Meaningless Random Choice of Words

A Little Holiday Cheer

noreply@blogger.com (Jennb) — Sat, 08 Dec 2007 20:04:00 +0000

So I was in the Safeway last week spending my last five dollars on a 1/2 gallon of pumpkin pie ice cream (don't judge, that is the only size it comes in, and it is good) when in the checkout line I started to freak out. It was my turn to pay and I hate people who hold up the line, but I could not find my debit card. As I frantically look through my Santa Claus size bag I am relieved to find it all the way at the bottom neatly wrapped in a Starbucks receipt as if I am responsible enough to enter the $6.16 Macchiato and scone into some imaginary check register that I actually use to keep an accurate record of my transactions to prevent me from bouncing a check which puts me in the position of spending my last five dollars in the first place.

In my relief I spin around proudly to give the checkout woman my card as if I knew all along exactly where it was and she had no right to give me the reproachful look she was giving me, in fact, she should save that look for three days from now when I have to write a check that will probably bounce for bologna and bread. As I am spinning my enormous bag knocks a cute little older gentleman right upside his cute little older gentleman head. It seems he was standing behind me the whole time filling out a form for a discount card, so that he may benefit from great grocery store specials, like 10 lbs of Asparagus for $10 or buy one get one free jars of plum jelly.

I apologize with out looking at the man, since I am more concerned with my found credit card than the well being of others. He nods in my direction and that's that.

Except I hear out of the corner of my ear, another man addressing the man I hit "Father so good to see you"

I perk up "Father??" The man smiles up at me, I hit a priest, I hit a priest in the head with my purse.

Merry Christmas

World Aids Day

noreply@blogger.com (Jennb) — Fri, 30 Nov 2007 19:47:00 +0000

Tomorrow is World Aids Day, established in 1988 by the World Health Organization to create awareness of HIV, AIDS, how to prevent, and hopefully someday how to cure.

At this stage in the game it is hard to imagine there are very many people left in our world who do not have some first hand experience with this deadly virus.

The 2007 theme is "Stop AIDS Now, Keep the Promise - Leadership"

I live in Washington DC, where just a few days ago the mayor released a report indicating that Washington, DC is facing it's own modern AIDS epidemic. With the highest rate of HIV in the nation, it is important, now more than ever, that as the leaders of the free world, we the residents of our nation's capitol need to take action, and now. We can turn this report around, take a leadership role in educating our youth on prevention, educating each other on prevention and helping those who are already infected with their daily needs.

Here are some of the highlights of the DC report:

The major findings of the District of Columbia HIV/AIDS Epidemiology Annual Report are:

Between 1997 and 2006, almost 70 percent of all AIDS cases progressed from HIV to AIDS in less than 12 months after the initial HIV diagnosis, primarily due to late testing, compared to 39 percent nationally.

The District accounted for 9 percent of all pediatric AIDS cases in the United States during 2005. Between 2001 and 2006, there were 56 children ages 13 or younger diagnosed with either HIV or AIDS in the District of Columbia.

Although African-American residents account for 57percent of the District’s population, they account for 81percent of new reports of HIV cases. African-American women constitute 58 percent of the District’s female population, but account for 90 percent of all new female HIV cases.

Heterosexual contact in the District is the leading mode of HIV transmission at 37 percent of newly reported infections, while nationally men who have sex with men lead new transmissions.

The District’s rate for newly reported AIDS cases is higher than rates in Baltimore, Philadelphia, New York City, Detroit, and Chicago.

Nearly every ward in the District is impacted, though Wards 1, 5, 6 and 8 consistently had the highest numbers of residents diagnosed with HIV and AIDS.
The majority of newly reported cases were among residents ages 30 to 49.

Here are some links for more information:

DCFightsBack

Fight HIV in DC

World Health Organization

CDC

Somedays it is good to have freedom...

noreply@blogger.com (Jennb) — Tue, 27 Nov 2007 17:16:00 +0000

Somedays it is good to have freedom...

Somewhere a Care Bear is Crying...

noreply@blogger.com (Jennb) — Wed, 31 Oct 2007 15:53:00 +0000

This is the beginning.

This is the middle.

This is the end.

It is 2007 and I will never understand how we can continue to spread hatred and intolerance. I do understand how peaceful, non-violent protest works. I have so much more respect for the LGBT community, than those silly kids over at "october rebellion". This is protesting done right, who wouldn't want a hug in the shampoo aisle?

As of right now Rite Aid has offered no public response and the two gentleman initially kicked out of the store for the heinous crime of *gasp* hugging, are still waiting for some acknowledgement from the drug store chain.

I totally Knew It...

noreply@blogger.com (Jennb) — Wed, 24 Oct 2007 16:20:00 +0000

Which Female Action Hero Are You?

You are Buffy the Vampire Slayer. You are outgoing, warm, and sociable. Your intelligence and intuition give you a strong sense of right and wrong; you may be soft, sweet, and a little air-headed at times, but you are fully capable of proving yourself more than a stereotype.Find Your Character @ BrainFall.com

October Rebellion Update

noreply@blogger.com (Jennb) — Mon, 22 Oct 2007 19:33:00 +0000

So an inocent woman bystander got hit in the head with a brick allegedly thrown by a protester.

Good Job! Really got your point across.

The World Bank just announced that due to the amazing success of the "october rebellion" they are shutting their doors, closing up shop. They can not function with 100 or so hooligans running loose on the streets in Georgetown "the stomping ground for the world's elite"

This is sarcasm...

I am all about the protest but...

noreply@blogger.com (Jennb) — Fri, 19 Oct 2007 13:48:00 +0000

Tonight's "planned" October Rebellion in Georgetown freaks me out a little bit. Okay yes there are a ton of richie rich types in DC, and yes it is sad that all of the kitchy mom & pops have had to close up shop over the years in Georgetown because of popularity of the location and soaring rents, leaving room only for The Gap, and other big box retailers. ( Don't get me started on the people who will be participating tonight, wearing their white cottons purchased at the previously mentioned) Yeah there is a shit load of traffic, and elite night clubs that cater to the wealthy.

But give me a fucking break, guess what, poor people live and work in Georgetown too and some of us do not want our lives disrupted and our cars torched, the website states "creativity is a virtue" what the hell does that mean????

Another quote from the website:

"Where will they do this? Georgetown.
Georgetown, Washington's seat of power, is a playground for the rich. Its residents possess enormous wealth at the expense of the poor majority who live so close to them. They live so close, yet a world away, hidden in plain sight.
Georgetown embodies neoliberalism. Georgetown is neoliberalism. "

Well, maybe sometimes, but what about the hard working people who are going to get caught up in this as well, the servers and bartenders, the store clerks, and bus drivers, the people who need the nightlife of Georgetown to support their families.

What about this quote from the website, justifying tonight's activities:

"Meanwhile, the Benning Library and Anacostia Library (both east of the Anacostia River, where both of DC's two poorest wards are located) remain closed and their communities have only recently received interim library services. The Shaw library, in a neighborhood rapidly undergoing gentrification, has been graced by a bookmobile, nearly one one-hundredth the size of the original building."

I agree, so help raise money, get these libraries open, bring the books to the community, don't destroy one community at the expense of another. Georgetown also has a rich history, and will anyone as part of tonight's rebellion know anything about that? I am just as upset about the state of DC's libraries, but I am not going to torch a nightclub to make the point, I am going to write letters to my city council and try to help raise the needed funds to get them all open.

Civil disobedience is great, checks and balances, opposing ideas and actions by our government gone crazy but do it as non-violent protest that proffers a solution to the problem. Not as a bunch of rabble rousers just running through the city for the hell of it. I am not coming out for or against the World Bank or the IMF, just like all global organizations there is a lot of good coupled with a lot of bad, things need to change. Spray painting my car with a giant "NeoLiberalism is the Work of the Bloody Bush Devil" isn't going to make the leaders of the World Bank give more aid to Africa or relieve more debt. It is just going to make me spend money I don't have to clean up the mess that I didn't make. Throwing a lit garbage can through the window of the GAP is only going to prevent employees who need the money and the job from being able to come to work for the next few days while it is fixed, that is money they will be losing to pay their rent and put food on their tables. Making life for the hardworking non elite of Georgetown harder is not a solution, it only creates another problem on a local level.

Do something positive, make change for the better not for the worse.

Write letters, raise money, run for office, Protest the Right Way, NON VIOLENT CIVIL DISOBEDIENCE.

I scoured this groups website this morning, and was pleased when I saw the tab " How You Can Help" I thought, okay, maybe I am wrong, maybe this organization is also going to offer up positive proactive solutions.

NOPE, this link only directs people as to how they can help with the 'rebellion' things like bringing food for protesters to share, offering up cars for errand running once in DC, legal action to protect the rights of the protesters stuff like that. Not even a link to local politicians websites to write a letter, or a link to an organization that helps fight debt and poverty in the world. No solution offered.

I am #1 fan of free speech, I think the only way to effect change is to speak out and make the world aware of the problem. I just have a problem with it when it stops being speech and starts being destructive at the expense of the people of my community who are not wealthy, who are just trying to survive like everyone else.

So tonight I am going to sit back and watch these events unfold, see what trouble is caused, then tomorrow morning I am going to get up early and head to M & Wisconsin and help my community clean up the mess. The protesters will move on downtown to the World Bank and IMF buildings and then go home. I will still be here, sweeping up glass, cleaning up someone else's "virtuous creativity" and hopefully eliciting change the right way through speaking out, voting and helping those who truly need it.

I just hope none of the people at the October Rebellion show up in clothing purchased at a MNC, a hypocrite is a sad thing to witness.

This post is my angry ranting opinion, and just that, so before anyone freaks out on me keep in mind. I let you speak yours don't keep me from speaking mine.

noreply@blogger.com (Jennb) — Thu, 04 Oct 2007 16:13:00 +0000

In my incredibly poor financially desperate state, last night for dinner I decided to revisit a childhood favorite. SpagettiOs and Meatballs. $.99 a can for a whole meal, can't go wrong. Right? Wrong...

They do not taste the same as they did when I was a kid. They are bland and flavorless, and those magical meatballs? What are they some kind of horse meat?? What has happened to Franco American? They shouldn't even sell this product anymore. I miss being a kid, when SpagettiOs tasted great.

I am so sad.

When I was a kid SpagettiOs were a treat, especially if mom splurged and gave us meatballs.

I ended feeding it to the dog, who by the way, loved them. Maybe they should be marketed as dog food.

There is no end to my disappointment. I can not wait until payday. Until then at least Ramen tastes the same.

Bono's In Town Baby...

noreply@blogger.com (Jennb) — Tue, 02 Oct 2007 14:52:00 +0000

I have to push down all of my stalker tendencies today. I was listening to the radio this morning, and the DJ slyly let it slip that Bono is in town today to talk to some senators, most likely about getting more aid for Africa. Let's face it Bono and DATA are pretty much one track minds, aid for Africa, aid for Africa, aid for Africa. I don't think Bono has much time for dinner with me, right? Especially since I would want him to pay. So I have decided to be a little respectful and not hang out in the lobby of his hotel flirting with the concierge trying to figure out what pseudonym Bono checked in under.

Bono was in Philly last week accepting the National Constitution Center's 2007 Liberty Medal jointly with the organization he co-founded, DATA (Debt Aids Trade Africa). The Liberty Medal is given every year to a group or organization that "demonstrated leadership and vision in the pursuit of liberty of conscience or freedom from oppression, ignorance, or deprivation."

In the past this award has been given to world leaders and visionaries such as Bill Clinton and George Bush Sr., Thurgood Marshall, Jimmy Carter, Viktor Yushchenko, Hamid Karzai and Sandra Day O'Connor. Bono and DATA are in good company.

Bono, with DATA have been critical in such acts as persuading the G8 nations to agree to $25 billion dollars in assistance for Africa by the year 2010, debt relief for African nations, education for the treatment and prevention of HIV and much needed medications for HIV and malaria in Africa. How many lives can they save? Millions, kind of makes my day look boring.

So tonight I will let Bono enjoy his evening in nation's capital without worrying about the strange blond in the lobby of the hotel wearing the big sunglasses, who looks like the same girl standing outside earlier at the Senate, who also looks like that girl who followed him into Starbucks around lunch time. I will stay in tonight and watch a new episode of House. There will be other occasions to stalk Bono, when he is not doing so much damn good in the world.

You Ain't Gettin' My Quarter...

noreply@blogger.com (Jennb) — Sat, 29 Sep 2007 21:07:00 +0000

My boss owns the laundry machines in my building. It costs $1.50 to wash and $1.50 to dry. I spend about $10 a week on laundry. That is $520 a year, that goes from my bosses pocket into my pocket right back into his.

It is criminal, I pay him for the privilege of having clean clothes that I wear to work, for him. I can't very well wear dirty, stinky clothes to work can I ? And everyone knows I do not go anywhere else, since I really have no life.

A few years ago, my boss put a very nice stackable washer and dryer in the basement of our office to clean kitchen and bath towels and the like. We never use it, we mainly use paper products in the bathroom and kitchen and there is nothing else in the office to wash. Until now, I have decided to take action. As I write this I am at my office on a beautiful Saturday afternoon, stealing from my boss. I am doing my third load of laundry. I am not giving him anymore of my quarters, no sir. I am now taking them back in water and electricity usage, one load at a time.

Sure it is boring sitting in my office all day, tinkering around on the Internet waiting for my clothes to dry, but it is worth it. This week when the quarters from the laundry machines head out to the bank, I know mine will be safe and sound at the bottom of my sock drawer where they belong.

J-

Celebrity Gossip...

noreply@blogger.com (Jennb) — Fri, 28 Sep 2007 14:09:00 +0000

You know we have really gone to far...

I love celebrity gossip as much as the next girl, but honestly this is going a touch to far.

The kid is only 14!

The recent attacks on the Disney Channel kids is a little much, even for me.

Don't we have any rich, celebrity adults we can pick on?

I know Britney is annoying us, and Lindsay is in rehab, but there has to be someone. Right?

Dirty, Sexy, Money...

noreply@blogger.com (Jennb) — Thu, 27 Sep 2007 14:31:00 +0000

Thank God, Television is back.

The fall TV season is the primary reason I am single. For a long time, TV was bad, it was not worth watching but about 2 years ago that changed. One could argue that Lost is what did it, and for me that is probably true, but ER got good again, and The Office, Heroes, Ugly Betty, Grey's Anatomy, all contributed.

Now with this years new line up, I am as excited as ever. My TiVo is going crazy.

Loved: Hated: Indifferent:

Heroes
(It was sooooo good)
Journeyman
(at first I hated it, but in the end
I liked it a little bit)

Private Practice
(It is all about Taye Diggs)

Chuck
(Well, just because)

Dancing with the Stars
(Reality TV sucks)

All that being said, let's talk about Dirty, Sexy, Money. This is my new guilty pleasure. Aside from the fact that it may not make it, because of it's quirky wanna be edginess. I am in love with it.

I have been a Peter Krause fan for years and years and years. I fell in love with him during Sports Night, and hated him a little bit in Six Feet Under. Last night I fell in love with him again.

This show was super fun. Donald Sutherland, Billy Baldwin, a trannie? What more can you ask for in television.

The title might be horrendous. The plots will probably prove to be thin. The novella sexy style of the show is what is going to keep me tuned in. It is a show that requires no thinking on my part.

I am ready to admit for all the world to hear, critics be damned, I loved Dirty, Sexy, Money!

These are Strange Days Indeed...

noreply@blogger.com (Jennb) — Wed, 26 Sep 2007 16:06:00 +0000

At this moment the man who rents out the office behind mine is blasting the William Tell Overture.

A man in my hometown yesterday robbed a bank where he works by, allegedly, pretending to be kidnapped and strapped with an explosive device.

This morning a resident at one of the complexes my company manages laid a fed ex package at the door of another resident and inside it was a dead bird.

Today feels like it could be a William Burroughs books, or at the very least a Wes Anderson film.

The Art of the Sale...

noreply@blogger.com (Jennb) — Tue, 25 Sep 2007 17:06:00 +0000

Any good sales person will tell you that in order to be successful, you have to believe in your product. You have to believe enough to convince others of not only your belief, but of their need to have this product themselves.

When I was 24 years old I was a telemarketer for a very brief period of time. I called people during their dinner hour and sold them alternative health care plans. Only 50% of the people I sold these plans to would ever use it, and it was not a very comprehensive plan. The company made money on the 50% who paid the premium and never got sick, never went to see a doctor. I knew somewhere in the deepest recesses of my soul that the product was bunk. I was broke, I made a choice to believe in the virtues of this health care plan, for three months I lived and breathed this company. When I called you at 6pm on a Friday evening and disrupted your TV dinner and rerun of Good Times, I believed what I was selling you needed. I was good. If another sales person did not believe enough they sent their client to me. I was the closer. Kyra Sedgwick had nothin' on me.

In some cases a sales person can believe too much in the product, then selling is no longer the objective, but acquiring is. For example: a drug dealer who is also an addict, is horrible sales person. They snort, shoot, or smoke all of their product, they screw with supply and demand. It never works.

The matchmaker is the consummate sales person, they are trying to get you to buy the goods in the form of a single friend. A good matchmaker never over sells her product. A good matchmaker makes sure that she is not interested in the slightest. She knows enough about the product to believe in it, point out it's good qualities, make you want it, but never to own it or want it herself. It is when the matchmaker has forgotten the objective of the sale that a problem can occur.

A bad matchmaker on the other hand, oversells, makes it too obvious that either she wants to buy the goods herself, or there is something wrong with the goods. The easiest way to avoid falling into the bad matchmaker trap, is of course to already have your own version of the goods going into the transaction. (either married or dating someone else) the single matchmaker however, often ends up selling the product so hard that at the end of the night she is unable to complete the sale. If the sale should go through anyway, she is often left feeling angry at the buyer and disappointed for offering up something that maybe was not for sale to begin with.

It is a delicate balancing act, and all potential sales should be researched fully before placed on the market.

Healthy Never Tastes Good...

noreply@blogger.com (Jennb) — Mon, 24 Sep 2007 18:16:00 +0000

Today's Lunch.

Healthy I know.

I would have rather had a cheeseburger.

I Fell in Love at the Safeway...

noreply@blogger.com (Jennb) — Tue, 18 Sep 2007 13:24:00 +0000

Why is it socially acceptable to be rude as long as you are pointing out rudeness in others?

Yesterday afternoon I was standing in line at the grocery store when a young man, who looked to be in his early 20's, nearly took the head off of an older woman, who looked to be in her 50's, with a twelve pack of diet coke.

The woman loudly hissed a drawn out "EXCUUSSEE MEEE!!!" that made my blood curl. The kid did not respond, he did not turn around and the other people in line looked uncomfortably at their shoes while the woman gave the people in her immediate ear shot her best rambling version of the "Well I never..."

While, yeah, it was rude for the kid to carelessly fling that diet coke around the woman's head like it was a basketball and he was a Harlem Globetrotter, what if he was truly unaware of his mistake? For example, what if he was deaf and could not hear the woman's shrill admonishment to respond with the appropriate apology? Perhaps he was in the process of a trying to control a delicate balancing act which as a result if he did not fling to box of soda around he would have fallen onto the woman standing behind her in line who was holding a new born baby in her arms?

More than likely he was a young punk who was not paying enough attention to what he was doing to avoid coming within inches of hitting the poor woman. The fact remains, however, that there are a myriad of other possibilities and no harm was actually done.

As a result of her rudely pointing out his apparent rudeness scores of people are now riding back and forth on their heels begging for at worst the speckled linoleum floor to open up and swallow them whole right on the spot and at best for another checkout lane to become available so they can get away from this scene.

There are inconsiderate people all around. The guy in the restaurant talking to loudly on his cell phone, the woman who cuts you off in traffic as if her destination is so much more important than yours, or the person in the drugstore who barges to the front of the line "just to ask a quick question" as if that automatically gives them the right to go first.

I used to think someone should loudly and publicly inform these people of their failings. My early catholic school education wants to wrap them hard on their over exposed knuckles right where they stand. I want to throw water on the guy in the restaurant, lay on my horn for a full mile while following the woman in traffic, and give that person in the drugstore that same loud drawn out "Excuussee Mee!!" But stop and think for just a second...

What if the guy in the restaurant is telling a loved one that his wife just gave birth to twins, what if the woman in traffic is trying to get to her husband at the hospital who has just had a heart attack, and what if the person at the drugstore is frantically asking about a possible deadly drug interaction?

I don't think rudely pointing out rudeness in others is the answer. Maybe, living by example is the solution. Being aware of your surroundings and the people in them. Trying hard everyday to be patient and kind. Maybe your considerate actions will make someone else think twice about their inconsiderate actions.

Living your life like a Liberty Mutual commercial, paying it forward with a soft Hem song playing in the background.

So I turned to the older woman in line at the grocery store, smiled sweetly and said "Ma'am, I am sure he didn't mean it, it looked like an accident" and as I turned forward again in line, I heard her say to my back

"What the hell do you know!" with a hiss and a sneer.

Oh well, nothing ventured, nothing gained.

You Know...

noreply@blogger.com (Jennb) — Mon, 17 Sep 2007 15:00:00 +0000

I really have to learn to close my blinds, when I choose to sing and dance around my apartment while holding my laundry up as a dance partner.

Yesterday, I actually got applause from a stranger walking by. APPLAUSE.

I really should pack it up and go home.

noreply@blogger.com (Jennb) — Thu, 13 Sep 2007 14:46:00 +0000

Last night I experienced the best Italian food I have ever had in Washington, DC. If you have not eaten at the Dupont Italian Kitchen, located at 1637 17th St NW, Washington, DC 20009 you must leave your office at a reasonable hour tonight and run, not walk, but run over to this place for dinner.

The drinks are cheap, $4.00 rail, $6.00 cocktail concoctions.

The food is moderately priced, $9.50 - $16.95 entrees.

The portions are huge.

The atmosphere is casual, so no need to go fancy, unless you want to.

Indoor seating, but also a huge patio area to enjoy the food while watching the hustle and bustle of Dupont Circle life on any given night of the week.

The food is a typical Italian fair, pastas, chicken parm, marsala, veal piccata. The appetizer menu is complete. The mozzarella sticks are the gooey homemade variety that are the size of an actual fist, not the frozen bagged variety you typically find all over the city. I ordered the Chicken Parmesan which was an actual real chicken breast breaded and slathered with cheese and pomodoro sauce you can tell is made on site. The sauce is the a perfect balance of chunky tomatoes and garden taste that make it not only great for pasta but a fantastic pizza sauce.

The drinks were strong, and don't get me started on the Tiramisu, with a splattering of espresso flavored chocolate sprinkled on top.

It was an excellent meal and the server did not seem to mind the four loud mouthed women discussing all manner of politics and life who took his table of the market for over 2 hours. He just kept smiling as he filled the drinks and made sure we had all the food we could stomach.

I will definitely eat here again and again. If I were a restaurant critic I would give the Dupont Italian Kitchen a whole mess of stars.

Lucky 21...

noreply@blogger.com (Jennb) — Mon, 10 Sep 2007 15:13:00 +0000

Okay, every single friend I have can you do me a favor?

I know you can, because you are, like me, bored at work, Monday morning, nothing to do. RIGHT!!, RIGHT!!!

So this is what I am asking you to do, go to Ziddio.com and check out the contests link. There is a local DC comic Chris White, who has a video entered. He is super funny. It is listed in the Lucky 21 contest, under Washington DC Regionals, under unclejam76, click on it, watch it (cause it's funny), and vote for him.

You may have to register with the site to vote, but it is free and fast. It would be awesome if he won, like I said he is really funny!!!!

If you all vote for him, I will tell you later about my awesome weekend booty call adventure. (the dance, not an actual booty call, no one has ever called me for an actual booty call, sadly.)
Thanks!

Hey Mr. Postman...

noreply@blogger.com (Jennb) — Thu, 06 Sep 2007 13:08:00 +0000

The US Postal Service have their own tow trucks.

I think this is brilliant, I was stuck behind one in traffic today, and I realized, this is why you never see broken down post trucks on the side of the road.

I wonder if the person who drives the post office tow truck, is also a mail carrier?

Why Don't They Just Hire A Janitor...

noreply@blogger.com (Jennb) — Tue, 04 Sep 2007 19:48:00 +0000

I work in property management, and every time I say it out loud a little piece of me dies.
Last night I was at a bar with a couple of super funny guys and the subject of course comes up

"What do you do for a living?"

I cringe, "I make sure people's toilets get fixed",

HUH?

Everyone needs their toilet in working order right?

This is not what I wanted to be when I grew up, and of course there are many more interesting aspects of my job, but this is what I do, I fix toilets, light bulbs, running faucets and what not. I do not actually do the fixing myself. I am an expediter of sorts. I connect people with the people who will fix their toilets. I also handle phone calls about important things like overflowing dumpsters and brooms on balconies. I can find anyone an apartment in under 20 minutes, and I do get discounted rent, in a city of really inflated rates, so it is not all bad. It is just a far far cry from ballerina, actress, fireman, president and any other of the assorted dream jobs I envisioned when I was 5.

Anyone who lives in DC knows that if you are in this town and not a lawyer, chances are that you are in Real Estate. I went to Real Estate school, let me tell ya, sharks. In the district they train agents to be sharks.

With the Sub prime mortgage fiasco quickly causing more foreclosures of first time home buyers than in any other time in history, I am sure going to busy as buying turns back into renting. Think about this, that is a lot of toilets that will need unclogging, I will finally find the deep meaning I have been searching for in my life, and it is going to stink.

Ambition...

noreply@blogger.com (Jennb) — Tue, 21 Aug 2007 16:34:00 +0000

One of the first questions I can ever remember being asked is "Honey, what do you want to be when you grow up?"

I can never remember my answers.

I am now very nearly pushing 30 and still have no idea what I want to be when I grow up. My life has no clear direction.

I need to set goals, one of the main things holding me back is my inability to finish anything I start. The drawers are filled with unfinished stories, poems, and one novel. I have actually disconnected my computer at home, this I am sure sets my writing career back to the stone ages or at very best the hour or so it would take me to set the computer up again. I didn't finish school, I barely finish work each day. Hell, I cannot even finish a sandwich. I am eternally jealous of those people who have "it all figured out". I am only talking about partially being content here, don't let me get started on money.

My job, while comfortable, does nothing to better the world or myself in it. I live in a vibrant energetic city filled with opportunity and yet I am completely unwilling to tap into any of it. I think I have finally realized my lack of ambition.

When I was 25, 26 and 27 I could get away with calling it a quarter life crisis (Thank you Alexandra Robbins), now I think it is pure and simple lack of ambition. How can I get my ambition back? Do they sell ambition in a special "Make Your Life Worth It" store? I wonder how much it would cost?

Every little decision I make adds itself up to one big bad decision, I think I should be more careful in my choices but I can never remember that when I am making them.

Or maybe my sour mood is all because of the never ending rain and tomorrow I will be cheery again and not understand what drove me to write any of this?

"Honey, what do you want to be when you grow up?" the smiling woman asked.

"Happy" the little blond girl answered skipping away...

No Second Troy, at the 9:30 Club, August 18th

noreply@blogger.com (Jennb) — Mon, 20 Aug 2007 14:32:00 +0000

***Update, Jeff Wharen is NOT 5'5" tall, he is in fact 5'9" tall. He told me that the other band members are taller making him appear smaller, I apologized profusely for my bad guess:)***

I was first introduced to No Second Troy as a fluke. About 2 weeks ago I was at a local bar with a friend when lead singer Jeff Wharen jumped up on a make shift stage and did an acoustic set with keyboardist Mike Beach. We had no idea that there was a band, all we saw were 2 guys doing a pretty good job covering some 90's rock hits.

When Jeff asked for requests, I leaned over to my friend and said, sarcastically "just once I would love to hear someone shout back, play Birthday by Fiddy Cent" Prompted by my comment and a couple pints of Boddingtons, my friend shouted "Since You've Been Gone, by Kelly Clarkson" the bar erupted with laughter and Jeff broke into a heartfelt "Hit Me Baby, One More Time" (not knowing the Clarkson hit).

Later in the evening my friend went up to the guys and apologized for the heckling, and they told him they were in a local band called No Second Troy, and we should come and check them out at the 9:30 club, the following Saturday. He bought us each a CD and made promises to stop by the club.

When we got to the club we had missed the first act, The Dreamscapes Project and were halfway through the second, a pretty good band called The Reserves they were doing a medley which included a bad ass tribute to the Paul Simon hit " Call Me Al..."

After about a 20 minute switch up, No Second Troy came onto the stage opening with the single "Brighten Up" off of their new album Narcotic. The song is a fast, uptempo, radio hit waiting to happen, you can hear some 80's rock influence (think Styx) with the awesome keyboarding by Mike Beach. The vocals that Jeff Wharen throws out on the title track "Narcotic" were given to the crowd with a depth, largeness and feeling that betray his 5'5"
(?guessing?) frame.

I was unable to enjoy the love song "Into the Sun", due to a gaggle of disinterested Potomac Barbie types who could not shut up for almost the entirety of the song, but looking at the crowd, it seemed to be well received.

The quiet, melodic "Gone" was sweetly delivered, with simple lines and a big finish giving drummer Vijay Shanker some spotlight, but the real highlight for one fan came when her camcorder was stolen by the band and passed around the stage during one song, Jeff Wharen singing directly into the camera before giving it back. Sure to be worth something when this band breaks out into mainstream, which given their performance Saturday night will be soon.

I Hate August in DC, or GIRLS, GIRLS, GIRLS...

noreply@blogger.com (Jennb) — Fri, 17 Aug 2007 14:24:00 +0000

Below is a re-post of a blog I wrote over a year ago, I am choosing to re post it here today, because a cute young staffer cut me off this morning on my way to work, and it brought up all of the same resentments. UGH, I hate August in DC!!

Some women are better at being women than others. You know the type, the always look put together. Their clothes always fit. They have make up in all of the right places, and almost never have that horrible jaw line that looks like the mystic tan spray missed their neck.

Washington, DC is filled, over flowing with these women.

My friend recently told me that being single in the nations capitol is the hardest city to be single. At the time, I thought it was because of all of the transient people, and young families here. I thought it was hard being single in DC because all of the good men were taken, and starting their lives with the young pretty hill staffers that flock here after college every year.

I have changed my mind, I think the reason it is so difficult to be single in Washington is because; normal regular women who work and play hard are not appreciated here. I am convinced that it is all about the clothes, the hair and the makeup. I know this sounds bitter, and I do not mean it to sound that way, but as a woman who is not the Washington ideal, it is hard to measure up.

I am not saying you have to be beautiful to be successful here, but it sure seems like it helps. The girl next door in Washington is not the white t-shirt, no makeup, blue jeans type of woman. The girl next door is wearing Minolo Blaniks and a $300 Hermes scarf; she wears Burberry, the real thing, not the knock off that you buy from Jim on the corner of Wisconsin & M.

I love clothes, and make up as much as the next woman, and I can appreciate the feeling that comes from wearing a $200 pair of stilettos, but I never, no matter how hard I try, I never look as put together and classy as most of the women my age in this town. How can a girl compete?

Sense of Humor?

Daring?

Honesty?

Integrity?

All of these attributes are valued everywhere else, except here. Left and right you here stories of divorce, adultery, power hungry women trading up. It is not only the norm in this town, it is rampant, but if you cruise the personals of Craigslist, like I do you will see page after page of caring sensitive men who are looking for:

"The Girl Next Door"

"LTR, with Honest Caring Women"

"No Games"

When it comes down to it, I think the men want this ideal, but are more attracted to the pretty package, than what is underneath. They are so conditioned by this new modern woman; they have discarded the regular, normal girl, as abnormal. A fantasy that does not exist.

I am not bashing these women, so perfectly assembled, in fact I am envious. I wish I were financially and emotionally secure enough to pull it off. In the meantime, I will sit in the corner and wait. I will wait for the man who can see beyond all of the glitz and appreciate the true girl next door; while I wait, I will be filing my nails and giving myself a facial.

AT&T All Around the World...

noreply@blogger.com (Jennb) — Thu, 09 Aug 2007 15:04:00 +0000

There are so many interesting culural commentaries about this CMJ article. I do not even know where to begin.

Pay special attention to the advertising on the site vs. article content.

Also, and this goes without saying, but I will say it any way Eddie Vedder is still on sexy mo'fo'!!!

Meaningless Random Choice of Words

A Little Holiday Cheer

World Aids Day

Somedays it is good to have freedom...

Somewhere a Care Bear is Crying...

I totally Knew It...

Which Female Action Hero Are You?

October Rebellion ***Update***

I am all about the protest but...

Bono's In Town Baby...

You Ain't Gettin' My Quarter...

Celebrity Gossip...

Dirty, Sexy, Money...

These are Strange Days Indeed...

The Art of the Sale...

Healthy Never Tastes Good...

I Fell in Love at the Safeway...

You Know...

Lucky 21...

Hey Mr. Postman...

Why Don't They Just Hire A Janitor...

Ambition...

No Second Troy, at the 9:30 Club, August 18th

I Hate August in DC, or GIRLS, GIRLS, GIRLS...

AT&T All Around the World...

October Rebellion Update