Tigz

i just got the best email :) when, or shall i say if, i ever go into management, i want to make people feel this way too - i want to both empower and encourage them. :) this by far made my day, no week :)

from the publisher:

Thanks so much, Marian. It has been a great joy to watch you grow as a journalist and provide a voice for our young readers. I know your parents are very proud of you. I am, too.

I hope you have the best Thanksgiving yet.

Joe

when i was lil, i wanted God to shine a light to point out what job and man i was supposed to have - life isn't that easy tho.

but, for all those haters out there - including myself who stopped believing in "the one" - watch "love actually" it's the best movie i've seen in a long while - see if it rekindles anything.

a meanie reader called up and hated my article today, but could not say why. and i wondered how am i supposed to meet your concerns if you don't tell me how?

but this lil kid made it all better. my friend's kid asked me today at fellowship - do you take a long time to poo? i looked at him, like uh ---- he said, b/c it takes me a REALLY long time to. and i stammered, sometimes.

he (i think is 3) then clung onto me the whole nite - my sweater now is full of cookie stained lil fingers :)

as i am drinking a boba - i have decided to curb my addiction, based on three counts

1. i just filled up my card, and they were mean, they gave me a free one, but made me pay 27 cents for it
2. the one i got the past week came w/o the main ingredient! boba!
3. the people who serve boba tend to be mean
4. my friend bot a boba - and they came out hard!!! (the first four counts are by qcup if you're wondering)
5. the money i spend on boba could go to my other addictions - namely beads and kangol hats

on a happier note - we won BIG GAME - hahahahah, dance, dance, dance. i was there - but we didnt' charge the field - b/c meanie police were there.

so anyways, u know the story, we're gonna tell the whole dang world it's bear territory!!!

ok - so hilary lipsyched - no singing, no dancing, what does that leave her?

anyways, today at work was frustrating. i brot my kids (students from my high school, the journalism class) into show how great journalism is - and then i get crushed by the realities of it as a business - how money, not stories, is driving the paper :(

you know like holden - i wanna be the catcher in the rye. i don't want life to be stricken in its cold hard truths and politics - i want to make it the way we've envisioned it from day one.

"What I have to do, I have to catch everybody if they start to go over the cliff— I mean if they’re running and they don’t look where they’re going I have to come out from somewhere and catch them. That’s all I’d do all day. I’d just be the catcher in the rye and all."

i have decided if anyone says anything mean to me, i'll just say - i see. the phrase doesn't mean anything, or connote anything. then i'll just walk away.

anyways, i was in business writing workshop all day. felt kinda out of place, but learned a lot - my brain is overflowing.

then i saw harlemm lee. he was really good. he was passion in a package - he sang with feeling and i'm just sad and frustrated that he was performing at borders. he deserves better.

tomorrow i go see hillary duff. i hope its ok.

i'm a redhead! got my hair dyed all red :Op hehehe, all punked out

but my finger isn't healing too well - the cut hasn't closed yet, making it hard to type. i wonder if i could use that as a reason to get out of work :OP jk

today i watched totoro instead of heading into work (heehee) totoro is funny, he's cute and fuzzy, but lets out this monster of an operatic roar, that is more scary than cute. then i fell asleep, dreaming that i fell asleep on totoro's tummy.

then i headed to sf for this commonwealth meeting about digital music. my first commonwealth meeting, and it was uh...very alienating. very old and white. snotty and i didn't feel like i belonged esp since i wasn't in a suit- then i forgot my cards! and nobody believed i was from the merc! they thot i was still a student - urrrrr - then i got hit on - this black guy came up to me, saying, you're the only one i felt like i connected to. he went onto to talk to how he's not into commonwealth, but its nice to know what the other side thinks. he then said - i'm not picking you up, but kinda.

Today I cut my finger really badly on chowda - not just the cheap stuff - but yummy wolfgang puck chowda - so the metal was thicker...good thing I didn't bleed into the soup, otherwise it'll be Manhattan clam chowder, says messy

so today was grueling - two stories done, three written - two good on hot pot and the FAME winner Harlemm Lee, then one that turned out bad, the Tupac review - i ran out of creative juices and started pulling words out of my butt.

then, three interviews -
1. with jewel - who exclaimed she didn't turn hoochie b/c in her second album she was already wearing a miniskirt and stilletos. instead it was a choice, b/c she's already rich and doesn't have to make any more music. besides she doesn't want to do music forever with facelift at 40.

2. tupac's friend and old producer - he was super nice, said the documentary was real to tupac, but tupac then would never would have ended a film with his and biggie's mom hugging, tho now from heaven, he may be ok with it. very sweet interview, but at the end, he asked if he was in town, if we could have lunch? is that ok?

3. britney spears - a teleconference i'm afraid with a boatload of other journalists, most of whom male who were panting just hearing her. she says she is grown up, doesn't see her audience made up of 7 year-olds, and the whole sexuality trip as made up by journalists. btw, any comments from her past pastor she says - what does he know, religions are things that cause wars. but say, if she had suddenly gone blind and had one hour to see, she would spend it with family among strawberries and whipped cream!

--- my conclusion - pop music melts your brain.

tummy hurts - am sick again :( - this is horrible - i feel like i'm slowly killing myself with stress. cool thing is that at work, at this anti-stress workshop, we learned that hugs can prevent stress :) so hugs away!!!

interviewing three pop icons tomorrow
1. jewel
2. tupac's friend
3. britney

any questions u have in mind?

a lil sad today b/c i tried setting up a high school tour - and they couldn't make it on the planned date - and the tour person got mad at me b/c of it. Good intentions gone sour

i hate expectations. and saving face. i hate how i feel like i have to please everybody. stupid type A personality.

on another note, a friend asked - how come Asians self segregate? u guyz have any idea? - here's a top ten

1. we don't have to explain why our lunches smell like farts
2. so we can squint together
3. safety in numbers - b/c we all know karate u know - ninjas don't act alone.
4. it takes more than one to recreate iron chef
5. cuz we're actually crab people (anyone catch that queer eye southpark?)
6. so we can break out our forks in secret - wooden chopsticks give tongue splinters
7. does asian invasian mean anything to u - we're taking over the world - one happa at a time.
8. did u know boba actually contains crack? users have to stick together (:op)
9. you need more than one to push rice rockets over speed bumps
10. cuz we have to keep our secret under wraps - we're really not the model minority - studying makes us crazy.

I decided that I'm sick of writing in full sentences - takes too much brain power - brain power that is spent on discussing Kill Bill and Matrix. So i'm going to write lists instead.

10 Kewl things that happened

1. Watched the Matrix 2 days ahead - it was good - but not mind boggling

2. Hopefully setting up an interview with Ice Cube

3. Getting a sweet comment from yogafrog!!! yay!!! i impressed a DJ who's like award winning :) - he said my story was AMAZING! and wants to work with me on future writings!!!
YAY!! self hug. (i'll reward with stuff animal laters)

4. Having fun with my editor - even admitted embarassingly that I don't make my bed - Calvin and Hobbs don't make their beds!

5. Watching Simon and Garfunkel - who knew I'd like it? They were folksy and sometimes off-key and off-note - but everyone was all teary and reminiscing - made me wonder what artists would shake me that much when I'm in my 40s? Boyz to Men? White Stripes? Justin Timberlake? I don't think any of them cut it.

6. Watching this weird new anime - where this lil kid gets two older girlfriends like twice his age - and then one girl bashes the boy with a guitar in his forehead - and a robot comes out of his forehead - it's my new fav cuz i can't figure it out - it goes through a million animation styles - like South Park

7. Talking to a high school today - I can still relate to them :) i brot treats - but they wanted notebooks rather than candy.

8. My bro's story printing tomorrow in the Merc - and being happy/blessed I've had a hand in his future :)

9. Happy I'm writing for the Food section on Hot Pot - anyone wanna add anecdotes? Me and my bro in college thot hot pot was an easy way to cook food fast and yummy - so we used it over and over - w/o putting it back in the fridge - we got sooooooooooo sick

10. New DJ TOY!!!! I can mix heehee (once i figure out how to use it) I kept imagining Simon and Garfunkel over a dance beat

Ten Things People Perceive Me As
1. silly
2. cartoony
3. hyper
4. career minded
5. hardworking
6. sympathetic
7. fun loving
8. easy to get along with
9. late and sometimes flaky
10. stubborn

Ten Things I want to be like
1. On Time
2. Balance in everything
3. Taken Seriously
4. Tall (well, that can't be helped :OP)
5. Secure
6. Faithful
7. Sure of myself
8. Decisive
9. Better Christian
10. A leader

you haven't lived until you've had a random girl rub your butt...j/k :Op

Just got back from Viva Las Vegas - girl trip.

My Top Ten

1. Becoming Food - wrapped in seaweed, stinging and getting red - that's supposed to be part of the process of "detoxifying" - cost so at the Paris spa much decided not to gamble.

2. Haunted House - scarying myself silly by teenagers in costumes. My friend spotted one w/o a mask - then the lil ghoul said - let me go to the front - then, the lil one attempted to scare us by jigging around. Then my friend bumped another ghoul - he said - YOU SPILLED MY COFFEE! that wasn't scary.

3. Dressing up for Halloween - I was Sully from Monsters Inc. But my friend mistook me for a psychedellic ram.

4. The food - no, we didn't buffet it. But we ATE a lot. Maybe that's why my tummy turned red and needed detoxifying.

5. Negotiating a lower price for haunted houses. Instead of $30 bucks for 4 houses - we got it down to $20. They were silly houses - altho two of them were kinda like Great America and Knotts Scary Farm - with the blood, hanging twitching body parts - one spelled its name wrong PYSCHO.

6. Feeling empowered - We watched a television sitcom premier and got in our say if it should be aired - Don't mess with journalists- that's all I have to say.

7. Hanging out with kitties - Aimee's kitties slept with on the bed! yay :) they nuzzled onto the bed. I want a cat now. I love it when they purr. It'll be great to purr.

8. Sailing on the gondola - we had a female gondolier - estrogen power! tho she only sang two songs and it only lasted 2 minutes. I think Ellen would have done it better.

9. Getting away - Altho traveling with journalists will inevitably bring up journalism. It was great to get out of the newsroom.

10. Getting ready for next year - will it be St. Louis? or Europe :)