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Is that better?

2010-03-11T01:36:43Z

Usually my database generated e-mails from The Princeton Review are annoying but today I'm like "Yeah, that sounds fun! Thanks Princeton Review!"

Another Door Closes

2010-02-17T04:17:08Z

It's over now. I am sad (but also relieved). I am sad because he was something different than anyone/thing I have ever had before and there is a fear there that I will never get someone like him again. I realize this is a superficial and irrational thought, still it's there and it's an honest thought.

Silly fears, silly worries, silly things I can't change. But what makes this time different than any other time I've had before? Nothing really. Everything works the same way, the details are different but the motions (as in the motions one would go through) are all the same. I'll be fine and this will be just another memory to add to the barrel of ones that didn't work out. And therefore rational thought tells me I shouldn't let it bother me too much.

I didn't want it to end but then does anyone ever want things to end? I suppose in special circumstances, yes, but generally when people meet someone they really like they wan to keep that person around for as long as possible.

No, I think now I am mainly sad because I lost something that had the potential to be low maintenance. Something very easy. Mild. Which was all I wanted for once. It seems hard to come by nowadays.

Untwittered Tweet

2010-02-05T06:07:11Z

On one hand I would love if life was like a Stars song, but on the other hand that would be a lot of drama.

Imminent adulthood approaching

2010-01-27T15:23:41Z

Twenty seven. That's old right? I know anyone who is over 27 will tell me it isn't old.

Previously, life has always been a a bunch of "I wonder what [preferred age] will be like." I never chose 27. I've thought about 17, 21, 24, 26, 30, 32, 45, even 60 (though I'm afraid I to even live that long). I suspect it won't be much different than any other years, and yet I'll probably look back and think "Man, I used to have so much fun." Which is what I do now when looking through old photos on my Flickr. I think I'd like to find that fun again but 27 feels like the right age to start acting like an adult. I don't mean that requires me to be serious all the time but I should start knowing things about finance, investments, real estate, planning for my future (not in terms of babies) and to start dressing like a classy dame, even on my off days.

In the meantime, until Saturday, I am still 26.

Let's Hear It For The Girls

2010-01-16T04:50:26Z

Recently I've been noticing a lot more men's fashion blogs that have piqued my interest. I keep adding more and more of them to my RSS feed. These range from well known names like Details and Valet Mag to smaller ones such as The Fashionisto and Definitive Touch. There's so much advice going around on how to "be a man" or on how to dress nice, or just etiquette in general and I think its all pretty sound advice but my question is: Where are all the blogs for ladies?

Do people think that women (young and old) don't need this kind of advice? Is the general consensus that we are we doing just fine on our own?

Of course then I think to myself "What kind of standards should be set for ladies?" and "Would I actually appreciate someone telling me how to be a lady? What if some lady was telling me to not wear short skirts? Or cross my legs at the knee?" And perhaps I am being a little outdated with these examples of advice but what if that really is the female counterpart to something like 1001 Rules For My Unborn Son?

Or possibly, and more likely, women have been given this advice for years and years in the form of Cosmo and Sassy (or whatever the hell teen girls are reading these days seeing as how Sassy died over 10 years ago). Maybe men are just now jumping on this bandwagon of fretting about what to wear and how to act. It's unfortunate that all we ladies have is Cosmo giving us advice like "Four Simple Tricks That Will Drive Him Crazy in Bed." And yeah sure, they also have crap magazines like FHM and Maxim but look at all the other great stuff they have (see above)!

I think I'm pretty sure I know the kind of person I'd like to be (inside and out) I'm open to suggestions on how to improve and I'm always interested in fashion/style pictorials. You know, what I'd really like is a blog from a male point of view, telling ladies how to keep it classy, feminine, and without necessarily being a feminist. You know of any? Let me at them.

New Obsession: The xx

2010-01-14T07:12:53Z

Somtimes, I still need you

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2010-01-10T09:08:07Z

Cow Fistulas

2010-01-05T18:15:58Z

Jetlag

2010-01-04T16:19:16Z

Whenever I land at an airport and turn my phone on it seems to take forever searching for service. I'm not actually sure if it's so much searching for a signal as it is trying to catch up with the plane.

Or maybe airports are gateways from one dimensional plane to another and the phone is not really sure which plane to check in on. Perhaps it's just waking up to find itself in another place and needs a few minutes to go through a checklist.

Are all my circuits here?

Is my hard drive here?

Is my battery here?

Is my case here?

Always Let Your Conscience Be Your Guide

2009-12-25T16:01:48Z

"Yeah, make sure my family sees this! Be sure to put these pictures all over the Internet. Now go home and feel good about yourselves!"

My sentiments exactly, m'am.

These were the words of a woman living on Skid Row in downtown L.A. this morning as the Christmas Skid Row Project was coming to an end.

I woke up at 5ish this morning because my mother asked me to go with her to help the homeless on Christmas morning. I have mixed feelings about this kind of thing to begin with but I figured I should do something for the less fortunate at least once in my life. I've never done any kind of community work on holidays like Thanksgiving and Christmas. However, though I do it on occasion, I was not interested at all in waking up before sunrise, and even less so in "working" for free. But, it's Christmas, you know? And it's pretty impossible to feel alright about yourself after saying "No, I don't want to help the homeless on Christmas." I was expecting a soup kitchen type scenario the next morning. I thought that might actually be a good experience for me.

So we get to the meet up location where everything was being organized and during the prep speech I find out that we are NOT working with the shelter, the police DO NOT want us there. The plan is to show up on Skid Row hand out toiletries, sandwiches and sleeping bags out of our trucks and SUVs and then the hell out once everything was gone. I am already not feeling so good about myself.

We load up the trucks and SUVs, and caravan (led by a giant Escalade, can you smell the irony?) from Cerritos to downtown Los Angeles. We get there and it's a madhouse, of course. They told us it would be. After we parked at the end of the street we walked down to where the trucks with the blankets, food and toiletries were parked. Someone was stopped in the middle of the street. The car had been swarmed by people standing in front of the car, coming from behind, practically halfway inside the car via the driver side window. It looked like something you might see in an apocalyptic zombie movie. The driver was handing out McDonald's burgers. Not sure how smart of a move that was but maybe it's just my memories of the LA riots from when I was a kid that has me over cautious about mobs.

The street was flooded with people. There was yelling, fighting, Christmas caroling. In fact, there was a pickup truck full of smiling kids singing carols at the top of their lungs being accompanied by acoustic guitars. Feliz Navidad seemed to be their favorite.

"Hey Mitz, don't you want to sing?"

"NO."

People were gathering and snapping pictures, taking video of themselves "having fun" - not of them with the residents, mind you. I talked to one a guy who was holding some of the items that had been given away. He said his family was coming up from San Diego tomorrow. They would be in town for a few hours. He asked what I liked to do for fun and if I lived around here. Then he asked for my number. Asked if I had a boyfriend. When I told him I did he gracefully exited the conversation. No one else was interested in chatting with me.

Soon appeared as though we were starting to head out. I asked one of the ladies we were working with if we should try picking up some of the trash that was around. There were wrappers from new blankets that had been bought. Empty boxes were on the sidewalks. She just said "nah" and sort of laughed like I had just said something hilarious. I looked around and this other woman was motioning to her boyfriend, husband or fiance, to starting walking back to the car with her. He had a ciagarette and a cup of coffee. She motioned for him to "just leave it!" And I looked back and forth at them with a look that I thought was saying "You're not fucking serious, are you?" I guess it didn't come across that way because he hesitantly put his empty (or possibly half empty) coffee cup on the sidewalk. Way to listen to your conscience instead of your girlfriend, guy. And, of course, I didn't say anything to them, nor did I pick up after them and I still feel like an asshole for that. I couldn't even come up with anything TO say about it until I was back in the car with my mom and sister. I pretty much exploded into a rambling mess of angry words and tears while telling them what I saw. They weren't with me while we were out there. This was a pretty crappy Christmas experience.

If I didn't already make it clear: If you want to do something good for others, make sure it doesn't include showing up in your luxury SUVs, creating a scene, taking tons of pictures of you and your friends patting yourselves on the back, leaving your trash all over the streets then driving off in before the clock even reaches the next hour.