worst.blogger.ever

ok folks:

i know i have not posted in weeks and i am sorry for that.
i have had some serious work and disseration deadlines paired with a road trip to atlanta and chicago
so the bad news is i haven't written in FOREVER, but the good news is that i have lots of stories to tell and pictures to show

AND since we have passed our one year anniversary living here in brooklyn (and this blog was meant to only chronicle our first year) i am going to start a new blog. it will be the same damn thing as this.

if you are interested in the new blog address, email me at:

donnatroka@hotmail.com

ali on her "business" trip in vegas

work it girl
work it

its been one year

we made it through our first year here in the bat cave yall.
yesterday was our one year anniversary of living in brooklyn.

i looked back and read what i wrote that first day, and let me say this about our first year in the big apple:

-its still hot as fuck

-i am still generally overwhelmed

-in the year we have been here i have written about 200 pages (single spaced) on this blog.

-and i have written about 120 pages (double spaced) on my dissertation

-we joined a supper club

-jes got through her first year of law school and is almost done with her first summer internship

- we still haven't found fish tacos/burritos that match up to those in atlanta

- but we have found joe's pizza (praise jesus) and plenty of veggie hotdog joints

- we have planted a garden that has produced something (remember the tomato)

- we are about to have our second party

- we have seen a brooklyn cyclones & a new york yankees game, and we are going to see the new york liberty next week

-we have participated in TWO auctions (got the liberty tix in the first one and some old school hip hop cds in the second one)

-we have seen what feels like twelve million concerts, but i am sure its really less than twenty.

-our two favorite "new york-isms" are the guy at the hot dog place on the corner answering the phone "hot diggity dog" and our friend kim calling her mom in staten island on the phone and saying "hey ma"

- i have found out that the cat that lives next door and harrasses horace from the window sill is really named "belly boy" instead of "creamiscle" (that is what i call him)

- we have walked and rode our bikes across the brooklyn bridge

- we have joined a co-op and begun eating as much organic food as we can

-we have begun composting

-we have seen too many celebrities to recount here

not bad for our first year, i guess. i sort of can't handle how quickly it has gone by. i think i am going to at least change the name and the goal of my blog after this weekend. tell me if you think that is a GOOD or BAD idea. i am just not crazy with the idea of having my name in the title anymore.

happy weekend yall! oh and tomorrow is a birthday for not one, not two, but THREE of my friends.
1. janet o.
2. pat f.
3. kim w.

happy birthday yall.

oh my god becky

check out this website:

www.kauffmantire.com

the cutey up front (the woman) is my friend kim.
she is on the WEBSITE!
how exciting is that?

very exciting if i do say so myself.

i just called the president...

and you should too:

here's his digits:

202-456-1111

early morning musings

so larry successfully woke me up this morning. its this game that jes and i play with him, and each other. first of all, which of us will get up and feed him first? (usually around 4:30am and really lately, it has almost always been her). my trick is that i don't look at the clock and i don't put on my glasses b/c if i do, my brain starts working and its over-i begin to wake up. apparently sometime this morning i got up and fed them (don't really recall it) and then some time after that larry began meowing. jes put him out of the bedroom and closed the door. i tried to cover my ears with a pillow but it did not work, and with the door closed, the air conditioning could not get in from the living room and the fan in our room could not really circulate the air.

then i began thinking about emails i need to send for work and tasks i have to complete this week and it was OVER. so here i am. 5:09 am. bright eyed and bushy tailed. larry, emily and horace are all fast asleep in the bedroom. nice.

so we had a pretty busy weekend, and a nice one at that. after the thursday night manicure debacle (i have since taken off the clear polish AND cut my nails down- too much dirt was getting caught under them from working in the garden) we kept the pace up. on friday night some folks from jes's work had this party that was a fundraiser. it was at this loft/warehouse space in williamsburg. it was raining cats and dogs leading up to the party so we were worried no one would show. at first, no one really did, but about an hour later, the place was hopping. music was playing and people were chatting all over the place. jes and i sort of helped with the set up and then during the second half of the night, we worked the bar. this was a nice way to pitch in, get to see all the people at the party, and of course to prove to myself once again that jes and i are an amazing team. i mean within minutes we had a system down. she was better at pouring beer from the keg, i was better at making mixed drinks. we were almost like tom cruise and that other guy in the movie "cocktail." by the time we left the party (about 1am i think) i was so exhausted. we thought about stopping to get a grilled cheese and the idea of staying awake to eat it was too much, so we just went home. i was asleep five minutes after i laid down.

saturday morning we worked some on the garden. it was a real mess. i just kept thinking "oh my god, what would azad say." i felt real palpable shame. we were trying to get as much done before the monsoon rains hit. i got most of the sunny bed cleared out except for the obvious tomato plants and few other flowers and plants. the rest were a bust. weeds took over. it was horrendous. jes weeded the back bed and pulled all the weeds from the ground and then i thinned out the shade bed, and re-cleared a path to the compost container. i also cleaned up a bunch of garbage and tried to rake all the wed dead leaves off the drain that is back there. when it is covered a nice pool of mosquito inviting water settles. while i did not get all that i wanted done before the rains came, it at least began to shape up and i was able to find hope for the space again.

saturday night we went to go see peaches in concert. jd from le tigre was playing in her band (along with radio from some band- jes will kill me for not knowing what band- and the drummer from hole was also in here band). she was really good. you know, nutty like she always is, but entertaining. it was a really weird crowd b/c this total (post?) modern cock rock band opened for her. at first i thought it was a bunch of fags being ironic, but it became clear that they were mostly not gay men and that they were serious as the night wore on. the lead singer, who looks a lot like the ex-lover of our gay male friend christian, kept saying "new york are you ready for some rock and roll" and "this one is for the ladies, because we love the ladies! let's hear it for the ladies." they were a talented bunch and all, i just wanted them to go away a little sooner. seriously, i am hard pressed to find an opening band i like. they are just the people in the way of me seeing who i came to see, you know? when we got home we tried to watch this terrible movie "in the mix" with none other than the singer usher. i was asleep on the couch in about ten minutes.

yesterday morning we got up and worked some more in the garden. i was able to assess what i needed to get from the home depot or lowe's to bring it back up to speed and jes was able to work up an appetite for papa john's pizza (go figure). so she went on line and ordered some, we drove over to wherever it was (sort of prospect heights area, but again jes would know better what it is called) and then we headed over to our friend ali's to hang with her cat nala, watch "get rich or die tryin" (50 cent movie) and eat some pizza. the movie was not terrible but it wasn't good, and the pizza was divine. nala only meowed when we got there (she has a meowing problem like larry) and when one of us got up to go to the bathroom. the rest of the time, she just laid on the bed. after the movie, we headed to lowe's to get some garden stuff and then when we returned to the house, i planted it all.

glennda and kim (who had on some nice new kicks) came over to talk shop about our upcoming bday party for kim and ali and then i took a shower and washed off the filth of the night before and garden combined. then jes and i settled down, i made my list of things to do this week, and we watched this really great movie on tivo called "the interpreter." it has sean penn (my best friend mary's #1 guy) and nicole kidman in it. its about the united nations and africa and death and mourning. i found it to be a pretty good film and i *really* liked nicole kidman in it. surprising. soon after the movie, i hit the hay. and now here i am.

it is supposed to be dry and sunny today, so i am excited about that. i have a bunch of stuff to do and i hope to finish up with the garden today before the monsoon rains come back. we had our first real vegetable yield. a tiny red tomato. maybe i will take a picture of it before i eat it.

tuesday is my friend angie t.'s birthday. happy bday.
and please continue to pray/light a candle for peace in lebanon and israel. i am going to call president bush about it today. for real.

back from the atl

good morning all. i am back from atlanta, and as per usual, i am feeling a little crazy re adjusting to brooklyn life. i have been up since 5am trying to get things in order.

time in atlanta was good. i got to see some friends and did a lot of work. it was hot as fuck and i have to say i was thrilled to get back to brooklyn and find it was in the low 80's and breezy. its as if mother nature knew i needed a break and she gave it to me last night.

last night we went to another public interest happy hour. this time it was at beauty bar, this joint where you can pay $10, get a manicure and a free drink. sounded neat, so i went for it. i won't do it again. see the weird thing is that all these other women (and one man) got a manicure and she chatted them up and and rubbed lotion all over them and whatnot. but all she did for me was file my nails and but some clear on
(i requested clear). now i am not sure if it was b/c she felt i was low maintenance and didn't want to weird me out or b/c i was a queer woman and didn't want to be touching me any longer than she had to, or b/c i wasn't feeling very chatting b/c i was tired from traveling. jes says it was because i tipped her up front so she already knew she was paid before she even started. regardless, it made me angry for some strange reason. on the bright side, the bar had PBR on tap which made both jes and i happy.

we have a busy weekend ahead of us, so i am sure i will be posting some about that soon.

if you have a minute and you want to know more about what is happening between lebanon and israel first hand from an arab-american woman in lebanon, go to:

http://arab-americans.blogspot.com/

it is straight to the point and disturbing yall. but war always is.

chillin in atlanta

right now i am cold maxin and relaxing in a hotel in atlanta. i am here for work for the next few days and i figured i should take advantage of the free wireless in my room.

so let me give you a run down of the last few days because they were a little bit of the chizzain. on thursday night we went with the supper club gals to see ani difranco play in central park. it was supposed to be all hot and humid and instead it was really beautiful and clear. ani seemed a little melancholy or out of sorts. she played a nice mix of old and new songs and she talked about feminism and patriarchy. we also got to see higgins and bobby for a minute which was nice. the one sad part during ani's show was when she played this song about her family and then she talked about her dad dying. the whole crowd (except the drunk fucknuts by the port a potties) was so silent. it was deep.

on friday night we went to a yankees/white sox game at yankee's stadium with a bunch of folks from jes's work and the most recent exoneree and his family. first of all, yankees stadium is RIDICULOUS. its like a small city. we where five rows from the very top and seriously i was a little bit dizzy/scared b/c of how high we were. i was totally holding on to the rail walking up and down to our seats. jes chatted mostly with max and i busted chats with two employees of the innocence project (instead of interns)- gabe and corinne (?) for some reason i am not sure about her name. anywho we chatted about all kinds of stuff. it was a wonderful time. jes and i also got to meet alan newton, the most recent exoneree. he spent 21 years in jail for a crime he did not commit. i got to shake his hand and everything. he was serene and beautiful and kind.

***hold it, stop the press. i am watching something called "the world series of pop culture" on VH-1. its a competetion on VH-1 and you can win 250,000. i need to be on this show PRONTO***

saturday was ali's birthday and we took her to fire island to celebrate. it was a GREAT time. we picked her up around 8am wiht a birthday bagel in hand. on our way there we stopped at target to try and buy an umbrella. no dice. i asked the lady if they had any and she said "did you see the school supplies" and i said "i did and i got worried." so we continued on hoping we could rent one at the beach- we could not, but we ended up buying one for 10$. we made it in time for the 10am ferry, here is a picture of us on the ferry:



when we got to the beach it was a bit overcast AND it became apparent almost immediately that the beach was clothing optional (though most people had clothes on). this was apparent because we all saw a man rubbing suntan lotion on his scrotum. GOOD TIMES. i apologized to ali and she said as long as we kept our clothes on she was ok. shortly after we sat down the cutest dog ever named skippy hopped up. ali was in love:



the sun came out and it got pretty warm, so we headed to the water which was FREEZING and the waves were pretty serious but it was really fun. we played catch with our party deflated football. the waves were so great that jes and ali decided to go price some boogie boards. they were too expensive, so they came back and nancy got herself a little water:



even though it was off and on sunny, we all started looking a little red and both ali and i had to pee, so we packed up and headed to a beach front restaurant where jes and ali both got a drink called "the fire island." its like a pina colada with raspberry puree and blue caraco (sp?). ali was almost instantly drunk. this is just the first sip:



in an effort to sober up ali and fill our bellies, we went to cherry's and got something to eat. after that, we headed back to the ferry dock to make our way home. note the color difference from our first ferry photo:



when we got home i took a shower and realized i was burned like crazy. jes found the same thing after she showered. we all applied a great deal of aloe vera and then we watched "say anything" (which ali had not seen before- can you believe it?)

ok i need to hit the hay. i have a day of important meetings tomorrow at work.

light a candle for peace yall, the middle east needs it.

i heart brooklyn

as we approach our one year anniversary of living in brooklyn (its the end of this month yall!) i have to say that i have been loving living in brooklyn more and more. the past week has helped that love grow deeper. i imagine this level of love can change quickly as the heat and humidity increase. i already lost a little love yesterday walking around in 88 (at least!) degree heat and what felt like 100% humidity and dog poo stench. but before i get all negative, let me re-cap the last few days. they were very busy.

last thursday, jes and i went to this bar in the city for her public interest happy hour. it was great to spend some time with folks she goes to school AND we got to see higgins, so really it was a two for one night. here is a pic of jes and her co-worker and fellow bls-er max. chances are, they were talking about civ pro OR buying jes a new bike, one of the two:



i also met a few new folks from jes's school, namely, linda and adam. i think they are both going into their second year (though i think adam might be a 3L-yeah that is law school lingo for "going into his third year, in case you didn't know). anywho, here is a pic of them, higgs and jes:



and here is one of me, grainne (pronounced gran-[rhymes with flan]- ya), jes and beth. grainne goes to columbia. she likes legal writing, especially when there are footnotes:



and then here is one of higgs, me & jes in varying shades of tan:



on friday night, jes and i went and met drake up at this cute little bar in north slope called the patio. it was such a lovely night outside so we sat out on their back...well...patio and had a few drinks. i was so exhausted by the end of the night jes had to practically drag me home. i wanted to take the bus, but she assured me walking would be quicker. you know the bus pulled up AT THE EXACT SAME TIME as we walked up to the corner. sometimes, she lies.

on saturday, jes and i drove out to the beach at long beach. it was a fairly overcast day with breaks of sun, so the beach itself was not so crowded, which was nice. even though it was overcast, it got pretty warm and so we went and played in the FREEZING COLD water a little bit. we only stayed a couple hours, but that was just right. i was more interested in just checking out the beach and getting a lay of the land so we can go back with some of our friends. it cost six dollars to get in, but it was very clean and not too crowded and i saw no hyperdermic needles nor dead bodies in the water, so i figure that was worth the six dollars right there. on our way home from the beach we stopped at this strip mall and i got enough bath and body works antibacterial pump soap to last us the rest of the year (it was on SALE yall, who can pass that up?) and jes picked up a few pair of SALE gap jeans. she got two of the same pair b/c they were only $15 and they look so cute on her. a real dark blue wash and she wears them rolled up like huck finn (or some would say, capris). they are adorable on her.

after we got home and showered, we headed over to prospect park to meet up with drake and some of his friends to see toshi reagon and her mom bernice johnson reagon perform for a whopping $3. we could only stay for an hour or so b/c we had to get to this party, but it was so lovely. again, the humidity was low and there was a nice breeze and there was all kinds of cute girls and bois around alongside adorable families with babies all rocking out to some folk music. it just made me happy all around.

we left the park and headed to jes's classmate erica's apartment/dorm on bls campus. you have to sign into the building and when we got there there were like five girly girls signing in and the dude was flirting up a storm with them (he was old enough to be their dad, maybe grandpa) and they were all giggly and whatnot. i was like COME ON PEOPLE (and so was jes believe it or not!) and then this whole other herd of folks came in so i was like UGH we need to get in line. finally we get signed in (and in the process convinced another classmate of jes's, eric, who was going to go to another party to join us instead) and we all head upstairs. well wouldn't you know it the posse of girls downstairs were erica's high school friends from long island. now erica is young-maybe 23 and she is very gay, so i was expecting all these young lesbo/dykey types to be at the party. not so much. jes and i spent the night chatting with erica and eric (they all mostly talked shop) and we chatted a little with one of erica's sorority sisters from cornell.

right before we left, jes had to pee, so she stood in the kitchen area which is sort of next to the bathroom. one of erica's high school friends come out of the bathroom looking a little mortified to find jes waiting to go in. i figured it was b/c she (the friend) was super gender normative and all sparkly and high heels and jes is..well.. not that. i watched to see how it was all going to shake down. instead, this sweet young thing leans into jes and says "i am so sorry, you probably don't want to go in there because I just pooped and it really stinks." her friends, who were right next to her, almost fell off their chairs laughing (as did i, across the room) and jes just replied with "that's ok, i can't smell most things" (her sense of smell is all whack). it made me remember that no matter how different we look, we all poop and usually it smells.

on sunday jes and i met glennda and kim up at the park and played catch with the football (my wrists still hurt from it. how pathetic is that?) and then we walked up to uncle louie g's and got some ices. they headed home and we headed up to ali's to love on her cat nala and then to pick a few things up at the co op. ali's place was so nice and cool (it was a bit warmer on sunday) so we sort of took a nap at her place while nala meowed, slept, and made biscuits on my back. sunday night we watched this tremendously dumb movie called "super troopers." my best friend azad recommended it. big mistake.

on monday night, i met jes down at coney island and we went to a brooklyn cyclones game. it was such a good time. first of all, they had this thing where you could weigh yourself and pay one penny per pound to get a general admission bleacher seat. how fun is that? jes wasn't there so i just go reserved bleacher seats, which are only $6. secondly, it was jewish heritage night so they were playing hava nagela (sp?) and lots of the inning break games had to do with kosher food and talking about bar mitzvahs and such. it was hilarious. and because it was near the water it was nice and cool (actually we had to leave early b/c i was cold- i wore shorts). i can't wait to go back with some of our friends. oh, and we go free retro cyclones lunch boxes. LOVES IT. here are some photos from the game: