"Ear muffs"

that dodge shadow was a pile of scrap metal! forget it - i am going for japanese now. 1990 toyota corolla - in real bad shape. aaron has agreed to help me. now i have representation. take that u redneck, trailer trash owner.

it looks like the fl trip will happen (if i have money left over from car purchase). vervono got funding through the fall. it will be about $340 each for air, room, and car. not too bad if u ask me.

the weather is turning again. knew it was too good to last. damn - this blog is almost putting me to sleep (literally, not figuratively) with its mundane-ness. i gotta get me a life, dude. to be blog-worthy. what irony.

btw, all the pictures on turbanhead.com (from the California expedition) were taken with a yashica t4 (discontinued, but available t4 super for $179 on adorama for new). for all "camera" snoots and newbie, vain, show-offs, that should be a lesson. lets see them all - with their nikon straps around the neck and weatherproof samsonite camera bags and unimaginative, out-of-focus shots with a 500-dollar-camera beat that.

humming: dancing in the dark

note to self: get earplugs for bus (and all other public places).

On random

i have two book ideas that i want to cash in on. No - this time it's serious. tentative titles for them are: video nation and coming of age in america. obviously, the second one has something to do with the mead book. Ahem ahem.
i signed up for a session with a personal trainer today. i just can't take the stalemate that i have run into in terms of my workouts. it's a killer for motivation. i must have one of the lowest metabolisms in the planet. the point is, i want to re-shape/define my legs which are in abominable shape. this morning, after weeks of tedious and disciplined effort, i still saw the roll of fat on the back of my thigh. it killed me.
btw, avon's cellu-sculpt is a wonder lotion. i was skeptical about it initially, but with the gradual improvements i see, i am starting to suspect that there may be some horrible catch. nothing can be this effective without screwing you over from the inside.
omg, how could I have not mentioned this before? at the wedding in chicago that we all went to in late may, my cousin brother (17) actually sported a boner while hugging me... aawwwww, isn't that adorable? kids! :)
i am thinking of buying a car – a 1990 dodge shadow, used to death with 180k on it. perhaps this is insanity. but may be i can pray for it to work out. the present owner said he wants 1.5g for it. si ce voiture est 1.5K, je suis femme de la batte, (nod to dave barry's column on france) .
i dunno what brings this on (duh?) but lately i feel like my arrested development is not rocking anymore. it's whack. i need to get a heads up on life. at least a used, beat up, 13-year-old car - not asking for much now, am i? for chrissake, most of my du batch mates have two kids, a flat, their own businesses or steady jobs... i feel like time's passing me by. what if this is as good as it gets? i need a frigging ride. at least, yeah?

Humming: destiny (zero 7)

Seen on t-shirt: "i'm well-traveled
(not really, my mind sort of wanders)"

"enthusiams, enthusiasms"...

bobby de niro's afi life-time achievement award show was on tv this evening. they showed all the clips that have special meaning for me. i realize that i know half the words from his most memorable scenes although i am no great fan, nor have i even seen some of the films they are from. once, an impossibly long time ago, someone cherished would quote them from memory - liberally, frequently - so often and so well that these words will be ingrained in my subconscious, perhaps forever. and no matter how vicious the words - whenever i hear them they will always make me smile.

must mention and chronicle an snl skit that caught my eye during re-runs (hosted by lucy liu). in it, will ferrel is george bush jr and darryl hammond is al gore. they are in a mexican restaurant having reconciliatory dinner after the 2000 elections have been finally decided. in the scene, al gore says sth to the effect that george jr is now president and how powerful that made him. george jr's replies with a list of important decisions he could take as president: "yeah, may be i'll start a war. war's like execution supersized." and then will ferrel does that creepy, eye-crinkly giggle. it was uncanny how they had the character down pat.

quote of the day:
"better to be king for a day, than a schmuck for a lifetime" - Rupert Pupkin (De Niro) in The King of Comedy.

Humming: color blind (counting crows)

12 sunny days of summer

this year, apparently the met office has forecast 12 sunny summer days for wv. this bit of news was overheard on the bus so take it with a pinch of salt b/c in wv not too many people of sound mind use the public bus system - except myself of course but i have financial constraints which i should prolly not start on. getting back to the weather - 12 days.. twelve friggin days - well 11 really. cuz today we got to see the sun for the first time in abt two weeks. i am not a rainy day person. although i do love the occasional, no holds barred, totally wild and unpredictable summer thunderstorms.

i heard somewhere (likely on tv cuz that is my source of trivia for most other things - who says ppl dont learn from tv?) that you are considered a loser if you are still riding the bus to work or elsewhere in america after the age of 30. i got two more years to straighten up my act then.

but then again i have still to see what my life becomes after the die-able, viable age of 31. this reminds me, i should reinitiate my search for my tortured poet friend who was formerly in u of denton.

last night, there was an anniversary party thrown by one of the better couples of the infamous kal posse. they cooked up a storm. ate so much that went out to play bball in the afternoon today - dont know how many calories i burned but this much is for sure: i got no future in bball , as virtual c lovingly, tragically told me a long time ago. thing is, i got no future in any sport but i do love to play, regardless of who wins. doesn't that make me a good 'sports(wo)man'? does this world still use that term, btw? i guess along with chivalry, morals, etiquette, honor, and ethics - that concept may also be lying dead in some big city, back-alley gutter.

talking abt the kal posse. the more time i spend with them the more i see our differences. shouldn't it be the other way? and i wonder why. we are culturally, racially, linguistically almost the same. but there is the matter of religion. and right now i am almost 98% convinced that religion is what sets us apart. explain why they are so inward-looking, uncouth, intolerant and self-absorbed (for chrissake, you can't convert to hinduism; u can't go into their temples if you r not one - how much more closed-off can a religion be??? might i add - most hindus i meet are actually proud of this, except mr eats - which is the only redeeming quality abt him that makes me think of him as a friend still)...

all that talk we used to hear abt how intellectually progressive kal is (while growing up in dhaka) is pure, unadulterated hogwash. at least as far as the current generation goes, or those of them that i have met. they are completely oblivious to a world outside of their beloved city. kal is like the real life zion. a hole in the world. where nothing, not even light from outside can pass without judgement. almost like americans but the problem is america's actually got the pomp and power but kal denizens have got delusions of both. in kal's defence i have to add that i may have spent too much time with two of the worst representatives a city could ever have, and therefore, i should beware not to draw generalized conclusions. but i think i need to sort this out for myself without getting unduly depressed, before i can sort out the other racial influences in my life as the migrant brown muslim nobody. which is the ultimate objective for this blog. for now, moving on ...

talking abt representation: naayika says that one must strive for 'responsbile research' and for that one must give careful attention to the matter of representation. is that possible? we need to discuss this more.

when i go around all day thinking abt my blog and watching ppl intensely to see what they say or do are blog-worthy, i accumulate a ton of things to chronicle in here. but when i finally get to blogging, everything that comes to mind turns out to be so ... blah! i wish i could carry around a device with me that would let me take notes all day - perhaps like a notebook? hahaha... come on, the irony is hilarious.

humming: tin pagoler mela (farida parveen)
reading: the same book - over and over again