you wanna buy a monkey?

the other evening, my friend and i find ourselves running errands before a planned outting later that night. among other things, we hit up a nearby cafe and get mochas for a little pre-partying caffine burst, and then go to the corner mini-mart so that my friend can get a pack of cigarettes to satisfy the requisite nicotine-fix that will accompany that evening's drinking. anyway, she goes to the counter, sets her drink down to pull out her wallet and requests her particular brand of cancer sticks (meanwhile, i'm sucking down my coffee and milling around in circles in the background). at this point this big, bald, biker guy, leather chaps and all, if i remember correctly, hunkers into the mini-mart and heads straight to the back to grab some sort of malt beverage from the refridgerator section. he then lumbers up to the front of the store, plunks his drink down on the counter, directly between my friend and her resting beverage. she glances at him quizzically, as a kind of a message to him that he has invaded her space, and then resumes paying for her cigarettes. at this, the big, bald, biker guy leans in even closer to her and says, "you looking for a job??" now, i consider myself a fairly un-faze-able person, but when a strange bbb-guy offers you or your friends a job while standing in line at the mini-mart, it means it's time to get the heck out of dodge. "you looking for a job?"!? i must say that, for a brief moment, my friend and i were, in fact, transported to a "choose your own adventure" novel. wisely, i think, we did not choose the offered adventure. immediately following my friend's mumbled "no" and a couple of deadpanned blinks of the eyes from me, i snatched her coffee off the counter in front of bbb-guy with my right hand, grabbed her arm with my left hand, and together we beat a hasty retreat dropping money and/or loose cigarettes, i'm sure. as is often the case in situations where one does not choose the road less travelled, though, in the midst of our partying that night, we looked at eachother and queried, "you looking for a job???"

i love me some internet

that's code for "here are some of my favorite sites", something i was reminded of this afternoon, while bored and surfing the web. Anyway, here's a handful of good places to waste time online:
www.rathergood.com/punk_kittens/ (pretty much a classic now)
www.neighborhoodies.com (mix & match & design your own duds)
www.viceland.com (a good, snarky read)
www.theonion.com (pure comedy)
www.sfgate.com (i suppose you could read actual news here, but my favorite columns are in the entertainment section, by Leah Garchik and the Night Cabbie)
www.orisinal.com (beautifully animated little games)

deserving a moment of silence

cal lost to usc yesterday...let's all bow our heads for a brief moment of silence (that includes you, mr. tedford).

people watching on another coast

things that i've noticed about people in new york:
-sometimes when you think a person might be homeless, you realize that they're just taking their laundry in to be washed.
-the majority of people under 40 dress like they're expecting to be picked for the audience of mtv's trl.
-no one in new york is ever actually from new york.

big apple of my eye

i don't know if it's all the episodes of sex and the city that i've watched or what, but i absolutely love new york city. there's such an incredible energy that overwhelms you in new york, it's amazing. i've never been able to figure out if that energy exists merely in my perception of new york, you know, taking into account all of the television shows and movies that create sparks in the city, or if it's a real, existant energy. Anyway, tomorrow I'm off to take a bite out of that big shiny apple, visiting some friends for the weekend. I'm excited!

welcome to the world of a self-absorbed egoist

Okay, perhaps I'm being to harsh on myself for joining the ever-growing legions of bloggers. But really, I'll be the first to admit (accuse?) that it takes a whole lotta ego to keep a blog. I'm a reasonable sort of person, I know to call a duck a duck. However, I was bored at work today (who me?), and stumbled upon this great blog by this really funny writer in DC. (I'm not sure if I'm allowed to link to her, as I'm new to this game and don't know all the rules yet, but if I discover that I can list her blog I will.) Anyway, reading these brilliant ( I mean it in the British sense) stories by this woman made me want to attempt at amusing the general "they" as much as she amused me. Now, my life isn't nearly as exciting as some of the blogs I've skimmed out there, but by golly it ain't nearly as boring as some of the others. If nothing else, it's a good kick-in-the-ass to get me writing again, which I haven't done in a good long while. If no more than two people stumble across this drivel and are momentarily entertained away from some awful desk jockey position they have, I'll be more than pleased.