| Designing Women |
[Sep. 9th, 2008|10:43 pm] |
While inebriated in the back of Dez's car last night, for some odd reason I thought it would be funny to stuff one of the free magazines she gets from work in my purse. Hungover and more clear headed this morning, I started to glance through it. It's ForbesLife Executive Woman, and is basically an excuse to sell ads and patronize its female audience.
I do believe that women can be powerful while still embracing their feminine side, but give me a fucking break. This isn't about women in positions of power and the things they do to affect the world around them; it's about what snappy little shoes they wear to ever so glamorous boardroom meetings. I enjoy fashion- I read Vogue. But don't give me Vogue content, slap 'executive woman' on it, and pretend that it's telling me about how to be a strong businesswoman. Instead of offering tips on how to deal with masked sexual harassment or the challenges of being the only female in upper management, they offer such 'helpful' ideas as what happens when your hair gets mussed up before a big meeting, or how bronzers can give you a 'summer glow'.
As a young female dealing with a lot of gray area in a male-dominated office, I would like some help on real issues- not pointers on what to do when a strong gust of wind ruins my perfect up-do. Even something fashion related such as how to walk the fine line between dressing to flatter your figure and avoiding unwanted attention would be helpful. Books such as New Girl on the Job are helpful with finding a foothold in the business world, so the information is out there. But I guess it still pisses me off to see a fashion magazine masquerading as an empowering read.
Then again, maybe I just stole a bad issue. |
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| puuuush eet |
[Aug. 28th, 2008|09:17 pm] |
Today I went in for my first yuppie excursion with the personal trainer. After taking initial measurements, she told me my percentage of body fat and declared me 'fit'. I thought, I like you. Then she led me over to the mat and made me do a few stretches. 'No, no, no,' she said with her spanish accent, digging her fingers up into my stomach. 'Pull in like this. You must learn to do it now, or later, when you are older, you have the woman problems. Your organs start to fall down. When your stomach is loose, your bladder will fall down.' Picturing my organs tumbling out through my vagina, I suppressed laughter and tried to breathe as she instructed.
Next she told me to do the 'cobra.' To the best of my knowledge, snakes don't do too many strenuous breathing exercises, but she was pretty adamant about sucking my abs in as i pushed up. "Now straighten your back. No, now you need to squeeze your abs." she started poking me on both my back and my stomach, in essence tickling me. "You have to pull in your butts!" She admonished, poking my ass with an angry finger. At that point I fell over laughing.
From observing how I did some squats, she determined that my left hip was slightly weaker than my right, and that I fell into my arch when I walked on my left foot. She made me walk around the gym while she pointed out how wonkily I walked, and people probably thought I was undergoing some kind of physical therapy. But it's good to correct these things because again, 'you will have problems when you are older.' could my organs fall out? I didn't dare ask.
She had trained with tim the other day, and as she readied a weight machine, she asked, 'Was it hard to get your boyfriend to commit to you?" Taken aback, I stammered, "uh....not really...um, yes?" "I had boyfriend. He too much trouble. you know?" I nodded before she narrowed her eyes and said sharply, "Pull in your butts!" Surprised by her change in demeanor, I quickly pulled in both.
My final verdict is that she is a nice, knowledgeable older lady with an excellent understanding of kinesiology and the ways of the world. She suggested some good exercises to work on my janky joints and twenty minutes of cardio a day. So here's to toning up and pulling in my butts. |
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| (no subject) |
[Apr. 29th, 2008|11:01 am] |
Sometimes there are those really good clients that take your opinion for what it's worth (PURE GOLD). And then there are those who want to have a website that looks like the early 90s barfed all over it. What started off as lemonade out of lemons has now turned into some kind of terrible, icon filled cocktail. Why?! Just looking at the site makes my eyes cross. 'Less is more!' I say in vain. But in the end, it's their site and they're paying. But it's exploded into some kind of awful, horrible circus, and every time I go in for another round of revisions, I just wish the damn thing would disappear.
If they request an animated gif, I will refuse. That's where I draw the line. |
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| Memorex |
[Mar. 15th, 2008|06:19 pm] |
| [ | mood |
| |  happy | ] |
In preparation for the move, I was going through some of my Junk. The stuff that follows me around from residence to residence that I just can't seem to get rid of because, well, I'm just a sentimental pack rat.
Last night, while trying to organize CDS, slides, DVDs, etc, I came across a bunch of the mix tapes that i had stashed away in a hat box along with the rest of my cd jewel cases that i no longer look at. And sitting here, I just realized that some of those tapes are as old as 9 years. 9 YEARS?! I knew freshman year of high school was a long time ago, but really?
I'm loathe to get rid of the tapes, despite their poor sound quality (I listened to them too much and wore them down). Listening to them reminds me of car rides, new friends, happiness, frustration, sadness, and the basic madness that is high school. I can predict the next song after each track, remembering which ones I absolutely loved and which ones I patiently fast-forwarded through. I can remember what I was doing when I listened to them, sometimes vividly how I felt. That's the power of songs, the beautiful thing about mix tapes.
I'm still not sure what to do with them. Like I said, sound quality. But knowing that someone bothered to take 60-90 minutes out of their life to put them together for me, even if I don't talk to them anymore, makes me resist throwing away the nail-polished cases, the handwritten covers.
I'll be truthful. I'll probably keep them until they turn to dust. |
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| (no subject) |
[Jan. 10th, 2008|12:08 am] |
feeling a bit nostalgic. don't know why- this kind of thing comes and goes. i'm not nearly as nostalgic and wrapped in the past i was younger and prone to depression. and less busy.
i guess i get nostalgic when i hear 'in the aeroplane over the sea'. sometimes i can enjoy it just for the pure beauty of the album, but at other times- especially 'king of carrot flowers' i think about my relationship with paul, and wonder what exactly happened there. i hit the brakes suddenly on that one (not that i wanted to- i thought it was the best thing to do), we went back and forth a while, and then all of sudden, when things seemed to be going fine, i found my nose slammed into the dashboard. again. that was it. i'm still confused on some level about it. I know why it happened, of course i do. but i still don't understand the intricate emotions, the strings that we cut and retied and tumbled through. honestly, at one point, i thought he was the one i'd end up with. now i see that there are better relationships out there- there's always more than one person for everyone. and i guess we over thought everything, and that was our downfall. we couldn't enjoy things for face value. we had to think about it. but we knew that from the beginning. that we were both neurotic.
anyhow. i don't know. there are some things in life that you should just not dwell on, and i feel that i've done a good job of that. i thought about it enough to deal with it at the time, and now it's over. i don't feel anger anymore, or remorse. but the confusion's still there, and will probably be there until i'm too old to remember anything.
what i hate is the aftermath. you see that person, and you feel a tide of who knows what. i suppose it's nostalgia. for a time when you took care of them, when you could shield them and protect them and reassure them. sometimes i still wish i could be that confidante. but i understand that now my role is an outsider. we're surface friends, but i've been thrust out into the cold. for protection from ourselves, i suppose. from our minds. but that closed door...that's something i don't think i'll ever get used to. |
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| (no subject) |
[Dec. 20th, 2007|10:30 am] |
Last night I was at the grocery store buying odds and ends for a spaghetti dinner that Simple magazine had promised would rock my world with its basil-y goodness. I was ridiculously tired and knew that I had at least two more hours of work to do for another client. The bagger was some young high school kid (it's kind of weird to live in the area of a middle school/high school after living in the supposed ghetto for two years) and he was energetic and goofy. Usually I try to play along with them, as i know they're trying to make their job a little more tolerable. But I just couldn't get up the energy to even raise a playful eyebrow. It's one of those moments where you feel so worn out, so old. 'I used to be you,' I thought as he gave up on me and bantered with the checkout girl. 'I used to be stupidly goofy and fun. Now I'm too tired to do anything but worry.'
It's melodramatic and all- I know that i should enjoy these 'young' years of mine. And I probably have more energy than a 30 year old. Probably. It's just the last month has been confusing and hard. It's rewarding, but damn. I'm tired. |
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| you don't have to be rich to be my lovah! |
[Jan. 26th, 2006|02:38 am] |
there is no better way to reinforce your sense of fancy-free youthfulness than by walking around a college campus on a beautiful day with a notebook in your hand. this thought occured to me as i traipsed along the sidewalk, squinting to read the name of one of those civil war/racist statues around the Six Pack. I absolutely love the pedestrian friendly environment of UT, and enforce my freedom to walk without danger by throwing twigs in the spokes of reckless cyclists that act as if they don't see you.
Audio Production is shockingly exciting. which is wonderful- i have finally found my place in the vast and overwhelming RTF department.
Goals accomplished-->
-working out- i did twenty minutes on an exercise bike and a mile on the treadmill, as well as pumping some mo' iron with paul. working out again tomorrow, in the hopes of staying with my exercise mo' goal. now i need to narrow it down. cardio? endurance? oh, the possibilites are endless, friend treadmill!
-cooking- been lots of group effort cooking around here, and i'm learning so much from the masters. the trick is to now cook an entire impressive meal all by my lonesome. ;]
goodnight! i need to wake up and do homework. whee! |
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| (no subject) |
[Jan. 23rd, 2006|04:14 pm] |
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with sunshine pouring into my room and excellent oppurtunities looming on the horizon, i feel as great as the guy in the nutrigrain commercial. ^_^ |
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| (no subject) |
[Jan. 22nd, 2006|09:42 pm] |
an excllent weekend. on friday i worked out with paul, and after sufficient iron pumpage, we headed over to daniel's to hang out with dez, michelle, ken, kate, jon, steph, darrell, and his roommate. then we went over to kelly's birthday party for a crazy time. as soon as i walked in the door, kelly told me of how she had dropped a wine glass, complete with drunken sound effects. she told me she was out of wine glasses, but i was welcome to take the bottle. i compromised and put it into a tea cup with a happy cow chef on it (something i didn't realize until later).
i ran into freddy, who was carrying a tall boy and a bottle of smirnoff vodka. he looked pleasantly disheveled and told paul and i how we could all live like people in the matrix if only we had the right jackets, and other awesome stories. jen and brandon and dan were in the living room enjoying themselves and it is there that i met two crazy germans. all in all, an awesome party. happy early birthday, kellogg!
saturday was interesting as well. i went to play basketball with kenny in the park behind the apartments, but i soon wussed out and went back home b/c it was freezing. ken stayed, and after awhile, i began to wonder what had become of him. sincethe sun was out, i took the frisbee and walked back, only to find my brother playing basketball with a group of guys...and ken was the only scrawny crackah among them. it was pretty awesome, and i stayed to watch for awhile until the wind drove me back home. i sat next to this giant guy and his tiny white puppy which was absolutely adorable. i also ran into alisha and her sister on the way back while they were walking godiva, andrea's pointy-eared dog. aw.
that night, ken, michelle, jon, laura, dez, daniel, darrell, paul and i went to the salt lick for bar-b-q, and i think this is worth an lj-cut for some ( photos. ) |
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| (no subject) |
[Jan. 20th, 2006|09:45 am] |
school is good thus far. there's going to be more reading this time around, but ah well. i think i'm going to enjoy my classes a lot. my professors are nice and informed, and the subject matter seems interesting. except for math, but the prof. in there is so sweet that i figure she'll make it bearable.
i have been keeping up with my little goals pretty well. worked out with paul on tuesday and cooked huevos rancheros with him and ken last night, and i think paul and i are supposed to work out once more this afternoon, despite my sore muscles.
also watched wild angels with steph and jen. i've learned my lesson; be wary of peter fonda movies. ;p |
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| (no subject) |
[Jan. 16th, 2006|06:12 pm] |
yesterday we went to dan's (ken's old boss) and ate guacamole and salsa, jumped on the trampoline, pet lovely big-eyed dogs, ate wheat-gluten fajitas and delicious marinated pork with grilled veggies. wonderful. chased his kids around, borrowed their scooters and wore ourselves out.
today involved eating and lazing about, as i have to cram in all the lazing i can into this last day before school. but yay for a much, much better schedule this time around.
will i be able to wear one of my new sweaters tomorrow? we shall see! |
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| como estan, beejez |
[Jan. 13th, 2006|12:54 pm] |
got back to austin on wednesday and have enjoyed fine dining and friends since then. ken and i, connoisseurs of fine cuisine, have made a mental list of places to hit while he's in town...so far, polvos, austin pizza garden, amy's, and las manitas. so many lunch specials, so little time.
it's extremely nice being home, and it's doubly nice because of the beautiful weather. i open up the windows and the doors, letting cool air blow in and ruffle miyagle's fur.
jogging later today....there's a little path that leads up to the skate park, where it is extremely fun to be a spectator. also, there's a pool and basketball court up there that i didn't even know about. anyone up for laughing at me as i attempt to play basketball? and a playground, too...with swings! |
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| mmmhmmm |
[Jan. 10th, 2006|02:55 pm] |
dial-up....sucks. waiting on ken to get back from his lunches with the future pope and frolics in NY...sucks.
but...smoke and mirrors is awesome, having nothing more impending than researching fantasy internships is awesome, reading and lounging is glorious, and filling up the moleskine paul gave me is ever so rewarding and fun.
dez got a new bird! yay dez! i suggested twiggy and ella, and she opted for ella. i still think twiggy is a great name, though it's probably for the best that she chose ella as i christened steph's bass twiggy and twiggy the bass could've gotten mighty jealous.
also, i'm fulfilling my exercise and cooking resolutions. my amaretto butter cookies were delicious, and i made a giant pot (too giant?) of vegetable soup last night. mmm veggies.
ok. i'm going to work on research....unless a book or my moleskine calls me away. damn thee, foul temptresses! |
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| steph made me do it |
[Jan. 9th, 2006|01:18 am] |
the five simplest pleasures of life...
-hugging someone you love
-eating delicious food
-comfortable silence
-laughing until you cry
-a book or song that moves you
so...there you go, steph. hope your boredom eases up ;] |
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| new years resolutions and other such nonsense |
[Jan. 5th, 2006|10:57 pm] |
| [ | mood |
| |  contemplative | ] |
new years was excellent, and now i'm mulling over good resolutions...i think mainly that i want to find some sort of exercise regime that i enjoy in order to stay active...after all, there is that botanical garden/park right behind my apartment- i should jog or frolic or something of that nature. also, i want to start cooking more and stop letting paul do all the work. step 1- find chunk-free recipes. i'm starting tomorrow by making fancy amaretto butter cookies.
and finally, less spending. more money-grubbing.
on another note- Yay Horns! |
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| obligatory end-o'-year post |
[Dec. 31st, 2005|10:36 am] |
not really obligatory, per se. i just want to wrap things up. by the by, my checking account is screaming for money, so if anyone cares to give me some, i'd appreciate it.
sooo....i think i'll do the tried and true method of taking a sentence from the first of each month's entry and posting it...though it may be repetitive and boring. i'll try to spice it up and shield your eyes with a saucy lj-cut.
( ooooooh. ) |
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| (no subject) |
[Dec. 26th, 2005|01:18 am] |
merry christmas, and hope all is well with you all. this has actually been one of the better christmases i've had...good gifts, excellent food, the return of the prodigal son and brother, and so on.
we went up to Love Field on Wednesday night, not even sure if we had the right time for ken's arriving flight as the airport's information hotlines were craptacular. mom and i paced around while we waited and watched, my mother every now and then pointing to some hapless stranger. "is that him?" "no..." "is that him?" "mom-- that's an african-american woman." maybe she expected him to change a lot in the course of his travels. finally, some skinny white goober waved at me and i realized it was ken. he was thinner than when he had left but just as goofy looking.
it's really nice having him back, and i haven't gotten completely tired of him yet (yet being the operative word). and i have to say, it's nice talking to him. ken is one of the few people that i can talk to and feel like i'm getting an honest response that isn't pandering to me in order to avoid hurt feelings. so i can tell him qualms and dilemmas and he'll be honest, and at that, give good advice. as his sister, it's obviously my duty to give him a hard time, but i have to admit that he's level-headed and tells me how it is instead of what i want to hear. and because i can trust his honest opinion, i feel absolved of certain things. like the time i almost sold stephanie to those white slave traders...
christmas eve was awesome as we went to my grandma's house, which is a tiny little structure in dallas that we pack with my large family once a year. we did a white elephant gift exchange, and i came out pretty well with a set of four beer glasses and a pink elephant piggy bank. looks like steph's dino bank is going to have a little friend.
christmas day was good, and i look forward to relaxing days of mooching off my parents ahead. also, i made four A's this semester. yayyyy. which gives me a very nice looking GPA ;]
merry christmas! |
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