A man's role

After getting a few drinks with some of the reporters from the Daily I headed back to my car (ok it was after getting a hot dog, after sitting around the newsroom sobering up, after getting drinks) I found myself walking in front of this big guy talking loudly on his cell phone. I loved his conversation so much that I slowed down so that I could follow him around for a few minutes.

This is basically what I heard:

"I know you love to cook but that's not the point."
"You just can't do it."
"Listen, even if you love to cook, you're going to train her to expect you to cook for her, and you don't want that."
"You can't have her expecting you to be in the kitchen. That's not the man's role that's the woman's."

Sure I had to walk a little farther but I was so entertained. The guy was so irate. I kind of wondered if he had a girlfriend, and maybe he secretly loved to sew but didn't tell anyone because once again that falls into women's work.

If your friend loves to cook, let him cook. And make sure to invite yourself over all the time so that he can cook for you. There are a shortage of people who love to cook that I'm friends with so I try to encourage them as much as possible.

Sniff...

On Saturday A and I headed into San Francisco to check out the Chinese New Year parade. OK I just really wanted sparklers and thankfully some nice lady we were standing next to gave me one (they weren't as super-amazing as in my childhood memories).

To get to the parade we decided to take public transportation so we drove to Milbrae to catch the BART. I've taken public transportation throughout my life and the smells I usually associate with it are stale sweat, bad breath and B.O. so I was surprised at the scent wafting around the Milbrae BART station. It smelled like freshly baked cookies.

On our way back out we again smelled the delicious smell of chocolate chip cookies. We looked around but the only restaurant we saw was an In-N-Out, and to my knowledge they don't bake a lot of cookies.

Four days later and I'm still wondering where the smell came from. Will it be there next time? And where can I get some?

Opinions

Damn I've been slacking. But I've been busy doing stuff, no seriously.

With working on the Daily and a job and trying to get my thesis OK'd my food intake has suffered. Lately I've been living off of nutterbutters, coke and noodles, tasty tasty microwavable noodles. I get so much crap from my boss for my eating habits but he's a pseudo vegetarian (I feel vegetarians and health food eaters are weak and can't survive off the stuff that I eat) so I think I eat worse when I'm around him just to get him mad. Oh the things I do to entertain myself.

Anyways I've been trying to think of things that I feel strongly about so that I can write an opinion piece and I've come to the realization that I'm a shallow person that doesn't care about anything.

The first thing I thought about was those damn Helio commercials, "don't call it a phone." If I paid $100 bucks for something and another $50 a month I will call it whatever I want.

Next one I thought of was the left arrow turn light. OK in some places it makes sense but it seems like they are popping up everywhere, if I can see 500 feet down the road can't I just go when I see that it's safe?

And finally I thought of those stupid forwards about the good ol' days. They were better because you were younger and had no awareness about the world around you, things change that's life. I loved the smurfs too but at the same time the American Embassy in Iran was overrun and people were taken hostage. Does that really sound so peachy to you?

Oh well I'll have to work on the opinion thing, some how I have to come up with a coherent idea for it too, so many damn rules.

The pain of a used car

The day after I got my car the engine light went on. THE DAY AFTER I BOUGHT IT! And of course I bought it "as is" so I am shit out of luck. But it still drives ok so I am ignoring it for now (I know I'm a freakin genius), until something catastrophic happens or until I have a real job to pay for stuff.

I took another non-paid writing thing with a weekly paper. And I went to a staff meeting and everyone there seemed to be over 80. How they are still able to get around is kind of beyond me. They could barely hear each other with out screaming "WHAT? What did he say?" Every five minutes I don't see how they are able to hold coherent interviews at all. But I figured why not I need to get more writing in anyways and I love ramen so i don't actually need money anyways.

Well I am off to the dealership to try and beg and plead for them to fix my car for free (I'm sure that will work well, since I'm trying to talk to a used car dealer), wish me luck.

Newish Car

I bought my first used car tonight. Headed over to a pseudo sketchy car dealership handed them a decent sized check and drove away in a white, slightly scratched, 2000 Honda Civic.

I bought my first used car tonight. Headed over to a pseudo sketchy car dealership handed them a decent sized check and drove away in a white, slightly scratched, 2000 Honda Civic.

I've been looking for a couple of weeks since I totalled my car back in December. And I have to admit towards the end there I just wanted the whole ordeal to be over with. I was good I checked out the carfax and test drove the thing no black smoke anywhere, but I passed on the warranty, seems like a scam. Oh well it's shiny and gets me from point A to point B and that's basically what I want.

At least I don't have to drive around the Saturn anymore.

Shady dealings at MacWorld

After a couple of hours wandering the aisles of MacWorld I was tired and starving. So I headed out into the sunny (not quite warm but not that cold) streets of San Francisco and found the Cravery, which makes very tasty hand held pot pies. I took my pastry to a nearby bench and went to town on that thing.

When I could think of other things than food I saw across the street what appeared to be a homeless man that was "helping" people park their cars. And by helping I mean waving them into large obvious spots and then standing next to the back of the car behind the spot so they could tell how big the spot was. After all that hard work he expected payment.

If I had driven I would have been pissed. But I guess if people are willing to pay for such an obvious scam more power to the parking guy. And since I have been hearing more about such incidents people must be paying them or else it wouldn't have caught on. Which in my opinion sets a very bad precedent. What if you don't pay and the homeless guy gets angry and then doesn't something damaging or disgusting to your car?

This is a learned behavior, so those of you that feel the need to pay for some useless help grow a pair and say no.

A sad sad day

My favorite zoo animal has passed away, and no I don't mean Tatiana the blood thirsty tiger. No, Gemina the crooked necked giraffe at the Santa Barbara zoo has passed away at the ripe old age of 21.

I love giraffes. In college a friend said I looked like one and it kind of stuck. Although I often wish I looked like a prettier animal, you are what you are. But anyways it was always fun to go to the zoo and check out this crazy giraffe. She had at least two kids that I know of and her neck was the weirdest thing.

So here's to you Gemina, no longer will we hear shocked squeals from little kids, see old women pointing or hear docents explain for the twentieth time that hour that no Gemina was not in pain and that this is the first reported case in almost a hundred years of a crooked necked giraffe, the last one being in London. You will be missed.

Coffee accessories rock

Coming back from the bars last night we started discussing the ins and outs of Diet Coke and Mentos. When one of the guys mentions the amazingness of non-dairy creamer and fire. Now I'm always a fan of anything having to do with fire so on our way home we stopped by the 24 hour Safeway and bought some non-dairy creamer.

In front of our apartment at about 1:30 am (drenched from earlier rain) we stood in a little circle of five people. Then, each of us holding a handful of the nd creamer, one guy holds a lighter and sprinkles the nd creamer on the flame until it catches, when it does everyone else throws their creamer up into the flame creating a damn big fire ball.

It was glorious.

We did it quite a few times, and every time the flame got bigger and bigger. It was great and I plan on pulling this out next time I go camping. I mean who needs eyebrows anyways?

Damn you Fry's!!

I expect it at some places, mainly the autoshop or bar but not at Fry's, that bastion of capitalist greed.

So there I was was, A was looking for an external hard drive and we were in the computer section. I thought I would see if they had the Asus Eee PC there (because they are freaking cute and I totally want one). I didn't see one but I figured I would ask the helper man because, well hell, they're supposed to help you.

So I ask him if they have the Asus and he asks if I mean Acer, "No, it's the Asus Eee PC its really small about 8 inches."

"Are you sure they make computers? Asus makes motherboards" (a little condescending I might add)

A says yes they make a small computer and the guy totally turns away from me (the person he was supposed to be helping) and starts talking to A and totally believing everything he says about this ultra small linux computer, everything I had already told him and yet I got a condescending ass and A gets a friendly sales person. A, of course, is trying not to laugh because I was getting pissed and he finds just about everything funny. Stupid helper jerk isn't even up on new computers.

We walk away and go look for something else. While both of us are looking at hard drives another salesman comes up to us and says, "Excuse me sir can I help you find anything?"

Little bastard.

Happy New Year! Saturns suck

Ok I don't know if all Saturns suck* but the one that I have been driving for the past week does. A little background:

On Dec 18 I crashed my car into the center divider, that Friday they called me and told me that it was totalled. On Tuesday I borrowed my Dad's Saturn Sky. Now my dad is always trying to get me to like his car, but I've never been a fan. So when I crashed my car I think he was excited that I would finally drive his little car around (I try to take public transport now as much as possible), and realize just how wonderful it truly is.

But sadly there is a slight difference between my father and I when choosing vehicles, he chooses them for how they look and I choose them for how fun they are to drive (ok looks help too but that isn't the deciding factor). But as he was nice enough to let me borrow the car after I had just totalled one I was trying to be a little nicer about my rating but it just wasn't to be.

First off you basically lay down to drive, no matter how I messed with the seat I couldn't fix it. The gages are set quite far in and at some angles you actually can't see the gas gage. The shifter is nice, very easy but not too easy, all the gears are easy to find. First and second gear have a decent amount of power, third is ok but fourth and fifth are completely gutless, stomp on that accelerator all you want there is, sadly, no chance of whiplash. The driving is also too smooth you can't really feel the road. There is a huge blind spot on the drivers side and the radio is pathetic. Oh and it's a convertible, I hate convertibles.

So basically this is a car that tries to look sporty but my old Honda was more fun to drive. I wish my insurance would hurry up so I could get a new car. And by new car I mean a 2000 Honda with hopefully less than 2000 miles on it.


*there is a good chance that I just miss my car and therefore feel that all cars that aren't my cute little mini that gave up its life for me blow.

The tow yard

I visited my poor car in the lot today. I felt like I was visiting a sick patient or something. And I have to say I felt much better about my wreck after seeing the completely thrashed cars that were there. Most of them had something fly through the front window, a crumpled hood and at least one flat tire.

The lot manager and the tow trucker driver gave me pause though. Sure I watch way too many movies but these guys were walking stereotypes. The lot manager was a morbidly obese man who found it difficult to pull his ass away from his chair, so he used an intercom to talk to a guy who was just outside his window. A shiny balding head with a few strands still desperately clinging to his spotted scalp, topped the most spherical body I have ever seen. He also never stopped eating, and I had a feeling that if the food supply ever ran too low the cat asleep on his phone would make a quick substitute. He buzzed me into the tow yard, as I stepped in a wire fence wheeled shut behind me. The tow truck driver from Tuesday met me and I must have been a little dazed then because I didn't realize just how creepy he was. Under what was probably one a blue company ball hat, dark greasy hair hung to his chin. And he never seemed to stand up all the way. He was incredibly helpful but still I just wanted to get out.

I grabbed the few things left in my car and headed back out. I didn't look back, I felt like a traitor abandoning a good friend.

But then I remembered it was just a car and got over it.

Damn concrete and its non-bounciness!

Today was supposed to be great, last day of finals, no work. I could go home and stuff my face and veg out on the couch. But no, that's not how my day ended up.

After finals I headed home and of course it started raining. Driving down I-280 I decided it would be a great idea to take on the center divider. Sadly I lost, but I want a rematch.

OK what really happened was I hit a wet spot, my car spun out, hit the center divider (twice), airbags deployed, and I ended up perpendicular to oncoming traffic. To top it all off I received a fat lip and a few bag burns on my face, and I'm pretty sure I'll be very sore tomorrow. And I forgot my phone so I had to wait for a good samaritan to stop and call CHP.

When CHP got there they closed down all four lanes and had to push my car to the side. It was so sad as pieces of my poor little car were left behind. The tow truck driver doesn't think it's unslavagable but the insurance guy said it was a good possibility. I'd prefer to fix the car as I'm very attached to it, I actually felt bad as I watched it ride away to the tow yard. I swear it looked forlorn.

And then I spent the next hour on Caltrain to get home. And I definitely wont have a car for about two weeks.

SHUT UP!!

Listen I know you are passionate about subject x, but some of us have to be here, some mean person made it mandatory. Please keep your boring ass subject to the maximum 15 minute time limit, or I will rip your head off. Can you not see us sleeping? I'm in the fourth row back, can you see me now? I'm the one doing the sleeping head bob next to the girl that is drooling on herself, who is right behind the guy that is loudly snoring. I know you spent months on this but wrap-it-up, no one cares. The girl before you was nice enough to keep it down to 10 minutes and I almost ran up and kissed her. I don't even know your name and I actively seek your death. SHUT UP!!

Oops

So I love the library. I've always loved the library. When I was little I would go there for hours sit on the floor and stare at musty pages through my over sized glasses. So after so many happy (but yet nerdily sad) hours how can I be so cruel to the institution that was once so kind to me? Yep that's right I, a lover of the library, became part of it's most wanted list.

I somehow managed to rack up $102.50 in library bills.

It started to innocently too. I checked out The Affects of Oral (he he) Satire, for a class, and I read a good five pages out of about 250. So far so good. But then summer comes around and I head out of town and then I moved and completely forgot about this stupid little book. Now it's been six months and a few irate emails from the library and I finally return the book (it took some serious searching but good news I found a pair of shoes that I thought were completely gone). Now every time I head to the library I feel like I have a huge sign on me that reads BOOK THIEF, I swear the librarian glare at me as I walk by.

But my question is do I still owe $102.50? I mean the book wasn't that great.

Flying

I'm not a fan of flying. Don't like going to the airport, I hate taking off and landing is just evil. A huge tin can should not be soaring through the air. But a couple of times a year I suck it up and get on one of those flying death traps and start praying like I haven't for months. This year I'm headed to San Diego for Thanksgiving and so I'm lucky enough to travel on the busiest day of the year.

Flying into San Diego always gives me pause. You'd think in a place with almost perpetual sunshine the airline employees would be a tad bit happier. But last time I was there I got chosen for a random bag check. Which is fine but as I stood at the table, as the security lady rifled through my bag, I noticed a shelf above her head. On this random shelf were two items, a box of latex gloves and the biggest jug of Vaseline I've ever seen.

After seeing that I answered every question with a "yes ma'am," "no ma'am." And it seemed to have worked as I wasn't violated in the name of national security. But ever since then the San Diego airport has always given me the heebie geebies.

Published

It's official, I've finally been paid for writing. Sure it wont cover even one car payment but that is not the point. The editors didn't change that much but they did add a reference from wikipedia that I'm a little peeved about, if they asked I could have found a reputable source.

But I'm still pretty excited. So yeah!!

Where am I?

I live in lovely Menlo Park which I have decided is the scariest place on earth. It's so Stepford here. Apparently khaki is the uniform and every house comes with two loud children and the Eddie Bauer off-road baby stroller. I walk around downtown and expect passersby to break into choreographed song and dance numbers at any minute.

Every morning I leave around 9:30am and as I pass the local coffee shop (which of course is located right next to the world's most saccharinely sweet park that has live music for the whole family on Wednesday nights during the summer) and I notice families carrying their mocha chinos, pushing their designer baby strollers with a cute little dog running around their ankles. This wouldn't be so odd but it's a week day, who the crap is working in these families? The coffee shop is full of these happy, gap clad yuppies that are doing nothing (OK at this point one might point out my lack of a real job and the fact that I'm starting my day out at 9:30). Although I readily admit I'm probably just jealous.

Of course when I do walk around I'm pretty sure that I have "outsider" stamped on my forehead. I think maybe my unbrushed hair and clothes from yesterday and are a dead give. I went to go get bagels one Sunday morning at an early 11am, and two old people actually glared at me as I walked into the bagel cafe.

I must admit this place does not feel like home. But I like the apartment so I'll learn to live with the weirdos in the neighborhood. And the naked neighbor who's girlfriend is always yelling at him is at least entertaining.

Yummy

So the last few days I have had some weird cravings (no I'm not). Usually I crave bacon western cheese burgers, caramellos or soft serve ice creams, it changes from week to week. This week I've been craving avocados and cheddar cheese. I think it's because of the SoCal fires destroying large quantities of this year's crop, and me wondering if there will be any guacamole come Superbowl.

Sure A looked at me a little weird when I walked in with some avocados and a big block of cheese. But it was soo tasty, and I feel all good because I've had two servings of fruits and vegetables today. I am so healthy.

Musings of a grammatical idiot

In a class of about 30 students a good 80% of them have their laptops open. Of the screens that I can see all of two students actually have the assignment that the teacher is talking about up (I fall into the larger category). Most of the students are online but there are a few that are typing away in Word. The girl in front of me is checking out sales at target, the girl next to her is checking her SJSU account while the guy next to her is messing with his photographs. Why don’t we care about our education?

As I’ve returned to school after a protracted break I usually am a much better student. I try to pay attention and do my homework. But I must admit that this class is pretty boring and my friend I sit next to isn't here today, and he usually unconsciously guilts me into paying attention because he is, so my mind is wandering. It’s an editing class (which I truly need help in) and the 1000-year-old professor is trying teach us Indesign with mixed results. I think most of the students have at least messed around in the program before or they just really don’t care. Either way nobody is paying any attention to the old professor.

I think the best and worst part of the class is that it is co-taught by two professors that don’t always (never) agree on things. It’s both great and frustrating because they bicker in class about what the different editing rules are or how the A.P. guide says something. It’s funny, but on the downside I don’t know if I’m learning that much.

Guess I should have paid more attention in class as all I did was copy edit at my internship, because the copy editor is out of town and they have no one else. Oh well at least I got to read the paper two days before everyone else.

Impressively dumb

Some turn to a life of crime because they know no other way, others to try and make a fast buck. But apparently some are just to dumb to do anything else, take for instance the Mensa candidates that walked into the San Bruno Police Department this morning.

First off the two guys and a girl walk in and try to get back their impounded van, sadly they forgot to bring any proof of ownership and the van is not registered under any of their names.

Next, as the police are working behind their little Plexiglas barricade, the three start talking (loudly) about different super interesting things going on in their lives. Like how someone they know apparently owes them some money. Now I'm sitting in the middle of the room against the wall, the woman is seated to my left and the two guys are seated farther away on my right side. So their discussion is being yelled over my head, as I patiently go through the press log and try not to laugh. I'm not totally paying attention to the conversation (I do have a job to do) when I hear the woman say, in all seriousness, "Well then lets rob 'em."

I look over to the guys who are staring at her like she's suddenly sprouted a golden horn out of her forehead. "What?" She said, "It's not like they can hear us."

Genius, lets propose larceny in the Police Station.

Sadly I had to leave before I was able to hear the rest of their plan. I'm sure it would have made MacGuyver proud though.

What's your zombie plan?

Instead of putting together an intelligent presentation on Perspectives on media and our understanding of the social world, I’ve put together a list of things you should have or know incase of a zombie uprising (watching Shawn of the Dead).

1. Friends that you know wont freak out on you and randomly run away and either take something necessary with them or lead the zombie horde to your location.
2. A sharp and hopefully long object. Your gun only has a finite amount of bullets, your machete never needs reloading.
3. A gun, for when you’re surrounded and have no hope of getting away.
4. Snacks, many zombies are slow be prepared to wait them out.
5. A change of clothes, blood gets sticky and smells bad.
6. A defendable location, and as much as I’d love to say a bar they usually have big breakable windows, I’m thinking more along the lines of a secluded house or bomb shelter.
7. A get away plan, I live near the coast so I’ve always figured I’d sail into the ocean on a stolen yacht.

Although I do have a quick question why do the dead always want to eat the living? It’s not like they need the sustenance, and when they are done eating how exactly do their bodies process the meat? They’re dead so I would assume their digestive tracks don’t work anymore, does it just sit in their stomach, do really aggressive zombies that eat a lot become big and bloated? OK that wasn’t so quick.

Sticker madness

So A bought a sticker machine. He's wanted one for awhile and finally found one he wanted on eBay. I worry now for the poor cars of the Peninsula. He and Shane (OK mainly Shane) went a little crazy in SB, and from auto decorations alone you would have thought that the citizens of beautiful Santa Barbara were into some kinky stuff. And though hundreds of miles separate the two I'm a little on the worried side.

Randomness

Whenever a show can work in They Might Be Giants' Put a Little Bird House in Your Soul, you know that show is gold.

And thank you Deb for making me a tape of it, way back when, every song on the CD still makes me smile. Especially the minimum wage song, because it is so true. I'm just sad I lost that tape and so I don't have it anymore.

I will forever whistle in the dark.

The polite thing to do

I had an interview for an internship last week. I never know how those things go. In general I get kind of nervous and over-smile, I always wonder if the interviewer thinks I'm just really happy to be there or if they think I'm going to eat them. And usually I don't eat before hand so I could use a snack, not that human meat is an option or anything.

Anyways they said they would let us know back by that weekend. Sunday came and went with no response. When Tuesday rolled around I figured I didn't get it and that they just forgot about me. But then I also realized I had never sent a thank you note after the interview. It was almost a week, was that way too late to send one now? I wasn't sure about the etiquette of a late thank you letter, actually I'm not really up on any etiquette. But I figured I might want to try and write for them in the future so I should do the polite thing and send one in. So at about midnight last night I finally sent it in.

This morning I woke up and saw that I had a message in my inbox from the editor. It was in reply to my extremely brief and uninformative thank you note, it read, and I quote, "Can you come over to the office this afternoon to talk about scheduling?"

Now I of course assume this to mean that he thought I was someone else and that he was replying to the wrong email. But not one to let an opportunity pass I quickly write back letting him know I would come over. The rest of the morning I considered how I would take the rejection when they realized I wasn't the person they were looking for. Hopefully they would feel bad and I could parley that into them letting me write something.

And then I got a call around three. It was the editor letting me know that he couldn't make the meeting, crap I wasn't even going to get the rejection in person. But no, he wanted to reschedule for tomorrow and that I had gotten the job. That really wasn't what I had expected, so I tried to reorder my thoughts and sound coherent on the phone. I think it worked since I'm talking to him tomorrow.

But now I wonder, would I have gotten the position if I hadn't sent a thank you note? Or was it all just funny timing?

Stupid dreams

I've heard that dreams are supposed to be unconscious desires that you can't accept during your waking hours. Or that they are a way for your subconscious to work out issues. And I have to hope and pray that this is untrue because last night I had the weirdest dream, and don't know how it fits into either of those scenarios. Of course it is quickly fading into the ether but here's what I can remember of it.

For some odd reason I was with "Way of the Dragon" bad guy, Chuck Norris (OK fine, and Walker Texas Ranger star), and we were trying to get away from something. As the dream goes on I realize that Chuck and I are an item (ew), and that the longer I'm with him the fatter he is getting. Before I wake up poor Chuck is morbidly obese and now I'm trying to get away from him.

I wake up thinking what the hell? Chuck Norris? And now I'm just disturbed, I don't usually remember my dreams and this is the one my mind chooses to replay? And why couldn't I have chosen a cute guy to dream of? And is it wrong to try and get away from a guy if he's starting to visibly inflate?

Again, Chuck Norris, there is something wrong with me.

Pointless or cool?

I saw this on Gizmodo and at first glance thought it was pretty cool. It's the VinylDisc and on one side it contains 70 minutes of music on a CD, the other side is a vinyl record. Of course it only plays back three minutes so it's more a novelty but the idea is pretty cool. This is brought to you by those quirky Germans at Optimal Media Productions and they even have an English band, Fightstar, signed up (although they are only releasing 3,000 albums). I'd love to see it but sadly I have no record player and I don't tend to buy CDs anymore. But it looks cool and I'm always sold on packaging.


On a side note how many times did I use the word cool in a small little paragraph? Note to self: buy thesaurus.

Modern myths

When I was little my mom would read me bedtime stories, my favorite was Perseus and Medusa. I used to think that "Clash of Titans" was the best movie ever made, and I almost became a Classics major at UCSB. I always thought Enkidu got screwed and found it funny that every culture seems to have some type of Cinderella story. I've always loved mythology, any type from any region.

So while doing a paper for 290 I found it interesting that many scholars argue that the media are the new myth makers. Myths aren't just fantastic stories from the ancient world, instead they are stories told to help maintain the social order. They don't have to be fiction, instead current mythology explains the unexplainable, brings reasons to events, and helps maintain the status quo.

You can find the main myths in papers and broadcast news all over the country. The article I read mainly looked at the New York Times after September 11. The four main myths used were the end of innocence, the victim, the hero and a foreboding future. The victim could be you if circumstances were different, the hero (emergency workers mainly) have all the best qualities of society and are fearless leaders, in the end of innocence the utopia you once lived in is gone forever and you'll have to get used to a completely different normal, and a foreboding future warns you of strife to come and that this isn't the end of the pain and sacrifice. You see the hero and the victim in news a lot, but the end of innocence and a foreboding future not so often.

The one that I found rather disturbing was a foreboding future. It sets the society up for a future that they know is going to be hard. In the case of 9/11 it warns the reader that tough times are coming, that everyone had to be vigilant, that we had to be careful because an attack could come from anywhere. It got people ready for America to invade Afghanistan. A news paper primed the public for war.

I'm sure it has been done before and will be done again, but I don't know how I feel about that.

The myths that the Times created helped people deal with an act that seemed senseless. It helped them cope with loss, heal and come together as a nation. Mythology gives people a sense of belonging, you can relate to the story, you recognize the archetypes and know what to expect. Mythology isn't dead it's alive and well in journalism.


*Lule, Jack (2002). Myth and terror on the editorial page: The New York Times responds to Sept. 11. 2001.

Speaking of lame, oh wait

I've heard of banning books, and movies but never parts of speech. Apparently Brazil's Federal District Governor Jose Roberto Arruda has banned the use of present participles. Ok he didn't ban them from the entire country just government documents, because of inefficiency. That's great, basically anything ending in 'ing.' I thought our government got bogged down in frivolous pursuits but this wins. good thing Brazil has no other problems to worry about.

Rules of Debate

Seminar classes can sometimes be enjoyable because of the debates they produce. If you like to argue they can be rather enjoyable. But some people don't realize that there are some niceties that must be observed.

Ok when debating someone here are a few of the lamest things you can do:

1. Pull figures out of your ass, yes I could do this too but I’m only saying what I know to be fact, your 89% of randomness fact should be backed up by a source.
2. Don’t start off sentences with “as you know…” it’s manipulative and lame, no I don’t know that that’s why we’re arguing about it (especially if you are using it every other sentence)
3. Use hypothetical situations, if it hasn’t happened don’t try to assume you know what would happen, you can argue what ifs until you die but it doesn’t mean anything.
4. Try to win an argument with volume alone, this should be an intelligent conversation not a shouting match. Being louder does not make you right.
5. Try to form your arguments, they should be coherent, it shouldn’t take you an hour to say no you’re wrong. After two minutes cue the music.
6. Yes we know that you are the most informed person about every single issue, but if you are in a seminar setting you personally don’t have to comment on every single issue, let other people have a say.
7. If race or sex have nothing to do with the issue, don’t bring them up.
8. And the metric system is just plain better.

Congratulations!

I want to send out my congratulations to Jerry Roberts who will be receiving The PEN Society's First Amendment award on November 6th at a dinner at the Beverly Hills Hotel.

Former editor of the Santa Barbara News-Press, before the meltdown, and current publisher of the Daily Nexxus, UCSB's daily paper. An amazing guy and a wonderful teacher. I took a class with him last fall and really enjoyed it.

So I wanted to say congratulations and good luck with McCaw.

And come to find out the smell of eggs makes both of us think we're in trouble, yeah something in common.

Wow, just wow

So I've done my best bit of procrastinating ever. I admit I'm a procrastinator but I haven't raised it to the fine art that some others have, until today. tomorrow, no wait today I have a miniature literature (ha that rhymes!) review and presentation due in my MCOM 290 class and I still can't even bring myself to read the studies. It's 10 minutes to 3:00 a.m. and I'm fooling around on the Internet. It's almost as if I'm seeing what kind of grade I can get on a shitty paper. And tomorrow, crap no today, I will find out. The presentation has me a little worried, not enough to do anything about it but I guess we'll see how it goes. I should really take this more seriously, technically this is my most important class of the semester. Also least favorite.

I should have just gone back and gotten another bachelor's degree, I love my undergraduate classes.

And why isn't anyone up right now?

Oops

The main joy of grad school is the obscene amount of reading. Of course it really doesn't help that I tend to wait until the last minute to do my reading every week. This week not only do I have a copious amount of reading but I also have a mini literature review to do and a presentation in class. And yesterday I started to gather all my reading materials together so that I could pile it together and stare at it mournfully before putting it off for another day, when I found that I didn't have the main book that I have to do my presentation on.

Well sure it's half way through the semester and I probably should have purchased all the material for class already but I've been distracted. So I headed down to San Jose to purchase the required $80 book. And come to find out the bookstore closes at 3:00 p.m., it was 3:02. So of course I pounded on the door until someone came by. And then I had to beg and plead and still he wouldn't let me in, and instead went and got his manager.

So I'm waiting outside of the student center, dear god it smells like carnies and death out there, and finally some chick comes out. She looks at me and tells me in her most condescending voice, "I'm sorry but we've already been closed for five minutes."

Shit, what was I thinking? Five minutes! She probably could have written the book I need in such an expansive amount of time. So I have to fight down the sarcasm open the eyes really wide and beg and plead again.

Finally with an audible sigh she lets me in. I run down the stairs to the MCOM section and start searching frantically. I stare at the empty section where my book is supposed to be, it takes a few seconds for reality to process, the book isn't there. As I walk out of the store the chick glares at me so I wave and smile.

I grab my friends and walk over to Robert's books store, which is also closed. I console myself with some nacho fries dipped in yummy fat at Iguanas. I then head to a party and try to forget about the massive F I will receive on Monday.

Sunday rolls around and I decide to check out the library, hoping and praying they can help me out before I'm royally screwed. I get into my car turn the key and nothing happens. Ok not nothing, the tachometer and odometer start shaking like crazy. Wonderful I get out of the car, check the fuses and realize I'm screwed. Another week with Caltrain.

So I steal A's Blazer and head to the library. And nope they don't have the book either, but I was able to find it online for full price. So that kind of blows but at least I can do my assignment after I'm done slacking off. Did I mention I have about 200 pages to read before the library closes?

If you don't want to hear the answer, should you not ask the question? Even if you are asking yourself?

Name Calling

I’m weird, if I get along with someone I’m usually mean to him or her. Not viciously mean but pretty sarcastic. I like arguing, especially with someone that can hold their own; you don’t want to argue with someone if you know it will reduce them to tears.

One of my favorite antagonists was a guy I used to work with, he was a cool guy that was fun to argue with because he always had some random facts, usually gleaned from animal planet, that could shut me up pretty quick. That and he also liked to argue, about everything.

The reason he is my favorite because once when we were sparring, and after some heated words he called me bellicose. It sounds like such a pretty word, almost a compliment, for a second I was flattered. But no, it means hostile and war like.

The use of the word bellicose makes me think of warlike as in Boudica the Celtic queen who led her soldiers against the Romans and killed herself before being caught. I like this because visually I am anything but a warrior. I’m small and clumsy and I put fear into the hearts of nothing.

I’ve always been small, I was picked on in school and sarcasm became my defense. But I never felt that I was a fighter, I felt like I hid behind words, I always felt small.

But for a moment, to a guy who was much bigger than I, I was an adversary on an equal playing field. And I could hold my own.

Itching and books

Third day taking the train. It was a lot more relaxed almost enjoyable, I was able to do my homework on the way there and I didn't have to take the bus back as Chris was kind enough to give me a ride to the station. I grabbed a free Metro and settled down to read while I zipped along. I get about half way when I see a little black dot jumping on my leg. Yep I was getting attacked by fleas.

After twitching in disgust I got up and moved to another seat. It looked clean but now my suspicions were roused. The last half of my journey I spent constantly checking my seat for little invaders and brushing at my arms and legs. I was very happy to get off that train.

After a lovely trip on Caltrain I decided to get a book at Keplar's. The man working behind the counter had multiple items of flair, but I knew I couldn't mention it because he looked so serious. I don't think he'd even get the reference. How is it that a bunch of middle aged men work at a bookstore? And they all seemed so serious, lighten up you work in a book store, that's like my dream job although I'm pretty sure I would soon be fired for fondling the merchandise.

And other things that smell like urine

It’s 9:30 and I’m waiting at the San Jose Caltrain station until 10:30 p.m. for the next train. And I realize how much I miss my car. You would think that growing up with a father who is a bus driver I would have a little bit more appreciation for mass transit. When I was a little girl I always looked forward to take-your-daughter-to-work-days. I would swing on the bars and run up and down the aisles for hours. The passengers would tell me stories and then my dad would take me out to get an ice cream before we went home.

Now I get out of school around 8:30p.m. catch the 9:00 bus that gets me to the train station two minutes to late to catch the 9:10 train so instead I wait for another hour to catch the last train of the night at 10:30. The other riders are no longer smiling at me and telling me stories; instead everyone avoids eye contact and composes their faces in a carefully blank expression. All I want to do is get home and now I won’t be there till well after 11.

These last few days have killed the joy of public transport for me. It used to be so nice to ride the train into the city knowing I wouldn’t have to worry about parking. But now I will remember this boring night where there are only three other people in the station and they are talking in Spanish so I can’t listen in.

And I’m not so sure that Menlo Park feels like home. I’m not sure what it is but there is something missing there. I like the apartment but, I don’t know, it’s just not the same as Santa Barbara. I feel more connected with San Jose but that’s just because I spend all of my time there. I’m sure that after a few months I’ll like it better.

But I don’t know how long I’ll be there either. I’ve kind of gotten itchy feet, which I know A wont appreciate, although I’ve always had them I’ve just hidden them since I’ve been with A. After school I think I’d like to move to New York and live there for a few years but again A wont go for that. But that’s where all the magazines are. True a writer can write anywhere but to work on a magazine you have to be where that magazine is, very few people can survive off a freelance budget.

Oh the urine thing, mainly that was just the bus on the way over to Caltrain, how does a whole bus smell like pee?

More Bitching

I think I might have taken on a little too much. This semester I've decided to take two grad classes and two undergrad classes. MCOM 290 is going to completely kick my ass. The second day of class the teacher has boxes of paper brought in. Then she basically hands us each two reams of paper and lets us know that including our text books we will reading these as well. Oh joy. I mean other students have told me that this is the worst class I will be taking, but I just never realized how very wrong the class is. I think it will be one of those that as long as I pass without much scarring I will consider myself lucky. Of course if I could plan my time better the class would probably not be that hard. But I haven't even come up with a general idea for my thesis, and I'm supposed to come up with an intelligent question with which to base a thousand (slight exaggeration) page paper on?

And Access magazine is going to be one of those beloved pains. I love the class but it's going to be a large time investment and I think it's going to give me a decent headache. But it should be more than worth it. And yet I'm already scared that it might turn out to be horrible, it's hard to not try and take control of everything. But in the end if I did that it would probably turn out even worse than if I hold myself back and let people do their own jobs.

And now I really should get back to my homework, as painful as it is.

A Good R Movie is Not a Good PG-13 Movie

Ok I'm actually a pretty bug fan of sequels. I like the fact that a new Halloween comes out regularly or that ever 10 years you can expect another Romero movie (please let him live for at least 30 more years). But what makes me angry is when they make a sequel to an action/horror movie that was originally gory and cuss filled and then tone it down to reach a larger audience. Currently I am watching Die Hard and I loved the sequels (ok the second one wasn't that amazing but it still was good times), and the fourth one had so much potential and then they go and make it PG-13. To me that is a slap in the face to the fans who have faithfully watched over the years. Take for example Alien vs. Predator, which could have been awesome but instead they changed it to PG-13 and had the cameras cut away every time they killed someone, Boo!

Productivity at its finest

So today was the day at the magazine where we pick feature articles, and although it started off promising I think it kind of degenerated from there. Mainly we just ran out of time but it felt at the end we were just grabbing at any idea and throwing a writer at it. I guess I shouldn't worry too much as I feel we have a strong six or seven articles and if those work then I wont have to worry about the other ones as much. And that's the other thing that worries me, if we over-book the magazine and all of our authors come through how do we tell some of them that their article got cut? I put a lot of time into mine last semester and I would have been devastated if my editor told me they were no longer going to use it. Although if we have a website we could put them online, which I think they did last year, I'll have to look into that.

The Art of Unpacking

So A and I have been in our new apartment for almost two months. And we've been pretty pathetic in the unpacking department. Although we haven't had many weekends here its still no excuse, the truth of the matter is that we are both just lazy. So the only way we unpack is if someone comes to visit us. Thankfully (kind of) we've had a mad rush of people this month so we're doing better. Though we do still have so many boxes and I'm not sure what is in them or if we need them, because we've been doing pretty well without them so far. And A's parents are coming up tonight so we got a little more done but after tonight we don't have anyone visiting until the middle of October. So I'm pretty sure the unpacking will come to a dead halt after this weekend. But that doesn't mean I want anyone to come visit, I want a few weekends to myself. Of course it would also be nice to have my closet be full of clothes instead of piled high with boxes.

Me not write so pretty one day

So one of the reasons that i started this blog was to write more often and work on my grammar. But now that I'm taking an editing class I find myself fighting against learning what I was so desperately trying to improve. The grammar book is sitting next to me, beckoning me to open it and instead I stare passively at it and write in my blog instead. Oh well I'll try again at a later date.

It's 12:30 and I find myself easily distracted right now. Instead of doing my homework or going to sleep I find myself watching 'Sin City,' gratuitous violence helps relax me (I have issues). I sit here thinking that the Oscars need a few more categories like best action or comedy, not that 'Sin City' would win for either but it's late and I'm tired so my mind wanders. Anyways for those of us that really don't give a shit about gay cowboys eating pudding or people kissing in the rain, adding a few more categories for best action sequence or best fight would possibly make me want to watch it. Ok it wouldn't but still those actors should get some recognition for fun movies and not just the mellow dramatic crap that is normally nominated. Although I do want to add this caveat: I have horrible taste in movies.

And I'm Back

Well I'm proud of myself as I didn't take a whole year to republish, instead I only took 7 months. Thankfully I don't believe anyone reads this so I'm ok.

I'm at my second semester at SJSU and it looks to be an interesting one. I'm pretty sure I'm taking on too much but oh well. Not only am I taking two grad classes (and 290 looks to be a right bitch(not the teacher, the class)), but I'm also working on the magazine which should suck up the rest of my time. On top of that the editor called from SMDJ so I started that up again. At least I'm not working (ok occasionally but nothing definite).

Tonight instead of doing my homework I am checking out my snazzy new printer, the HP5280 all -in-one. Which so far is pretty neat, I've been scanning in old pictures and they seem to be coming out decently. I wish their photo edit had more functionality but I can do serious edits in photo shop. And I must say wow I was a little picture crazy in college and I always slightly possessed in pictures.

Cold SB

Its been freezing in SB, literally, I kid you not. It gets down into the twenties at night. Now I know that anyone from out of state scoffs at temperatures in the twenties, commenting that they walk around with shorts on at those temperatures, that it seems almost balmy. But I am used to a certain type of temperature and what I've been getting lately is definitely not it.

And as its my last week in SB it seems that we are eating out more often than not. Which I love eating out, but lately I've noticed a rather evil trend in restaurants. As I walk in from the freezing cold I notice that its not that much warmer in the restaurants, looking around I notice that most of the patrons have their coats on. As a service based industry this seems a little messed up, shouldn't they be trying to make the customer more comfortable, or do they figure a slightly cold patron won't linger over their tiramisu? Restaurants are supposed to be warm and cozy, a welcoming environment where one can relax and enjoy their meal. Instead I sit their trying not to spill on the scarf that I am required to wear. Is it just that not enough people are complaining about it, can the managers not see the preponderance of jackets, or am I the only one that is cold and everyone else just enjoys wearing parkas to dinner?

Work Appropriateness or Lack Thereof

Ok so I've been working as a temp here in the beautiful Santa Barbara area for about four oh so fun months. The jobs have been boring, and lame but they pay me enough that I can get by (which isn't as easy as it should be in this pretty little beach town). Anyways recently I started at a new place, mainly just filing and scanning stuff. I'm pretty sure that my brain atrophies a little bit from non use everyday. Well I was sitting at my desk (a desk that was vacated because the man is sick and no one is really sure if he's returning or not, and apparently he was a pretty big slob so its also a mess) and I needed some post-it notes, so I started looking through the desk. Well I open one draw and what do I find but four catalogs of porn! I quickly shut the door and giggle to myself, and of course call up A and tell him what I found. I don't want to tell anyone because the poor guy id sick and I don't want him to get into trouble, but it also seems really icky to be there at work. I'm all for porn but it seems like its more of an at home activity, not appropriate for work.

Its Official

I'm going back to school. I start on January 24th as the newest academic at San Jose State University home of the Spartans. Which is kind of funny because in the 6th grade we did this whole Greece thingy and we divided up into different city states and I was part of Sparta, I gave myself the name Calliope and good times were had by all. Anyways back to now, I'm going to be getting a Masters of Mass Communication in Journalism, so hopefully this blog will be a bit better written in the months to come. And if not well then I just blew a shit load of money.

Public Drunkenness and Tests

Many moons ago A and I got together with some college friends, headed over to one of two of this town's Irish pubs and paid to be publicly humiliated. We had fun, we had some beers, and we got reminded how stupid we really were (damn you public school!). This went on for awhile until the announcer lady quit and was replaced by annoying announcer lady, and we decided not to return.

Fast forward a few years and now a English pub and you have us once again attending another Quiz Night. Maybe we've learned in these years or the questions weren't as "pulled out of the ass" but we did pretty well. We didn't win but I think we had a solid showing, our worst round being 4 out of 10. All in all I had a great time and we've scheduled to go again in 2 weeks. I mean its tests with alcohol, pure genius!

Terry!

What do you call a bunch of drunk people in white? Terry!

So my friend Alli came up on Saturday to hang out. she really wanted to go wine tasting and as we had just bought the SB axxess card, and got quite a few free tasting from the local wineries, we thought sure why not. We hit up Sunstone, Kylara, and the Fess Parker, as we didn't leave the house until 2:00 pm we ran out of time to go anywhere else. Sunstone and Kylara were fun, nothing strange going on just a bunch of people enjoying the weekend. It was at the Fess Parker that things got a little weird.

We drive up and see about 50 people all in white running around on the grass and playing frisbee. OK why everyone was wearing white we weren't sure but we figured it was some sorority thing. Then Alli and I ran into 3 of them in the ladies room and decided to ask what was going on. A visibly drunk woman in a goodwill wedding dress told us "We are likescientologists without the aliens (is that even possible?). We are equals so we're call each other Terry. I'm Terry, she's Terry, we're all Terry. And we're all getting married this weekend!"

Alli and I leave thinking that it was all some big joke. But as we're exploring the grounds we see the Terrys standing in a big circle, and then they all crowd together yelling stuff. We weren't really sure what was going on but we were entertained. A man there said they come up on weekends get drunk and marry a new partner. Seemed like a big excuse to come up to the wine country, get drunk, and get laid.

What Exactly Is Substance?

Ok I was going to finish writing that story on the two girls that walked into my journalism class last Tuesday but after writing it, it came out boring so I decided not to post it.

Instead I read an article on slashdot of an Indiana University study about the Daily Show having as much substance as regular news shows. The article was short but interesting, the headline summarizes it. But what was more entertaining was the commentary below beneath the article. I found a list of bullet points that one commentator made about the current Republican party, that is to say the ones in power, not Republicans in general. And that all of the bullets could be backed up with how elected officials were acting.

• Government has a legitimate role in enforcing personal morality.
• Unilateral use of force for purposes other than immediate defense of oneself or one's allies is not inherently illegitimate.
• Achieving military objectives is more important than maintaining personal liberties.
• A free media threatens legitimate governmental interests unless placed under substantial controls.
• A strong, empowered leader granted wide powers (with which to attack our enemies) is a Good Thing.
• The executive branch of government may have a legitimate need to act outside of the law, and should be able to prevent laws from being enforced which could hamper its actions (when those actions are taken in the interests of national security).
• The executive branch of government should be able to avoid transparency when it sees fit, including in cases where it uses its powers to act in a manner not consistent with standing law in the interests of national security.
• Questioning strong leadership in the context of an active conflict is inherently unpatriotic.
• Noncitizens do not need to be granted the same rights as citizens.

When listed these characteristics are scary and very Orwellian. I mean sure its not like our president is a dictator or that they don't share information, but who gets to say they've gone to far? When you keep giving yourself more and more authority who do you answer to? Is being safe more important the personal liberties? Is it more important to fold the toilet paper or just bunch it up before using?

Leads?

So I'm taking a Writing for Nonfiction class at the adult ed center in Santa Barbara. I'm pretty excited about it as the instructor is Jerry Roberts formerly of the News Press, and he seems quite knowledgeable. I do feel like I should be helping everyone to their seats as I am the youngest by a good 15 years (ok so there is one other person my age there), but many of them do seem to be good writers and definitely not shy about reading their stuff aloud, where as I get nervous and never raise my hand.

At the end of class two younger women came in wearing wigs and boas and did a little scene with Jerry, now of course he didn't tell us before time but after everything happened he told us that we get to write about the little scene. Which is just wonderful, and the main theme of last weeks class was leads so I have to try to come up with a good lead in which to pull a person into the story. And I really should volunteer to read this one aloud as Jerry said he would write me a letter of recommendation. So crap.

- An angel and a devil walk into a class room...
- With twenty minutes left of the class a small disturbance grabbed the students attentions,
- In the doorway stood an angel and a devil, united in an attempt to get the instructors attention.
- Where most people have an angel on one shoulder and a devil on the other Jerry Roberts has them walking into his classroom.

Ok I guess I'll have to work on them. Finished story to come.

News-Depress

I used to read the Santa Barbara News-Press everyday. I had no clue what was going on behind the scenes I just wanted to know what was going on in the local news. About three months ago everyone found out what was going on inside the News-Press and, I at least, was shocked. Instead of some happy news room like out of a scene from Superman, it seemed like it was a dark place where everyone was looking over their shoulders and whispering to each other. I started reading some of the employees and community members’ blogs and got to know a little bit more. I started to read the editorials more and the columns, along with more articles at the Independent, and it just saddened me more. With more and more people leaving, the last two getting fired, and now the author of the Healthspan column Dr. Seabaugh has also decided not to bring his article back to the News-Press it just gets more depressing.

Dr Seabuagh decided not to return to the News-Press because the firing of his editor Andrea Huebner was the last straw. Last week the News-Press felt the need to apologize to Dr. Laura because of what was written in Dr. Seabaugh's column.

"On Tuesday, Santa Barbara News-Press columnist Dr. Michael O.L. Seabaugh wrote an inappropriate personal attack about fellow columnist Dr. Laura Schlessinger. The News-Press asked Dr. Laura to offer her opinions, views and expertise in our newspaper knowing that not all of our readers will agree with her opinions. We also know our readers don't always agree with the opinions or views of all of our other columnists or writers. The Santa Barbara News-Press wants to apologize fully for Dr. Seabaugh's comment. We have apologized to Dr. Laura Schlessinger privately and we also wanted to do so publicly. Sincerely, the publisher and associate editor of the Santa Barbara News-Press."

This was a response to "Dr. Laura may have the cajones to preach against tolerating diversity, but personally, I will not spend one more minute of this precious time I have intolerant of the wonderful diversity of my fellow humans." Dr. Laura is notorious for not excepting diversity, it’s just another News-Press show of protecting their friends.

With 19 people now gone it looks more and more likely to me that the News-Press that people used to love will not be brought back and that we will just have to let it die. In a few years people will probably forget about all of this and start reading it again until the situation explodes again. I hope that is not the case. I hope the community can resuscitate the News-Press and that it can once again be a newspaper that we can trust and that is representative of the community.

Stupid Politics

Why is it that its never about what you have done but about what the other person has done wrong? Political adversaries seem to care more about smear campaigns than showing what they can do for the people. Take for example the gubernatorial election in California. The Democratic nominee's camp got a hold of an embarrassing tape of Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger from his website and gave it to the Los Angeles Times. They are claiming that this is legal because it was on the website and Schwarzeneggers camp is saying it isn't because that section was password protected, but just because its legal doesn't always mean you should do it. I'm pretty liberal but do I want to vote for Angelides knowing that he employs people of questionable ethics? Angelides and his camp say that Angelides knew nothing of this debacle, but to me that says that he can't control his underlings, or he's lying. Either way he's either a puppet or lying go for the throat kind of guy, both of which leave me with a bad taste in my mouth. Every election I go to the voting booth not filling in circles thinking that this guy will be a great leader, but more this guy wont do as much bad as the other guy. When did voting turn into choosing the lesser of two evil? Or has it always been this way? I want a candidate that I can get excited about, that I really want to lead my state/country. But thanks to this little stunt I believe that this year I will be voting independent.

News Press

Noon, just a little off of De La Guerra Plaza (its fenced off so the grass can grow back after fiesta) a small crowd gathered to hear the News Press employee representatives and members of the community give the latest updates regarding the News Press. About 50 people including members of the media were in attendance, and a press packet was handed out which included: A press release from the Santa Barbara News Press Editorial staff regarding the news conference, a letter to local residents set to Wendy McCaw, the letter sent to suspended employees, letters from businesses canceling advertising, and other letters and press releases.

The first to speak was Lou Cannon former Washington Post reporter and famed Reagan biographer. He was part of a community delegation that sent a letter to Wendy McCaw asking to speak to her, which she never replied to. “It’s a bad situation.” He said referring to the Santa Barbara News Press and the fact that the publishers of a small locally owned paper were unwilling to meet with members of the community and that the News Press management was “behaving like a far away chain” instead of the local paper that it says it is.

Many other people got up to speak supporting News Press employees, expressing frustration with current management, and what should be done at the News Press. Although Mayor Marty Blum was unable to attend she sent a letter that told of her long standing support of the paper, and that people should be able to trust what they read, so after 38 years of subscribing to the News Press she was cancelling her subscription.

The over whelming theme of the rally was trust in your paper, and that the News Press had lost the trust of the community. That the publishers had an obligation to listen to local people, and that owning a local paper, isn’t like owning other businesses, it is a public trust, and that the paper must be accountable to its readers.

Also a big push was supporting the employees of the News Press. Of how the employees were being mistreated by current management, with 11 being placed on suspension for trying to deliver a letter to the owner, and new charges filed for unfair labor practice by both employees and management. That though the employees loved the News Press they were fighting for journalistic integrity and the return of it to the News Press.

Union organizer Marty Keegan of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters did say that they had met with some of the News Press people in San Francisco and tried to work things out but couldn’t come to an agreement. They are looking to have a union election on September 26^th. He feels that 10% of home circulation will cancel by the end of this week based on support cards filled out in July and August. The union is only for the editorial and newsroom personnel, about 37 people, to form a union they need 50% of the vote plus one person, as of last count they have 75% of the vote.

There was another resignation today by Kim Burnell the Assistant Sports editor, for a total of 17 resignations in the last two months.

To cancel your subscription you can call (805) 564-5200.
www.savethenewspress.com has dates and information from the newsroom employees.

Psycho Kitty

It all started about a month ago. Around ten at night A and I were watching the TV, it was rather hot out so we had the front door open. When from the corner of my eye I see a blur of grey dart through the door and up the stairs. I sit up and look over at A "Did a cat just run up stairs?" So we get up and go upstairs, cautiously because it could have rabies, you never know, and track it to under the bed. I grab it (very nice cat meows once but doesn't try to fight me) and I toss it outside.

Then randomly two nights ago it runs in the house again. About an hour after we get it outside we open the door and the cat is just sitting there staring at the house, looking almost hopefully at us. It is slightly shy so it runs off if we get close to it. Then yesterday as I was sitting on our porch the cat comes up and jumps on my lap (guess I was wrong about the shy thing) and makes himself comfortable. Now I'm an animal person, and the cat doesn't seem to be dirty so I let it sit there for awhile, and dub him/her (I didn't check) Chester. Then I go to move Chester and it jumps right back on my lap and lays down. I had to pick him up, stand, then put him down. I also gave him a saucer of milk but he wasn't hungry, probably not the brightest thing for me to do.

I talked to my friend Alli that night, who had stayed at our house about two weeks ago when we weren't here and she also mentioned the little grey cat who kept trying to get in the house. She had to kick him out a few times too.

For a final kicker, last night at about 3 a.m. I hear a meowing which sounds like its coming from inside. A and I get up and wonder how in hell did that thing get inside? I turn on the lights and look around (I'm blind as a bat though without my contacts) finally realizing that the thing had climbed onto out roof and squished up against the screen of our open window trying to get inside. It howled for about ten minutes before it (hopefully) went away. Chester has turned into a stalking kitty and I'm starting to get creeped out, why it wants to get into our house so badly is beyond me. I just hope it doesn't realize that we leave the sky lights slightly open or it will probably try to wedge itself inside and get stuck half in and half out.

WooHoo!!

Ok so I finally got over that twice a week hurdle. That's right last night I exercised again, for a little over an hour! That's already three times this week and although most experts say that it takes at least two weeks before your body starts to change I can (of course) already see progress (not really) but I'll continue to pretend to.

But tonight there will be no exercising its all about the cleaning. So I think I'll having to pop in the Star Wars trilogy (the good one), open a beer and try to clean our not gross but definelty untidy house. And I've no idea how to fix the clutter, that is our biggest problem, I swear its because we don't really have any closets.

Two Days in a Row!!

Ok so yay me!! I actually went and worked out last night, ok nothing hardcore a couple of bleachers and a total of 4 laps. But two days in a row is pretty good for me. I am taking a break tonight as I don't want to get burnt out, am getting my hair done, and my ass is still sore from Sunday. But I have high hopes for Wednesday.

Ooh I did finally get a job (finally being less than a week), I started last Monday but it doesn't seem that important so I tend to forget about it. Also I am planning on going back to school next year so I wasn't looking for a "real" job (one that I would feel bad about leaving). I've started the applications and everything, ok so I started them about two weeks ago and then haven't touched them since, but I did print out the transcript request form.

Lets Try This Again

Well A and I and another couple are headed to Hawaii in October, so I have two months to get in shape. And although I am in no way over weight I could definitely tighten some things up. So here I go again trying the exercise thing. These little blips of exercising usually only last about two days, or if I'm really good two days a week for two weeks. But this time I'm going to do it, I'm going to keep exercising, I started yesterday and I'm going after work to do some bleachers. My goal is three times a week until we go (and hopefully will become a pattern that I follow when we get back too). And today I am super sore, and it doesn't help that I've been sitting on my ass all day. I'll try to keep you posted.

Good Times

I got FIRED!! Which is a first for me. And its not the losing of the job that bugs me its the fact that I got fired. After 90 days I was told that I was being let go, that I wasn't detail oriented enough and that I didn't take charge. I don't know maybe it was something bigger than that and they were being nice. I admit I wasn't that great at the job I just couldn't bring myself to care about it that much, but I wasn't horrible either. But I can see them wanting to hire someone that is better at the job, that really cares about the job too. So I hold no grudges.

So I'm on the hunt for a job again. But I think that this time I'll just be looking for something to pass the time, that I really don't care about but it will pay the bills.

Excess Speed and Weddings

So apparently its wedding season. I've now been to two in the last two weeks, the closest one being 5 hours away. But this last one was for my stepsister, my dad informed me two months ago that I was going. So I hopped in the car with A and away we went. Oh did I mention that my father is so cheap that I had the privilege of being the wedding photographer? I just started my job so don't have anytime off se we left late Friday night and got to my Mom's house around 11:30. The wedding went fine, a few little glitches but it was actually pretty fun, the bride was obviously pregnant and the groom's English was so broken he had to ask the minister to repeat the vows a few times. It was a Peruvian/Russian wedding with dancing and lots of alcohol, pretty entertaining.

The bad part of the weekend was the drive home. I was already a little bit tired and I just wanted to be home so stupidly I drove a tiny bit fast in a place where I really should have known better, and got the flashing lights in my rearview mirror. Oops 95 in a 70. She was nice enough to only give me 90 which after checking the Monterrey county website means I can attend traffic school but I do have to go to court, in King City 2 1/2 hours away at 8:15 in the morning. That should be good times.

GO AWAY!!

Why is it that on days when your eyes feel like they are about to pop and you can tell a headache is starting, so you just want to be left alone, everyone wants to talk to you? Usually I love talking to people but today just back off!! And I have to be extra careful not to turn into raving bitch at people, especially at work, and that extra monitoring just pushes the headache arther along. And of course if I do crack and bite someone's head off that too will just give me a bigger headache and I get the added bonus that everyone will hate me. And the sympathetic head tilts with the accompanying "Do you not feel well?" just makes it worse, like you asking somehow helps, it doesn't so just go away. If someone could please throw me down a long oubliette and just leave me there, that would be great. But of course I'll want out by Thursday (America vs. Ghana).

Getting In Shape For Summer

So I signed up to do this exercise thing on line (it was free), like most women in America I have body issues, as a smaller woman I don't have big issues. But A had recently started being good about going to the gym and running, so I've started to feel like a lazy slob. So I decided that I would try this online exercise and diet thingy, to tone up so if I go on vacation this summer I will only be pasty instead of out of shape and pasty. The first step is to write down everything you eat on a work day and on a weekend and then feel like a slob for what you ate. This is day one for me and so far this is what I have consumed:

     2 granola bars (chocolate and peanut butter)
     2 cups of tea
     1 handful of M&M's
     1 Hamburger - with Cheese, Mayonaise, Mustard, and Onions (yeah a vegetable)
     1 order of fries
     1 Chocolate milkshake (calcium)

Its 2 o'clock so I haven't had dinner yet but there is not really that much hope that is will be any better. Ok so I'm not the healthiest eater. But I walked to work and I'm planning on doing their first set of exercises today, I might even stop by the sports store and buy my 5 lb weights, but that is probably pushing it. Actually I have no idea how I'm not fat as it is, I really should be.

Worth Our Time?

So one of my college roommates got married this weekend. This is my first college friend to get married and well I'm really not too surprised that she was the first to go. Since she was getting married in Placerville (hangtown, not kidding) a few of us decided to get a cabin in Tahoe. Great idea there were 7 beds, a bbq, and two bathrooms, all good Tahoe was beautiful, and the weather was great. Now we're all cheap and I'm the first to lead the discount charge but after spending at least 22 hours in a car (the weekend lasted a total of 80 hours, I had a lot of time to figure this out while sitting on my but watching the ten thousandth cow go by), that's 27% percent of the time spent in a car. Now most of us have been out of college for awhile, we can support ourselves, some even do quite well, we make between 0 (actually she's still losing money) to about $35/hour (probably more but its not me so I don't really know), so on average we make about $17.50 an hour. At 22 hours that's $385 that each of us basically just wasted (plus gas which I think was $30 a person), and a flight from Burbank would have been $250, which now seems like nothing. So even though it seems like saved we didn't, I was ready to kill myself on the way home and it felt like I spent the whole weekend in the car. Next time I think I will probably splurge and take a flight for an hour and a half instead of the 9 hour car ride. Of course I'm driving 5 hours next weekend to go to my step sisters wedding in the bay area and I'm not flying to that either, but I'll bitch about that next week.

Cravings

Everyone gets cravings. I get cravings. Today I had a craving for overacting and loud explosions so I went to the video store and picked up Rambo II and III (I had seen Rambo I on TNT earlier in the week). Yes I've seen these movies before but I'd wanted to watch them all week, A is out of the house (he would not appreciate me making him watch these), so on impulse I went out and rented them. I realize these are not the best specimens of American Cinematography (although Rambo II was nominated for an Oscar ... Ok for special effects) but they deliver in the action, explosions, and big hair on men. And damn Stallone was buff back then. Rambo First Blood was a pretty good movie. The concept was more than just macho man with a gun, it told the story of a Vietnam vet, although 10 years after the United States had pulled out of Vietnam, whose life had been spent fighting a war half way across the world only to come home and have the people he thought he was defending hate him and ridicule him. After the war our hero has no direction and can't understand why people hate him. Already unstable, the people that he defended finally treated him so poorly that he finally snapped and became the bad guy. Its got a decent plot and good action. Admittedly 2 and 3 are obviously just in it for the money, sure they are fun action movies but they don't have the interesting story line that the first one did. Of course they also have happier endings. See I don't understand why you would want this guy who flips fighting for you. In the first movie the cops spray him with a hose and harass him and he totally wigs out remembering being tortured by Vietcong, in the second movie he's captured buy the Vietcong/Russians and electrocuted yet remains totally calm. Meditation? Drugs? And I have to admit Stallone is a horrible actor, the chick that couldn't speak English was more believable. Still loved them all.

Home Improvement?

Ah summer is here and with it comes so many plans to get things done. I don't own my home so my plans are really just smaller things like organize the bedroom, and clean up the house, maybe paint something. This last weekend I had nothing planned so I had major plans to at least clean up the house, maybe even start on the bedroom. Except Friday night I went to happy hour and that put me to sleep around 10:00. Ok then I'll definitely get stuff done on Saturday. I got up early made breakfast, and then zoned out for about 3 hours. After that I decided I needed to go shopping, where I wasted another 3 hours in which I got nothing accomplished except the purchase of a cute skirt (was looking for shoes). So I get home and decompress, and instead of thoroughly cleaning we call up some friends for Chinese food and video games. Although due to the arrival of friends the living room was quickly straightened up and random crap hidden. Ok but Sunday I would do better. I didn't wake up early and A made breakfast, and then I started watching one of those home makeover shows which inspired me. So I ran to ACE and bought some shelves, I came home and hung up a picture, decided it was in the wrong spot so I moved it to the other side of the wall. After that I rewarded myself with some gold medal ribbon ice cream and a well deserved break. An hour later I decided to try to tackle the shelves, so I took measurements and drew lines on the wall, again decided it was time for a break so I got some chips and salsa and sat down to watch Lake Placid. Ok I was firm, I was going to finish those stupid shelves, I got in one mount, then A came home and helped me with the second one. I was getting the third one in when it was brought to my attention that I had the wrong screws to attach the mounts to the wall. So I gave up. So after two days I have one picture hung and three shelf mounts sticking out of the wall, basically it now looks worse than it did before. YEAH ME!!