JUL 31 :: [dna craziness] Yesterday was weird coz I saw two things that made me think "genetics is a bitch". On the way to yoga, I saw a dog - poor puppy - that, I swear to God, had the body of a Saint Bernard and the legs of a Dachshund. No kidding. I mean, of all the cross-breeding in the world, this would've been the meanest. Well, maybe second only to a bull-huahua. Anywho, this poor dog was so top heavy it could barely climb up the stairs without scraping his belly. Ow. Human beings are monsters. We do wicked things to animals. Quick, call PETA.

And just when you thought you've seen everything, I spotted a double-wide stroller on my block yesterday. In Dupont!?! The breeder gentrification has begun. The gays make it nice and the str8s move in and bid up the prices so that the up-and-coming gays are priced out and have to go somewhere else and fix those places up. How convenient. Anyway, I digress. The stroller was a Hummer model with two babies in it. And as if that wasn't weird enough, the babies - obviously twins - were of different color! Not just a different shade of brown (the parents were brown and black), but the contrast was like a Michael Jackson before-and-after photo shoot. I'm like, wtf? How cool is that.

DNA is such a bitch, innit?

We just went to the nastiest open house in memory. Cute brownstone in a perfect location, steps to everything - Metro, shopping, restaurants, Phillips, etc. 3,700 sq ft *gasp* but only ONE bedroom. Can you believe it? It was horrific. And at $1.65mn! And you know, somebody will buy it. Coz that's cheap. Yea, real estate prices here are fucked up. Oh and our house is officially above $1mn since two houses identical to ours in the past few months have sold for >$1mn. Fetch.

It was nice to walk outside today. Trust me though, the respite from the heat is temporary. This coming week will be the reason why people think of August as the month where nothing gets done. Take me to the beach, Mary! @ 16:44

[weekend interrupted] Gotta sneak in one last post before the dog days of August (not that there weren't plenty of those in July) roll around. Well, this weekend has not gone according to plan. It's not necessarily a bad thing; I've gotten lots of sleep. But it hasn't been crazy. Again, not a bad thing.

Friday night was crazy as usual. We had our Gang-of-8 dinner at Sabang in Wheaton, MD. It was tragic. The restaurant was depressing and the food was so-so. But more importantly, they didn't have any vodka! Bitch, please. Who eats without vodka? Anywho, there is another more tragic story to be told but I'll save that for later.

I met up with Jason and Leo at JR's after and it was pandemonium. Jason was tanked and in fierce biting form (and if you know what I'm talking about, it's NOT fetch), Leo was getting there (bitch finally decided to make an appearance), and Guillermo... well, let's not even start with that one. All sorts of crazy shit happened. When my fetch brit-ch and her sidekick showed up, it was all downhill LOL! Should've stayed at JR's but not content with one bar for the night (why choose one when you have more than one choice - yes, I'm a capitalist), we stumbled the 4 blocks to gAy-pex. Gurls, music in the video bar was fierce! The Dolls, Amerie, Kelly O, Missy, all my bitches showed up on screen. I'm getting less enamored by the video bar though. *GASP* I know, shocking.

For one thing, it's damn near impossible to get a drink (having only one bartender there is a *huge* mistake) and hell hath no fury like a sober gay man trying to get his next drink, mmm-kay?

Secondly, there is zero ventilation in that "back" room. It is stiflingly hot and people who smoke (why do you people smoke??) choke up the entire room with their carcinogenic emissions. Totally sketch. It's a sweaty, smelly time and I don't find that fetch at all. But hey, I'll do anything for good music, right? Home by 2:30. Fairly tame, no?

Saturday was an innocent, beautiful day. Did our yoga. And then the interruption happened. Halfway through the first party of the evening (I think there were three?) at our neighbor's, I felt ill. Like something had crawled up my ass and died in there. I felt fever-ish, dizzy and totally crappy. I went from fetch to sketch in 2 hours. I was two minutes away from regurgitating the delicious Maryland blue crabs I had been eating all afternoon. Crab vomit would not have been pretty. I rushed home, curled up in bed with good drugs (my good buddies Advil and Motrin), and crashed. By the time I woke up, I was groggy and didn't feel like going out anymore.

So that's the story of how my weekend got interrupted. By what, I have no idea. Coz I feel absolutely fine today. All's I know is I have not been home on a Saturday night since January 22nd. And how do I know that? Coz I'm a freak and I keep a journal of all my comings and goings (mostly comings). Wha? I'm anal that way. Besides, how else would I remember what happened last week, much less last month, if I don't write it down? With the brain cells I have left (which would make Betty Ford so proud... and rich), I cannot afford to use 'em for shit like "memory". Besides, partying every single Saturday since 1/22 consumes a lot of brainpower - especially when contemplating things like cheap-drinks-to-cute-boys ratio and the fetch-music-to-distance-from-house quotient when deciding which bar to go to.

Thank God we Asians are good at math.

And here's my shout-out to Rick. FYI, this took place at JR's on Fri night.

SC guy:: [grabs my arm] Hey, found you.
Me:: ["bitch, who the fuck are you?"] Hey... um, do I know you?
SC guy:: Oh.. wait. I'm sorry. You're not Sean? [no, bitch, that's not an asian name. do I look white to you?]
Me:: Nope. [leans into his ear] No biggie, we all look alike.
SC guy:: Aw, that's not true. But it's so cute... [pinches my cheeks... bitch, where have your fingers been? and stop touching my fucking face]

The conversation after that was short-and-sweet. Too bad coz he was a Somewhat-Cute guy. Giggle. Yea, OK. I'll come up with something better next time... Bitch, I've been ill, mmm-kay? @ 10:57

JUL 29 :: [smorgasbord] Word of the day. I don't really know what it means (is it Swedish?) but no matter. My nouveau bitch Jason used it today. Check this out over e-mail: (OK, let's set the stage. I made a joke about how it would be worth it to fly all the way to Turin for condoms with Olympic logos on them)

"What about Olympic c*ck rings? Those will be the rave in Italy."

"I was reading a magazine that featured this gay skier. He is in training for Torino. I know I will be grabbing for that ski pole. Hey now!"

"Italy + Winter Olympics = Hot smorgasbord of International Jocks! Yum!"

LOL! I have no idea where I find these people but I'm just glad they're my friends! I'm working today, I really am. I just have lots of free time ;)

[so it begins] My weekend that is. I have a hair appointment later. VSLAndy (white names are soooo bloody generic) is gonna do me. So I don't think I've ever told the story of my work situation. But long story short, I work for a company (let's call it PS) that's about to take over a contract here at this god-forsaken government facility in SW (beautiful bank-like building though) from another company (let's call it ST). We are in a transitional period which means ST is pissed that they lost the contract to PS and the PS-ST rivalry is at a feverish pitch.

Even longer story short, I work for PS but I have to put up with ST as my tasking entity. Totally sketch. My supervisor at ST? *Hates* me. Until yesterday, that is. Dude has been on my case, looking over my shoulder, nit-picking on every single bloody thing I do wrong, everyday since I started. I'm the new guy so it's his way of putting me through "welcome, now I'm gonna fuck with you till you're miserable" orientation. Stank.

Yesterday, he pops by the office I'm sharing with two other dudes (temporarily, of course) and starts talking about his weekend. Oh did I forget to mention he is divorced? Aaaaanywho, these two other dudes in my office, one's yellow and one's black - which makes my office a bee-hive? - and this other black girl comes in (yes, it's the government and affirmative action is alive and well here) and we start talking about shaking it at H20. Apparently they have hot music, who knew.

So black dude is telling us about black chick's forays out and about in the city in her metallic-pleather tube top-pants thingie, LOL! Much to her embarassment of course. I mean, who wears pleather pants with copper plates on them?? And this was in 2000. No she diin't. Anyway, gurl goes out in this uproarious outfit and proceeds to get so trashed on, um... what did they call that drink... Thug Passion! (yes, how appropriate) Apparently it's a combo of Hennessy and Alize (where do they come up with this shit?) and she got RIPPED. Black dude described her predicament as "face down, ass up". LOL!!!

So then sketch supervisor ST dude starts talking about having the best time of his life at this club dancing the night away. I was like, damn where is this place. And he says "Cobalt".

I about PASSED, OUT! Well, loooong story short, we talk about the specifics of the club and what nights are good and all that (he's str8 and he was there with some chicks who knew a gay guy... story of everyone's life, right?). He even said he loved the song "Don't Cha" when it came on. EWW! How can it possibly be that this vile being shares the same taste in clubs and music as I do?? And now the whole office knows I'm gay. I know, you're probably thinking "only now??". Giggle. Well, it's not like they didn't know before. But I think this pretty much confirms it. So much so that this took place at lunch today:

Asian Dude:: Do you watch Will & Grace?
Me:: Used to, not really anymore. Why?
Asian Dude:: You remind me of Jack
Me:: [pearl-clutchingly horrified] What?!
Asian Dude:: Well, maybe Karen... coz you're drunk all the time
Me:: OK, that's better

Hello, it's me. I've been gay since I spoke.

So my new bitch Jason gets to go to Turin for the 2006 Winter Olympics on his company's dime coz he works for a major newspaper and they're paying him to go set up their network there for one of the largest sports events on the planet. I've never been put in a position of being an envious whore before but I am now. I would *die* to go see the Olympics. Since he gets to bring a spouse, we've hatched a plan to secretly get married in Amsterdam en route to Turin, do the whirlwind Olympics thingie, and then come back to Canada to get divorced since he's really not my type (aka he's a bottom).

Yes, the weekend has begun!

[what's the diff] I woke up this morning. Drunk. Haha. I know, I'm so juvenile. And really, food or no food, it don't matter on a Thursday night. Still blitzed. Fetch.

Last night was crazy. Well, let's rewind to Wed (since *some* ppl insist I should write about my drama every single day like I have nothing else better to do.. well, actually I don't). Wed was AndyPR's (soon-to-be DelhiAndy, eww) actual birthday which led us to Halo on a rainy evening. Yes, I cabbed it :p It was way too hot, muggy, wet and just nasty. I brought my umbrella, I have no idea why. Coz Murphy's Law says the moment you bring your umbrella with you, it either doesn't or it stops raining. Had dinner at Bua, back to Halo for a little and then home. Really, it was rather sedate. Well, hmm, there was this skank at the bar...

NSA guy:: [leering at me while I'm ordering a mojito] Asians are hot!
Me:: I know, right? We play the piano, violin and the mandolin.
NSA guy:: What else do you play? *wink*
Me:: Um, not you.

And I turned around and sauntered off. Um, d'oh, NSA = Not-So-Attractive. Ew, even I have standards.

Last night, Oh My Beyonce. It started out at JR's, as it always does on a Thurs night. Chris and I (hmm, I haven't used this phrase in awhile) was late so we practically shoved our way through the Circle and P St to get there. We steam-rolled over everything that stood in the way of us and vodka. It was sposed to be Soochon's 30th b'day happy hour but me, being the lousy friend that I am, talked to everyone else in the bar but him. What... I don't like Asians :p Giggle. Bernie, who has a Baltimore area code, was supposed to meet me there but bitch didn't show up till later (yes, there is a later... at JR's). ChrisFT, who has a Berkeley area code (and to complete this story - Chuck has a Boston area code... like wtf??), was there so we skanked it up a lil', trading whore-ish FT stories - who knew that there were skanks on travel forums?

Drink count = 3. We stumbled to Etrusco for the big birthday dinner, running into M2/Leo/Gary on the way there. Leo.. if you don't come and get your Costco stuff from our place, we're gonna own it. Possession is 9/10ths. But I'll throw away the obviously cheap socks and the inedibly cheap frozen foods, of course (bitch, what WERE you thinking). Yea, so bitch is texting me all night but he's nowhere to be seen. Makes you wonder...

Etrusco. Not so fetch. Food's good but not at $28 an entree. And it shows coz the restaurant was empty. On a Thursday night! That's supposed to be one of the primo busy nights. Anywho, one cosmo and three glasses of red wine later, drink count = 7. Back to JR's. Bernie decides to grace us with his divine presence. ChrisFT was *still* there, LOL! Gurrrrl, I know we both love vodka but me thinks yours is a fatal attraction. Nick is now a barback there, hot. Following in Allen's footsteps. A couple of drinks later... drink count = 9. Totally blitzed.

Hot. I have no idea how I'm functioning at work today. But I am. And it's FRIDAY!! Hail Mary, bloody marys. The weekend cannot come soon enough. And just so you bitches don't have to wait till Monday to hear about my weekend, here's a sober, pre-planned-but-obviously-not-written-in-concrete synopsis: Gang-of-8 dinner tonight at a rijstafel restaurant in Wheaton (ew, but I'll go anywhere for rijstafel), soon-to-be-the-boy-formerly-known-as-AndyPR's final birthday in his 20s (and countdown to his impending expiration date on 7/27/06) party on Saturday night, and wtf knows on Sunday. Of course there'll be post-dinner shenanigans tonight, of course there'll be an after-party tomorrow night, and you *know* I'll be at unplanned-but-perennially-fetch JR's on Sundays. Instead of waiting till Monday to read about my weekend, you should fucking get your lazy white ass out of your house and party with me! Bitches.

No, no Rick. Bitch is in Maine. 'Nuff said.

[brit-ch it] I haven't seen Phillip in, oh I dunno, a week. He's been skanking with... hmm, mom's the word. But he's been skanking alright. Totally working it. Here's the setup: Phillip is the whitest white boy on the planet. He is so white that his offspring (someday) will be transparent.

Me:: [after he sends me a pic of his new Bvlgari aviators from a new phone number] You got a new phone?!
P:: Yes!!
Me:: New phone, new shades, new credit card, new car? new house?! WORK IT!!
P:: Put my thing down, flipped it and reversed it

LOL! You're my favorite brit-ch in the world, love you. Even if you are turning into a gold digger ("just like whores, only smarter!").

JUL 27 :: [oh metro] How do I love thee. Let us count the ways.

It was a mind-boggling, sweat-inducing, body-searing hundred and... oh does it matter? It was a thousand degrees yesterday. Yes, I know it's worse today. But it's all about yesterday right now. Why? Coz I rode home in the Metro... with no air-conditioning. The ENTIRE way.

If you thought it was hot on the platforms - or even outside under the scorching sun - try standing in a somewhat full Orange line Metro train (NObody wanted to get on the "broken" train) with no air vents and no feasible way of opening the windows - lest you want to cause an emergency. I have been in saunas that were cooler. In fact, it was one degree shy of steam room conditions. The air stunk like a toxic concoction of evaporated perspiration, heat, humidity, and ass-sweat. Gurls, evaporated perspiration is not fragrant, I don't care how much of a pig you are. Everything was sticky; the chairs, the floor, the grab handles. Running make-up and sweaty bodies everywhere. And not in a fun way like at Nation. Seeing a soaked face, shirt and shorts on a fat man is an appetite-suppressant. Trust.

And to top it all off, the train lurched from station to station. One can only deduce that there had been a breakdown somewhere up the line causing trains to stop for lengthy periods of time with their doors open. No matter. The A/C was not working and we were all being cooked underground.

So we get to Metro Center, the doors open and the air on the platform was, no kidding, 20 degrees cooler. I make my way to the Red line thinking, salvation is nigh. I am dreaming about the cool blast of A/C when I board the Red line train to Shady Grove, Grosvenor, wherever. And I look up at the board and see that the next train is in 5 minutes. You've got to be fucking kidding me. I've never had to wait more than 55 nanoseconds for a Red line train at rush hour. Ever. So I'm pacing back and forth on the somewhat-cool platform, wondering to myself: what could possibly be causing this. Well, the answer lay in the next train. It was insanely packed. One of the cars was dark. And most of the people streaming out just stood on the platform instead of connecting like they usually do. They were willing to wait for the next train instead of continuing on this one. And that should've been my cue.

I look at all the sweaty faces and instantly thought "oh god, another train with broken a/c". I'm like "fuck it". I've already made it this far in the sweltering, hair-melting heat. I'll just brave this one. I get on and was slammed with a wall of heat so powerful I almost fell back onto the platform. Dozens of people did the same thing but they, being of the more patient and smarter species, decided to step out of the train and back onto the platform. Did I do that? No. Should I have? Yes. Hindsight and all that bullshit, the doors closed. It's hot. I'm thinking I'm going to faint. There's no way I'm going to survive this. There are but a couple of dozen of us in this car. We are the Survivors. We are the brave ones. We chose to sit in hell to get to the end of the tunnel instead of getting out of hell and waiting for the next ride. Dupont Circle is two very loooong stops away.

We get to Farragut North. And I'm so hot I'm dizzy. I'm sweating, thankfully not through my shirt yet. But I can feel my thighs sweating (we won't go any further north or give out anymore details... PG-13 remember :p) and the stagnant air is not helping, linen pants or not. At Farragut North, NObody gets on our train. I don't blame them. Even Satan would've complained about the heat. And it was funny seeing people's expressions and reactions when they board the train only to get off again. They're standing right outside the open doors, looking in at us Survivors thinking: "are you fucking nuts?"

When we finally get to Dupont Circle, we all looked like a sweat bomb had exploded in the train. We staggered out into the startlingly cool air of the platform and breathed a huge sigh of relief. Yes, we made it.

And you know what? The hundred plus degree weather outside did not feel so hot anymore after that ride on the Hell train. I barely perspired on the walk home. Or perhaps I had nothing left to sweat out. No matter. It just goes to show that in more ways than one, if you think things are bad - trust me - they could get much worse.

I love summer!

JUL 26 :: [heatwave] America is baking. Scorched from coast-to-coast, California to Maine, and all across the mid-section from the Upper Plains to Texas, excessive heat warnings have been posted and 200 cities have hit record highs in the past week. DC is sizzling under an excessive heat warning today and tomorrow with temps expected to hit 98 and the heat index expected to soar to 110 (yes, that's 43 celsius!). I don't remember the last time DC was under an excessive heat warning. It was so hot yesterday my crack was sweating on my walk home. The good news is a cold front is sweeping in, hitting the Upper Plains yesterday, the Ohio Valley today and will get to the East Coast some time Wed/Thurs when the temps will drop to the low 80s. I cannot wait!

Discovery roared into space today becoming the first space shuttle flight since the 2003 Columbia disaster. And a 2000-ft skyscraper in Chicago (image)?

This weather is ridick. Makes me wanna... go shopping in a nice, cool mall!

JUL 25 :: [hot! ii] "It's summer in DC and it feels like a Cambodian rainforest out there. It's like a steam bath, a sauna, and an unwanted sweat bomb all rolled into one. The forecast for today till Wednesday is 97, 98 and 96. And that's just the temperature, folks. Once you add the humidity and you'd wish you weren't alive. A heat advisory has been issued and because Tuesday is gonna be such a hot mother-fucking day, we may upgrade it to an excessive heat warning (heat index of 110 anyone?). Heat injuries are possible, drink lots of fluids, stay out of the sun - yes, all you sun whores too.. this shit is dangerous - and check up on relatives and neighbors (in DC? Pfffttt...). Do not keep children or pets in cars with windows rolled up. Or AT ALL!! How dumb do you have to be?! Temperatures in cars with windows up can reach over 150 degrees quickly, resulting in heat stroke and death."

Isn't it amazing that some ppl need to be told all that? And yet, year after year, you hear about those tragic heat-related deaths stories. Oh well, they usually happen in the red states where the ppl are so dumb they need pictorials to learn how to type. Natural selection at its best. LOL! Damn, I'm mean this morning. But I don't care :)

Oh and the Fantastic 7.

[hot!] It's not that I haven't written in three days because nothing has happened, I haven't written in three days coz I've been blitzed all w/end! ;)

Not really, no. Well, just a little. It wasn't outrageous like, oh, the past three months. After a mandatory 7-day waiting period to let Rick's cornucopia of drama fade away, Rick and I swooped into JR's on Friday night to entertain our fans. Twice. LOL! Yes, we made two separate appearances, with dinner in between (Tony cooked!). The second trip to JR's was when the mean girls showed up (Chuck, Nick/Daniel, Chris... derr). Not to mention Phillip and his old man (and we're not talking about his dad.. mmm, well kinda, LOL!). And Nathaniel. And Ben/Scott. It was shenanigans coz we got shit-faced at JR's. And then we all sauntered over (it took us awhile coz we were sauntering sideways) to Apex to cap the night off with fetch videos and lots of dancing! Music was fantastic. Don't Cha and Hollaback Girl (remixes, of course) came on and we burnt a hole in the dancefloor. Hot. The repairs will take a week. We'll be back on Friday, natch.

Saturday began innocently enough. Oh yea and the weekend was gorgeous. Upper 80s, low humidity. Fetch. Yoga was kind of a yawn. Shopping after was VERY refreshing! Giggle. I prefer exercising my credit card. Leo tagged along and we went to Pentagon, followed by Costco. I love Costco. And so does the NYT with an article a week ago titled "How Costco Became the Anti-Wal-Mart". LOL! I love incendiary titles.

Anywho, so we drop by at Adam/Patrick/Michael's apartment across from Costco and left before Rick got there (coz bitch is slow on make-up, pardon her). We rush home, don jackets, and off we went to Eve for yet another earth-shattering dining experience with Tom/G. 9 courses (OK, 11) later... Dang, it was a lot of food. The first few courses were groundbreaking. The entrees and the dessert were not my thang. But all in all, I would go back. The wines were amazing as well and no we didn't do the wine pairing coz Tom/G planned a trip to SF the next morning. From Dulles. At 6! Silly them. Anyway, it was a four hour dinner and not content with feeling all bloated and shit, Tony drops me off at Halo (yea, I know, I missed Tony Moran at Nation) where I met up with Rick and his trick-du-jour from LA and his trick-du-jour's hag from NYC. Fetch. Hag got so drunk she tried to impregnate me and Rick, at Halo, in public. Hot.

Shenanigans spill over into Sunday at brunch at Lauriol Plaza. Multiple pitchers of swirl margaritas and bloody marys later, we are reliving our night at Halo. Only this time we're in a (relatively) str8 restaurant. Still in public. And outdoors. Hot. You can't take us anywhere ;)

Being the noodle whore that I am, I made Tony drive us to the Asian market down 395 only to sit in an hour-long traffic jam coz they closed 395. Not fetch. We got home, sans noodles. I was feeling bitchy. Leo comes over. And off we go to JR's to drown my blues. Haha.

So I get this weird feeling that I have reached a critical mass as far as JR's is concerned. Leo and I walk in and between the two of us, we air-kissed half the bar. No, really. It's like I can actually go to JR's by myself now, feeling fairly confident that I'll know someone there. That's dangerous. I really shouldn't coz I need a wingman to bail me out of trouble (like when I start getting nasty to the ugly bitches that bump into me on the way to the restroom). Note to self: Don't talk to EVERYone at JR's, lol! So, yea, all our peeps were there. I can't even name them all - Jason, Steven, Gary, Daniel, Chuck, Bernie, Nick, Chris, Mark, Guillermo, Jonah, etc. It's just a roll call of DC bitches. And they all wanted us. Hot.

"Boys, boys, all types of boys. Black, white, Puerto Rican, Chinese boys."

I was a good boy and left voluntarily at 8ish. Home for dinner. Rested. And now I'm at work. Sigh. My weekends are never long enough. Or at least I don't remember it being long enough. Same difference, lol.

[the wrong war] Why aren't there more columns (NYT: Bob Herbert in "What Bush Doesn't Know") like this? Where have all the journalists gone? Why aren't we outraged by the Bush Administration's decision to switch focus from the crucial and essential war on terror to the optional war on Iraq?

"In one of the great deceptions in the history of American government, President Bush insisted to a nation traumatized by the Sept. 11 attacks that the invasion of Iraq was crucial to the success of the so-called war on terror."

"I've always urged politicians to be careful what they wish for. The president got the war he wanted so badly. But he never understood an essential fact that Georges Clemenceau learned nearly a century ago - that "it is easier to make war than to make peace.""

"The military is spinning its wheels in the tragic and expensive quagmire of Iraq and there is no end to the conflict in sight. A front-page story in The Times on Sunday said the insurgents "just keep getting stronger and stronger.""

"As for the fight against terror, the news runs the gamut from bad to horrible. The Red Sea resort of Sharm el Sheik in Egypt was traumatized by a series of early-morning terrorist blasts on Saturday. London is trembling from the terror attacks on its public transportation system that have claimed dozens of lives."

"...in New York, where the police have begun random searches of the backpacks and packages of subway riders, there is an odd feeling of resignation mixed with periodic bouts of dread, as transit riders struggle with the belief that some kind of attack is bound to happen here."

"There is still no indication that the Bush administration recognizes the utter folly of its war in Iraq, which has been like a constant spray of gasoline on the fire of global terrorism. What was required in the aftermath of Sept. 11 was an intense, laserlike focus by America and its allies on Al Qaeda-type terrorism."

"Instead, the Bush crowd saw its long dreamed of opportunity to impose its will on Iraq, which had nothing to do with the great tragedy of Sept. 11. Many thousands have paid a fearful price for that bit of ideological madness."

President Bush's decision to invade Iraq instead of finding and destroying al-Qaeda is a heinous crime, plain and simple. Not only is it un-American to start wars of choice, in this instance it is treasonous. Soldiers die, parents grieve, siblings mourn, and America is in danger. Again.

Stay the course, my ass.

JUL 22 :: [msft v goog] A day after Google blasted past stratospheric Wall Street expectations by quadrupling its profits and doubling its revenue in Q2 (year-on-year), Microsoft unveiled Windows Vista, the next generation of Windows formerly codenamed "Longhorn". Can Google keep up the scorching momentum and find a way to break Microsoft's hold? Will Microsoft cement its rule over all the PCs on the planet and beat Google at its own game?

Fight!

[more light] Yay!!! More daylight! DST will begin on the 2nd Sunday in March (instead of the 1st Sunday in April) and end on the 1st Sunday in November (instead of the last Sunday in October) in 2007. FETCH! One extra month of daylight-saving time. Now, if they would only extend it year-round...

JUL 21 :: [déjà vu] It is becoming frighteningly clear that London was attacked again this morning. Today's four seemingly concurrent blasts (Warren Street/Northern, Oval/Northern and Shepherd's Bush/Hammersmith&City tube stations and a bus in Bethnal Green) were eerily similar to the ones that killed 56 ppl (well, 52 + 4 suicide bombers) exactly two weeks ago but thankfully dissimilar in result - barely anyone got hurt. The blasts happened at non-rush hour and only one of them was in Zone 1 (Warren Street). But that's not the point. The reminder of how much worse it could have been sends shivers up my (and especially all Londoners') spine.

[just another wednesday] Coincidentally, again, Tony drove me to work this morning after a drunken night last night *giggle* We were out watching Rocky Horror at Stead. It was a beautiful night with low humidity and warm temperatures. M2/Soochon/Bill/Al and I hit Chipotle (burritos, mmm) before spreading out our blankets - joined by Evan/Henric, Leo, and countless other quasi-friends - for what must be the worst movie in history but also the most hillarious. I can't even begin to explain it but it seems like the crowd knew every single word to this horrendously bad movie and some were even acting out every scene. Now, I watched Sound of Music 6 times a day, everyday when I was growing up and though I know all the songs, I couldn't begin to act out all the scenes. Yup, these ppl did it. And it was uproariously funny and I had a blast!

Shouldn't have stepped into JR's after the movie ended but did anyway. The result? A not-so-happy morning, hungover and dehydrated, lol! JR's was fetch though. So no complaints :) Chuck-egina was in fierce form together with her sidekick Annie from, gosh, elementary school? Those two were joined at the unhip. Hot!

And I don't think I can go a day without bitchin' about Metro but yesterday was another bitch-ass commute on the Blue/Orange coming home. It took me 45 minutes. It usually takes half that. There was a massive delay on the Blue/Orange and the trains were so hot due to prolonged periods of opened doors and idling time that I got out at L'Enfant, took the Yellow to Chinatown and switched to Red there. This is the first time I've done this three-line maneuver. Well, guess what? The delay on the Blue/Orange was caused by a broken down train at Smithsonian which meant that if I had stayed on the Blue/Orange train which was moving at that point i.e. problem at Smithsonian solved, I would've gotten to Metro Center just fine. But d'oh, how was I supposed to know that??

Metro identified today that the rail system is ideally designed to run 26 trains per hour per line. So where are the choke points? Orange/Blue between Rosslyn and Stadium (29 trains/hr), Red between Grosvenor and Silver Spring (24/hr) and Green/Yellow between L'Enfant and Mt. Vernon Sq (23/hr). Good news is Metro has ordered 184 additional rail cars. The plan is to have 20% of trains 8-cars long by 12/06, 33% by 12/07 together with the demise of 4-car trains (yay!) and 50% of the entire fleet is scheduled to be 8-cars long by late 2008. About damn time. The overcrowding and the delays need to stop!!

[dem dilemma] Maura Reynolds from the LA Times (nope, I don't read it.. found this on WP):

"Senate Democrats, after months of preparing for a full-scale fight with President Bush over a Supreme Court nominee, found themselves Wednesday instead weighing whether or how to battle his choice of John G. Roberts Jr. The problem Democrats face is that Roberts, a well-known Washington lawyer before becoming a federal appellate court judge in 2003, appears to be more conservative than they would like but less ideological than they had feared."

Yup, that pretty much sums it up. Did you hear about his wife Jane? Not that it matters but apparently she is deeply involved in the antiabortion movement. This has no bearing whatsoever on his nomination but I just find it crazy that a woman would not want to fight for choice and instead fight to remove it. Don't you think it's a little cuckoo that the same people who fight for less government in every way, want more government in their private reproductive health decisions?

[again?!] Not sure what this is all about yet. So I won't jump to conclusions. It has been two weeks since the murderous bombings on the London Underground that took 56 lives. It's kinda shocking. But it's not rush hour, and three of the four incidents happened in Zone 2. Stay tuned.

Major news on the yuan-dollar front: The People's Bank of China stunned currency markets at 0700 EDT by announcing the unpegging and revaluing of the yuan to the dollar, unshackling the yuan - also known as the renminbi or people's currency - for the first time since May 1995. The yuan was revalued at 8.11 (up 2% from 8.28) and now pegged to a basket of currencies but it is still only allowed to move in a tight 0.3% band and not allowed to trade freely. Almost immediately, the dollar fell against almost every single major currency.

That the currency of China has this much power on the global financial/trade markets and the global economy is a stunning testament to how far China has come. Now the only thing to watch is the Treasury bonds. If China no longer needs to buy T-bills to defend the yuan-dollar peg, long term yields would (should?) rise dramatically (yea, coz if no one wants to buy T-bills, you have to entice them with higher returns, d'oh... keep up) causing mortgage rates to shoot up. Will that happen? Stay tuned.

UPDATE:: In a similarly shocking move, Malaysia unpegged the ringgit from the US dollar as well, an hour after the yuan was unpegged. In what looks like an identical move, the ringgit is now trading in a narrow band and tied to a (secret) basket of currencies. This makes perfect sense as Malaysia and China compete in the same export market. It's been 8 years since the Asian financial crisis caused the ringgit to plunge from 2.5 to the dollar to 4.9 to the dollar. The ringgit has been pegged at 3.8 to the dollar since Sept 1998.

Tomorrow (or tonight in ET) will see the first trading day of the ringgit since the unpegging (the ringgit only trades in Malaysia). We'll see what happens. If it shoots up, ohmy, my credit card bills from my mother are gonna soar! ;)

JUL 20 :: [john g. who?] So who the hell is John G. Roberts? Hmm... Let's refer to the WP (Joel Achenbach), shall we?

"Bush's nomination of Roberts is surely part of a broader agenda: Get rid of the women on the Supreme Court, overturn Roe, overturn Brown v. Board of Education, and finally, overturn Marbury v. Madison. The conservatives will not be happy until they have a Supreme Court with the courage to rule itself out of existence."

"...Dubya is surrounded by advisers who think we need to roll back everything to roughly 1787, and then keep going, until we reach the Holy Grail of extreme conservatives: Overturning the Magna Carta."

"Roberts is a disappointing nominee in some regards, because he's not in-your-face, Bork-like reactionary, and thus he doesn't seem likely to face an apocalyptic confirmation battle. Summer just got duller. It's like you plan for a party, and it fizzles, and you think: What are we going to do with all this cocktail shrimp?""

Exactly. This whole thing is such a whimper. What happened to the incendiary candidate? Or hello, a FEMALE candidate?! What exactly are we going to do with all this cocktail shrimp?

Sigh. Just confirm him and move on.

[boring shit] That pretty much describes my past couple of days. Which is a good thing considering I've been so sleep-deprived and, well, drunk lately. Meeting with the broker went well. We're gonna give ML another year since they didn't do too badly over the past year. I'm having a bitchfight with my bank (Citi) right now. They screwed up one of my bill payments and my credit card company charged me a $39 (!) late fee. I called up Citi in a fury and instead of fixing their shit, they are making me jump through hoops (forms, requests, faxes, putting me on hold, etc.) to get the money back. Worse, they want me to call my credit card company directly to fix the problem! WTF?!

Hell hath no fury like Kiat-the-ultimate-consumer getting fucked over by Big Business. I am so ready to drag my moolah out of Citibank, in high heels and clutching my pearls, with martini in one hand of course, and take it to... Commerce Bank *GASP* Wha? Yea, you heard me. They don't charge ATM fees for all transactions and better yet, they'll refund all the ATM fees charged by other banks. Hot! Plus they're open 7 days a week and till 8pm on weekdays. Fetch.

Phillip just made my day. She called me "a beacon of fetch in a sea of skanks". LOL! I love my Brit-ch. Own it.

Bitches, hell (aka summer) has crashed down on DC with full force. The heat and humidity is ridick, ppl. I have no idea how my hair stays up in this Cambodian rainforest weather but I credit Aveda for that ;) And wtf is up with Metro these days? I've had numerous Red Line delays that put the daily Orange/Blue grind to shame. Last week, I was unceremoniously kicked off a Red Line train at Farragut North (the conductor did it by blinking the lights in the train, how gauche!). You can just imagine the crush of humanity when the next train pulled up and two trains' worth of people tried to squeeze into one! But none of that compared to the packed-like-sardines condition yesterday, again!, on the Red Line. I barely got on at Metro Center. And even then I had to stand near the rear carriage doors with 7 other ppl where there's only room for, oh, 3. It was totally not fetch.

Getting out was a chore but I was super-glad I didn't have to go to Grosvenor or, worse, Shady Grove. Metro clearly did not anticipate the 750,000+ strong crush of commuters and tourists seeking refuge from the oppressive heat dome outside in the tunnels of DC. Even at super-packed levels, the A/C is super-powerful, thank God. Otherwise, all the commuters will look like the sweaty and smelly tourists (all from the Red States, no doubt) that invade the Metro like summer flies.

Wow, I *do* whine a lot!

JUL 18 :: [gastron-orgasm] We ate our way through the weekend. I feel bloated now but amazingly enough, I didn't gain a single pound. That's even more amazing once you realize we went to Babbo AND Jean Georges back-to-back. Babbo was fabbo as usual and JG was très fetch. In between, we snuck in my favorite Malaysian restaurant in the US - Nyonya - and the uber-popular Pastis (complete with killer bloody marys) in the Meatpacking District. And we did it all with our favorite straight besties, Tom and G. Love you guys, even if you stay in hotels that are so hip they hurt! *giggle*

Fine dining in NYC is such an amazing treat. It makes DC look downright provincial. Babbo is incomparable when it comes to Italian food. The pastas are heavenly and I particularly enjoyed the guinea hen entree. The wine pairings were transending in their own right. It was almost too perfect, except for the 10:15 reservation and waddling (as well as wobbling) out of there at 1:30!! So worth it though. And so drunk!

A pure high note of food orgasm was achieved the next night at Jean Georges. I would put the experience (our second) at JG on par with Per Se which is, to say, stratospheric (although the prices at JG were merely tropospheric in comparison). The food, from frog legs to foie gras, and turbot to quail was fork-droppingly amazing. The sauces were out-of-control orgasmic. Every course stunned us to silence (well, me at least). The wine pairings were eclectic although I far prefer the wines at Babbo. All in all, we had a close-to-4-hour meal at JG and left very, very happy (and lots poorer too). Compared to Nyonya, where Tony and I had 3 entrees and an appetizer for $20, you almost needed a home equity line to dine at JG (at 30 times more expensive)!

Sunday started off with killer bloody marys at Pastis followed by shopping in Chelsea and more bloody marys with Ben (highlight of the afternoon: when they played Don't Cha at Universal Queer, lol). The weather was yucky on Sunday (hot, humid, wet) which made for yucky airport delays, so Tony and I flashed our status around and got us onto the USAir shuttle which got us back to DC by 8pm. Good thing too coz our original flight to Dulles didn't land till midnight. But landing at National meant taking a cab to Dulles to get my car and blah, blah... It was a buzzkill at that point.

It's Monday. They're reconfiguring cubes here so they piled three of us into an office the size of my walk-in closet. It's stifling in here but oh well, such is the crap you have to put up with when working onsite. I didn't get nearly enough sleep during the past weekend so I'm lethargic today. And then we have a meeting with our broker this evening. Groan.

[oz!] After some major rearranging of our flights, we are now headed to the land down under for Thanksgiving! Fetch. Japan/China/S.Korea are out, Thailand/Australia/Bali (oooh) are in. The changes and shit cost us an additional 75k miles (which was to be expected considering we are flying much farther) and $200 in change fees. I think it'll be worth it coz I get to go to Anu's wedding, see all my old friends, and sun myself silly in Bali as opposed to frigid and winter-y North Asia.

Hot.

JUL 15 :: [australia] Here I come. Tony doesn't know it yet but he will later, heh. One of my besties (term I borrowed from Chuck-egina) is getting married in Perth in November. We've already got tickets to Asia so, hey why not shoot down to Oz for a few days, right? Except that it's fucking far away from where we're gonna be. And we're gonna have to change flights and shit. It's gonna cost us. Ugh.

I ripped her a new ass for not telling me sooner. Oh had it been one month sooner, we would've saved beaucoup bucks. I told that bitch that hell hath no fury like a gay man's scorn.

I can't wait to see her! Giggle.

[more vodka, bitches!] Oh my Britney Federline Spears who's obscenely pregnant. Never EVER dispense with food pre- or post-JR's Happy Hour. The results are not pretty at all.

It was steamy and wet when Rick and I piled into chilled-to-sub-zero JR's (fetch!) last night for all-u-can-drink. All the boys were there. And the girls too and I mean the mean ones (Bernie/Chuck). And Chris (Bernie/Chuck's friend... OK, this is getting confusing coz I already have a Chris on here. Hmm, he'll be known as ChrisFT from now on for reasons that will be made clear shortly) finally decides to grace us with his presence. Yup, that bitch never so much as looked in my direction before even though we met on FT but now that I'm friends with his bitches, he thinks I'm worthy of his time? Skank, LOL! You're lucky you're hot.

And no matter how hard I tried, I couldn't convince Rick to go to Annie's with me between the end of Happy Hour (8) and the start of shirtless night (10). And the mean girls didn't help any. We were all completely blitzed by 9 and it was really pretty considering I hadn't eaten since 1!

Anywho, a ridiculous number of drinks later (and did I offer to buy Matt's house? LOL!), we walked - yes, bitches.. can you believe we WALKED?! - to Green Lantern. I know what you're thinking: bitch protests week-after-week about how nasty it is and yet she's back there for shirtless nights week-after-week. Me thinks I doth protest too much sometimes.

I don't remember much of GL except that we all took our shirts off (except for Rick). I don't remember having fun coz I, well, just don't remember. I know we cabbed home. I know I ate a huge bowl of BKT (stew pork in rice). I don't have a hangover today. And that's all that matters.

Off to NYC for the weekend with my str8 bitches Tom/G. Babbo and Jean Georges awaits! Hot.

JUL 14 :: [faux pas] It's Bastille Day! Allons enfant de la patrie, le jour de gloire est arrive... OK, enough of that :)

Metro stories. Love 'em. Last night's red line ride home was beyond crowded. Overheard on text message:

Kiat:: Ma-wee, the Red Line sucks today
Rick:: You should see the 16th St bus!
Kiat:: What kind of Rosa Parks bullshit is this?!
Rick:: I know, right?
Kiat:: At least you get to sit at the back of the bus. I had to stand on some white cracker's shoes the whole way home!

We're so un-PC ;) Anyway, the red line this morning was crowded as well (wtf is up with that?). But on the "misfits" line aka Blue/Orange line, I spotted this guy wearing a navy blue pinstripe suit with brown shoes on. No, not chocolate brown - which would've been passable due to the dark and dark color thing - but like light brown almost to the point of yellow. I was like, oh no you did NOT just do that. I took one look at his shoes, my jaw dropped, I rolled my eyes and snorted in disgust, looked up and this chick standing across from me saw my reaction and giggles like a schoolgirl. Caught. Fetch. The Blue/Orange line through SW really is the line where good taste goes to die.

And so is Omega on shirtless Wednesdays, ohmibeyonce. No, we paid for our drinks all night, bitch. Even that place is too skank for me, lol. The music was fetch so we stayed longer than we should've (um, 1:30).

Oh and Rick/Nathaniel and I watched Fantastic Four in G'town yesterday. There is only one word to describe that movie (besides "mind-numbing blockbuster"): HOT. Chris Evans makes my you-know-what twitch (gotta keep it PG... OK, PG-13 at least). Appropriately enough, he was The Human Torch and boy, was he on F-I-R-E!!! I almost passed out when he first showed up in that spandex suit and then without. Bitches, I needed hunk-to-gayboy-fantasy CPR, STAT!

Oh and did you see? Desperate Housewives landed 15 Emmy nominations! Woo! Hot, baby. And to all you bitches last night who said Jesse Metcalfe is hotter than Chris Evans, I have one word for you: WRONG!

There, I've said my peace :)

One week later...

[don't mess with...] Vegetarians. Bitches, I was late to meet the boys last night for our movie a trois and I skipped the meat and just had leftover pad thai. Even after having my requisite post-bar, hangover-cure noodle soup last night, I woke up this morning H-U-N-G-R-Y. Margaret Cho said it right: Don't fuck with vegans. They are mean. They are scary. They are HUNGRY!

I need me some meat. Now! And Tony is out of town :( Giggle.

JUL 13 :: [why?] It's been almost a week since the London bombings. And this much we know now: These were the first suicide bombings in Western Europe. Ever. That in itself should send chills down your spine, although we've already experienced the fanatical suicide bombers in America first hand 4 years ago. And second, the 4 suicide bombers that ripped apart London's transportation system at almost the same time of day as when the first plane struck the WTC on 9/11, were all British-Pakistanis (from Leeds). Yes, they were born and raised in Britain.

Those are startling revelations. Beyond the obvious answer of "they were all crazy murderers filled with hate", the question remains - Why? These terrorists appear to be home-grown Muslims in Britain who believed their faith justified their actions. They were prepared to die for their cause, and they did. I'm sorry but WHAT?! I mean, these people were born and bred in one of the richest societies in the world, a long ways away from the cruelties of oppressed Palestine. Britain offers (almost-)free education, healthcare, a wealth of employment opportunities and free speech. These despicable monsters were neither desperate nor destitute. They did not do it for want or need. So how is it possible that they became suicide bombers? What made them love death more than life? How do you mold terrorists in an open, free and democratic society?

"When young men, born in this land, grow up to hate it so much that they would kill innocent citizens, we need to know why."

Why?

[scum of the earth] Karl Rove makes me mad. Why? Partially because he's the genius behind the 2004 re-election of a war criminal. But mostly, it's just coz he's scum. Harold Meyerson of the WP describes why:

"After Bush lost the 2000 New Hampshire primary to John McCain, Rove directed a slanderous campaign in South Carolina that knocked McCain virtually out of the race with a barrage of fabrications about the personal lives of the senator and his family. Once Bush decided to invade Iraq, and particularly after the weapons of mass destruction failed to materialize, Rove orchestrated the campaign to depict the war's critics as terrorist sympathizers. Just a few weeks ago Rove told a right-wing audience that "liberals saw the savagery of the 9/11 attacks and wanted to prepare indictments and offer therapy and understanding for our attackers." Get in Bush's way and Rove turns you or your loved ones into the scum of the earth."

"You can go pretty far with this kind of modus operandi, particularly if the press is complaisant. Sometimes, you can go too far, as Joe McCarthy discovered when he leveled his woozy allegations against the Army. As Karl Rove is discovering, with ever clearer indications that in his zeal to bring down Wilson he went after a CIA agent, too."

Resign, you mother-fucking scumbag. Or fire him, Mr Bush, like you said you would lest you gain a reputation for being a spineless twit running an untrustworthy Administration of lies, scums and smear tactics... Oh wait, that has all been proven already ;)

I will do a happy jig the day this guy is paraded out of the White House in handcuffs for endangering the life of a CIA agent for the sole purpose of political cover-up. I hope that day will come soon.

JUL 12 :: [shoes first] Overheard on I Want To Be A Hilton: (yes, I'm still watching this lowly-rated white trash train wreck)

"I'd rather buy a pair of shoes than eat."

Amen, sis-tah! This show is the biggest guilty pleasure on earth.

[we are not afraid] This really does say it all.

[metro is cool] WMATA/Metro announced today that they are gonna spend $34mn over the next five years upgrading cooling towers, chiller units, air-conditioning units and ducts. I have no idea why. It's nice and cool in the stations and on the trains as it is. If passengers bitch about the heat on the platforms, tell them we're saving the earth by conseving energy. Y'know... sweat to save the earth. Not to mention we don't want homeless skanks sleeping on the platforms because it's cool and inviting compared to the putrid heat outside. That's why underground platforms in cities like Singapore and Bangkok are kept at 80 degrees (or more) to discourage the homeless, even as the trains are chilled to sub-zero temps.

Metro is cool (even with armed guards at Metro Center and L'Enfant Plaza today). Now, that would be a fun little slogan.

I have two (only two?) pet peeves today. First, tourists who don't care to stand on the right on Metro escalators, or NOT eat/drink in the subway. If you planting your fat ass in the left-walking lane makes me miss my train, I'll ship you back to your podunk town, bitch. With the rats that came to eat the McD's wrapper you left behind. And second, WHY do ppl feel the need to take the elevator for one (or even two) floors?! Hello, there are stairs and you have legs. Use 'em, bitch. And you would think if I make an audible sound loud enough that they would get it and move over to the right, or stop eating/drinking, or feel uncomfortable taking the elevator for one floor next time. But noooooo. If they cared about etiquette or rules, they wouldn't be doing it.

Low-class bitches, s'all I'm sayin'.

[putrid] The air in DC today is nasty. It is so thick you can see it and chew on it. It's like a suffocating cloud of heat and humidity has descended upon DC. It's so humid that even the air in the Metro tunnels is visible. They are forecasting another day of 90+ degree temperatures. Combine that with heat emitted from cars, buses, trucks, air-conditioning units, and humans sweating their balls off, and you have putrid air. Why don't we have a Marine Layer on the East Coast?? Not fetch.

[boycott] I have been carrying out a personal boycott of sorts against ExxonMobil since 2000 or so when Exxon and Mobil merged to form the planet's largest oil company. My boycott stemmed from the fact that instead of adopting Mobil's policies protecting GLBT employees from discrimination, Exxon chose to dump them. Today, ExxonMobil - the #2 company on the Fortune 500 - is the only company in the 50 largest corporations in America that does not have an anti-discrimnation policy against GLBT employees. In addition, ExxonMobil also dumped its domestic partner benefits program, and its management remains staunchly opposed to enacting the anti-discrimination policy. These policies are unmistakably hateful and inexcusable.

I used to get gas. But since I don't drive anymore, my personal boycott has kinda dissipated. I remember how I would get gas in Rosslyn or Reston on the way to and from work instead of going to one of the two ExxonMobil's that encircle the house in a 2-block radius. And I remember how I would only get $5 of gas if I was absolutely desperate and had to go to an Exxon or Mobil station, choosing to fill the tank later when I found a non-asshole oil company (aren't most of them assholes on some level?).

Anywho, there is an extra reason to boycott ExxonMobil now (only one? Pfffttt). Exxpose Exxon - love the name - was featured in the NYT today. Not despicable enough as it is, ExxonMobil continues to challenge the facts about global warming and it continues to support drilling for oil and gas in sensitive areas of the planet including the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.

ExxonMobil: More Drilling, More Global Warming, More Oil Dependence.

It's enough to make you asphyxiate in disgust. Drive past an ExxonMobil today and stick it to them! ;)

JUL 11 :: [jr's sunday] Last night at JR's was fierce! I haven't done Sunday evening at JR's in awhile (2 weeks, giggle). I sure as hell haven't stayed there on a Sunday past 8pm. But there we were, on our 5th, 6th or 7th cocktail (who's counting after 4) at 9pm, giving it to the fans and working the crowd into a frenzy. I've mentioned it before but there's something about Sunday night at JR's that's so alluring and fun, just knowing that you are being naughty on a schoolnight. And everybody else knows it too which is why everyone is in fierce form. But really, it's the cheap drinks ($2) that keeps us coming back for more. In short, Sunday JR's = Drink. Pee. Repeat.

It all started innocently enough at a post-yoga, lay-out-at-the-Circle-with-M2 session. Steve (M2's trick of the month) and Leo were present. We had a salad. All was sunny and healthy until M2 decided he needed to use our toilet and our vodka - NOT at the same time, thank God. It was hot as shit outside (but pleasant) so we went down to the basement and drank. Until we decided, "Oh! It's 6pm. Must go to JR's now". So off we went, stumbling the four blocks between our house and JR's like a bunch of drunken queens. And insanity ensues.

New friends were there. Bernie/Nick/Chuck had just stumbled in from drunk-brunch and it was pandemonium when Hollaback Girl came on. I had my "Got Rice?" t-shirt on which invited lots of crazy drunken fans (some hot, most were not) to poke at my shirt like it was their God-given right to do so and start talking to me loudly and slowly like English was my second fucking language (oh wait, it is...) Bitches.

Leo and I whipped the crowd into a frenzy. That boy has no shame and soon we were talking to everyone around us, lol! Gotta make more new friends, right? Some Asian guy remembered me from GL (a bar that I always hope I forget the next day but somehow am constantly reminded I was there, stanking myself at shirtless Thursdays) and started introducing me to his bevy of multi-cultural boys like I was part of a Benetton ad. Hot.

I was blitzed out by 9pm. I got home somehow, twirling around Dupont like Tinkerbell. I have no idea what I had for dinner, much less going to bed. But most important of all, I remember watching Desperate Housewives! Giggle.

It's Monday. I barely have any recollection of Sunday. I even have less of a recollection of Saturday but apparently we landed at National at 11:40pm and was at Mariele's birthday party by midnight. 90 minutes of drinking later (and watching Mariele spill drinks all over her lovely 18-yr old twinky self), I was passed out in bed, sleep-aided with Lunesta which now happens to be Tony's favorite drug... for me. Y'see, Lunesta made me horny. And I shall end it at that.

[cindy, dennis] Tropical Storm Cindy and Hurricane Dennis both hit the Gulf Coast in the past week. Those bitch of a stoms eventually make their way up to the DC area spreading heavy rains and storms. Yuck. 4 named storms and it's not even mid-July yet. This is gonna be one long, hot, stormy summer!

[a misbegotten war] I love Bob Herbert's I'll-call-it-as-it-is columns on the Iraq War in the NYT.

"The toll of Americans has now passed 1,750. Tens of thousands of Iraqis have died. Scores of thousands of men, women and children have been horribly wounded. And there is no end in sight."

"Last week's terror bombings in London should be seen as a reminder not just that Mr. Bush's war was a hideous diversion of focus and resources from the essential battle against terror, but that it has actually increased the danger of terrorist attacks against the U.S. and its allies."

"Americans are paying a fearful price for Mr. Bush's adventure in Iraq. In addition to the toll of dead and wounded, the war is costing about $5 billion a month. It has drained resources from critical needs here at home, including important antiterror initiatives that would improve the security of ports, transit systems and chemical plants."

Why are we spending $5bn a month in Iraq on Bush's "hideous" misadventure when we can be securing our homeland? Pray tell what the war in Iraq has anything to do with annihilating al-Qaeda? What the hell is wrong with Americans, blinded by partisanship and loyalty to a lying sack of shit we call the President, that they don't realize we're fighting the wrong war?

JUL 9 :: [3 down, 1 to go] Finally, back in O'Hare again. After spending 4.5 hours in O'Hare this moning, we proceeded to spend another 2.5 hours in Detroit (which was absolutely stank). And now we're back in O'Hare waiting for our final leg to DCA. It's only a short 1.5 hour wait, just enough time to type this out, but man, I am SO done with airports today! We've eaten all sorts of airport trash today - from cheap chinese to cheap Mexican in Detroit and pizza from Wolfgang Puck just now. Feeling quite stank now. And super tired too. We're landing at midnight and headed straight to Mariele's birthday party. I won't be in the mood for much, I can feel it.

If not for HotSpot (albeit a much weaker signal) here at the UA lounge next to gate B7, I would be sprawled on the floor, snoring like a baby. G'night.

[just another stanky friday] Tony and I celebrated our 98-monthniversary yesterday. I know, we're such dorks :) I started off the evening promising I was gonna be good coz I had to wake up early the next day for the mileage run (see below). But as with all set good intentions, I not only failed miserably, I got completely blitzed.

Rick is to be blamed for much of it *evil grin* but Phillip took the cake, ate it, poured drinks on stanky boys at Apex and eviscerated the rest with her witty fashion-police antics, not to mention FIERCE dancing! The evening started off like most evenings do - Rick and me at JR's, LOL! We get suitably loaded and march up to Annie's. Then there was a couch and some Don't Cha antics somewhere in there but it's hard to remember after the, oh, 4th drink in 2 hours. We then drove across the town (no, we didn't drive, Tony did :p Whaddya think, I'm irresponsible? Please, bitch) to the Ritz in Georgetown for fetch-tails with Rob/Carlos, Rob/Mikko/fetch-Mariele, Chris/Dave, little Andy, Chris-Craig, and I can't remember who else. What must've been $500 worth of drinks - and verbal harassment of our waitress (she was quasi-fetch!) - later, we piled back into the car and drove to JR's for our second appearance of the evening. The crowd went wild! Our fans were all there and the paparazzi were out in force trying to catch blitzed pictures of us.

The night ends (begins?) at Apex. Phillip, Fernando and I danced up a storm so big it was named. We burnt a hole, Marys, and it was pretty. The wait for drinks at the bar was not so pretty (what, don't you *know* who I am?!). We somehow ended up at my house, eating wickedly spicy noodles which poor ol' bland-tongued "I don't eat on Fridays but bitch, it's already Saturday" Brit-ch almost threw up in gag reflex (bitch, you know it cured your hangover.. owe me).

And that's how Brit-ch missed her 6am flight. And that's how I only got 3.5 hrs sleep before venturing into my mileage run this morning. There are so many more stories but I fear it's time to board our flight to Detroit. Please kill me right now.

[stanky o'hare] 1300 CT - Live, from Phillip, in real-time:

"I HATE O'Hare it is so not fetch. That fucking neon tunnel with avant garde Japanese pipe music gives me a headache!"

If you've been to the United terminals here in O'Hare, the quote above is fucking hillarious! Love you, Brit-ch, even if you get so obliterated you missed your early a.m. flight to Utah ;) (sordid details to follow, natch)

[stuck in o'hare] "Welcome to Chicago O'Hare International Airport. The local time is...", our flight attendant announces as we landed here a few hours ago. It's currently 11:40 CT on a beautiful and fine Saturday morning across the Eastern US - Hurricane Dennis notwithstanding - and we are sitting in the United Airlines Red Carpet Club next to gate C16 in Chicago O'Hare. Before the day ends, I will hear those same exact words again from another flight attendant as we fly through Chicago to get home. Where are we going? Um, nowhere. Why are we here? I am asking myself that same question with only 3.5 hours of sleep in my body and I just stuffed my face with enough cheap chinese food to make me look like a pregnant panda (incidentally, the food came from Panda Express!).

So why are we here? We are on a second and, hopefully, final mileage run of the year. After this, Tony makes 1K and I make Premier Exec. Fetch. But until then, DC seems so far away. Our mileage run takes place today from National to Detroit (OK, it's more of a segment run) via Chicago. Our original plan was to get to Chicago by lunchtime, have a fetch lunch in the city, and then catch the late flight to Detroit, back to Chicago and then back to National by midnight. But as with all well laid out plans, this one ran into a snag in the past week - Rob's niece (Mariele) celebrates her sweet 18th tonight. And the only way to get back for the party was to standby for earlier flights on all our flights today.

Annoyingly enough, the 11am flight to Detroit was chock full. We didn't make it onboard. Which is why we are now stuck in the UA lounge in ORD, whiling our time away and if not for T-Mobile HotSpot, I would be bored to my last blond-highlighted hair. One would expect that it would be peaceful and quiet in the lounge and that I could concentrate on putting my thoughts down on "paper" but nooooo, there are two guys directly across from us talking on their cellphones so loudly you'd think it was a megaphone they're talking into. Add that to the fact that I'm sitting under a plasma TV blasting CNN and there's another guy on our left repeatedly snorting his nose and clearing the gerbel in his throat, and I am about to wish I was back on the plane with two screaming babies on either side (and no, as with all last-minute standby for mileage runs, we didn't get upgraded this morning). It is neither peaceful nor quiet in here, I can assure you. And why are there so many people and so many full planes on a Saturday morning?? Where is everybody going?

I brought this onto myself. I should quit bitchin'. But I can't help it. We have three more segments to go including flying in and out of Detroit. Sigh. I just want to go home and curl up in bed. Sleep deprived. Not fetch.

[have laptop, will type] So bored. We are standing by for a flight that leaves Chicago at 2pm CT. That's a mind-numbing 2 hours from now.

So whenever I'm bored, I muse. 52 people dead so far, two dozen missing. The subway bombs were apparently set off almost simultaneously, within a minute of each other implying some sort of timing device. Pre-meditated, deliberate, sophisticated. Evil. Absolutely.

I love cities. I always have, and always will. That explains why everytime I fly into a big city, I choose a window seat on the side of the plane that has the best view of the skyline. I stared longingly at Chicago this morning under a cloudless perfect blue sky as we were approaching O'Hare, pointing out the instantly recognizable Navy Pier, Sears Tower and the Hancock building in my head, marvelling at one of the world's best skyscraper-filled vistas. And for a brief moment, I shuddered and wondered "What if?"... a bomb on the "L" during rush hour, a plane crashing into one of the sky-piercing buildings full of office workers, and heaven knows what else the terrorists might think of next. And for a brief but gripping moment, I welled up.

Perhaps that's why I still find myself overwhelmed with emotions, 2 days after the bomb attacks in London. It's hard to describe one's love for a city, any city. Some people cling passionately and fiercely to their opinion of why New York, London, Paris, Los Angeles, Tokyo, Hong Kong, etc. is better than the rest. I love 'em all. And London holds a prominent place in the urban admiration part of my heart. I went to school near there. I spent some of the best years of my life there. The friends I made, the parties we threw, the bars/clubs/restaurants we crowded into. My friends and I went through our college years living and breathing London like it was our temporary home - one that we all wished was permanent - celebrating all the joys and tribulations of the world's second home. In short, we absolutely positively loved London.

I will never forget my first time riding the Tube. Love it (I do) or hate it (I do too), pick a Tube journey, any Tube journey, and chances are it stirs up indelible memories of line colors matched with line names, zone numbers, and without fail, wincing or regaling at the mere mention of a station name (Covent Garden, Bayswater, Camden...). The Tube is a monument to public transportation, like a brother who's always there to take you around, wherever you need to go, guiding you throughout your journey in a fantastic cosmopolitan city like London.

And when it gets attacked, you get really, really pissed, and upset. Part of it is, well, it could happen in the NYC subway, the DC or Paris Metro, Hong Kong's MTR or Sydney's CityRail. Indiscriminate, unpredictable, random. The other part is because London is one of my most favorite cities in the world.

But London will prevail. Those who are filled with hate will fail. From the Financial Times (read it for the first time since I left the UK, courtesy of UA) Editorial today:

"How they must hate it. London is a living breathing refutation of everything the jihadist fanatics believe in. It is cosmopolitan, open and free. All humanity is here . every race, every creed, every colour. It is a microcosm of the emerging global society. And it works. Imperfectly, yes. But it works."

"...at its best London offers a dream to rival the American dream: more genuinely multicultural, more relaxed and more capable of humour... Every day, the people of London make the countless small compromises that make a multicultural society possible. In doing so, they disprove the thesis that mankind is doomed to a clash of civilisations... This is London . not the historic London of monuments and museums but a thriving world city with diversity in its DNA... And so the fanatics bomb. But they do not destroy."

"To walk in London in the aftermath of the underground rail and bus bombings was to know that this polyglot community will not easily be sundered. Its citizens refused to panic and went about their business. Shaken, but not stirred to fear or hate."

"...Londoners could and did place it in the context of past bombings by the Irish Republican Army. They know it is possible to live with the threat of terror without allowing it to take over their lives."

"Lessons will have to be learnt. But values must not be surrendered... There is no contradiction between preserving the right of fundamentalists to free speech while clamping down hard on incitement to violence."

"London will fail only if it betrays itself. The jihadists hope that by their attacks they will shock the city out of its tolerance, rip away multiculturalism and expose a racist monocultural monster beneath. London must, London will, prove them wrong."

No fear. No hate. End the violence.

JUL 8 :: [thank you] The subway ride home yesterday was borderline nerve-wrecking. The fear in me was palpable but I did not let it defeat me. The fear must've driven everyone to drive yesterday coz the Metro was eerily empty at the evening rush while the roads were jam-packed in and around Dupont. The fear is not unjustified - all it takes is one knapsack filled with 10 pounds of explosives to cause chaos and mayhem, as it did yesterday in London. The lurking danger is barely perceptible in this instance.

I rode the subway to work this morning, as I do everyday. Comfortingly, there were armed guards and lots of police on the platforms, not to mention bomb-sniffing dogs that look way too adorable for the deadly task they are trained to do. I felt the urge to go up to the cops and thank them for being there and making my commute easier to bear, but decided against it for fear they might think I'm crazy, or worse, a terrorist! Giggle.

So thank you to all those who work tirelessly and thanklessly to protect the citizens of this city, easing our fears and letting us go about our daily lives in the face of terror. The only thing to learn from London's bombings yesterday is that even as we are nervous and jittery today, we must all be courageous and defiant tomorrow when confronted by savagery, barbarism, terror, wanton killings, indiscriminate slaughtering, despicable acts of cowardice and their ideology of hate.

And London is just as defiant as the rest of us. 24 hours later, all the railway stations are open, buses are running, planes continue to takeoff and land at Heathrow, Gatwick, Stansted and Luton, and more importantly, vast swaths of the Tube is open for business. It's business as usual in the city where everybody in the world knows somebody who lives there.

Ken Livingstone, Mayor of London:

"...even after your cowardly attack, you will see that people from the rest of Britain, people from around the world will arrive in London to become Londoners and to fulfil their dreams and achieve their potential."

"They choose to come to London, as so many have come before because they come to be free, they come to live the life they choose, they come to be able to be themselves. They flee you because you tell them how they should live. They don't want that and nothing you do, however many of us you kill, will stop that flight to our city where freedom is strong and where people can live in harmony with one another. Whatever you do, however many you kill, you will fail."

Rule Britannia.

[as good as it gets?] A little clip from DailyKos regarding the possibility of Bush nominating AG Alberto Gonzales to the Supreme Court seat being vacated by Justice O'Connor:

"True, we could go ballistic if Gonzales is the nominee, especially given his love of torture, but he's about as close a shot to another Souter that we'll get under this administration. Precisely the reason the Far Right hates him is the reason I'd be willing to give him a pass."

There's quite a few ounces of truth to that statement. The supporter of torture would seem far less vile if he holds moderate positions on the social issues of life such as abortion, civil rights, and church-state; even if he's a hard line conservative on issues like crime, terrorism and the military. Still, the comopromise is a very tough pill to swallow, but made easier by the fact that the rest of the names on the nominees list - allow me to quote Arianna Huffington - "reads like a black-robed Murderer's Row -- only with this bunch, it's the civil liberty gains of the last 70 years that will be snuffed out."

Gonzales is probably as good as we can hope for coming from this far-right Administration.

[best laid plans] Definitely wasn't in the mood to party last night like my bitches and I do every Thursday. (Not-so) Happy Hour at JR's was definitely not on my agenda. So, Chris/Dave, Tony and I made dinner plans instead and drowned our sorrows at Sushi Taro for a fork-droppingly good omakase dinner (again!) soaked with LOTS of sake. Which got me in the mood for JR's (LOL!) so off I went to meet up with Rick only to find the Mean Girls there (Nick, Chuck, Bernie), completely blitzed and in fetch form. Shenanigans ensued and we found ourselves tanked on the balcony at JR's telling stories that would embarass your mama and doing things in public that should be safely behind closed doors. And then we headed to shirtless men drink free Thursdays at Green Lantern :-o I know... I swore up and down I would never go back there again but really, it's just spong. Yes, the Green Latrine is so stanky it's actually fun. LOL!

The buffet of bodies was open, piping hot and ready to be served! Details are unavailable due to the PG nature of this website ;) I just realized I'm quite skinny compared to all the fat bitches out there, made wobblingly obvious when their shirts are off. Did I forget to mention the free drinks? LOL! Yes, I paid for my first one (or rather, Rick did) but the rest were free *sheepish grin* Gurrrls, those free drinks add up and we were all positively blitzed by the time we staggered out of there. And into the pissing rain! Did I mention it poured ALL flippin' night? Not fetch. I was wearing flip-flops and flopping the water all over the back of my jeans everytime I walked on wet pavement. Yuck.

Rick and I cabbed back to JR's to meet Phillip and Gil before heading home. I did give Phillip a big hug in solidarity. Love you, my pretty Brit-ch :)

Anywho, so it's FRIDAY! The day I look forward to the most out of all the days that end in "y" :) This weekend will NOT be as crazy as the last, I can assure you. But the party never stops. We only have a few planned, giggle. And we're off to our final mileage run of the year tomorrow. You bet there will be stories... I am forecasting quiet, less-drunken, and less-crazy days ahead. Temporarily, of course ;)

JUL 7 :: [chronology of terror] Just yesterday, Londoners were jubilant over winning the chance to host the 2012 Olympics. Today, shock and horror, as terrorists set off a series of four bomb blasts that ripped across London, shattering the morning rush hour and the euphoria from 24 hours earlier. The attacks paralyzed much of the Tube and large swaths of London's public transportation and mobile network system. The attack coincided with the first day of the G8 summit in Gleneagles, Scotland.

0850:: Circle Line train from Aldgate -> Liverpool St, exploded 100m away from its destination. Liverpool St station is a major transportation hub in East London and will play a major role in the 2012 Olympics which will be sited at Stratford, 3 stops east of Liverpool St.

0850:: Piccadilly Line train from Russell Sq -> King's Cross, exploded midway. This line stretches from Heathrow through some of London's poshest districts, and King's Cross is a major transportation hub in North London, serving Britain's largest cities - Birmingham, Manchester - and on up to Scotland.

0850:: Circle Line train from Edgware Road -> Paddington, exploded just after leaving Edgware Road station. Paddington is a major transportation hub in West London, serving Heathrow, Bristol, and Wales.

0947:: Double-decker bus #30 from Hackney -> Marble Arch, exploded outside the British Medical Association near Tavistock Square near UCL - a major London university - and the British Museum. This attack was very close to the 0856 explosion.

All times in British Daylight Time (1 hour ahead of GMT, 5 ahead of EDT)

Tony Blair:

"It's important, however, that those engaged in terrorism realize that our determination to defend our values and our way of life is greater than their determination to cause death and destruction to innocent people in a desire to impose extremism upon the world."

"Whatever they do, it is our determination that they will never succeed in destroying what we hold dear in this country and in other civilized nations throughout the world."

Amen.

Co-worker: "Why're your eyes all red?"
Me: "Have you been on CNN at all today? I'm afraid to ride the subway home"
CW: "Yea, but that's in London"
Me: "That doesn't make it less terrible or less real"
CW: "But it's not as bad as 9/11, right?"

The ambivalence is sickening. I am stunned to silence.

[terror in london] I am incredibly saddened and outraged this morning. It just so happens that I was out till late last night and was late getting to work this morning so Tony took me to work (thank God) which meant I didn't take the subway. And come to think of it, I might not have.

On the way to work, NPR was reading the news as usual and when I heard of the London bombings, my first thought was intense anger - why does shit like this happen on public transportation?? I didn't fully comprehend the seriousness of the situation (lots of yapping on NPR, not much substance, and they were only reporting 1 fatality at that point) until just before I got out of the car when the news *finally* came on and it wasn't just a minor bomb blast.

I ran to my desk, hopped on CNN and realized they were simul-bomb blasts across three subway lines and one double-decker bus. I was stunned to silence. I walked to the TV screens showing CNN in the lab and just stood there, crying for what seemed like an hour. My eyes are puffy and I'm at work. Not feeling very pretty right now :)

I am reeling emotionally right now. This is such a sad day, as Tony Blair said, not just for Britain but for "civilised nations throughout the world". My friend texted me from London (thank God they're all OK) and said "the city is in shock". Yea, the mobile networks are back up, finally. It's crazy that our phone (both land and mobile) systems cannot handle the crush during a major event like this. Expectedly, the entire Tube system is shut down today.

The intense fear of being in close proximity to a bomb blast is paralyzing. My first was emerging from Leicester Sq station headed to Holborn during my college years in Bristol. Yellow tape and police everywhere, surrounding a phone booth just across from Leicester Sq station. Crazily enough, lots of bystanders around. I have never left a place so fast in my life. I think the bomb was diffused.

The second incident was far less fortunate. When an IRA bomb ripped apart a double-decker bus on the Strand, CNY of 1996, my friends and I were in the basement of their dorm. We were playing pool, shooting the shit when the whole building shook after a loud bang. We thought nothing of it until the projection screen we were watching switched immediately to the carnage that was a few hundred feet away from us. Scenes that I will never forget. I called home and caught the next train away from London.

Why do I mention these incidents? Because people these days think nothing of dropping a bomb (much less, hundreds of thousands of pounds of them) on other countries, civilians, families, friends... They think nothing of suicide bombers blowing themselves up on subways, buses, trains, planes. And incidents that happen 5, 6 or 10 timezones away are barely perceptible to us if not for wall-to-wall news coverage on CNN or news websites splashing "TERROR IN LONDON" across much of their front pages. Nobody at work here is fazed by today's incidents. Shock, anger, sorrow, vigilance, fear... they all lose their meanings once you forget or brush off the death and destruction caused by bombs.

I am intensely angry. I cannot believe terrorists are still operating almost 4 years after 3,000 ppl were killed in New York City. I want them all dead. Now. A little less but just as viciously, I am incensed at the Bush Administration. Why Iraq? Why not bin Laden? Why didn't we wipe out the terrorists? Why are we aiding their recruitment drive? The Quran, Abu Ghraib, Guantanamo, Iraq... No, Mr Bush, the world is not safer and your tenet that we're fighting the terrorists in Iraq so that they don't bring the fight to our cities is bullshit. Your myopic fascination with Iraq has endangered your fellow citizens.

It is a sad, sad day indeed. People who forget the power of and destruction caused by bombs use it frivolously and for no purpose. No matter what your purpose is, it serves NO purpose. None. Innocent civilians slaughtered. And fear just leads to more hate.

Here's what I wrote on Mar 14, 2004 in "no al guerra, no al violencia", a few days after the Madrid train bombings:

"As strongly as I feel against violence and pre-emptive wars, I feel even more strongly that if al-Qaeda was involved in the attacks in Madrid, every effort must be made by all governments across the world to fight this new and disgusting wave of violence. The citizens of this planet must unite against terror. There is no alternative to victory in the war against terror. Just as there is no alternative to peace. Violence is unacceptable. We are a civilized people and we are here to fight for our freedom, our rights and our liberties."

"No to War and No to Violence."

Still relevant. Never forget. My heart goes out to all Londoners.

JUL 6 :: [impeach bush] From the WP today:

"More than four in 10 Americans, according to a recent Zogby poll... 42 percent said they would favor impeachment proceedings if it is found that the president misled the nation about his reasons for going to war with Iraq."

"Among those living in the Western states, a 52% majority favors Congress using the impeachment mechanism while just 41% are opposed; in Eastern states, 49% are in favor and 45% opposed. In the South, meanwhile, impeachment is opposed by three-in-five voters (60%) and supported by just one-in-three (34%); in the Central/Great Lakes region, 52% are opposed and 38% in favor..."

"Among Democrats, 59 percent answered the impeachment question affirmatively -- as well as 25 percent of Republicans."

"By comparison, in October 1998, as the House moved to impeach President Bill Clinton over the Monica S. Lewinsky scandal, a Zogby poll found that 39 percent of voters supported the House action, while 56 percent opposed it..."

"...impeachment is for all practical purposes a political act, not a legal one. So with a Republican-controlled Congress that doesn't even like to perform basic White House oversight, it's basically a moot point."

Misleading 1700+ Americans and tens of thousands of innocent Iraqi civilians to their deaths certainly qualifies as high crimes and misdemeanor in my book. Apparently, 60% of people in South and 52% of people in the MidWest are too stupid to think so.

[london 2012] Shocking! Britain vs France, Blair vs Chirac, London vs Paris. And the verdict... the Olympics returns to London! In a surprising decision by the IOC, London upset front-runner Paris for the honors of hosting the Games of the 30th Olympiad in 2012. The vote, held in Singapore, was 54-50 in the last round with London leading through all four rounds of balloting. London becomes the first city to host the Olympics three times, after doing so in 1908 and 1948.

Cool Britannia endures. Note to Phillip: Secure Mayfair townhouse now ;)

JUL 5 :: [ipod pleasures] I almost forgot our (Phillip and I) iPod stories. First, we were at Lizard, in bed, on our knees (really, the story has a platonic ending)... and rocking out to the music on Phillip's iPod every time we thought the music at Lizard sucked. Why put up with trance when you can have Gwen? Better yet, the next day, someone IMs Phillip and says "hey, I saw you rocking out to your iPod at Lizard last night". Stalker, LOL!

And then when the fireworks were going, Phillip and I bobbed to Don't Cha and Lose Control (Missy) and choreographed our own "bombs burstin' in air". We were completely sober. Really.

Giggle! Ahh... simple pleasures :)

Whoever invented the iPod is a fucking genius.

[i love fireworks] Gurrrls, this past weekend was full of 'em! I whipped them out like we invented them. Fetch. I've had very little sleep all weekend so pardon my appearances (and my incoherence) this not-so-fetch Tuesday morning at work.

New friends, old friends, fetch friends, stank friends (note for you bitches: stank = stinky and skanky), they were all in attendance this past Fourth of July weekend. If reading is not one of your talents, here's the gist (let's just roll back to Wed, shall we?): JR's-Sushi Taro-JR's-30 degrees-JR's-Cobalt-JR's-...HEX!...-drunkbrunch-BBQ-Lizard-dim sum-fireworks!-sleep.

Or here's another version: vodka-sake-vodka-vodka-vodka-vodka-(there's cranberry juice in here somewhere)-bloody mawees-mimosas-champagne-vodka-vodka-vodka-vodka. LOL! I saw so much of "I only eat on Wednesdays and holidays" Phillip this w/end I met all his stank boys, LOL! Love you, mwah, but not your stalkers ;) Anyways, on to the stories...

[the calm...] JR's Thurs Happy Hour was hot. We met up with Rick and we claimed our seat at the head of the table whereby everyone else showed up (unannounced) and our round table was overflowing with boys. AndyP (who's been a complete stank to me this entire w/end, giggle) was there with some twinky friend from (gag) Virginia. And I wish I could remember the other usual suspects but let's (shit-)face it, nobody remembers much at 8pm on a Thurs at JR's. Friday was a happy work day coz our building shut down at 3pm and we were told to go home, fetch! I love working for the government, lol. I got my hair frosted again (it's fucking blond now.. note to self: ease up on the bleach next time, mmm-kay?), just in time for the weekend blowout to begin. It started off with a whimper. Friday night had one word: Empty. Cobalt was dead. JR's was packed with stanks. Evan, Phillip and I were like "wtf is going on?". All the boys were at the beach, apparently. Or were unpatriotic bastards. We still danced till 2am (music was fetch) but it wasn't much of a boner. It didn't help that Rick, being the unreliable pRick that he is, bailed on us all. Which is only the beginning. Yes it happened two more times. Time to sever the umbilical cord. ABORT! Giggle.

[hurricane hex] The beginnings of a gorgeous weekend weather-wise. We made it to yoga and Kevin whipped us a new ass, as usual. Feeling all stanky and shit, we laid out in the sun at the Circle with M2/Leo and Phillip. Gorgeous. JR's called so we (Evan/Phillip/AndyP) showed up to greet our fans, after which we cabbed it to SE for a little party called Hex Hector, woo! He brought the house down at Nation, gurls. We started off with $8 cover and free drinks (natch) and majorly werqed it (new spelling courtesy of Chuck-egina) in the Blue Room to awesome Top40 music. Once the main room opened, we sashayed in and EVERYone was there. Rick showed up with Michael and his band of merry friends - like a hot posse of mean girls - and we all started dancing like nobody was watching. Hex was seriously fierce!

And Hex brought out all the pretty boys too, gurrrls. There were some serious gravity-defying pecs and asses on display ALL fucking night. Sir Isaac would've been proud...

[b-a-n-a-n-a-s!] Phillip kept getting groped all night by stank boys (esp this one black guy in a tie and nothing else, lol!) and we were bouncing back and forth between the main and blue room like we were gay ping pong balls. Fetch. Songs of the night:

blue room:: Don't Cha (wish your girlfriend was hot like me)
main room:: Hollaback Girl!

Mariah's remix in the blue room was a close second, y'all.

We were mid-bounce on our way to the blue room at one point (the point of shit-faced and dripping-with-sweat) and we hear "Uh-huh, this my shit!". You have never seen me swim upstream so fast in my life. I made it from blue room to main room in 5. Seconds. Rick, David (who is one Asian away from opening his own sweatshop) and I were screaming "Ain't no Hollaback Girl!" in no time... or the whole time :) When that was followed by D's Child ("Can you keep up...") and J-Ho ("Waiting for Tonight"), we knew the party had climaxed and we burnt a huge f-ing hole in the dance floor. Fierce. I let it all go, and danced a riot all night. Stumbling out at 3:30am - we didn't leave coz we were tired, we left coz we were hungry! Apparently nobody who goes to Nation eats - we jumped into a psycho cab and took the ride from hell back to Dupont. I almost broke into song ("Pieces of Me"), with one hand firmly holding the sweet-Jesus handle.

[13 hours] I wish that was how much I slept. Instead, that was how long we were drinking on Sunday, LOL! Not content with a tweaked out night at Nation (I was high on A... for Alcohol ;) everyone else was on "diet pills"), the 16 of us merry bitches drunk-brunched at Beacon where free-flowing (stanky) food and (awesome) drinks were on the menu. We had a fab waitress (Des) and she basically plopped down pitchers of mimosas and bloody marys and a few bottles of champagne on the table. We never saw OJ again. After awhile, the mimosas became champagnes and we were making fireworks at the table. I will try and do the brunch justice by doing a roll-call: MILF-Adam/ DILF-Patrick/Fab-Abs-Jean, Rick/Michael (ma-wee!!), David/Forty aka rice-and-potato bowl, John/Mike (who sat next to me the entire brunch but I didn't learn their names until midnight), Randy/Ricardo, and my favorite bitches - Bernie, Chuck and Nick.

We brunched from 1 to 5:30. LOL! That's what happens when you plop free booze down on a table full of queens. The last girls standing were Bernie, Chuck, Nick and myself and if we had recorded our conversation and sent it to Hollywood, they would give us our own sitcom. Best line of the afternoon as Chuck-egina reminisces about Nation the night before: "we wanted more diva vocals!!!". I love you bitches ;)

[where's the food] The mean girls marched on to JR's for Sunday afternoon fun while I, being the geezer of the group, decided to go home and come back and pick their sorry asses up for a BBQ later. I didn't ditch you bitches, I swear! ;) Anywho, so we drive to this quaint little neighborhood that resembles ground zero and walk up to this house that's on the corner of scary and stanky. I'm beginning to fear for my car, when this family a few doors down yell out: "hey, y'all going to a party?". I was like "hell, yea, d'you want to come?" And she was like, "for real? Is it your birthday?" I shot her my glam look, nose so high up in the air that if it had rained I would've drowned, and said "dah-ling, EVERYday is my birthday" and sashayed into the house. Giggle. I knew my car was safe :) I've got those bitches on my side.

The BBQ was out of control. I don't think there was food but there was plenty of liquor. So we just drank, lol. Phillip tagged along and we were posing on the deck at one point and this boy comes up to us and says "hey, weren't u the kimono girls at pride?". LOL! We're famous. Own it. The crowd was fetch, the booze was strong and the boys - boys, boys, all types of boys - were hot! At some point, people were lighting my inventions and we were drunk-fireworks-watching. We met Gil (semi-fetch) and the party had gotten to the point where we were all sprawled on the grass so we dragged Gil out of there and high-tailed it to where else but Lizard of course.

This has already been one of my longest posts so I'll try to keep it short. We trudged up to Spank at Lizard, dove onto a bed, owned it all night, and had more and more ppl join us until it became an orgy. Clothes on, of course (whaddya think I am, trash?). Gurls, the drinks at Lizard are so strong you can barely see. Phillip kanoodled with Gil all night until, *drumroll*, Gil's boyfriend shows up, LOL! We stumble home at 2ish... but I really don't remember. Music was eh. Crowd was hot. But it was packed to the point of annoying. If not for the bed, we would've gone somewhere fetcher. Phillip's right: next time we need bodyguards. Four each. Part the crowds, rope the heathens out, we'll make an entrance, so bow to the queens. Fetch.

[o'er the land of the free] Dim sum brunch with greasy dumplings was all I could think about on July 4th so off we (Ben/Mike and us) went to China Garden for a ton of food. Phillip (again!) and I then went cruising around in my convertible for hot boys on 17th St, LOL! We even drove to Kalorama to pick out a house (quick, call Bruce). From there, it was fireworks time.

We ended up driving to Iwo Jima (surprisingly little traffic and ample parking) and hung out with Paul/Joe for the rockets red glare and the bombs bursting in air. It was the perfect end to a loooooong and drunken weekend in the City. It didn't start out very promising (all the hot boys had left town) but it ended with a huge bang, with more mean girls antics than can fit in my hair.

JUL 4 :: [happy fourth!] This is a fun read: "You're either gay, straight or lying"

JUL 1 :: [supreme disaster] Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, 75, the first woman appointed to the Supreme Court (in 1981 by Reagan) and a decisive swing vote for a quarter-century on virtually all the major legal issues of our time such as abortion, race, the death penalty, affirmative action, terrorism, and church-state, stunned the nation today by announcing her retirement. Her departure leaves Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg as the only other woman among the current justices. It's been 11 years since the last Supreme Court vacancy, one of the longest uninterrupted stretches in history (since the 1820s). The despicable President Bush now gets his first opportunity to appoint a justice.

FUCK!!! I was hoping Rehnquist would go since he is already far-right so no harm in the President appointing another far-right nut to the Supreme Court. But O'Connor is a moderate (although she did screw up Bush v Gore) and now Bush gets to replace a moderate Justice with an ultra-conservative one à la Rehnquist/Scalia/Thomas, altering the direction of the court in a completely fucked up way. NOT FETCH!!!

It's only the first day of July, the beginning of summer, and it's already shaping up to be the looooongest, most heated, tumultuous, partisan-crazy summer ever.

This is a disaster. My day and weekend has just been ruined. Absolutely not fetch at all.

In other completely irrelevant news now that this retirement has been announced... The Schroeder government collapsed as expected, paving the way for German elections in Sept. The Feds raised the rates by a quarter for the ninth consecutive time, bumping it up to 3.25%. But all of this was as expected as the Supreme Court resignation was unexpected. Especially not O'Connor. I'm gonna cry...

[ireland = new europe?] Giggle from Thomas Friedman (NYT) today in "Follow the Leapin' Leprechaun":

"There is a huge debate roiling in Europe today over which economic model to follow: the Franco-German shorter-workweek-six-weeks'-vacation-never-fire-anyone-but-high-unemployment social model or the less protected but more innovative, high-employment Anglo-Saxon model preferred by Britain, Ireland and Eastern Europe. It is obvious to me that the Irish-British model is the way of the future, and the only question is when Germany and France will face reality: either they become Ireland or they become museums. That is their real choice over the next few years - it's either the leprechaun way or the Louvre."

Chirac is having a fit right now!

And this makes the most sense, although the US is far from converting economic success to a real social model:

"...because of all the tax revenue and employment the global companies are generating in Ireland, Dublin has been able to increase spending on health care, schools and infrastructure. "You can only do this if you have the income to do it," Deputy Prime Minister Mary Harney said. "You can't have social inclusion without economic success. ... This is how you create the real social Europe.""

And success is measurable:

"Here's something you probably didn't know: Ireland today is the richest country in the European Union after Luxembourg. Yes, the country that for hundreds of years was best known for emigration, tragic poets, famines, civil wars and leprechauns today has a per capita G.D.P. higher than that of Germany, France and Britain."

"Ireland's advice is very simple: Make high school and college education free; make your corporate taxes low, simple and transparent; actively seek out global companies; open your economy to competition; speak English; keep your fiscal house in order; and build a consensus around the whole package with labor and management - then hang in there, because there will be bumps in the road - and you, too, can become one of the richest countries in Europe."

Ireland *is* the new Europe.

More >>

31 :: no fear, no hate
31 :: dna craziness
31 :: weekend interrupted
29 :: smorgasbord
29 :: so it begins
29 :: what's the diff
29 :: brit-ch it
27 :: oh metro
26 :: heatwave
25 :: hot! ii
25 :: hot!
25 :: the wrong war
22 :: msft v goog
22 :: more light
21 :: déjà vu
21 :: just another wednesday
21 :: dem dilemma
21 :: again?!
20 :: john g. who?
20 :: boring shit
18 :: gaston-orgasm
18 :: oz!
15 :: australia
15 :: more vodka, bitches!
14 :: faux pas
14 :: don't mess with...
13 :: why?
13 :: scum of the earth
12 :: shoes first
12 :: we are not afraid
12 :: metro is cool
12 :: putrid
12 :: boycott
11 :: jr's sunday
11 :: cindy, dennis
11 :: a misbegotten war
09 :: 3 down, 1 to go
09 :: just another stanky friday
09 :: stanky o'hare
09 :: stuck in o'hare
09 :: have laptop, will type
08 :: thank you
08 :: as good as it gets?
08 :: best laid plans
07 :: chronology of terror
07 :: terror in london
06 :: impeach bush
06 :: london 2012
05 :: ipod pleasures
05 :: i love fireworks
05 :: the calm...
05 :: hurricane hex
05 :: b-a-n-a-n-a-s!
05 :: 13 hours
05 :: where's the food
05 :: o'er the land of the free
04 :: happy fourth!
01 :: supreme disaster
01 :: ireland = new europe?