Dieting

Last weekend, I sorta-kinda decided to become a vegetarian. It lasted only one day. What can I say, I got hungry!!! I didn't try to be a vegan or anything, there was no spiritual awakening or call to a greater purpose. I just wanted to lose weight.

This coming from anyone else is not strange, but from me it's incredible. I've never been on a diet. I've never had reason to. All my life I could eat as much as I want and I'd never gain a pound. Now that I know you're officially hating me, I'll give you a reason not to feel sorry for me.

Now I'm gaining weight.

Since moving to NYC, I've become the worst kind of finicky foodie that won't dare eat a franchises. Loves exotic international dishes, and spends countless hours of my life blogging about restaruants to anyone with time enough to read. My weight has ballooned and I'm getting bigger everyday.

About a year ago I went out with some friends from college. One had gained weight and the other had lost a significant amount of weight. She wasn't the fat girl I'd known at school. When my friend asked her how she did it, she said she became a vegetarian. I wondered, how many other women had become vegetarians in order to lose weight?

It seems everywhere I go I'm in the company of vegetarians. This city is full of them. Even when I was hunting for an apartment, many of the advertisements seeking roommates requested that you be a vegetarian. If you weren't a vegetarian, it was requested that you not even cook meat in the house!

I'd always thought of vegetarians as these deeply holistic people who didn't believe in eating baby lambs. And although there are still people who are vegetarian and vegan for that reason, it can't be ignored that there are also people who are just taking on this lifestyle in order to get or stay thin.

I tried to maintain the discipline, but after eating my first veggie burger, I went righ to Burger King.

The Neighbors at Town Hall

Apparently, the most dangerous places in America are Town Hall meetings. Cursing, Shouting, threatening, punching...these are the norm around the country - but most brutal in the south.

There is a whole constituency of America that is angry about a black president, and they "...want their country back." Back to what, is what the rest of us are wondering. These people are showing their whole ass, while the rest fo the country can only sit back and watch with. Post-racial is a farce that we need to contend with. People need to stop acting like everything is peaches and roses. That may have been why some people voted for Barack. They thought that maybe this could heal old wounds. It has become more than apparent that there is a portion of this country that thinks that because a person is black they should excel at anything, they can't be smart, and that the best place for them is to havetheir neck crushed under a boot.

If things don't calm down soon, I'm fearful that there may be a fatality at one of these meetings. Is this what we're to expect for the next 3 1/2 years? I hope not.

G.I. Jooooooe...Real American Hero!

I went to see G.I. Joe with my boyfriend who still harbors fondness for the iconic special forces para military figure. Of course, half way through the movie I gave up trying to be interested and fell asleep. As a person who really doesn't like action movies, I've been proved wrong by some of this and last years blockbusters that were full of heart, action, had great story lines, and kept we awake for sometimes more than two hours.

This is not that type of movie.

The only likeable character in the entire movie was Marlon Wayans, and I can't even remember his character's name in the movie. I was overall bored with the movie. The plot revolves around the stereotypical corporate bad guy who works for an organization called Mars, who develops weapons for NATO, (I know...the political agenda is astounding). The "Joes", as they are called, assembel with swords and million dollar mechanical suits to stop Mars from unleashing a biochemical agent, nanobyte, in Paris France. After completely demolishing Paris and its citizens the Joes save the day, and all is at peace except for I can't stop thinking about the good hard earned money that is now wasting because of the time I spent watching this trash.

See it if you just have to have that trip down memory lane. See it if your pissd at the world and just need to see shit blown up. See it if you're going on a date with a cute guy and you have a fetish about being felt-up in the movie theater. Aside from these reasons...stay home.

I'm Suing Every College I Ever Went To!

There is a woman, who goes by the name Trina Thompson, who is suing her college because she can't find a job.

She can join the club.

Even though I have a job during this time of soaring unemployment, I'm nowhere close to living the type of fabulosity (yes...I made that up) that I invisioned when I was an 18 year old high school student. I, like many other teenagers around the country, thought that a degree would be a one way ticket to fame and fortune. I thought I was going to me some hot shot grad making at least $80,000 a year my first year out of college. It didn't take me long into my freshman year to realize that my fantasy was probably not going to happen.

The fact that Ms. Thompson thinks that all the professors who spent time reading her absolutely boring papers, the cooks who made her mediocre lunch, and all of the other staff and faculty who ere compensated in order to make her pursuit of a better life a reality should now return the money because she can't land a job - is ludicrous. The campus grounds needed to be maintained. College, like everything else in this country is a business. These institutions need money to operate. How can she think that she can just get a refund? Does she intend to give back the degree? And if so, how does she intend to give it back?

She may need to concern herself more with what it is about her that is unemployable. Maybe she stinks? Maybe she shows up on job interviews looking like she just doesn't give a damn, and never did. Maybe (and I tend to think this is true) she has a bad attitude that is more than apparent on interviews.

Another question I have, is who's the lawyer that took this case? I mean, are times this hard that lawyers are taking bullshit cases! (As if lawyers ever needed a reason besides bullshit to take a bullshit case...) This story is just one of the most preposterous arguments I've ever heard. Since Ms. Thompson has only graduated in April - she may find her job search tougher. Now every employer in the country is aware that she is a spoiled brat who has no fundamental understanding of the benefits of a college education. A poll on the New York Daily News say that approximately 30% of pollsters believe that this case has merit and that Ms. Thompson should be refunded her money.

If someone tells me how a degree, credits, faculty salary, and maintainance of facilities can be refunded - maybe I'll consider Ms. Thompson's argument.

Cindy's Got the Look

I know I'm a day late and a dollar short, but I'm a HUGE fan of She's Got the Look, a modeling reality show much like America's Next Top Model, only the models are 35 and older. The oldest model was a 72 year old grandmother. These women were sexy and beautiful in a way never before portrayed on television. My only fault with the show was that the higher end fashion names didn't come out in heavy support of the project.

TV Land brought this pioneering show to its second season and I ate up every minute. So often the media sets the standard of beauty at blonde hair-blue eyed-teenaged girls...what the hell do they think the rest of us do? Beauty comes in all shapes, sizes, colors, and ages. And these women proved it.

Unfortunately, I didn't catch the show at the beginning. I came in somewhere near the middle. I watched enough to hate Shelley, grow to love Leanne, and be inspired by Dolores. Although I liked Cindy, Leanne was definitely the winner. Every challenge proved to have some difficulty that only she endured, and no matter the situation, she handled it with grace. I mean, she had a monkey hump and piss on her!!! Cindy was a beautiful stiff who I feel lacks the requisite heft to make it in the modeling industry. Leanne was that bitch/diva that every love to hate and hates to love.

I wish all of them success, and hope like hell the show is still running when I turn 50 so I can put the twenty year old bitches to shame!!!

Gates Update

Now...
Who can defend the cop now. Before there were so many arguments claiming that Professor Gates was deserving of an arrest. The fact that he was an upset victim didn't get him even the slightest bit of sympathy from the media. Now that we find out what the police officer really thinks about Gates, who besides Bill O'Reilly and Rush Limbaugh will rush to his defense?

Swindling Ass Kindle

Exactly how ironic is it that Kindle recalled all eBook versions of 1984? I was carousing the internet the other day, looking for interesting book-library-publishing news. (This is what we librarians sometimes do so that we have cool tidbits to share when we have awesomely dorkish conversations!) I came across a frightening article about just how easy it is for these huge media sales-machines like Amazon and iTunes to take back your stuff, even after you've purchased it, and believe yourself to be the proud owner of said merchandise.

I used to could defend these types of electronic devices. (I don't go ANYWHERE without my iPod!) My chief praise was how convenient these things are. I was a mess carrying around all of these clumsy CD holders everywhere. A few years ago, I was dodging the metallic debris when my car flipped on an old dirt road in rural Alabama. Imagine how much easier going to school could be. There would be no more use for a book bag if you could just download a copy of your textbook onto your kindle and bring it to class. Children would no longer have bad backs from all of the books and homework they lug around.

After finding out just how easy these companys can take these purchases back, I can press pause on doing a Farenheit 451 on all of my books and using my iPod and Kindle exclusively. Now we see why there is still a value in owning and purchasing a book.

With more and more things being bought and sold digitally, this drawback of eCommerce is all the more frightening.

I am a proud user of the Blockbuster-by-Mail system. Last year, to save money, I decided to place a hold on my account. This hold was supposed to keep me from closing my account, yet allowing me to take a break from recieving movies and thus paying the monthly fee. On January 1st, Blockbuster decided to "re-activate" by account and proceeded to take money out of my account without warning. Could you imagine them going into my pocketbook and forcing me to purchase a product against my will? This is in essence what they did. I find that once you give you credit card number out, a lot of companies will freely go in and out of your account. just like Amazon and iTunes can give and take back things you've purchased.

There used to be a time when a person could purchase a product. After you purchased if, you could do with it what you liked. Those days seem to be fading fast. Nowadays companies are tracking your purchasing history, taking back items you've purchased, going into your bank account, and probably doing worse things I couldn't imagine if I tried.