So Good

I'm ashamed to admit this, but I'm a little bit in like with this blog.

I especially like this entry:

Sometimes I wonder if the reason DJ and me broke things off was our intractable positions on John Bolton. DJ saw him as a tonic of reform at the UN. I saw him as a tactless cog in the neo-con echo chamber.

Or it could just have been DJ's straying eyes every time he hit the clubs. Sigh.

via Defamer

They Finally Did It!

The The University and College Union (UCU)stood up for what is right and fair! They have boycotted the evil empire: Israel. I'm going second themiddle's suggestion and encourage Israel to do nothing!

Great op-ed.

No matter that in boycotting all Israeli academics on the basis of their being Israelis, the measure is patently racist, a grotesque reprise of the history of curbing academic freedom.

No matter that Israeli Arab academics who are staunchly opposed to the occupation are vehement opponents of the boycott as well.

No matter, even, that opposition to the boycott runs strong within the British University and College Union itself. In fact, all the more reason to press on.

For the genuine elitist, the unpopularity of an opinion is the best assurance of its real value.

Perhaps this is why the whole boycott campaign smacks of a uniquely far-left British brand of moral masturbation, a desperate, delusional, sterile, supremely self-contained form of non-activism that risks nothing even as it changes nothing.

Irony Much?

Asked about their reality-star Heidi Montag's engagement, MTV commented:

A rep for MTV told Us: "We do not comment on our stars' personal lives."

Maybe a better statement would be "Just watch the show!"

Not to be a Link Whore but.....

I love LauraW's comment on the Barndi Carlisle post at Ace's:

Dear people aged 14-24: I don't give a crap about your rich interior life fraught with pain and abandonment. Go split some wood or pat a puppy or something.

Sadly this is a perfect description of me. The other night, a friend of mine was sleeping over. While we were preparing for bed I played some standard Radiohead, specifically "No Surprises" (FYI which made it into The 25 Most Exquisitely Sad Songs in the Whole World. She turned around an point blank announced that "No wonder you're depressed all the time. Listening to this kind of music would make anyone depressed."
Point taken.
But I still love me some weepy beautiful music. I gues I'll go find a puppy.

Adoloscence (the bad kind)

You know those adults who never grew out of that angry teenage period? Stunted by their egotism and feeling of superiority. Rosie is their poster child.

Suprisingly One of My Favorite Beatles Songs

So much fun to sing outloud.

Countless BBC Misleading Story On Israel

Dipshits. (I have been super nuanced on the this topic lately.....)

Random

Karma Police is the best song to drive to.

This Is My Pet Peve Number One

Via Insta

I hate my toilet, I hate fluorescent lighting, i hate taking longer showers because the pressure is so pitiful, and it looks like I will hate my future washer machine.

Energy efficient sure sounds nice, until your spending every other day, with a plunger, flushing five to six time disgusting dirty water, and wasting time you would rather not spend in a toilet. It wastes more energy (one "wasteful" flush of more water or six flushes equivalent of 3 wasteful flushes?) Sometimes, I hate the government. Idiots.

Ace Seems to be a Tad Upset

Can't say I blame him. Since I live in Kennedy land my opinion won't count and since I'm not a Republican....well I'll cheer on people who'll leave the party I guess.

Something to Think About

Gib discusses one the most written about topics, the murders of Channon Christian and Christopher Newsom, in last few days and comes to some different conclusions than others like InstaPundit or La Shawn Barber. Definitely worth a read and a thought.

(P.S. I'm not just linking to him because he linking to me. Although it doesn't hurt to be blog-loved. This is just a terrific post.)

That Didn't Take Long (a recuring post)

How many times must there be a cease fire between Palestinians and how many times must it be broken a day or two after it's negotiated? These cease fires are a joke.

A while ago, while reading and looking at pictures of yet another Palestinian funeral, it occurred to me how different Israelis and Palestinians acknowledge death. At the time
our friend's father had died in Israel. His granddaughter sent us photos of the whole family planting trees in his honor in Northern Israel. They were planting trees where fires burned out forests due to the shelling from Lebanon.
To me a tree is potent symbol of life. In planting these trees and many others (in honor of people who have passed) Israelis are not just creating a memorial for the people they love, they are re-stating, time and time again, they believe in rebuilding; in not giving up.
Contrast this with the typical funeral one sees reported in Gaza, instead of trees there are people shooting guns, sometimes in the air and sometimes not.

Gunfire erupted at a Hamas funeral procession Thursday, killing two people and wounding 14 others, Palestinian medical officials said. It was unclear who fired the bullets, but the unrest threatened to unravel a lull in the fighting.

.....

The funeral was for two Hamas fighters killed during the latest wave of Palestinian factional violence. Witnesses said members of the procession were firing their weapons into the air — a common practice at Palestinian funerals — when unknown assailants began shooting at them.

How many times does this need to happen before someone decides it might be good to at least not shoot, never mind not carrying a gun while mourning?Idiots.

Bad Ideas

When are they going to stop making movies out old movies they made into Broadway shows? Didn't the Producers teach anyone anything? What's next a remake of the Monty Python's The Holy Grail? Blasphemy!

Side note: What's up with John Travolta in drag? Weird stuff.

Who's going to see Captain Mal soon?

Me!
(Okay so it's not really Captain Mal...but it will do!)

Update: The film was pretty cute. I kind have different ending in my head to make it completely satisfying. But all in all it was worth seeing. It was sad to think about Adrienne Shelly and her fate.

Sometimes It Pays to Have Low Standards

The Two-day 2007 USA Rock Paper Scissors Tournament Finals is being held in (where else?) - Las Vegas.

Wow, some people have really low standards when it comes to accomplishment. I am probably one of those people thogh...so I shouldn't talk.

Question and Answer

K_sera was kind enough (after my request) to ask me some questions. Here they are.

1) What are cloud games?
Cloud game is best played with no more than four people and it can be fun playing by yourself. It’s quite basic, you lie on your back and watch the clouds. If the clouds resemble something, typically an animal or bird you point it out and try to see if others see it too. Sometimes people can look at the same cloud and see two completely different things. It sounds boring but is quite wonderful to spend the time.

2) Favorite photo you've taken, what of?
I have several (is that cheating?):
There’s a photo I recently took of my mother and her mother. My grandmother looks genuinely happy, which was really rare for her.

The other photo is of a tree that’s right behind my building late at night.




3) Where would you be right at this moment if you had ten free hours, $1200 cash and one friend to be there with?
I would be in a Tuscan villa, with my friend Polina, drinking coffee and eating the best Mediterranean food, going bike riding/swimming, doing a little local exploring as well.
Italy because I always wanted to go there and hear it’s beautiful, has great weather, plus the food is incredible. Polina because I don’t see her nearly enough and I have the best conversations with her and I know she loves Italy.
I hope $1200 is enough. ;)

4) What is the most traumatic natural disaster you have ever lived through?
I lived through Hurrican Bob but that was more fun than traumatic. I was eight at the time and it seemed exciting rather than frightening.5) Are you doing what you love to do? If not, why not? If so, what is it?
I’m definitely not doing what I love. I’m figuring out what I love. I think my first love is history but I find it that rather useless. My second love is politics. So I’m trying to regroup and see where I fit in the grand scheme of things.

Thanks k_sera! That was fun.

The Single Girl’s Worst Enemy: Her Gay Best Friend

The title might be harsh, but from personal experience and from observing many unsuspected girls I find it quite true. Does this apply to every woman who has a gay guy friend? Probably not, however I have seen enough examples of the behavior stemming from this kind of relationships to want write about it. I'm coming from the point of view that if you are a single straight woman, you mostly likely want to have a romantic relationship with a man (whether it is a full blown relationship or casual sex). I don't claim to be a psychologist this post is just stuff I've been thinking about lately.

The Background: Here’s some personal disclosure, from tenth grade on my best friend was a guy who happened to be gay. I didn’t find out about him liking guys until two years into our friendship. Even then we talked about how his “gay identity” wasn’t the most important aspect of his personality. He wasn’t Gay Harrison (name has been changed), he was just Harrison who happened to be gay. However, as time went on his gay lifestyle became a more central part of who he was. I didn’t mind (at first), sure it took some time to adjust to thinking of Harrison as gay, but it was fun having a hot guy to go out with and have all the fun of a straight guy without worrying about the sexual consequences. Harrison was basically The Guy in my life; suddenly I found myself knowing and spending time with a lot more gay guys then ever before.
It took Harrison leaving the country for me to realize how dependent I was on him. And although he brought a lot of positive things to my life there was definitely negative aspects that I chose to ignore.

Some Bad Side Effects of Being Single and Having a Gay Best Friend

Girls feel uncomfortable with how they look, especially when it comes to attracting men.
Most women feel uncomfortable with their bodies. It takes women years into their adulthood to become comfortable with how they look. Even then it is not a sure thing. Being with a gay guy removes almost all the anxiety about “what you look like.” He loves you for the “real you.” He sees the real inner beauty, you know the one that doesn’t need to go to the gym and wear make-up once in a while. Basically you can be as slovenly as you want and still have a male fawning over you. It’s every high-maintenance girl’s fantasy.
Why would you want to look for a (straight) guy when there is a guy to go out with, laugh, and generally spend time already? You wouldn't

Gay men create false standards of what your (straight) boyfriends should be.
Girls feel uncomfortable with the opposite sex. The gay best friend becomes the central male in your life. Sure you don’t get to sleep with him, but at least you get to sing Madonna tunes together.
For girls, there is a certain cool factor being friends with guys. Unfortunately, being friends with gay guys does not count. Gay men who hang out with women are not exactly manly. My best friend wasn’t effeminate but he was definitely in touch with his sensitive side. Girls who hang out mostly with gay men start to have the same expectations of straight men from interacting with the gays. When I started dating straight men I couldn’t understand why I was so disappointed (besides the fact that I dated horrible losers) with their attitudes and hobbies. They weren’t the gay men I was used to being around; it took time to adjust that straight men weren’t into talking about their feelings that much.
Gay guys give you false expectations of what it is like to date a straight guy. The guy you’re dating won’t love doing the same things your gay best friend does. Sure you can try to find a straight guy who is similar to the gay guy, but guess what he’s probably gay too. This caveat was pretty hard for me to adjust to. I really thought the guys I dated would want to go to the same places I went to with Harrison. Not so.

Sex matters.
Let’s face it at some point the straight girls will start having a crush on her gay friend. Look it might be a full blown crush or it might a tiny one you think off when you are really, really horny/lonely. But there are definitely stronger feelings than your average friendship. Even though I never had a full blown crush on Harrison, I felt a much “deeper” connection with him than any other friendship. Mostly because he was male and I was female.

The feelings of attraction only fuel the feelings of rejection. The girl is constantly surrounding herself with men who she is (potentially) attracted to, but who are most definitely not attracted to her. No matter how pretty, sexy, smart, or funny you are, HE IS NOT GOING TO FUCK YOU. Yes, you probably cuddled and watched porn together – guess what? It doesn’t count! The sooner the girl acknowledges this, the sooner she can start a healthy dating pattern. The same thing that attracts you to him (your looks have no consequences) is the same thing that repels as well.

Undercurrent homophobia.
Even though most girls with gay best friends proclaim how much they love their gay best friend, there is definitely unexplored rage there. Sure it’s nice to wave the rainbow flag once in a while or slap high fives when you found out the homosexual couple you’re talking to is married in Massachusetts, but it sure sucks to be labeled the “fag hag.”

Most women want to have partners. Sure there is a lot of pleasure to be gained from being single, but most women have sex drives they like to, um, explore. The fact that one of the most important guys is not having sex with you might bring about a bit of resentment. Being friends with a gay guy can unconsciously make women ask themselves, “What wrong with me that his not attracted to me?” The fact that he can’t be attracted to you is besides the point, this is the unconscious we are talking about.

I just want to put another disclaimer at the end.

I'm not trying to discourage women from being friends with gay men. I'm still friends with Harrison. It's just that I think a lot of girls get carried away with how much the just love their gay best friend and don't see the negative side effects.

Random Idea

Wouldn't it be great to have a cd of all your favorite sitcom theme songs? I would totally rock out to Growing Pains' "Show me that smile...."



Okay, rock out might be a tad of an overstatement that, but it would totally make my commute from work.

Poker Face

The thing is I don't have one. Seriously, I cannot make myself look different than I feel. Sure I try - smiling at someone when what I really want to do is actually scream and punch them in the face. And yet people notice. It's hard to keep this smile going knowing it is not fooling anyone. Got to work on that.