I'm boiling inside over this.

"The Bush administration had signaled its intention to issue the measures, which are part of a flurry of regulations it is announcing before President-elect Barack Obama takes office. The new president will be able to undo the regulations, and is virtually certain to, given his previous comments on the issue. But undoing them will be a time-consuming process."

WHAT THE FUCK, BUSH ADMINISTRATION?!

No, I'm not dead!

Hello! I can't believe the last time I wrote it was the post about bison jerky. I haven't written much this month, probably due to work and me spending a good deal of time freaking out over my application to UT.

Now that that's done, I'll be posting more.

Maybe.

Bison Jerky

Yes, I am eating bison jerky right now. Why do you ask?

Co-worker Conversation of the Day!

Female Barista: Hah, my grandmother just mailed me $5 inside a Christmas card! Do you, you know, have one of those grandmothers that like gives you a nickel or a dime and...

Male Barista: No, I just have one of those grandmothers that takes away your trust fund when you come out of the closet.

Me: *Oh-No face!*

Kristen Stewart on the obnoxious Twilight fans

"...“I was like, ‘You guys are celebrating something that has not come true yet. So, you are really retarded and have nothing to do with this creative process and I really don’t want to hear you celebrate in front of me. Get out of here! It’s my responsibility!’”..."

I was encouraged to read this, but I also realized how fucked up it really must be for any young actor/actress to take these fantasy roles and then just get stalked and violated from then on. It wouldn't be too surprising if in the future a good chunk of actors/actresses avoid this kind of role. I hope.

On a better topic, I forgot to mention that while Peter was visiting we all went to see a Swedish film called Let the Right One In. I highly recommend it, because even though it's about a vampire, it's not really a fantasy movie, and I think we all really appreciated the restrained realism in the storytelling and the unique treatment of gore/blood. So, yeah, I also have to recommend it because Swedish is not a language that Americans hear very often, and man, is it worth hearing. I actually laughed really hard at the first lines in the opening scene (specifically they way they say "house") and felt pretty embarrassed because it's a pretty dark, heavy scene. Here's the trailer.

John listens to Enya when the weather changes!

So John was just listening to an irritating song (be sure to listen past 0:26), and it reminded me of a commercial I saw today. In the ad, two dudes are explaining how they buy tickets for the cheap seats at a concert, and then scout out empty seats closer up and move into the pricey sections. You see them do it several times while the camera cuts randomly to the band playing, and I wasn't really paying that close attention to it. But then, the guys get caught by security and kicked out, and credit card info comes up for a card like Citigroup or something, and talks about reward points, etc, and then says hey, if you use our card, you're entered into a drawing to win tickets for three different concerts by Nickelback. So, the entire day, I've been trying to image WHO THE FUCK WOULD WANT THAT PRIZE. It's almost a reason for me to NOT have that card, because I want nothing to do with that band. The marketing researchers that made that choice should resign in shame.

If you hadn't noticed, I'm not really doing much of the whole NaBloPoMo thing anymore. While in Plano for a wedding, it slipped my mind one day and left me forever ineligible. The prizes weren't really my motivation, though. I enjoy using this to keep in touch with my distant friends, and I hoped that by some kind of lead by example thing, I could get my other blogging friends to maybe post more frequently. Anyway, after I realized error I got really angry at myself and ignored my blog for a while. So, let's make a short list of catch-me-up-stuff:

I took the GRE for the second and LAST TIME EVER I HOPE. My score increased, but only in the subject that I wasn't trying to increase, but the overall was higher so I just decided to submit it.

This week I began my training at Starbucks, which I may refer to now on as Sbux, so be prepared. I have yet to actually get behind any register or the bar, but that'll happen soon I'm sure.

Last night John and I were invited to and attended a Q&A with Ian MacKaye at St. Edwards. At first, most people I talk to are like, um, why? Why him there? It was sponsored by the Center for Ethics and Leadership and the MBA in Digital Media Management (to which John is applying) and they invited him because of his work as co-founder and sort-of-president of Dischord Records which has really steered an unique course in how it has remained independent and succesfull. I wasn't that excited about going to this thing, even though yeah, I like Minor Threat and I have seen Fugazi play a few times, but MAN was he fascinating - he reminded me of David Bazan. It concluded after about two hours but I could have listened to him the entire night. Also, the room was an interesting mix of business students and smelly punk kids, all asking a variety of questions. Throughout the entire thing I was wishing that Marion and Jordan were there to hear him, cause I know they would have enjoyed it as well.

Tomorrow my family has scheduled lunch in New Braunfels with my grandfather and his wife. John hasn't met them yet, so it should be a kind of hilarity that only relatives can deliver.

I guess that's all I can remember for now. I'm gonna check out some awesome Disaronno recipies I just heard about. Later.

Sugery Update

Back in September, I wrote about John's hip and a possible osteotomy. Well, this afternoon, we went to Southwestern near downtown Dallas and saw the hip specialist to whom we had been referred. Dr. Podeszwa was much younger than I expected, and not foreign as I had anticipated. He actually was born and raised in Michigan. Anyway, he listened to John, myself, Mr. Warren, and Mrs. Warren, then examened the x-rays we brought, and had John lay down while he manipulated his hip joints.

Obviously, John's left hip joint is little more than a complete joke. Socket? Try dimple. And the ball isn't much of a spherical shape, either. Which makes for a hella complicated osteotomy. Another factor is the strength of the bones comprising John's hip, and Podeszwa actually used the word "whispy" to describe them. But the most important thing, and possibly the most strange, is that since the end of September John has not experienced any more pain (or so he says).

Based on all of that, Podeszwa feared that he might cause more problems than good. He recommended that John go about his life, and, if farther down the road he has another episode of pain, he might go for a total hip replacement. Normally, total replacements are reserved for people 50+ years or so, but because John is a "household ambulator" and not a "community ambulator," (lolz) Podeszwa thinks that would be a good way to go.

In summation, no surgery in the near future (yay!), and John should go back to ambulating a.m.a.p., as, apparently, his left hip cannot get any worse.

On a wildly unrelated note, I'm really bummed about the bans passed in California, Florida, and Arizona. I know that change happens slowly, but I really hope I get to see it sooner rather than later.

From the "Father of Modern Photojournalism"

"Photography is not like painting," Cartier-Bresson told the Washington Post in 1957. "There is a creative fraction of a second when you are taking a picture. Your eye must see a composition or an expression that life itself offers you, and you must know with intuition when to click the camera. That is the moment the photographer is creative," he said. "Oop! The Moment! Once you miss it, it is gone forever."

Comments from Le Monde

These are from the website of France's main newspaper, and a few made me teary-eyed.

samson.G 05.11.08 | 06h31
Quelle grande nouvelle pour cette merveilleuse civilisation qu'est l'Amérique, à nouveau je ressens de l'amour pour les Etats-Unis. Yes You Can !

Michel S. 05.11.08 | 06h29
Merci au peuple américain d'ouvrir la possibilité d'un monde pacifié et solidaire

Béatrice 05.11.08 | 06h27
Merci Monsieur Obama! C'est une victoire pour la démocratie, pour les Droits de l'Homme, pour la Justice, l'Egalité et la Fraternité. que Dieu soit loué!

Yannick 05.11.08 | 06h20
Merci peuple Américain, merci d'avoir fait ce choix, aujourd'hui est un grand jour pour la planète entière.

hlb 05.11.08 | 06h12
"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal." --Promesse finalement tenue!

FAB 05.11.08 | 06h04
Cette nuit porte de grands espoirs. Le changement arrive, enfin. Merci, citoyens des EU!

Hindoonet 05.11.08 | 05h58
Quelle émotion ce direct!! Enfin du changement!! Bravo grand OBAMA!! un grand bravo également au candidat républicain très fair play qui a fait un très bon discours!

Johary 05.11.08 | 05h54
Génial !! Un grand symbole... l'Amérique comme on l'aime !! You rocks USA !!

JP 05.11.08 | 05h53
Maintenant, est-ce qu'on peut dire French Fries encore? Vive le monde! (from North Carolina)

Chloé 05.11.08 | 05h50
L'instant où, pour moi, l'expression "rêve américain" prit sens.

Jay le plombier 05.11.08 | 05h49
Mesdames et Messieurs les Américains, toutes mes félicitations, après huit années dans l'ombre vous revenez enfin vers la lumière! Et quelle lumière! Une bonne leçon de tolérance et d'ouverture pour notre vieux continent.

Photojournalism Portfolios

Photojournalism applicants must submit a portfolio comprised of approximately 24 images that best demonstrate their work. The ideal portfolio would include single images and at least one sequential photo essay of six to eight images that displays storytelling skills. Applicants must submit the images on CD in the jpeg format. Remember that the image content, composition and technical quality will all be considered. You must enclose a self-addressed, correctly stamped envelope if you would like to have your portfolio returned to you.

Please submit your photos on CD formatted to be read on a Macintosh computer. Prepare your images in jpeg format no larger than 6” x 9” and 100 dpi. Do not put images in multiple folders. Put all images on the CD using the following file naming protocol:

Do not submit your photographs with names like: old shoes.jpg. Instead rename and save your portfolio of twenty images using your own name, a hypen and then a three digit image number. The first image in the portfolio would be 001, the second 002, continuing until the last 020. Put single images first. Follow with photo stories. IF YOU DO NOT FOLLOW THESE DIRECTIONS ON NUMBERING, THE IMAGES WILL NOT PLAY IN SEQUENCE

YOUR NAME-001.jpg
YOUR NAME-002.jpg etc. ending with …
YOUR NAME-020.jpg.

If you are presenting a digital portfolio we assume that you work with a sophisticated consumer or professional level digital camera with interchangeable lenses—not a point and shoot camera or high quality scans of your film-based images. We also assume you have at least a rudimentary knowledge of Photoshop software. Your captions should be entered into the file information field found in the File menu of Adobe Photoshop.

If necessary you may also provide a separate document with brief captions keyed by number to the images. Captions should give relevant information--who, what, where, and when. Remember to put single images first, followed by a photo essay that shows your story telling skills.

Um, frownie face.

Apparently she's known for this

Holy shit, Heidi Klum had the best Halloween costume ever!

Reflections

After several months with a new laptop, today I'm finally installing itunes and bringing my music over from my external hard drive. And, of course, you'll never know what to expect when you open an external filled with several years' worth of personal, personal shit.

I guess what's really remarkable about what I found and read is how much I lost with the beginning of college. When I look back at the decisions I made, I feel as if I made so many wrong ones* - choosing a school farther from home than I realized, where I knew absolutely no one, and in a town where there was nearly nothing available for entertainment. It's as if I set myself up perfectly for disaster.

Overall, I think my college has its merits, but I'm really disheartened that I come away from it feeling like it lied to me about what it had to offer; like it let me down.

*When I evaluate my college experience, I exclude my relationship and eventual marriage with John from the opinion. One could argue, "if you never went to that college, you would never have met him...yadda yadda yadda," but I think this line of reasoning interferes with a truthful evaluation since meeting a future spouse was not what I went to college for and therefore not one of my goals while I was there.

"To speak behind others' backs is the ventilator of the heart."

I'm still a little shocked by the outcome of the UT v. Tx Tech game last night. I thought for sure that UT had won with an interception right at the end...but then the dude dropped it. Laaaame.

Anyway, yesterday everybody went to Austin Books & Comics, and even though it was my second time there, I was still as lost as ever. I finally found some bizarre section of the store that was neither anime nor superhero-related and picked up a tiny brown book called AEIOU: An Easy Intimacy. Apparently the author, Jeffrey Brown, writes and draws limited-print comic books detailing each of his relationships after they end. I really love that concept, if only for self-indulgent reasons, but after reading about halfway through I still felt as if I were prying into something not meant for others' eyes and put it back.

I overheard some weirdos nearby talking about Persepolis and another work by Marjane Satrapi, so when they left I claimed their area and picked up a little book called Embroideries (from which the above quotation came). Amazon describes it as a follow-up to Persepolis, and I suppose it helps if you are familiar with the characters a bit, but those books (or the film) aren't really a prerequisite. I purchased and read the thing yesterday and really enjoyed it. I wish it were longer, but it is kind of charming as a small peak into her culture and family life in Iran.

Time for lunch now. We're all headed to Chuy's and then everyone must return to the Dallas area. :( John and I, however, will be following them on Tuesday. Man it's crazy how close the 4th is.

Happy 3 month anniversary!

Sleepy cats

The past week or so has been filled with visitors staying with us, and I really have enjoyed it immensely. The main reason, of course, is the company, but also when I know that people are coming to stay I become the most productive person in the world. The past couple of days I've used almost every cleaning product and instrument that John and I own and really digged it.

Anyway, some big, sleepy cat just climbed into my lap and now I only have the use of one arm. OMG I can totally hear her snoring. I think it's time for bed.

I want this to happen

Fuck, yes.

Job Fair

I thought the phrase "job fair" meant something akin to lots of options brought together in one area for a person to peruse through, but that concept was definitely not the situation I faced today.

Things are still so up the air for us right now, but I knew that I should probably locate a decent part-time gig while we try to ride out the rest of this year. My mental list of interesting places to work in the area included a few book stores, Central Market, and (of course) Starbucks. When my parents came to visit for a day a few weekends ago, my mom and I went to get her some coffee and the Starbucks we went to had a really calm atmosphere and a friendly staff. I thought it would be nice to work there, because it's at a distance that I could easily ride my bike to work. Long story short I ended up with instructions to go to the Starbucks Job Fair on Monday.

When I arrived at the address (which was just another Starbucks location), I saw the normal array of people drinking coffee and then at the handicapped-designated table, a Starbucks employee slaving over a big stack of paperwork. The entire time leading up to that moment, John and I had been envisioning some open office and a few tables with a variety of Starbucks people present to talk to those interested about different positions within the company. I thought there was a chance today that I could apply to work for the rumored "Starbucks police," who go around in plain-clothes and make sure that stores are following regulation. I even had the wackiness of the Office episode figured as a possibility in my head. Looking back, I find my imagination so laughable now.

What the job fair turned out to be was whichever store is short and looking to hire signs up for the job fair that week, and the manager comes out and interviews the people who show up. Not as exciting as I hoped, but at least I didn't feel unprepared for not having my resume with me. Again, to shorten the boring details that are usually my bread and butter, the manager present today was from one of the three Starbucks stores that is less than a mile from where I live. And I guess I need to do some uniform shopping now, because I'm due to show up on 11/10 for paperwork and training. Things happen kind of fast, sometimes.

Employment is a mixed blessing.

"Love Lockdown"
-Kanye West

I has new hare kut.

My hair is short, for which I am relieved. Long hair was such a pain in the ass. I'm not sure how I feel about the new style, though. I think it might be too...girlie? trendy? We'll see.

John and I saw Religulous for lunch. It's definitely nothing near as bad as all the reviewers claim it to be, but I don't think I enjoyed it too much because it just depressed me. Oh, humanity.

John and I re-arranged our entire living room last night. What that means is that John sat on the couch and after I moved something heavy he told me if he liked it there or not. I do need to give him some props, because he actually helped me hoist our giant tv onto the new tv stand. Did you know that there are some tv stands at Best Buy that cost $999??? Isn't that fucking rediculous?! We got this one from Target for about $40 and I'm really digging it - probably because I got to assemble it WHICH IS SO MUCH FUN. I love using my tool box. That's what she said.

Iron Man

My husband has a cute ass. I'm proclaiming this since it's probably the most innocent thing I could see in his hip x-rays today. Everything skeletal was pretty intimidating.

We confirmed this afternoon that John will soon need to have a "rotational osteotomy" on his left hip within the next few weeks. It will be his seventh surgery. That's pretty amazing to me. Unfortunately, no one in Austin specializes in osteotomies of the hip, but we think there might be a surgeon at the Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas who can help us. I just hope that we won't need to go out of state.

14 hours from now I'll take the GRE. It's not really the top thing on my mind right now.

It's gonna suck.

I love you, Ricky.

This opinion is something that I'm sure will be wildly disagreed with by everyone I know, but, well, I enjoyed Ghost Town waaay more than Burn After Reading. Don't punch me, okay?

But, yeah, I recommend it.

On another note, I think I've fallen for Austin. This feeling will be more certain when I find a place around here that makes decent guacamole. It's important. If you have any suggestions, please pass them my way.

[update]: So, I've been feeling shitty all day - sneezing and runny nose stuff - but I just chalked it up to the consequence of living with a kitten. It got worse the last few hours, so for fun or something I took my temperature. The readings varied from ear to ear, but overall I'm averaging over 100*F. (<-- Notice the lame attempt at a degree symbol?) I'm going to take some Theraflu and go to bed. The reason I mention all of this, though, is that I'm just baffled as to how/why I have a cold right now? I bet fucking flu season is starting. Ugh.

"Bruises"
Chairlift

"I woke up with the power out, not really somethin to shout about"

I tried calling but I can't reach any of my friends in Houston. At least I know that Priya and her family are ok via her blog. I hope Marion and Jordan are okay as well.

My family is ok. I can reach them by cell phone. Several branches fell on our roof; one pierced the roof and crashed in our attic. That allowed a good amount of water damage to the ceiling between our living room and the attic and has weakened the ceiling. My parents are really concerned about that collapsing so they have moved everything out of the room. The only other pressing issue really is that almost all of Houston is without power, and I'm reading estimates that it will take a few weeks at least to fix it. I hope my neighborhood gets power again soon, because without it my parents have no way of charging their cell phones.

On a cuter note, I'm sitting on the edge of the sofa and Stella has fallen asleep with her body wrapped around my butt.

[update]: Yesterday a lawn crew tried to remove the branch threatening our roof, but when the supporting branches were cut away the whole thing fell straight through our house and landed in our living room. My brother tells me that the hole in the ceiling is about six feet wide, and is pretty close to the ceiling fan. My dad and the crew put up some tarp and hopefully that will keep the rain out.