two or three? When we had left the club and were walking, this guy tries to talk to me. He asked if I had a minute. I was like, no. He asked me my name. I'm like, why you wanna know? He said something about me being cute or having a nice smile or whatever. I'm not giving him my undivided attention. I'm steady walkin' with Belinda and Tara and talking to them. Then this fool goes, are you ignoring me? I said, yes. Umm - hello! How can you be so stubborn? I'm trying to be honest without being overly rude, but apparently, I need to just go the straight-forward, I am not interested in you in the least bit route. Sheesh...

Then the girls got pizza and I asked the guy who was working at the pizza place where he was from. He said to guess. I told him I wasn't good at guessing. He said Africa. I say, North Africa? He says yes and we all begin naming the countries, but couldn't come up with his. He was from Mauritania. So I ask him the usual, do you speak Arabic? When he said yeah, I once again busted out in my limited verbal skills and that always gets 'em. There were 3 dudes and I was chattin' it up with them. That was kinda fun.

And actually, before I had even crossed the street to go to the pizza place, I just went up to this Latin brothas in an SUV drivin' down the street and just start messin' with them, askin' if they were high and that they shouldn't drive high. LoL. They were Dominicans. Yay! Hehe - that's cuz I'm in my Latino stage right now. Tara claims I was holdin' up traffic. I mean, I admit that this was in the middle of the road, but I coulda sworn there were cars in front of them... Then 5-0 was at the back of the line and turned on their "horn." While I was talking to these guys, tell me why a car moving in the opposite direction grabbed on my booty? LoL... Belinda and Tara kept tryna call me over cuz they had already crossed the street and here I go talking to strange people in the middle of the road. :-P

Tonight Tara and I met Belinda and this other chick up at a Latin festival. We got there around 10 and it was very small. It was a'ight. Nothing real special. Then we headed over to another Latin club that was okay. Last night we danced mostly salsa and merengue. This time, I danced Bachata for the first time. I can do the basics for these dances, but once you start to throw in the twists and turns and shit, I sometimes get confused. But it's cool if you have a really good dance partner who leads and pushes you into the steps.

So, yeah... that's what I've been up to... I watched "Signs" in the afternoon. It was an okay movie. Aw, damn - I actually was kinda scared to go into our garage with that movie in my mind. We've got a 2nd fridge in their and I went to get a drink out of it and it was all dark and I was kinda thinkin' some alien would be behind my dad's car. LoL... I still would like to see "Finding Nemo"! Alright, I got nothin' more to say that I can think of... Peace out!

Happy Juneteenth!!

I just learned of this celebration that's been going on for over a hundred years: Juneteenth. It celebrates Blacks being freed from slavery on June 19, 1865. The so-called liberation of Blacks did not occur a few years earlier with the Emancipation Proclamation. And it sure as heck didn't happen on no July 4, 1776 when the white Americans gained their freedom. It's really sad that I never thought of it before, until I looked at this one girl's webpage - why the heck would a Black person celebrate the Fourth of July when our people weren't even freed at the time? Anyways...

Today is also my parents' anniversary. 31 years, I think...

I made a skirt of an old pair of jeans. I don't know if I'll actually wear it. I'm not sure the back looks all that great. And the seams will probably unravel in the wash since I basically had to do most of that bad boy by hand. lol

I wonder if I'll ever suffer from high blood pressure. (knock on wood I won't). I bought some kosher salt - you know, the coarse grain stuff, for a recipe I wanted to try. And I sometimes I just eat the salt. I've always done that - eat salt, that is. But everytime I go to the doctor's, I'm always told my blood pressure is normal.

I just realized the other day when I went to a grocery store about 15 minutes from my house, that I live in a real hick of an area. I guess what I call home has always had it's fair share of suburban ghettoes and white trash... But I never really questioned it before.

I've got an extremely short attention span. I can't start a task and stick to it. I always have to take a break, to stop and do something else before I return to it. That is, IF I even go back to doing it. One of my current projects, which I may never complete: teaching myself French. I'd never really had a particular interest in the language. I mean, the sound and writing system... Just didn't strike me as an easy language. Yes, I study Arabic, but Arabic makes sense to me. And though the sounds are different from English, I think I duplicate them better than I can the French language. One of my Lebanese friends opined that French was harder than Arabic, and he's a fluent speaker of both languages. I don't know yet if I'll find this true, but I don't doubt it either. We'll see. I'm gonna go try some français now...

"Home Demolition

Dear People of Conscience:

Please take the time out to view this 40-second clip.

Thanks.

Qué bonita bandera
qué bonita bandera
qué bonita bandera
es la bandera puertorriqueña!

So I spent the weekend in New York City. Yay! Was present for the annual Puerto Rican festivities. Mm, mm, mmm - those boriquas. Thass what I'm talkin' about! hehe

Tara and I went up there Friday afternoon and came back last night. It was fun. Well, more so for me. I got my ego boosted this weekend. Aha. Especially Saturday at the festival. Unfortunately, it was raining. But we walked around anyways to see all the fly papis. Syke. Sorta. :-P Despite the rain, there were still a lot of people out. And I was gettin' more attention than Tara. That was fun cuz usually she the one who be gettin' all the cat calls here at home. But not this time. And she was HATIN'!! Boy, was she ever! lol Cuz damn, she wasn't used to not being the center of attention. I was like, damn - can I get my 5 minutes of glory? Shit. hehe... And this trick was like, yeah, but not a minute more. Silly ho. But yeah, this was very good for the self-esteem. I didn't hafta be dressed like a hoochie or nothin' to get guys to holla. And Tara, with her big breasts, ain't have nuttin' on me that weekend! lol. Lemme stop. But yeah - them Latin men... Not that I was really interested in any of 'em. Some of them are just too short for me (since I'm like 5'6"). And not all that talked to us were that attractive. But their personalities and whatever - they were generally cool peeps. It was good.

Yesterday, when me and Tara were in Times Square lookin' for a place to eat before heading back home, I coincidentally met this dude from off the internet. So funny cuz it was so random. It was this guy I had talked to before online through notes and forums or whatever. But that was like months ago. So, anyway, dude walks past me and says, "I like your style" and keeps right on walkin'. I tell Tara and we look at him as he walks to the corner. He does turn back to look and whatever. I'm kinda smiling cuz he look kinda cute and stuff. And he's talkin' to this one guy on the corner. I didn't know if he was just a pedestrian, a street vendor of sorts, or this guy's friend, but the two are looking our way and talking. So, the guy who complimented me comes back and I walk over towards him. We start talkin' and whatever, then we exchange e-mail addresses. And I'm lookin' at his screenname and I'm like, "hmm..." Then he makes a note over the screenname to indicate that two "letters" are in fact numbers and then the bells really go off. I start askin' him if he's a member of any internet communities and then I find that I have spoken to him before, etc. Funny, he's a lot shorter than I would have thought. But anyways...

I got to see this girl I hadn't seen since I was in Jerusalem in Summer 2000. She's from Brooklyn and I met up with her briefly just to say hi and what not. That was cool. There's another chick I met in Old Jeru that summer whom I didn't get to see, but she just moved to Brooklyn herself. Oh, well - next time, though.

Man - I need to get me a job so I can get me some new clothes. Lotsa shops there. The way I was dressed this weekend was kinda trendy/funky. A new thing for me, influenced by Euro styles. I was rockin' it this weekend. :) I was a little nervous about what I put on for the parade yesterday, but I think it worked. I was self-conscious when people would stare or look me up and down cuz I couldn't read their facial expressions. I couldn't tell if they were thinkin' - what the hell is she wearing? or, that's interesting or, cool. But overall, I think it was positive. But now my feeties (got that word from my 7th grade math teacher, hehe) hurt. The price you pay for looking cute. Just kidding. But, what a weekend! Gotta go back up on another occasion.

Rain, rain, go away...

It's been raining the past couple of weeks and I, for the most part, dislike rain. :-( I hope it doesn't rain on our "parade" this weekend. Tara and I are setting out for an adventure. Wow - this'll be our first time traveling together, just the two of us. I still gotta figure out what to pack. I'm the type that doesn't like to pack a whole lot. But, with this "iffy" weather and the fact that we wanna go out at night at our destination, we're gonna hafta pack extra stuff... Hmm.... Maybe Tara will be up for going to the Salvation Army before we leave. I want some 'new' gear, for minimal prices.

Went to the gym with Jeannie Friday night. We were in there for nearly two hours. Then we went, along with Tara, to workout on Monday. I'm still nice and sore. But I'm still not in the mindset for exercising. I'm telling Jeannie to force me to go with her 'cuz I will make up an excuse not to go.

On Saturday, Tara and I went shopping/window shopping in G'town. That was fun, pretended like we were upperclass. Hehe... Then we got dinner at my fave Viet restaurant. Too bad it was so late - we didn't get to get bubble tea 'cuz the shops there had all closed.

Then Sunday, me, Tara, and Justin went out for a late lunch at some Southwestern restaurant. Food was alright. And we walked around the mall for a bit, got our bubble tea. I've been eating out a lot lately. I've been shopping. I'm spending money as if I had a job. Not good. I need to hit up the career center at school.

Tonight, I'm slowly cleaning my room. But I am a bit tired. I'll probably end up sleeping on the floor or a corner of my bed since I piled stuff on my bed. Ugh, if only I could snap my fingers and it'd be finished. :-P I was lookin' at this IKEA catalog. I was thinking of investing in some furniture that might help me better organize my "collection." Can someone take me to IKEA?

No pain, no gain!

Ugh - I'm sore. Especially my glutes. The girls and I headed back to the gym Wednesday afternoon for a workout. I hadn't been in that place in months! So my body aches. But I like it. It's that masochism thing, ya know? And gosh - men are such gawkers! I need to get ugly friends so that won't happen. lol, nah... That's not nice. :-P But still - men are such pervs. I bet a lot of 'em were married or had girlfriends. :-/

Today looks like such a lovely day, from what I can see through the window. Haven't been outside. Don't know if I will set foot out the door. But I do need to head back to my old apartment to get a few things and to give back my keys.

I'm so bored and I don't feel like doing some of the things I need to do. :-/ Blah.....

Tryna get domesticated, lol. Went to the commissary with my mama yesterday. Then helped her out in the kitchen. Kinda had to since she's got this cast kind of thing on her wrist. She had surgery about a week ago for carpal tunnel syndrome. Jeannie and Tara had some of the food before we headed to the shoe store, where we met up with Belinda. And I had to wash the dishes that night since my mom couldn't. Man, I'm gonna have dishpan hands. :-P And look at me - I even did my laundry and I don't have to 'cause my mom will do it.

Despite that she's kinda workin' with one fully functional hand, my mom continues to do manual labor. Not long after she had surgery, she was out in the yard gardening and shit. I'm talkin' pullin' up and cuttin' roots, and what not. But it's cuz she's bored and cuz she has time since she's out of work for the time being. Anyways... I'm hungry. Gonna raid the 'fridge.

The month is almost over. And I still haven't done my assignment that I should have handed in over a month ago. Ugh... It's gonna be an arduous task.

Sunday, Tara and I met Sherlene, her parents, and boyfriend at some Chinese buffet for lunch. Her parents paid for all of us. That was very nice of them. Then later that evening, we all met again, along with Taneka and her boyfriend (and minus the parents) at the Olive Garden for dinner. I did not like the Tortelloni that I ordered and they all told me I should send it back. I was so scared to do that cuz I'd never done that before. But they all said it was permissible and this and that, so I sent that shit back and ordered dessert.

Yesterday, I went to the mall with Jeannie. I ended up buying a cute little purse, shoes, two shirts, and some driz-awls. lol. I do not need to be spending all this money at malls and restaurants since I'm unemployed. Where's a sugar daddy when you need one? :-D

Today I went with Tara to various locations. After she dropped her dirty clothes off at the cleaners, I saw this girl I hadn't seen in quite some time. I need to hit her up and see what's good cuz she headin' up to NY soon. I'm tryna go. Tara and I also hit up the library and got some language materials. Let's see how our self lessons go. Then we went to the mall, got bubble tea, ate... Saw someone from undergrad... Eventually, we proceeded to Borders. I ended up getting a couple fashion mags.

Oh, the other day when me and Tara went to Wal-Mart, I copped me a copy of "Creep Show" from the bargain bin. Yay! Haven't seen that movie since like '84. I wonder if it'll scare me still.

Okay... nothing exciting is really going on. I'm bored writing this. Bye.

Last night I went out to eat with Tara and Taneka and Copeland's. I'd never been there or even heard of it before then. It was a nice place. Saw a cat from undergrad there. Gosh - it's been over two years since I must have seen him. Anyways... After our meal and some chit-chat, I went back to Tara's house where I finally watched "The Sweetest Thing." It was a fun movie, I guess. But now that I've seen it, I'm not sure if I'm really bajiggity or not? lol

I need to clean my room. I moved all my stuff from my apartment back to my parents house over the weekend and it continutes to sit on my bedroom floor. I scarcely have room to walk. And it takes me FOREVER to clean my room. I always have to do it in stages. I can never do it in one sitting. I am easily bored or distracted. I'm gonna try to put some shit away today. *Try* is the key word. What I need is public storage. I've got way too much stuff. And I'm a bit of a pack-rat, so, I don't throw out a lot of my stuff. You know, like old school papers from high school... middle school... even elementary. Cuz, you know, I'm gonna wanna look at it one day. Or cuz you just never know. :-P Whatever...

What's on the agenda for today besides staring at this clutter on my floor? No sé. May hang out with one of my girls whom I haven't seen since before Christmas. To do what? Not sure. She was talkin' about checkin' out this one play. And for me to see her new apartment. We'll see...

And my girl in Mexico e-mailed me askin' if I was goin' down there or what. Maann... I don't know. I'm on the fence about it. I was kind of deciding that I just wouldn't go, but since I got her e-mail, I'm reconsidering it again. We'll see. I don't have a whole lot of time to think about it. And I still need to do an assignment for my Arabian Nights class. My professor should be coming back to the country very soon and I don't wanna disappoint him. This sucks.

I was listening to Minnie Ripperton's "Loving You" not too long and I finally heard what one of my internet friend's mentioned: that Minnie calls out her daughter's name at the end of the song. I thought it was gonna be, like, one time, in a sort of whisper or something. But no, she's actually singing her daughter's name. How sweet!!

Okay, time to tip-toe across the room through my mess and attempt this organization process...

Happy Birthday, Malcolm X!!

If violence is wrong in America, violence is wrong abroad. If it is wrong to be violent defending black women and black children and black babies and black men, then it is wrong for America to draft us, and make us violent abroad in defense of her. And if it is right for America to draft us, and teach us how to be violent in defense of her, then it is right for you and me to do whatever is necessary to defend our own people right here in this country.
Malcolm X

People who know me and with whom I don't keep in regular contact with may think I've become some kind militant with some of the things I express in my blog. But the fact of the matter is, each day I just become more cognizant of the world - via school or my travels or whatever medium. I'm realizing the truth that is not exactly hidden from us, but is simply not presented to us, rather. And actually, a lot of the pro-Black things I say, I think I've always had it in me, yet just needed a catalyst to bring it out. And with all my pro-Black sentiments and my tendency to stick up for my peoples as much as I can in the face of injustice, I must admit, being of Asian descent and with some of what my mom has instilled in me, I believe in all honesty that Asians are the superior race. Hey - it's true! :-P I even said this in front of a classmate, whom I believe to be a "closet racist," and, surprisingly, he agreed! Yeah, he know wassup. ;)

Alright, enough with my ethnocentrism... My birthday celebrations are officially OVER! Goodness - what were we thinking? This Saturday, me, Tara, & Jeannie hit up that one club where that one chick (see the May 11 entry) works. She hooked us up - got us in VIP, had free drinks all night. My, my - we drank a lot, we danced a lot. We were crazy. Some of the night is a blur to me. Yikes. That's not good. It was another one of those nights after which I suffer from a hangover and vow to never again drink. LoL. We slept in the car that night. Hehe. Tara and I even heaved a bit. Gross. I don't think I wanna go out again in that manner. My clubbing days are over. Unless, of course I end up visiting my girl in Mexico. Then I'll have to party Mexican style. :-P But seriously, I'm gettin' too old for this shit. I need to chill for a bit. Dancing on top of bars and talking to all these guys I would never give the time of day to is gettin' old, too. Hehe. It's time for me to settle down. What I need is one good man. To a certain Boricua one state up - holla! ;)

The further jazz moves away from the stark blue continuum
and the collective realities of Afro-American and American life,
the more it moves into academic concert-hall lifelessness,
which can be replicated by any middle class showing off its music lessons.
--Imamu Amiri Baraka [Leroi Jones]

For all the years of slavery and suffering my people have experienced, it just never seems to end. This country was founded on the blood and sweat of my ancestors. The indebtedness is infinite. And Black culture continues to be hijacked by a lot of non-Blacks. It should be a compliment that so many have an appreciation for or should want to imitate African-Americans. But somehow it's not, due to who's profiting and who's not, who's getting credit and who's getting gypped. You took away who we were when you brought us here and separated us from our family and our roots. We regrouped, we overcame, we became strong, in spite of it all. Hey, Mr. White Man - can we have our culture back? You took our history. Can we have something that belongs to us, whilst we're still not equals in this nation we helped build?

I've always had this thought in the back of my mind. But this current blog was inspired by the June 2003 issue of Ebony magazine. There's an article inside entitled, "Why White Stars Are Ripping Off Rap and R&B." I never liked Eminem. Even though I heard Blacks talk about how he's quite the lyrical genius. But I couldn't stand seeing a white person get props for excelling in a Black art. And it's not about prejudice. It's something more than that. I'm not sure I know how to put it into words, but maybe if you read the article, you'll understand. But only just a little. You know that phrase, "It's a Black thing - you wouldn't understand"? I believe it wholeheartedly. And I'm only "half."

I am black: I am the incarnation of a complete fusion with the world, an intuitive understanding of the earth, an abandonment of my ego in the heart of the cosmos, and no white man, no matter how intelligent he may be, can ever understand Louis Armstrong and the music of the Congo. --Frantz Fanon

Justin Timberlake? Psshh... Another annoying example. Back Street Boys and N'Sync getting airplay on both Black and white stations. But the music they sing - it's nothing new. They're singing what we've been singing for years. But it only gets the wide exposure through white artists. The article in Ebony mentioned how the record conglomerates market the artists differently based on race. They believe a white person has a better chance of upping sales, reaching a wider audience. Maybe sad, but true, but it's all still B.S. When will it end? Elvis took Rock from us. Lenny Kravitz has kind of taken it back. Even he admits to all the Black genres robbed by whites.

Oh, and back to that annoying-voiced white rapper - when I was in London, I was talking to my friend's housemate, Ralph. Ralph, who is white, is into all kinds of music and is trying to get into the business himself. He's actually working on something, which I believe he said is kind of rap, but very hardcore. Maybe a metal feel to it. Something "dark." I asked him if it was anything like Triple-6 Mafia and he kind of affirmed. I expressed to him how I felt about whites being successful and getting credit for doing Black music. He brought up some lyrics from one of Eminem's songs: "Look at my sales/Let's do the math - if I was black, I woulda sold half." Ain't that the truth.

So, the Blacks who do support these white artists in whatever capacity - be it choreographing, writing beats - they're in it as much for the money as anybody else. I think that's what they get caught up in. They're not seeing or acknowledging that Blacks who may be even more talented than these white superstars are being ignored, or not receiving the attention they deserve. It's all about the almighty dollar. Sell-outs - they're always bringin' us down. Well, you probably won't catch me buying these albums by white artists if it's a hip hop or R&B they're makin'. I'd much rather give back to the community...

Color shouldn't even matter. But the fact of the matter is: it does. And I believe this to be a unique case to the United States regarding such an issue.

The Afro-American experience is the only real culture that America has. Basically, every American tries to walk, talk, dress and behave like African Americans. --Hugh Masakela

"Public transportation's for jerks and lesbians." - Homer Simpson

So I didn't make it to mass yesterday. D'oh! I was gonna go to the 11 o'clock one, but I was running a tad late. So I figured, I'll go to the one at 12:30. But after I started looking for stuff to wear, I got tired cuz I really hadn't slept. I thought I would take maybe an hour nap. Everytime I pull one of those numbers, setting my alarm to wake me up, I always decide I need more sleep. So I thought I would go to a mass later on in the afternoon. Well, I finally get my butt up and dressed and what not trying to make the mass that started at 7. And dagnabit - after walking 20 minutes, I arrive at the chapel to learn that there is no mass. Starting just that very day the mass schedule had changed. (I go to a Catholic university, so, that's why there are masses all day long.) They're on some summer schedule or something. And the next mass wasn't gonna be until 10pm. So there I am on campus and no mass to attend. I go to the library thinkin' maybe I can go pick up a book I'd requested and the freakin' place was closed!! Ugh. So, I ended up going to the campus convenience store - at least that was open. I got some rations since I'm still starving. The past week or so, I've been surviving off of a "meal" or less a day. When I say "meal," it's really not a meal. More like a snack. Anyways...

Nadine and I are in our Center's computer lab. We're, like, the only ones here. We both have to finish our papers that were due Friday. But she's much, much more farther along than I. Right now she's workin' on work for a different class while I sit here lollygaggin'. It's what I do best. :-P I'm SOO not motivated!! Hope Dr. Esposito don't get on us for handin' our joints in late...

I checked my grades online today. I guess I forgot to make sure my Hebrew class was "audit" cuz it said withdrawn and I didn't go through the procedures to withdraw from it. But I did withdraw from this other course successfully after the withdraw date for grad students had already passed. And I got an A- in my translation course. Of course I got nothin' for Esposito yet. And my Arabian Nights course... I still have yet to hand in the paper that was due before Easter. I thought the prof was just gonna give me an "incomplete." But, whaddya know? I got an "A." :-D Cuz I got it like that. ;-)

Allergies suck...

Still slackin'...

Ugh! Why can't I just get shit done? I've basically got two papers to write - and they're both overdue. One was due before Easter, and I believe I will receive an "incomplete" in the class. Although I am not looking forward to writing that paper, I am not extremely worried about it since the professor likes me. :-) Anyway, he's in Tunisia right now, so, I got time to hand it in until he comes back. Then the other paper I got was due Friday. But I just can't get my mind into it. I've been too busy celebrating my birthday, which is a week-long celebration. :-)

Friday night, Nadine, Shireen, Afshan, her brother and his girl, Nawal, Tara, Jeannie, and I went to this Thai restaurant for dinner cuz Nadine wanted to go out for my b-day. Then afterwards, Jeannie, Tara, and I hit up some bars and had a pretty decent time talking to different people. We met some crazy, older Afghani men and there were lots of Moroccans. I dazzled the Arabophones with my Arabic skills. Hehe. I mean, I'm not that great at it, but they appreciate it when Americans make an effort to learn their language and what not. And I gave this one guy my number, even though I wasn't really interested in him. Besides, I gave him a number I won't be at much longer. Hehe. And then we got home at 4:30am.

And damn - the guy I gave my número to, that fool already called me! First message, he's all yellin' and I guess he didn't realize he got the voicemail. Then there's another message that he left in Arabic and I didn't fully understand it, but I caught some of it. Then he calls again later and I really didn't care to talk. But damn - he all sweatin' me. LoL. He was talkin' to me in Arabic and he kept asking me if I understood him. And I didn't always understand him. Especially since the Arabic I learned is formal and I think he was mostly speakin' dialect. And he said something in Arabic about me entering his heart. Haha...

Then Saturday night, Jeannie and Tara took me to my favorite Vietnamese restaurant. We got our grub on and Tammy came by to say hi and give me a little gift. Cam on, em! And salamat, Jeannie, for the happy bunny mints. lol. I liked that. =)... And at the restaurant, I try to say things in Vietnamese when I can. And that's usually a mistake cuz then they bust out in Vietnamese on me thinkin' I understand it. Dammit. I've gotta learn that language. It's frustrating not being able to speak your mother tongue! Maybe I'll find me a Vietnamese guy. But damn, I'm on the Puerto Rican tip right about now. LoL.

So, after the dinner, we hit up the bars in the same area as the night before. But it wasn't as fun and we called it a night fairly early. Around 2am. Oh, and we saw a couple people I used to (and maybe Tara did, too) at the commissary. Anyways... upon arriving home, I discovered that the shirt I ordered on eBay came. Yay! It's this yellow t-shirt with the continent of Africa in black and kinda bubble yellow letters inside of it, fitting the shape of the landmass and it says: Black Power. Can't wait to rock it. =)

Oh, when we were in line for this one bar Friday night, I saw some peeps from my undergrad. Theeeenn - I end up seeing this chick that we all knew from middle school walk by. So, I call out her name, unsure if it was really her. And it really was her. That girl had been on the Jenny Jones show for whatever crazy topic - boob job and having men buy her stuff or whatever. And I knew she appeared on the show again, but not as a guest but as, I dunno. Some kinda "prop." And I'd heard about her being on certain kinda... websites or whatever. And then I actually saw her website and, like, whoa - who knew she posed in Playboy or Playmates or whatever? Anyhoo... she told us she works at this one club and she told us to go in two weeks and she'll get us in VIP and we'll have champagne all night or something. Heh. We'll see if we go...

And this night, we went into one of the same bars we went in the night before and there's this one guy that works the door. When I went in Friday night, I asked him what his ethnicity was cuz he looked interesting and sort of attractive. He told me Greek and Ethiopian. I was like, cool. And he asked me what I was and thought I had a pretty neat-o mix, too. Hehe... So, I saw him again the second night. When he let us in, he ends up calling me back to get my number. He said he'll take me out and show me a "good time." Whatever that means. I'm not really interested, but at the same time, I don't mind making friends. But if I go, then I'll probably give the wrong impression, right? Hmm... Plus, I'd feel awkward if it were just he and I. We'll see. I'd rather go out with this Puerto Rican hot boy and... Haha - Tara and Jeannie say I'm "bajiggity." They got that word from a movie I haven't seen, "The Sweetest Thing." Jeannie called me it first and when I told Tara, she totally agreed. But this Boricua is fine! And he really seems like a good guy. Tara said he was "cute" and Jeannie said he was a "cutie patootie." LoL. And I say, ¡está bien rico! Mmmmm...

Okay, I need to stop. And I have a 15 to 20-page research paper waiting to be written and I know it's not gonna write itself. I don't wanna turn it in extremely late. But sheesh, it's gonna take me a lifetime to crank out these pages. I'm slow when it comes to these things. .

Ah - I spoke to my homegirl in Mexico yesterday and she wants me to head down for her graduation. I'm still thinkin' about it and I need to hurry up cuz it's a little less than a month away. And she was talkin' about goin' to Acapulco, too. And goodness, we always talked about Costa Rica and how we should go there one day. But I thought I was kinda-sorta joking, but I think she's for real about going. Like this summer! That's crazy! But, hey - it could happen. If we went, it'd be in July. But I told her - what about Puerto Rico? Hehe... But the PR hottie won't be there in late July. He's goin' a month earlier. I wanna go, too. :-D

And it was mother's day in Mexico yesterday. Itzel and her mom wished my mom a happy mother's day. I passed on the message already. But now I need to call my mom up in a few hours cuz I never did get around to sending her a card. D'oh! Maan... it's another scam of greeting card companies and what not. And they don't even celebrate this in Vietnam and Cambodia. Well, who knows about nowadays, but they surely didn't when my mom was growing up. Why she hafta pick certain Western traditions to celebrate while constantly reminding me that she's not American and that I'm not American either since I came from her? :-P But that's the way it is...

So... today I'm going to try to keep my nose in the books and with this damn research. And I need to go to mass, get some prayer and worship in so He can help me write this paper. God - through whom all things are possible, and the only way I truly survive this life.

¡Feliz Cumpleaños, Enrique!

Jeje... Today is Enrique Iglesias' birfday. He's 28. Nice and ripe. Yeah, he could get it!! LoL... I don't know what it is about him. He's not the greatest of singers and he's not the finest man in the world and I know he's a bit of a ho, but I find something so sexy about him. And in that one video where the chick lifts up his shirt to reveal those savory abs... Haha. I dunno. I guess there's just something about womanizers. hehe. He's just like his dad.

Anyways... Thanks to all who wished me a happy birthday: Tara, for calling me at midnight and sending me a lovely bouquet of roses, Nadine and Shireen for the well wishes via IM (and for the dinner you will take me to on Friday), Jeannie for the IM birthday wish (as well as the dinner she will take me to on Saturday - my choice of McD's or Hardees, lol), Ayanna for calling me up, my momma for calling me, too, Charles for leaving me a message, JP for shouting me out in his blog, Marcos, my internet friend whom it seems we have quite a few interests in common concerning the Arab world and I'm trying to convert him to my frame of mind (hehe) and the strange coincidence that we have the very same birthday!, et cetera, et cetera. :-D Thanks, people. This makes me very happy. I'm regaining some faith in my American friends, which I believe I sort of lost over the years, enough so that I was ready to just up and leave to another country if I had the chance, thinking there would be no one to miss. Heh... Yeah.

So, I need to write this stupid paper, which is going VEEERRRY slowly so I can party all weekend long. God grant me the motivation!