This makes me sick:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081129/ap_on_re_us/wal_mart_death
Dirty American Consumerism personified in a rabid bargain-hunting mob of shoppers. They even fought with the paramedics who were trying to help revive the man and save his life. Sick Sick Sick. Is this what we've come to?
Trampled to death for Black Friday savings.
Sunday, November 30, 2008
Schmanksgiving
I've not written for a few days, I guess because of the holidays, been busy, lagging energy due to L-Tryptophan. Thanksgiving was very lovely. This is the second year I've ever spent Thanksgiving with friends and I had a great time. It would have been nice to be at home with the family, but it was a great new group of friends to be with on the day of thanks.
Johnette and I started out the day at 6 AM (oy) and met her trainer on the beach for a special Thanksgiving session. We ran along the coastline in the early morning and boy am I glad I got my keester out of bed because it was well worth it. The waves were really clean and fairly large and saw a huge crowd of surfers at a spot called The Cliffs. We ran past the cliffs to the dog beach (dogs are only allowed on certain beaches here) and all the way to Bolsa Chica, which is almost in Seal Beach, North of Huntington. We also saw two pods of dolphins, swimming and playing amongst the surfers. Not a bad way to start Thanksgiving Day. All in all it was an 8 mile trek, but it went by really fast.
We then headed home, I cooked a giant broccoli rice casserole, and got ready to go over to our friend Shea's house. We watched the Cowboys wins, drank some really great wine that Johnette and Shea brought back from Napa, and feasted on some good eats. I went to bed with a full belly and a happy heart.
I am thankful for my wonderful family and am excited to get to see them at Christmas time.
I am thankful for my friends back in Texas, who are even more dear to me now that they're far away.
I am thankful for my friends here, who have made this transition so easy for me, and given me encouragement to make it work.
I am thankful for my little Newman, who has made my heart grow in ways that I didn't think possible.
Johnette and I started out the day at 6 AM (oy) and met her trainer on the beach for a special Thanksgiving session. We ran along the coastline in the early morning and boy am I glad I got my keester out of bed because it was well worth it. The waves were really clean and fairly large and saw a huge crowd of surfers at a spot called The Cliffs. We ran past the cliffs to the dog beach (dogs are only allowed on certain beaches here) and all the way to Bolsa Chica, which is almost in Seal Beach, North of Huntington. We also saw two pods of dolphins, swimming and playing amongst the surfers. Not a bad way to start Thanksgiving Day. All in all it was an 8 mile trek, but it went by really fast.
We then headed home, I cooked a giant broccoli rice casserole, and got ready to go over to our friend Shea's house. We watched the Cowboys wins, drank some really great wine that Johnette and Shea brought back from Napa, and feasted on some good eats. I went to bed with a full belly and a happy heart.
I am thankful for my wonderful family and am excited to get to see them at Christmas time.
I am thankful for my friends back in Texas, who are even more dear to me now that they're far away.
I am thankful for my friends here, who have made this transition so easy for me, and given me encouragement to make it work.
I am thankful for my little Newman, who has made my heart grow in ways that I didn't think possible.
Tuesday, November 25, 2008
Relax
I've been going to yoga for the past couple of days. I really like the classes here...so different than in Texas. Poses I've never tried before, a nice meditation and goal and focus of each practice, candles and teachers who really seem to understand how and what everything works. Made for a very nice, floaty relaxation after class. I'm going to try and stay with it at this studio because it seems like they've got it down!
It rained today in Southern California!!! It's still raining right now! It's so funny because everyone freaks out about the rain! I love it. The perfect end to a lovely, relaxed day. So now enjoy this video in the spirit of of calm and relaxation.
It rained today in Southern California!!! It's still raining right now! It's so funny because everyone freaks out about the rain! I love it. The perfect end to a lovely, relaxed day. So now enjoy this video in the spirit of of calm and relaxation.
Monday, November 24, 2008
Case o' the Mondays
You know, I made a concerted effort with myself to have a good Monday and you know what, I did! I said to myself, "Self, screw what everyone else says about Mondays, and make it good!" And I did. Chatted up some old friends online, went to a yoga class and cooked up a little din din for Johnette and I.
Tried a new recipe and it was part hit and part miss. It was healthy recipe and that doesn't always add up to the most tasty dinner. It was turkey meat loaf, with horseradish mash potatoes and sauteed spinach with roasted pine nuts. I messed up the mash potatoes by using skim instead of whole milk, and I mistakenly sprayed the pine nuts with olive oil to roast them, only you're not supposed to do that and I burned them...bummer dude. The meat loaf was good though. And the wine was tasty. Oh the wine!
We decided to mix it up and do white tonight. It's so nice though because good wine is rather cheap. What would cost me $20-25 in Texas I can get here from $7-13 bucks! It's quite lovely. Johnette just got back from Napa and is having some bottles shipped back and I'm excited to try those too! There's a nice chill in the air too, which always makes for good red wine weather.
Talked to a contact from Sony Pictures today who gave me some good insight as to places I could apply to and how to maybe get an in at a production company or a studio. Had a contact at the Director's guild through a professor at USC, but I called the guild and they said he didn't work there anymore. So, no dice on that one. Fingers crossed all of this legwork and contact-making I'm doing leads to something! I'm not giving up until it does! Until then it's waitress city. Which is different than Fist City, which is a great Loretta Lynn song.
I just love these lyrics. "You better move your feet, if you don't want to eat, a meal called fist city."
Is Fist City anywhere near awesometown? Anyone?
Tried a new recipe and it was part hit and part miss. It was healthy recipe and that doesn't always add up to the most tasty dinner. It was turkey meat loaf, with horseradish mash potatoes and sauteed spinach with roasted pine nuts. I messed up the mash potatoes by using skim instead of whole milk, and I mistakenly sprayed the pine nuts with olive oil to roast them, only you're not supposed to do that and I burned them...bummer dude. The meat loaf was good though. And the wine was tasty. Oh the wine!
We decided to mix it up and do white tonight. It's so nice though because good wine is rather cheap. What would cost me $20-25 in Texas I can get here from $7-13 bucks! It's quite lovely. Johnette just got back from Napa and is having some bottles shipped back and I'm excited to try those too! There's a nice chill in the air too, which always makes for good red wine weather.
Talked to a contact from Sony Pictures today who gave me some good insight as to places I could apply to and how to maybe get an in at a production company or a studio. Had a contact at the Director's guild through a professor at USC, but I called the guild and they said he didn't work there anymore. So, no dice on that one. Fingers crossed all of this legwork and contact-making I'm doing leads to something! I'm not giving up until it does! Until then it's waitress city. Which is different than Fist City, which is a great Loretta Lynn song.
I just love these lyrics. "You better move your feet, if you don't want to eat, a meal called fist city."
Is Fist City anywhere near awesometown? Anyone?
Sunday, November 23, 2008
Texafornian?
So I was recently given some advice from a former Texafornian to change my phone number to a local number, and make haste to get a Californian license, so that I would be taken more seriously by employers. Not to be confused as some just off the boat hack, not able to kick it in Cali for permanent. My insurance agent also warned that I could possibly get a ticket if I got pulled over and have not yet updated my identification.
After taking these changes into consideration I began to feel a little protective of my Texan differentiators. Silly as it may seem, I like my phone number, especially because it still ties me to home in some silly way. And my I.D., also, probably silly of me, but I get some sort of weird satisfaction handing it over to a door man, or sales clerk. I smile with pride as they inspect it, like, yeah, that's right, I ride my horse to school...well not really.
I will say though that I've become protective and proud of my Texan roots being here way out West. Even though people seem surprised when I tell them where I'm from, responding with "You're from Texas? But you don't have an accent." My stock reply is "I may not have an accent but I still say y'all." I then proceed to put my six shooter back in it's holster, tip my hat, and mount my horse and ride off into the sunset.
Maybe it was growing up in South Texas near the beach, or having educated well-rounded family members, but I feel that my experience growing up in Texas doesn't contain most of those tried and true stereotypes. Then again, there are definitely some things that happen in Texas that are pretty unique to the state. I decided to make a list and ponder how true and untrue these stereotypes might be.
Texan Stereotypes
1. Riding horses to school (everybody's old favorite)
2. We all wear wranglers, boots, and hats.
3. We all talk lyyyyyke hicks.
4. We're all overly-religious bible beaters.
5. We support George Bush based on the fact that he's considered a Texan.
6. We all drive big gas guzzling trucks.
7. We're all liquor drinking gun-totin' idiots.
8. Everything's bigger here?
What have I missed? Tried to get to 10, but it's late and I couldn't think of any more. Please see the below photo in support of stereotype #7. I took this a few months ago just outside of Schulenburg, TX...
After taking these changes into consideration I began to feel a little protective of my Texan differentiators. Silly as it may seem, I like my phone number, especially because it still ties me to home in some silly way. And my I.D., also, probably silly of me, but I get some sort of weird satisfaction handing it over to a door man, or sales clerk. I smile with pride as they inspect it, like, yeah, that's right, I ride my horse to school...well not really.
I will say though that I've become protective and proud of my Texan roots being here way out West. Even though people seem surprised when I tell them where I'm from, responding with "You're from Texas? But you don't have an accent." My stock reply is "I may not have an accent but I still say y'all." I then proceed to put my six shooter back in it's holster, tip my hat, and mount my horse and ride off into the sunset.
Maybe it was growing up in South Texas near the beach, or having educated well-rounded family members, but I feel that my experience growing up in Texas doesn't contain most of those tried and true stereotypes. Then again, there are definitely some things that happen in Texas that are pretty unique to the state. I decided to make a list and ponder how true and untrue these stereotypes might be.
Texan Stereotypes
1. Riding horses to school (everybody's old favorite)
2. We all wear wranglers, boots, and hats.
3. We all talk lyyyyyke hicks.
4. We're all overly-religious bible beaters.
5. We support George Bush based on the fact that he's considered a Texan.
6. We all drive big gas guzzling trucks.
7. We're all liquor drinking gun-totin' idiots.
8. Everything's bigger here?
What have I missed? Tried to get to 10, but it's late and I couldn't think of any more. Please see the below photo in support of stereotype #7. I took this a few months ago just outside of Schulenburg, TX...
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