• Bernie Mac passing away at 50
• Working late all week with a bad summer cold and nursing an incoming wisdom tooth that’s making it difficult to eat anything but soup and rice dishes
• John Edwards’ affair (I’m not surprised because he’s a politician and a man, so duh!; but now I’m glad he didn’t win the nomination because the Repubs would’ve eaten him alive with this)
• Gasoline for $4.03/gallon  (We're still paying over $4 here in California)
  
• A $78 charge that I thought had already cleared the bank last month didn’t, so I overestimated how much moolah I had this weekend and I am now broke as a joke until next payday, which won’t hit until the day I leave for vacation
• Having to return a good book to the library before I was finished with it
  

• Job interview next Tuesday.  Wish me luck!
• Seeing Nick Brendon’s play, “Adam Baum and The Jew Movie,” on Friday night
• Getting a phone call from my Belgian on Thursday.  That’s what I’m calling him.  Remember Aleksandr Petrovsky on S&TC.  Yeah, he’s like that.  ‘cept Belgian, not Russian.
• Gasoline for $4.03/gallon  (It was $4.47 back in mid-July)
  
• Watching The Oblongs from Netflix queue and finally finishing the 1st season of Burn Notice on Hulu.com
• Feeling “up” for 48+ hours in a row
  

• Vacation starting Friday, 8/15!!!!!  :-)

Honestly, the cover didn't even upset me.  I saw it pretty much as a sad attempt to sell a magazine, as well as a pathetic attempt to be "edgy," "controversial," and/or show how "forward thinking" the editors are.

But then, the backlash got its own backlash, and now, I'm too through.

So, let me make sure I have this straight. If I find the illustration offensive, it must be because I don't "get it."  I must be incapable of detecting or appreciating satire.  I lack a sense of humor.  And I must see the presentation as a support of verifiable facts and/or perceptions.

Here's an idea.  Maybe it's just ... offensive.  Maybe the "attempt" at satire failed miserably and the magazine deserved to be called on its massive failure just like any other medium who has made such a blunder. And maybe Jon Stewart is just another white liberal jackass who believes that nothing that's not intended to be insulting or degrading can ever truly be insulting or degrading.

Hold on.  Let me write that down.

• Intending to be offensive and insulting and succeeding = bad
  
• Not intending to be offensive and insulting, but failing miserably = okay/no big deal/nothing to see here/why are black people so angry?

Jon Stewart, and the liberals who march in lockstep behind him and everything his team spews forth from their den of pretention, are severely lacking if they believe that labeling any media as "just a ...." somehow absolves it from taking responsibility for its actions and removes its ability to significantly damage others.  It is these individuals (and based on last night's interview, I'm sad to include Mr. Colbert in this group as well) that don't. get. it. 

NB: And claiming that it's satire is not now, nor will it ever be a get-out-of-jail-free card.

The reality here is that the (real) liberal media screwed up royally and they can't take the very criticism that they so willingly dole out to their right-of-center counterparts.  But have no fear, The Daily Show will jump in to rescue their friends and admonish those who would dare call "bullshit" on such a masterpiece.  Thank you, Jon.  You've pretty much captured why I've grown increasingly dissatisfied with your show for the last 3 years.  Now, you don't have to worry about me being dissatisfied anymore.

• I’m finally going on vacation next month. It’s overdue like a mutha’, but I can’t get out of here until after my trip to D.C. for an industry tradeshow. Yuck. But on the upside: Vacation!  I’m headed to Florida for a week to visit my best friend and her little family. For those who don’t remember, Rebekah had another baby girl, Amani, in February, and I’ve only seen the rugrat in pictures. Plus, there’s the whole part about seeing ‘Bekah, not having to pay for a hotel or food, and not being at work. See? Win-win-win-win.
  
  
• ( Speaking of ... )
   
  
• ( Where I've been and what I've been doing )
   
  
• ( Family news )
   
• ( No one's ever accused me of being disciplined )
   
• ( Home Sweet Home )
   

Okay, I think that's all for now, boys and girls.  I have to finish organizing the July/August files now that's it's out the door.  That way, I can come in tomorrow and start on the September issue.  Yay?  Oh, speaking of Yay?  Did anyone else notice the gas prices went down?  They went from a minor $4.53 on Monday to a paltry $4.47 today.  That's cause for merriment, right?  Right?

All right. Back to work.

I was going to make this entry friends-only, but then I changed my mind.  My thoughts on this topic are too important to be friends-only.  Some of you on my friends-list know me through fandom, and some of you know me through communities geared toward cultural/political/social issues.  I suspect that the responses to this entry (if there are any) will vary greatly between these 2 groups of individuals.

I realized I haven't posted in a while about my various life-related comings and goings, and I know that many of you have felt that your lives have lost all meaning during that time.  Well, have no fear, I'm back to regale you with wondrous tales of my adventures.

Okay, I may have built this up a bit too much.  Sorry.

Hmm, let's see.  What have I been up to that isn't birthday related?  Well, I've been spending money like crazy, and now I fear that as I enter the month of April, I'll be dining on spam, pork rinds, and Ramen noodles until things plateau again and I get back on budget.  Although, I haven't been completely frivolous.  I went ahead and filed my taxes at the end of February (All by myself for the first time!  Yay me.), so much of that money I spent was tax refund dosh.  Otherwise, I'd be in serious trouble right now.  As opposed to slightly serious, mildly sardonic trouble.

Hmmm, what else? 

Other than those fascinating escapades, ladies and gents, I've just been sticking to my usual routine: work, dance, sleep, repeat.  Not that I mind, really.  Work's been draining, but not as horrible as it once was; dance has become more fulfilling now that I'm mixing it up with jazz and hip hop, and sleep ... well, sleep could use a little help.  I still have a long To-Do list, but until my money rights itself, I'll try to stick to things that don't require much cash.

Anyway, I think that's enough of my wacky adventures and incessant tedium.  I need to get off of here and get back to work.  And by work, I mean getting my lunch together, then crawling into bed and falling asleep while watching Charles Mesure's second episode of Without A Trace.  :-)  Ah, good times.

Ganked from 

wicked_goddess

---

Believe it or not, I think I have seen every episode of The Simpsons.

Happy Birthday katbaggins !!

::blows noisemaker::  I hope it's a great one!  Sorry for crashing your pad on Saturday.  You didn't look that bad. Honest.  :-P  Tell Emma I say "Hey!"  ::throws confetti::




I'm still feeling very bi-polar-ish. Can't ya' tell?

Hey there. You know I meant to write about my riveting Christmas holiday last week, but a little noxious pest called a migraine headache dropped by for a visit on Boxing Day and it unfortunately slipped my mind. The days leading up to and including New Year’s were spent mostly puttering around the house and running around the Valley trying to start the New Year off right. Not to say that I actually started it off right, but at least I tried.

Well, instead of boring you with all the details of my holiday cheer, I’ll just sum it up with the following highlights:

• Merry Christmas! phone calls to family and friends
• Opened presents: mint chocolate candy from apartment manager (Awww.), 4GB iPod nano engraved “Much Love! Ma and Pa” from my folks (Awww. Yay!), and a silver-heart necklace that says “Always my daughter” on the front, and “Now too my friend” on the back from my Mommy (::tear::)
• Frustrated cooking that took far too long to prepare
• Despite prep issues, dinner turned out pretty darn good, if I may say so
• Watched The Holiday on DVD; despite it being a romantic comedy, I didn’t hate it – loved Kate, adored Jack, Jude’s a douche-y slutbag, but still a cutie, Cameron’s annoying and made me want to slap a muzzle over her mouth
• Dessert was yummy! I fixed my grandmother’s recipe for lemon pie. (I finally polished it all off on New Year's Day.)

Overall, it was a decent Christmas. I was a little more down in the dumps this time around as opposed to last year, where I spent the holiday alone for the first time. But I tried not to dwell on it. I ran up an astronomical cell phone bill for the month of February; I spent the day in a warm, safe, and beautiful home; and although they may be 2,000+ miles away, I still have family that cares about me. So as long as I remember that, I have no reason to complain. It doesn’t mean I won’t complain, I just won’t have any reason to. ;-)

Sadly Interestingly Uninterestingly enough, my Christmas holiday was a lot more eventful than my New Year’s Eve, but again, not complaining. I finally got around to taking care of a few things on my to-do list. I e-mailed some of the better photos of my Thanksgiving trip home to family members with computer access, bought a new 2008 calendar (The Far Side) and planner (I dislike the only design they had available at Borders; it’s too busy, but I think it's growing on me), and spent New Year’s Eve-Eve arguing race politics, family values, and male-female dramady with a colleague from work who asked me out to dinner. I’m still not sure how I feel about that.

Anywho, I wish I could say I’m really looking forward to ’08, but honestly, I can’t find the energy or enthusiasm. Not to be a Debbie Downer, but I got hit with a serious bout of depression around sunset on New Year's Day, and I still haven’t shaken it off. I remember being pretty optimistic at the beginning of 2007, and as I looked back on the year that followed, I realized that that optimism didn’t do me a damn bit of good. Let's see, I worked like a cog in a machine for an ungrateful boss, had a less-than-pleasant 30th birthday, worked some more for my ungrateful boss, began an ongoing search for a natural hairstyle that doesn’t involve me emptying out my checking account every other month, did still more work for an ungrateful boss, quit my job, started a new job that has all the same bad characteristics as my old job, and my family dog died. Yay 2007.

There’s been a few topics I’ve wanted to post about recently, but I simply haven’t made the time. I suppose partly because I’m lazy. There’s also that part about me spending my entire working day in front of a computer and not wanting to go home and sit in front of yet another computer. So maybe it’s a little of this and that.

Unfortunately, this means that I've forgotten most of the things I wanted to blog about, but that's good news for you because you know how I tend to ramble on.  So here's a concentrated (according to me) tome of random comings and goings, rants and observations, that I have floated through my mind in the last few weeks. Ready?

First, the excuses . . .

Finally, the shiny . . .