Thursday, December 19, 2002 useless purchases but oh so cute. i was perusing in the 50% off rack at old navy yesterday and i came across a funky plastic camera with a shape filter. the camera came with a star frame, an oval frame and a circular frame and when you take a picture, the filter blocks out the shape and creates a border pattern of the shape of the frame cut-out. now for $7.00, i think it makes a cute little stocking stuffer. today i get to pick out my christmas present. oh happy day! 12:37 PM

Monday, December 16, 2002 a plea to the mta and the transit union please dont strike tomorrow. i have an interview. i would like a job. i cannot get said job unless i am able to get to said interview. thus this plea. thank you for your kind cooperation in this matter. 3:14 PM

does everyone have pms this weekend? i spent the weekened offering my advice and shoulder to cry on. and realized that you cant have everything, but to be grateful for what you do have. i listened to some bitch and moan about the demise of a failed relationship...while others were just feeling neglected... and i couldnt help but feel guilty that my love life was going so well. and then a little paranoid about how mercurial relationships were to begin with. and then i began to question when my time was going to come where these people were going to have to listen to me cry and bitch and moan and complain about said love-life. and then i realized, i may not bitch about that aspect of my life, but i have many other well-worthy complaints in my life to date that others can't complain about...my lack of direction, career-wise would be one great example. so while my love life may be great, i should not worry about karma because i have a shitty balance to it. which kind of makes me feel better. 12:59 PM

Friday, December 13, 2002 happy friday the thirteenth well, i'm almost done christmas shopping. only james, my parents and three other people left on a list that boasted fourteen. and i bought two of james 4 presents already. the biggest gift is still a mystery to me. i got two practical ones, one funny/sentimental one, and now i just have to find the finale present. any ideas? its really hard to shop for him because his tastes are so foreign to me and besides, everything he wants, he just buys for himself. anyway, i broke the promise that i would not shop for myself until i was done with everyone else. but gap is having an insane sale on their jeans, so i bought one pair for $19.99. harrumph. does anyone know where i can find glass paint that can withstand high heat? projects, projects galore. 12:11 PM

Thursday, December 12, 2002 shame on me already i am going back on my word....my new years resolution to stop watching so much tv. yesterday i found myself forcing myself to stay up to watch 'suddenly susan.' i have a thing for watching sitcom reruns, no matter what they are. i've even begun to like 'taxi' which i rank up there with 'all in the family' --unwatchable old sitcoms. anyhow, it was well worth it -- its the episode where todd makes fun of menudo's anthology release and luis shimmies around the office interpreting the menudo dance. and the climax of it all was todd getting confronted in the parking lot by 10 or more spanish men in tight pants and long curly hair. hilarity, i tell you. thanks to the rain last night, i purchased 5 more christmas presents and now only have three more to go. but my biggest project has to be james. i'm getting him like 10 seperate presents because he cant decide on one big nice one. i thought about actually finishing the knitted scarf i promised him last christmas, but that would involve having to actually start it and its about a week til christmas. not gonna happen. i have to go to target today to buy all my cleaning supplies and i must dedicate sunday to cleaning my basement so that i may start being cheap and giving photographs to people as christmas gifts. and my plan is to go to the flea market this saturday if it doesnt rain because i need to pick up somemore atlas glasses. ooooh! and i saved the best for last. yesterday while i was at the mall, i stopped by brookstone because i like looking at the little gizmos and gadgets that have no real functional value but are overpriced and fun to look at and guess what i came across! seamonkeys! you know, the seamonkeys that they used to advertise in the back of the comic books with the sea horse like bodies and the crowns on their heads! its dubbed as their "ecosphere collection." and i quote: EcoSphere is a calming balance of earth, water, air and life—all parts of a working self-sufficient ecosystem that’s much more than science; it’s an original work of art. Makes a unique gift for those who contemplate the mystery of life on our planet and enjoy the serenity of nature. The delicate coexistence of animal and plant life (red shrimp, algae and microbes) thrives in the handblown glass sphere of seawater. It’s easy to care for—just provide sufficient light and enjoy the aesthetic blend of science and art, beauty and balance. This technology was developed by NASA scientists as part of a growing initiative to study our planet’s biosphere. $60-$500 for seamonkeys! 1:43 PM

Wednesday, December 11, 2002 50 Best Places to Visit 1 The Grand Canyon.... 2 Great Barrier Reef.... 3 Florida ....4 South Island.... 5 Cape Town ....6 Golden Temple.... 7 Las Vegas.... 8 Sydney.... 9 New York ....10 Taj Mahal ....11 Canadian Rockies ....12 Uluru.... 13 Chichen Itza/Mexico.... 14 Machu Picchu/Peru ....15 Niagara Falls.... 16 Petra/Jordan ....17 The Pyramids/Egypt ....18 Venice ....19 Maldives.... 20 Great Wall of China.... 21 Victoria Falls/Zimbabwe ....22 Hong Kong ....23 Yosemite National Park.... 24 Hawaii.... 25 Auckland/New Zealand.... 26 guassu Falls.... 27 Paris.... 28 Alaska (does the anchorage airport count?).... 29 Angkor Wat/Cambodia ....30 Himalayas/Nepal.... 31 Rio de Janeiro/Brazil.... 32 Masai Mara/Kenya.... 33 Galapagos Islands/Ecuador.... 34 Luxor/Egypt.... 35 Rome.... 36 San Francisco.... 37 Barcelona.... 38 Dubai.... 39 Singapore ....40 La Digue/Seychelles.... 41 Sri Lanka.... 42 Bangkok.... 43 Barbados ....44 Iceland.... 45 Terracotta Army/China.... 46 Zermatt/Switzerland ....47 Angel Falls/Venezuela ....48 Abu Simbel/Egypt.... 49 Bali.... 50 French Polynesia bold is where ive been. 7/50 - that's depressing. update on the darkroom project. carpenter has come and gone and made a nifty L-shaped workbench for my equipment. yet, i underestimated the size of my enlarger and ran into a slight problem. lets do some math. my basement has a vertical height of 5'3". My table is about 3 1/2' high. my enlarger is almost 4' in length. sums up to, too tall for my basement. i didnt expect the chassis to be so long. oops. 3:23 PM

Tuesday, December 10, 2002 as we speak i am drooling from the mouth uncontrollably because my dentist put enough novacaine in there to numb a baby elephant. 3:55 PM

Monday, December 09, 2002 why i am not the posterchild for common sense saturday was lou's birthday fiesta. i must say, he really knows how to party for his birthdays. i havent been to a bar/lounge/club/party in a looooooonnnnng time. not that i miss it much...but i can see the appeal of it all. i dont know how i did it every weekend during college. anyway, to make a long story short, i left the keys to my car in the pocket of my coat that i put in coat check. and i didnt realize it til i was leaving the club. and then i freaked out because i was so sure it wasnt going to be there when i got it. but thankfully, it was. and then in relief i put on my coat and sat down....on a puddle of mystery fluid which i am hoping to god was not vomit. but who's to say. i put that coat in a plastic bag and its been fermenting in there for about 2 days. and then someone had the grand idea to go to gray's papaya. of course no one knew exactly where it was (the only one we knew for sure was in the village and i was not about to trek it all the way there from uptown) so, instead, we drove aimlessly around lincoln center, columbus square, madison square garden and times sqare looking for the elusive gray's papaya. kathy swore it was around lincoln center and i was swearing up and down that it was by madison square garden all the while james was saying "eh? huh? what?" because he is now clinically deaf and bles was singing 'jenny from the block' which i now officially hate. i decided that i wasnt going to listen to kathy and i was going to throw bles from the car if she kept singing. we ended up at the gray's on 8th street in the village. go figure. turns out kat and i were both right. there are three gray's. one of 72nd, one on 37th and then the one on 8th. hope you had a great birthday, lou. 2:47 PM

Tuesday, December 03, 2002 december is my favorite month snow, winter, scarves, christmas lights, gifts...what's not to love? i also love getting email from long-lost friends. its like a warm hug after you've been out in the cold all day. i already started christmas shopping via the internet. i bought 4 gifts for five people (one is a couple). i plan not to buy anything for myself until i finish shopping for everyone else. that way i save money and its an incentive to get everything done quick. 11:36 PM