the delayed tale...

of homecoming weekend 2005.

so last thursday i returned to texas for the first time since i moved to california. i had a range of emotions about returning back, but in the end excitement triumphed. at first i was afraid (i hate that song) that it would make me want to move back home, but then i came to remember that i had a ticket for a flight back to oakland 4 days later and was reminded that "home" is now on the west coast.

upon a late arrival on thursday tim and i had dinner with the old "crew." a nice plate of steak and potatoes with a glass of wine was the best welcome back i could have had. friday i caught up with my girls...saw the womens' soccer game (well, the first half - i have never been able to sit through a whole game...sorry girls)...walked around campus looking for a few people who are now seniors (weird...) and met tim's mom and her boyfriend. yes, i met the mother. and yes, it went well. (see picture to the left for visual explaination)

that night i drank at the house...

...and at 930am the next morning my dad called. so i drug myself out of bed to have lunch and get my haircut. you know you have a cool dad when he'll go to the salon with you and talk to you while you're getting your split ends cut off. later that afternoon i went to open chapter room to see the rest of the ladies in my life. upon entering that room where i spent so many hours in countless meetings i was reminded of why i was glad to be returning to california the next day. now, don't get me wrong...i love my sisters. they are all wonderful women for their own reasons and together they make a great group. they did a great job with SING! (the all-school variety/talent show for those non-SUers) and got 3rd place. but geeze...i am beyond all of that now. all i'm saying is that it was time for me to leave when i did.

then, my mom and brothers and sister showed up around 4pm and took me to dinner at chuys. oh how i missed queso. and real chips. and ranch being put on the table next to my salsa. and people who know how to season fajita meat. i even asked our waiter if we could find a way to ship me queso on a weekly basis.

at dinner i realize how quickly my siblings were growing up. my oldest brother is a highschooler, my other brother will be 13 next week, and katie...well, she's 7 going on 25. i remembered how proud of them i am as we talked about what they have been up to and vowed to return to california only to brag. after that we parted until the next morning.

that night i drank at the house again...

...and seeing that group of guys warmed my heart. no offense to the rest of yall i visited with, but i missed my guys. if by chance any of you ever read this thing please know that i miss you every day.

sunday morning i said my goodbyes to a few people and went into austin with my family and tim. we ate lunch at shady grove and of course i had queso again...completing my goal of eating queso every day i was in texas. after eating we went zilker park to ride the train (oh so fun!) and then off to airport i went.

it was a great trip. i can honestly say that it was everything i could have asked for. i saw the people i wanted to see...i drank enough that i danced...i spent time with the people i wanted to hang out with...i was reminded why it was time for me to take a step away from some things...and i remembered why i will be returning to the lone star state one day.

thanks for everything yall...see you at christmas.

looking around my living room…

…you can find the following magazines in a stack on my end-table: time, pc magazine, cosmo, discover, and the southwest airlines in-flight magazine. makes me wonder what that says about me?

p.s. homecoming blog to come soon. check for pictures soon, too.

if i were a cocktail...

so while sitt at work very, very, very excited about this weekend i have found several ways to entertain myself. one of those things being the "next blog" button at the top of my blog. while randomly reading blogs i have learned a few things:

• there are a TON of people routing for the astros. it's good to know they have fans outside of texas
• how to sew a zipper
• for every blog in english there are 3 in some other launguage (usually spanish or french)
• people under the age of 18 should not be allowed to blog because it's always about stupid shit that doesn't matter and they always put way too many pictures up that they think make them look cool
• there are way too many stay at home moms who find comfort in the blogosphere

and my favorite...

How to make a Dee

Ingredients: 5 parts jealousy 1 part brilliance 5 parts leadership

Method: Combine in a tall glass half filled with crushed ice. Add emotion to taste! Do not overindulge!

kids, try this at home...

...sit in your car after putting it in park just so you can hear the end of a song. and don't forget to sing at the top of your lungs.

the blame game...

ahh...how long it has been since my mind has wandered into the world of technology. lately i've been neglecting the side of me i discovered during my senior year of college- the side of me that investigates our culture, the side of me that began this blog, and the side of me that i long to have some one on one time with soon.

it all came back to me when i was shopping at best buy for the cords i needed to hook up my TIVO to my broadband internet. i had the router, i had the ethernet cable, i just needed the thingy-ma-do that connected them. but, while perusing the isles of technology that is best buy i realized how much easier it all would have been sans wires.

internal monologue interjection: why don't i have a laptop yet!?!?!?

as a result of my encounter with tangled cords and random cables i dealt with while setting everything up i began to think about how it used to be in the "good ol' days." you know...when computers ran on DOS (speaking of DOS, i actually used it the other day at work...it was rather strange). or remember when you only had one computer in your house...if any at all? how about the fact that we used to have to DIAL A PHONE NUMBER to connect to the web? it feels like ages ago, but scarily that was really only 5 years ago - when i was a high school senior.

so what does all this rapid technology development mean? well...what doesn't it mean? CNN ran an article on their website this afternoon talking about how the wifi world of today is shifting our culture. i found it interesting...and hence this blog. it claimed that there was an "eroding distinction between work and play" as a result of "our increasingly wireless world." so true...so true.

but...

at the same time, isn't it also helping us play when we really need to play...or allowing us to get shit done when we have work to do because now we can do it anywhere. think about it- you're having a long day at work and your brain is fizzled out. you just need 10 minutes to recoup and relax a bit. so you open internet explorer, or mozilla, or whatever you use and check out your friend's website to see what he or she is up to. or you go read your favorite news site. or you look at porn. (everybody's different!) before you know it you're recharged and feeling better so you go back to work. or...you're at home watching t.v. and you suddenly remember you have HUGE project deadline the next day. so you hop on your home computer, connect to your company network, and voila! you're project is done before you even walk into the office the next morning.

so yes, it makes the line a fine one to walk, but i think ultimately it's up to the individual on whether or not one intrudes on the other. i think the technology we have today is amazing - to say that it's a bad thing is naive. where would we be without the communication abilities we have? communicationless i tell you...communicationless!

anyway, so there's this fine line we all walk. "this is always the case with new technology. often the effects are paradoxical," bowker said. "the overall upside is that we can maintain a rich social and cultural life while dashing from pillar to post. the overall downside is that our spiritual development -- which requires empty time, contemplation -- is suffering enormously."

you know what i say to that: step up america! take this as a challenge and become capable of balancing the sides. it's not technology's fault that you're a lazy bastard and won't get your shit done or that you aren't taking the time to watch your kid's baseball game. it's your own damn problem if your work doesn't get done and your "spiritual development" doesn't get developed. if you have something to do...do it. if you have time to play, then play for god's sake! do whatever it is you need to do, but don't blame a problem that you are creating on something that is enhancing our world beyond our wildest dreams.

while you were out...

i apologize to my loyal readers for neglecting my writing, but lately i've actually been working the entire time i'm at work. since i go in around 11am or noon every day i actually spend the next 5 hours working on things. funny how taking three hours off my day actually led to higher productivity rates. happy workers = good workers

anyway, this weekend tim decided he needed curtains in his living room. and since neither one of us will pass up an excuse to go shopping at target we were off. after hitting up the dollars spot (i love that place!) we headed to the home decor section and found some red curtains. we also found how packaging certain ways helps increase the amount of money a company brings in. most people use 2 curtains...one on each side so you can part them...you know, to look out the window. so what does the curtain-making-company do? they only put one in each package. $30 a pop...geeze.

so he gets the curtains...i buy an awesome jacket (yay fall weather!) and we return to his house. before we started hanging them we had decided that we might as well rehaul the entire room...shift furniture, bring new pieces in, etc. and in doing that, i decided that the room should also be deep cleaned. you know, to get the 10 pounds of dog hair out of all the nooks and crannies. so while tim hung curtains, i dusted, mopped, and wiped down furniture. i know, i know...sooooo domestic.

anyway, so at some point while moving/cleaning the entertainment center it was decided that it should be painted. i figured this would be yet another project that he and i would discuss at the present time and occur later. but...tim meant that day. so...the adventure began. i went to grab the stuff we used to paint my kitchen, he bought primer and paint...and we suddenly felt like TLC's trailor should be parked in the driveway and film crews should be following our every move.

i wish we had taken before and after pictures because the room looks great. i don't mean to brag, but we could really start our own show. "how not to decorate" or "redecorating rendevous." something cheezy like all of the other home decor shows. anyway, i think i might take some final pics though...just so i can show off what we worked so hard on all day saturday. i'm sure there will be another recap of this project here...so if you want "the other side of the story" check it out.

besides the redecorating project, i saw "eulogy" as well...good movie, i highly recomend it. friday and sunday i just bummed around catching up on my soap opera and cleaning my own apartment (i swear, i don't just clean tim's place).

i also watched my anticipation level increase with every passing hour. why you ask? because....drum roll please...i'm returning to texas for the first time in 3 months this coming thursday!! i can't describe how excited i am, but at the same i'm i can't tell you how scared i am. i can't wait to see all of my friends and watch SING at homecoming and party with my boys again. and i'm ecstatic that i get to see all of my family as well.

i know it's going to be a super-fun weekend, but my fears still linger. what if i don't want to come back to california? or what if i realize i hate texas because it's so flat and never want to come back? what if i miss mexian food so much that i can't pry myself from the chuy's table and refuse to leave until they promise to ship me fresh queso every day? and the biggest one: what is it like to hang out at southwestern after you've graduated? nonetheless, i expect my excitement to overwhelm my fears and for this coming weekend to be 100x better than i can imagine.

for those of you in the lone star state: see yall soon!

finding your niche...

david spade is taking over where "the daily show" left off. two or three years ago "the daily show" covered both entertainment and political news. it focused on an array of issues- ranging from the most recent celebrity scandal to the current evil political schemes. during the course of the bush administration it has taken a turn to compete with the 24 hour news station “news series” (i.e. larry king, the guy with the bowtie on CNN, “fair and blanced” FOX dudes, and various other angry newscasters). now don’t get me wrong, i still love jon…he still maintains his status as “my hero” but i must admit that another man is creeping in.

watch out jon...you have competition. it’s his new show, i can’t resist it. david spade's “the showbiz show” has filled the void that jon stewart caused when he changed the focus of “the daily show.” he has given me access to a world that critiques pop culture. a display of all of the things i loathe about the world i live in…but at the same time, the part of life i am drawn to more often than not. the side of me that hasn’t been nourished since my mass communications class my junior year.

if you haven’t watched it…tune it. it comes on during the half hour before “the daily show” (930pm if your in texas…1030pm if your in cali.) now, i will admit that i was reluctant to watch at first...thinking it was just another spin-off of something…but it’s good. two thumbs up from danielle (because i know my opinion matters).

and as for steven colbert…i’ll be tuning in to his new show october 17^th…a full hour and a half of comedy central reporting.

alternative lifestyles...

alright, so most of you could figure this out by going to the mills college website, but i work at an all women's college. well...the graduate program includes men, but they only make up something like 20% of the campus population (faculty included). so...as one might assume (or not assume), there are some students who choose to live their life differently than your "average" person. in other words, the unofficial statistic i received from a student last night claims that about 30% of mills women are lesbians.

(now, before anybody gets up in arms and jumps to the conclusion that i am posting something negative about certain people...i have NO problem with people who choose a different path than i do. whether they are are gay or straight...black or white...christian or muslim...vegetarian or vegan...(did i cover all the controversial ones?)...i don't care.) so, that being said, i will continue.

the reason i post today is to ask a question in regards to the subject matter above. the same student who gave me the unofficial stat above also used a term i had never heard before. she claimed that while there are in fact lesbians on this campus, you must always factor in the "BUGS and HUGS."

i am assuming quiet a few people who read this have the same confused expression on their face as i did when i first heard this phrase. like the student who used it i will explain:" BUGS and HUGS" are the people who are "bisexual until graduation" or "homosexual until graduation."

so what i ask is this: has anybody else ever heard (or used) this term before? maybe it's because i was born and raised in a red state, but this was a new one for me...