wow italy

my friends are vacationing here as we speak. That's right, drool and envy, drool and envy.

So yesterday I had dinner at my fave Indian restaurant w/ M and W. The food was amazing, I tried a new appetizer I've never tasted before with a sweet tamarind sauce and yogurt , chickpeas, crispy onions, I dunno what else. I loved it. I learned some words in Indian but I don't remember which dialect. The only one I recall is Tikeh, which means, OK or alright. Like, thumbs up. Our waiter Sanjay was funny and remembered me from when I used to always come there with Mo!

Here's the weird thing. Some people are so good at making connections/friends with new people- I am not one of them. I guess I'm too reserved. Other people seem to have a knack for it, Mo for one, Wissam definitely. Within 3 minutes, he and Sanjay were laughing and joking around like old friends. I'm always amazed. I am never that comfortable with someone that soon. I wish I could be though, its wonderful to watch. However, another way to look at it is this- if I am hanging out with you, you know its legit, whereas those short-lived instant friendships are phony. Anyway, Wissam seems like a cool cat, I dig him. MMMMMmm and go to House of India!

memorialization

this memorial day weekend, i didn't do much memorializing, or whatever. instead, V, kids, dog, and I went to Culpepper, VA and spent the weekend in the country at V's mom's house. As the weather report predicted, highs in the 80's with abundant sunshine. It was very relaxing and a nice change from the same ol' same ol'. Like Roland Orzabal says, 'when people run in circles its a very very mad world.' Well sometimes I get to feeling like that, like I'm running around in circles back and forth to the same places, and as much of a hassle as it is to pack and travel and not get to sleep in your own bed, I think its important to do it now and then for your mental health.

We went swimming at a mountain resort. i wasn't totally grossed out to go in the pool because it wasn't crowded, it was the first day the pool was open, and no very small children who can't or won't control their bodily functions whilst in the communal water. We played water volleyball and stuff. Everyone was doing cannonballs and bellyflops off the diving board- then V walked up and did a graceful greg luganis dive which put them all to shame.

We also went to a carnival. While waiting in line for the Round-up, all of the power went out. It was pitch-black and people were screaming. There were people caught high up in the air on the space-ship ride which was still moving due to gravity. Very exciting!

The most hilarious moment of the trip was when V's mom, V, me and Cody were sitting at the kitchen table. She was talking about V's brother and his wife, and the money she gave them when they got married. Then she was like, 'If you two get married, I'll give you the same gift.'
Followed by dead awkward silence.
haha
Cody was laughing his head off. It *was* rather funny.

idol words

I am somewhat (read: extremely, distressingly) embarrassed about this, but after falling into the habit of watching American Idol with the kids in the spirit of 'family time,' then later falling out of the habit after the best singer was voted off by an obviously retarded American majority, I eventually was coerced into watching the final episode tonight. Ok that's a bald-faced lie, there was absolutely zero coercion; I sort of HAD to watch it or something. Argh! Anyway, even worse, I was actually ENTERTAINED! What does this say about ME, aren't I supposed to MOCK people who get EXCITED about pop culture reality television?? When surprise guest Prince came on, I swear I actually felt a small thrill. Who am I and what have I done with my Daria alter-ego?

"I spent about ten minutes agog at this symptom diary on a parasite "cleansing" forum. You should too. "

apathetic voters wooed with cash

Is this a good idea or not?

Ariz. Ballot Measure Would Give $1M To Lucky Voter
May 23, 2006

PHOENIX -- An Arizona man is betting that a chance at $1 million will bring more people to the polls.

Dr. Mark Osterloh is a Tucson, Ariz., ophthalmologist and political activist who headed and bankrolled the campaign to get a proposal on the state's November ballot that would give one lucky voter $1 million. Under the proposal, anyone who actually casts a ballot would be eligible.
Osterloh and other supporters submitted petitions Monday bearing what they said were more than 185,000 signatures of registered voters. That's well over the 122,000 required to put a proposed state law on the 2006 ballot.

Osterloh said the money would come from unclaimed lottery winnings.

Elections officials will check the petition signatures to see whether enough are valid to qualify the measure for the ballot.

Bird Flu Hits Dundalk

Yesterday while making dinner together, my older son picked up an egg beater, pointed it at his brother's head and said, "If you don't stop, I'm going to "BEAT" you"

...and the torch is passed.

cuteness overload

V's pup Kona

and new nephew Lewis

turning indian i think i'm turning indian i really think so

I just finished telling someone what I did today at lunch, then they asked what I did this weekend. Within the conversation, these things came up:

• I went to an Indian festival downtown
• I had (indian) lentil parathas and mango lasse for breakfast
• I went to lunch at House of India, then went to the Indian food distributor grocery store to buy more Indian food.

Its just that, they are GENIUSES when it comes to vegetarian food.

Anyway the cool thing about the festival other then the FREE FEAST was the informational display about vegetarianism. Cody read some of the panels and was like, 'I'm soo glad we are vegetarians.' To which I responded, 'me too.' But then he said, 'no, really, I'm really really glad.' :)

Holy Cow!

(ok, worst joke ever)

yay, free propoganda! just kiddin, i mean aside from the (not gory) photos of sad abused farm animals crammed into horribly tiny spaces, it was really the hard facts and figures about how many hormones and medications are administered per animal (something in the thousands!) and how many toxins are found in their meat, as well as the heart attack and colon cancer figures for meat eaters vs. veg (for example: every 25 seconds in the US someone has a heart attack. Every 45 seconds, someone dies of a heart attack. Chances of heart attack in normal US male: 50%. Chance of heart attack in vegetarian US male: 4%) really it was dramatic information. Also the info about how many people are starving and dying of starvation in the world, and how many people can be fed if all of the land used for raising farm animals and non-food agriculture such as tobacco were instead used to grow vegetables and grains. You could feed the starving people like 10 times over.

Anyway that was the highlight of the festival for me. The reinforcement that I am doing the right thing for my body and my kids' health as well as the environment and doing my part to reduce needless suffering in the world. Hooray!

As for what I am giving up? Not a whole lot, mostly just the 'taste of meat' and the ability to conform. As for the 'taste of meat,' today at lunch one of the dishes had a soy 'meat' in it so realistic that V was fooled. Last week, V cooked a jamaican jerk imitation tuna steak that my brother brought from a specialty store in NY, and everyone loved it. As for conforming to society's idea of 'normal' ? HA HA HA

New 007 Car: Aston Martin

In the recent Aston statement, Bez said that "the DBS is not of the understated elegance of a DB9, nor the youthful agility of the (new Aston Martin) V-8 Vantage. It is explosive power in a black tie and has its own unique character which will equal that of James Bond."

Click here for full story and more images of this badass car

MORE COWBELL!

Went to see the All Mighty Senators for a free mother's day show down in Federal Hill on Saturday night after eating a gourmet vegetarian beef curry with spinach and peas, prepared by a master chef at this fancy restaurant in Baltimore called 'Chéz V'

They are pretty weird (V described the frontmen as the quasi-gay black guy who's not really gay with the batman shirt, the guy who could be in metallica wearing a 'Got MILF' t-shirt, and Ichabod Crane) not to mention the bushy-haired colonel-sanders-looking guy who kept coming to the front of the stage and overdramatically pounding on a cowbell.

The music was good and it was fun and weird and B-Funk and his g/f were sort of bumping each other playfully, then he bumped her so hard he knocked her ass down on the concrete. He observed her on the ground, then placidly looked back at the band, as others rushed to assist her. I found it hilarious, but only because it wasn't me.

I left my ID at home and got carded on the way in. The guy wasn't going to let me in. Then later on he asked me where my ID was, and how old I was. I am retarded and paused to think about it because I couldn't remember! I was like, "uhm... 30?" But he still let me go in. :)

Also on the way in we ran into V's ex girlfriend. Awkward. Actually, I didn't feel that awkward, but it all happened pretty quick. We all introduced ourselves, she walked in and then walked right back out and left in a hurry. Oh well, the atmosphere might have been a bit tense if she stayed!

I know some of you have been waiting for this with bated breath....
'Knight Rider' coming to big screen

are some things too private to blog about?

Obviously yes, but also apparent is the fact that I fail to draw the proper line on occasion.
There is a fine line between honest, raw, and thus interesting blogging and revealing too much of someone else's private info. What's a journalist to do? I read once that a lot of comedians' families hate them because in trying to come up with good jokes they often use their own friends and family as material. That said, I will reveal an embarrassing story about my brother which may cause him to hate me but will explain why he doesn't know who Tracy Lords is (raised by an abusive, alcholic father, started her carreer at the tragically young age of 16, made 100 porn films by the time she reached 18). Once in school, he was asked to read a passage from a book out loud to the class. Within that passage was the word 'whore.' Now, its not that my brother had never been exposed to that word, but that he had never heard it spoken out loud. Well, you can imagine the snickers from the classroom when he mispronounced it as 'wore'

Although a funny story, I do wish on my kids this level of naivete and innocence, and lack of exposure to the grittier side of life that children seem to learn about earlier and earlier. Frankly, I respect not knowing who Tracy Lords is a great deal more then someone who can list off porn stars organized by favorites. Its an old school sort of gentlemanliness that I find refreshing. I heard a quote by Vince Vaughn once, and whether its b.s. or not I really liked it. He said he doesn't like to watch porn because he feels bad for the women. He just wants to go wrap a blanket around them and ask them if they're alright. I truly hope I can raise my boys to be like that, fighting the influence of their somewhat misogynist father...

News: TV on the Radio opening for NIN

IN THE NEWS

Former Akamilli Singer Opening for NIN

---

In high school I was into this band called Akamilli. I went to high school with the lead singer, Dave Sitek, a somewhat Morrissey-like dude in artsy black-rimmed glasses. The only song I remember them preforming was a ska version of 'I'm not your stepping stone'. Later on, my boyfriend at the time was moving in to an apartment with Dave's ex-roomate Ryan, a very strange man with reptilian mannerisms who decided to rig some chemistry equipment to attempt to distill grain alchol in his living room with the eventual purpose of creating a grain alcohol THC cordial. His girlfriend Cara had scabs all over her legs, and when they had sex she sounded like a cat coughing up a hairball. Eventually he was going to move to Arizona, and wasn't going to tell his girlfriend. He didn't see a problem with that.

Anyway I lost interest in Dave one day when I found out that Ryan was going to throw away a giant box of Dave's tapes that he left behind in the apt. I thought these might be important to him and that it was dickish to throw them away so I took the box over to Dave's house to return them. Pretty nice, right?? He was totally not appreciative, didn't even say thanks, just took the box. Dick. Anyway, I just found out that the band he is in now, TV on the Radio, is opening for NIN and Bauhaus. Crazy. Click here if you want to watch their video. Don't ask what was going on with my hair that day in the photo, and don't act like you don't have embarrassing pictures of yourself from when YOU were 14, or I will track them down and post them on my blog for everyone to laugh and point!

do it for the blog

Tracy Lords*: i dont understand why i am still so horny
i mean i feel like a 17 year old boy!

me: lol

Tracy Lords: its not funnY!

me: its natural

Tracy Lords: i mean yesterday i serioiusly considered seducing 2 mexican guys for sex in the pool house! its not natural, its ridiculous!

me: you have a pool house?

Tracy Lords: theres a pool outside in the parking lot. these 2 hispanic guys were outside yesterday at lunch. and i saw one looiking at me and i swear.. i considered - SERIOUSLY considered goin over to them!

me: wow, you should have done it, because that would make a GREAT blog!

*Name has been changed to protect identity

photoblog

Worms

Worst job Ever (probably feels worse after seeing people stopping
and taking photos of him from thier car window!) Look at the little arms waving around!

Photo I took in DC on the way to the film festival. Hmm, crazy guy on the side of the road with face displayed in cardboard box frame sporting red socks and sandals, or GW Bush... I support Rick Hohensee for President of the United States of America!

walk this way

Unusual items, free on craigslist! Get some before its all gone!

Sorry, your browser doesn't support the embedding of multimedia.

Can't see the video above? Click here to download it, then launch it from your desktop.

celebrity lookalikes

yesterday we went to this happy hour for the MD film festival, and this photographer comes up to V to take his picture and goes, 'dude, prove to me that you aren't Vince Vaughn'

haha

then he said to me, 'and the chick from alias'

even though i dont really look like her but i did get that once before when i was wearing leather and platform boots and a blue wig once.

then, the photographer said, ' everyone has their celebrity lookalikes. Mine is (the blond dude from queer eye)' and he totally looked like that dude. then he goes, 'or martina navitalova' and we laughed so hard we nearly peed, because he looked like her too. So anyway it gave me an idea for a future photo blog when i have time to work on it- people i know and their celebrity lookalikes. COMING SOON!

not so undercover

This is embarrassing- an email I just got:

just noticed you had a myspace page and thought that warranted an email making fun of you.
--nick

To which my pathetic comeback, after explaining that i only made a myspace page so that I could comment on my sister's blog, was the Kmart defense.

I was thinking no one will see it, and if they do its like - its like when you're little and your mom takes you to Kmart, and you are mortified, but really if anyone sees you there they can't make fun of you because that means THEY were there.

Dammit, I thought no one would find me on there!

Another reason to consider matrimony carefully

Bride's Father, Brother Stabbed In Alleged Fight OverWedding Cake

Witnesses Say Man Was Growing Impatient About Cake Cutting

RAYMOND, Ohio
A man who was growing impatient about the cake-cutting at a wedding reception allegedly stabbed the bride's father and brother Saturday afternoon.
read the story >>

Man, that dude REALLY WANTED SOME CAKE!

---

Warning:
Only click here if you are a sci-fi nerd
yeah, you know who you are.

lifestyles of the rich and famous

Kona

Saturday V picked me and the kids up to go to VA to pick up the cutest puppy in the world and rescue him from a rural West Virginia shelter and give him a life of happiness, fun, and love. The pickup was in a parking lot at a mall in VA. We all stood around in nervous anticipation as the transport van unloaded one dog after another and sent them home with their happy new owners, until we were the only people left standing there. The puddle of car-sickness vomit in the road behind the van, a gift from some poor nervous mutt who didn't take well to the 3 hour journey, lent itself well to the atmosphere of uncertainty mingled with excitement that we were experiencing due to picking up a dog that will be a 15 year commitment but that we had never seen in person.

Finally, the last of the carriers was pulled out of the van and inside I could see the adorable but timid face of "Chimmie" as the shelter had nicknamed him. In almost painful slow-motion, oblivious to the fact that we were nearly jumping out of our skin with the overwhelming desire to see and hold him, the volunteer helped the little guy out of his tiny carrier and into V's arms. He was so soft and sleepy and cuddly! We drove over to Angie's to pick up the crate that she so awesomely let us borrow, have a Polynesian lunch, and quick trip to the store for food and supplies. Anyway, to make a long story short, this is the cutest, sweetest, most well behaved pup in the world. V named him Kona, like Kona coffee, also Kona means 'golden coast' in Hawaiian, and if there's one thing V loves more then this puppy and good coffee, its Hawaii! Oh yeah and sports.

It was so cool of V to include me and the kids in picking up the pup, they were so excited, but at the same time I almost wish I wasn't there, because somehow it makes me feel more attached to the little guy, and kind of like I'm his adoptive mother, but really I am just some chick who will come visit and pet him, like everyone else who stops by :(

Sunday I went to the last night of the DC Film Festival. It was awesome and everything was free, including parking, thanks to Monica who was working there and had an 'all access pass' so to speak. I met up with Monica, Ryan, and this Morrocan rapper who does a style of music called Reggaeton, and was the subject of one of the films in the festival. We watched a french movie called Housewarming that was quirky and funny about a lawyer fighting for illegal immigrants who decides to remodel her house using illegal immigrant labor. Hugh Grant made a cameo appearance at the end, it was so weird!

After the movie we all went to the afterparty at Lucky Strike, a super-chic bowling alley/bar in DC, that we also got into free thanks to our VIP connection! Bowling was free for the night and somehow I broke 100 points, woohoo. Trays were carried around with things like chicken wings with different types of sauces, some kind of chicken eggrolls or something, deviled egg quiches with bacon, onion rings, barbeque chicken pizza, veg pizza, french fries, homemade ptoato chips with cheese, vegetable steamed dumplings with sweet and sour sauce, deep fried macaroni and cheese with marinara, etc. Some guy there showed me the trailer for his movie, a gory horror flick about two white-trash chicks (often in lingerie) (funny tangent- I was swinging at the playground with Jake when he started talking about how when he grows up he will buy a house on the beach. But not Ocean City, because there is too much 'white trash' there. I stop swinging for a moment and ask him if he actually knows what white trash is, to which he sheepishly replies, 'I don't know, I thought it was, you know, trash and stuff, scattered around....' ) who get sucked into a cult of women who eat other people to absorb their soul, or life force, or something, and after giving me some useless bowling tips he later invited us to a party across the street with other filmmakers which we decided we were too cool to attend. haha. But seriously I am a good girl and he was obviously hitting on me so of course I declined his invitation. I also got to hang out with the director of a film (Music is My Life) that won first place in three different film festivals, a super nice guy who invited us to the Atlanta film festival which will also be showing his film. Then we ate at a kabob place which actually had mostly indian food but was cheap as hell! for a plate with rice, palak paneer, chana masala, naan, and a side of raitha and a bottled water it was only $6.99! The whole time I missed Kona.

The end.