Wow, I haven't done very well on my reading list (left).
I haven't touched the first book.
Still working on the second.
Haven't touched the third.
And class is over so I don't have to read that anymore.

I've added EM Forster's Maurice, Margaret Cho's I'm the One I Want, and Mark Simpson's Sex Terror. You would think Margaret Cho's would be the funniest, but it's actually really sad. I'm waiting for the funny parts. And Sex Terror conjures up thoughts of freaky phalluses but luckily this book chronicles "Erotic Misadventures in Pop Culture."

To those who still read this...

Happy Holidays. Love what you got today.

Community, a Quality of the Heart
The word community has many connotations, some positive, some negative.
Community can make us think of a safe togetherness, shared meals, common
goals, and joyful celebrations. It also can call forth images of sectarian
exclusivity, in-group language, self-satisfied isolation, and romantic
naiveté. However, community is first of all a quality of the heart. It grows
from the spiritual knowledge that we are alive not for ourselves but for one
another. Community is the fruit of our capacity to make the interests of
others more important than our own (see Philippians 2:4). The question,
therefore, is not "How can we make community?" but "How can we develop and
nurture giving hearts?"

I don't know why I'm surprised every time, but the vending machines at FIT are always out of Diet Coke.

What? There's a lot of pressure to be thin when you're at FIT. =)

I like Barbara Bush. I think she's the coolest old lady around.

Andy Pettitte's last name has too many t's for just two syllables.

This FIT class has some dumb people in it. DUMB.

Yay! Finally have internet access at home and can access Blogger. It's been blocked at work since July.

But nothing to say. It's been too long.

So, this new apartment I saw has this duplex thing where there's a spiral staircase inside the apartment that goes up to the second level. As I was walking down those narrow stairs that I was trying to navigate ever so gently, I suggested to my roommate walking behind me that we should really have something like a stripper's pole instead to make the trip go faster. She responded, "You mean, a fireman's pole?" Hmmm...what was I thinking?

Ha ha!
http://www.msnbc.com/news/920254.asp

I just like the title.

I think that Beyonce in her newest video looks like Shakira.

Watching When Harry Met Sally at 1 o'clock in the morning. Movie is prelude to Sex and the City and Will and Grace in it's New York-ness, in it's male/female relationships, in it's "the clock doesn't start ticking until 36". Funny, original.

My friend has got me pegged:

"While I was previously considered to be second choice, here is a list of reasons why I would be a better caregiver/nanny than Jelly [this is me]...
1) He wants to take care of a baby because it is cute. However, he is dark sided and will become bitterly disillusioned by the waywardness of little baby. I already know babies are pains in the asses, but love them despite. He will also not care for the baby if it is not cute (uh, but yours will be of course), and he will scorn it and possibly make fun of it. Who needs to be subject to this at the tender age of 2 weeks or even 15 months? (Can't you hear him say, "Would you please stop eating corn? And do something about that newborn acne child, puhlease). He does this even when we visit Pets on Lex.

2) I have changed many a diaper, given baths, burped the baby, assisted in the breastfeeding process, have gone shopping with the baby, fed the baby with a bottle and assembled baby items such as stroller and playtime seater. I know how to tell if the baby is hungry or tired, as opposed to crusty diapered. My sister has even left me alone with her brand new baby while she and my mother went shopping.

3) I know baby songs and how to socialize developmentally with a baby. Do you want your baby to grow up singing, "Dirrrty" by Christina Aguilera?

4) Finally, Jelly = MW. Enough said."

Make that 5 times.

In the last two weeks, I've had arroz con pollo from Le Caridad four times.

Grandma Li who's recovering from a stroke tells me on my last night in Hong Kong that she doesn't need much else in her life; that I be a good boy, for me to find a girl to marry and to have her eldest grandson to have a child. That would be her "dream."

Wha?!?!

Does no health-care professional think that 120 pounds on a 5'8" frame is too light?

Went to doctor today and I mentioned that it was one of my concerns but it wasn't really addressed during the visit.

Eclesiastes 1:10
Is there anything of which one can say,
"Look! This is something new"?
It was here already, long ago;
it was here before our time.

Um, I think that if someone during the time when this Bible verse was written saw, like, a car or a PDA, I bet they would say, "hey, this is something new."

Movies I like right now:
West Side Story
Ocean's Eleven

http://www.nytimes.com/2003/02/07/international/07TECH.html

Ooh, maybe Josh's old roommate is here for reasons other than studying..."archeology," was it? Is that what they call international espionage these days?

One of my friends from work recently quit his job because he got into graduate school. He's taking this time off to relax and travel before starting in the summer. But among the group of co-workers with whom both of us trained during our first 4 months in the company, time has swept the memory of him away. We now congratulate the ones who recently got promotions and we move on. That's what I hate about change. It seems like no one is ever ever good enough to leave any lasting impression. Who does someone have to sleep with to get noticed anyway?! Kidding. No need for that at this company. Have you seen some of the people I work with? Yikes.

http://www.msnbc.com/news/868639.asp

I saw La Boheme on Broadway this weekend. As with the true opera, it was sung entirely in Italian with supertitles displayed electronically. They were displayed in different fonts for the different characters. I don't know if that's true of what the Met would do. Anyway, I didn't enjoy it very much. I thought the set design was good and the female leads had strong voices. I think I didn't like it because it was sung in Italian and I just couldn't follow. Sure, I had the supertitles to help me along but I just wasn't very interested in general. Then I realized that I'm one of those "dumb Americans" that the Europeans always speak of. Because it's not in English, I have no interest. For the most part, most Europeans are multi-lingual. With that comes, I assume, a wider range of interests because one can understand more. I think people who speak only English miss out on so much, on both personal enrichment and professional advancement. So, because I only speak English, I'm a boring dolt at a dead-end job. Yay Americans.

DR: No, I don't think there's the "one" anymore. A wise, old friend used the illustration of the show Bachelor(ette) to indicate that the main person is conflicted primarily because there are so many very viable choices for a mate. If only in our real lives could we be presented with all those choices at one sitting. Since it doesn't, we'll have to make due one friendship at a time.

today: 7

How many packets of Equal in coffee, tea, cereal, fruit or cookies do you think starts being unhealthy?

Read this in an advice column:

My boyfriend of a few years (we're both in our mid-twenties) is moving back into his parents' house. His lease is up and he'll move into another place in about six months. I'm personally big on not relying on parents if you consider yourself an adult (he's not doing this out of necessity, just convenience), and I'm having a hard time respecting him because of it and am not looking forward to hanging out in his childhood bedroom. Am I being bratty about this?

-- East Coast

Do a lot of women feel this way?!?

I finally saw pictures of Julius. Though I kind of wonder why he's always in the same pose and wearing the same clothes despite different locales. Could it be that he's just a cardboard cutout?!

I'd vote for John Edwards. He has brown hair. I'm tired of old people running for President. But can we get one without an accent (not that there's anything wrong with that)?

As per New Year's resolution concerning reading:

Ask me at the end of this month whether I've finished the two books I've started:
1. The Best a Man Can Get (NOT some Promise Keepers book, heh heh; but some funny-British-Nick-Hornby-wanna-be stuff)
2. A Confederacy of Dunces

I am totally losing it! I put my ATM-and-credit-card-in-one into the machine this morning, punched in my code and amount and waited for the money. During the 15 seconds for the transaction, I noticed my credit card was missing. And I was upset over losing my credit card and wondering where the hell I lost it. Even after the money appeared out of the slot, I was still mad. I wasn't confused. I sincerely believed I had lost the credit card after getting a new MetroCard this morning. Anger dissipated only after I realized that I put said credit card into the ATM just moments before. Talk about attention deficit disorder.

Saddest thing: I was able to tape the SNL episode hosted by Gwyneth Paltrow, but it didn't have the "you don't know me !" skit.