ask and you shall receive

I have been feeling that lately I haven't been doing much of anything at work. Having worked at the Gap, I was so used to doing something every minute of every work day and I was constantly on my feet and on the go. Apparently, having an office job is very different. According to my boyfriend (who went from managing restaurants to the IT industry) this relative boredom at work is common in office jobs. Well, I want my work life to have meaning, so I asked for some more responsibilities behind my boss' back (who doesn't want me helping other departments) and word spread that I wanted to do more stuff. So, NOW I have two new BIG projects (on top of the other two that I have) and today was my first day trying to balance my new workload with my old workload. Ugh, it's not easy. Apparently, you really should be careful what you wish for.

crazy for fiona

I'm very, very excited because on Saturday (yes, during the trip to Orlando) I got tickets to see Fiona Apple in concert. I love wireless internet and my laptop! Anyways, I've been wanting to see her for quite some time and my attempts to see her perform were always thwarted by something--not having a car in college, not having the money to see her, lack of fiona fans among my friends, etc. I feel that she is an enormous talet, albeit a bit odd. Usually the really talented arty types tend to be somewhat strange. But I digress. She's totally awesome and I love that she writes her own stuff. I've related to her lyrics during many stages of my life--mainly the break-up-with-a-boy stages. I may not have any boy angst to report (as my friends have pointed out many times, Jesse and I are annoyingly cute together), I can still feel the emotion of her music.

Pro-lifers strike back

If you are at all interested in the abortion debate, please read the following story that I received from Planned Parenthood:

An Indiana mother recently accompanied her daughter and her daughter's boyfriend to one of Indiana's Planned Parenthood clinics, but they unwittingly walked into a so-called "crisis pregnancy center" run by an anti-abortion group, one that shared a parking lot with the real Planned Parenthood clinic and was designed expressly to lure Planned Parenthood patients and deceive them.

The group took down the girl's confidential personal information and told her to come back for her appointment, which they said would be in their "other office" (the real Planned Parenthood office nearby). When she arrived for her appointment, not only did the Planned Parenthood staff have no record of her, but the police were there. The "crisis pregnancy center" had called them, claiming that a minor was being forced to have an abortion against her will.

The "crisis pregnancy center" staff then proceeded to wage a campaign of intimidation and harassment over the following days, showing up at the girl's home and calling her father's workplace. Our clinic director reports that the girl was "scared to death to leave her house." They even went to her school and urged classmates to pressure her not to have an abortion.

The anti-choice movement is setting up these "crisis pregnancy centers" across the country. Some of them have neutral-sounding names and run ads that falsely promise the full range of reproductive health services, but they dispense anti-choice propaganda and intimidation instead. And according to a recent article in The New York Times, there are currently more of these centers in the U.S. than there are actual abortion providers. What's more, these centers have received $60 million in government grants. They're being funded by our tax dollars.

A bill has just been introduced in Congress to stop the fraudulent practices of fake clinics, but it desperately needs more support. Tell your representative to take a stand: anti-choice extremists must not get away with this any longer!

Go to:http://www.ppaction.org/campaign/fakeclinics

Orlando--the land of many lakes

Yesterday, Jesse and I returned from our weekend trip to Orlando, FL where we got to see a friend of his get married. Although we stayed across the street from the Disney Resorts, we did not do any of the typical touristy things to do in Orlando--mainly, go to any of the Disney resorts or Sea World or whatever. We decided to go to Blue Spring State Park to see the manatees. Unforunately, the manatees had left long before we even got there, not scheduled to return until next winter. I was incredibly disappointed, of course. I had really hoped to see some manatees in their natural habitat (or at least in their winter time share). Instead, I saw a beautiful water oasis (that actually reminded me of the Jungle Cruise at Disneyland--without the animatronics. There were 5-foot long fish (which probably would've made a tasty meal), smaller fish, turtles, and possibly gators. It was gorgeous and I'm glad we went, even though we didn't see any manatees.

Florida is very flat. And it has many lakes. The natural landscape is very tropical. Orlando, I've realized, would be nothing without its tourism. It's a city totally dependent on its out-of-towners and has little appeal beyond its tourist attractions--namely Disney and Sea World and the Holy Land Experience. Yes, that's right. You can now travel back 2000 years and visit Jerusalem in Orlando!!! You can even take your picture with Jesus. Too bad we missed it.

that other perpetually warm state

Tomorrow I get to escape DC (and avoid a rainy weekend apparently) and fly to Orlando, FL. Orlando is the home of the other Disney Park and the other Sea World. Although I am only in town because of a wedding (one of Jesse's friends), I hope to take in some of Orlando, tourist-style. Actually, I only hope to see manatees in their natural habitat. And no, Sea World does not count as their natural habitat. Who wouldn't want to see the magnificent creatures also known as the sea cow? They're so cute and slow and unassuming. And I find them to be incredibly adorable!

suburban outrage!!!

So, I've been living out in the burbs for 19 days now (can you tell that I miss the city?) and I have only one major gripe. Yes, it's true that I now have to take the bus to get to the metro. Yes, it's true that the suburbanites aren't nice to pedestrians. Yes, it's true that there are no fascinating dining options out here. But why can't we have good shopping? Anyone who's been out to Ballston (or even Arlington in general) knows that there are yuppies as far as the eye can see. Why then does Ballston have the crappiest shopping mall ever? One would assume that with all of the Ann Taylor and J. Crew clones out in NoVA that Ballston Mall would be a somewhat respectable shopping establishment. Ballston Mall could never be like Tysons or even Pentagon City. But there is so much urbanization around the Mall that it would make sense to invest in the Mall itself. Think of all the money that would be made. Additionally, the improved shopping options would draw even more yuppies than the ones who frequent Baileys and Rock Bottom. I personally would rather see the mall full of yuppies than pre-teens (who currently rule Ballston Mall). So, if anyone with any pull is reading this, please improve Ballston Mall! I miss shopping at Banana and H&M and Kenneth Cole. Please bring them to Ballston!!!

America's pasttime

It's a beautiful spring day in the District (again, surprisingly) and the weather is reminiscent of the great weather we had this past weekend. On Saturday, my favorite baseball team, the Anaheim Angels were in the area. Yes, I know that they are not officially the "anaheim angels" anymore, but I refuse to call them the LA Angels of Anaheim, because any Cali native knows that's just stupid. So, yes, my Angels were in B-more to face the Orioles and they actually lost 3 of 4 in that series--darn O's. And although the loss was very difficult to swallow (and the subsequent harassment I received from a table of drunk O's fans at ESPN Zone didn't help), there was one highlight. My boyfriend caught a baseball. It was not just any ball, but an official MLB baseball used in actual play. As Jesse and I were casually hanging out in our seats in the outfield bleachers, a ball was hit into our general area. We weren't paying attention at the time and a group of guys jumped up and reached for the ball. Somehow the ball hit the seats instead and bounced over to Jesse. And although the ball was hit by some Oriole, I was very, very excited about Jesse catching the ball.

Pro-choicer at her worst

Not sure if anyone has read the Post today, but "Ask Amy" was particularly disturbing today. In it, a 40 yo woman writes about how she is pregnant and it was not planned and one of her pro-choice friends (the writer is pro-choice too) basically advises her to abort and goes off: "She said that "there ain't nothing there that you can call a life" and that obstetricians perform ultrasounds so early in pregnancy to "browbeat and intimidate" women into having babies that they don't want." WOW. Now, I am relatively new to this whole pro-choice thing (meaning, I was never particularly active in this debate, but I feel passionately about it now), but that kind of behavior doesn't sound right. After all, at the heart of the pro-choice argument is that there should be available options for women who are facing unintended pregnancies. This woman seems to be forcing on her friend what she deems is the only option for her--abortion.

I personally will not force my beliefs on anyone and I am open to hearing the pro-life point of view. And if I were to deal with an unintended pregnancy, I would cautiously weigh all of my options before making a decision. I would hope that other pro-choicers would do the same. Let's not lose sight of the bigger picture here. We are here to ensure a choice that would be up to the woman, not a politician.

Speaking of abortion, there was an interesting article in the British Medical Journal which is definitely making waves. It is an unintended response to the pro-life argument that a fetus is a human being because it feels pain when aborted. Actually, according to a review of available data, a fetus cannot feel pain at any particular time during the period of gestation (pregnancy). His reasoning being: "The neural circuitry needed to process pain is complete, if not mature, by 26 weeks' gestation, he said. "From about 26 weeks you can talk about there being a complete system in terms of biology, a link from the skin to the spinal cord to the brain, and we know that set-up is reasonably functional," Derbyshire explained. But to properly experience pain, the mind must also be developed, something which cannot happen until after birth." This is surely worth debating.

Easter holiday

This Easter holiday has got me thinking about one thing: my sins. I've decided that I am not a very holy person. I came upon this realization when I read an email from my friend Dave. We were planning things to do this weekend and decided that we would get together for Sunday brunch. He then decided to throw in an invitaiton to church. Yes, it's true. In a completely different lifetime, I used to go to church every Sunday and in another lifetime from long ago, I used to go to church every single day.

As a child, my mom and I would go to church everyday (yes, I was raised Catholic). I cannot dispute my mom's holiness. She almost never misses Sunday service, unless she is ill. And her illness would need to incapacitate her in order for her to miss mass. Even today, my mom urges me to attend mass, reminding me every week that I really should go and I should take my boyfriend with me. Jesse is not a church-goer and never even liked church as a kid so I'm really not going to force him to go. But the issue is, do I really want to go there now? Did I ever want to go to church, or was this something that my mom forced me to do? And now that I live no where near my mom, do I need to go?

I have always believed that everyone is entitled to their own relationship with God or whatever higher being they believe in. While going to private Catholic schools growing up, I was always fascinated with my non-Catholic classmates. I never judged them. In fact, I admired them for keeping an open mind during our mandatory religion classes. But I digress...

I don't think I should go to church now because that would make me a hypocrite. I don't really want to go. Considering that I work for a pro-choice organization (that also supports stem-cell research) and I'm living in sin with my boyfriend (that's a sin I don't mind committing), I probably wouldn't be welcome anyways. But the fact of the matter is that my heart isn't into going to church; therefore, I would be untrue to myself and God by going to Easter mass.

On that note, enjoy the holiday whether you go to church or synagogue or whatever (or you choose not to go).

Those crazy liberals

If you know anything about me, you know that I am a liberal. I once told a republican at a republican fundraiser (free booze from a republican is still free booze) that I am so far left you can't even see me from the middle. After last night's event, I may not be that far left.

Last night, I attended a Drinking Liberally DC event in which Chris Mooney was featured. Chris Mooney is the author of The Republican War on Science, an excellent book no matter what your political beliefs are. It is very readable (you don't have to be a physicist to get it) and very, very eye-opening. I strongly recommend it.

While at the event, I was in awe at the number of uber-liberals that enjoyed hearing themselves speak. After a short speech, Chris fielded questions from the group and some people had excellent questions. Others just spoke in order to demonstrate their vast knowledge of the environment, global warming, the conservative media (isn't that an oxymoron? Usually the media is accused of being liberal), genetically modified foods, etc. My favorite part was when Chris was asked to name one science issue where the GOP gets it right. Chris mentioned how animal rights activists have argued that the same experiments made on animals can be made with computer simulations and will give the same results (Dude, I love animals but even as a liberal I know that's not true). The man who asked the question appeared unsatisfied with his response and asked for another example. Chris then appeared to struggle for an answer. GOP and science don't appear to get along.

I heart Gwen

It's actually a beautiful day in the District today and, seeing as that I lived in sunny, perfect Cali for most of my life, I have high standards for "beautiful." I usually don't throw those words around when it comes to DC weather, but I'm very happy with today's weather. Spring is definitely here, what with the warmer temps, cherry blossoms, and green trees. Yes, Cali peeps, the trees actually look dead here during the colder months. So when you're like going past the woods in the winter and there's nothing but dead-looking trees everywhere for as far as the eye can see, it's very, very depressing. No wonder seasonal depression is a real problem.

Today's post is dedicated to my boo, Rene, who recently contacted me (don't worry, boo, I'll write you back after this). I love how Rene associates me with Gwen Stefani. Incidently, the title of my blog comes from Gwen. Yes, it is in fact doubly unoriginal--one because yes, I am from the OC as EVERYONE knows and two because it is the title of a Gwen Stefani song which will be on her second album. The only time I've heard the song was at the Gwen concert back in November, and I was probably the only chick in the crowd that understood her OC references. Naturally, I was able to relate to the song as I can relate to most of Gwen's songs. "Just a girl" is a classic angsty girl song without sounding angsty. "Ex-girlfriend" helped me get through quite a few breakups. "You're so Foxy", a B-side recording, is easily the soundtrack to the early stages of my relationship with Jesse. Oh and "Long way to go" from her solo album is all about interracial relationships so that is OBVIOUSLY a song I relate to. As you can see, I am a big lyrics person when it comes to songs and I appreciate that Gwen's songs come from the heart.

So, for those of you who are living under a rock, Gwen is having a baby and I am so happy for her, as is Rene. It's something that she's wanted for awhile and I'm sure it's going to be one of the cutest babies in the world--my neice, Serena, is the cutest. For a shot of the very lovely pregnant Gwen check out Gwen's baby shower.

A final note on Gwen, she is still working on a follow up to her 1st solo album (featuring the song, "I'm just an Orange County girl") and there is word that No Doubt will be getting back together to record another album!!!! This awesome news makes this OC girl very, very happy!

So on to some sad news (for balance). Two fine late night establishments in DC have closed their doors forever. The first is Polly Ester's in downtown. It was one of the first clubs in DC where I successfully used my fake ID during the summer I interned. My favorite floor was the 80s floor and I remember dancing wtih this cute boy (nowhere near as cute as Jesse) who was impressed with my ability to sing every word to the song "Bizarre Love Triangle" by New Order. Were the 80s not cool in the late 90s? Anyways, BLT is a classic and probably one of my favorite 80s songs. And the only public place where I've danced to that song will forever be Polly Ester's.

The other sad club closing is Ziegfield's. Ziegfield's is the site of my first drag show and also the site of the only gay strip club I've ever been to (it's also a place where I ran into Rene a few times). I do strongly believe that "strip club" is a misnomer, because stripping suggests that the men were actually wearing clothes at some point and I do not recall the presence of clothing. Ziegfield's was also the place where I received much adulation from the gay crowd who always complimented me on my hair/outfit/accessories/make-up. Not only was Ziegfield's a good self-esteem boost, but it was also a guaranteed good time on a Saturday night. I will miss it.

First Ever Public Post

Hey All!

So, this is my first ever public post on my own blog. I have actually been blogging privately for a while, but was inspired to come out of the closet by Matt. I enjoy reading Matt's well-written blog and although I'm not saying that I will write as well as Matt, I can at least guarantee honesty and the occasional chuckle.

I decided that I have a quite a bit of free time at work, seeing as that I work in an office now and I apparently finish my work way too quickly. Since I've realized this, I have made a concerted effort to turn 1 hour tasks into 4 hour ones because otherwise the day will seem too long. Speaking of work, for those of you who don't know, I have finally left the Gap after 6 years and am now working for a progressive, pro-choice non-profit. Aditi asked me this weekend if I missed the Gap. Well...I do miss the people, but I sure as heck don't miss the work or the store. And I miss my Banana discount. Boy do I miss that discount! I now check the website weekly for sales and additional markdowns, which is a bizarre concept for me. I never waited for sales before. I know, I know--poor me.

And also for those of you who don't know, I am currently living with my boo, Jesse (until I find somewhere else). The whole housing drama is a story that I will post some other day and I won't disappoint with its craziness. The big news (although living with the boo is big news too) is that Jesse and I are contemplating a pet. Perhaps a cat, since dogs are generally kinda high maintenance. Since neither Jesse nor I are around at all during work hours, we need a pet who can manage on its own--like a cat. Cats tend to be pretty independent. So, if you have any tips on pet parenting, please pass those along. We are thinking of getting a cat from a shelter or animal rescue. I personally would prefer a female orange tabby or black/white fur.