10 things i did in 2008

1. read 20 books
2. accidentally started smoking again and then purposefully kept doing it
3. started taking happy pills
4. moved to san francisco
5. began working at an amazing job that quickly spiraled out of control ...
6. ... and then hilariously bombed an interview for my dream job
7. visited 4 states (and drove through 2 more)
8. made innumerable racist jokes
9. volunteered my ass off for a losing political campaign
10. lost my virginity

here's hoping to keeping this progress going in 2009!

oscar season

i love movies and i love awards. hence, i love oscar season. i like checking all the awards websites and finding out what movies have "the buzz."

it's funny - before my former roommate was involved in an oscar campaign for her boss, i didn't realize that there are actually very few surprises when movies are nominated. if you don't follow all the info, you wake up that morning in february and say, oh, okay, weird, that movie or person or whatever got nominated. but it's all pretty predictable if you follow the info. anywayz...

so far, i'm fully behind "slumdog millionaire." the movie was fucking phenomenal. i thought "milk" was good not great (though sean penn was amazing). "the curious case of benjamin button" was intriguing, but really long and somehow... not very compelling. i only saw that one last night so haven't quite formed a full opinion of it yet. i might try to get to a "frost/nixon" screening tonight, but i have to do laundry so... yeah. probably not.

prop 8 and race: a community forum

just in from an event at the san francisco lgbt community center. want to get some stuff down before i forget!

panelists included andrea shorter, co-chair of the bayard lgbt rustin coalition, northern california's largest black lgbt political organization; rebecca rolfe, executive director of the sf lgbt community center; sf city supervisor bevan dufty stopped by for a few minutes; reverend amos brown; the director of the northern california no on 8 campaign; a really funny black woman lawyer who has done a lot of community organizing; and the moderator, who was from stopaids.org (i am hoping to find other blogs about this event tomorrow - i will update the names if i can).

some things that came up:

- "the endorsements didn't come too late - the money came too late. i needed $40 million on september 1st, not october 21st. the next time this comes around, give early, and give often." the director of the campaign

- there was a lot of talk about individual efforts - people sharing stories about marching here, there and everywhere, and then finding out their parents or co-workers voted for prop 8 - it doesn't always need to be a big forum, a massive march, or a traffic-stopping event - you can always do something.

- "let's be honest here. there are knuckle-headed people in the black community who are homophobic. and there are knuckle-headed people in the gay community who are racist." black lawyer lady.

- rebecca rolfe talked about how the lgbt movement doesn't have the history behind it that the black community does, in that our movement is relatively young. she also spent a good deal of her time talking about how the lgbt movement has always been about white, gay men, and how we need to reframe the movement so that people of color, women, transgender people, everyone, can get involved and feel like this is our community.

- "you are going to win this eventually. because the people who are against you? they're going to die." lawyer lady. this sparked some discussion later about how we can't write off old people, faith based groups, and minority groups just because they don't agree with us now - yes, the old people are going to die, but that doesn't mean that we can't make inroads now.

- the 70% figure. andrea spent about 10 minutes dissecting the "70% of black folks voted for prop 8" thing that was happening immediately after the election. other than reiterating that exit polls are not accurate, and that pollsters now say the number is 56%, she lamented that the media focussed on that figure as a wedge issue. it was used to divide two minority groups that should be working together.

- supervisor dufty said he thought the no on 8 campaign was "culturally incompetent." i was a little offended by this statement, particularly since he came in late, and left right after he spoke. it was a little unfair to drop a huge amount of blame on one group and then leave before the campaign was able to respond (in total disclosure, he had a sick daughter at home, so it was great that he came at all, i just... wish he had stuck around a little longer).

- one guy cracked me up when he said that racism in the gay community needed to stop on all levels - starting with manhunt profiles. "don't tell me you don't want any asians - just tell me what you do want."

okay. that's all i got for now. i'll try to update this as more info becomes available, both in other outlets and in my brain.

eta this link: sfist recap of the event. they didn't catch the names of the people i missed. i'll keep looking. i had forgotten about bevan dufty railing against the sit-in last weekend, which was pretty funny.

the bathroom bookend

yesterday began and ended in the same manner.

i woke up to the sound of one roommate fumbling around in the bathroom after showering. after she left, and as i lay in my bed trying to motivate to get in the shower, my other roommate jumped in there. fuck - this means i'm going to be late. to top it off, he started to take a shit, and since my bed shares a paper thin wall with the bathroom, i got to hear that. yay.

as i lay in bed last night about to go to sleep, roommate number 1 went into the bathroom to get ready for bed. she turned the hall light on because... she couldn't see? i don't know. but the light is right outside my door, and i have an inch and a half gap under my door, and my bed is really low, so it is kinda a nuisance. and then she went to bed and left the light on. wtf. oh and the toilet was running for who knows how long.

maybe i'm overly considerate, or just crazy, but... maybe don't stomp around the house and shut doors really loudly at 11:30p or 7a. i miss living with my friends.

i'm back

... again. i seem to enjoy taking long breaks. it's not like i am overfleoin with work right now, so i have no excuses for not blogging so... here goes.

...

...

maybe it's because i have nothing interesting to say? i worked out today and then ate a shit ton. i am listening to the britney leaked songs right now. i have to go to the bank. i'm tired. it's so nice out all i want to do is go read. i am fat. my lungs hurt, but i really want to smoke. 30 rock rulz. twilight sux. making decisions is hard.

okay.

politicin'

i've been MIA again.

politics have overtaken my life in the last 6 weeks. i've been campaigning like a motherfucker for the no on 8 campaign and today the day is finally here.

phew.

i will write more soon but... yeah. that's all i got for now.

go vote. no on 8. yes on obama. yes we can!




i can't believe i just wrote that.

fuuuuck

do i need to move to la?

production jobs are few and far between up here, and it would be much easier to get that kind of work down south. but... then i'd have to live in la. and i don't like la.

i have thought about trying to take a 3 month gig down there and seeing how i like it. that might be the way to go if/when i get laid off and if/when this other job doesn't come through.

i am able to ignore the internal debate about sf vs. la until someone else, in this case another coworker, tells someone that for what i want to do, i should really be in la. and i know it's the truth. but i don't want to be there.

like i said. fuuuuuuuuck.