I HATE to Exercise I LOVE to Tap

So last night I finally went to the gym. YAY! They have these flat screen TV's there each playing a different channel, one sports, one news, one prime time, etc. Well, I started watching E.R. and it was so engaging that I ran for an hour without even noticing. I could have gone longer, except the gym was closing! It was about this woman in her early 30's, she suddenly collapses at home after sending the kids off to school. Turns out she's had a stroke, due to a blood clot traveling to her brain. The scary thing is, something similar happened to my friend Melynda just recently, except it was a blood clot in her lungs, also potentially fatal. Anyway it was that chick from Sex and the City, the short-haired one, and the whole thing was from her point of view, like her internal monologue and what you see from her, the patient's, eyes. She couldn't talk because of the stroke so it was all what she was thinking and trying to say. It was very disturbing, clearly gave you the picture of what it would be like to experience that, the helplessness and fear, etc.

They told her husband that they could either do a procedure where they try to suck the blood clot out of her brain, which could reverse the stroke but also might kill her or put her in a coma, or leave her as is, and she may be able to live indefinitely. He was thinking about letting her live indefinitely so as not to risk her life, and in her head she's like, 'no! i can't live like this! this is worse then death, i'm awake and aware! i consent! i consent!' but of course no one could hear her... so then she raises her good arm, and he notices and comes over. It was so touching i almost got choked up when he said, 'ok, lets do it' because he knew, just by looking into her eyes, what she was trying to communicate.

It made me feel really good about being at the crappy gym, running on a crappy exercise machine, because like, this is one of the things you have to do to minimize your chances of ending up in a situation like that. You *have* to take care of your body in order to enjoy life later on after the years haven't been so kind to you and your youth seems so far in the past.

Also, from a vanity standpoint, everyone wants to have a hot bod! But seriously, after 30 your metabolism starts to slow down, and if you don't double your efforts and really make a commitment to have fitness be part of your life, you will turn into every other 30-something-- you know, the ones you would look upon disdainfully when you were in your high-metabolism-20's, those old, shapless, kind of blobby lumpy unattractive middle-age looking people who look like they just-- gave up? which is kind of my personal nightmare.

So, let this be the first day of the rest of my life, and not a 'new years resolution' that will fizzle out in a few weeks. I'm back on the wagon, er, elliptical machine! Who's with me!!

sad, sad, sad day

Meiko Max
Well, in a sorrowful turn of events, suddenly today Blogger is blocked by my company firewall. Oh well, so instead of blogging I looked at puppies for adoption in the Baltimore area. There are so many cute and needy ones out there, makes me wonder why people go out and buy from breeders. Other then my blogger tragedy, nothing really new going on, went to Ikea and bought a bunch of crap, admired the well-put-together living room, kitchen, and bedroom displays a little enviously, mostly felt a little blah, shoulders hurt, not in a great mood, not looking forwards to new years, need to start excercizing, tired of the cold, stayed up too late wrapping presents, don't have enough time to do the things I want to do or even the things I need to do, as usual, what's new, blah blah blah goodnight.

this is too long, but who wants to work today anyway?

So, Christmas.
I spent Christmas with my boyfriend and his mother, stepfather, and little brother in b.f. Virginia. It was actually pretty nice, lots of yummy vegetarian food, the Redskins beat the Cowboys, and I got some sweet gifts (even though we agreed not to buy any this year!!). I took a nice drive to the Shenandoah mountains where there was a tiny mountain town with an old-fashioned country store, a swinging walking suspension bridge over a bubbling crystal-clear pebble-bottom river, and some secluded mountain cabins nestled in the snow, their front porches overtaken by heaping mounds of chopped wood, a trail of smoke drifting, tranquil and lonely, from their chimneys, surrounded by a forest of stark, barren trees rising to the sky. It was very zen.

There was a terrifying/hilarious moment that night when we thought we broke the guest bed in half.... It was a futon, and was just trying to fold itself back into a couch with us in it, like a taco, or a hungry venus flytrap...

The next morning we went to church- it was a small country church that looked like the inside of an ark. The pastor said things in his sermon like, 'Have you ever been all lathered in a dither?' and 'you know how kids can get, all wiiild and wooly'. Haha. I'm not Christian but, mostly it made me think, 'there has to be more to church then this.' Like, a fancy cathedral with the sunshine filtering in through the stained glass windows, a choir that makes something stir inside of you when you hear them sing, a sermon that compels you to try to be a better person... I've never been to anything like that, but these small-town churches with their boring sermons and white-bread Christian contemporary music just doesn't do anything for me. I'm not religious at all but I feel there is a beauty to be found in religion, I just have never experienced it. I passed the time by reading the Book of Esther in the bible- a damn good story whether you are religious or not!

The next day we went to V's father's side of the family's holiday dinner. There are a couple of Jews there that are somehow related and they always bring Jew food, like kugel. There was a killer Cuban black bean soup and also a fruit/coconut side dish that was delish. After dinner, V's father, an accomplished musician, and his cousin Jason played a few songs on the guitar. Jason had such an amazing voice that I have no doubt he could be famous if he put his mind to it. Before I had to leave he played Leaving on a Jet Plane, Mary (great song by Patty Griffin), and finally Shelter, a song by Ray LaMontagne, who I hadn't heard of before. It was so incredible that I immediately downloaded his album, Trouble. If you are one of my favorite people, you will be receiving a copy of this in the near future, yet another reason to rejoice knowing me :P. If you're not one of my favorite people, click here to have a listen.

Monday V took me to a play, West Side Story, at the Lyric Opera House in Baltimore. It was so sweet of him because I know he isn't into musicals, not even a little bit, somewhere deep down inside. We got all dressed up (V made an entrance, coming down the stairs in his suit and tie, the handsomest boy in the world) and went to Kumari on Charles St. for lunch, it was sooo gooood. I noticed people walking in eyeballing us with a mixture of envy and mirth, the good-looking couple in the seat of honor by the window overlooking Charles Village from on high, obviously with more interesting afternoon plans then them, perhaps imagining what swanky event we might be going to next :P

Next up- trying to survive the yearly hannukah party

Song of the day (er, my life?)
You Can't Get What You Want (Till You Know What You Want); Joe Jackson

like woah

Sickest news story I've read in a while

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MEN: LOOKING FOR A REALLY DIFFERENT GIFT CONCEPT FOR THAT SPECIAL LADY?

Look no farther.

Advisory: This gift concept is so different that you probably should not actually click on the link.

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For Christmas, what do you get the person who has everything?

"Wonderful gift for horse lover" ?? I think not!

Buy it now, on E-bay!

hurry, no bids yet!

all good things must come to an end: human nature?

The other day I was talking to my sister about relationships, after she had a fight with her b/f. She fears her relationship turning into what she calls, 'Ima and Aba's relationship' (That's 'mom and dad' to you unilinguals!) - basically, becoming roomates who are sort of working together to a common goal, a marriage sans fun, romance, companionship, courtship, spontinaety, etc.

Probably everyone has experienced this on some level, in past relationships-- first everything is happiness and doing little things to make the other person happy, gifts, trips, going to the theatre, flowers, compliments, hugs, backrubs, cooking dinner together, talking about your day, your ideas, trying to make the other person laugh...next thing you know, cooking dinner is a chore you do to feed the other person, no longer done in the fun, working together way, now a source of irritation (why do i always have to cook, i work full time too, no one appreciates me!), he's on the computer for hours, you start going to bed at different times, the sight of her dirty dishes in the sink or his socks on the floor causing a feeling of disgust that overshadows any urge to cuddle on the couch with him while he watches the game, or rub her feet at the end of the day...this in my opinion is the beginning of the end.

At this point, dissatisfaction with the relationship sets in and it goes one of two ways: the distance grows, arguments become more frequent and heated, this creates an even bigger distance, culminating in eventual break-up (or cheating) to find someone who seems to be able to give them what they miss and crave in their existing relationship, OR the scenario more common with people with young children: both parties come to terms with the way things are, but stay together out of a sense of duty and/or convenience and laziness/fear of change, sort of doing their own thing and trying to make it work at least on a partnership/not arguing on a daily basis level.

So, is this inevitable??

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Eminem Music Allegedly Used As U.S. Torture Device haha

On a lighter note, these are classics:

1984?

Read this article and tell me if this is terrifying or neccessary or both:

Report: Bush OK'd Spying in U.S.

Here's an excerpt, for low-attention-span slackers:

Caroline Fredrickson, director of the Washington legislative office of the American Civil Liberties Union, said the group's initial reaction to the NSA disclosure was "shock that the administration has gone so far in violating American civil liberties to the extent where it seems to be a violation of federal law."

Asked about the administration's contention that the eavesdropping has disrupted terrorist attacks, Fredrickson said the ACLU couldn't comment until it sees some evidence. "They've veiled these powers in secrecy so there's no way for Congress or any independent organizations to exercise any oversight."

Earlier this week, the Pentagon said it was reviewing its use of a classified database of information about suspicious people and activity inside the United States after a report by NBC News said the database listed activities of anti-war groups that were not a security threat to Pentagon property or personnel.

Pentagon spokesmen declined to discuss the matter on the record but issued a written statement Wednesday evening that implied — but did not explicitly acknowledge — that some information had been handled improperly.

Anyone got a roll of quarters?

By the way, has anyone ever noticed that coworkers will always say something when you come to work late, but never say anything when you come early?

I hate people, sometimes

Green Latrine and scaryoke

This weekend I went to Angie's suprize 30th b-day party at the Green Lantern, a very gay club in DC that holds these kinds of specials: Hang out in your underwear and get free drinks!
There were jock straps hanging in frames around the room. It was VERY hard to keep the secret for so long but I did it! Yay me! I've known Angie since I was 11 years old, and we were nerdy middle school kids sneaking cigarettes behind the shed in her back yard. Now we are old hags!

The whole upstairs bar was rented out and there was...gulp...karaoke.

I fear there is video evidence of what came next somewhere out there in the world, and I will be blackmailed with it some time in the future! Think 'Papa Don't Preach,' 'The Love Shack,' and a duet of 'Summer Lovin'' from Grease. Scary.

YOU'RE OLD NOW TOO, ANG, HAHAHA

my sister, my brother, and sex with cripples

More of a ramble then a post, but wow its so nice when someone exceeds your expectations. I'm really impressed with my sister lately. I mean its not like she has it together 100% but from where she was even one year ago its almost miraculous, and it almost makes me want to cry with relief. Just to mention the recent changes, she isn't bitchy all the time. She keeps her friends from living at her house 24 hrs a day. She straightens up after herself. She actually bought groceries! She goes to work every morning, even though she's unaccustomed to waking up early, getting somewhere on time, standing up for 8 hrs a day, she hasn't screwed it up, and she does it on her own, and even if she stayed out late the night before. These are all things I never expected and I'm so proud of her! I also think she is learning how it looks to people who go to work everyday when you come home and someone is laying around chilling all day. Also the power it gives you to have some money in your pocket, that you earned. I love my sissy!

On another topic, why am I so irresponsible? There are so many things I need to do including freelance work, get my oil changed, put away my clean laundry, do my holiday shopping, etc., and yet, yesterday, when I had some time to get some of that done, what do you think I did? Went to Mo's house and ate pizza, argued about the death penalty, and watched Murderball. Which by the way brought up a topic that my brain won't let go of - how quadrapalegics have sex! And also, would you date someone in a wheelchair? One thing I learned from the film was that quadrapalegic doesn't mean that only your head works and your arms and legs are dead, it only means that you have impaired movement in your arms and legs which can be of varying severity, like maybe you just can't close your hands all the way, or something.

The last part of my ramble is about my brother... yesterday he told me he is spending $240 to go to Michigan for one day. The reason? His best friend is graduating, getting her Ph.D. Is that crazy, or awesome, I'm not sure... All I do know is, I don't know anyone who would do that for me. Do you?

WARNING: May cause feelings of jealousy and/or depression!

Click here to see some of the photos from my Hawaii trip
I'm ready to go back. Who's with me? Maybe if enough of us pitch in, we can afford to live together in one of those ocean-front houses, like a commune! Even if we can't afford food, we can always survive on the bountiful fruits growing in the yard...Good idea?

Triumph the insult dog does the weather report in Hawaii

Time for a little holiday controversy

In the past couple of days, a new theme of discontent has been surfacing regarding the holiday season. Yesterday a friendly outspoken neighborhood republican said to me, 'Merry Christmas. You are Christian, right?' I said, 'no, I'm Jewish.' He said, 'What would you say if I told you, Merry Christmas?' On the tip of my tongue was, 'I hate Christmas' (but of course, I just mean the stress and materialism surrounding it, and the oppressive marketing that starts practically right after they take the Halloween items off the shelves!) but really I just wasn't sure what he was getting at. Then this morning I read this article.

I turned around and asked my coworker, "Come on now, tell the truth. Are Christians really offended when someone says, 'Happy Holidays' to them? I mean are you really offended?

To which he replied, "Yes, I am offended. When the greeter at Wallmart is forced to say 'Happy Holidays' instead of what they want to say, which is 'Merry Christmas' and when I can't find one card at Hallmark that says 'Merry Christmas' because they all say 'Seasons Greetings'. Its just this politically correct' environment, and yes, I am offended."

So I asked him what's wrong with making sure that no one feels left out or like an outsider because they have a different religion then him. He answered, "Too bad, this is a Christian nation. WE are the majority. They are letting a minority voice control everything."

So, I said, "This is a melting pot of many races and religions. Are we also a white nation? Because whites are in the majority too."

He said "yes"

then it got ugly.

But anyway, once we cleaned the blood and teeth off the office floor, I decided I wanted to get some more opinions on the subject. Christians, are you really offended when someone at Wallmart says Happy Holidays instead of Merry Christmas?

People of other religions, are you offended or do you feel left out when someone/Wallmart says Merry Christmas to you?

I know I don't, I know that when someone says Merry Christmas to me, they are just trying to be polite and kind and send me good wishes, not offend me on purpose, so I just smile and say Merry Christmas to you. Of course, having grown up as a minority in a 'Christian majority' nation, perhaps I have just grown accustomed to being left out and feeling like an outsider... Well, its something to consider anyway, along with the wider issue of whether 'politically correct' means we are growing as a nation, or whether it is a bad word equivalent with 'pandering to every whining minority'. (I for one don't see what's wrong with trying to avoid hurting people's feelings or making them feel bad, simply by using inoffensive language)

Are people really upset about this issue??

thanks kevin

Recipe for the most delicious smoothie:

1 bag frozen gourmet strawberries from Trader Joes
1 quart (or, medium or something) of Rainbow Something-or-other Mango Sorbet with Vanilla ice cream

Blend

Drink

yum

So good, but alas, still not as good as the mango/banana/yogurt smoothie V made last week. The smoothie/lassi master. Who ingeniously glossed over a dis by surprising me and showing up at my office with flowers last night! yay, i think... see how that works?

I think photos will be ready by tomorrow...

Rosy Lipped Batfish

ok photos and description of how awesome hawaii was coming soon, i am still trying to fight jetlag and reacclimate myself to living in fricking freezing crapland.

In the meantime, this is a real! All hail the rosy lipped batfish! Looks like one of those really mean old asian women that you don't want to mess with.