I envy the wind

What is your favorite color?
redorangeyellowgreenblueviolet

If you had to describe yourself in three words, what would they be?
Caring, funny, dedicated

If you describe your priorities in three words, what are they?
Laughter, Family, career

What matters most to you: happiness, success or love?
Audrey Hepburn once said, "The most important thing is to enjoy your life -to be happy- That's all that matters."I totally agree with her. So much so in fact that I joined this academic group of geeky philosophers and we sit around asking ourselves big questions to which there is no answer. Still we must ask, though.

Do you have pets? If so, what kind and what are their names?
Yes. Pets are the new children. Dexter T. Cat & Mugsley 'The killer' Malone, Esquire (dog)

Have you ever been in love? Yes. I am fortunate to have been well-wooed and well-loved by someone I loved. I miss him but I am glad he's gone.

Describe your best kiss ever. Warm, soft and uncertain... Terribly sweet and loads of butterflies. I adore the butterflies.

What did you eat for breakfast? Fruit and a power bar.
Do you like dancing? Passionately. In the morning in my knickers to modestly loud music. And in my mum's living room with my sisters... we like to make each other laugh by seeing who can be the worst dancer.
Have you ever acted on stage? I was Lucy in 'A Charlie Brown Christmas Pageant.'
My fifth grade teacher told me I was magnificent. Wait. No she didn't. I just totally made that up.

How old are you?Twenty-eleven.

Favorite movie? Freeway.
Three favorite luxury items? 600+ thread count sheets, extravagant pillows and illume jar candles (pineapple cilantro is my fav).
Guilty pleasures? Chocolate. Last week when the hurricane was 'coming' I spent an entire day watching movies and eating pie. Pie is really good for days like that.
What is your favorite quote? "I'll get you my pretty and your little dog too."
Ahem. Not really the above... See below:

To be happy you must be wise -George Santayana (He is the man)

Are you close to your family? Yes. Although not geographically. We speak often. I'm a family girl and I miss them, so I had to get a makeshift family. See the 'pet' question above.

What are your vices? Chocolate and dark brooding men with passion.

What album are you listening to right now? Kings of Convenience, Riot on an Empty Street.

Do you have an all-time favorite album? What? I refuse to answer such an horrible question. So there.

Who is your favorite artist, musical or visual? I really like Jean-loup Sieff's photography. And Truffaut. I must protest that this is another horrible question.
Where do you see yourself in five years? Owning some real estate, travelling, doing a bit of writing. Maybe doing some impossible yoga postures. Tooling around town on a bus or, if I must drive, a hybrid vehicle that gets like 97mpg. Depending on the school situation maybe working on a PhD. One thing at a time though.

Oh yes, and learning to cook cordon bleu... On a unicycle, with a kazoo.

Do you like to read? Delicious.
What are you reading now? I just finished Harry Potter's sixth one. I cried and cried. So sad, but it is the best one yet. This one was super-suspenseful. Fucking brilliant, that Rowling person. She might just have a career in writing. What is the last show you watched?The Office. I kept hearing about it, and my friends were right. It's funny. Misogyny at its most absurd.
What are your time-wasters? Dishing on the phone to my sisters and Angela. The internet. Searching for the right song. Or cardigan. Or black skirt.
What are your goals this year? Finish first degree, graduate summa cum laude (fingers crossed)... then find a program where they pay for my second and third ones (degrees I mean). I'd like to go on a nice long trip abroad after graduation. Maybe I can use up some of those miles I've been hording. Methinks my diabolical scheme is working.

San Francisco Bus Stop 

"Tell me what you pay attention to and I will tell you who you are." - Jose Ortega y Gasset

One night I woke up around 3am and noticed that my cat was not asleep next to me. His spot was still warm, but he was not there.
"Dexter?" No response so I padded down the dark hall my hands pressed against the wall for guidance.
"Dexter?"
His small yet tall silhouette crouched on the floor, tail a-slither.
"What is it?"
Slowly my eyes adjusted and I turned to follow his gaze. The sea's reflection swirled on the wall synching with the ocean's tides. He mewed softly as I lifted him into my arms.
"Lovely and strange, yes?" His purr filled the room as he buried his face in my neck his paws kneading my shoulders.

I slid to the floor and sat with him for awhile, wall-watching and thinking, "I wish I had a tail too."

Foz de Iguazu 

San Fransational 

Then again maybe I won't 

My Favorite Places

Sometimes I wonder why I am so far away from the people I really give a shit about. Oh, wait. That's right... It's because I have to finish this whole Bachelor's degree thingy.

*giggle*

And while I have met wonderful people here, it's not like my friends in Dallas and SF. I totally miss my sister. Sometimes I get homesick. Physically homesick with delusions of my sister's bed and laying on it, painting my nails talking about her fav subject in the world (Bjork. Yes, that's right. I said Bjork). Of course if I lived there it would all be a dream from which I never woke up. Days of sisters and morning yoga sessions and trips to museums. This is how it is in my daydream, but really...

The reality of it is maybe I'd get to do that stuff, but I still wouldn't be any closer to grad school. So I am here now, living on the beach with a wonderful little dog and spending entirely too much time on the internet. Fucking hell. Sometimes it hurts to lead a charmed life.

My Top Ten Favorite Places

1. Muir Woods
2. Hanama Bay, HI
3. Foz de iguazu, Argentina
4. London
5. Texas
6. Seattle
7. Alaska
8. Grandma's House
9. Angela's House
10. School

Donkey Kong

Why, oh why is he called Donkey Kong when he is actually a monkey? Do tell.

World's Greatest Dog

Mugsley Malone, Esquire

LeotheLion 

Persuasion

Although it is not my intention to use this space for agonism my first entry will be rather, well, agonistic. I am nauseous after my Persuasion class today - absolutely wretched. We discussed/watched a presentation on MTV/WWf and the effects they have on our culture's notion of what it means to be men/women. 90% of music videos are created by men, thus women's voices are rarely heard. Take, for instance, Janet Jackson pre-the hair/body makeover. She covered herself, danced and sang... and still she was known as MJ's little sister. Then she made the big change. C'mon, you know the one I'm talking about. Suddenly her hair was long and straight and she showed belly button. From that point forward she became 'Janet.' MTV displays women as mere playthings as though we are devoid of personality or individuality. Is it my age that makes me so shocked by all the booties and boobs on MTV. I remember when Video Killed the Radio Star came out. I was seven, and MTV was an infant.

Incest, contrary to popular belief, is not always best

Post-date thoughts.
Never, ever, never go on a date with someone who lives in your apartment building. If it doesn't work out (and it probably won't provided it's your first date post-breakup) then you will run into this person at the most unfortunate times. Like when you have a pile of your stray dog's poo in your hand. So nice, that. Mugsley and I haven't been together too long but still: I should know better than to roam the halls with him sans leash.

Let me back up for a moment and start at the beginning. It was a HOT Saturday afternoon in SoTX so I thought to take my sweet little dog to the beach. I slathered on the SPF, shimmied into my two-piece and collected my beach-outing accoutrements: chair, bag, mini-ice chest and dog. We started out the front door and I thought Mugsley would be fine since we were going the usual route so I didn't make him wear his leash. As I padded down the hall I thought, "Maybe I'm bringin' too much stuff." I can stay at the beach for HOURS so no, the answer was not to take anything back. So Mugsley ran down the hall ahead of me and I followed. Then I remembered, "They MOVED the ice machine."

Fuck.

We got on the elevator and I pushed for the floor below me. As the doors opened, Mugsley ran off and I saw that, again, there was no ice machine in sight.

Double Fuck.

And now my *sweet* little dog ran down the hall pooping the whole way. A little here, a little there. My arms were loaded to the hilt with nothing appropriate for poop/carpet cleanup so I lurched down and tore a piece of newspaper off the neighbor's doorstep. With one knee on the ground and all that stuff in my arms I somehow managed to pick up the first in a long line of shits.

I staggered after him trying to manage the chair, the cooler, the bag, the poop and my flipflops when I heard, "Hey Risa."

Oh for fuck's sake.