god bless america

a quote from another smarty pants who helps/helped run this country:

http://cnn.netscape.cnn.com/news/story.jsp?idq=/ff/story/0001/20050929/2255333165.htm

why i hate alias and six feet under: a short essay by donna

****IF YOU WATCH ALIAS OR SIX FEET UNDER AND ARE NOT UP TO DATE ON THE SHOWS DO NOT READ THIS POST; YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED****

ok so i just wanted to take a moment as i step away from organizing my thoughts on the scholarship of the midwest as a region to talk about these two shows.

my irritation with alias is quicker and only two fold, so let me begin there:

1. how the fuck are you doing to kill vaughn in the first episode. i mean really, how can you do that? jes and i are both wondering if he is really dead. what do you all think? please post your opinions so we can discuss

2. how the fuck are they going to pretend we don't already know sid is preggers. i meant good criminey, her boobs have increased TEN FOLD and she went from having a concave taut belly to, well, looking like most other almost thirty women with a little pooch. not so good on "hiding" her bump j.j abrams. i hope she falls in love with dixon, but that is unlikely b/c i think he is doing it with angela bassett (lucky)

onto my real irritation: six feet under
now i know i am a bit behind with this b/c i think they have already finished the season, but we don't have cable so we couldn't watch it the first time around. here are my gripes:

1. how are you going to kill nate five seconds before brenda has her baby?

2. how the hell are you going to have nate do it with that socially awkward quaker girl and then have him collapse right afterward. AAAAAHHHHHHHH!

3. and why oh why are there no sane people on that show? ruth makes me nuts, david makes me nuts, brenda who wants to have sex with her wingnut brother makes me nuts and i am so over claire's drunken/drugged out stupor. and how does she keep drinking so much and stay so thin? and really do you think she and mr. i-lick-dubya's-ass lawyer could really get along? i know they say opposites attract, but really? i am realizing at this point the only folks who make sense are rico and keith. interesting. the only high point of this all is i like keith and david's youngest son anthony. he reminds me of this kid amos i used to work with. but amos was a hellion.

4. what about maya? i mean they are carting her back and forth like a sack of potatoes and she just keeps smiling and playing with her dollies or reading her book. they have all these fucked up conversations IN FRONT OF HER. you betta believe she will end up in therapy real soon. lets just hope its not with her mom or slutty gramma.

ok i just had to get that off my chest.
dissertation procrastination technique #218

yeah here is the link

http://www.theind.com/news2.asp?CID=776592160

timeline about the south and hurricanes

not too much going on

this has been a pretty uneventful week thus far (i know its only wednesday, but still). the sunday after my bday we spent the entire day at the library at jes's school. it was great because i got a bunch of loose ends tied up that day: wrote a rec for a student applying to law school, wrote an update report for my IRB and did hours of IDKE committee work.

i am starting to have anxiety dreams about IDKE and about my work function next week, so that is always fun. oh and we found a mouse in our stove- though i am not certain it was "the" mouse. this one was stuck to some sticky paper (meant to catch vermin i guess) underneath the front left eye of our stove. it was very sad indeed. but we still smell something funky, so we think maybe mickey's friend minnie might be behind the bookcase, so we will check that out tonight.

i have been reading some real interesting scholarship on region, place and the midwest. its for this chapter i am working on. it makes me want to learn more and teach the stuff, so i think that is good in and of itself. and most of the stuff for my event at emory next week is in order, though i am still waiting on a few details b/c of certain faculty members. i hope it goes well and that folks show up to the big panel. i always feel like a twelve year old kid at this stage of programming b/c its like i have planned this big party and i worry no one will show up. its not so much about my ego, but more about the folks coming. i think their work is so important and i want everyone else to as well. we'll see.

we went to this new club last night called "snapshot" at bar 13 in the city. it was a good time. before 10pm it is free cover (yahoo!) and from 10-11pm its buy one get one free drinks which is very nice to the pocketbook. so we went and met up with niki and her friend darelle (i have been totally spelling that wrong- it means "precious little one" which is hilarious if you meet her; she is kind of a tough guy, so of course i am going to make fun of her for this). anywho the crowd was filled with lovelies of all kinds so i was kept busy just people watching. i, of course, felt old and out of style, but i am coming to terms with the fact that this is reality.

i have also been experiencing more stomach problems this last week or two. lots of heartburn and general queasiness. i think it is because i am not exercising. when i go to atlanta on sunday i am going to try and hit the gym a few days. i think that will jump start my endorphins and then when i come back to nyc i will go to the ymca and get a membership. i am just being lazy and a bit scared and i need to kick it b/c i don't want to be sick all the time. i may also start taking flax seed oil and acidophilus. both have healing powers in the gut.

other than that, life is the same. i got another bday box of love from sarah and kim with lots of bath salts that i can't wait to use. and i got a book from alyson and nicole. its by sarah waters, an author that alyson loves. i am first going to read "kavalier and clay" that mary got me and then on to sarah waters. well actually i first need to finish the midwest stuff then move on to the fiction.

i am getting very excited about my time in atlanta- i can't wait to see folks and then my friends sarah and kim travel back with me to nyc and we head up to maine to celebrate kim's 32nd and our friend higgins 30th bday. it is going to be delightful.

the last of the photos

the tuna photos:





the "pre meatrack" photo:



and one of the frou frou drink pics b/c the other one won't fucking load:

some beach pictures

two things i love- jes and the beach (in that order):



sunscreen, we don't need no stinking sunscreen:

sorry yall

in my delirium (i have been here at the law library all day) i thought i could do some fancy computer work and get those fucking photos up.
as you all know, i am no nifa or jes, so it didn't work
i will try it from home later tonight

an outstanding weekend-without pics

***yall i have been trying to post this with pics since this morning and blogger won't let me. maybe they are having difficulties. so here it is without the pics. as soon as i can get those posted i will***

so the past two days have been really really amazing and i thought i would share them with you kind reader. here goes:

i quit working kind of early friday afternoon because jes was coming home early from school (read 4pm) so we could go see the 5:10pm of my girlfriend, jodie foster's new movie "flightplan." i was beside myself with joy for a number of reasons. let me recount them here:

1. jes was home early from school
2. i was not working on my dissertation
3. we were going to see our first movie in nyc and it was at this great old theater called the "pavilion"
4. i got to spend two hours with my real girlfriend jes
5. i got to spend two hours with my pretend girlfriend jodie

yall i tell you what, that jodie foster is like wine and cheese, she just gets better with age. you know she has wrinkles and she doesn't hide them with some crazy surgery or botox and i think that is sexxxy. she also looks spectacular in some trousers and a tshirt. i mean her arms are lickable in this movie. and its a pretty good movie yall. very edge of your seat thriller. she is a plane engineer and takes a flight from germany to nyc with her daughter to bring her dead husband home. she falls asleep and when she wakes up, her daughter is gone. so you begin to wonder- did she ever actually have the daugther. she gets BANANAS in this film and does it quite well (my sources tell me jodie is all lesbo and that she is very controlling and a bit of a wingnut when it comes to relationships with the ladies-personally i think she is so hot that i might tolerate a little crazy to get next to her- okay????)

so yeah, the movie was good. then jes and i went to de vincenzo, this delicious italian restaurant on the corner (for reals yall) for a fabulous dinner on her parents (thanks linda and donnie d.) jes got the pesto and i got the penne alla vodka. i was worried it was going to be too creamy but it was perfect. i had a nice glass of pino grigio (sp?) even though i ordered merlot (he brought the wrong one but i decided to try it b/c they were the same price and it was real good), and then for dessert we had a divine chocolate cake covered in caramel, bananas, walnuts and whipped cream. so good. both of us were stuffed to the point of pain almost. i had heartburn a bit for the rest of the night. sort of the "i just threw up a little bit in my mouth burps." yeah i bet you wanted to hear that this early on a sunday morn. anywho, it was worth the heartburn is all i am saying. after din din we headed to smith and 9th to go to an OUTLAWS (read: gay homo law school student group) party. this guy had it at his apartment and when we got there it was us (jes, myself, her friend niki and niki's friend abby from long island) and then a room full of dudes. good times. the apartment was cute and the party got better when we went up on the roof and got some fresh air. i was drinking water b/c of my puke burps, but the rest of the crew was sipping on some beer. the view was pretty as was the night, so overall it was a good time. i chatted with abby most of the night about her adventures as a substitute gym teacher. we left kind of early b/c we had a big day the next day. yep, you guessed it: my 32nd birthday. holla!

so saturday morning i woke to sunshine and kitty loving from larry and emily. like jes promised, i had my re-heated (gasp!) decaf coffee with chocolate soy milk in bed as i opened my presents from her. i scored yall. i got this cute ass black bag from brooklyn industries that i have wanted, some socks, two yoga bricks, a pair of boy panties from american apparel (my friend jill recommended them. they are comfie and blue!) and a brooklyn law tshirt that is baby blue and maroon. there may have been more, but i can't remember. so we then got up and got ready and while jes packed up our romantic picnic we would enjoy on fire island, i went and got us bagels for breakfast and some chips for our picnic. now i don't know how many of youze know this, but fire island is on the south side of long island about half way down. if you go all the way you will see diddy and martha stewart in the hamptons. anywho we drove out there and had a lovely romantic picnic on the beach. we even had to take a ferry to get to the island. i love ferries and fairies really. ok here are some pics of our adventures.

how beautiful is this? yeah and the beach is pretty too:




here is one of the both of us. little did we know that going without sunscreen, even if it is september 24th, would lead to sunburn.

after our lunch on the beach, we went for a walk to try and find cherry grove, which is supposed to be where the ladies are. i guess the pines or fire island is for the mens and then cherry grove is for the ladies. so we walked back to where the ferry dropped us off and ask this gift shop guy for a map. he showed us where we were and where we had to go and told us it was about a fifteen minute walk and on such a nice day we should try it. now others might have taken a water taxi, but being the adventurists we are, we thought we would walk. all we had to do was go through this forest area that is known as the "meatrack." you may be thinking: why is it called the "meatrack" donna? oh because it is this cruising spot where gay men go to have public anonymous sex kind reader. the gift shop guy assured us because it's "late in the season and sort of cold" the action there would be minimal. or not. on our way the meatrack we came to a little bridge to one of the houses, and here is what we found on the ground.

nope, no misogyny amongst the gay male community on fire island. nope, none at all. (for those who are confused: tuna= woman and/or lesbian b/c they think girl parts smell like tuna; nice)

and here is a photo of jes just before we get into the meatrack. she text messaged her gay male friend christian telling him where we were at and he texted back: "if the bushes talk to you, don't answer back." so we eventually made it through the meatrack after only getting lost twice, seeing a naked guy (with a nice ass) giving some other guy head, getting laughed at by a group of gay men, and seeing a nasty man with a pony tail and a boner. once we got to cherry grove, we walked around and then found a little seafood shack overlooking the ocean and we both got celebratory birthday and we-made-it-through-the-meatrack frou frou drinks. i got a "rachel's lemonade" which was a lot of citron vodka and a little pink lemonade.

jes got a fire island which was a pina colada, raspberry puree and blue curaco (what is that?)

we slammed these drinks b/c we needed to make it to the 2pm ferry. we giggled all the way there and on the ferry ride back as we got sprayed with surf. after that, we went to this target in queens (nightmare) to do a little shopping and then headed home to shower and get ready for dinner with lisa d., vicki, and higgins at kate's joint. it was so lovely to re-connect with emory women's studies folks. we talked about lesbian bar crawls and feminist writing groups. they had to catch a train back to stonybrook so jes, higgs and i went to nowhere for a beverage and chatting and then higgs headed back up to her apt. jes and i continued on with our birthday celebration trying to go to this bar in the city called the girls room. alas, it was no longer open. i was feeling a bit ill in the belly (too much greasy food i think) so we headed back to brooklyn and got a few beers with niki and durell at gingers. i had a black and tan and i think the guinness healed me. it was nice to just sit and chat and relax. jes and durell both rode horses when they were younger so they chatted in some weird horse language while niki and i looked quizzically at each other.

as i headed back home i chatted with azad who called me TWICE on my bday (who is spoiled yall?). we both fell fast asleep soon after we got home. i had such a great bday with so many lovely presents, phone calls and love from folks across the country. it made me feel so good and special and happy to be 32. thanks to everyone, really. i am very very blessed.

uh yeah

i just wanted to point out that something was wrong with blogger last night and i tried to post that last mouse post maybe ten times and then gave up b/c i kept getting an error message. so i got up this morning to repost it and it worked just fine. i always check to make sure things worked out on the blog after i post it and when i did, i found that i had posted the same entry eight times. thinking all the entries were exactly the same, i deleted seven. well wouldn't you know it? i deleted all the good ones and left the bad one. so i had to delete them all and then repost the correct one.
i mean really.

a mouse about the house

so jes woke me up this morning at 3am to let me know that horace was playing with a mouse in our living room. i was so out of it and so i asked her if she was sure that is what she saw. she said yes and told me it was under the couch. so i went out in the living room and watched her sweep under the couch while i went to get a tupperware to catch the "mouse." as the broom came out all i saw was a white fake mouse. i looked at her and she assured me that there was a mouse. horace was going bonkers as were our other two cats but no mouse was to be found. so after a few minutes, we went back to bed.

when i got up this morning horace was at attention staring at the bookshelf and a bunch of the books (my toni morrison books to be exact!) were knocked onto the couch. clearly horace was doing a little hunting during the night. i told him to catch that mouse while i was gone. i spent the day volunteering at the co-op (more on that later) and when i got home he was still a little bonkers but the other cats were chill. jes didn't get home from school until about 8pm. I told her about the bookcase and she was like "well lets check it out." so she pulls out the couch and the lamp and then asks for my help with the bookcase. horace is pacing by this point. as soon as we pull out the bookcase something scurries (i.e the mouse) and horace lunges. jes grabs horace and picks him up and lo and behold, there is a mouse tail sticking out of his mouth. i screamed and ran to get a tupperware and by that time horace squeamed, jes dropped him, he dropped the mouse and the mouse scurried under the stove. we checked underneath the stove and couldn't find it, so hopefully the bugger will come out tonight and mr. ho ho will get him for us. at least one of the tailed ones is earning their keep.

here is a visual of horace the great mouse hunter



so i spent my morning doing uact stuff and then i headed off to the co-op to do our volunteer shifts for september. this time i was working in the office. this place, was, for the most part utter chaos. see they have three paid staff members (mas o menos) in the office and then they have like what seemed like twelve volunteers working, most of whom knew nothing about the workings of the office. within the first ten minutes three staff members asked me to orient some new people. i was like "uh, i am a new person and i am here to be oriented myself" i figured this was not a good sign. eventually i got the hang of things and really it's not brain surgery so it all worked out. i will be exercising my multitasking skills there for sure as well as my patience. it was amazing how many times i would have someone on hold, be answering another line AND be helping a walk in when the phone would ring and the lady next to me would just sit there. i wanted to scream at her "answer the fucking phone dude i am busy." but i did not. i did get to chat with some nice (and attractive) ladies and i learned a lot about the workings of the office, so i guess that is good. i go back tomorrow to receiving to work our october shifts. and you know what receiving means, right? guadalupe. hell yeah.

so i was tired after my shift more mentally than physically and feeling a bit fuzzy in the head. i got home to two wonderful things. first, my friend dawn sent me an email with two pics of her son bailey attached. i can't attach them here b/c they are huge and i don't know how to reduce them. in the pics he is wearing the brooklyn jumper we got him. adorable. i printed one out and taped it to the frig. it breaks my heart to be missing out on so much of his growing. i hate it really. so after that my spirits started to lift. then i got the mail and lo and behold i got some photos from my friend kim s. now yesterday i got a letter from kim so to get pictures today was a real treat. especially when you see them.

this first one is of me and kim from back in july when we went to kentucky for jenrose's cd release.



what's hilarious is that every time i see kim i tell her how pretty her hair is. i love the style and the color and she says everytime "donna troka we have the exact same hair." we don't really. hers is prettier. anywho, she also sent me pictures of her perfect boys rain and finn. here is a picture of them in the tub. rain is older and on the left. finn is the little one.



and here is one of them with their clothes on. i do declare they are near the lake on osu's campus. i took a spill on my bike not far from where they are standing on the first day of teaching orientation when i was getting my master's there. i fell off my bike right in front of a group of girls. skidded right past them. i felt real cool that day.



so yeah, altogether the pictures of all the sweet baby boys in my life really lifted my spirits. soon after i got done looking at the pictures and following up on some uact work, jes came home and we went and got hot diggity dog. now i am drinking a bud light and watching the movie "secondhand lions." it's weird how "i see dead people" boy is all growed up. it's not the greatest movie, but its better than writing my dissertation.

if you want to see a great movie, rent "lakawanna blues"- it's a great story with so many fine actors. i love the little boy in it. he is going to make it big. so much spunk. i also wanted to let yall know i am over my addiction to the food network, but i have developed a new obsession, and her name is ellen degeneres. i love her show and even more, i love her wardrobe. i will keep you posted on where this goes. i don't think i have a chance b/c i have a grown up woman's body and i think she likes lollipop girls. oh bother.

the real le peep picture

i mean really, it all couldn't just work out could it
here is the le peep picture
for real
like ginger ale:

finally the chicago post

ok yall i was certain that my inability to post photos on my blog again was due to severe brain damage caused by too much diet coke, when in fact it was because i was in netscape. jes suggested i try safari (which is like the mac search engine) and lo and behold, it works just fine. so here we go:

our first night in chicago was chill; alyson, nicole and rolita picked us up from the airport and we went to meet azad and katie for dinner at lucky platter. it was delicious and a great time. then we went back to az's and just chilled and then went to sleep. i was exhausted. az's new apartment is gorgeous and i especially love the "donna suite." here is az and his new ladyfriend katie:



on saturday morning az dropped us off at aly and nicoles and i got to do some abc yoga with ro ro. it was real fun and actually a bit of a work out. each letter is a pose- a for alligator, e for eagle, and so on. ro is so good and it, i mean for real. she has such strength and balance. clearly a noodle gymnast just like her mom. we spent the day shopping, but i am not sure we got much. while ro played in the play area at old orchard, jes got a new battery for her computer and her and aly looked at shoes. it was pretty uneventful except some fuckface kid bit ro ro (nicole found this out that night at bathtime). .little fucker. that night while i went to the bachelorette dinner, jes went to caribou (she was so excited about a chai) and studied and then we met up. the dinner i got was nice, a little grilled tilapia on some greens. the margaritas were divine, but dangerous and got me on the road to a night long buzz. everything was pretty chill and chatty until jodi (my old roomie stacey who is a lawyer's best friend- she went to school about an hour from univ. of illinois so she would visit us a lot) anywho, jodi busted our her present for cheryl and that is when operation penis began.



here is one of cheryl (the bachelorette obviously) with her new butt pincher- which she used equal opportunity for boys and girls- and her purple sparkly penis antennae.



and here is one of all of us doing tequlia shots from testubes: i like to call it "the beginning of the end."



and lastly, the blushing bride to be enjoying her new water gun shaped like a small penis (which one of her friends got filled with tequila...nice)

so all in all the night was fun. it was great to reconnect with my old roomies, see cheryl and her friend laura do a little scareaoke and then head to the largest straight bar i have ever been in. az and katie were sweet enough to come and pick our asses up from the bar at 1am and take us back to az's apartment to sleep. really i had a bit of a hangover the next day. just a little headache. i don't know why i drink tequla, we have an abusive relationship really.

so sunday was a truly delightful day. we spent the morning at a park near the lake and then went to miriam and zik's wedding which was gorgeous. at the park we played soccer and catch and played on the playground. here is one of aly, nicole and rolita conchita (what a pretty family) on the boat toy:



i know you can't read it, but ro's shirt says "brooklyn" actually so does nicole's. that is the shirt we got for aly but her muscles are too big for it (for real yall). it worked out great b/c the shirt look ADORABLE on nicole and the green of the shirt brought out the green in her eyes. i still need to get another shirt for aly. maybe i will do that today if the rain lets up (its finally raining here. it has been hella humid).

ok and here is a photo that ro took of me and nicole (that is why we are laughing so hard). not only is she adorable, brilliant and a yogini, she is also a budding photographer. she gets that from her momma and her uncle jes.



so after the park we went and got lunch and then got ready to go to the wedding. the wedding yall, was so pretty. first it was in this church on university of chicago's campus which is so elegant and serene. and it was so lovely in it's non-traditional set up. it was still about ritual and love but more about all kinds of love. like love of family and community and each other. it just felt more whole to me. and each person in the wedding party said a little ditty about miriam and zik which is when i really started crying. jes just looked at me like "dude why are you crying?" my two favorite "ditties" were by one of miriam's sisters and one by thabiti from emory. i liked her sisters b/c she is about five feet tall right and when she started she was like "i can't say enough about my little sister miriam, and i call her 'little' because she is younger than me and she had the audacity to grow inches taller than me." i know that doesn't really convey what i wanted to on the screen but it was something about the sisterlove in her comment and her protectiveness of miriam that was so lovely. and then thabiti who is so cute i want to put him in my pocket got up and was like "uh, i introduced them" and everyone started laughing. and then lina from emory sort of led the jumping of the broom part which was cool and then after they were all married and whatnot they walked down the aisle to african drums instead of like pacabel's canon or whatever. and everyone was clapping along. it was like a party.

so my pictures are not the greatest b/c we had this disposable camera (i forgot our camera like a tool) but here goes:

here is miriam after she got married and yes, for you emory folk, she is talking to rhea. seriously that much pretty should not be allowed in one area:



and here is miriam with her beautiful parents. her mom played the piano and sang a song at the wedding and i think her dad is a science teacher which i think is so cool. isn't he adorable?



and lastly, here is miriam and zik after their costume change. how lovely are they?



so yeah, altogether, really nice. got to see some emory folks and meet some nice people. we left a little on the early side because there was an evil demon stabbing me in my uterus (aka i had bad cramps). all i wanted to do was put on my pjs and lay down, which is exactly what i did when we got back to aly and nik's.

our last day in chicago conisted of our tradition: having breakfast at le peep in evanston. i got real lucky this time b/c i was able to gather az, aly, nicole and ro AND my friend from college named erin. after le peep we walked around evanston and did some shopping and ro played this hilarious game where she would stick her two plastic babies in the tree and then she would be a firefighter and save them. i wished i would have saved some film for that, but alas, i did not. anywho here is a post-peep picture. the hot blonde on the right is erin, you have met all the rest.



so that FINALLY was my trip to chicago. sorry it took so long to send off. now i must work on my dissertation and then do my job. happy weekend all.

have you seen my motivation? i lost it

yall i am having a real rough time working it out today. all i want to do is lay on the couch with the cats. and frankly the fact that they drape themsevles across me all a purring does not make it easy to do much else.

this morning started like any other morning. i mean i even woke up before jes's alarm went off at 8am (she slept in today). i got my coffee, watched a little ann curry and al roker and then sat down and did what i have pledged to do every morning from now until april 2006: write first.

so i settled into my diss writing. finished up my minnesota participant grid and got to working on location three: chicago, illinois. i got about an hour into it and was just so distracted. i tried eating breakfast, taking a break to email a bday card to my best friend mary and then my internet went out. it has been on and off all fucking morning. i called time warner and they are coming on monday. until then i just hope it works or go to tea lounge. luckily 90% of the work i do for uact is online stuff, so that has made my job real easy today. yeah and so i am trying to get back into the diss writing this afternoon and i just want to sleep. so i figured i would post, i mean that is writing, even if it won't get me a ph or a d.

my back is aching like bacon b/c i did my first two volunteer shifts at the park slope co-op yesterday. i helped in receving which meant unloading a big ass truck and reading off each of the boxes number to anngel (neat name, no?) while she checked it off her list. then i stocked some stuff in dairy (and only dropped TWO things of cottage cheese which promptly exploded on the ground-jackass!) and then i seriously broke down boxes for the next four hours. they have this cardboard box crusher they call "boxzilla" (well that is what i call it, there is a picture and the words 'boxzilla' on the machine). so i think my back is seizing b/c i was on my feet for over five hours straight. my wrists hurt too from tearing up the thicker boxes that the boxcutter wouldn't get through.

so i met nice people and began to take in the chaos that is the co-op. of course, i immediately began to devise ways that it could work more efficiently (why? i don't know). the shift leader was this woman sarah who *seriously* got paged about four times a minute. i was like "i am so glad i am not sarah" you know i will be sarah in less than a year b/c i am a sucka! anywho i also developed another crush on this other worker (i am pretty sure she is staff b/c she knew a lot and was there all day). her name is guadalupe. she is maybe my height and was wearing all black: black tshirt, black jeans, black converse and this cute black sort of fidel castro hat. she showed me how to really use boxzilla once and i was like "excuse me, teacher could you just give me a refresher course?" i don't think she was the least bit interested in getting to know me and i think i saw her chatting with her sweetie who was shopping. when i left i gave her back my super gription gloves and she said "see you next month" and i told her i had a few shifts next week and she smiled and said "ok then, see you next week." i think she wants me
(yeah and maybe monkeys will fly out my butt). i don't care either way, she is cute as a button and makes breaking down the boxes a whole lot more interesting.

last night jes and i got drinks at gingers with niki and another law student friend named andrea. i liked her, she was smart and we talked about her job at abcnews (i think, whichever one that has good morning america). we talked about how great robin roberts is and how i appreciated the fact that she broke down crying during her newscast b/c her family is from the south (mississippi andrea says). i just really like robin roberts not only b/c she is hot and was a sexy sporty girl basketball player, but also b/c she just seems real and it makes me happy that a female athlete can not only make it as a sportcaster (she used to be on espn) but also as a regular news person. yeah that was a random conversation, but a nice one nonetheless.

so i know i am supposed to report on my chicago trip, so i am going to try and do that now in a separate post. ugh, do i remember how to attach photos, probably not.

anywho, happy birthday to my best friend mary in san francisco. i hope you have a lovely day and i miss you.

there is a god!

law school is finally looking up!!! i have just been informed that there is a leftist/marxist group on campus. how exciting!! of course it was hidden under the name "national lawyers guild" which to me meant that anyone who was a lawyer could join or something. so that table was skipped at the student group party. i was beginning to drown in the idea that i had no political allies here but alas there may still be hope!! this is such a relief especially after sitting through an hour listening to a person justify what they think about welfare (how its not a right and its dumb) blah blah blah (it was a bit more involved and infuriating than that) even after the professor keeps telling them that that is not the point. argh!!
anyway the group, based on what ive heard, seems super involved and while there are a bunch of folks traveling to dc for some anti-war protests they have a training session next wednesday to train people to do "legal observations" ( i think thats what they are called) they are people who go to public demonstrations and watch for people being arrested and take notes on what happens/sometimes videos etc. to document and begin preparations for trials. IM SO GOING!! HOW COOL IS THAT? anyway. im feeling must less like an idiot today but these last few hours of brain power are not going so well. im looking to forward to the idea of beer tonight.
anywho thats the update.

this just in...

the scabies jeans fit perfectly
i repeat, the scabies jeans fit perfectly

i mean is that good luck or WHAT?
i was raised catholic and growing up my mom always said "the lord will provide"
dude, she wasn't kidding.

i will post photos of the jeans on my delicious ass tonight when jes gets home
and is anyone else wondering why my sexy lawyer things she is dumb?
you should have heard the shit her and her study buddy were talking about yesterday
it was like they were speaking in tongues: menus raes, habeous corpus, cunnilingus

ok just kidding on that last one, and please forgive the mispelling on the others.

its jes

if there was ever a question as to whether im a big dumb idiot. it is no longer up for debate. thanks...

two things about tonight

ok it is rather late and i am rather tired and the litter box stinks b/c emily just took a dump
so let me be brief:

jes had her study buddy niki over for law school study time. while they studied i did my uact work. then we all ate rice and bean burritos for dinner and green apples sauteed in butter and brown sugar with vanilla ice cream on top (thanks rachel ray) for dessert. after they got done studying and i got done showering we went to cattyshack for their lesbo bbq. we just drank amber beer b/c we were not hungry.

on the way there i saw a bag of clothes on the sidewalk and next to it two pair of jeans. lo and behold there was what i think was the exact pair of target jeans i have and love but in a bit smaller size (size 9 instead of 11). i love my target jeans and i wear them all the time and i have been looking on line in preparation for buying another pair b/c i know my ones are going to rip or disentegrate. and here i go just walking up on a pair on the street for FREE yall. just like babyjesus dropped them down on the street for me.
thank you babyjesus.
so niki put them in her back pack and i am going to wash them with very hot water to kill off any itchy scratchy that may be on them. i will let you know how they work out.

secondly, there was this crazyhot woman at the bar tonight. she had both jes and i HUMMING. she wasn't really butch of femme, but something in the middle. she had shorter hair that was so cute and a red tshirt with little "i am a bike messenger" capris on. she was adorable. and her sweetie (i think) was a bit more joan jettish with almost a punk mullet and a ratt tshirt. she had beautiful eyes and a lovely smile and jes and i just kept giggling and saying "she's pretty." i hope we get to see her again. she is our new secret girlfriend.

lastly (i know i said *two* things, but i just remembered this). here is why i am an asshole. so we are at the bar and i look up and see like this spotlight and i am all "look its the bat signal" and then niki who is from new york says "no that is from the twins towers b/c its september 11th" and then i felt like a big blob of ball cheese.
dumb donna
dumb donna
so then i apologized and reminded niki i just moved to new york, so i am not hip to these kinds of things.
light a candle tonight for the folks who lost loved ones in september 11th, in hurricane katrina, or in the iraqi war. they need your positive energy.
good night.

third time is a charm i guess

what the deelio
ok let me just type it in
maybe he doesn't want new people to look at his blog
maybe i am technologically challenged

it is:

http://bonnehomme.blogspot.com

or try:

www.bonnehomme.blogspot.com

making friends in the nyc

the weather here in brooklyn has been outstanding these last few days and it is making me like the city more and more. i think the fact that we have been making some friends, or maybe just like meeting new people has put me in good spirits as well.

on thursday i met jes down at school where she was attending her first year students party. she got me a candy apple which i devoured (fyi i prefer caramel apples, but they were all out). then after they broke down that party they set up a fundraiser for survivors of hurricane katrina. $10 got you a bottomless beer cup. the dude tapping the keg and then pouring the beer was no pro so i really got about 1 cup of beer and 2 cups of foam, but whatev, its for a good cause, right? while i was there i met one of jes's friends named niki (who shall be known as niki with one "k", not to be confused with jes's friend from atlanta whose name is also nikki, but she has two "k's" and a shaved head and lots of tattoos). Actually, now that I come to think of it, it would be HILARIOUS to put up pics of each and you can see the difference. One thing the two Niki/Nikki's have in common is great teeth. Ok, I digress. Anywho this Niki is a nice girl. She reminds me a bit of one of my old girlfriends named Sue from Ohio who was not so good to me at the end of our relationship, but I think after a few nights out with Niki I can shake that association. I also saw this red headed girl who I am pretty sure went to Emory and I can't just yet place her, but when I saw her my stomach dropped and I got a bit of a feeling that she and I may have not liked each other. So it is kind of a mystery. We will call it the mystery of the mean red headed girl from Emory. If I find she was not mean, I will change the title.

So after the beer foam for Katrina thing, Jes and I went to our second official lesbo supper club. This time it was at Monique and Nancy's. Glennda couldn't make it b/c she was illin like Bob Dylan, so her sweetie Kim came alone. Much like Glennda and Kim, Monique and Nancy have this really nice duplex. Well decorated, grown up furniture and all. They also have three purrfect kitties. One of them (Jes says her name was Nano- I am certain that is not it) was pretty in love with me. They have two sort of tabbies and one more calico/tortoise. Anywho the dinner was also very fancy. There was this homemade squash risotto that was divine, and was served in this perfect little like tube shape. I am not sure how they got it like that. And then yummy asparagus and a nice salad. For dessert we had toll house cookies and I some delicious herbal tea. We chatted about work and life and made a list of all the things we are going to do as a group. I am pretty fucking excited to visit some casino in Connecticut where I can play roulette and apparently they have some high stakes bingo where you can win like 50,000. I also got to see this Women's Studies boardgame that Nancy made for Monique (can you say romantic?). It was all about getting a Masters in Women's Studies at OSU. They promised me we could play it some time. The next dinner is at our house. I am already worrying about the menu, but excited b/c I think I might try and have dinner out in our backyard garden. I think that will be lovely and romantic as well, and a lot less stuffy. I just need to figure out how to deal with the bugs out there.

Then last night Jes and I went and met some of her Public Interest Law Group friends at some bar near the Target. I chatted with the only man there, his name was Brad. He was at least my age if not older and very nice. We talked about Buffalo and being a partner of a law student. Then he left and I chatted with two other ladies: Beth who has the prettiest curly hair and Amelia who works with kids in Harlem. We all proceeded to Cattyshack for a drink or two. The cute ladies were out last night for sure. At the bar we met up with Niki's friend Darelle (sp?) and her friend Christopher. Darelle and I chatted about Women's Studies. She is getting her WS degree at Hunter College. It was nice to have new folks to chat with, but they are all very much younger than me. At one point they discussed when they graduated from undergrad. Most graduated in 2002 or 2003. I just smiled and nodded my head. I am going to try and not get my granny panties in a wad about the age thing. Because like Aliyah said (may she rest in peace) "age ain't nothing but a number"

Another exciting thing to report on was my trip to the NYU library. Yall it sure is pretty. I went there to do some research for my dissertation. Now because I am an Emory student, I can go and get in, but I can not check out any books. So I just went, found some books, xeroxed stuff from about four and realized I needed to buy two of them. It made me feel like student again, and while I do not miss teaching so much right now, I do miss the pulse of a university. Clearly I am a dork.

Ok well I am going to do a little UACT work and then we are going to go to the city and I am going to buy these boots I have been looking at and I think Jes is going to get yet another pair of sneakers. I am also going to pick up my photos from Chicago, so I will try and post about those tomorrow. Enjoy this weekend. I think the weather is lovely in most places. And by the way we did not win the 172 milion dollar lottery, but if no one did, I am playing again on Tuesday. If I win, I am going to hire Nifa to make my blog as fancy as hers with clips and photos and all kinds of shit. You wait and see.

why didn't that work?

anyway the address of his blog is:


http://bonnehomme.blogspot.com

now i know i didn't link it like you like nifa, but when i tried that in my last post it didn't work
lo siento

it will make you wet your pants

yall my friend sarah pointed this blog out to me and i can't handle it
i have tears in my eyes because its so funny
i want to meet this man SO BAD. he lives somewheres around here
i am thinking about emailing him
maybe that is weird
anywho check out


http://bonnehomme.blogspot.com

i heart kanye west

so i am going to assume that all yall already know this
but perhaps you have been living in a cave somewheres and didn't hear that kanye west said on national television "george bush doesn't care about black folks." he said it during that NBC concert to raise money for the survivors of Hurricane Katrina. He busted out on this speech about how hard it is to see black folks trapped in the city and portrayed as animals in the media and blamed for not leaving before the storm hit.

it moved me so much that i went and bought five (YES FIVE!) of his cds and i wrote him a letter with a copy of the receipt. dorky? maybe, but really folks we need to support those who speak up. anywho i am tired and i want to wait until i get my photos back to post about my exciting labor day weekend in chicago, but let me tempt you with a few highlights:

yoga ABC's with Rowan
dick candy, dick straws and dick antennae headbands at the bachelorette party
an outstanding warm sunny day near Lake Michigan with Alyson, Nicole and Rowan at the park
one of the most lovely weddings I have attended- I cried all my mascara off
breakfast at Le Peep with Azad and the gang

stay tuned for a more deets peeps.

this shit is bananas

http://cnn.netscape.cnn.com/ns/news/story.jsp?idq=/ff/story/0001%2F20050902%2F1100397224.htm&sc=1110&photoid=20050901LAEG205&ewp=ewp_news_0805katrina_no&floc=NW_1-T

why i love carl quintanilla

he is this reporter on the today show. he was talking about his experience in new orleans and how he didn't see any crazy wild looters. he talked about how he saw devastated hungry folks who are begging for help. he also talked about how there are all these ambulances and medical help just outside the city and how when asked why they wouldn't go into the city and bring medical help to the folks who need it (he pointed out to the workers that he and his crews have been able to move back and forth no problem), the workers are all "i am not going in there, those people are crazy and i promised my wife i would not go."

now this guy tony zumbado who is a photojournalist is breaking it down and explaining how there is no safety issue in the city of new orleans folks are just hungry and they need meds and water and working toliets. yeah so katie just cut him off so they could put on commercials about how to stop frizzy hair.

oh, by the way, both of these guys are men of color

before i go

so its about 5am and i can't sleep so i got up out the bed to come and do some work on the couch. i was a working maniac yesterday, with both my work and home computer open on my desk and moving back and forth b/w the two so i can do DOUBLE DOUBLE DOUBLE the work. i was falling asleep in front of the movie "the machinist" just a few hours ago, so i have no idea why i am wide awake. well, maybe the bad dream i had, but still troka, you need to shake that shit off, okay?

while i was rather productive yesterday both in my job, some extra projects i am working on and in general in the house (washing dishes, doing laundry, cleaning the toliet) i still feel in general i am suffering from some sort of malaise or melancholy. not sure i am using that first word correctly. i think its about not being around folks all day long and then feeling like i am *anxiously* awaiting jes's arrival at 8pm so i can start dinner. i know things will change and i will make friends and get more involved in life here and i know part of my solitude is self induced so i finish my fucking disseration, but either way it has me a bit blue. i am glad we travel to chicago today. i need a little shot of my chi town homies. yes, i did just type that. hold on, i need to take a hit off my puffer. i can't breathe so good. yeah by the way to great (note sarcasm here) doctor i saw at emory who made me wait in the room for a total of 1.5 hours had the brains to tell me that my breathing problem is.....drumroll please.... allergies. how did she ascertain this? b/c i had then as a child (i told her this). i mean, whatev, i got a puffer and that is all that matters, but frankly it would have saved me time to just pick up a primatene mist at the CVS, you know? jes says i don't hold the puffer in long enough. i never was a smoker yall.

anywho yesterday i tried a yoga place in my neighborhood called Jaya Yoga. I did not like the teacher so much at the beginning but she kind of grew on me. she looked maybe twelve and had the body of a twelve year old, but overall the class wasn't too bad. not as flow as i like it, but i sweat my balls off, and learned a new pose or two, so that is good. i will go back and try out a different teacher after labor day. its much more pricey than emory (10-14 per class vs. 3-5 per class). oh bother. i may also just start doing the routine shona does here at home. who knows if i will actually do that, but it sounds really good. also last night we went out to eat with our friend kristi who i call botacelli (she looks like the ladies in his paintings). we were going to try this middle eastern place called olive vine but they only took cash and did not have a lot of veggie options. instead we went across the street to a place called laila, also middle eastern and it sucked. there was no one there when we arrived (jes thinks this was an indicator of their poor food) and the server, well she didn't do a whole lot bless her heart. i got some tomato and green bean soup like thing with white rice- not so good. jes got a hummus and falafel sandwich- the hummus left much to be desired for her and botacelli got this crazy thing called an ouzy. it was this big puff pastry (looked like the superdome for real yall) and it was filled with mushrooms that looked like poop. we were all sad to pay our money for that, but were somewhat redeemed when we got some drinks and treats at tea room down the road. me and botacelli got some cheap red wine, jes a brooklyn lager and then i got a little baby witch chocolate brownie and b got a black and white cupcake. i liked the white part better (suprisingly b/c i ususally like darker chocolate better). after walking b back half way home jes and i came back here and began the movie "the machinist". christian bale is sickly thin in it. i mean crazy and its all real, he really lost all that weight. it makes me hungry just thinking about it.

ok i need to get some IDKE work done. hopefully i can get my friend sarah to send me some gossip this weekend, if not, i may be able to post some stuff after reading trashy mags on the airplane today. the labor day weather here in nyc and in chicago is supposed to be lovely. how lucky i am. i will be away from the internet for nearly THREE days. i know, how will i survive? wish me luck...

a little something jes found on line

check out this comparison of news coverage of katrina...
america-fuck yeah!


http://www.livejournal.com/community/blackfolk/2420240.html