NOV 30 :: [whirlwind] Whew... The weekend is almost over. I would like to say I got a lot of rest but the in-laws are in town and it has been a whirlwind of activity! Where do I begin...
Thanksgiving dinner was a blast! The turkey was to-die-for, the gravy/stuffing/mashed potatoes combo was yummalicious. Andy and M2 came over as thanksgiving orphans. We scandalized the in-laws, naturally. We ended up watching Legally Blonde 2 (ick) and Finding Nemo (woo!) and then having a karaoke session with my iTunes after. It was miserably rainy and cold outside but we were kicking up a storm inside.
Friday was disastrous as far as weather was concerned. Lines out the ass at all the Smithsonian museums. People standing in the rain! How insane. Couldn't get anywhere so had lunch at Zaytinya (fabulous) and then dinner at Yechon (Korean BBQ). After that we drove through the Miracle of Lights at Bull Run. It was deserted (coz of the rain) and kinda fun but I wouldn't do it again for $12. Plus it was way out in sticksville. Anyways, Saturday was nice and pleasant. But the winds, dang gurl... I thought I was Dorothy being blown away from (or to) Kansas. We had a full day at the Conservatory, followed by a dim sum lunch and then the Spy Museum which was surprisingly fun and insanely crowded. We had Mike/Gary over for a home-cooked non-Thanksgiving-leftovers dinner and had a riotous evening. Today was a little bit more mellow in that we drove to Penang in Bethesda for Malaysian, shopped at IKEA for hours and then came home for a leftovers dinner before going to Mamma Mia! at the National Theatre. Mamma Mia! is just as fun as ever although the acting (and singing) the first time around was way better.
And that brings us to the end of the weekend! Phew... Tomorrow is December. 6 more days before my company's Christmas party. The in-laws leave on Tuesday so I guess I'm playing hookie tomorrow coz I absolutely cannot stand going to work right now. But that aside, let the holiday season begin! Parties, parties, parties!
NOV 27 :: [thanksgiving] Tony's parents are here. They're cooking a mean Thanksgiving dinner complete with Tony's special turkey, mashed potatoes (and gravy, of course), two types of stuffing, etc. I love it. This officially kicks off the holiday season. There'll be parties every weekend from here on out till Christmas. I love parties.
We're finally done putting up all our Christmas decorations. Only one thing left to do now... EAT! I'm gonna be tryptophan-ed out by the end of the day. Happy Thanksgiving!
NOV 25 :: [the patriotism refuge] The in-law invasion begins tomorrow and will last for a week. Tony is gonna make a kick-ass turkey for Thanksgiving. A few dinners here and there, trip to the Mall, maybe some shopping, putting up Christmas decorations - all in all, a very low key Thanksgiving weekend. So without further ado...
From "The Patriotism Refuge" by Richard Cohen, Columnist for The Washington Post - "...a television commercial defending George Bush's handling of the Iraq war, saying the president's various Democratic opponents are attacking him "for attacking the terrorists." Not really. It's for doing such a bad job of it."
"This despicable attempt to muffle criticism by throwing the flag over it may or may not work. Whatever the case, it does not change the fact that the United States went into Iraq for reasons that now appear specious and so distantly related to the war on terrorism that the connection seems merely rhetorical. Saddam Hussein lives and Osama bin Laden lives and yet somehow the Bush White House wants nothing but congratulations."
"...none of the reasons the administration gave for attacking Iraq - and none of the reasons cited in the congressional resolution authorizing the war - have proved to be true. As of yet, the United States has found no connection between Hussein and al Qaeda and no evidence that Iraq had an extensive WMD program, particularly one that was about to go nuclear... Colin Powell made 29 claims about Iraqi weapons, programs, behaviors, events and munitions in his United Nations presentation, and none of them have yet been borne out... If there was merely an intelligence failure, it was massive and inexcusable. Yet, from CIA Director George Tenet to national security adviser Condoleezza Rice, every high official has remained on the job. They helped lead the United States into a war that may not have been necessary and may ultimately prove a debacle. Still, not a single administration official has been held accountable."
"The other possibility is that they - the top people in the Bush administration - knew the stated grounds for war were bogus. If that's the case, then we do not have a thrilling exercise in presidential power but an abuse of it that makes Watergate look as trivial as Richard Nixon's defenders said it was."
NOV 24 :: [$401.3bn] I saw this today and it made me wonder, how much does the US Government allocate to non-defense spending, like, say, education? Well, I was pretty stunned to discover that Education spending accounts for $53.1bn of the $2,229.4 billion federal budget for FY 2004. That's barely 2.4%. Defense accounts for almost 18%. But wait, it gets better. Of the $2.23 trillion, only $820bn is discretionary. The rest are for Social Security, Medicare/Medicaid, interest on the national debt, etc. i.e. spending that's mandated by law. Defense takes up a staggering 49% of the federal government's discretionary spending. And that doesn't take into account the $87bn authorized for Iraq's reconstruction and the $36.2bn earmarked for Homeland Security. (Source)
My first thought was: Why are we spending 8 times more on defense than we are on education? I guess having the ability to launch wars pre-emptively and bomb everyone who disagrees with us into submission is 8 times more important than educating our future generation. Is there any wonder why the budget deficit and the national debt is what it is? I don't want to speculate so here are the facts: FY03's budget deficit came in at $374.2 billion and the national debt as of last Friday was $6,913 billion.
It's a pretty sorry state of affairs, isn't it?
NOV 20 :: [istanbul] My first and only visit to Istanbul was a crisp and beautiful day 7 years ago this month. Su Ann, Su Lin, Tyan Yee, Siao Wearn, Badhri and I hopped on a charter from London Gatwick and flew 4 hours across continental Europe to the most magical of cities; straddling both the Asian and European continents. Istanbul was one of the best trips of my life. We stayed near the Blue Mosque and had a jaw-dropping view of old Istanbul from the rooftop where we had breakfast every morning. Istanbul is unlike any other. I have longed to go back.
But I can't now. Not for the foreseeable future. A part of me hurts to read about the devastation in the past week that these suicide bombers have wrought on the city. It hurts even more to know that the targets were synagogues and then, the British.
"Our response is not to flinch or give way or concede one inch" - Blair
"Great Britain, America and other free nations are united today in our grief and united in our determination to fight and defeat this evil wherever it is found" - Bush
What hurts even more is that the leaders of the two countries that have been the target of these monstrous acts still do not realize that you can't bomb away terror. And even if they did, do they really think that's gonna heal the anger against us? We resorted to bombs and military attacks in an all-out effort to stop the hatred against us. And now they retaliate. Violence will never be the solution. It's just an endless cycle. And even after Britain/Northern Ireland and Israel/Palestine, it seems we never learn that violence can never be a means to and end. It's just the end.
NOV 19 :: [simple justice] "The right to a marriage license is a matter not of morality or of religion or of ethics but of equality under the law. In the end, it was that simple."
"While acknowledging that many people of deep personal conviction oppose the right of same-sex couples to marry, the Supreme Judicial Court made clear yesterday it is not a house of worship but a court of law. The plaintiffs had sought its judgment, not its blessing, and that is what they got."
"Tradition and religious belief should command respect, Justice John M. Greaney wrote in his concurring opinion, "but as a matter of constitutional law, neither the mantra of tradition, nor individual conviction, can justify the perpetuation of a hierarchy in which couples of the same sex and their families are deemed less worthy of social and legal recognition than couples of the opposite sex and their families."" - Eileen McNamara, Globe Columnist, 11/19/2003
NOV 18 :: [the freedom to love]
"The question before us is whether, consistent with the Massachusetts Constitution, the Commonwealth may deny the protections, benefits and obligations conferred by civil marriage to two individuals of the same sex who wish to marry."
"We conclude that it may not." - Chief Justice Margaret Marshall, Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court
"I am sure that a great many people saw the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling in 1967 in Loving v. Virginia, stating that prohibitions on inter-racial marriages were unconstitutional, in the same way given the societal prejudices of the time. Those societal prejudices and disapprovals of inter-racial marriages continue to exist today. The role of the courts is to allow individuals to exercise their rights despite the operation of irrational majoritarian prejudices. There have always been questions about how much the courts should force changes in behavior, if not actual attitudes. Another example is in the area of abortion rights. Some say the U.S. Supreme Court's decision in Roe v. Wade prompted a backlash against the abortion rights movement. Because the decision is unpopular is not a reason for courts to allow discrimination to continue. The point of our political system is for the courts to serve as a buffer against discrimination." - Renee Landers, president of the Boston Bar Association.
[home sweet home] I'm still a little jet-lagged from LA (I know, weird huh?). So I get up at 7:30am (for those who know me, this is an ungodly hour) and was pondering leaving for work early when I decide, maybe I should check the traffic before heading out to work. I'm so glad I did. Accidents on both my main route and my alternate route to work. Phew!
So LA was fun. Smoggy. Traffic is as miserable as ever even on the weekend. The new Disney Concert Hall is amazing. Ate at Asia de Cuba (again) and had four (five? who's counting...) $12 mojitos. Fat Fish in WeHo was good as was Chinois on Main in Santa Monica. LA is definitely not a culinary destination like SF is. Weather sucked - Sat was gloomy then rainy, Sun was sunny but a little chilly. Although, the drive to Malibu for brunch was pretty sunny on Sat; something about coastal weather systems blah blah. I had planned on laying by the pool or the beach but it was a tad too nipply for that. But you will NEVER believe what I did in Santa Monica - we rented blades and roller-bladed to Venice Beach! Yes! Me! Doing physical activity! Giggle. Anywho, even with the beautiful beaches, people and weather, I could never see myself living in LA. Hollywood is best admired from afar, just like its denizens. Just my $.02.
I have Britney and Madonna's song stuck in my head. KIIS FM played it at least 6 times a day while driving around in LA. At least that'll distract me from the painfully miserable week ahead (I'll tell you why later). It's good to be home though.
NOV 12 :: [protest!] "It is an outrage that the most unwelcome guest this country has ever received will be given the freedom of the streets, while a movement that represents majority opinion is denied the right to protest in the area which is the heart of government." - Lindsey German, Stop the War Coalition
Ken Livingstone, mayor of London, urged protesters to keep within the law. "If it is peaceful there will be a contrast between the protesters and the man they are protesting against."
[article] The Senate has confirmed 168 of Bush's judicial nominees, and Democrats have blocked four. "The Republicans are consumed by those four jobs and ignore the 3 million jobs that we've lost over the course of the last three years under this administration's economic policies," said Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle.
Amen.
NOV 11 :: [shame on you, blair] "Protest if you will, that is your democratic right. Attack the decision to go to war, though have the integrity to realize that without it, those Iraqis now tasting freedom would still be under the lash of Saddam, his sons and their henchmen," says UK's Prime Minister Tony Blair about the protests that may happen during President Bush's visit to the United Kingdom Nov 19-21.
It's ironic that PM Blair talks about integrity when he wagered his and lost by going to war on Iraq based on lies. Mr. Blair should concede that he has lost the moral high ground on this issue and realize that he has no business lecturing the world on integrity. The PM and the President are on the wrong side of history and history will judge harshly those who manipulate the facts to start a war that led to the murder of innocent civilians.
NOV 10 :: [freezing] OK, it's definitely November coz it's colder than a witch's tit outside! I really dislike the cold. I know, I whine way too much. This past weekend was a complete mess, as usual. Friday night was Dan's birthday party at Grillfish followed by JR's. Allen and I got way toasted, skanked around Cobalt and ended up at Annie's. I crashed at 4am and had to get up at a brutal hour on Sat a.m. to take Tony to Dulles Airport. Technically, I could've been pulled over for a DUI *giggle*.
Did you guys see the lunar eclipse? Totally awesome. I hung out with Mike/Gary after that and had paella! Then, I met Robert at JR's and partied till 4am! I think I was still drunk on Sunday when I went to Michael Daly's art opening at Kevin/Dan's. I drank enough champagne to pee bubbles and again, we all ended up at JR's somehow. Three nights in a row at the same bar is totally tragic. M2 was there and we had some penile discussion about Africans and Asians - go figure.
I'm being good today. Tomorrow's Veteran's Day and I guess I could party tonight with some public sector boys but I think I'm gonna be good. After all, I have so much alcohol in my system, if you put yeast on my skin it would rise. Vodka does keep me warm though. Maybe I'll make a few calls...
NOV 7 :: [sad but true] 66 Things to Think About When Flying Into Reagan National Airport by David Corn - Awesome!!
Bush's Assaults on Women - Sobering...
NOV 3 :: [exhausted] I am completely exhausted. I don't think I slept this weekend. One party led to another and before you know it, it's time to leave. I'm home now but the weekend really took a toll on me. I am very, very tired.
Saturday night was a blast! Chris and I lived it up at the Redwood Room and then dined at Asia de Cuba. Beautiful but very expensive. I guess the less the waitresses wear, the more the food costs. Cosmos were $11 and Mojitos were $12! We went from there to $5 Cosmos at Martuni's and then the most fun of the night was to be had at Badlands, SF. What a cool place. Music was phenomenal (they played Express Yourself!!). Best I've ever experienced, I think. We cabbed to Mezzanine after that and it was almost dawn when we stumbled back to the Palace. Sunday was brunch (cheap chinese - yum), shopping (Kenneth Cole - our patron saint!), dinner (2223 - friendly and delicious), more Badlands, same old.
So OAK is skanky. The UA ground staff was incompetent. They kept serving the unwashed masses while ignoring the first class check-in line. And they were rude to boot. Total Nazis. Two words - Never Again. SFO is it for me. And then there were the horrendous security lines which were like a Disneyland ride. Took 20 minutes to clear that. Flight back was uneventful. Chris snored through the entire flight. And it's my turn now...
NOV 1 :: [california adventure] OK, so Halloween at the Castro was one big straight trash party. Lots of costumes, nothing fabulous (where were the drag queens??), no booze, very restrictive, it was so not SF. Apparently, some stabbings happened last year and the police started to clamp down this year blah blah blah. Californians are crazy. Anywho, Chris and I had a blast hanging out at a few bars and stuff. Back to the Palace and ordered room service coz we were drunk off our asses. Went to bed at 2:30am. Kinda tame actually.
Can you fucking believe it's November already?? (pardon my French) It's cold here in SF and it's super warm in DC which makes me envious. We ate our bodyweights today at Yank Sing (dim sum) and crashed for like 4 hours. We're all prettied up now and ready to tear the City apart on a Saturday night! Our California adventure continues...
30 :: whirlwind
27 :: thanksgiving
25 :: the patriotism refuge
24 :: $401.3bn
20 :: istanbul
19 :: simple justice
18 :: the freedom to love
18 :: home sweet home
12 :: protest!
11 :: shame on you, blair
10 :: freezing
07 :: sad but true
03 :: exhausted
01 :: california adventure