i love my friends

Me and the homies. God I miss CA sometimes...

One of them...

Suddenly, I find myself being one of those people. For my second anniversary, my beau gave me an ipod nano. I never in my entire life imagined myself owning an iPod, and am quite excited to be admitted to such an exclusive club! But, now I feel like "one of them"... you know, iPod people... people who can't stop talking about how great iPods are, and how they are so superior to every other thing that has ever been invented. Well, I'm not sure about all that, but I know that I have this itty bitty music machine now, and I intend to enjoy it. :)

I love USC

I love my alma mater, The University of Southern California.

The University of:
- Supreme Classes
- Sunny California
- Sexy Coeds
- Spoiled Children
- Social Connections
- Sleek Couture
- Superior Contacts
- Smug Confidence
- Shaken Cocktails
- Scmoozing and Cavorting
- Sophisticated Colleagues
- Simple Conundrums

.... please post additional suggestions :)

Ah Alexis...

Today I have cramps and feel quite fat and bloated. I know someone out there was dying to know that. Yesterday, I made lasagna with ground chicken. Ground chicken does not taste like ground turkey. Later, I went to get some gas. It cost $2.85/gal. Ouch. Yesterday, I also went to see the Constant Garderner (good!) and Broken Flowers (good, if you liked Lost in Translation or Bill Murray movies) I saw them back to back, and paid for both tickets. I also locked my keys in my car for the first time. My beau laughed at me because I have a spare key on the same key ring as my primary key. I locked that one in the car too. Fortunately I have multiple spares.

Last night, I had a dream that I got in a terrible car accident and totaled my car. I couldn't sleep much after that. I am currently eating oatmeal, and waiting for my drugs to kick in, so that I can focus on my HW. Also, my 2 yr anniversary with my beau is a week from today.

WMDs

Dear President Bush,

I have found your weapons of mass destruction. They are on USC's offensive line. I noticed them this weekend as they tore through Arkansas. (70-17) They are extremely dangerous. Proceed with caution.

Sincerely,

Alexis

Letter to the editor...

So, today, I wrote my first letter in response to an op/ed piece in the Daily Tarheel (DTH).

It was in response to this piece:

It’s sad, but racial profiling is necessary for our safety

It read as such:

There is something called responsible journalism. Responsible journalism does not infringe upon free speech, but refuses to give forum to vitriolic hate speech such as the editorial yesterday by Jillian Bandes. As a former newspaper editor, I am appalled at the DTH's decision to print such an ill-informed jingoistic diatribe. Bandes' lack of professionalism, journalistic integrity and sense of discretion warrant nothing less than her immediate removal from the editorial staff. That is, after she publicly apologizes to the Arab/Muslim community at UNC, and the rest of the world that was unwilling witness to her ill-informed views and hate-speech. Fin.

Now, there are a few key things you should keep in mind when writing to editors.
* First, you have to draw them in. I attempted to invoke comraderie by claiming to have been an editor... actually, I was only the layout editor... in high school... but I can format a mean picture, trust!
* Second, use big words. (ie, jingoistic, diatribe, vitriolic, etc) Journalists love words, and they like looking like they attract intelligent readership. If they print the response, it makes their paper look cool and inaccessible... an exciting prospect for any paper!
* Third, draw on moral issues, such as journalistic integrity and responsibility. Journalists take their job very seriously.
* Fourth, make the issue bigger than yourself... ie, she needs to apologize to an entire community. Everyone loves a selfless response!
*And most importantly, keep it civil, appropriate, timely, and for GODSAKES grammatically sound. Otherwise they will print your response simple to allow people to laugh at you and expose your lack of english proficiency.
* Lastly, pray that the piece was not satirical, a la, A Modest Proposal ... otherwise you will just look like a baffoon....

Class dismissed.

Failure

today, i tried to make samosas. It didn't go quite as planned. In my defense, the filling (ie, seasoned potato/pea mixture) tasted quite authentic... however, the thin crispy flour shell was more like a dense hard encasement.... I couldn't even bite the thing... i kinda had to gnaw on it for a while. Eventually, i gave up and just got a spoon and scooped the contents out... patience isn't a virtue of mine, clearly. I guess neither is baking...

Inside/Out

Right now, outside of my apartment, there's a hurricane generated rainstorm passing by. It is windy, and kind of makes the trees swirl. I heard something crash down, probably a light fixture from outside. Undoubtably, there is a torrent of water flowing through the parking lot, as happens whenever it rains. It is pleasant though, not frightening, as exhibited by the family next door which is outside enjoying the stormy weather. Earlier, it was drizzling while the sun was out. It does that a lot here. Those are some of my favorite times.

Right now, inside my apartment, I have once again consumed an entire pizza. I did this after discussing Marx's theory of class with my beau, and debating the nuances of exploitation and class identification. Before that, we discussed the implications of international trade on foreign workers, and whether paying workers low wages in other countries constituted exploitation, or merely expanded job opportunities (for both rapacious capitalists and poor workers).

Later, I talked (again) about how I want to adopt 2-4 kids, maybe of different cultures, maybe from different countries. I really want 4 kids, ideally, assuming that I at some point actually want kids at all, which, right now, does not sound particularly appealing. However, with the costs of child rearing being so high, and the career trajectory that I would like to follow, I feel that 2 is a more feasible number. I would never have just one child, and 3 is too close to 4, so I would end up with four. I have wanted to adopt at least since I was 12, at that time, for purely selfless reasons. Admittedly now, my reasons are more selfish. Call me cynical, but I have no desire to bring my own children in this world. Its not good enough for them, and I don't foresee it becoming that way in the near future. Additionally, I cannot think of anything more devestating than children growing up w/no parents, and feeling as if no one wanted them. I can think of no greater privilege than raising such a child.

So that's whats been going on outside, inside, and inside my head.