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Apr. 19th, 2007 07:05 pm
today is my birthday
I am so spoiled. Mark is making me dinner, and I got home-made cupcakes from one of my co-workers. I have the lazy:
- As a small present to myself, I bought Missbehave magazine. (Warning: website has music.) It is so adorable. It's like Sassy, but with hip hop self-confidence instead of indie insecurity. It's even published right out of Brooklyn, and the editor-in-chief's last name is Choi! So nice.
- I typically implement a news ban around my birthday. I have no desire to re-live the horrors of past years, but I couldn't avoid seeing the news about the Virginia Tech gunman. I read some article (I forget where) which naively described the feeling of relief that each ethnic group found out it "wasn't us". Which is such bullshit, if people actually think most Americans give a shit about the difference between Korean and Chinese or Vietnamese. It's all the same to them.
- Really good post on the suck that is American immigration.
Apr. 19th, 2006 06:32 pm
happy birthday to me
I am 25 today! I got a dozen beautiful red roses from my department. My manager let me get off early today, and I took some time to walk all the way down to the Ferry Building, following the concrete ribbon structure along the way. It was a beautiful day outside, and as I walked I watched the ocean. I had a great view of Treasure Island, and the Bay Bridge. It's stinkiest right under the bridge. I briefly skimmed the little informational bronze plaques and square towers set into the floor, read a poem from an Angel Island inhabitant, and walked and walked and walked. It was fun, but I am tired!
Yesterday we went over to my parents to have dinner. I was feeling a little guilty about having left this weekend for Los Angeles, so I decided to make it up to them a little. We had a quiet dinner, interrupted only by Kaitlin's chattering. That girl sure can talk. She seems to have gained a lot of weight, which is great, considering all her clothes were hanging off of her the last time I saw her. She got a memo from her art program mentioning the teacher walkout on Thursday. Oakland teachers have been going two years without a contract now, so I don't blame them for getting antsy. I'm glad it's not a strike (yet) - if an actual strike happens, Kaitlin's education is going to be pushed back even further than it is now. So I'm crossing my fingers. She's improving so much that I'd hate to see any interruption in her routine.
I've been reading Bidoun, and it's really good. Some of the articles are a bit too academic for my tastes, but the interviews with the artists and filmmakers, and the photography is the most interesting part. It's taking me forever to get through it, though - the material is really dense, and I'm reading it like a book. I have Issue 6 - Envy - the one page that should not be missed is the Bidoun Phrase Book, where you can learn to say things like A friend of mine said that if Cairo's nouveau riche, then Beirut is bourgeois, or Of course I know you're Phoenecians. I'd never assume you're Arabs. It's so obvious. in Beiruti Arabic.
Yesterday we went over to my parents to have dinner. I was feeling a little guilty about having left this weekend for Los Angeles, so I decided to make it up to them a little. We had a quiet dinner, interrupted only by Kaitlin's chattering. That girl sure can talk. She seems to have gained a lot of weight, which is great, considering all her clothes were hanging off of her the last time I saw her. She got a memo from her art program mentioning the teacher walkout on Thursday. Oakland teachers have been going two years without a contract now, so I don't blame them for getting antsy. I'm glad it's not a strike (yet) - if an actual strike happens, Kaitlin's education is going to be pushed back even further than it is now. So I'm crossing my fingers. She's improving so much that I'd hate to see any interruption in her routine.
I've been reading Bidoun, and it's really good. Some of the articles are a bit too academic for my tastes, but the interviews with the artists and filmmakers, and the photography is the most interesting part. It's taking me forever to get through it, though - the material is really dense, and I'm reading it like a book. I have Issue 6 - Envy - the one page that should not be missed is the Bidoun Phrase Book, where you can learn to say things like A friend of mine said that if Cairo's nouveau riche, then Beirut is bourgeois, or Of course I know you're Phoenecians. I'd never assume you're Arabs. It's so obvious. in Beiruti Arabic.
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