Why I Like Laura on Project Runway!

Oh my goodness. I have been blog-attacked by my friend, Laura from College, who insists that I am a terrible person for supporting another Laura -- the red-haired Laura on this season's "Project Runway." (I shall differentiate between the Lauras by referring to them as College Laura and PR Laura).

Please take a moment to read College Laura's virulent blog which rails against my good judgment.

In my defense, I would like to make the following points:

1. I never said I would want to be PR Laura's friend. I mean, the woman is pretty bitchy, but that's part of her allure and intrigue. And frankly, in many ways I appreciate her total and complete honesty because, let's face it, she's almost always right: Kayne is a Vegas-inspired, rather classless pageant designer who can't break out of that mold, Jeffery is an arrogant ass, Angela was a flake obsessed with rosettes, and Vincent was a kook who made crappy garments that only he liked & admired. As far as I'm aware, she has not picked on Uli (who also makes the same exact dress every week) or Michael, who are clearly the two best designers besides herself, and she is also friends with them.


My favorite designers (in order): PR Laura, Michael, & Uli

2. It should also be noted that I am not basing my judgement on personality. I personally hate Jeffery but thought he did actually make the best outfit (the couture dress) last week...

However, I like PR Laura the most because she is the designer that I would choose first to design clothing for me. I like her style, I like her classic-ness, I like her clean lines, I like her simplicity, and in a nutshell: I'm being entirely selfish about this... she makes clothing I would personally wear. I don't care about her personality as much as I like the woman's clothes.

Like this...

I loved the "nuts" dress!

3. That said, she has gone over the top once or twice, particularly in relation to her pregnancy... I agree the baby belly shirt was definitely skeevy, and her description of the new baby as "just one more to throw on the pile" was rather disturbing, but hey, I'm sorry... I like her designs!! You may call them boring and repetitive, but I would choose them time and again.


I agree that this maternity shirt (or not) was a hideously bad look. Yuck! Plus the couture dress she designed was a bit on the 'Addams Family' side. However, everyone is allowed to make a mistake now and then...

So this is why I like PR Laura. She is a great seamstress, she's honest and straight-forward, and her clothes almost always look good. Of course, bear in mind that I also liked Wendy Pepper (largely because she was so caustic) when the whole world hated her...

...so apparently I like to root for the older, bitchy, feisty female.

And finally, I will have you know that I do also like Michael Knight very much and would be equally happy if he were to win this season. In fact, he has proven himself to be a most innovative and talented designer, and he also seems like a nice person (please note that he and PR Laura often tend to align themselves together -- so angelic Michael must see something good in her too! ).

Gawker Posting (Follow-Up to 9/11 Posting Below)

There's a reason why I love the Gawker website. If you read my next post (9/11 Rant), you will know why I laughed out loud at today's Gawker headline:

Tomorrow Is the Fifth Anniversary of the Day After 9/11

- The true heroes of September the 11th: those brave souls who manufacture and sell us ridiculous collectibles. [Zulkey] *** (note from Kit: If you don't click on any other link here, please, as my friend, click on this "Zulkey" one because it is so funny I laughed out loud at my desk for about 10 minutes)***

- Oliver Stone considers a second 9/11 movie. Awesome, because we need more of that great shit. [The Reeler]•

- The Taliban celebrates, making Anderson Cooper run a little more than he's comfortable with. [You Tube]•

- Adding to the Road to 9/11 docudrama controversy: those bastards didn't even film in the U-S-of-A. [Swanky Beast]

9/11 Rant

Before I begin my post in earnest this evening, I must say that my brother is a complete and total curmudgeon, but that's one of the reasons we all love him so much. He's an incorrigible grump, but he can make sense when he rants about some things...


Here is my brother, in a light-hearted moment, with my mom. Interesting photo angle courtesy of my niece, Isabella, age 4.

He's 35 with the personality of a 70-year old Seinfeldian 'La Boca Vista' resident. He hates the Bush administration, he writes cutting letters to his congressmen, he thinks most human beings are idiots, and he refuses to watch any TV show in which "mini-interviews" are conducted (ie: those tiny segments in all reality TV shows in which the contestants are interviewed privately for the camera and narrate their views on a certain scene). In one of his most personality-revealing quotes I can think of, which occurred this weekend, he stated, "You might be social, but I just don't like people." And he's not kidding.

Tolerance is not one of my brother's stronger suits. Now granted, he is married (apparently he liked someone enough to tolerate living with them indefinitely), has two children, and works as a real estate developer and medical salesman, which forces him to interact with the human race --- but this is only because he must support his family somehow (he has admitted to me that he loathes making "small talk" with the hospital and medical office nurses). Ultimately, if it were up to him, I think he'd be a hermit on a desert island somewhere.

Therefore, it is not surprising that I have been semi-bombarded by phone calls from him recently (the latest being today in the gym locker room, during which he sounded off about the latest irritating soundbite on NPR)... his latest rant? All of the 9/11 hoopla in the US media.

Of course, I think we can all safely say that it was a horrible day for the US, and specifically for NY and DC. But my brother has been calling me the past two days to express his disgust at the ridiculous, tedious, and ever-present TV, internet, and radio coverage of this day five years ago. At the risk of being totally and completely non-PC, which I don't really care about since this is my blog, I'd like to bring up a couple of points of annoyance (most of which he brought up, but with which I largely agree):

1) Enough already with the lame mini-series, docudramas, and pitifully cheesy films. Enough!!!


What's worse than Nicholas Cage? Nicholas Cage playing a firefighter on 9/11.

2) Why do they play bagpipes at these memorial events? The bagpipes are awful and annoying to listen to, and moreover, they're not even American! They're Scottish. Enough of the goddamn bagpipes already...


Id' rather listen to a looping track of William Hung's performance on "American Idol" than this squeaking sack of air.

3) Bells tolled at the hour in which the north tower collapsed. To remind us? As if we forgot? Noooo!

4) Reading of the names. OK, if this makes family members feel better... fine. But it's getting old... do we have to keep reading these names every single year? What about all the other people in the world that die tragically every day? Are we reading their names? Are we reading the tsunami victims names too? Victims in Baghdad?

5) Why is the "five year" mark any more important than the 14 year mark or the 7 year mark? What's with us and five year increments?

6) Enough corny Dateline and Primetime Live specials on 9/11 -- OK, we get it... it was traumatic and sad and terrible. But do we need to hear Diane Sawyer (amidst teary eyed background piano music) telling some woman that a child born after the father died that day is a "gift from God"? No, Diane, we do not! Because it was awful, but that is a lame thing to say!


I can't take it anymore!!!!

OK, I'm pretty much done ranting, but I am really tired of all of this 9/11 "reliving the day" bullshit. We all know it sucked.

So perhaps my curmudgeonly brother is 100% right... US media, move on ... and stop dredging up this terrible event every single year!

Yours truly,
An annoyed citizen who lived through the day and doesn't need to relive it anymore.

Finally... the Camping Pics

Hey -- it's been a great weekend! Hung out Friday afternoon and evening with Jenn (and David Bowie -- who does have quite the anatomically correct package in his Labyrinth ballet tights -- not that I was looking, but jeesh, you can't miss it), then spent Saturday eating fruit pancakes at Bobo's Diner with Lindsey, recovering from a stomach dough bomb, and later drinking beer with Anna & Ben at "Frog & Firkin" before heading to an astronomy department party, where I met many colorful and brainy characters. Today (Sunday) I caught up on homework and went swimming at the pool and am now preparing to study a bit more after I'm done mucking around on this blog.

You'll be happy to hear I finally have my camping photos uploaded! So here's the Labor Day trip in pictures...

First, though, I have to say that you would have thought I'd learned my lesson about engaging in outdoor activities during the Arizona monsoon after my near-death experience in a Sabino Canyon flash flood last year. However I'm a slow learner.

Things started out well. Our group of seven (Anna & Alex, Mike & Keri -- the couples -- and Dave, Linda, and me -- the singletons) met at Keri's house where we got the cars packed up for the two hour drive up to the Chiricahua Mountains, located on the New Mexico border.

Since I'm the only person that didn't care about riding in air conditioning, I volunteered to ride with Mike in his restored 1979 VW bus. He's an auto mechanic for Audi and has completely rebuilt this bus from scratch. I have a soft spot in my heart for VW buses because we had one when I was growing up (between 1976-80), and my dad used to take us camping in it. I'd almost forgotten that all VW buses sound the same, smell the same, and have that delightully archaic control panel with sliding levers and no labels for anything. However, within minutes, I felt like I was back in time!

Speaking of...

Here I am with my dad and our other VW bus, a Vanagon, which we had in the 1980s. This is the picture I once referred to in another blog entry, in which my mom thought I was my brother and put this picture in his photo album. This was apparently my unisex phase. Also -- please note the Busch Gardens painter's cap (and ignore my terrible posture).

Here's Mike's bus...

The best thing was that he has Satellite XM radio and likes exactly the same music as me (1980s new wave synth pop) so we had a great time on the drive.

About 20 miles from the campsite, we spotted a little turtle along the side of the dirt road. Mike decided to stop the bus so we could check the little guy out...

Mike scared the turtle so much he made him pee, but then he relaxed for photos.

He was trying to get the hell away from me here...

He shat on my hand right after this photo. I suppose I deserved it for not letting him go right away.

Once we got to camp, I decided to stay with Dave in his humongo-tent.

There was plenty of room for two air mattresses, and the guy is an engineer and has all the latest gadgets so I figured he was a good bet for a roommate. Sure beat my crappy little pup tent...

Mike is the ultimate "old school" camper... here is his VW bus set-up:

Note the "living room" off the front of the bus. I was a bit jealous, even if our tent did have a small vestibule.

It started raining almost the minute we got to the campsite...

And it was cold as Siberia. Here are Anna and Alex trying to warm up with cocoa (or wine... oh yes, I think for sure it's wine... well, that's not so warming... at first anyway)

After the sun went down it felt like Siberia in mid-January...

Luckily the rain was still misty though. Here are Alex, Keri, and Anna at the campfire.

Dave (Mr. Gadget) brought his "Saws All" Craftsman portable mini-chainsaw...

Thank god for modern technology. His quick wood cutting and fire-building skills kept us at least sort of warm for a while.

Here's Linda warming her "Geisha toes"... (umm, socks & flip flops):

This woman is a complete hoot.

As the evening went on, she gathered more hats on her head to stay warm...

She loved this picture, saying it captured the evening perfectly. Too much beer & subzero temps.

It really was this cold...

Here's Anna trying to stay warm. I believe I was shivering uncontrollably about here, plus the rain was starting to really come down.

I got no sleep that night between the insane cold, the pouring rain, a wet pillow, Dave's snoring, and having to pee and not wanting to go outside...

And this was the massive rain puddle greeting me when I tried to get out of the tent in the morning.

Here's the view out to the campsite...

Everything was so wet, we could barely use it.

Thankfully, everyone on the trip was either a mechanic or an engineer (except Linda and me)...

Here are the mechanically inclined people setting up the tarp in an attempt to stay dry.

Here's the inside of the tent I shared with Dave...

The dark spots on the navy mattress are rain water that my head laid in the night before. Dave set up his little space heater (satellite looking object at the top right) to try and dry out my soaked goods (including my sleeping bag).

Honestly, if had only been up to me, I would have cashed it in right then and there. I'm not really one to tough it out while camping. However, I was in the minority (only Linda agreed with me, and she wanted to go have a "camp out" in her living room).

We spent the next day playing gin rummy, hiding under the tarp, and trying to stay dry. Luckily my stuff did dry out, thanks to Dave's high-tech gear.

Here we are that evening trying to stay dry & warm in Mike's VW bus...

Note the wet spots on my pant leg... that would be rainwater, which sopped me the entire two days in the woods. Lovely. I also had on so many layers (long-sleeve tee, fleece vest, sweatshirt, fleece jacket, and raincoat) that I looked like the Stay-Puff Marshmallow Man.

I only escaped the campsite once (trying to find dry fire wood, which I did not find) and climbed a big hill looking over our camp area. We weren't in an established campground (thus no bathrooms, showers, etc). It looked like this (big trees) for as far as the eye could see...


Needless to say, I was pretty happy when we got back to civilization, and I have a much stronger appreciation for rooves, floors, beds, and kitchens now...

Must go do some Quranic reading now for class tomorrow ... peace!

A Montage of Nerdy Delights

And yet again, my camping photo plan has been stymied because it is now midnight, I still haven't uploaded the photos off my digital camera, and I have been doing Arabic homework for some time now (and intermittently watching "Jimmy Kimmel" -- who just featured a Paris Hilton DUI arrest re-enactment that made me laugh out loud.)

Therefore, in preparation for my Friday evening of "Labyrinth" watching with my self-declared co-nerd, Jenn, I am going to engage my audience with an audio-visual entertainment suite of all things nerdy:

1. I had no idea that creating music videos using film clips is a popular full-time hobby for a lot of (nerdy) people with excess time on their hands, and apparently "Labyrinth" is a popular movie to toy with, as there were about seven pages of videos to choose from on YouTube. After a fairly thorough review of the rather lame collection, this was the cheesiest video montage I could find featuring "Mr. Bowie in tights" himself, with Madonna singing "Crazy for You" in the background... I warned you it was lame...


2. One of my favorite movie clips, from "American Splendor" (turn up the volume b/c the sound is bad)...


3. And here is the real guy (comic artist Harvey Pekar's friend, Toby, who is not acting here) on who the character above was based...


4. And of course, my all-time favorite, the classic musical ending to "Revenge of the Nerds" (filmed here at U of A!!!):


And finally, for your listening pleasure... nerdcore rap:

Weird Al - "White and Nerdy"
Beefy - "Nerd"
Rappy McRapperson - "Food!"
Oddioblender - "MySpace Hates You"
Attack Slug - "How Nerdy Am I?"

Nerd out...

Shit Slinging in My Grad Department

The camping story is going to have to wait (again) because my e-mail was attacked by people in my grad department flinging dung at each other today. (which of course gave me great pleasure to read). So please take a moment and check out this totally bizarro e-mail exchange between my colleagues, which was sent out to the entire departmental grad student "Listserv."

FYI: I have changed names to protect the innocent (umm, that's me). And for what it's worth, in case you couldn't guess, I am totally on Matthew's side (who is Muslim as well and also goes by the name "Aziz" as a nickname)...

It started out innocently, when a girl named Tara invited everyone to dinner on Friday:

Hi Everybody!

Some of us students are going out for Ethiopian food this coming Friday at 7PM. You are welcome to join us!The name of the restraurant is: Zeman's Restaurant. The address is: 2831 E Broadway. If you need a ride, ask through the listserv and those of us with cars can plan a carpool. Please let me know if you plan to come by Thursday evening so I can make reservations. This restaurant is not only cheap but has great, authentic food. Zeman's does not sell alcoholic beverages on its premises, but patrons are allowed to bring their own wine or beer at no charge if they like. Thanks, Tara

Then, a girl named Melissa (a newly converted and stringent Muslim American who married a north African guy who worked at the hotel where she was staying while on vacation) wrote this:

Tara, I heard about this restaurant--great idea. Thanks for being considerate and letting us know about the alcohol situation, for some of us that might have prevented us from going. I will be needing a ride, if anyone has room. I live on N. Fremont just a few blocks north of student union. - Melissa

And then Matthew (AKA Aziz) -- another American Muslim convert -- retorted with this (which I loved):

BTW, people who want rides to the restaurant should be willing to meet at the department. Dropping off at people's homes is fine, but there wasn't a department taxi service last time I checked... And, although I don't drink and never have, I have no problem with any choice of restaurant that my peers choose for a fun get-together and wouldn't boycott it just for that reason, eh! - Aziz

And this Melissa girl just couldn't let it slide. She had to respond with this (to the entire grad student and professor listserv):

In response to Aziz's email I want to clarify my comment for everyone else who read it as well. Although *Aziz* may be fine with a choice of a restaurant where alcohol is served, some people cannot sit among a group of people who drink not because they want to disrespect other students but because of a tradition of Prophet Muhammad, which I would be glad to show Aziz if he wishes to see it.

Those people's sensitivities should be respected (and have been, thanks to people like Tara). Let us not make those who are practicing certain religious beliefs feel alienated or intolerant simply because they choose to do so. If such students do not show up at events where alcohol is served I assure you it is not because they don't wish to socialize with other students. Also, I dont think anyone assumes anyone else is a taxi service, just because they choose to provide their address (as I did.) For some people, my location may be more convenient than the department's building. In the future, Aziz can contact me directly if he wants to say something to me in an indirect way...instead of sending it to the entire listserv, I'm sure people have been getting enough emails as it is! ;)

Thanks!

And I hope to see everyone on Friday!

Melissa

OK, now back to planet Earth (where I'm sitting) -- with a couple of comments...

1) I personally love the winking smiley face emoticon and light-hearted and chipper tone with which she ends her bitch rant.

2) No, I do not intend to go to this potentially disastrous dinner, although the temptation to see these two sitting at the same table is great.

3) I am not going because I am getting together with my best former Arabic friend Jenn (who is a quitter and dropped out of Arabic this year to "focus on classes in her major"... yeah, whatever), and we are watching "Labyrinth," which features David Bowie wearing ballet tights...



That is a rocking way to spend a Friday night, and it certainly sounds more appealing than sitting at a table with a brainwashed nutcase girl who can't even be in the same room as a bottle of beer. Belch...



Viva la BIRA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Baby Suri and the Croc Hunter

OK, so the blog agenda tonight was my rainy camping weekend and associated photos, but then I came upon something that totally blew that story out of the water... so it will have to be postponed a day.

This is it --- the long awaited photo shoot of the adopted/imaginary/faux/Asian (?) BABY SURI...




OK, personally I think she actually does look a little bit like Tom Cruise, but some of the comments people posted on www.perezhilton.com were pretty damn funny, albeit evil and catty, of course. Here are a few of my mean-spirited favorites:

• okay, that is the first baby i've seen that seriously looks like it's wearing a toupee.. fabulous.
• so small and so cute and she already has the eyes of a scientologist.
• is that baby Chinese?
• I think it looks like Elvis.
• i think she looks like john cusack...
• OMG - I LOVE HER BABY TOUPEE!!
• That baby is absolutely adorable but looks too old to have been born when Katie reportedly gave birth. I wonder how much they had to pay to recruit...I mean adopt ...her.
• Why is the kid wearing a wig???
• Go to http://www.babytoupee.com/
• They cannot possibly think that we are this unintelligent! The baby has the most hair of any baby at that age, I have ever seen. It almost looks like a wig or the airbrushing was a bad job.
• cute kid...kinda asian....that was probably the first time shes seen sunlight....i think its just a wig that they're covering her alien tentacles with...after the photographer left she probably got beamed back up.
• some children with down syndrome have asian like eyes. suri looks like she might have down syndrome.
• The pictures prove it. Tom's shooting blanks and she was sperminated by an Asian. Makes perfect sense.
• Babies do not have this much hair on their heads! it makes no sense!
• DAMIEN…..OH, NOOOOOOOOO.....THE END IS NEAR……
• She looks like an emo boy. Just add eyeliner.
• ummm sweet combover in the last two pics, shes not that cute maybe she should go back into hiding and maybe its jsut the tv picture but she looks really pale with untarually dark hair, im gonna say it she looks asian. but thats not a bad thing it jsut means shes not their baby
• jesus, that kid is not even a year old and he has a full set of hair, ITS THE ANTI_CHRIST
• I think in the 1st pic she looks like JC Chasez...? She'll be a hairy monkey but in today's world, laser will fix that when she's old enough for it.
• despite her parents being weirdos [maybe just tom] they are good looking people. she does look chinese but probably its bad images.
• ugly baby
• Ok first off let me say, that baby looks Asian and second is the baby wearing a wig in the last picture? Maybe Katie was artifically inseminated with Asian sperm.
• Suri is an appropriate name, given that she looks Asian. Which is strange because Tom and Katie are white.
• she looks asian and like her hair is dyed or she has a wig on...but she's cute i suppose
• She's cute but looks turbo-Asian
• And finally... Is it me or does her hair have product?

And last but not least... RIP to my all-time favorite animal handler, Steve Irwin, the Crocodile Hunter...

I loved watching his crazy antics... "and this little beauty could bite my nose clean off if she wanted to!" Ohhh, poor Steve Irwin... I really am sad.

Sleeping Like a Baby

If you read my last post (the one right before this one, about going camping this weekend), you will see that I had a grand plan...

That is: Air Mattress = Sleeping Like a Baby.

In reality, I did feel much like a sleeping baby...

... that wakes up every hour in sheer misery.

Even an air mattress cannot defeat two straight nights of pouring rain, freezing temperatures, and a snoring tentmate. I distinctly remember thinking at one point, while damp and shivering, "This is definitely the longest night of my life."

More on an interesting three days of camping later... plus photos, but I must catch up on some much needed zzzzz's now.

Camping for the Weekend...

I'll be gone this Labor Day weekend camping in the Chiricahuas, on the border of New Mexico, with my new friend, Anna, and five of her friends from here in Tucson. We're heading out tomorrow around noon and will be getting back Monday mid-morning.

Here are two pictures of the Chiricahuas I took over spring break with Miguel...



At first, I was a bit hesitant to go, thinking "hmmm, am I crazy to go camping for two days with nearly complete strangers?" I mean camping for two days with anyone is difficult when you're used to -- and one might even say prefer -- sleeping in hotel rooms, but then I thought about how much fun I had with Anna the other night and figured she must have cool friends... so I committed. Along for the ride with Anna and me are Keri (one of Anna's best friends), Keri's ex-boyfriend (now friend) Mike, his allegedly talkative Asian friend Dave (who apparently is an expert rice cooker), Anna's current romantic flame Alex, and a lady named Linda, who I met tonight and seems pretty cool.

Believe it or not, I do have a tent, sleeping bag, tarps, camping chairs, and lantern that I hauled out here from DC specifically for this kind of weekend -- and now I will finally put it all to use! I also have a large inflatable air mattress that I intend to use in my tent so I went to Target tonight to buy a battery-operated pump to blow it up in the wilderness tomorrow (on second thought, that last sentence sounds a bit tawdry, does it not?). So if it rains -- which it might -- I will be riding high and dry on my little pocket of sweet air.

My plan is to sleep like this for the next two nights...

(BTW, holy crap, this is not a dead baby, as I feared it was. It's not a real baby either. It's actually from a doll website with the scariest, most realistic looking doll parts I've ever seen. Check the freaky site out here.)

We're planning to hike around the rock spires, and some of the campers are bringing their bikes, but I am a fairly wimpy mountain biker (ie: if it's not paved, I'm not riding on it) so I think I'll hang at camp, drink beer, and play solitaire or read a book. I have also purchased the full array of s'mores ingredients so I will have plenty to snack on. From what I understand, Linda is a bit of an East Coast city dweller -- she currently works for the Tucson Symphony Orchestra -- and has only been camping once before so I will have a partner in creature comfort crime.


I especially love camping in Europe -- ie: this is in the Netherlands -- because the Europeans truly understand the meaning of camping in comfort... table, chairs, umbrella, awning, and probably a mini-fridge for the beer inside.

Not much else going on -- had an Arabic test this morning, then hung out with Lindsey at the pool for a few hours, took a nap, and ended my day by hitting an outdoor Happy Hour tonight at "No Anchovies! Pizza" with Anna & Ingrid and a few others.

And I must remind myself next week to talk about my very bizarre and rather interesting week interacting with the new Iraqi Fulbright scholar in my graduate department who just got here from Baghdad last Sunday... the poor little muppet. The term "culture shock" is putting it mildly. For example, the guy tried to go to the Campus Rec Center Pool with me on Wednesday and planned to swim in nothing but his underwear because "this is how I swim in the Euphrates"!!


It appears to be true... Iraqis do indeed swim in the river.

May I recommend that you go back and read this interesting swimming pool entry from a year ago --- a definite sense of deja vu!

More on the Iraqi saga later... and camping stories...
Let's hope I don't get caught in any flash floods!

Funny Note About My Mother

If you haven't met my mother before, I must tell you she's a funny little character.


Meems freezing her tootsie off in NYC.

OK, so you know she gave my boyfriend moldy pond water to quench his thirst, eats moldy cheese, and used to make me sandwiches at lunch with moldy bread (moldy portions surreptiously cut off, of course). But she's pretty damn funny...


The story of my childhood lunchtime... "but Penicillin is made from mold! This bread is fine!!"

As you may recall from my blog last winter/spring, my mom decided that after achieving two Master's degrees and a managerial position at a large law firm, she needed to take it down a notch -- err, I mean increase her world knowledge -- by attending bartending school. She graduated last spring with flying colors, earning her official "mixologist" degree and has spent the latter part of the summer (after recovering from foot surgery) pursuing part-time bartending jobs.

She got business cards, in which she calls herself "Hampton on the Rocks" (her last name is Hampton, which she randomly picked after my parents got divorced and she wanted to chuck my dad's last name), and she created a little book in which she placed all of the local DC caterers' information for interviews.

Her perseverence paid off, as Ridgewells (apparently one of DC's larger catering companies) hired her on the spot, and she had her first job at a Redskins pre-season game in a corporate box suite.

However, turns out (unbeknownst to her until today) she was only a sub that night, as the regular season bartender was on vacation that evening. So what is she doing at the next Redskins game (on Thursday/tonight)? She's running the pastry cart! Bwaaahahahahahaha... I find that freaking hilarious ---getcher donuts!!... dooooonutttts!!....one hot scone here!!... fresh cookies for ya!!

And better yet, guess what gig she has this Saturday afternoon/evening with a different caterer? She will be the bartender at a local Bar Mitzvah!!! Bwaaaaaahahahahaha again!!!!! I laughed so hard on the phone with her tonight that tears formed.

As this Ben Stiller/U2 Bar Mitzvah video says...

Mom, "you have to start somewhere..."

Mazeltov!!!

Early to Bed

I'm really hoping to look like this when I wake up tomorrow morning:



But right now, I feel like this:



I'm feeling a bit frazzled about my Arabic homework, upcoming papers, and my general level of apathy so far this semester.

I think I should go to be early (ie: before midnight) tonight, or at least crawl under my covers and read quietly for a while. Auf Wiedersehn.

The Case of JonBeignet

I personally am a little disappointed that John Mark Karr's DNA didn't match the JonBenet crime scene. He was so freakishly scary that I almost imagined he might have done her in. But alas, it was not true. Today, I clicked on CNN and saw this headline picture about the case...


Let me ask you, what is scarier: the hermaphroditic wanna-be criminal, staring blankly out the window with his polo shirt buttoned up to his neck, or that little claw-like hand in the bottom left of the car window? Is that really a full-grown adult woman's hand?

Finally, on a somewhat unrelated note, I just can't get over the name "JonBenet." I think it's because every time I say it out loud, or in my mind while reading, I think of those beignet doughnut things from New Orleans.

My mom and dad went there once for a romantic getaway (mind closing down to any thoughts related to that topic... plugging ears, closing eyes... ) when I was a kid, and I remember my mom brought back a box of beignet mix that looked just like this... it sat in our cupboard almost untouched for about five years until it got infested with mealworms.


Cafe du Monde is apparently famous for making the unhealthy morning treat.

However, after returning home with the mix, my mom did attempt to make them one time, but she isn't so skilled with the Fry Daddy. Hmmm, that's probably a good thing, actually.

Job Hunting and Goth Watching

My first weekend in Tucson... dinner at Shauna's with some girls from my department on Friday night, job searching on Saturday, and a great night out last night with some new friends here. Today: homework.

Yes, it's true... I'm looking for a job. After moping around my apartment all week with not enough to do, I decided I should put my time to good use and at least make a little money. So I got in my car yesterday and drove up to La Encantada, which is an upscale, outdoor mall about 6 miles from my place in the foothills of the mountains that surround Tucson. ..



I've been looking in the paper for jobs, but most of them are food service (umm, no thanks) so I decided that it might be easier to work for a corporate retail giant, where I could have more flexible, daytime hours and work in an air conditioned environment helping people buy things they don't really need. So I got applications for Crate & Barrel, Pottery Barn, Anthropologie, L'Occitane, and Ann Taylor. With the exception of Pottery Barn (which I find rather snooty and grossly overpriced) and Anthropologie (which is generally a little too "girly" for my personal style), I actually shop at all the other stores so the discount could come in handy.

I also found an ad in the paper for the Pima County Sheriff's Office, which is looking for part-time typists to transcribe criminal and witness statements for $11.62/hour. First of all, I am not ashamed to admit that I follow all the latest macabre news stories (ie: Natalee Holloway, Chandra Levy, JonBenet) so I am intrigued by the possibility of getting some interesting criminal gossip in Pima County.


The Bermuda Triangle of intrigue & mystery...

Anyway, I'll keep you posted on the job situation...

Today I have a shitload of homework to do, and I'm already procrastinating. I was out until 2:45am last night, dancing with my friend Ben and his friends Anna and Ingrid (who are both 30 and non-students!!). Ben was friends last year with my friends Ash and Greg (who have graduated), but Ash sent Ben my e-mail, and Ben invited me out dancing last night. We went to this place called Heart Five in downtown Tucson and danced to techno for much of the night

We also stopped by Asylum (I recommend checking the photo gallery on this website if you have time), which is this total goth bar with people wearing safety pins in their noses, fishnet tights, combat boots, pleather and chains, and all of whom have dyed black hair (personally, I thought Goth passed out of style in the 90's but clearly not in Tucson). Anyway, it was fabulous people watching, and I confess that I totally gawked at the extremely dramatic dance floor participants (hello, "Gene loves Jezebel" meets "Siouxsie & the Banshees") the entire time we were there. The hystrionic antics of emotional pain were intense... ie: heart grabbing, arm swinging, clenched fists, teardrop miming, etc...

This video clip says it all:

I love Southpark...

Also, for a laugh, download this song... "I Am Gothic" by Spray.

I really fit the conformist part last night in my Forever 21 tanktop, DKNY jeans and strappy sandals. I am such a zombie. Anyway, Anna & Ingrid are a blast, and we totally got along like I've known them for years so I'm really looking forward to hanging out with all of them again!!!

Now I really have to go do some work... toodles.

A Day of Ups and Downs

Two very interesting things happened to me today. One better than the other.

First, the good thing... well, maybe not "good," but kind of exciting nonetheless. As I was riding home from the gym on my bicycle around 11:45 this morning, I was flagged down on campus by a guy with a big Tucson Channel 4 (NBC) camera. He asked if he could interview me about bike safety for the evening news.

My primary concern was if I would have to be shown on TV. Not that I'm not interested in my 15 minutes of fame or anything, but after I exercise, I tend to turn tomato red. I was also not wearing a speck of make-up, I had not yet showered after my work out, and I was wearing this scabby old Gap tank top I bought from the clearance bin at an outlet. Not exactly the look I'd choose for a TV interview. Despite my vanity, I agreed to the interview, unable to resist the lure of a local news cameo.

In the end, I talked a little about the problem of sharing the road with pedestrians on campus, and then I added some corny bit about how I got a bell on my bike last year as a way to avoid hitting someone. When the news story aired tonight at 6pm, I found it amusing that that was the only part they included... the bell on my bike snippet. All of about 5 seconds. Which is totally relieving given that I looked like complete ass.

I tried to find a link to the story on the News 4 website, but it didn't merit a posting. So I took a picture of my TV screen instead to prove I'm not making this mumbo jumbo up...


(Paola -- you will appreciate the Invicta backpack straps, I'm sure!)

Anyway, the second interesting thing that happened to me today was not so wonderful. I stepped in fresh vomit in a Target parking lot tonight. Not my own. It had apparently been left by some poor, sick soul who probably ran out of Target at full speed about 20 minutes earlier and lost their dinner next to their car (to be replaced by my car soon afterwards, thus my blind step out the door into the puke). I had a very powerful Purell moment thereafter... as in wanting to bathe in it.

It was truly one of the grosser moments in my life, and I will never be able to look at that pair of shoes (a once cute brown pair of flats bought at Lara's in DC about two years ago) ever again, but luckily they did wipe clean inside Target.

So indeed a day of ups and downs. Now I'm hitting the sack... ciao!