Friday Flix #1. Carrots.
Friday photos at work.
Scarf, vintage. Cardi, F21. Jeans, BDG. MaryJanes, All Black, via Anthropologie.
Feeling like rubbish emotionally today. I rushed out the door this morning, and so therefore chose an easy outfit without realizing it wasn’t very stylish other than the shoes. Hence my iPhone images heavily edited in Picnik/Flickr.
The other day I posed some questions that I didn’t answer myself.
{ What is/are your favourite thing(s) to wear when you feel like shit? }
I make a point of making sure I’m wearing mascara on curled lashes and a bright shade of red on my lips to make me feel better about my face. A bit of black eyeliner can’t hurt, either. I also make sure I’m wearing a strong, statement-y type of shoe of some kind, because if there is one thing to instantly improve and transform an outfit–you know, other than posture, it would be a pair of shoes. Like what a great pop of colour on the lips does to transform an otherwise blasé face, a pair of shoes dramatically changes the tone of one’s clothes.
My ideal outfit in ideal weather would be a flouncy skirt, belted high, a comfy t shirt, sheer stockings, funky heels or flats, a beret and a cardi. Or pant-like leggings (I hate thin legging-leggings), a button down shirt/striped knit shirt, scarf, beret, big cardi, funky shoes.
Alas, this never works out. 1. because I live in MI, where we have weather, and 2. because I don’t own enough inventory of the above to make it a usual uniform.
{ What is your biggest pet peeve? }
Failure and bad self image. I also hate it when I walk about with socks on and step in something moist, water dripped onto the kitchen floor from dishes, water from a cup we used to water the plants, the spot where we cleaned up dog vomit. I don’t like it when people put in the toilet paper so that the paper falls from the back instead of the front. And I don’t like it when people willingly give in to ignorance, because it takes too much effort to be aware and informed and involved. I.e., refuse to listen to the news, read only tabloid magazines instead of news sites or papers, watch only reality TV, refuse to make an effort to go green because it takes too much brain power to remember to recycle, etc.
And when I forget to wear my wedding ring. I did that today. D’oh!
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In other news:
Let’s all say a prayer and give a farewell to our dearly departed friend, Yulanda Yee of Little Thoughts.
I have had a few exchanges with her through email, and we had agreed that we should meet up for delicious food the next time I was in Toronto. That chance never surfaced, because Yulanda passed away last Thursday after a brutal six month long battle with Lymphoma cancer. From what I learned through email and from her journal, is that she is an incredibly strong person, emotionally and mentally, with a fierce love for family and friends. She never once felt defeated or depressed about her disease, and always felt her chief concern was making sure her family was alright. She knew that pain was simply part of her condition, and she never let it corrode her self-confidence or awareness and love of the world. She had a delicate, feminine style and grace that I’ve always admired. Her pictures were always styled beautifully and simply, but with an elegance many other bloggers cannot match.
She was one of the brightest lights in the blogosphere, in my opinion and she will be missed dearly. Please pray for comfort and peace for her family.
Waxing Poetic, Waxing Lyrical on Twitter: Weather Forecasts Indicate Better Writing
(NaBloPoMo Day 3)
So sometimes I wax a bit lyrical on Twitter, and other times not so. For the most part, Twitter serves as a place for me to photo-whore; connect with other writers, style-bloggers, and runners; and retrieve and retweet informative, important news from other Green Activists…
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But sometimes, the medium is useful for getting out bullet thoughts and miniature writing ideas. It’s easier to grab a handy micro-computer than root through a satchel for a pen and paper.
And you know what? Some of my best writing lately has ended up in Microblog form, probably because I hardly do any other form of writing.
We are all in this together. In a ship without a sail, toiling the ancient seas until we reach our distant home shore. #ManicMondays
Lazy, pathetically drifting snowflakes on sad wind currents.
Dear 2:30AM, you and I and whatever the hell this is needs to be over. You and I are not healthy or each other. We need a break. Goodbye.
11:38 PM Jan 29th from Twitterrific
Yes, ma’am, I am that madame! Who donned skin colored socks & skin colored shoes. It looked bad–but cold or warmth, what would you choose?
5:53 AM Jan 29th from Twitterrific
Peach clouds hang, downy, under clear cellophane skies. The wind at our backs, we trudge along, heads bowed, seeking warmth and shelter.
5:42 AM Jan 28th from Twitterrific
That same impetuous biting wind that shakes the tree boughs propels me along the salt chalked sidewalks under a dull metal sky. Ah, winter.
3:06 PM Jan 27th from Twitterrific
Cookies and tea do much to improve many situations.
39:17 AM Jan 27th from Twitterrific
Snow has stopped its weak & pathetic dusting, & the sky is a dappled sea under brushed steel clouds. A brilliant day in the neighborhood!
8:18 AM Jan 27th from Twitterrific
Most of the more “poetic” imagery comes as a consequence of the grey blustery clouds or salty, white-washed streets that result from crappy winters here in the Great Lakes Region. You’re stuck in a fabric cubicle jungle across from a window that only lets in weak, dull light. It gives you pause. And much time lost in sad rumination culminates in strong imagery. A much needed catharsis.
Most humans are, without question, affected by the changes in weather. Some of us are so strongly tied to the loss of golden sunlight that we develop Seasonal Affectedness Disorder (SAD).
On the greyest of days, I find myself even thinking in such language. But such is the way of silver skies and cutting wind and shining, cold diamonds on your windshield. We hole up in our warm blankets and pyjamas at home, cursing the sky and the wind currents and the dead trees, and thoughts fly into our brains a mile a minute.
If you get a rare golden day, with tolerably warm-enough weather, get out of your comforting little hole and run around under the clear skies, under the silver clouds, drinking in the brisk air. You never know what sort of change you may feel in your body, mind and soul.
Outfit architecture: sweater, BR; striped dress shirt, random boutique; belt, skirt, Forever21; stockings, Tarzhjay; Oxfords, Payless (yes, you read that right); Headband, GoJane.com; watches, Anne Klein, Random boutique. Yes, I AM wearing two watches.
Ebony & Irony: Irony Hits You Like a Punch In the Face
Today’s quote of the day greeted me on my iGoogle home page, and I was immediately hit with its in-your-face irony. Like a punch to the face. In a fun sort of way.
Computer games don’t affect kids, I mean if Pac Man affected us as kids, we’d all be running around in darkened rooms, munching pills and listening to repetitive music.
- Marcus Brigstocke
Uh, sir, many of us often times find ourselves in darkened rooms, drained of emotion, of all mental capacity. Our society does encourage popping pills as therapy to stem the tides of social and mental disorders. And our mainstream music stations are rampant with overwhelmingly similar, regurgitated styles that nothing is truly original anymore. On another hand–yet in the same vein–some of the biggest hits of the last couple of decades featured simple chord progressions, repetitive melody lines. I.e., Nirvana, Weezer, Rhianna (oh boy, talk about repetitive and simple melody!), and even decades back.
And we’re slowly yet surely starting to become aware of this netherworld of netizens on MMO games like World of Warcraft and social games like Second Life, which spawn Other Lives of people who refuse to fully embrace living in THIS one, the real world, with real face-to-face interactions. People marry in WoW and in Second Life, causing obsessions which often lead to addiction and, sometimes, even violence. (Hey, the first ever internet addiction clinics were for people who were too obsessed with WoW that they forgot that the physical, interactive world still existed outside of their computers.)
What do you mean the kids aren’t alright? Sure they are. Or they aren’t. Either way, they’re all a-Twitter about it. They’ll tell you everything they’re feeling in every sordid Facebook status update, down to the steamy, emo details. They’ll photo whore their every activity on Yfrog or Twitpic or DailyBooth.com. If they’re feeling depressed, you’ll be sure that they’ll be atop the timeline of the #depression trend topic.
And parents, where are they? They’re busy on their crack berries themselves. So there’s Wii and PSPs to occupy their kids. Don’t mind when their five year old gets brain cancer when he’s fifteen. At least he had something to do when he was a kid, right?
I’m pretty sure videogames and all digital media are inedibly tied to our new society. These devices and programs are the new way to entertain and communicate, and they are here to stay.
I can’t rid myself from Twitter and my 30+ tweets a day. I’m not going to try.
Gratitudinousness
Edit: Another thing for which I am grateful.
Score!! @Shopruche is having a sale through Monday! 15% using this code: 
Be Grateful.
Today we celebrate Thanksgiving. And though I’m not a born American, like a true modern American youth, the historical significance in a way, is lost on me. I’m the indulgent, self-absorbed super consumer like most kids my age in this great nation of ours.
But today is special. Today is the measly one day out of three hundred and sixty five, that we set aside to ponder (I would hope) on things that we should be grateful for having.
We are a blessed, privileged and powerful country. And though there are many flaws, many people suffering all over this country, all of us as a whole enjoy a more charmed, comfortable life than most people in the developing (AND developed) world. It should not be so much to ask of ourselves to be content and thankful that we live in this great nation, have what we have, and enjoy the freedoms our ancestors emigrated to this country for… for what they came here and helped build so that we could have even more than they ever did…
2009 was kind of a bum year and a great year for me. And in the end, those losses are easily trumped by the many wonderful and many mundane things that in the end, still make my life incredible.
1. I have a very, very nice roof over my head and I live in extreme comfort.
2. I finally graduated university after struggling with night school and full-time work for 8.5 years. (HS grad class of 2000.)
3. I have a stable, okay paying job, despite working for people I dislike–in a state with the highest unemployment rate in the entire country!
4. My husband N is the most caring, motivating, kindest, supportive, giving, diligent, understanding significant other I’ve ever had. He pushes me to be a better person every single day–because he knows that is who I am underneath all the prickly, whiny, fashion-starved exterior layers.
5. My family is loving, close-knit and supportive of whatever I do. They haven’t always been, but have incredibly become, a loving, warm safety net, emotionally and fiscally.
6. I got married!
7. I live a very, very, comfortable life, where I can still stay afloat financially, pay my bills and still manage to buy a few luxuries every now and then.
8. My friends, despite the distance that separates us, are still the most important people in my life–and they are epically generous, loving and thoughtful.
9. I have the most adorable hoodlum dog on the planet. (You may not agree. Sorry, I beg to differ!)
There are many other things for which I am blessed, but I have rambled on and on.
For what are you grateful?
It is through adversity that the people can shine. It is through trial and tribulation that our resilience becomes brilliance. And it is through hardship that we learn, grow and enhance. Even the crappiest things in life should never be taken for granted!
You’re alive. (And, if you read this blog, one can assume you have somewhere comfortable to read the internet, which means you have a computer, probably in a home you rent or own or live in, and you probably have a safe, somewhat comfy life… another thing to be grateful for!) Thank the powers that be (God, Allah, Vishnu, The Void, The Universe, whatever!) that you are and have.
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Go on! Read on!
Be sure to check out my list of recent loves–I am grateful for them!
Maeko Loves #1.
And take a trip with me through a magical “Saturday in the Life”!
Weekending.
Before Her Greatest Hits Were Written. RIP Kim Daul.
The snarky, impassioned, artistic and eccentric model passed yesterday in her Paris apartment of apparent suicide.
Image Credit: I like to Fork Myself and Fashion Gone Rogue
To say that her death has shocked and distressed the fashion and fashion-admirer world would be an obscene understatement.
The beautiful, leggy, chameleon loved literature, electronica, photography and art. She painted, photographed shows behind the scenes, wrote her own columns in Korean fashion magazines. She modeled for the likes of Chanel and Yohji Yamamoto. Her mysterious and piercing stare gave her a larger than life presence in her many fashion spreads. Off duty, she was by turns audacious, flamboyant and impetuous, and by turns introspective, pensive and even at times morose. She had a flare for voicing many frustrations and insights of the fashion industry many would not voice themselves, and she had no fear taking to task critics who could not understand her perspective. She was a rare, clear voice in an industry which does not always show case the mind and vocality of its citizens.
She will be missed.
More Reading on Kim:
Refinery29
NYMag
Huffington Post
Image Credit: I Like to Fork Myself & Fashion Gone Rogue.
Greatest Hits: Popculture or Post-Modern Sleaze
Seems like I’ve been wearing the same pieces, colours and combinations of clothing since it all got really cold. Blacks, greys, strips, long socks, boots, lack of colour, and the same leather Lexi satchel I got for a steal from J.Crew–they’re not my style rut. They’re my greatest hits. My go-tos… My tried and true.
Outfit Architecture: Tie-neck blouse, Forever21; Strip knit top, H&M; skinny twill trousers, Delia*s; boots, Bakers; leather satchel, J.Crew.
Speaking of things that are the greatest… don’t you love it when people grossly overestimate their own skills and claim they are the greatest??
Our pop culture is full of sleazy, skeazy freaks who are just trying to make a quick buck from a cheap pass at fame without any actual talent or valid claim to that fame (i.e., Speidi, Paris Hilton). Efforts toward this end can run the gamut, but are usually something like:
What do you know? Speidi hits ALL these keypoints. Hilton gets 9 out of 10 stars.
Anyway, on from point 2, there are a slew of other famous people who have tried a singing career, and here is a great list put together by our friends at BuddyTV.
The 13 actors who “think” they can “sing”.
(In ascending order from “Egregious Effort,” to “Passable,” to “Admirable Aspiration!”)
Some of my favourite quotes from BuddyTV:
…Even after becoming the laughing stock of bleeding-from-the-ears pop music lovers everywhere, Mrs. Spencer Pratt has continued churning out what she loosely categorizes as “music”…
…Ever wondered what Gwen Stefani might sound like if she woke up without any musical talent or integrity? We think it would sound a lot like Paris Hilton…
…Speaking of “should have stuck to her day job”… in 2007 actress Scarlett Johannson released Anywhere I Lay My Head…
If you feel like reading on, here’re some other things to see:
Weekending–Photos every hour post
Bests of (last) week
Get your booty on
Bests of the Week
I’ve been out for awhile, actually, due to a database error created by WORDPRESS v.2.8 and a troublesome little plugin. It’s sucked, to say the least, since I know nothing of fixing database errors via rewriting PHP… and it took even major resolve to just even Google the damn problem to see if there was an article somewhere telling me how to fix it.
Anyway. I digress. I’m back.
Hi. I hope you’ve missed me. Apparently you haven’t, since yesterday I only had 33 visits from 32 unique IPs. You’d best come back, people!
Here are some of the best things I’ve seen and read this week that I think you should know:
1.) fashion. eyecandy.
Trang of Behind the Seams is participating in a campaign from BlueFly and StyleList to decide who is America’s Most Stylish Blogger. 8 girls. 1 challenge. 5 weeks. 5 spectacularly amazing high fashion items. Only one can win the title. WOW.
Here are some of her most recent looks:
Trang's take on AMSB Challenge #2: Prada Booties
Behind the Seams, AMSB Challenge #2: Prada Booties
Challenge week 1: Priorities gabardine vest
VOTE EACH DAY, and vote on BlueFly.com here.
Show your love and support to the lovely, charming Trang on twitter: BTSgrl’s Twitter. Oh and let her know Maeko (Twitter=@Maeko) sent you!
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2.) book. mind candy.
Thom @ TheSundayBest.org did a brief but effectively interesting review on a new book by Winona of DaddyLikey.blogspot fame called Closet Confidential: Style Secrets Learned the Hard Way.
Here is a rather large snippet from both the book, and from Thom’s write-up.
I envisioned folding my crisp indigo jeans and gingerly placing them in my purple dresser, next to my compass and crime-fighting notebook, while whispering things like, “We’ve done it again, Old Blue,” and “I can’t wait for the adventures tomorrow will bring!”
A few things about this sentence:
1. It’s at the end of the first paragraph and already she has me laughing out loud in a public place. Old Blue? Adventures? Are you kidding me here?
2. It’s structurally perfect. Perfect. If I sat here for ten years trying to think of a better way to convey the transformative power we bestow on clothing I wouldn’t add one iota of awesome to it. Perfect.
3. It demonstrated that although the book is entirely about women and their wardrobes, its themes are universal. Which is to say, I get this girl.I know all about this moment. I know all about crime-fighting, and magnifying glasses, and finding clues, and the outfit you need to do all of that.
Ah, yeah. I don’t think I could be anymore interested in this book now, due to Thom’s descriptions of his reactions to the last sentence of the first paragraph in the book. Being the gigantic pedagogue that I am, I love that a book would have structural perfection. However, it not only interests women–clothes horses, fashion lovers (its target audience), but a man, and gets him to understand the protagonist and her world, and draws him into that world with her, stylishly and engrossing-ly. I think I need to buy the book.
Go visit Thom and tell him I said hello. And go visit Winona and let her know how much you are salivating over her book and how you’re going to buy it. While you’re at it… actually BUY the book, eh?
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3.) Hilarity.
The boys at The Steel Closet have done it again: made me piss my effing pants after laughing so hard from one of their many weekly video postings.
The many sexy moves of Charlie (from “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia”):
I die. I’ve seen three seasons on this show on Hulu (I’m a season behind due to Battlestar Galactica, X-files, Robotech, and other nerdy staples, as well as Californication and Pushing Daisies), and I’ve never been more floored at the crassness and wackiness of these four hapless losers. And yet, in their devastating wake, much hilarity ensues.
I seriously choked while watching the clip. If you don’t like it, oh well. I think it’s one of the most stupidly funny, asinine comedies on Cable Television ever (aside from Family Guy), and I will break water each time I watch it–from laughing too hard.
Thanks, TSC!!
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4.) nerdfare.
Most of you will know that I am an Ubernerd. And it’s not just because I’m Asian, but because I was practically raised to worship my big brother, who, despite also being Asian, grew up to love comic books, animé, Japanese Culture, video games and all other major geekery. So imagine my squee* geeker’s joy, pulsating thrill and delight, when I read on The Steel Closet that Prince of Persia (renown Role-Playing videogame franchise) is now being made into a movie.
Why this is cool?
Peep it here:
Thanks, Cass!
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5.) snark. social commentary.
Leave it to my tough girl friend, the aptly named ToughGirl101 (AKA Katana-either after the Japanese word for “Sword” or after her motorcycle–either are genuinely appropriate, if you know her!), to get into the dirty nitty gritty of white on Asian social interaction.
Words I hate to hear: “I love asians!”
My issue is with the Asian fetish that is motivated by the ill-informed stereotypes. The little shy Geisha’s that are tigers in the bedroom really only exist in porn. The little Vietnamese girl looking for a big strong American… ridiculous! Especially if they were born and raised in America!… the impression left on this Asian girl is that men who say “I love Asian women” towards the beginning of an acquaintanceship should be dropped headfirst into the Bog of Eternal Stench or chemically castrated. It has never ended well. Never.
Being a petite Asian girl, I have come across this “I love ASIANS” issue from white males extremely often while I was still in the dating pool (I AM NOW MARRIED, BTW). In fact, my first boyfriend and quasi-fiancé, was one such boy with “Yellow Fever.” All his white male friends married Asian women, and all of them only cavorted about with Asian women. In fact, it saddens me to find out now after 6 years of non-communication with him, that he is the “token” in a crew of only Asian friends…You should see his Facebook account. It’s a sad, sad example of the lack of ethnic variety in choice of friends. Of course, I can’t say for sure if he’s Yellow Fevered up… maybe he relates more to Asians than he does his white counterparts… I don’t know. But on first glance, it’s certainly suspect.
I have encountered this way more often than I’d like to admit:
Asian Fetish Guy (AFG): I really love Asians.
Katana: Right.
AFG: The food’s great.
Katana: I don’t cook.
AFG: Oh… so do you speak your language?
Katana: English?
AFG: No, I mean the language where you’re FROM.
Katana: California?
AFG: …
Katana’s got it right… these stereotypes and tastes are based off of some mythical cultural typecast created and perpetuated by movies, New Media and dumb-ass Yellow Fevered freaks. These stereotypes continue to perpetuate a sense of Otherness, an ideal of an exotic, submissive, sexual creature who hails from the OPPOSITE side of the globe, not an empowered, independent, powerful woman who was born, raised and enculturated IN AMERICA, is through and through American by culture and mindset and language, and is the New Face of the typical American–an American with a rich ethnic heritage.
When are people going to learn? Brown, yellow, black and red were here long before anyone even realized that there was a word for race, ethnicity and culture. And we’re here to stay. We’re from here, we speak the same language as you, and you best learn that sooner rather than later. Kthxbai.
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EDIT:
Oh, and the whole “Asia/California” thing sucks even harder when it comes from a fellow Californian!
“Wow, you have great skin.”
“Thanks.”
“Do all the people where you come from have great skin?”
“What do you mean?”
“Where you’re from, your nationality?”
“You mean, Canada?”
“No… where you’re from!”
“San Diego…?”
“Where’re your people from?”
“Canada… California…!”
“No, you don’t get it…”
“Uh, no, YOU don’t get it.”
Assholes.
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6.) blog lovin’
OMG! I got my first AWARD! Despite being a blogging grandmother compared to some of my style blogger colleagues (I have been blogging for seven years in some form or other), I have never gotten a blog award before!
So imagine my shock and surprise when Mel of Idee Geniale gave me a Beautiful Blogger Award. I felt honoured and special.
The sitch involves divulging 7 interesting facts about you and then pass it along to 7 other bloggers you admire to do the same.
I think my own personal deets are boring, but it’s up to you to decide whether I’m interesting or not!
1. To save moolah on clothes, my mum made me wear hand-me-downs until about sixth grade. A good forty percent of my clothing were hand-me-downs. This is not a problem in and of itself, mind you, except that my older sibling is a boy. Imagine my embarrassment at my appearance all the way until I was 11 or 12 years old!
2. I’m a really big dork. But I think you can tell. Sci-fi, videogames, comic books, animé, karaoke…
3. I don’t like it if I go to the bathroom and someone occupies the stall right next to me. Especially at work… in public, it can’t be helped most of the time, but at the office, I hold it until I can’t, then I stalk to the bathroom and use the farthest stall. If someone else comes into the bathroom while I’m in it, I wait until they are gone before I come out. I know, it’s weird.
4. I used to idolize Japanese culture, and have wanted to dye my hair blond for at least ten years. I only finally had the money & confidence in my self-image to do it now.
5. I’m Asian/Filipino-American-Canadian with a Southern California culture and accent, but live in the Northern Midwest! How’s that!
6. Prior to meeting my husband five years ago, I’d never gone farther east of Las Vegas, no farther north of Vancouver, no farther west of my home in San Diego, no farther south than Baja California (Mexico). Sad little cloistered existence, isn’t it? Since meeting my husband, I’ve finally traversed to three coasts of the US (Michigan has a four coasts, west and east on the Mitten, and North and South in the Upper Peninsula, on three Great Lakes), been to Europe, and finally visited Hawaii. We plan on going to most of Japan for our Honeymoon next year!
7. Despite loving literature and being an incredible pedant AND nerd, I would rather watch a good episode of a television show than read, I would rather read than play a videogame, and I would rather cook than play a videogame, and I’d definitely rather play a videogame than clean the house.
I’m going to choose my new favourite bloggers:
Tommy at thisisnaive.com
Yolanda at LittleThoughts
Brainy Beauty: DreamEcho
Le Trix
ToughGirl101
Hot Robot, my favourite Hawaiian.
It’s not 7 people, but I’m not one for holding to rules in memes.
The Old Aquatic.
Is it just me, or have Clooney and Murray gotten old really quickly? Namely Murray, who is one of my and N’s favourite actors on the planet. It feels like only yesterday he had been squeezed into a iridescent aqua wetsuit and scooting up abandoned beaches to derelict hotel resorts to rescue Tagalog-speaking bankers, and awkwardly shaking his derriere to electronica wirelessly piped into his diving helmet.
The Murray I see here looks hardly capable of testing out a pair of Adidas sneakers (If you know the movie, you know what I’m talking about), than pulling lightning strike rescue missions in the Indian Ocean.
His face wrinkles suggest a lot fewer laughs than his career would lead one to assume.
It’s a sad day in Mae’s Steez world.
But in other news, something exciting is coming: Fantastic Mr. Fox, a stop-motion film by the talented (and of course my and N’s favourite director) Wes Anderson, adapted from the children’s book of the same title by Roald Dahl. Starring the voices of Clooney, Bill Murry (top billing, but not a main character), Meryl Streep, Adrien Brody, Jason Schwartzman and Willem Dafoe (!!!), and a host of other huge names, the stop motion film will be released on 25 November. I am majorly geeked!
img cred: People.com, Filmofilia.com.
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Replies.
Ria: Luckily my husband is a bit OCD and can’t concentrate if there is clutter or mess in the house, particularly in the kitchen, since besides the office, it is the room in the house we spend the most time in. I can’t cook with clutter around, either. And I cook more than I do anything else productive.
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SleepyJane: Thanks! It’s been a bit of a bitch trying to get good pictures, but I noticed that I get better photos out of self-timed ones than the ones Nate takes. :P
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Dre[a]: Aw! No you don’t! Your wardrobe is GREAT. We could swap clothes if we lived in the same city.
I think I’d hate living in IE without a proper cold snap at least a few times a year. SD did, thankfully. Must be proximity to water.
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Emily: Aren’t flouncy skirts feminine and charming? So much better than pencil skirts, which are perilously dangerous style-wise for women with no derrieres to speak of! Fall is romance. I wait for it once summer starts. Thanks for the words of congrats! Momentous year!
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JINX: Shit, thank you! That just made my day!
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Modified BLT: Go Eat Something
Here is the Modified (Vegetarian) BLT I spoke about Friday.
Modified BLT with Yam Frites and Lemon Paprika Aioli (Recipe after Jump)
It turned out so yummy and vegetarian… and with the slightly sparkling Moscato, I was pretty much in heaven, enjoying a Californication marathon with my husband on the couch and the dog at our feet.
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If you have been reading me for awhile now (this blog dates back to 2005, with archives of my old blogs dating to 2003), you’ll know that I love to eat. I love food so much, that recently, when I discovered that most of the food I loved was exciting my worst lupus flares, I cried. I love FOOD.
You will also know that I am incredibly petite and slim. (5′2″ and under, say, 110lbs.)
Outfit 2 architecture: layered blouson knit shirt, vintage (some place on Melrose); woven belt, F21; Jeans, BDG (UO); Lei/bib necklace, Anthropologie; cut-out bootie shoes, Jeffrey Campbell. Friday, 9/11/09.
Problem: I have an incredible metabolism.
Not a problem in and of itself, granted, but it makes people around me either hate me, make offensive comments, or shoot me stink looks, which offends me as well.
Today was such an occasion. I walked in at the same time as one of my larger office mates, she gave me the up down with narrowed eyes, and then pasted on a smile before she opened the door for me.
Ela of Extra Dressing on the Side posted a few weeks back about being told to ‘Go Eat Something’, which, of course she, being a lover of good food, took incredible offense to.
I won’t exclude myself from the general population that holds a prejudice against obesity; I generally abhor seeing folds and folds of skin and fat tissues oozing, between folds of skin-tight shirts, or rising, dough-like from too-small waist-bands. I admit, I am biased against our girthy counterparts. However, the same bias applies to overly skinny people who look like they are trying to emulate the bodies of starving children in malaria and poverty stricken nations. Extremes in either direction are terrible and collide with social mores (or should).
I don’t understand, though, why it is more acceptable to be unhealthy, excessive, indulgent and obese, than it is to be skinny. But that’s neither here nor there.
Point is, despite my prejudice, I would never verbally project my prejudice in someone’s direction. I would NEVER say to a fellow downing his Mountain Dew and extra extra large Denny’s Grand Slam, “You need a side of fat-free air with that.” In the same vein, I would never tell a girl to “go eat a burger” as I have been told in the past, and as my fellow Pilipina Canadian, Ela, was told. That’s just rude and offensive. It’s one thing to think your prejudices–hey, everyone has them–EVERYONE–but it’s quite another act on them against someone else.
You never know what another person is going through. Perhaps someone is morbidly obese because of a broken heart, and food is the only comfort the world provides them. Perhaps another person has a medical condition that slows her metabolism. Or another person has a problem with depression that prevents him from wanting to eat. While excessively doing or not doing something, especially if it involves food, is never the right solution to fixing one’s problems, it is not our right as the general public to critique those methods of resolution. It is up to the family members, friends and doctors of those people to correc the problem. The only thing we can do as bystanders is to raise the awareness of proper self-image* from gaunt and skinny 6′ models to a happy, healthy, proportional body, no matter the waist size and height and skin colour, and then promote methods of attaining and maintaining that body, i.e., happy, healthful lifestyle, habits and diet.
*A healthy self-image should not preclude any effort to healthy lifestyle. Confidence is one thing, but confidence that normalizes excessive habits (in either direction) is misguided, and sets a bad example (e.g., Beth Ditto, Nicky Hilton, Mischa Barton).
Fashiony Issues
So on my last post below, I griped about N calling me shallow for my love of clothes, and a fury erupted from my e-friends and friends who defended my love of fashion and things fashiony. I love that you all understood where I was coming from, and that you stand up for self-expression. You understand that clothing is not a matter of just label-whoring or shelling out cash for retail therapy, but that it is an expression of the soul through an art medium. It’s body art in a way. You tell a story or your point of view through your clothing style (if you have anything to say).
Art makes one feel good, and gives us access to the spiritual heritage that lies within a culture.
However, when clothes become a go-to for the relief of misery, or when they are a surface indulgence in order to alleviate a personal conflict within, clothes become shallow and superficial, a lame solution to a deep, innate problem with the self.
I think that was N’s point. He seems to think that I only indulge in fashion in order to feel good, that I turn to buying clothing to mitigate any feelings of dissatisfaction I might experience with my appearance or situation or to remove a sadness.
To his point, he’s right to a certain degree. When clothing is used to cover up a problem or as a panacea to a problem with the self, the solution is shallow and will not fix the problem. However, I don’t think he gets it right about that all the time. I like clothes for the way they make me feel or the way they feel on me, not BECAUSE they make me feel better. They do make me feel better SOMETIMES, but that is not the main objective whenever I do purchase something. Clothes are a hobby, not a cure.
He cares about me, so he did make a good point, as he explained the next day:he wants me to be happy about myself because I’m beautiful and smart and someone he loves and wants to marry, regardless of how I look. And it worried him when I said I wanted clothes for my birthday because they made me feel good. He took it to mean, because they make me feel better about myself, and he didn’t like that. So, he meant it out of love; he wasn’t 100% right about why I wanted them, but neither is he completely out of line for saying what he said.
On relationships
In response to a post on rialeilani.com, on whether men and women can be friends.
Growing up, I was of the opinion, that yes, of course girls and boys could socialise exclusively, have close personal friendships with each other without romantic feelings boiling up or any implications between the two.
Then, I went off to college and got a sweetheart who had trust issues, and then it wasn’t so true for me.
I’m going to have to expound on that one.
That girls and boys could be friends still held true between the two parties involved in the actual friendship. Most of my friends my first year of uni were all boys. I got along better with them. At that point in my life, I had way more commonalities with the nerdy, geeky, comic book and animé fanboys than I did with any of the frilly girly girls around campus. Boys didn’t judge me for liking the things I did, and it gave me a sense of identity to cleave to this group of people who accepted me and validated me because we all shared the same hobbies, which most of the girls on campus had absolutely no interest in. There were no problems between me and the guys I grew close to.
The problem lay singularly with my new sweetheart. He grew up in the shadow of his best friend, and that fragile, stupid ego became the proverbial thorn in my side, the pebble in the shoe of every pairing of guy friends I had. That asshole would feel threatened by any boy I grew close to, because he felt his hold on me, or his significance in my life slipping cruelly away with each agonising minute I spent with any male who wasn’t him. I couldn’t have friendships with boys because the boy who I was sleeping with, and who I was in love with couldn’t be in love with himself.
His lack of self-confidence manifested itself in distrust, jealousy and possessiveness.
I must have sensed it early on. I fucked up. I cheated on him, which furthered the issues between u s. I kissed someone else, someone who had that confidence and joie de vivre I was missing. It lasted only a few seconds, but it was enough to splinter whatever had grown in my boyfriend.
Over the course of the next two years, he would often resort to spying, going through my emails, my cell phone history. He would write me love letters, and then later revoke them, pick fights with me about all the guys I would hang out with.
Now see here, you can’t pick on me… I definitely earned a measure of distrust when I cheated on him. However, I made efforts of huge proportions to include him on my friendships. I would bring him to meals with my friends, I intro’d him to all my friends, and made sure they knew each other well. I would often call him in the middle of my conversations to let him know where I was and who I was with, which was a severe disservice to my pals–a rude move which I would never do now. When that didn’t work, I eventually had to prove to him that I loved him by dumping all my guy friends. That should have been the first and only red herring that he wasn’t right for me…. but some immature desire to marry the first guy I had sex with overwhelmed whatever fledgling sense of logic I might have had at the time.
Because of him, I felt that friendships with someone of the opposite sex weren’t possible.
And in those cases, no. When there is a third party involved, a third party that has a serious lack of self-awareness, confidence and true love, men and women cannot be friends. And in those cases where the third party is such a person, why is the girl or boy dating them in the first place?
I come from a world of believing that in order to truly love others without avarice, dishonesty and disrust, one must love himself completely, and whole-heartedly.
If one cannot do that, it will ruin other people’s lives.
And I don’t think couples should be joined at the hip and do everything together. Men and women who complete each others sentences, spend every waking minute together, dress like each other and have no interests outside the other person have no identity. They define themselves by their significant other, effectively having absorbed their S.O.’s personality into themselves, losing whatever unique qualities they had prior to their relationship.
It is as imperative for any person’s well-being to have good, close friendships of the opposite sex (or the same sex if the couple is not hetero) as it is to have friends of the same sex outside of the relationship. These people balance you out and can provide a perspective not clouded by judgement, a more objective, fresh opinion that can shed light on convolutions and conflicts that couldn’t otherwise be seen. Harmony and balance comes from diversity, not from similarity. When you have too much of the same thing, the scales tip too far in one direction.
I think it is important to the honour and stability of the relationship, however, to always include your significant other in on your friendship. It is disrespectful to your love to wholly exclude them from any friendships that occur outside your unit of 2. Even if your S.O. is completely trusting, and secure in themselves, keeping your friendships to yourself is selfish and invites discord. This is where communication is key.
I got lucky in a few ways*. I found out my ex was a fucktard, and I broke up with him. I also learned that self-esteem is an extremely sharp double edged sword, and if both of you aren’t confident and loving of yourselves, then both of you get gutted.
I’d say, 50/50 times, men and women can be friends without any of that romantic smantic crap bubbling up between the two. Other times, however, one of the parties involved sometimes develops an interest in the other, because he or she happens to kick ass. If both are single, cha-ching, fucking go for it. But if not, it is the responsibility of those two people to do the respectful thing to their girlfriends and boyfriends and kick the relationship down a notch or two. Hey, it’s not your fault you fucking rock, but if you’re really a good, loving friend to the other person, you back the fuck off. Because, believe it or not, your friendship with someone actually means you get 2 for the price of 1, even if you only wanted 1. Sorry, that’s how it goes. The significant other is always involved, whether in person or not.
*Thank God I went through that horrible relationship. It taught me a fuckload about what good relationships must be like, and now I have one.
Super Bitchy Monday: Your Car’s Fat, Ugly and Old, and It Looks Just Like You.
I’m not necessarily in the worst of moods today, actually, but there are a few things that riled me today: mostly when one of my favourite bloggers wrote a bitchy letter to an old friend, it kind of awakened this Last Frakking Nerve feeling I’ve been wanting to fry.
Dear American Public,
Yes, it is your fault that we’re in this hot fucking mess.
Yes, there I said it. It’s the American public’s fault.
GM’s going to bust, and you’re going to bitch about it, but guess what? It’s your fucking fault they failed. Wanna know why?
You had this stupid ass fucking insatiable need for monster cars that performed harder, went faster, made more noise and were bigger than everyone else’s on the block. No, I’m not talking about sex. I’m talking about your greed and lust for monster machines that out-performed the modest and tiny vehicles across the pond. So, because of your thirst for power, GM and Chrysler and Ford invested in machining technology that created bigger cars and used more precious fuel. And now that you’re clamouring about GM not deserving any bail out money because they failed to understand the need for more consevative fuel consumption, you’re full of crap and you should shove it up your H2’s tail pipe with the 9MPG and 9Point IQ you’ve got. It’s YOUR FUCKING FAULT.
You bought their shitty cars, so they continued to make them. Until you decided to go trendy and smaller… Couldn’t you have been a bandwagoner sooner? Shit.
AND, you elected Reagan, who effectively pressed the delete key on all of Jimmy Carter’s aggressive fuel conservation and green initiatives literally as soon as his ass hit the leather chair in the oval office. So… uh, yeah. Your fault.
AIG? Well, let’s see, I’m not an economist, but if you elect a bunch of beaurocrats who like to re-write oversight policies so that financial institutions like AIG and Bank Of America and Countrywide could invest and deal with risky business ventures, then yeah, I can say again, the financial pickle the US is in, is mostly a lot of the public’s fault.
Well, maybe I’m reaching on that one.
Probably.
But about this here housing credit crunch…. this is some people’s fault. Not just from predatory lenders on innocent people who just wanted to buy a house. Not all borrowers were innocent.
Some people who were fresh outta college and making $34k a year decided that they could get a $400K loan on a house and some how they’d be alright.
Some people decided to draw out all the equity on their house and use it to buy other houses, digging themselves into an exponentially higher amount of debt all under the name of “investment.” Well, digging yourself in debt by using–in effect–a credit cash advance from your home isn’t an investment. If you use equity, it might have been a credit and an asset at one point, but using it to catapult yourself into higher debt that you shouldn’t be able to buy isn’t an investment–it’s just debt buying debt.
And you think that the credit industry is in a crisis because of fraudulent lending practices and ponzi schemes? Partly, yes, but partly, no… it’s your fault. It’s your fault you thougth you could get away with buying something you could never in your entire life pay off, just because you believed what a bull-shit mortgage banker told you, and you didn’t read the fine print, or because you thought that somehow you were smarter than the system. Let me tell you, you’re weren’t, and you’re still not. Don’t whine to Mr. Obama to bail you out when you decided against better judgement to buy a house that was way beyond your pay grade!
If you buy a house worth $600 grand, and your combined household income is only $80K, and you have 2 dogs, 2 kids and 3 vehicles, you are living out of your means. If your house is worth $600 grand, and your combined household income is only $60Km, and you have 2 kids, 2 dogs, 2 SUVs, satellite TV with 200 channels, and you eat every meal out at McDonald’s and shop at Wal-Mart, you are living out of your means, and you have no sense of employee ethics, health or protecting the environment, in which case we should never meet and never be friends.
It’s your fault! Some people who are so pro buying American forget that buying American and being Pro-America, means that we need to demand better service, better machinery, better technology, better fuel economy, and better all around products from American companies. Buying American doesn’t mean bigger, better, faster, stronger. It means saving, conserving, preserving and diversifying. Being Pro-America doesn’t mean we subscribe to the status quo, but demaning better ideas, thought OUTSIDE the box, better initiatives that quell consumption, and infusing those initiatives into avenues that create jobs, and cut down on excess! Being Pro-America means we have to get MEAN and demand from our elected officials what the beaurocrats are too fat and stupid to get done.
I’m Pro-America, and I’m fucking angry. Why do people think that just because I’m angry, I’m anti-American? I want America to go back to the way it should be–that is, the way it never was before this economic crisis!
Fuck you.
Oh yeah, and if you think tailing me and revving your engine behind me on 13 mile road in that ugly fucking box of a BMW fuel consuming, UNGREEN SUV is going to get you to your destination faster…You got another think coming. By the way, I looked in my rear-view mirror, and I saw a behemoth that looked like it’d gotten caught in the power lines outside the power station near my house: frizzy, fried, and fucking fat. Your car looks like Gary Busey, bloated, boxy, stupid and oh yeah, it looks like like you.
I heard the Dollar is on it’s way back up, so shut the hell up and go buy something not made in China, and carry it home in a reusable shopping bag.
Oh yeah, and the next time you’re driving with a phone to your ear? Hang up and fucking drive. You’ll be a better driver for it.
Love,
Mae
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PC. Treehugger, and Jutiagroup.com
News Source: NYTimes.com
McDisappointment (sort of)
Fresh from a retail therapy high, a crazy thrill of purchasing my first Alexander McQueen (albeit cheaper) piece of clothing pulsed through me. Sadly, at that time, I failed to realise that my excitement and anticipation over the McQ line at Target was probably undeserved.
I walked into the store completely feverish, and stupidly hopeful that the line would be everything and more that I wished it to be.
I tried on the below three looks from the look book.
Sadly, upon seeing on the label that terrible branding that kills even the most fervent shopper’s high, my buzz slightly faltered. “Made in China.” :sigh:
Still, not completely dogged, I grabbed six items and headed into the fitting room.
Here are my observations and disappointments:
1. Not a lot of colour diversity, which could be understood, since it’s supposed to have been modeled and inspired by that one rock chick. But whatever.
2. Not a lot of give in the material—the materials are made with cheap cotton that pulls and has absolutely no give or flexibility. So, if you’re an X-small like me, but have a large chest, the S will be right for you about the chest area, but all wrong in the shoulders. Had there been some stretch in the material, this probably could have been avoided.
3. Over-priced for the quality of the material.
4. Kind of cheap looking silhouettes that don’t fit properly.
5. The sizes run small.
6. Not made for curvy girls with hips, butts or boobs.
The harness dress I bought, but only after I struggled to get the XSMALL (my proper size for my waist) on and off. The harness is made of unforgiving cheap cotton, which doesn’t yield or flex much when you put it on. There is no zipper on the dress, so getting in and out of it can be trouble for curvier, busty girls. Unfortunately, I had to buy a size up in order to get in and out of the dress properly, without pulling my shoulder out of a socket.
I bought the party frock, the Ebony Zig Zag one shoulder tarty little thing. Again, another piece with very little give. If you’re an XS like me, but find yourself struggling to get in and out of it, you probably have to go a size up. esp if you’re a busty girl. I did love the cut and draping, though, and immediately thought of myself in it with strappy stilettos, steel jewelry and a drink in my hand at my bachelorette party.
I also tried on the peachy cotton shirt and realised, no, this doesn’t fit my boobs. The buttons puckered around my chest, and I realised it wasn’t a good fit, so I put it back on the hanger, where the shirt frowned down at me.
I tried on the swingy, gauzy high waisted skirt. In principle, this thing is really cute. ON, not so much. For one, again, the sizes run VERY small. I am normally a size 2 or 3, but I ended up fitting into a size 5 with a bit of difficulty. I put it on, and it looked very cute, but with my short legs, with the skirt hitting under the knee, it wasn’t very flattering for my leg length. However, it did wonders for my waist and hips… high waisted usually looks better on ANYONE because it dresses the smallest part of the body. However, the gauzy organza-ish lining that makes it poof and swing out attracted LOTS of static cling. I could see all the dirt and lint from the floor of the dressing room starting to stick to the skirt.
Since I already had a high waisted swingy a-line skirt in my wardrobe, I also put that back on the hanger to frown down at me, but I stuck my tongue out at it and decided to move on with my life.
Conclusion:
Despite the hype and great anticipation, I came away with a deflated shopper’s guilt. I was glad I bought what I bought, but unless he releases another collection, I won’t shoot another look in the McQ direction when I enter my beloved Target.
AUDBLOG: January 20 2009: My Thoughts on the 44th Presidential Inauguration: Big Deal
On this most historic of occasions, I finally felt awakened to my own patriotism. I had my AHA moment in which I was struck with a feeling of gratitude, joy and “Americanness.”
Here I share with you, via audio essay, “President Obama: A Big Deal.” (Essay will open in a separate tab or window.)
(Pics from my Citizenship Ceremony last October, as referenced in the essay)
Quite nervous.
My proud “hubby” and me.
Finally getting my certificate of Naturalization.
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For the transcript of the essay: Click “more”
(more…)
Nerd In Chief
President Elect to be “Nerd-in-Chief” in Spider-Man Inauguration Day Comic Issue.
…There is a long history of presidents appearing in Spider-Man comics, from Franklin D. Roosevelt through to George W. Bush, who has appeared on several occasions.
But Obama has the honor sooner than most because he made a point of saying he was a fan, Quesada said. “We thought ‘He gave us a shout out, let’s give him a shout back.’”
Obama told Entertainment Weekly magazine in August that his favorite superheroes were Spider-Man and Batman because “they have some inner turmoil.”
–Reuters, 01-09-09
FUN TIMES! According to a Friday article in Reuters, the President-Elect will be featured in a the Marvel Comic for a special Inauguration Day issue.
For a Liberal, pseudo-comic aficionado, and complete geek myself, I find this to be rather amusing and freakin’ sweet all at once. It’s great to see that not only are cross genres of intellectuals and collective African Americans (not mutually exclusive of each other!), but the Nerd Genre (race-free, of course) are all celebrating this historic occasion.
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2009 – Resolution to Everyone: Don’t Be a Mofo:
Audblog: “Don’t Be a Jerk!”. *Explicit Language Warning!*
EFF YOU, YOU JERK! – New Years Resolution #1: Don’t be a jerk (Aud Blog Entry)
I went through some of my old archives and vlogs and what not… so, to begin the new year, I will post an audblog.
I wrote a diatribe about how everyone in America is an effing jerk, and how not to be one… I think to begin your year, you should resolve not to be a fucker. And without further ado, here is the verbal essay, “Don’t Be A Jerk,” which I recorded two years ago, reading an essay I wrote in 2004 on a now defunct blog.
MY VERY FIRST AUD BLOG!!
“Don’t Be a Jerk”: An Audio Blog Verbal Essay
Author’s notes: **Explicit Lyrics WARNING**
This file is 5MB and is 13 or so minutes long. It will open up in a separate window or tab, and play in that window. I’m quite fond of this piece, honestly. So if you have time to listen, lease do so where you can do so privately… work = NOT a good place to listen to an essay with some swearing. You get me.
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In other news:
(i have a math test tomorrow to see if I have to take basic math for the graduation requirement, and I think I might fail the effing thing.
I think i am so screwed, I can’t think straight or punctuate properly.
efeffeffffffff!)
Taking Action for a Change
I’m sick of the government effing students and uni’s over because of dangerously low budgets. I think it’s high time these people stop spending so much on things that don’t benefit the greater welfare of the populace; such as the prison system and corrections industry. Sure, we need safer streets, but if the governmental bodies spent half the money they spend on prison systems on Education, we would circumvent having overcrowded prison cells and corrections facilities. Pundits and educators have all agreed time and time again the education is the key to preventing crime. Education is our way out.
With Michigan being one of the poorest states, with our economy relying heavily, if not solely, on the automotive industry, we are poised to be the biggest loser in this economic climate. Bright, educated minds are the thing that might be our saving grace. How in the world can government even entertain the idea of cutting finances to education, even in these desperate economic times? Cut back on bailing out these banks, they fuct us in the first place!
Well, I wrote the Governor this morning.
I think all states stand to lose money budgeted to their education sectors, so you should stand up and make your voice heard. Google for where you can write your local officials, and your governor to try to pressure them to reconsider budget cuts to the very needed education system of your state.
Frowning Fraus (WIWT)
There is a woman here at the office who slightly resembles a Mennonite. I know she is not, though, because she wears makeup, profanes, and works at this establishment and drives a nice car; not a nice, nice car, but a pretty decent one, better than average. Perhaps she doesn’t possess the extreme humility of outward appearance of a Mennonite, but she makes me wonder if she were a Quaker in another life. She wears a mantle of embroidered wool, with those hokey country quaint patterns on them, a creme-coloured confection topped with coral pink and orange sprinkles. She always wears long skirts with pleating (usually made for women with Muffin-Top syndrome) in boring warm earth tones and oranges and her tops under her mantle-poncho usually fall within the autumnal colour pallete. Boring, wholesome, 50’s farm marm kind of stuff.
She’s not of the type that merits noting on this site. She’s not out of the norm from many of the women here. She fits right in. Though she is a bit more country-crock-traditional than most of my marmy, heavy-set work colleagues, she doesn’t stand out in any particular way that I should spend time writing about her. It’s not how she dresses that puts a nettle in my hat.
This is a dangerous assumption often made of shy people, but I think she has proven herself not to be shy. She and I have spoken on more than one occasion, and never once has she exhibited the ability to smile. At me. I don’t know if she’s rascist, or if she doesn’t like me because I’m skinnier than she–which has been the case with some of the other women here. I pass her at least two or three times a week as we wind our way through the cornflower blue cotton walls of the cubicle maze, or run into each other coming opposite ways near the washrooms. Each time I encounter her, I smile wide, grin right at her, or say hello cheerfully. Most times she will eye me with a quizzical, unfriendly look and keep passing with nary a word of greeting in return. Rude.
This morning it really bothered me.
Now, I take particular pride some days in the way I dress. Dressing well makes me feel accomplished and collected. I feel proud that I am able to dress myself well without spending hundreds on the clothes I have. I am cheap and occasionally chic. Today is such a day, though I’m unmade up facewise.
Again I passed her in the fabric by-lanes of the maze of this office, and I beamed at her. This time, she gave me the up-down eye and looked right at me with a frowny squint and then walked right past me. ME! She gave me stink eye, she in that lamb rug she calls a piece of clothing. Why does this woman frown at me when all I do is say hello and smile at her? It’s almost upsetting considering the effort I put into greeting her with a smile, knowing she is sort of new here. I’ve learned to move past the other frowning frau-bags, because they are quite, quite large, and I’m sure they think I’m a dieter or one of those girls who eats like a bird. I assure you, I so am not. I eat like shit (despite being a vegetarian), and I eat a lot. So, I obviously don’t care because they can’t help being envious of a skinny girl and hating her guts because they choose not to control themselves. But this woman isn’t quite on their level yet. What is her excuse? Why this overt dislike?
She ain’t shy, so what the fuck?
Why are people so rotten? Despite my hating this job many times and many days, I try to be the best person I am in the day when I am here. I smile at others, even if I’m crumpling with anger inside. I wave and make chatties with the wonderful women at the front desk. I joke and laugh with my cubicle department mates, because that’s how we get by.
But this Quaker woman? What is her reason?
** Cashmere drape sweater, Victoria’s Secret; Crew Sweater, Forever21; Lace Pleat Skirt, Mossimo; Patent Belt, Zara; Patent Oxfords, Payless.
E Plurbis Unum
Out of many, we are one.
Yes we can.
Yes, we did.
What an amazing day!
**pic stolen from Luxenoir.
Important: VOTE TOMORROW
Regardless of party affiliation, tomorrow’s Federal Election Day is one of the most important, if not the most important in this Nation’s history: a Black man is running for a Major Party with great possibilities of becoming the First Black American President.
During the Primaries, we saw the first major possibility of a White woman as the President, which was particularly important to me as a woman, and a newly sworn-in American.
And while I can’t vote tomorrow, it doesn’t make the day any less significant to me. Though my voice can’t be heard on election day, Mr. Obama’s very presence in this election means that Americans are changing, that the racial attitudes and climates are changing, are moving toward a Great Dream only words from Reverend King could express. It means that people of brown and yellow and red skin, like myself, have possibilities in this country. Obama’s presence in this race, and his very possible presidency mean that we of colour don’t have to dream anymore, but we can act, we can choose, and that those acts and choices will be answered with reality.
**Graphic Credit Obey Giant.com (Shepard Ferry)
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I have to stress to my California readers: Vote NO on Proposition 8, which seeks to reverse the momentous and paramount Equal-Marriage law in California. This Proposition was funded and driven by a large Mormon voting base, and if you believe, like me that Religion should NEVER play politics, you should vote NO on this evil, discriminatory Proposition.
To my Michigan readers: VOTE YES on Prop 2, which will go far in aiding people who Cerebral Palsy, MS, Cancer, paralysis, Alzheimer’s, and many other terrible diseases victimise. Embryonic Stem Cell Research does not harm lives, because the embryos donated to stem cell research are discards and unwanteds from in vitro labs for people who cannot conceive naturally. In most cases these embryos have been frozen in deep freeze storage, and their chances to become a living human being were already forfeited. These embryos do not come from live births. These embryos were bred in a petre dish, by scientists, and never at any time was a human life harmed–or averted.
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And regardless of what you believe, or what I believe, you should always uphold your rights and duties to the United States by exercising your right to vote in a Federal Election. So Vote tomorrow.
And for those of you voting for Obama, please send my wishes, too. Because I can’t vote in this one, though I now can in all future ones! Happy Balloting!
I Make Myself Laugh (I am mean…)
Ironic that I would write this directly following my last post.
In response to the SlackMistress’ blog about stupid neighbours…. I had to tell everyone my “Theory.”
This post reinforces my Universal Idiocy Theory: Everyone but a certain, select few (mostly on the blogosphere), are fucking idiots and should not A.) Procreate, B.) Speak, C.) Interact with other human beings; but that actually A.) Procreate, and in higher numbers than the above-mentioned “smart people, B.) Speak, and in many more words and forums than said “Smart People,” (whereby C. from above is a total given), and C.) are quickly killing the planet by overwhelming the “Smart Race” with their shockingly high population, effectively breeding the “smarties” out.
:sigh:
I’m sorry. You happen to live amongst many such creatures.
Renewing Ridiculous Fixation
With an impending album release and debut in the USA, I find myself oddly drawn to the music of Asian sensation BoA–a renewed ridiculous fascination with ironic zeal.
BoA is a seasoned performer, discovered at the age of eleven and trained and prepped for performance for two years before making her musical debut at the age of thirteen in 2000. She was groomed for performance perfection, being trained in the art of hip hop dance, given English and Japanese lessons, and a huge range of vocal training, to round out her skills. At thirteen she debuted with huge success, with the release of her Album ID: Peace B. Funnily enough, the song is actually about connecting with others through a game network, and creating peace through gaming together. Admittedly a bit of a child’s theme, which was prominent in her first album, for example, the song Sara is a down-tempo dance love song to her cat.
(I’m quite sure she didn’t write any of her songs.)
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OF THE MOMENT IMPORTANCE: Impeding Democracy – How Feminism Is Biting Us in the Anus (Sarah Palin)
I think it’s no News that Sarah Palin sucks. Yesterday, on Democracy Now, a wonderful interview was held by an Evangelical who finds Palin anathema and because of her, her abuse of power, her demonization of gays instead of love and acceptance–and thereby spreading hate, her “othering” of Barack Obama, and her accusations of Obama “palling around with terrorists” and sitting idle when death threats are hurled violently from her political rallies…hate and otherness disseminates across this country, and awakens racist, bigoted tendencies in people… She MORE than just sucks. She is one way to say Feminism is biting us in the ass. I will not vote for her ticket and McCain’s ticket just because I want to advance the crack in the Glass Ceiling. A crack in the glass ceiling with her name on it will fracture this broken nation even more. She is evil. She must be stopped.
What a great blog of the moment: The Times Magazine (New York), the Moment, had a guest blogger, Bonnie Fuller who wrote this article, attacking (with great reason) Palin. Let’s take a moment to savour, shall we? AND PASS ON THE WORD! McCain and Palin are the sure way to regress, and bring more corruption to the White House. Shining city on a hill, my ass.
Suck it, Palin.
Britney Spears vs. Sarah Palin: Which is a greater threat to civilization?
The notorious pop tart is back with a catchy new single, “Womanizer,” and has been replaced as everybody’s favorite cultural punch line by another working mom, who is proving to be a far greater threat to civilization, if you ask me….
She riles up her audiences about Obama’s “otherness,” and then is silent when someone in the crowd screams, “kill him”!…
Memo to Sarah Palin: civilization rests on the tolerance of other backgrounds, religious views and political ideas….
And Sarah Palin? We know from the interview she did with Katie Couric that the woman who could be a heartbeat away from the presidency cannot name a single news source that she reads.
I like the last point particularly… Bravo.
Snapshot of the world: Sobering Numbers On the Environmental Situation
Open your eyes. In a recent email I received from one of my many “Green” sources today… It is sobering….
A Look At Leading Environmental Indicators
–The Seventh Generation Index
If every picture tells a story, every statistic paints a picture. And usually it’s worth a thousand words. With that in mind, we’ve collected some facts and figures that we think say a great deal about where we are today and where we need to go tomorrow. Introducing the first Seventh Generation Index, a snapshot of leading environmental indicators that paint a portrait of the state of our world.
* Number of people employed worldwide in the renewable energy sector: 2.3 million
* Percent increase in production of solar cells last year: 51
* Number of people expected to be employed in the solar energy sector alone by 2030: 6.3 million
* Number of minutes of sunlight hitting Earth needed to meet global energy needs for a year: 1
OH MY GOD: * Size of the patch of desert needed to meet all U.S. energy using concentrated solar power: 92 x 92 miles
* Percent of global energy needs that could be met by wind power: 3,500
* Cost to build wind power generators to meet 20% of U.S. electricity needs: $1.2 trillion
* Amount of money spent on foreign oil in the U.S. every year: $700 billion
* Number of volatile organic compounds emitted by six common deodorizing and laundry products: 100
* Average number of new chemicals being created each day: 5
* Percent of total U.S. energy use dedicated to producing food: 19%
* Percent of total U.S. energy use that would be dedicated to producing food if everyone was vegetarian: 13%
* Average number of coal-fired power plants being built in China every week: 1
* Percent of air pollution in the western U.S. that originates in China: 15
* Percent reduction in U.S. atmospheric sulfur dioxide levels since 2000: 14
* Percent reduction in U.S. ground level ozone levels since 2000: 9
* Percent drop in total toxic releases in the U.S. from 2000 to 2005: 39
THIS IS SAD AND DISGUSTING * Number of floating pieces of non-biodegradable plastic per square mile of ocean: 46,000
* Number of days it takes new plastic developed by Mississippi scientists to biodegrade in seawater: 20
* Percent of U.S. household waste currently being recycled: 33
* Percent of U.S. household waste that could be recycled: 75
* Cost per ton of garbage collection in the U.S.: $70-$200
* Cost per ton of curbside recycling in the U.S.: $50-$150
* Number of jobs created per 10,000 tons of waste incinerated: 1
* Number of jobs created per 10,000 tons of waste landfilled: 6
* Number of jobs created per 10,000 tons of waste recycled: 36 – HELLO!!
We could save money, save the planet and give people more jobs if Americans could learn more how to recycle and if the government and other agencies bolstered the alternative energy industry. What is wrong with this country!
We could change so much if we just learned to focus these things in the right direction. See what you can do in your daily life to change what is going on with the world environment.
– Garbage in our oceans!
Related Articles:
The giant garbage patch twice the size of Texas floating in the Pacific Ocean:
Plastic Ocean: The Great Pacific Garbage Patch, CDNN news
Continent-size toxic spew of plastic fouling swath of Pacific Ocean, San Francisco Chronicle
Giant garbage patch floating in Pacific, Physorg.com, Science and Tech news
