soon aglago will run the white house

The other day I saw a pic of one of Obama's speechwriters with a cut out of Hillary Clinton and it looks like he's grabbing at her cardboard boob. I thought that he looked pretty young to be the next President's fucking speechwriter. Anywho, today I see a link on yahoo to a story saying he's 27 and has this ridiculous job. Here is the article. I'm reading on la la la, has the most important job, is the youngest speechwriter ever, blah then I get to the best part and I'm just going to copy and paste it.
"Three months ago, Favreau lived in a group house with six friends in Chicago, where he rarely shaved, never cooked and sometimes stayed up to play video games until early morning. Now, he has transformed into what one friend called a "Washington political force" -- a minor celebrity with a down payment on a Dupont Circle condo, whose silly Facebook photos with a Hillary Rodham Clinton cutout created what passes for controversy in Obama's so far drama-free transition"

EXCUSE ME? This guy was a dirty co-op living hippie, what? Since when were they trolling "group homes" and co-ops for White House staff? If that's the case, shoot I live in a house with 11 people, 4 cats, a hen and a duck. Why hasn't Aglago gotten the memo? We've got all sorts of talent under this roof. Between all of us we can produce many fruitful things for the White House. Here is a list of all the services we could provide and be of value for the Obama Camp:

-Live music for personal pleasure or entertaining heads of state or parties
-Landscaping, gardening and composting
-Very experienced personal computer techs available on call
-Various cooking and baking styles and flavors
-Psychic intuition for those not so sure moments
-Self-portraits and personalized peices of art perfect for presents
-Seamstresses
I could go on...You get the picture. Where's my fancy White House job?!?! With Aglago in the White House, great things would happen. Unique art, social reforms, legalization of marijuana, more funding for public transit, urban farming etc, etc. Come on, America, YES WE CAN!! YES WE CAN! !

san franblogging

Greetings from the City by the Bay, aka my favorite city in California, aka my former home at one time, aka SAN FRANCISCO. What better way to spend my two days off in a row, woo! Mental vacation yay! One of my biggest regrets, yes I have a few, is moving away from San Francisco after college. I guess things happen for a reason and boys come and go from my life, etc etc. I just love this city and I still want to move back. This time I think I'm going to set a time frame. I figure now while I have a shitty job is a good time to plan a move. We'll see.

I arrived last night. I have flown Virgin Atlantic and had claimed that it has the best coach seats out of all the airlines. Well, I flew Virgin America and it was equally awesome. Seats are not too tight and there is a ton of leg room. It's also visually awesome. There are purple and blue lights and white seat backs with tvs for everyone. It just has a fun fresh style, plus free games and movies/music for all. OH, and you can chat seat to seat..wtf? I almost wished I wasn't alone because it would have been fun to chat on the plane. You can totally chat with seat 10b from seat 20A...it's pretty sweet.

Today I went to the De Young museum to see the Yves Saint Laurent exhibit. Amazing pieces of clothing, I can't even describe them. Works of art really. I stopped at USF on the way back to get a drink and check out the campus. I went downtown afterwards to hang out before going to my brother's house for dinner. My niece is the awesomest. She's ridic. I hadn't seen her in two years. She's quite the character. She seems pretty smart and talks it up, in both English and Russian, no problem. It was a good visit.

Now I'm drinking a ridiculously over priced tall can and watching one of my netflix movies that I've had for a month now. Oye. My other one I've had for 3 months. I'm just gonna mail it back. Tomorrow night I leave =( So sad. I'm not sure what I'll do tomorrow. I have to check out by noon and my flight isn't until 8something. I'll probably just hang out around here since it's supposed to be sunny tomorrow. There's a free museum downstairs I can go check out. Of course I won't want to leave. I never do. It sucks. I love my fog and cold weather, fresh sea air, foghorns, and everything else. Ugh, I need a longer vacation. Maybe soon, maybe east.

week of the weak

So I had a few "celeb" sitings, as always, last week. First was Rachel Leigh Cook. She's totally cute and nice and I'm not sure what else she's been in that I've actually seen except that one teen movie she did with Freddie Prinze Jr. Yeah that's right, She's All That. You know you saw it too so SHUT UP.

Next. Kim Kardashian. Famous for absolutely nothing but having a rich deceased father and a mom that remarried rich. Smart women. To some she may be famous for her fat ass. Okay let me be the one to break it to you all, it's not that big. She's not that tall and probably a size 5 and all she probably does are a lot of assercizes to make her ass super toned. That is all. If I lost 20lbs and worked out I'd look just like her. Me and my fat assssssssssssssssssssss.

I actually had the weekend off, yay. Unfortunately I was deathly ill on Saturday due to what could be an array of things...too much alcohol, something I ate, or a dirty homogay trying to drug me. So, my friend Ben is back in town, yay, so that means going out to gay bars and such. I never really went out in WeHo so I was like awesome sure! We headed out and our first stop was Fiesta Cantina for a margarita. Yummy. Then after man watching we went to The Abbey which I have really wanted to go to considering the only Abbey I've ever been too was the one in San Francisco and it's pretty different considering it's an Irish pub- I'm talking F.O.B. Irish men. Anywho, we had a snack and another drink and hung out. Met a cool dude and decided after awhile to go back to Silverlake and go to Akbar instead. At this point I'm nicely buzzed and having an awesome time.

We get back home and I'm ready to go to Akbar so we walk down the street and this is where my night goes all WRONG. I was fine, absolutely fine until I started drinking there. I think I may have had one or 2 gin and tonics. I danced some, chatted with an old school friend some, danced some more and was having a great time. Then I vaguely remember leaving, don't remember coming home, or walking into my room, or changing into my pjs...the only thing I remember is waking up being like wtf at vomit on my pillow case and sheet. I then looked into the trashcan, which had found its way next to my bed, and realized that I had thrown up in it. Really? I DON'T REMEMBER THAT. Cut to the morning when I wake up DYING. Head swirling and my stomach in the worst condition ever. Now, I'm not going to lie, I've drank way more and never been sick. I have had more, on an empty stomach, gotten sick but not to the extent of this SICKNESS. I couldn't move all day. I was bed ridden for most of the day except for the times I went to the porcelain throne or when I stepped outside to get some air. I couldn't even hold down water. It was a mess. I can't drink for at least a week or forever depending on my liver. I'm just like what the hell happened? Here are a few ideas- my body decided to lower my tolerance for alcohol thus giving me minor alcohol poisioning, I ate something fishy, literally that didn't agree with everything else in my stomach + booze, a gay man spiked my drink with the intention of making me his fag hag by blacking me out so he could steal me away to his gay boy wonderland....WHO KNOWS. All I know is that it was terrible and my stomach still doesn't feel as strong yet. Oh well

I finally got a haircut yesterday. I found this spot up the street (shameless plug for Refuge) and got an awesome haircut for a pretty decent price considering the time spent cutting it and the outcome. I'm pleased.

Right now I'm just thinking of jobs to look for unless the one I'm in starts paying out. Commission? What commission? I'm not getting any and haven't been for a month which means I'm getting checks smaller than an In n' Out worker. Yeah, that's right. I'd like to give a big FUCK YOU to all the skanks that return clothing. You know who you are, I see you, we all know who you are and avoid you all like the plague. The Returners. Those cheap bastards that wear clothes and return them. We know you wear them, it's so obvious, how do you not feel embarassed or ashamed. Especially all of you that return clothing purchased well over 6 months ago. You tasteless bastards are ruining my life. If you can't afford the clothes, don't buy them and return them months later and repeat. I'm in debt to my job because of you shameless cunts. And if you do wear them, since you have the tags cut off already, just wash them. I'm sick of smelling your night clubs, moth balls, B.O. and other filth that permeates that clothing that you shove in our faces to get your money back. DIE ALL OF YOU.

Happy Monday, Bitches!

prop 8

Proposition 8 is such horseshit. For anyone that happens to read this and is not from California, and/or has been living under a rock, Prop 8 pretty much bans gay marriage. Whether you love or hate the gays, everyone should be able to get married. Everyone is entitled to the same misery as all the other people married and bitter. Since Prop 8 passed, meaning the ban was reinstated, there have been protests galore up and down California and now it's spread nationwide. This Saturday there are supposed to be protests across the country about the marriage ban. There have been protests in Los Angeles almost everyday since the election. Last Saturday, one of the protests happened to be in front of my house, for reals. Being the fair person I am, I feel anyone should be able to marry so I checked it out. There were THOUSANDS of people and it was pretty organized and put together. It did not get out of hand at all and it was civil. Anywho, I hope this shit goes to the Supreme Court and everyone gets the right to marry and live miserably everafter yay!

celeb sitings

I love seeing celebrities and such because they never look anything like they do in the pictures with all their make up and air-brushing. They're real, normal people...imagine that. Anywho, these two gems frequented my job with in the last week.
Yes, she's blonde again, and no she did not have her sunglasses on. In fact, I almost doubted myself, but I got confirmation from other co-workers that it was her. She just looked to tired and normal, kinda like me. HA! They're human after all!

John Rzeznik? Or is it Johnny? Because his shit says John. If your name is John why make it longer? I digress. At first I wasn't sure, but then I was like oh come on THIS FACE, of course it's him. I've never been a fan of the Goo Goo Dolls, but whatevs, a sale is a sale. Thanks dude!

Oh, and Phoebe Price comes in often enough for me not to blog about it each time. I LOVE her mom Flora. She's such a sweetie and chats it up all the time. In fact, it's about time they come in for a visit. I know they're back from Sweden!

reflection of the election

I was never one to vote. In high school I cast empty ballots or just didn't do them. I could give two shits who the prom queen should be or the class president. whatever. I could have voted in the 2000 election and the 2004 election but refused to register. I have issues with our voting system and the "democracy" of it all. However, this year I was just nervous. Nervous that the same person would be re-elected in a different body. I didn't like either candidate really and quite honestly did not follow the election until around September. So to save myself the guilt of having another 4 years of Bush policies, and to be able to bitch and whine about politics, I registered to vote a few days before the deadline. Now that I've voted, I don't see myself really voting again, except maybe in local elections. I was extremely disappointed with the voting system and think it's even more flawed than before.

I arrived at my polling place with my letter saying I'm registered and my voter booklet to read up on the 101 propositions that CA/LA had. I go in only to find out that I'm not on the list. Therefore, I had to fill out a provisional ballot. What a buzz kill. My first voting experience and my vote gets counted next to last? LAME. On top of that, they don't check IDs?! WHAT THE FUCK? How is that possible? So they just go by signatures? Because that's legit. I could have sent anyone in there to vote for me and they could have done it. I didn't feel satisfied or proud, I felt gypped. By the time most of the results were in and/or projected, my lone vote was probably close to being counted. Probably counted well after the results were set in stone so it really didn't matter. Will I vote in the next election? Who knows, as of now I'm leaning towards no.

On that note, I hope this Presidency works out better than the last one. Obama has a lot of promises and people have high hopes so I hope he doesn't disappoint. I'm just glad to see some diversity in the Whitehouse. Oh, and did everyone forget that Obama is half white? That he was raised by his grandparents? That he lived in Hawaii and also Indonesia where he attended school? Yeah, I think people miss those points and focus on the black. He ain't black, he's a mutt. This whole race thing is very reminiscent of the Tiger Woods craze.

I was interesting to see my peers on the street corners on the night of the election cheering and showing pride in this country. Never have I heard anyone my age give or take 5 years, chanting USA! USA! It was bizarre. Craziness. However, if the results of this election make everyone more alert and interested in politics than good for them. We need more informed, and interested people. I just hope the same people showing super US pride don't fall off the bandwagon when the glitz of Obama's inauguration wears off and he starts to be the real President. Who knows what's to come. I just hope it's better.

I'll leave you all with a couple of images of the hood on election night.

boo!

First, to clarify, the title does in fact say boo- but not boo like "boo" it's Halloween let me be silly..it's boo as in BOOO today sucks kinda boo! I always celebrate Halloween except for last year and well again this year. Last year I had to work at my stupid job but it was okay because we had a Halloween party prior to Halloween so it felt like it passed before it even came. This year our party is after Halloween and today being Halloween is yet another work day in the life of me. Not just any work day, no. I have to close alone and open alone tomorrow morning. How is that fair? I hope people eat tainted candies (not the good kind), see 20 other people wearing the same non creative costume, and get attacked by mean ghosts. I just hope I can leave work effortlessly with out having to battle the damn idiots that are going to Weho to celebrate-which might I add is up the street from my job..argh

Happy Halloween bitches

the newer twilight zone is a joke

seriously, it sucks. it's all live looking and less old and creepy filmy..ugh...i'm wasting my buzz on this trash.

what i really want to be doing right now is having a seance to contact my friend nick who killed himself a year ago today. i'd just like to chat it up a bit. you know, shoot the shit. anyway, my medium powers aren't in full swing at the moment. ha!. i need to get some ice cream. steal a beer or something and get to business....and turn this really crappy twilight zone off before i feel sober again.

speaking of business, i've got mice traps to set and wood to glue and caulking to be done...call me miz fix-it, bitches

still sorta sick rants

Following suit with my last rant...

and for fucks sake what is with these winds and crazy dry air...OH not to mention SMOGGY AS ALL BROWN HELL TODAY ugh. Not only was I battling my sickness being outside for my yard sale, I was also breathing in nice brown air...MMMMM..delicious....SICK! Maybe if douche bags like the caravan of "Yes on 8" supporters that honked their way down Sunset stopped driving their fancy vehicles I wouldn't have brown lung. How about that?

Speaking of the asshat caravan...DO NOT come into MY neighborhood EVER AGAIN, HONKING WILDLY in support of prop 8...JUST DON'T...because not only will you have to deal with me and my incessant BOOING, I will have prepared an army against prop 8 armed with whips and chains, footlong dildos, and lots of rage. I hope all that tape used to plaster your fancy vehicles with posters fucked up your paint job.

sick rants

I feel like I'm stuck in a glass box living in LA. I just can't stand it anymore. I don't know what to do. I can't afford to move or find a job again since I just got one. I'm just really frustrated, a bit unhappy, and I just want a change. I'm over the stagnancy and routine of every aspect of my life around me.

And for fucks sake can the heat just QUIT?!?! I'm so over these heat waves.

the fruits of my labor flaunted in public

So as my previous posts allude to, I work in a place that is visited sometimes by celebs of all sorts. Anywho, as an avid dlisted reader I stumbled upon this lovely picture of Phoebe Price wearing the furry Free People vest I sold her just weeks before.
She was really stoked for the vest so I'm glad to see her wearing it because that means it won't get returned. Thanks Phoebe!

i fought the law and won,duh

Dear Douche-bag Sheriff of North Northern California,

You suck, but we knew that already when you gave me that bogus speeding ticket just outside of Weed CA. I was not going to fall victim to your douchery, no, No! I planned to fight, and fight I did in the best way possible. My fighting paid off and I hope you look more like a douche-bag Sheriff than you already were. Hell, I hope worse things happened to you, asshat. Now I shall wait for my $150 to be sent back to me so I can go to the bank and flaunt my check written out to me from you sad sad excuses for law enforcement. Thanks for the hassle, it paid off. Ha!

Yours,
urban-pirate

sitings again

I forgot to add Kristen Cavallari to the previous post. She actually was a nice person contrary to popular belief..oh reality television how i love thee. anywho a few days ago my sitings were on fire.

my day started off with a run to the cheese store for a sandwich to take from work..by the way the sandwich was way too goat cheesy for me but i still ate it since it cost me a dime to buy..anyway as i walked over there in my kitty cat pajama pants, with a house dress over it and a hoodie to cover it all (yeah i must have looked grrrrreat), i spot randy, earl's brother from the show My Name is Earl. I actually have to google to find out his real name..ahh Ethan Suplee...very well...i saw him and a lady friend outside of the cheese store...i had to bite my lip hard to stop the giggling..if you know me, i love the show..so all i could think of was the oafishness of randy shining through.

later on at work i was told that a famous MILF was in the house shopping, quite possibly for an outfit for her daughter's big 16th birthday bash. yes, you guessed it, Miley's mama...not just her mama but the rest of the cyrus brood. all i'm gonna say is, watch out for her little sister...she seems like a force
to be reckoned with...i'm just saying...

on my break i decided to give it to buying coffee..i have issues many times buying coffee for way more than it's really worth. my spot of choice is the bean over the bucks which is conveniently located outside of my job establishment. while i was standing waiting for my tasty treat i glance over and notice and older man slightly greying in the hair..wait, i know who that is! it's
JOHNNY KNOXVILLE..blending in completely until some girls spot him and ask to take a pic...and he agreed..what a nice fellow.

lastly, on Monday there was just one siting, but a good one at that..
yes..the little darling herself, nicole richie. she's tiny..like a pixie tiny..not anorexic or anything..she's one of the smallest humans my age..how did a baby come out of her? i don't know. she was with 2 friends...i was bummed that there was no harlow with her..they totally were checking out the perfume store..you know the ones i'm talking about..floor to ceiling of shit. anywho, they hit up the bean afterwards...i should just hang out at the bean and celeb hunt on my lunch break.

today starts yet another jewish high holiday which means my job will be filled with nothingness...woo!

sitings of dlisters and other people we know and love or forgot about

i'm "blessed" if you will, to have a job in a locale that attracts people of some level of wealth. wealth usually brings assholes, nice people or celebrities of some sort. i do get all sorts of interesting customers but i'd like to keep track of the ones with any sort of claim to "fame"

sarah silverman showed up the night of the emmys, ten minutes before the store was going to close...well done sarah..she was a bit frantic looking for a simple black skirt. i told her where to look, she probably thought i was following her and yeah..nice girl..come back to shop sarah

anyone remember that episode of "true life: i'm a staten island" girl? i swear, swear that the one chick that was trying to get rid of her accent showed up to return something..convinced..she looked like a hollywood barbie sans blonde hair..a bit tragic but it had to be her..it just had to..i managed to contain my laughter at the situation

TOPANGA...don't deny that you used to watch boy meets world...this was more of a walk by siting later confirmed by a customer that was excitedly phoning home to a relative to say she saw a celebrity..ahem...poor girl...anywho i was on my way to other places when i spotted her in the watches area...i still don't know who thought it was cool to turn her character from the weird but cool and awkward girl to the uber girly girl crushing for cory..ugh

my fav and best encounter so far was none other than dlisted finest, phoebe price. i was super giddy to see her and had to contain my giggles as i attended to ms. price and her mama ms. denise p. yes, ms. d.p. was such a delight. too bad phoebe looked like a "sack" in the dress being returned otherwise it would have been a-ok. mama price, you rock..phoebe, you're alright despite the mad shit people talk...rock on

this is a work in progress ha!

september=busy

I've been rather busy this month and it's all kinda nuts considering I did nothing from about June-August. Ugh. I won't go there. I started the month, literally on the 1st, training for my new retail job. Yay sucked in again. It's alright, same old shit but different setting. I'm getting by. The pay isn't nearly as good as my last job. Unfortunately my decent checks with commission won't start rolling in until next week which sucks because until then I have no money to spend or play with. Anyway the first two weeks of the month were spent doing nothing and training. Now I'm in full swing job mode and it sucks as always. It's pretty tiring. I never worked full time in retail sales before and yeah.

We had our houseparty on the 6th and it was insane. There were tons of people flowing in and out nightly. The music went on way too long and people would not leave until everyone was kicked out around 6am. Pics are on my flickr.

I just finished a 7 day work streak. Don't ask how it is possible but I did it and now I'm off for 3 days. I win, I think. Whatever, I'm going to go drink a beer. I just needed to get my blog on. It had been so long.

contact from the other side

Yesterday I woke up remembering the craziest dream I had had. I dreamt of my friend Nick. Nick took his life last year in October and it was all just very confusing and we'll never know why. Anyway he was in my dream and we were hanging out but he seemed anxious, nervous, kinda scared and I remember him saying something along the lines of going somewhere. All I remember is being friendly to him, kind of consoling in nature. I hugged him and gave him kisses and just hung out. I remember his head was shaved but he had all these marks over his head kinda like scabs (killed himself, gun to the head). There wasn't much else about it other than that and I shortly woke up afterwards. I don't know much about spirits and the dead and such but this tripped me out. I know it's nothing bad and it's probably a good sign. It was just one of those things that makes the hair stand up on your arms and gives you goosebumps. If you think that is trippy it gets trippier. Later on in the day I realized that the date was the 28th. Nick died 10 months ago, in the morning, exactly yesterday. Now, if that is not some sort of sign from Nick or whatever than I don't know what it was. A strange coincidence? Perhaps. But, I think it was more than that.

Bow down to me

I'm well versed with Italian culture just because I have some strong ties to the country. Italians tend to be a very religious bunch. Sure, there are many non-believers but they're still really big on religious holidays especially for patron saints and such. Anyway, most Italian people have names that are typically found in the Bible or variations of biblical names. Usually each saint has their own special day where you celebrate their life, go to church or whatever. In Italy, at least were my family is from, Sicily, when your saint day comes around you get well wishes and maybe you'll get your favorite food at dinner. Today happens to be my saint's day. Yes, St. Urban Pirate. It is also my grandma's birthday. In true Italian fashion, I unexpectedly was the recipient of a "gift" and fittingly enough I got it today. It pays to have my name, at least today, literally...on the real... fo shiz

In other news, I'll be starting work soon. Yay! I finished my online traffic school. I failed the final three times before I finally got an 80%. Stupid shit and a waste of my life. I'll also be moving on up to larger living quarters with in the house..yay! I'm excited to once again have a half bathroom. There's something great about having your own toilet, especially so close to you. This will only mean that I will take even longer to emerge from my room in the morning. It appears that things might be looking up again for 2008. The summer is/was a drag so hopefully this new job won't suck as much as the last one and hopefully my living situation will be more comfy for me.

Fingers crossed...

last week was hectic and shit for reals

For reals! Last week I was on fire in terms of acquiring money. I managed to take on a research project with someone for money so that made me happy to know I'd have my next loan payment. Mid-week I found an ad on CraigsList asking for people to participate in a driving simulator research study. They said they would pay $100 cash for approximately 1.5hrs. Sounded like easy money, and easy it was. I got called and went in on Friday and was out $100 richer. I had an interview at Pinkberry of all god awful places. The interview was crap and I didn't want to work there anyway. Besides, I had an interview the next day at Bloomingdales and I had high hopes for getting a job there since I had history with Macys.

Long story short, I stay at Bloomingdales for 2hours and walk out with a new job. Yay! It's a step up from Macys and it's going to be something new and I'm excited to take it on. Bring it. Tomorrow I go in to fill out more paperwork of sorts.

Friday night, me and urban hippie went to see Donna Summer. She certainly dimmed all the lights and we all danced that last dance for love. It was great and we were clearly loving it because we were told we were being too loud. Woops.

Saturday we got up at 4:30am because I had to drive to San Luis Obispo to attend a mandatory first meeting for one of my library classes at Cuesta. It was about a 3 hour or so drive and it was nice since I hadn't driven up the 101 in a long time. It was also nice to have mizz P with me so I wouldn't fall asleep at the wheel (we both only slept 3 hrs). Extra credit points for you there Patty Cakes hahaha!

Upon our return the Sunset Junction Street Fair was in full force. I'll get around to writing another entry about Sunset Junction and my real feelings towards the street fair. The street fair was a good idea that has since been ruined by douche bag elitists. Anyway, I'll save that for later. The only good thing that came out of Sunset Junction were all the bottles and cans that I found in the trash cans. Right now, I gotta get to uploading some pics of the summer.

news of the weak...er week, so far

here are some news stories worth looking at...just because I said so.

Forever 21 development on South Central Farm site is protested

Of course they protested. You bulldoze an urban farm that so many people used to cultivate and grow awesome things and you come along wanting to put a fucking FOREVER 21 development on the land? for reals? I'd be out there with molotov cocktails for that shit. Talk about adding insult to injury..fucking politics..everything's political. Fuck Villaraigosa, he's just like the rest of them. You
get all into them being elected into office and all they do is disappoint. Makes me sick.

L.A. could learn a thing or two from Portland

If you know me, I'm not a fan of Los Angeles. I can't explain why really, it's just one of those things. I love San Francisco and in the past few years I've developed this intense love for Portland. Prior to June I had never been but I finally made the trip and fell in love even more. I'm sure I'll get around to moving there next year or whenever. Anyway, they have many awesome things and one of them is their public transportation system. Their public transit system has wowed and amazed many and has served as a the basis for many other cities' public transportation planning. I'm not sure where I'm going with this other than to reiterate my decision to want to move and why I think Portland is cooler than LA.

No sandcastles please, you're in Italy

I had to throw this in because Italians are ridiculous. I love Italy but sometimes they just have crazy ideas and in this case, crazy by-laws. It's a short article and worth reading for the hilarity of it all. All I have to say is, thank god I never went to Eboli or I'd be in debt to the Euro at least 4 times over. teeeeeeeeee heee heee

like a fly caught in a web

I feel stuck. I hate feeling stuck. I'm unemployed and in quite an interesting living situation. I wish I could just get some shit rolling so I can feel like I'm living life again instead of just being stuck. I shouldn't have spent this summer doing nothing. I had big plans and they didn't come to fruition and I'm like argh! I want to move. I want to move. I want to move. I want to move. I just feel like my time here is done. It's time to move elsewhere and do new things. Los Angeles just doesn't feel like the right fit. It never has! I just feel like I'm in some constant limbo living here. One day I'll finally do it. Just get up and go, move. New city, new job, new housing...new life. That sounds grand. I wish the moment would come sooner rather than later.

buon ferragosto! buon festeggiamento!

It's days like today that make me wish I lived in Italy...why? because today almost everything would be closed and everyone would be on vacation. I swear Italians get more vacation days than anyone else. Not only do they get all the Italian national holidays off, but they usually get off most Catholic holidays. Damn. Anyway, today is Ferragosto. Historically pagans would celebrate harvest on this day. Religiously, Catholics celebrate the Assumption today. So, if you're super Catholic don't forget to go to church today or else you'll be struck down by the hand of god. It's one of those mandatory Catholic church going days...the kind you can go to hell for if you miss...yeah WHATEVS! Anywhoz, Ferragosto is the day that people use to start a vacation, go to the beach or just party. I bet the beaches today were packed. In any case everyone in Italy is partying and since it's on a Friday this year, doubly so I would imagine. Unfortunately, I'm stuck in Los Angeles. Los Angeles has no little Italy neighborhood or anything (wish i was in SF). Weird I know. I'm thinking there won't be much celebration. I can however create my own. I just wish I had money to buy booze. Damn. Maybe I can pull some strings somehow or use my credit card. Stupid unemployment. I don't have nearly enough recyclables to buy a cheap bottle of champagne yet. Darn. Yeah, recycling for money...and what? desperate times call for trashy measures...all I have to say is, watch out Grand Master or whoever you are *SNAP SNAP*

reflections of a travel whore

I'm going to throw this out first- I'm a Europhile...I love Europe. I majored in European History in college. I love other places too but Europe has me sprung. If you know me, I usually go to Italy because I'm half Italian and all. I love that country way too much. The history, art, and over all beauty are great. Sure their politics are as shit as our's but once you've been wooed and seduced by an Italian boy you'll understand.

This time last year I was in Italy rounding off my grand European adventure. I've been going to Italy almost yearly now and was certain that I would return this year. However, due to unplanned financial circumstances and such I could not. It totally bummed me out. Anywho, I was thinking about the traveling I have been able to accomplish this year. While I didn't get to step foot on European ground this year, I still went to some cool places near and far.

Earlier this year the buzz was about Jamaica, Jamaica and more Jamaica. The trip finally happened in March and what a hot mess that was. It was fun. Extremely different from my Europhile existence that's for sure. I learned to appreciate the madness of the country even though it was stressful at times to deal with shit. I also want to travel as much as the world as possible so I'm now able to say I've been to the Caribbean.

Jamaica was my only international excursion this year. I was somewhat spoiled after having gone to about 9 different countries in total. My other ventures were more west coast based. I took two trips down to Palm Springs. It may be full of old retirees but it's pretty cheap to go for a couple of nights. I had never been there before so it was cool to check out the fancy desert and stuff-plus I got to go to Coachella, ha!

My last 'major' vacation was to Portland, Oregon. I had been wanting to go to Portland for years. I heard so many good things about the city that I wanted to find out for myself. I've also thought about moving there so I wanted to make sure I liked it just in case I do make it up there. Portland was awesome. I had never been to Oregon. California is the only west coast state I've seen. It was nice to see a new state. Portland is at the top of Oregon so I got to see the whole state. The drive sucked balls and I learned my lesson about road trips and such and such etc etc...It was great though

Being the brat and travel whore that I am, I actually rung in the new year on a mini trip. I was in Maryland visiting a friend. Where am I going with this entry? I'm not so sure myself though...but I was just stuck on not being able to travel a lot this year but in actuality, I've been to a lot of cool places and seen a lot of cool shit. Well done...and the year isn't even over yet.

rocking and rolling my way to creating the perfect escape bag

I'm usually a dedicated blogger in that I never delete blogs and start again. However, times have changed and so have I. This is not my first blog, and it might not be my last blog, but it is my blog and I will write as I want to.

Moving right along

For those of you living in the Los Angeles area we recently had what I would like to call a mild to very moderate earthquake. If you're from California you're pretty well accustomed to the earth rocking and rolling. Personally I've lived through every major quake in the LA area since 1982. My last major earthquake was the Northridge quake of 1994. I was not quite 12 and I vividly remember it. I was asleep, everyone was, until the earth started shaking and shaking more. Things started falling on my head and all I could hear were things breaking, crashing, and rattling-not quite knowing what the breaking, rattling, and crashing were. I remember pulling my comforter over my head to protect myself. The thing about earthquakes is that you never know how long they will last. At first the ground will start shaking, maybe rattling and then it gets harder and shakier. It might die down a bit but still continue to lightly rattle into an even bigger shake. It's all unpredictable. Was this newest earthquake just a small quake or a foreshock to something bigger. I don't know! Know one does, not even those fancy seismology folks. It's a crazy concept. At any given moment there could be a massive earthquake and no one will know it's coming. Leave it to Los Angeles to be located near major fault lines. Los Angeles is a hot mess of a city. When it rains it's like some catastrophic event on the freeways. Los Angeles can't quite handle nature especially earthquakes. Since I have no faith in the city of LA to save me in the event of a natural disaster I decided that I need to take things into my own hands. I decided to create an earthquake kit/escape bag. As a child I always had some sort of bag or box under or around my bed that I had filled with various items like band aids, candy, tissues, you know whatever a child could throw together to make an earthquake kit-nothing that would really be a live saver if I needed one. I'm now older and wiser so I decided to research kits and then custom make my own. Feel free to steal my list or add to it according to your tastes and/or preferences

1. water
2. snacks- granola bars, nuts, canned foods, peanut butter, hard candies, non perishables etc.
3. a change of underwear and socks
4. flashlight with extra batteries
5. emergency contact info
   
6. blanket- you know those cool emergency ones that are in the foil shit
7. utensils, including a non electric hand can opener
   
8. a wide array of bandages, adhesive and non
9. antiseptic wipes and other ointments
10. aspirin and antacids
11. latex gloves and heavy duty plastic garbage bags
    
12. battery powered radio
    
13. duct tape
14. brass knuckles
    
15. hand sanitizer
16. tools- scissors, rope, pocket tool, whistle
    
17. mini alcohol bottles, choose accordingly
18. a good post apocalyptic read, deck of cards, and hot dice
    

suggested items:
cigarettes, a special toy, family photos, taser gun and/or other weaponry

test one two one two

watch out!