age before beauty

Friday night, Denisse took me to a party with amazing sangria. Her friend Dean commented on how different that gathering was from parties back in undergrad days ("There's no jungle juice, and the women aren't as slutted out as they were in college.")

Which brings me to Saturday night ... I hung out with the French Connection at a house party complete with college students, a keg, jello shots, and jungle juice. Hosts Ian and Marisa were fab and it was good times with mes voyous Turk, Susan, Nathan, Becki, and Trevor. After everyone else had taken off, Trevor carried a vintage pachinko machine to my car and we talked for hours.

The most interesting (but pathetic) dynamic I witnessed Saturday: The young twenty-something women who were absolutely beautiful but also incredibly insecure. It makes me glad to be the age I am and that I have never hidden my intelligence to get a man to like me.

Proof positive that you can be smart and have a GSOH:

angels in disguise

I perused Nick Wood's beautiful photography book, 360 Paris, yesterday.

As I leafed through the images, I was struck by this inscription, which appears (in English) in a doorway inside the Shakespeare & Company Bookstore in Paris.

"Be not inhospitable to strangers
Lest they be angels in disguise."

terrorism is ...

I want a t-shirt with this on it. Now.

geek cred

As of today, I'm officially a graduate student. And that's a demographic I'm totally down with being a part of.

acerbic wit

Saw David J's Cabaret Oscuro ("a very dark, highly visual, starkly theatrical presentation in the best Bauhaus tradition...[A] contemporary take on the avant-garde cabaret of old Paris, Weimar and Berlin,") at the Casbah tonight.

I was skeptical when the opening band set up and a xylophone and trombone were put on the stage. My doubt was well founded.

But David J. was phenomenal. The archetypal Englishman — scathingly witty and goofily unfettered by self-consciousness — played with a cellist (Joyce Rooks) and pianist. "Androgyny" got the evening going, followed by "Joe Orton's Wedding." But my favorite parts of the set came with "Pretty," [I'll] "Mess Up" [Your Life], and "Dress Sexy At My Funeral." I don't know the second-to-last song he sang (perhaps "Pulling Arrows From Our Heels" or "Who Killed Mr. Moonlight"?), but that captivated me as well.

Having never owned the requisite uniform (corsets, chains, and chokers and an amulet ... and turkish cigarettes in a black coffin lunchbox), I was amused by his send-up of "Goth Girls In Southern California" and his comically sarcastic — but beautiful — version of "Bela Lugosi's Dead."

Still, you could almost feel the goths drooling when he made a coy allusion to the fact that Bauhaus is re-forming and will be recording a new album and touring later this year.

happy birthday, susan a!

My top five Susan A. memories:
1. "It's Nolan's Cocaine" Carrot Cake
2. Many hours of core with Alexia
3. You, in my bathing suit that one time
4. Tears on July 30, 2003
5. 30 days of food and friends

I hope today is beyond beautiful. And that you get what you wish for.

I miss you so much and wish that you weren't on the opposite end of the country. Now if only I could find where I put your damn phone number ...

shake what your mama gave you

Denisse and I got our sweat on tonight in back-to-back salsa moves and street moves (hip hop) cardio classes. We laughed out loud when Cy ordered us to shimmy and shake our cleavage during the open-v step.

Which leads me to the quote of the evening: "Shake what your mama gave you. Or, if you're like me, what you bought."

¡ay mujer, cómo bailas!

Tatjana convinced me to join her tonight for an evening of salsa and merengue at Café Sevilla. I had a blast, and danced for all but 10 minutes of the night.

That scene is refreshingly different from the circles in which I normally travel. Also, there's something terribly sexy about men who dance well and speak to you in multiple languages.

sometimes it's better not to know

Harry unnerved me by referencing Lloyd Cole's "Trigger Happy" today.

I've listened to the song many, many times in the past two weeks. I assumed it was about a woman until tonight. Perhaps it's the first person manner in which Cole speaks. Or that he clearly loves the person to whom he's speaking. Or that I'm an impossible girl.

Trigger Happy
I love your head, I love the way you hold your head
Because you`re young and you know it
There ain`t nothing you can't do
Because you know there ain`t nothing you can`t do

I love your head, I love the way you hold your head
Because you know there is no connection between old and what`s new
And there ain`t nothing you can`t do
Oh, nothing at all

And you know that gun is loaded, sure you do
Summertime blue, summertime blue
Yes you know that gun is loaded, sure you do
If not for you

The way you walk, I love the way you wear contempt for my sort
Oh, should I give you my money?
A steady hand, a little trigger happy angry little man
Oh, pull the trigger take it all, oh you take it all

But you know that gun is loaded, sure you do
Summertime blue, summertime blue
And you know that gun is loaded, sure you do

I love your head, I love the way you hold your head
Because you're young, and you know it
A steady hand, a little trigger happy?
And we`ll tell you how to live
Then we`ll take away the reason
And we wonder why we wonder
How you`re not the way that we were

My curiosity piqued, I started looking for live show reviews, where I might find some context via Lloyd's remarks about the song. I stumbled on this narrative of a recent show:

Moving to a delightfully gentle trickle of an intro, Lloyd began quietly singing "Trigger Happy" from Love Story, with the charming, 'I love the way you hold your head because you're young / there ain't nothing you can't do.' At the end of this song, which was clearly written for his son, he added to the closing line of 'how you're not the way that we were', a comment on his son's taste for rap: 'with your Eminem, you're not the way that we were, with your 50 Cent,' before adding slowly, half-speaking 'Which is not to say we got it right.'

And now I'm sad, knowing what the song is really about.

reality check

H: Good news! I rented my room to a nice Japanese guy.
A: That's great! So does he speak Spanish or French?
H: No.
A: *laughter*

moog no more

Synthesizer pioneer Dr. Robert Moog has died at his North Carolina home aged 71, four months after being diagnosed with brain cancer.

owning up to loneliness is no big deal

I really heard these lyrics for the first time tonight. This, in spite of listening to Lloyd Cole's wry song many, many times in the past few months.

It hit me like a ton of bricks when I realized that someone I know could be the narrator. Miss you much, indeed.

Man On The Verge (about the lyrics; listen)
Independent reader,
I, looking for a better quality of life
Seeking to depart from lonelyhearted page

Sensitive to greying hair
Looking for a W /(slash) sense of humor

Man on the verge
Of the nerve

Boyish 37
Sorely uninspired

Single melancholy male
Owning up to loneliness is no big deal
Everything is gone tomorrow
Miss you much...

quotable

"You've got hair in places most people haven't got brains."
-Robyn Hitchcock, (1953 - ) English singer-songwriter and psych folk artist, in "1974," from the album "A Star for Bram."

calling all neos

This recruitment poster is just too weird.

"Just as Keanu Reeves fought against the powers of evil, a priest comes to help people fight against sin. There is a battle out there," explained Father Jonathan Meyer, associate director of youth and young adult ministry for the Archdiocese of Indianapolis.

He made the comments in an interview with Catholic News Service about a new vocations recruitment poster being distributed by his archdiocese.

Father Meyer said it got a huge response. "They were going like hotcakes. Young kids wanted them to hang in their bedrooms, high school students wanted them to hang in their lockers," he said. "That is invaluable. If we can get kids to hang a picture of a priest in their room, we've done something huge for vocations."
Via Miriku

secrets

Met Chad and Denisse at Nunu's tonight for drinks and then it was off to Transport.

After the superfreak of the world (who — naturally — wouldn't go away and who was all up in my grill) sat next to me and proceeded to get half naked, Jimmy, Mark, and Darren rescued Rogelia and I from said freak. That experience was only slightly mitigated by an unexpected compliment from a total stranger. The bottom line: It's cheaper to get wrecked at home and Transport is only as fun as the people you bring with you.

Time to get some serious zzzs before Casey and I meet Jennifer and Huck at Con Pane in a few hours ...

quotable

"I am always busy, which is perhaps the chief reason why I am always well."
-Elizabeth Cady Stanton, (1815-1902) American social reformer and women's suffrage leader

Amen, sister. I'm wired such that I'm happiest when I'm a busy bee (within reason).

comfortable in my own skin

"A healthy body is the guest-chamber of the soul; a sick, its prison."
-Francis Bacon (1541-1626), English philosopher, statesman, spy, freemason, and essayist.

I finally love my body and am comfortable in my own skin. Part of it was the Harry experience. But a bigger part is that I've lost 50 pounds since Christmas, in a healthy and sustainable way.

I love that I'm strong, that my muscles are toned, that I can run on a treadmill without feeling like my heart's gonna explode right out of my chest, and that my clothes hug my curves in all the right places.

It feels amazing to have taken control of the one area where success has eluded me all my life.

respect yourself

Even more good news for sexually active single people...
In the American Journal of Health Behavior, [researchers] note that one in five adults in the U.S. currently has an incurable sexually transmitted disease. Evidence suggests that using a condom can protect against STDs, but perhaps not if used incorrectly.

Grimley and her team interviewed 1,124 people visiting an STD clinic about their use of condoms and if they made any mistakes while using a condom in the past 30 days. More than half of the people interviewed during the study said they had not used a condom the last time they had sex.

call me chicken jalfrezi, but I haven’t got a danny (la rue).

I love british slang.

bellibones

Allison and Geraghty both mentioned this NPR story on words that have been lost from the English language, so I took a moment to listen. I'm glad that Allison called me "bellibones" yesterday.

The term is an old English word derived from the French phrase, belle et bonne. It refers to "a good woman" — a woman who is not only good looking, but also has a good heart.

mad cow, it's what's for dinner

I've been thinking more seriously about cutting meat out of my diet. After reading this article, it seems like now is as good a time as any to stop eating beef.

And don't even get me started on how lackadaisical we Americans are about our food supply ... we really are sheep compared to the europeans. I smile when I think about much of the grafitti I saw in Italy in April 2001 — it was in Firenze and railed against genetically modified food.

USDA finds 1,000 violations of mad cow rules: Meat plants cut corners, failed to remove banned materials
Federal food safety inspectors found more than 1,000 instances since 2004 where U.S. meat plants cut corners or violated regulations aimed at preventing the spread of mad cow disease, the U.S. Agriculture Department said Monday.

The USDA said it released documents to the American Meat Institute and the consumer group Public Citizen showing that federal inspectors filed 1,036 noncompliance reports from January 2004 to May 2005 involving the removal of the brain, skull and spinal cord of cattle aged 30 months and older. The materials are considered to carry the highest risk in spreading the brain-wasting disease, also known as bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE).

A PANTY SHOP or SNAPPY OATH

Brendan's online anagram generator is too much fun.

Interesting name anagrams for some of my friends: VICAR ADD AN ASS, CRISES NOW, and ANARCHY ORB. And SAN DIEGO = DIAGNOSE.

Update: Geraghty just pointed me to this NY Times article on anagrams, which includes these fun ones:
STATUE OF LIBERTY = BUILT TO STAY FREE
GEORGE W BUSH = HE GREW BOGUS
Via AIDA NAIL

another august

When I stop and think about the state of the world, my first reaction is usually anger.

An op-ed piece in today's NY Times puts it in a different light, one I thought worth sharing:

Humankind goes on burning the bridges in front and behind us without apology, our own worst enemies, God help us all.

And maybe this is the part I find most distancing about my president, not his fanatic heart - the unassailable sense he projects that God is on his side - we all have that. But that he seems to lack anything like real remorse, here in the third August of Iraq, in the fourth August of Afghanistan, in the fifth August of his presidency - for all of the intemperate speech, for the weapons of mass destruction that were not there, the "Mission Accomplished" that really wasn't, for the funerals he will not attend, the mothers of the dead he will not speak to, the bodies of the dead we are not allowed to see and all of the soldiers and civilians whose lives have been irretrievably lost or irreparably changed by his (and our) "Bring it On" bravado in a world made more perilous by such pronouncements.

Surely we must all bear our share of guilt and deep regret, some sadness at the idea that here we are, another August into our existence, and whether we arrived by way of evolution or intelligent design or the hand of God working over the void, no history can record that we've progressed beyond our hateful, warring and fanatical ways.

We may be irreversibly committed to play out the saga of Iraq. But each of us, we humans, if we are to look our own kind in the eye, should at least be willing to say we're sorry, that all over our smaller and more lethal planet, whatever the causes, we're still killing our own kind - the same but different - but our own kind nonetheless. Even on vacation we oughtn't hide from that.

U2 honored

If ever I write a personal ad, it will include a line about my desire for a partner with Bono's ardent commitment to social justice. My friend Diana put it best: "How many guys can talk about world peace and not come off like a trite Miss America contestant? He sings and speaks with passion and conviction, and that is incredibly sexy."

U2 handed top Portuguese honour
Irish rock band U2 have been awarded Portugal's highest honour for their humanitarian work. President Jorge Sampaio bestowed the Order of Liberty honour on the group hours before they went on stage for a concert in Lisbon on Sunday.

Before presenting U2 with their honours, Sampaio said: "Over the last 25 years you have shown that it is possible to combine the pleasure of artistic creation with civic and humanitarian intervention to help build a better world."

early signs of alzheimer's

Man forgets wife at gas station
A Macedonian man left his wife at an Italian service station and only realized he had driven off without her six hours later, news agency Ansa said.

The couple, who were travelling with their 4-year-old daughter, pulled over for petrol in the coastal city of Pesaro as they were heading back to their home to Germany. After filling the tank, the husband drove away -- without noticing that his 30-year-old wife, originally from Georgia, had got out of the car to go to the toilet.

The woman, who had no money or documents with her, contacted the police who eventually traced her husband to Milan, some 340 km (210 miles) north of Pesaro, Ansa said. The husband told police he had not missed his wife because she always sat in the back of the car with their daughter.

those wacky virgos

Laura and Aaron are so yin and yang and the flowerpot man with their love advice.

Aaron's all but pimping out men, and Laura's admonishing me to be careful with my heart. Here's hoping that they're both right ...

a high-tech way to flirt

My friend Farhan once quipped "there's always time for romance." This, despite his busy life and impossible schedule as a medical resident.

I smile when I think of the ways that love and romance surmount even the most difficult of barriers — in this case, Saudi Arabia's cultural and religious norms:

Bluetooth gives segregated sexes a way to reach out, discreetly
The restaurant, like all Riyadh eateries, has taken precautions to prevent its male and female diners from seeing or contacting each other.

Circular white walls surround each table in the family section, open only to women alone or women accompanied by close male relatives. Other male diners are on lower floors.

Yet despite the barriers, the men and women flirt and exchange phone numbers, photos and kisses.

solidarity, 25 years on

"Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it's the only thing that ever has."
-Margaret Mead (1901-1978), American anthropologist

Twenty-five years ago, Solidarity, the first independent trade union in the former Soviet bloc, was born in Poland. Political and economic tensions spilled over in Gdansk on Aug. 14. Led by Lech Walesa, 17,000 workers went on strike in the Lenin shipyard and red and white became a symbol of resistance.

10,000 opposition activists were jailed and dozens were killed in clashes with police during the three-year campaign for economic, political, religious, and cultural freedom.

Walesa won the 1983 Nobel Peace Prize and on Dec. 9, 1990, he became the first freely elected president of Poland in 50 years.

le week-end

My weekend was fun, and filled with interesting experiences with old (and new) friends:

Partying in Golden Hill on Saturday
Bantering with Cath, who has lived in the Midlands for six years -- she's solid!
Giving Aaron an eyeful at Sabbat after knocking heads with someone from the Retro days
Sitting with my mouth agape as I watched March of the Penguins on Sunday afternoon
Seeing Brandon and Cath briefly before the French connection came over
Laughing until my sides ached as les voyous cheered, booed, and hissed through Jeopardy!

quotable

"Naturally, the common people don't want war, but they can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. Tell them they are being attacked, and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and endangering the country. It works the same in every country."
- Herman Goering, (1893-1946), Nazi and founder of the Gestapo, at the Nuremberg Trials