That's Some Rookie!

The Atlanta Braves newest rookie and right fielder is none other than our very own Jeff Francoeur. Hometown hero and fellow PHS alumni. He is one damn good looking fellow, kickin ass and taking names for the Bravos. His first major league appearance (July 7th) resulted in a 3 run homer (brought tears to my eyes) and he hasn't really simmered down since. Earlier in this afternoon's game, he hit 2 homers. His batting average is .441, not bad for a newbie. heh.

Watch him and love him!

I've Said It Before and I'll Say It Again

They are rich, beautiful, social. They live in one of the richest beach-side communities in the United States. They are the real Orange County. And they are back for Season 2!

Guiltily, one of my most favorite shows on television is "Laguna Beach" which airs on MTV. Why do I love this stupid show so much you ask? I don't have a good answer for that, I just do. Maybe it's because it seems so fake but it's actually pretty real. I'm sure they play everything up a bit more because they are in front of the camera and all but still, you know, it's fun to watch. I love Stephen and Lauren, LC and Lo. The relationships, the gossip, the clothes.

The Real OC link

Ah! And speaking of all that shallow stuff...Sweet Sixteen is also coming back for another season. Yay for reality tv! Boo for me being such an idiot!

"I'm a Dancer. Dancer for Money"

My friend, A-M and I headed down to Atlanta Monday night for "service industry night" at The Cheetah. That means if you work as a server or whatever at a restaurant or bar you can get in free. I have never been to a real strip club and A-M knew I had been wanting to go. Well, our friend Becca, called after work and told us to head down and meet up. It was exciting and pretty posh as far as strip clubs go. It's one of the more high end "gentlemen's clubs" in the state of Georgia. I drank two Crown on the rocks and tipped two dancers (they were all georgeous). A good time was had by all. That's about it. We were pretty tight on money or else someone would have received a lap dance. Oh well. Next time.

The Vortex

The Vortex is a restaurant in the Atlanta area. I love it. I love the food, beer and atmosphere. However, the managment there is the main reason it kicks so much ass. Here are 2 reasons...

click here for reason one. be sure to read "tip or die".

click herefor reason two.

Fish Tacos

I wish fish tacos were called something else because every time I say "I love fish tacos" I always feel like I am fluffing "tacos", you know, another word for a woman's christian parts, her hoo-hoo, her yina. But not a lovely vagina, one that smells like fish. Anyway, it seems that I got carried away on that one. In spanish I think fish is pescado. I'll call them pescado tacos from now on, it's even more fun to say and a bit of a tongue twister. Blah, blah, blah, anyway, the point is: pescado tacos. Love them!

Once one of my best boy friends, Billy and I were on a little trip to Los Angeles in 2003. We were wasting time after having taken a taxi in from Long Beach. We had our bags and everything and were waiting for a friend of ours to pick us up. We were delited to be in LA, a bit tipsy from our plane ride (I had a flask of Crown Royal and also our flight attendant was giving us free alcohol. Gotta love Jet Blue.) and hungry as hell. Anyway, we wondered around and found this little mom and pop mexican joint. The place was tiny and empty. We plopped down at the counter on a stool and ordered chips and guacamole and fish tacos. Papacito made the guacamole in front of us. Then with Mamacita's help, he made fish tacos for us. Best food ever. ever. ever. I think while we were in LA for three days we ate there a total of 4 times. Sitting at that counter with Billy and savoring every bite in that little mexican cantina will never leave my memory. The first visit to that joint out of the few is the most vidid and one of my most favorite memories I have.

The picture below was taken after we ate there the first time. We tried to get a picture of the restaurant in the background but no such luck.

My Job

Waitressing can make you one jaded lady, I'm telling you. People are cheap, disrespectful, tactless, classless and most of all gluttonous. Americans are disgustingly gluttonous. Every once and awhile there are the gems that remind us that the human race is actually okay but for the most part, the customers at my restaurant are degenerates.

That was not the point of my post but after a long day at work it was too easy for that to slip out. So, I apologize...end rant.

I love the people I work with. I love them more and more everyday. I work with the most random bunch of weirdo freaks but I love every single one of them. This includes front of house, all aspects of back of house, and management. Even the people I hated at first or were so annoyed by, I have come to embrace. Shawn says that (re: our co-workers) you couldn't find a more random group of people by picking them out of the white pages. These dear people keep me from running out of the restaurant and jumping in front of a moving car sometimes.

...

1. through all the damn struggles my brother has had with the idiots at University of California, San Diego...the numerous acceptances and rejections...he is fully accepted (hopefully) for the last damn time. he will be leaving us again in september to go to grad school in San Diego. i am so excited. i have been to san diego before and love it. i can't wait to return and experience it fully. the last time i was there was just for a couple days staying with some friends while i was on a Panic trip to LA with my friend billy. we stayed at the very posh Four Seasons Hotel (our friend is a manager there). another friend, matt, drove us around to vistas and took us to the beach and such. i had a wonderful two days there. it is 20 minutes from the mexican border. so, this next visit i will cross the border. i have never been out of the country so even if it is just for a margarita in the nasty ass town of tiauana, then so be it- i will have been outside of our borders. i'll have to remember lots of sanitizer, that place is icky from what i have heard. i also want to take a drive up to la jolla and laguna beach (the next two towns over) just because there's a lot of cheesey rich people there and i wanna see. also, i watch the show "laguna beach" on MTV.

2. i have college orientation in 6 days.

3. in 7 days i leave for colorado!!!!!!!!!!!

4. i haven't been doing much lately but working. late night i always usually go out with anna-marie, shawn and/or jeremie. and that's about it my friends. it's all pretty predictable.

Tag, You're It.

Yoda has tagged me. I guess this means that I have to answer the questions that he answered on his blog. I copied and pasted the Q's so here it goes...

Number of Books I own:
I counted 242 (this does not include my cookbooks, double copies, etc.)

Last Book I Bought:
"America, The Book. A Citizen's Guide to Democracy Inaction" by Jon Stewart and The Daily Show

It is written as a satyrical text book on American Government and all sorts of politicing (is that a word?). Since I just bought it, I haven't really sat down with it but I have flipped through it a good bit. I came across this and it had me laughing pretty hard..."If 'con' is the opposite of 'pro', then isn't Congress the opposite of progress? or did we just fucking blow your mind?"

There might be a lot of people out there that may think this book is stupid and "blasphemous" to our government but if we can't laugh at ourselves...

Last Book I Read:
"Under the Banner of Heaven" by John Krakauer

What a wonderful book! I have already posted about the book so I won't really go into it again. I definetly recommend reading this one though! It's one of the best books I have ever read. It is about Mormon Fundamentalists and it tracks the history of their religious extremism through the main Mormon church.

Five Books That Mean A Lot To Me:

1. "How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents" by Julia Alvarez
This book means a lot to me because my friend Heather gave it to me. Heather got me in to reading Alvarez (a Dominican writer). We worked at the bookstore together and were really good friends. She was the first person I met that was a lot like me and read a lot. So she threw books my way that I totally immersed myself in. She catapulted my obsession with books.

2. "Fast Food Nation" by Eric Schlosser
This book delves into the Evil that is fast food. It covers everything from the history to the manufacturing to the marketing of fast food. It'll reaffirm the fact that we are a fast food nation and we are killing ourselves and leading our children down a path a self destruction as well. Except for breaking down and eating a McRib sandwich last year, I haven't stepped inside a McDonald's or eaten it in over 6 years.

3. "Uncle Tom's Cabin" by Harriet Beecher Stowe
This is just a great book period. It really moved me a lot. It is written by a young white woman in the mid 1850s. The book is about slavery in the South during the war between the States. It is very hard to describe this book. It is very complex but easy to read. The new perspective given to you will change your thinking. One of the very best books I have ever read!

4. "Reasons For Hope" by Jane Goodall
This one in essence just goes over faith in other others. It is very moving and came at the right time for me. Jane Goodall is an amazing human being full of so much love and compassion and shares it with you. It's just an amazing story that she tells.

5. "Vagina Monologues" by Eve Ensler
Even if you are a guy you should read this book. T read it and loved it. It is a book about vaginas. The book contains short stories by women who are talking about their vaginas, what they mean to them, how they feel about them, etc. It can be very emotional at times. One's vagina can have a huge impact on their life and these stories account for that.

I am not good at book reports but I hope you got the gist of what I am trying to say. I highly recommend all of these books.

Now I guess I tag three people...
Undr
Carissa
Don't hate me y'all, I don't really know who else to tag. Also, I know that's not 3 but I don't really know anyone else that would respond to a tag.

Sooo

My brother is home and everything is going wonderfully. However, he stays holed up in this computer room watching Comedy Central all day long. I am rarely on the computer to write now. I can check my email in front of him but I don't want him to know about my blog. Patience though, things will be back to normal soon.

My brother and I have gone out drinking one night for a co-workers birthday. It was a lot of fun and my brother and I got along great. We also went to Rusan's for a sushi buffet the other day. It was extra yummy and only cost $8. Other than that, I have been sleeping a lot and just working. I have moved my really big TV into my bedroom and I don't have cable in there so I hooked my DVD player up so I would have something to watch. T and I went to Best Buy today and I purchased "Curb Your Enthusiasm, Season 3" and "The Life of Brian". Yesterday I watched "Napolean Dynamite" for the 10th time and even watched the Director's Commentary. Hopefully cable will be hooked up soon. Tonight my mom, my brother and I have a date for dinner. It'll be Mexican tonight. We are feeding my brother all the non-Asian food he has been craving: hamburgers, steaks, Mexican, etc.

I am just so excited about my trip to Colorado, I am not really focusing on much else. Oh and T has been really getting on my nerves lately. Maybe it's because my hormones are riding another roller coaster.

Ah! I just thought of something. I went out with a couple friends from work the other night. After the bar, Jeremie and I were at his apartment on his patio smoking and we had closed the sliding glass door behind us. After an hour we tried to go back in but couldn't. The glass door had somehow locked behind us. We couldn't figure out how this had happened. For about 3 hours we were stuck on his 2nd floor patio. We called everyone. We tried everything. I even got on the other side of the patio to be lowered down or jump or whatever...I thought better of it and wussed out (especially since I have no health insurance). We were just going to wait a couple more hours and then call my mom who would be on her way to work. Well, at 5am, this dude was leaving his apartment to go to work at Wal-Mart. We got his attention, he thought we were crazy but didn't hesitate to come and rescue us. He walked in the unlocked front door and unlocked the patio glass door. Thank you David from Wal-Mart! We are writing your supervisor to let him know how great you are.

My Bro's in the Air

Jay is on the plane, as I type. He still has another 10 hours or so in the air. He had a layover in Seoul, Korea and then it was a straight flight to Atlanta. We will be picking him up in the morning. I am really anxious. I have to work tomorrow night and I am kinda happy about that so I can take a breather in the midst of the Jay-coming-home whirlwind. We have cleaned and cleaned and organized. We got flowers for the house and a "welcome home" sign and balloons for the kitchen. I think my brother is going to freak out being back in the states after a 5 year absence. Not only has he been gone but he missed September 11 and has not experienced post 9/11 America. He is very smart and I am interested to discuss his observations and insight.

Anyway, tomorrow I have a brother again. The four of us have not lived under the same roof since 1993. jeez. And yes, I am too old to be living at home. Fuck off. :)

Ze Zvedish Chef!

I was just reminded of eating the swedish meatballs at IKEA. I kept laughing about the Swedish Chef from the Muppets. First off, I loved the Muppets. I don't mean just love, I freakin LOVED the Muppets. They have a really special place in this tender sentimental heart of mine. But as I was eating the meatballs in the IKEA cafe, I kept thinking of him. I don't remember what he said, I just remember a lot of mumbling in swedish and tossing of food wildly as he cooked, ah, and the chickens clucking!.

I found a couple websites that made me laugh. I will now be going "bork bork bork!" in my head (or outloud and everyone at work will think I am eating acid) all the time. Man, I'm crackin up right now just thinking about him.

a good site

click on the mock swedish translation

The first link leaves a lot to explore. AND! There seems to be a commemerative stamp that will be issued this year! heh.

bork bork bork!

edit: i said chickens, i think he only had one. i think the multiple chickens appeared when the Muppets were in space. regardless, there were a lot of chickens somewhere on the Muppets. man, i have got to get the dvd set if they have one.

I'm Leavin...

On a jet plane, don't know when I'll be coming back...

Actually I do know, unfortunately. I wish it was a oneway ticket. Anyway, I have made my plane reservation for Colorado! I am really really excited. After all of this time I have the money to fly out there and visit my very best friend in the whole universe. I'll be out there July 29th to August 4th. Alison Krauss is in the plans, margaritas, biking, hiking...the Colorado sun! No humidity!!!! I am looking forward to this more than anyone knows.

IKEA

I have downloaded the pics from IKEA. Yes, you will confirm that I am a huge dork with nothing better to do than be an idiot. But, hey, I enjoy myself and that's that.

To go in progression of actual events, scroll backwards. You know, go from the bottom to the top.

We went down to the IKEA Thursday, the day after it's opening. The anticipation was killing us and we were so excited driving down to Atlanta, we could barely contain ourselves. We spent a good amount of money there but we had been saving. I was a little anxious because I was afraid of IKEA disappointing me and my expectations. I had set the bar seriously high.

We spent a total of six hours in the store. The time was flying. The place is so huge and there is so much to see. The first time in we shopped on the first floor (the marketplace). We unloaded our purchases and headed back in to the second level (the showroom). I unknowingly lost my phone while testing out a sofa. This was not realized until we were at the car about to leave. My mom repeatedly called my phone and someone finally answered. She said she was in IKEA near the sofas. So, the third time in the store I had to retrieve my phone. The dear lady met me at the top of the second floor escalator to return it to me. She said they kept hearing a sofa ring and finally decided to answer it. I have had a cell phone for a few years now and that was the first time I had ever lost it. The best thng about going back in was when we got to go back out by using the declining escalator. It sounds stupid but it's pretty cool. Maybe I'm sheltered but I have never been on a flat escalator that goes down.

We went back on Sunday (July 4th weekend and even more packed). We spent three hours there (which we thought was pretty good considering). It was a bit more of a hassle but still wonderful.

Overall, I love the people that work there and the customers are even awesome too. Everyone is happy there is such a great store here now. They are all nice and considerate and relaxed. It's a far cry from Target or the mall.

I guess that's it. I know you all were just on the edge of your seats in anticipation awaiting my IKEA post.

The End.

here we are shortcutting it. this was a cool little tunnel to get us to check out faster. 

we had a return to make and some more things to buy so we returned 3 days later. this time there was a stilt walker. 

after 6 hours (no kidding) at the IKEA we are leaving. bye IKEA! 

okay, y'all, the kid's department is so much fun. i sat in this bucket chair that has a hood that comes all the way down and it spins. i'm such an idiot but it was awesome. we relaxed here for a minute. we are so tired at this point but still exhilerated. 

the cool thing about the showroom is that they have set up these rooms elaborately with all the accessories and such. we are getting this desk. the chair is a bit too expensive so the chair's not on the list. 

here is my mom (tilt your head). this is the chair she was relaxing in earlier in the day and now again on the showroom floor. she is really enjoying the chair here (as you can see, haha). my camera snapped just in time to see this look on her face. 

okay, so we unloaded our stuff and went back in to the second floor (the showroom floor). we were testing out everything. here is me with a really kick ass bean bag thing. it was really nice and i rested and snuggled up to it for awhile while my mom is chilling in the chair across from me. 

on the way back to the car to unload our stuff. this is the escelator that goes down. the cart is kind of magnetized and it's an awesome ride. hehe. 

this is a view of our cart while we ate. that's my phone on the table that i lose when we go back into the store. 

we checked out and then chowed down on hotdogs and potato chips. it was so cheap! we got two huge bags of chips, 4 hotdogs and two large drinks for $5! god this place is great. 

we are totally getting this chair. it is sooo comfortable. it has a footrest that goes with it. this one's on the list too.  

this is a coffee table but i have decided it will be my new TV stand. it will house my DVD player, books and such. i haven't bought it yet but it's on the list. 

me and the IKEA guys. they were super helpful. the guy on the left chatted us up for a long time and was really nice. i decided to take a pic and the dude on the right hopped in the picture. i bought the mirror he is holding but i got it in dark brown. we are in the picture department here. 

shopping in my favorite department- storage needs! i love organizing. (i am feeling like a huge dork blogging this right now. oh well, whatever. who am i trying to impress?) that's my mom again. 

we ditched the other cart, tried this one out, decided against it and picked a new one. whoever thought getting a cart at a store would be such a chore? 

in the parking deck (that's my mom but not our car) 

Comin' Home

After 5 years of being on the other side of the world, my brother is coming home! He has been living in Eastern Asia for the last 5 years teaching English, going to school and hanging out. I have been the only child for the last 5 years. My parents and I haven't seen him in 5 years, only in pictures. He is a man now. He is almost 31! He left for Thailand when he was my age. We'll see how we get along this time around now that we have (hopefully) both matured a lot.

He is supposed to arrive Friday night. He is trying to get his flight delayed by three days but still, he'll be home before next Monday. It's going to be sooo weird seeing him after such a long time. I mean he's my brother and all but it seems like he's not at the same time.

He will be staying at our house. So this room that I am typing in will be converted back to his room. That means no more late nights on the computer. He is planning on going to University of California at San Diego when he comes back so that means he should only be here for a short time. His acceptance there is conditional though given an improved GRE score. He just took the GRE again this past week and I think he meet the requirement. We'll see.

I'm crossing my fingers that all of us* living under the same roof again won't cause anyone to run away from home or go on any drinking binges.

*we never were the Cleavers. my brother and i have never gotten along. my dad and my brother never really did get along. well, we were all kinds of dysfunctional.

*Look At Me*

I have done it! Don't forget to check out the links I have posted in my sidebar!

The Man!

Yiddish

Yiddish has come up in brief blog conversation between me and my buddy, Underachiever.

I love the language. It just sounds fun to use.

He pointed me in the direction of a website of common Yiddish words. I decided to post a brief history of the language...

"Yiddish language, member of the West Germanic group of the Germanic subfamily of the Indo-European family of languages. Although it is not a national language, Yiddish is spoken by about 4 million Jews all over the world, especially in Argentina, Canada, France, Israel, Mexico, Romania, and the U.S. Before the annihilation of 6 million Jews by the Nazis, Yiddish was the tongue of more than 11 million people. Yiddish, although it is not a national language, is spoken by Jews all over the world. It arose (c.1100) out of a blend of a number of German dialects in the ghettos of Central Europe, and from there it spread to other parts of the world. Phonetically, Yiddish is closer to Middle High German than is modern German. Its vocabulary is basically German, but it has been enlarged by borrowings from Hebrew, Slavic, Romance languages, and English."

http://www.bergen.org/AAST/Projects/Yiddish/English/yiddish.html

As I was looking over the list, I found "shlemil" and "shlemazl". Sound familiar? No?

"One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight. Schlemeel, schlemazel, hasenfeffer incorporated."

That's none other than the intro of the Laverne & Shirley theme song. Not sure what the "hasenfeffer" means. However, "Schlemeel" means dope or fool and "schlemazel" means unlucky person. That's the duo for ya. I miss watching L&S. That was a good show. Haven't seen a re-run in a few years.

http://www.cfhf.net/lyrics/laverne.htm

I will now share a few of my favorite Yiddish words with y'all-

kibitz (to meddle)
zay gezundt (bless you)
shlekht (bad)
shlemil (dope or fool)
shendrik (fool)
shiker (drunkard)
shlemazl (unlucky person)
kakameyme* (crazy)
khazer** (pig)
shlep (to drag)

That's the end of today's language lesson, kids!



* i use this word and never knew it was yiddish.
** "kh" is pronounced "ch"

Has Hell Frozen Over?

MTV is actually playing music! This weekend is "Live 8". I guess this is something like Live Aide from many years ago. It's great and all that they are airing international music and giving speeches on the sick, poor and dying in Africa. BUT, is this really reaching the masses? Yes, it's on MTV but you know how the kids are probably reacting...

scenario 1: "oh god, that live 8 thing is on aaallll weekend. let's go hit the pool or something. i can listen to this stuff on my ipod while i'm laying out, ya know, without all the death talk and stuff."

scenario 2: "live 8 is on this weekend. brad pitt just made an appearance, his hair looks sooo good dyed platinum blonde! what is he talking about anyway? brad, please turn around so we can check out your butt! maybe he'll bring angelina on stage!"

I don't know, maybe, hopefully it'll have some impact. But when I see Brad Pitt giving a speech about 30,000 people dying everyday in Africa and the crowd is screaming for him, not "the cause", I'm not so hopeful.

I think I'm being a little harsh. Maybe, maybe not. I think this is all because of the G8 Summit and bringing attention to the poverty and sickness plaguing Africa. Or is it just a good excuse for celebrities and "musicians" alike to look like they are "aware"?

Good Hair TV

Well, it's a Friday night and I'm flyin solo. I have the day off and remember, no friends here in town. And my best companion, T, is out with his family that is in town for the long holiday weekend. So, me, computer, and TV (maybe beer later).

If you don't know yet, I am a complete fool for reality television. I hate this obsession. I do. I am not proud of this addiction but I'm not going to hide it. I'm going to share it...with you!

The show I love is "Blow Out" on Bravo. This masterpiece is all about Jonathan Antin, an LA hair stylist. It follows daily life in the salon and bits of his personal life. This season we get to follow him around as he creates his own product line! (yay!) You can visit the official site by copying and pasting this link (because i still have no idea how to link) --> http://www.bravotv.com/Blow_Out/

Jonathan is an overly egotistical stylist, business owner. He is Hollywood Cheese. For some shameful reason, I find his over-the-top controlling persona to be attractive. He is a pompous jerk but I adore him. On one website, he is noted as the "biggest straight drama queen in America." This show has Hollywood beauties, appointment conflicts, lots of hair product, hirings, firings, The Style Off, fashion shows, all the drama for your mama and much more.

He brings the passion. He brings the tears. He brings me to watch 6 hour marathons.

He once stated something to the effect of, "You are what you do. I am hair." He should have been a philosopher.

All kidding aside though, I do love this show!